Media Requests has been moved! We are building a new and improved Media Requests experience in Cision’s new app, Connectively, where a community of journalists, content creators, and experts can come together to collaborate and build connections. Check here
Dr Leah Totton, winner of the BBC TV series The Apprentice in 2013, has hired Positive Communications to handle her PR.
Dr Leah Totton
After winning The Apprentice in 2013, Totton, already a practicing doctor when she applied to be on the BBC series, went on to open two cosmetic skin clinics with her business partner Lord Alan Sugar.
Totton invested the £250,000 prize money from The Apprentice to establish the cosmetic skin clinics, with the first of the self-titled Dr Leah Clinics launched in Moorgate, Central London, in 2014. A second launched in Loughton, Essex, in 2016.
Positive has been briefed to provide a press office function for Totton, which will act as the first point of contact for all journalist enquiries, interview requests and images.
Aduro Communications has been chosen to deliver an anniversary campaign around this year’s 45th birthday of the Mr. Men family brand.
The brief from Sanrio, owner of the Mr. Men and Little Miss brand, will focus on enhancing the Mr. Men archive, which includes Roger Hargreaves’ original drawings, roughs and vintage product samples.
Aduro has developed an integrated campaign, which includes a live event for families and a virtual archive build project, designed to growing the archive for future generations.
Aduro MD and founder Natalie Luke said: “Mr. Men is an iconic brand and one we all have a huge amount of nostalgia for here at Aduro, so it was easy to get excited about this brief.
“We got under the skin of the consumer to build a multi-layered campaign with an engaging experiential event at its core, and various media angles that will excite press and consumers alike. We can’t wait to celebrate Mr.Men’s birthday in style!”
After only five of 84 PR Lions were awarded to PR agencies at this year’s Cannes Lions festival, PRCA’s director general, Francis Ingham, discusses his disappointment with the results and suggests four areas to concentrate on in the future.
Cannes 2016 will not be remembered with pride by many within the PR industry. That’s the stark truth.
We simply did not win the number of Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards that our industry deserves. I see at first hand, and daily, the innovative and brilliant work produced by PR practitioners from around the world. So I am deeply disappointed by the results this year – and while it might be diplomatic to hide that disappointment, it would also be disingenuous.
So what can we do?
First, we can improve our submissions. In a format where video is king, we simply are not doing ourselves justice. Our advertising rivals invest in this format and we do not.
Secondly, we need to help Cannes redefine how it sees PR. The definition at the moment includes reputation – great. It also references ‘sway’. Nobody in our industry would replicate that choice of words. So in both our interests and Cannes’, we need to create a better understanding of what defines our discipline.
Thirdly, we need to remember that this is a truly international programme. Jurors were clear that too many deserving campaigns failed to win because they didn’t recognise international context. You can’t win Gold if you can’t explain the particular local problems you overcame.
And finally, we need to embrace proper evaluation methods. There is still far too much usage of the hated AVEs. And too much swaggering around with millions of likes and retweets, when what we should be talking about is the actual change effected.
Is there nothing positive? Yes. The Young PR Lions competition run by ICCO showcased some fantastic young talent. The US came first; Hungary second; the UK third. That young talent embodies everything we need. They eschew AVEs. They embrace content and technology as second nature. Their outlook is international by instinct.
So. Work to be done for sure. But I am easily certain that if we embrace the challenge, an incredibly bright future lies ahead.
Francis Ingham is director general of the PRCA
Also from Cannes 2016, read a “PR’s view from the Cannes Glass Lion judging” as Mary Whenman, President of Women in PR and communications director, Callcredit Information Group, gives an insider view of judging this year’s Glass: The Lion for Change award.
Trainline has appointed MSLGROUP London’s Victoria Biggs as European director of comms. She takes on her new role in August with a brief to drive brand awareness in the UK and Continental Europe.
Victoria Biggs
Biggs has been briefed to set the independent rail retailer’s European comms strategy across multiple markets, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
She will oversee consumer, corporate, social media and internal comms, and report to Trainline’s chief commercial officer, Simon Darling.
Darling said: “Victoria has exactly the right experience to grow Trainline in Continental Europe and be highly visible amongst our key audiences. With deep and proven experience delivering strategic communications in multiple global markets, Victoria willput the talent and structures in place that we need to deliver successful campaigns and processes that can be shared and applied across Europe.”
Biggs’ appointment follows Trainline’s acquisition of Paris-based Captain Train, Continental Europe’s largest rail ticket retailer, in March this year.
Biggs added: “I am joining an ambitious, high growth technology business at a time when Trainline has partnered with another exciting technology brand to make rail travel in and around Europe easier than ever. Known by millions in the UK, Trainline is largely unknown to people on the continent, so I am looking forward to having a role in building brand awareness and attracting new customers in multiple new markets.”
