Teneo Blue Rubicon’s Jon Priestley joins FTI Consulting’s digital practice

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FTI Consulting has appointed Jon Priestley as managing director of its digital practice to spearhead new initiatives across the business.  

FTI Consulting's Jon Priestley

FTI Consulting’s Jon Priestley

Previously Priestley was associate director at Teneo Blue Rubicon, where he specialised in digital strategy and integrated campaigning for clients including RBS, Nissan and Unilever.

Ant Moore, FTI Consulting’s senior managing director and head of digital, said: “We are continuing to add to our numbers, extending our capabilities in digital communications using skills gained in consumer, corporate and capital markets communications.”

He added: “Jon’s experience in offering senior level digital strategy and consultancy will enable the team to continue to expand, unlocking larger mandates from existing clients whilst spearheading new business initiatives across the business.”

Hotwire joins UK initiative to grow flexible jobs market

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Hotwire has teamed up with recruitment firm Timewise to join its Hire Me My Way campaign, an initiative that aims to increase UK jobs that are advertised as open to flexible working options from the point of hire.

Loveday Langton

Hotwire says it wants to lead the way with its recruitment initiatives that promote flexible and part-time working at all job levels.

By joining the Hire Me My Way campaign, Hotwire will make it clear when advertising roles that they are open to discussing the possibility of flexible working options for all jobs during the recruitment process.

Karen Mattison, joint CEO at Timewise, said: “We’re delighted to be adding Hotwire to our list of employers committing to our Hire Me My Way campaign. We’re relentlessly looking to grow the UK’s flexible jobs market – to unlock access to better jobs for the millions of British part time and flexible workers.

“Hotwire has proved that they are not only a forward-thinking employer, but also one of the industry’s early adopters when it comes to flexible hiring, by genuinely listening to people’s needs and advertising their willingness to discuss flexible working options from day one. As there is no one gender who needs flexibility, there is no one reason. May more agencies take heed!”

Loveday Langton (pictured), group people and culture director at Hotwire, added: “Working flexibly has always been part of the culture at Hotwire, and we’re very happy to shout about this by signing up to the Hire Me My Way campaign. We want everyone looking for a great role in communications to have Hotwire at the top of their list, no matter what hours they need to work, and we will happily talk about the options during the recruitment process.

“Being flexible and treating our people as individuals makes sense for us as a business as we don’t miss out on talented people, it makes sense for our team as they can balance work with other commitments and it also means we’re doing our bit to make the comms sector a fairer and more sustainable place to work.”

Finn launches ‘Reinvent PR’ campaign

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PR consultancy Finn has today launched a new campaign to provide a “positive boost” to the profile of PR and highlight its importance within the marketing mix. The ‘Reinvent PR’ campaign will run throughout the Leeds Digital Festival this month.

The ‘Reinvent PR’ campaign launched today (27 April)

The ‘Reinvent PR’ campaign has been launched in collaboration with Finn client digital out-of-home media owner 8 Outdoor at the Leeds Digital Festival, which will finish on 29 April. The festival started on the 22 April.

Finn’s in-house creative department, led by senior creative Matt Rennie, has produced three different ad executions to run on 8 Outdoor’s digital billboard ‘The Pinnacle’, which is located in Leeds City Centre.

They are designed to challenge the status quo of PR and re-position it at the heart of the wider marketing debate.

Richard Rawlins, MD of Finn, said: “We believe PR is emerging as the most important discipline in the marketing mix. While the reach and disruption that advertising achieves remains strategically important, the lead idea needs to be born from PR.

“Our new ad campaign will make the case for PR and the importance it should have within every business that wants to communicate with its customers in a powerful and meaningful way.”

8 Outdoor CEO Cennydd Roberts added: “Our business is driving hard to get more screens in more cities, giving more advertisers more choice than ever before. This campaign is a brilliant example of how an SME can access the power of digital billboards effectively and with impact.”

