60 seconds with Tim Snowball, PHA Media

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Tim Snowball, head of political strategy at PHA Media and former Lib Dem director of political comms, tells us about how he hid, with Nick Clegg, from a TV helicopter, his pride at reframing the debate around the Assisted Dying Bill and how a puppy can be the ultimate work distraction.

What media outlet can’t you start your day without?

I enjoy a Guardian / Daily Mail combo on my daily commute. Typical Lib Dem I guess, tiptoeing in the centre ground! I also always look forward to Andrew Rawnsley’s column in the Observer each week. To my mind his perceptive and thoughtful analysis is consistently a must read.

What’s the most valuable thing you learned as director of political comms for the Liberal Democrats?

Focus and discipline of message. The greatest communications challenge we faced was retaining any sense of positive independent identity as a junior coalition partner. Only when we banged on about lowering the tax threshold for low and middle income earners for a whole year, did it even begin to register with any positive impact in the minds of the electorate. In hindsight, it is a shame we didn’t take a more focused approach to communications in coalition from the start, but, in the economic and political context, it didn’t feel like a viable option back in 2010.

What three qualities do you ask from your colleagues?

  • Trust
  • Initiative
  • Willingness to go the extra mile.

What is your favourite thing about working in comms?

Helping individuals who have been incredibly successful in business as they seek to navigate the baffling world of politics. I take great pleasure from the success of our clients as they make progress on their own political journeys.

What in your public affairs career are you most proud of?

I was delighted when the Assisted Dying Bill was resoundingly rejected in parliament last September, as it was a big moment for our client Living and Dying Well. PHA Media won a Public Affairs Award for our integrated “No Need, No Safeguards” campaign, supporting them in reframing the debate on a tricky issue.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve done in the name of PR?

During the 2010 coalition negotiations Nick Clegg and I needed to lose a TV helicopter that was following us from Nick’s home in Putney as we made our way to “top secret” negotiations with Gordon Brown in the Foreign Office. We had to change cars twice on the journey to sucessfully throw them off the scent!

If you could change one thing about the industry, what would that be?

I would break down the institutional divisions between Public Affairs and the rest of PR. At PHA Media our best work is when the two services are delivered in tandem. Politicians are, of course, as influenced as the rest of us by what they read in the papers, online and on social media.

If you weren’t in PR, what would you be doing?

If it weren’t for a quirk of fortune I’d probably be a secondary school teacher. I actually only took my first political job working as a parliamentary researcher for the then newly elected Nick Clegg because I had a year to kill before beginning a deferred place on an oversubscribed TeachFirst. Ten years on I haven’t looked back, but I remain passionate about education. That said, I’d like to be chief executive of a charity one day.

What do you do to take off your business head?

Politics is more a lifestyle than a job so being able to take off my business head is still a novelty! We recently got a flatcoat retriever puppy who demands exercise before and after work. She’s not very tolerant of me trying to do my emails when she wants attention, so that helps!

What book would you take to a desert island?

I’d take the (finished or not) manuscript for George R. R. Martin’s The Winds of Winter. If I’m going to miss series six of Game of Thrones while on the island, I’d have to read the book!

Are there any moments from your comms career that you’re particularly proud of? If so, drop [email protected] an email to take part.

FleishmanHillard Fishburn launches training course

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FleishmanHillard Fishburn has partnered up with the PRCA to launch FUSE, the first PRCA-accredited training programme developed by a UK PR agency.

Under the CPD-accredited FUSE programme, FleishmanHillard Fishburn staff members will earn points towards a PRCA Intermediate, Advanced or Expert diploma depending on their level and role.

They will be required to attend learning events and groups, networking and speaking opportunities, coaching and mentoring sessions.

Staff will be able to access training modules including:

  • Increase your Impact  – Body Talk Masterclass
  • ‘How to’ series – The School of Life
  • Building your personal profile on social media
  • Mental Health for Managers

John-Paul Flintoff, author and speaker at The School of Life, will launch the programme and address staff on “How to change the world” by using improvisation skills and emotional intelligence to solve problems and overcome obstacles.

Jim Donaldson, CEO, UK and Middle East, at FleishmanHillard Fishburn, said: “If we are to retain our best people, attract new talent, innovate for our clients and grow our businesses we need an approach to professional development that is least on par with other professions.

