PR Week (UK) articles from March 2009

PR Week (UK) archives from March 2009

Lobbying crackdown moves closer as ministers eye up bill.
March 6, 2009... Government will piggyback on constitutional bill in a bid to register lobbyists. The Government has drawn up secret plans for a tough crackdown on the lobbying industry, PRWeek can exclusively reveal. Senior politicians are considering...

The Twitter controversy.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... As PR professionals flock to micro-blogging site Twitter, research has found tweeters in Coventry have most followers. Twitterers in Coventry have the highest average number of followers, with 549 per person compared with 256 in London,...

Coverage of Goody keeps Clifford busy.(Jade Goody)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The number of columnists discussing Jade Goody's cancer battle soared dramatically last month and the tone has become more positive, according to exclusive research by PRWeek/Editorial Intelligence. The number of leaders and columns in the...

City agencies feel the pinch.
March 6, 2009... City agencies Pelham PR and Tulchan Communications have made significant job cuts as the economic downturn hits City PR in earnest. Pelham has made five roles redundant, including three associate directors, as it restructures its seven...

Top PROs to pitch ideas.
March 6, 2009... Four influential comms directors are to take part in a Dragon's Den-style pitching session to discover who has the best strategy for responding to the financial crisis. The in-house gurus will present at PRWeek's 'PR on the Edge'...

The Week.
March 6, 2009... - Virgin Trains has appointed The SPA Way for a consumer-focused drive to support the launch of its West Coast timetable. - The Drinkaware Trust is putting an account worth up to pounds 800,000 in fees up for grabs. The independent charity,...

London allure.(Visit London is searching public relations firm)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... London's tourism body is in the final stages of hiring new global consumer PR support. Visit London wants to capitalise on a weaker pound by luring potential overseas visitors to the city. Three agencies have been shortlisted for the big-money...

Brown's plan for G20 PR bounce.
March 6, 2009... G20 summit Campaigns chief on call to ensure Brown's reputation boost in April's meeting of leaders. Gordon Brown has charged one of his top comms advisers with orchestrating the media around next month's G20 Summit as the Prime Minister...

Whitehall prepares for journalist flurry at summit.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Logistics - Government comms secretary Matt Tee to co-ordinate department media plans for G20 event. Government departments are preparing for 2,000 journalists to descend on London's ExCel centre for the G20 summit in April. Permanent...

Healthcare: On the Agenda - Children's cough medicines alarm.
March 6, 2009... - In a nutshell A government watchdog has reviewed popular cold remedies and found them to be ineffective for children under 12. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said there was no robust evidence that...

Healthcare: Patients want 'more dialogue with firms'.
March 6, 2009... Patient groups have defended pharmaceutical firms against media suggestions that they charge too much for drugs. Charities criticised the media for focusing on the cost of new treatments at an event last week, hosted by Lexington...

Healthcare: The Week in Healthcare.
March 6, 2009... InterSystems hires De Facto - Intersystems Corporation has hired De Facto Communications and sister agency Harvard for a joint brief to provide PR support for the healthcare software company. The agencies won the brief following a four-way...

Public Affairs: Minister plans Paris visit.(Tom Watson )
March 6, 2009... Transparency - Watson heads to Europe as Government delays response to committee. Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson will head to Paris next week to learn about international lobbying regimes. Watson is overseeing the Government's...

Public Affairs: Lobbying target - Maria Miller, shadow minister for the family.
March 6, 2009... The Tory frontbencher is said to have turned down a chance to be part of David Cameron's shadow cabinet - Ten-second biography One of the newish breed of working mothers on the Conservative benches, Miller entered the Commons in 2005....

Public Affairs: The Week in Lobbying.
March 6, 2009... - PPS Group has made six staff redundant, including several account directors. This means the planning specialist has reduced its headcount from 48 to 42 staff. Agency MD Stephen Byfield said some of the staff had been part-time and others were...

City & Corporate: In the News ... HSBC.(HSBC Bank PLC)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... - Bring us up to speed HSBC has launched the biggest rights issue in British corporate history after revealing a 62 per cent drop in annual profits this week. The bank will ask shareholders for pounds 12.5bn to help it cope with the grim...

City & Corporate: Three still standing in Gatwick bid.
March 6, 2009... BAA Sale - Bell Pottinger, FD and Finsbury are left in the battle to help the sale of Gatwick airport this year. Bell Pottinger, FD and Finsbury could be among those to benefit from one of the year's rare big deal-based projects as BAA...