Gorkana meets… Marco Cobianchi

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Marco Cobianchi, founder and editorial lead at online platform #Truenumbers and contributor to Panorama, talks to Gorkana’s Mario Cipriano.

Marco Cobianchi



You launched #Truenumbers nearly two years ago. What is it and why launch it?

#Truenumbers is actually several things.  In effect, it is a video news site which runs a range of web series with high TV production values. The editorial philosophy for all of this is that numbers can be used to tell any piece of news – from international politics to current affairs to gossip and, obviously, economic stories.

#Truenumbers is different from any other information website because we use, exclusively, official sources. The reason I launched #Truenumbers is that, being a journalist, I was very tired of reading stories that hadn’t had any basis in fact.

Right now, when it should be important to communicate objective facts, the media – not just the web – communicates opinions. #Truenumbers does it the other way round: we only communicate facts, using numbers.

What is the real meaning of the concept “data journalism”?

In my opinion, the real meaning is starting from numbers – before telling a story – instead of starting from what do you already have in mind, from what do you want to say, and then find the numbers that support your reasoning.

Unfortunately, I see the latter too often: stories written with numbers but where numbers are chosen based on their compatibility with the thesis that the journalist wants to communicate.

This is very dangerous because numbers have an inherent authority which readers find difficult to ignore, thus giving theories credibility.

I’ll give you an example: if I say that today Milan is warm, this is an opinion that anyone –based on how you’re dressed or on what temperature you’re used to – can refute or contest.

But, if I say that today in Milan it is 25 degrees Centigrade, no one – unless you have a thermometer in your pocket – can deny that fact. The choice of the numbers, when writing an article, is so important.

How do you source information? What plans do you have for the future?

We spend most of our time carefully looking for numbers and statistics. We check the websites of interior ministries all over the world and statistics offices, international organisations, central banks and monetary authorities and many other official sources.

Sometimes we start from numbers to write news; other times we start from international news and then we look at numbers to explain an event or to contradict it.

Our programmes are set to expand our business to a national and international level. In March we launched a website dedicated to the Emilia Romagna region – emiliaromagna.truenumbers.it – one of the 20 Italian regions, and we intend to create more like that.

In 2017, we would like to open a #Truenumbers website in at least one other European country; probably in Spain, then France, Germany and Russia.

What are the key factors which make a story popular on social media?

There are two different types. The first one is stories that contradict the stereotypes touted by the media. Often numbers, in fact, demonstrate the opposite of what people usually believe.

For example, if you take into consideration the numbers published by the United Nations regarding economic development in the world, you’ll discover that in the last few years the number of children dying of hunger before the age of five has decreased; and water is available to 91 % of the world population.

Those facts contradict media clichés, which highlight the state of the world is getting worse and worse, while the truth is that the world is getting better and better.

The other type of news, which works through social media, is talking about current events told from a different angle than the other media.

What is your relationship with PRs? What should they bear in mind when pitching stories?

For the kind of work I do at #Truenumbers I don’t have much of a relationship with PR offices, while, as Head of the Economics editorial team of the main Italian weekly magazine, Panorama, they contact me more.

What I have noticed is some difficulty from PRs in understanding that newspapers publish news – they don’t and they shouldn’t promote private companies.

PR offices should start thinking that their “client” is the newspaper, so they should provide interesting stories instead of stories that only are of interest to their own clients.

I understand private companies pay PRs for publishing stories that often have no interest for the general public, but they should start reasoning in a different way – the ‘true client’ is the newspapers. If they really want us to publish their stories, then they should provide interesting news.

What advice would you give to aspiring journalists?

I have thousands of suggestions, but I’ll say just one: do the opposite of what all your other colleagues do!

What is the most memorable story you’ve reported on? Or which has impacted upon your career the most?

I’ve was the first western journalist to go into the headquarters of LAFICO – the Lybian foreign investment company – which was truly powerful during Gaddafi era.

It was an exciting story – not only because I was the first – but also because the headquarters of a so rich and powerful company was in a modest, dirty and dusty building, made of cement in a suburb of Tripoli.

