As a business that advises other businesses around the world, with a finger on the pulse of global economies, EY is in an almost unrivalled position to provide guidance to New Zealand businesses facing challenges and anxiety resulting from COVID-19.
Acumen has been working with EY to demonstrate the depth of its knowledge and expertise via thought leadership featuring key subject experts from across its business. Since the COVID outbreak began, this leadership role has become even more important.
During the early days of lockdown, the New Zealand news narrative primarily focused on our SMEs. However, we realised that was only one side of the coin. When EY surveyed how businesses in New Zealand were responding to COVID-19, Acumen’s insight was that while SMEs represent 97 per cent of businesses, nearly half of us work for large corporates.
To balance the media narrative, Acumen worked with EY People Advisory Services Partner, Una Diver, to offer insights to leading business media on the likely impact of the pandemic on large organisations, and by extension, New Zealand’s employment and economic outlook. We secured interviews with Una on radio and online, including BusinessDesk and Newstalk ZB’s Drive show.
As the country moved to Alert Level 3, we also supported EY to reveal the impact on consumer confidence. Given the media had been saturated with COVID-related studies, Acumen felt approaching one influential consumer affairs journalist to interview EY Partner Rich Macfarlane would result in better coverage by enabling the research and analysis to be investigated in more depth. An exclusive interview was secured with respected Stuff consumer affairs reporter, Rob Stock, resulting in an in-depth article and supporting infographic.
Budget day provided another opportunity for Chris Money,
EY Transaction Advisory Services Partner, to provide support to clients wanting to understand the potential impacts of the Government’s fiscal policy. Acumen worked furiously with Chris to distil his analysis of the Budget announcements into clear, succinct commentary that was sent out to EY clients the same day.
We’re looking forward to working with the EY team to develop further insights and guidance for local businesses.
