Instinctif Partners expands US presence

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Instinctif Partners, an international business comms consultancy, has expanded its presence in the US with three senior hires in its New York and San Francisco offices.

In San Francisco, Instinctif has named Philip Sontag, previously a communications consultant at BDC Marketing 360, as engagement director. TJ Worley, previously COO and VP of Production at Camp Creative, joins as head of project management.

In New York, Meridith Bridge, a seasoned PR professional with an expertise in media relations and innovative marketing strategies, joins as an associate partner. She will be responsible for growing the firm’s New York corporate affairs practice.

Instinctif’s US clients include eBay, Starwood Hotels and Fragomen.

Richard Nichols, CEO of Instinctif Partners, said: “This significant investment will enable us to continue to service our clients throughout the US and globally. Engagement, a key offering from our San Francisco office, continues to be a business critical issue worldwide and a key driver of a company’s success. The expansion of our corporate affairs team in New York will also enable us to continue to grow this important part of our business communications offer.”

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

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Tell us a bit about your role of EU Correspondent for the Société Générale de Presse (SGP).

My job is mainly to follow the progress of legislative issues between the JeanCompteEuropean institutions (from presentation by the European Commission, to examination and adoption by the EU Council, then negotiations between the two institutions). Two aspects of my work are crucial.
Firstly, I must always make sure that it is clear to the readers, who may not otherwise be aware, how the European Institutions function. This means, for example, frequently reminding readers how the European legal system works, providing context for each article, and explaining official jargon.
Secondly, I always insist on highlighting the agenda: What is the status of the issue? What are the next steps? What is the next key date?

Can you present the Société Générale de Presse and its readership?

Founded in 1944, the SGP publishes four daily newspapers in French (le Bulletin quotidien, la Correspondance économique, la Correspondance de la Presse and la Correspondance de la Publicité). They are mainly aimed at French policy makers in the fields of politics, economy, media and advertising. We cover news in an extremely rigorous, and relatively ‘technical’, manner because our readers often already have a good command of the subjects and need in-depth information.
The four newspapers also have an ‘appointments’ aspect which is very important, as we follow the professional movements of executives who have a significant role in the areas covered by us. Simultaneously, the SGP edits a biographical database through its website. LesBiographies.com is updated daily and brings together the biographies of more than 90,000 decision-makers in politics, economy, media and advertising.

How do you use social media for your work? Is it generally a useful tool when it comes to covering EU news?

I use Twitter a lot, as a monitoring tool. It is very useful to see articles written by colleagues on Brussels, or information on how to follow a conference or a remote debate.

Are you in contact with PRs? How can they help you with content?

Yes, I am often in contact with public relations officers, mainly to be kept in the loop of press conferences, or press releases, and official statements from their organisations.

Do you participate in a lot of EU-related PR events in Brussels? Do you find them useful for your work?

I mostly participate in press conferences. Regarding their efficacy, it is difficult to judge because, overall, it really depends on each event.

The EU is often criticised by European citizens for its supposed lack of transparency. As a daily observer of the European institutions, is this fair? Do you personally have any difficulties in getting information when you are working in Brussels?

As a journalist, it is very easy to get in touch directly with spokespersons, or press officers, and obtain a minimum level of information, but it is sometimes difficult to surpass this minimum and obtain more concrete details. I am thinking, for example, of legislation still in preparation. In this case, we need to try to use other information channels, such as representations of EU member states, the Members of the European Parliament, or the multitude of lobbies and NGOs gravitating around the European bubble.

Regarding the EU’s level of transparency in general, it varies greatly from one institution to another. The European Parliament is clearly the institution that has the highest culture of transparency, whereas the Council of the EU (which brings together the Ministers of the Member States) tends to favour closed-door negotiations.
The European Commission has wanted to deepen its transparency since 2014, notably by publishing a list of its leaders’ rendezvous, but in practice, this requirement is not always respected.
In 2015, the Commission was also supposed to propose a mandatory register listing the lobbyists in 2015 – but the project was delayed, and it will only happen in 2016.

As a journalist, how would you rate media relation efforts made by EU institutions?

I would say the EU Council and the European Parliament’s press services are very effective. The European Commission is always very careful about its image; it’s always extremely cautious when it speaks publicly about thorny issue. On the Greek crisis, or the ‘Brexit’, its spokespersons’ public answers are sometimes very vague. It is possible to go a bit deeper when off the record, but the answers will still be limited.

