The AA’s financial services arm has hired Headland to handle its corporate and product communications, following a competitive pitch. Headland will relaunch AA’s financial services brand, build the the company’s reputation as a trusted financial partner and promote its suite of products. Last year, the AA signed a 10-year partnership with the Bank of Ireland in the UK […]
IFC Advisory, the investor and media relations agency set up by Graham Herring in February last year, has hired Newgate Threadneedle’s Alex White as a media specialist. White joins Herring, a former founder of Threadneedle Communications, and co-founder Tim Metcalfe to enhance the agency’s media offering. A former Fleet Street journalist, he will focus on supporting clients with their media […]
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. The new division will “apply analysis of human behaviour to communications”, using H+K’s new behavioural comms model SMARTER, which brings together seven methods “by which communications can influence behaviour.” H+K’s new unit, which […]
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. According to […]
Music PR agency The Zeitgeist Agency, which handles the PR for the Reading and Leeds festivals, has launched a new European division, Zeitgeist Europe, with three new clients, including the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Aimi Lewis-Mattock, who has worked at the agency for four years, will head up Zeitgeist Europe. She said: “Many publications want to talk […]
Laura McIlquham, former head of PR for Glasgow-based PR, design and events agency DADA, has joined creative comms group Beattie to take on a senior account director role in Scotland. McIlquham has more than 15 years’ PR experience and she will work with Scottish director Joanne Spence and her 50-strong team on the day-to-day management […]
Four Communications has been chosen to handle the UK PR for Homestay.com, an online marketplace for hosted accommodation. Homestay.com offers accommodation for travellers where the host is present. It has more than 50,000 hosts offering places to stay in some 150 countries, and enables travellers to stay in the home of a local resident while they […]
Bright Light has been appointed to handle the PR for British hosiery brands Pretty Polly and Aristoc, writes Louise Pantani. Founded in 1919, Pretty Polly provides over 90 ranges of fashion hosiery, and credits the likes of Rhianna, Sarah Jessica Parker and Zooey Deschanel among its fans. Previous ambassadors include Laura Bailey, Eva Herzigova and Sophie […]
Global travel tech company ButlerTech has handed Rooster a consumer and B2B PR brief to enhance its UK profile, as the brand plans to launch two products this year. It will launch destination guide app CityButler and virtual concierge app ButlerPad. Rooster’s remit for the consumer-focused CityButler, is to launch the app in the UK and […]
Hometrack, a residential property market analyst, has appointed MRM as its retained agency to support its media relations and public and regulatory affairs monitoring. Chris Tuite, MRM’s associate director, leads the account team, which is made up of the agency’s corporate and consumer units. He will be supported by a team of people from across the agency including […]