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Frank has been chosen to deliver a PR and SEO campaign and influencer outreach programme around the launch of mobile gaming app ‘Nonstop Chuck Norris’, which is due for release in late April.
Chuck Norris
The game, which is being released by German-based publisher Flaregames, follows-up on last year’s Nonstop Knight, an action game designed to be attractive and accessible to entry-level mobile gamers.
Nonstop Knight ranked in the Top 5 role-playing games in 126 countries and was downloaded over two million times in its first days of release.
In autumn last year, Flaregames entered into an agreement with Chuck Norris for the US movie star to become the face of an adapted version of the game, entitled Nonstop Chuck Norris.
The game will see players offered the chance to become Norris’ sidekick in an adventure inspired by his movie career.
Norris announced his involvement in the game via Facebook to coincide with his 77th birthday.
Frank will support Flaregames on a series of activations around Nonstop Chuck Norris through 2017.
Jon Howard, head of PR and influencer relations at Flaregames, said: “The mobile gaming marketplace is ultra-competitive and it takes innovation and a lot of hard work to stand out, both on a marketing and product level. That’s why for every mobile gaming PR launch campaign, it’s important to chuck the cookie-cutter in the bin and re-think your approach.
“As such, Frank is the perfect team to help make this campaign fly, with their high level of creativity and similar disregard for following convention. It’s going to be an exciting next few months and we feel we’re in safe hands with Alex and his team.”
Alex Grier, MD at Frank, added: “Chuck Norris is an iconic figure, whether you first knew him as a martial arts expert, a movie star, or the subject of an internet meme. Flaregames has developed a truly addictive mobile game engine in Nonstop Knight and have added the star power of Chuck to take it to the next level. We look forward to being part of the team that looks to emulate the success of last year’s game.”
Chuck Norris’ silver-screen career dates back to 1969, when he made his on-camera acting debut alongside Dean Martin in The Wrecking Crew. His big break came three years later, opposite Bruce Lee in 1972 hit Way of the Dragon, where he played the kung-fu legend’s arch nemesis.
He went on to appear in a number of other action movies, including Delta Force and Missing in Action. Norris was also part of CBS series Walker Texas Ranger, which ran as both a TV series and movie.
Kingsmill, one of the UK’s biggest bread brands, has appointed Another Word Communications to drive awareness and reappraisal amongst consumers, following its recent re-launch and the introduction of new products.
Another Word will drive media engagement and influencer outreach to support the Kingsmill brand.
Another Word Communications has been briefed to drive media engagement and influencer outreach to support the brand in “reigniting the nation’s love of bakery”.
The team will report to Anna Millichamp, marketing manager at Kingsmill.
Millichamp said: “With Kingsmill, we are delivering the most comprehensive innovation and transformation platform the bread category has seen in recent years.
“Another Word impressed us with its understanding of our brand and their ability to creatively engage consumers to drive awareness of our new products.”
Lynda Redington, joint MD at Another Word Communications, said: “We are thrilled to add Kingsmill to our client roster. The brand will remind people that bakery is the ultimate simple pleasure and we’re delighted to be working with Kingsmill to support this objective and raise awareness of genuine innovation.”
Legal & General Group plc has appointed Dharshini David, former Sky News and BBC presenter, as corporate affairs director.
Dharshini David
David will join the financial services company at the end of this month and will report to group CEO Nigel Wilson. She will be responsible for the development and the implementation of Legal & General’s external communications and corporate social responsibility strategies.
As business presenter at Sky News, David co-presented the channel’s political programme Sky News Tonight. Previously, she worked with Tesco’s board to overhaul and deliver the retailer’s broadcast media strategy, from financial results to consumer and social responsibility issues.
David has also worked as a financial correspondent and presenter for the BBC in London and New York. She led the organisation’s Wall Street coverage of the emergence of the financial crisis.
She said: “In this era of immense uncertainty and change, Legal & General has a crucial role to play in ensuring financial security and well being in our society. I’m extremely excited to join the team as it pursues solutions to the challenges that affect us all – from an ageing population and long term care to a housing crisis and a lack of investment in physical and digital infrastructure”.
Nigel Wilson, group CEO at Legal & General, added: “Dharshini represents a further strengthening of our management team. Her energy, enthusiasm and intellect will play an important role in Legal & General delivering and communicating our financial, economic and social goals”.
Your bite-sized update on the best PR opinion, interviews, events and insights featured on Gorkana News this week.
