Fitbit, the iconic US brand behind the American ‘must have’ fitness and wellbeing range, has chosen Kaizo to spearhead its launch in the UK.

The brand has already taken the US by storm with it range of fitness trackers which sync to personal web pages that monitor, manage and motivate those looking to get fitter and healthier. The brand was recently listed as one of the top 30 iconic design leaders in the US by Fast Company magazine, adding to a list that includes Apple, Nike and Starbucks.

Gareth Jones, VP and European General Manager for Fitbit, said:

“Fitbit’s range is designed for today’s social generation, from twentysomethings to mums to empty nesters, we provide 24/7 support, motivation and in depth information that really works. Kaizo’s role will be to establish us as the brand of choice across these segments.”

“Our strategy will focus a great deal on word of mouth and recommendations that drive sales, an area we feel Kaizo really excels in. We were also impressed by their combined track record in the consumer electronics and the fitness and wellbeing markets.”

Fitbit’s personal online pages include a range of social feature to help motivate on the go and with friends including a mobile app, social messaging, and achievement badges fully synced with all social media platforms.

Rhodri Harries, MD of Kaizo, said;

“This is a new way for people to help monitor and maintain fitness and wellbeing, one which is very much in tune with today’s consumer. This is a brand that has the capacity to change attitudes to fitness– how we exercise, eat, and also rest.  Expect to see it, experience it and share it soon!”

Fitbit will be available in January from major etailers and retailers. The appointment follows a comprehensive UK pitch process.

The account will be led by Harries and Account Director Kate Howe, ex Head of Communications at the Fitness Industry Association. Kaizo’s experience includes Flip Video, Panasonic, Grid -10 and House of Marley on the consumer technology space and Flora/ Becel and Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee, in the health and wellbeing sector.

Tags: consumer PR, Gadgets, Kaizo, launch, PR, public relations, social media

Kaizo is delighted to sponsor the Tom Olsen Lecture, for the fourth year in a row.

The lecture is held annually in memory of Tom Olsen, a former Sunday Telegraph journalist, with the aim of focusing on the themes of freedom and responsibility.

This year it features Bob Satchwell, Director of The Society of Editors.  The title of the lecture will be “Hacked off with the Media – an unholy alliance of Press, Police and Politicians?”

The event takes place tonight at 6.30 at St Bride’s Church off Fleet Street.

Tags: consumer PR, Kaizo, Online conversations, PR, public relations, social media

Kaizo has been reappointed by Cotton Council International (CCI), following a competitive pitch, to conduct the strategic development, management and execution of public relations activities, trade and consumer promotional activities and trade media buying for the UK.

CCI utilises PR, advertising and promotional activities to communicate the positive attributes of U.S. cotton and cotton products to consumers, retailers and the textile trade, while also promoting the COTTON USA Mark as a sign of quality. For further information http://www.cottonusa.co.uk/.

Stephanie Thiers-Ratcliffe, CCI Marketing Manager, said:
“COTTON USA is an internationally licensed trademark for premium U.S. cotton-rich products. It inspires trust and embodies quality in all items made using U.S. grown cotton. Kaizo will be tasked with both promoting the Mark and helping us attract more UK retailers such as existing licensees Marks and Spencer and Christy Towels.”

Rhodri Harries, Managing Director of Kaizo said:
“Our strategy focuses on creatively highlighting moments where only the best and highest quality will do when it comes to home and fashion. Multi-layered, multi-media and integrating media, digital and experiential, our aim is to bring the cotton story to life for potential licensees as well as the target consumer demographics, including women 25 to 45.”

Tags: COTTON USA, Kaizo, PR, public relations, social media, win, worldcom

Kaizo has been appointed by GetTaxi, following a competitive pitch. The agency launched the service to businesses in July and will oversee a consumer campaign later this year.

GetTaxi is GPS based taxi ordering and dispatch service today enabling businesses to order London Black Taxis online, through a personalised company web portal and via a mobile app at a fraction of the cost of the traditional taxi account charges. The service is signing up an average of 300 drivers per week, and is on track to exceed its target of 2000 drivers by the end of the year, offering a footprint of taxis in central London every bit as a widespread as the traditional taxi services.

For further information visit www.gettaxi.com

Tags: apps, PR, public relations, taxi

Delighted to announce that as of yesterday we are now wholly owned by our existing management team following a successful MBO.

Whilst we remain the same business in the same premises with the same teams, our new independence highlights key attributes we feel bring a fresh perspective to communications’ challenges targeting consumers and businesses.

