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 by Friday 11 May 2012.

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.

NCTech is a camera design and manufacturing company based in Scotland and founded in 2010 by Neil Tocher and Cameron Ure.  Following two years of intensive research and development by the co-founders, the company have launched its flagship product in spring of 2012.  A world first, the iSTAR® is a fully automatic instant 360º panoramic camera.

iSTAR is born, IHS Jane’s, 7 May 2012.

NCTech launch automatic instant 360º panoramic camera, Installation Europe, 2 May 2012.

First automatic 360º panoramic camera for mining, International Mining, 23 April 2012.

NCTech launch iSTAR, Architechts Data Files, 19 April 2012.

World’s first automatic rapid 360º camera launches, The Investigator, 17 April 2012.

High definition panoramic camera aids road traffic accident investigations, Traffic Safe, 17 April 2012.

iSTAR® the world’s first automatic rapid 360º camera launches, Mining World, 17 April 2012.

Automatic rapid 360º camera launches, GIM International, 16 April 2012.

NCTech launch world’s first automatic rapid 360º camera, GeoConnection, 16 April 2012.

Scottish firm launch iSTAR, Asian Surveying and Mapping, 16 April 2012.

iSTAR® the world’s first automatic rapid 360º camera launches, Laser Scanning Forum, 16 April 2012.

Scottish firm launches world’s first automatic rapid 360º camera, DPA, 16 April 2012.

iSTAR the world’s first automatic rapid 360º camera launches, American Surveyor, 16 April 2012.

NCTech launch world’s first automatic 36oº camera, Lidar News, 16 April 2012.

NCTech launch iSTAR® the world’s first automatic 360º camera,  Houston Chronicle, 16 April 2012.

iSTAR® the world’s first automatic rapid 360º camera launches in Texas, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 April 2012.

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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!

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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.

Online identity verification service miiCard is today releasing a short video on the predicted impact of digital identity on financial services in 2012. While attending FinovateEurope in London last month, miiCard asked a range of experts in financial services about the role digital identity was going to play over the coming year.

The importance of a customer-centric view of data emerged as a strong trend, with those interviewed stressing the increasing significance of individuals being able to manage and control their identities online. Interviewees also predicted that the need to identify and authenticate users across a range of platforms would become a priority for financial institutions.

These predictions reflect growing awareness of the need to prove identity online. Deloitte’s January report on the Top Technology Trends for 2012 identified digital identity as a key issue, and initiatives geared to tackle these concerns have been launched by both the UK and US governments, with the UK Identity Assurance Programme and the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) in the United States.

James Varga, miiCard CEO, comments: “The response from the leading fintech innovators has only reinforced, along with the increased activity we have already seen and Deloitte’s own predictions, that digital identity is going to be a core trend this year.”

miiCard was developed out of a need to prove online identity, to the same level of authority as a driving licence or passport would do offline, to make the buying and selling of financial products faster and easier.

The inability easily to authenticate a user’s identity online has long been a significant barrier to trade with between 70% and 90% of all online financial transactions terminated when the customer is required to provide physical proof of identity.

miiCard’s online identity verification allows a consumer to prove that “I am who I say I am” purely online and in real-time, to an Anti-Money Laundering standard, without the need for a physical ID check.

As a user-centric service miiCard gives the individual control over their identity and what information they share. Vendors accepting miiCard as proof of online identity stand to benefit from increased conversions, reduced cost of execution and additional fraud and identity theft protection equivalent to a class 2 verification.

Check out miiCard’s video:Digital Identity in Financial Services in 2012

For more information please contact Sarah Lee.

EdgeCase has developed a fundraising app that tackles the problem of team motivation and aims to transform fundraising. The Go Team Go app enables participants of the Maggie’s Monster Bike and Hike 2012 to motivate their team, track their progress, share through social media, and promote the charity.

Maggie’s Monster Bike & Hike is an outdoor adventure in the Scottish Highlands where teams have 24 hours to complete their chosen bike and hike challenge. An average of 1,000 people attend every year to raise much needed funds for Maggie’s Centres.

EdgeCase is an Agile company specialising in rapid sustainable development of mobile and web applications. As part of the organisation’s creative values and culture, it sets a certain amount of time aside for developers to pursue their own innovative projects. In this time Software Artisan, Peter Aitken, chose to develop a web app for Maggie’s to help encourage participants and aid fundraising efforts.

Peter Aitken of EdgeCase explains: “I had taken part in the 2011 challenge with a team of five friends, and discovered that there was no easy way to track progress and successfully motivate our team. We needed a tool to aid this process and Go Team Go was the solution.”

