PR Week (UK) articles from December 2005

PR Week (UK) archives from December 2005

Lego asks Norton to freshen image.
December 2, 2005... Lego has split with Hill & Knowlton and turned to a ten-strong kids' PR firm in Gloucestershire, Norton & Company, as it strives to remain relevant in the highly competitive toy market. The 78-year-old Danish company brought in Norton...

Fry reappears to take equity stake in Tulchan.
December 2, 2005... City hotshop Tulchan Communications has snapped up former Scottish Power corporate comms director Dominic Fry. The appointment of Fry, who worked with Tulchan at Scottish Power for the past five years, is a coup for agency founder Andrew...

Wheeler to exit GCI as agencies realign.
December 2, 2005... GCI Europe chairman and UK CEO Adrian Wheeler is to leave the group at the end of the year. The 15-year agency veteran is understood to be a casualty of the reorganisation of GCI following WPP's acquisition of Grey Global Group last year....

Scrapping of OFR 'a kick in the face'.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Chancellor Gordon Brown's shock move to scrap the mandatory Operating and Financial Review will set corporate transparency back years and alienate businesses, CSR experts have told PRWeek. The OFR required companies to publish non-financial...

Plumber shortage sparks campaign to lure women.
December 2, 2005... Britain's plumber shortage is being tackled head on via a media relations campaign to attract more women to the trade. Entrepreneur Allen Jackson is planning to lure the fairer sex to his new pounds 1.5m training centre, which is endorsed by...

LG Electronics drops C&W as handset sales stutter.
December 2, 2005... LG Electronics has parted company with Cohn & Wolfe and is on the hunt for an agency to arrest its recent decline in the mobile handset market. The South Korean firm launched the review of the pounds 300,000-a-year consumer technology...

Adams stands up to supermarkets.
December 2, 2005... Clothing retailer Adams Kids has charged Golin Harris with boosting its profile against stiff competition from the supermarkets. GH will in particular aim to lure customers from Asda and Tesco to Adams' generic school clothing ranges. ...

Media Strategy's MacKay loses battle with cancer.
December 2, 2005... Media Strategy director Gregor MacKay has died at the age of 36 after a brief and brave fight against a rare and virulent form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He died last Saturday, having been diagnosed with the disease just eight weeks ago....

Basketball stars to get makeover.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... England Basketball, the governing body for the sport, has hired start-up agency Podium PR to build the profile of its best players. The England team includes former NBA star John Amaechi. Podium PR is aiming to build relationships...

Synergy/Balfour in travel merger.
December 2, 2005... Travel PR firm Synergy has merged with marketing outfit Hills Balfour. Synergy MD Julian Mills becomes executive director of operations, with Amanda Hills Balfour now group MD of the enlarged group. Named Hills Balfour Synergy, the...

Arriva signs up ex-BT chief Craven.
December 2, 2005... Bus and rail operator Arriva is to bring in a former BT PR man to its top comms job. Simon Craven will join the Sunderland-based group as director of comms on 3 January. His most recent position was as director of strategic comms at BT,...

Health dept turns to Tee for winter cover.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... The Department of Health has chosen former DTI head of news Matt Tee to take on one of the PR industry's most challenging jobs. From 12 December, Tee will be covering the maternity leave of director of comms Sian Jarvis. He will command the...

Tesco in youth soccer initiative.
December 2, 2005... Tesco is using The Media Foundry (TMF) to promote a new national football initiative that encourages UK children to be more active. It estimates that around 35,500 boys will take part in the 'Tesco U13s Cup' - a tournament for which...

News Brief: Metropolitan Police awarded.
December 2, 2005... PUBLIC SECTOR: The Metropolitan Police won the Press Office of the Year gong at this week's annual Foreign Press Association awards. It was particularly commended for its work around the 7 July London bombings.

News Brief: Partygaming appoints.
December 2, 2005... CORPORATE FTSE: 100 online gambling firm Partygaming has hired former Burson-Marsteller corporate MD John Shepherd as director of corporate comms. Shepherd left B-M this summer to set up his own firm.

News Brief: Pitch PR appointed.
December 2, 2005... CONSUMER: The International Pool Tour, the organisation founded by US infomercial billionaire Kevin Trudeau, has called in Pitch PR to handle UK and European comms. Pitch will promote the participation of snooker players such as Ronnie...

News Brief: BBC hires Fletcher.
December 2, 2005... PUBLIC SECTOR: The BBC has hired Jane Fletcher as head of comms for BBC1. The former BBC3 PRO replaces Katie Bourne, who left last year.

