Gorkana meets…The Locals

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Laura Scott, editor of culture and lifestyle platform The Locals, on showcasing the human stories behind creative ideas, plans to cycle across America in under 30 days, what’s new with the site and why strong PR relationships are essential for good content.

Firstly, how would you describe the site?laurascott11

The Locals is a culture and lifestyle platform. When I started it, I wanted to highlight people who are doing really interesting things. In a city like London there are loads of interesting things taking place on a daily basis – there’s literally always something new you can do. The Locals was founded out of this energy, and a desire to document creative culture. We wanted to show the passion and human stories, behind creative ideas.

What was the original idea behind the launch of The Locals?

We launched mid-recession, and a lot of people had been made redundant, or were finding work wasn’t really offering what they had once offered, in terms money or motivation.

I think this environment pushed a lot of people to think about what they were doing with their lives (classic existential crisis), and in many ways was a catalyst to follow passions. For example, a friend was wandering round east London and he saw a load of wood lying on the side of the street. He decided he would take it home and make furniture out of it. He now has two shops and has been featured in pretty much every furniture and art design magazine. It was that kind of ingenuity and creativeness that got my attention, and there seemed to be a lot of these kinds of stories.

I love talking to people and finding out what drives them to innovate, and that was my initial inspiration. It’s a different financial environment now, but I think there are far more people who are finding ways to peruse their own passion projects.

What are the key sections of the site?

We just launched a health and fitness section on the site in December. This was largely because my life has been taken over by cycling. I’m currently training to race across America unsupported in under 30 days. Because half my life is now in the gym or on a bike, I thought it would be fun to document some of my experiences.

Health and fitness is increasingly becoming a part of people’s lifestyles, with a lot of interesting collaborations between chefs, and designers. Our other major sections are travel, art and design.

How would you describe your relationship with PRs?

Well I live with one (Hi Emily!). I think both journalists and PRs need each other to be honest. They make my job a lot easier and I enjoy the relationships that I have with most of the PRs I work with. It’s nice to build the relationship so that they know what works for you and the site. I quite enjoy working with PRs to come up with stories that differ from the standard new story/product launch. We’re always trying to find angles on stories that might not be as obvious. For example, if we get sent a lot of cocktail recipes for various alcohol brands. However, we would be more interested in the master distiller – what’s his/her story?

When we have better relationships with PRs, we can start to get those stories and can work to create the kind of content our readers are more engaged with, and get their clients get more exposure.

We both need each other.

How can PRs help most with content?

Just letting us know who they’re working with. I love when PRs send emails announcing new business they have won because it helps us to stay on top of who is working with who.

Giving us a bit of lead time is a massive help too. Often because we are a website, people assume we have a super quick turn around. The more time we get, the more effort we can put into the getting the content right, from pictures to writers.

What’s the best way for them to get in touch?

Bizarrely Twitter. Email is great, but if you want to actually get my attention, message me on Twitter. To be honest, I frequently go through my inbox and erase everything because sometimes, it’s just easier to clear it out and start all over again. Unfortunately that means I miss good things, but that’s how it goes. For me Twitter is better because I actually see that and if it is interesting, I’ll follow it up with you. So tweet me saying “Hey, I’ve sent you this. It might be of interest.” Or “Can I send you this?”, because then at least I know what I’m looking for and I’ll keep an eye out for it.

Can PRs help with ideas?

Yes! One of the things I’m interested in at the moment is moving a load of content to be focused and grounded in trends. I think that sort of thing comes back to where we originally started: London is a city where trends pop up first, so for me the big interest is identifying those and identifying companies that are working with or towards them.

There’s a trend, for example, that’s growing in North America about alcohol-free cocktail bars, which fits into this idea of healthy living for us. One’s just opened up in Shoreditch. They are the first in London and they’re popping up all over the world, so it’s nice to work with PR companies who are also seeing that and identifying trends. If they see trends developing, then we’d love to hear about it.

Who’s your target audience?

Our main readership is 23 to 36-year-olds. So it’s mainly millennials and it’s a pretty even split between male and female. The readers are predominantly based in the UK, the US or Canada.

What are your future plans for the site?

We re-did the website a few months ago. It’s been a very soft launch. It’s working quite well, but needs a few tweaks. I’ve been rethinking some of the different subjects that we’re going to have on it – which is why we introduced Health and Fitness – but I think at the moment, we’ve got a lot of positive feedback about the redesign.

