Q&A: Why are brands like Marks and Spencer pulling their advertising from Google? March 20, 2017 A newspaper investigation uncovered examples of several high profile brands being advertised against extremist content such as videos of a preacher banned from Britain and from white extremist David Duke insulting Jewish people. The BBC, Channel 4, The Guardian as well as the Financial Conduct Authority, Transport for London and the Royal Navy, advertising for [...]
Many PRs don’t understand how influencers work. That must change. March 20, 2017 As someone who works in the PR industry and also runs a football culture blog, I have seen “influencer marketing” from both sides. Building on my recent City A.M. post on the growth of microinfluencers, here are my insights on where PRs go wrong and how they can work better with influencers. Most PR [...]
Openreach is hiring 1,500 trainee engineers and trialling a new virtual reality experience March 20, 2017 Openreach is set to expand its workforce with 1,500 new trainee engineers hired over eight months who will work to extend the UK's fibre broadband network and improve customer service. The broadband provider will seek recruits from across Britain to fill new, full-time and permanent roles. Openreach will initially take on 119 recruits in April, followed by around 60 new [...]
Meet Revolt: The agency with the humble ambition of changing the world March 20, 2017 To say we are living through interesting times is, perhaps, an understatement as obvious as it is true. For many the world is increasingly polarised and difficult to comprehend: known-knowns have become unknowns; unpredictability has become predictable. Among the social media hubris, in which public accountability is unavoidable and reputational damage but 140 characters away, [...]
Riverbed Technology’s Jerry Kennelly on turning over $1bn a year making products named after fish March 20, 2017 When I meet Jerry Kennelly, the least aggravating part of the eight-hour journey he’s just made was on the tube between Westminster and Bond Street. His flight from Stockholm to Gatwick had been fraught with issues, it’d taken him the best part of two hours to get into London from Gatwick and, having stopped off [...]
Snooping around a job applicant’s Facebook? Here’s where you stand legally March 20, 2017 We've all been told at least once in our lives not to “judge a book by its cover”. The reality is that, more often than not, we do precisely the opposite. In today’s technological age, where a Sunday evening isn’t complete without uploading photos from the weekend to Facebook, it’s increasingly rare to come across [...]
President Donald Trump says Germany “owes vast sums” to Nato after saying he had a “great meeting” with Angela Merkel March 18, 2017 President Donald Trump has said Germany "owes vast sums of money" to Nato and should also pay the US more for defending it. He made the remarks on Twitter, saying he had a "great meeting" with German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday. A video of the meeting showed him appearing to deny Merkel a handshake during a [...]
Six Nations 2017: Why Ireland vs England is “massive” for sponsors Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day weekend March 18, 2017 As far as weekends go, they don’t come much bigger for Guinness. St. Patrick’s Day, of course, means pint pullers around the world will have spent an evening with one hand permanently affixed to the Guinness pump — it is estimated that the annual celebration can double the average day sales of the Diageo-owned brand. [...]
After his appointment as Evening Standard editor, should George Osborne resign as an MP? March 17, 2017 Chris Rumfitt, founder and chief executive of Field Consulting, says Yes. George Osborne’s post-ministerial career had already raised eyebrows when he took a bumper package to advise asset manager Blackrock. But it truly caused jaws to drop when news came through that he was to edit the Evening Standard. While the former chancellor is clearly [...]
Tony Blair launches anti-populist institute which definitely isn’t a party March 17, 2017 Fresh from his rousing anti-Brexit speech, Tony Blair has launched a new institute for centre-ground policy based on globalisation and liberal democracy with the warning: "we could be living through a populist moment; but we could be living at the start of a populist era." Renewing the Centre will be directed by Yascha Mounk, a German-born [...]