Debbie Klein, Sky

Sky hires former Engine CEO Debbie Klein

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Sky has appointed Debbie Klein to the newly created position of group chief marketing and corporate affairs officer.

She will be responsible for the company’s overall brand and marketing development, as well as assuming overall leadership for corporate Affairs and Sky’s Bigger Picture programme. She will join the Group Executive Leadership Team and report directly to chief executive Jeremy Darroch.

Klein joins from integrated comms and marketing business Engine Group, where she was CEO for Europe and Asia Pacific. Under her leadership the company saw substantial growth and was named a Sunday Times ‘Best Company to Work For’ seven years in a row from 2011-2017.

Darroch said: “We are delighted to welcome Debbie to Sky.  She is an outstanding leader, who has an excellent track record and I know that she will be a great addition to our leadership team.  We are all very much looking forward to working with her as a colleague.”

Klein added: “I have loved working with Jeremy and the team at Sky as clients over many years, so the opportunity to step inside at such an exciting time and be part of shaping the future was one I simply could not pass up.

“It has been a privilege to lead Engine and I know I leave it in great shape, with an outstanding leadership team who will continue to grow and evolve it.”

Brands2Life to launch OVO Energy’s new brand

Brands2Life to launch OVO Energy’s new brand

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OVO Energy has appointed Brands2Life to support the launch of its new pay-as-you-go energy brand Boost, following a competitive pitch.

The agency will deliver a creative consumer PR campaign which will support the energy provider’s wider marketing campaign. It will also provide a framework for ongoing consumer comms.

Also, Brands2Life will manage an earned media strategy which will highlight the benefits of Boost to consumers, while also using audience insights to engage with customers.

Justin Cockerill, managing director at Boost, said: “It’s not often that you think you could execute every single one of the ideas that are presented to you at pitch – but that’s how we felt when we saw Brands2Life.

“They had a brilliant understanding of our audience and a smart strategy, which combined with bold creativity was a winning formula. We’re really looking forward to our partnership with them.”

Katy Stolliday, deputy MD, consumer at Brands2Life, added: “Boost has developed a strong and innovative proposition in the PAYG energy market, and their desire to do things differently was the perfect brief. We had a lot of fun coming up with the right ideas for them and we’re working hard to get our activations in place ready for a great launch.”

  • Pictured: A still from Boost’s new integrated campaign
Meet the Journalist: Monocle editor Andrew Tuck

Meet the Journalist: Monocle editor Andrew Tuck

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Andrew Tuck, editor at Monocle, talks about launching a premium weekly paper, its global take on the news – and the importance of exclusivity.

Throughout December, Monocle published a print newspaper called The Winter Weekly. What sets it apart from other titles in the portfolio?

We believe in print – as you may have heard – and have long been intrigued by the newspaper format and how, if you were starting out today, you might use newsprint.

For several years we published Monocle Mediterraneo and Monocle Alpino: single-issue papers that came out in the summer and winter, respectively, and were there to reach our readers during their holidays. But in 2017 we started looking at the newspaper idea again, first in the summer and then with The Winter Weekly.

Our feeling is that there is space for a nimble premium weekly paper that delivers news and features with a truly global perspective – and that also knows when to have fun. What sets it apart? The papers still speak to the same values as the magazine. But they allow us to think about a faster delivery of news and views in print.

The newspaper format presumably appeals to a different demographic to the larger magazine. What was your target audience for this venture?

I don’t think the demographic is different in age or outlook. But there is perhaps a reader who is more in the weekly news/magazine space who we are connecting with for the first time. We are just after people who want a less national take on the news. We believe a global perspective is more vital than ever.

The papers have also let us work with some of the world’s best brands on advertising and advertorial content. They have been key to our success. A double-page advertisement looks glorious in the newspaper.

In addition to publishing 10 issues of Monocle magazine each year, the brand also produces annual editions of The Escapist and The Forecast. Is the same editorial team responsible for all these titles?

Yes. The same editors work across every project that we do and, yes, a few of them looked like they needed a spa break by Christmas. It’s demanding, but delivers a consistency of voice and quality. And the team are passionate about their pages and like to keep a firm grip on copy that impacts on their – and our – standing.

Monocle creates content in a wide range of formats, including video, podcasts and digital articles. In an increasingly digital media landscape, what can print titles do to stay relevant?

Look, there’s no single solution and in recent years lots of titles have got themselves lost believing that there is some magic editorial elixir out there – remember all those dedicated iPad teams?

