Manchester-based comms agency Smoking Gun has been appointed on a basis retained to oversee a wide-ranging UK brief for Philips domestic appliances, comprising campaigns, press office, influencer and social media marketing.
The scope covers a range of key sectors, from coffee to garment care and kitchen appliances.
The Philips domestic appliance business had worked with three separate agencies for PR, social and influencer work in the UK, but sought to appoint a single agency with credentials across all three areas during its most recent pitch process.
PRWeek was unable to confirm the incumbent agency for the PR element.
It is understood that Ketchum worked with Philips to execute a divestment of its domestic appliance business, which was subsequently rebranded as Versuni under new ownership by a private equity firm. Ketchum UK continues to partner with Philips.
Tin Man Communications continues to handle global consumer comms for Versuni, after being appointed in October 2023.
Charley Parnell, consumer marketing manager at Versuni, said: “We have been through a rigorous 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. ”
“It's always heartening when clients recognize our deep channel expertise,” said Smoking Gun chief executive Rick Guttridge. He emphasized the agency's ambition to “create powerful categories and consumer insights, engaging and emotional campaign platforms and clarity on measurement.”
The account will be led by Smoking Gun's head of consumer and client services director, Sarah Twyman, supported by planning and strategy director Hayley Peters and the respective channel teams.
Versuni joins Smoking Gun's consumer portfolio, which includes brands such as Alton Towers Resort, PG Tips, Interflora and Eurocamp.
The agency was ranked joint 18th in PRWeek's new-business table for 2023.
