BritainThinks expands education practice with new hire

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BritainThinks has hired Hannah Kilshaw as an associate director, in order to expand its education practice.

Somerset House 1Currently, the strategy and insights business works with clients including Pearson, AQA and the Association of School and College Leaders in the sector.

Kilshaw joins from EdComs, where she held the role of senior research manager. She spent her time conducting qualitative and quantitative research for both private and third sector clients, providing insight in the education, skills and learning sector.

Previously, she worked as a senior research executive at TNS BMRB, a public affairs research agency.

Unilever’s Geoff McDonald joins Burson-Marsteller with corporate purpose remit

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Burson-Marsteller has appointed Geoff McDonald, Unilever’s former global VP of HR for marketing, comms, sustainability and global talent, as a senior advisor on corporate purpose and organisational change.

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McDonald (pictured) spent 25 years at Unilever, working with CEO Paul Polman and chief marketing, comms and sustainability officer Keith Weed on the company’s strategy to double growth, while reducing its  environmental footprint and enhancing social impact at the same time.

In his new role, McDonald will work with a team of Burson-Marsteller consultants, including the leaders of agency’s corporate purpose and change practices, to help companies and organisations “embed corporate purpose as a driver of business performance”.

Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “Burson-Marsteller has been working on the theme of corporate purpose since 2008. We believe that companies with an authentic corporate purpose, that guides both business decisions and communications, have a real competitive advantage. Our research with IMD Business School shows that a strong and well communicated corporate purpose can impact financial performance by up to 17%.

“In addition, it also strengthens a company at times of change and crisis, by providing a common vision around which to rally its key stakeholders and engage its employees. We are delighted to welcome Geoff to our team and look forward to further strengthening our leadership in this area.

McDonald added: “Business in collaboration with all its stakeholders has the power to change the world. It is therefore of critical importance that corporations understand their purpose, beyond growth and profitability, and use it as the driver of true business performance. This is what I have learned first-hand at Unilever and I am very excited to work together with a great team at Burson-Marsteller to advise and assist their clients to become more purpose driven. Our very volatile and anxious world desperately needs this.”

Meggitt appoints FTI as financial PR advisor

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Meggitt, the FTSE 250 global engineering group, has appointed FTI Consulting as its retained financial PR advisor.

Meggitt_Banshees 1The engineering group specialises in aerospace equipment and its headquarters is at Bournemouth Airport in Dorset. FTI will provide the company with financial communications support.

Deborah Scott, FTI’s senior managing director,  and Nick Hasell, managing director, will lead the FTI team with support from senior director Dwight Burden, director Alex Le May and consultant Alexandra Scott.

FTI will report to Meggitt CEO, Stephen Young, CFO Doug Webb and head of investor relations, Richard Cashin.

Ex-BBC Breakfast presenter joins CNC

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Strategic comms agency CNC, which is part of MSLGROUP, has brought in former BBC Breakfast presenter Dominic Laurie as a senior consultant within its London office.

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Laurie joins CNC following a career in broadcast journalism spanning more than 13 years, during which time he was a presenter on BBC Breakfast, anchor on BBC Radio Five, and business correspondent on the World Service.

He was also the BBC’s Europe business reporter at the height of the financial crisis during 2008.

In his new role at CNC, Laurie will work with the agency’s client base to provide support in areas of crisis management, reputation management and corporate comms.

He will report to Tom Buchanan, CNC managing partner.

Oliver Mann, CNC MD, said: “Dominic has enjoyed a very successful career as one of the UK’s most respected and recognisable business journalists and we are delighted that he is joining CNC as part of the firm’s continued growth. He brings unique perspectives and insights that will undoubtedly greatly benefit our existing clients and those we work with in the future.”

Laurie added: “As soon as I met the CNC team, I knew I wanted to work with them. I really look forward to getting started in a company with such an interesting and international client base that is clearly building something rather special.”

Four Communications strengthens healthcare group with acquisition of Packer Forbes

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Four Communications Group today (5 July 2016) announced the acquisition of independent healthcare comms consultancy Packer Forbes.

