PR, Public Relations Jobs In UK

SIXTH consecutive nomination for Median Recruitment!

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:27:00 GMT

SIXTH consecutive nomination for Median Recruitment at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence

Recruiter recently announced the nominations for the 2009 Recruiter Awards for Excellence and Median was delighted to be shortlisted again for the sixth consecutive year. The firm has been shortlisted in the Best Marketing Recruitment Firm category and has previously won the award twice in 2006 and 2007.

The ceremony which is to be held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on the 28^th April is judged by a panel of leading HR professionals from several TOP FTSE organisations and is regarded as the most prestigious awards ceremony in the recruitment field.

Industry Buzz 12th February 2009

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:44:00 GMT

The BBC has drawn up a new “long-term communications strategy” and has hired Thomson Reuters Head of Comms, Sophie Brendel.
Orange has hired Golin Harris to be its retained UK agency.
Shelter has hired Kay Boycott as Director of Comms.
Jacinta Collins is to leave Cohn & Wolfe as MD of healthcare after 10 years.
Frank PR has won a PR brief with the world’s biggest gaming developer, Activision.
MS&L has promoted head of healthcare Judith Cranford to MD of health and advocacy.
Tulchan Communications has won the Legal & General account.
Brands2Life has won a global account with enterprise software applications company IFS
Press Officers at the Highways Agency had to screen five times the usual number of media calls due to the snowstorms this week.
Weber Shandwick has promoted Jon McLeod from Chairman of its UK public affairs practice to chairman of its UK corporate communications and public affairs practice.
The Heritage Lottery fund has appointed a new head of public affairs, Pete Moorey, who joins from Which?
Cadbury global corporate comms director Katie Bell has left the company following a restructure of the corporate affairs team.

Median January 2009 Salary Survey

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:27:00 GMT

This year we thought it may be particularly beneficial to compile and release our survey at the very beginning of the year, in the hope it may assist in helping and advising our clients with their salary budgets for 2009.

We have also included a brief analysis of our observations over the past six months with regards to any changes in salaries as well as our views on the current recruitment market within the PR industry.

Click here for the January 2009 Salary & Benefits Survey

Industry Buzz News

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:04:00 GMT

PR Agency Exposure has opened a charity shop in Little Portland St in London, Ex Owned will donate its proceeds to Great Ormond St Hospital and it will be open until the 22^nd December.

Leeds Metropolitan has been granted £43,000 to undertake a study that aims to develop ways in which the UK PR Industry can be more inclusive of ethnic minorities. The Grant comes from the Economic and Social Research Council.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in India’s Mumbai the crisis talks do not only sound from the Indian Tourist board. Rakhee Vithlani Head of the Multicultural comms for Weber Shandwick has advised that the government do their part by broadcasting calm and neutral messages to aid the relaxation of racial tensions.

Ethical protestors do not give in easy- Primark’s Head of external affairs Geoff Lancaster had to pull out of the ‘Taking the drama out of a Crisis’ conference due to the threat of protest from ‘Labour behind the label’ the activist group heading the ‘Clean Clothes Campaign’.

A Survey of 6,000 people conducted by Edelman and GoodPurpose have found that people will, even during a recession, stay loyal to a brand if it supported a good cause

Fishburn Hedges will be working with The Fitness Industry and the Department of Health on a campaign to educate people in gyms of the dangers of drinking too much. Many house-hold names such as Fitness First will be helping the campaign which includes; drink diaries, beer-belly t-shirts, leaflets and posters.

With the New Year dawning the companies set to gain from the UK’s most popular New Year resolution will be ready with their PR and advertising plans. Weight Watchers, one of Britain’s most popular names in dieting, has taken on Lexis PR to support its in-house team in their busiest months.

Philips is soon to put its Global PR account out to pitch. The account, thought to worth somewhere in the region of £7M, now held by ManningSelvage & Lee and Text 100 incorporates its consumer range, healthcare and corporate divisions.

Former Dr Who star and current Little Dorrit (BBC 1) actress ,Freema Agyleman has selected Celebrity shop Liz Matthews PR to help drive her media stardom.

