Avant Homes switches to MHP

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Leading UK housebuilder, Avant Homes, has appointed MHP as its new financial PR agency.Avant Homes 1The team at MHP consists of chief executive of financial at MHP Andrew Jaques, director James White, associate director Giles Robinson and senior account manager Charlie Barker.

Jaques said: “Avant is a high quality housebuilder with a fantastic story to tell and we are very excited about working with it to help raise its corporate profile.”

Avant Homes operates in Scotland, the north east of England, Yorkshire and the Midlands. It is owned by Alchemy Special Opportunities, Angelo, Gordon & Co and Avenue Capital Group.

Eulogy enhances leadership team

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Eulogy has promoted Lucie Kaye to head of consumer, who takes over from Scot Devine, who is in a new cross-agency role as brand and innovation director.

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Lucie Kaye and Scot Devine

Kaye has been at Eulogy for six years, most recently as an associate director. She will now sit on Eulogy’s Operating Board, with responsibility for helping to build the team’s specialisms in food and drink, financial services, travel and entertainment.

In turn, Devine, as brand and innovation director, has a brief to drive strategic innovation across paid, earned, shared and owned media.

He joined Eulogy in January 2015 from Brands2Life, where he was director of engagement, working with clients including Nissan, Sony Europe, JUST EAT and Capri-Sun.

Before Brands2Life, he headed up consumer brands at Cohn & Wolfe and Weber Shandwick.

Elisabeth Field, Eulogy’s MD, said: “We are experiencing a sustained period of significant growth, built on the back of Eulogy’s 20 years in the industry. As our business grows, so too does our ambition and we have exciting plans to ensure we grab the opportunity that the emerging, fragmented communications industry provides integrated, independent agencies like Eulogy. Lucie and Scot are in prime positions to help steer our next phase of growth.”

Eulogy’s senior leadership team consists of Phil Borge, director, head of business services; Lucie Kaye, director, head of consumer; Scot Devine, brand and innovation director; Sara Beirne, director, head of digital, Elisabeth Field, MD; and Adrian Brady, chief executive and founder.

Holiday site icelolly.com selects MC2 for B2B brief

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Leeds-based holiday comparison site, icelolly.com, has appointed MC2 to develop its marketing communications strategy.ice lolly 1The brief requires MC2’s brand and corporate advisory teams to develop and deliver trade and B2B comms strategies to help raise icelolly.com’s profile.

icelolly.com enables users to search and compare package holiday deals.

Andrew Latham, chief executive at icelolly.com, said: “We are delighted to be working with MC2 to enhance our profile and strengthen our strategy. We aim to become the leading holiday comparison site and are confident in MC2’s ability and experience to help us achieve this.”

MC2’s existing clients include Krispy Kreme, Travel Counsellors and Deloitte.

Jenny Morgan, director at MC2, added: “This is an exciting time for the brand as it looks to break new grounds following impressive growth over the last three years, and we are thrilled to be brought on board at this important stage to help the business reach its full potential.”

Cycle-wear brand stolen goat briefs The Earned Agency

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High performance cycle-wear brand stolen goat has brought in The Earned Agency to handle its global PR, as it looks to grow its international presence.

stolen goat

stolen goat was founded in Belgium in 2012 to provide premium cycle clothing at affordable prices.

The appointment is unusual for the cycle-wear brand, with stolen gloat operating a “lean” business model, but the team believed it needed to bring in specialists to help it increase its global profile and sales of its Autumn/Winter collection.

stolen goat’s Orkaan range will be focused on under the new brief.

Tim Bland, CEO of stolen goat, said: “Since starting the business, we have striven to go above and beyond what is expected from our customers. When I met The Earned Agency, I could see straight away that it was an agency that shared this same value.

“The team has strong experience of working with similar brands and has the enthusiasm to help us stand out in the UK and overseas to build our presence within the global cycling community.”

Neil Foster, MD of The Earned Agency, added: “stolen goat is a sector game-changer with its unique lean business proposition. We’re very excited to expand our portfolio of sports apparel clients and be working with such a forward-thinking brand to take it to the next level.”

Gibson Innovations briefs Ranieri

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Consumer technology PR and social media specialist Ranieri has been appointed by Gibson Innovations, a brand licensee of Koninklijke Philips NV, to handle the UK PR for the Philips, Philips Fidelio, Onkyo and Trainer audio brands.