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Alexa Forbes

Packer Forbes provides PR, medical education, digital patient advocacy and access communications to blue chip pharmaceutical clients, including Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Gilead Sciences and Novo Nordisk.

Packer Forbes will rebrand as Four Health Communications, and will sit within a new, international healthcare group.

Alexa Forbes, chief executive of Packer Forbes, said: “I am really excited by the challenge of establishing and evolving the integrated Four Health offering. Working alongside fellow experts from across the healthcare communications spectrum will be professionally stimulating for the whole team and I genuinely believe we will be able to offer a truly unique service for our clients.”

Forbes will work closely with Emma Statham, MD at Four MSA, to grow the Four Health service.

Four Health also includes Four MSA, a specialist healthcare media planning and buying agency acquired in 2015. The Packer Forbes acquisition is the fourth since Four secured a £10 million investment of equity finance from the Business Growth Fund, a provider of growth capital to mid-sized businesses, in 2015.

In 2015, Four also acquired MSA Media, Broadgate Mainland and Welsh integrated agency FBA. It states that there are further acquisitions planned for later in the year.

Newgate Communications hires senior partner

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Newgate Communications UK has appointed Charles Chichester as a new senior partner to lead its financial PR practice.

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Charles Chichester

Chichester will report to Steffan Williams, group managing director at Newgate and board member for Porta Communications, Newgate’s holding company.

He will be responsible for growing Newgate’s client base, strengthening its offer and raising awareness of the company, particularly in the financial PR space.

Chichester has worked in the City for the past 15 years, a decade of which was spent working in strategic and financial communications. He has worked for Cazenove (now JPMorgan Cazenove), Finsbury and Pendomer Communications Ltd. His previous work includes high profile M&A transactions such as Verizon/Vodafone and Carlsberg/Heineken/Scottish & Newcastle, stock exchange listings such as African Barrick Gold and Coca-Cola Hellenic and the demerger of Cable & Wireless.

David Wright, Porta CEO, said: “Charlie is another in our sequence of very senior hires, continuing our strategy to strengthen and expand our integrated consultancy offering. We are building a powerful team of strategic communications advisors during this exciting period in Porta’s development.”

Also, Deborah Saw, one of the original founders of Newgate Communications has been appointed to the role of vice chair, so that she is now vice chair and senior partner, corporate communications at Newgate UK.

Gorkana meets… Running

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In March, Running Fitness, the magazine for people who are passionate about running, rebranded as Running. Four months on, Gorkana‘s Ronan George catches up with editor Amy Curtis to find out why the title has done away with models on the cover to feature “real runners”, the type of runners she’s now looking to attract and what PRs can do to help with content.

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Running Fitness rebranded as Running in March. Why?

We really wanted to offer something completely different, that wasn’t aimed at men or women, just runners in general.

What’s been the biggest changes to the title?

The name change for a start! Also, the cover has been completely revamped to do away with posed models and feature real runners in real events, which will hopefully appeal to a wider range of runners out there.

We have more clearly defined sections too, making sure we cover all aspects of running – from kit and health to training and events. We’re big on events actually, we think they play a huge part in bringing the running community together.

The fitness and health market is particularly competitive. Where do you think the rebrand has positioned you?

We’re seeking to appeal to committed runners typically those who train at least once a week. Our content will be evolving to appeal to this demographic over the next few issues.

What does the typical Running reader look like?

A runner, essentially. It could be anyone, from a keen youngster to an older, more experienced runner, but the idea is that we talk to runners about what they’re doing, how to improve it and where to race.

Talk us through the key sections of the magazine.

There are four main sections: Training & Conditioning, Kit, Wellbeing and Events, as well as some regular columns and a monthly lead feature at the start.

The headings speak for themselves, focusing on the main areas of running, and we’re putting a bigger focus on kit and events than the magazine has previously had.

How does digital content differ from your print offering?

We try to have a strong link between the magazine and the website, but there will be quite a bit more kit reviewing online, as well as a variety of blogs.

How can PRs help with content?

Email press releases relevant to these subjects and let us know when a new kit comes out – we’re doing a lot more physical testing of gear for the new format.

