San Francisco – February 2, 2012 – Lithium Technologies, the leader in social customer experience, has appointed Bite Communications as its global agency of record. Bite will drive a full range of communications and thought-leadership campaigns for Lithium, with initial work focused on the U.S. and European markets.

Bite earned the business through a multiagency competitive pitch. The agency will focus on raising Lithium’s profile and helping the company champion the value of social customer experience software.

Emeryville, Calif.-based Lithium has emerged as one of the fastest-growing social media platform providers focused on customer experience. Lithium’s strong customer portfolio of top global brands includes household names such as Best Buy, AT&T, Sephora, Univision and PayPal. Lithium’s cloud-based software helps companies transform the way brands build relationships with their customers and build vibrant destinations for their most passionate brand advocates. With Lithium, brands are able to reduce customer support costs, increase brand advocacy and generate new ideas for products and services.

Michael Paige, Lithium Director of Corporate Communications, said, “The Bite team has really hit the ground running. As a true extension of my team, our Bite colleagues work closely with us to define our strategic direction for communications as we enter a year of even more aggressive growth. Together we kicked off the year with a well-executed and widely covered funding announcement, which is driving a spike in new customer interest.”

The Bite team is headed by Bill Danon in San Francisco and Sophie Brown in London.

“It’s an exciting time to begin working with Lithium as more and more savvy businesses get serious about engaging and empowering customers through social media,” said Danon. “We look forward to partnering with Lithium and helping the company lead the industry through this dramatic shift.”

“We’re proud to add Lithium to our client portfolio, and are eager to help develop a strong point of view for Lithium that will really stand out and drive impact,” added Brown.

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About Bite Communications
Bite Communications is a 250-strong communications consultancy with offices in Bangalore, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm and Sydney. Bite combines insight, expertise and passion to help its clients create points of view that shape valuable conversations. Current clients include AMD, Citi, Microsoft, HTC, Parallels, Sybase, Lithium Technologies, Broadcom, Nokia and Trend Micro. Visit us at: www.bitecommunications.com

For more information:

Marcelo Vilela
Bite Communications (US)
+1 415 365 0404
marcelo.vilela@bitecommunications.com

Sophie Brown
Bite Communications (London)
+44 (7919) 098 893
sophie.brown@bitecommunications.com

San Francisco – January 26, 2012 – Andrea “Andy” Cunningham has joined Bite Communications as president of North America, a newly created position to spearhead the consultancy’s growth strategy and diversify its client service offerings.

A serial-entrepreneur and tech marketing communications pioneer, Andy has been at the forefront of strategic positioning and brand marketing for Fortune 500 technology corporations such as AMD, Cisco, HP, IBM, Motorola, Oracle and Xerox for over 25 years. She has been credited with shaping and establishing game-changing market categories including desktop publishing for Apple and Adobe; video gaming with Atari and Electronic Arts; and software as a service (SaaS) for HP. Andy also worked with Steve Jobs to launch Apple’s original Macintosh, the company’s NeXT line of “Cube” computers and continued to work with Jobs for several years after he left Apple to form Next and acquire Pixar, the animation film studio.  Her experiences working with Jobs and Apple were chronicled in Walter Isaacson’s recent book, “Steve Jobs.”

In her role as President at Bite North America, Andy will lead the management team in building out an integrated marketing and communications offering to help clients become category leaders, to advance corporate reputation, increase shareholder value and drive sales. Key investment areas she will drive at Bite include building market-focused practice and strategic marcoms services such as insight and analytics, content development and diversified distribution channels.

“Smart marketing is increasingly about enlarging a company’s digital footprint.  Old-fashioned media is still important, but success is foremost about having a data-fueled strategy, creating compelling content and understanding which channels best reach your audience – which is only sometimes the press,” Andy said.

Andy came to Bite from Rearden Commerce, where she served as chief marketing officer for the next-generation e-commerce company that raised $133 million in new funding from partners American Express, Citi and JPMorgan Chase. She conceived the company’s market position and developed the “Empowered by Deem” ingredient brand that will be rolled out by the financial services partners over the coming year.

Before joining Rearden, Andy was founder and CEO of CXO Communications, a privately held brand strategy and communications firm based in Palo Alto. While running CXO, she counseled boards of directors, CEOs and venture capitalists that are influencing today’s technology and consumer industries.  Before that, Andy was founder and CEO of Cunningham Communications, a 250 person PR agency that was acquired in 2000 by Citigate, a division of Huntsworth Plc.

