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Secret PR makes new appointment

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Secret PR welcomes Habiba Taleb to the role of Arabic Communications Specialist. With over ten years of experience in media and communications, Habiba previously worked with Radio Msila and most recently with Al Riyadh newspaper as a Correspondent. In her new role, she will work closely with the team to enhance their Arabic capabilities and initiate the move towards an independent Arabic division.

“The demand for Arabic talent is ever growing, especially with regards to Arabic content,” says Sarah Mohamed, Director, Secret PR. “We are proud to have Habiba on our team as she will certainly help us enhance our Arabic capabilities to better serve PR agencies and in-house PR departments across the region.”

House of Comms makes new appointment

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House of Comms has appointed Sarah Doyle to the role of Account Executive. With experience in fashion, beauty and F&B, Sara most recently worked with Revolve Marketing and PR as Account Executive. In her new role, she will manage and develop client’s accounts as well as strengthen the agency’s network of media contacts.

“I couldn’t believe it when I landed the role,” says Sarah. “Dream clients, stunning offices and a team of such inspiring people – I am loving it!”

Keeley Duffy, Senior Account Director, House of Comms, adds “We knew as soon as we met Sarah that she would fit right into our growing team. The fourth quarter of the year has started off with record wins and as a business our focus is always to ensure we consistently deliver and delight our clients and we believe that Sarah has got exactly what it takes to do this.”

Sept PR welcomes new Junior Account Manager

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Sept PR has welcomed Injeel Moti to the role of Junior Account Manager. Prior to joining the lifestyle agency, Injeel most recently worked with Saffron Media Works as PR Manager where she worked across several accounts including United Colors of Benetton and Chopard. In her new role, she will handle all media operations through press campaigns and social media content for F&B, lifestyle and hospitality accounts.

“I am delighted to be joining Sept PR as they have a stellar reputation in the market,” says Injeel. “I’m very much looking forward to this new chapter, working with a team of experienced professionals and scaling new heights with the agency.”

Caroline Holmberg, Managing Director, Sept PR, adds “We are thrilled to welcome Injeel to the team. She brings with her strong media and agency experience coupled with an enthusiasm for creative and digital strategies – an ideal combination to support our client campaigns.”

Are PR Professionals in Danger of Extinction?

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Heidi Myers, Marketing Director, Meltwater EMEA, gives her thoughts on how today’s PR professionals cope with the growing popularity of social media and the different outlets opened up for communication…

“I do not believe that PR will become extinct but the PR professionals of today need different skill sets. He/she should be able to navigate the world of digital media, be adept with social media monitoring tools, understand the mindset of millennials who dominate social media and be able to provide new measures to justify ROI.”

With the growing popularity of social media and the various outlets it has opened up for communication, the PR profession is going through a sea-change. PR is no longer a one way communication, for news that you post, there are hundreds of comments from end users in split seconds. How will today’s PR professionals cope with all of these changes and how will they measure the impact of stories that go viral?

I do not believe that PR will become extinct but the PR professionals of today need different skill sets. He/she should be able to navigate the world of digital media, be adept with social media monitoring tools, understand the mindset of millennials who dominate social media and be able to provide new measures to justify ROI.

Here are my top three tips on staying valuable both in house and in an agency:

Offer credibility and strategic counsel

With the increasing number of posts from citizen journalists, one of the main concerns that journalists and the public have is the credibility of their source. This is where a PR professional can make a difference. Provide well-researched stories with statistics and comments from industry leaders that you have access to. Foresee a crisis before it happens and counsel clients on the proper response to contain the social media storm following a crisis. Become the trusted counsellor of your clients and the credible point of contact for media and the public.

Offer value added services

Step up your efforts to become the expert communicator. Provide value added services like training for in house communications department on how to manage social media, crisis communications and media training for top management, blog management, social media monitoring tools and analysis of big data to help companies dig out valuable data regarding consumer engagement and influencer management.

Step up on the creativity and relationships

Creative stories still see the light of day and today with the help of social media, they can go viral, creating a much stronger impact. Tell authentic stories with a human angle. People still buy people. Be sure to keep in touch with your contacts. In today’s connected world, there are so many ways to keep in touch and also to create new contacts online.

With the right approach, PR professionals can succeed in today’s digitalised world.

Abbi Mullan joins Aziza Communications

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Luxury lifestyle agency Aziza communications has welcomed Abbi Mullan to the role of Senior PR Executive. Abbi will work across a selection of fashion, beauty and F&B brands, including the Victoria’s Secret account and the upcoming KENZOxH&M launch event.

“The Aziza Communications team is ever expanding as we increase our service offerings, and investing in great talent is part of our growth strategy,” says Loubna Elfakri, Account Director, Aziza Communications. “We are thrilled to welcome Abbi to the team – not only is she a great content creator and communicator, but she has a sharp eye for detail and is bursting with ideas.”

TishTash welcomes Asha Yesudas and Sahrish Munir

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TishTash has appointed Asha Yesudas and Sahrish Munir to the role of Junior Account Executives.  Having joined TishTash, where they worked as Interns, Asha is a recent graduate from the American University of Sharjah with a degree in Business Management and Sahrish from Madonna University with a degree in Economics. In their new role, they will be working across beauty and lifestyle clients as well as supporting the Account Managers with media relations, influencer engagements and day-to-day client servicing activities.

“At TishTash, we are big believers of investing in talent,” says Natasha Hatherall-Shawe, Managing Director, TishTash. “We have trained Asha and Sahrish for the last five months and I couldn’t be more proud of their growth and how they have become an integral part of our team.”