This week’s PR news in brief (10-14 July)

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Here is a round-up of the essential PR stories, account wins and people news that has been announced over the last week.

Account wins

Caro Communications has introduced three new clients to its architecture, property and culture portfolio – UK-based property developer Londonewcastle, global architecture firm White Arkitekter and London design commission, The Illuminated River.

Manchester-based Triangle PR has been appointed by care provider Minster Care Group to deliver a proactive PR campaign that promotes the care provided at its residential and nursing homes.

King’s Cross Central Development Partnership has appointed Purple to handle the PR for Coal Drops Yard, a new shopping quarter set to open in King’s Cross in autumn 2018.

Brands2Life has been awarded the UK PR retainer for cyber defence machine learning company Darktrace, following a competitive pitch.

Corporate PR consultancy Abchurch has been appointed as retained financial and corporate communications adviser by Zenith Energy, following a competitive pitch.

Glasgow tech company Eureka Solutions has appointed Jargon PR to raise its profile within the technology market.

Global videoconference provider Polycom has selected Mash PR on a brief to enhance its reputation, following a two-stage competitive pitch.

Hummingbird Bike Company has appointed PR agency Brazil to assist in the launch of its new product – the “world’s lightest folding bike”.

People news

Universal Music Group has appointed Jamie Diamond as director of communications. She will oversee its internal and external communications, PR strategy and digital properties.

Lifestyle agency Stir PR has appointed Chris Grabowski as client services director. He will be responsible for managing the agency’s portfolio of clients.

Travel and lifestyle PR consultancy The PC Agency has appointed media specialist Tilly Gray as creative director.

Tamara Klien has joined Hunter, the British boot brand, as head of PR.

Mothers’ Union has appointed Sophia Jones as its new senior communications manager. She will oversee its publications, events, digital media and media relations.

Millennial Brands Europe is appointed Michael Routledge as general manager of Millennial Brands UK and Europe, following the resignation of Derek Bowen.

The PRCA has appointed Amanda Coleman, Greater Manchester Police’s head of corporate communications, as its latest Fellow.

Agency news

Tangerine has announced it will place 64% of its shares into an Employee Ownership Trust, The Tangerine Partnership, which will be shared among its 60 plus team members.

Platform Communications has appointed David Lawrence as director to launch its consumer offering – targeting TV, music, games and consumer electronics clients.

Awards

The PRCA has launched the second annual Reginald Watts Prize for Insight, which will see young participants challenged to write thought-provoking essays on the PR and communications industry.

And finally…

Over 500 media and advertising professionals – including teams from Hearst UK, Comcast, Bloomberg, Disney, Wildstone and Zenith Media – took part in the 2017 Media Trust Triathlon in Dorney last Friday.

  • Pictured: The Weber Shandwick team at the Media Trust Triathlon
Pagefield appoints Giles Winn

Pagefield appoints Sky News’ Giles Winn

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Reputation management specialist Pagefield has expanded its senior team with the appointment of Sky News’ Giles Winn as associate partner.

From September, Winn will use his breadth of experience to bolster Pagefield’s relationships across Westminster, the business world and the media.

Winn spent eight years at Sky News, where he led the team that secures big news-making interviews and ensures the right experts and commentators appear on the channel reacting to breaking stories.

He was also previously editor of Sky’s flagship Sunday morning political show Murnaghan. He was responsible for writing, researching and producing the show, as well as building and maintaining relationships around Westminster.

Winn cut his teeth in broadcast news at Channel 5, where he was a package producer, programme editor and writer for 5 News and helped launch a number of entertainment shows for the channel.

Oliver Foster, Pagefield’s CEO, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Giles to the Pagefield family. His energy, expertise and experience, which spans the world of media and politics, make him a great fit for our brilliant, growing team.”

Winn added: “I’m really excited to be joining Pagefield. It is an excellent agency with an impressive client roster and a great network. It’s a really exciting time for the business with lots of opportunities for growth – and I can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Winn is the latest in a series of senior appointments that include Dr Gerard Lyons, Debbie Wosskow and Sian Jarvis.

IR to CEO

Opinion: How IR professionals can make CEO

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Oskar Yasar, managing partner of Broome Yasar Partnership, shares his views a pressing issue for ambitious investor relations and corporate affairs leaders: how communicators can reach the top of the career ladder.

Oskar Yasar

Oskar Yasar

We have seen a transformation in the credibility, perception and positioning of investor relations and corporate affairs leaders over the past decade.

Investor relations has changed beyond all recognition, creating possibilities for career progression that were out of the question only a generation ago. Gone are the days when IR was a subset of the communications function, or a back-office junior role within the finance department.

Until recently it was rare for an investor relations or corporate affairs leader to have a seat on a corporate executive committee.