We’re impartial, whether advising on media choice or brand direction; self-sufficient, so no sub teams and silos to add complexity and cost; free thinkers, so great ideas flow and are encouraged; and now importantly self-governing so we’re able to offer a flexible approach to your PR and earned media budgets.

We thank all our clients, including Truvia®, Flora/ Becel, Cisco, CA Technologies, Unilever,mxData, Johnson and Johnson, Serco, and Elsevier, for their continued support and look forward to a successful future together.

Tags: consumer PR, Food PR, Kaizo, media, PR, public relations, social media, win, worldcom

22nd July 2011 – The House of Marley today announced that it will be appointing Kaizo to drive its new MARLEY consumer brand launch and ongoing lifestyle product catalogue in the UK. The agency was appointed following a competitive pitch process.

Initially launching with a range of personal audio products, the MARLEY brand is united by music to create a better world and spread Bob Marley and his family’s vision of “One Love”. The House of Marley, will provide products of superior quality in both sound and design, with all products being made from sustainably sourced materials.

A portion of proceeds from The House of Marley will benefit 1Love.org. The organisation, sparked by the Marley family, is dedicated to spreading Bob Marley’s message of unity and peace and will look to benefit a number of charities and causes in the future.

“Having designed the products with the Marley family, The House of Marley is devoted to encompassing Bob Marley’s vision of hope, unity and peace, through high-quality, sustainable products that offer the ability to give something back,” said Jamie Faulkner, EMEA – Marketing Director, House of Marley, The House of Marley. “We feel we have chosen the right agency to make the brand a huge success here in the UK.”

The win adds to the recent news of a management team buyout from the senior management team of Kaizo from its listed parent company, The Argyll Consultancies PLC. Under the terms of the proposed sale the Kaizo name and all other elements of the business will remain as they currently are.

Steph MacLeod, Board Director and Head of Consumer at Kaizo said, “We’re so excited to be involved with what will be such an exciting lifestyle brand for the UK market and one with such strong identity and values.”

About The House of Marley:

Working together for a better world, The House of Marley was created from the belief in Bob Marley’s vision of “One Love,” offering a range of eco-conscious, innovative products that adhere to the Marley family core values: equality, unity, authenticity, sustainability and charity. A portion of proceeds from The House of Marley will benefit 1Love.org. 1Love.org is dedicated to spreading Bob Marley’s message of unity and peace by lifting up a new generation of “young gongs” to strike the hammer for charities, causes and ideas that can change the world. For more information visit: www.thehouseofmarley.com and www.1Love.org.

About Kaizo:

Kaizo is an award-winning independent PR and digital agency helping business and consumer brands thrive in today’s economy. Integrating traditional PR consultancy with social media and digital services, the agency’s campaigns and advice generate word of mouth, protect reputations, increase sales and stakeholder engagement and ensure brands engage with new and existing markets. In the past two years, Kaizo has won awards at the CIPR, PR Week, PRCA and Sabre PR awards for work in consumer marketing and digital innovation.

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An offer to buy the trading assets and liabilities of Kaizo, the PR and Digital communications agency, from its PLUS listed parent company, The Argyll Consultancies PLC, has been made by the four executive directors of both Argyll and Kaizo, who make up the agency’s current management team.

The bid, which is subject to shareholder approval, is led by MD Rhodri Harries and Steph MacLeod, alongside Crispin Manners and Rosemary Brook.  On successful completion, the bid will see the business transferred to a new Ltd company to be known as Kaizo.  The offer will be voted on at Argyll’s forthcoming AGM on 27^th July 2011.

Under the terms of the proposed sale the Kaizo name and all other elements of the business will remain as they currently are. The proposed MBO means Kaizo will be wholly owned by the current management team, who have been responsible for running the business in recent years

Rhodri Harries, managing director, said:

“Over the last few years we have built a great reputation for our work, particularly in relation to social media and big brand campaigns, and have won many awards across multiple categories for clients including Unilever and Cisco, but we have not achieved the growth we sought.

“Becoming a private Ltd company wholly owned by its management will open up a range of exciting opportunities and incentives for those that work for us.”

“This new chapter is very exciting for all of us. We intend to launch a number of new client innovations built on this enhanced entrepreneurial mindset and look forward to developing the Kaizo business into one of the most admired integrated PR and Digital consultancies in the UK.”

Kaizo’s clients include Cisco, CA Technologies, Unilever, Johnson and Johnson, Serco, and Elsevier. Recent client wins have included, MXData, BlaBlacar, Coffee and Health (Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee), and Wall Street Institute.