So, there’s been a takeover bid? Kraft Heinz’s takeover bid for Unilever is a recent reminder that PRs must always be prepared for unexpected news, whether rumour or fact. Comms pros from Lansons, MHP and Future PR discuss the best steps to take when a takeover story breaks out.
Opinion: How pop music from the 80s can help a small agency The 80s. Big hair, ski-pants, good times and – some might say – great music. But what could this super glossy era of pop teach PRs about starting-up and running a small business? Everything, according to Lynne Arrowsmith, former director of brand and internal comms at EE, who now runs brand and comms consultancy Goldbug.
Gorkana meets… eSports Pro
Andrew Wooden, content director (Europe) at NewBay Media, talks to Gorkana’s Luize Lazdane about the launch of the publisher’s eSports Pro website, its potential audience and his top pitching tips for PRs.
Opinion: How to stand-out at Advertising Week Sarah Ramamurthy (pictured right), account director at MWWPR UK, offers a guide for PR professionals navigating Advertising Week in 2017.
Why taking calculated risks helps brands at trade shows At this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) the brands that broke convention were the most successful, and achieved the most cut-through, according to Hotwire’s UK MD Matt Cross. With insights from Hotwire’s research around the event, Cross highlights what PRs might learn for future event-planning.
Neil Hallmark, who first joined Manifest in 2013, has been promoted to MD at the independent comms agency, with responsibility for its UK operation.
Neil Hallmark
Joining as an associate director before moving into a director role in 2015, Hallmark has helped launch Manifest New York and steered the development of its content division, O.
He also helped win and grow a number of the agency’s key accounts such as global wine app Vivino, Orchard Pig cider and sex toy brand Hot Octopuss.
Hallmark’s new role will see him move away from day-to-day client responsibilities to focus on the growth of the London agency, as founder and group CEO Alex Myers moves to a group level role to provide senior creative strategy to clients across the globe.
Myers said: “Neil joined Manifest in 2013 when we had one office and a team of 11. Since then, the agency has gone global, the team has almost tripled in size, we’ve built a content division and developed several new proprietary technologies.
“Neil has played a huge role in maintaining that balance of creativity, innovation and commercial awareness, so his progression to MD feels a natural evolution as we grow.”
Manifest has offices in London, New York and Stockholm. Manifest New York was the agency’s first international office, launching in 2015, and this year Manifest Stockholm opened its doors with nine retained clients.
Hallmark added: “Manifest has grown dramatically since I joined, but what’s been impressive throughout has been our capacity to retain our client base and continue to deliver exceptional creative thinking.
“Moving into an MD role, I’m looking forward to further shaping the team around our unique culture and maintaining our high creative standards as we continue to mature as a business.”
Emma Tweedie, director of Teacake Tuesday, has been named winner of the 2017 Suzy Spirit Inspiration Award. Euan Steedman, press officer for the BBC, has been chosen as the winner of the Suzy Spirit Rising Star Award.
Emma Tweedie and Euan Steedman at today’s (17 March) awards ceremony at the Barbican Centre in London
Gorkana, in association with LEWIS, launched the Suzy Spirit Awards four years ago in memory of Suzy Ferguson, who worked for the PR agency and who passed away from bowel cancer in 2012.
Like Suzy, the awards honour those who have made a difference to others in the PR industry, and look to acknowledge individuals of exceptional character, principle and integrity, rather than those who are ‘just’ outstanding at their day jobs.
After a tough decision process, which included the finalists, as well as those who nominated them, meeting the judging panel, the winners were finally revealed at a special awards ceremony held in London today (17 March):
The Suzy Spirit Inspiration Award
The Suzy Spirit Inspiration Award is aimed at established PR and comms professionals who set a shining example through mentoring and championing others.
Four finalists made it onto this year’s shortlist, with Emma Tweedie, director of Teacake Tuesday, named as the 2017 winner.
Emma Tweedie – Winner of the 2017 Suzy Spirit Inspiration Award
With more than 15 years PR and marketing experience, Emma Tweedie launched her own agency, Teacake Tuesday, in 2009, and has worked with leading UK brands including John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Toyota GB, McDonalds, and Tesco.
Asked to describe what it was like to work with Tweedie, one of her former employees said: “She took time to ask me about my development and what courses I wanted to go on, and subsidised this even when the agency was very new and budgets were tight.
“Even now, I still pop her emails asking her how best to handle things, or who I should contact about something, and she always makes time for me.”
Tweedie also has a long standing relationship with Live to Love, a charity which focuses on providing clean drinking water to people in remote villages across the world. She donates her time to this organisation, despite running a PR agency full time, often working late into the night to balance the needs of the charity with her paying clients.
