Weber Shandwick launches GFP Index

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Global PR firm, Weber Shandwick, has launched the Gender Forward Pioneer (GFP) Index which reveals that 10.9 per cent of senior executives in the world’s 500 largest companies are women.

The GFP report aims to measure the percentage of women in senior management positions at Fortune Global 500 companies. None of these top companies has an equal representation of men and women on their senior management teams. Nearly four in 10 companies have an all-male senior leadership team.

However, Weber Shandwick found that companies with the “most admired” reputation from industry peers have a higher proportion of female leaders.

Gail Heimann, president at Weber Shandwick, said: “Reputational advantage accrues to companies with more women in senior executive positions. This is great news for companies and great news for women. But despite a strong business case for improving women’s access to C-level positions, as confirmed by countless research studies, our GFP Index magnifies a harsh reality where few women are represented in the highest corporate ranks.”

The GFI report evaluated 8,600 executives across 36 countries. It audited the Fortune Global 500 companies and identified top-level executives and their gender.

FSB appoints BBC’s Louise Stewart

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Louise StewartThe Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has appointed BBC political journalist, Louise Stewart, as head of its media and communications.

Stewart joins FSB as the organisation creates a new senior staff line-up. In addition, Craig Beaumont has been promoted to head of external affairs, UK and will report to COO Julie Lilley.

Mike Cherry, policy director at FSB, said: “We are tremendously fortunate to welcome Louise to FSB at this critical time for our members. We need to make sure the small business voice is heard. To achieve this, we sought an impressive media operator to join the team – and I’m delighted we found Louise.”

Stewart said: “I’m excited to join FSB at such a crucial time for small businesses. It’s great opportunity to join a dynamic organisation and make sure members views are heard in broadcast, press and online and the EU referendum, living wage and pensions. FSB is at the forefront of representing small businesses and I look forward to helping to get its message to where it needs to be.”

Stewart has spent five years as political editor for BBC South East. Formerly, she has also worked as political correspondent for BBC Scotland and for BBC national network news.

The Champagne Tour Co. calls in Turtle PR

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The Champagne Tour Co. has appointed travel and lifestyle agency Turtle to launch the brand to UK media.

The Champagne Tour Co. wants to attract more British clients to the Champagne region of France, where it offers bespoke planned private visits to artisan grower-producers, as well as access to cellars not open to the general public.

Larry Davis, the brand’s owner, has been offering tailored trips in the Champagne region and Paris, for more than 12 years. He personally plans all private tours, as well as trips to celebrate special occasions, including birthdays, anniversaries, proposals and honeymoons.

The Champagne Tour Co. has been promoted in the US for many years and has now called in Turtle to raise its profile among UK national and consumer media.

Davis said: “After a decade of developing a fantastic network of welcoming Champagne producers, I feel we are ready to share our knowledge and expertise to a larger market and am delighted to appoint Turtle as our PR agency.”

Leila Stocker, director of Turtle PR, said: “We are hugely excited to be working with The Champagne Tour Company – a firm that prides itself on its unrivalled knowledge of the Champagne region and finest producers. We look forward to showcasing its tours to the UK press in 2016.”

Digital agency Manifesto appoints Rostrum

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jim-square London-based creative technology agency Manifesto has appointed corporate PR agency, Rostrum, to help raise the agency’s profile within the health, technology and third sectors.

Rostrum will handle Manifesto’s media relations and push the agency as a leading voice on industry issues, including digital disruption and customer engagement.

Manifesto has expertise in the charity, technology and health sectors and current clients include Marie Curie, The Children’s Society and Diabetes UK.

Jim Bowes, CEO at Manifesto, said: “We’re incredibly excited to be working alongside Rostrum as we build a new breed of digital agency. We knew this task would require a PR agency that could truly get close to everything that Manifesto does, the difference we strive to make and share our message of building deep partnerships with our clients to deliver strategic creative, content and technology experiences. We wanted the same kind of relationship with our PR agency that we aim to build with our clients and, in Rostrum, we believe we have that.”

Mark Houlding, CEO at Rostrum, added: “Manifesto is an award-winning agency working with great brands including Vodafone, The National Trust and Cancer Research UK. I’m confident Rostrum will be able to build a strong media profile for Manifesto and help the agency achieve its ambitions.”

 

Dayuse.com hands brief to Golley Slater PR

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Dayuse.com, a French website offering hotel rooms by the hour during the day, has brought in Golley Slater PR to handle its UK consumer and corporate PR.

MD Eileen Stretton will head up the Golley Slater team, which has been briefed to raise the profile of the business and promote the concept of out-of-hours room booking.

The agency plans to create positive brand building comms campaign, working closely with Dayuse.com’s internal marketing team. Golley Slater’s team will report to Déborah Laskart, head of comms for Dayuse.com.

Laskart said: “This is a really exciting time for our ever-expanding, international business and so we wanted to bring in a British PR team with creative ideas and media clout which could bring our disruptive business concept to the UK media – raising consumer and corporate awareness of a new service in the right way.

“The team at Golley Slater impressed us with their strong PR backgrounds, understanding of our unique business opportunities and their positive, creative energy. We really felt that they brought a fun and unique perspective to our challenges that, combined with their sound grasp of the British media agenda, would help us take our brand forward in this country.”

Stretton added: “It’s great to be handed a brief with clear challenges, but fun to work with a really new approach to doing business within the UK hotel industry. We are excited to help the Dayuse brand strengthen its grip on and educate the UK media and hotel industry. It’s a brilliant win for the Golley team on the back of a really successful quarter.”

Aspectus opens Aberdeen office

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Aspectus, a global communications agency serving the energy, engineering, financial and services sectors, has opened an office in Aberdeen to support its growing oil and gas client base.

