Instinctif Partners makes international engagement hire

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Instinctif Partners has appointed Louisa Moreton as engagement director to its global engagement practice.

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Louisa Moreton

Moreton joins from MSLGroup, where she was managing director of its UK employee practice and has worked in several engagement and talent consultancy roles across the Omnicom group. Prior to that, Moreton worked for the UK government’s marketing and communications agency, the Central Office of Information, and for the Department for Education as a policy and communications lead.

Victoria Lewis-Stephens, managing partner at Instinctif, said: “Engagement continues to be a business critical issue worldwide and a key driver of a company’s success. It is no longer a “nice to have” but an integral part of ensuring companies deliver against their strategic goals and stay ahead of the competition.

“Louisa brings with her extensive engagement experience across multiple sectors and will be a critical part of our ability to stay ahead of the game and ensure our offer stays fresh, innovative and creative.”

Moreton said: “I’m delighted to have joined such a strong global team. Instinctif Partners is ambitious and has a great track record in innovation and growth. There is an exciting opportunity to develop the engagement offer further and to define and drive how engagement adds values to companies, people and society as a whole”.

First Utility makes senior comms hires

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Amanda Cumine has joined First Utility as corporate communications director. The gas and electricity supplier has also hired a new head of public affairs, Tara Singh.

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Amanda Cumine

Cumine joins from a European corporate comms director role at Lastminute.com, while Singh has been working on Zac Goldsmith’s mayoral campaign and at Number 10 as an energy and environment special adviser for David Cameron.

In the newly-created corporate comms director role, Cumine will develop and drive the company’s strategy, with a specific remit to build upon its status as a challenger brand. She will also help to build the brand’s profile among its many stakeholders.

Ian McCaig, CEO at First Utility, said: “We are delighted to have someone of Amanda’s calibre join the organisation. Her skills and values are a great fit for First Utility and her contribution will be critical to shaping our public engagement strategy going forward. She brings with her a wealth of experience in all aspects of comms gained from senior roles in the private and public sector.”

The head of public affairs role is also new, and Singh has been asked to lead strategic campaigns to help shape government policy and stakeholder opinion.

McCaig added: “Tara brings with her a wealth of business and political knowledge as well as a significant background in energy policy. First Utility is constantly looking at ways it can challenge the current status quo of the energy market and how it can impact policy and change the industry by informing and empowering customers. Tara will help us clearly articulate our policy messages to those with the power to implement change.”

First Utility has previously focused on positioning itself as an innovator in the energy industry, while championing its own status as an independent provider, a challenger brand and an alternative to the ‘Big Six’ energy suppliers.

Games producer Ubisoft hands retained PR brief to Stripe

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French video game producer Ubisoft, which includes Assassin’s Creed and Rayman amongst its portfolio, has chosen Stripe Communications to handle its UK consumer and corporate PR.

Ubisoft

2016 Assassin’s Creed line-up

Stripe Communications has been appointed by Ubisoft UK as its retained consumer and corporate PR agency, working alongside its in-house PR team.

Stripe will deliver creative PR comms plans to support all of Ubisoft’s major video game launches in the UK, including Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Watch_Dogs 2 and South Park: The Fractured But Whole.

In addition to this, Stripe will support the French video games giant with corporate positioning and issues management in the UK.

The account will be managed by Stripe’s London office, which will report to Ubisoft UK’s marketing and PR team.

Mark Slaughter, marketing director at Ubisoft UK, said: “Stripe has demonstrated a quality of creative thinking that will deliver real impact to our national campaigns this year. The team showed strength in that they could not only deliver great product campaigns but also help us realise our ambition to be recognised as one of the world’s leading entertainment brands.”

Juliet Simpson, CEO at Stripe, added: “It is a privilege to work with Ubisoft and a marketing team with the vision and ambition to do exciting and ground-breaking work. Clients and prospects are telling us consistently that they are seeing creativity and strategic thinking from Stripe that is setting us apart. This is an exciting time for the business. Expect to see big things from Stripe in the year ahead.”

PR Case Study: Missing Type

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The Missing Type NHS campaign by Engine has won multiple awards this year, including a Health & Wellness Lion at the 2016 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. The campaign for NHS Blood and Transplant during National Blood Week raised awareness around a need for blood donors through missing letters across major media and signage. 