Biggs joins Trainline from MSLGROUP London (part of Publicis Groupe’s comms agency network), after six years as MD of its consumer practice, where she led UK and EMEA accounts including Procter & Gamble and Netflix.
Before MSLGROUP, she spent seven years at Freud Communications and three years at eBay UK as director of PR.
As Gorkana publishes the EU Referendum Media Digest after the landmark results, here are the figures across mainstream and social media and the top Tweets around the unanticipated final verdict.
Despite his resignation this morning (24 June 2016), after failing to convince enough voters it was best to remain within the EU, David Cameron was a key influencer in mainstream media outlets.
Volume of articles featuring the most frequently referenced key influencers, drawn from a set list within UK online coverage
Leave campaigns dominated social media (in terms of volume of content) in June, particularly in the days before the polling stations opened.
Volume of content using key hashtags and twitter handles for the main campaigns advocating Leave (Vote Leave, Leave.EU, Grassroots Out) and Remain (Britain Stronger In Europe, Conservatives In, Labour In)
Volumes of coverage, in both mainstream and social media, increased steadily as voting day approached.
Volume of UK online articles and social media content discussing the EU Referendum, generated via automated keyword searches of EU Referendum terms
51.9% of the vote went to leave the EU – Turnout was 72% – which means 37.3% of UK voters voted to Leave – that’s less than 2 in 5 voters — omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) June 24, 2016
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.
People News
Good Relations has appointed Henry Elliss as senior online strategist to enhance its content marketing team.
Insurance comms specialist, Simon Hayes, is joining Redleaf Communications’ senior team as director.
Following a senior team restructure, John Doe has hired James Wilkins as creative director.
Pitch Wins
eBay has appointed Porter Novelli to a Pan-EMEA brief for B2B and corporate external communications.
Kleenex has briefed MHP Communications, its retained PR agency, to handle its social media.
Bell Pottinger has been awarded a retained brief by Air France-KLM to collaborate with bloggers and social influencers in the UK and Ireland.
Events
Future of food media – how to get ahead in the ‘food revolution’
Stories behind the food people eat and great visual content are now most likely to keep readers and users engaged, according to the panellists at this week’s Gorkana’s Future of Food panel event.
Join us at an exclusive Gorkana media briefing with Jim Holder, editor of What Car? on 28 June.
Journalist News
Sara Malm has joined The Mail on Sunday as deputy health editor. She was previously an online reporter for MailOnline UK.
Jessamy Chapman has been promoted to full-time editor at Coach Monthly.
BBC One’s Watchdog will return this autumn with changes to its presenting line-up and a new look and feel. The new presenters are Matt Allwright, Sophie Raworth, Michelle Ackerly, Nikki Fox and BBC Business reporter Steph McGovern.
Features
Gorkana meets…DiscerningGent.com
When Amit Chakravarty, co-founder of men’s lifestyle title Elysium Magazine, came up with the idea to create a digital offering dedicated to men’s fashion and style, DiscerningGent.com was born. Six months since its launch, Gorkana’s Jessica Lester caught up with Chakravarty to find out why he’s looking to target a more “Instagram-esque” audience.
Gorkana meets…Jaimie Kaffash, news editor at Pulse
Jaimie Kaffash, news editor at Pulse and healthcare specialist Cogora, tells Gorkana about his award-winning team, life working on a public sector trade publication and his drive to source exclusive stories.
Opinion: Is today’s corporate affairs director tomorrow’s CEO?
Oskar Yasar, managing partner of Broome Yasar Partnership, explains why communications skills are so highly valued among today’s corporate leaders following the publication of the consultancy’s report: From Corporate Affairs to Corporate Leader: Today’s corporate affairs director, tomorrow’s CEO?
Primark, Channel 4, FTI Consulting were among the winners at this week’s Corporate Engagement Awards 2016.
High street retailer Primark won the Grand Prix with its ‘Primark Sustainable Cotton Programme’, which is carried out in association with CottonConnect and the Self-Employed Women’s Association.
In addition, Primark won two gold awards – for Best environmental or sustainability programme and for Best collaborative approach.
Channel 4, with Scope, MediaCom and 2LE Media, took gold in three categories: Best charity, NGO, or NFP programme, Best execution and Best teamwork. The collaboration ran a campaign based on the awkwardness able-bodied people sometimes experience when meeting someone with a disability.
FTI Consulting, with the Citizenship Foundation, took gold in the Best educational programme category.
Overall, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and creativity were just some of the themes apparent this year in the awards, which aim to benchmark excellence in corporate engagement, increasingly necessary for business in a more socially aware corporate environment, according to the organiser Communicate magazine.
The awards took place this week (June 21) at The Brewery, Moorgate, in Central London.
Andrew Thomas, publishing editor, Communicate magazine, said: “It’s delightful to see so many brands embracing collaboration, at an event dedicated to bringing people together. The Corporate Engagement Awards is dedicated to those companies and organisations which help people collaborate and work in partnerships to achieve a brighter future.”
