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 over the last seven days on Gorkana News.

People News

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Lord Tim Bell has resigned as chairman of Bell Pottinger, 30 years after he founded the agency. He plans to set up a strategic consultancy called Sans Frontières next year.

Global Influence has brought in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Alicia Kearns as client services director. She joins after two years at the FCO, where she led the UK Government’s comms campaigns on Syria and Iraq, as well as advising more than 70 international Governments on counter-terrorism.

Hanover has re-appointed Daniel Gilbert as a senior policy adviser, following his 14-month period as a special adviser in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Interdealer broker Tullett Prebon has chosen Rebecca Shelley as global head of corporate affairs.

Children’s reading charity BookTrust has appointed Dogs Trust’s former deputy comms lead, Sinead Scott-Lennon, as its head of comms and campaigns.

Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K) has appointed Jasper Rosenau as head of content and publishing strategy for its financial and professional services team.

Online fashion site Lyst has brought in Paddy Power’s former head of PR, Rory Scott, as VP of communications.

 

Pitch Wins

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Heathrow Airport has added One Green Bean to its consumer PR roster, following its successful campaign work on the airport’s 70th anniversary in May.

Abchurch has been appointed to handle financial PR and investor relations for Kazakhstan-based oil and gas exploration and production company Roxi Petroleum.

Content marketing and PR agency Remarkable Content has been selected by Flood Re, a reinsurance scheme jointly developed by Government and the insurance industry, to help encourage UK homeowners to access more affordable home insurance policies.

TVC Group has won a three-way pitch to lead a summer campaign for Heathrow Express, with the agency involving British Olympic track cyclist Victoria Pendleton to mark the 18th birthday of the service.

Celicourt Communications has been appointed by oil and gas company SDX Energy and international law firm Memery Crystal.

PHA Media has been handed an awareness raising brief by charity Music Venue Trust and has been hired by 4th Base Cosmetics to launch its new beauty brand, NKBb.

Agency News

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Scottish PR agency Clark Communications has acquired Golley Slater Scotland from parent company Golley Slater Group for an undisclosed sum.

Aspectus is the latest agency to create a Brexit Unit, following Portland’s announcement earlier this summer. Aspectus says the unit will help clients deal with communications during the uncertainty caused by the referendum outcome.

Opinion

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PRs share their favourite Olympic moments
In the aftermath of the Rio Olympics 2016, Gorkana asks comms pros to pick their PR highlights from the event.

Five ways the Great British Bake Off can enhance a brand’s profile
Great British Bake Off returned to the screens last night and, with last year’s average audience comprising more than 12 million people, there is huge opportunity for brands to increase their profile, sales and reach, according to Chris Baldwin, director of consumer programmes at Protravel, part of employee benefits and rewards company Sodexo. 

How PRs can optimise content for consumers
Communicators can deliver content optimised to reach consumers at the right time and in the right format if they put themselves in the driving seat, says Marcus Sorour, general manager at WE UK.

News Analysis

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How Golin tackles the ‘motherhood penalty’ and recruits untapped talent
Golin is looking to close the wage gap encountered by working mothers and reap the benefit of recruiting ‘untapped’ talent as it launches its second ‘returnship’ programme this week.

Webinar

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How employee engagement helps PR agencies and their clients
Portland’s HR director Gillian Robinson, director Siobhan Newmarch and Innovation Bubble business psychologist, Katharina Wittgens, spoke at the latest Gorkana webinar about the importance of employee engagement, and how it benefits PR agencies and their clients.

Journalist News

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The Financial Times’ public policy editor, Sarah Neville, is to take on the role of global pharmaceuticals editor at the title in the Autumn. Nic Fildes has joined the FT as telecoms correspondent from The Times, where he was tech and comms editor. Andrew England has been named is Middle East and Africa news editor. He was previously Southern Africa bureau chief, based in Johannesburg.

James Gheerbrant has been appointed sports reporter at The Times. He was previously a broadcast journalist at the BBC.

Tony Chambers, editor-in-chief at Wallpaper*, is to join the London Evening Standard‘s ES Magazine as a columnist and contributing editor in the Autumn.

Sabah Meddings has joined the Daily Mail as city correspondent. She was previously a business writer at the Eastern Daily Press.

Simon Garner has been appointed head of digital content at Metro. He was previously deputy editor-in-chief at Yahoo! UK.

Siraj Datoo has joined Bloomberg News’ digital news EMEA team as a reporter. He was previously a political reporter for BuzzFeed UK.

Nada Farhoud has been appointed consumer features rditor at Trinity Mirror, working across Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.

Features

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Behind the Headlines with Time Inc. UK’s Holly McNally
Holly McNally, PR manager at Time Inc. UK, on breaking the habit of checking emails before getting out of bed, what marks out campaign success, why there needs to be a shift in PR value and her secret penchant for Pot Noodles.

Gorkana meets…Mantality
Earlier this year, Super League and Challenge Cup winning 22-year-old pro rugby league star Stevie Ward launched Mantality, an online male lifestyle, sports and mind title to address the issue of mental health in sport. Three months on, Ward talks to Gorkana‘s Louise Pantani about how his own experiences in professional sport fuelled the idea for Mantality, how it fits in with his time at Leeds Rhinos, the challenge of writing for the “millennial male” and his dream of interviewing Ricky Gervais.

PR Case Study: #DontQuitDoIt
Inspired by clients who have been through life-changing injuries, Irwin Mitchell and Instinctif Partners launched a campaign to highlight the crucial role that sport can play in a person’s recovery and rehabilitation.

60 Seconds with Mercieca’s Gemma Oakes
Gemma Oakes, director at Mercieca, talks about sport and lifestyle PR and its closeness to FMCG. In the aftermath of the Olympics, she shares her own favourite sports to watch and play.