Weber Shandwick buys Flipside

Weber Shandwick has acquired Flipside, a specialised mobile and digital agency, for an undisclosed sum. Flipside will retain its name and work with Weber Shandwick to deliver a digital offering that “blends content, community and commerce for both B2C and B2B marketers”. Headquartered in London, with an additional office in Guildford, Flipside designs and develops […]

Zing Zing appoints PR director after raising £1.6m on Crowdfund

Chinese takeaway Zing Zing, which raised £1.6 million in the biggest “over-fund ever” on platform Crowdfund earlier this year, has appointed Alfred’s Stacey Jaffe as PR director, as it ramps up its growth plans. After beating its crowdfunding goal of £350,000 earlier in the year  and raising £1.6 million in the biggest over-fund on platform Crowdfund, Zing Zing […]

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. Prior to the start of this year’s Paralympics, there were fears the Rio event was being […]

Aspectus appoints Michael House as account director

Aspectus, the B2B agency specialising in financial services, technology, energy and engineering, has appointed Michael House as an account director on its technology team. House, who will be based in Aspectus’ London office, joins from tech PR agency FieldHouse Associates. Prior to that, he worked for Hotwire PR in the telecoms team, and started out […]

Europe’s SEC Group buys a stake in Newington

Italy’s SEC Group has announced a formal partnership with UK-based Newington Communications. SEC has taken a 60% stake in Newington Communications, and its international headquarters will now be based at the agency’s London office as it seeks to grow its presence in Europe, and expand into Asia and the Americas. The deal comes just over a […]

Manifest hires branding and design director

Manifest has named IlK’s Martin Farrar-Smith as branding and design director, as the agency further bolsters its executive committee for growth and international expansion plans. Farrar-Smith is the third senior appointment at Manifest this year. Previously, he was art director at Ilk, an integrated agency based in Leeds. A school-friend and long-time collaborator of  Alex Myers, group CEO at Manifest, Farrar-Smith has […]

Ketchum unveils ‘Break Through Advisory Board’

Omnicom-owned global comms firm Ketchum has appointed a ‘Break Through Advisory Board’ following its formation of a Global Leadership Council (GLC) and Barri Rafferty’s appointment as global president. The Advisory Board is charged with ‘challenging, provoking and inspiring’ new ways of doing business, and advising on new trends such as emerging technology, new content platforms, products and services, collaboration opportunities and […]

Weber Shandwick’s former tech MD launches content business

Peter Ross, former MD and EVP of Weber Shandwick’s EMEA tech practice, is launching a content writing business Ross Content Writing & Consulting to support corporate, social media, executive leadership, product/tech and internal comms programmes. Originally a marketing comms writer with a background in journalism, Ross has 22 years’ industry experience. He joined Weber Shandwick’s – then called Miller Communications […]

Teneo integrates UK businesses under Teneo Blue Rubicon

Global CEO advisory firm Teneo has integrated its entire UK strategic comms businesses, including Blue Rubicon, under the new name Teneo Blue Rubicon. The move follows Teneo’s acquisitions of Blue Rubicon, Stockwell and Pendomer Communications in 2015. The 250-strong team is now in offices near London Bridge in Central London. Teneo Blue Rubicon says it will use the […]

Ian Middleton joins Celicourt Communications

Ian Middleton has today joined Celicourt as a partner and co-investor in the company. Middleton joins Celicourt from Powerscourt, where he was head of industrials, energy and natural resources and a member of the senior management team. Previously, he worked as a director at financial and business comms consultancy Merlin PR, and at equity marketing […]