As well as taking a keen interest in those around her, Tweedie also spends a lot of time on sustainability issues, and, at one point, ran the UK’s largest eco fabrics library. She has since given various talks to textile students on the importance of choosing eco-friendly options for their collections. “Even her wedding was completely sustainable”, said one of the four people who nominated her for the 2017 Suzy Spirit Inspiration Award.
Asked to describe what made her stand out, her other nominators said of her:
“Someone always helping out friends”
“She’s instilled a real work ethic in her team”
“I don’t think anyone meets her and does not remember the chirpy little Irish woman who likes to chat.”
The finalists for the 2017 Suzy Spirit Inspiration Award were:
Claire Foster, deputy head of news, Direct Line
Polly Kennedy, director, APCO Worldwide
Camilla Swain, PR manager, Girlguiding
Emma Tweedie, director, Teacake Tuesday (winner)
Find out why the four finalists made it onto this year’s shortlist HERE.
The Suzy Spirit Rising Star Award
The Suzy Spirit Rising Star Award is for an industry newcomer, who may only be at the beginning of their career, but has already demonstrated Suzy’s qualities and characteristics in their everyday work.
Three young people were chosen to be shortlisted for the first Suzy Spirit Rising Star Award, with Euan Steedman, a press officer for the BBC, taking home the prize.
Euan Steedman – Winner of the 2017 Suzy Spirit Rising Star Award
After graduating in Scotland, Euan Steedman decided to move to London and quickly started building his PR career.
At the age of 21, Steedman applied for the Communications Trainee scheme at the BBC, but instead was offered a full time role.
Since then, he has been promoted and given wider responsibility, including issues around diversity and sustainability – “areas that Euan is truly passionate about”, according to his nominator.
Last year, Steedman volunteered to work on communications activity for the Queen’s 90th birthday, and has also been accepted to study a CIPR award at the PR Academy later this year.
Asked why Steedman deserved to win the Suzy Spirit Rising Star Award and how he has demonstrated Suzy’s qualities and characteristics, his nominator said:
“When I was struggling with my own role and development, Euan encouraged me to take the initiative and first steps to progress and to achieve my full potential.
“He’s enthusiastic, professional and just a little bit sassy. My working life would just not be the same without him.”
The finalists for the 2017 Suzy Spirit Inspiration Award were:
Find out why the three finalists made it onto this year’s shortlist HERE.
Judges for the 2017 Suzy Spirit Awards judges were:
John Carter – Suzy Ferguson’s father
Alex Ferguson – Suzy Ferguson’s husband
Jeremy Thompson – CEO, EMEA and India, at Cision (owner of Gorkana) Sally O’Neill – VP International at LEWIS Henry Playfoot – 2016 Suzy Spirit award winner
Jeremy Thompson said: “Gorkana has been incredibly proud to be the media partner to the Suzy Spirit Awards since its inception in 2014 and every year they have grown in size and reputation. In an industry full of awards, this one is different in that it recognises more than just business performance. It’s about showing an ability to inspire and mentor others, as well as those softer qualities which often make people successful.
“Euan and Emma epitomised those qualities and stood out from a highly competitive field in 2017. Congratulations from all at Gorkana to both of them.”
Sally O’Neill added: “It’s fantastic to see the Suzy Ferguson Spirit Award growing every year. Choosing the winners for this year’s Inspiration and Rising Star awards was a tough decision as all the finalists showed such dedication, strong ethics and clearly inspire everyone around them without even realising it. It’s this spirit that we want to encourage, and Emma and Euan are very worthy winners.”
The Suzy Spirit finalists and judges at today’s (17 March) awards ceremony at the Barbican Centre in London
The official charity for the Suzy Spirit Awards is Bowel Cancer UK, which aims to save lives and improve the quality of life for all those affected by bowel cancer.
Last year the Suzy Spirit Award went to Henry Playfoot(2016), founder of Pitch Doctor and former strategy director at Claremont Comms, who was chosen from a shortlist of five.
Previous winners include Nicola Green(2015), director of comms and reputation at O2, and Rosie Warin(2014), CEO at Kin&Co.
Golin has expanded its digital practice by appointing R/GA’s Will Balme as digital client services director and winning the Simple skincare digital experience work.
Will Balme
Balme joins the Golin team to help lead and grow its digital portfolio, and will report to head of digital Alex Brittain.
Balme’s previous experience includes digital and brand agencies Rufus Leonard, Radley Yeldar and, most recently, R/GA, working on global brands such as Barclays, Guinness and adidas.
