Palm PR promotes SAVOURSMITHS

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Palm PR has been appointed by the family behind Russell Smith Farms to manage the launch of crisp brand SAVOURSMITHS.

Palm PR

SAVOURSMITHS

Produced from potatoes and rapeseed oil from the family farm in Cambridgeshire and hand-cooked in small batches, SAVOURSMITHS’ flavours include Champers and Serrano Chilli, Truffle & Rosemary, Parmesan & Port and Wagyu Beef with Honey and Mustard.

Palm PR has been briefed to support SAVOURSMITHS in its aim to secure a share of the £1.34 billion potato crisp category by tapping into demand for innovative flavours crisps made with healthier cooking oils including rapeseed oil.[1]

The agency will deliver a campaign across consumer, business and trade media to raise awareness of the brand throughout the UK to drive sales and increase SAVOURSMITHS’ distribution network.

The account was won following a five-way pitch.

Liam Keogh, Palm PR director,  said: “We are delighted to join the SAVOURSMITHS team, which is at the forefront of a very exciting development in the snack category, by re-inventing and elevating Britain’s favourite snack, the traditional crisp with a completely unique and epicurean offering.”

[1] Mintel 2015 Crisps, Savoury Snacks and Nuts report, UK – January 2016 

Finsbury opens Tokyo office

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WPP agency Finsbury is launching an office in Tokyo, Japan. Kyota Narimatsu, former head of corporate communications at Barclays Japan, will lead the office.

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Roland Rudd

Narimatsu has previously worked for Russell Investments, Standard & Poor’s and Sumitomo Bank (now SMBC).

Roland Rudd, Finsbury chairman and founder, said: “The opening of our office in Tokyo is another step forward in strengthening Finsbury’s position as the leading global platform for integrated strategic communications advice.

“Building on our strong presence and continued growth in Asia, our team in Japan will bring Finsbury’s uniquely sophisticated counsel and rigorous execution to a range of Japanese and international clients.”

He added: “As one of the only truly global firms in our industry, we are well positioned to provide the global perspective that clients now demand, particularly in key capital markets, cross-border transactions, complex IPOs and high-profile restructurings and litigation matters.”

Michael Gross, Finsbury CEO, commented: “As companies in Japan increasingly look beyond their borders and international companies look to invest in Japan, our new Tokyo office and global platform give us the unique ability to provide world-class communications support. Tokyo is the next, natural step for Finsbury in Asia. Finsbury has advised Japanese companies including Toyota, Softbank and Sumitomo Corporation through some of the most complex situations of the past two decades and we will now be in a position to provide an even deeper bi-cultural service.”

Finsbury’s Asia network currently includes offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore.

Facebook takes the lead in B2B thought leadership

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A recent survey by content marketing agency Grist shows that Facebook is the social network senior executives are most likely to engage with for thought leadership pieces. But B2B firms have ‘barely scratched the surface’ of the platform, according to Grist’s founder and managing director Andrew Rogerson.

Out of 200 interviews with senior executives based in FTSE 350 companies, 79% said they are more likely to engage with thought leadership on Facebook, compared to Twitter at 73% and LinkedIn at 68%, according to the survey.

As the report concludes, this might be unexpected: “Given LinkedIn’s role as the self-described world’s number one professional social network, these results might surprise.”

According to Andrew Rogerson, founder and managing director of Grist, thought leadership pieces are typically large survey based thought leadership programmes which are cut down into a myriad of articles, blogs, infographics or video, such as PwC’s CEO Survey and CA Technologies digital transformation report.

These pieces are a valuable part of brand building strategy, according to Neil Bayley, director of corporate at Good Relations. He says: “It can strengthen competitive differential, build confidence in strategy and convince people your vision is worth investing in, whether they be share holders or staff.

“But very few business decision-makers have time to leaf through a broadsheet newspaper or trade magazine these days. Their media consumption habits as a consumer are increasingly shaping the way they look for insight to guide them at work.”