One of the things that we’re quite keen to start doing are events because, given what we do, we meet a lot of interesting and inspiring people and we’d like to start a really casual events series, where we meet up with some people we feature – kind of like the Gorkana Breakfast Briefings! That probably won’t feature until later in 2016. Any way that we can help the people that we write about and try to reach people in new ways would be great. It’s kind of about creating an offline presence for The Locals.

And finally, you talk about inspiring creativity with your content – what’s the most creative thing you’ve covered since starting at The Locals?

That’s a tough one. There’s this Irish professional surfer and she went out to Iran to teach girls how to surf. I think it was about empowering girls to do sport in a country where that’s not common. I think the videos of it and watching the delight on people’s faces is just really, really inspiring. It’s brought together a country and a sport that wouldn’t normally associate and it’s created a really beautiful outcome.

Laura was talking to Gorkana’s Richard Caldecourt.

Thai restaurant Busaba hires Manc Frank for restaurant launches

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Manchester PR agency Manc Frank, which is part of Frank PR, has been appointed to launch the first restaurants outside of London for Thai casual dining brand Busaba.

Manc Frank has been briefed to drive media attention and community engagement around Busaba, as well as educate locals on the brand.

Busaba’s new flagship restaurant and bar opens in Manchester to the public on Monday. The opening of Busaba Liverpool will follow on 29 February.

Established 15 years ago by the founder of Wagamama and Hakkasan, Alan Yau, Manc Frank will promote the evolution of the Busaba story and heritage to a new audience.

Busaba CEO, Jason Myers, said: “Evolving the brand regionally to be part of the thriving hospitality scene in the North is of huge significance to us and we’re extremely excited to be bringing the Busaba experience to the North West. In a region that’s buzzing with atmosphere and culture, it made total sense for us to open the doors to our first venues outside of London here, with further expansion planned over the coming months.

“It was key that we worked with a PR team who not only knew the local community but also understood Busaba and could become fully immersed in the brand; which is where Manc Frank came in. We’d seen and heard great things about them and working with an ambitious agency on such an important piece of activity for the business is paramount.”

Manc Frank GM, Graeme Anthony, added: “We’re growing a strong reputation for unveiling the region’s freshest venues and Busaba is the latest who wants to land in Manchester and Liverpool with a bang. This is a highly competitive market place and as such creating noise and amplifying share of voice is vital – more so for such an exclusive brand name like Busaba. Like their food they have great taste in PR and we can’t wait to introduce them to the cities.”

William Grant & Sons hands six-figure brief to Tin Man for its Esoteric whisky portfolio

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Independent family-owned distiller William Grant & Sons UK has chosen Tin Man as the UK PR agency for its seven brand Esoteric whisky portfolio, which includes The Balvenie and Monkey Shoulder.

Tin Man will be responsible for all creative UK-wide PR campaigns and press office activity for brands including The Balvenie, Monkey Shoulder, Girvan Patent Still, Hudson, Kininvie, Rare Cask Reserves, and the latest addition to the portfolio, Ailsa Bay.

Tin Man won the account following a competitive agency showcase of ten agencies and will report to individual brand managers across the portfolio.

Jonathan Cornthwaite, senior brand manager at William Grant & Sons, said: “2016 is a big year for our Esoteric brands with some very exciting campaigns set to launch in the next few months. We needed a PR partner that we felt could significantly grow awareness of our brands, support our existing marketing activity and also add creative and strategic value across the portfolio.

“We felt Tin Man really understood the nuances within the different brands, would get under the skin of the industry and provided impressive creativity with a strong commitment to delivery. We are looking forward to a long and exciting partnership with the team.”

Tin Man founder Mandy Sharp said: “Working with William Grant & Sons on this portfolio gives us a fantastic opportunity to work on some exceptional whisky brands. Each product is unique – not only in terms of flavour profile and distillation but brand personalities, target audience and cultural relevance.

“For example, Monkey Shoulder is a brand that doesn’t behave like a typical whisky and is all about sociability and having fun, whilst The Balvenie is the only distillery that still grows its own barley, uses traditional floor maltings and keeps both coppersmiths and coopers on site – making it the most handcrafted of malts.”

