MHA Moore and Smalley
Positioning MHA Moore and Smalley as a leading professional services brand
Client:
MHA Moore and Smalley
Sector:
Professional Services
How we helped:
- Strategic Communications and Planning
- Media Relations
- Thought Leadership Content
- Employee Communications
- Branding and Design
MHA Moore and Smalley is an award-winning firm of chartered accountants and business advisors with offices across the North West, 31 partners and over 400 staff.
The firm is part of MHA, the UK’s 14th largest network of independent accountants and business advisers. MHA collectively employs 1,600 partners and staff across 21 offices.
Freshfield has acted as a PR and communications adviser to MHA Moore and Smalley since 2002. It’s a period which has seen transformational growth and geographic expansion, with the firm going from a regional accountancy firm to becoming part of a UK-wide network with global connections.
Our brief
Freshfield’s most recent brief has been to devise and implement a communications strategy to support MHA Moore and Smalley’s ambitious growth plans, which has included the opening of new offices in Manchester and Liverpool and a sustained campaign of lateral hires.
Our objective was to position the firm as a genuine accountancy and business advisory heavyweight in the North West, in particular shining a light on its growing specialisms in audit, corporate finance and tax. The firm also wanted to be seen as a great employer and to tell people more about its social value activity and wider ESG journey.
What we delivered
Our storytelling strategy has focused on gaining consistent high levels of targeted media coverage and online visibility for the firm and its experts. We’ve done this by blending earned, owned and paid media activity.
We’ve used our relationships with the media to arrange set-piece profile opportunities, such as lists of the most active deal advisers, profiles of influential professionals, panel speaking slots, roundtable discussions and awards judging roles.
Our work has also provided the firm with powerful content for its website and social media channels, allowing deep engagement with clients, professional intermediaries, and potential employees.
Throughout this period, our design and content studio has supported the firm’s business development and marketing team on a number of branding projects.
Impact
In 2023, we helped the firm gain 111 pieces of online media coverage, which led to over 334,000 online coverage views and over 2,000 social media shares. During this period, the firm also collected a number of significant business awards, including the firm’s head of corporate finance, Andrew Feeke, being named Rainmaker of the Year.
The firm’s partners have consistently reported positive feedback from clients, professional intermediaries and staff, with our activity regularly sparking new conversations and business enquiries, as well as supporting staff recruitment campaigns.
“Freshfield has been a key partner on our journey and its team is very much part of ours. They always invest time to understand our challenges and goals, and are always on the front foot when it comes to ideas and solutions. Freshfield has done a tremendous job in helping build our brand, which has been an important facet of our sustained growth and development.”
Danny Houghton, Partner, MHA Moore and Smalley
