Pitch PR wins Channel 4 briefs

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Channel 4 has handed two PR campaign briefs to sports PR agency Pitch PR to promote its Formula 1 and 2016 Paralympics coverage.

Pitch previously worked on Channel 4’s PR campaign around the Londpitchon 2012 Paralympics, and has been re-hired to help the broadcaster promote its 2016 Paralympics coverage.

The agency aims to raise awareness and drive viewers to Channel 4’s live coverage from Rio in September, which will be a major part of the broadcaster’s Year of Disability.

Pitch has also been appointed to help promote the first year of Channel 4’s Formula 1 programming. The channel will broadcast ten live races per season, all of which will be ad-free, as well as highlights of all 21 races.

James MacLeod, head of press and publicity at Channel 4, said: “Pitch demonstrated a huge amount of creativity and passion in tackling these two very different briefs as well as an understanding of Channel 4’s values. It’s great to have them on board for such a big year of sport on Channel 4.”

Louisa Fyans, client services director at Pitch, added: “We are delighted to be working with Channel 4 on two great campaigns during what is set to be a big sporting year for the broadcaster. In 2012 they approached the Paralympics in a truly innovative way, from LEXI to the ground breaking ‘Meet the Superhumans’ marketing campaign, and we have no doubt they will do the same again.”

ATP Media briefs Threepipe

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ATP Media, the broadcast arm of men’s professional tennis tournament ATP World Tour, has chosen Threepipe as its PR agency for 2016.

Formed in 2001, ATP Media programming of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, as well as ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and 500 tournaments, broadcast across 190 territories in 2015 and reached a global audience of more than 828 million.

Threepipe, which won the account following a competitive pitch, has been briefed to drive ATP Media’s PR activity for the 2016 ATP World Tour.

The agency will raise awareness of its key services, as well as its portfolio of tennis archive footage.

A series of stakeholder engagement opportunities will also be delivered with the joint objective of heightening industry awareness of ATP Media’s heritage and scale of operation.

Mark Webster,ATP Media CEO,  said: “Threepipe demonstrated an undoubted understanding of our production model and a shared vision of how we can maximise exposure around our organisation and cutting edge offering.

“In such a fast paced industry, Threepipe will provide us with the vital experience and expertise required for us to communicate the production, broadcast, technological and digital developments we will be delivering across this year.”

Jim Hawker, co-founder of Threepipe, added: “ATP Media sets the benchmark for global sports broadcast coverage in an industry that continues to boom year on year. The scale of their operation is breath-taking and we look forward to bringing light to the experience, innovation and investment they provide their 75 broadcast partners in bringing the ATP World Tour to a global audience.

“As ATP Media continue to build the reputation and global following of tennis into new territories, we’ve introduced a comprehensive programme that will recognise these developments across 2016.”

Deutsche Boerse

WFE’s Thomas returns to Deutsche Boerse

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David Thomas, the head of comms at The World Federation of Exchanges, is returning to global exchange Deutsche Boerse as a senior UK/EU media adviser from March 15.

Thomas, who left the exchange in February last year, will handle Deutsche Boerse’s relations with London and Brussels-based media, based out of its London office. He previously managed relations with the UK financial media.

His appointment coincides with ongoing merger talks between Deutsche and the London Stock Exchange and follows the appointment of Carsten Kengeter as CEO in June last year. Reportedly, the posited all-share “merger of equals” could be worth some £20bn.

Vote Leave appoints PR agencies

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Brexit campaign group, Vote Leave, has appointed five agencies to handle its regional PR across England.

Integrated agency Cool Blue Communications is set to handle the North East and Yorkshire regions and creative marketing agency Trebuchet is set to handle the PR for the East of England.

The three other agencies have not yet agreed to have their names published, according to Vote Leave. All of the agencies began liaising with regional and local media earlier this month. Vote Leave told Gorkana that they will be working on PR, events and press office and duties in their regions.

Tanya Garland, managing director at Cool Blue, said: “As a company with no political affiliations it is really interesting to work on the Vote Leave campaign and to watch as the drama of the arguments and counter arguments unfolds.

“A major part of our role is to generate discussion and invite people who think they already know what they believe to open their minds and really consider the issues and how they might affect them.”

Sue Wilcock, PR and marketing director at Trebuchet, said: “It’s great to be working on a campaign that will have an effect on every person living in the UK.

“What really helps is that the central team in London are able to feed us with timely and interesting copy that we are able to adapt to suit the media in our region. They also trust us to use our experience with journalists at grassroots level to identify initiatives and ideas that will gain the biggest pick-up; a great collaborative effort that gets the best results.”