News Brief: Cow replaces Freerange.
December 2, 2005... CONSUMER: Cow Communications has replaced Freerange Communications on Thorpe Park's pounds 150,000 consumer account after a three-way pitch (PRWeek, 4 November).

News Brief: Performance PR appoints.
December 2, 2005... AGENCY: Performance PR has hired Simon Breakell to head its sports division. Breakell was formerly a senior account manager at Consolidated Communications.

News Brief: MC2 brought in.
December 2, 2005... CONSUMER: Phones4u has brought in Manchester-based MC2 to replace Brazen PR as its consumer agency. Brazen resigned the account after winning a contract with T-Mobile (PRWeek, 16 September).

News Brief: Wellings appointed.
December 2, 2005... CORPORATE: The Fitness Industry Association has recruited Metropolitan Housing Partnership comms manager Paul Wellings as PR manager.

News Brief: Pincott sells Pirate.
December 2, 2005... AGENCY: David Pincott has wound up Pirate Communications, the agency he founded six years ago, and sold the brand to an undisclosed buyer. Pincott, now working as a freelance, said Pirate closed last week with the loss of two jobs.

C4 space show in guerrilla activity.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Channel 4 is using Shine Communications to handle guerrilla marketing and media relations for its controversial reality show Space Cadets. The show, from 7 to 16 December and fronted by Johnny Vaughan, is being promoted with the slogan...

Festival group set for new-event bid.
December 2, 2005... The Angel Music Group, organiser of dance music festival Global Gathering, has tasked Spring PR and Marketing with promoting four festivals in 2006. They include two new events - Global Gathering in Miami on 18 March and a sister festival in...

Vodafone sponsorship withdrawal hits Man Utd.
December 2, 2005... Vodafone's withdrawal from its four-year, pounds 9m-a-year shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester United last week gave the club - also in danger of elimination from the Champions' League - a rare appearance near the foot of Reputation Monitor....

Back for good?
December 2, 2005... Nineties boy band Take That are using LD Publicity to handle their revival tour. The four-piece called on LD director Maria Barham to announce the tour last Friday following a meeting on the Wednesday. 'The boys were worried there would be...

Start-rite shoes targets mothers.
December 2, 2005... Kids' shoes maker Start-rite has appointed August.One Communications as its first retained agency to fight off increasingly stiff competition from supermarkets and resurgent rival Clarks. Comms manager Rebecca Hartley said August.One would...

Kodak signs up AD for graphics work.
December 2, 2005... Kodak has handed AD Communications the trade PR account for its burgeoning graphic communications division across EMEA after a competitive pitch. Kodak has recently acquired a number of products, including Creo, a printer parts supplier,...

Marriott drafts in Citigate for UK job.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... The Marriott hotel chain has hired Citigate SMARTS to run UK regional brand awareness programmes, six months after gaining its independence from the Whitbread Hotel Company. The group operates more than 70 hotels in the UK under brands...

Wella appoints Wilson to lead new product assault.
December 2, 2005... Haircare company Wella UK has brought in former consultant Leigh-ann Wilson to its top PR role. Wilson, who formerly worked as deputy MD at EH PR - Wella's long-standing retained agency - started as comms manager last week. She heads a...

Brands2Life nabs Metro journalist.
December 2, 2005... Brands2Life has poached Metro's technology and motoring editor Jonathan Goddard to be its media consultant. He was at the London daily freesheet for three and a half years. Goddard is a former deputy editor of London Jewish News. This...

Public Sector: Pensions crisis is looming for PROs.
December 2, 2005... If you run a search for the keyword 'pensions' in newspapers, specialist publications and online, you are assailed by an avalanche of references. Pensions are no longer dull. Those selling pensions have an uphill slog - a sceptical...

Public Sector: Ex-Granada marketer to revamp image of Bolton.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Bolton, the birthplace of comedian Peter Kay, is gearing up for an image overhaul to lure businesses and investors to the Lancashire town. Former ITV Granada head of marketing Sue Strange will spearhead the drive as Bolton Council's first...

Public Sector: GCI secures Govt sick-day contract.
December 2, 2005... The Government has enlisted GCI to promote a national workplace health advisory service as it bids to minimise sick days in small businesses. The service, Workplace Health Connect (WHC), will provide confidential advice on workplace health...

Public Sector: Richmond in police initiative.
December 2, 2005... A London police force has taken the unusual step of bringing in PR advice from a local council to conduct its 'community reassurance' project. Richmond-upon-Thames Council, whose comms function is outsourced to Westminster City Council, is...