In November 2014, the Commission reorganised its press office, adding ‘communications advisers’ in the cabinets of Commissioners, advisers in charge of talking with the press. This system has its advantages, mainly because it multiplies the points of contacts for journalists, but also some disadvantages. These are mainly due to the fact that each of these advisers has a different vision of his, or her, role: some tend to refer reporters to the press service, which is not very helpful.

It should also be noted that, in Brussels’ European circles, the culture of ‘off record’ (no identification of the source) or ‘background’ (no mention of the source) is very important. Each press office (Parliament, Council and Commission) has its own rules on the matter.

What’s the most memorable story you’ve worked on ?

Without hesitation, the Greek crisis, and particularly, the Euro Summit in July that resulted, after a whole night of negotiations, in an agreement in principle on a third aid programme for Athens. It was a pretty intense moment, an experience I will not forget any time soon.

Jean was interviewed by Gorkana’s Jeremy Martin.

Thomas Pink briefs Pitch on Lions rugby partnership

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British shirt maker Thomas Pink has appointed sports marketing agency Pitch to launch its partnership with the British & Irish Lions 2017 Tour, following a competitive pitch.

Pitch

Thomas Pink is the official formal wear outfitter to the Lions 2017 and will produce blazers, shirts, ties and formal wear accessories for Lions players and squad members. The shirt maker will also design a range of formal and casual wear, which will go on sale to the public in October.

Pitch has previously worked with Thomas Pink to activate the brand’s role as official formalwear supplier to the British & Irish Lions Tour in 2013. The 2012/13 experiential campaign incorporated two ‘Pink Lion’ pop-up hubs, with guest appearances from past and present Lions players including Sam Warburton, George North, Phil Vickery and Matt Dawson.

The consumer campaign, which will be run by Pitch’s recently launched specialist sponsorship division, Pitch Partnerships, is expected to run from September 2016 to May 2017, and will include a range of ambassador, digital and experiential activations. Central to the creative will be the launch of of a tongue-in-cheek Thomas Pink rugby club.

Alex Field, global head of marketing at Thomas Pink, said: “Pitch showed they understand the character of Thomas Pink with the highly successful Pink campaign for the last Lions Tour. This campaign will be a natural evolution of the last but adapted for the digital environment, across more markets.”

Henry Chappell, Pitch CEO, added: “We’re delighted to be working with Thomas Pink again to activate its second partnership with the British & Irish Lions – an increasingly sought after sports property. The first collaboration was a big success, and for the second campaign we plan to produce some great content and experiences that will be accessible to fans in the UK and across the globe.”

Jago wins all-Ireland PR brief for VisitScotland

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Jago Communications has had its Northern Ireland-based consumer PR brief with VisitScotland extended to include the Republic of Ireland, following a competitive pitch.

The Old Drovers’ Road in Glen Coe

Jago, which was set up in Belfast in 2012, has worked with VisitScotland for the last two years in Northern Ireland. The agency will now work with the VisitScotland team on a consumer PR programme throughout 2016, with the aim to make Scotland a ‘must-visit, must return destination’ for Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland visitors.

Jago’s extended brief follows the launch of a new global campaign by VisitScotland in Feburary, which is aimed at promoting the “spirit of Scotland”. Using the hashtag #ScotSpirit, the organisation is encouraging people across the world to share what Scotland means to them.

Helen Campbell, head of global brand and marketing comms at VisitScotland, said: “The Irish market is a key focus for Scottish tourism and the appointment of Jago Communications, coupled with the launch of our new global brand, aims to raise the spirit and profile of Scotland to the highest it has ever been in Ireland and around the world.”

“While there is plenty to inspire Irish audiences to visit Scotland in 2016, it requires a strategic and considered approach to drive tourism visitors throughout the year. We are very pleased with the creative approach taken by Jago Communications with exciting campaign plans already underway.”

Shona Jago-Curtis, director of Jago, added: “We’re very excited to secure the all-Ireland PR brief for VisitScotland. In order to create stand out in a crowded travel and tourism environment, we know we must deliver bold, high impact campaigns that reach new audiences. It is a key opportunity as PR becomes a central focus of VisitScotland’s marketing here. An important part of the strategy is working closely with VisitScotland’s travel partners throughout Ireland to maximise results.”

Lloyds Banking Group appoints Grayling

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

The agency will focus to support Lloyds in the delivery of its ‘Helping Britain Prosper’ plan, which focuses on the key social and economic challenges facing the UK.