“What do our readers really need?” has to be the starting point. And don’t just rely on focus groups to give you the answers. Develop a gut feeling, because readers still want to be surprised and not served market-research-inspired “content”.

Then you have to be inventive with how you use print to make it a really pleasurable experience. Monocle is not opposed to digital but we are just keen to know that there is a revenue model – and not at some hard-to-define date in the future.

Are there plans to publish another seasonal weekly newspaper in the summer?

Yes, The Summer Weekly is returning and we are looking at other newspaper projects too. We will push the news content this summer and continue to work with photographers and illustrators who make the most of the scale and landscape you get to populate with a paper.

What is Monocle’s relationship like with PRs? And what sort of stories are you interested in hearing about?

We are not PR-driven and do not take free press trips. We want to be at liberty to say what we think and we cannot run stories that you will see in a dozen other titles. However, some good PRs understand that and make introductions that are fruitful and astute. But we want exclusivity.

Monocle prides itself on curating premium editorial content. But outside of the Monocle brand, are there any writers whose work you particularly admire?

There are lots of great magazine and newspaper writers and editors – and broadcasters too. Monocle, like any paper, covers everything from diplomacy to fashion – and there are titles in every sector that I admire.

I read the New York Times and Washington Post for US politics, check out ArchDaily and Dezeen for architectural news, see if my Spanish lessons will help me through El Pais and read fashion news in the FT, as well as leafing through a host of smaller, bespoke titles.

Jon McLeod Weber Shandwick

Opinion: Why brands that take a stand will see commercial benefit

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Businesses may be missing a trick if they don’t use responsible behaviour to drive commerce, says Weber Shandwick’s Jon McLeod.

In its recent 2018 trends white paper, Cision signalled that brands can no longer stay silent on social issues. They must instead be prepared to take a stand in their sectors.

That is borne out by new research released by Weber Shandwick last week. It shows that consumer activists will not only continue to boycott brands they don’t approve of, they will now also actively buy into brands they see as doing the right thing.

Battle of the Wallets: the changing landscape of consumer activism, the study from Weber Shandwick and its research partner KRC Research, reveals the extent to which the modern consumer will respond to a company’s good behaviour by preferring its goods or services.

This phenomenon has been dubbed “buycotting” – and it’s expected to grow faster than boycotts in the coming years. This is an important consideration for UK companies reviewing their approach to burning issues such as plastics, tax and workplace discrimination.

The research looked at the attitudes and activities of 1,000 UK consumers, screened on the basis of having taken some sort of action for or against a company or brand.

It found that 91% of this group had engaged in boycotts, with 58% buycotting. They has each boycotted a company on average 6.3 times in the past two years, with buycotters taking an average of 5.6 positive steps to buy from a “good” business.

Interestingly, 29% expected to step up their buycotting in the next 24 months, with 22% expecting to boycott more regularly, suggesting that buycotting is growing in favour. Both boycotters and buycotters felt that social media makes such campaigns more effective, with 76% and 79% respectively agreeing.

A generational dimension to this shift in behaviour is reflected in the fact that younger respondents were more likely to favour buycotts over boycotts, further supporting the evidence for this rising buycott movement.

This new generation of consumer activist looks very different from the boycotting baby boomers that preceded them. Brought up on social media, they will increasingly reward companies that provide a high-quality product while also doing the right thing.

Businesses will be missing a trick if they don’t respond to this trend by linking their corporate social responsibility and consumer marketing strategies to commerce. In this way, they can reap the rewards of changing company behaviour on key issues like the environment, fair trade, gender rights and quality goods.

It’s no longer enough for companies to just adopt ethical policies. They also need to engage with their consumer audiences in a relevant way that enables advocates to become activist customers.

To discover more about how this emerging trend with shape PR in 2018, enter your details below and download Cision’s latest white paper – Four trends that will shape PR and earned media in 2018.

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Four trends that will shape PR and earned media in 2018

  • Jon McLeod is chairman UK corporate financial and public affairs at Weber Shandwick
60 Seconds with Promote PR CEO Sue Anstiss

60 Seconds with Promote PR CEO Sue Anstiss

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Sue Anstiss, CEO of Promote PR, speaks about being awarded the MBE, the rise of women’s sport and her agency’s most memorable campaign. 

It’s been 24 years since you founded Promote PR, how has sport and fitness PR changed in that time?

The industries themselves have changed hugely as interest in a wide variety of sport continues to grow, technology advances change the way we work out, and private gym membership becomes more accessible for all via budget gyms.

