PR firms in Sunday Times Best Companies

Engine and Edelman have made it onto this year’s The Sunday Times’ 100 Best Companies To Work For list. In addition, Bite has been named one of the 100 Best Small Companies To Work For.

Engine, which includes PR firms MHP and Mischief, took 66th place this year, and is the sixth consecutive year the agency has made it onto the list.

The group, which owns ad agencies and brand consultancies, launched in 2005, has a staff of 780 in London and Edinburgh, and it also has offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Brussels, New York and San Francisco.

Described as a “fun place to work”, the Group spent nearly £438,000 on training last year, including its Brighter Together programme which features more than 15 workshops, and its development programme for managers, who 76% of staff say are supportive.

The average salary of an account manager is £31,250 and one third of the workforce earns more than £55,000 a year. Staff events include quarterly quiz nights in its office bar and an annual summer party. Incentives include being gifted an hour’s work from an errand and odd jobs service to winning tickets to a conference in Texas.

Edelman was placed at 78 on this year’s Best Companies To Work For. The US-owned PR firm has offices in 67 countries and around 5,000 staff, with 437 in its UK operation.

With an 85% positive score, the agency spent £520,000 on professional development in the UK last year, which included sending six nominees to a client leadership academy in San Francisco where top performers from around the world received guidance on honing their skills.

Executive training schemes, including a new mentoring programme, are designed to help leaders to support and develop talents.

Annual away days include graffiti workshops, and there are also weekly meetings, social gatherings and a free Thursday evening bar.

A new entry for the 100 Best Small Companies To Work For, Bite came in at 51 on this year’s list.

Owned by Next 15, Bite has nearly a 100-strong staff in 3 offices around the world, 52 of which are based in its London headquarters.

Noted for its “Up For It” culture, epitomised by Bite’s “Who’s REALLY Up For It?” quarterly award which recognises outstanding performance, staff feel cared-for as individuals (89%) and say the job is good for personal growth (90%).

Last year pay rises were given to 34 out of the 52 employees, with 14 now earning £45,000 or more.

Hot-desking is encouraged to promote inclusivity, there is a communal music system, beanbag-filled breakout spaces and two outdoor areas.

Best Companies has been producing and publishing the ‘Best Companies to Work For’ lists since 2001 to measure and acknowledge excellence in workplace engagement. According to BC, each year hundreds of organisations from a wide range of industries use its employee survey to measure the employee engagement.

The responses from these surveys are collated and combined to produce an overall engagement score for each organisation. Only the organisations with the highest level of overall employee engagement qualify for the 100 Best Small Companies to Work For list.

This year’s The Sunday Times Best Companies To Work For lists can be found here.

Tech investor Mercia brings in Buchanan

Mercia Technologies, a business which invests in “disruptive” tech companies such as virtual reality enterprise nDreams, has hired Buchanan as its retained financial PR and business comms adviser.

Buchanan will build a comms strategy for the tech investor which will highlight its investment model. Mercia’s “complete capital solution” provides investment capital for tech ventures via its FCA-authorised fund management business as well as through direct investment capital. Other investments include e-business Science Warehouse and sound-system developer Warwick Audio.

Partner Sophie McNulty will lead the account, supported by partner Bobby Morse, associate director Victoria Watkins and account manager Stephanie Watson.

McNulty said: “Buchanan is delighted to be have been appointed by such an innovative and growing company. Mercia Technologies has already built a very exciting portfolio and continues to go from strength to strength as it nurtures value from its ‘Emerging Star’ direct investments. We very much look forward to working with the Mercia Technologies team to deliver a successful communications programme.”

Newgate’s Watt joins FWD as capital markets lead

FWD Group, which last week announced an MBO by two of its directors, has hired Newgate’s Roddy Watt as director in its capital markets division.

Watt will launch and lead FWD‘s capital markets team which will Roddy-Colourcomplement the agency’s existing corporate PR, research and investor content offerings. The unit’s remit will include IPO preparation, M&A and aftermarket calender communications, such as the reporting of financial results.

