Incomms

Dan Johnston, who has been a parliamentary adviser to Labour grandee Dame Meg Hillier for the past seven years, has been appointed head of public affairs at TechUK. Johnston has been tasked with leading the trade body’s political engagement to “ensure that when parliament acts on issues that matter to our members, TechUK is already in the room – trusted, informed and ready to influence”, according to TechUK.

Data from Be Broadcast shows how the PM-to-be’s speech was covered around the world. Please sign in to continue reading. If you don’t yet have an account, you can register for free to unlock additional content. For full access to everything we offer, view our subscription plans.

The awards recognise and reward outstanding achievement across internal comms in work/programme, product and agencies. Claire Warren, editor of In.Comms, said: “It may be a little clichéd to say there has never been a more important time to work in internal comms, but it is certainly fair to say that the work teams do really can make a measurable difference to organisations and the staff that work for them. “We’re living through uncertain times.

Nissan's comms team on the benefits of its new global model The Japanese auto manufacturer has overhauled the way it does comms, to bring it into the modern age. Please sign in to continue reading. If you don’t yet have an account, you can register for free to unlock additional content. For full access to everything we offer, view our subscription plans.

Adrian Rondel has stepped down as head of media and outreach at high-tech defence and security company Thales UK, where he has worked for the past 16 years, to set up Rondel Strategic – a strategic comms and public affairs consultancy. He announced his new venture in a post on LinkedIn last week.

The new research draws on the views of almost 100,000 people worldwide, including more than 2,000 in the UK, polled by YouGov earlier this year. It reveals that trust in news has fallen significantly in 29 countries, including the UK. This means that an average of 37 per cent of people trust the news, “the lowest level recorded since we started to measure trust in 2015”. In the UK trust is significantly lower than the global average, at just 30 per cent – down from 35 per cent last year.

What impact will AI really have on comms careers? Experts from the likes of Google, the NHS and Virgin Media O2 open up to In.Comms on whether the profession should be worried about losing jobs to AI. Please sign in to continue reading. If you don’t yet have an account, you can register for free to unlock additional content. For full access to everything we offer, view our subscription plans.

British haircare brand Philip Kingsley has appointed Giovanna Santaniello as global marketing director, it announced earlier this month. She will lead “brand strategy, innovation, and communication, helping shape the next phase of growth for the business and further strengthen Philip Kingsley’s authority in scalp and hair health”, according to the company. Santaniello has “extensive experience in brand development and global marketing strategy,” it added.

‘Merging marketing and comms could cost more than it saves’ Since the functions operate (and should be measured) differently, firms should consider the risks carefully before moving to combine them. Please sign in to continue reading. If you don’t yet have an account, you can register for free to unlock additional content. For full access to everything we offer, view our subscription plans.

Maureen Corish, who stepped down as managing director at Pumpkin PR, earlier this year has joined AIM-listed security and surveillance firm Synectics plc as interim communications director. She announced her new role, which is for an initial period of six months, in a post on LinkedIn earlier this month.