BRUSSELS—The European Branded Clothing Alliance has chosen Hanover’s Brussels team to run the organisation’s secretariat and provide EU affairs support. Hanover will replace incumbent APCO which was EBCA’s retained agency since the coalition’s creation in 2007. Hanover’s team will focus on supporting EBCA’s members on international trade policy matters, and in particular in raising awareness about issues facing companies that operate global value chains. The firm will also be tasked to grow EBCA’s membership and bring new brands to join the coalition.

LONDON—FTI Consulting has appointed Alex Deane as a managing director in the public affairs practice.
Deane joins from Weber Shandwick, where he served as head of public affairs. Prior to joining Weber Shandwick in 2011, he was David Cameron's first chief of staff and served as an adviser for the Australian Liberal Party's re-election campaign under John Howard.

LONDON—HIT Entertainment, one of the world’s leading children’s entertainment producers and rights owners, has appointed 3 Monkeys Communications to create and implement a UK social media strategy for three of its best loved pre-school properties: Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam and Mike the Knight. Working closely with internal teams and external agencies, 3 Monkeys will deliver an “always on” content strategy, supported with fully integrated campaigns and community support.

KOLN—Oliver Schrott Kommunikation is to acquire a majority shareholding in the digital agency compuccino of Berlin. Together, OSK and compuccino have five operations in Cologne, Berlin, Stuttgart, New York and Beijing, and more than 150 employees generate aggregate fees exceeding €18 million.

LONDON—GCI Health London has added 11 new team members, including director Hannah Morris and senior account director Claire Martin, both from Ketchum; senior account director Laura Starr from Hill+Knowlton Strategies; account manager Chris Bath and senior account executive Caroline Howley from Red Door Communications; account manager Jenny Glover from Edelman; and senior account executive Orlene Pereira from Tonic Life Communications.

WINCHESTER—Following the launch of its content-driven division Remarkable Content, marketing communications agency Remarkable Group has appointed Rhiannon Thompson as head of new business for the content team. Thompson spent two years as account director in Remarkable's PR division, which has now been combined with its creative offering to become Remarkable Content, before leaving to head the communications team at The Consumer Finance Association.

LONDON—Retail technology provider Shopatron has enlisted the help of Harvard PR, part of The Good Relations Group, to recruit UK-based retailers who need to tackle the increasing demands of their customers. Harvard will implement an audience-centric, campaign-led PR programme to help raise awareness of Shopatron’s omni-channel solution, which offers retailers a cloud-based way of offering cross-channel services.

MANCHESTER—Chameleon has been selected by alldayPA, a provider of professional call answering services, to provide communications strategy and public relations support.

LONDON—Curzon PR has been signed to support Creative United with a strategic media relations campaign to support the launch of Creative Industry Finance, a business support and access-to-finance program for the creative industries. Backed by Arts Council England, Creative United provides a range of finance based products and services designed to enable the growth and development of the UK’s cultural and creative industries.

LONDON—Nick Hamilton has been appointed head of sport at Grayling. The firm recently signed up golf PR specialist Landmark Media as an affiliate in 2013 as part of the agency's relationship with both The 2014 Ryder Cup and The European Tour, now represented in 12 separate international markets. Prior to joining Grayling, Hamilton worked for global agencies including Weber Shandwick and M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, supporting the Coca-Cola FIFA World Cup sponsorship, NatWest Cricket, The Football Association and Mobil 1 Racing.

MOSCOW—Buman Media has won a tender for EMC Corporation, a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Buman Media will provide a full spectrum of PR service including strategic planning, content development, organization of events, media relations and social media support for EMC in Russia.

LONDON—dunnhumby, a leading customer science company, has appointed W to handle its UK corporate PR brief. W will build on dunnhumby’s reputation as a world-leader in customer insight, loyalty and personalised communications, as well as boosting the profile of its senior leaders.

LONDON—Olive Communications has appointed strategy and communications consultancy Man Bites Dog to handle its UK integrated communications brief, following a competitive three-way pitch.
The brief includes PR, digital and thought leadership and will see Man Bites Dog's STEM team reposition Olive as a leading provider of cloud-based applications and unified communications for SMEs and larger corporates.