Gorkana meets…ABTA Magazine

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Jo Fletcher-Cross, editor of APL Media’s ABTA stable, on the titles’ broad trade and consumer reach, wanting PRs to fuel ABTA‘s “culture content” and her second life as a playwright.

How have your first few months in the role been, and what do you want to achieve with your editorship?

It has been very exciting. I was told I would come on board at a busy time, and that has proved very much to be the case. I am promised a quieter time at some point! I came from a senior position in a different sector, so it’s been a steep and interesting learning curve.

I am hoping to take our online offering forward. We want to make it a treasured resource for both trade and consumers – we want everyone to use it.

What titles are under your remit?

I oversee ABTA Magazine – it’s the only official ABTA trade magazine and it has been published by APL Media for over 15 years. That is our core product and goes out four times a year.

We also have a daily magazine we publish for World Travel Market in November, our annual ABTA Golf publication and the ABTA Members’ Handbook, reimagined this year into five regional volumes and rebranded as CountrybyCountry Guide. All of these are geared up to providing an excellent resource for travel agents.

Tell me about your readership?

Our readership is made up of ABTA members, tour operators and travel trade industry professionals. There are some good travel trade publications out there – we’re not competing with them on rolling news; our strength is in our ability to delve into the industry issues applicable to anyone in the travel industry, whether that’s ABTA members, travel agents, heads of airlines or even cabin crew. It’s content that could be relevant for everyone.

How do you and your reporters learn about the industry?

At the World Travel Market in November, I got to meet everyone in the world, it seems – an informative and educational experience!

I encourage all our writers to meet and engage PRs and tourist boards to forge strong relationships, improve their destination knowledge and help them to prepare for commissions. APL Media also publishes National Geographic Traveller, Destination Vacation and ASTANetwork – there’s a lot of information sharing.

We also have a network of freelancers that are shared across the publications. Some do trade and some travel – it’s an interesting mix.

Being quarterly, how do you decide what news content should make it into the mag?

It depends on the timing. Our September and November issues went out close together, so those are inherently more newsy. We feature news and issues impacting the industry, from hotel openings to new flight or rail routes; APD and legislation changes; industry trends, marketing opportunities; Q&As with industry leaders; and report or analytical features.

And how do you decide on a cover feature? Are they seasonal?

It’s what we think the pressing issues are at the time. We try not to commission them too far ahead of time, but we try to ensure it is a current issue.

How is content shared between your website, Countrybycountry.com, and the magazine?

Countrybycountry.com is the hub of all our content. It features exclusive content including reviews and travelogues – but also all the relevant content from the magazine. The aim is to ensure it is a useful resource for the travel industry – and it is not exclusive to trade only, consumers can use it too.

With more than 150 destinations featured online, I want it to be an essential travel resource, not just for stats – the nearest airport, currency – but also to inspire itineraries based on certain traveller scenarios.

Who do you compete with in the online space?

I don’t think there’s another free resource that does what we want it to do or has that trade and consumer mix. Probably the World Travel Guide by Columbus Travel Media.

Do you have a good relationship with PRs?

Yes! With so much information readily available out there and a barrage of emails and releases, forging strong personal relationships with PRs makes things much easier in our jobs.

How can they help with content?

It’s hard to say as the product has been around for a while and the PRs in the industry know what to send. Cultural content would be very useful as it’s something I’m very passionate about!

And finally, tell me about your alternative career as a playwright?

I worked in theatre and ran my own company for ten years. I did a postgrad in journalism and as a child I wanted to be a playwright and a travel journalist, so I am genuinely living the dream!

Jo Fletcher-Cross was speaking to Gorkana’s David Keevill

Craft Sportswear retains Sponge Marketing

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Swedish brand Craft Functional Sportswear has brought in London-­based PR and marketing agency Sponge Marketing as its retained UK agency.

Sponge has been briefed to develop a marketing campaign for Craft that will promote its functional sportswear, raising awareness of the brand in the UK.

James Akerman, UK brand manager at Craft, said: “We’re very excited to be working with Jane and her team at Sponge. We wanted to further our reach in terms of hitting the running, cycling, training wear and outdoor markets and we believe that Sponge’s expertise and contacts will help educate the end user about Craft’s technical sportswear.”

Described as producing “the best base layer in the world”, Craft is a Swedish brand specialising in clothing for both fitness and endurance sports.

Case Study: Celebrating 60 years of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

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When Stand Agency was briefed to celebrate the Diamond Anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and launch its new Diamond Challenge, the agency enlisted a host of celebrities, including Davina McCall and Arlene Phillips, to climb the equivalent of Ben Nevis in London’s Covent Garden. The results? A 163% increase in sign-ups for the new DofE Diamond Challenge.

