Following a competitive pitch process, Versuni, owners of the Philips domestic appliance business, has appointed Smoking Gun on a retained basis. The six figure account covers an integrated communications brief comprising campaigns, press office, influencer and social media marketing.
Philips previously worked with three separate agencies for PR, social and influencer work and sought an agency with expert credentials across all three areas and a proven track record in effective integration.
The scope covers a range of key sectors from coffee to garment care, kitchen appliances to air care.
The win comes shortly after Smoking Gun announced an enlarged leadership team structure and plans to double fee income in the coming year.
Charley Parnell consumer marketing manager at Versuni said:
“We have been through a stringent search process to find a strategic partner to help us meet our business goals in the UK. Immediately we saw the service offering and quality of work that we were seeking at Smoking Gun. As we progressed into the pitch stage, the team demonstrated superb audience and channel insights and we were impressed with the quality of creativity and knowledge of performance metrics.
The team has already hit the ground running with credibility enhancing partnerships and newsjacking. We’re all looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together.”
Rick Guttridge, Smoking Gun’s CEO, said: “This is another milestone appointment for our consumer division following in the footsteps of major brands such as Alton Towers Resort and PG Tips.
It’s always heartening when client’s recognise our deep channel expertise, allied to the effectiveness of our globally awarded 3i proven process, which creates powerful category and consumer insights, engaging and emotive campaign platforms and clarity on measurement.
Our strategy team has worked hard to find compelling positionings across multiple categories, where the client’s market share is at varied levels, to give clarity on the approach required for multiple audience segments. This structure allowed the consumer team to develop exciting campaigns we’re confident will have great impact.”
The account will be led by head of consumer and client services director Sarah Twyman, supported by planning and strategy director Hayley Peters and the respective channel teams.
Philips joins Smoking Gun’s consumer portfolio which includes brand giants Alton Towers Resort, PG Tips, Interflora and Eurocamp.
Smoking Gun won around 20 industry awards in 2023 and was joint 18th in PR Week’s annual new business win league table.
