Manifest promotes Macmillan Cancer Support’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning

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Macmillan Cancer Support has brought in Manifest to create and execute a PR stunt for its annual World’s Biggest Coffee Morning, which takes place on Friday 30 September this year.

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This year the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning will take place on 30 September

Launched in 1990, the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning has raised more than £165 million for the charity.

With a brief to drive sign-ups to this year’s event, Manifest and its content division, O, is donating resources to the three-month project as part of its annual charitable contribution.

Amy London, senior media and PR officer at Macmillan, said: “After 25 years of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning we were looking for a creative PR agency that could bring some fresh thinking and new ideas to the table. Our Coffee Morning hosts never cease to amaze us with their enthusiasm and support, and this year we wanted to really celebrate their contribution and thank them for everything they do.

“We’ve admired Manifest’s work for some time now and wanted them to come to us with some creative yet strategic PR campaign concepts, and that’s exactly what they did. We’re really excited to see how the proposed plan comes together over the coming months.”

Alex Myers, founder and CEO at Manifest, added: “An ethos that runs deep through every aspect of Manifest is ‘communications with a conscience’ so we make sure we do a fair bit of pro bono work. When the brief to work with Macmillan came along the whole team jumped at the chance of working on the account. The charity does fantastic work supporting people affected by cancer and to be involved in the planning of a creative national PR stunt that helps raise vital funds is an honour for all of us.”

Manifest has previously executed pro bono campaigns for CALM, Ministry of Stories, ENZI and Excellent Development.

Bell Pottinger wins fintech duo

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Ripple, the financial technology platform, has appointed Bell Pottinger as its European agency.

Claudia Bate 2

Claudia Bate

Claudia Bate, who recently joined the agency as partner, will lead the Bell Pottinger team, advising Ripple as it expands into Europe and beyond.

David Patterson, director of corporate communications at Ripple, said: “We are excited to have Bell Pottinger by our side as we ramp up our global communications programme. We were immediately impressed by the team’s deep knowledge of the European fintech scene, its understanding of our business model and the creativity of its recommended strategy to help bring the Ripple story alive”.

Bell Pottinger recently revealed a marketing and comms strategy, as well as a new brand identity, for fintech start-up, CoInvestor; an alternative investments platform.

Charles Owen, the founder of CoInvestor, said: “Bell Pottinger has proved itself an invaluable strategic partner in the early stages of our company growth. We look forward to working with the team to build upon early success with both fund managers and investors, as we continue to develop our business long-term”.

Ripple and CoInvestor join a collection of fintech clients at London-based Bell Pottinger.

Bate added: “We are delighted to be working with Ripple, CoInvestor and a number of other fast growth fintech businesses. There is huge opportunity in this sector, and with our expertise and full-service offer, we are confident we can provide a market-leading service to both start-ups and established brands.”

House PR wins Beano network brief

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House PR will lead on the launch of the Beano as a children’s entertainment network.

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The Beano characters

Beano Studios will create, curate and deliver entertainment for kids across multiple platforms and products, including TV, digital content, consumer and theatrical products and the print comic and annual.

House PR will handle all communications for the B2B and consumer launches. The website launch will be accompanied by a refresh of the Beano comic.

Iain Sawbridge, chief marketing officer at Beano, said: “We are delighted to be working with House PR on this exciting new project. House PR’s wealth of experience with big brands in the digital and entertainment space and their great sense of humour makes them a great fit for us.”

Ginny Paton, managing director at House PR, added: “Beano is a very well known, much loved and trusted brand for kids and grown-ups alike. We’re hugely excited to be part of the brand’s re-imagination, and a part of creating a new digital experience for kids. This project really gives us the chance to be fun and mischievous; reflecting the brand’s values and messaging.”

House PR is a consumer PR agency based in London. Clients include Empire Cinemas, William Grant and Sons – including DISARONNO and Sailor Jerry Rum – and OpenTable.

Babel PR opens second UK office

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London-based tech PR agency, Babel has announced the opening of its second UK office in Cambridge.

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Ian Hood

The office will support two new clients based in the region, in addition to Babel’s existing portfolio in East Anglia. It is well-placed to provide communications services to the tech scene in Cambridge and throughout the east of England, according to the agency.

Ian Hood, CEO at Babel, said: “We are looking forward to working with some of the UK’s most dynamic and exciting tech companies from our Cambridge office. The area has proved itself as a hotbed for international companies looking for a UK presence outside of the capital, in addition to the raft of innovative start-ups emanating from the University of Cambridge.”

Babel’s new clients are mobile connectivity solutions provider Podsystem and merchant services provider Cashflows.

Hood added: “In addition to the opening of our second UK office, we welcome two new clients who are proven disruptors in their respective industries. We look forward to helping them reach their business goals by providing industry-leading consultation and communications services reaching a truly global audience.”

