Media training has long been available to Irish executives, but Haddington Media questions whether the training CEOs and managing directors can expect in 2022 reflect that rapidly changing media environment.

Fronted by former TV3 news anchor and government advisor Alan Cantwell, the company is premised on the fact that C-suite executives are under greater scrutiny than ever and that companies have to become more active in communicating their message to prospective clients and the public at large.

“In recent years we've seen the proliferation of media where it's gone from traditional to online, and that has imposed requirements on CEOs and companies to participate in getting their story out there, and the different disciplines that are required for the different types of media,” Cantwell explains.

Through a combination of day courses, which can be adapted to the strengths and weaknesses of clients, and follow-up tuition whereby the company will assess how they have implemented the lessons, Haddington Media aims to equip its clients with a skillset for interfacing with all the different strands of modern media.

Cantwell explains that through one-to-one sessions clients will become versed in requirements for pushing their company’s message across television, radio, print and online; how to recognise and react to media opportunities at local, national and global level; and how to pique media – or an individual journalist’s – interest.

In Association with

Ultimately, Cantwell wants C-suite executives to conclude their Haddington Media training more confident in their ability to understand requirements and frame and push their company’s message to put them front and centre of the story.

During an initial exploratory process, clients’ abilities and shortfalls will be identified and Cantwell and his team will highlight areas for improvement, such as confidence, messaging, presentation, interview technique. At the end of the day, they will compare and contrast the client’s performance and show the improvement they have made.

Crisis management and further skills are covered at later sessions as added-value propositions outside the set content of the day course, and Cantwell believes long-term relations with clients are most important for the success of Haddington Media and its prospective customers.

“We don't just bring people in and send them away and say thanks for your business," says Cantwell. "We're in the business of following up. We understand that clients will require a certain amount of tuition later on too."

“We will sit down post-training with an individual and talk to them about how they have brought the skills that they have learned into the reality of business and how they use them.

“We will follow up with them in terms of a report, which will say: we asked you to have a look at this particular area, how have you managed with that? Do you feel that you have progressed in any way or is there any way we can help you?

“It's all about the follow up. It's a step-by-step thing. When you are doing business with us, it's not for four or five or six hours, it's long term.”

Recognising a gap in the market, Cantwell established Haddington Media this year, and although the company is at an embryonic stage, he and his co-founders have some 80 years combined experience across journalism, marketing and media production and post-production to draw on.

Cantwell describes Haddington Media as a “one-stop shop for communications”, and the company’s services are bolstered its base at SpaceTo studio, a professional-grade studio located off Baggot Street that will give clients a feel for what to expect when being interviewed on television or radio – with autocue, cameras, lighting and immersive backdrops.

The experienced former news anchor believes that there needs to be “a reset or refocus” in the media training industry to meet the insatiable consumer appetite for content, with companies’ communications departments “banging the drum” for business leaders to take the lead.

“Traditional media is not dead, but it has moved considerably to different platforms. Different content is required to appeal to a certain cohort, and what we endeavour to do is to be able to deliver content across all platforms that is relevant to the end user,” Cantwell adds.

“I think that's where we have to look at the manner in which we train people and advise them on the messaging and what message will land for certain audiences. Because like media the audience has proliferated. Just sitting down and saying, ‘Well, we need to talk to the Irish Times and that's it’ – those days are over.

“It's about understanding the way that landscape has shifted, and we understand that with our expertise within the organisation, and we know how to point people in the right direction to be able to deliver their message to the different platforms.”

Photo: Alan Cantwell. (Pic: Haddington Media)