Influence
and stakeholder
engagement
We help clients identify the people, institutions and conversations that matter, and build strategies for engagement, advocacy, coalition-building and market-shaping.
Meaningful change rarely just happens. We help organisations understand the people, institutions, networks and conversations that shape their operating environment, and build strategies for engagement, advocacy and market-shaping.
Our work combines societal understanding, stakeholder insight and strategic communications. We help clients identify the voices, allies and networks that can move an issue forward, and build engagement that supports change.
We work with clients who want to move beyond visibility and take an active role in shaping the debates, decisions, partnerships and market conditions that matter for a more sustainable future.
We help organisations identify the stakeholders, decision-makers, experts, civil society actors, media, partners, communities and other relevant voices that matter for their goals. We analyse interests, influence, risks, opportunities and relationships to support better strategic choices.
We help clients understand how their work connects to wider societal debates, tensions and expectations. This includes identifying the context in which an issue becomes relevant, credible and timely, and framing it in a way that resonates with the people and institutions that matter.
We build clear and practical strategies for engagement. This can include priority audiences, relationship goals, messages, channels, timing, responsibilities and concrete next steps for building trust, relevance and support.
We help clients understand policy, regulation and public debate, and define how they can contribute credibly. This can include advocacy strategies, policy messaging, decision-maker engagement, consultation responses, events and public affairs support.
Complex challenges tend to require collaboration. We help clients identify potential allies, build shared agendas and create partnerships, coalitions or platforms that can increase credibility, momentum and impact.
We help organisations shape demand, norms and expectations around more sustainable products, services and business models. This can include campaigns, public conversations, stakeholder mobilisation, influencer engagement and concepts that make change easier to understand and join.
OUR GOALS
Our team consists of top professionals in communication, corporate responsibility, social impact, and branding. Our special expertise lies in seamlessly integrating these disciplines. We recognize the pitfalls of greenwashing and know how to lead impactful change.
Our goal is to accelerate the development of societies toward a future where the economy operates within the planetary boundaries. If the paradigm shift is new to your company, we are happy to give keynote speeches and workshops where we explore the impacts of the new paradigm on your business together. We can also assist you in initiating an innovation process based on the themes of the new paradigm.
If your business model already takes the planet’s limits and your company’s impact on its restoration into account, we can dive directly into communication strategy and help you strengthen your brand, build thought leadership, and shape the market.
Book a free introductory meeting with us or request a workshop or a keynote speech for your company's event!
Contact usSERVICES
The sustainability transition is reshaping markets and the role of business. We help organisations understand what this shift means for their position, credibility, and opportunities.
We work with clients to define where they can lead, what they can credibly say and do, and how they can turn sustainability ambition into strategic direction, communications, and how they can shape markets.
Our work can take the form of positioning projects, strategic sparring, leadership sessions, focused sprints, workshops, or keynotes. Whatever the format, we bring our own expertise and perspective into the work rather than simply facilitating the conversation. The goal is always the same: to help organisations move from ambition to credible action and influence.
We help organisations define a credible and differentiated position in the sustainability transition. This can include market and stakeholder analysis, opportunity mapping, strategic narratives, positioning statements and clear recommendations for where to lead, where to participate and where to stay silent.
We help clients understand the wider shifts shaping their operating environment, from climate, biodiversity and circular economy to regulation, consumer expectations and societal debate. We translate complexity into insight that supports strategy, communications and business development.
A strong position needs a clear story. We help leadership teams articulate the role they want to play, the change they want to drive and the choices that support credibility. This can include narrative work, messaging, leadership communications and internal alignment.
When a focused process is the best way forward, we design and lead strategic workshops, leadership sessions and sprints. These are practical, tailored and outcome-oriented, giving teams clarity on priorities, messages, stakeholders, and next steps.
We offer keynotes and expert sessions on sustainability, corporate activism, market-shaping, credible communications and the changing role of business. These work well for leadership teams, boards, client events, off-sites and internal inspiration.
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Clear, credible, and compelling communications are essential for organisations navigating complex change. We help organisations turn complex business, sustainability, and societal themes into narratives, content, and leadership communications that people can understand, trust, and act on.
Our work connects strategic thinking with practical communications. We bring senior communications expertise, with sustainability and the wider societal context embedded in how we think. When relevant, we can help shape the substance as well as the communications, strengthening credibility and avoiding overclaiming.
We support organisations in moments of change, opportunity, and scrutiny, from positioning and thought leadership to media relations, content, internal communications, and hands-on communications support.
We help organisations build communications strategies that support business goals, sustainability ambition and stakeholder trust. This can include communications priorities, key messages, channel choices, content themes, stakeholder considerations and practical roadmaps.
We turn complex themes into clear narratives and messages. We help clients articulate what they stand for, why it matters, what they are doing and how their work connects to wider societal and market change.
We help leaders and organisations take part in relevant conversations with clarity and credibility. This can include opinion pieces, speeches, LinkedIn content, keynote themes, media angles, reports and other thought leadership formats.
We create and edit high-quality content for different audiences and channels. This can include articles, website copy, newsletters, social media content, reports, presentations, talking points and campaign materials.
We help clients identify where they have a relevant story to tell and how to bring it to the right audiences. This can include media angles, press materials, journalist outreach, interview preparation and support for public launches or announcements.
Strategy becomes real when people understand it, believe in it and recognise their own role in making it happen. We help organisations engage leadership, employees and internal stakeholders in moments of change, ideally already during the process, not only after decisions have been made.