Clive Armitage, Bite CEO, said: “Andy Cunningham has an exceptional track record and expertise in building businesses and elevating clients’ market position, which has resulted in a string of highly successful enterprises and technology brands. Andy brings a wealth of marketing and communications experience to Bite as well as an influential industry network, which I’m certain will be an amazing resource for our people and our clients.”

Bite Communications is also pleased to announce it recently appointed Victoria Graham as vice president for digital solutions, Lisa Worrall as vice president for corporate and corporate social responsibility, Michael Celiceo as vice president for its start-up and entrepreneurial practice and Molly Holtman Stein as vice president of the enterprise practice.  All four are based in San Francisco and focusing on the U.S. market.

About Bite Communications
Bite Communications is a 250-strong communications consultancy with offices in Bangalore, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm and Sydney. Bite combines insight, expertise and passion to help its clients create points of view that shape valuable conversations. Current clients include AMD, Citi, Microsoft, HTC, Parallels, Sybase, Lithium, Broadcom, Nokia and Trend Micro. Visit us at: www.bitecommunications.com.

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Press Contact:
Lisa Worrall, Vice President
347-277-2594

lisa.worrall@bitecommunications.com

Hong Kong, 6 December 2011 ― Shanghai Tang, part of Richemont S.A., has launched its new website (www.shanghaitang.com) showcasing the “World of Shanghai Tang.” Bite Communications, following its successful redevelopment of the previous Shanghai Tang site was re-appointed to lead its website redesign and build a comprehensive eCommerce framework.

“Our past working relationship has played a major role in re-engaging with Bite since we had challenging timeline objectives for implementation,” said Sylvain Rocher, Director, Digital Brand Development and CRM, Shanghai Tang.  “Above all, it was the capability of Bite’s experts to understand and translate our requirements into clever technical choices that made the difference.”

The new website has been optimized for Shanghai Tang’s luxury clientele, with advanced e-commerce features such as the ability to shop in any currency and any language seamlessly integrated with the look and feel of the brand.

Fully optimized for iPads and tablets, the website also include innovative shopping features such as “Shop in Slide Show” and “Shop the Look”, which allows users to view and purchase clothing and accessories worn by featured models, with dynamic image replacement allowing customers to change item colours and styles in real time. Integration with Facebook, Weibo and Twitter ensures the ease of sharing across social media platforms.

Other key features of the newly revamped site include:

• Purchase tracking from point of sale to delivery
• Easy to maintain content management system
• Access to exclusive features for registered visitors
• Multi currency and multi-language

“Bite was thrilled to be a part of the development of Shanghai Tang’s new website,” said Michael Zung, Managing Director, Digital, Bite Communications APAC.  “The new site demonstrates Bite’s capabilities in producing an elaborate and sophisticated international website. It helps to make shopping easier and more exciting for Shanghai Tang’s clientele, who can shop wherever they are, while also helping Shanghai Tang deliver significant business results through increased sales and improved backend productivity.”

Bite Communications is investing in the growth of its specialist services by hiring two former journalists, Ben Tudor and Nick Thorpe.

Ben Tudor brings 15 years’ experience in journalism, writing for titles including Computer Business Review, Computeractive, CRN and the Guardian. Ben has also worked as a senior analyst at Current Analysis and previously worked as Gartner, Inc’s UK PR manager.

At Bite, Ben will use his channel, analyst and technology experience to offer clients a unique insight in to their target audiences and media.

Nick Thorpe joins from Gorkana Group where he held the position of news manager, looking after the media firm’s consumer PR news output. In his two and a half years with the company he has interviewed some of the biggest names in PR, communications and journalism.

Nick too brings extensive experience in consumer and B2B journalism having been writing for over 10 years. He is a respected voice on Twitter and his freelance writing has taken in subjects as diverse as drinks blogging, travel writing, men’s lifestyle and music reviews.

Nick and Ben will work with other former journalists on the Bite staff including former editor of CRN Sara Driscoll, editor in chief of CIO Martin Veitch and Tom Berry of Financial Director, who is the Head of Bite’s consulting division.

The appointments complement Bite’s growth, particularly in Bite Consulting which provides a range of content, branding, marketing services and audience consultancy to clients on and off the Bite Communications roster. Ben and Nick’s hires follow hard on the heels of Bite’s acquisition of Trademark, Germany, including its own Consulting division which specialises in developing and delivery against integrated marketing campaigns.