There is confusion at how the estimated figures for ‘anti aging’ skincare market can keep rising? The Market is worth £100m at present and is set to double over the next 5 years, this is despite the news expressed in a recent report, published by The Wellness Trust, that the explanation given about how the creams work is wrong. Exercise, water and eating sensible are still key to healthy skin.

Fiona Rollo is, after 7 years as an MD, leaving Hill and Knowlton’s Healthcare PR at the end of 2008 to be replaced by Nick May, the Head of H&K Healthcare for Europe. This move is part of a major re-structure.

Bell Pottinger Public Affairs has taken on the account for Battersea Power station. The Power Stations re-development will mean more jobs, homes and better transport links for the local community. It aims to boast the name ‘the most sustainable development in Europe’.

Nestlé will chose between keeping Weber Shandwick as is public affairs agency or making a change to Fishburn Hedges, the decision is expected any time in the next few days.

Following the collapse of major consumer players MFI and Woolworths, the PR agency Siren PR, who joined the company in 2008, has bailed due to the difficulty they were encountering when communicating with stakeholders.

Woolworths has had many investors show interest in its purchase. Including Theo Paphitis, Tesco, Asda and Iceland.

Industry Buzz News

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Following the recent, successful anti-smoking campaign, the Central Office of Information (COI) will be handing out more briefs to an 89 strong roster over the next year. Of the 89 agencies 65 of the agencies will be used by COI for the first time. The briefs will include campaigns such as ‘get the unemployed back into work’.

Important information about the Downs Syndrome condition will be plugged to the public in a drive to educate and help parents. The campaign which includes a BBC Documentary will be run by John Smithies and his Downs Syndrome Association in-house team.

Countries bidding for the 2016 Olympics have all opted to use UK based PR agencies to run their respective campaigns. Chicago, who are currently favourite to win the bid, is using Hill and Knowlton, whilst Rio will be using Doha. Both agencies worked on the successful London 2012 campaign.

The Global Fund has brought in MS&L to work on its public media and political events in 18 countries throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America. They will work together on addressing the major health concerns throughout that part of the world especially the distribution of HIV/Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis medicines.

A campaign to abolish the absurd mental health discrimination in England will launch in January 2009. Frank PR will head ‘Time to change’ which aims to reduce mental health related stigma and make aware that one in four Britons suffer from mental health illnesses at any one time.

The Africa Progress Panel, chaired by Kofi Annan, was created in 2007 to encourage the commitment of World Leaders to support Africa and to honour the Global processes designed to aid Africa’s development. Portland PR will head the international affairs, providing important strategic advice for the worldwide implementation of international comms in 2009.

Sainsburys has been making contact with a number of agencies including Fishbun Hedges before they begin the official proceedings of putting their public affairs contract out to pitch.

‘Cutting carbon emissions is not expensive or difficult’ This is the message that The Carbon Trust will be making to both stakeholders and members of the public. With TLG heading the account, replacing Weber Shandwick and Fishburn Hedges, and aided by Endelman, Lexington Communications and Freud Communications The Carbon Trust are hoping their new team of PR agencies will help spread the ‘Lower your Carbon emissions’ message.

CIPR Pride Awards - Wales

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:35:00 GMT

The Winners of the CIPR Pride Awards for Wales, Wessex, and West of England.

Corporate Comms – The People Millions – Big Lottery Fund. A competition running in partnership with ITV Wales which allows the public to decide what the Lottery Funds are spent on.

Outstanding PR Consultancy – Working Word PR – A Cardiff based, 12 strong agency set up in 1999.

Outstanding In-house PR team – South Wales Police Authority. Despite budget constraints they provide a PR service that is considered ‘above the call of duty’

Best Media Relations – Office for National Statistics. 50^th anniversary of the Family Expenditure survey comparing a housewife of the 1950s preparing breakfast vrs a 2007 style housewife.

Community Relations – Power Puff Tours by MGB PR. A Community relations programme aimed at Schools, linking; health, renewable energy and Npowers Rugby Sponsorship.

Business and Trade – Remarkable Group. The partnership between Coopervision Proclear 1 Day and Breast cancer Care £1 for every month’s supply of lenses was donated to the Charity.

Outstanding PR Consultancy – Remarkable Group. Since it started in 2004 this company has seen substantial growth.

Outstanding Small Consultancy – Watershed PR & Marketing. Outstanding client growth and retention since its formation in 2005.

