About

Applied Comms AI is a practical learning hub for communications leaders navigating AI implementation — grounded in real experimentation, real client work, and a willingness to show what doesn't work as clearly as what does.

Who's behind it

I'm Michael MacLennan, a communications strategist based near Edinburgh, and the founder of Faur, a communications consultancy specialising in AI implementation, strategy, and content.

I spent five years as Director of Social Media Strategy at Brunswick Group, advising multinationals on digital reputation and crisis communications. Before that: digital innovation at Red Bull (overseeing a redbull.com relaunch and the VR channel launch) and Barclaycard (a new digital and social operating model). My early career was in journalis – the BBC, ITN, The Herald, and STV – where I launched some of the first award-winning digital platforms in Scottish media.

In 2024, I founded Faur, which now works with organisations including ParalympicsGB, Allwyn, and national NGOs. I hold a Professional Certificate in Machine Learning and AI from Imperial College London, an Executive Leadership qualification from Oxford Saïd Business School, and a CIM Advanced Certificate in Digital Strategy. I was elected to the ScotlandIS board as a Director in Autumn 2024.

Applied Comms AI is where I document the work publicly: what I'm building, what I'm testing, and what I'm learning – including the parts that don't go to plan.

What this is

The newsletter and site cover AI implementation for communications professionals – specifically the people responsible for strategy, reputation, content, and organisational capability, not developers or data scientists.

That means: practical workflow experiments, honest tool assessments, real system builds, and structured thinking about where AI genuinely changes how communications work gets done. There's a six-part webinar series running March to July 2026 – AI Agents for Comms Leaders – that covers the full workflow from strategic planning through governance, monitoring, and organisational transformation.

The newsletter goes out every two to three weeks. Quality over schedule.

What I've built and tested

A production-ready media monitoring agent using AI and live web data. Workflow automations that reduce manual processing time by 60-70%. Prompt frameworks and template systems used by communications teams across organisations. AI implementation workshops for multinational clients. Digital audits incorporating AI readiness assessment. And a growing library of experiments — documented in full, including the failures.

Everything published here comes from work that's been built or deployed, not from extrapolating vendor claims.

The ecosystem

Applied Comms AI sits within the Faur ecosystem alongside two other brands:

• Comms With AI is a practical template library – ready-to-use prompts, workflows, and frameworks for communications professionals. It launched publicly in March 2026.
• Faur Consulting is where organisations come for bespoke implementation work — AI system design, workflow audits, team training, and strategic advisory. If something I've written here is relevant to a challenge you're working on, that's the natural next step.

The three brands are designed to work together: ACAI builds understanding, CWAI provides the tools, Faur does the implementation.

A note on how this works

I'll be direct: nobody has complete answers about AI in communications. The field is moving faster than any individual can fully track, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling something.

What I can offer is implementation experience – building these systems, running them with real clients, and being honest about where the limits are. I'm learning alongside the people who read this. The difference is I'm also building, and I document everything as I go.

That transparency is the point. It's more useful than certainty.

Get in touch

LinkedIn: Michael MacLennan
Email: michael@faur.site
Faur: faur.site — for consulting, workshops, and implementation work
Book a consultation: faur.site/services/consultation

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