In the summer of 2022, Canny was engaged to be the PR and communications partner for the Three Counties Defence and Security Expo (3CDSE), which encompassed a dinner, industry day and expo.

3CDSE is an expo targeted at defence and security SMEs who develop products and services aimed at the specialist user. The event was originally aimed at businesses in the three counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire due to the high prevalence of such organisations within the region but quickly gained a national and international reach. 3CDSE recognised that Canny’s intimate understanding of this context positioned us perfectly to drive attendance to this event.

A media strategy that directly resulted in coverage for 3CDSE and exhibitors in publications such as Battlespace and Shephard.

This media strategy also included a crisis management procedure, which had to be implemented on the day of the event due to pressure from protestors, and resulted in balanced coverage in the local media.

Photography and videography to ensure that both exhibitors and the event organisers had plenty of content to drive sales.

The writing and distribution of marketing emails.

Copy for 3CDSE’s website, including a carefully researched thought piece.

A comprehensive social media plan for 3CDSE, including the curation of relevant content. This took the form of posts of varying frequency, reshares and a wide range of purpose-created images and videos.

We also organised and hosted an ‘innovation showcase’ that allowed smaller SMEs an opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities to a receptive audience.

This robust and all-encompassing comms strategy resulted in a substantial increase in social media engagement and website views for 3CDSE. By effectively utilising 3CDSE’s social media presence and curating compelling content, the event was a roaring success.  

Views of 3CDSE’s LinkedIn page experienced a significant increase, with mobile views increasing by 751%, and desktop views by 821% between September and October. The engagement rate also showed substantial growth, rising by 252% in August. Organic impressions peaked in October, reaching 144% more than in previous months.  

Canny has been asked to continue as PR and comms partner for the event as it enters its latest evolution as the Specialist Defence and Security Convention (SDSC). 

3CDSE

Ploughshare has revolutionised its approach to exploiting innovations born from within the UK government to reap benefits for society at large. It asked Canny to help demonstrate the impact of its business model.

We conducted a series of interviews with key figures within Ploughshare to draw out the stories that brought Ploughshare’s impact to life. We then ‘put pen to paper’ and collated these into an annual review.

We designed the content structure, sourced the information, interviewed the subject matter experts, wrote and edited the copy and worked closely with Ploughshare’s existing design supplier.

Copywriting: showing the impact of innovation

This all culminated in a beautiful eBook that showcased Ploughshare’s many achievements at that time. It was launched at an in-person event in September 2022, engaging its key stakeholders and gaining coverage with relevant news sources. 

Ploughshare

Bright Corvus, a high-profile research and development programme being undertaken by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), needed to increase engagement and support from the project’s stakeholders. These include military users of the next-generation technology in the Front Line Commands and the partners they need to work with them in developing it, such as fellow colleagues, academia and industry. 

Our first step was to extract the technical details from the experts in each area. We quickly understood the potential use cases and applied them to our knowledge of the operational environment. Next, we developed a series of 3D concept stills and a 3D animation to show the potential application of this highly complex technology in a battlefield context. 

Using 3D animation allowed for greater realism and ensured that stakeholders could more easily visualise the full potential of future systems. Applying advanced radio frequency technologies in distributed systems enabled the delivery of disruptive surveillance, protection and navigation solutions.

Communicating emerging tech to front-line users

These highly realistic 3D concepts have been implemented in core stakeholder briefings, while the animation has already been put to use at the first Bright Corvus annual conference, as well as at the media release of the Defence Command Paper Refresh in July 2023. The visuals have allowed the project to make a real impact at both events, gaining traction with all their stakeholders but particularly MPs and senior military personnel. The customer is delighted with the result and Canny’s approach – producing a high-quality animation within an incredibly short timescale to meet their deadlines.

Dstl - Bright Corvus

Uncrewed aviation specialist Callen-Lenz sought to promote its novel Koios drone system and announce a new working relationship with Inzpire at the 2022 Farnborough International Airshow. More widely, it wished to refresh its image and emphasise the range and quality of its products.

Canny created a suite of marketing materials to deliver a shift change in the company’s brand image. This included stand designs for both the Callen-Lenz and Inzpire stands, as well as printed brochures.

Callen-Lenz successfully showcased its new look with a great response from all its stakeholders. This was just step one in the evolution of the brand. See its new website to witness the next stage of change. 

Callen-Lenz

Cyber 1st, a top British crypto engineering company, wanted to promote its mobile ‘Bulldog’ devices, which facilitate secure sharing of classified data over networks. It was struggling to showcase the benefits of its new product development due to travel restrictions and wanted to develop a consistent message to its stakeholders.

Hear from William Gimson, Strategy, Business Development and Sales Director, as he talks about Cyber 1st's attendance at SDSC-UK.