NHS 1Campaign: Missing Type
Client: NHS Blood & Transplant
PR Team: Engine
Timing: 3 – 14 June 2015
Budget: £110,000

Objectives
National Blood Week (NBW) is the key time in NHS Blood & Transplant’s calendar to draw attention to blood donation and recruit new donors. In 2015 there was an urgent need to safeguard the blood supply for the future as the number of new donors coming forward had plummeted by 40% in the past decade.

In 2014, NBW generated over 10,000 registrations – this was the benchmark of success to beat.

Strategy
A bespoke team from Engine’s creative agency WCRS and PR agency MHP planned, activated and created media and digital content for the integrated campaign. They implemented a three-stage disruptive campaign that sparked conversation and initiated behaviour change – creating new donor registrations – rather than simply raising awareness.

Media relations was key to driving the campaign and shaping conversation across print, broadcast and online outlets, while social media was essential to engage with the primary target audience of young adults aged 17 to 24.

Engine launched Missing Type where the letters of the blood groups As, Os and Bs were taken from names, places and brands that people engage with in everyday life. The simplicity of the idea was reflected in the activation: minimal effort was required to create the desired disruption and message delivery.

NHS 3Teaser phase (3 – 4 June):
Engine approached partners – such as the Daily Mirror, Odeon, O2 and even the Cabinet Office to change the Downing Street sign – that could help seed the idea of Missing Type with a series of staged activities to create disruption and provide news and social content.

Reveal phase (5 – 7 June):
A media relations blitz – using NHS Blood and Transplant spokespeople and patient case-study families – ensured coverage appeared across every major national print, broadcast and online source accompanied by the 40% fall in new donors’ message.

Momentum phase – National Blood Week (8 – 14 June):
On the Monday the Daily Mirror ran a full print run of 600,000 papers with the letters A and O missing from its masthead. This was supported by editorial in the news and health pages on the need for donors and how people could participate in #MissingType.

NHS 2Results

  • The campaign reached two billion people through news coverage and social media activity
  • Over 30,000 new donors registered during National Blood Week (20,000 more than the previous year’s activity)
  • It is estimated that these donors will save or improve over 100,000 lives
  • Over 18,000 17-24 year olds registered during the campaign
  • Broadcast coverage of the social campaign included BBC Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, This Morning, Sky News, BBC Radio 1, Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2, The Today Programme and BBC Radio Five Live
  • Print and online coverage of MissingType included The Guardian, Mail Online, The Sun, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror, The Times and Buzzfeed
  • The campaign garnered the support of over 60 influencers that have 10/10 authority on Twitter and over 1,000 brands and organisations
  • There were over 26,000 uses of #NationalBloodWeek and #MissingType across Twitter. This is the highest number of mentions for an NHS Blood & Transplant social media campaign to date
  • At this year’s AMEC Awards, for PR measurement and analysis, Gorkana won Platinum for the ‘Grand Prix for most effective media intelligence, research & insights company campaign’ for its work on the NHS Blood and Transplant Missing Type campaign.
  • Download the case study to see how Gorkana created this award-winning measurement campaign, and what we can do to help your organisation.

The Gorkana Weekly Industry News Brief: 25-29 July 2016

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Missed out on this week’s PR News? Get your handy round-up of the essential highlights of PR and media stories, features and events content over the last seven days on Gorkana News.

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Porter Novelli has hired Richard Zackheim

People News

Following the PRCA‘s AGM yesterday, the association has announced the election of a new chairman, Newgate Communications’ group MD, Steffan Williams.

ITV News’ former deputy editor, Richard Zackheim, has been appointed as Porter Novelli (PN) London’s media director.

Interpublic Group-owned global comms agency Golin has introduced a CEO team made up of Jonathan Hughes, Matt Neale and Gary Rudnick. Current CEO Fred Cook will become the agency’s chairman.

Global comms agency The Brandman Agency has named Neville McCarthy’s Sian Parry as MD for its London office.

Pitch Wins

Misfit, the wearable tech brand co-founded by former Apple CEO John Scully, has brought in consumer tech PR and social media specialist Ranieri to handle its UK PR.

