LONDON — MHP Communications has strengthened its capital markets team with two senior hires. Director James Midmer joins from sports betting company Flutter, where he was head of communications. He was previously head of corporate communications at Betfair, and started his career in agency at Tavistock. Associate director James Bavister joins from the corporate finance team of City broker Peel Hunt. Before that, he spent six years at wealth management company WH Ireland.

LONDON — Public sector creative agency 23red has restructured its leadership team, including adding a new PR offering led by ex-Freuds director Jody Hall. The agency, whose clients include Network Rail, NHS Blood and Transplant and Public Health England, plans to expand its offer to purpose-driven brands in the private sector. As PR partner, Hall will develop the agency’s PR offering, Fame23. She led the roster of government clients at Freuds, including Public Health England.

LONDON — Threepipe’s Amazon specialist division, Emergent Retail, has won another client: Ascension Healthcare. The team is supporting the Flexiseq range of osteoarthritis and active products to drive greater visibility and sales on Amazon. Marketing director Nick Baverstock said: “Their intelligence suite is able to give us much better insights and help us better plan out our commercial strategy. In a short space of time, the Emergent team has reduced our advertising cost of sales by 68% and increased sales by 339% with only a 47% increase in spend.”

LONDON — More than 40% of consumers in the US and Europe have stopped using or used an online brand less because of poor reputation or malpractice in the past 12 months, according to new research from Brands2Life, ‘Walk the Talk: What Consumers Expect From Today’s Online Brands.’ Protecting privacy and data (94%) and good customer service (94%) were the top concerns, with other issues relating to the corporate brand such as CEO behaviour (78%) and workforce diversity (73%) also ranked highly. When it comes to marketing, consumers’ key demand is that brands are authentic and honest.

LONDON — PR consultancy Resonance has appointed Sarah Waddington (pictured), former CIPR president and managing director of Astute.Work, as non-executive director as part of its move into data-driven PR. Managing director Claire Williamson said: “Having Sarah’s insight and guidance is invaluable to Resonance as it continues to grow. Her depth and breadth of knowledge is integral to helping us achieve our goals of shifting the gears on the B2B technology industry and providing data-driven, high impact programmes.”

LONDON — Frank is collaborating with streetwear brand Suspicious Antwerp to create a range of limited-edition t-shirts to mark the agency’s 20 years in business. Previous Suspicious Antwerp collaborations include Kylie Jenner and Gigi Hadid. Founder Frederick Janssens said: "We are big fans of Frank and everything they do. Unbeknown to them we even have their definition of Talkability on our boardroom wall. We have never collaborated with another brand before, but when they approached us with the idea of creating a product to mark their anniversary, we jumped at the chance.”

LONDON — Tomorrow PR, which specialises in architecture and design clients, has been appointed to oversee the UK communications strategy for Vitra, Artek and the Vitra Design Museum after a competitive pitch. The agency has also renewed global PR contracts for British design brands Very Good & Proper, Isokon Plus and Benchmark.

LONDON — Lifestyle and travel specialist Mango Agency has won three new clients, which it will be representing in the UK: Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria Hotel, aparthotel brand Native, and design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates.

GLASGOW — Encompass Corporation, which provides banking, finance, legal and accountancy firms with regulation-compliant software, has appointed Centropy PR as its UK agency after a competitive pitch. Encompass was recently awarded a £2m grant from Scottish Enterprise to develop an artificial intelligence platform to help financial services clients find risk-relevant information about their organisations and investments. Centropy’s brief covers executive speaking programmes, storytelling workshops, media relations and thought leadership.

LONDON — Don’t Cry Wolf has formed a partnership with fellow B-Corp, design agency Leap, which is based in Cornwall. The two agencies already work together on clients including Orgvue and Elvie. The partnership includes a co-working agreement, with team members being able to work across the London and Cornwall offices as they wish.