City & Corporate: The Week in City & Corporate.
March 6, 2009... St. James' Place hires Tulchan Comms, Penrose Financial to work with RBC Dexia. St. James' place, the wealth manager, has hired Tulchan Communications on a retained financial comms brief. The agency replaces Brunswick after the firm...

City & Corporate: Hedge funds given advice.
March 6, 2009... Comms professionals have told hedge funds they must intensify their efforts to engage with and educate the media. Broadgate director Jamie Murray, Peregrine founding partner Anthony Payne and Rostron Parry director Simon Rostron all...

City & Corporate: Press cannot see beyond shares.
March 6, 2009... A few hours before the launch last week of the scheme under which the Government will insure the bulk of the potential losses on pounds 350bn of Royal Bank of Scotland loans, a stock-broking analyst was asked on Radio 4's Today programme...

Voluntary Sector: Liberty's director offers media advice.(Shami Chakrabarti)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti has advised third sector communicators on how to deal with the press. PRWeek's Communicator of the Year 2008 was speaking at a meeting of the CIPR's Fifth Estate's group for voluntary sector PROs last...

Voluntary Sector: Oxfam's web crossroads.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Oxfam's press office is divided over the extent to which it should focus its efforts on the internet, but a clear digital PR strategy is set to emerge in the next few months. The charity's head of media Sam Barratt told a PRWeek conference...

Voluntary Sector: Taking action ... Animal rights activists vs The Great British Circus.
March 6, 2009... Target: The Great British Circus Protesters: Animal rights activists Location: Newark, Nottinghamshire Date: 1 March Members of several animal rights groups including Sheffield Animal Friends Group protested outside a circus that has...

Voluntary Sector: The Week in Charities.
March 6, 2009... ActionAid has picked Borkowski PR to launch a global hunger awareness and fundraising event in the summer. Borkowski won a three-way pitch against Frank PR and Halpern. Tesco has chosen The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign to be its charity...

Technology: Ryanair falls short on web.
March 6, 2009... Virgin Atlantic tops online reputation survey, while Ryanair struggles with strategy. Virgin Atlantic has a good online reputation while Orange and Ryanair are among those companies with the poorest reputations on the web, according to a...

Technology: The Week in Technology.(Cleantech Group)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Johnson King to work with Cleantech Group - The Cleantech Group, the networking group that pioneered the concept of clean technology, has brought in b2b specialist Johnson King as its first UK agency. Clean technology represents products...

Technology: Best of the tech blogs.
March 6, 2009... BAN THE BRAND WORD Posted by Dan Thornton thewayoftheweb.net 2 March: I have recently experienced the benefits of banning myself from using the word 'brand' in a business context after joining an experiment by Mark Earls. As a...

Public Sector: Campaign breakdown - The Future is Ship Shape.
March 6, 2009... Agency: Weber Shandwick Scotland Client: Scottish Enterprise Timescale: February to July 2009 Budget: Undisclosed With the Scottish shipbuilding industry thriving, the industry needs more employees to satisfy demands. Scottish...

Public Sector: 'Slow progress' on uni outreach drive.
March 6, 2009... Higher education - Select committee says Government is not reaching young people from deprived areas. A major government youth PR drive been called into question by the Commons public accounts committee. In a new report, the select...

Public Sector: The Public Sector Week.
March 6, 2009... Department of Health launches contraceptive drive, Exeter promotes cycling among public. - Twitter is now being used by councillors from 115 councils as a way to interact with the public. The list of 157 councillors who have signed up to...

Public Sector: Jobs to go at Arts Council.
March 6, 2009... Arts Council England is set to slash 25 communications posts as part of plans to cut a quarter of jobs across the organisation. As part of the restructure, the organisation has proposed 'a streamlined advocacy and communications team',...

Public Sector: We were 'frittered' on Twitter site.
March 6, 2009... People keep calling me a Luddite because I have little interest in the world of Twitter. Up until just a few days ago I saw very little reason for getting involved in sending 140-character snippets of information to a tiny circle of people....

Media: Classic FM magazine joins the mainstream.
March 6, 2009... If you associate Classic FM magazine solely with classical music, think again. The off-shoot of radio station Classic FM has branched out into fine wines, travel and art in its lifestyle-based relaunch. For example, did you know a glass of...

Media: Hit or Miss - BBC responds to media furore over University Challenge.
March 6, 2009... Non-starter for ten It was all going so well. The BBC's University Challenge secured a flurry of positive coverage focused on Gail Trimble, the captain of the series-winning Corpus Christi team who was branded 'the human Google' But then...

Media: Web barons - Thatsgay.co.uk.
March 6, 2009... What is it? Events guide for gay men Staff: Four Launched: End of February Contact: thatsgay@live.co.uk Who are the web barons? Editors and co-creators are Tom Morris and Rhys Barker. Get the tone right The...

