Sarah Atkinson, Vice President Communications Europe at CA Technologies, said : “Kaizo had the most thorough approach to running a social media campaign. They will work with our team to establish a strong online presence in all our target areas. They really understand what it takes to create and sustain online conversations.”

Crispin Manners, who leads the CA Technologies team at Kaizo, said: “Unlike a number of brands out there who see social media as a new channel for broadcast communications, CA Technologies wants to stimulate direct online conversations to build relationships with customers, partners and online influencers. We are looking forward to helping establish CA Technologies as the best practice approach to B2B social media communications.”

About CA Technologies
CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA) is an IT management software and solutions company with expertise across all IT environments – from mainframe and distributed, to virtual and cloud. CA Technologies manages and secures IT environments and enables customers to deliver more flexible IT services. CA Technologies innovative products and services provide the insight and control essential for IT organizations to power business agility. The majority of the Global Fortune 500 relies on CA Technologies to manage evolving IT ecosystems. For additional information, visit CA Technologies at www.ca.com

This is the question which The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, in discussion with Sir Simon Jenkins, will be examining at this year’s Tom Olsen Lecture, taking place at St. Brides Church, Fleet Street, the spiritual home for journalism.

With previous speakers including Sky News political editor Alan Boulton, BBC journalist John Simpson and Chancellor George Osborne, Kaizo is delighted to once again support the lecture which will take place on Wednesday 22 September at 7pm. For information and tickets please email Steph MacLeod on stephanie.macleod@kaizo.net or phone 020 3043 4151.

This is the argument being put forward by The Libel Reform Campaign, following a spate of high profile law suits – most notably, that of Simon Singh. Simon, a well known science writer has spent the past two years under the media spotlight as his infamous libel battle with the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) unfolded. In 2008, Simon wrote an article for The Guardian, where he alleged the BCA promoted “bogus treatments” for certain infant conditions like asthma, colic and earache. When he refused to make a retraction or apologise, the BCA launched legal action against him.

Last week, we met up with Simon Singh to discuss his case. He told us how, despite winning the lengthy lawsuit, his victory had been bitter sweet, leaving him with a two year career void and legal bills of £60,000. Simon’s law suit sparked uproar within the science community and supporters are now calling for a reform of the UK libel laws.

His case has highlighted the weaknesses in UK libel laws. The extortionate costs involved mean that those accused are often forced to back down, withdraw and apologise for material they believe is true, fair and important to the public.

With the current libel laws journalists face an unpopular ultimatum: self censorship or the risk of hefty legal fees. It seems to me, that this goes against everything journalism represents. The best works of journalism are those that spark debate and controversy, after all, it’s a journalists job to leave no stone unturned – why should they apologise for this?

Held at stunning venue One Marylebone, there was no shortage of delectable cocktails and canapés whilst we mingled with the rich, famous and influential, armed with cameras and a Flip Video.

Highlights of the night included meeting the lovely Diversity who threw some serious shapes (but only after posing for some photos with us!), and Emma being saved by none other than Radio 1 presenter Reggie Yates as she traversed the stairs! What a gent. It was all over far too quickly, though we were sent to the after party armed with goody-bags containing some beautiful jewellery, chocolate and a copy of Drapers’ latest issue to name but a few items. Lucky us!

Congratulations Drapers for such a successful event, though there were some sore heads in the office this morning!

Given the billions already being spent on the food health claims approval process, it’s worth remembering what the purpose of the EFSA is: to provide a high level of consumer protection and more informed consumer choices as well as to harmonise national regulations.

So where is the consumer in all this?

As confused as ever and, according to American research for the FDA, generally unable to discriminate between different types of health claims. Worse still, consumers tend to think that a ‘qualified’ claim with a disclaimer indicating only moderate or weak scientific evidence is actually more convincing than an ‘unqualified’ claim indicating scientifically strong evidence. This same research also found very different levels of understanding and response from consumers according to the way in which claims were worded or presented, with or without visuals. What a surprise!

How did we come so far and learn so little? More than seven years ago I gave a presentation to a functional foods conference entitled “Take 4 tblsp of broccoli x3 a day”.  It highlighted consumer confusion over proliferating and conflicting food health claims, the dangers of over-medicalising food, and the need to reconcile conflicts rooted in a culture gap between science and marketing.

These tensions are still evident in the whole debate surrounding EFSA and will always present a major challenge to regulators and politicians caught in the middle. A review is undoubtedly necessary if the system is to win back trust and, above all, help consumers make better informed and healthier food choices.

Meanwhile, consumers aren’t holding their breath; they need to eat every day. So they’re making their own trade-offs between taste and health, picking and choosing their own way through bewildering information with the help of their own trusted sources of information, which many actively seek out for themselves.