All of this has impacted on the objectives of communications campaigns, and the work that we do. Sport and fitness PR has evolved in the same way as all PR, we’ve seen the power of influencers and content and a shift towards digital, but what excites me more is WHY we are doing our campaigns.

There will always be brands that are vying for consumer attention, loyalty and money, but the focus has shifted more towards encouraging lifestyle changes to get more people moving for health benefits – both mental and physical.

This has become a priority for Sport England, a major funder of sports. Reaching inactive people and getting them to do something physical rather than just encouraging already sporty people to play more.

You appointed Nasima Hussain as managing director last year. What expertise does she bring to the agency?

Nasima has transformed the way the agency operates, bringing in many highly effective systems and processes and establishing a structured development and progression plan for the whole team.

In November 2017 we achieved the PRCA’s Communication Management Standard (CMS), a tangible result of the work Nas has delivered to improve many areas of the business including business planning, business improvement, people management, campaign management and client satisfaction.

In addition to this, her strategic vision for clients is superb and has helped us to win and grow a huge amount of new business this year.

Over the course of those 24 years, the profile of women’s sport has grown hugely. What are your thoughts on the growing importance of women’s sport?

Sport both reflects and magnifies societal change, so it’s incredibly important that we move towards a place where women’s sport has equal profile and funding to men’s.

There have been some really positive shifts in this area in the past few years with major sponsors such as SSE, Kia, Investec and Vitality choosing to back women’s sport, and female players being paid as professionals in sports such as cricket, rugby, netball and football.

What has been Promote’s most memorable campaign?

This is probably one of our recent campaigns. To launch England Athletics’ RunTogether programme last year we developed a PR campaign with a creative news story focusing on female barriers to running.

This generated 112 items of coverage included BBC Breakfast, Sky News, The Times, Telegraph, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Grazia, Red magazine and Cosmopolitan. More importantly it massively exceeded the targets set by the client, driving 25,000 registrations to the RunTogether website with over 1,000 groups registered and 90,000 individuals running sessions booked.

We’re incredibly proud of this campaign and it was great to receive two CIPR Gold Awards for this last year in wider recognition of our great work.

You work with a number of sports ambassadors, including the like of James Haskell. What’s the best way to deploy them on a campaign?

My three tips would be:

  • Ensure that your ambassador has a real passion for the product or brand they are going to be representing. This will make your job easier as everything with be more authentic and effective
  • Spend time planning how you are going to activate their role and be very clear about your expectations with the ambassador and the client
  • Be open-minded about how you might use them in everything from content days, media interviews, social media campaigns, features, photoshoots, personal appearances, video footage, media days / lunches / training sessions, money can’t buy prizes, coaching tips etc. Get the sporting ambassador to share their ideas too – often they know what the media want and what works for them.

Finally, you were appointed an MBE in the New Year’s honours, how did you feel when you found out?

A real mix of emotions. I was quite shocked, then incredibly proud and excited.

Although I was initially told about the award at the end of November, I had to then keep it confidential until the list was officially published on December 29. That bit was tricky.

At times like this, it’s natural to think about making your loved ones proud, so receiving the award was slightly tinged with sadness. My dad, who was the ultimate sports fan, passed away last year. I know he would have been extraordinarily proud to hear that his daughter had been awarded an MBE.

It’s a great tribute to a man who encouraged his daughter in sport as much as his three sons; someone who recognised ‘great sport is great sport’ whether played by men or women.

Foco appoints James Rowe as account director

Foco appoints James Rowe as account director

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Fintech content marketing consultancy Foco has recruited James Rowe as account director, following a pair of new business wins.

Rowe has more than 10 years’ agency experience, including senior roles at Kazoo Communications, 3 Monkeys Zeno, Finn Partners and Frank PR.

He has worked across consumer technology and B2B accounts for clients including Samsung, Microsoft and Three. To help Foco realise its ambitious growth plans, Rowe will assist the team with creative storytelling, content strategy and client consultancy.

Michael Taggart, co-founder at Foco, said: “Tech runs through James’s blood. He has an enviable background in helping well-known brands tell their stories in meaningful and thought-provoking ways – exactly what Foco needs to help consolidate our position as the go-to agency for the brightest of fintech start-ups.”

Rowe added: “I’m thrilled to be part of such a progressive company that not only mirrors the can-do attitude of the clients it serves, but also recognises the greater role that content now plays in today’s PR and marketing mix – I can’t wait to get stuck in.”