Top PR blogs, Golden Globes, UKIP and the singing spaceman; all on ‘The Week in PR’ (Jan 13)

‘The week in PR’ is a look at all the top stories in public relations as reported by the UK media in the past seven days. Leading the news this week is Cision’s Top 10 PR blog rankings, police comms failure around Mark Duggan’s death, the Golden Globes and a round up of key appointments, movements and account wins in the world of PR. 
To have your news featured here next week, please email me at [email protected].

From Left: Niaz Samadizadeh, Patrick O’Flynn, the Golden Globes icon on Twitter, Yannick Bolloré and a file photo of police, courtesy KashKlick

Leading the news

The Top 10 PR stories of 2013 by Mital Patel via Cision UK
Cision presents the top 10 most influential PR blogs in the UK. The blog ranking methodology takes into consideration social sharing, topic-related content and post frequency.

Failures in police communications blamed for UK riots after Duggan death by Alex Benady via PR Week
The riots that followed the death of Mark Duggan in 2011 were the result of failures in police communications, not the shooting, a former government adviser has claimed.

Speaking on the Today programme, Shaun Bailey, David Cameron’s former adviser on youth and crime, blamed mixed messages from the police for the worst riots in mainland Britain for a generation. ‘Let’s get this straight, it was the police reaction to the shooting that caused the riots, not Mark Duggan,’ he said.

Golden Globes: Breaking Bad, BBC win TV awards but Netflix does not feel love by Rebecca Nicholson via The Guardian
Despite much discussion of its position at the forefront of television’s new golden age, Netflix did not manage to translate its nominations into multiple awards. Its only success was for Robin Wright, who took home best actress for her role as politician’s wife Claire Underwood in House of Cards, the streaming site’s reimagining of the BBC’s 1990 political series.

Commander Chris Hadfield: Singing spaceman to promote Irish tourism via The BBC
The former commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield, is to promote the island of Ireland as a tourist destination.

The retired Canadian astronaut made fans around the world by posting videos and pictures from his final space mission on social media last year.

He has agreed to make a series of short promotional films with Tourism Ireland.

Pitch wins and movements

Yannick Bolloré to become new Havas chief, replacing David Jones by Priyanka Dayal via Cision UK
David Jones, global chief executive officer of Havas, the sixth largest global advertising group, will be leaving the company to launch his own tech start-up. He is replaced by Yannick Bolloré, who is the son of the group’s biggest shareholder Vincent Bolloré.

David leaves the Group with immediate effect but will be retained as advisor to the Havas chairman and CEO throughout 2014.

MWW PR firm hires Simon Gentry of Good Relations to lead new PR practice via The Holmes Report
MWW, one of the top five independent public relations firms in the United States, has appointed Simon Gentry  to lead a new public affairs practice focused on providing clients with support in London and Brussels. Gentry joins MWW from Good Relations and before that ran his own specialist PA agency for 10 years and was head of European affairs at the Association of British Insurers for three years, following a six year stint in the corporate communications function at SmithKline Beecham.

UKIP appoints Patrick O’Flynn of The Daily Express as comms director by Priyanka Dayal via Cision UK
UK Independence Party (UKIP) has appointed Patrick O’Flynn of The Daily Express, as its new director of communications.

Patrick will leave his job of eight years as the chief political commentator at the newspaper in February to help oversee UKIP’s campaign for the 2014 European and UK local elections, according to the official press release.

Patrick is also standing for the party in the European elections as the lead MEP candidate in the East of England constituency.

Aspectus PR wins ITG’s European comms business by Priyanka Dayal via Cision UK
Aspectus PR has won a competitive pitch to handle the PR for ITG, an independent research brokerage firm.

The agency will be working to develop the European markets’ understanding of the range of services ITG provides. The agency will be managing the media strategy and media relations across all key European financial centres. In addition to the team’s market and media knowledge, the agency will also be developing creative marketing initiatives to support the core campaign.

Edelman hires CNBC’s Niaz Samadizadeh to lead content offering by Priyanka Dayal via Cision UK
Edelman UK has appointed Niaz Samadizadeh to the newly created position of head of sponsored content and media partnerships. Niaz will be responsible for strengthening and expanding Edelman UK’s paid content offering. He will report to Jo Sheldon, executive director, media strategy, Edelman. 

Niaz joins the agency after 16 years at CNBC where he was most recently head of creative solutions. Prior to this role, he was head of news where he managed the running of the CNBC EMEA news room. Niaz began his career as a digital business journalist at European Business News.

Danone Nations Cup 2014 kicks of 2014 with Havas PR appointment by Ishbel Macleod via The Drum
Danone Nations Cup 2014, the football tournament for 10-12 year olds, has appointed Havas to handle national and regional PR support across England.

Havas PR UK
was appointed following a three-way pitch, and has been tasked with promoting the tournament throughout the county and regional rounds right up to the English final, which will be played at an FA Premier League ground in May.

Barbour hands PR duties to Exposure via The Holmes Report
British clothing brand Barbour has brought in Exposure to handle public relations duties. After winning the business in a competitive pitch, Exposure’s remit will encompass PR and strategic consultancy for both the Barbour and Barbour International brands.

A fifth generation family-owned British business that is sold in over 40 countries worldwide, Barbour aims to become the UK’s leading international lifestyle brand by 2020. 

Commentary

Facebook scraps Sponsored Stories. What does the move mean for brands and marketers? via The Drum
Facebook announced that on 9 April it will say goodbye to Sponsored Stories. Andy Spry, media manager We Are Social, takes a deeper look at the controversial ad format and what brands should now be doing up update their paid media campaigns.