About
Applied Comms AI exists because communications leaders need practical guidance from someone who's actually building these systems, and testing them with real organisations and implementing them in client work.
Why This Exists
Most AI coverage in communications sits at the same level: tool announcements, trend pieces, and predictions about what's coming. Very little of it shows you what actually happens when you sit down and build something.
Applied Comms AI is the working record of that process. Every piece comes from direct implementation experience: building AI agents, deploying workflow automations, testing tools against real briefs, and documenting what works, what doesn't, and why.
Who I Am
Howdy! I'm Michael MacLennan, a communications strategist and AI practitioner based near Edinburgh.
I've spent 20+ years leading communications at the senior level. This includes five years as Director of Social Media Strategy, Digital & Comms at Brunswick Group; digital innovation work at Red Bull and Barclaycard; and earlier career work with the BBC, ITN, The Herald, and STV.
In 2024 I founded Faur, a communications consultancy working with organisations ranging from leading global corporations to national non-profit organisations.
In October 2025, I completed a Professional Certificate in Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College London. That credential matters here not as a line on a CV but because it's what makes the implementation work substantive rather than superficial: I can design, build, and deploy the systems I write about.
I'm also a Director on the ScotlandIS board, Scotland's digital and technology industry membership body, leading the way for the national sector at a transformative and critical time.
What I've Built
Production AI Systems
- A fully functional media monitoring agent using AI and real-time web data
- Custom workflow automations that reduce manual processing time by 60–70%
- Prompt frameworks and templates now used by communications professionals across organisations
Real Client Implementation
- AI implementation workshops for multinational organisations
- Digital audits incorporating AI readiness assessments
- Practical AI adoption strategies for comms teams, from quick wins to long-term capability building
Public Experimentation
- Testing AI tools across strategy, content, monitoring, and analytics
- Transparent assessments of what works and what doesn't
- Full build logs, including failures and lessons learned
What You'll Get
Subscribing for free gives you:
- Real implementation insights from active work with organisations
- Honest tool reviews based on actual use-cases, not press releases
- Practical workflows you can adapt and deploy immediately
- Transparent experimentation – the failures get documented alongside the wins
- Access to the AI Agents for Comms Leaders masterclass series (April–July 2026), with live sessions, downloadable reference materials, and case studies
If you want to move from reading about AI implementation to actually using it, Comms With AI is where the templates and ready-to-deploy workflows live. The two platforms are designed to work together.
My Approach
- Build over theorise – no implementation, no recommendation
- Honest over promotional – if something doesn't work, that's what gets reported
- Workflow transformation over tool testing – the real value is in how work gets done, not which tool you're using
- Communications-first – tailored to corporate comms, crisis, reputation, internal comms, and public affairs
- Evidence-based – everything is tested, measured, and shown in practice
Beyond the Newsletter
Applied Comms AI is part of the Faur ecosystem. Faur is the consultancy for organisations that need bespoke strategic work; Comms With AI is the practical toolkit for teams who want to implement AI themselves.
Faur services include:
- AI implementation workshops and capability building
- Strategic consultation on AI adoption
- Workflow audits and automation design
- Digital and social strategy incorporating AI systems
Get in touch: michael@faur.site
A Note on Uncertainty
No one has all the answers on AI in communications. The field is moving too quickly and the honest practitioners are the ones saying so.
What I can offer is direct implementation experience and a commitment to showing the work, including the parts that didn't go as planned. That transparency is the point of this platform. (If you want polished predictions, there's no shortage of those elsewhere...)
Connect
- Newsletter: Subscribe below
- LinkedIn: Connect with me here
- Email: michael@faur.site
- Faur: faur.site
- Comms With AI: commswith.ai
Currently based: Near Edinburgh.
Working with: Organisations across the UK and internationally.
Applied Comms AI is part of the Faur ecosystem: helping communications leaders navigate and implement artificial intelligence in their work.