Public Affairs: McDonald's reshuffle sparks hunt for lobby chief.
December 2, 2005... McDonald's is hunting a top UK lobbyist as a result of a rejig carried out by head of corporate affairs Nick Hindle. PA manager Caroline Weber's move to take charge of media relations in the UK has created the vacancy. The restructure has...

Public Affairs: Diana fund set to hire PA manager.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund is searching for its first head of public affairs, two months after CEO Dr Astrid Honeyman's appointment. The role will involve lobbying individual governments, the UN and the EU in support of the...

Public Affairs: Aviva reviews PA account in wake of RAC acquisition.
December 2, 2005... Aviva, the FTSE 100 group that owns Britain's biggest insurer Norwich Union, has kicked off a review of its UK public affairs account following its acquisition of the RAC earlier this year. Up for grabs is a wide-ranging brief that involves...

Public Affairs: Composers' rights group shortlists for fresh brief.
December 2, 2005... British Music Rights, an organisation that promotes the interests of composers and songwriters in the face of new technology, is reviewing its public affairs account. Fleishman-Hillard is the incumbent. The rethink comes ahead of several...

Public Affairs: BOA's Pope joins Cricket Australia.
December 2, 2005... MELBOURNE: Cricket Australia has lured British Olympic Association (BOA) head of media relations Philip Pope to fill the new post of PA manager. Pope will oversee the media team travelling with the men's cricket team during Australia's...

City & Corporate: Corfin wins water account at Amiad.
December 2, 2005... Corfin Communications is leading the financial comms effort for this month's AIM listing of water filtration company Amiad Filtration Systems. Corfin co-founders Harry Chathli and Neil Thapar are leading PR around the listing of the...

City & Corporate: Lender Davenham retains Smithfield.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Smithfield has picked up the retained financial comms brief for asset-based lender Davenham. Smithfield director Reg Hoare led comms on the listing of the Manchester-based company, which began trading on the AIM on 22 November. The...

City & Corporate: Inverarity leaves Tulchan in relocation to Australia.
December 2, 2005... Tulchan consultant Kate Inverarity is set to leave the company, and the UK, in the new year. Inverarity, who is one of Tulchan's 11 senior consultants, is returning to her native Australia on maternity leave but is not expected to rejoin...

City & Corporate: Adecco cuts down Cubitt brief after board shake-up.
December 2, 2005... SWITZERLAND: Troubled recruitment company Adecco has slashed the value of its financial communications account with Cubitt Consulting following a long boardroom battle. The global temporary staffing firm, which last week parted company...

City & Corporate: Software provider Northgate to stage comms pitch.
December 2, 2005... Northgate Information Solutions has launched a review of its financial comms account following the intervention of the board a week before it publishes its interim results. It is understood the FTSE 250 software firm is in talks with a...

City & Corporate: Buchanan ties up billing firm work.
December 2, 2005... Billing Services Group, the world's largest bill clearing and settlement company, has drafted in Buchanan Communications as its retained financial comms adviser six months after floating on the AIM. Buchanan director Bobby Morse is leading...

City & Corporate: Telecom Egypt drafts in Capital MS&L for flotation.
December 2, 2005... CAIRO: Telecom Egypt has hired Publicis-backed financial comms shop Capital MS&L for what is being billed as one of the Middle East's largest privatisations. It emerged this week that the company had engaged Capital director Neil Doyle to...

City & Corporate: Gowers: bleak future for print.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Former Financial Times editor Andrew Gowers has ruled out returning to the helm of a national newspaper and given financial PROs a bleak vision of the future of print media. Speaking last Thursday at the CIPR Corporate & Financial Group's...

City & Corporate: Halifax share arm hits London press.
December 2, 2005... Online and telephone service Halifax Share Dealing has called in Redleaf Communications to increase its profile with the London-based financial services press. The company, which has used Leeds-based Blueprint PR since May 2004, appointed...

City & Corporate: Media trivia masks business problems.
December 2, 2005... Over the past few years a sustained campaign by the CBI has put red tape and the prospect of tax increases at the centre of attention - so much so that Gordon Brown sought in his speech at a CBI dinner last Monday to establish his deregulation...

Healthcare: At a Glance - PROs prepare for NICE annual conference.
December 2, 2005... When is the auspicious event? Next week, 7-8 December, at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. It's open to anyone willing to stump up the money, but typically it attracts senior healthcare directors, as well as...

Healthcare: Novo Nordisk urges early ID of growth disorders.
December 2, 2005... Danish firm Novo Nordisk is using Red Door Communications to handle a UK campaign that seeks to encourage early identification and treatment for growth disorders in children. Red Door's campaign will start with 'educational initiatives',...