Grayling, which has worked with the banking group for over three years in Scotland, was briefed following a competitive five-way pitch. The agency will work with a range of brands within the group including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows.

Jonathan Curtis, Grayling’s head of public affairs, said: “We were thrilled to be appointed by Lloyds Banking Group at such an exciting time for the business. This is a huge win which reflects Grayling’s compelling public affairs offer and bolsters our strong financial services.”

Honda UK hires Prova PR

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Honda UK has chosen automotive agency Prova PR to act as the PR provider for its entire Honda dealer network, following a four-way pitch.

Warwick-based Prova has been briefed to provide full media support to the 180 franchised and independent Honda dealers across the UK, with the aim of increasing brand awareness and footfall to showrooms.

Simon Branney, PR comms manager at Honda UK, said: “We chose to partner with Prova for our retail network PR activity as they had thoroughly researched the market, the network and our brand and came up with a killer pitch.

“They have an in-depth knowledge of what the dealer needs when it comes to PR and we’re really looking forward to working with the Prova team to help dealers drive footfall, and therefore sales, through a series of exciting campaigns.”

Ruder Finn hires Brands2Life’s Robin Grainger

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

Ruder Finn

Grainger, who will be based in Ruder Finn’s London office, has been briefed to lead the development of an international capability that aims to help clients enhance their comms by drawing on “complementary expertise” within the agency.

Working across a variety of clients in consumer, healthcare, tech, financial services, digital and internal comms, he will also identify opportunities for growth across the global Ruder Finn network.

He will report to Nick Leonard, MD of Ruder Finn UK.

Grainger has spent the last ten years at Brands2Life, most recently as director of International, sitting on the company’s board. While there, he led the firm’s globalisation strategy and looked after a variety of business and tech clients.

Leonard said: “Robin has an outstanding track record working with complex client briefs and building successful international agency teams. Organisations today are increasingly looking for guidance on scaling their communications globally, delivering a consistent message to internal and external stakeholders, and unlocking new market sectors. RuderFinn is perfectly placed to capitalise on this trend, and Robin will be instrumental in charting this new stage of our development.”

Grainger added: “Ruder Finn works with some terrific organisations and has a foothold in some of the fastest-developing markets in the world.  I’m really excited at the possibilities that my role will open up and am looking forward to working with its teams in the UK and around the world.”

Grainger’s appointment comes as Ruder Finn makes its move to its new London office location in Finsbury Circus, providing additional space for an office that has grown 50% over the past three years.

What the Panama Papers leak teaches communicators

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JJJonathan 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.

The biggest leak of financial data in history – the Panama Papers – has revealed an intricate trail of secret measures that have been used to avoid tax and it’s no surprise that Time Magazine has said this could lead to capitalism’s greatest crisis.  The investigations so far have revealed the hidden finances of presidents, prime ministers and public companies and with 11 million documents under scrutiny, this is only the beginning.

Revelations such as the Panama Papers represent huge reputational challenges for the organisations involved or implicated, as it only adds fuel to the growing trust deficit between society, businesses and government. The perceived or actual breach of trust sits at the heart of every crisis, and the focus has to be communicating the responsible actions being taken to restore trust. Trying to impose your preferred definition on the context and scale of the issue simply doesn’t work anymore, as the Icelandic Prime Minister learned when the public called for his resignation.

To sustain a license to operate, any organisation needs to demonstrate three things: good governance, ethics and transparency.

When attempting to recover quickly from a reputational crisis, organisations also need to remember it’s not someone else’s problem:  you need to own it until you are relieved of that responsibility by regulators, politicians or legal remedy. Trust requires leaders to engage with stakeholders, explain what went wrong and outline the options being considered. To do this well, you need knowledge not only of your organisation, but the broader ecosystem in which you operate. Regulators were once seen as setting the ceiling of responsible action, but increasingly society now sees this as the floor.

Today, stakeholders expect transparency. And if you don’t share information voluntarily, it has an increasing likelihood of becoming public knowledge anyway, as the internet makes it easier for anyone to investigate and share data. This dynamic represents some fundamental challenges, but also opportunities to restore trust and strengthen relationships with your stakeholders.

Likewise, social media shouldn’t be seen as a threat, but as an opportunity which provides organisations with free, real time insight on what people think. The best crisis plans in the world will never be able to predict the twists and turns of a full blown media storm, but all stakeholders, be it the media, politicians, regulators and your competitors will converge on these conversations, which you need to be part of.

