 |
MARK CHARMER – LONDON mcharmer@iconicnet.co.uk A communications strategist, creative thinker, writer, editor and project manager, Mark has twelve years experience in marketing and public relations. An independent consultant for the past eight years, his broad corporate, technology and creative industry knowledge 'gives him a real edge when developing stories and campaigns'. He has worked with some leading communications agencies including Hill and Knowlton, Firefly, Mahseer, Kaizo and Beattie Media on both single and multi-country campaigns. Client experience includes large and small companies, ranging from Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, Dell, Sony, Lombard and Apple to Pod1, Pilot Software, Oyster Partners, Convergys, Trade Partners UK, eLance and 2004’s Hype Galleries in London and Paris. Intimate understanding of the dynamics of client/agency relationships make him well-suited to setting up projects, teams and networks. Mark founded the ICONIC Network in 2001 from a desire to bring together experienced people who preferred to work outside of the conventional industry structure. Mark has an MA in Design Studies from Central Saint Martins College, London plus a BSc in Management Studies from Aston Business School. As a founder of The Movement Design Bureau he actively campaigns for new thinking in the design of movement and transportation. He is a member of the Future Cities Project (www.futurecities.org.uk) and a subeditor and contributor to photography and issues magazine Next Level (www.nextleveluk.com). He is attempting to gain his private pilot's licence (at Biggin Hill aerodrome in case you wish to avoid the area). If you want to read more about Mark’s experience you can click here for a pdf of his CV. |
 |
IRENA POPOVSKA-JONES – TUNBRIDGE WELLS, UK ipopjones@iconicnet.co.uk Irena has five years experience in PR and a reputation as a skilled media relations consultant, with a range of campaigns to her credit. Highlights include consumer media relations to launch Hollinger Media’s Handbag.com. This major national and lifestyle media campaign involving the auction of celebrity handbags including that of Margaret Thatcher, garnering exceptional levels of media coverage. She has also driven media relations for clients such as digital agency Pod1, working with a wide range of marketing and trade titles to cover stories on digital marketing trends. 'Always great fun to work with' and 'tenacious as hell', Irena is rightly very popular with journalists and clients for making interviews happen in situations that would see many others give up. Irena joined the ICONIC Network in late 2004 and currently handles media relations for Pilot Software as well as a number of consumer and business-to-business clients for our partner Total Marketing Network. |
 |
EMILY DROOGLEEVER – DONEGAL, IRELAND edroogleever@iconicnet.co.uk Emily has over nine years PR experience working predominantly in London for a number of PR consultancies. She has deep knowledge of a number of sectors including IT, telecom, training/HR and consumer electronics. She worked for five years at Portfolio Communications and was heavily involved in coordinating European programmes and events. She became an independent consultant in 2003. ‘Strong at both media relations and client interaction’, Emily is now based on the west coast of Ireland and is living proof of how geographically flexible and seamless a virtual team can be. She handles campaigns in both the UK and Republic of Ireland from this location. Past or current clients include Sybase, Telstra, NTL, Global Knowledge, eFunds International, Rackspace Managed Hosting, Direct Response, Dolby Inc and Capita. While excellent at sourcing client photography to meet media deadlines, she has consistently evaded providing a photograph of herself. Instead, we've featured what we imagine her house to look like. |
 |
KATE ALEXANDER – LONDON kalexander@iconicnet.co.uk With twelve years of PR experience, Kate has worked across a variety of sectors, in particular developing an in-depth knowledge of digital media, where her strength lies in generating discussion and predicting trends around innovative concepts before they have become mainstream. As a Firefly Communications graduate, Kate has also maintained her specialisation in technology, these days keeping a firm emphasis on issues-driven and business-focused campaigns. ‘Highly focused on achieving results’, Kate is recognised responsive and versatile. She has a proven track record for working with clients to develop and implement strategic PR campaigns that integrate with wider business objectives. Kate has handled the launches of several companies into the UK and European markets, as well as prepared others for acquisition. Client experience includes: Buongiorno Vitaminic, Compaq, Corpora Software, Digital Interactive Television Group (now part of Yoomedia), the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), Global 360, i-Level, Legato (now part of EMC), Novell, Pitman Training and Seagate Systems. In addition, Kate spent two and a half years working in the UK press office of poverty-relief charity CARE International. |
