LONDON — Brands2Life has announced a charity partnership with Family Action’s HeadStart programme to support 80 young people into employment in 2022. The partnership includes career workshops and discovery days, paid workplace experience placements and training for young people coming through HeadStart, a youth employability and volunteering programme that supports young people to develop skills, experience and confidence. Brands2Life will also provide pro bono campaigning and fundraising support to HeadStart.

LONDON — Edgewell Personal Care, whose brands include Wilkinson Sword (pictured), Intuition and Hawaiian Tropic, has appointed Clarion Communications to lead creative development and activation of its social media channels in the UK after a competitive pitch. As well as generating content and creative campaign platforms for male grooming brand Wilkinson Sword, the agency’s remit includes content generation and social management for female brand Intuition as well as a social and influencer brief for skin care brand Hawaiian Tropic.

LONDON — Professional audio and video technology company Poly has appointed B2B technology PR and content agency Spark Communications to manage its UK PR and develop content for key countries. The agency will define PR strategy for the company, build integrated campaigns and execute UK media relations, including a media and influencer product reviews programme. The account was won from incumbent Wildfire PR. Core objectives include: building awareness of the Poly brand; positioning the company as a thought leader in hybrid working and meeting equality; and developing stories and content that resonate with target audiences.

LONDON — Search and content marketing agency Rise at Seven is expanding to New York. The agency originally intended to open its first US office in Chicago but has changed its plans. US Digital PR manager Domenica D’Ottavio is currently in New York and the agency is recruiting for senior roles including client partner and senior associate. CEO and co-founder Carrie Rose will open the office by April 2022.

LONDON — Measurement and evaluation body AMEC has revealed the winners of its global Communication Effectiveness awards 2021, including Golin, Methods+Mastery, Echo Research, Citypress, Hard Numbers, Carma, Kantar and Singapore’s Ministry of Commuicatons and Information. The full list of gold, silver and bronze winning agencies, in-house teams and campaigns can be found here.

DUBAI — PRCA MENA has announced the winners of its digital awards for 2021, including Weber Shandwick MENAT – which took home three awards –  W7, Seven Media, ASDA’A BCW, Cicero and Bernay and the UAE Government Media Office, which took home two trophies. The awards were sponsored by 3Gem.

BUCHAREST — June Communications has won the corporate communication, reputation management, PR brand and marketing research brief for car finance company Mogo Romania. The company is a member of the Eleving Group, a fintech firm with over 350,000 customers across Europe, Asia and Africa. Mogo has offices in Bucharest, Timișoara and Ploiești and is aiming to expand nationally next year, including in smaller cities and rural areas. The company is also developing new financing products including a new process for the purchase of second-hand cars.

LEEDS, UK — PR, social and activation agency Hatch has launched a new placement programme, named ‘Fledglings’, to elevate its work experience offering. The new programme will give work experience students and interns first-hand understanding of the agency and industry, including traditional and digital PR, social media, content creation, strategy and activation planning. In January, the agency will recruit a paid intern for a six-to-12-month placement.

BRIGHTON, UK — Design industry PR specialist Red Setter has unveiled a brand redesign, developed by London-based branding studio Lantern, including a new logo and visual identity.