Most B2B firms have barely scratched the surface of Facebook

Despite this, Rogerson believes that B2B firms are still mainly using Facebook to gain the attention of new recruits. He says: “They should start to understand its power in attracting new clients, and retaining those it already has. Facebook is doing a lot in the space to help them do this – its advertising power has long been known to B2C firms but it is now doing more in the B2B space.

“Those seeking to influence for their clients should beware – they need to tread carefully and treat readers with respect, giving them something of real value.”

Earlier this year, Hotwire PR also claimed that ‘the myth that Facebook isn’t a channel for B2B comms is dead’ after highlighting that B2B decision makers are influenced by platforms outside of what is considered ‘the norm’ in it’s The Changing Face of Influence report.

John Brown, group head engagement at Hotwire, says: “Any comms professional, in-house or otherwise, ignoring Facebook as a channel are being either myopic or outright ignorant. To say that it’s a social media platform just for consumers is utterly missing the point.

“Facebook wants to own the entry point into the internet. It doesn’t see itself as a social media platform, instead it’s working on being your curated guide to the online world irrespective of whether you’re a senior executive or a student. This research is further evidence that the B2B and B2C lines aren’t just blurred, they’re being erased altogether,” he adds.

Headland launches reputation risk offer

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Headland Consultancy is launching a new reputation risk proposition with Hans-Kristian Bryn, former partner for strategic risk at professional services firm Deloitte.

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Simon Burton and Hans-Kristian Bryn

Simon Burton, partner at Headland, will lead the new proposition with Bryn, who will work with the agency in an associate capacity.

Headland’s service is intended to guide companies through new product launches, source strategy changes or the initiation of M&A activity through the analysis of reputation risk.

Bryn explained: “The Corporate Affairs and Risk teams have distinct areas of focus and often differences in approach. However, when it comes to assessing reputation risk, they need to work together better to deliver a more holistic evaluation of the strategic and investment decisions facing a company.

“Too many firms approach reputation risk on a reactive basis, rather than predicting and modelling future risk as part of the everyday business decision-making process.”

Simon Burton, Headland partner, added: “This proposition from Headland comes in response to client demand. We have undertaken projects in this space during 2016 and are already seeing interest growing for next year.

“Managing reputation risk is vital to enhance and protect company value. However, if Corporate Affairs and Risk functions collaborated more closely on reputational risk management they would be more effective in maximising the value they deliver to their organisations and more successful in helping the leaders of their companies make better decisions. Headland’s proposition focuses on joint working, allowing these functional silos to become more than the sum of their parts.”

 

Gorkana meets…Finanzen.nl editor Leon Brandsema

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Tell us more about the launch of finanzen.nl and the merger with the Dutch business and finance platform Z24.nl. How did this come about?

Gorkana Meets EU

Leon Brandsema

finanzen.nl is a collaboration between the German finanzen.net – Europe’s biggest stock market site and part of Axel Springer – and the Dutch publishing company Z24 Media. It used to be part of Z24 Media’s platform Z24.nl, but this is now transformed into the recently launched business platform Businessinsider.nl.

Z24 Media has experienced many changes in a short amount of time. This has been quite hectic, but also a fun process. A lot of preparation went into the launch of finanzen.nl, such as translating sections of the website from German to Dutch. Until the very last minute, we were making adjustments, so it was pretty awesome when it finally went online, also because we are really happy with the look of the site.

How do you source and select the information published on the site?

To write news articles, we make use of a feed that contains mainly international (English) news. We draw inspiration from this for the pieces we produce on British and American stock news. On the other hand, we also use data from our own resources on finanzen.nl, such as real-time stocks, historical stocks data and research from analysts.

How is the editorial team structured and how does a typical day look like?

I work full time in the office together with one other freelance journalist. One of us starts early in the morning to catch all the news that is available from before the stock market opens. Another freelance journalist joins later in the morning and works until the Dutch market closes. Work is partly dedicated to processing news from Dutch news agency ANP, and the rest of the time is spent on creating our own content.

Who reads finanzen.nl?

It is difficult to precisely define our readers, but they usually consist of men, slightly older, with an interest in investing and generally have a hefty wallet.

Tell us about your journalistic career, especially moving from sports to finance?

