Gail Affleck Ward joins Laura Sharpe in turning recruitment on its head.

A Newcastle-based recruitment consultancy has announced that it has expand its team.

Sharpe Recruitment has experienced growing demand for their recruitment service in the digital media, creative, PR, marketing and IT sectors.

The company, headed up by Laura Sharpe, has added Gail Affleck Ward who arrives with 20 years of experience as a communications professional.

“Its exciting to be part of such a refreshing recruitment consultancy and I am able to utilise my business and marketing skills and make a difference”, Gail said.

Laura hailed her new colleague’s “positive and enthusiastic approach”, saying Gail had already received glowing recommendations from clients.

“Clients have said how much they appreciate her candid advice, guidance and business knowledge in helping them to either find and retain the right staff or develop their careers in the right direction”, she said.

The Santa Monica based agency was sacked by its biggest client, 2k, after tweeting about blacklisting bad reviewers of the game ‘Duke Nukem Forever’.

The game hasn’t had the best possible reception, prompting a self-destructive tweet from the PR company.

“#AlwaysBetOnDuke too many went too far with their reviews…we r reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn’t based on today’s venom.”

The video game publisher didn’t appreciate the threatening approach.

“2K Games does not endorse the comments made by Jim Redner and we can confirm that The Redner Group no longer represents our products”, a company statement read.

“We have always maintained a mutually-respectful working relationship with the press and do not condone his actions in any way.”

Jim Redner has commented the stunt by saying he overreacted.

“I believe reviews are completely subjective. Everyone is welcome to their own opinion and opinions are never wrong.”

“It is not my intention to bully anyone. I over reacted. I just voiced an opinion. I have poured my heart into this project and I just want it to succeed.”

An unprecedented opportunity to control all marketing and advertising activity for two £20m turnover retail brands.

As Head of Marketing / Advertising you will be responsible for coordinating the work of the offline marketing department, in addition to preparing and working to budgets.

You will also be responsible for preparing an advertising and promotional strategy to increase sales of products or services by working with customers, company officials, sales departments and advertising agencies.

Duties and Skills:

• Prepare budgets and submit estimates for program costs as part of campaign plan development.

• Coordinate the work of the offline Marketing Department.

• Converse with department heads, in particular the Head of Ecommerce, to discuss topics such as contracts, selection of advertising media, or product to be advertised.

• Prepare and negotiate advertising and sales contracts.

• Inspect layouts and advertising copy and edit scripts, audio and video tapes, and other promotional material for adherence to specifications.

• Monitor and analyse sales promotion results to determine cost effectiveness of promotion campaigns.

• Read trade journals and professional literature to stay informed on trends, innovations, and changes that affect media planning.

• Direct, motivate, and monitor the activities of a campaign team to achieve campaign goals.

• Track program budgets, expenses and campaign response rates to evaluate each campaign based on program objectives and industry norms.

• Sourcing advertising opportunities and placing adverts in the press, magazines, billboards, radio, or any other applicable course of advertising.

• Represent company at trade association meetings to promote the Company and its products.

• Liaising with the Design department.

• Arranging for the effective distribution of marketing materials.

• Sourcing and securing any applicable sponsorship;

• Monitoring competitor activity.

• Communicating effectively both verbally and in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

• Time Management — Managing one’s own time and the time of others.

• Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.

• Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

• Persuasion — Persuading others to change their minds or behaviour.

• Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

• Management of Financial Resources — Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.

If you are interested in the advertised position please apply by contacting Sharpe Recruitment.

Sharpe Recruitment is a North East based consultancy, dedicated to placing professionals in rewarding jobs throughout the North of England across a variety of disciplines including Digital Media, Creative Advertising, Sales & Marketing, PR, IT and Business Operations.

Creative agency Better is currently looking for a well organised individual to join their team as Studio Administrator.

Reporting directly to Managing Director, the successful applicant’s duties will include: answering all incoming calls, taking messages, managing the team’s calendars, working alongside the Creative Director and Account Managers to ensure work is planned in efficiently allocated to individual team members, updating project reports to ensure planned work is carried out on time, ensuring client files are updated and organised correctly, liaising with various suppliers, procurement of print services, distribution of invoices and other general administrative duties.

The successful candidate will be someone who can demonstrate resourcefulness, an analytical mind, attention to detail, a high level of accuracy, effective organisation skills and excellent interpersonal skills and love to come to work with a smile!

Salary is dependent on experience and the company is looking for someone who can start asap.

Closing date for CV’s is Thursday, 31st March.
Please submit CV’s by email.

No canvassers please.

How to survive and thrive in a world of real-time communications.

People are probably talking about your organisation online right now. The question is: is this as an opportunity, or a threat?

In this one-day conference we’ll explore the key questions for PR and Communications execs in the new world of social media: Do you have the real-time communications mindset? How can your organisation deal with negative buzz? Can you harness online support to create brand advocates? How do you manage the fire-hose of social media data? And when does PR engagement become marketing?

Topics we will cover include:

• The Convergence of Social PR and Marketing
• How to identify influencers & create brand advocates
• Reputation management tools & techniques
• Crisis management & prevention
• ROI and PR: New measures of success
• Real-time PR case studies

There will also be an Exhibition Area showcasing some of the latest social PR tools and services. The ticket price includes lunch, refreshments and a handbook for the day, plus networking drinks at the end of the day. The conference will be live-streamed online, so if you can’t make it along, just buy an online ticket and watch the proceedings from your office.

Organiser:
influence people

Contact:
0845 463 1435

Website:
http://www.influencepeople.com/

Posted via Chinwag

We’re looking for bright, highly motivated web-savvy individual with an interest to play a key part in the creation & growth of a new exciting B2C Website to be launched within the popular comparison market.