If approved by shareholders, the deal will result in The Argyll Consultancies PLC becoming a cash shell, which, in a separate move, will acquire Evergreen Oil Limited, a biofuel company. Evergreen shareholders will control the majority of the shares in Argyll following this.

The simultaneous sale of Kaizo and the acquisition of Evergreen Oil, which are subject to shareholder approval, meet the Argyll Board’s twin objectives of enhancing value to shareholders and giving the current and future generation of Kaizo’s management ownership of the business.

Rhodri Harries joined Kaizo as MD in 2007 from WPP owned GCI London where he was Deputy MD.   Stephanie Macleod joined from Bite Communications in 2009 and was made an Argyll Director in 2010. Crispin Manners, a former chairman of the PRCA, was CEO of Argyll from 1990 until 2007.  Rosemary Brook, a former President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a Past Master of the City of London Guild of Public Relations Practitioners, a Trustee and current chairman of the Industry and Parliament Trust Executive Committee, has been executive chairman of Argyll since 2005.

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Kaizo picked up the coveted Best Consumer Relations award at last nights CIPR awards for its work with Flip Video.

The Sharing Hearts Minds and Moments campaign won over the judges with its integrated approach and undoubted focus on business success in terms of sales.

Certificates were also picked up for shortlisted campaigns in the Best Social Media, Best Broadcast and Best Media Relations categories.

For more details on these campaigns email rhodri.harries@kaizo.net.

Tags: award, award ceremony, cipr, consumer PR, flip video, Kaizo, PR, PR awards, public relations, social media

Kaizo has been hired by French company Comuto to launch its carpooling service BlablaCar in the UK following a competitive pitch process.

The service, known as Covoiturage.fr in France, has been a phenomenal success amongst drivers and passengers alike who are frustrated at disruptions to air and rail transport and hard hit by increasing petrol prices and rising public transport costs. The site, founded in 2006, now has over one million drivers and passengers and is growing by over 50,000 users every month.

For drivers, BlablaCar offers the opportunity to reduce the cost of travel on journeys they would make in any case, whilst for passengers this offers an extremely cost effective alternative to any other form of transport on their chosen route. Drivers post details of their trip and a suggested price (typically a proportionate contribution). Potential passengers searching for a specific trip then choose whether or not this fits with what they want to pay.

BlablaCar, like its French counterpart, will have the feel of a combination of a travel site and a community site, with drivers and passengers posting details about themselves and rating each other on a range of criteria, from performance and reliability to how chatty they are. In fact, the name BlablaCar comes from this as on the French site a driver rates how talkative he or she as bla (not very chatty), blabla (likes a natter) and blablabla (won’t shut up). The community aspect ensures transparency, safety and that the market effectively and efficiently sets the price.

Nicolas Brusson, Co-founder of BlablaCar said:

“We are looking to replicate the success we have had in France here in the UK as rising petrol costs, issues and prices associated with peak time public transport, as well as environmental concerns are very similar. BlablaCar is revolutionising carpooling from the preserve of students and those concerned with the environment to a mainstream answer to rising costs and tighter purse strings.”

Rhodri Harries Managing Director of Kaizo said:

“This is a massively exciting challenge to reproduce the phenomenal word of mouth that has taken place in France around this brand. Our programme will build as we attract drivers to posts their trips, initially focusing on a few key routes such London to Manchester.”

By way of example of the popularity of the service, posted trips from Paris to London have risen by between 100 and 200 per cent in the last year.

Additionally BlablaCar offers a service for events, festival and concert organisers called the Agenda, which provides branded carpooling pages for each event. This service is also due to be launched in early June.

Tags: BlablaCar, carpooling, Kaizo, PR, public relations

Kaizo is thrilled to be nominated for a multitude of CIPR and SABRE awards for its work on Flip Video, the simple to use pocket camcorder.

For the SABRE awards, which cover the EMEA region, Kaizo has been nominated for two awards – Best Consumer Electronic Product and Best Social Media Campaign. These are in addition to winning a Bronze award for Best TV Placement for its work with ITN news and a Certificate of Excellence for its Christmas Facebook campaign.

For the CIPR awards, Kaizo has been nominated in four categories – Best Broadcast, Best Consumer, Best Use of Social Media and Best Media Relations.

Rhodri Harries, managing director, Kaizo, commented: “We’re really excited to be shortlisted for both the CIPR and SABRE awards. This is a testament to the great campaigns that have been executed for Flip Video over the past year and the hard work put in by the entire team.”

The SABRE awards are taking place in Prague on May 18, with the CIPR awards following on June 1 in London.

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