(Laughs) Yes, that has been a remarkable step! I started as an intern on the sports desk of the Dutch regional newspaper De Stentor, where I later worked as a freelance journalist.

Just by applying to different job openings I landed a job covering insurance at Assurantie Magazine (am:). I did not have a specific ambition to become a financial journalist, even though I’ve always had a fascination for numbers, but after a while it started to grow on me. The fun part is to learn as much as possible about an unknown territory. Over the two years, I started to feel quite at home in the insurance industry.

Eventually, I was approached to help launch finanzen.nl and I was excited to also learn at a fast pace about the insights of the stock market. I still have a passion for sports journalism, but at the moment I enjoy working in the financial world.

What is your relationship with PRs like?

I can often build good contacts with PR agencies and spokespeople. This becomes more natural when you are working in a certain sector for a while. It is important to both understand and respect each other’s role, that way you can build a good relationship.

 What are your top three PR tips?

Be relevant: don’t just randomly shoot ideas or stories to a journalist, but go for quality instead of quantity. This way, the journalist will take you more seriously if you pitch an idea.

Don’t act overly friendly: like I said before, understand and respect each other’s role. I know that you are approaching me to request attention for a client, but to me it is more important to find out if what you offer is a good story to cover. To me it doesn’t matter if we get along well or not, it remains a ‘business’ proposal.

Give a bit of space: if a journalist has had an interview with a client, don’t turn this interview upside down and overcorrect it for no particular reason. Pick your battles; choose a couple of points you would like to see differently and leave the rest. This way, there is a greater chance that the journalist will be more receptive to what you wish to see differently.

How do you make use of social media?

My Facebook account is for private use; businesswise I primarily use Twitter, which I use for three things: to share own content, to gain inspiration for news items by following interesting accounts, and finally, to market myself a little. I see LinkedIn as an online cv, which I don’t actively use.

And finally, what is the most memorable story, that you have reported on?
From a financial perspective this was the news about the offer of the Dutch insurer NN (Nationale Nederlanden) to buy its industry rival Delta Lloyd. My knowledge about the insurance industry combined perfectly with my newly gained knowledge about the stock market, made it possible for me to write a couple of nice items about this.

A bit less tasteful maybe is the piece that I wrote about a local amateur football player who got a yellow card for urinating in public. Apparently he couldn’t hold his urine anymore during the game and left the pit. I had a slightly uncomfortable interview with him about this incident and we added a fantastic photo of him and a tree as though he was taking a leak against it.

  •  Leon Brandsema was interviewed by Gorkana’s Anna Masuku

 

Grayling to switch to an affiliate presence in Sweden

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Grayling looks to launch an affiliate agency presence in Sweden after closing its office in the country.

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Jan Simunek

Jan Simunek, CEO Europe at Grayling, said: “Sweden has proven to be a difficult market for our business for some time now. There are a combination of factors that have worked against us such as this being a project driven market with fewer long term retainers and higher operating costs.

“For many of our international clients, footprint is crucial across the Nordic region and so maintaining a presence through a single small office in Stockholm has not worked. That is the reason we are now planning to establish a partnership with an affiliate who can offer us a regional presence.”

Grayling has this year counted Virgin Trains, housing association L&Q and Lloyds Banking Group among its new clients.

Grayling is a subsidiary of Huntsworth, a PR-focused group listed on the London Stock Exchange. The group also includes financial PR agency Citigate Dewe Rogerson, UK consumer agency Red Consultancy and global pharmaceutical consultancy, Huntsworth Health.

iTalent chooses Liberty to build European profile

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Liberty Communications has been selected by global tech consulting and cloud integration firm iTalent to build its brand across Europe. The brief includes public and analyst relations across the continent.

Liberty Dee

Dee Gibbs

iTalent, which works with big tech brands including Cisco, Veritas and Sephora, provide business outcomes through digital transformation, partnership, collaboration and communication.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices in Hong Kong and India, iTalent said its decision to work with Liberty underpins its current European focus.

