When you need a second opinion
Counsel to CEOs, executive teams and boards. A sounding board, someone who'll ask the question nobody else will. Executive coaching.
Clarity when it matters most.
Trusted counsel for leaders, whether you're protecting a reputation under pressure or building one that lasts.
Why Wavecrest
When you're swimming in big seas, you spend most of your time between the waves, where all you can see is water. It's easy to drift off course without realising. Every so often a wave lifts you up, and for a moment you can see everything: where you are, where you're heading and what's coming.
That's our job. When you're in the middle of it, we're the view from the top of the wave.
Simon Hobbs
Managing Director and Founder
Simon advises the leaders of some of Australia's best-known organisations, whether they're facing a crisis, a legal or regulatory matter, or a campaign to change the public conversation. His clients span energy, technology, sport, manufacturing, law and entertainment.
For more than a decade he was Director of News at Nine, running the country's largest newsroom and its most-watched bulletin. Before that, he held senior roles in the US with NBC News and ITV Studios. Running a newsroom meant running a big, high-pressure business: budgets, a large workforce, legal risk and a brand always in public view.
That's why his advice works on both fronts. He knows how a decision will play in the media, with government and with the public. He knows just as well how it will land with your board, your people and your bottom line.
When to call
When something's gone wrong
Crisis and issues management. Legal and regulatory matters. Protecting brand and reputation.
When you need people to see an issue differently
Campaigns, creative and marketing strategy, and advocacy that moves public opinion and government. Media strategy and execution, backed by deep relationships across Australian media.
When you want to build your standing
Brand and reputation, for organisations and for the leaders who front them. Positioning that sets the agenda, and a hard look at whether your structure and capability are built for what you're trying to achieve.
Across all of it: an instinct for how each audience will read it, from boardrooms and parliaments to mainstream Australia.
How we work
We listen first.
What a client tells us on day one is rarely the whole story. There's usually something going on beneath the surface, so we keep asking questions until we understand what's really driving the issue.
We ask what you're trying to achieve.
Before any advice, we want to know the long-term goal. It's a simple question, and it's surprising how often it gets skipped when the pressure is on.
We give you our honest view.
That might mean playing devil's advocate, challenging how things have always been done, or putting forward an approach nobody in the room has considered yet.
We agree a course and help you see it through.
Together we land on a plan you're comfortable with, then we stay with you to deliver it, bringing in the right people where they're needed.
The bench
You work with Simon. When the job needs more, he brings in some of the best people in their fields, people he has worked with and trusts.
On strategy
Senior communications strategists, political campaign strategists, government relations experts, social researchers, marketing and creative experts, and media buyers.
On delivery
Film and video producers, camera operators, photographers, editors, graphic artists, voiceover and on-camera talent, digital and social media specialists, and project managers.
You get one point of counsel and a full team behind it.
