More from Portland Communications, Child’s Play Communications, MDC, Ketchum, and PR happenings in Australia
Portland Communications Tied to Mass Resignation Pact to Oust Jeremy Corbyn
While America has its #NotHillary and #NotTrump movements, the U.K. has had “Anyone But Corbyn.” Jeremy Corbyn became the leader of Parliament’s Labour Party in mid-2015. Corbyn represents those at the far left of the party. But many from the middle and long associated with the political stand of Tony Blair while he was PM, want Corbyn gone. They may have even formed a mass resignation pact to help accomplish that as much as six months’ ago. Then came the BREXIT vote and though the Labour Party was against it, many have claimed Corbyn didn’t do nearly enough to sway the voting to remain in the EU. And, as it turns out, many of those are from the middle and have deep ties to Portland Communications.
According to Steve Topple, writing for The Canary, “To spell it out in layman’s terms, Portland Communications is a company organized, fronted, and controlled by a plethora of apparatchiks of Tony Blair and the center-right of Labour.”
Six months’ ago Portland added several points on the matter to their website. Point 4 says, in part, “The ‘Anyone But Corbyn’ MPs are getting organized. Almost as soon as Dugher was removed, texts went out to MPs and prominent Labour figures with the lines to take in support of him … what is more interesting is the rumoured NATO-style pact against moderate members of the Shadow Cabinet which would mean mass resignations if key moderates are removed from posts.”
Child’s Play Communications Announces Kids and Family Tech Expo Media Event
Child’s Play Communications, a New York PR firm specializing in children’s brands, providing influencer management, social media, word of mouth coverage, and PR has scheduled the first Kids and Family Tech Expo for September 13, 2016 at Contra Studios – 122 West 26th Street, New York. Brand sponsors will receive the added bonus of visibility across Child’s Play’s various communication channels, social media accounts, and newsletters.
They will also receive photos and video of them being interviewed at the expo for use on their social media or other venues.
MDC Partners Adds Forsman & Bodenfors to Their Team
Forsman & Bodenfors, one of the creative agencies receiving Grand Prix honors at the Cannes Lions 2016 Festival, has been acquired by one of MDC’s shops, Crispin Porter and Bogusky. Both firms will continue to work as separate entities.
F&B has approximately 300 employees and was founded in 1986. The CEO, Erik Sollenberg, and Chairman, Anna Qvennerstedt led the agency as they won the Grand Prix Lion for their client Coop on “the Organic Effect” campaign. They also won a glass lion for SK-II’s “Marriage Market Takeover,” seeking to alter conversation about China’s unmarried (over 25) women – referred to as “leftover women.”
AMEC Names Marni Zapakin of Ketchum Young Professional of the Year
Ketchum PR’s Marni Zapakin, a senior project manager, was named Young Professional of the Year at AMEC’s 14th annual awards held in London during June. AMEC, the International Assoc. for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication, is a professional institute and global trade group for practitioners and agencies providing communication research and media evaluation.
PR News from Australia
An RFP from McDonald’s in Australia shows five agencies vying for the contract including two incumbents, Mango and PPR. The other three agencies are Ogilvy, One Green Bean, and Eleven PR. McDonald’s in the U.S. is also looking for one firm to represent them, the weeding out process has two contenders left in that race, Omnicom (DDB) and Publicis (Leo Burnett).
Uber in Australia has added One Green Bean as their AOR for PR. 1GB was founded in 2007 and they “help brands find interesting ways to tell their story, with ideas that not only have news currency but social currency too.” Some of their other clients include Kirk’s, Groupon, Ben & Jerry’s, Queenstown, and Lego.
Cisco is looking for new PR possibilities in Australia and New Zealand according to their spokesperson, “Cisco consistently reviews existing strategic suppliers in line with our global preferred supplier program. We are conducting a review to align to Cisco’s Global Corporate Communications preferred supplier and will cover PR retainer agencies within Australia and New Zealand.” Currently, PR is done by Hotwire locally and globally by Text100.
Other brands changing PR representation in Australia include Mydeal.com – moving to Icon PR, based in Melbourne; Tonic PR just expanded by six clients – The Streets of Barangaroo, East London at The London Hotel in Paddington, Mad Mex, La Renaissance – and two restaurants opening in August – Tequila Mockingbird, and Bouche on Bridge. Liquid Ideas also added six new clients – The Paddington Inn, Drinks Association, Kanzi & Greenstar Apples, Continental Cup-A-Soup, Kellogg’s, and Margan Family Wines and Produce Marketing Australia.
