Simba Sleep extends Exposure’s UK brief to include Europe

/in /by

Exposure London has won a new pan-European brief from online mattress company Simba Sleep, three months after being named as the brand’s retained UK consumer agency.

Simba Sleep

Simba Sleep

Since becoming Simba’s retained UK agency in August, Exposure has assisted in increasing sales and building awareness of the Simba Hybrid, which it says is the “world’s most advanced mattress”.

The agency also created the brand’s first out-of-home billboard poster campaign to increase awareness across London. Running for 11 weeks, the campaign featured photography of a deconstructed Simba Hybrid mattress, built in a studio rather than digitally.

Exposure has now been briefed to support comms activity across key markets, including France, Germany and the Netherlands. It’s the first time Simba has hired an agency to drive a full-scale comms programme across Europe.

James Cox, CEO and co-founder of Simba Sleep, said: “We were impressed by the Exposure team’s energy, creative ideas and strategic thinking. After its proven track record of delivering impactful media results in the UK, we think it is the perfect partner to take the brand into Europe.”

Heather Ogie, chief comms officer at Exposure London, added: “We couldn’t be more pleased to be working with such an innovative and enterprising start-up.  We shine when it comes to developing culturally relevant campaigns for brands that want to push the boundaries. The team here really understand Simba’s audience and share its energy to deliver creative and impactful results.”

JPES Partners makes new hires

/in /by

Communications consultancy to the investment industry, JPES Partners, has hired Tahmina Mannan and Roya Abbasi to join its team as senior client manager and senior client executive, respectively.

Tahmina Mannan 1

Tahmina Mannan

Mannan joins from fund ratings and research firm FE Trustnet, where she headed up the PR team. Previously, she was a financial journalist covering the UK retail investment industry at Incisive Media, followed by two years covering the Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) private placement market for a newswire.

Abbasi joins JPES Partners from London PR agency Four Broadgate, where she worked as an account executive. She helped develop and implement communications strategies for a number of leading asset management and banking clients including Woodford Investment Management, Baillie Gifford and SEB Bank.

Julian Samways, managing director at JPES Partners, added: “The arrivals of Tahmina and Roya come at the end of what has been a highly successful year for JPES Partners. We now look forward to an exciting 2017 with our experienced team continuing to expand the range of profile-raising opportunities available to our clients.”

 

This week’s top trending features on Gorkana News

/in /by

Your bitesize update on the best PR opinion, interviews, events and insights on Gorkana News this week:

Opinion: What corporate brands should learn from Trump’s victory in a world of rebellionDonald Trump 2
Aside from the fate of the pollsters – who should be looking for new careers after three strikes on the bounce on calling the big things wrong – one assured outcome from the Trump victory will be the microanalysis of how the hell he did it, says Richard Medley, head of corporate at Frank PR.

 

john lewis ad BCInsight: Why advertising increasingly needs PR support
John Lewis’ Christmas ad for 2017 shows how PR, along with social media, can spearhead and launch a major advertising campaign. Comms professionals from W Communications and Taylor Herring discuss how this trend has evolved in recent years.

 

Interview: 60 Seconds with KPMG’ Zoe SheppardZoe Sheppard 2
Zoe Sheppard, who was recently appointed head of press office at professional services company KPMG UK, talks to Gorkana about her new role, her aspirations for her team and why campaigning for diversity with KPMG’s vice chair was a career highlight.


Good Relations Joe Friel 2Opinion: Seven deadly ways to approach an influencer
Following yesterday’s launch of Gorkana‘s Guide to Influencer Marketing, Joe Friel, head of influencer relations at Good Relations, says there are seven ways PRs should NOT approach influencers when wanting to work with them: “If you feel you might be guilty of a bad influencer approach, look away now!”

PR Agency of the Future 2Event: The PR agency of the future panel event
At an exclusive panel event this week (17 November), agency and industry leaders from Ketchum, Edelman, Hanson Search and Gorkana looked to the future and discussed what PR agencies will need to do, who they will need to hire and how they will prove success as media and comms continue to change.

