LONDON — Vodafone’s former group director of corporate affairs, Matt Peacock, has joined Blurred as a partner, to provide specialist counsel to clients on environmental and social governance (ESG), risk, sustainability, social purpose and corporate transparency, as well as corporate and financial communications strategy.

Peacock will also oversee Blurred’s consulting cohort, a group of specialists in fields ranging from climate change impact and human rights risk mitigation to sector-specific crisis management strategy and M&A/activist defence financial communications.

At Vodafone, Peacock established the group's corporate human rights and transparency programme and global sustainable business framework, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. He was also involved in developing the Blueprint for Better Business social purpose movement.

A veteran of the telecommunications and technology industries, Peacock’s previous roles including director of communications at AOL and UK communications regulator Ofcom, where he was a founding member of the leadership team. He has also led international communications at FTSE10 exploration and production company BG Group (now part of Royal Dutch Shell). Before entering corporate life, he was a staff reporter with flagship BBC news radio programme The World At One.

The hire follows Blurred's commitment in September last year to only work with organisations and brands that are making an active contribution to at least one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Blurred CEO and founder Nik Govier said: “From when we first met at the end of 2018, it was simply a question of when and not if. Matt has deeply relevant experience from his years in some of the most demanding and complex roles in the global communications industry. He is also strongly aligned with our values and purpose. In this blurred world – where the best corporate work should be deeply creative and the best creative work should help build corporate reputation – Matt is an ideal partner.”

Peacock added: “The best business leaders look at risks and opportunities holistically, seeking the perspectives of multiple professional functions to get to the right answer. Sadly, in my experience much of the consultancy world has struggled to keep pace, with insufficient expertise to shape broader outcomes beyond a specialist or niche contribution. Blurred has been designed from the outset to break away from that model. It is the most interesting and innovative advisory business I've come across for years.”

In addition to his role at Blurred, Peacock will continue to lecture on ESG, sustainability, social purpose and crisis management at a number of international business schools.