Balme said: “I’m excited to join Golin’s digital team and work with world leading brands on digital their platforms and experiences. I also look forward to working with Golin’s content and communications teams to develop the agency’s integrated offering.”
Alongside Balme’s hire, Golin has strengthened its Unilever portfolio with a new digital experience win for Simple skincare.
Magali Giupponi, global brand director for Simple, said: “We picked Golin because of their understanding of our audience needs and their track record in creating standout digital experiences and content.”
Alex Brittain added: “Simple is a fantastic brand who we’re proud to be working with. We have a great opportunity to differentiate them through their digital experience.
“This new win and latest hire highlights our increasingly mature digital offering at Golin. Nearly half of the agency is now a digital or social creative content expert, including animators, videographers, web design and build, social content experts and copywriters. We are driving forward what it means to be an integrated communications agency with digital at its core.”
Radioactive PR has been appointed to handle the PR for Childcare.co.uk, the UK’s biggest online community for parents, childcare service providers, schools and private tutors.
Childcare.co.uk
With more than 1.5 million members, Childcare.co.uk is the UK’s biggest community for parents, childcare providers, schools and private tutors.
The platform allows parents to search for babysitters, nannies, registered childminders, nurseries, private tutors and schools based on their location and requirements.
It also allows childcare providers to advertise their services and secure work in their local area.
Childcare.co.uk launched in 2009 and acts as a hub for parents, childcare providers and schools. Since launching it has grown to become the most used digital childcare platform. Gold members benefit from big family-friendly discounts as well as childcare training courses and free insurance for childcare providers.
Radioactive PR, based in Gloucester and with an office in Manchester, will provide PR and media relations support for Childcare.co.uk, with a strong focus on building authoritative links and brand awareness.
Richard Conway, founder of Childcare.co.uk said: “It was an easy decision to appoint Rich and his team for PR support. They have an obvious passion for creativity and accountability and solid experience in PR for SEO, so I’m confident they will help build awareness of the Childcare.co.uk brand.”
Rich Leigh, Radioactive PR’s founder, who legally changed his name to Mr Public Relations after losing a bet to a friend earlier this year, said: “Childcare.co.uk is a goldmine of data and, as the UK’s largest childcare website, we want to ensure it’s as well-known as it deserves to be. We’ve got some great ideas in the pipeline and can’t wait to get cracking. Richard and his team picking us is a big coup for us given the fact they’ve previously worked with an agency I’ve long-admired, and just shows me, the team and everybody else that we’re making all the right moves.”
Ethical pet food brand Lily’s Kitchen has named Cirkle as its UK PR agency. Cirkle is one of three agencies to be appointed by Lily’s Kitchen, as it invests £1.5 million to “drive fame” around the brand.
Lily’s Kitchen
Alongside Cirkle’s appointment, Grey London has been chosen as Lily’s Kitchen’s creative agency. Bountiful Cow will handle comms planning and media-buying activity.
All three agencies have been briefed to drive awareness, fame and conversion of Lily’s Kitchen’s “naturally nutritious” food for dogs, cats, puppies and kittens.
The first work delivered by all agencies broke during the Cruft’s dog show earlier this month (9 – 12 March).
Chris Lock, marketing director for Lily’s Kitchen, said: “This is the start of an exciting new chapter for the brand and we wanted to embrace a new and fresh approach to building the Lily’s Kitchen brand.
“The individual agencies collaborate with one another and the ideas they bring to the table make for the perfect roster. Their respective creative skillsets will play a key role as we continue to evolve our portfolio and drive growth.”
New agency Milk & Honey has made its first senior hire, appointing Jo Cresswell as client director.
Jo Cresswell, formerly head of corporate at Rostrum, joins the corporate brand agency this month. Milk & Honey was set-up in January 2017 by Kirsty Leighton.
Leighton said: “I’m delighted to have Jo join the team. She comes with rave reviews from clients and colleagues alike. Her experience in leading fintech and retail accounts is a brilliant addition, enabling us to put some stand-out campaigns in place for our clients, and continuing to attract more.”
Cresswell will work alongside Leighton to further develop the agency’s portfolio and create and deliver programmes to the five clients which have already been signed.
Cresswell added: “It is very exciting to get involved in a business at its very foundation. Milk & Honey has a unique people first feel to it which is very attractive. As a business is it ambitious both for itself and for its clients. Working directly with someone with such broad experience is important to me too. I can’t wait to get stuck in.”
