Fujitsu ICL, the computer company set up earlier this year by ICL and
its majority shareholder Fujitsu, has hired Arrow Public Relations as
its first PR consultancy in the UK.
Appointed last week after a three-way competitive pitch, Arrow will
support Fujitsu ICL’s recently enlarged in-house PR team in its
relations with the IT press and offer strategic advice on how best to
position the Fujitsu brand. Sources reckon the agency’s annual fee could
be worth in excess of pounds 100,000.
Arrow’s hiring follows the arrival of Judith Grindal as European PR
manager in July (PR Week, 28 June). She was previously UK PR manager for
Digital Equipment Corporation. At the same time, ICL Fujitsu was
demerged from ICL. The company is now directly managed by its Japanese
parent Fujitsu.
Ken Deeks, managing director of Arrow explained that part of the
agency’s brief would be to position Fujitsu to business and domestic
users as a major provider of PCs, servers and notebooks. ‘It’s a great
mix of business to business and consumer PR,’ he said. ‘A lot of it is
about brand recognition and competing in the market against firms like
Compaq and Toshiba.’
Grindal, who worked with Arrow at Digital will be assisted in-house by
Zoe Tomkins and Sharon Wiggins, who will handle PC and server PR
respectively.