THE WEEKLY GORKANA BRIEF

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A round-up of the essential highlights from the main PR and media stories, features and events content on Gorkana News this week.

 

Pitch Wins

Independent family-owned distiller William Grant & Sons UK has chosen Tin Man as the UK PR agency for its seven brand Esoteric whisky portfolio, which includes The Balvenie and Monkey Shoulder.

adidas has brought in Hope&Glory to handle the PR around its running and women’s performance categories, following a competitive pitch.

Personalised card and gifting retailer Moonpig.com has named Popcorn PR as its retained consumer PR agency, following a competitive pitch.

Aisle 8 has been briefed to handle the launch and ongoing comms activity for new luxury sex toy brand Perlesque.

International Women in Mining (IWiM), a global web-based community which aims to improve the gender balance in the mining industry, has appointed Yellow Jersey as its comms adviser.

PR People News

Rebecca Shelley, corporate affairs director at Tesco, will leave the business in February after nearly four years at the retailer.

Apple’s Ben Williams has taken on the newly-created role of digital director at music TV network The Box Plus Network.

Independent comms agency Freshwater has appointed John Morris from Birmingham International Airport to strengthen its work in the transport and infrastructure sectors.

Freesat, the subscription free satellite TV service, has named Jennifer Elworthy as director of marketing and communications.

Claremont Communications has brought in Victoria Page, former director of CSR and sustainability at Grayling Future Planet, as a director to help grow the agency’s private sector clients.

Global network provider Truphone has hired Marketo’s Alan Banks to take on the newly-created role of chief sales and marketing officer, with responsibility for the company’s comms function.

Deal / Launch News

The Academy has merged with Shine Communications to form a new group called The Academy, with Shine becoming its consumer PR arm.

Bernard Ginns, business editor of the Yorkshire Post, has set up Branksome Partners to provide comms advice to individuals, companies and organisations.

Brands2Life’s Katie Buckett and Alex Pearmain have launched a new social and digital marketing consultancy OneFifty, with backing from consumer brand agency Hope&Glory PR.

Journalist News

Guardian News & Media has announced the return of Nick Hopkins as head of investigations.

John Thornhill has been appointed the first innovation editor at the Financial Times, while Oliver Ralph has been named insurance correspondent at the paper.

COSMOPOLITAN UK has brought in InStyle UK’s Amy Bannerman as fashion director and promoted Claire Hodgson to digital director.

Former FHM upgrade editor Tom Ward has joined Men’s Health UK as features editor.

Howell Davies has been appointed online showbiz reporter at The Sun.

Kate Leahy and Jules Cooper have been named digital editors at The Sunday Times’ Style.

This week’s features

Gorkana meets…The Locals
Laura Scott, editor of culture and lifestyle platform The Locals, on showcasing the human stories behind creative ideas, plans to cycle across America in under 30 days, what’s new with the site and why strong PR relationships are essential for good content.

Behind the Headlines with Experience12’s Chris Whittle
Chris Whittle, founder and MD of Experience12, on his marker for a successful campaign, how painting Homer Simpson next to the Chalk Giant was his first big success in PR and his love for all things Asterix.

Case Study: Bike Moments
Find out how Forster Communications helped raise the profile of road safety charity The Institute of Advanced Motorists by creating a series of tongue-in-cheek Facebook and Twitter “Bike Moments”.

Gorkana meets…Alphr
David Court, editor of Dennis Publishing’s new tech title, Alphr, on how tech isn’t just for IT managers, why he thinks in-car tech is so exciting, and how PRs should “walk-the-walk” and find creative ways to pitch in.

60 seconds with Liontrust Asset Management’s Lora Coventry
Lora Coventry, PR manager at Liontrust Asset Management, on how the industry could benefit from more women in senior positions, the indispensable asset of passion, and why she’d make a great Blue Peter presenter.

 

StockWell and Pendomer rebrand as Teneo Strategy following their acquisition

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Teneo Holdings, the global advisory firm behind strategic agency Blue Rubicon, has rebranded its agencies StockWell and Pendomer as Teneo Strategy, following their acquisition in the second half of 2015. 

Both companies, that have traditionally worked in the strategic, corporate and financial PR space, have now been fully-integrated with Teneo’s existing UK business and, alongside sister consultancy Blue Rubicon, comprise one of London’s leading strategic comms advisory businesses with over 250 professionals.

