72 MEA MARKETS / Business Awards 2021 Nov21864 Corporate Image Holdings is one of South Africa’s leading communications consultancies. Formed in 1987 and operating independently, the firmhas been extensively involved over the years in the financial services, food and beverages, agriculture, retail, telecommunications and technology, and leisure and entertainment industries. We profile the company as it is recognised in theMEA Business Awards 2021. Best Public Affairs & ReputationManagement Company – South Africa With core competencies and competitive advantages in reputation building and management, and in crisis communications, Corporate Image Holdings (Corporate Image) has a strong yet broad-based blue-chip client list that includes some of South Africa’s largest companies, most of which are JSE-listed. Corporate Image’s philosophy is simple - it invests time to understand its clients, seek out their competitors, and get to know their industries, with the sole focus on developing, protecting, and enhancing clients’ enterprise and brand value. “We make use of our nearly three decades of experience with some of South Africa’s most challenging cases and have the global reach and on-the-ground experience to help clients, no matter the issue they are facing,” elaborates Tamra Capstick-Dale, the firm’s Managing Director. “We are recognised for going beyond the brief and our ability to meet and exceed exacting deadlines and to create ideas that work, not just communications initiatives.” Its experience is multi-sectoral, and its staff are skilled planners and communicators who bring their knowledge, passion, and sense of detail to match clients’ needs and strategies. Having a broad network of specialists who can be called upon to provide expertise, from academics and economists to environmentalists and graphic designers, Corporate Image is well respected for working throughout the client enterprise, exposing internal experts in their fields to the media and helping them tell their stories in a compelling and engaging way. “We are often the first to introduce a new approach and this is probably because we are great problem solvers,” Tamra enthuses. “We tend to think through the unique issues our clients bring to us and create novel solutions in each case.” The company is also big on continuous learning and many of its staff have earned additional tertiary qualifications during their time at Corporate Image, and it is clear that integrity and original thinking are very important at Corporate Image. “We also don’t think of ourselves as an agency, so much as we are a part of the team at most of our clients. This sense of responsibility to our clients is probably why we tend to keep them for a long time – some for as long as 30 years,” Tamra shares. The Covid-19 pandemic saw a huge shift of nearly all corporate communications into the digital realm and, while this limits opportunities for face-to-face communication it has almost entirely eliminated the need for travel and rendered location irrelevant. For Corporate Image, this was a big boon. Tamra says, “It is now possible to conduct a press conference from anywhere, or to host a panel discussion with participants from different locations, or even continents – and we’ve done this. It’s an extremely efficient way of communicating and the reduction in travel time alone has significantly increased productivity, while making it possible to work more closely with clients anywhere on the continent. We can sit in on meetings we would not have been able to attend in the past and this has the potential to deepen our understanding of the business and the speed with which we can get things done.” Talent retention and acquisition in South Africa has become a real issue as skills continue to leave the country through emigration, or hard-to-find skills increasingly move to independent consulting as opposed to full time work. However, in the wake of being recognised in the MEA Business Awards with the prestigious title of Best Public Affairs & Reputation Management Company – South Africa, Corporate Image’s focus for the future is on making sure that its people are well cared for and are happy in the quality of work they produce and the working environment they enjoy, as well as expanding its counsel to industries that it currently does not cover, and also extending its reach into Africa and further afield. Contact Details Contact: Tamra Capstick-Dale Company: Corporate Image Web Address: www.corporateimage.co.za
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