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Professional services firm KPMG has appointed Zoe Sheppard as head of its press office. She replaces Erfan Hussain who has joined Accenture.
Sheppard joined KPMG in 2011, and most recently led the PR for its tax, risk consultancy and management consultancy practices. She has more than ten years of PR experience and, as head of KPMG’s press office, she will lead a team of 12 and deliver its PR strategy in the UK.
Sorrelle Cooper, head of communications at KPMG, said: “Zoe Sheppard has already established herself as a vital member of KPMG’s press team over the past five years. We cast a wide net into the market, as well as accepting internal applications, but Zoe stood out as the most skilled and creative candidate. I have every faith in her ability to maintain and grow the strong media presence the firm has established.
“Since my own appointment in January, I have been building up our communications department, in tandem with the ever-increasing demand for independent facts and clear expert opinion. We continue to hire communications professionals with experience of complex regulated markets and with skills in emerging areas such as digital.”
Sheppard added: “KPMG has strong growth plans in place for the next financial year as we advise our clients on a wide range of opportunities and challenges, including Brexit. I look forward to working with our head of communications and chairman to set our media strategy, tying it closely to the firm’s commercial ambitions.”
KPMG provides advisory, audit and tax services in the UK.
Grifco PR has launched a paid PR internship programme and, from Monday, is on the hunt for up to six “passionate and enthusiastic” interns to join the London-based luxury travel and lifestyle PR agency.
Grifco PR’s website
Successful candidates will be invited to undertake a three-month programme, where they will learn a variety of PR skills, including how to:
Write a press release
Put together the perfect pitch
Mount press coverage for clients
The agency says that interns will be taken to editorial meetings to meet some of the UK’s leading writers and social influencer, as well as help the team with events that mark the annual travel PR calendar.
This year, Grifco celebrated its 14th birthday and this month moved into new offices, the “official Grifco House”, in Parson’s Green, after more than a decade at the Coda Centre in Fulham.
Claire Griffin, MD of Grifco PR, said: “We are incredibly excited to be in the new office at Grifco House, and to be able to welcome the next generation of PR superstars, who will be the first to trial our new internship programme. We look forward to receiving applications and meeting a new team.”
The acquisition, financed by J.C. Flowers & Co. will create the UK’s second largest online broker, with over 300,000 customer relationships and assets under administration (AUA) of £18bn.
The TBA team is made up of partners Tom Allison and Ed Orlebar, account executive Alycia MacAskill and junior account executive Lucy Featherstone. TBA is providing the communications support as part of its retained brief with Interactive Investor.
Interactive Investor is an online investment platform that allows users to invest in UK and international main market equities, small companies via the AIM or collectives including investment trusts, funds and ETFs.
The TD Direct Investing transaction is subject to regulatory approval.
Your bitesize update on Gorkana News’ features highlights from this week, including opinions, news analyses, event write-ups and insights:
Gorkana Meets: The Pool
In 2015, Sam Baker and Lauren Laverne, founders of The Pool, revealed new multi-media platform for women “too busy to browse” at a Gorkana media briefing.
A year later, Baker says the platform is going from strength to strength, talks about which content is working best and asks PRs not to address her as “Mr Baker” when getting in contact.
PR Case Study: The Banana Ban Tricker PR drove ticket sales for the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival with a low budget campaign inspired by ancient mariner superstitions that saw bananas banned in a Scottish harbour village.
Insight: Is PR slow to take advantage of content opportunities?
While branded content is growing in popularity among marketers, there are few PR agencies on the shortlist for this year’s International Content Marketing Awards. Gorkana asks agency experts if the sector is slow to take advantage of branded content and asks why it might be falling behind.
Opinion: Collaboration and crisis comms Victoria Cross, managing partner at Instinctif Partners, argues that preparation for a crisis relies on collaborative communications.
60 Seconds with: Tom Coombes, Cognito Tom Coombes, CEO and founder at finance-focused PR and marketing firm Cognito, talks to Gorkana about his experiences managing an international agency, the challenges he has faced and his plans for the final quarter.
Event: About Time Magazine At an exclusive Gorkana, Cision and PR Newswire media briefing event, Angelica Malin, founder and editor-in-chief at About Time Magazine, explained how the social-led website has captured an audience of aspirational, young professionals.
Opinion: How PRs can make the most of branded content Content is content, right? Not according to research by the Branded Content Marketing Association (BCMA). You need to understand the difference if you are to make the most of branded content in your communications, writes Andrew Canter, global CEO of the BCMA.
Facebook has launched a version of its app and website aimed at businesses named Workplace. As the tool contends with popular office apps such as Slack, Yammer and bespoke business systems, what does this mean for PR and can Facebook lead the way in internal comms?
There’s a new kid on the block for internal comms management and it’s entered the market with a bang. Facebook launched a business version of its app and website this week to allow group discussions, personalised news feeds and voice and video calling for internal networks.
