Chandos Communications names Teresa Wincrantz partner

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Chandos Communications, the Havas backed financial PR agency, has promoted Teresa Wincrantz to Partner. Wincrantz co-founded the firm with Louise Tingström, Chandos’ managing partner, in April 2015.

Prior to founding Chandos as associate partner, Wincrantz was a director at CNC Communications. She has also held senior roles at M: Communications and Brunswick, working in both Europe and the Middle East.

Chandos specialises in IPO & M&A communications, crisis management, large scale global campaign coordination, strategic advisory, investor relations and financial calendar work. In its first year, the firm secured clients including asset manager Amundi, Telecom Italia and UniCredit.

Tingström said: “I am very pleased to announce Teresa’s well deserved  promotion to partner. During our start-up phase she has showed strong  leadership skills, excellent new business nous and a consistent ability to provide valued advice to a variety of high level clients.”

CIPR names Koray Camgoz PR manager

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The Chartered Institute of Public Relations has promoted Koray Camgoz to PR manager, as Andrew Ross departs to become media relations manager at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

CIPR both
Camgoz (pictured left) joined the CIPR in November 2011 and held several development roles before being named PR and policy offer in February 2014, reporting to Ross (pictured right).

He takes over as PR manager next Thursday (21 April), the day after Ross’ departure, and will report to Sarah Ion, head of marketing comms at the CIPR.

Ross said: “Koray has been full-circle with the CIPR, working across multiple departments, with some fantastic colleagues and alongside some valued and experienced volunteers.

“This will stand him in good stead to take on this new challenge and I’m confident he will play a key role in the CIPR continuing to lead the professionalization of the practice of public relations.”

Ross has been at the CIPR for nearly six years. He joined the organisation’s comms and policy team in 2011, after working on events, and was named PR and policy manager in January 2014.

He takes on his new media relations manager role at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry on 25 April. Joining a three-strong PR team, he will report to head of media relations Elaine Towell.

Walbrook PR wins two life sciences accounts

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Walbrook PR, a financial PR and investor relations firm specialising in small cap and AIM listed companies, has been appointed as financial PR advisor on two separate businesses: Motif Bio and Surgical Innovations Group.

Motif Bio is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing antibiotics to fight serious and life-threatening infections. Surgical Innovations designs and manufactures innovative devices for minimally invasive surgery and industrial markets.

Both firms are AIM listed life sciences companies.

Paul McManus, MD and founder of Walbrook PR (pictured), said: “We are delighted to have won the mandates for both Motif Bio and Surgical Innovations – which reinforces our well-established position as a leading PR and IR adviser to smaller growing life sciences’ businesses.”

McManus will handle both accounts. He founded Walbrook PR in 2009 to assist smaller growing companies in raising their profile among investors, analysts, and the media.

uSwitch briefs Brands2Life

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Brands2Life has been handed an energy PR brief by online price comparison and switching website uSwitch, with a remit to enhance the brand’s position as a “consumer champion”.

The agency will develop campaigns to encourage more people to switch energy suppliers to save money,brands2life with a particular focus on reaching new audiences of energy consumers, with different needs.

uSwitch aims to help consumers get better deals on gas, electricity, home phone, broadband, digital TV, mobile phones and personal finance.

Brands2Life will report to Charlotte Nunes, head of PR at uSwitch.

Nunes said: “We chose to work with Brands2Life because we needed an agency to help with innovative ways to tackle the apathy around switching, help us reach new audiences and build our profile in consumer media. We are a strong consumer champion and want to use this reputation to encourage more people to get a better deal on energy.”

Sarah Scales, co-founder of Brands2Life, said: “uSwitch.com is a market leader and we’re thrilled to have been appointed to start tackling some of the big issues around energy switching. We’re looking forward to working with the uSwitch.com team to build the company’s brand with new audiences.”

VTB Bank appoints Hudson Sandler

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Financial and corporate PR firm Hudson Sandler has been appointed by VTB Bank, Russia’s second largest bank, to support its international communications.

The agency will manage VTB’s strategic communications across EMEA and Asia.

VTB Bank provides financial services across retail, corporate, and investment banking markets globally. Its shares are listed in London, New York and Moscow.

Andrew Hayes, Hudson Sandler Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to be working with VTB Bank, an important player in the global banking sector, and leading Russian financial services group. VTB is a key addition to Hudson Sandler’s portfolio of Russian and financial services clients.”

Hayes will lead the account, along with support from Alex Clelland, head of financial services, and Elena Garside, client director.

Hudson Sandler is based in London and specialises in capital and debt markets, financial services, real estate, and TMT. Its current Russian clients include the Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Gazprom Neft, and Severstal.

Trio join Buchanan to strengthen strategic comms offer

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Buchanan, the WPP-owned financial and business comms consultancy, has hired three new team members to strengthen its strategic communications offer.

Hannah Brandstaetter and Chris Judd join as account directors. Also, Patrick Hanrahan joins as account executive.

