Middle East-focused investment firm chooses Yellow Jersey PR

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Yellow Jersey PR has been appointed as the retained communications adviser to Indigo Holdings, having supported the company’s NEX Exchange IPO.

Charles Goodwin, Yellow Jersey director,  is leading the account, supported by account manager Joe Burgess and account executive Katie Bairsto.

Indigo, which is targeting investment opportunities across the Middle East’s frontier markets, is initially concentrating on the e-commerce sector. It has just completed its first investment in Iranian car ride-sharing app Carvanro.

Goodwin said: “Indigo is providing investors with a rather unique chance to capitalise on the thriving number of start-ups looking to service the Middle East’s growing consumer market. It’s fantastic for Yellow Jersey to be involved with such an exciting story and we look forward to helping Indigo build its brand awareness.”

ESPGHAN appoints Spink for children’s healthcare congress

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The European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) has appointed healthcare specialist Spink to manage communications for its 50th Annual Congress.

The ESPGHAN Annual Congress, which will be held in Prague in May 2017, attracts opinion leaders in the field from across Europe.

Spink will handle relations with the medical and trade press and run an on-site and online press office and social media campaign to highlight key content from the congress.

Jo Spink, director at the agency, says: “Paediatric digestive health receives limited exposure and is under-funded so we are looking forward to the opportunity of using our experience and expertise to strengthen ESPGHAN’s communications and presence in Europe, reaching out to a wider audience and extending their political influence.”

The PR Office appointed by Partnerships for Jewish Schools

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The PR Office has been appointed by Partnerships for Jewish Schools (PaJes), the largest support network for Jewish schools in the UK.

Shimon Cohen

The PR Office will focus on a media relations programme to raise the profile of PaJeS and Rabbi David Meyer, its executive director, as the thought leader on matters related to Jewish schools and education.

Rabbi David Meyer, executive director at PaJes, said: “The issues facing the Jewish community and our schools are increasingly more complex. Through our partnership with The PR Office, PaJeS can ensure it is kept updated of any developments, and that it communicates the needs of our community in an effective and positive manner.”

Shimon Cohen, chairman at The PR Office, added: “Our objective is to showcase the important work PaJes is doing for Jewish schools, as well as support it with the current challenges facing the faith schools’ sector.”

PaJes seeks to identify the areas in which Jewish schools can work together, and provide them with high quality support, services and strategy to help them achieve their goals. It works with over 100 Jewish primary and secondary schools across the UK, and its curriculum materials are taught in more than 50 schools.

Grayling promotes Joseph Zeratzion

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Grayling has promoted Joseph Zeratzion as people and development director for the UK and Ireland.

Joseph Zeratzion

Zeratzion will lead Grayling’s talent strategy, with responsibility for the learning and development of all employees. He will look to further develop a “competency and progression framework” to support and reward Grayling team members.

Zeratzion was previously EMEA learning and development manager at Grayling. Before that, he was learning and development business partner at News UK.

Sarah Scholefield, Grayling MD,  said: “We recognise that our people are our most important assets. We want to reciprocate their efforts and dedication by encouraging the development and growth of all team members across our UK network.

“Joseph’s appointment comes at a crucial time for Grayling, as we embark on a new phase in our evolution, and are actively recruiting to service our increasing client base. We want to reinforce our commitment to our talent by placing them at the heart of our business.”

Zeratzion added: “Grayling already understands the importance of managing, developing and rewarding team members. As part of our talent strategy, I will be looking to build on these foundations to create a culture that allows people to excel and grow.

“This not only benefits our clients through the work that we do, but is also a great opportunity to build on Grayling’s reputation as an employer of choice, both in and outside the communications industry.”

Fourth Day partners with getcleantech.com

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Fourth Day has been appointed to help Canadian company getcleantech.com raise its international profile.

Danny Stephens

Aggregating information from the clean technology industry, getcleantech.com helps accelerate project adoption and financing, and matches professionals to projects in their field. Fourth Day is tasked to improve its reach within Europe’s clean energy industry.

As part of this, Fourth Day has entered into a strategic partnership with Actual Media, a Toronto-based communications and publications house with a particular focus on the infrastructure, water industry and environment sectors.

Susan Sheehan, founder of getcleantech.com, said: “Europe, and Germany in particular, is a critical market for environmental technology and developing a good connection to Europe is a crucial part of our strategy.

“A boutique company like Fourth Day, with its flexibility and international presence, is an ideal fit as we start our own process of expansion. The synergies created – from the two companies’ relative sizes and strategies – should ensure that we enjoy a good understanding and successful collaboration.”