Cyber 1st - Website Video - V1

To overcome travel limitations, we created a virtual product showroom. The products could be explored interactively on screen, with the key information alongside. We accompanied this with 3D stills of likely use cases for the devices. We also developed a 2D animation that communicated the revolutionary advantages of these new products with contextual examples.

The virtual showroom allowed the company to bring its products to life without transporting physical devices.

The 3D stills captured the imagination of customers and led to opportunity pipeline growth.

The 2D animation and virtual showroom supported Cyber 1st’s presence at the Specialist Defence and Security Convention (SDSC-UK) and supported many subsequent meetings.

‘Canny found an innovative way to communicate the vast benefits of our world-class devices within the limitations we had. With their solution, we were able to travel to the other side of the world and present as easily as if we had our devices physically with us!’

William Gimson, Strategy, Business Development and Sales Director

Cyber 1st

Radnor Range, a firing range situated in Wales, was selected as the Prime contractor and host for a collaborative project between government and industry, tasked to redefine autonomous Test and Evaluation (T&E) for modern defence requirements.

Radnor Range required PR and comms support to boost its reach amongst its stakeholders, and to produce a range of content that showcased both Radnor’s live fire and synthetic capabilities.

We used our experienced team and knowledge of MOD communications processes to coordinate communications activities between the numerous collaboration partners. By doing this, we were able to curate compelling content that highlighted how Radnor’s capabilities positively impacted the results of the T&E project and showcased the many organisations involved

With a focus on MOD and industry audiences, we utilised LinkedIn and worked closely with Radnor’s customer to share the many successes of the project.

Radnor’s LinkedIn page has seen an exponential increase in reach since we began:

·        Followers increased by 167%.

·        Posts received an average engagement rate of 6.75%, 2–3% higher than what is considered a traditionally ‘good’ engagement rate for posts on LinkedIn.

·        There has been an increase in comments and reactions of over 500% in four months.

Here’s an example of a post that was shared through the end customer’s social media accounts and received over 120 likes and dozens of comments and reposts.

Radnor Range

Global geopolitical risk and intelligence firm Sibylline had many of the Fortune 500 and FTSE 250 companies on its client list, yet CEO Justin Crump described his company as the industry’s “best kept secret”. Justin asked Canny to change that. 

The aim was to double its revenue from its existing customer type (chief security officers (CSOs) in large corporates) and introduce Sibylline’s capabilities to the rest of the c-suite.

Head of Marketing and Communications, Sibylline

Millie Martin

Given Sibylline had a team of expert analysts, all providing unbiased analysis to clients on geopolitical issues every minute of every day, the approach centred on turning this into a ‘service’ for the media to secure regular high-calibre coverage. 

We started by working with the chosen spokespeople to provide media training and develop compelling pitches based on their expertise and the news agenda. Next, we worked with the in-house team to ensure a robust process was in place for handling media enquiries quickly and smoothly. 

Our challenge was proving the credibility of their spokespeople. To achieve this, we constructed a series of short media-only virtual roundtables with Sibylline’s experts, running ahead of the news agenda to provide forecast insight. 

Media relations: a PR service for the media

Canny started working with Sibylline in 2020. Here is a snapshot of coverage between May 2022 and mid-May 2023. In this period, we secured 488 pieces of UK and US national and international business coverage. Examples of the coverage, all including unbiased analysis and brand mentions:

42 interviews and expert appearances on BBC News

35 comments in The Times (print and online)   and three interviews on Times Radio 

13 interviews on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme   

4 interviews and expert appearances on the BBC   World Service

In May 2022 alone, the audience reach of coverage was well over 1.569bn. LinkedIn followers increased by 48% (3,702) and average engagement rate rose from 4.72% to 5.18%, with some posts topping 81 reactions and 423 clicks. 

The results of this coverage have led to significant brand recognition; when the sales team now make ‘cold calls’ to prospective clients, the contacts have heard of Sibylline and want to know more. The company has grown to five times its size, from 100 to 500 employees, and has accrued £50m in revenue in the last 12 months and continues to receive daily requests for comment.

Sibylline

Nanotechnology firm Advanced Material Development (AMD) was looking to accelerate its innovation within defence and security.

COO of AMD

Richard Lee

Phase one included an analysis of AMD’s current position and development of a strategy covering innovation, BD and marcomms. The resulting strategy included three growth themes: reputation, revenue and IP.  Phase two was a targeted programme with September 2021’s DSEI in the centre to increase the company’s insight and traction in defence, develop useful partnerships, identify future routes to market and secure R&D funding. 

More than 100 new relationships formed, including the CTOs of most of the major primes, as well as relevant SMEs. 

DASA contract worth ~£400k secured in September, adding £8m to the company’s valuation.

A pipeline of opportunities with government and industry.

Coverage with national broadcast and broadsheet outlets and trade, investment and scientific media outlets.

Here are some examples of the work we've done for our clients.

Our work