The combined business will offer corporate reputational management, including strategic communications, investor relations, financial and digital analytics, corporate governance, government affairs and geo-political risk advisory.

pictured: Teneo’s chairman Charles Watson

MRM launches EU intelligence service to help financial services firms counter Brexit risks

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MRM has launched its EU intelligence service which helps financial services firms counter Brexit risks by providing detailed coverage of EU issues and institutions.

The EU intelligence service will offer a comprehensive guideeu-main-569770113d2fc to upcoming events in the EU with a weekly summary aimed at demystifying core issues. The service will cover EU institutions and also include coverage of the EU referendum as it unfolds.

The new service follows increased interest from firms that recognise the growing importance of EU regulation and possibility of a ‘Brexit’, or Britain’s exit from the EU, according to MRM.

Havard Hughes, MRM’s head of public and regulatory affairs, said: “The Scottish referendum saw seismic shifts in the value of sterling and in company valuations as the UK seemingly lurched towards break-up. Likewise, a Brexit vote could unleash massive uncertainty for firms and even for the future prospects of EU based employees in London.

“In response to all this uncertainty and increasing concern in the City that an EU exit will have a catastrophic effect on financial services firms, we are moving to provide our clients with this vital service to keep them abreast of policy developments.”

Gorkana meets…Alphr

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David Court, editor of Dennis Publishing’s new tech title, Alphr, on how tech isn’t just for IT managers, why he thinks in-car tech is so exciting, and how PRs should “walk-the-walk” and find creative ways to pitch in.

Gorkana meets...Alphr

What is Alphr attempting to do in the tech space that other outlets haven’t done before?

Our tagline is “A fresh take on technology”. We think that technology sites in the UK aren’t offering much more than reportage. We want to offer context for stories, rather than just rewording a press release and adding a bit of colour. When a story breaks, we try and explain where it’s come from, what they’re trying to do, the end goal and what it means to the rest of the industry.

Tell us about your readership

Our readership is broad but there has to be an interest in tech. We try and explain technology to everyone and make it entertaining and interesting as well, but we won’t dumb it down. We also don’t just cater to social media traffic; we have a number of ways people arrive on the site, so we want to have six or seven stories on the homepage that people want to read immediately.

Who are your competitors in the space?

Anyone who is writing about tech, really. People will draw comparisons with WIRED, Verge and TechRadar, which is covering everything in more volume. We see ourselves offering things in more depth and context rather than just “here’s what’s happening”. We want to get opinion into articles. Part of my job is to ensure we’ve got writers doing just that and giving them the confidence to call something out when they feel they should.

What are the site’s main channels?

We’ve gone away from traditional breadcrumb URL taxonomy. As we’re a news site, we’re aware that people want to know what we’re about. So our channels are business, science, life and culture, wearable tech and cars – which is going to be a really interesting area going forward. Ford, for example, doesn’t describe itself as a car company, it call itself a technology company. Auto Express gave its Car of the Year to the Volvo NC90 based on the in-car tech as much as anything else. We’re making good in-roads with our car news.

What makes the perfect business tech story?

We love a British start-up success story. Similarly if Google launches something, we’d dedicate a lot of editorial to talking about that.

Do you have a good relationship with PRs?

Any PR who has seen us and what we do has liked the site. They like what we’re doing because there is a lot of thought behind it, and we’re offering something new, engaging and high-end. We want to become a household name and getting our name out there is about doing things right from the word go. We want to continue this process with quality journalism and coverage.

Are there any areas of the site PRs can really help with?

We want to hear things from start-ups. We’re a science website as well, so we want to take a view on science stuff. We want to do more on cars, and so want more from manufacturers. We want to hear about anything interesting – everyone will probably say their tech is interesting, but if a new server is coming out, that’s likely not for us.

So what is the best way to get in touch?

If it’s an interesting story, then a call is appreciated. Sometimes you get a phone call that lasts two minutes before you can get a word in because they are reading from a press release. That’s not appreciated! Email is the best way. Or be creative – walk the walk and get in touch by a different method. Twitter is good.

Tech journalism has come under fire in the past for being too close to the companies it’s covering; how do you avoid that?

