Social was commissioned by Livv Housing Group (then known as First Ark Group) in December 2018, four months after the group had received a downgrade from G1 compliant to G3 non-compliant by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The group was on its journey to a root-and-branch restructure and rebrand and Social’s role was to assist with telling the story not only of this journey but of the ongoing work being done in the communities it operated in.

Social has continued to support the organisation through its rebrand and upgrade to G2 compliant in 2020 and on an ongoing basis.

Amongst our first priorities was crisis and reputation management in responding to the downgrade and negative press the group had received around this issue from housing trade and local press.

We supported the messaging strategy and CEO’s personal messaging to manage corporate reputation as Livv underwent radical structural change and a rebrand to take it though to its first stage of regulatory governance upgrade. We provided media training for senior staff at Livv to give confidence in message delivery. The Regulator praised Livv for its core messaging strategy at this stage which focused on trust, safety and data clarity.

Coverage gained for the news of the regulatory upgrade came from trade press such of Inside Housing, Social Housing, Housing Digital, Housing Management & Maintenance as well as regional and local media including Business Insider and The Business Desk.

Due to the downgrade Livv attracted further media attention from the sector’s trade press. This has included ranking the new CEO incorrectly in the list of top 10 highest paid CEOs in the sector in its annual survey. We have NCTJ legally qualified former journalists on our team who know how to argue for corrections and know how to work at pace and high pressure, which goes hand-in-glove with media crisis and managing negative sentiment.

Alongside this work we have delivered strategic and proactive communications and storytelling for Livv, focusing on and celebrating its work within its communities and on people stories. These have helped raise Livv’s profile and reputation with coverage across trade press and local media.

Stories have covered funding provided to community projects by Livv’s investment arm as well as the role the group and its staff played in responding to the pandemic and supporting its residents and wider communities through funding, donations and volunteering.

Social also assisted Livv with a campaign around its £11m transformation of an extra care scheme at The Watchfactory in Prescot. Alongside gaining local and regional press coverage, we also created video assets…

As well as generating coverage for Livv, Social has also assisted with copywriting for annual reports and award entries, assisting with Livv’s success in winning Best Employee Engagement Strategy at the national HR Excellence Awards. This was in a highly competitive category that also included Lloyds Banking Group and the London Stock Exchange Group.

• 32,879,242 opportunities to see
• 266 pieces of coverage
• Coverage on Granada Reports
• Rebrand cover story and interview in 24 Housing magazine
• Best Employee Engagement Strategy at the national HR Excellence Awards

Livv Housing Group achieved its G2 compliant upgrade in 2020 with praise given to its for its core messaging strategy.

We have also helped Livv to promote its community work and people stories as well as winning a national HR award as part of its journey back from the downgrade.