Tag Archives: New Business

News

Firehaus Scoops Company Shop, UKRI And Tickitto Accounts In Trio Of Wins

Firehaus, a brand consultancy, has scooped the Company Shop Group account amongst a trio of new business wins. The win comes alongside project work for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and Tickitto where Firehaus will work on their rebrand.  

Company Shop Group is the UK’s largest redistributor of surplus food and household products. Each year the food and drink industries generate 140k+ tonnes of quality surplus suitable for redistribution. Only a small amount is currently being redistributed. The majority ends up as animal feed or waste for landfill. Company Shop Group is tackling this problem by championing intelligent surplus management as an asset for business, a benefit for the planet and a force for good in communities everywhere.  

Beth Pope, Founder and Brand Partner at Firehaus comments “In the wake of COP26 the time is never more right for businesses such as Company Shop Group. We’re delighted to be playing a part in how the brand builds much greater awareness around its incredible and innovative offering and the positive impact it has on both people and planet.” 

David Lennon, Deputy Managing Director at Company Shop Group adds “I’m really excited to be embarking on the next phase of the Group’s development plans with the skills, passion and commitment of the Firehaus team. From the outset Firehaus grasped both the complexities and opportunities that exist within such a unique organisation to play a bigger, broader role in tackling food waste and supporting vulnerable communities over the coming months and years.” 

Firehaus will also be working with UKRI to create branding and collateral for ‘Interact’, an exciting new research initiative within Made Smarter Innovation, the UK Government’s industrial innovation fund for digital manufacturing.  The initiative aims to make an important social science-focussed contribution to how the UK realises its ambition to become a global leader in industrial digitalisation by 2030. 

Meanwhile, Tickitto is an innovative business that is changing the way the world buys tickets. The start-up recently received £4.5m in investment and is in the process of rebranding.  

Nick Barthram, Founder and Strategy Partner at Firehaus adds “It’s great we can support a great business like Tickitto that is not only solving a global industry problem, but also opening up more people to exciting life experiences.” 

The trio of wins demonstrates Firehaus’ recent success and ongoing ambition to support organisations at a critical point in their growth journeys. 

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

District Enforcement selects Neo PR to deliver effective lead generation through PR

Neo PR, a Buckinghamshire-based B2B technology PR agency and District Enforcement, the leading company that provides its clients with legal methods for ensuring compliance immediately upon their land, has seen multiple inbound sales leads as a direct result of the proactive thought leadership PR campaign.

District Enforcement’s family of companies employs over 100 people across the UK with three strategically located offices to ensure that the company’s operational needs can be met. Working closely with local councils, District Enforcement’s four key sectors are identified as car parking management, mooring, marshalling and environmental services.

District Enforcement’s business model involves issuing tickets for outstanding parking, mooring or environmental charges by pursuing those charges through specialised legal means. In this way, the person issued with a fixed penalty notice is given a route to challenge the issue of the charge, which minimises the impact of distress by giving them a fair arbitration system consistent with the impartiality of the courts.

Due to District Enforcement’s extensive experience and expertise across local government, environmental services, law, and parking management, it is uniquely positioned to deliver a bespoke end-to-end service to its clients. Using technology is an integral part of District’s business, from solar-powered Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems to a completely revamped back-office system that allows users to access all of the data contained within their contract, District supports its clients by improving and educating public awareness.

“It was key that we could utilise PR to educate readers on the importance of keeping communities safe through supporting local councils and we are incredibly impressed with Neo PR’s experience, knowledge and stance within the industry,” said Dyl Kurpil, Managing Director, District Enforcement. “Our relationship with Neo has led to a number of new leads within our sector based on their thought leadership and news opportunities and we are thrilled to continue our partnership with the team.”

Ashley Carr, Managing Director and Founder of Neo PR commented, “District Enforcement is in the forefront of educating audiences and providing lawful solutions to ensure compliance on clients’ land through effective, lawful options.” He added, “Neo PR has a unique deliverables based model, meaning that we are outcome-focused. I am thrilled that the Neo District Enforcement PR team has utilised PR that has, in turn, generated new sales activity, which highlights that the talent we bring to our clients sets us apart from other agencies.

