When the project is complex and the stakeholder environment is difficult, you need someone who has been there before.
Margot Bawden, founder of Margot B Communication, provides communications and engagement strategy and delivery for infrastructure, planning, and public sector projects across New Zealand. You work with Margot directly, drawing on 20 years of experience on high-profile and contested public programmes.
Start a conversationWhat Margot B Communication does in practice
Every engagement is shaped by the project, the community, and the political environment it sits in. Margot works across the full spectrum of communications and engagement delivery, from early strategy through to hands-on project support.
Work typically includes some or all of the following:
Stakeholder engagement strategy and planning
Mapping the landscape, identifying risk, and designing an engagement approach that fits the complexity of the project and the expectations of the community.
Community and stakeholder engagement design and delivery
Designing and running engagement processes that are robust, genuine, and defensible. Margot has delivered communication and engagement across local government and central government programmes including transport, infrastructure recovery, and coastal hazards programmes.
Issues and risk management
Identifying where trust is fragile, where opposition is building, and what needs to happen before it becomes a problem for delivery.
Embedded project support
Working alongside project and programme teams as a trusted advisor, being in the room at the moments that matter, preparing spokespeople, and keeping the communications and engagement function sharp under pressure.
Trust repair
When the relationship with a community or key stakeholder group has broken down, Margot works with project teams to understand what has driven the breakdown and rebuild the conditions for productive engagement.
Flexible by design and senior by default.
No two projects are the same, and Margot does not try to fit clients into a fixed service model. Some engagements begin with a strategy and planning phase. Others start in the middle of a crisis. Some run for a defined period, others evolve into longer term arrangements as projects develop.
What stays consistent is the level of experience brought to every piece of work. Margot works directly with chief executives, programme directors, project managers, and technical leads. She does not hand work to a junior team once the contract is signed.
For larger programmes that require additional capacity, Margot draws on a trusted network of experienced practitioners to ensure the right people are available when the project needs them. Margot is experienced working within New Zealand public sector procurement requirements, including panel arrangements with councils, government agencies, and infrastructure delivery organisations. She is happy to discuss direct engagement or other contracting approaches that suit your organisation.
Engagements typically begin with a direct conversation about the project, the environment it sits in, and where the pressure is coming from. That conversation is free and without obligation.
This work is for you if...
You are leading or supporting a project where the community or stakeholder environment is complex, contested, or carrying historical baggage from previous engagement that did not go well.
You are a chief executive, programme director, project manager, or senior communications and engagement lead who needs experienced support you can trust completely. Someone you can brief once and know the work will be done well.
You are working in infrastructure, transport, planning, three waters, coastal management, climate adaptation, or public sector delivery in New Zealand, and you understand that the human side of project delivery is not an afterthought.
You need someone who can work at pace, operate at a senior level, and bring genuine sector knowledge to the table from day one.
And you want to work directly with that person throughout.
This work is probably not for you if...
You are looking for a large agency with a full production team, media buying capability, or a broad marketing communications offer. Margot B Communication does not provide those services.
Michelle Cuttance, Democracy and Customer Experience Manager, Hauraki District Council
"When the weather emergencies hit, Margot delivered real-time communications frameworks that kept our purpose clear while everything else was moving. That same discipline carried through to our ongoing transition to Waikato Water, a complex multi-year change with significant community and political stakes. She reset our digital channels too, and the difference is measurable. Less noise, clearer direction, and staff who now want to share their projects on the platform."
Have a project in mind?
The best place to start is a direct conversation. Bring the project, the context, and the challenge you are facing. You will get an honest answer on whether this is the right fit and what it might look like.
That conversation is free and without obligation.