The sports team were on the ground at the Great Manchester Run with race sponsors Duracell. Taking place less than a week after the horrific terrorist attack in the city, the race took on very different meaning. With the city coming together in an act of spirit and defiance, it became a day for brands to step back and let runners do the talking.

This week the E+I team has been supporting MSC Cruises on board its new ship, the MSC Meraviglia, in France. This has involved supporting a series of press conferences and exec interviews on board as it sails from Saint-Nazaire to Le Havre for its Christening ceremony. MSC also announced a new €4.5bn  ship order at an event attended by President Macron (hence the blurry photo through the crowd!), with the President delivering a speech highlighting the importance of the order for French jobs and the country’s shipbuilding industry.

The E+I team completed another successful launch of the annual Global Peace Index report this year. With  the results showing a slight improvement in peacefulness, the team set out to spread the positive message to the far corners of the globe. With coverage on Bloomberg, Reuters, Forbes, the Guardian and many more global titles on launch day, the team went on to schedule live broadcast opportunities for the founder of the Institute for Economics and Peace, Steve Killelea, on the BBC.

As Duracell continues to provide pacers to help runners be at their best, ex-Olympic gold medalist Jason Gardener was recruited to take on the Duracell Bunny Challenge as Kelly Sotherton had before him. H+K helped Jason successfully manage a difficult situation, expressing through the media his strong support of the city. He paced a terrific race, and most importantly he and Duracell were able to throw their support behind a powerful act of unity and defiance by the city of Manchester.

This week Isobel Knight from the E+I team attended InterSolar in Munich with Huawei FusionSolar. Huawei launched the FusionHome Smart Energy Solution, which is their first residential inverter. With 1,200 exhibitors and over 40,000 attendees, InterSolar is an important event in the solar industry. Isobel was on the ground at the event, providing support to the client and co-ordinating media interviews.

As our agency builds ever closer relationships with China, we’ve been feeling a growing desire to fully understand Chinese culture. The tech team have been planning an exciting event which will host Dr Lu, Hong from the Confucius Institute at the London School of Economics. She will provide an introduction to the Chinese way of thinking highlighting cultural expectations as well as giving guidance on contemporary business etiquette. Dr Lu, Hong, (OBE) is the Deputy Director of LSE’s Confucius Institute and has been a higher education language teacher trainer for 30 years both in the UK and China. She specialises in executive education relating to cross-cultural studies and cultural awareness training.