The appointments come four months after the leisure group's comms chief Lesly Hughes joined from Burger King, where she was the top PRO for Europe (PRWeek, 18 August 2006).
Hughes is PR manager for gaming at Rank Group. Commenting on the Grosvenor account, she said: ‘Many people seem to perceive casinos as either dens of iniquity or black-tie/James Bond-type nights out, so there is a lot of opportunity to change that through PR.' She added that as casinos cannot legally give out their addresses, the PR campaigns would have to be very ‘creative' to drive footfall.
The Mecca account will also challenge preconceptions about bingo, and will be run by Biss Lancaster's Manchester and Edinburgh offices. Biss Lancaster was appointed without a pitch, while Cow - which Hughes worked with at Burger King - won a competitive pitch.
The Mecca account is believed to be worth more than £150,000, while Grosvenor is worth upwards of £100,000.
Other agency relationships - such as M:Communications' financial brief - are unaffected.