Tom Berry, Head of Bite Consulting said: “Bite has gone from strength to strength over the past few months as the communications landscape has changed.  Many brands want expertise in particular audiences, a journalistic approach to content creation and campaigns that integrate several communications disciplines. Now, with Ben and Nick on board we are going to be able to offer clients an even more fantastic mix of skills and writing styles, as well as a team with a combined experience in journalism of over 50 years.

Bite Communications has been chosen as the world’s outstanding technology consultancy by respected global communications industry commentator the Holmes Report. The award, announced last week at the ICCO Summit in Portugal, saw Bite win out over strong competition from a variety of global and regional consultancies.

In its commentary on the awards, the Holmes Report recognized Bite’s “embrace of innovation that is starting to reap rich rewards. The agency has been quicker than most in acquiring the kind of skills that still remain unconventional in PR circles.” In addition to recognising the strides that Bite has taken in digital and social media communications, the commentary also notes Bite’s global delivery capability, growing geographic footprint, enviable workplace practices, and not least our focus on channel-neutral communications through our Point of View methodology.

“We’re delighted with the recognition that this Global SABRE Award brings to Bite,” said CEO Clive Armitage. “It’s a reflection of the passion, creativity, and teamwork of a global network that now covers 14 locations worldwide.

“Given the seismic changes that are happening in the way brands, businesses and consumers communicate, agencies have no choice but to respond. Change requires courage, but the result is a whole new capability for our clients to add insight, effectiveness and accountability to their campaigns,” he continued.

The Global SABRE Award follows a regional Technology Agency of the Year for Bite Asia Pacific earlier this year, and a Gold SABRE Award in May for our global work with HP. Other accolades for Bite this year include being named as one of the top 50 Best Small Companies to Work For (for the second year running) by the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper.

~ Munich-based Trademark PR and Trademark Consulting bring exceptional local reputation, specialist communications and marketing expertise and a diversified client base to fuel Bite European growth plans ~

LONDON – October 5, 2011: Bite Communications Group Ltd. today announces further European expansion with the acquisition of multi award-winning Trademark PR and Trademark Consulting. The acquisition of Trademark adds 25 new staff, a broad client portfolio and capabilities spanning both communications and marketing services. Following the acquisition, Trademark will be branded as Bite Communications and Bite Consulting. This announcement follows the launch of Bite in France one year ago and brings the number of staff in Europe to 100 people.

The Trademark acquisition follows two years of successful collaboration between Bite and Trademark across shared European clients including HP and Harman Consumer International. It covers two companies – Trademark PR and Trademark Consulting, which deliver specialist communications and marketing services respectively. The companies represent an impressive portfolio of brands across the consumer electronics, technology and telecoms, entertainment and lifestyle, and beverage sectors. Current clients include Creative, Amazon Web Services, BRIO, Dolomite, and Treasury Wine Estates.

The combined organisation will offer a stronger and more integrated European PR team to support existing and new client communications briefs across traditional and social media channels. It will also see the launch of Bite Consulting Europe, bringing together specialists in London and Munich in one team to cater to the needs of European marketing directors. The Consulting proposition is the fastest growing area of both businesses and will comprise former marketing directors and managers, on-staff journalists, as well as digital and design specialists. The services offered span all aspects of marketing, sales and channel communications – from point of sale programmes through to above and below the line on- and offline campaigns, customer relationship management, and events.

Since founding Trademark in 2006, CEO Stefan Ehgartner has overseen impressive year on year growth, working alongside fellow director Juergen Rast. Trademark Consulting was launched in 2007 by Carsten Bickhoff, former European marketing director at Creative Labs. Trademark’s directors and team have been at the forefront of innovation in the German communications market, winning awards from German PR Association DPRG, FAZ Institut and PR Report.  They become part of the newly created European leadership team at Bite.

“Both Trademark companies have experienced impressive growth over the past five years and joining the Bite network is another milestone in our young company’s history,” explains Stefan Ehgartner. “Our consultants are motivated to use their expertise to achieve great results. Within the Bite family we will have access to an outstanding repertoire of Intellectual Property and expertise, which means we will be in a position to offer our clients innovative, creative solutions to a myriad of communications challenges on a global scale. And, even more importantly, we share the same company philosophy and have had loads of fun working together on clients to date.”

“Expanding our team to include Trademark is about way more than Bite’s launch into Germany, although that’s clearly exciting in its own right,” said Kath Pooley, MD of Bite Communications Europe. “The team is simply brilliant and full of talented and European-minded consultants from the worlds of communications and marketing, reflecting the Bite model perfectly. We’ve known for some time from our collaboration on client projects that we share a similar culture, client service ethic and strategy around our specialist models and Point of View methodology. Given the success we’ve had in France and the Nordics this year, I can’t wait to realise our collective potential across Europe.”