It was a very blatant juxtaposition that allowed me to write a great story.

  • Marco Cobianchi was interviewed by Gorkana’s Mario Cipriano.

Ogilvy PR’s Adam Powell joins Fourtold as MD

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Fourtold has appointed Adam Powell as MD with a brief to drive UK growth and build on the consultancy’s rapid expansion in Brussels.

Adam Powell

Powell was formerly head of corporate and public affairs at Ogilvy PR. He was also previously a partner at Bell Pottinger, principal press officer at the CBI and a local and national newspaper journalist.

Fourtold is an independent consultancy which offers “integrated corporate brand reputation and change communications”.

It works with clients including United Biscuits, Monsanto, Bayer, Viridor and European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) and The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In 2016, Fourtold won the ‘Best In-house Agency Collaboration’ award at the European Public Affairs Awards for its work with ECPA.

Powell said: “The reputation and wider communications challenges facing brands, both internally and externally, are greater than ever with the social, technological and political disruption of the moment.

“Fourtold is a young and agile business differentiated by its team of senior globally-experienced practitioners who personally work with clients to help address their individual needs, with a conscious distinction to be better than and different to the impersonal big agency experience.

“I’m delighted to join the team and add my experience, skills and connections working for international clients in global agencies to further fuel Fourtold’s growth in the UK.”

Debbie Parriss, managing partner at Fourtold, added: “I’m delighted Adam is joining Fourtold and am confident he will help Fourtold continue its growth as a premium consultancy able to help clients with the complex issues and challenges they face.”

Storyful and Weber Shandwick launch a content service for corporate communicators

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Storyful, the social news and video validation company, and Weber Shandwick have partnered to develop Cognitive Context, a digital intelligence service.

As part of the joint effort, Weber Shandwick clients will have the opportunity to gain access to pre-viral social media content that is surfaced by Storyful with the same speed and accuracy that it has been delivering to leading newsrooms, including Buzzfeed, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Vice and others.

Storyful’s content-mining technology and insights from its global team of former journalists combined with Weber Shandwick’s expertise in content strategy and communications will provide marketers and communicators with a new service for fine-tuning social strategy, managing risk and informing content programs.

The companies are also co-developing a custom reporting module to make it easier for marketers to take action after receiving Storyful data and insights. This service will be exclusive to Weber Shandwick clients.

In addition to informing campaigns and communications programs, this partnership will aim to help organisations more rapidly adapt to the evolution of consumer interaction with news and branded content.

Rahul Chopra, CEO at Storyful, said: “Social media has fundamentally redefined how news, marketing and communications professional do their job and how audiences consume content. For the last seven years, Storyful has built the technology and expertise that modern storytellers have come to rely on to report the news, create innovative advertising solutions and mitigate risk in real-time.

“Our global team of journalists process billions of data points a day to find the insights and content that drive strategy and content creation for our partners. Weber Shandwick’s global scale and innovative approach to communications makes them an ideal partner to harness our capabilities and expand our best-in-class solutions to organisations and brands around the world.”

Pollen + Grace hires Hope&Glory

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The founders of nutrition business Pollen + Grace has brought in Hope&Glory to help build the brand after securing new retail distribution.

Pollen + Grace

London-based Pollen + Grace was started by Stephanie Johnson and Kristina Komlosiova in 2015. Having worked in the events industry, the idea for the business was came from a frustration at the lack of healthy “free-from” options available on the high street.

Pollen + Grace includes a range of breakfast pots, salads, baked snacks and raw treats, which can be bought through its own website, a catering service and in retailers including Harrods, Selfridges, Planet Organic and Sourced Market as well as boutique gyms and independent health stores.

Hope&Glory associate director Charlie Mulock, who will report to Johnson and Komlosiova, will lead the account.

Johnson said: “We wanted an agency partner that would bring scale to our PR but which still felt small enough to care about a growing brand like ours. Hope&Glory combined the strategic insight, depth of contacts and passion for our business that we were looking for. We’re excited about what we can achieve together as a team.”