Media: The Editor's Desk - Kirsty Mouatt, New! magazine.
March 6, 2009... - Describe the magazine We deliver a highly entertaining weekly magazine packed full of up-to-the minute celebrity news and exclusives, along with great fashion and beauty, fascinating true-life stories and topical travel, health and diet...

Profile: Jean-Pierre Moser, 'We need to shout louder'.(St George's NHS Trust)
March 6, 2009... Comms might not be a priority for St George's NHS Trust but Jean-Pierre Moser means to change that, finds Gemma O'Reilly. The transition from Helen Mirren's personal banker to an NHS Trust comms director seems unlikely at first. Yet this is...

Campaigns: Voluntary sector - Workout for your body and bones.(Good Relations Group PLC's campaign for National Osteoporosis Society)
March 6, 2009... Campaign: Boogie for your Bones Client: The National Osteoporosis Society PR team: Good Relations Timescale: June-December 2008 Budget: c. pounds 45,000 In line with its mission of eradicating the disease, the National Osteoporosis...

Campaigns: Food and Drink - Tropicana makes ground on Innocent.
March 6, 2009... Campaign: Tropicana - the not so Innocent PR campaign Client: Tropicana PR team: Cirkle Timescale: February-August 2008 Budget: pounds 20,000 Objectives - To launch Tropicana Smoothies to opinion formers within the business...

Campaigns: Hospitality - Indigo brings hanging gardens to London.(Mischief's campaign for InterContinental Hotels Group PLC)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Campaign: Launch of Hotel Indigo Client: InterContinental Hotels Group PR team: Mischief Timescale: December 2007 Budget: pounds 40,000 Objectives - To raise awareness of Hotel Indigo London Paddington - To drive room...

Opinion: Don't slash fees - you're worth it.
March 6, 2009... It goes against the grain in any competitive industry not to use every weapon in the armoury to fight off rivals and seize whatever prizes are up for grabs. In our industry, competing to provide the best option is a crucial rationale of...

Opinion: From the Editor - Big groups report signs of hope despite market.(Editorial)
March 6, 2009... Despite the worsening recession in advertising spend, which this week brought ITV to its knees, there have been more encouraging indicators in terms of PR revenues. Last Friday, Interpublic Group (IPG) - one of the 'big four' marketing...

Opinion: From our Readers - Twitter is full of egocentric bores.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... You article on Twitter (News, 27 February) reeked of self-serving puff and lacked any rigour or depth. Besides, nobody is talking about how utterly awful Twitterers are. We all have those friends on Facebook who obnoxiously update their...

Opinion: From our Readers - We need to get in on the act.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... It's great to see so many PR agencies and consultants have embraced Twitter in order to raise their own profiles (News, 27 February), but it is far more important to explore how it can be used as a viable communications tool. With any...

Opinion: From our Readers - If we can decide how to use it effectively.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... You Twitter league table is meaningless whichever way you cut it (News, 27 February). Do you measure how tweetable an agency is by the number of staff who tweet? Or by your number of followers, or the numbers you follow? Or how often you...

Opinion: From our Readers - Shout loud about NHS successes.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... I can reassure Alex Hilton (Opinion, 27 February) that comms teams at all NHS hospitals are already well aware of the incredible things our clinical colleagues achieve every day and the way their skills touch the lives of patients. ...

Opinion: Rival girl gangs at Westminster.(Viewpoint essay)
March 6, 2009... Harriet Harman wants it so desperately; this sister is very much doing it for herself. It is almost impossible to listen to her without imagining her steadily looking into the mirror every morning and practising the startled humble face...

Outsourcing: Is your job going to Mumbai?
March 6, 2009... Agencies are being forced to tighten their purse strings, but is outsourcing work to distant lands the right way to go? Arun Sudhaman evaluates the pros and cons. Could your job be outsourced? At the risk of unsettling readers already...

Flack: Honda robot, Google, dark arts defence, and email abuse!
March 6, 2009... At least one car maker is getting decent coverage. Honda's ASIMO robot was all over The Sun, The Times and News of the World last week The reason? An insider tells us of News International boss James Murdoch's complete fascination with his new...

Flack.
March 6, 2009... 1. Nope, these are not models. They are PROs from The Remarkable Group celebrating their win with representatives from the Rose Bowl and Hampshire Cricket. The agency won the account after a four-way pitch and will raise awareness of the venue...

