What we do
We work for causes we believe in, with the potential to be transformed by better communication.
We think every communications activity – big or small – should be rooted in strategy. We focus on driving impact on cross-cutting global issues, like climate change, resource-scarcity, human rights, corruption, and development. We’re most excited by projects that advocate for system change to right wrongs, redress injustice, and unlock co-benefits - for individuals and society.
The majority of our clients are non-profits: non-governmental organisations, campaign groups, think tanks or university departments. We also occasionally work with corporates who are genuinely committed to driving positive change. Our bottom line is impact, not profit.
We offer a range of services, from media relations and training, to digital strategy and content creation, audience mapping, writing and editing, recruitment and mentoring. We can work in-house or out, and will always tailor our offer to suit your needs.
We work diligently, intelligently and efficiently. We will always defend clarity of expression and interrogate the purpose of a piece of communication. We listen, learn, reflect and help to transform.
Services
Communications strategies
We believe that good strategy should underpin any communications you do, because how else do you know why you’re doing it, and when you’ve succeeded? We will work with you to answer the what, why, who, when, where and how, and come up with the best plan to drive the change you want to see. When necessary, we look at these questions at the organisational level to unlock the clarity needed for effective communications.
Core messaging and purpose
Helping organisations articulate what they do and why, and adjusting that messaging for different audiences, is a challenge we thrive on. Getting the words right to describe your mission, vision and values, or the premise of a new campaign, is the essential springboard to success and impact. We also have some great design agencies we regularly partner with for help with fantastic visuals.
Digital and social media
Well-executed and creative digital and social tactics are key to any successful communications strategy. We design and deliver seamlessly integrated plans to advance your objectives. Our team can write digital strategies, create multimedia content, track impact, plan and implement organic or paid social campaigns, train your staff, or help design a website.
Content creation
Informed by an understanding of your objectives and target audiences, we can create content that sings and drives impact. We can script and produce video, create infographics, and support your visual storytelling to drive engagement. Where the requirements go beyond our skill-set in house, we have a stable of talented designers, videographers, and data visualisation experts who we work with often and can bring in to deliver what you need.
Audience mapping and insights
Knowing who you want to influence is a key first step in communications and campaigning. We can help you identify your audiences and other stakeholders, who and what they are influenced by, and how to reach and persuade them. We can also map the ecosystem you’re operating in so you can better understand the role your organisation can play in driving change, and how you might collaborate more effectively.
Public affairs and influencing
With a former Head of Government relations on the team, and staff who have lived and worked in Brasilia, Brussels, Geneva, New York, Paris, and Washington, we can help you work out how to influence specific decision-makers in government and navigate the policy-making process. We know most about the workings of the UK government, but can also advise on multinational bodies like the UN and WTO, and we know our way around Brussels too.
Campaigning and coalitions
With experience designing on- and offline stunts and actions, supporting and managing coalitions, and using creative campaigning tactics to reinforce advocacy and generate media coverage, we can partner with you to raise public awareness and increase pressure on decision makers. We’ve worked on petitions, photo stunts, shareholder actions, rallies, marches, celebrity trips, and star-studded concerts.
In-house cover and recruitment
Whether you want a temporary press officer for a couple of weeks, regular help a few days a week, or someone to run your communications department over the summer, we can provide staff that plug the gaps in your team. We can also assess your current communications capacity, and advise on recruitment and team structure. We can help write the job description and then help you find the perfect person.
Media relations
Got a report that needs launching? An upcoming event to promote? Or do you want to deepen your relationships with key journalists, or enhance your understanding of how to land stories in new or different types of outlets? With former journalists and seasoned press officers on the team, we know what makes a story and have great contacts in the UK and international media.
Crisis comms
We’ve handled our share of crises and can keep a cool head when you most need us to. We can help you map and mitigate risk, draft reactive lines, and calmly handle a crisis if one materialises. We can help handle stakeholder engagement and internal communications, train your spokespeople, and put plans in place to minimise risk in the future.
Training and mentoring
We offer bespoke training for beginners to experienced communicators. From the basics of strategic communications and media relations, to full day broadcast interview sessions with a camera, plus writing for print and online and social media, we can help you excel, whatever the opportunity. We have also worked alongside CEOs and other leaders to grow their profile and confidence as communicators, and can mentor more junior comms staff to grow their skills.
Writing and editing
At di:ga we love writing, and feel privileged to be able to work with you – the experts on the issues that matter - to compose compelling and elegant prose that will change hearts and minds. From op-eds, to reports, speeches, to case studies, we can start from scratch or simply polish what you’ve already done. We can move between registers, channel different voices, and get to grips with a range of issues. And we know how to make sure good writing is accessible online and SEO friendly.
Areas of expertise
Climate change and resources
Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat facing humankind: imperilling life as we know it, and exacerbating poverty, inequality and other suffering and injustice. The science has been clear for years, yet collectively we have not done enough to change course.
At di:ga we are passionate about helping experts convey the urgency of action, and the opportunities inherent in comprehensive reform. Preserving the world’s precious natural resources, embracing new ways of thinking, and ushering in a clean energy revolution, are critical actions for our political and corporate leaders to take.
Human rights and conflict
In Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Ukraine and many other countries around the world, the lives of innocent civilians are being blighted by conflict and instability. People are being forced from their homes by war, poverty and natural disasters, children’s lives are being marred before they’ve even started, and human rights are being violated with impunity.
We work with some of the bravest and most hopeful organisations and individuals to make the case for peace and accountability, for the right to asylum, and for the protection of people caught up in crises not of their making. We tell human stories, while keeping an unflinching eye on the politics and policies behind the abuses.
Transparency and data rights
In the era of big data, the transparency movement is coming of age. The proliferation of electronic information has created myriad opportunities. We can uncover corruption, and hold companies to account; connect with others around the world and raise our collective voice; and use open data to enhance public services.
However, we are also waking up to the risks inherent in having so much personal information available, and the malign influence of social media and disinformation on democratic politics. We help organisations seeking to chart a course between freedom of information and the right to privacy, hold those with power to account, and influence a new set of rules for the digital age.
Poverty and inequality
How do you end poverty? Is this even a rational aspiration? What’s the best sort of aid, and how should you give it? Does charity begin at home, or should we focus exclusively on the greatest need, wherever that is? How do we change the system rather than just sticking on another band aid? And how do we make sure those affected have agency?
We want to help organisations answer these questions, and inspire politicians and individuals to work together to promote inclusive development, which also protects the planet. We help make wonky policy and economic research accessible, without oversimplifying or dumbing down.