Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

New Business Bulletin 30/10/20

The PHA Group has announced its appointment by international payment service provider and direct bank card acquirer, ECOMMPAY, to help grow awareness and educate its potential customers by managing its UK communications strategy. The PHA Group has been tasked with building awareness of ECOMMPAY, positioning it as a market leader in the payments space, demonstrating its technical expertise among prospective customers and supporting its new business acquisition.

The PHA Group has also been appointed leading PR agency by amicable, the lawyer-free digital divorce service, with a brief that aims to build consumer awareness of its collaborative approach to separation and challenge the long-held notion that divorce is fundamentally acrimonious.

PPS, formerly PrePay Solutions and subsidiary of Edenred, has announced its partnership with Yolt, the smart money app, following the inaugural launch of its contactless debit Mastercard. Following its first step into the payments space with Yolt Pay in 2019, the fintech is now working with PPS on the launch of its first physical card.

Global marketing and communications firm Finn Partners has been selected by GeneMe UK, an authorised distributor of the FRANKD SARS-CoV-2 test, to support PR and communications around how the rapid test is helping businesses worldwide to recover from the pandemic. Underpinning this programme will be a series of announcements of how FRANKD is being used across public sector organisations and industries including travel, entertainment, manufacturing, and the arts, in the UK and overseas.

Global networking systems, services and software provider, Ciena, has selected Babel to drive its US trade and international business press programmes. Babel’s new remit now covers international business and trade media relations, messaging and content development, strategic counsel and local market positioning, events and awards, and the development of key narratives that will resonate with customers, prospects, and media.

Thames Water has appointed M&C Saatchi as its strategic brand and creative agency following a competitive pitch against four agencies. M&C Saatchi will now partner with Thames Water to develop a long-term brand strategy, as well as delivering a series of campaigns to increase brand advocacy, change behaviours, and support major infrastructure projects. The engagement will also encompass content creation and the development of brand assets.

PR and digital marketing agency, No Brainer, has welcomed three new clients to its roster. No Brainer’s new clients include a soon-to-open, pandemic-themed visitor attraction called ‘Sick to Death’ in Chester, a virus-killing protection spray from Protection Zone, and award-winning IT software consultancy, Synyega.

Protection Zone, an approved UK retailer of revolutionary virus-killing protection spray Liquid Guard®, has appointed No Brainer to handle its PR and social media strategy to help build brand awareness around the launch of the business and its products, as well as driving sales with both B2B and B2C audiences.

No Brainer is delivering PR and media relations support around the launch of ‘Sick to Death’ in Chester, the UK’s first visitor attraction to delve into the nation’s gory history of medicine and pandemics. The immersive experience, featuring the city’s infamous Plague Doctor, is set to open later this year, subject to government announcements regarding COVID-19.

The agency is also now working with award-winning software licencing consultancy, Synyega following a competitive pitch process, to develop an integrated B2B campaign to raise brand awareness and accelerate company growth through PR, social media, content marketing and SEO.

Marketing Debuts, the apprentice scheme run by The Industry Club with The Opportunity Group to boost diversity and inclusion in marketing, has signed up Wilderness Agency to the programme, with funding provided for two members of staff and a new apprentice – also recruited through the scheme. Marketing Debuts uses the govt apprenticeship levy to fund a programme of training in 2 new schemes enabling talented young people from minority and low social mobility groups to break into the industry.


Cortech Developments has teamed up with remote monitoring specialist, Omniflex to provide fully integrated all-in-one solutions to give site managers peace of mind by improving and simplifying their data capture and analysis capabilities.

Visualsoft is collaborating with PayPal to provide customers with PayPal’s PayPal Checkout. The latest release from the provider, it lets you pay, send money and accept payments without having to enter your financial details every time you make a transaction. The new PayPal Checkout is set to drive customer lifetime value, allow merchants to tap into international markets easily (with support for 100+ currencies), and give peace of mind with advanced Fraud Protection on eligible transactions. The integration will also help merchants manage and improve cash flow, with instant access to funds the moment a sale is made.

The Kite Factory have recently won Book Aid, Sue Ryder, World Food Programme and NSPCC – all of which were competitive pitches. Regarding the remits of the new accounts: Book Aid is digital fundraising activity, Sue Ryder is digital lottery, World Food Programme is TV and offline and NSPCC is direct response TV.

Cardiff-based video marketing agency, Aura Ads, has recently won global brand Huel as their newest client, after impressing the company leaders with impressive results while on a one month trial. The brand came to the Welsh agency in July with KPIs to increase paid social performance through the use of conversion-focused video ads. Aura Ads’ trial video accounted for a large portion of Huel’s overall Facebook purchases whilst also generating a 34% higher clickthrough rate, all while maintaining the same cost per acquisition.

Design & development agency Splendid UNLIMITED, has been appointed as the digital transformation partner for Gamesys and digital product strategy & innovation partner for Latimer Homes. With a Human Understanding generated approach, Splendid UNLIMITED has been tasked with identifying new ways in which Gamesys can maximise business efficiency in their product design & development process – finding new innovative ways to deliver high-quality digital products at pace, across their brand portfolios.