Now, as our recently launched industry study – From Investor Relations to Business Leader – shows, many have successfully made the transition into wider business leadership roles with some former high-profile investor relations directors having made the ultimate move to chief executive.

Communications skills are essential for great leadership

The report provides role models for future career journeys by profiling 13 former investor relations leaders who have used their experience in IR as a stepping stone on the way to the C-Suite.  This trend has seen many transition into other senior roles including CFO, strategy heads, corporate development, and chief of staff – as well as non-executive directorships.

In addition, an increasing number of senior investor relations directors are now taking on the corporate affairs function to broaden their experience and to use this as a stepping stone into a wider business leadership role.

Our latest research, conducted among 150 senior investor relations directors, shows more than a third are keen to transition into a senior leadership role outside of IR over the next 10 years.

Previously, we published another report focusing on the transition from corporate affairs to business leadership. It found that an estimated 33% of a chief executive’s time is now spent communicating.  A growing proportion of future leaders will learn such skills from periods of employment in corporate affairs or investor relations.

Communicators are climbing the corporate ladder

The sophistication of the investor relations and the corporate affairs disciplines has resulted in stronger, more adaptable, ambitious and respected team members.  So, it’s really no surprise that these individuals are moving into ever more senior roles.

As a specialist executive search firm in investor relations and corporate affairs, we have long predicted these trends.  Career advancement in our industry is now limitless and there are numerous examples to prove this.

By raising the profile of our profession as a potential source of the CEOs of the future, we hope and expect this route will become even more well-trodden in the future.

  • You can view Broome Yasar Partnership’s full From Investor Relations to Business Leader report and download a PDF copy here.
Stephen Day

Burson-Marsteller names Stephen Day UK CEO

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Burson-Marsteller has named renowned political lobbyist Stephen Day as CEO of its UK operations. 

Day joined Burson-Marsteller in April 2014 as a managing director and became chief operating officer of the UK in January 2016. His new role is effective immediately.

He has been listed in PRWeek’s UK Power Book of industry leaders for the last two years and was named as one of its top 10 UK political communicators in 2017.

In a career spanning 16 years, Day has worked for FleishmanHillard and Weber Shandwick. Before joining Burson-Marsteller, he spent four years as MD of London-based agency Portcullis Public Affairs.

He started his career in 2000 as part of the Conservative Party’s front bench trade and industry team.

“Stephen is an inspiring leader who is highly regarded by clients and colleagues alike for his strategic thinking, foresight and rigorous attention to excellence,” said Kevin Bell, Burson-Marsteller’s worldwide president. “I am confident our UK business, and our clients’ businesses, will grow and thrive under his leadership.”

Ramiro Prudencio, Burson Marsteller’s EMEA CEO, added: “Stephen’s background in public affairs and policy will continue to be of particular value to clients as they face a period of change in both the UK and Europe.”

Day commented: “From day one, working closely with Ramiro and the team, I will seek to look anew at our approach to communications to innovate and grow both in terms of people and capability, so that we always live up to the needs and expectations of our clients.”

PR Case Study: Stand – Leading The Probate Debate

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Stand Agency helped its client Solicitors for the Elderly engage with the media and MPs to head off the Government’s planned rise in probate fees earlier this year.

Campaign name: Leading The Probate Debate
Client: Solicitors for the Elderly
Timing:  March – April 2017

Summary

Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) worked with Stand Agency to oppose probate fee hikes proposed by the Government.

A grant of probate is an official document issued by the court, which allows family and loved ones to process estates and access the money and assets left to them by someone who has passed away.

Previously, the fee for applying for probate was set at a flat rate of £215. However, in 2016, the Government held a consultation on changing the fee structure to a banded system, rising 13,000% to £20,000 in some cases.

Objectives

Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) is an independent, national organisation of lawyers, such as solicitors, barristers, and chartered legal executives who provide specialist legal advice for older and vulnerable people, their families and carers. Probate is a key part of SFE members’ expertise.

SFE strongly rejected the proposal, branding the fees a ‘stealth tax’. So, when the Government announced in February it was to proceed with the plans, the Stand team went to work. Stand Agency’s brief was to represent SFE’s view and champion consumers by strongly opposing the proposals and applying pressure on the Government to reconsider.

Strategy and implementation

Stand Agency worked with the SFE board to keep ahead of information about the changing proposals, draft a strong comment, and brief key national journalists.

Close contact with MPs was essential to ensure quick action could be taken. SFE has been building its press office function over a number of years so the organisation had the credibility and relationships to be a leading voice in this debate from the offset.

An SFE online petition to scrap the fees soon gathered 10,000 signatures. Social media activity further amplified the discussion.

Results

This campaign’s front page splash in The Times

On Thursday 20 April the Prime Minister made an announcement scrapping the fees until after the election. The spotlight on the issue that Stand helped create undoubtedly had its part to play in the decision, and earned SFE the priority comment in the Daily Mail’s coverage of the U-turn.