What are your pitch preferences?

By email.

What are your lead times and when do you have key meetings?

Lead times are fairly flexible, but we work about a month ahead. Key meetings two months ahead – the magazine publishes every four weeks, rather than calendar months.

How does digital content differ from your print offering?

We try to have a strong link between the magazine and the website, but there will be quite a bit more kit reviewing online, as well as a variety of blogs.

Finally, in recent months we’ve seen publications move to mobile only apps. Is this something you would consider going forward?

We will be developing our digital strategy, including our mobile offering in more depth once the rebrand has settled down.

Amy was talking to Gorkana’s Ronan George

Punch Comms’ Pete Goold: ‘Seize the opportunity of Facebook Live before it changes’

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Facebook Live has benefited a range of Punch Communications’ clients, according to its managing director Pete Goold, but PRs need to make the most of the opportunity before Facebook changes its rules.

Goold told Gorkana that over the past six months Punch has seen an “unbelievably high level of interest among brands regarding Facebook Live, (more) than anything we’ve seen in the history of digital marketing to date.”

This is down to the fact the video service gives clients a level of reach that they had not been receiving before, through video outlets or otherwise, according to Goold.

Having just managed a Facebook Live campaign for Habitat as it launched a range of Henry Holland designed products, the agency claims it produced some of the highest results in its history.

Featuring Holland (pictured with Daisy Lowe) as well as other celebrity ambassadors, the campaign resulted in 9.1m impressions on Twitter, more than 200% more sign-ups for the launch than any other Habitat preview to date and 75,000 views. Engagement for the activity was  more than 400%, which is above the brand average.

PR opportunity

Goold says that video is a big opportunity for PR because it gives higher than average engagement versus static media.

“It’s as though we’ve gone back in time a few years to the era when brands could cost effectively reach large audiences with minimal algorithmic influence. Clearly, this is likely to be a finite window of opportunity – and as a result, the excitement we’re seeing amongst the brands we’re talking to is off the charts,” he added.

As Facebook is known for making changes to its news feed – just last week (29 June) the platform announced that posts from friends and family would be priority on its new feed from now on – Goold urges PRs to “seize a closing opportunity.”

Although Punch also told Gorkana that while its business team is having daily conversations with big brands to find out how to capitalise on the phenomenon of Facebook Live in particular, they are also interested in live, on-air social in general.

Reaching out to publishers

PRs are now able to use Facebook Live as part, or a whole, campaign for brands but there is also opportunity to engage with an influential third party.

Publishers such as Business Insider, Al Jazeera, News UK, Grazia and BuzzFeed have all incorporated Facebook Live into their content strategy recently. Goold says that ‘tapping’ into someone’s social programming is just another method to get involved with the channel.

PRs are able to do this by pitching ideas, personalities or brands to incorporate within a publisher’s Facebook Live video stream.

Jamie Hooper joins Buchanan

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Jamie Hooper joins Buchanan in the role of associate director.

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Jamie Hooper

Hooper is a corporate and financial PR specialist whose experience includes positions at Spreckley Partners and financial PR firm Abchurch.

Hooper specialises in the life sciences and technology sectors, and has advised various private and publically-quoted companies on their corporate and financial communication requirements. He has worked on a variety of transactions including the £100 million AIM IPO of Quantum Pharma plc.

Established in 1984, Buchanan is a UK business communications and investor relations firm.

Bally names global PR lead

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Bally has brought in Michael Kors’ Hannah Thomas as global PR manager.

Thomas was previously EMEA PR manager for Michael Kors, having joined the fashion label in 2015. Bally4 1While there, she worked on its Runway and Menswear collections in the UK, Scandinavia and the Netherlands, as well as franchise markets including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and India.

Before Michael Kors, she spent three years agency-side at Halpern, where she worked with clients including Tiffany & Co, UGG Australia and Triumph.

In her new role at Bally, Thomas will handle all global comms for its men’s and women’s accessories, as well as its RTW collections.

Thomas will be based in the UK and report to global PR and events director Rafaela Feio.