Jon Aarons 2Interview: 60 Seconds with FTI Consulting’s Jon Aarons
Jon Aarons, FTI Consulting’s senior MD, talks to Gorkana about the firm’s international growth, its affiliate network and his own personal career highlights.

 

Alan Marks 2Opinion: The digital future of stakeholder engagement
Stanford University’s Alan Marks and Stacey Tank of The Home Depot, and co-authors of the Arthur W. Page Society’s report: The CCO as Builder of Digital Engagement Systems, tell Gorkana why comms is on the threshold of a game-changing development as stakeholder engagement commits to a digital future.

 

ITV News deputy editor to head DfID comms team

/in /by

Senior ITN broadcast journalist Tim Singleton has been appointed director of comms for the Department for International Development (DfID).

tim SIngleton

Tim Singleton

He is currently deputy editor and director of newsgathering for ITV News and recently announced his departure from ITN after 24 years.

During that time, he has held a series of senior roles at ITV News, including head of foreign news, Westminster news editor and home and foreign news editor.

He covered a range of significant international and domestic stories, including the 2003 Iraq War, the Kosovo conflict, the Asian Tsunami, and six general elections.

Singleton has won a number of BAFTA awards for news coverage, an International Emmy, Royal Television Society awards for international and home news coverage, several One World Media Awards and a Broadcast Award.

He will join DFID’s comms team at the start of January 2017.

Singleton said: “I am really excited to be joining DfID’s team. During my career in broadcasting I’ve seen first-hand the impact of global problems resulting from chronic poverty, conflict and natural disasters. I’ve worked alongside the best in the business at ITV News, and now look forward to doing the same with new colleagues at DfID.”

Fake news: why it’s a real issue for PR

/in /by

With ‘post-truth’ announced this week as word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries, Howard Bowden, media trainer and co-founder of Generation, looks at the rise and rise of fake news and why it’s a challenge for PRs.

Howard Bowden 1

Howard Bowden

If 2016 is the year the post-war political rulebook was torn up, it feels like it’s been an even more seismic 12 months for news.  By which I don’t mean the subject matter – grim though it’s been – but rather the way news is consumed.

A senior Sky News editor told me this week that 2016 is possibly on a par with 1476, when William Caxton invented the printing press – and while Bill’s inky fingers gave birth to the printed word of news, this year has seen the rise of ‘fake news’, which you wonder might ultimately have just as much impact.

Brexit and Trump demonstrated, depressingly, how we now live in a post-truth world – and high fives to Oxford Dictionaries’ PR for declaring ‘post-truth’ 2016 international word of the year this week.  Nothing illustrates this better than fake news websites, which publish hoaxes and misinformation to drive web traffic, primarily via social media sharing.

Facebook, in particular, has come under fire for furthering the spread of inaccurate information, hence recent stories on how it and Google are set to clamp down on fake news sites by barring them from using ad networks, thus cutting off crucial lines of revenue.

And it’s not like fake news is new. BBC Online tells me the term dates back to the early 90s, when as an ex-hack I remember The Daily Sport and its diet of ‘World War Two Bomber Found on Moon’ headlines being thrust upon an unsuspecting, and ultimately low circulation, public.

But that was before social media. Now, real and fictional stories are presented in such a similar way online that it’s often difficult for consumers to tell them apart.  There are hundreds of fake news sites, from those which deliberately imitate real life newspapers to government propaganda sites, and those which tread the line between satire and plain misinformation.

Many are basically unfunny versions of Viz.

One UK fake news site even went public this week, with the creator of the Southend News Network defending what he does, claiming it was set up as a reaction to the way local stories were covered in his area.

But his killer quote was this: “People read a headline and don’t even bother to check the content before sharing it.” Ouch. But then again, who among us hasn’t been guilty of that in the last year/week/24 hours?

So what do PRs need to consider in the post-truth fake news era?

Be aware. And ensure your client is ready to swing into action should the worst happen. Asking colleagues for thoughts on the subject, I heard one horror story about a children’s soft drink brand which fell victim to a story claiming one glass featured 12 teaspoons of sugar.  The story was absolute nonsense, but was picked up by the nationals, and the client retractions were paltry.  It killed the business.  Fake news costs.