“With a whole new generation entering the industry, we want to be the agency that both graduates and experienced professionals want to join. That’s why we have partnered with the PRCA on this to lead the way forward.”

Francis Ingham, PRCA DG,  added: “The PRCA is delighted to be partnering with FleishmanHillard Fishburn on this industry-leading initiative. Access to high quality, tailored professional development opportunities is critical to building our value and influence as a profession and keeping the best talent in the industry.”

Omnicom agencies FleishmanHillard London and Fishburn merged in November to form FleishmanHillard Fishburn.

The Earned Agency wins Style Sportif

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Style Sportif, a recently launched e-commerce website specialising in premium active wear brands, has brought in The Earned Agency to handle its PR.

Style Sportif, which claims to “bridge the gap between gym kit and every day wear”, sources and curates premium sports luxe labels for UK consumers.

The Earned Agency has been briefed to increase awareness of the site, working with sports brands and participating in various sporting events.

Jemma Bolt, co-founder of Style Sportif, said: “We are delighted to be working with The Earned Agency on the newly launched Style Sportif, as the team is as passionate about sport and the need for stylish and durable sportswear as we are! Their knowledge and enthusiasm of the sector shines through and we are very excited that they’ll be representing us.”

Neil Foster, MD of The Earned Agency, added: “It’s very exciting to be working with Style Sportif and help publicise such a unique offering. There is definitely a gap in the market for a website that curates hard to find brands where the website caters perfectly for those who take both their fitness and style seriously.”

The appointment follows the news of The Earned Agency being named as the UK PR and comms agency for British bicycle brand Brompton.

LEWIS wins UK retainer for Sushishop

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LEWIS has been chosen to handle the UK PR for French sushi restaurant brand SushiShop.

SushiShop has two outlets in London – the most recent opened late last year. It also does deliveries. The chain is headquartered in Paris, and has 113 outlets across nine countries.

After undertaking project work for SushiShop in 2015, LEWIS’ consumer division has been appointed as the retained agency of choice for 2016 to support the launch of a new menu, as well as further UK openings and bespoke partnerships.

Karine Lecomte, director of marketing and comms for SushiShop, said: “We are delighted to be continuing our relationship with LEWIS after such a successful project last year. We have a lot in the pipeline in the UK for 2016 and we believe LEWIS has the knowledge and expertise to partner with us for the next 12 months. We are looking forward to the year ahead and the expansion of the SushiShop group in the UK.”

Sophie Lennon, consumer director at LEWIS, added: “We are very excited to have been chosen as the retained agency for SushiShop – a real up-and-coming brand. There is a lot planned for 2016 to cement their position in the UK market and we look forward to helping them do so.

“The consumer division at LEWIS is continuing to expand and SushiShop strengthens our current portfolio, which includes Turkish Airlines, Designer Exchange and HEMA.”

Thirst appoints Frank for Seven Deserts Challenge

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Water sustainability charity Thirst has appointed Frank to handle the global PR for its Seven Deserts Challenge, a run undertaken by Thirst CEO and founder Mina Guli. Starting today, she will run the equivalent of 40 marathons, across seven deserts over seven continents in seven weeks, before finishing on World Water Day (March 22).

Guli approached Frank to lead the PR strategy off the back of its work for UN Patron of the Ocean Lewis Pugh.

She begins the Seven Deserts Challenge in Spain before heading to Jordan, Australia, Antarctica, South Africa, Chile and finishes in the US on 22 March.

Guli is running to raise awareness of the issue of water scarcity, ranked by the World Economic Forum as the number one problem facing society today.

Frank will raise awareness of the challenge worldwide in a bid to generate mass consumer awareness on the water crisis.

Documenting the real life struggles as Guli runs, the campaign’s goal is to highlight the risks facing the next generation and to showcase the simple solutions people can adopt to make a difference in how water is used and consumed.

Guli said: “We’re delighted to have Frank on board to help me with this challenge. PR plays a huge part in raising awareness of my challenge and the cause and hopefully through our work we can tackle water scarcity head on.

“Frank’s incredible work with Lewis Pugh, a great friend of mine, left me in no doubt that they are the right choice to support me on my journey.”