Best use of Media Relations – Golden Sailors photo shoot by Skandia. Photo shoot promoting sailing ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Public Sector – Portsmouth Hospital NHS trust with Starfish Creative Design. Stop the bug- The hospitals first ever public PR campaign was aimed at raising awareness of the important of hygiene and its place in the fight against hospital infection.

Best use of Photography – Pam Lloyd PR - The British Bean & Pea Campaign, The start of the Bean and Pea season, educating children about where their food comes from.

Outstanding PR Consultancy – Trimedia - After a merge with Harrisdon Cowley 2007 the company is 24% ahead of Budget for 2008.

Outstanding In-house PR Team – Oldbury Power station. Three strong campaigns in the past 18 months.

Internal Comms – UCAS – Inform, enable, connect. After a restructure in 2006 a new strategy included e-letters, staff forums, brunches and induction sessions.

Low budget – Turning up the music by Montpellier PR – Icanplayit.com, downloadable, interactive music lessons joining together leading artists and budding musicians.

Industry Buzz News

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:54:00 GMT

The news that British Airways has seen a 91% fall in its half year profits has not been good for PR Company Porter Novelli, as the agency loses the lucrative BA consumer PR account. This is their second big account to be lost this year, Hewlett Packard broke ties with the agency in June.
Waterstones have been criticised for cancelling Welsh author Patrick Jone’s (the brother of the Manic Street Preachers lyricist and bassist Nicky Wire) book signing in their branch in Cardiff. Whilst bowing to pressure from the religious group ‘Christian voice', who think the book to be ‘questioning religious beliefs’, Waterstones will still stock the book ‘Darkness is where the stars are’.
Open Road will be giving Public Affairs advice to the Uk based company Helveta, who’s aims are to combat illegal deforestation and the importing of illegally harvested timber.
Drum Cussac, a firm aimed at helping shipping companies ward off Pirates, has taken on Media House International to be its first representing PR agency.
Dani Behr and Simon Webbe are using Hackford Jones PR as their agency through out their stint on ITV hit show ‘I’m a celebrity get me out of here’.
Boris Johnson’s cut backs have meant that Freud Communications lost its Major account with London Unlimited due to its closure in July 08.
The former director of Comms at Kimberly Clarke Corporation, Joanna Lund, has just launched her own agency named, Reputation Matters.
Scott Bowers and Fiona McLachlan are just two of the PR Officials to work with Weber Shandwick on their new Sport PR Practice.
Seventy Seven PR has been put in charge of the Royal Blind's campaign to raise money for its Braille printing services. This year is the 200^th anniversary of the birth of the inventor of Braille, Louis Braille.
The London branch of Technology Specialists, Waggener Edstrom has announced that it will have to make 10% of its staff redundant. A statement released assures employees in the Paris, Brussels and Munich office that their jobs will be safe.
Glaxo-SmithKline has put its six figure, cervical cancer account out to pitch. The accounts currently held by Cohn & Wolfe.
Entertainment Rights who specialise in household name Family programming such as Postman Pat, has moved its Financial Comms account from M:Communications to Bell Pottinger.
Captive Minds Communication will run the PR for the 2009 launch of a new charity - The Medical Films. The Charity will produce short films featuring the Medical procedures that could save lives in the Developing World. Educating whilst raising money.
Cannes Lions the annual international advertising festival will, from 2009, have three new PR categories; Product, Service and Technique.
Baraks Obama’s web strategist, GMMB, owned by Fleishman-Hillard and new to London is being used by the UK Drinks industry to mount a campaign against the aggressive taxation of Alcohol.
English Heritage is looking for an agency to handle the media and stakeholder relations in a three year account that will focus on improving the area surrounding Stonehenge.
Barnados, a Children protection charity, has launched an in-house led campaign aimed at changing the view that Children are behaving like animals. Celebrities like Vanessa Feltz and Polly Toynbee have both been briefed. Adverts are set to launch next week.
Brighton based B2B consultancy, Man Bites Dog, has won its first online account. The six figure account will be held with an insurance comparison site - Simplybuisness.co.uk.