 

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Raptor PR appointed agency of record for Playable Factory

Raptor PR, the hyper-growth digital b2b communications agency for video games, media and tech brands, continues its successful 2021 journey as it has been appointed as the global agency of record for Playable Factory, an intelligent marketing platform that creates playable and interactive ads for mobile games, apps and brands.

Playable Factory’s world-class track record includes boosting user acquisition and return on ad spend for publishers such as Zynga, Voodoo, Dream Games, Rovio and CrazyLabs while it has also created interactive brand playables for Lego and brands in the Unilever family.

Raptor PR will be designing Istanbul-based Playable Factory’s global communications architecture, positioning and content strategy to drive conversations not just within the mobile games industry, but also among premium brands. Raptor PR’s integrated campaign will directly support Playable Factory’s international growth strategy, targeting stakeholders including investors, publishers, developers, brands, agencies and advertisers. 

Can Coskuncan, Growth and Partnership Lead at Playable Factory, commented: “When looking for a partner for our global communication activities we knew that our business area required not just any PR agency, but one with proven and highly specialised expertise across gaming, advertising and tech industries. That’s why we decided to work with Raptor PR and we believe their experience will add a great deal of value and effectiveness both for Playable Factory and our clients’ businesses.”

Rana Rahman, Founder and Managing Director of Raptor PR, commented: “Team Raptor is uber excited to be working with Playable Factory. They’re a perfect compliment to our portfolio of hugely ambitious and successful games industry brands that are looking to ramp up their global fame game. Playable Factory isn’t just a leading creator of playable ads for mobile games campaigns – they’re driving adoption of playable and interactive ads by household-name brands like Unilever and Lego. Turkey is such a vibrant ecosystem of talent, growth and energy. I’m positively delighted that we’re now officially a part of this scene, helping one of its brightest stars go global.”

News

Born Social names new business manager

Born Social has today announced Jenni Evans as Senior New Business Manager.

Jenni joins the agency from the Accenture-owned ad agency Karmarama where she held the role of new business and marketing manager, helping the agency secure global brands, including: Lidl, Nando’s, Halfords, NCS, Arla Foods, Just Eat and Confused.com. Prior to joining Born Social, she held positions at Sue Ryder and Creative Brief.

A firm supporter of women’s rights, Jenni created the network Represent Creative to provide advice for women seeking creative careers and was awarded a WACL Talent Award 2021, celebrating emerging future female leaders working in media, marketing, advertising and communications. She is also a Squiggly Career advocate.

Ed Knight, Head of New Business & Marketing, Born Social, says “Jenni brings a superb background in fast growing agencies, brands, and intermediaries. We’re hugely excited about what Jenni will bring to the New Business and Marketing team and how she can help to continue to drive our growth over the coming years..”

Commenting on her new role at Born Social, Jenni says: “I’m over the moon to join Born Social at such an exciting stage of its growth. I believe we have some of the most forward-thinking people in the industry here, and I’m excited to see what we will deliver for our clients in the present and future.”

News

£750,000 investment powers up UK’s new 3D printing powerhouse

The Yorkshire based 3D printing and product development consultancy, AME Group, has secured an impressive £750,000 investment from Northern Powerhouse-backed company, NPIF-Mercia Equity Finance, to launch the new 3D printing and Low Volume Production brand, AME-3D.

This recent investment in AME Group’s over 20-year history will enable the company to implement key growth plans, which also include hiring 10 new staff, acquiring new equipment and launching two new brands. The first new brand is AME-3D, the 3D Printing and Low Volume Production Powerhouse. This brand will focus on providing 3D printing for manufacturing and prototyping services to Yorkshire and UK businesses. It will also expand into small batch unit production, also known as Low Volume Production, and in direct manufacturing with dropshipping services.