Brandstaetter joins Buchanan from Media Zoo; Judd arrives after working at BP and Hanrahan left Tulchan Communications for his new role.

Richard Oldworth, chairman at Buchanan, said: “We are delighted to welcome Hannah, Chris and Patrick to Buchanan. The appointments reflect our strategy to broaden and further strengthen our strategic communications offer. Hannah and Chris bring in-depth knowledge and expertise of corporate and crisis communications and investor relations and sustainability, respectively, skill sets which complement our existing consultants.”

minicabit hires Threepipe

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minicabit, an online minicab comparison and booking site, has appointed Threepipe to run its global paid search campaigns, with a brief to drive UK bookings.

minicabit works with more than 750 fleets of local taxis in over 300 UK towns and cities, and enables threepipeusers to pre-book cabs online and via its mobile apps.

Threepipe will target customers looking to compare prices and features and then pre-book local cabs. Activity will include supporting Chauffeurit.com, minicabit’s premium platform, which recently launched with Heathrow Airport and is aimed at business and corporate travellers.

Amer Hasan, CEO of minicabit, said: “We were really impressed with Threepipe’s approach to our business and the opportunities which they suggested. Its track record in helping other similar innovative companies scale their growth quickly and profitably was a key factor in the appointment.”

Farhad Koodoruth, co-founder of Threepipe, said: “We are delighted to be working with such an innovative business. Maximising the performance of minicabit’s search spend in a highly competitive market is a great challenge and our approach is already delivering improved results.”

Web-building platform Weebly hands UK brief to W

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Weebly, a Silicon Valley-based web-building platform forecast to hit a $1bn valuation in 2016, has appointed W as its UK comms agency, as it looks to enhance its presence in the European market.

weebly

Backed by Sequoia Capital and with more than 25 million users, Weebly has briefed W to increase awareness of the brand in the UK and drive signups to its offering, with a particular focus on start-up businesses.

The W team will also promote a range of success stories among Weebly’s existing two million UK users, and launch a series of ‘entrepreneurship roadshows’, which will feature digital masterclasses and web-building workshops.

Dion McKenzie, country manager at Weebly, said “We were really impressed with W’s understanding of the technology and SME landscape in the UK, and its considered proposal to support our ambitious plans. We are looking forward to working together on the exciting activation ideas for bringing Weebly to the UK’s budding entrepreneurs.”

Warren Johnson, founder and CEO of W, said: “Weebly has already revolutionised website building for more than 30 million people across the world, and operates in more than 170 economies. At W, we’re passionate about entrepreneurship, and are extremely excited to support Weebly as it looks to grow its customer base here in the UK – empowering more people to turn their passions into successful businesses.”

Hope&Glory wins Center Parcs brief

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Family short break provider Center Parcs has brought in Hope&Glory as its retained consumer brand agency, with a brief to promote the brand as a “champion” of family time.

Hope&Glory

Center Parcs, which launched in the UK nearly 30 years ago, has five locations across the UK, offering short break holidays in forested locations. It claims an annual occupancy rate of 98%.

Hope&Glory, which won the account following a three-way pitch, has been briefed to position the Center Parcs brand as a “champion” of family time through editorial and social channels.

The PR campaign will build on the brand’s new creative platform around family time, which was unveiled in January as a 60 second TV commercial devised by ad agency Brothers and Sisters.

Jo Carr, Hope&Glory’s managing partner, will lead the account.

Simon Kay, PR manager for Center Parcs, said: “Throughout the pitch process, the team at Hope&Glory demonstrated a real willingness and desire to understand the challenges Center Parcs faces as a brand. This has resulted in some very clear, well-thought through ideas, which I am looking forward to seeing come to life over the next few months.”

Carr added: “Center Parcs is going through a real journey in its communications strategy – from being solely about its amazing product to a focus on the customer experience and the benefits their short breaks have to offer. So it’s a very exciting time to be working with them.

“We all know that modern families struggle to balance work, chores and quality time together and Center Parcs – with its forest locations – feels uniquely placed to help them reconnect. We’re looking forward to challenging some of the misconceptions that exist about the brand and further strengthening its position in the market.”

Bottle promotes Nina Sawetz

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Bottle has promoted Nina Sawetz to head of editorial for the agency’s consumer division.

Sawetz joined Bottle in 2010 from Blue Zebra PR. She began her career with internships for Frank and the BBC’s press office for EastEnders.

At Bottle, she has since worked on campaigns including Organix ‘Out To Lunch’, ‘Crunch Time’ for Golden Wonder and ‘Bodytalking for Cancer’ for AXA PPP healthcare.

She also headed the ‘Make Up Gallery’ campaign for Poundland which saw the discount retailer’s cosmetics line become one of the best-selling ranges in the UK market.

In her new role, Sawetz will hold the senior position on consumer client accounts and work closely with the board on new business development.

Natasha Hill, MD of Bottle, said: “Our consumer division has grown dramatically over the past five years. During this period, Nina has been involved in countless successful digital, experiential and traditional campaigns and at the forefront of driving our newsroom model forward.”