Latest News & Case Studies

Challenge

Forestry and wood processing is an important industry, both economically and environmentally, to Northern Ireland, but is very low down the policy agenda – and rarely discussed during election campaigns.

Solution

PA Cooperative worked with trade body Confor and members in Northern Ireland to discuss how best to increase interest in, and understanding of, the industry during the pre-election period – and decided to create a short, informative and punchy manifesto.

Result

The 8-page document – The Future is Forestry: A Manifesto for Trees and Timber in Northern Ireland – was produced against a tight deadline with input from Confor members. It started with a summary of the challenges, used facts and statistics to highlight the current position, utilised case studies to stress the importance and potential of the sector – and then laid down a simple 5-point plan to drive forward the industry. The manifesto can be viewed here.

Impact

The document was very well-received by the industry and shared with all the main political parties – and secured media coverage in The Belfast Telegraph, BBC News and Ulster TV.

Challenge

Scottish Woodlands Ltd is one of the most successful forestry services companies in the UK and has experienced significant growth in recent years.  However, staff were so busy with the day job that the company’s external communications were limited.

Solution

PA Cooperative had worked with Scottish Woodlands Ltd on its annual results and helped it respond to media requests, so we were well-placed to work with senior managers on a more regular basis.  We knew there was a great story to tell and that staff were keen to get involved.  We aimed to make media releases and social media posts much more regular, to increase contact with customers, clients and the wider land-based industries – to highlight Scottish Woodlands Ltd pre-eminent role in the industry in Scotland and the UK. We also supported the company’s work in improving internal communications and in engaging staff in telling the Scottish Woodlands story effectively.

Result

PA Cooperative organised online webinars with Scottish Woodlands employees, as well as individual meetings with senior staff, as a means of ensuring a regular pipeline of story ideas – to illustrate the wide range of work the company was involved in, as well as stories about individual employees, and what they were doing inside and outside work.

Impact

PA Cooperative worked with Scottish Woodlands Ltd to provide 46 stories for its website in 2022 – compared to the previous year, when fewer than 5 stories appeared online. All these stories were supported by social media posts, posted on Linkedin and Twitter – as a result, follower numbers and reactions to posts have substantially increased. On LinkedIn, Scottish Woodlands Ltd now has more than 3,000 followers and popular posts can have engagements well past three figures.

Challenge

As coronavirus restrictions were implemented in March 2020, all in-person events were quickly cancelled. However, clients still wanted attention for their campaigns and to move public policy priorities forward by continuing to connect with key influencers and decision makers. It soon became clear that new ways of doing business were needed for as long as it was difficult to hold events and conferences in person.

Solution

PA Cooperative (PAC) saw that online events could work for our clients and identified the fundamentals needed for those events to be effective. PAC realised online events had to be well-organised and smoothly-run, on a reliable platform. All participants had to be well-briefed and the event had to be clearly-focused, high-quality and maintain a good pace, to retain the interest of an easily-distracted online audience.

For PAC client Confor, trade association for the UK forestry and wood industry, this meant creating high-quality, relevant webinars for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Forestry. It also meant, early in the lockdown period, working with Confor staff to deliver webinars for its 1500 member businesses, including an early event on how Confor was supporting those members. PAC built on this success by helping to deliver Confor’s Annual General Meeting.

Result

Despite business disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, communication with Confor members and parliamentarians has continued without interruption. The webinars have complemented the creation of the Confor website as a Covid-19 online hub for the forestry and wood industry (also supported by PAC), alongside a greater emphasis on using video for communication alongside social media platforms.

Impact

Confor has maintained its campaigning focus during lockdown and, through the APPG on Forestry and Tree Planting, engage with more people on the key issues. Engagement with high-profile politicians, including UK Government Ministers, has been enhanced and online audiences have been large and diverse. The APPG continues as an effective, high-quality online forum to raise awareness of forestry and tree planting issues.

PAC has used its experience with Confor to hold webinars for other clients, forestry business Scottish Woodlands and Co-operatives UK, which worked with PAC on an online meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Co-operatives.

Challenge

Many forestry and wood businesses ground to a halt, or reduced operations very significantly, after the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. There was a desire for specific and regularly updated information and guidance in one location – and for direct contact with Confor, as the forestry trade body, to continue through the crisis.

Solution

David Lee of PA Cooperative worked with Confor staff to create, design and curate a web hub for the sector http://www.confor.org.uk/covid-19/ – writing and editing copy and updating the site daily, working with the CEO to ensure all new information went on to the site immediately. This included creating a series of videos to explain why parts of the setcoir were still working, which were shared across all social media platforms.

Neil Cuthbert and David Lee also designed and organised a series of webinars to stay in touch with members and update them on relevant issues.

Result

The web hub was very well-received by Confor members and the wider industry for its relevance and the speed at which it was updated. Confor was able to communicate and collaborate with areas of the sector much more closely. Some of the videos were watched by more than 20,000 people on Confor’s Facebook page.

The webinars were all well-attended and well-received. All those who signed up received an email afterwards, with a report of the webinar and link to watch it in full – plus a link to relevant resources. All this was provided by PAC.

Impact

Confor has very clear evidence that the web hub led to member retention and recruitment. The professionalism of the site and the speed at which it was created and updated – while retaining very high quality – enhanced Confor’s reputation across the whole forestry and wood industry, and among officials and politicians at Governmental level.

Challenge

EGGER, an Austrian-based multinational business which produces wood-based panel products at two sites in the UK, decided to sell its UK forest management arm to fellow forestry business RTS Ltd. This meant a number of staff transferring to RTS and EGGER was keen to ensure the announcement was handled sensitively, reflecting new opportunities rather than raising questions about other aspects of the business.

Solution

PA Cooperative used its in-depth knowledge of forestry and wood processing to shape a package of support, including wide-ranging stakeholder engagement, relationship management and a media release, with a high-quality photograph of the senior management teams signing the agreement. We worked with both EGGER and RTS Ltd at all stages.

Result

Media coverage in the trade and business press carried the news release almost word-for-word and this helped reassure both seller, buyer and the wider industry that it was very much ‘business as usual’ for EGGER.

Impact

EGGER was happy that it was able to move on quickly and concentrate on its core business, while the staff who have transferred to RTS Ltd hit the ground running.