Fourth Day is an independent PR consultancy with offices in London, Manchester, Paris, Berlin and Casablanca, supported by a network of partners worldwide

Danny Stephens, director of Fourth Day’s Berlin office, added: “We have been looking to expand our presence further in North America as the next step in Fourth Day’s strategic expansion. To be fortunate enough not only to get a partner with the credentials and standing of Actual Media, but also to find such an interesting project as getcleantech.com, in as exciting an industry as environmental technology, is a tremendous fillip.”

Lexis promotes UK business potential with the Commonwealth

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Lexis has been named as the official marketing and comms partner for Maritime Connects, an initiative which aims to drive economic growth,  job creation and prosperity throughout the Commonwealth.

Lexis MD Dominic Shales

The Maritime Connects initiative, which is spearheaded by the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) and developed by AMPP Group, looks to accelerate and assist the growth of UK exports and investment across the 52 Commonwealth markets, which, with a combined GDP of $10.4 trillion (£8.3 trillion), represent a third of the world’s population.

Lexis will offer companies marketing advice, as well as a suite of services across the marketing cycle, from market-sizing and scoping through to business planning, strategy and implementation of campaigns in-market.

It kicked off activity today (22 February) with the publication of independent research indicating that the Commonwealth is significantly more open to UK trade than with other countries, with UK goods and services regarded as the most popular imports ahead of the US, Germany, Japan, China and France.

At an event at the House of Commons today, research is released, which polled 1000 consumers from Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, India and Canada, that will suggest that the Commonwealth presents a timely opportunity for ambitious UK exporters seeking to grow their businesses internationally.

Almost three quarters of respondents (72%) overall feel they have more shared cultural values with the UK than with any other countries in Europe, while 84% of Indian respondents share this opinion.

The majority of respondents feel positive about the future of their country’s relationship with the UK, with 59% thinking the relationship will be ‘stronger’ by 2020.

Dominic Shales, Lexis MD, said: “Increasing trade with other Commonwealth countries is a huge opportunity for UK businesses. There is a clear appetite for British products and services in the largest Commonwealth markets and this growth is what Maritime Connects aims to facilitate.

“Lexis is going to be advising businesses which sign up to Maritime Connects on all aspects of marketing and communications and it’s exciting to be part of such an important project for the future growth of the UK.”

Anthony Martin, Maritime Connects’ programme director, added: “AMPP Group is delighted to be working with Lexis on the Commonwealth’s ‘Maritime Connects’ initiative. Lexis was selected as a commercial partner to the initiative on the basis of their ability to deliver integrated PR and digital marketing campaigns for innovative, fast growth UK businesses.”

Five reasons PR has an edge in content creation

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Five PR agencies, which took part in a recent Content Marketing Association (CMA) round-table, explain why having PR at the core of their business has helped them become successful in content.

The PR industry is showing an increased interest in content. Just last year, three PR agencies won awards at CMA’s International Content Marketing Awards, showing an increasing step towards more integrated services.

Clare Hill, CMA’s MD, says PRs are more frequently looking to expand this part of their business offering: “We are constantly having conversations with PR agencies who want to know more about content marketing and how we approach it.”

Five experts – from Clarity, Bell Pottinger, Hill+Knowlton, Kaizo and MWW – explain how PR gives an edge in content:

1. Subtlety
Sara Collinge, MD at Clarity, says PR pros understand the level of subtlety that’s required to create engaging and audience-relevant content that also meets a client’s broader marketing objectives.

“Too often you see content that is advertorial in nature. Our skills in understanding the client’s messaging in addition to their key business gives us a unique perspective,” she continues.

2. Storytelling
PR agencies have always been good at storytelling in a way that resonates with specific audiences, according to Victoria Naylor Leyland, head of creative and content at Bell Pottinger.

“Now we are in the position to use this ability in a wider variety of mediums and support the core message with a distribution strategy ensuring we’re getting in front of the right people on the right platform,” she adds.

3. Influencer relationships
The best PR agencies understand the need of the influencer, according to Adam Hartley, head of editorial at Kaizo. Whether they are a journalist, editor, magazine, website or a blogger, PRs are accustomed to marrying clients’ needs and desires – to get premium coverage with clear messaging out to the right people – with the needs and desires of a journalist – to create stories that are newsworthy, memorable, exclusive and shareable.

“Content is key to making this work. Certainly, in Kaizo’s field of expertise, we find that the best consumer and B2B tech PRs think and act like editors and journalists,” he adds.