Flack: (Saving) on expenses - Piccolino, Cabot Circus, Bristol.(Restaurant review)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Reviewer: Sara Lewis,regional director, Berkeley Public Relations - What is it good for? Nestled in the hub of Bristol's new Cabot Circus, Piccolino brings quality, affordable dining to those who need to impress without financial...

Government plans comms blitz on MMR vaccination.
March 13, 2009... Department of Health calls in Trimedia as measles cases reach 20-year high. The Government is gearing up for a major PR offensive to convince parents that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe. With the numbers of...

Mandelson's comms boost.(Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform hired Fiona Cookson as deputy head )(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... The Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) is radically overhauling its comms team in the wake of Lord Mandelson becoming Secretary of State. BERR is increasing the number of chief press officers to five and creating...

The Week.
March 13, 2009... - STOP PRESS: Leeds-based agency Ptarmigan is believed to have gone into administration. Bell Pottinger chairman Lord Bell confirmed he was in talks with administrators to acquire certain staff members and clients. - Unilever has confirmed...

Agencies hired for Royal Mail battle.
March 13, 2009... The Communication Workers Union (CWU) and the Royal Mail Pensions Trust have both drafted in fresh PR support, as the row over plans to privatise Royal Mail rumbles on. The CWU has called in crisis specialists Media House International as...

Myerson PR man's shock.
March 13, 2009... The PR chief handling the controversial book by novelist Julie Myerson has admitted he had not expected such high levels of media coverage. Bloomsbury acting publicity director Colin Gibson told PRWeek: 'We were surprised and, possibly...

Tycoon calls in global help.(Mikhail Khodorkovsky using three PR agencies for global media relations )(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Jailed former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is using three PR agencies for a global media relations and lobbying offensive. Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, has gone on trial at a court in Moscow on new charges of embezzlement...

Comedy coup.
March 13, 2009... Paramount Comedy has turned to Eulogy to publicise next month's rebrand to Comedy Central. Eulogy will launch a consumer and trade PR drive, highlighting the UK-based channel's offering of stand-up comedy and top US shows such as The Office....

PR industry bucks the trend ..
March 13, 2009... Agency performance - WPP and Chime Communications post positive PR and public affairs results. Two of the PR industry's biggest players revealed strong annual growth this week, fuelling hopes that PR will survive the downturn. WPP...

Healthcare: On the Agenda - Anger over rise in prescription price.
March 13, 2009... - In a nutshell The NHS announced last week that prescription charges in England are to go up from pounds 7.10 to pounds 7.20, despite calls for the charge to be abolished altogether. The plans were met with anger from patients and...

Healthcare: Packer Forbes calls in former GSK boss.(Packer Forbes appoints Anna Gibbins as PR director)
March 13, 2009... Packer Forbes has strengthened its senior management team with the appointment of a former GlaxoSmithKline PR director. Anna Gibbins joined the agency this week as deputy MD, reporting to MD and founder Alexa Forbes. Gibbins replaces Pam...

Healthcare: The Week in Healthcare.
March 13, 2009... Novartis hires MacMahon - Novartis has hired Niamh MacMahon, previously comms manager at the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority. She has taken up the post of senior corporate comms manager at the drug company. - Simple,...

Public Affairs: Watson to meet with ALT.(Alliance for Lobbying Transparency)
March 13, 2009... Transparency - Cabinet Office minister to hear case for mandatory register. Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson has agreed to meet campaigners calling for greater transparency in lobbying. Watson is due to sit down with representatives...

Public Affairs: Lobbying target - Sadiq Khan, minister for community cohesion.
March 13, 2009... The straight-talking Labour MP was a leading lawyer before entering the Commons TEN-SECOND BIOGRAPHY Khan spent 12 years as a Tooting councillor, before he was elected as MP for Tooting in 2005. He was made a junior whip in 2007. In...

Public Affairs: The Week in Lobbying.
March 13, 2009... - Edelman has beat off Weber Shandwick and APCO to land the retained public affairs account for Sainsbury's. At the same time, Edelman has been appointed to carry out CSR projects for the supermarket chain. PRWeek revealed last month that...

City & Corporate: In the News ... Lloyds (again).(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... - Bring us up to speed The Lloyds Banking Group has once again been savaged in the press, this time for taking pounds 260bn from the taxpayer with one hand and paying pounds 80m in bonuses with the other. The latest state bail-out,...

City & Corporate: Dead deal market batters City.
March 13, 2009... Financial woes - Lansons Communications becomes latest firm hit by the financial sector's woes. As Lansons Communications becomes the latest City shop to make redundancies, agency bosses have warned the collapse in M&A will cause further...

