The BIG Partnership wins Glasgow Science Centre brief

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Glasgow Science Centre has appointed The BIG Partnership to help promote the scientific institution and the benefits of science to a range of audiences over the coming year.

The Big Partnership

 

Glasgow-based BIG won the retained PR brief following a series of successful project work for the Glasgow Science Centre last year, including the re-launch of the Planetarium and the opening of the energy focused Powering the Future exhibition.

The team will now position Glasgow Science Centre as an education institution that promotes the importance of science in everyday life to young people, parents, educators business, and public sector organisations.

Kelly Paterson, BIG’s account director, will lead the account.

Dr. Stephen Breslin, chief executive of Glasgow Science Centre, said: “BIG was able to work closely with our marketing team in communicating our messages to a range of different audiences last year.

“They managed a range of situations from issues and stakeholder management to media relations and digital marketing. They’ve been able to find new and creative ways to help illustrate what the Centre is doing and we look forward to working with them going forward.”

Neil Gibson, founding director of BIG, said: “We’re incredibly pleased to be appointed as Glasgow Science Centre’s retained PR advisers, after having worked closely with its marketing team on a number of projects last year.

“It is an exciting time for science right now and Glasgow Science Centre has an important role to play in engaging the public on science topics through its work with policy makers, schools, the media, and public and private sector organisations.”

Ketchum hires Red’s Saska Graville

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Red deputy editor Saska Graville has joined Ketchum London as director of consumer lifestyle.

Graville was previously deputy editor at Red, where she worked on the title across print, live events and Ketchumdigital platforms.

She also helped Red build alliances with several influential women and brands; conceiving and leading Smart Women Week and running the Red Women of the Year Awards. She also hosted Red Network events and worked with brands including Sky, Clinique and Pandora.

Graville is also a successful author, having written London Style Guide, which has been translated into five languages.

In her new role at Ketchum, Graville will work across the agency’s fashion, beauty, luxury, travel, and health and well-being sectors.

Denise Kaufmann, CEO of Ketchum London, said: “Saska has a huge amount of this experience in brokering successful commercial partnerships and creating beautiful lifestyle content. Her work at Red transformed a conventional print product into a lifestyle brand.  We’re really excited about the fresh thinking and experience she can offer our clients.”

Graville added: “Ketchum London is an agency that offers scale, commercial excellence and creative thinking. To get all three is rare, which is what I find exciting. And it’s headed by a leadership team of women who have a clear – and ambitious – vision of where brands are headed, and where the opportunities lie.

“I wanted to be in their gang! I’m looking forward helping Ketchum’s clients identify new opportunities with major media partners, and building the agency’s content creation business.”

Unity hires ad veteran Caroline Blainey

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Caroline Blainey, advertising industry veteran and former senior art director at the Guardian, has joined Unity as creative director.

Caroline Blainey

 

Blainey will take overall responsibility for the agency’s creative output and processes. She will also act as head of Unity’s Creative and Production Hub.

Her career spans more than 17 years, with experience delivering a range of work as a senior art director at the Guardian, as well as art director and creative director roles at several agencies, including HHCL, Wieden + Kennedy, Brothers & Sisters, & Partnership and DLKW.

She has also worked with clients including Argos, Travelodge, M&S, British Gas, Unilever, Pot Noodle, Nike and Sky.

Highlights include the award-winning work she did at the Guardian on the A5 guides, where she picked up a D&AD Pencil.

Gerry Hopkinson, co-founder of Unity, said: “Blainey is a natural fit for Unity. She’s progressive, collaborative, fearless and down to earth. We immediately got on and felt we could do great work together.

“She’s got a great range of craft skills and a wealth of experience. She’s classically trained at the mighty West Herts College in Watford, has worked at some of the bravest and most successful agencies in the world and she rode across the United States on a bicycle. I mean, what’s not to like about this woman?”

Blainey said: “I’m very excited to join Unity as creative director. Unity have created some truly great work to over the last few years and I can’t wait to be part of this talented, energetic and vibrant team.”

In other news, Unity has been shortlisted for nine Sabre awards, having won 19 awards since 2011, including Best Campaign UK & Ireland (both large and small budget) in 2015.
Nik Govier, co–founder of Unity, said: “It’s fantastic to be shortlisted for such a wide range of awards again this year – and particularly to have five in the prestigious diamond categories. We’re extremely proud of our consistent performance year after year.”