Industry Buzz News

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:39:00 GMT

The Cabinet Office has hired Matt Tee as their new Secretary for Government communications. The former Chief Executive for the NHS Direct will start his new post early in 2009.
Shelter, the homeless charity has a new campaign, ‘Now is the time’; it will target an older audience than it has done so before. Bright Young Things Communications has been put in charge and their task, amoungst other things, is to ensure the Government sticks to its promise to build over 3 million new homes by 2020.
Three City PR agencies; Maitland, Finsbury and Brunswick are all working together in the increasingly controversial takeover of HBOS by Lloyds.
BBC Worldwide has taken on Rare Communications to run a new BBC Children in Need based campaign.
The multinational defence and aerospace company BAE systems has, after a six year relationship with PR agency Bell Pottinger, cancelled their £4000, 000 a year account.
Following the loss of the Skype account, London agency 3 Monkeys has had to make 4 redundancies.
Golly Slater will be handling the Media relations for the MS Societies Disability lifestyle event- MS Life.
Lexis Public Relations has lost two of its Major Accounts, Norwich Union and Dominos pizza. Norwich Union has put its account out to pitch while Dominos is forming its own in-house team.
Dulux, the household brand name, has moved its six figure account from Ketchum to EHPR.
Firefly Communication has received an award from Workforce Giving UK following news that 20% of their employees donated on a regular basis.
The Labour Party is aiming to improve its on-line popularity with plans to develop a new blogging strategy.
Easy jet has taken on Beattie Communications as its first external consumer PR agency.
Digital specialists BlondeGorilla has been brought on board by the Propeller Group as they expand their digital offering.
Bite PR has been handed an account from The Cloud, Europe’s largest independent Wireless broadband provider.
Five has a new Head of Strategic Comms, the former Head of press at ITV, Andrew Sholl.
Redhead PR has ceased Trading. Their client will now be under the care of Lawson Dodd.
MD Alex Challenor celebrates as Cavendish Communications is taken on by The Met Office in a Public Affairs supportive role.
Whiteoaks the tech agency has launched eTree an online communications service offering amongst other things such as Search engine optimisation and Blog Outreach.
BskyB has taken on Nina Howe as their new Public Affairs Senior Consultant.
Luke Herbert has been named the Head of UK Government Affairs for Jaguar and Land Rover.
Hudson Sandler and Brands2Life will be supporting Step Stone’s listing on the London main Stock exchange. Step Stone is the first company to list on the LSE in 6 long months.
Terence Gibbons who in his established career has worked in Fair-trading as well as managing the PR for the Millennium Dome, has been taken on by Lawson Dodd as its Director.
Penrose Financial will serve as the Media Advisor for the International Business launch of American Century investments.
Spark Communications has been brought in by The Sap User Group as its retained PR agency.
Gardiner Richardson is in charge of the South Tyneside Council campaign ‘South Tyneside Means business’ aimed at improving the local business growth of the area.
The Big Lottery Fund has chosen PR company ‘Cake’ to drive their project targeted at listening to the public and finding out want they think the lottery money should be spent on.
Brandon Hill Communications has been brought on by The Safer Bristol Partnership to tackle Crime disorder and Drug use in Bristol.
Studies are showing that the British House Foundation’s ‘Doubt kills’ campaign has been hugely successful, it is responsible for a 25% rise in people dialling 999 for chest pains. The In-house PR team started this campaign in 2006.

The Median and ITS Annual Away Weekend

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:44:00 GMT

This years annual company away weekend took place in the beautiful landscape of North Wales, where the members of Median and ITS took part in a number of full- on hardcore activities including abseiling and coasteering.

As with the last two years, the weather was exceptionally kind and the sun shone gloriously throughout. Many extraordinary achievements and accomplishments were made both individually and as part of a team – the weekend was thourghly enjoyed by all.

CIPR Pride Awards - The Winners

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:38:00 GMT

CIPR Pride Awards Midlands, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

Best Event

Speedo LZR Racer – S&X Media

The fastest swim suit in the world launched with the 2008 Olympics.

Community Relations

This is me – Derby County Council

Fighting back at the negative stereotype afflicted upon young people.

Outstanding PR Consultancy

Willoughby PR

Boasted 18% growth in 2008

Outstanding in-house Team

Heart of England NHS Trust

All round exemplary PR Team

Consumer Relations

Life’s a Beach – Trimedia

An Urban beach attracting people to the bull-ring, Birmingham’s shopping hot spot.