Campaign: Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – celebrating 60 years of DofE
Client: Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
PR Team: Stand Agency
Timing: October 2015 – January 2016

Overview

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) is the world’s leading youth achievement award.  Open to 14 to 24-year-olds, the DofE has inspired and transformed the lives of millions of young people from all walks of life in the last 60 years. From volunteering to physical activities, life skills to expeditions, achieving a DofE Award helps build a path to a brighter and more confident future.

To help celebrate its Diamond Anniversary and launch the Diamond Challenge, the charity appointed Stand Agency.

Objectives

For 2016 only, the DofE is running the DofE Diamond Challenge. This initiative encourages people of all ages to take on a DofE-inspired challenge, aiming to increase the profile of the charity while at the same time raising vital funds that will allow the DofE to achieve its Diamond Ambition of reaching two million more young people by 2020.

The campaign objectives were to use traditional and social media to:

  • Celebrate the start of the Diamond Anniversary in style – enthuse the DofE network, offer a sense of occasion and give staff a sense of pride.
  • Build awareness of the DofE amongst new audiences and convey key messages.
  • Drive engagement and sign ups to the Diamond Challenge.

Strategy

To launch DofE’s Diamond Anniversary in a high profile way and bring key messages to life we knew we needed the help of some famous faces, as well as some DofE participants with amazing stories. We set about recruiting celebrity ambassadors and making contact with case studies and spokespeople to build up a bank of supporters ready for launch.

At the same time, we reached out to long-lead publications to make sure DofE was on their radar for 2016, as well as soft launching the Diamond Challenge amongst the DofE network and supporters using targeted media coverage, DofE’s own comms channels, and social media.

To create a strong news angle, we commissioned polling to understand why people like to overcome personal challenges and we examined to what extent people in the UK believed they challenged themselves in 2015.

We also planned a visual ‘stunt’ for the January launch in order to create a striking photo opportunity.
We set up a climbing wall in Covent Garden and, in keeping with the ‘expedition’ theme of the DofE, the target for the day was to climb the equivalent of Ben Nevis, and back down again.

The Charity’s celebrity supporters – Davina McCall, Julia Bradbury, Jon Culshaw, Alice Beer, Arlene Phillips, Matt Johnson and others – took to the climbing wall first, followed by members of the public who were encouraged by our street team.

Packaged up, along with the celebrity ambassadors and powerful case studies, we had a strong offer with lots of angles to take the media as well as for social and online content.

Results

Celebrate and launch the Diamond Anniversary in style:

The hugely positive response from DofE staff, and its wider network, was helped by strong regional coverage highlighting DofE’s work across the country. We secured 189 pieces of regional print and online coverage and 16 local radio interviews featuring inspiring DofE spokespeople and case studies. The BBC’s general news service picked the story up and offered it out of stations across its network.

Build awareness amongst new audiences and convey key messages:

Traditionally, DofE’s coverage outside the education; charity; and outdoors press has been limited. We took DofE to a new audience: reminding them that DofE is a charity; explaining why DofE is more relevant than ever; to a wider range of people than ever before; and demonstrating the organisations’ impact; along with a clear call to action.

Some 12 pieces of national print and online coverage were secured along with three national broadcast hits, including The Telegraph, The Times, the i newspaper, BuzzFeed; the Evening Standard, Sky News and Good Morning Britain. The total potential reach for the campaign was 129,769,122.

Drive engagement and sign ups:

During the campaign period there was a 163% increase in sign-ups to DofE Diamond Challenge.

Got a cracking campaign – with impressive results – that you’d like to showcase? If so, please email [email protected].

FTI wins Halal e-commerce account

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DagangHalal, which says it is the first global e-marketplace to provide Halal verification on products and services, has brought in FTI Consulting ahead of its intended float on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market next month.

DagangHalal’s online database allows suppliers and consumers to deal with Halal products “with confidence”. The business increased its revenue by 187% to MYR3.405m (c. £580,000) over a three year period to 31 December 2014.

FTI’s Rob Mindell, Elena Kalinskaya and Chris Lane are managing the brief.

Lazarus launches media funding service

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Lazarus Consulting, a consultancy for media and tech businesses, has launched a fundraising service to drive growth in comms companies and the wider media.

In 2005, the consultancy launched to provide commercial advice, around strategic partnerships, to growth media businesses. Among its services, it partners with PR companies to advise their clients on revenue-growing commercial strategies.

Its fundraising service will focus on early stage businesses looking to raise between £500,000 and £3m which it says are currently “poorly served” by the investment community. Lazarus has launched the service in co-operation with Daniel Stewart & Company, an FCA-approved corporate advisory and stockbroking services business.

Steve Lazarus (pictured), the MD of Lazarus, said: “Our business has traditionally focused on helping media and tech clients to grow by identifying the right commercial strategy and then working with them to strike deals and strategic partnerships that create real value for our clients.

