LONDON — Strategic communications consultancy Kekst CNC has strengthened its market research offer with the hire of James Johnson and Dr Tom Lubbock as senior advisors in the agency’s global research, data and analytics team. Before setting up their own research firm, JL Partners, Johnson was the senior opinion research and strategy adviser to prime minister Theresa May, while Lubbock ran analytics and polling at Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ).

LONDON — Milk & Honey PR has been appointed by independent macroeconomic research firm Macro Intelligence 2 Partners. The firm, which has a presence in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, was set up by finance expert Julian Brigden in 2011 to provide individual investors with institutional-quality research usually only available to large banks and hedge funds. The account will be led by the agency’s Sydney office, with support from the digital team in the UK, targeting non-professional investors and enhancing the company’s brand identity and messaging.

LONDON — Ogilvy Health’s Social Check-Up 2020 report has found that Boehringer Ingelheim, AbbVie, and GSK are the top pharma firms for social media best practice. The report reviewed the global corporate social media channels of 15 leading pharma companies, scoring them on corporate identity, content, community management, tech optimisation, and paid social. Most companies (80%) are getting corporate identity right, through a consistent tonal and visual presence across platforms, but there is room for improvement in sharing content and paid social.

GLOUCESTER, UK — 10 Yetis Digital is managing strategic communications strategy and all public relations activity for DisplayMode, a UK manufacturing firm that usually produces retail point-of-sale materials, has changed its business model since the coronavirus outbreak to become a not-for-profit company, now creating 100,000 PPE face shields a week for the NHS, police forces, ambulance trusts and care staff.

LONDON – A new creative shop, Mud Orange (pictured), has launched to redefine how Muslims are represented in mainstream brand activations. The agency has been set up by former Ogilvy strategist Arif Miah and designer Ala Uddin, with the aim of creating campaigns that are rooted in contemporary culture, with accurate representations of specific audiences. Their first campaign is MyTenNights, which allows users to automate their donations over the last 10 days of Ramadan.

JEDDAH — W7Worldwide has produced a seven-step guide to best practice employee engagement and internal communications through the Covid-19 crisis. The guide covers areas such regular updates, being clear about policies and business goals, constructive communications, recognizing employee efforts and planning for the next phase and recovery.

PRAGUE — Konektor Place Group has developed a guide for clients outlining how to effectively communicate as a local or global brand in the post-viral era. The agency offers practical tips on how to use this crisis as an opportunity to “create new ideas, adopt new measures and develop a new kind of mission-driven, altruistic communications approach” for the “new normal”.

LONDON — The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has launched a new, free member mentoring scheme, Progress. Launching with 48 mentors, the scheme aims to provide a space for mentees to discuss challenges, explore opportunities and plan future career moves.

LONDON — Influencer marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy has launched a production company to tackle the advertising production problems caused by the Covid-19 lockdown. BDB TV will use the agency’s roster of influencers to create high-quality, low-cost content from their homes.