Clive Armitage, CEO, adds that “Two things are going to allow us to continue to grow the Bite brand internationally; an ability to service clients in key strategic markets across the globe and an enhanced offering which extends beyond traditional PR services. We’re excited about the addition of the Trademark business because its team gives us an immediate strong presence in Europe’s biggest market as well as access to a broad range of specialist marketing skills. Most importantly, we anticipate that the acquisition will propel subsequent strong organic growth across Europe for us.”

“Our culture at Bite is very pronounced,” concludes Pooley. “We are passionate about what we do, have a lot of fun, and are constantly listening to clients and looking for ways to enhance what we do and the regions in which we do it. There is no agency more suited to us in all of these respects – Trademark has been the perfect partner and will have a huge influence at a senior level around our European growth strategy in the future.”

The launch of Bite Germany follows the launch of Bite in France 12 months ago, and the appointment of a new GM, Christian Lundgren, in the Nordics in August 2010. Since then, European client wins and growth accounts include Harman International (Harman Kardon, AKG and JBL brands), Polycom, Sybase, Sony, Parallels and HP. This announcement brings the total number of Bite offices to 14, and employee numbers to 227.

Outsourcery, a provider of cloud services, has selected Bite Communications to manage its UK PR as it ramps up its communications strategy.

Led by co-CEOs Piers Linney and Simon Newton, Outsourcery is an award-winning Microsoft Certified Partner which provides hosting services for companies in a range of industry sectors, customers include BBC, Virgin Trains and Scapa.

After a competitive pitch, which involved an interactive workshop to test the team’s strategic and creative thinking, Bite was selected from a shortlist of three agencies to succeed the incumbent on a retained basis.

The brief is to switch the conversation from being product focused to driving compelling points of view on the evolution of cloud and the impact it has on business success. The programme will be campaign-led and structured to have quarterly thought-leading campaigns to drive coverage and conversations in national, business and technology media targeting enterprise, SMB and channel audiences.

Another element of the brief is to drive debate around business efficiency, success and mentoring in the UK. Piers Linney, who appeared on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire, is an experienced entrepreneur and is passionate about supporting up-and-coming talent. Bite will build on this profile and drive conversations for Outsourcery around UK success and innovation.

The account will be led by Kelly Hall, Business Practice Director at Bite, with former journalist Sara Driscoll to support on content development. Hall said: “cloud technology continues to be an extremely competitive topic in the media with everyone claiming to be the ‘leader’. However, Outsourcery has an extremely progressive and exciting story to tell and has the ability, and the attitude, to cut through the noise.

“We’re also working with other Bite clients that are Outsourcery partners such as Microsoft, Polycom and Parallels, to create high-impact story-lines that target national media. Customer challenges and issues will sit at the heart of the programme.

The whole pitch experience was extremely refreshing. Outsourcery asked us to take a brief, brainstorm and present a plan back in a three-hour workshop. Not only was it a challenging process, it also enabled the Outsourcery communications team to really test the chemistry and approach between both teams.”

Bite will be reporting to Kath Dewar, Marketing Director at Outsourcery, who commented: “We’re embarking on a new journey with our communications and we’re very excited about this partnership. Bite demonstrated clear passion and leadership in the cloud sector and we believe they’re going to take our communications to another level.”

The partnership between Bite and Outsourcery begins in August.

LONDON, 9th May 2011 – Bite Communications has appointed Jess Rowntree to strengthen its UK Board as it continues its regional expansion and launches into new industry sectors.

Jess brings 15 years’ experience in communications, most recently holding the position of Technology Director at Porter Novelli, leading accounts such as Hitachi Global Storage and BT.

The appointment follows Bite’s recent restructure into audience Practices, and the expansion of its Consulting Services division. While Bite’s client base is increasingly diverse, it retains a strong foothold in technology, representing the best-known and respected companies, as well as entrepreneurially-driven challenger brands.

Jess brings specialist expertise in the telecoms and technology space and will assume a leading role on the Microsoft account, as well as being a key member of the Bite UK Board.

“Given our technology heritage, we’ve always employed consultants who are passionate about technology and who really know the space inside out. Jess is just such a person and augments our technology credentials no end – she’s a simply brilliant senior consultant and has vast experience under her belt,” said Kath Pooley, MD EMEA at Bite Communications. “Her appointment means much more than that however – it allows the existing Board to expand their portfolios into new areas to cater to the demands of our people and clients.”