Crisis Communications

January Floods- Environmental Agency

Communication of the 2008 flood disaster in Yorkshire.

Best Use of New Media

Creating a warm glow- Dig for Fire Pr

Boiler blog and online boiler calculator were used to generate PR for the Glow Worm boiler brand.

Outstanding Pr Consultancy

MCG PR

A client base growth of 342% in three years!

Outstanding In-House PR Team

Environmental Agency

Pulling together in the Flood Crisis

Public Sector

The Army 15 Brigade – Local Heroes by Golley Slater.

Real life Stories from Soldier and families used in a bid to increase Army recruitment.

Median would like to congratulate all of those involved.

Industry News 3rd November 2008

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:33:00 GMT

Abbie Sampson, the former Chief Press officer for the Department for Transport, has been taken on by Gordon Brown as he continues the overhaul of the Strategic Communications Team for Downing St.
Nike is on the brink of handing out a huge PR brief on both it’s Women’s Training and Lifestyle products. The three agencies shortlisted include Cake and Exposure.
The Chairman of Freud Communications will, personally, deal with journalists on behalf of Guy Ritchie during this Divorce period.
Eulogy will be promoting moneysupermarkets.com’s new shopping comparisons website.
John Rosenstock has been taken on as Rolls Royce’s Head of Corporate Communications. He was previously Director of Median Relations at Misys.
The Scandinavian retail brand Clas Ohlson is setting up its first British store in Croydon this November. TLG has been called in for a Corporate and Consumer Brief. TLG pipped position over Weber Shandwick and Brunswick.
PR agencies have criticized the BBC’s handling of the Brand and Ross Story. There was said to be too much time between the initial story being released in the Daily Mail and the apology from Ross and Brand.
The National Football League is looking for a digital agency to promote their interactive website www.coachstilo,com. The NFL is looking to expand the sports popularity across London and the UK.
Peter Cross of Yellow Door has, this week, spoken about how ‘labour intensive’ the Westfields London Shopping Centres’ campaign has been. As well as targeting journalists to change the unfavourable views of the Centre, Yellow Door has teamed up with Grazia the celebrity magazine. Grazia have taken up office within the centre itself.
Emily Shepherd will be the first Director of Communications for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Diocese.
Red Bull has ceased working with Exposure. New agency Pretty Green will be working with Red Bull. One of Pretty Greens aims will be to increase involvement in free sport and Music Projects.
Nicholas Burns- the former Under-Secretary of State for the Bush Administration is chairing Endlemans New Global Public Affairs Panel.
Nintendo DS has selected Brands2life to pitch their new pre-teen games.
Richard Branson and Virgin Books have teamed up with Headstream to publicised Branson’s new Business guide book- Business Stripped Bare.
Competition between Universities is going to rise say PR Experts. The amount of 18 - 20 year olds applying for Universities is set to drop by 1000,000 by 2020. Universities have been advised to include International and Postgraduate students in their PR focus.
Tottenham Hotspur has received praise for how it handled its PR surrounding the recent and sudden sacking of Manager Juande Ramos and subsequent new leadership of Harry Redknapp. Spurs need not be reminded that their last managerial change was a PR disaster.
The Beautiful Game – A new Football Ballet will be under the shrewd PR attentions of Resonate. The ballet is set to mark the 85^th anniversary of the famous football ‘pools’ and hopefully bring to attention how charitable the ‘pools’ have been to a variety of good causes.
The results of a Poll set up by Brands2life and Pr Week show that 40% of companies have found ‘blog monitoring’ the most useful digital innovations and 31% agree that posting videos on youtube has been most beneficial.

PR Week Awards 2008 - Results

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:07:00 GMT

Gold Award

Campaign of the Year – Wispa – Cadbury Trebor Bassett – Borkowski

Consultancy of the Year – Blue Rubicon

Highly Commended – Freud Communications Finalists- Brands2Life, EdenCancan, Fishburn Hedges

International Consultancy of the Year – Burson-Marsteller

Highly commended – Weber Shandwick Finalists – AxiCom Cohn & Wolfe, Text 100, Trimedia

NGO Department of the Year – British Red Cross

Highly Commended – The Children’s Society, British Heart Foundation, RSPCA

Public Sector of the Year – Local Government Association

Highly Commended – London Borough of Haringey Finalists- The British Library, London Borough of Camden, Stockport Council.

