KPMG has this week chosen Ludgate Communications to handle
corporate and financial PR across three of its major divisions.
The account, won after a three-way pitch, will see Ludgate working
strategically with KPMG’s product and M&A teams over the next year.
It will work for KPMG Corporate Finance, KPMG Transaction Services and
KPMG Merger and Acquisition Integration, which together account for 40
per cent of KPMG’s pounds 867 million turnover.
Ludgate’s appointment to the six-figure account came after retained
agency Fishburn Hedges agreed to terminate its account after three and a
half years. This was because the agency was pitching for a KPMG
competitor and a conflict of interest arose. Fishburn Hedges is believed
not to have won this rival account, but Fishburn Hedges chief executive
Neil Hedges declined to comment. However, the agency was asked to pitch
for the consolidation of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ PR into one agency for
Europe, the Middle East and Africa in August.
David Stead, KPMG corporate finance sales and marketing director, said
Ludgate would primarily handle UK communications, although its parent
network, Weber PR Worldwide, could be called on to handle PR in the
US.
Stead said: ’What appealed was local financial PR specialisation,
against a backcloth of big international network.’
Robin Hepburn, Ludgate chief executive, said: ’KPMG is a great win for
Ludgate and demonstrates that our sector-based approach and
international capabilities can cut the mustard.’
