The Gorkana Weekly Industry News Brief: 10 – 16 September 2016
Missed out on this week’s PR News? Get your handy round-up of the essential highlights of PR and media stories, features and events content from the last seven days on Gorkana News.
People News
Public and corporate affairs agency, Newington, has made former CBI (Confederation of British Industry) corporate communications director, Muniya Barua, director of corporate affairs.
Ashley Morton-Hunte
Ascot Racecourse has promoted Ashley Morton-Hunte to corporate and racing comms manager.
Tech start-up specialist Clarity PR has appointed Liban Nooh as director of marketing.
The Sun’s former royal editor Duncan Larcombe has joined Kent-based PR agency Zest as director.
Maitland has made Sundeep Tucker a partner. He joins from a head of corporate communications role at Nomura.
Ian Middleton has joined Celicourt as a partner and co-investor in the company.
Lansons has hired Rollo Crichton-Stuart as board director to strengthen the consultancy’s financial comms remit.
Manifest has named Ilk’s Martin Farrar-Smith as branding and design director.
Pitch Wins
Ribs & Burgers
Frank has been appointed to handle the UK PR for Ribs & Burgers, which is part of the Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group, following its decision to launch its first UK restaurant.
Golin has been chosen by Vets Now, which provides out-of-hours emergency and critical care services for pets, to lead its consumer PR in the UK.
British brand Sellotape has handed a social media brief to Mercieca to raise the profile of its new ‘Don’t Come Unstuck’ campaign.
Telecoms service provider Nexbridge has appointed MediaCityUK-based PR agency Rule 5 to provide media support for conference call provider WHYPAY? and non-profit fundraising platform The Wonderful Organisation.
Agency News
Global CEO advisory firm Teneo has integrated its entire UK strategic comms businesses, including Blue Rubicon, under the new name Teneo Blue Rubicon.
Peter Ross
Peter Ross, former MD and EVP of Weber Shandwick’s EMEA tech practice, is launching a content writing business Ross Content Writing & Consulting.
FTI Consulting has formed a network of affiliate companies, run by senior MD Jon Aarons out of the firm’s London office, in order to expand upon its global reach.
Italy’s SEC Group has announced a formal partnership with UK-based Newington Communications.
Weber Shandwick has acquired Flipside, a specialised mobile and digital agency, for an undisclosed sum.
Opinion
Salamander Davoudi
Opinion: Why Iran is turning to proactive communications
Salamander Davoudi, co-founder and managing partner at Tancredi, explains how Iran’s corporate environment makes it an exciting frontier for PR.
Opinion: Mastering the basics of media relations
Thanks to technology and social platforms, media is accessible almost everywhere and, in theory, can be used by every brand. So why do many businesses ignore the basics of media relations? ask Vikki Cook and Adam Waters of Media 101.
Opinion: Make video streaming work for your budget
Rory Green, videographer at broadcast PR agency Shout! Communications, talks about video streaming as a valuable tool for PR campaigns and explores live streaming options for every budget.
News Analysis
How a human connection makes Paralympic stars PR gold
Following the success of the London Paralympics in 2012, it wasn’t certain that Rio would grab the same level of attention for sponsors and stars in 2016. But, PRs tell Gorkana the athletes’ human interest stories and extraordinary feats continue to create a compelling narrative.
The AIP on how PR will help balance the alcohol debate
The Alcohol Information Partnership (AIP), which launched last week, aims to balance the debate around alcohol and its misuse in the UK. Chief executive Dave Roberts tells Gorkana how PR is an essential channel for its message and how it will make it all work.
How to PR a ‘see now, buy now’ London Fashion Week
London Fashion Week has grown from an exclusive event which hosted previews of premium fashion lines months ahead, to an occasion where consumers can buy items “off the runway”. Comms pros from Portas, Push PR and W talk to Gorkana about how this has created a new media environment to work in.
City A.M. Media Briefing
At an exclusive Gorkana, Cision and PR Newswire media briefing event, Christian May, editor of City A.M., explained why the “optimistic newspaper” takes a different approach towards corporate and financial news.
Journalist News
Danny Collins has been promoted to digital foreign reporter at The Sun.
Harriet Chubb has now joined BRIDES as assistant editor, where she is is responsible for travel (including the annual Honeymoon Guide) and all main book features content.
Stephen Matthews has been appointed UK online health reporter at MailOnline.
Katy Parker has been appointed acting editor of Canary Wharf Magazine.
Matthew Nixson has joined The Mail on Sunday as deputy news editor. Previous to this he was night news editor at the Daily Mail.
Chelsey Pippin has been appointed commissioning editor, features at BuzzFeed UK. Prior to this, she was senior lifestyle writer at the website
The New Media Writing Prize 2016
Gorkana is sponsoring one of the categories in the New Media Writing Prize, which is now open for entries.
The prize, which is in its seventh year, showcases “exciting and inventive stories” that integrate a variety of formats, platforms and digital media. It aims to encourage and promote the best in new media writing and wants to lead the way toward the future of the written word and storytelling.
For the 2016 competition there will be four prizes: The Main Prize, the Student Prize, the Dot Award, and the Gorkana Journalism Awards.
Visit the FAQ page for entry details and key dates.