The Lifestyle Agency to launch member’s club Albert’s

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South Kensington-based member’s club Albert’s has appointed The Lifestyle Agency to handle the PR around its official opening next month.

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Albert’s

Albert’s was founded by Piers Adam, Jake Parkinson-Smith, Fraser Carruthers and Carlo Carello, and plans to offer the “most memorable dinner and dancing experience”.

Alicia Legg, senior account manager at The Lifestyle Agency, will lead the account and report to Carello.

Carello said: “We chose The Lifestyle Agency thanks to its past experience with private member’s clubs and London nightlife as well as its dynamic approach and PR and marketing abilities.”

Diffusion to handle UK launch of chia seed-based drink wow

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Europe’s “first chia seed based drink”, wow, has appointed Diffusion as its retained agency to handle its launch in the UK, following a competitive pitch.

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wow

wow is made by cold-pressing fruit and vegetables and adding hydrated chia seeds. As a “superfood” chia seeds help hydrate the body, boost metabolism and activate glycogen, which burns fat and provides a feeling of fullness, according to the brand.

Diffusion has been chosen to build brand awareness for wow with a content-driven campaign. The team will develop and implement an integrated campaign to convey wow’s “Made Amazing” proposition.

Working alongside the brand’s internal marketing and comms team, Diffusion will create a series of consumer activations, provide a press office function, and run events as well as experiential, blogger, vlogger and influencer engagement programmes to “inspire and excite” the brand’s target audience.

Oliver Dickinson, co-founder of Wow Food & Drinks, the company behind wow, said: “As the first offering of its kind in Europe, we needed an agency with a fresh and creative approach to build awareness for wow and capture the imagination our target audience.

“The Diffusion team has strong experience in the food and drink category and with new FMCG product launches. It showcased strong insights around the UK market and understood the direction we want to take the brand, broadening its appeal and relevance, enabling us to deliver the feeling of amazing to everyday life.”

Remy Le Fèvre, head of consumer at Diffusion, added: “As the first chia seed based drink in the UK, we’re really excited to introduce wow to consumers and the industry. It’s no secret that the UK drinks market is hugely competitive which is why it’s essential for brands such as wow to build meaningful and authentic relationships with consumers. Diffusion’s campaign will draw on our experience working with challenger brands in the food and drink space, and our extensive network of media and influencers.”

Gorkana meets… Investors Chronicle

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John Hughman, editor of Investors Chronicle, talks about his passion for well-researched, analytical and long-form journalism, and the opportunities for PR professionals to contribute to the financial publication. 

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John Hughman

Where do you get the majority of your news?
As an investment magazine, most of our coverage is driven by quoted companies updating the market via the Regulatory News Service. We don’t really report it as straight news though – the value our readers get from the IC is our interpretation of it. Strong fact-based analysis as opposed to ‘celebrity’ opinion – of which I think there is far too much – is very powerful.

What are your immediate priorities for Investors Chronicle?
We’re working on a new website at the moment which will make it easier to navigate the huge amount of analysis we produce. From a content perspective, the main priority at the moment is helping our readers cut through the media and market noise to navigate the pitfalls and opportunities the referendum has brought, and the wider challenges of lower-for-longer interest rates.

What do you wish PRs would remember when pitching to you?
Please don’t pitch. If a press release catches our eye we’ll be in touch.

What’s your definition of a fruitful PR relationship?
PRs do a really great job of getting us time with the company or fund managers we need to speak to. The best firms understand that we’re not always going to write glowing reports about their clients’ financial performance, because our job is to kick the tyres in the interests of our readership. We’ll always try to be fair, of course, and equally PRs and their clients should be open, honest and responsive.

What’s unique about Investors Chronicle?
As a weekly publication I don’t think there’s any magazine that covers the UK investment markets in as much depth as we do, and certainly not for as long as we have – 156 years and counting. Much of our content is – and always has been – educational, and often quite technical, which is why we’re read by those in the finance industry as well as sophisticated high net worth private investors. In this era of pension freedom I think we’ve got an important role to play.

Are you interested in video content?
Decreasingly so. We’re finding that podcasts are much more popular among our audience – they can stick them on and get on with something else at the same time as listening. Besides which, video is a very unforgiving format that takes too much time and money to meet the standards audiences expect. We will continue to do video, but short-form, snap-reaction videos filmed at the Bloomberg terminal work much better for us.

What do you love most about journalism?
I’ve always been a big fan of well-researched, long-form journalism and admire any publications that still have the patience to invest in it. Sadly, I think financial pressures are pushing publishers towards low-quality formats designed to pull in as many clicks as possible, like twitter roundups or ‘10 things’ type article. That looks like a race to the bottom to me.

