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Ansell Healthcare appoints De Facto Medica

Ansell Healthcare has hired London based medical education agency, De Facto Medica, to increase global awareness of its surgical gloves.

De Facto Medica, Bell Pottinger Group's medical education company, has been selected by Brussels based Ansell Healthcare Europe to provide medical education support globally for its surgical gloves.

Ansell Healthcare is a worldwide leader in hand protection for healthcare professionals. The extensive portfolio of surgical and examination gloves encompass powdered, powder-free and synthetic formulations. In recent years, improved technologies, modern manufacturing processes, and the increasing awareness of the risk of Type 1 allergies resulting from exposure to latex, has led to significant advances in the development of surgical gloves.

"Ansell is pleased to have selected De Facto Medica for the provision of medical education and PR for its surgical gloves. De Facto Medica, as a solution focused and flexible agency, will bring us new ideas and concepts and will help us to apply it thanks to its strategic understanding of our business and its market", said Wouter Piepers, Director of Communications, Ansell Healthcare.

"We are very proud to win this account and become a partner to Ansell Healthcare Europe. As a goal-oriented agency, our aim is to ensure Ansell Surgical Gloves achieve tremendous success", says Marcel Kay, Director, De Facto.

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For further information, to arrange a demonstration of the technology or an interview with key personnel, please contact:

Marcel Kay De Facto

m.kay@defacto.com +44 (0) 20 7861 3027


About De Facto Medica De Facto Medica is a subsidiary of De Facto Communications and offers tailored Medical Education services. As a fresh and vibrant communication agency, we specialize in dedicated medical education services at all stages of a pharmaceutical product's development from Phase I to IV. rssfeed

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Bell Pottinger Consumer and Resonate come together

The merger of Bell Pottinger Consumer and Resonate gives The Bell Pottinger Group a new concentrated consumer public relations offering and creates an agency that would immediately slot into PR Week's top 15 consumer agencies in the UK.

It will be led by Michael Frohlich with Tricia Moon and Graham Drew as Board Directors.

Resonate is a strong brand and has been recognised as one of the best UK PR agencies by Marketing magazine for the second year running, so the new bigger agency will retain the name Resonate. Bell Pottinger Consumer staff have moved to the Resonate office in Cowcross Street.

Along with Good Relations Consumer, the Bell Pottinger Group now has two complementary consumer PR offerings.

Resonate now has a combined staff of 25 and has had a great start to 2007 with several significant account wins soon to be announced.

Resonate already has a market leading client list, including: Müller; Vauxhall; Fortnum & Mason; Nuts Magazine; 118 118; Disney Consumer Products; FX Channel; Pernod Ricard; Lastminute.com; 888.com; Fila; Gems TV and The Body Shop.

If you have any questions, or would like to meet to talk about the new proposition and how we can work together, then please do not hesitate to call Michael Frohlich at Resonate on tel: 020 7360 7878. rssfeed

Bell Pottinger Public Affairs appointed by Ken Livingstone

Ken Livingstone, London's Mayor, has appointed Bell Pottinger Public Affairs (BPPA) to help push through the proposed Greater London Authority Bill

BPPA has been briefed to smooth the passage of the bill amid concern from some members of the GLA.

The bill proposes to increase the Mayor's strategic powers in areas including housing, climate change, planning, waste, health and culture.

A spokeswoman for the Mayor confirmed: 'The Mayor of London has appointed Bell Pottinger to support his work on the recently published Greater London Authority Bill.

She added: 'The Mayor will engage constructively during the passage of this bill to help ensure the successful adoption of the proposed new measures, in particular the important new powers relating to housing and planning.'

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For more information contact Peter Bingle at BPPA on tel: 020 7861 2400 or visit www.bppa.co.uk
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Hoseasons appoint Gasoline for direct response campaign

1st January saw the launch of the new Hoseasons Holiday television commercial for the start of their main response campaign for the 2007 season.

Having been through a seven-way pitch to retain the television business at a time when most people were looking out their winter wardrobe, it was gratifying to be reassured by the client's decision that we had produced the best concept. However we were somewhat concerned by the need now to film summer beach shots in the UK at the end of September!

Although directed at the response market with the inclusion of an interactive facility, one of the primary objectives was to re-establish the brand after an absence of over a year and an extensive change in the nature and breadth of the client's product range.

Concept testing was extremely positive in the proposed market sector and was considered critical in confirming the approach and content of the commercial

The commercial will run in 5 bursts up to May 2007, initially on ITV, ITV2 and satellite and is part of a greater media mix of redesigned brochures, website, and consumer mailings.

