Digital Media Services appoints Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

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Digital content agency Digital Media Services has appointed b2b tech agency Red Lorry Yellow Lorry to broaden its profile across the media and entertainment industry.

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry has been tasked by Digital Media Services to raise brand awareness of its 360° content and help support its new business and recruitment drive. The campaign will be driven out of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry’s London headquarters and supported by its team in Los Angeles.

Simon Briggs, managing director of Digital Media Services, said: “Having worked with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry at previous companies, I had no hesitation in appointing it as Digital Media Services’ PR agency.

“Their know-how, contacts and experience in the media and entertainment industry, and footprints in our key markets of London and Los Angeles, will benefit us immensely as we transition into our next phase of growth.”

Rob Ettridge, partner at Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, added: “With consumer demand for rich, anytime – and on any device – content at an all-time high, Digital Media Services’ unique approach to content creation, management, distribution and measurement is a game-changer for the entertainment industry. We’re delighted they’ve chosen the lorries and are looking forward to helping them tell their exciting story.”

Global fashion brand Missguided hires Thinkhouse

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Missguided has appointed youth marketing agency Thinkhouse to work on a Christmas campaign for the global fashion brand.

Missguided thinkhouse

Missguided

Thinkhouse will support Missguided’s global expansion plan that through activity in the run-up to and during the Christmas period.

Ashley Reddin, social lead and account director at Thinkhouse, will lead the account.

Dane Stanley, head of performance marketing and CRM for Missguided, said: “We’re looking to do something really different and give the Missguided brand even more standout in an incredibly crowded market place. The Thinkhouse team immediately “got it”, understood what we were trying to achieve but more importantly, gave us a fresh perspective on how to connect with our customers.”

Jason Yates, MD of Thinkhouse UK, added: “We’re incredibly proud to be working with Missguided on their next super exciting campaign. The brand continues to innovate and push boundaries. The team really understands their audience and we are delighted to help them amplify their, already incredible, work.”

All Bar One briefs Manifest

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Manifest has been appointed by All Bar One to manage its social media and content strategy across all of its social media platforms. Activity kicks off tonight (3 November) with the launch of the bar chain’s flagship bar in Leicester Square.

All-Bar-One-Leicester-Square

All Bar One’s flagship bar in Leicester Square

All Bar One, which is owned by Mitchells and Butlers, was originally founded in 1994 and now operates 51 bars across the UK and Scotland.

Manifest, which won the account following a competitive pitch, will provide social media strategy across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The team will also support larger PR campaigns and bar openings throughout the year. To start, Manifest will support All Bar One’s flagship bar in Leicester Square tonight, with 400 guests and a DJ set from Laura Whitmore.

Michael Duffy, marketing manager at All Bar One, said: “We’re really excited to be working with Manifest on implementing a fresh content strategy across the All Bar One platforms. The All Bar One team were so inspired by their energy in their pitch that demonstrated how well Manifest understood All Bar One’s brand values and tone of voice. We want to set ourselves apart from our competition and promote our full offering.”

Manifest director Alex Myers said: “At Manifest we pride ourselves on being able to execute integrated creative briefs that stand out from the crowd. We’re really looking forward to getting to grips with All Bar One and pushing the boundaries of their content across their platforms. The team here are looking forward to lending their wealth of experience to launching Leicester Square with a bang.”

FTI Consulting expands London health and life sciences practice with senior hires

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FTI Consulting has expanded its strategic communications health and life sciences team with the appointment of Con Franklin as senior director and Hanna Skeppner as director.

Con Franklin BC

Con Franklin

Franklin joins FTI following three years at MHP Communications and will lead key global corporate and brand communications clients for the company’s growing healthcare business. Skeppner joins from New York agency Joele Frank, where she managed a range of healthcare accounts including Allergan and Proctor & Gamble.

The appointments bring FTI’s London team of healthcare communicators to 20.

Hanna Skeppner BC

Hanna Skeppner

Ben Atwell, senior managing director and practice group head, said: “We are proud to be working with an increasing roster of leading companies in the healthcare industry and out team is expanding to reflect that. Con and Hanna bring superb track records and skill sets to our team as we build on the company’s most successful year in EMEA so far.”

Franklin added: “Healthcare communications is a rapidly evolving discipline and becoming more complex to deliver based on the information needs of patients and healthcare professionals. FTI has a superb reputation in our sector for providing market-leading strategic advice, and I couldn’t be more excited to join the team.”

Former Hotwire and Deloitte duo launch tech startup PR firm

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Former Hotwire employee, Amelia-Eve Warden (21), has partnered with senior Deloitte associate, Bethany Simpson (23), to launch a London-based public relations agency P&C PR, which they claim makes them the UK’s youngest  PR agency owners to date.

