Mercury Brings Jim Roberts on as Managing Director
Jim Roberts started working for The New York Times as assistant managing editor in 1987 and continued there for 25 years until 2013. At that point, he went to Reuters Digital as their executive editor. Then he moved to Mashable as executive editor and chief content officer. He also worked as as consulting editor at The Hill in DC.
He recently shifted to Mercury PR as their managing director — his first stint with a PR firm. He’ll be working in the digital strategy unit of the Omnicom subsidiary as head of global operations out of the New York office. Roberts was not the only addition for Mercury. They also added Drew Olanoff in their San Francisco office. Olanoff worked as editor and writer for both The Next Web and TechCrunch.
Report Released from ICCO and PRWeek About PR Around the World
ICCO and PRWeek recently released a report regarding PR in 48 countries: it discusses the industry’s prospects and health as well as listing the top 100 worldwide PR firms by revenue. In the executive summary of the report, Francis Ingham, ICCO’s CEO, said that the PR industry’s outlook is “bright — and getting brighter.”
Healthcare and technology sectors are two of the biggest showing agency growth in the short-term, and that the digital sector has the largest demand for services. Other areas expected to grow include corporate reputation, and public affairs or government relations. Industry leaders in North America, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and the Middle East are the most optimistic about PR growth.
M&S Bank Issues Request for Proposals
M&S Bank needs a PR agency to create and deliver consumer and marketing communication campaigns regarding personal and consumer finances, customers, and social media influencers. A spokesperson for M&S Bank said: “We periodically review the agencies on our roster to ensure we’re delivering the best possible communications for our customers.”
M&S Bank has been in business since 2012 when it was launched as the financial services’s arm replacing M&S Money, and is owned in a joint venture between HSBC and Marks & Spencer.
New Chief Marketing Officer Joins David&Goliath
Stephen Larkin left 180LA after 3 years to become the new CMO for David&Goliath. Larkin led 180LA’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s efforts. He also worked on a project with UNICEF called “Unfairy Tales,” winning the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions as well as five other awards at the same festival. Before 180LA, he worked at Mullen in both Boston and Pittsburgh.
Molson Coors Brewing Sends RFP
Molson Coors Brewing is just starting the RFP process with plans to make a decision early in 2017 for a media and PR agency in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. The new agency will be representing MillerCoors, a newly formed joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors. The CMO of MillerCoors, David Kroll, said they will be sending the RFP to several agencies including their current PR representatives, Citizen’s Relations, which they hired earlier in 2016, as well as Initiative (U.S.), ZenithOptimedia (U.K.), and MEC (Canada).
Kroll further stated: “Our objective with this RFP is to identify the best strategic partner or partners to deliver breakthrough media planning and superior buying effectiveness, along with strong capabilities in research, analytics, and reporting.” According to AdAge Datacenter, in 2015, MillerCoors spent over $920 million in U.S. advertising.