The world has changed a lot in the last decade. Back when we established ourselves in 2009, we were coming out of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the financial sector was under intense scrutiny, and the political world was in a state of utter chaos.

Fast forward 10 years and…. OK, maybe some things stay the same, albeit for different reasons! But it is fair to say that the world has moved on substantially over the last decade: we continue to experience the longest bull market run in history, populism has become the key feature of an increasingly turbulent geopolitical landscape, and the media plays an ever more influential role in people’s lives.

From our perspective as a communications consultancy, the latter is particularly pertinent. 10 years ago, newspapers and magazines were all in hard copy, the Friday night deadline caused headaches for journalists and communications professionals alike, and a relatively strange new world called “social media” was being led by Facebook.

Now, of course, things are much different. The media is 24/7, almost entirely online and increasingly sourcing information, opinion and ideas from the myriad of social media channels available to consumers of all ages, backgrounds and opinions.

All of this means that how businesses communicate has had to change significantly. Companies need to be much more proactive and indeed interactive, engaging with their end audiences more frequently via the various tool at their disposal. At the same time, they have to be cognisant that any reputational issues or crisis scenarios could be rapidly exacerbated by the ability of digital and social media to communicate stories rapidly to a global audience. A well planned, strategic approach to communications is now more important than ever.

JPES Partners has evolved too. From our early days as a team of two people and a handful of asset management clients, we have grown into a business comprised of 20 professionals from a range of backgrounds, providing communications advice and implementation across multiple channels to more than 35 clients across 9 countries within the investment and commercial property sectors. These clients are responsible for more than $3trn of investor assets, which is quite daunting!

We are proud of what we have been able to achieve over the last decade, which has only been made possible by the efforts of our excellent team and, most importantly, by the continued support of our clients, for which we are extremely grateful.

Here’s to the next 10 years…