It’s also vital to remember that stuff on social media can become a story for traditional media because it’s happening on social media. People have forever gossiped, bitched and talked glowingly about brands, celebs and hate-fuelled political movements, but from now on, if it happens on social media it legitimises itself as a potential story for everyone from MailOnline down.  See assorted ‘Internet goes into meltdown over…’ headlines in 2016 for more info.

Most of all, DON’T try to embrace fake news for your client; a very wise PR buddy reminded me recently to never, ever tempt fate, and we’ve seen many cases this year of innocuous brand campaigns get unfairly ripped apart on social media.  Of course there are no definitive rules in media relations, and you can bet that as you read this, somewhere out there a challenger brand’s PR is planning an, oh-so-clever, campaign to position itself within the fake news trend.  Just don’t come running to me when it goes badly wrong.

  • Howard Bowden is a freelance media trainer and co-founder of Generation. His career has included content roles at 3 Monkeys and Clarion and senior PR roles for Vue and Walt Disney.

Swiss Finance Startups chooses Aspectus

/in /by

Aspectus will manage international media relations for Swiss Finance Startups (SFS).

Katy Galasinski 1

Katy Galasinski

SFS says it requires a communications partner to help it build the profile of Swiss fintech globally.

Founded in Zurich in 2014, it is a non-profit organisation run by its start-up members, and drives the digitalisation of the financial industry.

Urs Haeusler, SFS board member, said: “The Swiss fintech sector is booming and we want the world to know about it. There is so much talent, creativity and commitment within this sector, we needed an agency to match.

“We are here to help Swiss entrepreneurs make their mark on financial services, and promoting our efforts, and the success of Swiss fintech businesses globally, is a key part of that.”

Katy Galasinski, group director at Aspectus, added: “We are well aware that the fintech movement is a global one. Switzerland especially is a hot spot – you just have to walk into any number of the incubators to see it. Organisations like SFS make a real and positive difference to entrepreneurial communities. But there is also real need for expert fintech communicators. We are here to help the entrepreneurs, and the associations that promote them, to put their ideas and industry on the map.”

Aspectus opened its Luzern office in 2015. It supports a number of financial services clients from brokers, to consultancies and investment banks.

  • Alastair Turner, Aspectus global CEO,  and Tim Focas, co-leader of Aspectus’ Brexit unit, will give a “boots on the ground” view of what Aspectus is doing around Brexit as well as an overview of the wider Brexit comms challenge in a Gorkana webinar on November 23. Sign up for the webinar here.

C5 Capital appoints Hudson Sandler

/in /by

London-based fund manager C5 Capital has appointed Hudson Sandler as its retained advisor for strategic communications.

C5 Capital 1

C5 Capital

C5 Capital is a family capital-backed technology investment firm which focuses on the cyber security, data and the cloud computing sectors. It recently announced the acquisition of ITC Secure Networking for £24m, which is the fund’s fourth investment and its first step towards consolidating the European market.

Partner Charlie Jack will lead the Hudson Sandler team with client manager John Merva and client executive Fern Duncan.

Jack said: “As Europe’s leading cyber security investment company, C5 has a phenomenal advantage in a world of relentless and wide-spread cyber-crime.

“This, combined with its deep understanding of investment opportunities created through the disruptive nature of the cloud, ensures that C5 has a fantastic opportunity ahead. We look forward to telling its story and supporting its growth.”

Earlier this month, Hudson Sandler became an independent partnership. It was formerly a subsidiary of communications group Huntsworth plc.

Yellow Jersey PR makes three appointments

/in /by

Financial, corporate and brand communications agency Yellow Jersey PR has hired account director Clare Glynn from FTI Consulting, and account executives Katie Bairsto and Francesca Hillier.

Clare Glynn 1

Clare Glynn

Glynn joins from a senior consultant role at FTI, where she worked in the firm’s real estate team. She was an analyst at SEI Investments before moving into financial PR and has advised clients including AXA-IM Real Assets and Helical plc.

Glynn joins Yellow Jersey’s capital markets team and will work across a broad range of current accounts, as well as upcoming IPOs and pitch work.

Yellow Jersey will announce another new account director, due to join the agency’s corporate division, in 2017.