With some 30 years’ experience, Watt has worked in strategic comms and corporate transactions for a range of clients. He has advised governments, stock exchanges, banks, asset managers and professional services firms.

Elliot Lane, FWD joint MD, said: “We are delighted that Roddy has decided to join our growing team at FWD. Myself and co-owner Gug Kyriacou have exciting plans for the business and have been keen to add a capital markets capability to our core offering. We are confident that Roddy will help us to deliver this with his exceptional experience and expertise in this space.”

Watt added: “This is a very exciting time to be joining FWD. Not only have Gug and Elliot recently completed a successful MBO of the business, but they have a tremendous franchise in insurance, financial and professional services, which is where I too have specialised over the years. I am sure our enhanced offering will appeal to both existing and new clients alike.”

Clear Channel International

The Gorkana Weekly Industry News Brief: 20 to 26 February 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.

Pitch Wins


M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment 3

Samsung School of Rugby

Samsung Electronics UK has handed a PR brief to M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment to work across key sporting campaigns, including a revival of the Samsung School of Rugby campaign featuring Jack Whitehall.

Clear Channel International (CCI), an outdoor advertising company and media owner, has reappointed FleishmanHillard Fishburn as its retained comms agency, following a five-way pitch.

Independent family-owned distiller William Grant & Sons has brought in Splendid Communications as the global consumer PR agency for its Hendrick’s gin and The Balvenie whisky brands, following a competitive pitch. The agency also named iProspect Enterprise’s Gavin Taylor as head of performance.

Brexit campaign group Vote Leave has briefed five agencies to handle its regional PR across England.

pitch 3

Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds

Marriott International has chosen Bacchus as the UK consumer and trade PR agency for five of its luxury lifestyle brands.

Channel 4 has handed two PR campaign briefs to sports PR agency Pitch PR to promote its Formula 1 and 2016 Paralympics coverage.

 

People News


Cohn-Wolfe

Rebecca Grant

BMG, the world’s fourth biggest music publisher, has appointed music industry veteran Steve Redmond to run its worldwide comms activity.

Cohn & Wolfe has promoted its UK consumer marketing MD, Rebecca Grant, to head up the London-based WPP-owned agency as UK MD.

Tulchan Communications has named six partners, including Morgan Stanley’s Doug Campbell and Severn Trent’s David Lloyd-Seed, as it makes a number of appointments across the business.

gravity

David Andrews

Interiors company Graham and Green has brought in Cox & Cox’s Kate Vincent as PR and social media manager.

B2B agency Gravity London has hired David Andrews, founder of financial services PR boutique David Andrews Media, on a retained basis to build its financial division.

 

Agency News


FWD Group has been acquired by two of its existing directors, Gug Kyriacou and Elliot Lane, from founder Michael Gaughan, who remains as a consultant with the business. The details of the transaction haven’t been disclosed.

Campaign-Collective

Simon Francis

Good Relations has launched a new broadcast consultancy, Good Broadcast, and brought in Sound Creative’s Phil Caplin to lead the new offer.

Former Claremont director Simon Francis has launched Campaign Collective, a social enterprise to provide charities and not-for-profit organisations with affordable comms support.

Creative comms group Beattie is to create 30 new jobs across its UK office network, as part of its 30th birthday celebrations.

Manifest London is providing pro bono PR support for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a charity dedicated to preventing male suicide, around its 10th anniversary this year.

 

News Analysis


Brexit debate calls for clearer comms
The Brexit debate in the UK is gaining momentum now David Cameron has announcVote leaveed the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. But, while politicians, economists and business leaders have aired views from different sides of the debate, more detail will be needed if rival factions want to mount convincing arguments, according to opinion-formers at the Daily Mail, the FT and the Press Association.

MWC 2016: three key PR takeaways
MWCA record turnout of more than 100,000 attendees and around 4,000 businesses exhibiting across the four days of Mobile World Congress (MWC) made headlines for brands like Samsung and HTC and others in the consumer tech industry, but what were the main PR lessons this year?