Raineri 1

With a brief to help Gibson Innovations, which is part of Gibson Brands, achieve its aim to become the number one brand in music and lifestyle, Ranieri will develop media relations, events, brand building and product PR activity across the lifestyle and technology sectors.

The PR programme will focus on the headphone, home audio and multi-room, home cinema and portable Bluetooth categories.

Michael Davies, head of UK marketing at Gibson Innovations, said: “With Ranieri, we feel we have an agency that fully understands our target markets and can develop insightful ideas that will work in this space. We’re confident the agency’s experience will help us meet our ambitious goals.”

Pietro Ranieri, Ranieri MD, added: “We’re really excited to have won the Gibson Innovations business. Its portfolio of brands offers a huge range of high quality audio products to suit everyone from audiophiles to business people to fitness fanatics, and will be a pleasure for the Ranieri team to work with.”

 

LEWIS appoints new head of corporate comms

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Dan Masser joins LEWIS to head its new corporate communications practice.

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Dan Masser

Masser, who joins from Blue Rubicon, will drive the growth and direction of the agency’s corporate offering. He will report to Giles Peddy, group managing director UK, at LEWIS.

Prior to LEWIS, Masser was at Blue Rubicon for seven years, where clients included Heathrow Airport, eBay, Halifax and McDonald’s Europe. Before that, Masser worked for Marks & Spencer as corporate PR manager. He also held a role at Hill & Knowlton for six years.

Masser said: “Reputation is a key determinant of business success, and that means an ever increasing reliance on corporate affairs and communications to help enhance and protect what is a valuable asset.”

Peddy added: “As one of the fastest growing agencies in the world, we must continually look to stay ahead of the curve in terms of what our clients want and need. We recognised a growing requirement to provide a strategic communications and reputation management capability. Dan brings us an unrivalled pedigree in corporate communications and I am delighted that he will bring this expertise to our clients and team.”

Digital Marketing World Forum: three PR takeaways

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The Digital Marketing World Forum, which took place in London last week, hosted big players in the marketing and communications industry with speakers from brands including the BBC, Oxfam, TSB and GOV.UK. Gorkana has rounded up the three key takeaways for PRs from the two day conference.

DMWF, formerly known as the Social Media World Forum, was held between 20-21 June with a look to informing digital communicators around customer data, digital strategy, useful technology, content marketing and reputation.

Case studies were offered from the likes of Nissan and Coca-Cola and more. Here are the three points particularly relevant for PR:

‘Microinfluencers’ can be just as effective as their more recognised counterparts

The term ‘microinfluencers’ refers to those with a social following of less than 100,000. In this case, while these influencers don’t necessarily have scale that matches celebrities, like well-known YouTube star Zoella, they have an intimate relationship with their audience that can be just as valuable for a brand.

Speaking at a panel, ‘microinfluencer’ Chessie King – who has a following of 44,800 on Instagram – said these relationships can be good for brands because they reflect a ‘brother or sister’ relationship and the microinfluencer’s lifestyle can feel more realistic, and attainable to followers.

Nicolas Chabot, head of influencer platform Traackr, reinforced the point and said equating popularity with influence is one of the biggest myths about influencers today.

Social media is about building trust

With a different take on social media, Georgina Goode, group head of engagement and social media at GOV.UK, said that social should simply be an extension of a great product or service to build trust with users. She explained if your service or product is not working, social will simply make it worse.

“Trust is a major KPI for us at GOV.UK; something that extends through social media,” she added.

To gain this trust, Goode argues that social media professionals should ‘start with user needs’ as for the most part users want to get what they want out of a service or product and ‘get out’.

Tech is just the enabler for good storytelling

Chris Middleton, editor at communications title Strategist, said that when it comes to digital marketing and social media, comms pros need to focus on the messages they want to project rather than the technology.

He said: “Tech is not the answer, it’s an enabler, marketing isn’t really anything to do with tech, it’s about storytelling.”

Middleton added that the tech will only work when there is a educational and cultural change within companies.

Sama Al-Naib, senior digital and social strategist at Cohn & Wolfe, attended and moderated a panel session at DMWF. She said: “It was great to hear first-hand from brands across different sectors, agencies, influencers and platforms about the strategies and tactics that drive results.