Private Sector Department of the Year – Eurostar

Highly Commended - O₂UK Finalists – EDF Energy, Financial Times, Royal Dutch Shell

PR Professional of the year – Andy Coulson

People and Agencies

Communicator of the Year – Shami Chakrabarti

New Consultancy of the Year – TLG Communications

Finalists – Allman Communications, Greentarget, Open Road, Skywrite communications

Specialists Consultancy of the Year – M&C Saatchi, Sport & Entertainment

Young Professional of the year – David Hamilton – Corporate communications Manager – Fenland Council Highly Commended – Scott Bowers Account Director/ Corporate co-head of UK Sports Practice- Weber Shandwick. James Write, Board Director, Trimedia UK.

Finalists – Sophie Scott- Associate Director, Fleishman-Hillard. Paul Stadlen- Associate Director, APCO World wide.

James Maxwell Award - Amy Holland- Ketchum.

Highly Commended – Alexander Boyle – Ketchum. Justine McMenemy - Ketchum

Specialists and Technique

Live Brand Experience - Friends join us for a drink Laphroauig Whiskey – Virtual Publishing House of Laphroaig.

Finalists- Ben and Jerry’s Sundae on the Common 2007. Cockburn’s the Official Port of Cowes Week 2007. Visa Swap 2007. The Watercress Festival 2008.

Digital innovation – Bring Back Wispa – Cadbury Trebor Bassett – Borkowski.

Highly Commended –BeMyInterviewer.co.uk- Jobsite.co.uk – Band % Brown Communications.Finalists – RAF Afghan Diaries – Royal Airforce – COI. Building Consumer Advocates the simple way – Accantia Health and Beauty. Kaizo. The Davos Question – World Economic Forum.

Broadcast Innovation – Millionaires Mission – World Vision UK.

Highly Commended – The Davos Question – World Economic Forum.

Finalists - Influencing the Influences – Royal Dutch Shell – Fishburn Hedges. For the Kids Day – Save the Children. Wasted Youth – Wasted Youth – Unity.

Public Affairs – Interest Rate Insurance - MarketGuard – Lansons Public Affairs.

Highly Commended - Pigs are worth it! - BPEX and the NPA – Weber Shandwick - Good Relations – HD Communications. Finalists – Improving Public Access to GP Services – CBI. Fighting for Essex’s Post Offices - Essex County Council – Campaign for Vascular Assessment - National Obesity Forum, H.E.A.R.T UK and Primary Care Cardiovascular Society – Insight Public Affairs.

Issues and Crisis Management - Closure of British Council Offices in Russia - British Council. Finalists - British Red Cross Response to the UK Flooding Crisis - British Red Cross. Arrest of UNIBET CEO Petter Nylander - Publicis Consultants PR.

Research - Valuing The Benefits of Cycling – Cycling England – Blue Ribbon. Highly Commended - Montes Music and Wine - Montes Winery – Cube Communications UK. Patio Heaters; Wear a jumper – Supported by Weber Shandwick - Energy Saving Trust with Weber Shandwick. Finalists – Semisomnia; Making Time for Sleep – Horlick – Blue Rubicon. Dangerous Liaisons – Hay Group – Man Bites Dog. McAfee Virtual Criminology Report: Global Intrigue – McAfee – The Red Consultancy.

Product and Promotion

Healthcare: Ethical % OTC Consumer - Nurofen Express ‘Fast lane Frenzy’ – Reckitt Benckiser – Virgo Health PR. Highly Commended – Valuing Vaccines - UVIG – Ogilvy Health PR. Finalists Hepatitis C: Giving a Voice to the Silent Killer – F. Hoffmann-La Roche – Axon Communications. The Llyodspharmacy Million Man Challenge - lloydspharmacy – Citgate Dewe Rogerson. PPS: The Hard Facts - Boehringer Ingelheim – Virgo Health PR.

Technology - Recognising the Real Value of Software Access - Micro Focus – Brand2Life.