 

Awards


Instinctif Partners, Schroders, FTI Consulting and Lansons were among the big winners at last night’s inaugural PRCA City and Financial Awards 2016.

CF2016 MAIN THIN

Journalist News


The Economist Group is set to rebrand its culture and lifestyle magazine Intelligent Life as 1843, and has appointed Emma Duncan as its editor. 1843 will have expanded content and sections on culture, technology, style and design, food and drink, travel, and body and mind.

Prashant Rao has been appointed deputy European business editor at The New York Times. He was previously news desk editor at Agence France-Presse.

Natalie Cornish has been named online editor for The Sun on Sunday‘s Fabulous magazine. Beth Allcock, a reporter for The Wharf, has also been appointed digital showbiz journalist at The Sun.

Peter Ruddick, associate producer for CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe, has joined BBC Breakfast as a broadcast journalist.

John Crowley has been named editor-in-chief of International Business Times UK. He is currently digital editor EMEA at The Wall Street Journal and starts his new role on 29 March.

The Daily Telegraph’s former online city editor, Martin Strydom has joined The Times as digital business editor.

Bloomberg’s Michael Moore has been appointed team leader for UK Finance at Bloomberg News.

 

Features


Gorkana meets…The Sun Travel
Matt Hampton, deputy travel editor at The Sun, in an exclusive media briefing with Gorkana this week, opened up on the challenges of creating the diverse mix of content featured in the section, the “dream” destinations for Sun readers in 2016 and how PRs can get involved.

Case Study: Celebrating 60 years of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
When Stand Agency was briefed to celebrate the Diamond Anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and launch its new Diamond Challenge, the agency enlisted a host of celebrities, including Davina McCall and Arlene Phillips, to climb the equivalent of Ben Nevis in London’s Covent Garden. The results? A 163% increase in sign-ups for the new DofE Diamond Challenge.
Stand Agency
60 seconds with RGC Partners’ Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths, outgoing director of European comms at ebay’s StubHub and founder of RGC Partners, on how his move from journalism into comms felt like “coming home”, the heightened profile of PR, and getting clients to address uncomfortable truths.

Gorkana meets…ABTA Magazine
Jo Fletcher-Cross, editor of APL Media’s ABTA stable, on the titles’ broad trade and consumer reach, wanting PRs to fuel ABTA‘s “culture content” and her second life as a playwright.

Behind the Headlines with Alfred’s Gemma Pears
Gemma Pears
, co-founder of PR firm Alfred, on the infectious buzz that only people who work in PR will understand, the fear of her first pitch to a journalist and where she likes to get consumer insight on brands.

 

MWC 2016: three key PR takeaways

A record turnout of more than 100,000 attendees and around 4,000 businesses exhibiting across the four days of  Mobile World Congress (MWC) made headlines for brands like Samsung, HTC and others in the consumer tech industry, but what were the main PR lessons this year? In a follow-up to Gorkana‘s preview of this year’s event, comms experts tell us what they, and others, can learn from it.

At MWC, products surrounding the smartphone took centre stage, with virtual reality headsets, and mobile add-ons as well as concepts such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G networks joining them in the spotlight. This diversity shows how the evolving nature of the conference, which has grown as the importance of mobile to brands and consumers has grown, has made it an opportunity for PRs in both the consumer and corporate fields.

Gorkana spoke to MWC attendees from CCGroup, Berkeley PR and Wolfstar Consultancy on what PRs might take away from the show and the attention around it:

Brands and agencies increasingly need to be part of MWC

Richard Fogg, managing director at tech PR agency CCgroup, told Gorkana that MWC is increasingly receiving attendees, speakers and exhibitors that are more brand and agency focused. He said: “There is a brand influx and an agency influx (at the event) which wasn’t necessarily the case a few years ago, it wouldn’t surprise me if the next MWC is more brand concentrated than ever before.”

