This week’s PR news in brief (6-10 November)
Here’s our round-up of essential PR news stories and features from the past week, including the winners of the PRCA National awards, Ketchum’s new London CEO and an interview with City A.M. editor Christian May.
Opinion
Paul Hender, Cision’s head of insight, examines whether Fake News is actually real or whether it comes from collective groupthink.
Barbara Watson, Launch’s director of brand and content, discusses the limitations of using silos and argues that training can overcome the difficulties associated with them.
Interviews
Christian May, editor of City A.M., reflects on the success of the newspaper on the day of its 3,000th issue, discusses his transition from PR to journalism and imagines what the 6,000th issue might look like.
Jill Coomber and Sue Grant, co-founders and directors of OneChocolate, discuss their PRCA National Awards nomination, founding the agency and their favourite chocolate brands.
Account wins
Australian apartment hotel operator Quest Apartment Hotels has appointed Launch to unveil its UK growth plans. The agency will operate a B2B media relations campaign to showcase Quest to potential UK partners.
Bounce Foods has appointed Mischief PR on retainer to manage its PR and influencer activity. Mischief’s Lifestyle division will create campaigns to promote Bounce’s brand and handle the launch of first-to-market products.
Digital agency the tree is to partner with natural healthcare product manufacturer Nelsons. The agency will run a number of digital campaigns to further establish the company’s RESCUE brand.
The Ondine Restaurant has appointed Seven Dials PR to handle its comms. The agency will handle all media relations for the Edinburgh restaurant and its chef patron Roy Brett.
Health and wellness management system My iDDNA has appointed RKM Communications. The consultancy will handle the brand’s UK launch, as well as ongoing PR and comms.
Consilium Strategic Communications is advising Ablynx on its comms strategy. The agency was part of a syndicate which worked on the company’s initial public offering.
Agency news
Charity, Inspiring Girls International is to partner with W Enterprise to establish its profile and secure sponsorship for a global campaign. The agency will look to elevate the charity’s profile among major global businesses with a view for sponsorship and launching media partnerships, events and research over the course of the year.
The Hoffman Agency has opened a new office in Jakarta, its seventh in the Asia Pacific region. It will aim to apply its global approach to help companies in south-east Asia’s largest economy build their public profiles.
Specialist international cyber security PR network Code Red Security has partnered with Korean agency Chayun Public Relations. The partnership allows the network to establish itself in Korea
Integrated comms firm NATIONAL Public Relations has launched a new corporate platform called AVENIR GLOBAL. The holding company will manage the firm’s five brands, which include healthcare specialists AXON Communications and strategic comms consultancy Madano.
People news
Ketchum has promoted Jo-ann Robertson to CEO of Ketchum London. She replaces current CEO Denise Kaufmann, who is returning to the US to become the agency’s director of client development for North America.
Strategic comms consultancy GK Strategy has appointed Christine Quigley, Rebecca Lury and Martin Summers as associate directors. The trio will help drive the consultancy’s plans to strengthen its transport, infrastructure and financial services capabilities, as well as bolstering its health team.
Ogilvy PR has appointed Rahul Titus as its head of influencer marketing. He will use his experience in influencer marketing to oversee the agency’s development of its ADAM influencer identification tool.
Yellow Jersey has hired Julia Kalcheva as associate director. Kalcheva has over 15 years’ experience in financial and corporate comms, including heading international media and corporate comms at ENRC Plc.
The Church of England has appointed Tashi Lassalle as its director of communications. She will oversee the work of the Church’s comms department, working across traditional media, digital platforms and publishing.
Hanover has appointed Aurélie Marchand as its EU health account director. Based in Brussels, Marchand will oversee the agency’s growing portfolio of health clients, including Sanofi Pasteur, Gilead Sciences and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Consilium Strategic Communications has made three new appointments to its London office. Nicholas Brown joins as a consultant, while Elizabeth Seeley and Katherine Murphy have both been hired as executive consultants.
Tank has hired six new employees following a number of international client wins. Addie Kenogbon joins as an account manager, Dexter Reeds has been appointed digital executive and Damian Summers, Eileen Pegg, Molly Bingham and Ed Sheldon are new account executives.
Aisle 8 has appointed Siobhan D’Abreu-Hayling as junior beauty and lifestyle PR assistant. She will report to beauty PR executive Hannah Chapman and support the agency’s growing beauty and lifestyle divisions.
John Greaves, brand director at HomeServe, has been awarded an honorary MBA by the University of Chester for his contribution to supporting the UK’s business, education and charitable communities.
Awards news
The Co-op‘s in-house comms team and Weber Shandwick both picked up four awards at this week’s PRCA National Awards 2017. The mutual’s Trapped in a bubble campaign brought it three awards, while the agency’s #BrutalCut campaign also saw it pick up three honours. The full list of winners can be found here.
PR events
Maitland took home a cheque for £500 after winning Cision’s exclusive 5th annual city quiz at Factory House on Tuesday. The financial, corporate and political comms agency came out on top as 12 teams battled to win the prize for a charity of their choice.
The Maitland team donated the money to Ebony Horse Club, a stables in Brixton designed to offer a new experience to people in one of the UK’s most disadvantaged inner city neighbourhoods.
Maitland’s Seda Ambartsumian said: “We’d like to give a HUGE thank you from all of us at Maitland for last night. Cision were so accommodating and made sure we all had such a good time!
“In terms of the winning team – they couldn’t be more delighted! We were all hoping to win money for one specific charity which a team member has been supporting for many years, so the win couldn’t have been more special for her! Thank you for the great organisation, delicious food, and the hi-tech nature of the event! It was all very impressive.”
Maitland winning the cheque for £500