The investment and new brand mark an important turning point in the company’s overall journey.

AME Group Founder, now Finance Director, Ian Jones said: 

“New technologies such as 3D printing have opened up new possibilities in product development and testing. As a result, the rapid prototyping market is expanding year-on-year.

With the new AME-3D brand fully dedicated to unlocking the potential that 3D printing and Low Volume Production offers, our team can support UK businesses with longer-term growth and with their post-Covid bounce-back plans.”

 

Maurice Disasi of Mercia added: 

“AME has performed strongly since its inception and established itself as one of the leaders in its field. As the company embarks on a new period of growth, this funding will enable it to take advantage of the exciting opportunities in the rapid prototyping market and to widen its customer base.”

 

Sean Hutchinson of British Business Bank said:

“AME is a growing Northern business working with a strong portfolio of respected brands across a range of sectors. NPIF is proud to play a part in helping businesses like AME reach the next stage in their growth journey. By investing in ambitious successful companies, we are helping to create new jobs, safeguard others and support regional economic growth allowing business communities to fulfill their potential.”

 

To find out more about the new brand, AME-3D, visit the website: ame-3d.co.uk

News

Admix, Gamestream, Gamebake and PlayLa.bZ appoint Raptor PR as agency of record

Raptor PR, the virtual-first digital PR agency for video games, media and tech brands, today emerges from soft launch into full communications agency mode having secured four retained accounts since January 2021. The quartet includes Admix, a $12M funded in-game advertising platform that is leading the ‘In-Play’ movement, Gamestream, the leading B2B whitelabeled cloud gaming solution, GameBake, the pioneering video games distribution solution, and PlayLa.bZ, the award-winning multi-dimensional motion arts research institute at Ravensbourne University London.

Founded in May 2019 by twenty-year tech PR veteran Rana Rahman, Raptor PR has transitioned from single freelancer status to a fully formed PR agency, offering a laser-focussed set of services designed to help emerging tech, games and media companies cut through the noise. Coinciding with the launch, its new website and gamified branding goes live today. Today Raptor PR is also proud to announce it is now a member of UKIE, the trade association for the UK’s games and interactive entertainment industry.

For its new clients, Raptor PR will be developing their entire global communications architecture, designed to scale-up their reach to meet new, untapped audiences. This includes global corporate messaging, earned and paid media strategy, social media strategy and community management, audio and podcasting, analyst and influencer relations, data analytics, market research, events, branding, web build, content marketing, and advanced copywriting services, powered by a team of veteran freelance journalists and communications professionals.

Rana Rahman, Founder and CEO of Raptor PR, commented:

“With COVID-19 bringing my long freelance consulting career to a halt last year, I had the opportunity to develop a virtual-first model for Raptor PR. There’s a new breed of tech entrepreneur which desires a hyper-agile agency model to mould around their evolving business needs. One which can truly adapt to suit an ever-changing environment. Our virtual model enables us to deliver best-in-class local services with global reach, unshackled by location, time-zone and resource. The goal for Raptor PR is to perfect a diverse, data-driven, virtual agency model that’s capable of adapting to rapidly changing client needs and variable economic conditions”.

Sam Huber, CEO and Co-Founder of Admix, says of Raptor PR:

“As a company with large ambition in the gaming space, it was very important for us to find a PR partner who understands our mission, and is equally as passionate about our industry. Rana and his team have a combination of experience and out-of-the-box thinking necessary to break through the noise and deliver real results.”

Mike Hudson, CEO & co-founder of GameBake, added:

“Gaming is the passion that drives GameBake, and finding a PR partner that has that same passion and drive to not just understand our mission, but to become a true part of the team has really helped unlock the creativity of the whole team to drive our PR machine.”

James Edward Marks, PlayLabZ Co-Founder, SEEDS Mentor, Artivist, Emerging Film Technologies Guest Lecturer, added:

“Raptor’s playful passion to mix shareable stories with byte & its knack for blurring boundaries within the arts, culture & emerging tech for social good third-space, feels like a natural synchronicity with our own. As PlayLa.bZ & GenieMo now look to expand minds and massage the mainstream with our Multi-dimensional Motion Arts innovations at Ravensbourne University London, and explore the rapidly evolving shape of DIY spatial social-cast communication & experiences to come.”

