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

Canny Comms has welcomed Helena Holden to the team in the role of Marketing and Communications Delivery Lead. She brings with her a wealth of experience from her previous role as Campaign Manager in the Army Communications Branch. 

With a background in innovation and a focus on communicating the importance of Army modernisation, Helena is well-versed in strategy development and the planning of marketing communications products. Her expertise in the industry promises to elevate the team's capabilities, with a particular knack for building processes that ensure the timely delivery of products. 

Helena's deep understanding of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and industry partners was honed through her involvement in events like the Army Warfighting Experiment, DSEI, and Defence Cyber Marvel. This experience enables her to grasp the technical nuances of emerging capabilities effortlessly. 

Her contributions to the field have not gone unnoticed. In 2022, Helena was awarded the prestigious title of 'Army Communicator of the Year' and received a commendation for her exceptional work leading the Innovation Campaign from the Deputy Chief of the General Staff. 

Helena's journey began as an officer in the Royal Artillery, where she served as a Command Post Officer during the Iraq war, controlling the fire of a Battery of AS90 guns. This firsthand experience as an end-user provided her with valuable insights into how technology can significantly enhance the lives of soldiers. Over the past five years, she has focused on communicating the benefits of modernisation, spearheading successful communications campaigns around events such as Project Convergence, Army EXPO, and on platforms like Archer, Appache Helicopter (AH64E), and Ajax Armoured Fighting Vehicle. 

Helena’s arrival at Canny Comms marks the continuous growth of the company and the future certainly looks exciting. 

We're so pleased to welcome Helena Holden to the team as our Marketing and Communications Delivery Lead.

Kicking off the new year with a new team member

Canny secured the coveted gold award for 'Best Use of Media Relations' at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations PRide awards. This remarkable accomplishment reflects the outstanding dedication and unwavering commitment of our talented team. 

This award was due to the long-standing work we have done with Sibylline, a global risk consultancy company. Through our efforts, Sibylline has enjoyed widespread international media coverage and has been able to share their expertise on current global events. This award also recognises the team’s hard work in preparing for and carrying out the media engagement we have facilitated.  

This award signifies not just a moment of triumph, but a promise to continue delivering exceptional media relations strategies and solutions. Canny remains committed to providing the highest level of service and innovation to our clients, and we look forward to further opportunities to create lasting impact. 

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and, most importantly, to Sibylline Ltd., for their continuous support and trust. Together, we've demonstrated that when excellence meets collaboration, gold becomes the standard. 

Stay tuned for more exciting journeys and accomplishments from Canny!  

We're proud to share that we won 'Best Use of Media Relations' at the CIPR PRide awards.

Canny wins gold!

Explore the fascinating fusion of military and commercial technology, the emphasis on human solutions, and the critical significance of the 'near-ground' battlespace. James Peddell, chief technology consultant for Canny Comms, delves into these key themes, offering valuable insights and lessons applicable to militaries worldwide. Discover how Ukraine's adaptive posture and relentless drive for innovation are reshaping modern warfare strategies.

 The Russian invasion of Ukraine has laid bare the advantages and limitations of hybrid warfare, with global news outlets following the stories of fake news and influence operations, through to control of oil supplies and threats of nuclear warfare. Behind the headlines, the closely fought ground battle is starting to expose the real innovation. After short-term successes, the Russian conventional forces have been matched by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), supported by Western equipment. However, it is the AFU’s agile and innovative approach that has delivered the edge. 

From artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D printing to unmanned platforms and commercial space, James Peddell, chief technology consultant for Canny Comms and founder of technology consultancy Black Jellyfish, identifies three key themes that militaries the world over can learn from Ukraine’s refreshing approach. 

A fusion of military and commercial technology  

The AFU has been remarkably effective at accessing and deploying both civilian and military technology in tandem. It has done this by using a global constellation of commercial ‘off-the-shelf’ and foreign military technology, each part modified and integrated to bypass the demands of a lengthy bespoke military programme. Many will have seen the example of SpaceX’s Starlink, which has been integrated into AFU communications and was able to rapidly overcome Russian attempts at jamming. Similarly, geospatial imagery from commercial satellite services is being combined with Western intelligence to provide a unique battlespace picture. Even controversial AI facial recognition is being repurposed using social media to identify Russian casualties of war and inform their families. The opportunities and benefits from leveraging both commercial and miliary advancements seem almost limitless. 

Yet, perhaps more important is the agility with which commercial and military technology can be put to use. The AFU is achieving this by creating specialist military and civilian teams, using the best talent it has available, to rapidly assess and implement technology at scale. These teams have developed tactics that combine commercial drones (Chinese DJI), to detect and identify targets, with military drones (Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and the US Switchblade) to deliver weapons. Intelligence teams have worked with Primer AI, rapidly repurposing its technology to transcribe and translate unencrypted Russian communications, automatically highlighting key intelligence and massively reducing costs in terms of both money and labour. In Ukraine, an adaptive posture and an open-minded attitude to solutions are proving an effective adversary.  

 The critical tactical importance of the ‘near-ground’ battlespace has been exemplified in the Ukraine conflict. This space is dominated by UAS, counter UAS and EW. Indeed, the sheer array and quantity of technology deployed in this battlespace is indicative of its importance. Drones are being used across all military roles, from surveillance, EW and communications through to logistics resupply, loitering munitions and weapon delivery. New capabilities are even being developed in the field, specifically for the near-ground battlespace. Obsolete anti-tank grenades are being fitted with 3D-printed tailfins to allow them to be air-dropped from drones, highlighting again the resourceful posture that has been so important. What smaller conflicts, like Nagorno- Karabakh, have hinted at has been proved beyond all doubt by Ukraine: whomever controls the near-ground battlespace can dominate the battlefield.   The Ukraine conflict has repeatedly shown the importance of an adaptive posture and an unsentimental preparedness to innovate wherever possible. Militaries from across the world should learn these lessons and seek to apply them to their own modernisation efforts. In the UK, there are significant strides being made that align with these lessons. The Future Commando Force (FCF) is transforming the Royal Marines into an ‘autonomous advance force’, including the creation of agile rapid response teams. Similarly, the Army’s programme on human machine teaming aims to leverage both commercial and military technologies, with a focus on the near-ground battlespace. However, I suspect that the hard-learned lessons of the AFU can be put to great use more widely, across the whole UK military.  