Amelia Eve Warden

Amelia-Eve Warden, CEO

Warden will act as CEO and Simpson as CFO. They have set out to target B2B and B2C technology, media and social start-ups – run by young entrepreneurs in the UK – to help raise brand awareness and disrupt the industry through integrated media campaigns.

P&C PR’s creative team will be headed by Warden, who will oversee the marketing, social, PR, media relations and communications team. Simpson will lead on new business development, legal and finance.

Warden said: “We started the agency in order to take on a new challenge. We are passionate about young adults getting the recognition and support they deserve, which is difficult in such a competitive industry, but with the right resources, financial-support and opportunities, we can ensure a brighter younger-leading industry is on the cards, by developing these newborn businesses into global companies. We are intrigued to see what the future holds for us.”

Simpson added: “Collaborating with Amelia-Eve in order to launch our new PR agency, was the start to a great new career opportunity. Giving young entrepreneurs and millennials the opportunity to work with young co-founders gives us the base of understanding their business to innovate them into the media space, and to meet their financial requests.”

P&C PR has collaborated with HaiMediaGroup, a PR and media consultancy, specialising in serving specific disruptive technology start-ups and international social media group Meal Deal Talk.

Opinion: Four ways to get your PR workforce up to scratch on digital

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The convergence of technology and digital has become a significant force within all forms of stakeholder engagement. The failure to deploy technology and digital comms can be seen as “comms suicide” in this day and age, says Andrew Laxton, Racepoint Global‘s EVP and MD (Europe and Asia). Off the back of a recent paper from the agency, The Language of Digital, he suggests four key ways to create a new generation of “hybrid PRs”.

racepoint

Andrew Laxton

We now live and work in a rapidly changing digital world where new social channels and customer experiences have an immediate impact on audience behaviour compared with ‘traditional’ earned media campaigns.

As we learn how to position and communicate across these newer channels, the search for talent within the PR profession has also taken a new direction.  The demand for digital marketers who understand the content requirements for – and the management demands of – microsites, apps, mobile and cloud projects is now at an all-time high.

The industry has been talking idly about the need for hybrid marketing professionals for some time now with many agencies still choosing to work in traditional and digital silos. This means client servicing teams responsible for planning and mapping campaigns neither know how to truly integrate all components for the benefit of the brands they represent nor do they provide the transparency needed for the technical and digital project detail.

So how do we up-skill our workforce to create a new generation of hybrid PRs who speak the language of digital? I can suggest four key ways to do this:

1. Work with your HR Department(s) to develop structured L&D programmes that teach the fundamental building blocks of digital engagement such as wireframe architecture, SEO and WordPress. A basic understanding of software development, coding and digital tools will set tomorrow’s marketer apart from their peers.

2. Study the behavioural patterns of conventional and non-conventional influencers, their psychology, how they consume information and the impact they have on your client’s audience.

3. Broaden your approach to creative ideation and re-purpose engaging content to map with your influencers on the channels they engage verbally, visually and emotionally.

4. Never stop learning. Increase your own brand value and the value you provide your clients by understanding the fundamentals of managing digital projects, graphics design, video production and editing, web design, SEO and SEM.

Racepoint Global’s InMedia report, The Language of Digital, explores the changing role of marketers in the digital landscape. As modern business is increasingly driven by technology, it looks at the need for skills in the workspace to change and grow as well.

  • Laxton has more than two decades’ experience in PR across the Asia Pacific Region. He has held several management positions with international agencies providing senior advisory services to a range Fortune 500 and multinational clients.
  • He specialises in brand positioning, reputation management, stakeholder engagement, media profiling and content creation, and leads strategic comms initiatives for clients in the corporate, healthcare, consumer and corporate sectors.
  • Laxton was previously GM and Director (Asia Pacific) for MS&L. He began his career as a journalist and has held senior editorial positions with the South China Morning Post and as the Asia correspondent with the Mail on Sunday.

Hudson Sandler becomes independent partnership

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After eight years of ownership by Huntsworth plc, Hudson Sandler has become an independent partnership.

In a letter to clients, Hudson Sandler said: “While Huntsworth plc has been a supportive shareholder, our new structure will enable us to extend ownership across our team and help attract talent.”

The agency became a partnership on Friday (October 28) when the directors of Hudson Sandler Limited approved the transfer of the entire trading business of Hudson Sandler Limited and all of its trading assets to a new limited liability partnership (LLP).

Huntsworth plc will continue to hold a minority interest in Hudson Sandler LLP.