“We can now offer those same clients access to finance which will help to accelerate their growth even faster – with our extensive investor network, we are able to secure smart money from investors who are able to add more value than simply the size of their investment.”

Gorkana Meets…Benjiamin Albertalli, auto journalist

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You are an automotive journalist, writing for a variety of publications, and one of the youngest reporters who specialises in the automotive sector. Can you tell us a bit about your career?

It is a profession that, in a certain way, represents a life’s dream come true. At 16, I realised that I might have what it takes to become a journalist specialising in the automotive sector. So I did not waste any time: I got my driving licence only three weeks after my 18th birthday and, immediately, started looking for my first assignments.  When I was still at high school I already had had the chance to get behind the wheel of most cars on the market. At 20, I signed my first contract as a professional regular contributor. Now, at 25, I manage an independent business working with capable contributors who are as passionate as I am.

How do you write articles for different audiences? What are the main changes you make when covering the same topic for a specialist audience and then for a more ‘general’ readership?

It is essential to put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Those who read specialist magazines usually know the sector reasonably well and are experienced from a technical point of view;  therefore, the added value that you can offer, is to explain down to the tiniest detail the characteristics of a given car – finding even the subtlest differences to its main competitors not often perceived by the common driver.

Conversely, it is important to catch the general public’s attention with an element or characteristic (usually technological) that they do not expect to find in that car. Being a motor enthusiast, my common denominator for both reader groups is, in any case, to always try to instil in everybody the sensations that you feel behind the wheel, one of the most important points which is unfortunately often underestimated.

You contribute to Swiss, Italian and German publications. Are there any differences between the three markets editorially? Does the approach to your sector of interest change in the three countries?

Switzerland suffers mainly from a very limited audience (in scale), which is also divided between three languages  and, for this reason, starting big projects or securing a large audience is not easy. Both the populations of Germany and Italy have a great passion for cars, in common, which makes working in this profession satisfying. I like working in both countries, even though, in Italy, it is often more difficult to propose new projects, since doors are rarely open for young talents and it is far more difficult to close a commercial deal. Nevertheless, luckily, there are exceptions.

Are there any sectors or topics in which you are particularly interested or that you would like to cover more extensively in the future?

I have always been fascinated by security and law enforcement, so much so that I still keep those sectors as a childhood dream in case I have to change profession.

Journalism is adapting to the new opportunities and new technologies. Do you use any multimedia or interactive elements for your articles? Do you think online journalism will replace print journalism?

I have always had a personal theory: online media users rarely read print publications, while readers of print publications use online media as well. This means the online offering must include short and concise articles, a captivating design, and multimedia content. On the other hand, it must also serve as an “archive” of everything that has been published in detail in print. I must, therefore, be able to find concise and captivating information at any moment, as well as complete and extensive information in case I need to go deeper into a given topic. At least, this is the case when it comes to my sector.

Do you think the automotive industry can help Europe in coming out of the economic crisis? How?

Automotive is the second most important business sector after real estate, providing jobs, directly and indirectly, for an unimaginable number of people. The automotive sector has all the potential to drive a country’s economy, but, in order to do so, it has to have more freedom from political ties: the obsession with emission reduction which makes the engineers’ lives impossible and makes cars ever more expensive, nonsensical taxes that kill the sports and luxury cars markets, restrictions on traffic and laws that discourage the use of cars. If cars were not always as criminalised and attacked as in the 21st Century, everyone would benefit!

As well as being a journalist, you are also a professional racing driver, and have won the 24 Hour race of Nürburgring. How does it feel being on the “other side” of the news?

Stating that I am a professional is exaggerating, but I found some satisfaction in showing that I am not that bad “between the kerbs”. It is certainly a curious sensation. For instance, I have to write a press release to be sent to various publications when, usually, I am on the receiving end of those press releases. As a journalist you know how to pique your colleagues’ interest though and how to convey the information that you want to be published in the best possible way.

Do you use social media platforms? Do you think they are a useful tool for your job, and how do you use them in your day-to-day professional life?

Yes, I use them. When you work for a well-known publication social media platforms are not essential, but they are an excellent support that allows you to stay on the crest of the wave, while for the promotion of unknown publications, they are fundamental. Anyway, it is important to be very cautious when  social networks are used personally.

Do you work with PRs? What is the best way for them to contact you?

I am in contact every day with all the PRs of the Swiss automotive sector, as well as others. The easiest way to contact me is definitely by email, at the following address: [email protected]

Last question: what is your dream car?

This is a question that is often posed and that is difficult to answer. Still, I always think about which car I would like to drive at least once a week: a Porsche 911 GT3.

Benjiamin was interviewed by Gorkana’s Carlo Abbona.