I can help you directly as a writer, and I can offer broader business and social insight to support your communication work. I understand brand thinking, and agree that it matters a great deal, which is why I can get frustrated with the platitudes that too often surround it. We need smarter ways of thinking about brand, identity and good corporate behaviour. Finding the right language (which above all means understanding properly the contexts in which we’re working) is a catalyst for that thinking.

I started my commercial career in-house for a telecommunications manufacturer (part of the then giant GEC). I moved to the PR division of a small ad agency, rising quickly to become its director. I worked primarily in the building and architecture sector, but also for a garden machinery manufacturer, handling trade as well as consumer communication. I moved to a larger agency (Publicis), working in transport, public health and telecommunication. I left to concentrate on my freelance practice. I’ve worked since with many large companies (BT, Microsoft, Vodafone, BP, GSK) and many small ones too. I’ve written about everything from online share trading to fine wine, from advanced information technology to carbon trading.

You’re probably beginning to get the picture. I’m a generalist, deliberately. I can find the core of the interest in most things, and so make them interesting to others. That said there are areas that preoccupy me more than others, or that matter more to me. I’m fascinated by the way technology is changing not only what we do, but how we think. I’ve done a lot of work on health, educational, and environmental issues. I have no party affiliation, but I’m a political animal. I’m a practitioner in the arts both of music and writing, as well as having an informed interest in cinema, visual art, and architecture.

Along the way I also helped to create the Institute of Internal Communication. I’ve worked in marketing and internal communication, understanding the crossovers as well as the differences. Internal communication has been particularly damaged by poor thinking about brand: it’s important that we do better. I can help you do better.