We are balanced, and whereas some people do gush over certain brands, we try not to be like that. We want to champion things for its merits – at the same time, Apple is a quality company and most of what we write about on them will be favourable because they take the time to research their products. When we’ve got an opinion piece, we will make it clear that it’s from a certain journalist. We want a bit of personality in there, but it’s my job to make sure something is balanced.

And finally, what piece of tech are you most excited about?

I find connected homes the most interesting. Google Nest is great because it’s connecting the home. I also think Apple TV is going that way. Connected homes technology connects your smartphone to your heating, to your fire alarm… They have webcams which you can control from your smartphone.

This nicely wraps up what Alphr is all about – tech isn’t an IT managers thing. It’s now linking you to your home, or your office. People who aren’t in IT have an Apple Iphone or Apple TV and within a couple of years will be able to control their heating. Whatever industry you’re in, you’re be using these devices to control everything. If you want to read about that and learn more about it, come to Alphr.

David was speaking to Gorkana’s David Keevill

Rebecca Shelley to leave Tesco to “explore other opportunities”

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Rebecca Shelley, corporate affairs director at Tesco, will leave the business in February after nearly four years at the retailer.

Shelley joined Tesco in May 2012 and helped communicate the retailer’s turnaround plans which “were particularly challenging given the significant changes facing the business.”

She leaves the retailer to explore new opportunities in “both executive and non-executive positions”. During her time at Tesco, she focused on projecting the business’ brand on three core areas: creating employment opportunities, eating and living healthier and pioneering an approach to corporate waste.

She was previously a partner at Brunswick.

Dave Lewis, Tesco Group CEO, said: “I am extremely grateful to Rebecca for the support and counsel she has given me since I joined Tesco. Since joining the business, Rebecca has led the Group Communications team with distinction at a time of great change for Tesco. I know her colleagues on our Executive Committee and in her own team will miss her energy and good humour. I’d like to wish her every success for the future.”

The hunt for Shelley’s replacement is now underway.

Nasdaq launches investor relations platform Nasdaq IR Insight

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Nasdaq, the stock exchange that allows online trading, has launched a new investor relations platform named Nasdaq IR Insight.

Nasdaq IR Insight is an online hub where financial executivesir_insights_3_screens-main-5697c3890950d (1) and investor relations officers can monitor and analyse financial markets, as well the stock of peers, in order to boost strategic intelligence.

The platform aims to ease investor targeting by providing infromation on them. It also highlights the factors that impact a company’s stock with a customised, 24-hour dashboard.

Adena Friedman, president and COO at Nasdaq, said: “The launch of Nasdaq IR Insight will greatly advance the ability for public companies to manage their investor relations efforts around the globe, and we are thrilled to bring it to the market, continuing our intense focus on innovation within our Nasdaq Corporate Solutions product suite.”

Stacie Swanstorm, senior vice president and head of Nasdaq corporate solutions, added: “The launch of Nasdaq IR Insight is the first step in how we are synergising the breadth and depth of our corporate solutions product suite to streamline how companies communicate with their stakeholders via investor relations, public relations, multimedia and governance functions and channels.”

Moonpig.com hands retained PR brief to Popcorn

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Personalised card and gifting retailer Moonpig.com has chosen Popcorn PR as its retained consumer PR agency, following a competitive pitch.

The agency has been briefed to position the site as a one-stop-shop for all gifting occasions, with a particular focus on its flower delivery service and product offering.

The campaign will include a series of media and experiential campaigns to support key seasonal gifting peaks, with the first already underway for Valentine’s Day.

Popcorn will also provide proactive activations to ensure all year round awareness and increased engagement among both existing and new audiences.

The account will be led by Popcorn deputy MD Sara Howard.

Melanie Howe, PR manager at Moonpig.com, said: “We’re really excited to be working with Popcorn this year, we’re fresh out of Christmas and ramping up all comms for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and the beyond. It’s set to be a busy 2016 and with a hugely competitive retail landscape we need a partner which is willing to take risks and really challenge the business.

“What we loved about Popcorn’s pitch was its enthusiasm, partnered with a commitment to robust account management as well as a proven understanding of the importance of reporting back to a wider retail business.”

Howard added: “We are thrilled to have been selected as the PR partner for Moonpig.com. They are a household name with a varied and competitive product offering which, when combined with their disruptive approach to communications, makes them a great client to have on board for genuinely fun and engaging comms activations. A great win to kick off the year.”