iNHouse has provided public affairs support to Openreach since 2019, working with their team to promote the company’s role in delivering the national rollout of ultrafast full fibre broadband and helping to meet the government flagship manifesto commitment on connectivity.

Our work has involved raising awareness of Openreach’s role and that of their engineers amongst MPs, improving sentiment towards the business. When challenged by their secure 30 MPs for an event we organised on their behalf in Parliament, we delivered more than treble that number. We have also worked closely with their team to ensure Openreach’s engineers were classed as key workers to maintain the country’s digital network during the Covid-19 pandemic – where Openreach was responsible for connecting the NHS Nightingale hospitals.

During the pandemic, we also promoted the selfless work of engineers through a campaign we created called the Community Connectors Awards. Highlight examples from Openreach’s team, we encouraged MPs to nominate constituents making remarkable contributions to their communities. Our campaign secured endorsements from 20 MPs; earned media coverage to an audience of more than 5.4 million people; and social media coverage with a reach of 131,000 – being named a finalist in the 2021 CIPR Excellence Awards for public affairs campaigns.