Red Havas picks Lawrence Muskitta to head new public affairs offering
PR agency Red Havas has appointed a former Facebook manager – Lawrence Muskitta – to head its public affairs offering.
The newly-created remit is designed to help Red’s clients navigate increasingly challenging, changing and complex business environments.
Red’s public affairs department will be led by Lawrence, who will be responsible for government relations, stakeholder engagement, patient/consumer advocacy, public behaviour change campaigns, policy monitoring and intelligence gathering, crisis management and strategic partnerships.
Lawrence Muskitta
Lawrence has switched from Facebook, where he served as stakeholder engagement EU affairs public policy manager. Prior to that, he spent two years at BCW Global in roles including head of marketing. Lawrence has managed digital campaigns for major clients including the Australian Greens, Australian Medical Association, Defence South Australia, Energy Consumer Australia and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Simone Gupta, CEO Havas PR Australia (responsible for One Green Bean, Red Havas and Organic Pacific) said: “We are thrilled to have Lawrence launch the Red Havas public affairs offering. His international experience in tech, sustainability and health policy, and his ability to identify trends that are shaping our world is a natural extension to Red Havas corporate communications expertise.
“Our goal is to help clients focus on building and managing long-term stakeholder relationships, navigate institutions and government and constructively engage in policy discussion.
“The weakening in trust in government, the rapidly shifting global environment, combined with the power of technology and social media means that organisations and corporations need to support traditional stakeholder relations with peer-to-peer, citizen and community dialogue. Lawrence’s experience combined with Red Havas’ strong social media strategy expertise means we can provide this integrated digital approach to clients.
He is already adding immense value to new and existing clients, guiding them through complex issues such as Senate inquiries, ACCC investigations and upcoming proposed regulations.”
Lawrence said he was humbled to join Red’s talented team of communication leaders: “I am proud to launch Red’s public affairs team at such a critical time. Global issues like climate change, new technologies and shifting geopolitics are radically shaking the Australian business environment. As industry and governments grapple with these issues, public affairs will become essential to not only corporate reputation, but businesses’ bottom line.
“Our public affairs offering gives our clients a competitive advantage by helping them manage external change and take a leading role in shaping public debate. As this debate moves increasingly online, our team takes a digital-first approach to public affairs, seeing digital communities as central, not just an add-on to the political and media conversation.”
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ACCC
BCW Global
Facebook
Havas PR Australia
Lawrence Muskitta
One Green Bean
Organic Pacific
PR
public affairs
public relations
Red Havas
Simone Gupta
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