This week’s PR news in brief (16-20 October)
Here’s a round-up of the essential PR news stories that have been announced over the past week – featuring Threepipe, the new Cate Blanchett film and highlights from the PR Week Awards.
Account wins
London-based comms agency Margaret will manage the UK press campaign for the release of Manifesto, a feature film starring Cate Blanchett in 13 different roles. It was directed by acclaimed German artist Julian Rosefeldt.
Luxury chocolate business Love Cocoa has bought in Fanclub PR to run its UK press office, following a competitive pitch.
Powerscourt Group has been appointed as the retained PR adviser to The Honourable Company of Air Pilots, a Livery Company with overseas branches in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and North America.
Pottery company Portmeirion Group has appointed Hudson Sandler as its retained financial and corporate communications adviser.
Swiss watchmaker Larsson & Jennings has appointed Threepipe to manage its online customer acquisition programmes, following a competitive pitch.
NetApp, a “hybrid cloud” data services company, has selected Text100 to drive its brand transformation efforts in Asia Pacific.
Endace, a New Zealand-based network history specialist, has selected CommsCo to support its PR and social presence and drive corporate cybersecurity awareness.
Fishing TV, a video-on-demand platform for fishing content, has enlisted KPPR to help shape and publicise World Fishing Day, one of the first ever global fishing events.
Events
Ruth Yearley, Ketchum‘s insight and strategy director, and Cision’s Paul Hender debated the role of intuition in comms at last night’s lively Cision ‘art vs science’ event in London.
Paul Hender makes his case at Cision’s ‘art vs science’ debate
Yearley opened the debate with an impassioned speech about how instinct was being vilified in the industry. She said people defined as “creatives” were now asking whether she had data to back up her “whims”.
Hender countered that part of the reason earned media practitioners receive far less money than their paid and owned counterparts is that communicators are not speaking in the language of the C-suite: data and measurable results.
People news
Hydra Strategy, the “senior-only” consultancy launched in January 2017, has appointed telecoms, media and technology industry specialist Hugh Davies as a Partner.
Integrated comms agency One has appointed Adam Friday and Louise O’Donoghue as head of digital and PR account executive, respectively.
SEC Spa, Italy’s biggest PR firm, has appointed Newington Communications chief executive Mark Glover to its board. SEC Spa bought a majority stake in Newington last year.
Taylor Bennett Foundation, the PR training programme for BAME graduates, has appointed Sarah Pinch and John Lehal as its new chair of trustees and vice-chair, respectively.
Leigh Marshall, a former head of communications at the National Centre for Social Research, has joined Good Relations as a senior account director in its corporate PR team.
Agency news
Hotwire and Wired Consulting have launched ‘Understanding Generation Alpha’, a report looking at what marketers can learn from the tech shaping humanity’s next generation.
Clemmie Mason-Pearson has launched Kitten & Shark, a luxury lifestyle PR agency that works with event planners, third party introducers, digital PR and social media professionals to deliver “360 degree” PR strategies.
PR Week Awards
English Heritage claimed the Cision-sponsored ‘In-House Team of the Year’ prize at this year’s PR Week Awards.
Abe Smith, Cision’s EMEA-I president, presenting the PR Week award
The charity’s nine-strong comms team was tasked with reaching new audiences and giving them reasons to visit its 400+ sites between June 2016 and May 2017.
It rose to the challenge with three campaigns marketing the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, tackling the issue of clothes moths and pushing for jousting to be named an Olympic sport.
As a result, it saw 500,000 more people visit English Heritage sites than during the same period the previous year.
