The Grove Agenda

The Grove Agenda A bespoke communications atelier. Est. 2018

EVERYTHING COMMUNICATES (Part I)Behind this principle is Sergio Zyman, a world-renowned marketer who worked for such gia...
05/03/2026

EVERYTHING COMMUNICATES (Part I)

Behind this principle is Sergio Zyman, a world-renowned marketer who worked for such giants as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. I’d say he knows a thing or two about his stuff!

Everything communicates - it is a simple as that
In business, every action, but also inaction communicates. Every word, but also silence sends a message.

For a business, it is simply not possible not to communicate. In everyday interactions, everything conveys meaning and impacts how existing as well as potential new customers, and in broader sense, public, perceive us.

Everything communicates - everything a business does and does not do.

Here’s a three-step framework I have always found handy; a tool – a reminder if you like – that helps to gain and maintain control over communication:

OBJECTIVE
Start with thinking about the impact you want to make on your audience and what action do you want them to take (i.e. enquire about your services, make a purchase)

A cherry on top of the cake (a hidden benefit): how would you like them to feel about your business?

MESSAGE

Now think about what you need to communicate to reach your objective. What does your audience need to know, understand, believe and feel?

What message or messages, what headline words will achieve that?
Build your communication on the 3Cs – Clear, Concise and Consistent.

DELIVERY

Now you know who your audience are, and what message you need to convey to them, the next step is to choose the best method of delivery.

The methods – or channels - range from in-person, real time communication (meeting, phone call, video conference etc.) to asynchronous communication which enables your audience to engage with your message at their own pace and in their own time (email, blog, social media, pre-recorded videos).

I am looking to connect with businesses seeking a reliable, trustworthy, resourceful and creative partner to support the...
11/02/2026

I am looking to connect with businesses seeking a reliable, trustworthy, resourceful and creative partner to support them, so that they can focus on what they are best at – their core business.

My services:

👉🏻 Communications, PR, social media
👉🏻 Customer relations (prospecting, acquisition, retention)
👉🏻 Commercial support (policies, data protection, contracts, analyses, reports, research)
👉🏻 Language services (copywriting, editing, proofreading, localization, translation)
👉🏻 Project, programme coordination
👉🏻 Operational excellence, compliance
👉🏻 Admin, book-keeping, financial reconciliations

Whether you have a one-off challenge for which you could do with an extra safe pair of hands, or seek an ongoing support, let’s talk!

The books for 2026 are open and we started onboarding candidates for How To Do Semiotics in Seven Weeks QII with Chris A...
17/01/2026

The books for 2026 are open and we started onboarding candidates for How To Do Semiotics in Seven Weeks QII with Chris Arning.

The course has been running for 5 years now, and we’re preparing the 15th edition 🎇🎆 A milestone like this deserves a bit of reflection, I think, so here goes:

✅ 235 Alumni

65% independents, freelancers;
20% agency;
15% in-house;

Our candidates hail from the domains of cultural insight, strategy, futures, innovation, qual research, planning, UX and service design, marketing, anthropology, ethnography, communications, public relations and graphic design.

Such is the universal appeal of applied semiotics that we also welcomed academics, students, engineers, industrial designers, business solutions consultants, even a sonic strategist, and a science philosopher.

✅ 62 Category Code Maps

We believe in learning by doing, and the key part of the curriculum is a group project the candidates work on in small groups, practicing the learnings in a mock client brief - plot a category code map.

From hot sauces to ice cream, from luxury watches to crypto currency, from videogames to sleep technology, from zero alcohol lagers to premium tequila, from indie coffee roasters to premium dog food, the choice of a category is always up to the teams. We’ve had people from 36 countries on the course over the time, and that is a wealth of knowledge, nuanced insight and different cultural perspectives, I don't need to tell you!

Here’s a recent Alumni memento:

👉🏻 ‘Seven weeks is the perfect length, the group learning atmosphere is great, and the overall vibe is very positive. The host is excellent, the organization is smooth, and support is always quick and helpful.’ 👈🏻

Well, here you have it.