4. Understanding the client
Paddy Herridge, UK managing director at MWW PR, says: “Great content production has always been a central part of what PR agencies do. If you add onto that the deep understanding of our clients, their businesses, their media and their audiences, then you have the necessary tools to create effective and impactful content marketing strategies.”

5. Insight
Alex Silcox, managing director of internal creative services at Hill+Knowlton, says the agency has a ‘robust and insight-driven’ ideation process which helps ensure everyone, whether they are PR managers, strategists, film makers, writers, designers or crisis managers, understand why an idea or creative route is strong and can explain it.

Silcox adds: “We have a behavioural science discipline and our business is organised into sector specialism. That deep sector expertise and scientific insight into consumer behaviour are just two ways we feel our content offer benefits in a unique way.

“For example, if I’m planning a content programme for a renewable energy company I have 25 energy sector experts as colleagues…that’s a distinct advantage.”

Nava Finance appoints MRM

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Nava Finance has appointed financial communications agency MRM as it launches a consumer lending platform.

Mark Pearson

After securing FCA approval last month, the new platform will be launched in early Q2 2017. MRM will help to raise brand awareness among consumers and institutional investors.

Mark Pearson, CMO at Nava Finance, said: “MRM’s financial services experience, which spans both the consumer and the corporate sphere, means it is well-positioned to help Nava build its profile among key stakeholders.

“The team’s enthusiasm for the brief and understanding and knowledge of the sector were key factors in our decision to partner with MRM. We look forward to working together to deliver an effective integrated PR and marketing campaign that helps to establish Nava as a leading provider of unsecured personal loans in the UK.”

Reporting to Pearson, MRM is working closely with the company’s co-founders and senior team to develop initiatives that raise brand awareness and deliver multi-channel communications campaigns, targeting both mainstream consumers and institutional investors.

The PR and digital activity conducted by MRM forms part of a wider multi-channel marketing and communications campaign, which includes social marketing and digital marketing at the outset before broadening to other non-digital media channels.

Chris Tuite, associate director at MRM, added: “Nava is committed to serving the more than five million mainstream potential borrowers who are unable to borrow on reasonable terms, or borrow at all, due to the strict lending criteria of traditional high street banks or penal rates of other short-term specialist lenders. The proposition is exciting and disruptive and the communications brief reflects that.”

MRM was recently appointed by asset manager RWC Partners.

 

Ministry of Sound appoints Smarts Communicate to launch fitness offering

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Smarts Communicate has been appointed to launch ‘Ministry Does Fitness’, a new fitness offering from Ministry of Sound.

Smarts’ London office will coordinate a programme of local and national activity to launch the offering including influencer outreach, social and media relations. The agency looks to break into the London fitness scene with its ‘Be Good to Be Bad’ campaign.

The agency won the account following a competitive pitch and will initially launch the first gym – The Arches – this month. The Arches will be based in London’s Elephant & Castle inside the club’s ‘previously hidden booze vault’.

Olivia Brafman, general manager at Ministry Does Fitness, said: “It was important to work with an agency that really understood the Ministry Does Fitness brand and our new take on the industry. Ministry of Sound has always been provocative and unexpected and Ministry Does Fitness is no different. We were so impressed with Smarts’ strategic approach as well as its brave creative ideas so the appointment was a no brainer.”

Helen Rainford, managing partner at Smarts, said: “We are loving working with Ministry Does Fitness. We share its no-nonsense approach and are excited by its ambition to subvert the ‘gym selfie’ culture that currently dominates the fitness industry.”

PLMR to lead on public affairs brief for Gumtree

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Westminster and Edinburgh-based communications consultancy PLMR has been appointed to lead a programme of public affairs activity for Gumtree UK.

joe-gumtree-1

Fergus Campbell

According to PLMR, classifieds site Gumtree, which is owned by eBay, is visited by more than 36% of the UK’s internet population each month, and has approximately two million classified advertisements live on its platform at any given time.

The scale of its operation has provided Gumtree with insights into the way that people trade online. PLMR will work alongside Red Consultancy and social agency 1000heads to engage decision makers and stakeholders with the insights deduced from Gumtree’s data.

Fergus Campbell, head of public affairs in the UK at Gumtree, said: “PLMR is a natural fit for Gumtree as we raise our public affairs profile. It has a track record of delivering award-winning public affairs work for its clients, and its specialism in the sharing economy is strong. I am delighted to be working with the team and look forward to achieving great results together.”

Kevin Craig, CEO at PLMR, added: “Gumtree has such a positive story to tell, beginning as a London start-up and growing into a peer-to-peer marketplace that is used by so many of us. Gumtree understands the responsibility it has around trust and safety online and this programme of activity is a clear demonstration of that.”