Blog | StP Communications

Mar 25, 2020
4 min

Lessons in Leadership

The day the earth stood still. Our world needs more empathy and compassion. In the 1980s, long before the internet changed how we do business, entertain ourselves, shop, travel and the way we see and receive information, my first job was area manager for a large tour operator. It was a good experience in managing staff, logistics and operations in different countries. Can you remember what it was like travelling in the '80s or the price of a ticket? You could smoke on a plane

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Stavros Papagianneas

Nov 28, 2019
2 min

PR Must Read Books in 2020

Now is an excellent time to think about your 2020 PR reading list and start the new year with big ideas. Whether you are a communications professional on the lookout for case studies from leaders in your field, a chief executive or an entrepreneur wanting to improve the way you communicate, there is something in my list of PR & communications books for every professional. 1. Known - Mark Schaefer Known is a collection of case studies, exercises and personal branding stories f

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Cultural Diplomacy: A Strategic Narrative for the EU

Leander Papagianneas

Sep 30, 2019
2 min

Cultural Diplomacy: A Strategic Narrative for the EU

EU's foreign relations are designed to resolve conflicts and foster international understanding. They are based on diplomacy and respect for international rules. Trade, humanitarian aid, and development cooperation are also paramount. Populism, Brexit, rising inequality and xenophobia make the EU’s structural power extremely fragile. European culture has never been so undermined as before. While tensions with regard to economic and political differences matter, the most cr

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Stavros Papagianneas

Apr 2, 2019
3 min

Strategy for Reaching Policymakers

Being a professional communicator in Brussels and the EU political system can be a challenge, and those of us entering this world for the first time can be forgiven for thinking that communicating with EU policymakers should be more straightforward than it is. The EU has an important election in May this year. There has never been so much interest in European Parliament elections. For the first time, anti-establishment parties are expected to end the dominance of mainstream

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Stavros Papagianneas

Dec 10, 2018
3 min

PR Must Read Books in 2019

Now is an excellent time to think about your 2019 PR reading list and start the new year with big ideas. Whether you are a communications professional on the lookout for case studies from leaders in your field, an influencer learning how to revitalise your campaign strategy or, a chief executive wanting to improve the way you communicate, there is something in my list of PR & communications books for every professional. 1. Spin Sucks: Communication & Reputation Management in

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Want to Improve Your Communication Skills? Avoid These Habits

Stavros Papagianneas

Sep 24, 2018
2 min

Want to Improve Your Communication Skills? Avoid These Habits

The ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, partners, employees and stakeholders is essential, no matter what type of business you are in. How are your communication skills? If you have any of the following habits, there’s a good chance that you are not communicating as effectively as you could be. Here are some bad practices to avoid to instantly improve how you communicate. You Always Want to Be Right Being right is a very common human desire. We all want to be

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Stavros Papagianneas

Aug 28, 2018
3 min

How to Make Your Content Monumental

The term “quality content” gets thrown around a lot. Does anyone really know what that means? What makes content high-quality or compelling? To connect through content, the key is to shift your perspective and view things the way your target audience would. When it comes to making content more attractive, the secret is to make is easy to consume for the people who matter to your brand most. Your content has the best chance to get noticed when you stop trying to target as man

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Stavros Papagianneas

Jun 13, 2018
2 min

Content & Colors

Have you ever thought about how the specific color choices you make have a direct impact on the results of your content marketing? While most communicators understand that good design is essential and can make an impact on how clients & stakeholders feel and how they respond, they are often unaware of just how important the color choices are. Colors are fundamental in all aspects of communication. They have a direct impact on stakeholders, affecting their emotions and how the

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The Value of Content Marketing and Social Media : The Virgin case

Stavros Papagianneas

May 15, 2018
3 min

The Value of Content Marketing and Social Media : The Virgin case

When the social media creators first developed their platforms, it was meant to be a digital space for friends and family to connect and share photos and interests. They had no intention for their interactive platforms to be someday leveraged as the most powerful online marketing tools. Today, that’s exactly what social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn are. When it comes to content marketing and social media, no other organisation has adopted

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Stavros Papagianneas

Mar 6, 2018
3 min

Most Important Branding Trends in 2018

One of the best corporate branding campaigns ever is that of Nike. When the company started, the products were made almost exclusively for marathon runners. When the fitness vogue emerged, the marketing department of the company knew they needed to take advantage of it to surpass Reebok which was their main competitor. The Just do it campaign was launched in 1988. During that year, Nike sales were at 877 million dollars. Ten years later, in 1998, sales exceeded 9,2 billion. T