As I am writing this, I realize how much I enjoy being part of this journey, how it enriches me and how many wonderful encounters and friendships it has already brought my way 🤗

I cannot wait to meet our next cohort!

The books for 2025 are open but I'd like to reflect on some of my recent collaborations, as examples of my offer. If you...
04/02/2025

The books for 2025 are open but I'd like to reflect on some of my recent collaborations, as examples of my offer.

If you'd like to find out more about what I do, let's have an explorative chat and let's see if there's anything I can do to support your business too 😊

👉 Programme & Project Coordination 👈
✅ I coordinate one of the most successful semiotics learning offers currently out there, a CPD certified online course on brand semiotics. With the upcoming 13th edition since we started in 2020, we are nearing 200 international Alumni from more than 30 countries.

👉 Business & Management Support 👈
✅ I worked with a market research agency, setting them up as a supplier for a major player in the financial sector, helped them complete a complex RFI and get them onto the supplier rooster;
✅ I drafted a GDPR-related contractual documentation for a respondents recruitment agency;
✅ I also reviewed the above client's Privacy Policy and recommended Consumer Data Protection updates on their website.

👉 Marketing, PR & Social Media 👈
✅ I oversee communications activities of a local charity run venue; the main platforms we use are a website, an online booking system and a FB page which I set up from scratch. We've seen an increase in bookings and our online community keeps growing. Once Bedford's best kept secret, the venue is once again a lively place where local residents can meet, socialise and enjoy various hobbies and activities.

👉 Operational Excellence 👈
✅ I have recently completed my first year as the Treasurer in the above mentioned charity. With a healthy bank account, the financial reporting at the time I took over was non-existent. I introduced granular monthly reports that help the Trustees with the venue maintenance and planning of improvements and modernisations.

WHY I LOVE BEING A TRUSTEEI have just completed my first year as treasurer in a small local charity where I became a tru...
25/10/2024

WHY I LOVE BEING A TRUSTEE

I have just completed my first year as treasurer in a small local charity where I became a trustee in 2022, and I thought a reflection is due.

Goldington Reading and Recreation Rooms is a small quirky village hall for hire with plenty of character. It was built by local benefactors in 1904 in Bedford to be used for a range of social, wellness and hobby activities. The venue is run entirely by volunteers.

My original portfolio as trustee included publicity, social media and community engagement. We started at point zero: at the time I joined, together with two new trustees, the venue was Bedford's ‘best kept secret’.

We launched a website, signed up to a third party online booking system, and set up a FB page which proved instrumental for engagement on local level. After we went online, there were surprised reactions; people thought the hall closed years ago!

Over the past (nearly) three years, we’ve seen an increase both in terms of the number of hours the hall is in use and in terms of the range of different activities.

When our then treasurer left last summer, I was asked to take over treasury. It turned out to be quite a challenge! The charity had a healthy bank account, but financial reporting was non-existent.

I introduced monthly Treasurer’s Reports and started to share them with the board of trustees: a granular overview of income and expenditure, earnings by individual hirers (one-offs as well as regulars), trends and financial forecasts. I was pleased that my reports were well received; they help us with scheduling maintenance works and planning for larger improvements.

Now the accounts for the 2023-2024 financial year are complete and ready for audit.

My combined role as PR Manager & Treasurer has been quite a rewarding experience so far! It ticks multiple boxes for me: engaging with local communities, watching over operational excellence as well as being a custodian of a small architectural jewel. It gives me a chance to hone my skills and learn new ones. I feel a sense of purpose and accomplishment and enjoy helping a worthy local case.

I’ve been looking for a volunteering opportunity in my area for quite some time, and then I’ve found out about Goldington Reading Rooms in need of trustees to keep it going. This autumn, the hall celebrates its 120th anniversary. It has seen many highs and lows over the years, but today, it is once again a popular place where people of all ages can engage in a range of activities and socialise, and with ever-growing online community of supporters.