Working in food marketing communications, our job is to help them, with or without legal rules. The enduring skills needed include making complex issues simple, providing enough but not too much (or partial) science, being emotionally as well as rationally appealing – and bringing relevance imaginatively to life with people, visuals and inspiring (celebrity) role models. Plus ça change!

Much like dating, forming perfect brand partnerships can be a bit of pot luck. Everything looks good on paper - audiences are matched, promises are made, contracts, products and services are exchanged and off you go. At least in theory…

In actual fact it is the X Factor style spark that really makes for the brand love-in and gets you bang for your proverbial buck. Never has this been truer than for our client Flip Video. All about capturing different perspectives and behind the scenes footage of life, Flip needed to find a partner that had access to creative, urban communities and shared its passion for sharing the moment in a memorable way. We didn’t just want ‘brand ambassadors’; we wanted to build a Flip movement.

Enter Secret Wars, the world’s premier live art battle. Working in a similar way to Fight Club, Secret Wars battles take place across the world and are organised and promoted through word of mouth. Hosted in the darkest corners of cities across the world, from a basement bar in London’s East End through to a deserted meat market in Malmo, these events are about street artists creating live art in a competitive and yet cool environment.

We’ve armed the artists with Flip cameras so they can film behind the scenes footage, artist profiles and audience reactions as they make their way from city to city (not all of the footage is suitable for public consumption!). Not only do we have the usual branding at the events but, more importantly, we can use the content across all media, from Facebook and Twitter through to Metro and MTV.

Watch this space for how the partnership develops in the coming months but in the meantime check out Secret Wars on Facebook and watch the videos on the Flip UK fan page.

Although I didn’t realise it before the news broke, the closure of the most-grown-up-yet-most-childish gaming magazine has been inevitable for a while. With PC gamers tending to be web-savvy, sales of PC Zone have fallen dramatically in the last few years and the time has come that it is no longer profitable.

It may sound strange to be saddened by the closure of a PC games magazine, however PC Zone is one with a fan base who read the magazine for its wit and quality of writing as much as the games news.

The formula of brutally harsh reviews where other magazines were too gutless, excellent engagement with readers (more recently in the form of online gaming ‘Fight Clubs’), wonderfully inventive features and dark humour ensured it has been a cover-to-cover read of mine for about 12 years.

To put the ballsy humour into perspective, this is the magazine that helped launch the career of Charlie Brooker, whose comic strip Cruelty Zoo got it pulled off the shelves of W H Smith.

Other memories that spring to mind when reminiscing on the 17-year history of the magazine are the test in which staff played games whilst becoming increasingly drunk to see how it affected their performance, and the magazine carelessly failing to warn buyers that the cover disc was filled with super-gory demos before being slapped with an 18 rating and joking about it.

September’s issue will be the last; however mourning subscribers will be praying for an online edition of some kind. Stiff upper lip and all that – maybe this is the shock I need to get with the times.

Ms MacLeod joined Kaizo, the PR and Digital trading arm of Argyll, in August 2009. Since then, she has made a major contribution to expanding business with existing and new clients, and as a highly effective member of the management team.

Rosemary Brook, executive chairman of Argyll, said: “Steph has brought great drive and enthusiasm to the company and we are delighted to welcome her to the Board so that she can participate even more fully in the development of the Argyll business.”

Ms MacLeod joined Kaizo from Bite Communications Ltd, where she was the Director responsible for the Consumer division. She has 14 years’ experience in corporate, consumer and business-to-business communications consultancy, working for agencies including Fleishman Hillard and Firefly Communications.

Ms Stephanie MacLeod previously held the role of director at the following company within the last 5 years:

• Bite Communications Group Limited

The Company confirms that there is no further information about Stephanie MacLeod requiring disclosure under Rule 71 and/or paragraph 18 of Appendix 1 of the PLUS Markets “Rules for Issuers”.

For further information please contact:
Rosemary Brook
Chairman
+44 (0)20 3043 4169
rosemary.brook@kaizo.net

-END-

The event challenged communicators and press officers from the research funding organisations of 17 European countries to investigate new ways to engage their stakeholders in the research they fund.

The “science and social media” session involved the use of case studies and introduced a “social media toolkit” to raise awareness of the opportunities posed by social media to enable ESF member organisations to increase public engagement and develop their relationship with the researchers.

Emma Potter, Consultant at Kaizo, said: “With so many stakeholders to please and considering the current pressure on research budgets, it is no wonder that funding organisations have anxieties about using social media. This session was designed to put some anxieties to rest and demonstrating the opportunities posed by social media to this audience.”

——- ENDS ——-

For more information please contact:

Emma Potter
Kaizo
020 3043 4191
Emma.potter@kaizo.net

To coincide with the milestone, we commissioned a survey investigating young people’s (16-21 year olds) concerns about the recession. Check out our coverage in The Daily Telegraph, Press Association, News of the World… and, of course, the Coronation Street Blog!