But, what does a new tool for internal comms really mean for PR and can Facebook lead in this area? Ketchum, which is one of the 400 companies beta testing Workplace, and internal comms agency the Blue Ballroom point out the advantages and disadvantages of the new tool for internal comms.
Employee adoption is easier with Facebook
Ketchum has been named service partner to help organisations plan, implement and manage Workplace. Stephen Waddington, Ketchum’s chief engagement officer, says adoption is a key challenge for these internal comms tools and the main benefit of Facebook’s new app and website will be the familiar environment for employees.
He told Gorkana: “Facebook is well established in our personal lives. Many organisations have private Facebook groups on the public platform. Imagine the possibilities if they are equipped with a version of this already familiar and intuitive social tool – at work, for work. It’s a place to cultivate creativity, share ideas, facilitate discussions and improve knowledge management.
“Instead of readying the workforce for another new technology, the communication challenge with Workplace by Facebook is to ready the organization. Employees are using Facebook anyway. Organisations need to be prepared for the open culture that Workplace enables. The payoff can be a dramatic improvement in workplace information sharing and productivity.”
Having rolled out the platform in Ketchum, Waddington says the agency is gaining ‘a huge amount of behavioural, cultural and workflow experience’ of the platform and seeing high levels of engagement and knowledge sharing.
In a blogpost, Waddington says more than 300 communities for offices, practices and social groups have been created on the platform at Ketchum.
Facebook needs to build confidence from businesses
Facebook says there will be no advertising on Workplace, but Kate Shanks, MD at internal comms agency the Blue Room, says it will have to build trust with businesses on how and if the platform will mine their data.
She said: “I think Workplace will face challenges over security; cyber security is becoming more and more of a factor within many global businesses and there are concerns that Workplace does not compete with other providers on security. Also Facebook’s record of selling data won’t have inspired confidence with business owners and decision makers.”
While Shanks does note familiarity and user experience as a benefit of the platform, there is also concern about the relationship between employees’ personal and workplace account and how the two will work together.
She continues: “It’s early days, but it’s certainly something that our clients are questioning.”
Steffan Williams, Newgate group managing director, senior partner Charlie Chichester and associate partner Clotilde Gros are leading on the acquisition brief, which involves the consultancy’s financial, corporate and public affairs divisions.
Endurance Speciality Holdings is a Bermuda-based provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. SOMPO and Endurance are listed in Tokyo and New York, respectively.
The Endurance transaction is the largest Newgate has worked on this year to date.
Boston International Holdings is listed on the London Stock Exchange
The Yellow Jersey team consists of director Charles Goodwin, consultant Joe Burgess and junior consultant Josh Cole.
BIH’s US management team is targeting acquisitions and consolidation opportunities in the highly fragmented Forex (FX) market.
Following its first acquisition, BIH will seek re-admission of the enlarged group through a reverse takeover, and will then employ a roll-up acquisition strategy thereafter.
At the event, the elephant team conducted feature interviews with members, prepared broadcast media content, developed a photo library and supported social media engagement.
The conference, which ran across two-days (10-11 October), tackled many of the big market issues that AFM members face: the impact of Brexit, regulation, embracing digitisation and asserting the case for the mutual advantage at a time of economic uncertainty. There were around 200 people in attendance.
Martin Shaw, CEO of the Association of Financial Mutuals, said: “This year’s conference marks a new chapter in the history of AFM, which now has a clear mandate to champion the advantage that smaller financial mutuals bring, not just in terms of their agility, but also their closeness to members and the local communities where they are actively involved.
“In the months ahead, it is imperative that smaller financial mutuals work together to navigate their way through the constantly changing economic and political climate we are all confronting. Along the way, we will be faced with both challenges and opportunities, but together we will look forward and ensure financial mutuals remain a choice for consumers and deliver long-term strategies their members can have confidence in.”
Guy Bellamy, founder at elephant, added: “In the current climate our research indicates there are still trust issues between the consumer and the financial services industry, and the mutual sector is well placed to assert the merits of mutuality, especially in the digital age where the consumer is in control.”
Victoria Cross, managing partner at Instinctif Partners, argues that preparation for a crisis relies on collaborative communications.
Victoria Cross
I chaired a panel debate recently for a room of technical product quality and safety experts on ‘Effective crisis communication’, and it got me thinking… How do we explain the real importance of crisis communication to those who think communication is a one-way street or worse, “not my job”?
Announcing a product recall in the media or putting up a recall notice in store are both communication tactics. But, how do we know if they are truly effective in driving the (sometimes life-saving, certainly reputation-saving) outcomes that crisis communications demand?
We always urge our clients to think about collaboration rather than simply communication. Indeed we have recently completed an intensive four-year training project with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for EU Member States and neighbouring countries on exactly that theme. Meanwhile, our 24/7 crisis response team relies heavily on effective collaboration with the best in the business from laboratory testing to site security.