Healthcare: Boehringer cuts team as patents run course.
December 2, 2005... German firm Boehringer Ingelheim is axing two of its UK comms roles, citing the forthcoming loss of patent protection on some of its top brands and the negative effects of 'parallel trade'. UK director of comms Jon Hearson confirmed that...

Healthcare: Elliston returns to Galliard from SHI.
December 2, 2005... Dominic Elliston has re-joined Galliard Healthcare Communications less than a year after leaving the agency for Shire Health International. Elliston is working in an account director role on Galliard's global contract for GlaxoSmithKline's...

Healthcare: Resolute snares bevy of account handlers.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Resolute Communications this week unveiled a batch of hires to strengthen its account-handling ranks. The appointments take the agency's headcount to 34 full-time staff after fewer than four years in business. Suzanne Williamson has joined...

Healthcare: Shire's Varney in move to C&W role.
December 2, 2005... Shire Health International stalwart Jo Varney has joined Cohn & Wolfe's UK healthcare team. She has taken up an associate director role at C&W and is working on its AstraZeneca international business, as well as its Novartis Ophthalmics...

Healthcare: PR as important as sales forces, says HCA survey.
December 2, 2005... More than three quarters of pharma companies are increasing their use of PR, according to a survey. The Healthcare Communications Association's (HCA) first poll of pharma firms' in-house staff assessed 17 companies, with just half of those...

Healthcare: Action over African HIV in Birmingham.
December 2, 2005... London agency 90TEN is to help tackle a rise in HIV infection rates among African people in Birmingham. The agency is handling a media relations campaign targeting national African and HIV-related titles, plus regional press in the West...

Healthcare: Awareness Campaign Close-up - AIDS groups gear up for World Day.
December 2, 2005... Organisation: UNAIDS, National Aids Trust, Terrence Higgins Trust and others Campaign: World Aids Day PR team: Various Date: 1 December 'Wise up. Wear it. Where's yours?' is the NAT slogan for its 18th annual day, co-ordinated...

Voluntary Sector: Women's HIV/Aids group campaigns for activists.
December 2, 2005... A new charity supporting women affected by HIV/Aids has embarked on a recruitment drive for high-profile female activists. Launched last week at the House of Commons with a speech by former Irish president Mary Robinson, Sofia describes...

Voluntary Sector: Samaritans sets sights on youth.
December 2, 2005... Samaritans is for the first time aiming its annual winter campaign squarely at 15 to 24-year-olds. The group's research found young people preferred not to discuss serious problems, such as hard drug use and sexual or physical abuse, with...

Voluntary Sector: Autism survey shows 'ignorance' about disease.
December 2, 2005... The National Autistic Society (NAS) has revealed 'a high level of ignorance' about the condition. The charity surveyed 28,000 people after a radio awareness campaign that ran in September. Editorial and advertising slots across the...

Voluntary Sector: Meningitis Trust in schools focus.
December 2, 2005... The Meningitis Trust us urging schools to 'party' to raise funds and awareness of the disease among its most vulnerable groups - primary and secondary-school kids. The 'Let's Party!' campaign encourages primary and secondary schools to...

Voluntary Sector: Raleigh seeks to shed elitist tag.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Raleigh International is bidding to shake off its elitist image and make gap-year recruits' experience more relevant to the world of work. The 21-year-old adventure charity sends paying young people - often in their gap year before...

Voluntary Sector: Fundraisers in choppy water.
December 2, 2005... A team of kayakers is taking on one of the most inhospitable oceans to raise funds for Children in Crisis and Welsh children's hospice Ty Hafan. The Templar Films team set off ten days ago to brave Antarctic gales and freezing seas to...

Media Relations: What The Papers Say - GCap ad strategy seen as 'suicide'.
December 2, 2005... GCap's strategy to slash advertising and play more music to tempt back listeners to the ailing Capital FM may be viewed historically as 'doing a Ratner'. Acknowledging an 'extremely disappointing set of results' (The Daily Telegraph, 25...

Media Relations: Contact Book Update.
December 2, 2005... PRESS Martin Dickson has been made deputy editor of the Financial Times. Currently editor of the paper's Lombard column, he replaces Chrystia Freeland, who is to be US managing editor, based in New York. Meanwhile Robert Shrimsley, who...

Media Relations: 2 Minutes with... Ed Bedington, Associate editor, FPJ.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Didn't FPJ used to be called Fresh Produce Journal? Yes - it was our 110th anniversary last month, so we decided it was time for a relaunch. What's changed? We've made a little more room for news and better use of pictures,...