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For more information contact Mar Joy at Gasoline on 020 7592 7520 or visit www.gasoline.uk.com

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VCCP PRODUCE NEW AD FOR FRUSLI FROM JORDANS CEREALS

VCCP has produced a new press ad for Jordans Frusli cereal bars to celebrate the winning of Slimming Magazine's 'Best Cereal Bar' award for the fifth consecutive year.

The campaign will be launched towards the end of January predominantly in leading women's titles such as Closer, Grazia, Now and Best. The timing is to capitalise on the audience's inclination to either begin or adhere to a new slimming regime or healthier lifestyle at the start of a new year.

Paul Phillips, account director at VCCP says: "The timing is all important. Many of those who start a new year with a resolution to lose weight and eat more healthily have begun to slacken off towards the end of January; however, we are trying to encourage them to persist by including a healthy cereal bar within their dietary requirements."

The colour ad features a bale of Oats shown in its traditional form, tied in the middle, which mirrors the silhouette of the female body. The naturalness of the picture evokes a sense of health and vitality, whilst the Slimming Magazine's accolade confirms the bar as the leader in its field.

Clinton Orchard, Marketing Manager for Jordans Cereal Bars says: "There is no better endorsement for a product than one that comes from an independent arbitrator. It's a testament to how good the product is for you and it's great to win it five years in a row."

The ad was conceived by Dave Woodall and Matt Lloyd and photographed by Tessa Traeger. Media was through by MPG.

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For further information contact: Paul Phillips at VCCP on tel: 020 7592 9331 or visit www.vccp.com

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Bell Pottinger Group appoints former NHS Director

Alasdair Liddell, the former National Director of Planning for the NHS, has joined Bell Pottinger Group as Health Sector Senior Counsel from 1st January, to help pursue new business opportunities for the Group in the public health and related sectors.

Kevin Murray, Chairman of Bell Pottinger Group, said: "There are significant market opportunities in health, with major communications challenges arising from service re-design and the IT investment programme, and with many new private sector entrants to the market in NHS services. Alasdair's NHS career spanned 23 years, 12 of them at CEO level, managing hospitals and health authorities in London and East Anglia, and he will be invaluable in helping us to provide solutions to the people who have to lead these changes in the NHS."

In 1994 Alasdair joined the Department of Health as the NHS's first Director of Planning, where his board-level responsibilities included NHS planning and priorities, NHS IT and information services, NHS communications, and national policy for Primary Care. He led the teams working on The New NHS White Paper in 1997, and Information for Health, the review of the NHS Information Strategy, and was responsible for the development and launch of NHS Direct and NHS Direct Online. He was a member of the top management board of the NHS for 12 years from 1988.

He was awarded the CBE in the 1997 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to the NHS.

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For further information contact Kevin Murray, Chairman of the Bell Pottinger Group on 020 7861 3800 or visit www.bell-pottinger.co.uk

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HYUNDAI'S NEW BRAND CAMPAIGN DEVELOPED BY VCCP

Hyundai, the Korean car manufacturer, has produced a new brand campaign through its retained agency VCCP, which will launch mid January as part of its £multi-million annual advertising spend.

The aim of the campaign is to convey the reality that Hyundai as a quality manufacturer, and features three of its leading models, the Getz Supermini, the new Coupe SIII and multi-award-winning Santa Fe SUV.

The idea sees the cars morphing into liquid metal, then back to a car with a voiceover that begins 'Quality flows through every surface of a Hyundai'. The quality of Hyundai's products is supported by its unique five year unlimited mileage warranty across its entire range.

The production itself was highly innovative, with a breathtaking sequence of shots showing cars being formed from slow flowing metallic liquid. The shoot involved a 'Phantom HD' high speed camera, the first time this prototype camera has been used in a European TV commercial.

The campaign will be interactive, and backed up by national press.

The campaign was written and art directed by VCCP Creative Director Rooney Carruthers, and creative Paul Kemp. It was directed by Howard Greenhalgh through Home. Post Production was done at Clear. Media planning and buying was done through phd, with interactive being handled by Weapon 7.

Jim Campbell, Hyundai's UK Marketing Director said: "This campaign is a powerful reflection of the huge progress that Hyundai has made in the past few years. We have developed into a brand that is synonymous with outstanding quality throughout the world and we've got a great range of stylish, award-winning cars to prove it."

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Editors Notes:

For further information please contact Michael Sugden at VCCP on 020 7592 9331 or for details on VCCP visit www.vccp.com

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WEIGHT WATCHERS FROM HEINZ NEW 'LOSE WEIGHT, NOT TASTE' ADS BY VCCP

Weight Watchers from Heinz (WWfH) is launching a new TV advertising campaign, as part of its overall investment of £5million to drive the brand and the frozen category forward. Hitting the nation's screens from 15th January, the five week campaign will span the key diet season.