Laura Illey will lead the Aberdeen team as head of oil and gas. Illey has been promoted from her former role as account director of oil and gas.

Meghan Buchan has been appointed as account manager for the company’s Aberdeen operation. Buchan was previously a client of Aspectus and now joins the company from ProSep, an oil, gas and produced water specialist.

Aspectus says it offers clients a transparent view of how its communications increase audience engagement, which can be benchmarked against competitors and the wider market.

Alastair Turner, CEO at Aspectus, said: “We understand that in today’s challenging environment, justifying spend on communications is incredibly tough. That’s why at Aspectus we don’t bill for time, we sell business outcomes and charge for the results achieved. Furthermore, we take the risk out of investment in PR by offering performance-related campaigns. We believe we can make a measurable difference to our clients’ businesses; so much so that we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is.”

Illey added: “We’re thrilled to be taking our unique approach to a wider market. We’re committed to the future of the sector and immersed in its challenges, which is why we’ve recruited our team of sector specialists from within the industry. This experience, combined with our creative approach to communications, is what enables us to deliver measurable business outcomes.”

Aspectus has been active in the oil and gas industry for a number of years and has offices in London, Houston and Singapore.

Golin to handle UK launch of razor brand Dorco

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Golin has been chosen to handle the UK launch of razor manufacturer Dorco and promote its new subscription service.Golin Dorco

Dorco, which launched in South Korea in 1955, provides shaving products to customers in more than 130 countries. Razors by Dorco launched in the UK market in July 2015. It uses the UK as its European hub.

Golin has been briefed to develop a PR strategy to raise brand awareness of Dorco in the UK, and promote its “easy to use” online store, as well as its razor subscription service.

Ken Kwak, sales director for Dorco, said: “We were impressed with Golin’s understanding of our brand and audience, including rigorous insights and a clear strategy. We’re excited to start working with Golin to launch Dorco in the UK, where we see huge potential for our business to flourish.”

Charlie Coney, head of creative, EMEA, at Golin, added: “Dorco is a fantastic win for Golin. Launching its innovative business model and great products present an amazing opportunity for us both strategically and creatively. We want Brits to share the same enthusiasm for Dorco razors that other markets have had for the last 60 years.”

White Paper: PR’s identity in 2016

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White Paper front coverIn this new White Paper, Gorkana explores how the growth and proliferation of media channels has affected PR and how the industry positions itself in the marketing mix. In public relations, there is now a trend, particularly among agencies, to offer services in social media, online content and SEO, which has blurred the identity and scope of ‘traditional’ PR.

Speaking to PR professionals, from agencies including LEWIS, PLMR, Lexis and Capella, as well as prominent journalists, this report explores what multichannel marketing means for the identity of PR.

Download the White Paper here.

Andrew Soar returns to Unity as engagement chief

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Andrew Soar has returned to Unity to take on the newly created role of head of engagement, nearly two years after moving to Shine Communications, as associate creative director.

Soar (pictured left) previously worked at Unity for more than three years before moving to consumer PR agency Shine as associate creative director. In January, consumer PR firm The Academy merged with Shine to form a new group called The Academy, with Shine becoming its consumer PR arm.

He returns to Unity in the newly created role of head of engagement, and will work on accounts including M&S, Direct Line and Butlin’s.

Soar said: “Unity is an agency with brilliant clients and an unparalleled history of creating incredible work. I’m tremendously proud to have been part of that DNA and heritage and it’s going to be an exciting time to see where we can go in the future.

“This new role will be as challenging as it will be exhilarating and I can’t wait to share this adventure with my new team.”

Soar’s return comes alongside the appointment of John Carolan (pictured right) as Unity’s first planning director.

With more than 12 years’ experience in strategic comms, Carolan spent the last four years as lead strategist on “digital-centric” clients at global media network Carat. Before that, he worked as planning manager at media agency Mindshare.

In his new role at Unity, Carolan will work across the agency’s portfolio of consumer clients, with a focus on audience insight, comms strategy and storytelling, as well as work on new business opportunities.

Carolan said: “This new role offers a huge scope for creativity and innovation, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the portfolio of such a vibrantly creative agency.”

Gerry Hopkinson, co-founder of Unity, said: “We couldn’t be happier to welcome back Andrew and introduce John to this new role at Unity. John’s impressive portfolio of clients and campaigns show his deep understanding of human behaviour and his experience in digital planning is unparalleled in our industry. Andrew’s wealth of experience spearheading campaigns for global clients places him as one of the industry’s leading influencers – we’re delighted to welcome him back.”

Richard Carnell-Jones joins H+K London

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PR and integrated comms consultancy, Hill + Knowlton London (H+K), has appointed Richard Carnell-Jones as associate director of its energy and industrials team.

Carnell-Jones will focus on strategic communications and reputation management and help clients develop multichannel communications programmes. He will report to Simon Whitehead, MD at H+K’s energy and industrial team.

Carnell-Jones said: “H+K’s energy and industrials team is undoubtedly one of the best in London, with its unique combination of sector knowledge and multi-disciplinary communications and public affairs expertise. I am thrilled to be working with such a talented team. I look forward to helping this part of the business grow and assisting our clients in their ambitions of communicating in an impactful, focused and fully integrated manner.”

Whitehead added: “Having worked client side and in consultancy, Richard really understands how to both design and implement strategic communications campaigns in highly complex organisations. His credentials in external communications, particularly in digital, really demonstrate our commitment to employing a multi-talented team across digital, marketing, media relations and public affairs.”

Carnell-Jones will be departing from the external communications team at Anglo American, where he founded and led its digital communications function. Previously, he worked at leading communications consultancies Edelman and Bell Pottinger.