Part Time / Full-time PR Account Director Circa £35k pro-rata

Edinburgh

Hot Tin Roof is a dynamic, independent PR agency, creating iconic reputations for pioneering UK companies.  We help business communicate in a digital world, blending the skills and rigour of traditional PR with the constantly changing, cutting edge digital techniques of social media and online PR.

Now in our tenth year we are primarily focused on B2B PR, specialising in internet and digital technologies, although we do work across a range of sectors and the odd B2C campaign.

Fast and furious, we deliver creative campaigns, designed along clear and simple lines.  From short, sharp projects to heavy weight strategy sustained long term; we have a powerful reputation for getting results and making the news.

We are now looking for an experienced PR professional to join the team and help grow the business.  Although we are ideally looking for a part time role we will consider full-time for the right person.

Key responsibilities:

With a minimum of five years’ experience in Public Relations, you will be responsible for leading media relations as well as helping to grow Hot Tin Roof.  You will work closely with the founder MD to manage a small team, lead client accounts, secure new business and grow Hotwire our social media service.

You will be able to run accounts autonomously, will have excellent client service skills and proven media relations skills.  The preferred candidate will have strong experience in B2B campaigns, specifically technology related, and demonstrable experience of social media campaigns and online PR.

You will have a powerful track record of achieving outstanding results for clients, and will understand the need to deliver tangible commercial benefits in PR campaigns. You will have managed integrated PR campaigns and will be comfortable managing client budgets.

You will be able to demonstrate a keen ability to write PR plans, new business proposals and pitch documents, and will have a naturally positive outlook to building new business connections on behalf of the client.

Skills & Experience:

• Experience working with clients in technology, new media, public sector

• Outstanding media relations skills and proven strength in securing quality coverage
• Excellent understanding of news agenda and impact on clients
• Confident participator in meetings with senior executives

• Strong copy writing skills

• Strong social media and online PR skills
• Good organisation and time management
• Good knowledge and understanding of digital channels
• Experience of working with and giving advice to senior executives
• Experience in campaign management and media relations
• Flawless project management skills
• Experience of crisis and issues management

Personal Qualities:

• Self-Starter, pro-active, takes initiative, driven, entrepreneurial
• Loves a challenge
• Excellent communication skills
• Mature, self-confident and will get on with the job in hand
• Team player with the ability to motivate account teams

CVs with covering letter to sarah@hottinroof.co.uk

Online identity verification service miiCard today announced the completion of a second seed funding round, securing $2.5 million angel and venture capital from a mix of investment groups including New Wave Ventures, IQ Capital and Par Equity, to accelerate growth and adoption of its ‘digital passport’ amongst businesses and consumers.

The substantial investment supports miiCard’s expansion into the US and will enable rapid growth of the business, across a range of markets including financial services, ecommerce, social networking and dating, where trust online is now critical. Such a high level of seed funding for an early stage company reflects miiCard’s strong initial market traction as well as the global acceleration of the online identity verification sector and the realisation of the need to prove real identities on the web.

miiCard (My Internet Identity) is the world’s first independent, commercial identity verification service allowing the individual to control their digital identity and prove “I am who I say I am” online and in real-time, to Anti-Money Laundering standards, eliminating the need for a physical ID check.

miiCard is responding to a growing demand worldwide for a means to prove identity purely online as both the risk and value of transactions on the web escalate. Both the US and UK governments have launched initiatives to tackle the issue, with the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) in the United States and the UK Identity Assurance Programme, with the aim of validating consumers’ true identities – not just checking information about them.

James Varga, miiCard CEO, comments: “Now, more than ever, we are seeing a huge amount of activity in the marketplace around online identity and trust. With miiCard we can create a level of trust that currently does not exist online, and dramatically change the way we transact on the Internet.

“We’re delighted to have New Wave Ventures on board to help drive our business forward. Along with our existing investors and board members, we have a fantastic team and a unique opportunity to change the way we interact online.”

This is the first time New Wave Ventures have invested in miiCard and its backing builds on an earlier funding round during which miiCard raised over $.75 million from investors including IQ Capital and Par Equity who have reinvested during this current round.

Tim Bullock, co-founder of New Wave Ventures comments: “As the Internet plays a growing role in the way we interact with each other, especially when executing financial transactions, it becomes increasingly important to be able to prove who we are, and quickly and reliably establish who we are dealing with.

“The miiCard team have developed a unique and global solution to this problem, which will facilitate commercial transactions and remove uncertainty from more personal interactions, and we look forward to working with them to develop the business.”

