CorpComms Magazine

There are times in most communicators' lives when they must feel like turning to an agony aunt, and when Mike Hoban assumed the newly created role of communications and engagement director for Directgov in January, it was one of his first actions.

Not that Hoban, 43, was seeking advice for himself. Instead, he was introducing Directgov as the single point of access to public sector information and services.

Need to apply for a new passport? The instructions are there on Directgov. Fancy tracing your family roots? Check out Directgov. Covering subjects from crime, justice and the law to travel and transport, the website, which launched five years ago, is a mine of information.

But part of Hoban's job is to make people aware that it's there. The simple process of writing to agony aunts - though sadly, the letter wasn't in the style of a 'I am a lonely website who has so much to offer people' but rather a factual introduction - prompted many to mention the resource in their published replies.

Indeed, it has been estimated that that simple action has since generated coverage worth £3 million. 'One of the things I have introduced is to make Directgov proactive,' explains Hoban. 'Prior to this, it was always a bit reactive. We are taking a systematic approach to PR. We are taking the best practices from the private sector and introducing them to the public sector.'

Hoban joined Directgov from Scottish Widows, where he was director of customer and brand marketing. It is the first time he has worked for the public sector, although he has dabbled with public service in the past. Indeed, he was set to work for a Liberal Democrat MP when he left York University in 1987, but was forced to find another job when his prospective employer lost his job.

Political aspirations

He went into marketing but still hankered after a political career. A former local councillor who once advised Paddy Ashdown, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Hoban stood for Parliament twice: in 1992 and 1997, when he nearly won the Bridgwater seat.

He was up against Lord King, former defence secretary who had held the seat since 1970. Hoban, who had no prior connection with the West Country, lost by 1,700 votes, gaining 18,300 against King's 20,000. He finally retired from politics in 2001. 'I decided that I wanted to do other things efficiently,' he explains. 'Trying to run for a seat in Parliament and running the marketing department for a major division of a FTSE 100 company were not compatible.' At the time he was head of customer insight, knowledge and strategy at British Airways. 'I decided to concentrate on my private sector career,' he says.

What has prompted the change in career strategy? 'From a career perspective, this is an organisation that is all about growth,' explains Hoban. 'In the marketing world, there are few organisations talking about growth. Instead, they are battening down the hatches and preparing for choppy waters. Growth is an exciting thing to be part of.'

Although Directgov has been in existence since April 2004, it was only in April last year that the website received formal funding. 'It was effectively funded by my chief executive [Jayne Nickalls] going cap in hand to government departments. She has secured £90 million over the next three years,' says Hoban.

Her 'begging' followed the publication of the Varney Report, which had been sanctioned by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, which recommended improving Directgov so it became the primary information channel for citizens, reducing the number of departmental specific websites.

Flagship digital service

'We offer the public easy access to essential information and are the government's flagship digital service,' explains Hoban. By 2012, 95 per cent of government websites will derive from Directgov. Recognition is rising. Last October, the site had nine million unique visitors. By January, this had risen to 11 million and currently the monthly tally is closer to 20 million. 'Growth has been exponential,' says Hoban, while conceding that public concern about swine flu has also spiked the visitor numbers. The government agreed that Directgov should be the main source of information about the outbreak.

Hoban sees a value to the service and his role that, in some of his previous jobs, may have been lacking. 'Sometimes in the private sector, I'd ask myself How important is this really? I can recall once discussing for hours different shades for pastry packaging,' he says, implying frustration with the process. 'In the public sector, much of what you do generally does make a difference.'

But he concedes that 'government is complex' and while the ultimate goal might be to make it easier for citizens, the journey to achieve that can be difficult and fraught with tension. The government, he points out, must be 100 per cent certain of the veracity of any information it disseminates.

Hoban sees similarities between what the government is trying to do and his role at Scottish Widows. 'We are both dealing with very complex issues in a simplified way,' he says. 'I built the Scottish Widows website from scratch, because I realised that it was an important means to communicate with people. We need to provide digital resources.' But he is also aware that the digital world is fast moving, and is loathe to rest on any laurels. The Directgov site is evolving, and will constantly change to respond to user needs.

'I've spent 20 years marketing household names, from WHSmith to Scottish & Newcastle and Barclaycard,' says Hoban. 'Communications is a tool to help deliver the marketing objectives of an organisation. People confuse the terms, and think they're interchangeable, but they're not. We need to define customer needs and business opportunities and market these, and communications provides the means to do so.' 

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