Aberdeen Young Professionals (AYP), a local talent network for young professionals working in and around the city, has partnered with Aspectus, as it looks to engage the next generation of energy and business professionals.

Financial services PR consultancy MRM will manage corporate communications for Target Group, a financial services and software company.

Comms agency Influential has won and delivered a trio of integrated creative campaign briefs for Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Chargepoint Technology, and The City of Liverpool College, which the firm says highlights its expanding through-the-line offering.

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Wearable tech brand, Misfit has hired Ranieri

Opinion

Opinion: Pearson’s Brendan O’Grady on why education stories matter
Pearson’s head of financial and corporate communications, Brendan O’Grady, discusses why education is ‘the great global growth story of the next decade’ and why PR has a duty to raise awareness of stories within the sector.

Opinion: PR – Pioneering the way for women in senior roles
Aliya Vigor-Robertson, co-founder at London-based HR company JourneyHR, explains why PR is a relatively strong industry for female progression, though she emphasises the need to continue that momentum.

Journalist News

Julia Verlaine has been appointed reporter at The Wall Street Journal, based in Brussels, where she will be covering EU financial regulation.

Phillippa Kaye has been appointed shopping and merchandise editor at MATCHESFASHION.COM.

Greg Dawson has been appointed reporter at BBC World News.

Elizabeth Fox (née Hutchinson) has been promoted to cookery editor at Good Housekeeping and Hearst’s Lifestyle Hub

PHA Media James Clench 4

Former The Sun journalist, James Clench talks to Gorkana about his move to PR

Features

Moving to the Darkside with The Sun’s former news chief, James Clench
James Clench, who joined PHA Media in May after 15 years at The Sun, talks exclusively to Gorkana about why he made the transition, the stories he was most proud to work on at the national newspaper, having a tête-à-tête with William and Kate, what his journalist colleagues thought of his move and whether he ever put the phone down on a PR…

Gorkana meets… Music Week
Gorkana’s Louise Pantani catches up with Daniel Gumble, news editor of Music Week, as he talks about his love of music, the magazine’s readership and a typical week at the music trade publication.

Behind the Headlines with Clarion’s Shelley Wyatt
Shelley Wyatt, managing partner at Clarion, on why trade comms shouldn’t be seen as the “poor relation” of consumer PR, her most memorable pitch to a journalist and working with TEAM GB ahead of the Rio Olympics.

PR Case Study: The Lyst Canine Collection
When British online fashion platform Lyst wanted to be identified as the brand that “did things differently”, Pitch came up with The Lyst Canine Collection, with puppies and dogs on sale as accessories. A clever hoax, the eye-opening campaign aimed to highlight the huge rise in the abandonment of dogs, while showcasing Lyst as a brand that refuses to “play it safe”.

What PRs think of Twitter’s ‘See What’s Happening’ campaign

Twitter is the social tool that allows PRs to tell brand stories every day, but what do comms pros think of Twitter’s own brand story in the new ‘See What’s Happening?’ campaign? Eulogy, Wern PR, Dynamo and Portland tell Gorkana what they think.

The pop-up paper and its PR value

As The New European publisher Archant reveals that it will continue to publish issues of the pop-up title after its initial cut-off date, Gorkana explores the opportunities PRs may find from such titles.

Agency News

Scotland-based PR agency The Big Partnership has signed the Scottish Business Pledge, the Scottish Government’s voluntary code for companies.

Four Communications Group has acquired Rain Communications for an undisclosed figure, as the business looks to extend into the retail, destination and luxury sectors.

PR agency, Instinctif Partners, and business network, BritishAmerican Business (BAB), have partnered to support business growth and trade between the UK and the US in the wake of Brexit.

The pop-up paper and its PR value

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The New EuropeanAs The New European publisher Archant reveals that it will continue to publish issues of the pop-up title after its initial cut-off date, Gorkana explores the opportunities PRs may find from such titles.

This week, publisher Archant stated that it will continue to publish editions of its pop-up newspaper, The New European after it exceeded sales targets. The title will now be published beyond its initial commitment date of four weeks.