FTI Consulting chosen for LoopUp IPO

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After being retained on a financial comms brief, FTI Consulting will handle the UK IPO of web conferencing software provider, LoopUp Group.

LoopUp 1London-based LoopUp has announced its intention to float on the LSE’s AIM market. The company also has offices in San Francisco, New York ,Boston and Hong Kong.

FTI Consulting managing director Matt Dixon, senior director Chris Lane and director Roger Newby will lead on the LoopUp account.

LoopUp aims to raise funds for continued investment in a new business acquisition structure, the introduction of inbound marketing and the creation of an online sales channel. The company also seeks to pay off existing debt.

FleishmanHillard Fishburn appoints new creative director

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FleishmanHillard Fishburn has appointed a new creative director and partner, Kevin O’Sullivan.

Kev O'Sullivan 1O’Sullivan previously held a head of creative role at Bell Pottinger, and prior to that a director role at Blue Rubicon.

He said: “It was pretty much love at first sight for me with FHF. The role is big, broad and just the right amount of scary. The agency’s evolved wonderfully and seen so much success in a very short period of time. Basically, I feel I’ve taken one of the most exciting positions in town.”

Jim Donaldson, CEO of FHF, added: “We’re super excited to have secured Kevin as our new creative director. He is central to our plans across the agency and is exactly the sort of person we want to attract to build on our success since the merger between FleishmanHillard and Fishburn – energetic, ambitious, strategic and collaborative.”

Omnicom PR agencies FleishmanHillard and Fishburn announced their plan to merge UK operations in November 2015.

60 Seconds with Simon Hayes, director at Redleaf Communications

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Simon Hayes

In June 2016, insurance specialist Simon Hayes became director at Redleaf Communications. He talks to Gorkana about the move, his ambitions for the industry and his early career in the military.

How has your career in the comms industry led to your current role?
I started life in the City as a broker for Marsh and then as an international business producer for Willis.

After being a broker, much of my career, over 15 years, was spent running my own agency Effective Image, which provided strategic and tactical marketing communications advice and solutions to London market brokers, insurers and insurance service providers.

In 2014, I merged Effective Image into brandformula and then, under its umbrella, set up PR firm Full Circle Communications, which was intended to be a challenger brand in the insurance sector.

brandformula focuses on exhibitions over communications, so when the opportunity arose to work with Emma and her team at Redleaf, I jumped at it.

What excites you about your new role at Redleaf?
Redleaf is an award-winning communications consultancy full of bright, fresh talent, determined to provide the best solutions to our growing band of clients. I bring experience and strong contacts to grow the business in the insurance sector and beyond.

In terms of marketing communications, many sectors are years ahead of the insurance market, which is currently served by more traditional PR agencies. We are changing that with an approach that is contemporary, creative and considered.

What is the agency currently concentrating on? What are the major issues?
I have a clear vision for the future of insurance marcomms, which is to deliver integrated corporate communications solutions, called PR+, to clients across press, digital and social media channels.

In many agencies there is a disconnect between PR and digital. At Redleaf it is different. Here there is a talented team of PR, digital and social media professionals working as one team, which enables us to deliver a truly integrated approach.

Our focus is to bring this new approach to communications to clients in the insurance sector, so that they can take advantage of today’s full spectrum of channels, to build their brands and engage with audiences. These are exciting times, full of opportunities, which we are bringing to market.

How do you create an enjoyable and productive agency environment?
Redleaf is a very friendly company, with a positive culture, and the team has been very welcoming. This atmosphere lends itself to colleague collaboration, which is necessary for the success of any communications agency.

We are a creative, professional, winning team, which is led from the top by our chief executive Emma Kane, who always has time for everyone, however busy she is.

Everyone knows we are here to work hard and look after our clients, but we play hard too, with lots of social events, in-house and with clients. These events ensure that we get to know our clients on a personal level, which helps us to build relationships and understanding and provide the best possible service.

How do you think financial comms differs to other areas of PR?
At Redleaf, we are largely working in a B2B environment, so people can sometimes think the atmosphere and what we deliver is a bit stuffy compared to B2C PR.

However, the truth is that Redleaf is a creative powerhouse, which delivers P2P communications. We understand that when people come to work on a Monday they may be wearing a suit but they are still individuals who want to be informed, educated and entertained.

Personally I feel the insurance sector adds huge value to commerce and industry and I am always on a quest to help my clients promote that value.

What was your first ever job?
I have always worked, from my first paper round at 13 to building sites and bars at 18, but my first proper job was as a young officer in the Royal Marines.

It was a very formative time, surrounded by some of the smartest leaders one could meet, many of whom I am still in touch with. It was an exciting and challenging stage in my life that taught me the value of never giving up.

  • Are you working in an interesting or unusual PR role? Do you have strong views on the industry that you want to share with the Gorkana community? If so, please contact Emily Andrews.