The Fava Bean product range includes a series of six Granolas plus dried beans that can be added to soups, stocks and everyday cooking.
Mason Williams will launch the product at the end of June at Kensington Palace Gardens in London. It will also launch a campaign that covers traditional and social media as well as pop-up shops in the Manchester area.
The agency’s team will be split across its Manchester and London offices.
Rita Rowe, founder and MD at Mason Williams, said: “It is very exciting to be a part of this launch – a new brand and a new super food to come in to the UK. We believe that the public will really get behind the brand as it offers a unique range that we all want – high protein, low salt, low sugar, good for you but also tastes like an indulgent brand.”
As the only PR on the 10-strong judging jury for the Glass Lion: The Lion for Change at Cannes this year, Mary Whenman, President Women in PR and Communications Director, Callcredit Information Group, shares her insights from her time in the judging room and experiencing the rest of the advertising festival this week.
In April, when the invitation arrived to be one of 10 judges on the Glass jury in April I didn’t know what to expect. But, I’d recommend anybody working in public relations and communications to attend Cannes Lions at least once in their career – you’ll get so much out of it.
Glass: The Lion for Change is different from other awards at Cannes. Set up two years ago by the festival and Sheryl Sandberg’s LeanIn organisation, it celebrates culture-shifting creativity: work which sets out to positively impact ingrained gender inequality, imbalance or injustice.
Our Grand Prix winner was transgender campaign #6PackBand and I’m immensely proud of the choices we made with this and the five other campaigns that won a Glass Lion this year: #LegallyBride, #MarriageMarketTakeover, #NeverAlone, #BeautyTipsByReshma and Dads #ShareTheLoad.
Working with my fellow judges (a two-day intellectual and creative marathon!) on such a special award and looking at such inspiring work gave me insights into creativity, the opportunity for PR at Cannes and more. Here are just some of them:
Winners need creativity and innovation and moreThe bar is set high on creativity and innovation to win a Cannes Lion. However, as a jury, we decided early on that this simply wasn’t enough for a Glass Lion winner. We wanted to see demonstrable results either via changes in attitudes and perceptions, or changes in behaviour, to drive social change. I was surprised at how so many of the 150 plus entries were unable to demonstrate any results. In PR, we often think of advertising as the big daddy of measurement and evaluation. What I’ve learned since we started the pre-judging in May, is that this necessarily isn’t the case and advertising struggles with metrics just as much as our industry, especially when it comes to campaigns that aren’t simply about driving sales off a self or a website.
“Advertising has suddenly discovered PR”“The whole of advertising has discovered PR,” said one of the judges on the first day of judging. Most campaigns we saw generated significant volumes of media coverage and social media engagement most of us could only dream of. Advertising has got into PR in a big way and ad agencies are good at doing things at scale. The message to PR is go big or go home!
Pinkwashing is a problemA lot of campaigns were simply getting on a gender bandwagon, or tokenism, which a fellow juror called pinkwashing. None of those campaigns made it through.
Where were the PR agency entries?Of the 150+ Glass Lion entries, very few were from PR agencies. Weber Shandwick India was the only PR agency to make it onto the 18-strong shortlist. It wasn’t a case that PR agencies weren’t shortlisted; they simply hadn’t entered. This is a huge, missed opportunity.
Culturally diverse groups make better decisionsIt is often said that culturally diverse boards make better decisions. The Glass Lion judging panel was the most diverse group of people I’ll ever work with. Not only did we come to Cannes from Brazil, India, Hong Kong, the Middle East, New Zealand, the UK and US. Among the judges were experts from PR, Hollywood, advertising, client-side, NGOs, broadcast and research.
The Glass Lion is not “just” a women’s awardAs a jury, we wanted to bust the myth that the Glass Lion was “the women’s award.” Many entries addressed a wide range of non-female issues.
Event organiser Clarion Events have hired Stature PR to promote the 26th Winter Art & Antiques Fair in London’s Olympia.
This will be the ninth show that Stature PR will promote for Clarion after successful campaigns on next week’s The Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia (27 June to 3 July 2016), as well as The Baby Show (21 to 23 October 2016).
The team will be directed by Stature PR director, Fiona Jull and managed by Kat Adams with the help of senior account executive, Tash Winslade. Stature PR will be working closely with Alex Inkin who has been retained to handle all trade press, having worked on the Fair for more than 10 years.
Michelle Kyles, marketing manager of the fair, said: “We are delighted to be working with Stature PR. Our team has witnessed first-hand what they can achieve having worked with them on the Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia and The Baby Show so we’re really looking forward to seeing the results of their hard work and creative output”
Jull added: “It’s an honour to have won the Winter Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia, having worked hard on The Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia in the first half of the year. It’s a huge, historic event in the global arts and antiques calendar that media and consumers alike look forward to every year and we’re very excited about putting our creative stamp on it.”