James Peddell has an outstanding track record of leadership at the forefront of global innovation and technology for defence. His previous roles include Head of Sensor Systems for the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, Research Director for the Royal Navy’s £60M S&T programme, Defence Technology Attaché at the British Embassy in Washington and Head of Defence Innovation at Roke Manor Research. Through Black Jellyfish Ltd and a partnership with Canny Comms, James engages with government and industry to provide expert advice, develop partnerships and accelerate innovation in defence. 

What can the world learn from Ukraine's agile and innovative approach?

Warfare: the mother of all innovation

A team of academics, experts, or professionals in a specific field often develops their own communication style, filled with jargon that expedites dialogue within their bubble. However, when engaging outside of their expertise, understanding and conveying complex concepts becomes a challenge. That's where our multidisciplinary team excels. With our unique blend of communication, technical, and industry expertise, we bridge the gap by quickly grasping the intellectual and technical issues. From advanced computing to biotechnology, we ensure that engineers, scientists, and others are better understood through accessible language and compelling visuals. Collaborate, scale, innovate - let us help you communicate effectively.

A team of academics, experts or professionals in a specific field will often develop their own bespoke communication style. Between them, there is a collective understanding of complicated concepts which can often show itself as a shorthand form of speech, where a certain level of knowledge is implied. What might seem like alienating jargon is actually there to expedite dialogue.  

But that jargon, as it becomes the new normal, becomes a problem when that team needs to engage outside of their own bubble. This could be for reasons of collaboration, with experts in different fields, or for commercial reasons, with financial investors who want to know whether scalability, efficiency or innovation are possible. Often, with emerging technologies, this engagement is fundamental to the inception of the product or service. 

The difficult but not insurmountable communication challenge is to understand the intellectual and technical issues in order to frame everything within messages using more accessible language. This is where we are most at home, fitting neatly into a technical team, able to quickly understand the complex scientific, technical and industry details, before transforming that information into words and images that make sense to those outside of the bubble. 

We are able to do this because of our unique multidisciplinary team which combines communications experts with technical and industry experts.  Whether it’s advanced computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, autonomy, robotics, directed energy, hypersonics or biotechnology, we will understand what you do quickly so we can get on with making sure others get it too.  

A team of academics, experts, or professionals in a specific field often develops their own communication style, filled with jargon that expedites dialogue within their bubble.

Helping engineers and scientists to be better understood

Our entry, 'a media service: unbiased geopolitical analysis' and was focused on our PR work with our long-standing client Sibylline.

They are an excellent case study of how a concerted, targeted media strategy can result in enhanced media coverage. From comparatively humble beginnings, Sibylline has established itself as one of the leading independent risk analysis firms. They now count many firms in the FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 as their clients, and their growth shows no sign of slowing down.

In 2019, Canny was enlisted to help Sibylline showcase its expertise to the world through PR. Given Canny’s specialism in defence and security, knowledge of the threat environment and the news agenda, we used our well-established relationships with national and international correspondents in the industry to build credible examples of commentary. This, combined with us setting up the systems to provide an expert commentary service for breaking geopolitical news, we quickly gained traction with the wider media.

Sibylline’s geopolitical analysis is now a regular fixture in the UK, and international press. Their CEO, Justin Crump can be routinely seen on BBC News, Sky News, Deutsche Welle and Radio Four's Today program, among many others. It’s not just their CEO either, the sage insights of their regional analysts can frequently be found in such publications such as The Sunday Times, Wired and Barron’s.

We now look forward to the awards ceremony in October and keep our fingers crossed for a win!

Justin Crump, CEO of Sibylline presenting a news bulletin on Sky News

Canny has been shortlisted for the Chartered Insitute of Public Relations 2023 Pride Awards in the category of Best Use of Media Relations.

Defence PR: Canny is shortlisted for a 2023 Pride Award

Olivia comes straight from the University of Nottingham, where she has just earned a first-class MA in international security and terrorism as well as a BA in politics and international relations.  This gives her a solid theoretical understanding of international security issues and an appreciation for the complex geopolitical challenges that our clients often face.

Olivia's master's thesis examined the challenges faced by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament in Britain and explored whether the committee could operate effectively in the coming years. In the course of preparing her dissertation, she had the privilege of working with former members of the committee, gaining valuable experience in handling sensitive data. 

Olivia has always enjoyed a high level of sport, having spent ten years as an elite gymnast and, most recently, winning the national championships with her university's cheerleading team. Through cheerleading, she found a love for communication while managing social channels as the team’s publicity secretary.

Olivia lept at the chance to work for Canny as she'll be able to craft a career that combines her long-standing political interests with her emerging skills in communications. Within the first week of joining us, Olivia started a foundation award in public relations with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and immediately added value to our varied and interesting client work. 

We are happy to share that Olivia Berringer has joined the Canny team as an account executive.

International security and terrorism graduate joins the team

Canny is a full-service agency – expert in communicating technology and innovation in defence and security.

What we do

OUR SERVICES

3CDSE

Ploughshare

Dstl - Bright Corvus

Callen-Lenz

Do we sound like the ideal partner for you?