CLCA adds new member firm in Paris

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Jean de Belot BCThe Crisis and Litigation Communicators Alliance (CLCA) has announced Aria Partners as a new member firm from Paris.

Aria Partners is the first member from France to join the group.

Established in 2009 by three founding firms across Europe and the US, the CLCA is an international PR network providing crisis and litigation PR advice.

Louise Beeson, senior consultant at Bell Yard Communications – a CLCA member, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Aria Partners to the CLCA. We have been courting it for some time given its superb reputation for litigation PR in the French market. It made sense to formalise its membership because we have recently been talking about a potential cross-border client matter together. Aria is a highly experienced partner for CLCA clients requiring PR advice in France and broadens the CLCA’s footprint in Europe.”

Jean de Belot, CEO at Aria, said: “Litigation PR is at an early stage here in France and there are still only a handful of firms with expertise in this space. I am proud to say that Aria Partners has a long-standing track record of advising corporate and lawyers on the reputational aspects of legal matters and we have worked on some significant cases. We look forward to collaborating with other CLCA member firms where client matters require French know-how, advice and communications support.”

The Gorkana Weekly Industry News Brief: 9 to 15 April 2016

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Missed out on this week’s PR News? Get your handy round-up of the essential highlights of PR and media stories, features and events content over the last seven days on Gorkana News.

Pitch Wins

The Financial Times handed Golin a brand reputation brief, with a focus on digital advertising.

Center Parcs brought in Hope&Glory as its retained consumer brand agency, with a brief to promote the brand as a “champion” of family time.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) briefed Blue Rubicon to lead on its “reputation turnaround”.

Home appliance brand Beko hired sports and entertainment marketing specialist Synergy to handle the global launch of its sponsorship of FC Barcelona, following a competitive pitch.

Grayling was appointed by Lloyds Banking Group to support its public affairs engagement across the UK.

People News

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) promoted Koray Camgoz to PR manager, as Andrew Ross departs to become media relations manager at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

Bottle promoted Nina Sawetz to head of editorial for the agency’s consumer division.

Chandos Communications, the Havas back financial PR agency, promoted Teresa Wincrantz to partner.

Ruder Finn brought in Brands2Life’s Robin Grainger to take on the newly-created role of director of connected comms.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) appointed Bloomberg’s European healthcare reporter, Makiko Kitamura, as communications officer for the Health Data Collaborative.

Agency News

Hotwire PR has entered a co-branded partnership with Dubai-based Active (Digital. Marketing. Communications.)

Comms business Next 15 reported a growth in headline operating profits of £16.5m, up 29.9% year-on-tear, for the 12 month period ending January 31 2016.

News analysis

World Retail Congress: what PRs need to know

This week’s World Retail Congress (12-14 April) emphasised the need for retailers to create an all-encompassing experience for consumers as global sales slow and brand loyalty becomes a thing of the past. Speaking to experts at agencies Bottle and Portas, Gorkana looks at how PR can help retailers to engage consumers further.

Journalist News

Anna Lewis was appointed digital new and entertainment editor at COSMOPOLITAN (UK), arriving from her previous role as food editor at heatworld.com.

Will Dunn joined New Statesman as special projects editor, as he moves from his previous role as editor at Stuff.

The Telegraph’s brand new website is now live. The redesign shows a a stream of stories in chronological order so that readers can easily find out what happened in the past 10 minutes, past hour or past day.

Alberto Nardelli joined Buzzfeed UK as Europe editor.

Ravender Sembhy was appointed as City editor at the Press Association and will leave his role as news editor at City A.M. on 18 April.

Features

Gorkana meets…Jean Comte and the Société Générale de Presse (SGP)

SGP’s Jean Comte discusses how he covers EU news, SGP’s readership and how PRs can help with content, by Jeremy Martin.

What the Panama Papers leak teaches communicators

Jonathan Jordan, Founder and Senior Partner at corporate affairs advisory firm Sermelo, says the high profile revelations and the ensuing media frenzy surrounding ‘The Panama Papers’ story has lessons for PRs and communicators about building and maintaining trust with their audiences and the importance of getting their crisis management plans in place, and implementing them properly.