Highly Commended - Space Currency- Travelex with Talk PR. Finalists – SpinVox: New Breed of Entrepreneurs - Spinvox – Porter Novelli. McAfee Virtual Criminology Report: Global Intrigue - McAfee – The Red Consultancy. Safe Text - 118 118 – Resonate.

Marketing Communications: Consumer (annual fees more than £100k) - KitKat Senses Launch - Nestle UK – Frank PR. Finalists – Return of the Boy King - Arts and Exhibitions International – Golin Harris. Nokia Meets London - Nokia UK – Kazoo. Sing Up - Youth Music – Seventy Seven PR. Love Food HATE Waste - Waste and Resources Action – Programme (WRAP) – Trimedia.

Marketing Communications: Consumer (annual fees less than £100K) – Patio Heaters: Wear a Jumper – supported by Weber Shandwick – Energy Saving Trust with Weber Shandwick. Highly Commended - Homer Simpson vs. the Chalk Giant – Fox UK – Beatwax. Finalists: London Village Green: Turfalgar Square – Visit London – Cake. Branston Bean Loans – Branston (Premier Foods) – Citigate Dewe Rogerson. Orange at Glastonbury – Orange – M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment.

Marketing Communications: Business – Coutts London Jewellery Week – Giving Jewellery Industry its Shine – City Fringe Partnership – The Communication Group. Highly Commended – Direct Action – Royal Mail with Eulogy. Finalists: Small Business Week – BT Business Week – BT Business – Fishburn Hedges, Kazoo and Octane. Chief Executives Uncovered – Heidrick & Struggles – Gong Communications. Dangerous Liaisons – Hay Group – Man Bites Dog. Free-Range Working – Microsoft Mobile Communications – Weber Shandwick.

Corporate & Public

Not-For-Profit – Unity – Wasted Youth. Highly Commended – Sons and Daughters of Culloden – The National Trust of Scotland – Platform PR. Finalists: TV is Good For You – RNIB – Blue Rubicon. World Hepatitis Day 2008 – World Hepatitis Alliance – Fleishman Hillard. Great Daffodil Appeal – Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Public Sector – Department for Transport – Anti-Drink Drive Christmas 2007: Man in a Pint Glass – Think! Department of Transport – The Red Consultancy. Highly Commended: Love Food, Hate Waste – Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) – Trimedia. Finalists: Frosty Feuding – Family Mediation Helpline – Amazon PR – Get The Balls Rolling! The National Lottery Good Causes Campaign – National Lottery Promotions Unit – The Red Consultancy. Imagination Library Campaign – Rotherham Metropolitan – Borough Council

Financial – UK Launch of PayPass – Mastercard – Weber Shandwick. Highly Commended – Championing UK plc in the Competition and Choice Debate – BDO Stoy Hayward – Blue Rubicon. Finalists: MoneyExpert.com Making Sense of Money – MoneyExpert – Citigate Dewe Rogerson. Life Trust Launch: Funding for Longer Lives – Life Trust – Fishburn Hedges. Inspired Choice: Alliance & Leicester’s Premier 21 Account – Alliance & Leicester – The Lounge Group.

City – Bringing Stobart to the Stock Market – Stobart Group – Lansons Communications. Highly Commended: AB Acquisitions’’ Takeover of Alliance Boots – The Boots Pension Scheme Trustees – Smithfield. Finalists: Acquisition of a 12 Per Cent Stake on Rio Tinto by Chinalco and Alcoa – Chinalco – Maitland. Defending Minority Investors’ Rights at Norilsk Nickel – Norilsk Nickel – Maitland. Carlsberg and Heineken’s Takeover of Scottish 7 Newcastle – Scottish & Newcastle – Smithfield.

Internal Communications – The Journey: Sustaining the Steel Industry in Wales – Corus Strip Products UK. Highly Commended: Kenco Coffee Vision Internal Launch – Kenco – Golin Harris. Finalists: Caring for Our Community – Abbott UK. Bringing The Human Element to Life – Dow Chemical with Insidedge (Weber Shandwick). CPA – Preparing for Inspection – Westminster City Council.

Corporate Communications and Corporate Publications – McJob Petition – McDonalds Restaurants. Highly Commended: Eurostar – Creating a Nationally Relevant and Environmentally Pioneering Brand. Finalists: Diageo Great Britain – Leading Responsible Driving – Cohn & Wolfe. Global Corporate Communications Campaign to Refresh the FT Brand Inside and Out – Financial Times. McDonald’s UK – Mums on the Ball – McDonald’s UK with The Red Consultancy.

