Communications Strategy
Industrial Dwellings Society
Stakeholder engagement
We found See Media’s support immensely helpful in raising our profile and articulating our messages to the wider world. We would thoroughly recommend them.
Chief Executive of the Industrial Dwellings SocietyThe Industrial Dwellings Society was founded by Jewish philanthropists in 1885, in response to appalling housing conditions in London’s East End. When Suzanne Wolfe became chief executive of the 1,500-home housing association in March 2017, she renewed the organisation’s focus on providing affordable homes to London’s diverse communities within the framework of its Jewish heritage.
To help a small organisation to have a big voice. The Industrial Dwellings Society needed support to develop and communicate its messages to the housing and specialist Jewish audiences.
We started by working with the Industrial Dwellings team on stakeholder mapping and developing a series of key messages that would communicate the organisation’s objectives.
Next, we began delivering these messages, and securing media coverage. We focussed on Industrial Dwellings-commissioned research by the Institute of Jewish Policy Research, which revealed shocking levels of deprivation amongst Jewish communities in London. We also highlighted the organisation’s small, but ground-breaking projects, such as its work delivering homes for members of the ultra-Orthodox community in Canvey Island, Essex.
During 2018, we secured in-depth coverage of Industrial Dwelling’s work in Canvey Island, with Inside Housing publishing a four-page feature in its South East Special Issue. Inside Housing also published a comment piece by Suzanne – drafted by See Media – as well as an interview with Cath Gibson, a frontline member of the Industrial Dwelling Society’s team.
Suzanne had two comment pieces published in 24housing, and was shortlisted for Professional of the Year at the Women in Housing Awards.
Meanwhile, See Media built contacts with the Jewish Chronicle, which published the results of the JPR research, including Suzanne’s comments about levels of housing need in the capital.