Three years ago we began a journey of transforming H+K London into the Global Center of Creative Strategy for our network. On Tuesday night we were proud to be recognised as the 2017 UK Consultancy of the Year by the Holmes Report. Putting insight, creativity and clients at the heart of everything we do has led to the development of a suite of new products and services for our clients under the umbrella of our 3PCommunications™ model, which were specifically called out by the Holmes Report…‘A clear focus on such areas as creativity (including a partnership with Hyper Island), behavioural insights and purpose-led marketing has paid off to rare effect…’

Our behavioural science experts, Matt Battersby and Dan Berry, took the stage at The Holmes Report In2 Summit on Tuesday. After hearing from a variety of industry leaders, our team shared why and how H+K applies the science of human behaviour to the art of communications. Battersby and Berry mentioned that all people make unconscious decisions every day – our brains create shortcuts based on our previous experience, social norms and other factors.

Behavioural science helps us understand the biases that influence unconscious decisions. During the In2 Summit, we also took a deeper look at examples where modifications in messaging were linked to a notable change in behaviour, and we shared relevant & recent H+K case studies a battery recycling campaign and a campaign to attract new talent for a financial services firm. Other speakers at the In2 Summit discussed the changes and challenges that face the PR industry, the rise in purpose-driven brands, how to navigate the world of “fake news,” and how the industry is shaping future talent.

Six members of H+K London office headed to Riyadh last week to be part of a WPP team providing strategic communications around President Trump’s historic visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The team ran media relations around a number of high profile events taking place in conjunction with the bilateral talks. The centerpiece was the inaugural Saudi-U.S. CEO Forum, an event which brought together the highest level businessmen from the two countries to sign billions of dollars in new agreements. The team produced all press materials and facilitated media interviews with participates, resulting in international media coverage.

This last weekend, our HSBC Sevens team were at Twickenham for the tenth and final leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. During the week they carried out various media activities with HSBC ambassadors and spokespeople to drive positive coverage around the brands involvement in the growth of rugby sevens. During the weekend, they also were on hand to post reactive social content as the tournament unfolded. Despite reaching the final, home team England fell at the last hurdle as rivals Scotland took home the trophy in a nail biting finish to the Series. South Africa were crowed overall champions having won five out of the ten legs.

Matteo Vidiri went to the Finnish Ambassador Residence in London to attend the event organized by the E+I team for its client Wartsila. The event was on Flexibility and Renewables, and the challenges connected with renewable energy generation in light of the building of a smart gas-power plant by Wartsila for its client Centrica. There were a lot of interesting speakers from energy provider Centrica to Wartsila to Baringa partners, which gave a very interesting perspective on the future of the energy markets in the UK. The event was attended by close to 30 journalists and our client was greatly impressed with the results!

The Issues and Crisis team had Zdenek Lokaj, head of the Czech office, visiting this week. He attended client crisis training with Zaiba Malik, an event about PR Crisis Management at the Annual ELA Conference, where Tim Luckett was speaking, and has supported the team throughout the week. Zdenek was also briefed on Flight School^TM, our social media simulation tool.