Spring Group, one of the UK’s leading human capital management companies, has brought in Kaizo PR to re-launch its ‘Best People’ brand to the IT industry.

‘Best People’ is a specialist technology recruiter providing highly skilled specialist candidates such as systems analysts, network and security specialists and those with skills in infrastructure architecture. The focus of the campaign will be to re-establish the brand with the industry and to position it as understanding the issues that IT managers face in today’s business environment.

Spring Group comprises several businesses specialising in contract and permanent IT, technology and telecoms recruitment and staffing services as well as office and industrial staff, workforce management solutions, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Total Resource Management (TRM).

Kaizo will also be supporting Spring Group with other brand building activity as it looks to develop its presence in the key HR and IT media channels online and offline.

Seb O’Connell, sales and marketing director of Spring Group, said: “Our market can be very fragmented, so we are looking to our PR activity to differentiate as well build awareness. Our business is traditionally very sales focussed and we are excited about how this new focus on PR will support our client and candidate recruitment going forwards.”

Rhodri Harries, managing director of Kaizo, said: “Recruitment is clearly a challenge across all industries at the moment and we are excited about our role to help Spring’s brands rise above the competition in this highly competitive market. Our integrated activity for this campaign will position the Best People brand with its core IT audience by tapping into the softer skills of its candidates as well as key specialist knowledge.”

Alain Samson has joined Kaizo to spearhead the consultancy’s innovative ‘active listening’ services. Samson will work alongside Crispin Manners to help clients to deliver business growth by increasing their recommendation rates.

Samson is a specialist in the use of the Net Promoter Score (NPS)* - the world-class metric developed by Bain & Company - that identifies the recommendability of a product, service or brand. Kaizo has embedded NPS as its foundation research technique as part of a suite of services that turns clients into ‘active listening’ organisations.

Manners, said: “Web 2.0 has turned marketing on its head. Organisations are being forced to change from telling to listening and allowing their customers to do the talking for them. Alain’s research expertise and strengths in social psychology mean we can give our clients an important edge.

“Active listening represents a totally new approach to engaging with audiences and arms our clients with the insight and the relationships to succeed in a Web 2.0 world. Hiring Alain signals our intent to be the pre-eminent resource for clients who are intent on using Word-of-Mouth to their advantage.”

Samson has previous experience as a market research consultant and psychologist with a specialisation in consumer attitudes and behaviour, particularly Word-of-Mouth (WOM). He has been affiliated with the London School of Economics since 2003, where he has worked as a researcher, statistics teacher and consultant, through Enterprise LSE.

Samson said: “It is exciting to be part of a company that gets why NPS is such a powerful business tool. I have been very impressed at how Kaizo is using NPS to make clients understand the power of recommendations and what can be done to increase recommendability.”

Samson’s publications include ‘Understanding the Buzz that Matters: Negative versus Positive Word of Mouth’ (International Journal of Market Research, 2006), ‘Advocacy Drives Growth’ (Brand Strategy, 2005), as well as various scholarly articles in the behavioural sciences. Alain holds a BA from UC Berkeley, an MA from the University of Michigan and is a doctoral candidate at the LSE’s Institute of Social Psychology.
*Net Promoter is a new business metric that measures levels of customer advocacy. It is a registered trademark of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company and Fred Reichheld. For more information about NPS visit: www.netpromoter.com.

Rhodri Harries, deputy managing director of GCI London Limited, is to become managing director of leading independent PR consultancy Kaizo and will join the board of parent company The Argyll Consultancies PLC with effect from 10 April 2007, reporting to executive chairman Rosemary Brook.

The post is a new one and a key element in the strategic and structural review initiated by Argyll CEO Crispin Manners to take advantage of growth opportunities opened up by the rapid growth of social networks and user generated content.

Harries’ arrival will free Manners to focus on accelerating the development of innovative services such as word of mouth communications, active listening and direct engagement and involvement of consumers, which are already attracting new clients and revenue to Kaizo. As signalled by Argyll last October, Manners will step down as Argyll CEO, with effect from 1 April 2007, now that the new Kaizo MD has been appointed, remaining on the Argyll board as its principal shareholder and Director of Service Innovation.

Manners commented: “We have transformed Kaizo in recent years from a business that was largely dependent on a single sector to one that offers the range of value-added corporate and communications services that clients expect in the a world of constant business and new media innovation. Rhodri’s experience makes him absolutely the right person to lead Kaizo’s further development and growth; he is driven by a similar passion for giving clients only the best and for creating a dynamic environment where careers can flourish. I look forward to working with him to make Kaizo the first choice for innovative communications solutions for ambitious brands and organisations.”

