Portfolio

AECOM is a Fortune 500, publicly-listed, global professional technical and management services consultancy.

Over more than a decade, BBS has implemented a profiling and thought leadership program for AECOM (and its predecessor brands) to support its growth and evolution in Australia. This program involved developing messaging for company spokespeople in areas of business growth and specialty, pitching thought pieces and research to key media and industry publications and leveraging speaking opportunities.

As part of a broader program of thought leadership, BBS has trained AECOM senior executives and spokespeople, including the Managing Director and Regional Managers. This training has supported proactive media engagement but also the handling of difficult issues relating to contentious projects and legal proceedings.

Arrow has been safely and sustainably developing coal seam gas since 2000, commercially supplying it since 2004, and now delivers almost 20 per cent of Queensland’s natural gas from five CSG fields in the Bowen and Surat basins, in central and southern Queensland, respectively.

The company is working to meet the growing international demand for cleaner burning fuels through gas supply for liquefied natural gas export.

In 2013, Arrow engaged BBS to develop a bespoke training program for its project staff who are expected to perform at exceptionally high levels when engaging with key stakeholders, including regional local governments and landholders.

BBS rolled out a capacity building program which featured training elements relevant to community engagement, presentation skills and negotiation skills. Arrow Energy staff use these skills daily as they continue to work the project through its development phases.

Bank of Queensland (BOQ) is a major regional bank and is consistently required by media for commentary on industry issues and financial transactions.

BBS has delivered media training and executive coaching for BOQ over several years, relating to general interview skills and preparedness, as well as strategic counsel relating to court proceedings.

BDO is a leading audit, tax and advisory firm with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Nationally, BDO has approximately 160 partners and more than 1,300 staff.

BBS has implemented external communications for BDO’s Queensland business since 2011 and was appointed to the national role in 2014.

Our integrated thought-leadership approach to communications actively supports BDO’s growth objectives.

Northshore Hamilton Urban Development Area Community Engagement Project
BBS received an IAP2 Core Values Award for our work in developing and executing the community engagement framework for the landmark Northshore Hamilton Urban Development Area (UDA).
The concept of UDAs was new to Queensland and significant community education and engagement was required.

BBS’ community engagement program was genuinely inclusive and harnessed the feedback of the tightly knit and exclusive Northshore Hamilton community to help shape the final Draft Development Scheme which was submitted to the Minister.

The positive feedback cemented the ULDA as a responsive and responsible government agency and had set a new benchmark in community engagement. The success of this UDA paved the way for a state-wide rollout of future UDAs.
BBS won an IAP2 award for this project, but the ULDA also won an IAP2 award for the decision maker category.

Energy Super is a platinum-rated $5.9 billion industry superannuation fund providing complete retirement planning solutions to more than 49,000 members.

BBS has worked for the fund since 2009 and assisted with strategic communication around the formation of Energy Super in 2011 from the merger of industry superannuation funds ESI Super and SPEC Super. Today BBS continues to provide the award-winning fund with member communication, media relations and corporate communication support.

Iconic Australian confectionary brand, Darrell Lea was purchased by Quinn Foods in September 2012 after it was put into voluntary administration in July 2012 by its previous owners, the Lea Family.

BBS developed a media strategy to relaunch the ‘new’ Darrell Lea in time for Australia Day 2013, in line with the brand’s new positioning and refreshed product range.

A key activity of the Australia Day event was a Guinness Book of World Records attempt by Darrell Lea to create the world’s largest piece of “Rocklea Road” in the shape of Australia.

Mainstream and social media were important strategies in the campaign and included media-based competitions and consumer engagement.

Green Cross Australia was funded through the joint Federal and State Government’s Natural Disaster Resilience Program to deliver a ‘one-stop-shop’ internet portal to give Queenslanders suburb specific information on historical severe weather events and natural disasters and to provide tailored advice on how to increase personal resilience in preparing for future events.

BBS’ media campaign used a combination of exclusive interviews and tailored regional media releases to achieve national and international exposure for the initiative.
On the day of the launch Hardenup# trended on Twitter and coverage ran across print, electronic and online media. During the launch period, the portal received almost 18,000 unique visitors with 4300 Personal Resilience Plans started.

