Maja Pawinska Sims 04 Jun 2018 // 8:00AM GMT
LONDON — WE Communications has appointed Ruth Allchurch as general manager in the UK, with a remit to grow the agency to a £10 million business by building its consumer expertise.
Allchurch joins from Burson Cohn & Wolfe, where she was appointed to lead the UK consumer brand practice in February. She was previously managing director of FMCG and retail PR agency Cirkle, where she led a 45-strong team. She was also head of brand PR for Diageo Western Europe for eight years.
Alan VanderMolen, WE’s international president, told the Holmes Report that Allchurch had a brief to accelerate WE’s evolution into a full-service, integrated agency: “We were looking for someone with deep consumer experience to round out our technology and healthcare offer, and we’ve certainly got that. Ruth’s priority is to really get us on the map of the London PR scene, focusing on making the core parts of our offer come to life and driving our intellectual capital. To be relevant in this market you have to be a £10 million company and Ruth has a clear remit to get us there. She’ll do it with one eye closed.”
Allchurch told the Holmes Report she was looking forward to getting under the skin of the business and delivering growth: “It is a big challenge but I’ve never been one to shy away from challenges in my career. Having been an MD previously where I delivered significant growth beating multiple industry benchmarks, I know the hard work and vision required and I firmly believe that WE has all the building blocks to meet the scale of that ambition.”
And of her short tenure at Burson Cohn & Wolfe, Allchurch said: “Put simply, the opportunity was too exciting to turn down. The potential to further put WE on the map within the UK for consumer work and the strength of the WE brand globally, its entrepreneurial DNA, visionary leadership and size of the business were all factors in my decision.”
WE UK’s current general manager Marcus Sorour has been appointed to vice president, international, client services. He will work across the Asia Pacific and EMEA businesses to develop the agency’s expanding roster of global clients.
Sorour has been with WE for more than eight years, moving from WE South Africa to WE UK in 2015. He has led rapid growth across WE’s B2B and B2C client base, securing clients including bacta, Capgemini, Nissan, Sennheiser, WeChat, and the Marine Stewardship Council.
Both Sorour and Allchurch will be based in WE's London office and report to VanderMolen.