Future of the Press – Vikki Cook of Cookie Media on events

In the second part of our series looking at the future of the press with board members of the London Press Club (LPC), Gorkana‘s Ronan George talks to LPC director Vikki Cook, founder and owner of Cookie Media, about what journalists want from their own events, the changing media landscape and lessons she has learnt from her career highlights, including the launch of London Live.

Behind the Headlines with Ranieri MD Pietro Ranieri

Pietro Ranieri, MD at consumer tech PR firm Ranieri, on the roller coaster ride of running a PR agency, understanding what success actually looks like, and why journalists shouldn’t bash PRs for trying to do their job.

Gorkana meets…The AJ and The Architectural Review

Christine Murray, who was appointed editor-in-chief of The Architects’ Journal and The Architectural Review in February, talks to Niall Davies about her new role, her plans for the two business titles, and how to pitch to them.

 

World Retail Congress: What PRs need to know

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This week’s World Retail Congress (12-14 April) emphasised the need for retailers to create an all-encompassing experience for consumers as global sales slow and brand loyalty becomes a thing of the past. Speaking to experts at agencies Bottle and Portas, Gorkana looks at how PR can help retailers to engage consumers further.

Attending the event, brands and retailers, including Disney, M&S and John Lewis, discussed the challenges the proliferation of online choices for consumers have created. On the one hand consumers are now more interested in diverse experiences over the purchase of products and on the other few are loyal to a single brand, which creates a dilemma within the sector.

Bottle and Portas discuss the main themes at the event and explain where PR fits in:

PRs must create content to build “immersive customer experiences” 

According to retail leaders at the conference, creating an immersive ‘customer experience’ is now essential for their survival. Keynote speaker Tommy Hilfiger described brands as “a living thing” where experiences are made for the consumer via digital content, customer service and visual displays.

Nina Sawetz, head of editorial at Bottle, said: “Content in a PR sense is not new – but the thinking around it and clarification of whether content creation sits within a PR agency is.

“At Bottle, we’ve been consistently creating content for retail clients for years, yet we have most definitely seen this side of our business expand rapidly over the past year – a growth which has led us to build our own content creation team in-house.”

PR has a place in delivering great customer service

Theirry Andretta, Mulberry’s CEO, believes that to creating an immersive ‘customer experience’ involves great customer service. He told delegates at WRC: “We invest a fortune in training our retail staff to tell the story of the brand and you need the same experience in digital.”

Caireen Wackett, Portas’ MD,  describes how the agency aids retailers to deliver great customer service both digitally and in physical environments: “At Portas we’re all about ‘total retail communications’ – making sure every touch point of the customer journey aligns to deliver a uniform customer experience. The challenge for brands today is ensuring that PR aligns with customer service, aligns with retail, aligns with social, and aligns with every other channel.

“We’ve found ourselves doing a lot more ‘brand voice’ projects where our PR team develop guidelines for messaging and tone of voice for clients and partner agencies to use across the whole customer experience.”

She added that PR is an essential part of retail success stories as brands become more digital, and global, and move beyond bricks-and-mortar stores: “The need for PR is paramount in maintaining the delivery of a brand’s tapestry and messaging, which can, so often, become lost in the digital world. Development of stories and news, created by PR, and the delivery of these to both consumers and press, can often be the difference between a retailer sinking, or swimming, in this ever changing market place.”

PRs helps build brand loyalty

Brand loyalty cannot be taken for granted. This was a key theme at the event, and speakers, from Tommy Hilfiger to All Saints’ CEO William Kim, discussed how to hold consumer interest as a modern retailer.

Bottle’s Sawetz explained: “So much opportunity to buy offline, or online, as well as compare prices, has brought a decrease in brand loyalty, and gone are the days of purely sticking to one retailer.

“Not only are retailers fighting between themselves (take the store wars in the grocery sectors), but customers have also become more picky. Customers are no longer just customers and brands can no longer take them for granted.”

She added that “clever” brands tap into this: “To hook customers and keep them returning, they need to make them feel like loyal brand advocates, something which can only be achieved through building an emotional connection between the brand and individual.