Media Analysis: Break into Northern Ireland's clique.
December 2, 2005... Northern Ireland's media scene is characterised by strong relations between local PROs and journalists. Hannah Marriott reports on trends in the province, where communities are largely loyal to their local papers. Northern Ireland is said...

News Analysis: Only facts can kill healthcare fiction.
December 2, 2005... The DoH infuriated the tabloids by excluding them from a briefing on the flu-vaccine shortage. An ex-DoH head of news assesses how to deal with scare stories. Despite bird-flu hysteria and predictions of one of the coldest winters for...

News Analysis: DIY firms struggle to rebuild appeal.
December 2, 2005... DIY retailer B&Q, in the throes of a store-closure and job-cutting programme, has just axed its top comms role. Alex Black assesses the challenge faced by the brand and its rivals to woo back DIY-weary consumers. Lorian Coutts's departure...

Profile: Sharp operator - Stephen Whitehead, corporate affairs director, Barclays.
December 2, 2005... There is a fine view of Docklands and the 2012 Olympics site from Stephen Whitehead's office on the 30th floor of Barclays' HQ at Canary Wharf. But the recently appointed corporate affairs director says he doesn't much care for the panorama...

Opinion: Awareness of ethics means CR needs PR.
December 2, 2005... They may not recognise the buzz phrase CR, but judging by a couple of recent surveys, consumers are becoming increasingly switched on to the concept of corporate responsibility. A staggering 94 per cent of respondents to MORI's corporate...

Opinion: Govt comms strategy belies pensions crisis.
December 2, 2005... According to the hacks in the Westminster village, the Government's pensions strategy has been a PR disaster. No wonder they are so often called 'village idiots' by those working in the real world. The fact is that Labour managed to avoid...

Letter: Accenture deal should be a wake-up call..(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Accenture has just bought Media Audits - a consultancy that measures the effectiveness of ad campaigns and ad agencies, helping clients to improve ROI. The move is both a striking sign of the growing importance of the 'marketing...

Letter: ...and a warning for many agencies.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2005... Accenture's purchase of Media Audits should cause every PR company to have a strategic panic and revisit their basic choice: bricklayer or architect? Bricklayers lay bricks, are good at it and get paid by the brick. Architects conceive...

Letter: Cancer Research ads had wide benefits.
December 2, 2005... We were disappointed to read that Bowel Cancer UK CEO Neil Brookes was concerned by our Tube poster campaign ('Bowel Cancer UK attacks rival group over Tube ads,' PRWeek, 25 November). Many people give both to cancer research and cancer...

Editorial: Brown's OFR U-turn creates confusion.(Editorial)
December 2, 2005... Gordon Brown's announcement this week that he is to axe the nascent OFR (operating and financial review) came as a genuine shock to corporate communicators. It is only eight months since the OFR came into effect and many organisations were...

Opinion: My Best Hire - Ian 'Biffa' Bailey.
December 2, 2005... Alistair Mackinnon-Musson, deputy chairman of Hudson Sandler, on Ian 'Biffa' Bailey. 'I first hired Ian in 1994 as an account manager at Financial Dynamics. Before he joined FD he'd been working at his mum's PR outfit, Jenny Bailey...

Campaign: Timotei in return to its natural heritage - Consumer.
December 2, 2005... Campaign: Rediscover the Beauty of Nature Client: Timotei, Unilever PR team: Cairns & Associates Timescale: April to August 2005 Budget: Undisclosed However, for this campaign it wanted to remind people of its natural, herbal...

Campaign: Architects target City for better office design - B2B.
December 2, 2005... Campaign: These Four Walls: The Real British Office Client: Gensler PR team: In-house and Man Bites Dog Timescale: April to July 2005 Budget: pounds 11,000 The PR team promoted awareness of Gensler's services, personnel and...

Campaign: Scottish football clubs back suicide prevention - Public Sector.
December 2, 2005... Campaign: International Suicide Prevention Awareness Week Client: Choose Life PR team: The Big Partnership Timescale: May-September 2005 Budget: Less than pounds 15,000 It has only recently appointed a PR manager and drafted in The...

The Pitch Process: End this Practice.
December 2, 2005... As advertising's trade body the IPA moves to combat unethical pitching practices, Robert Gray asks if the PR industry would benefit from a similar advisory service. On 6 October, advertising sector trade body the IPA launched a service...

Healthcare: The alternative med ed challenge.
December 2, 2005... The market for alternative therapy is on the rise, but PR is needed to educate consumers, healthcare workers and government, argues Suzy Bashford. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is one of the fastest growing health sectors in...