Tasks

Manage the PR with UK leading PR Agency, ensuring the site gains maximum value & exposure.
Be the PR spokesperson doing press interviews & providing quotes for media.

Co-ordinate the planning and buying of all online media, ensuring activity is optimally planned and resourced to deliver agreed targets.

Manage the UK website in conjunction with MD ensuring all web content is accurate and up-to-date, including prices and offers.

Develop all website content to maximize SEO but balance customer experience and ensure the site gains first page rankings for all major search terms. Manage SEO and SEM together for maximum benefits.

General Admin and Online Marketing duties will include:

• Respond to inbound emails and calls
• Updating Twitter, Facebook  and all other relevant social networking sites
• Manage PPC and Affiliate Marketing advertising campaign
• Oversee agency managing the SEO activity
• Manage the outsourced PR agency and do press interviews when requested
• Accounts administration
• Write news articles and update the Blog
• Send out email newsletters
• Moderate the forum and update content on the site
• Award entry submission and subsequently attend awards ceremonies and relevant events
• Visit sites, taking photos and making notes for PR and Online Content
• Add press coverage to press section of website
• Review, analyse and act on website traffic stats
• Promoting online and offline related competitions

If you don’t have experience but feel you’re made of the right stuff to be a star then let us know why!

Skills

• Smart, passionate and honest with a big dollop of positive mental attitude
• A work hard ethic, you need to be focused and driven with one eye on the future
• You need to be bright and creative, we’re always looking for new and different ways to do things.
• Be able to work unsupervised at times

This won’t be a 9-5 role but a reward for your hard work will be a branded car to drive Monday to Friday.

If you are interested in the advertised position please apply by contacting Sharpe Recruitment.

Sharpe Recruitment is a North East based consultancy, dedicated to placing professionals in rewarding jobs throughout the North of England across a variety of disciplines including Digital Media, Creative Advertising, Sales & Marketing, PR, IT and Business Operations.

Description

CIPR Digital Impact conference

Are you ready to start integrating digital channels with your usual communications activities? As digital becomes part of the communications mix, digital communication become part of your role. Digital portals have become valuable tools and are increasingly being aligned alongside traditional mediums to engage and interact with stakeholders.

During this one-day conference you will look at the communications landscape and how the digital world fits within it. You will have an opportunity to discuss ideas, hear the thoughts of some of the industry’s leading digital gurus and look at practical examples of how companies have successfully embraced social media.

via CIPR Digital Impact conference | Chinwag – the UK’s leading community media company for the new media industry.

Description:

World famous story/screenwriting guru, Robert McKee, brings a 2-day version of his famous Story Seminar to the Tyneside Cinema on Mon & Tues, 24 & 25 May.

The course is attended by screenwriters, media & marketing executives, creative agency professionals and just about anyone who needs to communicate more clearly and convincingly.

Over 50,000 people have attended Robert’s courses over the last 25 years. Even lawyers and bankers have taken his course in order to tell the story of an IPO and why investors should buy shares.

Contact:
Phone 01915561122

Website:
http://www.thinkingdigital.co.uk/robertmckee/

Event Type:
story/screenwriting, seminar

Organized By:
The Thinking Digital Conference

via Robert McKee – The Power of Story – Whippet on the Wire.

Overview

Circa. 12 – 20 attendees, no journalists, no audience, no sponsors, chaired and facilitated by E-consultancy.

Objectives:
To share knowledge, experiences and best practice on the topic in question, also covers issues, trends and developments. Network with like-minded industry peers.

Typical agenda covers – Market Watch, Best Practice ‘Clinic’, Research & Measurement, Budget allocation & Resource allocation, Other key resources.

Timings:
20 mins Arrive, Coffee and Registration
80 mins E-consultancy facilitates debate around key issues and trends
20 mins Follow up conversations / networking / close

Click here for more information

Brian Fetherstonhaugh, chairman and CEO OgilvyOne Worldwide is a guy who talks to a lot of CMOs. And insofar as digital marketing is concerned, he’s not impressed with their either their knowledge or skill-set.

“Marketers lag behind consumers in digital adoption,” he told an audience at Search Engine Strategies, speaking at a session devoted to selling search to the C-suite. “Your average 12 year-old has a better-integrated performance dashboard than a CMO,”  he pointed out, illustrating his point with a World of Warcraft screenshot.

Mobile’s on your average CMO’s radar, but only because, according to Fetherstonhaugh, they’ve personally invested in an iPhone during the last 180 days or so. And search? It occupies 1.5 percent of your average CMO’s mindshare.

The CMO Council‘s Liz Miller called the CMO’s job “the most complex function that exists in business,” and digital marketing channels are making it more so every day. “The CMO gets blamed for what the CEO didn’t stop him from spending on,” she added.

Perhaps that’s why a CMO Serengeti Communications‘ Nan Dawkins worked with recently couldn’t account for a single penny of the allocation of his $50 million digital spend. What portion of the $50M was allocated to search? To banners? To lead-gen? The guy holding the pursestrings just shook his head.

Meanwhile, sessions on social media here in San Jose are packed — and they’re packed primarily with small business owners and marketers. People who are trying to market smart…and cheap. People deep-diving into digital channels not only because of the bang for the buck, but because in recessionary times there are no bucks.

And the CMOs have yet to catch up with the curve.

It’s a situation that puts me in mind of living in Berlin when the Wall fell. The gulf in knowledge, education, experience, and work methods between the “Ossies” and the “Wessies” was so deep and vast, only a generational shift could breach it.

This digital divide has the potential to be a great leveler of the marketing playing field. Smart, savvy and nimble small companies will seize the day. It’s not going to last forever, you know.

Cross posted from http://econsultancy.com