Andrew Bloch, founder and group MD at Frank, added: “Mina is an extraordinary individual, going to extraordinary lengths to promote a cause she is so passionate about. It is a privilege and an honour to work with her and play a part in helping to raise awareness around the issue of water scarcity. “

Vigo works with CityFibre on acquisition

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Independent agency Vigo supported CityFibre, a designer and builder of fibre optic infrastructure in the UK, on its acquisition of national infrastructure assets and a placing to raise £80m.

CityFibre purchased around 1,100 route kms of metro network assets in 24 towns and cities in the UK, and a national long distance network of around 1,100 km, from telecoms provider KCOM for some £90m at the end of last year.

Vigo will continue to provide financial PR support to the company, which will use the proceeds of the placing and its new assets to “increase CityFibre’s footprint”.

Jeremy Garcia and Fiona Henson are working on the brief.

Indosuez Wealth Management hires Chandos

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Crédit Agricole Private Banking, a wealth manager, has rebranded to Indosuez Wealth Management and retained Havas firm Chandos Communications to provide comms support around its new structure.

As part of its brief, Chandos will also continue to support the strategy and global coordination of the bank’s ongoing communications activities.

Indosuez announced last week that its operations across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and the Americas would unite under  the Indosuez Wealth Management brand, in turn, becoming the global wealth management brand of Crédit Agricole group.

Teresa Wincrantz (pictured right) leads the Chandos account team made up of Louise Tingström and Pauline Aymonier. Sister agency Maitland will provide additional support.

The Gorkana Weekly News Brief: 23 to 29 January 2016

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Pitch Wins

New Scientist has appointed Kaper to help launch New Scientist Live, a festival around science, technology and culture, which takes place in September at London’s ExCeL Centre.

Headland has been brought in by The AA to support the relaunch of its financial services arm.

Alton Towers Resort has brought in Mischief as its consumer PR agency, following a competitive pitch. The brief will see Mischief work on two major new attractions for the theme park in 2016 – Galactica and the Rollercoaster Restaurant.

The Gym Group, the low cost gym operator, has appointed Instinctif Partners as its retained business comms adviser, following a competitive pitch process.

Festival Republic has called in W to handle all comms activity for V Festival 2016. The V Festival celebrates its 21st anniversary this year.

People News

Alstom, the French rail transport multinational, has hired Will Roberts and Alex Burrows as comms director and marketing and strategy director, respectively, to build the company’s  strategy and comms expertise in the UK and Ireland.

Chris Dobson INDEX

Speyside’s Chris Dobson

Speyside Corporate Relations, an emerging markets corporate affairs consultancy, has hired Edelman’s Chris Dobson to manage the company’s “rapid growth” as president in Central and Eastern Europe.

Stripe Communications, which is ten years old this year, has named Chris Stevenson, former director of client service and business development at Emanate, as MD of its new London office.

Sport, entertainment and comms group Chime Communications has named Diageo’s former chief executive, Paul Walsh, as its new chairman. Chime was acquired by WPP and private equity group Providence Equity last year.

Global advisory firm FTI Consulting has appointed Kathleen Versland as MD in the firm’s governance, risk and regulation practice in London.

Rostrum, the corporate PR and content marketing agency, has appointed Michael Kahn as a director, with responsibility for its human resources and development department.

Deal and Launch News

freuds has acquired US-based tech agency Brew Media Relations. It will continue with its existing operations on a day-to-day and will report to freuds’ CEO Andrew McGuinness.

Zeno Group, sister agency of Edelman, has acquired 3 Monkeys Communications for an undisclosed amount.

Rhizome PR has rebranded to Rhizome Media as it expands beyond media relations to include social media campaigns and community management work for SME clients.

Matt Battersby ALERT

Matt Battersby

Following last July’s acquisiton of PR and social specialist agency Tea & Cake PR with creative comms firm Capitalize, the agencies have rebranded as one business called ALTER.

Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K) has launched a behavioural insights and strategies team, under the leadership of Matt Battersby, the co-head of its financial and professional services division.

Journalist News

Toby Moses has been promoted to assistant opinion editor at the Guardian, while Martin Belam, formerly of The Mirror‘s Ampp3d site, has been appointed social and new formats editor.

MailOnline

MailOnline

Mark Vandevelde is now global retail correspondent at Financial Times.

Paul Newman has now been appointed as editorial director of Future PLC‘s Film, Music and Technology portfolios in the firm’s new Magazine Division.

Matthew Dathan has been made UK political correspondent at MailOnline.

