The week in PR

‘The week in PR’ is a look at all the big stories in public relations as reported by the UK media in the week gone by. The highlights include a round-up of expert PR views on the #AskJPM Twitter gaffe; PRCA Awards 2013 results; the Welsh Government’s £4.2m PR framework, and more.
To have your PR News featured here next week, please email me at [email protected]

Leading the news this week

H+K brings 16 countries into Asia-Pacific structure under Vivian Lines by Daniel Farey-Jones via PRWeek
Hill+Knowlton Strategies is unifying its 16 operations in China, Asia, India and the Pacific into an APAC regional structure with Vivian Lines as chairman.

Lines, who is based in Singapore, will transition from his global practice head role to devote attention to APAC, but will retain his client services co-lead role.

#AskJPM underscores risk of Twitter engagement by Lina Saigol via The Financial Times
JPMorgan Chase’s hasty retreat from Twitter on Wednesday highlights the risks executives face when choosing to engage with the public via the microblogging site.
The article looks at what some of London’s public relations experts think of JPM’s Twitter gaffe.

Ogilvy wins top prize at PRCA Awards 2013 via PRCA
The PRCA Awards 2013 was held on 12 November at London Hilton hotel on Park Lane, and saw some of the biggest names in PR and communications in attendance. Top consultancies, in-house teams and individuals competed for the Awards in 32 categories.

Ogilvy Public Relations scooped the top prize for Large Consultancy of the Year, while the Private Sector In-House Team of the Year award went to O2, and Public Sector/Charity In-house team of the year went to Dogs Trust.

FT’s former PR takes job as Nick Clegg’s spin doctor by Roy Greenslade via The Guardian
The former director of global communications for the Financial Times Group, Emma Gilpin-Jacobs, has been confirmed as Nick Clegg’s director of communications.

Gilpin-Jacobs, who spent seven years with the FT, left the publisher in June soon after being named as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ PR director of the year.

 Welsh Government unveils PR framework valued at up to £4.2m by Ishbel Macleod via The Drum 
The Welsh Government has released a tender for a PR framework for suppliers to be able to work on a day-to-day basis.

It is expected that a maximum of 16 participants will be chosen for the contract, which will last for four years and is valued at up to £4.2m.

Account wins and movements

Coull selects Bite for UK and US PR support by by Arun Sudhaman via The Holmes Report
Online ad player Coull has appointed Bite as its UK and US retained PR agency following a competitive review.

Bite, which secured the brief after pitching against three other agencies, is tasked with promoting Coull’s online ad technology within the advertising and publishing markets.

Context PR wins Media 1 Productions’ account by Priyanka Dayal via Cision UK
Context Public Relations has been appointed by Media 1 Productions, a conference and event service provider, to lead its B2B social media strategy.

The tech PR agency has been briefed to drive awareness of the company’s new products including a webcast service for companies wanting to host high-quality conferences online.

Tony Langham elected as Vice-Chairman of PR Council via PRCA
The Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) has revealed that Lansons Communications CEO Tony Langham MPRCA will be the chairman of the PR Council during 2014-15.

Tony Langham has been immediately appointed as vice-chairman of the Council, working alongside Chairman Rob Ettridge MPRCA, co-founder of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. Tony will go on to replace Rob as chairman in October 2014.

Blue Cross appoints M&C Saatchi Group for advertising, social, consumer PR and media buying by Ishbel Macleod via The Drum 
Blue Cross, the animal charity, has announced the appointment of M&C Saatchi to cover advertising, content, CRM, social media, consumer PR and media planning and buying.

Appointed following a competitive pitch, M&C Saatchi Group will work with the charity to develop breakthrough creative to drive awareness, build engagement and increase support.

PRspective

Heather Healy of Stickyeyes by Priyanka Dayal via Cision UK
Heather Healy, creative communications director at Stickyeyes, talks to Cision about prominent trends in the digital marketing industry, winning campaign strategies and on ‘FOMO’ in the digital world.