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What Facebook’s News Feed Change Means for Communication Leaders

Stavros Papagianneas

Feb 6, 2018
3 min

What Facebook’s News Feed Change Means for Communication Leaders

Is there anyone who is not on Facebook ? Although it has become less exciting because of its overuse, it is still relevant to each organisation needs. It’s clear that social media platforms, particularly Facebook, have greatly influenced how the communications industry has both pursued news leads and dispensed narratives to the public. Effectively using social media as part of a PR strategy has become inevitable. There’s even pressure surrounding producing a story that has a

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4 Tips for Dealing with Online Criticism

Stavros Papagianneas

May 19, 2017
4 min

4 Tips for Dealing with Online Criticism

Finding the courage to express yourself is not always an easy thing to do. While the internet provides many tools to share our opinions, articles, blog-posts and other creations with the world, it also opens us to opinions of others: the good, the bad and the cruel. From the moment you start writing on the web, you discover that developing a thick skin is a necessary skill for survival. I have been called a "spin doctor" by a reader of the Belgian financial newspaper De Tijd

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Stavros Papagianneas

Dec 14, 2016
3 min

PR Must Read Books in 2017

So, it is officially the holiday season, and you are looking for the ideal gift for family, friends, and of course, your clients and stakeholders. Books about communications is a fantastic idea. PR used to be all about gaining exposure and generating buzz for organisations through the media, but with content marketing, new technologies and social media coming to the forefront during the last years, comms must continuously adapt. Leaders are incessant learners, always looking

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Stavros Papagianneas

Jul 18, 2016
2 min

51 Steps to a Powerful Communication

I bought my first laptop, a Toshiba Satellite 110 CS, back in 1996. It possessed an 11,3" STN colour screen with a resolution of 800 x 600 and a 100 MHz processor “for all those lavish presentations and complex programs” - like it was mentioned in the product brochure. It had a Windows 95 operating system and an 810 million byte hard disk drive. “Isn't that the sort of storage you've always dreamt about? At last, enough space for all your vital data and software programs - an

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Stavros Papagianneas

Jun 22, 2016
5 min

Brexit: Communication & Political Lying

In June 2016, Labour MP Jo Cox has been shot dead in the UK by a man shouting "Britain First". Both "Stronger In" and "Vote Leave" camps suspended campaigning following the incident for a few days. It was the tragic apotheosis of an unprecedented and extreme intense campaign that crossed the boundaries of freedom of expression. What had to be a campaign based on political communication, degenerated to doom and gloom forecasts. It escalated in lies, drama, hollow rhetoric, and

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What your online video strategy should look like

Stavros Papagianneas

Jan 22, 2016
3 min

What your online video strategy should look like

Video is the perfect medium for attracting the attention of busy audiences. It enables storytelling in a short but unforgettable way that viewers can enjoy. It is the perfect tool for quickly getting your point across to your audience and expressing yourself in ways that you can’t do with text. According to Cisco video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic by 2017. Video-on-demand traffic alone will have almost trebled. For SMEs and startups, video can be cost

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Content marketing: the art of corporate storytelling

Stavros Papagianneas

Sep 5, 2015
3 min

Content marketing: the art of corporate storytelling

I have never regretted my choice to study communication. I studied what I love and today I can do what I love. I was influenced by the film All the President’s Men, a 1976 production with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, which dramatises Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation of the Watergate scandal. The movie is probably one of the most highly mythologized episodes in the history of journalism and its powerful and heroic story changed my

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How to avoid offending your international business partners

Stavros Papagianneas

Aug 17, 2015
6 min

How to avoid offending your international business partners

I grew up in Belgium and Greece. As son of a Greek maritime officer I have been in contact with foreign cultures since I was a child. Some times traveling with my father. Other times impressed by the amazing stories he had to tell when coming back home from his journeys in the 60’s and 70s in countries like Canada, Argentina, the Soviet Union, Japan or China. Intercultural communication is one of most ancient human activities. It is a form of communication that aims to shar

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Stavros Papagianneas

Feb 20, 2015
4 min

8 strategic ways to communicate Europe

“Accuracy, Authenticity and Interest” was the slogan of Ivy Lee, one of the founding fathers of public relations, creator of the press release and pioneer in the field of crisis communications. Almost 100 years later, this slogan remains at the core of sustainable public relations. Though it takes long years to be built, an organizations’ reputation can be rapidly damaged. This can happen to any kind of organisations including a supranational union like the EU. In spite of

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