My debut book, The Flexible Method, Prepare to Prosper in the Next Global Crisis, was published across the world in 2023, becoming a best-seller on both Amazon US and Amazon UK. If you would like to pick up a copy, here are links for the UK and US:
Over 16 chapters, I put into writing the real-life experience and hard-earned lessons from my twenty years on the ground running independent production companies and global content group Argonon. I wanted not only to share my learnings, but also the wisdom of leaders from different sectors across the world, capturing their stories of how they coped and survived their own business crisis.
I wrote the book to be a useful tool for the widest possible audience; for people across all industries, businesses and organisations, so when they face their own challenging moments, they can say, “they did it, we can too.” Crises are painful but if you navigate them carefully and follow a set of principles, you will come out stronger and fitter than ever before.
In January 2022, I recorded a video pitch in my hotel room in LA. I hope you enjoy it.
We took the book to market and received two offers. It was Holly Bennion, Editorial Director at Nicholas Brealey Publishing, part of the Hachette Group, who got me really excited. She believed in me, and the book, and we signed the deal.
I was given four months to complete the book, then nine months to put it to print and distribute it.
We started a mega marketing campaign, revving up for publication in the UK on 30th March 2023 and 18th July 2023 in the US.
To launch The Flexible Method: Prepare to Prosper in the Next Global Crisis, we devised an extensive and intensive communications, marketing and social strategy to create awareness, excitement and drive purchase at launch and beyond. The objective was to target a wide potential global audience of business leaders, managers, team leaders and business owners, with a core focus on the UK and US markets but extending worldwide. The campaign was designed to create widespread awareness in launch week and continue to generate interest and maintain momentum as a book with a long-term shelf-life throughout and beyond 2023.
To support the campaign, we collaborated with the publisher and their marketing teams, as well as engaging external PR and social media support in both the UK and US to supplement the global campaign.
Audience Targeting
The campaign focused on targeting a broad audience across a wide range of media and social platforms, including and beyond the creative sector, with relevance for anyone working in business or public sector, across all industries and territories. The book was distinctly marketed as providing a practical toolkit providing on-the-ground experience from a CEO at the “coalface” of business, whose expertise had helped navigate multiple local and global crises over two decades in business. As well as capturing the author’s expertise, experiences and insights, the book also included stories and tips from inspiring leaders across a range of sectors to make it relevant and accessible to the widest potential audience. The campaign approach built on the key themes from the book, offering a breadth of angles to engage and interest audiences.
Campaign Approach
The campaign included interviews with influential titles across broadcast, podcasts, print and online media; authored pieces offering insights and tips; speeches and panel sessions at leading industry and business events; webinars and talks; as well as a proactive approach on social media platforms including LinkedIn and X (formally known as Twitter). Events were also held in the UK and US, to build a groundswell and create word-of-mouth to launch the campaigns across both territories. The target media included national media, regional titles, broadcast including podcasts, creative sector media, business and leadership journals, sector-specific titles, and consumer media.
Here are some samples:
March 29th 2023 – Presented by Boom! PR’s Justin Crosby – Tellycast Podcast
April 7th 2023 – Davina Mccall and Michael Douglas in Making The Cut
July 17th 2023 – “Problem Solvers”, which is spearheaded by Editor in Chief, Jason Feifer
July 23rd 2023 – Applied Wisdom podcast
August 14th 2023 – Michael Glazer, on his brilliant podcast “Humans at Work”
August 20th 2023 – Hunter Hastings on his podcast, “Value Creators”
In Summary
The publicity campaign reached over 60 media titles and platforms across the globe, with highlights including The Times, BBC One (World Business Report), The European, BBC Radio 5 Live (Wake up to Money), Times Radio, Variety Magazine, LinkedIn News and Forbes as well as major radio shows such as BBC London, BBC West Midlands and leading Irish national station Newstalk.
A huge range of influential business titles across the UK, US and Europe ran – or will publish – authored pieces or interviews across the UK and US, including Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Leader, People Management, HR Future, Intelligent CEO, SME Magazine, Raconteur, Elite Business, Humans at Work, Maddyness, Edge, Irish Tech News, Unleash, Future Leader, Inc., TD Magazine, Blogging on Business, Fast Company, Chief Executive, MBA Ireland and Quartz. The campaign also focused in on media covering specific sectors including C21 Magazine, Influence (CIPR) and CA Magazine (Scottish Accountancy)
The book was also profiled through a series of high-ranking podcast interviews, with published and upcoming podcasts including Problem Solvers (Entrepreneur), Tellycast, C21 FM, Office Hours, Behind the Human, Lead to Succeed, I OWN IT, Beyond Confidence, Applied Wisdom, Success Made to Last, The Value Creators Podcast, Team Anywhere Leadership Podcast, The Tyler Wagner Show, DisrupTV, Your Partner in Success Radio, Leadership of Transformation, Daily Helping, Leadership Biz Café and Smart Collaborators Podcast.
Several speaking opportunities were completed, including the opening address at the prestigious Creative Cities Convention, a one-to-one interview and panel session at Creative UK’s Creative Coalition and high-profile speaking slots at Edinburgh International TV Festival, Broadcast Media, Production and Technology Show and Hot Topics. The author also completed several talks and webinars with influential organisations, including Association of MBAs, MBA Ireland, National Film and TV School (NFTS) and Said Business School (Oxford University).
Events were held in London and New York to launch the campaign in the UK and US respectively, with approximately 150 invited guests including celebrities, business leaders, influencers, media and collaborators attending.
Social Media
A targeted thought leadership campaign was planned and delivered with a core focus on the business audience across LinkedIn but extending across Twitter and Facebook. The campaign deep dived into our values, views and vision to deliver a series of engaging, insightful and topical posts, helping people in business and public sector navigate the challenging economic environment. The campaign hit a broad audience of UK and US LinkedIn members as well as international users.
The campaign generated over 140,000 views, nearly 4,000 engagements and the average post reach was nearly 2,200.
We hit the Number One spot on Amazon.uk in the TV Direction and Production category and the Number One spots on Amazon.com in the TV Direction and Production and also the Performing Arts categories.