City & Corporate: The Week in City & Corporate.(VMA Search has promoted Fiona Bradshaw)(Hill & Knowlton has acquired Feedback Hill & Knowlton)
March 13, 2009... M: Communications to help Intermediate Capital Group, VMA promotes Bradshaw - Intermediate Capital Group, the fund manager and provider of mezzanine finance, has handed a brief to M: Communications. The incumbent was Brunswick. The firm...

City & Corporate: Bell Pottinger to help G4S.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Bell Pottinger has been called in by security services group G4S to help educate potential customers about the huge reach of the firm. The FTSE 100 company, formerly Group 4 Securicor, is now the world's second largest private employer. But...

City & Corporate: Banks should not take all the blame.
March 13, 2009... Cohn & Wolfe ran a panel discussion last week to explore what had gone wrong and what could be done to restore trust in banking. The first thing that struck me as a panellist was that the organiser of the event was a widely based consultancy...

Voluntary Sector: Comms refresh for parenting groups.
March 13, 2009... Parenting charities Families Need Fathers and Parentline Plus are stepping up PR activity as they look to communicate with wider audiences. Families Need Fathers has drafted in Amazon PR to help with a major project to promote the benefits...

Voluntary Sector: Unity backs solar movie.
March 13, 2009... Unity PR has been briefed to handle the high-profile solar-powered premiere of a new climate disaster movie called The Age of Stupid. The film will be unveiled in Leicester Square this weekend in a specially constructed solar-powered...

Voluntary Sector: Taking Action ... Plane Stupid vs Lord Mandelson.(anti-airport expansion campaign)(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Protesters: Plane Stupid Target: Lord Mandelson, Business Secretary Location: Royal Society, London Date: 6 March A campaigner from anti-airport expansion activists Plane Stupid threw a cup of green custard in the face of Lord...

Voluntary Sector: The Week in Charities.
March 13, 2009... - The Marine Conservation Society has teamed up with 4Kids Entertainment International, the licensing agent for comic book superheroes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The characters will make surprise appearances at key Marine Conservation...

Technology: Navman signs Brands2Life.
March 13, 2009... Satellite navigation firm changes support to help it stand out in challenging market. Leading satellite navigation system Navman is set to hand a major retainer to Brands2Life. The company has lined up Brands2Life to replace Harvard on...

Technology: The Week in Technology.
March 13, 2009... Channel 4 gains digital support - Channel 4 has appointed social media agency Nixon McInnes to work on its digital publicity programme. The agency will provide online support to generate blog coverage and interest around the broadcaster's...

Technology: Best of the tech blogs.
March 13, 2009... BROADEN PR HORIZONS Posted by Melanie Seasons fakeplasticnoodles.com 9 March: New graduates in PR are constantly told to make sure they're up to speed on their online skills - and I will agree it is essential, but I think we could...

Public Sector: Campaign breakdown.(Trimedia's campaign for Information Commissioner's Office )(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Small print BIG PRINT Agency: Trimedia Client: Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) Timescale: February Budget: Around pounds 15,000 The small print BIG PRINT campaign demands companies make the privacy and marketing small print...

Public Sector: Councils prepare to amalgamate.
March 13, 2009... Local comms PR teams across England prepare to explain new unitary structure to merged workforce. Council comms teams are preparing for upheaval as they are transformed into unitary authorities. District and county councils in...

Public Sector: Police focus on the public.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Police forces are expected to place a greater focus on comms after the Home Secretary told the police service to increase public confidence. Last week, Jacqui Smith replaced all previous police targets with just one - to increase public...

Public Sector: The public sector week.
March 13, 2009... LGcommunications seminar discusses Publicity Code, Citypress to promote Constructionline. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has appointed former editor of the BBC Six O'Clock News Mark Popescu as head of news....

Public Sector: A borough that gets comms right.(Personal account)
March 13, 2009... I have been spending a fascinating few weeks as acting head of comms at a London borough just lately, parachuted in to fulfil a short-term need. During a busy time in this particular corner of the capital, it has been interesting to watch...

Media: CNBC taps into UK economic worries.(Consumer News and Business Channel Partnership)
March 13, 2009... Recession is the word on everyone's lips, and nowhere more so than at CNBC, the US-based business network that recently launched a finance show just for the UK. Strictly Money, which launched in January, is an hour-long weekday programme...

Media: Hit or Miss - Michael Jackson returns to perform in UK after 12-year touring absence.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Jacko's back. Who could have missed the news that Michael Jackson is coming to the UK? The 'King of Pop' last week told hordes of screaming fans that he would return to the stage to perform ten shows at the O2 in July 2009 Entertainment...