Our work can include internal narratives, leadership messaging, employee engagement and change communications that help turn direction into shared meaning, culture and action. When people inside the organisation can speak about the direction in their own words, internal communications becomes one of the strongest forms of external credibility.
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A strong brand gives an organisation clarity, direction and a reason for people to care. We help clients define what they stand for, how they want to be understood and how their purpose, sustainability ambition and role in society can become credible, distinctive and useful.
Our work connects brand strategy with communications, stakeholder understanding and societal relevance. Depending on the need, we can support clients with brand positioning, verbal identity, concepts, brand guidelines, website renewals, visual identity development, campaigns and launch communications.
We help organisations define or sharpen their brand position in relation to their purpose, business, sustainability ambition and operating environment. This can include brand narratives, positioning, audience and stakeholder insight, messaging, strategic recommendations and guidance on how the brand should show up.
We help clients articulate what they stand for and why it matters. This can include purpose statements, value propositions, tone of voice, key messages, naming, taglines, website copy and other verbal building blocks that make the brand clearer, stronger and easier to use.
We support brand renewals for organisations that need a clearer, bolder or more credible direction. Depending on the scope, we can work on brand foundations, brand architecture, visual identity, guidelines and the practical materials needed to bring the renewed brand to life.
We create concepts and platforms that make ideas, initiatives or services easier to understand, remember and support. This can include new concept development, creative angles, messaging frameworks and launch ideas for brands, products, services, movements or partnerships.
We help clients tell credible stories about their sustainability work, impact and direction. This can include turning data, goals, innovations, partnerships or transformation work into clear narratives and content that different audiences can understand and trust.
We design campaigns and launches when they are the right tool for building awareness, relevance and support. Our work can combine brand thinking, strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, media, social content, advertising, partnerships and public conversation.
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We help companies identify risks in their communications and make their sustainability messaging more truthful, transparent and credible. When necessary, we look beyond the words. If it is difficult to communicate credibly about sustainability, there may be something in the company’s actions, targets or the reasoning behind the communication that needs to be addressed.
EmpCo, the EU Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, changes the rules for sustainability and environmental claims. The new rules come into effect from 27 September 2026 in Finland. Websites and other communications that can be updated must comply from day one. In Finland, products and packaging that have been on the market before this date will have a six-month transition period to comply.
In an EmpCo Check, we review the company’s sustainability and marketing communications within an agreed scope. The review can cover, for example, corporate and sustainability websites, campaigns, product communications, environmental claims, sustainability labels and packaging.
We identify claims and wording that may create legal or reputational risks. The company receives a written report, concrete recommendations for improvement and a review session with our experts.
If sustainability becomes difficult to communicate under the new rules, the problem is not always the wording. We also highlight areas where the evidence behind claims, sustainability targets or the company’s actual practices may need to be addressed.
Not all sustainability communication risks fit neatly into an EmpCo checklist. With this service, we take a broader view and assess the way a company presents its sustainability – and how well those messages reflect reality.
In addition to individual claims, we examine the evidence behind them, material omissions and what is left unsaid. We assess communications from both a legal perspective and through the eyes of consumers, the media and critical stakeholders. At the same time, we consider whether problems can be solved through better wording or whether something needs to change in the company’s targets, metrics or business practices.
The company receives a written risk assessment, recommendations for the most important improvements and guidance on how to prioritise them.
The work can continue as a longer-term partnership. We act as a critical friend that the company can turn to proactively whenever there is uncertainty around a new claim, campaign, packaging, sustainability report or other communication choice. This means greenwashing risks can be identified before materials are made public, rather than once it is already too late.
The nature credits market is developing rapidly and attracting growing interest. However, communication practices are still evolving. It is easy to promise more than a project, biodiversity unit or methodology can actually deliver.
We help companies determine what kind of communications are appropriate for their specific role in the nature credits market. We begin by reviewing the user case and supporting materials. Based on this, we define what can credibly be said, what requires further explanation and what kinds of claims should be avoided. When needed, we can also help formulate messaging for websites, customers, investors and the media.
We have contributed to the nature credits communications guidelines for the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. This gives us insight into both the regulatory landscape and the sensitive issues surrounding this emerging market.
Poorly considered communications can undermine not only company’s credibility but that of the entire market. The aim is to avoid repeating the mistakes made in carbon markets, where claims and promises have in many cases moved faster than what could actually be substantiated.
The services are delivered by Niklas Kaskeala of The Activist Agency together with Jenni Laininen and Emma Kuusenaho of Laininen Law.
Niklas is a long-standing climate and environmental activist and an expert in corporate responsibility and communications. He has advised numerous companies on their sustainability work and knows how to examine communications through the eyes of consumers, the media and critical stakeholders. The aim is not simply to identify risks, but to help make sustainability communications more honest, transparent and credible.
Jenni is an attorney specialising in sustainability communications and environmental claims. She has contributed to several Mitä saa sanoa? (“What Can You Say?”) guides as well as guidelines for communications in the carbon and nature credits market. Emma is a lawyer who works with companies on compliance issues. Jenni and Emma will ensure that our recommendations are firmly grounded in legislation and its practical interpretation.
Together, Niklas, Jenni and Emma bring both the critical stakeholder perspective and legal certainty to the work.
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Strategic communications
and impact advisory
Strategic communications and impact advisory
The Activist Agency Oy | Vironkatu 10, 00170 Helsinki, Finland
Y-tunnus: 3481068-5 | Ⓒ The Activist Agency 2025
