FRESHWATER TECHNOLOGY NEWS
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BW073
Issue date: 3rd March 2006
Freshwater Technology joins national PR network
Technical
PR consultancy Freshwater Technology, whose
clients include BOC Edwards, Penny + Giles and Deltron,
has been acquired by one of the UK’s fastest-growing
PR and marketing groups, Freshwater UK.
Headquartered in Cardiff, the company has acquired the entire issued share capital of Black & White Communications. Rachel Owen, who founded the agency in 1998, will continue as managing director.
With the addition of the six-strong Black & White team, Freshwater now has 54 staff based at seven offices, including dedicated operations for Wales, Scotland, the English regions, consumer PR and creative services.
Rachel said: “We’re thrilled to be joining Freshwater and are looking forward to complementing the network with our technology expertise.
“Being part of a larger group offering an integrated service, will bring benefits to our clients and to our staff.
“This is an important milestone in our development and we’re confident we will continue to grow steadily and consistently, as we have done over the last eight years, as part of this expanding network.”
Freshwater Technology will become part of Freshwater Southern, Freshwater’s regional division which includes offices in Bristol and London and has clients throughout the South. Freshwater Southern’s regional director Simon Russell said: “We see expansion into specialist areas such as technology as being complementary to our regional network. It allows us to offer clients a combination of sectoral expertise and regional connections, backed by a graphic design, media buying and event management team.
“We are now well placed to provide everything from community relations and internal communications to consumer and trade PR for major national brands.”
Freshwater Technology managing director Rachel, an engineering graduate, has more than 20 years technical PR experience working with engineering, instrumentation and electronics brands across Europe. She has brought together a team of consultants with a combination of technical training and communications skills.
Simon added: “This is another big step forward in our overall growth strategy which is to create a network of complementary PR and marketing operations – regional, specialist and creative. It will be of benefit to all clients – Black & White’s clients will benefit from the greater capacity and complementary services of Freshwater such as our Creative team and our regional offices, while Freshwater’s clients who need technology expertise will gain from the group having specialists in that field.”
Freshwater UK, which is forecast to achieve a turnover of £3.5m in 2005-06, has more than 200 clients, including the California Prune Board, sweatyBetty, Longines, English Provender Company, Specsavers, Knight Frank, Alberto Culver, Redrow, the European Ryder Cup Board, the Professional Golfers’ Association, PKF, Constellation Europe, Amicus and the National Association of Cider Makers.