Rostrum Communications - A London PR Company

Phil Mossop of The Green House, our waste management client, recently threw himself out of a plane…  as a nervous flier, i seriously admire his cojones… http://www.thegreenhouse.co.uk/waste-management-blog

A couple of fairly important media moves here… I also met with FT Money Editor this morning and they’re doing a four-week special on DIY investing, so if that interests you as a theme for PR, get in touch…

The Independent
James Moore has been appointed Deputy Business Editor at The Independent. James, who is a former Associate Editor of The Sportsman and Financial Services Editor of The Daily Telegraph, will start his new role on 8th July. He replaces David Prosser who becomes Business and City Editor at the end of the month following Jeremy Warner’s departure. Until he joins, James can be reached on +44 (0)7980 241 125 and james_moore-fms@hotmail.com

Telegraph Media Group
Telegraph Media Group has appointed Andrew Gilligan as London Editor. Andrew, who was previously a Columnist and Reporter at the Evening Standard, will be writing news, features and regular columns for The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and Telegraph.co.uk. His contact details and start date will be announced in due course.
- Mark

Source: Gorkana

Our client Connect www.connect.co.uk was the case study in Telegraph Business Club newsletter today, which also features in the main paper.  Here’s the link - really cool piece of coverage for the company.  http://www.telegraphbusinessclub.co.uk/default.asp?p_id=search&showresults=1&showarticle=3452.

The Business Club’s aim is “to help dynamic entrepreneurs and ambitious business professionals to become more successful” and thousands of UK entrepreneurs and businesses subscribe to the newsletter each week, so it’s well worth a look if this market interests you.

- Mark

The Tube strikes that have made life so difficult for many Londoners and visitors to the city today are no laughing matter.  The cost to UK plc will be huge – and the disruption and misery for businesses and commuters alike are the last thing any of us need in the depths of a recession.

But, from a PR perspective, any big news event – good or bad – will creates angles and opportunities, if you know where to look for them.  Sometimes, companies attempting to ‘hijack the news’ face an ethical dilemma.  When representing a firm of fund managers in 2001, I was asked to advise them whether or not they should issue a statement talking about the impact of September 11^th on global stockmarkets.  Out of respect for those lost in the tragedy, we decided not to do so – although many of their competitors did issue statements (I still feel that we made the right call).

Fortunately, the Tube strikes are nowhere near that same level of crisis – and so we can pursue the PR angles with a clean conscience!  Hence our client – IT support and outsourcing firm Connect www.connect.co.uk – featured in a fantastic piece of ‘news hijacking’ coverage today on www.realbusiness.co.uk – the online version of the leading publication for entrepreneurs and owner-managers.  Here’s the piece - we’re really pleased with it!

A rash of news stories http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6460522.ece about the decision by Lloyds Banking Group to lose the C&G brand.  Leaving aside the job losses, which are clearly not good news for anyone but were inevitable when such a large financial institution was created, what’s really being lost here?  The messageboards are awash with complaints about a ‘great British brand’ being destroyed - but what does it really mean? 

We’re seeing the emergence of 4 superbanks - HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, Santander - that much is clear.  More small brands will be lost - but this will create opportunities for specialist new entrants.  The supermarkets are coming into the sector - with Tesco leading the way.   Since the hasty merger at Lloyds, the board seem to have done most things right - Lloyds has raised £4 billion, it is well-capitalised and secure, and the speed of the restructuring has been incredibly quick.  All in all, they’ve handled the PR battle pretty well and seem to be winning the City over.  Losing some brands is inevitable - even ones as well-respected as C&G.  If that’s what it takes to stabilise the business and set it up for future success, it seems a reasonable price to pay…

- Mark

Some interesting changes this week - see below for details…  

Financial Times
Hugo Greenhalgh joins the FT today as Editor of the magazine and website division of Special Reports, having previously been Editor of Investment Adviser. Hugo can now be reached on +44 (0)20 7775 6626 and hugo.greenhalgh@ft.com

Investors Chronicle
Jonathan Eley has been appointed Editor of Investors Chronicle. He joined IC nine years ago as Online News Editor from news wire service AFX News, where he worked as a Sub-Editor in the UK and a Reporter in Hong Kong. Prior to AFX, Jonathan was a Journalist at Metal Bulletin. He became Online Editor of Investors Chronicle in 2005 and led the redesign of their website, which launched in June 2007. Jonathan can be reached on +44 (0)20 7775 6565 and jonathan.eley@ft.com

The Economist
The Economist has recently launched a YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/EconomistMagazine, which will run a selection of videos from The Economist’s audio and video site, http://audiovideo.economist.com/. The new channel is available now.

CFO Europe
The Economist Group has announced the closure of its monthly magazine for finance directors, CFO Europe. The final edition of the magazine is the recently published May issue and follows the closure of CFO Asia and CFO China in February 2009. The last-remaining CFO magazine based in America remains unaffected. For more information, Georgina Saad and Heidi Wenyon of The Economist Group can be reached on +44 (0)20 7830 7080.

Pensions Management / High Net Worth
Owen Walker has recently been appointed Deputy Editor of Pensions Management and High Net Worth. Previously, Owen held the position of Assistant Editor. He is also the 2009 winner of the Watson Wyatt Award for Best HR Journalist (Newcomer). Owen can still be reached on +44 (0)20 7775 6389 and owen.walker@ft.com

Source: Gorkana

As you pick up a copy of thelondonpaper in today’s sweltering heat, check out Gayle Schoale’s article “Online mortgage checks could affect your ability to apply in future”… it features two Rostrum clients as expert commentators. Olivier Beau de Lomenie of www.thelendingwizard.com and Peter O’Donovan, Bestinvest’s mortgage guru, both feature heavily in the piece.  Here’s the link for those of you who can’t wait to see the hard copy… http://www.thelondonpaper.com/life-style/property/features/online-mortgage-checks-could-affect-your-ability-to-apply-in-the-future.  Now that’s a cool piece of PR…

- Mark

We generated a really cool piece of coverage in this weekend’s Observer for Lester Aldridge - the UK commercial law firm we represent.  One of the firm’s partners - Sue Evans - was debating the issue of leave for working parents with Nick Clegg of the Lib Dems.  Sue argued the case that more generous parental leave could actually be worse for employees, with Nick Clegg taking the opposite view.  Here’s the link http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/may/31/employee-benefits-nick-clegg - it’s a really interesting piece and a great piece of positive press coverage for Lester Aldridge around a key issue for some of their clients…

- Mark