Harries joins just as Kaizo announced a significant win with Unilever for pan-European strategic communications for the Flora brand. It is also developing a truly innovative consumer engagement solution for its client Accantia - owner of the Simple brand of skincare products. Other key clients include: Docklands Light Railway, Elsevier, Epson, Network Appliance and Rockwell Automation.

Commenting on his appointment, Harries said: “I am delighted to be joining Kaizo at this time and am looking forward to working closely with Crispin, Rosemary, Vivien and the rest of the management team. The agency has been at the forefront of innovation for the last few years and we will be building on this approach as we move forwards to offer something that really stands out in the market. With its energy and clear vision I am very confident of Kaizo’s growth potential across multiple sectors and services.”

Kaizo today announces that is has been appointed as the strategic European agency for Flora, Unilever’s global heart health brand. Reporting to Flora’s European Marketing team on strategic brand development, Kaizo is building innovative campaigns that aim to challenge heart health complacency, inspire people with true understanding of what their heart does for them, and empower them to take action to protect it.

As part of Unilever’s mission to improve heart health worldwide, Flora recently launched its Love Your Heart campaign globally. This campaign aims to win over the hearts and minds of consumers and HCPs (healthcare professionals) to help reduce the ever-increasing risk of CVD, still the number one killer worldwide.*

Michele Gerlack, European Indirect Communications Manager said. “Kaizo demonstrated an impressive understanding of our business and the unique challenge that lies ahead. We are confident they are the right partner to help us develop creative strategy that cuts through inertia to educate and raise awareness of this very important issue.”

Rosemary Brook, Chairman at Kaizo, said: “This is a great win for Kaizo and draws on our strong diet, health and issues management credentials. We are delighted to work with Flora on such a dynamic programme and share the team’s commitment to placing the brand firmly front of mind for consumers looking to improve their heart health.”

*WHO, Geneva, 2005 Preventing Chronic Disease; A Vital Investment

Kaizo has been awarded the PR brief to launch Zipcar, the world’s largest car club, in London.

By making more than 2,500 vehicles available by the hour or day, Zipcar offers a convenient, green, affordable alternative to car ownership to more than 80,000 members is some of the world’s most congested cities. Kaizo will help the company build on its North American success by implementing a PR programme that delivers high profile press coverage to drive demand for the service and establish Zipcar in the UK market.

Zipcar launches initially in the borough of Kensington & Chelsea with plans to extend throughout the capital by the end of 2007. Zipcar car club members can book a variety of makes and models for prices from £4.20 per hour including petrol, insurance, maintenance and reserved parking. The first batch of London Zipcars will include Honda Civics, Toyota Aygos, BMWs, and MINI Coopers, available on a 24 × 7 basis.

Scott Griffith, chief executive officer of Zipcar said. “Kaizo demonstrated a unique combination of business, technology and consumer expertise and experience, as well as an impressive track record in delivering PR campaigns that achieve significant results. We are confident they will help us promote Zipcar as a successful model for urban transportation to Londoners.”

Crispin Manners, CEO at Kaizo, said: “Zipcar is a great win for us. It’s not often that you can work on a dynamic international brand whilst helping to save the planet. For every Zipcar in use, 20 standard cars are taken off the road, reducing congestion and harmful emissions. With London still struggling to find proven ways to reduce congestion, Zipcar will deliver a cost-effective and sustainable urban transport solution for savvy, eco-conscious city dwellers. We’re glad to be on board.”

Moonfruit, provider of the online site building tool kit SiteMaker, has appointed Kaizo as its retained PR agency. Kaizo’s task is to increase the number of subscribers that use Moonfruit to build their own Flash based, interactive websites. A second part of the brief will be to communicate the benefits of licensing SiteMaker to businesses seeking to develop user-generated content and online brand loyalty.

Joe White, CEO of Moonfruit, said: “Kaizo combines strong credentials in technology, consumer and business to business communications. The client list includes a number of online or web-related businesses so they have relevant expertise and contacts.”

Over 1.2 million websites built by people all around the world use SiteMaker, with current clients including the likes of Channel 4. Kaizo will target marketing publications, media publications and online and special-interest titles to emphasise the software’s quality, usability and potential to increase loyalty through website interaction.

Richard Cook, associate director at Kaizo, said: “Moonfruit is an innovative young company that has a product that puts other personal web-space options in the shade. This is a key growth market and Moonfruit has got the credentials to become the leading technology in this sector. With over 1 million users and household name brands already on board, our role is to ensure that Moonfruit gets the attention it deserves from the media.”