Levy-payers to the Meat and Livestock Commission will be pleased to
learn that its incoming head of corporate communications, Nicky O’Reilly,
is definitely not a vegetarian. But put on the spot as to her favourite
meat, she apologises for being unable to decide between lamb and
steak.
This is rare indeed - not the meat, nor indeed the apology; but the
uncharacteristic indecision. For O’Reilly is renowned as incisive. ’She’s
not afraid to make decisions, then take them forward at a very fast pace,’
says Direct PR proprietor Jane Lawrence, who has worked for O’Reilly on
and off for the past eight years.
It is likely, therefore, that she will bring a new broom mentality to
communications policy at the MLC when she joins early in the new year.
Change is undoubtedly afoot for her in-house team of 15 and almost
certainly on the cards for the trio of retained external consultancies:
Lowe Bell, Shandwick Consultants and Scope Ketchum.
Soon after joining her current employer the Country Landowners Association
in 1994, O’Reilly set about ringing the changes. ’When I came in we
changed everything from the logo we used, to the publications we brought
out,’ she says. ’My forte in the last couple of jobs has been turning
round an organisation which previously had a reactive PR role to a
proactive one.’
In her time at the CLA O’Reilly has worked on the BSE crisis and lobbied
Brussels with a view to protecting the interests of members threatened by
the EC’s review of the Common Agricultural Policy and its subsidies
structure. She also acquired expertise in food safety issues when working
for the Food and Drink Federation at the time of the Edwina Currie
salmonella in eggs affair - an event which O’Reilly pinpoints as being the
start of media ’sensationalisation’ of food issues.
Once installed at the MLC O’Reilly’s tasks will include restoring consumer
confidence in meat following the BSE and E.coli scares. She believes some
headway has already been made in this regard but feels there could be
better use of all the advice and research to which the MLC has access.
There is also, she argues, a need to educate the public and retailers on
how to handle meat.
The other big issue that O’Reilly expects to encounter is animal
welfare.
’We have to communicate that the industry does care about animals,’ she
says.
The reputation of the British meat and livestock industry is undeniably
damaged, and it will take both time and plenty of effort to turn it
around.
Why then has O’Reilly taken on such an onerous job?
The answer, she says quite simply, is that she relishes a challenge.
The veracity of this can be gleaned from her CV.
Not only have there been tricky briefs at the FDF and CLA, but she has
worked (very effectively, by all accounts) with the mercurial Jocelyn
Stevens at English Heritage and helped P&O rebuild its tarnished
reputation in the aftermath of the Zeebrugge disaster - trying to convey
the ferry company’s professionalism to the public and rekindling corporate
pride among its workforce.
’I think PR can make one of the biggest contributions to an organisation,’
she says. ’It can make a real difference so that people actually believe
that an organisation is doing what is right and in their best
interests.’
Away from the pressures of PR, O’Reilly likes to unwind by taking flying
lessons or by running in the Kent Countryside near her home accompanied by
her pet German shepherd. Her move to the MLC will also entail a move of
house to be nearer its Milton Keynes headquarters. The upheaval doesn’t
appear to bother her unduly. O’Reilly seems to thrive on and change, as
her team at the MLC will soon discover.
’There are three words I’d apply to Nicky - clarity, perception and
action,’ says Lawrence. Inertia, you will note, doesn’t get a look in.
HIGHLIGHTS
1988
Head of public affairs, Food and Drink Federation
1989
Head of public affairs, P&O European Ferries
1992
Director of external affairs, English Heritage
1994
Director of PR and communications, Country Landowners Association
1997
Head of corporate affairs, Meat and Livestock Commission
