Happy New Year…

Recently we have had some great new business wins – Logica, Playfish and Global Crossing, among others. The unavoidable loss of Apple to in-house was also eased with the tremendous people and clients we brought on board with the Inferno merger (Microsoft, Palm and Sony notably).

But it’s a shame that the news we share with you can’t always be of blue-chip wins and team growth. The PR industry, as we all know, likes to keep you on your toes.

We were appointed Facebook’s first UK PR agency 18 months ago after a hugely competitive pitch. However, as we always knew would happen, Facebook is moving to appoint an internal PR head for the UK, and bring more of its communications in-house. Thus, we are bidding au revoir to a great brand. Before you think about scrabbling to phone Facebook, there’s no pitch process planned.

I just want to acknowledge our pride in working together and thank the Facebook team for the incredible opportunity.

After four years we’re also parting ways on good terms with Symantec – another client with whom we’ve done some great work. Over the past years we have run a fantastic campaign for its annual security report, driven high volumes of national & business coverage, and most recently expanded our brief to cover more digital programmes. It’s been a pleasure.

As we approach our new financial year, I would be lying if I said that the last year has been all sweetness and light – for us or the industry as a whole. The economy is mixed, budgets have been up and down, we’ve won and lost business and have been through a major (but rewarding) merger. But as we head towards 1st August, I’m incredibly positive about the start of a new era for Bite UK. It’s going to be a good one!