In total, there were 21 pieces of coverage on the probate fee hike with SFE featured – often as the only organisation quoted alongside MPs. This included front page stories in The Times, The Sun and This Is Money.

The government continued to defend the increased fees. So, in response, Stand continued to generate national coverage criticising them. Highlights include a feature on BBC Radio 4’s Moneybox and more coverage in the Daily Mail around the potential cost to families across the country.

UK kitchen giant hands Citigate financial communications brief

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Howdens Joinery, the FTSE 250 UK kitchen supplier, has appointed Citigate Dewe Rogerson to handle its financial communications.

Founded in 1995, Howdens supplies small builders and other trade customers with kitchens and joinery products from its 650 depots around the UK.

The CDR team will be led by director Simon Rigby and senior director Kevin Smith, with support from associate director Nick Hayns and associate executive Ellen Wilton.

  • Pictured: A Howden Joinery kitchen
MUNCH wins The Urban Collective

Tech start-up The Urban Collective chooses MUNCH for UK launch

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Tech start-up The Urban Collective has selected consumer agency MUNCH to handle its UK launch as it embarks on a mission to disrupt the property rental market.

MUNCH will raise awareness of the company’s ‘Sherpa’ service, which uses local experts to simplify and speed up the property rental process.

Following its July launch, the agency will provide ongoing retainer services to The Urban Collective’s profile and support the brand as it expands its offering nationwide.

“This is our first UK PR launch and so we wanted an agency that we could rely on, that knew the media landscape inside out and that could advise us on the best way to launch,” said Mayank Mathur, founder of The Urban Collective. “MUNCH has been a dedicated partner, guiding us every step and helping us to perfect our narrative.”

Lizzie Earl, MUNCH founder and director, added: “We love working with digital businesses like The Urban Collective. As an agency that is completely obsessed by the end business result, nowhere is PR success more rewarding than with digital products.”

Clarion Communications wins Millar & Bryce

Scottish conveyancer appoints Clarion for B2B and trade PR

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Land and property search firm Millar & Bryce has appointed Clarion Communications to spearhead its trade and B2B PR in Scotland.

Clarion’s primary brief is to handle brand building and content generation to help the 140-year-old property firm cement a reputation as a major contributor to the Scottish “conveyancing conversation”.

“Millar & Bryce has an unrivalled legacy in Scottish law, combining time honoured expertise with modern day innovation,” said Amanda Meyrick, Clarion CEO. “We’re looking forward to working with such a prestigious business on some really exciting and topical subjects in the coming months.”

Paul Kerr, Miller & Bryce sales and marketing director, added. “Millar & Bryce has undergone a significant period of change and investment in recent years, and PR forms a major part of this.  We believe in best practice in everything we do, and we are very excited to be working with Clarion to communicate our transformation journey and services to the market.”

Gorkana meets… Giuseppe De Bellis

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Giuseppe De Bellis is editor-in-chief of GQ Italia. He talks to  Mario Cipriano about his career in Brussels and his view of modern journalism.

Before your current role as editorial director of GQ Italia, you were deputy director of Il Giornale. How did you develop your career?

I started work as a correspondent in Bari, at La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno. This first experience allowed me to earn my first professional contract. I worked at Tele Norba, as a Sports radio and TV journalist. Sports has always been my passion, so I accepted an offer to be sports correspondent for Tempo, following the local football teams Bari and Lecce.

At the end of 1999, I started a selection process to join the Journalism School of Perugia, where I was a student until 2002. After leaving La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, I worked as a freelancer for many newspapers, until I got an internship at Il Giornale, covering politics and then sports. After another internship at Il Giornale as sports correspondent for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, one at ANSA and another at RAI, I finally got a contract for maternity cover at Il Giornale, working as a contributor for the sports weekly magazine Controcampo.

Until last March, I had been working at Il Giornale, going from reporter to editor to deputy director and acting director, including an experience as a correspondent in the United States, covering the national elections. I also contributed to Il Foglio and I have written three books. I have been editorial director of GQ Italia since March.

What are the main differences you’ve encountered moving from a daily newspaper Il Giornale to GQ – a monthly magazine? 

The differences are less than you can imagine. GQ as a website exactly like a daily newspaper, so talking about a “monthly magazine” is not accurate, because it is both print and digital. The main difference (between the two) is how the organisations work, much more than the editorial part. Obviously, a daily newspaper has a daily closing deadline that requires a physical presence every day, while a monthly magazine has a more strategic management with medium and long term goals.

In general, what are the main challenges that motivated and stimulated you to work in the world of journalism?

Being a journalist was my dream as a teenager. It is a privilege that few people have, to do the job that you always wanted. I say that to underline that my main “fuel” is passion. Then, there is professionalism and ambition – having goals to reach. This is valid for everybody, for every job, and it helps that I enjoy my job.