Anthony Cuthbertson has now joined Newsweek Europe as technology reporter

Features

CNBC-briefing-main THIN

Gorkana Media Briefing with CNBC International
CNBC International looks to run stories that both move markets and affect people every day. Just one of the key messages that were heard as Gorkana hosted a media briefing with CNBC International’s news editor, Katrina Bishop, social media editor, Cristy Garratt, and digital managing editor Phillip Tutt, on 27 January.

“The perfect story is a story that both affects markets and affects people everyday so that’s why one of my favourite stories every month is about inflation figures.”

Retail discounts: how PRs should respond
The line between promotional seasons in retail has become blurred. Who can tell where Black Friday begins and the summer sale ends when there is a concoction of mid-season discounts in between, both online and off? And how should PRs respond in this unpredictable environment? We asked comms experts what they think about the trend.

Case Study: The Higgidy Sofa Supper Club
When Aduro Communications was tasked with creating a stand-out ‘WOW’ moment for pie brand Higgidy, the agency came up with the world’s first ‘Sofa Supper Club’ with the help of Gogglebox stars Chris Steed and Stephen Webb.

Sir Ray Tindle positive on local prospects
Sir Ray Tindle is the biggest champion and defender of the UK’s local press. Over a 68-year career he has built up his media empire Tindle Newspapers to become one of the biggest UK publishers in the UK. While commentators note the continuing decline of the industry, the 89-year old remains evangelical about the local press’ ability to both adapt and remain relevant in the digital age, writes Gorkana’s Ronan George.

Behind the Headlines with MWW’s Ked Mather
Ked Mather, senior account director at MWW PR, on the power of “old fashioned networking”, the importance of being an all-rounder in PR and the need to make the industry more accessible for ethnic minorities.

60 seconds with Victoria Main, Cambre Associates
Victoria Main, director of media at Cambre Associates, on her passion for media relations, how the PR industry should cut down on jargon and dispelling the myth that communications is all ‘spin and Champagne’.

Facebook’s results: 3 takeaways for PRs
Facebook reported its financial results for the quarter ending on December 31 2015 yesterday (January 27), highlighting its wide user base, with more than a billion monthly active users worldwide, its “strong quarter” and its plans for future projects.

Alton Towers hands consumer PR brief to Mischief

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Alton Towers Resort has brought in Mischief as its consumer PR agency, following a competitive pitch.

The brief will see Mischief work on two major new attractions for the theme park in 2016 – Galactica and the Rollercoaster Restaurant.

Galactica is Alton Towers’ first rollercoaster featuring the addition of Virtual Reality, while the other major part of the brief will be to launch the UK’s first Rollercoaster Restaurant.

Mischief associate director Jess Buttress and creative director Damon Statt will lead the account.

The team will report to Liz West, media relations manager at Alton Towers Resort.

West said: “Mischief showed a real understanding of the Alton Towers Resort business and are already proving to be a fantastic extension to our in-house team. They have a track-record of delivering exciting creative campaigns, have great strategic understanding but also regularly react to the news agenda and turn stories around at the speed of life. We have an incredibly exciting year ahead and look forward to working with the Mischief team.“

 

 

Chime appoints Paul Walsh as chairman

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Sport, entertainment and comms group Chime Communications has named Diageo’s former chief executive, Paul Walsh, as its new chairman, following the acquisition of Chime by WPP and US-based private equity group Providence Equity last year.

Lord Davies, who previously chaired Chime’s board, stepped down as chairman following the acquisition of Chime by WPP and Providence Equity for £374 million in October.

Walsh takes on the chairmanship of Chime, which includes PR firms Good Relations, Harvard and Team Spirit in its portfolio.

His other responsibilities include chairmanship of Compass Group, the world’s largest catering company and Avanti Communications Group plc.

Christopher Satterthwaite, chief executive of Chime Communications, said: “We are delighted that Paul will be joining Chime. He has unrivalled experience in growing businesses on an international scale and we will benefit greatly from this and his understanding of how sport, entertainment and communications can transform brands.”

Walsh added: “I have a long standing relationship with Chime and have experienced first-hand the quality of work consistently delivered throughout the Group.I am particularly pleased to be joining at such an exciting time and believe Chime has a unique opportunity to accelerate its growth and develop its market leading position across multiple geographies.”