I am an ardent supporter of local independent businesses, for their distinct, one-of-a-kind character and human interact...
20/08/2024

I am an ardent supporter of local independent businesses, for their distinct, one-of-a-kind character and human interaction. And in Bedford, we are truly spoilt for choice!

Whether you run an established traditional family firm or a startup just setting off on the journey, I'd be happy to support you. Here is my offer:

▪️ marketing, PR, social media
▪️ communications
▪️ customer relations
▪️ commercial support
▪️ project management
▪️ admin, bookkeeping

I have some availability starting this autumn. Let’s have a chat!

I've been working with a new client over the last several weeks, assisting them in jumping through the hoops of a due di...
21/03/2024

I've been working with a new client over the last several weeks, assisting them in jumping through the hoops of a due diligence assessment to be accepted as a preferred supplier in their area of expertise which is market research, for a UK financial services provider.

This morning, I received a message that not only have they been accepted, but they have already been commissioned a first piece of research too!

Congratulations!

If you are in need of commercial & admin support, I'd be happy to assist. Let's talk...


Went to London for a planning meeting with my client, brilliant Chris Arning from Creative Semiotics Ltd. yesterday. Gre...
07/04/2022

Went to London for a planning meeting with my client, brilliant Chris Arning from Creative Semiotics Ltd. yesterday. Great session and a day well spent, reflecting on the delivered courses and feedback received from our brilliant alumni, as well as developing next level offers and upgrades to the overall course experience.

We have many exciting plans for the future of How To Do Semiotics in Seven Weeks - watch this space!

In the meantime, half of the places on the upcoming cohort that starts on 28 April are already taken! 🙌

Last week, we wrapped up the spring course How To Do Semiotics in Seven Weeks; the following note one participant sent u...
05/06/2021

Last week, we wrapped up the spring course How To Do Semiotics in Seven Weeks; the following note one participant sent us says it all: ‘it has been a great journey and I am loving opening my mind more to semiotics; I have a lot to learn but I love it!’

We always dedicate the final session to the presentations of the category code maps, produced by small teams over the second half of the course. And they were brilliant presentations, sleek and with some great insights from the participants' own markets. You can probably tell what categories were in focus of the teams calling themselves ‘Tea Musketeers’ and 'Waterbabies'!

Learning together and from each other on the semiotics journey whilst having fun too… that is what this course is about.

Another participant wrapped up: ‘it has been a super experience, looking forward to signing up for the next level!’

Well, watch this space 😉

We've already onboarded what promises to be a great cohort of international participants! If you are considering the cou...
07/01/2021

We've already onboarded what promises to be a great cohort of international participants!

If you are considering the course but want to get a better sense of what it will be like, here is a testimonial from one of our students.

We start on 21st January 2021!

HOW TO DO SEMIOTICS IN SEVEN WEEKSNot a bad finish of the year; and it certainly will not be a slow start into 2021! Sev...
22/12/2020

HOW TO DO SEMIOTICS IN SEVEN WEEKS

Not a bad finish of the year; and it certainly will not be a slow start into 2021!

Several international participants have already enrolled on the course How To Do Semiotics in Seven Weeks that launches in mid-January.

The course has been created by Chris Arning, a semiotician and a creative strategist with over 20 years of international experience. I met Chris in 2012, when I joined the Semiotic Thinking Group, and I have been working alongside him ever since, coordinating the inaugural Semiofest in London in 2012 or the Semiofest Lockdown Special 2020, to name some of our collaborations.

A misconception people sometimes have about semiotics is that it is a scholarly discipline, knowledge one can acquire, that sits lodged in one’s head. However, applied semiotics is a practise involving object analysis. It is a set of aptitudes and techniques for noticing and for arranging cultural material. In a way, semiotics creates order out of chaos.

The course How To Do Semiotics in Seven Weeks will expose you and immerse you in those techniques. You will be equipped with the fundamentals and you will be working, with your peers, on a task that will help you – and force you – to learn.

Drop me a note if you would like to know more and to grab an early bird discount!

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