If I am not mistaken, you are still involved in Rivista Undici, the sports magazine you launched a few years ago: what represents to you Undici?

It is like a son to me. A “meta-son”. I thought of it, created it, launched it (using my own money), used all my skills and competencies gained during my previous experiences to do it. My biggest passion is Sports and Undici is the result of merging my professional experience and my passion.

Journalism is going through a phase of transition where digital is taking up more and more space and resources: how do you see the future of “print journalism”?

In the past, print media was the only way to do journalism. Now – and even more further in time – it will be just one of the ways. I don’t think print format will disappear, but surely it will change.

Journalism is to inform, not to innovate, so it just updates the way to communicate depending on the different moments and what society requires. Print newspapers will remain a precious object for some people, because there are things that can only be written in a printed version.

As Jeff Bezos said a few days ago, it will become a luxury good with low price. To conclude, I think it will change the mode of fruition, but the print newspaper and magazine will not die.

What things do you look for in a press release? I mean, what in your opinion makes a press release a good source of information?

It seems trivial, almost naive, but the contents make the difference. Considering the amount of press releases we receive every day, choosing is very difficult. So, in general an effective but descriptive headline can be decisive.

What kind of relationship do you have with PR agencies, and with the PR world in general?

We have a great cooperation with the PR world. In 70% of cases, we receive press releases; in 30% we request them. Then, we also use PR agencies as a support of developing our ideas, to understand if our ideas make sense or not and confirm it.

What role does social media have in the diffusion of the contents you produce?

Social media has an important role, because today it is a way of accessing GQ. The main three uses we have for social media are: 1) amplify what we produce in terms of content, both regarding print and digital formats, 2) open an access door to our website, allowing people to reach us through other channels and 3) a commercial vehicle, both for editorial and add rates diffusion.

In your professional career, what is the most memorable story that you have reported on?

It is difficult to say just one. I covered the last month of the Obama election and it was a unique professional experience. It was also very satisfactory to write about what happened to Marc Bosman, discovering his story, telling about it, his anonymous life after being so important in the development of modern world football. And my last work for Undici, interviewing Daniele De Rossi, because it was an interview built along two and a half years, having been the first cover man of Undici but we never got the chance to formally interview him.

  • Giuseppe De Bellis was interviewed by  Mario Cipriano 

Cision PR Panel: Financial brands must beware the “London bubble”

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Brexit and disruptive technologies are transforming the relationship between consumers and financial brands, a panel of experts said at last night’s Cision thought leadership event in London.

A packed room listened as Francesco Guerrera, Dow Jones’ head of EMEA, Imogen Bunyard, CEO at fintech consultancy Zerado and Natalie Orringe, innovation lead at Teamspirit, gave their views on the challenges affecting financial PR today.

While these challenges have implications for all financial companies, they argued, they are also creating opportunities for brands that can communicate their stories effectively to consumers.

Consumers want more intimate brand relationships

“Consumers will no longer put up with a corporate, intangible relationship with a financial services brand,” said Orringe. “Consumers are conscious, in almost every other aspect of how we live, of having a very immediate relationship with brands.”

In the past, she argued, big financial brands treated consumers like the details of their business dealings were too complicated for people to understand. But the modern consumer is far better informed.

She concluded: “The start-ups coming into this space are saying, actually, I’ll take all of your lunch by just communicating in a much simpler, straightforward way.”

Many financial brands are still struggling to tell their stories

Bunyard said part of the comms challenge is that it’s often technologists at companies which focus less on external communications who have the best stories to tell.

“A lot of these people don’t see the value in external engagement,” she explained. “They believe they have the ‘secret sauce’ and anyone would be lucky to engage with them.”

She added: “You have this real mismatch between companies which have this huge focus on external engagement but not enough information to back it up, and those who have absolute gems but no awareness of how to communicate them.”

PRs need to re-imagine their relationship with the media

Guerrera said communicators should throw away the old rule book when it comes to their interactions with the financial press. There are so many novel ways to get your story across under the media umbrella – from webinars to events, custom content and more.

“The media itself is a laboratory of Darwinian experimentation,” he said. “We are trying all sorts of stuff to stay relevant and to get our readers engaged.”

He added: “Don’t assume that if we don’t reply to your press release or phone call we’re not interested. Try and come to talk to us.”

Communicators should beware the “London bubble”

Orringe warned communicators to be wary about taking an explicit stance on Brexit, as the issues the referendum was fought on are highly divisive.

“We tend to be dominated by London and the south east, where fintech is great, the market’s doing really well and there are lots of opportunities,” she explained. “Particularly if you’re working with brands that are aiming for a mass consumer audience, I think you have to be really aware that there is a London bubble.”

She concluded: “As a business, what I would advocate is: absolutely do not come out with a view on Brexit, whether positive or negative.”