The core team is led by Founder and CEO Rana Rahman, and PR Account Director and audio specialist Rosie Lumley. Content is driven by Simon Judges and Thomas Huxter, AR by Angela May, HR by Utterclub founder Lorraine Barker. Industry partners include Mobidictum, the leading  mobile gaming news platform in Turkey, broadcast PR specialist Hound Global, and US-based Briz Media Group. Over the past two decades, Rana has consulted for an eclectic mix of award-winning global PR agencies like JIN (UK, FR and DE), WITH PR, April Six, Borkowski.DO, Bubble Agency, Shine Communications, MSL UK, H+K, 3 Monkeys, Braben, Propeller Group PR. Rana’s previous brand experience includes the likes of PlayStation, Rovio, Philips, Microsoft, IONITY, SafeToNet, Fujifilm, AppLovin, Tappx, EMAP, Buena Vista International, MediaCom and Carat.

News

ReachFive selects Neo PR to deliver disruptive retailtech campaigns

Neo PR, the B2B technology PR agency, has announced it has been appointed as UK PR agency for ReachFive, provider of the cloud-based customer identity and access management (CIAM) enterprise platform, with immediate effect.

Since 2014, the Paris-headquartered company, ReachFive’s cloud-based, API-first platform has provided retailers with the capability to deploy consumer identity and access management with speed and at global scale, while maximising agility to keep up with the pace of digital change. Leading companies such as L’Occitane, Boulanger, Etam Group, Hachette Group, La Compagnie des Alpes, Monoprix and ENGIE use ReachFive to drive higher lifetime customer value, and improve marketing, commerce and customer service results.

Since expanding into the United Kingdom with Series A funding of $10 million at the beginning of the year, working with Neo PR will help to solidify ReachFive’s footprint in the country, enticing retailers to take advantage of digital technology and put identity at the centre of the customer experience to drive personalisation, engagement and loyalty. The PR agency aims to do this by elevating the presence of ReachFive’s cloud-based API platform through thought leadership to create brand awareness and coverage within the industry.

“We are incredibly impressed with Neo PR’s experience, knowledge and stance within the retail technology industry,” said Russell Loarridge, Director, ReachFive. “Throughout my own career, I have worked several times with Neo PR as I know that they will deliver disruptive campaigns to elevate ReachFives’ brand recognition within the industry and support our broader business objectives. Their opinion based thought leadership and news jacking opportunities makes Neo stand out from the crowd and I’m thrilled to be working with them again once more at ReachFive.”

Ashley Carr, Managing Director and Founder of Neo PR commented, “ReachFive is at the forefront of innovation and at Neo we love doing business with people who love doing business. Neo has a unique deliverables based pricing model, meaning that we are outcome focused and we give full transparency so our clients get exactly what they want. I am thrilled that the Neo ReachFive PR team continues to deliver above and beyond, which highlights that the talent we bring to our clients sets us apart.”

Contract Wins, Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Collection Cosmetics appoints Havas Media Manchester as media agency of record as it plans return to paid media

Collection Cosmetics, the award-winning affordable make up brand, has appointed Havas Media Manchester as its media agency following a strategic review.

Havas Media Manchester will now partner with Collection Cosmetics to harness media in order to raise awareness of key product launches amongst a core audience of 16 to 34-year-old make up lovers, and ultimately drive an uplift in sales. It will be the first time Collection Cosmetics has used paid media in two years.

The media strategy will support the relaunch of Collection Cosmetics’ most successful sub brand, Lasting Perfection.

Collection Cosmetics is also tapping into Havas’ unique village proposition with the appointment of Red Havas for PR services.