The good news is that if you do the right thing, restoring trust is possible.  We live in very difficult times and as the major information leaks increase in frequency and strength, it will become harder to ignore the difficult, yet consistent, questions from stakeholders. In this age of hyper-transparency, it’s likely that honesty will become the best policy; it will be imperative for individuals and organisations alike to act with integrity and be prepared to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. We used to call this leadership; perhaps this is the most important lesson businesses need to learn.

  • Jonathan Jordan is Senior Partner and Founder of Sermelo. He has more than 15 years of experience in helping companies anticipate and respond to changing market dynamics, including changes driven by technology, digital, shifts in consumer attitudes and behaviours, or new regulations or globalisation.

 

Newgate Communications advises Blue Prism IPO

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Financial media relations group Newgate Communications is advising software company Blue Prism following its IPO on AIM last month.

The Newgate team, which advised Blue Prism on its IPO, will support the business across all aspects of its financial PR requirements, including investor and media relations.

Blue Prism raised £21.1m from its IPO, in part to fund expansion through a global partner network, and has effectively been valued at £48.5m.

Bob Huxford, partner at Newgate, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed by Blue Prism at this exciting stage of the company’s development. This listing couldn’t be more timely as robots and business process automation are key topics of the moment and it is great to be working with a British business that is leading the charge in this field.”

Blue Prism is a developer of software robots and has 74 blue-chip customers including Barclays Bank, Telefonica O2 and Co-operative Banking Group.

Case Study: The British Quidditch Cup

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Thomas Ffiske, head of PR for QuidditchUK, explains the success of his campaign work around last month’s British Quidditch Cup, as the organisation looks to take the sport beyond the pages of Harry Potter into a thriving, real life, community.

Campaign: The British Quidditch Cup
Client: QuidditchUK
PR Team: Thomas Ffiske
Timing: March 2016

Overview

QuidditchUK, the country’s governing body for quidditch, had struggled to raise the profile of the sport in recent years. Although the British Quidditch Cup was launched in 2014 very few people knew the national tournament is annual, or that quidditch is a ‘serious’ sport. Thomas Ffiske, an associate campaign executive at Diffusion, volunteered his skills to raise the awareness of the sport and the UK tournament.

Objectives

The campaign had three core aims:

  • To raise awareness of the organisation and its tournament.
  • To highlight that quidditch is a serious sport with a lively community.
  • To promote the creation and development of new teams.

Strategy

As there was no budget for the campaign, and it was handled by one person in his spare time, the importance of a news hook was vital. The sport’s connection to Harry Potter helps engagement, of course, and it was important to stress the sport’s aspiration to be considered ‘seriously’ and not be dismissed as a children’s fantasy.

In January, the campaign started to raise awareness in national media, particularly the Associated Press, which placed it within its editorial calendar. This generated particular interest with young journalists who grew up reading the Harry Potter books.

The campaign split into two parts. The first was to engage with national media, where one month before the tournament, bloggers, broadcasters and papers were invited to the tournament. With each instance of interest, special emphasis was placed on communicating quidditch as a developing sport that wished to be treated seriously.

The second was local. As there were 32 teams from all across the UK participating, it was important to let local communities know about their participation so that interest was generated in their home teams. In addition, the local press around Rugeley, Staffordshire – where the tournament was hosted – was invited to the tournament to cover the event, prompting further enthusiasm for the sport.

quidditchUK

Results

The tournament achieved widespread coverage, with BBC and ITV News running broadcast pieces on the tournament and widespread local coverage of the event. Rugeley experienced a massive spike in numbers as hotels were booked out and pubs offered discounts to its new visitors.

Vice.com came to the event and created the event’s ‘hero piece’ of coverage: ‘How Real-Life Quidditch Has Become the World’s Most Progressive Sport,’ which positioned quidditch as forward-thinking and inclusive.

Most importantly, the vast majority of coverage used the Harry Potter link as the hook, and then went into detail on how the rules used at the event deviated from the books.

ITV, Vice and the London Evening Standard in particular did excellent pieces on the tournament, raising its profile. The tournament had also inspired new teams in Birmingham, Worcester and Glasgow, meaning that the next British Quidditch Cup will hopefully be 40-strong next year.

Overall it had been a very successful campaign which will lay the groundwork for the sport’s next major tournament – the Quidditch World Cup in Frankfurt this July.

This weekend (16 – 17 April), The European Quidditch Cup will take place in Gallipoli, Italy, with 40 teams from across Europe competing for the title of European champion.