The PR agency of the future panel event

/in /by

At an exclusive panel event last night, agency and industry leaders from Ketchum, Edelman, Hanson Search and Gorkana looked to the future and discussed what PR agencies will need to do, who they will need to hire and how they will prove success as media and comms continue to change.

PR Agency of the Future

The PR agency of the future panel: Paul Hender, Denise Kaufmann, Nigel Miller, Alice Weightman and chair Philip Smith

Kicking off the event, Denise Kaufmann, partner and CEO at Ketchum London, spoke about the evolution of the PR industry. Clients, she said, are now looking for services, “That they never knew they would want.” As a result, the range of people working in the industry is much broader, and some of them will not have worked in, or even with, PR before. She said, “We try to find the right people for the right opportunity.” Kaufmann reminded the audience that the client doesn’t necessarily care about internal agency structures, they just care about individuals.

Nigel Miller, chief human resources officer at Edelman, also spoke about the rapid change affecting the industry, but reminded the packed room that a PR professional’s core job – and many of the core skills needed – remain the same. He said, “You have to have these core skills, but you also need knowledge of digital.”

According to Miller, the political events of 2016 in the UK and the US have highlighted an important issue for communicators. As in the wider world, the PR industry suffers from a lack of exposure to diverse experiences. For instance, in media consumption, people tend to expose themselves to like-minded individuals and similar points of view. “We are not getting out of the bubble,” he explained, and this limited input can have an adverse affect on the quality of work produced.

Alice Weightman, founder and CEO at Hanson Search and The Work Crowd, also touched on diversity, particularly on gender diversity, and on the industry’s need for flexible working. She said she recently launched online platform, The Work Crowd, to help agencies and businesses find the expert freelancers they need.

The twin pressures of the need to offer diverse services and to control costs mean that agency business models are changing, and will continue to change, she said. The PR industry is adopting a more agile approach.

Paul Hender, Gorkana’s head of insight, said that communicators and PR agencies understand the increasing importance of measurement and proving ROI, but they don’t always know how to put this into practice.

Hender acknowledged Miller’s point about media consumption and the ‘echo chamber’ of media consumption in the digital world. The challenge for the media industry, Hender said, is that we spend around half of our waking day looking at screens and consuming media, yet 76% of ad-spend goes to news curators, not creators. However, he said, this can put earned media at an advantage compared to advertising or paid-for media. If PR can prove its value, then there is a great deal of potential for the industry moving forward.

All four experts agreed that PR agencies should look to the future with confidence and optimism as successful earned media activity, including PR, is in demand from clients, and there is great work being produced. Aspiring PR professionals should be confident too. As Kaufmann concluded, “It’s never been a better time to get into our industry.”

Threepipe to promote the “luckiest town” in the UK

/1 Comment/in /by

Threepipe has been brought in by The Romford Town Management Partnership (RTMP) to help position the town as the “luckiest town” in the UK. The agency has also won a brief from Clive Christian, the British luxury interiors and fragrance company.

The RTMP has asked Threepipe to drive local and national awareness of the town as it unveils its new brand identity in the build up to Christmas.

Its new brand is intended to position Romford as the ‘luckiest town’ in the UK, as it has ‘created’ more Lotto millionaires than any other UK town or city.

Threepipe will be working closely with the local community to bring promote its new identity through an integrated campaign, which will include experiential marketing, social advertising and media relations support.

Threepipe11

Romford has ‘created’ more Lotto millionaires than any other UK town or city.

Jonny Birkett, Romford growth manager at the RTMP, said: “We were impressed by both the creativity of the ideas to bring the new identity to life but also by the strategic approach to social targeting to showcase what Romford has to offer in terms of daytime visits and nightlife.”

Threepipe has also been briefed to manage Clive Christian’s digital advertising and SEO programmes across its collections during the festive period.

The agency will manage paid search and display retargeting, as well as social advertising formats through Facebook and Instagram. Activity will be supported by both on and offsite SEO work, including technical optimisation and creation and outreach of content to key influencers.

Deborah Stead, brand director for Clive Christian, said: “We were impressed by Threepipe’s experience in working with other premium brands and their understanding of our product portfolio and target customer at this key time of the year.”