The Queensland Government subsequently announced further funding to continue the development of the portal which was an enormous achievement for Green Cross Australia and BBS.

Ingenia Communities Group is an ASX-listed owner, operator and developer of seniors’ housing communities across Australia. The Group has three portfolios offering a range of retirement living options – Settlers Lifestyle Retirement Villages, Garden Villages and Active Lifestyle Estates.

Ingenia Communities is experiencing strong growth and is using strategic communications to support its growth strategy.

BBS provides media profiling and communications support to the head office team as well as individual villages seeking to grow their presence in the local market.

The core of the communications strategy is to maintain and boost occupancy rates in key villages across various states, as well as highlight the varied retirement living options in Australia.

In 2014, BBS spearheaded a media campaign to launch Ingenia Care Assist – a new initiative that connects Ingenia’s Garden Villages residents to local support services.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia National Secretariat in Canberra, as well as the Guild’s State Branches in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria) have engaged BBS during the past 15 years to provide communications support, particularly in communicating the position of pharmacy to the electorate and political aspirants. Most recently, BBS led the Pharmacy Under Threat campaign, which was a national call to action to consumers to sign a petition encouraging the Federal Government to preserve pharmacy services. The campaign, which involved widespread print material, media coverage, advertising and direct political lobbying, resulted in 1.1 million Australians singing the petition; the largest ever in Australian history.

The “Under Threat” Campaign
BBS led the strategy coordination and implementation of the Pharmacy Under Threat campaign in the lead up to the 2013 Federal Election. This project involved a large-scale, nation-wide campaign to inform pharmacy patients about changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) that would have a serious impact on them and all community pharmacies.

Due to the nation-wide reach required and the limited budget, BBS chose to develop a social media campaign to provide critical uplift to the mainstream media and political communication elements of the project.

Pharmacists, pharmacy assistants, pharmacy students and patients took to social media to express their concerns, posting messages of support for the Pharmacy Under Threat campaign and share what they were doing to get the word out in their local communities.

Posts on the Guild’s Facebook page were seen almost 100,000 times in less than five weeks. The Guild’s website was revamped to reflect the campaign and an online petition started.

In total the campaign led to more than 1.4 million Australians signing a petition, the largest ever presented to Federal Parliament.

In April 2011, Queensland Teachers’ Credit Union (QTCU) became QT Mutual Bank Limited, one of Australia’s first mutual banks. As part of the required legal process, QTCU had to put the change to a member vote.

To support this process, QTCU engaged BBS to develop a comprehensive strategic communications and stakeholder engagement campaign. BBS was involved in all areas of the planning and implementation process including key message development, speech writing, media briefings and direct member engagement.

The result was overwhelming member support for the change. BBS continues to support QTMB with risk management and crisis planning.

Queensland Airports Limited (QAL) is a regional airport specialist with an emphasis on creating significant regional airport development in Queensland. QAL is a 100% Australian-owned, Queensland-based company that owns and operates the Gold Coast, Townsville, Mount Isa and Longreach Airports.

BBS assisted QAL with the community consultation process as part of its Gold Coast Airport Masterplan, and has delivered a company-wide community engagement framework, and social media strategy (including the internal staff social media policy).

The Queensland Education Leadership Institute (QELi) is an innovative and landmark venture by Queensland’s three schooling sectors to equip school leaders with the skills and training they need to help drive major education reforms. Established as a not-for-profit organisation in June 2010, QELi is owned jointly by the Department of Education and Training, Queensland Catholic Education Commission and Independent Schools Queensland.

BBS manages external communication, including media, business development and digital communication, for QELi.

REIQ has been Queensland’s peak body for real estate professionals since 1918 and continues to be the industry’s premier thought leader and service provider.

BBS has worked for the REIQ for several years providing communication strategies and support to strengthen the relationships between the institute, its members and its stakeholders.

These have included member communications audits, member satisfaction surveys, generating content for the monthly REIQ journal, and developing member communication.

Retail Food Group is a leading Australian retail food brand manager and franchisor. It is the franchisor and intellectual property owner of the Donut King, Michel’s Patisserie, Brumby’s Bakeries and bb’s cafe systems.