It has also been reported that The New European is a test run for a wider plan to launch more timely titles that run for a shorter period.

Will Hattam, CMO at Archant, said: “Pop-up publishing is something that only Archant could have delivered. We have the scale to produce a quality print product for a national audience, but also the agility to turn things around fast and cost-effectively enough to profitably service a community that’s popped into existence overnight.”

As this new concept gains momentum in publishing, Gorkana asks comms pros from Burson-Marsteller, W and Frank PR what they can stand to gain from the trend. Here’s what they said:

Pop-up titles can reach a targeted audience

Burson-Marsteller UK’s senior director of corporate and crisis practice, Michael Hartt, says that pop-up titles give PRs access to a more targeted audience. He said: “A pop-up like The New European is designed to appeal to an audience which is passionate about specific topics or wants a specific editorial perspective.

“For PR people with clients who align to that, we can be much more targeted in our outreach. That gives us a much better chance of reaching the right audience.”

Adam Leigh, strategy director at W and former deputy editor of The Independent, adds that although the circulation can be small for pop-ups it can be more clearly defined.

“Although [The New European’s] circulation small by definition, the people reading it are likely to be absorbing every word, in a way that readers of Metro just wouldn’t. The PR opportunity is therefore rather good.”

The pop-up paper allows the opportunity to take more risks

Hartt told Gorkana that pop-up papers present an opportunity as they are both credible but also allow PRs to take risks. He said: “As a media outlet, they will be expected to operate with high standards of journalistic integrity, but as new, experimental titles, they will have license to push boundaries.”

The ‘here today gone tomorrow’ attitude may not work for everyone, according to Hartt, and PR people will need to track pop-ups closely to understand which ones are on the rise.

PRs can use the same principles they use for new titles for pop-ups

Frank PR founder Andrew Bloch stated that pop-up titles have the same opportunities as the launch of new titles. For both launches Bloch says that PRs should take advantage of the high levels of attention that they initially attract.

“The first edition of a new title benefits from high levels of attention from readers keen to check out what is on offer. It also generates a lot of PR in its own right as a result of other media analysing its content.

“This can provide a good opportunity for PR’s to generate disproportionate awareness if they can secure launch edition coverage for their clients,” he added.

Tin Man to launch second series of Thunderbirds Are Go

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ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) has appointed comms agency Tin Man to launch the second series of children’s show Thunderbirds Are Go and promote the latest DVD release of American detective drama Aquarius.

Thunderbirds Tin Man

Thunderbirds

Produced using a mixture of CGI animation and live-action model sets, Thunderbirds Are Go is a reinvention of the Thunderbirds series, 50 years on from its TV debut. The first series launched in the UK last year to a consolidated audience of over three million viewers, while the official YouTube channel has had over six million views.

Following the success of the first series of Thunderbirds Are Go, Tin Man has been briefed to create a PR moment for the second series, which will air on ITV and CITV later this year, that will drive brand awareness amongst children and their parents.

The second project for Tin Man is to promote the latest home entertainment release of American detective drama Aquarius. Set in the late 1960s, Aquarius stars David Duchovny as a Los Angeles police sergeant tracking a small time criminal seeking out vulnerable women to join his “cause”, who turns out to be Charles Manson.

Adrian Last, director of ITV Studios Marketing, said: “We have been really impressed with Tin Man’s track record for delivering successful and memorable PR campaigns, and their creative yet results-driven responses to these recent briefs proved they were the right PR partners for us on this occasion.”

Tin Man founder Mandy Sharp added: “We are very excited about working with ITVS GE on these launches. Naturally, each property has totally different audience demographics and tone, so our PR campaigns reflect that. Thunderbirds Are Go lends itself to a fun, newsworthy and visually creative activity that works hard to interact and engage with both kids and parents. Aquarius is a highly targeted PR approach that will creatively take fans and media on a sensory journey back to the vibrant 60s to really immerse them in the world of the latest series.”

Contura hires Rooster

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Europe’s leading wood burning stove company, Contura, has chosen Rooster to handle its UK PR.

rooster

Contura

As Contura’s first PR agency since the company’s UK launch in 2008, Rooster has been briefed to develop an integrated PR and social media campaign to drive awareness of the brand, its extensive product range and the benefits of wood burning stoves among UK media and consumers.