Users simply sign up to Go Team Go, enter their team names and link up to their Just Giving page. The dashboard details each individual’s training schedule for the week. Email alerts remind each team member of their training targets and remind an individual if they haven’t logged their details for that week. These features help the individual and the team to achieve goals and raise more money for the charity.

The app also has the option to share each teammate’s progress on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, which helps to raise awareness of the cause, without participants having to directly ask people for money, which can be uncomfortable.

Peter explains:  “No one likes asking people for sponsorship money but by sharing progress and involving those who are not actually taking part, you build support for your challenge and make sponsors feel part of the team. This makes it easier to collect the funds. I’m sure Bike and Hike participants will love it and use it to raise even more money for Maggie’s.”

George Bushell, Events Manager at Maggie’s, says: “We are really excited about the new app and we think it’s a really positive tool to aid our work. We believe it will really support our Monster fundraisers and we look forward to hearing the feedback from its users.”

Go Team Go can be found at http://goteamgo.org/.

For more information contact Lauren Cormack.

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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 – 23 March 2012 – Pingram

This week we are looking at Pingram, an exciting startup that unites two of the hottest networks in one – Pinterest and Instagram. The new site, created by Gennaro Varriale, allows you to view Instagram photos in the same way you would browse through pins on Pinterest. There is also talk of upcoming Facebook Timeline integration and a cleaner interface.

The site is in Beta just now, but if it takes off, Instagram users who sign up could see their work showcased to a much wider audience; which is great news for Instagram photographers looking to share their creations.

Photo-sharing sites are now the most popular social media outlets in terms of referral traffic and popularity. Pinterest has even overtaken Twitter in traffic (with more people sharing and clicking links to other sites on Pinterest), and it has outpaced Google Plus, LinkedIn and YouTube combined. With stats like that, it’s no wonder Varriale has tapped into this market.

To protect against privacy, the site has chosen to disable the ability to pin non-Pingram users’ photos, so unfortunately if you are not a Pingram user, your Instagram photo will just show up as a thumbnail. While it may be inconvenient for some, this seems to be a wise move by Varriale following on from the recent privacy troubles Pinterest have faced.

The site is not an original idea by any means, but platforms like these provide people with new ways to create and share online, and help develop communities and connections with others.

Pingram is a Tin It.

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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 – 9 March 2012 – MindSnacks

Thanks to a new app called MindSnacks, gone are the days when you have to read a pile of boring textbooks to learn a new language. The new educational app provides fun, interactive language learning games in over 13 different languages.

It features six entertaining games designed to build essential vocabulary, reading, writing, listening and conversation skills. You work your way through 50 levels of language content, playing games and completing fun challenges as you go. The app also includes a unique learning algorithm that uses proven methods of memorisation training to make sure you don’t forget anything. Muy inteligente.

The goal is to progress through a set of engaging and fast-paced challenge games that test your knowledge of material provided by the app. After each game is completed, the user can see how many points they received toward unlocking the next level, and how many words have been mastered. These features are fantastic for motivation and mean that you can become hooked very quickly. It was created to make learning as much fun as possible and it seems to do exactly that.

MindSnacks is aimed at those who are just starting out, as well as beginner and intermediate learners. For English speakers, there are options to learn French, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Chinese.

The only drawback is that it is currently only available for iPhone, iTouch and iPad devices. Despite this, MindSnacks is a Tin It. Fantástico!

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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 – 2 March 2012 – Hashpix

Newly launched, Brooklyn based Hashpix allows you to buy limited edition photos from the best Instagram photographers.

For photography lovers it’s a great (and legal!) way to purchase cool, creative images, and for the photographers, it’s a great platform to make some extra money and showcase some of their best work. You can choose between three sizes of prints and can turn them into posters, postcards, magnets and anything else that takes your fancy.

Founder Jason Culbertson, said: “These fans love their photos, and the photographers should be able to make money by continuing to do what they do every day.”

Photographers just apply through the Hashpix website and submit photos for sale. If chosen, Hashpix just take 30% of profits after the printing costs, with the photographer keeping the rest.

Not everyone can apply though; photographers need to be an active Instagram user and have a large fanbase who interact with their photos.

Hashpix have started out by selling photos from 12 of the most popular Instagram photographers, but as it grows and builds its members it will continue to add more to its roster.

We think this is a great idea and we can’t wait to see more of the collection as it rolls out.

Hashpix is a Tin It.