The advert will encourage consumers to re-appraise the WWfH range by profiling its great tasting products, demonstrating that the brand understands what dieters' want: deliciously indulgent food that helps them lose weight. The diet season, which covers the first two months of the year, is a crucial time for diet brands and retailers should focus on developing optimum implementation in-store to benefit from the significant above the line support at this time.

Products from the WWfH range of indulgent desserts and frozen ready meals will be featured to drive further penetration among consumers wanting to shed those festive pounds. Both ranges are currently outperforming their separate categories, growing at a rate of 35% and 13% YOY respectively [IRI, 12 week ending 4 Nov 06].

It is the first time in three years that the brand has been on TV, and the campaign will be supported by strong in-store promotional activity.

"WWfH is a trusted diet brand with extremely high loyalty levels, and is in a prime position from which to drive sales across the frozen category," explained Amanda Walker, Marketing Director of Heinz Frozen and Chilled UK. "This exciting new advertising campaign emphasizes that dieters do not need to forgo delicious tasting products with the strap line: 'Lose weight. Not taste."

The TV advert was created by VCCP. It begins by asking 'How can food that tastes this delicious help you to lose weight?' before showing a range of appetizing close up shots of WWfH products. It highlights that the brand supports consumers by offering them delicious calorie controlled food that they could not normally eat on a diet.

The Weight Watchers from Heinz frozen brands are worth over £103million and the brand has experienced growth of 11% in the last six months [IRI Nov 06].

Amanda Walker concluded, "There is a huge consumer demand for food that brings a little excitement to the dieting experience. WWfH will continue to work closely with our customers to develop strong new recipes, flavours and products."

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For further information contact: Michael Sugden at VCCP on 020 7592 9331

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Birds Eye appoints Bell Pottinger Public Affairs

Birds Eye iglo Group Ltd has appointed Bell Pottinger Public Affairs (BPPA) to handle government and public relations following the buy-out of Birds Eye by private equity firm, The Permira Funds from Unilever.

Birds Eye/iglo is a leading frozen food manufacturer in Europe. Birds Eye is a household name in the UK and Ireland, while iglo is equally recognisable in Germany, Austria, Portugal, France, Belgium and the Netherlands BPPA has been retained to advise on all public affairs matters across the European group.

BPPA provides the necessary political engagement at both European and UK level that Birds Eye needs to get its message on nutrition and sustainable fishing across.

Kevin Doran, a senior consultant at BPPA has been seconded to Birds Eye and part of his role is to advise on its in-house capacity for public affairs and public relations.

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For further information contact Kevin Doran at Bell Pottinger Public Affairs on 020 7861 2400 or visit www.bppa.co.uk . Bell Pottinger Public Affairs is part of the Bell Pottinger Group.

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VCCP creates new 'like minded' brand campaign for ING Direct

VCCP is set to launch a new campaign promoting ING Direct's brand philosophy of simplifying the complexities of banking across its growing range of savings, mortgages and home insurance. The fully integrated campaign breaks with a new 30 sec TV campaign and a range of new C4 Homes TV idents, alongside new press, online and website executions.

"Since we arrived in the UK in 2003 our integrated marketing campaigns have established ING Direct as a challenging, fair and no catches savings company. Now that we have over one million customers and a broader range of products our new campaign majors on our refreshingly simple and straightforward approach to financial services," said ING Direct Sales and Marketing Director Gina Fusco.

ING Direct's new multi million pound brand campaign continues their distinctive black & white look punctuated with use of orange & white to reinforce key messages. Importantly the new campaign introduces a new 'customer champion' who highlights how easy, straightforward and clear things are with ING Direct; in other words, they are his idea of a 'like minded bank'.

Dale Gall, Partner at VCCP, adds: "The current communications task for ING Direct is as straightforward as the brand; ING Direct applies the same simple, consistently competitive and catch-free philosophy to all its products. The biggest challenge lies in keeping the strong visual identity and tone of voice we have created with ING Direct whilst signaling we are now a financial services brand rather than just a savings provider".

Since launching in May 2003, ING Direct has enjoyed huge success in the UK market becoming one of the UK's fastest growing savings banks. Established in 1997, ING Direct is part of the global ING Group. It is the world's leading direct savings bank, with over 17 million customers worldwide in successful operations in nine countries including Austria, Canada, Spain, the US, France, Italy, Germany and Australia.

All media planning and buying for the brand campaign will be handled by the recently appointed PHD.

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For more information please contact: Steve O'Connor, VCCP (07734 542135 / steveo@vccp.com ) Martin Rutland, ING Direct Press Office (0118 938 1969 / 07748 188684 / martin.rutland@ingdirect.co.uk ) Georgie Carter, Band & Brown Communications (0207 419 7329 / 07974 266 105 / gcarter@bbpr.com)

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