“The event will become more like Cannes, where as an agency or brand you just have to go if you want to stay in the loop and want to know what has changed,” Fogg added.

Start early and plan to make the most of the media opportunity

Fogg highlighted that only 10-20 per cent of stories are written at the event after a meeting with journalists. This is due to a high level of noise at the event, and also due to the time pressures on journalists who often have little time to follow up on what they see and hear.

“It’s a terrible place to launch a story,” he warned. “There’s about a six week period after the event where no one will have any news after the events. This is because there is such a build up. A B2B tech vendor will spend 60-70 per cent of their marketing budget on this event, so there’s a pressure on B2B tech guys to squeeze everything on that investment. Sometimes stories won’t get the attention they deserve,” he said.

Fogg told Gorkana that for PRs to make the most of their news stories, it’s best to start early and get in touch with journalists prior to the event so that they have time to write stories. In addition, he suggests researching the key predicted themes by media, such as Reuters and CNBC, and work around them.

Consider the trends and provide clarity and make them accessible

Aaron Frank, senior account executive at Berkeley PR, said: “In speaking to a number of journalists at the show, IoT and 5G were the big topics they were looking to cover. It’s clear that they are the buzzwords that will continue to dominate the industry for the next few years.”

But journalists are focused on clarifying these ideas and detail, he added. “5G is constantly being discussed, but little is known about how and when it will be implemented and what benefits it will bring.”

Michael Addis, account manager at Wolfstar, told Gorkana that Sony did a particularly good job at communicating a trend and making it accessible to consumers.

“Many mobile companies have, in previous years, focused on communicating bonus features and gimmicks on their devices. This year, brands have aimed to communicate how they have met the challenges of customer pain points. Sony has done this incredibly well by focusing its communications around a design that fits comfortably in people’s hand, a battery that keeps its ‘up to two day’ charge for longer and an incredible camera that really meets people’s needs. It’s straightforward and shows that it understands what matters to people,” he said.

Instinctif wins top agency at PRCA financial awards

Instinctif Partners, Schroders, FTI Consulting and Lansons were among the big winners at last night’s inaugural PRCA City and Financial Awards 2016.

At the ceremony, which took place at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall in the City, Instinctif picked up the City Agency of the Year award. Schroders’ PR team scooped In-house Team of the Year.

Instinctif’s CEO, Richard Nichols, commenting on the award, said: “Our success in these awards reflects our ongoing commitment to making Instinctif Partners a company that stands out not only as a creator of best in class client work but also as one of the most exciting places to work in our industry. We’re thrilled to be recognised for this by the PRCA.”

FTI Consulting claimed two awards for Best Social Media Campaign and Best Crisis Communications Campaign. Lansons’ work with BlackRock Income Strategies saw the agency secure the Best Change Management Campaign.

The Best M&A, or Communications in Support of a Transaction, sponsored by Gorkana, went to Hudson Sandler‘s work on Project Solar.

Sky‘s Mark Kleinman and Barclaycard’s Helen Lacy won individual awards for Best City Journalist and Professional of the Year, respectively.

Other winners included:

  • Team Spirit won the Best Financial Services Communications Campaign category
  • Best IPO Campaign went to KTZ for ‘Making a splash with Fishing Republic’s IPO’
  • Best Strategic Communications went to pest control company Rentokil.
  • The Outstanding Contribution award went to Neil Bennett, chief executive of Maitland.
  • Clarity in Charity Communications Award, a partnership between the Company of PR Practitioners and the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass, was handed to Phil Davies, chairman of the Children’s Magical Taxi Tour.

Thanos Hotels and Resorts hires PCC

Perowne Charles Communications (PCC) has been chosen to handle the UK PR and social media for Thanos Hotels and Resorts, Cyprus’ leading luxury hotel group.

The agency has been briefed to raise the profile of the family-run Thanos brand and its three hotels Anassa, Almyra and Annabelle.

Founded 40 years ago by the late Alecos Michaelides, his son Thanos Michaelides now runs the business as MD, supported by his siblings Natasha and Anna.