“And, it’s in building this emotional connection where communications, PR and the resulting content, comes into its own. It allows them to gain that experience, and more importantly, remember the brand.”

BISSELL chooses Speed

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Carpet cleaning specialist BISSELL has appointed Speed Communications to handle its UK brand comms, following a competitive pitch.

Speed has been retained to help BISSELL educate consumers on the importance of carpet cleaning in Speedorder increase brand awareness, generate consumer demand and drive product sales, and support wider category growth.

The account will be led by Caroline Stevens, associate director at Speed.

Tracey Scully, UK director for sales and marketing at BISSELL, said: “We are excited to work with Speed Communications. Their expertise and insight from the outset has been exactly what we have been looking for to drive our presence in the UK market. The team brought passion and enthusiasm to the pitch and their creativity and personalities are a great fit for the brand and BISSELL team.”

Nasima Hussain, managing partner for Speed’s consumer lifestyle division, said: “This is a hugely exciting brief for us. We have a wealth of experience working with home and lifestyle brands and helping to drive businesses and brands forward. Combining this with our knowledge of the housewares category and the end consumer as well as the teams’ passions, BISSELL is a brand that we are proud to represent.”

Ogilvy’s Lara Leventhal joins Spider PR as MD

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Lara Leventhal, Ogilvy PR’s deputy MD, has left the WPP-owned agency to take on the newly-created role of MD at Spider PR.

Leventhal (pictured left) joins Spider after an 18-month stint at Ogilvy PR, where she was deputy MD. Before that, she Spider PRwas MD at Eulogy.

Spider PR has created the MD role as it reports over 30% year-on-year growth across its consumer and corporate sectors.

Spider PR CEO Sara Pearson (pictured right) said: “Lara arrives at a time of strong business performance at Spider. Over the last two years we’ve achieved 30% plus year-on-year growth across both consumer and corporate (sectors) and with Lara’s dynamism, and team leadership skills, we’re projecting similar growth in the year ahead.”

Leventhal added: “Spider is a gem of an agency with a fantastic team of 35 and incredible clients including Tyrrells Crisps, Maldon Salt, Kelloggs, Saga and FedEx. I’ve been incredibly impressed with the agency’s ability to deliver insight driven, multi-channel creative campaigns but what really makes them stand out is their single-minded focus on exceptional delivery through transparent accountability underpinned by a guarantee.”

Chandos Communications names Teresa Wincrantz partner

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Chandos Communications, the Havas backed financial PR agency, has promoted Teresa Wincrantz to Partner. Wincrantz co-founded the firm with Louise Tingström, Chandos’ managing partner, in April 2015.

Prior to founding Chandos as associate partner, Wincrantz was a director at CNC Communications. She has also held senior roles at M: Communications and Brunswick, working in both Europe and the Middle East.

Chandos specialises in IPO & M&A communications, crisis management, large scale global campaign coordination, strategic advisory, investor relations and financial calendar work. In its first year, the firm secured clients including asset manager Amundi, Telecom Italia and UniCredit.

Tingström said: “I am very pleased to announce Teresa’s well deserved  promotion to partner. During our start-up phase she has showed strong  leadership skills, excellent new business nous and a consistent ability to provide valued advice to a variety of high level clients.”

CIPR names Koray Camgoz PR manager

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The Chartered Institute of Public Relations has promoted Koray Camgoz to PR manager, as Andrew Ross departs to become media relations manager at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

CIPR both
Camgoz (pictured left) joined the CIPR in November 2011 and held several development roles before being named PR and policy offer in February 2014, reporting to Ross (pictured right).

He takes over as PR manager next Thursday (21 April), the day after Ross’ departure, and will report to Sarah Ion, head of marketing comms at the CIPR.

Ross said: “Koray has been full-circle with the CIPR, working across multiple departments, with some fantastic colleagues and alongside some valued and experienced volunteers.

“This will stand him in good stead to take on this new challenge and I’m confident he will play a key role in the CIPR continuing to lead the professionalization of the practice of public relations.”

Ross has been at the CIPR for nearly six years. He joined the organisation’s comms and policy team in 2011, after working on events, and was named PR and policy manager in January 2014.

He takes on his new media relations manager role at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry on 25 April. Joining a three-strong PR team, he will report to head of media relations Elaine Towell.