In a statement, Huntsworth said: “As part of the on-going development of the Group, Huntsworth made the decision to restructure Hudson Sandler to give management a greater stake in the equity of the business. Huntsworth remains an active and supportive shareholder of Hudson Sandler.”

 

CBI appoints Charles Naylor as corporate communications director

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Charles Naylor will take up the corporate communications director role at CBI (Confederation of British Industry) on 28 November. He will report to director-general Carolyn Fairbairn and will join the CBI Executive Committee.

Charles Naylor 1

Charles Naylor

Naylor has led corporate affairs strategies for firms in a number of sectors including, most recently, in a co-head of global communications role at HSBC. Prior to that, he held the chief communications officer role at Credit Suisse. He has also worked for Centrica, Hess and Shell.

An announcement on the CBI site states that ‘Charles is passionate about helping the CBI create the environment in which business can invest and succeed in order to contribute to the future prosperity of the UK.’

Since leaving HSBC two years ago, Naylor has been working as an independent consultant.

Muniya Barua, former corporate communications director at CBI, left the organisation in September to take up a director of corporate affairs role at public and corporate affairs agency Newington.

Cohn & Wolfe: Three reasons why PR is performing so strongly

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Public relations and public affairs – along with data investment management – were singled out for revenue growth in WPP’s UK operations in its Q3 results this week. Scott Wilson, MD of EMEA and CEO at Cohn & Wolfe UK,  gives Gorkana three key reasons for this strong performance.

Overall, WPP has reported that revenue rose 23.4% at £3.611 billion for the third quarter of the year, ending September 30. As a sector, public relations and public affairs revenues rose to 8.5% in the same quarter, at £287 million. This is “the strongest performing sector” for the company, according to WPP.

In October, Omnicom Group, owner of public relations businesses such as FleishmanHillard Fishburn and Ketchum reported a 4.4% rise in its organic public relations revenues in Q3 2016, compared to a 3.6% rise in advertising revenues in the same quarter.

In WPP’s earnings statement, Cohn & Wolfe was highlighted as one of the strongest growing businesses across the quarter and for the first nine months of the year. Scott Wilson, MD of EMEA and CEO at Cohn & Wolfe UK, highlights why PR is performing so well:

1.There is increasing need to protect brand reputation

“The co-existence of two core business drivers – engaging stakeholders and the increasing need to protect brand reputation. At Cohn & Wolfe we refer to this as ‘promote and protect’ and it is a strength of our business.”

2.Authenticity comes first

“Earned-first: brands and businesses increasingly recognise the importance of authentic and engaging content, whether it is delivered via paid, owned or earned channels. An earned-first mind-set is fundamental to our DNA and our success has persuaded marketers to look at modern PR in a fresh light.”

3.More integrated skills

“The inexorable momentum behind integrated marketing content (IMC) – clients are increasingly demanding digital content and creative technology solutions. The best PR agencies are comfortable with integrated, have invested in the new skills and capabilities, and are able to play a leading role within integrated agency and client groups.”

Crohn’s & Colitis UK briefs TVC to promote WALK IT 2017

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Crohn’s & Colitis UK, the UK charity which supports people suffering from colitis or Crohn’s disease, has brought TVC Group on board to promote WALK IT 2017, a nationwide walks programme to raise awareness and funds.

TVC Group

WALK IT 2016

According to the charity, every 30 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, the two main forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and WALK IT 2017 is designed to raise awareness of IBD and help reduce the stigma, fear and isolation experienced by those affected.

Eight routes of 5km and 10km will be rolled out across the country in May, June and July next year.

TVC, which won the brief following a competitive pitch, will develop an integrated PR, marketing and comms strategy to support the programme.

The agency’s campaign aims to position Crohn’s & Colitis UK as the leading UK charity within the IBD sphere, as well as raise funds to support its mission to help people with the conditions.

Sam Afhim, director of income generation at Crohn’s & Colitis UK, said: “WALK IT is one of our biggest fundraising drives of the year and we wanted a PR and marketing partner to help spread the message far and wide.

“Chronic conditions like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are becoming more common, especially among young people, and the impact on work, social and family life can be devastating.

“At least 300,000 people in the UK have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, but we think the number of people living with the condition is more than double this. The awareness and funds we’ll raise from WALK IT 2017 are crucial to help us beat these lifelong conditions.”

James Myers, group MD at TVC Group, said: “We’re thrilled to win this brief. TVC has a rich heritage in supporting charitable causes and helping them raise awareness for their campaigns. We hope we can help inspire a whole new community of people to get walking and make WALK IT 2017 bigger, better and even more successful than last year.”