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Meet the Committee: Riki Neill & Geri Wright

Get to know the PRCA Northern Ireland Committee for 2021 in a special 'Meet the Committee' series. 

Q&A with Riki Neill, Director of RNN Communications.

 

Tell us a little about your current role and career?

I’m Founder of RNN Communications, an agency that I started in 2013.  I founded RNN as I wanted to create an awesome comms agency that valued its people first and worked in partnership with clients to create epic campaigns that really deliver.

We work across Ireland for brands and companies, both on and offline, we work in the renewables sector and in the past year, are now delivering digital campaigns for clients in several European countries.

My career path is a little unusual in that I have a degree in Fine Art. From that, I studied at Ulster University for a MSc in Communications, Advertising & PR, and then joined agency life. I love agency – I love the cut and thrust of agency life, the energy and the hugely diverse client base. 

Is there any aspect of the your job you particularly enjoy? And any aspect you don't enjoy?

Creativity. For me, it’s about the big idea. I seriously loving creating a concept, bringing it to fruition, being part of the execution and measuring the impact of our campaigns on our clients’ businesses – be it their sales, awareness, reach - whatever the specific goals may be.

I don’t enjoy, and now avoid at all costs, working with businesses who view PR & Comms as a press release or photocall. True, purpose-led communications can have a significant impact on businesses and organisations and this is where we sit – with clients who value our counsel, ideas and work in partnership with us. 

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

Find your passion. We work for approximately 40 plus years of our life. We have one life. Find your passion and enjoy every day.  For me, comms and PR have delivered so many opportunities and I’m forever grateful for my experiences to date and what lies ahead. 

Why did you decide to join the PRCA NI Committee?

We live and breathe in a diverse society. We work with brands and organisations to reach and connect with their publics. It’s integral that our comms sector is reflective of this, embracing diversity in all of its guises. For many people, PR & Comms just isn’t a career consideration and yet, there’s so much potential. The PR & Comms is wide-reaching - our committee’s experience embodies this – and I hope that our work on the committee can reach audiences, communicate the value of communications and all that it has to offer as an amazing career choice.

Will you take away any positives from the past 12 months?

Focus on what you can control and spot the opportunities. Be grateful for what you have and alter your perspective. It’s your choice on how your day goes so use your mind wisely (and take care of it), it’s the most powerful instrument that any of us possesses.

 

Follow Riki on Twitter: @RikiNeill.

Geri Wright

Geri Wright, Senior Client Director at LK Communications.

Tell us a little about your current role and career

I’ve been working in communications for more than 12 years and in that time I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best companies and communications agencies. I kicked off my career at Pfizer in Surrey before moving agency side to work with Ogilvy in London, where I largely specialised in healthcare PR. I was also fortunate to gain international experience, moving to Sydney to work with a leading Australasian healthcare PR agency before returning to Northern Ireland in 2014. Since then, I’ve expanded my experience to work across all types of sectors and industries. I currently work as Senior Client Director for LK Communications, one of the longest established and respected agencies on the island of Ireland, across a wide range of clients – from tourism and hospitality to banking and finance, retail, grocery and FMCG, council and public sector and property and construction. I really love the diversity of the work and as an agency we’re fortunate to have a great mix of long-term, established clients, some of which have been with us for more than 15 years, as well as working with new start-ups and SMEs across the UK and Ireland and, increasingly, internationally.

Is there any aspect of the your job you particularly enjoy? And any aspect you don't enjoy?

There are so many aspects that I love about my job but, for me, the sense of satisfaction I get from navigating a client through an issue or a crisis is something that always makes me proud and reminds me of the value of our profession. The best client relationship is one where the agency has become so embedded with the client that it becomes an extension of the inhouse team and this is very much the approach that LK Communications takes. For me, it’s incredibly important to be immersed in my client’s world – from knowing as much about the internal workings of the organisation to being abreast of industry news and continually horizon scanning for external issues that may impact clients. Having this deep level of knowledge and understanding is invaluable and positions us as a strategic partner to our clients. Rather than simply rolling out off-the-shelf PR services, we become embedded with our clients and this creates a relationship whereby our strategic counsel and recommendations have become our most valued offering. That sense of purpose and achievement in helping steer a client through difficult decision making or an unforeseen crisis is by far the most rewarding aspect of my role.

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

Absorb as much as you can and take advantage of all training and development opportunities. When I first started out, training programmes were a lot less accessible but today PR practitioners have a wealth of resources at their fingertips. There are any number of free webinars taking place every week and organisations such as the PRCA are continually reviewing their qualification and training provision and launching new e-learning courses regularly. We set the standard for how our industry is perceived, so it’s important that as a collective we not only keep up with continued professional development, but that we keep ahead of the curve and continually challenge ourselves to upskill and achieve external accreditation.

Why did you decide to join the PRCA NI Committee?

I’m a big believer that we should never stop learning and professional networking and building connections is a great way to do this. The PRCA is a fantastic organisation offering the highest quality training, qualifications and awards programmes and, importantly, champions industry standards which is something I feel very passionately about. Through the committee, I hope that we can reach new members with a compelling programme of activity and inspire the next generation of PR practitioners.  

 Will you take away any positives from the past 12 months?

Despite being a challenging year, that last 12 months have proven that communications continues to play a pivotal role in supporting and advancing client’s objectives. Throughout the pandemic, LK Communications was well positioned to assist clients through a challenging period of uncertainty. Our day-to-day work shifted from the traditional aspects of PR such as editorial copywriting and media relations, to an even greater focus on issues management, public affairs, communications audits and provision of strategic counsel. For some clients, their brands still needed to stay front and centre in the consumer mindset and so we upweighted activity in other areas such as influencer marketing and digital to reach audiences at home. Above all, we had to remain nimble and adaptable to an ever-changing situation. Looking back, I am proud of how PR played such a vital role in navigating our clients through their most difficult period and how clever thinking and a new approach ensured continuity for our clients. If the last 12 months have taught us anything, it’s that we are resilient and that communications will always play a central role in challenging times.