Only with true collaboration, and an open two-way flow of information, can you be sure that you are communicating effectively during the fast-pace and pressure of a crisis.
That said, how many organisations have ever really considered the bigger picture in terms of crisis collaboration? Try asking yourself the following questions today when (hopefully!) you are not dealing with the pressure of a live crisis:
Who are your potential internal & external crisis collaboration partners?
Who is responsible for nurturing those relationships? And at what levels?
What inter-dependencies exist between you and both your internal and external collaboration partners?
Are the relationships strong enough to stand the test of a tough crisis situation?
Crucially, do you have a culture that makes collaboration easy or puts unintended barriers in your way?
This includes regulators, industry bodies, the scientific community, customers and consumers, and, most important of all – but often overlooked – colleagues.
One of the key components in dealing with a crisis is preparing for outcomes and aspects preemptively. So how can you be certain, in peacetime, that you have considered all the options, and have the full picture in your sights?
We advise a proactive approach – encouraging collaboration and making sure the channels of dialogue are open within an organisation before a crisis hits. All businesses should ensure they have covered off a range of areas, from governance and risk management to operational response. What we often see in diagnostic workshops is that collaboration is a natural by-product of crisis preparedness – it encourages cross-team communication to ensure that all areas are anticipated.
Similarly, this theory should be applied for product recall preparedness. There have been numerous instances of high-profile product recalls in the past year, in a range of sectors from automotive, to food, to technology. Anticipating a recall can be used to inform policies, procedures and capabilities to strengthen processes and preparedness.
For organisations which are looking to focus their crisis mitigation efforts, taking a truly collaborative approach to crisis management would be the best place to start.
In 2015, Sam Baker and Lauren Laverne, founders of The Pool, revealed their new multi-media platform for women “too busy to browse” to a packed out Gorkana media briefing. A year later, Baker says the platform is going from strength to strength, talks about which content is working best and asks PRs not to address her as “Mr Baker” when getting in contact.
We’ve grown at a crazy pace – which has its benefits and its drawbacks. The main platform is going from strength to strength with over 650,000 monthly unique users.
What has surprised you the most about the reaction from your audience at The Pool since launch?
Well we obviously *hoped* people would like The Pool – and we’d done a fair amount of research beforehand to make sure – but there were plenty of naysayers, both in tech and in old media, so the positive reaction has been really gratifying.
People tell us how much they love the broadcast method of delivery and the device that tells you how long it will take to consume the content. But best of all is how addicted people are to our ‘Today in 3’ email.
Hardly a day passes when I don’t see tweets saying people don’t know what they did on their journey to work before The Pool, and last week a woman crossed the street to say that. I had to stop myself kissing her!
What content has worked best on the site since launch?
That’s a bit like how long is a piece of string! Different content works in different ways – in terms of sheer numbers, news pieces where we catch a mood or are first off the block. For example, when Jenny Beavan wore an M&S leather jacket to the Oscars or when Kelvin Mackenzie used his Sun column to attack a Channel 4 news presenter for wearing a hijab – these stories brought us hundreds of thousands of new readers.
Combining the news hook with emotional resonance is the holy grail – like when Jessica Knoll (author of Luckiest Girl Alive) came out about her high school rape.
Video can be harder to make stick, but when it does you have a captive audience for anywhere up to an hour. Although we’re having lots of fun with social video right now, one snappy 30 second video called “Smile Hillary” was viewed 500,000 times overnight.
That said, our dwell times are hugely impressive, often exceeding five minutes for a fashion piece; our fashion content has a hugely loyal following, with people looking for taste and advice they trust before they shop. Our books content is the same. We have proven people come to us again and again for recommendations across a wide range of verticals.
What are you focusing on for the next 12 months?
AV, data, and improving the user experience. And we also have a sneaky little side project up our sleeve.
Pan Macmillan recently renewed its content and sponsorship partnership with The Pool. What does it get with The Pool it cannot get elsewhere and what will be different about the partnership in its second year?
We’re hugely thrilled and proud that Pan Macmillan chose to renew its deal. There’s no bigger vote of confidence.
As well as the influence and reach of The Pool’s team and contributors, and the way we deliver content into our audience’s receptive moments in their day, our method of working with brand partners is totally unique. We spend time with the brand’s stakeholders finding out what’s important to them, then the content team work hard to produce content that we know will resonate with our audience in an authentic way and, ultimately, introduce them to new authors.
What’s the key to a successful content partnership?
Collaboration. And trust. That’s it.
What’s the one thing PRs should never do when approaching you?
Call me Mr Baker. Seriously. Take a look at Twitter, Facebook, Google or even the masthead!
Your novel,The Woman Who Ran, hit the shelves earlier this year. What’s your next book going to be about?
I’ve spent a lot of time hosting events and filming interviews, both for The Pool and my book, and I’ve really enjoyed finding my voice off the page as well as on. I can’t tell you too much about my next novel – other than that it’s another psychological thriller – as I don’t want to jinx it.
