Alex Clough Joins to Strengthen Team

Alex Landscape

The agency  has recruited Account Director Alex Clough to strengthen the team at its MediaCityUK office.  Alex joins from Amaze where she was part of the PR team for five years.

Alex will take a senior role on the agency’s Wedgwood account and will work with Amsterdam based EATRIS, the medical sector consortium, that appointed Rule 5 last year.  Both roles incorporate global communications briefs.  Founding Partner Julie Wilson said: “Alex joins us at a really exciting time for the agency. We have ambitious plans for 2015 and she will play a key role in helping us grow the business as we evolve from an ambitious start up to an established agency.”

The business has gained a reputation for delivering award-winning work in the sports sector after launching at the end of 2012; notably for its work with clients British Cycling and GB Taekwondo.  In the last 12 months it has acquired clients in media, technology, the arts, health, automotive, and the food sector as well as continuing to grow its business in the sporting arena.

Back in the Saddle with Virgin Money Cyclone

Kristian House wins Men's winner at Virgin Money Cyclone 2014 - 4

The agency been appointed by Virgin Money to support the PR and Social Media campaign for the 2015 Virgin Money Cyclone Festival of Cycling.

It is the second time the agency has been brought into the saddle and follows last year’s successful campaign.  The event, one of the most respected cycling festivals in the country, attracts the world’s best cyclists and has seen Mark Cavendish, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Hannah Barnes and Dame Sarah Storey all participate in the elite rides.  Equally anticipated are the festival’s Challenge rides which attract cycling enthusiasts from across the country.

The brief sees the agency work closely with Virgin Money’s in-house team to raise awareness of the event in the core cycling and consumer media and drive participation through the festival’s social media channels.  Activity is already underway.

Speaking on the appointment Virgin Money Head of Sponsorship Marketing, Andrew Nicholson, said:  “We’re really pleased to appoint Rule 5 as our official communications partner.  Last year’s campaign saw some real wins for the event with the team engaged both online and on the ground over the course of the weekend.  We’re looking forward to building on activity for 2015.”

Rule 5 Founding Director, Julie Wilson, said: “The Virgin Money Cyclone Festival of Cycling is a joy to work on and we’re thrilled to have been brought back on board by Virgin Money for 2015.

The Virgin Money Cyclone takes place this June 19 – 21 in some of the most beautiful countryside in Northumberland. To register visit https://virginmoneycyclone.co.uk/EnterOnline.asp

Four Nominations In PRmoment Awards

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We’re thrilled to have made the shortlist of this year’s PRmoment Awards with nominations in four categories.

The awards recognise outstanding campaigns and exceptional talent and this year attracted over 650 entries.

Rule 5 is shortlisted for Social Media Agency of the Year and Consumer PR Agency of the Year. The agency is also nominated for Best Use of Video for its work on the UCI Track Cycling World Cup London and Social Media Campaign of the Year for its work with Royal Albert, a category Rule 5 won at last year’s Big Chip Awards.

The PRmoment Awards will be announced on March 11 at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate.

Snap snap. Snapchat gets newsy with Discover

Spook 1

Have you updated Snapchat? For the snap happy ones of us in the office that did, we were confronted with the most interesting feature yet – Discover.

For the uninitiated, Snapchat is an iOS and Android app that lets users take photos or record videos and add text and drawings, before sending them to a list of recipients. These Snaps can be viewed for between one and 10 seconds, then they’re hidden from the receiver’s device and deleted from Snapchat’s servers.

Developed by Stanford University’s Bobby Murphy, Reggie Brown and Evan Spiegel, Snapchat has come a very long way since its release in September 2011:

  • Snapchat is reportedly now worth $10 billion
  • 100 million people actively use the app each month
  • 400 million Snaps are sent every day
  • 1 billion Snapchat Stories are viewed every day
  • Snapchat is the third most popular social app among millennials
  • Facebook offered $3 billion to buy Snapchat in 2013. In cash

Not so bad for an app that was initially dismissed as a novelty act.

In Discover, media companies can publish content to the app for users to view. At launch, these included MTV, Cosmopolitan, Yahoo! News, National Geographic and The Daily Mail just to name a few.

According to Snapchat’s latest blog post, Discover is different because it’s been built for creatives, but keeps Stories – apologies if we don’t watch the entire narrative of your night out, we’ve got better things to do at 3am – at its core.

There’s a beginning, middle and end so editors can put everything in order and every edition is refreshed after 24 hours. Simply tap to open, swipe left to browse, or swipe up on a Snap for more.

With promises of fresh and unique content from each channel every day, Discover has certainly grabbed our attention.

Rob Brown is CIPR President Elect

rob brownOn January 1 the agency’s managing partner became president-elect of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). President Elect is one of four elected officers of the Institute, who also sit on the CIPR’s Board of Directors. Rob will take over as president in January 2016, succeeding Sarah Pinch. The CIPR president acts as chairman of the institute and as a representative for the profession in the UK. Rob said “2014 president Stephen Waddington has set a great precedent for this year’s incumbent Sarah Pinch and for me to follow in 2016. It’s an honour to be given the opportunity to lead the Institute and continue the great work that has been done by the CIPR.”