“Authenticity was repeatedly noted as a key pillar of engaging with audiences – both from a customer service perspective but also when it comes to working with influencers. Audiences are razor-sharp and anything that can come across as too forced can backfire,” she added.

In the future, Al-Naib said she would like to see brands making bolder moves by continuing to leverage the “more immersive” capabilities that mainstream and niche platforms now support – including 360 video and live experiences.

B2B Case Study: ‘The Patron’s Lunch’

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On the Queen’s 90th birthday, FleishmanHillard Fishburn helped to bring the public’s attention to the support the monarch gives to not-for-profit organisations all over the UK. The Patron’s Lunch also brought a party atmosphere to The Mall, other parts of London and beyond.

The Patron's Lunch 1

Client: The Patron’s Lunch

PR Team: FleishmanHillard Fishburn

Timing: 12 June 2016

Objectives:

On Sunday 12 June 2016, The Mall in St James’s Park was transformed into a street party to celebrate The Queen’s patronage of over 600 charities and organisations on the occasion of her 90th birthday.

FleishmanHillard Fishburn (FHF) aimed to deliver the following objectives:

• Increase awareness of the Patron’s Organisations (PO) involved in the Patron’s Lunch and The Queen’s patronage
• Increase awareness of the causes and the breadth and depth of work the POs do
• Showcase the extensive and long-standing dedication The Queen has demonstrated in her commitment
• Increase understanding of what Patronage means to POs and what it means to everyone
• Increase awareness of The Queen’s lifetime of service and dedication to charitable causes
• Engage and excite the public for the main event (public ballot, watch on TV, discuss, share photos and stories), as well as events outside The Mall
• Activate local street parties
• Increase awareness of The Patron’s Fund
• Encourage greater consideration and appreciation of the role of POs on a national and local level
• Increase support and connections between charities and public

Patron's LunchStrategy and implementation:

FHF launched social media platforms across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, directed and produced a series of videos to highlight the relationship that the Queen has with respective POs (see below) and created a How to Guide, which aimed to activate community parties across the Commonwealth.

In addition, FHF worked with Brave to create paid media: a print, outdoor and radio advertising campaign, which invited the nation to get together and asked people to celebrate the unique occasion by doing something for their local community.

On the day, an ongoing conversation surrounding The Patron’s Lunch activity included video vox pops that were then posted online. Large screens placed around the event also helped to drive conversation through live video, visuals and real-time social media posts.

Results:

FleishmanHillard Fishburn found that, as a result of the campaign, the number of people who associate The Queen with charitable work increased 17%, the number of people who “strongly agree” that The Queen is heavily involved in charity work went up by 12.3%, the number of people likely to increase their participation in charity work over the next year rose by 22% and the number of people who “strongly agree” that it is important for The Queen to be involved in charity work rose 17%.

Nissan strengthens global comms team

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Global vehicle manufacturer, Nissan, has strengthened its global comms function with a series of promotions and hires.

Nissan Japan 1Sadayuki Hamaguchi, currently head of Nissan global corporate comms, has taken on the role of general manager and head of Japan comms. He assumes the position as part of a wide-ranging expansion of Nissan’s comms function and an increased focus on the Japanese market.

Amanda Groty, head of communications at PayPal EMEA until recently, will work alongside Hamaguchi as general manager, global corporate comms. Groty’s responsibilities will include the development and delivery of strategic messaging to support Nissan’s global reputation and business objectives.

In addition, Nissan’s chief comms officer, Jonathan Adashek, has named David Reuter, currently vice president of comms at Nissan North America, as vice president, global comms operations Nissan. Kristina Adamski, currently director, group comms, will assume Reuter’s previous role.

Adashek said: “We are transforming communications at Nissan, reflecting the company’s wider ambition to drive innovation and achieve broader global reach in the auto industry. Our latest appointments coincide with an ongoing transformation in global communications, designed to enhance the overall reputation of the company.”

Adashek has also announced two senior external appointments: Traci Carpenter, currently speechwriter at the Rockefeller Foundation and previously at the Clinton Foundation, who has been appointed as manager and speechwriter to Nissan president and CEO, Carlos Ghosn, and Steven Silver, currently speechwriter for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has been hired as manager of executive communications.