Annie Anstey, Head of Marketing, Meiyume UK, said: “Havas Media demonstrated an impressive ability to pinpoint and target an audience representing a growth opportunity. They also showed a thorough understanding of our brand challenge, grasping the direction of growth and taking time to get under the skin of our large product offering. We’re very happy to be partnering with them as we return to paid media.”

Stuart Lunn, Managing Director, Havas Media Manchester, said: “We’re thrilled to have been appointed by Collection Cosmetics at what is a very exciting time for the brand. With product launches and the introduction of a new ecommerce platform in the works, it’s fantastic to be working closely with them to drive growth.”

Contract Wins, Creative News, Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Loom Digital wins two new accounts during lockdown

Bristol-based integrated digital marketing agency, Loom, has won two new clients during the UK coronavirus lockdown: Henchman, a family-run hedge cutting platform and garden ladder business, and Friska, Bristol-based restaurant and coffee shop. Loom is working with Henchman on a full suite of services, including SEO, PPC, biddable media and content marketing, while Friska is currently focusing on its biddable media offering.

Launched in 1994, the Henchman business has since been a pioneer of safer hedge cutting platforms and garden ladders and brought its first model to market over 20 years ago. Henchman’s customers include a number of Royal households, the NHS, the RHS, the National Trust, hundreds of councils, schools, colleges, nationwide landscape gardeners and, predominantly, tens of thousands of householders.

Henchman has already started to see strong results since working with Loom, with an increase in conversion rates and a rise in direct website revenue. Henchman’s sector has benefited from a surge in searches during lockdown which Loom has been able to help maximise to deliver record-breaking results. Although it’s early days, the future looks bright.

Meanwhile, Loom is set to help Friska promote its Friska At Home offering – freshly prepared, pre-cooked meal kits delivered to homes – a service that has been launched during the outbreak. Founded in 2009, Friska serves food inspired by flavours from around the world, alongside speciality coffee that is directly sourced from local, trusted suppliers. Co-founders Griff and Ed strive to create a positive culture surrounding the business and are committed to running the business in a responsible way. With an ethos based on making a positive impact on the world, charity partners include Deki and FRANK water.

“Digital has been the one constant during lockdown, and we’re pleased to have seen positive results for clients across the board. We were delighted to secure two new clients and to have such positive starts,” commented Loom Founder and Director, Nikki Ellison. “Both Friska and Henchman have been wonderful clients to work with so far and we look forward to further developing and implementing their digital strategy”

 

Contract Wins, Creative News, Finance News, Marketing, PR and SEO, News

OpenMoney appoints Havas Media Manchester as media planning and buying agency of record as it seeks to revolutionise the financial advice and mortgage categories

OpenMoney, the financial platform with a mission to make financial advice affordable and accessible for everyone, has selected Havas Media Manchester as its media planning and buying agency of record, with a significant seven-figure annual spend. The appointment follows a competitive pitch against three agencies.

Havas Media Manchester will now partner with OpenMoney to develop media planning and buying strategies to support the launch of a major brand campaign as well as its new mortgage proposition, Home by OpenMoney.

The ground-breaking mortgage product will be aimed at first time buyers who have no experience and little access to the mortgage world. Home by OpenMoney will offer these consumers completely free and impartial support and advice on every aspect of the home buying process, with access to real-time updates via its app and portal.

OpenMoney’s media planning and buying was previously handled by Wavemaker.

Anthony Morrow, CEO, OpenMoney, said: “‘We were hugely impressed by Havas Media’s strategic approach, which centred around positioning Home by OpenMoney as an enabler for community, as well as their understanding of our brand and business challenges. We’re very much looking forward to partnering with them as we continue to disrupt the financial advice industry in order to make it work better for everyday people.”

Stuart Lunn, Managing Director, Havas Media Manchester, said: “We’re delighted to have been appointed by OpenMoney. They’re making ground-breaking strides in providing exceptional and affordable financial advice to everyone, and they’re an inspirational business, with great products and even better people. As two likeminded, disruptive brands, we cannot wait to begin our journey together.”