Mulock added: “Pollen + Grace is a phenomenal challenger brand with a huge opportunity to grow alongside the wellness trend. As people are taking a far greater interest in the food they eat and in their health, the brand is poised to become a household name beyond its current community of fans. We’re excited about where we can help it get to and to grow with it.”

GK Strategy and sister agency onefourzero hire Justin Ash as chairman

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GK Strategy and sister agency onefourzero have appointed Oasis Dental Care’s Justin Ash as its new chairman.

Justin Ash

Current CEO Emily Wallace and onefourzero MD Fleur Hicks will continue to lead GK Strategy.

The appointment comes after a strong financial year for GK and onefourzero, which saw the businesses grow by 20% year-on-year – for the seventh consecutive year – and pick up Specialist Advisor of the Year at the Private Equity Awards last week.

Ash said: “I am hugely excited to work with the visionary founders, Luke and Robin, and the expanding high energy, highly skilled GK and onefourzero teams.

“I will be helping the businesses lay out and deliver an ambitious road map of growth and expansion in the years ahead as well as further strengthening their respective propositions, especially for the private equity community.

“Much of my leadership experience has been gained in highly regulated, health markets. These are challenging but rewarding environments to work in. Businesses that are most successful gather objective, fact-based analysis of risk and are proactive in contributing to the ever-changing regulatory framework. GK’s consulting arm excel in doing this evidence-based engagement.

“GK’s political risk advisory and diligence service and sister digital agency, onefourzero, are innovating in the support of private equity sponsors in the deal process. I am struck by the unique approach onefourzero take in digital profiling and there are very few types of business that onefourzero and GK are not working with. That variety and leading edge practice is extremely exciting.”

Wallace added: “Justin’s appointment is a really exciting moment for GK and onefourzero – his commercial experience and expertise will be invaluable in guiding us on our path to future sustained growth. We pride ourselves in being a really agile business that loves to offer new and challenging services to the markets we work in.”

LV= hands PR brief to Kindred

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Financial services provider LV= has named Kindred as its PR agency, following a competitive pitch against six other agencies. The brief is to promote the brand’s new purpose and positioning.

LV=

Kindred will commence work on projects for LV= this month with a view to delivering its first campaign soon after.

Managing partner Anastasia Scott and client service director Sam Holl will lead the Kindred team which will report to LV=’s head of corporate affairs Jon Sellors and head of brand Claire Jeromson.

Sellors said: “This is a really exciting time for LV= as a business. We’ve just unveiled our new purpose and positioning to our staff, which will underpin everything we do as an organisation. This includes all our communications activity.

“On that basis, we felt the time was right to bring in a new agency to work with us on everything from consumer media relations and brand campaigns to social media support. Having met with a number of different agencies, we selected Kindred based not only on its approach and capabilities, but also on the fact that its values closely match our own. We’re really excited about getting started.”

Holl added: “This is one of the most interesting, exciting and challenging briefs we’ve ever won. LV= has a real, positive point-of-difference in a sector that is often met with scepticism and distrust, so we’ll be working with the team there on a range of different initiatives to bring the organisation’s great work to a broad audience. The fact that we’ll be doing this using Kindred’s full-service skillset makes it even better.”

Zambuni PR promotes Burlington Arcade

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Zambuni PR has been appointed to manage the PR and social media for England’s oldest and longest shopping arcade, the Burlington Arcade.

Burlington Arcade

Open since 1819, the Burlington Arcade houses more than 40 specialist shops and designer brands, including Laduree, the Vintage Rolex Watch Company, Maison Michel and Chanel.

Today, the Burlington Arcade is seen as one of the smartest shopping areas in London and shoppers can still see many of its historic artefacts, such as the brass shop for Harry’s of London, which is an original from 1819.

The stained window above the David Duggan store is a period piece from the early 1920, and is still listed.

Zambuni says it will provide tailored campaigns for Burlington Arcade through multiple channels and audiences.