New head for Gingernut Creative

BIRMINGHAM-based agency, Gingernut Creative, has appointed a new managing director. Sara Tye is an award-winning and top 500 international PR and business development expert.

A communications expert with over 30 years’ experience, Ms Tye has been voted Green PR of London by the Evening Standard and was a finalist in the first Cosmopolitan Women of the Year Awards in 1999. She helps develop businesses, individuals and organisations through networking, publicity, online strategies and proven business development techniques.

She spent three years managing the personal PR internationally for The Body Shop’s eminent founder, the late Dame Anita Roddick. She took the business online, making the retailer one of the world’s first to establish a global internet presence.

The Make Your Mark for a Tenner campaign, which Ms Tye helped develop, was commended as one of the CIPR’s best sustainable PR programmes. She was also responsible for the Impact on Society section of The European Foundation of Quality Management Model and Award, which Yellow Pages won in 1999.

Ms Tye is also the founder and managing director of redheadPR, whose clients include innovative businesses in sectors including gardening, heating, ventilating and air conditioning, food and drink, travel, property and business services.

She said: “This is very exciting. Gingernut Creative’s goal to make a positive difference through communications spoke strongly to me. I’m looking forward to combining the expertise of Gingernut Creative and the strengths of redheadPR, which include PR, corporate social responsibility and online marketing for the benefit of both businesses’ clients.”

Gingernut Creative has a diverse client list, with a particularly strong presence in the health care sector where clients include, Pfizer, the NHS and several local authorities across the UK. The company also has clients in the education, technology and leisure sectors.

Barques targets Birmingham’s cultural growth

BIRMINGHAM agency Barques PR is looking to spearhead the city’s cultural renaissance by establishing a new specialist subsidiary.

Barques Arts has been created to provide cultural and digital organisations with support in audience development and engagement through both traditional PR and digital mediums such as social media.

The new operation is being led by Chris Brown, and the division already has a strong portfolio of cultural clients, having worked with the Library of Birmingham, Grain, Dash, Capsule and the University of Birmingham.

This was strengthened further with a series of new account wins, which include Southside BID, BOM Lab and Digital Birmingham’s Digital Academy.

New app proving popular at Shropshire council

TELFORD & Wrekin Council’s ground-breaking app has received more than 10,000 reports from members of the public.
 
The free Everyday Telford app is designed to make it even quicker and easier for people to report environmental issues like fly tipping and pot holes.
 
The app, available from the App Store for iPhones, iPads, as well as Android and Windows smartphones, was introduced to make it easier for residents to engage with the council and improve its social media profile.
 
Cllr Hilda Rhodes, the council’s cabinet member for Customer Service, said: “People make on average more than 51,000 reports of environmental issues to the council each year so we feel the app has made a very good start.”

Her colleague Shaun Davies, cabinet member for Neighbourhood Services, added: “Reporting environmental issues via the app is also a great cost effective way to help keep your neighbourhood clean and tidy and to have pride in your community.”