Messaging will focus on positioning Contura as a premium yet affordable product. Activity will include product, feature, promotion and comment placement, profiling of Contura spokespeople, event support and high impact activations.

Rooster will also manage campaigns for five of Contura’s social media channels – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and the brand’s new UK Instagram channel, which Rooster has launched this month.

Contura’s UK country manager, Phil Wood, said: “Rooster had been on my radar for a while and following an impressive proposal and chemistry meetings with the enthusiastic team, is the obvious choice for Contura. We are confident that Rooster will help us become the go-to brand for UK homeowners looking for stylish, affordable, clean burn, low carbon and energy efficient wood burning heating solutions.”

James Brooke, MD at Rooster PR, added: “Following comprehensive brand and product briefings both at the factory in Markaryd, Sweden, and at the Contura showroom in Doncaster, the Rooster team is already fully engaged in kick starting a cutting-edge consumer lifestyle campaign. We’re stoked to be adding such a reputable and successful Swedish brand to our growing consumer product portfolio.”

Weber Shandwick launches #BrutalCut campaign for ActionAid

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Weber Shandwick and outdoor media partner Clear Channel have launched a campaign with ActionAid UK called #BrutalCut to raise awareness of female genital mutilation (FGM).

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#BrutalCut

ActionAid’s #BrutalCut campaign aims to alert people to the short and long term dangers of female genital mutilation and raise funds to provide safe centres for girls fleeing FGM in Kenya.

The #BrutalCut campaign, which officially launched yesterday (28 July), is a fully integrated digital campaign spanning traditional and social media channels.

Short messages from Kenyan girls facing the threat of FGM are being brutally ‘cut’ into content at scale, including celebrities and vlogger’s YouTube and Instagram videos, photos, cinema trailers and digital publisher content, as well as digital Out of Home screens up and down the UK.

Support for the campaign has also been provided by publishers including The LAD Bible group, which have ‘cut’ their content across the Lad Bible and Pretty52 social media channels, reaching several million fans.

Alesha Dixon, Katherine Kelly, and Joanne Froggatt, along with other well-known UK actors, comedians, performers and YouTube stars, also interrupted their own videos with messages from Kenya. The campaign was also showcased at The Latitude festival in July.

The messages drive to the brutalcut.org website where anyone can add a #brutalcut to their video or photo and share on social media.

Janet Convery, director of public engagement at ActionAid, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Weber Shandwick to end female genital mutilation in remote regions of Kenya. The so-called cutting season starts next week. We aim to reach people who may never have considered the issue before using highly disruptive #BrutalCut videos. One girl cut is one too many. We all have a role to play by supporting front line women’s networks who provide safety for girls fleeing FGM, and are starting to stamp out the practice for good.”

James Nester, executive creative director at Weber Shandwick, added: “This is an issue most people don’t want to confront. So we needed a brutally disruptive idea. An idea bold enough to break free of its channel to become news and social currency.”

Out of Home media owner Clear Channel has supported the campaign by hosting the first ever synchronised disruption of digital outdoor across their national network of outdoor media sites. #BrutalCut features on hundreds of digital screens across the UK, including One Piccadilly.

To find out more, or add a #BrutalCut to your photo or video, visit www.BrutalCut.org.

Abchurch appoints Tim Thompson

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Abchurch has appointed Tim Thompson as joint senior partner. He will work alongside Abchurch founder Julian Bosdet.

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Tim Thompson

Thompson has over 25 years’ experience in financial, corporate and investor relations working for consultancies such as Shandwick Consultants, Hill Murray Rogerson, Buchanan and Newgate Capital Markets. Prior to that, he held a role at the Financial Times.

Thompson said: “I look forward to working with the dynamic team I have found at Abchurch as we take the consultancy forward to its next stage of growth and development. For me it will be refreshing to work in a private, team-owned business. We have ambitious plans and if any self-starting practitioner is not seeing the benefits of their hard work due to historical hierarchy and overheads we would be delighted to hear from them.”

Abchurch is a financial public relations, investor relations and corporate communications consultancy.