London & South East Recruitment Awards 2008

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:31:00 GMT

The London & South East Recruitment Awards held their annual ceremony on Friday 27^th October at Portman Square’s Radisson Hotel. Median were nominated in the categories of Best Team and Best Agency and were very proud to pick up the Certificate of Merit (2^nd place) for the latter category.

This was the third year in a row that Median were nominated at the awards and again one of only a very few PR recruiters to make the shortlist.

Industry Buzz - 27th October 2008

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:14:00 GMT

Starbucks, in order to regain its title as an ethical coffee retailer, has appointed Edelman to handle its global PR Account, cutting free from both Fishburn Hedges and Paratus Communications.

Jonathan Shore has been appointed CEO of Vaishnavi Corporate Communications; he will be based in Deli. He was formerly CEO of Cohn and Wolfe.

The James Maxwell Award was this year presented to Amy Holland. The 21 year old winner is now joining Ketchum on a bursary along with two other lucky candidates.

Mars is putting out to pitch its major account worth £500,000 on its key brands – its confectionary range. The account is currently split between Jackie Cooper PR and Ketchum.

Holy Moly! The celebrity gossip showbiz site is yet to re-launch, but already voted in the top ten of the world’s coolest websites by Coolbrands. Taylor Herring will be in charge of the consumer campaign for the launch while Force 10, the agency’s digital division, will handle the online publicity.

PR Professional and confirmed that the chaos in the financial market is spreading to the High Street. M&S, BHS and JJB are just some of the well known sufferers. Miss Sixty and Rosebys are set to go bust in the new year and Begbies Taylor, a corporate insolvency specialist, warn there could be a further 323 UK retails to follow.

British Banks have been found to have poor quality websites. The Investis Quarterly Corporate Website which measure effectiveness of the FTSE 100 corporate websites has found that the Mining sector performed the worst; Sainsburys came top in the performance sector and Insurance group AVIVA topped the rankings.

Charities in Britain are insisting that they do not intend to make Comms staff redundant. This message emerged after Scope announced the redundancy of Director of Affairs, Stephen Bowen and Andy James, Director of Campaigns. Action for Children, Banardos, Mencap and the British Heart Foundation are some of those not expecting to make redundancies in the next six months.

With the news fully focused on the Economic climate, media coverage is in short supply. Agency bosses are not easily deterred, however, they advise PR professionals to start drawing upon their creativity to re-package their stories.

With The Olympics looming, Sport for England are getting prepared as Caroline Weber, McDonalds Senior Director for Comms and Government relations, is getting ready to join the team as Executive Director of Comms and Public Affairs.

Sainsbury’s PR Manager for Corporate responsibility speaks of the 28% reduction of plastic bag usage since June.

Redevelopments are about to take place on the notorious Southwark council’s Aylesbury Estate. Hill & Knowlton have a years contact to control all the media relations.

Industry Buzz 14th July 2008

kathryn@mediandirectors.co.uk — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:08:00 GMT

Focus PR has bought Trilogy Communications, a four-strong outfit specialising in consumer tech PR.
Department of Health deputy head of news Ben Lewis is to join Blue Rubicon as a senior consultant.
Hill and Knowlton has committed globally to achieving a 20 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2010
Wine Australia has appointed specialist wine comms agency Lindsay May PR to drive awarenenss of premium Australian wine in the UK.
Printing giant Epson has handed its entire six-figure UK PR business to the Red Consultancy.
Listed agencies such as Chime Communications, Huntsworth and Next Fifteen are all looking at potential staff losses as shares continue to fall.
Hill & Knowlton has hired Ruder Finn Director Jaimie Brown to bolster its healthcare practice.
The big UK retailers, currently facing a moribund market, are looking at boosting their communications.
The Financial Services Authority has appointed Georgia Parks as head of strategic communications. Parks comes from the Department of Culture Media and Sport.
The Environment Trust for Richmond is on the hunt for a pro bono support for its latest project.
Multibillion US firm, Intuit which specialises in financial tax and accounting software, has hired Hotwire for its PR support in the UK.