BBS Communications has worked with RFG over eight years to position the organisation as one of Australia’s leading franchise system managers.

Initially, our role was to provide communication support for RFG’s Initial Public Offering – – from the development of the prospectus through to the opening of the Initial Public Offer and listing day. A total of 36.5 million shares were offered at $1.00 per share during the IPO. The company had a market capitalisation on listing of approximately $71.7 million.

By creating awareness of the brands and the company’s ASX listing, distributing proactive media releases, securing state and national media coverage for all eight franchisee brands, developing consistent and tailored company key messages and implementing strategic marketing and communication strategies, RFG has been positioned as a financially strong company with continued growth potential.

As a food manufacturer and retailer, brand management is critical in times of crisis and BBS has been instrumental in developing and implementing crisis management protocols for RFG and its brands.

The $3.2 billion Clem Jones Tunnel (CLEM7) project was delivered and operated by ASX-listed company, RiverCity Motorway Group (RCM).

The 6.8 kilometre toll road is Australia’s longest road tunnel and is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Queensland. In 2009, BBS was appointed by RCM to manage liaison with Brisbane City Council and to assist in the development and implementation of the media strategy to promote the CLEM7 in the lead up to opening. Following the opening, BBS was engaged to provide ongoing communications and media relations support for the promotion and reputation management of the tunnel until it was sold in 2013.

BBS was engaged to maintain and promote RCM’s reputation throughout a range of potentially damaging issues and events, from traffic incidents, major customer disputes and the process of receivership. Positive engagement with commentators and stakeholders had led to changes in driver behaviour, with traffic reports noting a steady increase in traffic numbers each year.

Leslie Harrison Dam (LHD) is water storage reservoir near Capalaba, south of Brisbane. As part of Queensland’s water reform agenda, Seqwater took over management of the dam from Redland City Council. At the same time there were changes in legislation mandating best practice for maintaining water quality. As part of Seqwater’s charter they saw that a number of changes were required for the dam to manage and maintain appropriate levels of water quality.

To give residents a voice and also tap in to their local knowledge & experience Seqwater worked with BBS to develop a Community Reference Group (CRG) to develop key principles to guide the development of a Natural Asset Management Plan (NAMP) for the storage area. A NAMP provides a set of best practice rules and regulations to ensure the best possible conditions are maintained to assist with water quality.

BBS developed and implemented a number of community engagement activities over a six month period and the process has informed future engagement protocols for Seqwater.

SP Brewery, owned by Heineken, is the number one beer maker in Papua New Guinea, employing more than 300 staff and distributing more than 70 million litres of beer to domestic and international markets annually.

Since 2012, BBS has provided strategic communication advice to SP Brewery’s corporate affairs team, helping to build a structure and skills base that will best help the organisation manage its reputation, issues and opportunities.

In early 2014, TransLink announced that the Southern Moreton Bay Island (SMBI) ferries would be joining the go card network. Although integration with TransLink was welcomed by most island residents, the fare structure chosen caused some concern.

BBS Communications was contracted to provide strategic advice and engagement support to TransLink for a series of information sessions being held on the island.

BBS recommended an “open house” format for the sessions that would allow TransLink and BBS staff to communicate one-on-one with residents and provide individualised information.

Despite the controversial nature of the project a survey of attendees found that 80 per cent found the sessions either extremely or very helpful.

The Woods Group is a diversified family agribusiness based in Goondiwindi in western Queensland. Woods have interests in grain growing and marketing, stock feed, transport and food export. BBS is assisting Woods Group to integrate digital tools into its communications program, particularly focusing on website interactivity and mobile functionality.

The new Woods Group website will reposition the business as an internationally-competitive agribusiness company at the leading edge of export food production and an Australian success story.

The new website will have mobile and tablet functionality and will include integrated tools relating to grain pricing, ordering and marketing.

The ASX Listed, Wotif Group is responsible for a number of leading online travel brands in the Asia Pacific region, including Australasia’s most popular travel and packages website, Wotif.com. As a leading industry player, a key priority for the brand is to effectively reach and communicate to consumers, businesses and investors about its operations.

Wotif has engaged BBS on multiple occasions to conduct executive media training and to assist with the preparation for key media interviews.