How to Shape the Narrative with Autotrader’s Laura Harvey

How do you build a multi-disciplinary corporate affairs function completely from scratch while navigating a high-stakes stock market flotation?

In this episode of PR in the Real World, host Tony Garner sits down with Laura Harvey, Director of Corporate Affairs at Auto Trader, to map out the mechanics of leading a modern in-house communications department.

Laura Harvey joined Auto Trader at a critical turning point in its corporate history, just as the legacy brand completed its massive print-to-digital transformation and prepared to float on the London Stock Exchange as a newly minted PLC. Laura shares her journey of constructing a comprehensive, in-house team responsible for an incredibly broad remit that spans financial reporting, crisis management, internal culture alignment, consumer PR and regulatory public affairs.

The conversation digs deep into how structural industry crises (specifically the 2015 "Dieselgate" emissions scandal) served as the unexpected catalyst for Auto Trader’s highly successful data-driven public affairs strategy. Laura reveals how providing objective consumer behaviour analytics transformed the business into an indispensable advisory partner for government bodies like the Department for Transport and the Treasury. From managing internal stakeholder networks across a 1,000-strong hybrid workforce to shifting your mindset from agency pace to deep institutional curiosity, this episode delivers an essential guide for corporate affairs leaders.

From an operational and corporate governance perspective, this episode covers:

The Architecture of an IPO Comms Function: Establishing mandatory reporting workflows, processes and investor relations frameworks from a blank sheet of paper.Data-Led Public Affairs Engineering: Leveraging proprietary commercial marketplace analytics to act as an authoritative information barometer for civil service policymakers.The Velocity Trap of Reactive PR: Moving beyond a perpetual, post-pandemic crisis footing by deliberately blocking out structural planning time to reset institutional strategies.The "Helicopter View" of Corporate Operations: Training internal communications teams to connect functional dots across siloed business units to unearth narrative synergies.Building a Tech-First Employee Culture: Transforming organisational values from a legacy, decentralised print operation into a unified, collaborative digital brand.The Agency-to-In-House Mindset Shift: Navigating the corporate transition by