Pooley concludes: “We now have a management team to die for, in my humble opinion – from brilliantly insightful Practice Heads to former business journalists, big digital thinkers, and individuals obsessed with client service and operational excellence. Adding Jess into the mix – a big personality with renowned leadership skills – will act as a catalyst to our drive into new sectors, new services, and new markets.”

Prior to her role at Porter Novelli, Jess spent three years at Grant Butler Coomber and five years at Chocolate Communications.

This appointment follows the investment in new hires to focus on growth opportunities in the Consumer and B2B space at Bite UK, as well as significant investments in opening new offices in France and India.

About Bite Communications
Bite is a communications consultancy with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, London, New Delhi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney and Toronto. Bite’s team of more than 200 combines insight, expertise and passion to help clients create points of view that shape valuable conversations. Current clients include Alibaba.com, Citi, HP, HTC, Microsoft, Parallels, Playfish, Qantas, Siemens, Skype, SonicWALL, Sony, SWIFT, Sybase, Trend Micro and ZTE. Visit us at www.bitecommunications.com

Hong Kong-based team will be integrated into Bite’s regional digital hub

April 13, 2011 – HONG KONG:  Bite Communications has acquired internet solutions provider Interlink Systems (www.ilinksys.com).  TheInterlink teams in Hong Kong and India will be integrated into Bite, and bring significant new levels of capability for clients, including website build, application development and technology solutions.  Combined with Bite’s current strong service offering in digital and social media marketing, Interlink provides the core of a technology solutions hub for clients around the region.

Bite specializes in integrated marketing and corporate communications campaigns that start with strategic insights and which are then rolled out across multiple markets with compelling, locally relevant content. Building on established leadership in public relations and social media, Bite enhanced its digital marketing offering with the September 2010 acquisition of OneXeno (www.onexeno.com), and has since accelerated development of its online service offerings with key hires in Bite’s China, Singapore and Australia offices.

“We’re seeing a dramatic shift in client expectations from KPIs based on communications outputs to generating real business outcomes,” said David Ketchum, President of Bite Asia Pacific and Bite’s global digital development lead. “It’s key to integrate on- and off-line communications campaigns seamlessly across customer and prospect engagement, brand building, database building, lead generation and through to e-commerce sales.  Our aim is to serve client needs all the way through the marketing value chain, from awareness and reputation to CRM. The addition of the Interlink team is an important step towards that goal in Asia Pacific.”

“We’re keeping ahead of the curve to meet clients’ demands for campaigns that are effective across owned, earned and paid media,” said Michael Zung, Bite’s Asia Pacific Managing Director, Digital. “With Interlink’s capabilities, we can now handle large-scale web development in-house, as well as being able to create mobile apps, and just about any digital component of an integrated campaign. The difference between working with outsourced vendors and having in-house agency capability is like night and day for clients.”

Interlink has a 13 year track record in web technology solutions and services, working with such clients as California Fitness, Questex Media, Shanghai Tang and others, and has built more than 100 websites.  Bite will continue to serve the needs of Interlink’s existing clients, as well as offering them a range of other marketing services.  Interlink’s founder and current Managing Director Nikhil Agrawal will continue to play client service and business development roles going forward.

About Bite Communications

Bite is a communications consultancy with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, London, New Delhi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney and Toronto. Bite’s team of more than 200 combines insight, expertise and passion to help clients create points of view that shape valuable conversations. Current clients include Alibaba.com, Citi, HP, HTC, Microsoft, Parallels, Playfish, Qantas, Siemens, Skype, SonicWALL, Sony, SWIFT, Sybase, Trend Micro and ZTE.

Learn more at www.bitecommunications.com.

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For More Information:
David Ketchum / Paul Mottram
Bite Communications
( 852) 2973 0222
david.ketchum@bitecommunications.com / paul.mottram@bitecommunications.com

Bite UK are chuffed to bits to announce the appointment of their new Creative Designer, Firuzé French (aka “Fizz”), who joins Matt Wright in the Creative Services team. Her outstanding design skills and lively sideways thinking will be an incredibly potent addition to the creative mix at Bite.
 
The Creative Services team produce a range of stunning visual content that can really help bring a campaign or story to life, including infographics, presentations, brochures, newsletters, HTML emails and direct mail. And they have plenty of examples of past work, which might trigger an idea for your own brand.  
 
If you haven’t met Matt or Fizz before, feel free to drop them a line and say hello at creative@bitecommunications.com