Michael MacLennan
I bring together two things that rarely sit in the same person: senior communications leadership, and the ability to actually build with AI.
Shortlisted for AI Communications Leader of the Year, AI Comms Awards 2026
Most comms leaders talk about AI. I build with it.
In October 2025 I completed Imperial College London's Professional Certificate in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, hands-on postgraduate training in Python, statistics, model design and deployment, and earned an Exemplary Award for my final technical project. I have since added Anthropic's Claude Code in Action certification, the agentic-coding tooling I use daily to build products and deliver for clients.
Technical capability means little without strategic context. That comes from two decades leading digital transformation for global brands and purpose-driven organisations: five years as Director of Digital and Communications at Brunswick, global content strategy at Red Bull reaching more than 100 million fans, and a digital operating model at Barclaycard that reshaped how millions of customers engaged with the brand.
The ecosystem I'm building
Faur
The senior strategic communications practice I founded in 2024. Rather than a fixed agency, Faur assembles the right specialists for each challenge: strategy, digital audits and content workshops that account for what AI can now do.
faur.site →Comms With AI
A free operating system of practitioner-built AI templates for communications professionals. Shortlisted for Best Innovation in AI Tools at the 2026 AI Comms Awards. Every template is tested in real consulting and built to deploy in 15–30 minutes.
commswith.ai →Applied / Comms With AI
Where the experimentation gets documented in the open: articles, interviews and hands-on tool testing on what actually works when you apply AI to communications. Practical over theoretical, honest over promotional.
appliedcomms.ai →Current work
Freelance Digital & Social Director
Brought in following a national restructure to provide senior strategic leadership across the agency's most reputationally sensitive accounts: multi-billion-pound regeneration developments, executive communications for a global financial-services leader, and digital strategy around major moments for a senior minister in a G20 country. I have secured six-figure retained work and delivered campaigns sustaining LinkedIn engagement above 40%.
Founder & principal consultant
Clients have ranged from ParalympicsGB (digital platform evaluation for their Athlete Community) to lottery operator Allwyn (corporate content strategy) and national membership bodies such as ACOSVO (communications for a five-year strategy launch). The work others struggle to deliver: strategies built for AI capability, audits that map transformation, workshops that drive implementation.
Proven executive delivery
I walk into complex situations, diagnose the core issues and deliver measurable improvement under pressure: the strategic oversight a board needs, with the willingness to roll up my sleeves.
Restructured operations under severe financial pressure and delivered more than 50% of annual projected income within the first quarter.
Data-driven business cases and workflow improvements that cut administrative burden on frontline staff.
An online community that supported 385,000+ people and raised over £250,000, with partners including the NHS, Scottish Government and Marie Curie. Closed deliberately once the acute need had passed.
Governance responsibility for marketing and communications and a seat on the oversight group for a pivotal CEO transition.
The foundations
Beyond the work
Based in South Queensferry, near Edinburgh. I've written and directed short films and music videos, play bagpipes, guitar, bass and keys, run more than twenty marathons and climbed more than twenty Munros. The same instinct runs through all of it: start something, see it through, know when it's done.
Let's talk
Whether you're after a strategic advisor who understands AI implementation, a consultancy partner through Faur, practical tools through Comms With AI, or simply want to compare notes on where this industry is heading, I'd welcome the conversation.