Liberty has been briefed to conduct a range of activities to raise iTalent’s profile across the continent, and aims to create a strong thought leadership platform, build analyst and media relations and positively position the consultancy against big name competitors.

Although strategy will be led from the Liberty London office, work will also be run out of its California office, based in San Francisco.

Brion Lau, Vice-President of Marketing at iTalent, said: “We have been really impressed by Liberty’s approach thus far. It has set them apart from the competition. Liberty was the first firm that actually did its homework and came equipped with suggestions that were relevant, timely and, in some cases, already under discussion internally.  Europe is a huge target market for us at the moment so we are looking forward to getting started and to the results that we know Liberty will deliver.”

Dee Gibbs (pictured), CEO at Liberty Communications, added: “With an ethos that’s all about partnering with clients to offer a flexible, tailored solution that meets each individual customer’s specific needs, we see many similarities between iTalent’s approach and our own.

“Our understanding and expertise in the technology space, combined with a thorough understanding of the consultancy dynamic, means that Liberty is perfectly placed to support iTalent’s European strategy.”

The Resort Group briefs Hudson Sandler

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The Resort Group (TRG) has appointed Hudson Sandler as its retained comms advisor.

Hudson S

TRG plans to open its third resort, Llana Beach Hotel, on Cape Verde next month.

TRG specialises in the design, development and operation of five-star luxury hotels and resorts in Cape Verde, and plans to open its third resort, Llana Beach Hotel, on the island next month.

The hotel will cater for adults only, complementing TRG’s existing two family orientated resorts already on the island. Alongside the resorts, TRG will unveil Bikini Beach, Cape Verde’s first premium beach club, which will open next month.

Hudson Sandler will advise on all strategic comms and campaigns to promote TRG to business, consumer and travel media audiences.

Managing partner Andrew Hayes and director Alexander Clelland will lead the Hudson Sandler team.

Charlie King, COO at TRG, said: “The Resort Group plc is going from strength to strength and we are excited to work with Hudson Sandler to communicate our message to those stakeholders that are crucial to our continued growth. We have exciting plans underway and the opening of Llana Beach Hotel and Bikini Beach in December will herald a new milestone in our development.

“Llana Beach Hotel is our third successful resort development on the island and signifies our commitment to developing and managing luxury resorts on Cape Verde – one of the world’s most beautiful, safe and sustainable countries.”

Clelland added: “The company has already achieved a tremendous amount since it was founded in 2007 and we look forward to being part of the next stage of their success. The team will deliver a fully integrated PR campaign across B2B and B2C.”

Beattie recruits 30 staff members in 30th year

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Laurna Woods 1

Laurna Woods

In 2016, creative comms agency Beattie has recruited 30 members of staff across its network of eight offices; which include London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Falkirk.

Beattie first announced that it would create 30 new jobs to celebrate its 30th birthday in February.

Hires made in the past year include Jessica McAndrew as digital comms director, former DADA chief Laura Mcllquham as senior account director in Scotland and Mondelez’s Tony Bilsborough as head of Birmingham at Beattie.

The milestone was reached with the signings of Michelle Coull, Emma Laye, Donna White and Artur Trull. Coull joins as digital account director from Peach, Laye as head of talent from McCann Manchester, White arrives from Trinity Mirror and Trull joins as a graduate film maker.

In addition, the agency is looking to hire ten more members of staff. The group is still looking for three PR people in London, four digital marketers and web developers in Scotland and a PR account manager in Leeds.

Laurna Woods, Beattie group MD, said: “Business is booming. We won more than £1m of new business in the last month, hence the need for even more PR, digital and website talent.

“There is tough competition for exceptional people, but we probably find it easier than most, having won the Large PR Agency Of The Year title and being recognised as the third best medium-sized employer in the UK according to one national newspaper (The Sun).

“We now have 120 people across our eight UK offices and I’m confident that we will continue to grow despite the tougher economic environment.”

Woods also announced the promotion of Douglas Mackay to IT director and Adam Christie to studio director.

Beattie Group operates three brands: 11tenGroup, Only Marketing and Beattie. Clients include Specsavers, Merck, flybe and French fashion house La Redoute.