The Industrial Society’s director of marketing prepares for an
altared state.
Headlines like ’Church rounds on own media chief’, ’Church’s gay feud
erupts at Synod’ and ’Gays prepare secret survey of the clergy’ might
have many PR professionals shuddering at the prospect of taking on the
Church of England’s media relations. But Bill Beaver - the man due to
take the PR hot seat in June - is so keen he is taking a pay cut of 50
per cent to take the job.
From homosexuality and women’s ordination to advertising strategy and
corporate identity, debates within the church have been making constant
news in recent months.
Beaver, who was ordained 15 years ago, insists that the church’s
diversity is its strength. ’The Church of England is a superb test bed
for 21st century communications,’ Beaver says, ’because that’s the way
all companies are going to go - they’re all going to be diverse.’
He views all clergy as communicators and is clear that the common
’ownership’ of the church’s message also means a mutual obligation to
one another.
’It’s the responsibility of the bishops to lead,’ he says. ’And of
people in churches to be responsible. So if someone wishes to speak
nationally they need to be aware they carry our reputation. I don’t want
to see that loused up.’
Beaver is keen to label the church as ’established, not establishment’,
but is convinced that people are returning to what he calls the ’right
kind of values’.
’We’re like people sitting on Malibu beach - the big wave is coming.
We are going to see a change. The values that people are starting to pay
attention to - others before self - absolutely accord with the values of
the Church of England.’
Born and brought up in Colorado, Beaver describes his own faith
developing from the time he was ’pole-axed’ by the Book of Common Prayer
in his teens.
He moved to England to study in the 1970s before making his name in the
charity world as the man who ’took the ’Dr’ out of Barnardo’s’. After
leaving Barnardo’s and a brief stint at Pergamon AGB in 1989, he went on
to work for NatWest, before his current job at the Industrial
Society.
Despite his sober appearance, Beaver’s energy and jovial small-talk
quickly put you at ease. WH Smith communications chief, Tim Blyth, who
worked with him at NatWest describes him as ’smart, rather than
spiritual’. ’There’s a core to the man which doesn’t come across as
being overtly Christian, but overtly moral,’ says Blyth. ’You wouldn’t
know he was a vicar.’
Beaver claims his working style has changed dramatically in the four
years he has spent at the Industrial Society. ’I used to be a normal
command-and-control type of communicator,’ he says. ’What I realised was
that by giving people a chance to strut their stuff they benefit and I
benefit.’
Beaver recalls the row over interest rates for small businesses which
broke when he was at NatWest, during which he chaired the ’crisis
cabinet’.
’I felt I had to be at every meeting and stay there all the hours God
sent. I was not allowing other people the space to make the kind of
contribution they could make.’
Now, although he remains a ’hands-on’ person, his style is more
relaxed.
So, how will he cope in his new job?
’One of the difficulties of being a communicator in the Church of
England is that you can’t guarantee the product,’ he says. ’There’s a
deep spiritual longing in people on the street. People look for
certainty. I cannot promise them certainty in debates, but I can promise
the certainty of love and the constant, universal availability of the
Church of England throughout this country.’
Whatever his future role holds, there can’t be many PR people who have
the luxury of preaching to the converted every Sunday.
HIGHLIGHTS
1983: Director of publicity, Barnardo’s
1990: Group director of corporate affairs, National Westminster Bank
1992: Director of marketing, the Industrial Society
1997: Director of communications, General Synod of the Church of
England.