Julia Perowne, co-founder and MD of PCC, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Thanos Hotels and Resorts. This is a prestigious win for PCC and we are delighted to be representing one of The Mediterranean’s leading hotel groups.”

Splendid hires Gavin Taylor to lead digital team

Splendid Communications has appointed iProspect Enterprise’s Gavin Taylor as head of performance, as the agency looks enhance its digital and creative offer.

Taylor will head up the agency’s digital team, with a brief to grow the company’s digital performance capabilities and enhance the use of data to formulate SEO strategy, insights and measure campaign success.

He will report to Alec Samways, Splendid CEO.

Samways said: “We are first and foremost a creative business but the opportunity to augment our creative through digital insights, outcomes and measurement has always excited us. We’ve been waiting for an opportunity to bring in someone of Gavin’s calibre, so we’re delighted to have him on board.”

Taylor was previously performance director and head of B2B digital marketing agency iProspect Enterprise, where he worked for the last four years. While there, he led multi-channel strategies for global brands including Corbis, General Motors and Regus.

Before iProspect, Taylor held a senior role at I Spy Marketing, leading its search team.

Taylor said: “I’m really proud to be joining Splendid Communications at such a pivotal point in its development. As digital performance becomes more vital to businesses worldwide, it’s great to see a creative agency leading the way, embracing this opportunity and already winning awards for it. I look forward to working with the team to deliver integrated campaigns that stand out for both creativity and performance.”

BMG hires Steve Redmond to handle global comms

BMG, the world’s fourth biggest music publisher, has appointed music industry veteran Steve Redmond to run its worldwide comms activity.

Redmond has been a leading voice in the music industry for more than two decades. He has consulted for BMG in the UK and internationally since 2012.

Since 2007, Redmond acted as a consultant to companies and organisations across the music and creative industries including the Entertainment Retailers Association and specialist creative industries fund manager Edge Investments.

He has also worked on projects for Modest! Management, German trade association the BVMI, the Music Managers Forum, the Association For Electronic Music, Tesco and Media-Saturn subsidiary 24/7 Entertainment. He discovered and first managed BRIT Award-winners Catfish & The Bottlemen.

He joined the BPI, the UK record company trade association, in 2003 with commercial responsibility for the BRIT Awards and the Official Charts Company.

He is a former editor of UK trade paper Music Week and he was involved in the launch of a string of brand extensions, including dotmusic.com, a consumer-facing music website, which was subsequently sold to Yahoo!.

In his new role at BMG, Redmond will be responsible for all areas of BMG’s internal and external comms, including its artists and songwriter clients.

He will also work with BMG’s shareholder, Bertelsmann, through to its 500-strong worldwide team and report to BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch.

Masuch said: “Whether as a strategist, analyst, commentator or media advisor, Steve Redmond has a unique ability to cut to the heart of an issue, and then make things happen. He brings a vital perspective to our management team.”

Redmond said: “BMG is an extraordinary attempt to create a new kind of music company. Everything I have seen about this company is brave and ambitious and committed to doing the right thing. I am delighted to join them in their quest to offer artists and songwriters a genuine alternative.”

Alongside his commitment to BMG, Redmond will retain a small portfolio of outside interests, including his long-term advisory role at the Entertainment Retailers Association.

Rein4ce rebrands to emphasise training offer

Rein4ce, the specialist insurance and reinsurance PR agency, has unveiled its new corporate brand and website placing more emphasis on its media training offer.

The agency, which launched in 2008 to serve the Stephen_Breeninternational insurance and reinsurance markets, worked with branding agency Brand Experience on the redesign.

Stephen Breen, Rein4ce MD, said: “The company is in great shape and has been going from strength to strength, particularly in the last two years. We are now working with clients in London, Switzerland, Bermuda, the United States, Canada and Dubai, with the strong prospect of further growth.

“We thought it was time to freshen up the brand a bit and we are delighted with the look and feel of the new website, which is very intuitive and user-friendly.”