Ed Stacey of IQ Capital Partners, comments: “miiCard has clearly demonstrated an ability to develop rapidly. We’re proud to be continuing to support the company as it positions itself as the market leader in online identity.”

Paul Atkinson of Par Equity, states that: “miiCard has clearly made huge progress over the last few months and we are delighted to be involved as investors. We are looking forward to miiCard being adopted as an industry standard for online identity validation.”

Founded in September 2011, miiCard already supports seven countries and is quickly expanding to meet demand from businesses wanting to improve customer satisfaction, increase conversions and reduce operational costs by enabling consumers to meet identity verification requirements purely online and in real-time. miiCard is looking to grow the existing team, with plans to treble staff in the coming months.

http://www.miicard.com/

Watch the tour video and see how miiCard can create trust online.

For more information please contact Sally Rattray.

miiCard today announced a move to target the US market following increased market traction globally for miiCard’s online identity verification service.  This strategic expansion is in direct response to the Internet’s identity crisis and the US government’s National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) initiative.

Today’s news reflects heightened consumer concern around the issue of online identity in the US and growing demand worldwide for a way to create trust and protect people’s online identity, which was identified as one of 2012’s key technology trends by Deloitte earlier this year.

“miiCard’s pioneering digital passport is the only commercial product able to prove someone’s online identity, not only for financial services but across the board in e-commerce, online dating and social networking,” said James Varga, miiCard CEO, “miiCard puts users in control of their online identity and instantly enables them to create real trust online.”

miiCard lets users prove ‘I am who I say I am’ online, in real-time and with the same level of assurance that a passport or driver’s license carries offline. Owned and managed by the individual, miiCard is a federated identity service that centralizes the management and control of your online identity.

miiCard’s innovative use of Yodlee’s patented Personalized Finance Platform enables miiCard to establish a consumer’s identity by using information only the account holder would know.  Along with a number of additional security measures, including email verification and 2-factor authentication via sms, miiCard can validate a consumer’s identity to the fullest extent of applicable anti-money laundering and know your customer standards.

miiCard’s use of the Yodlee Platform will allow financial services and ecommerce sites around the globe to offer online versions of products and services that have historically required offline identity checks. In addition, miiCard can also be made available as a Yodlee FinApp™, available for distribution across Yodlee’s Personalized Finance Platform and network of banking customers and partners.

“Your financial accounts and transactions history don’t lie,” said Yodlee’s Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Joseph Polverari.  “miiCard’s innovative use of the Yodlee Platform will take the friction out of many legacy identification methods, dramatically reducing customer abandonment and making critical products and services more accessible to more consumers around the world.”

James Varga, miiCard CEO, comments: “Right now, digital identity is one of the most talked about technology topics. From social networking to banking, the need to create trust online is becoming ever more important. Our relationship with Yodlee means miiCard is the first commercial solution to the problem of how to prove ‘you are who you say you are’ online.”

Vendors accepting miiCard as proof of online identity benefit from increased conversions by supporting a live and purely online sales process, reduced cost of execution by not having to validate an identity offline or physically, and additional fraud and identity theft protection equivalent to a class 2 verification.

http://www.miicard.com/

For more information please contact Sally Rattray.

Look no further!

TIN IT OR BIN IT is your weekly social media need-to-know.

Hot off the press we deliver the week’s most ground breaking social media news,
oh-no-you-didn’t stories, tips you can’t afford to miss or simply our opinion on trends in the digital landscape.

Lastly, we’ll tell you whether it’s tin material or bin material!

View them all here on our Facebook page.

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Tin It Or Bin It – 30 March 2012 – ColourDNA

ColourDNA has just launched a shiny new app for the iPhone. It’s described as “a proprietary algorithm for social discovery”. It basically discovers a bit about your likes and interests and recommends things they think you will like – from music and books, right through to art and gadgets.

First things first you have to select your favourite colour. The whole concept of the app revolves around colour (just in case the clue in the name didn’t tip you off!).

ColourDNA believe that your preference for certain colours reflects certain personality traits. Now this is where we start to become doubtful. Even though the algorithm highlights the importance of colour preferences, we can’t help thinking that other personal interests like music, films, food, books etc reveal a wealth of information about a person, more so perhaps than a simple colour can. Also, just like our moods, our favourite colour can vary.

ColourDNA incorporates a lot of features from Facebook, Foursquare and Pinterest and has existed online for some time now, so it does seem a natural step for the introduction of the app. It is an intriguing concept but we remain unconvinced for now. Only time will tell if people will take a liking to it and want to continually use it.

We wish them every success but unfortunately this is a Bin It.