 |
JO PRATT – LONDON jpratt@iconicnet.co.uk Jo’s PR experience spans ten years, three countries and diverse industry sectors including IT, telecoms, business to business, education and the voluntary sector. She worked for seven years at Firefly Communications in roles including account director and, finally, international development manager, before becoming an independent consultant in 2002. She is an excellent writer and media relations expert, combining these fundamental skills with 'innate and seasoned ability to plan and co-ordinate' single country and international campaigns. The latter has seen her manage multi-national teams across continents. A 'reputation for vision, drive and enthusiasm' led to a six-month posting in Firefly’s fledgling Paris office, and in 2001 she founded Firefly Munich. Jo’s current and past clients include: British Institute of Sathya Sai Education (BISSE), COLT Telecom Group, The Core Trust, FT.com, Lucent Technologies, Neulevel, Nuance, Redstone Telecom, Reuters Business Information, Schema, Sequent Computer Systems (IBM), TDK, Vodafone and The World Internet Forum. Most recently, Jo has built a strong reputation in campaigns focusing on fair-trade issues. |
 |
AIMEE QUEMUEL – SAN FRANCISCO aimee@ventajacom.com Aimee has a reputation for developing strategic, results driven PR programs. She has a proven track record of not only establishing relationships with key analysts and journalists for her technology clients, but also successfully working with her clients’ executive team to develop a PR strategy conducive to the company’s overall business objectives. Having pioneered the virtual agency model by founding San Francisco-based Ventaja Communications, her approach without doubt provides the best service and value for its public relations dollar. She has particular expertise in managing multiple agencies on behalf of clients, with incredible marketing expertise and an exceptionally responsive and flexible approach. Past clients include: Informix, Oracle Corp., Nokia Inc., Accrue Software Inc., AlphaBlox Corp., AuctionWatch Inc., @TheMoment Inc., BigMachines Inc., BigVine Inc, Entopia Inc and Support.com. Aimee runs Ventaja Communications, our affiliate network in the United States. The Ventaja site can be found at www.ventajacom.com. |
 |
JOANNA BURTON – LONDON jburton@iconicnet.co.uk An awesome media relations expert, Joanna has over six years of PR and Marketing experience in both agency and inhouse situations. She has worked on a broad range of clients from technology giants to dotcoms and startups in sectors including IT, property, financial services, charities and music software. Recent major clients have included asserta home, propertyfinder.co.uk, GMW software and a new charity organisation. Joanna ‘takes PR from a marketing perspective’ and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Experienced in new product launches, events, crisis planning and analyst relations, she has excellent contacts in the media and the fact that ‘she seems to know everyone’ results in consistent levels of coverage. |
 |
CHARLOTTE DELAFORCE MEARNS – LONDON/FRANCE cdelaforce@iconicnet.co.uk Charlotte specialises in business-to-business copywriting and peppers this with a sprinkling of consumer copywriting to keep herself (and her clients) sane. Equally adept at shifting over to provide PR consulting advice, she excels in customer case study writing and making technical copy slightly more palatable. Charlotte began her career in the early 90s on the tech channel magazine PC Dealer before moving over to PR and general copywriting. 'I like adventure and flexible clients with some imagination. Clients that say 'yes' and think they have a new product for the market but need someone like me to suggest ways of getting good coverage and mindshare.' She's worked with companies such as Sun Microsystems, Tivoli, Cobalt, Compaq, Oracle, FileNet, Extech Instruments, Goldmajor, Esprit and many others. |
 |
KATHARINA SCHEID – FRANKFURT kscheid@iconicnet.co.uk Katharina has strong experience in delivering on media programmes in the German market. With six years experience in PR and three years experience at Hiller, Wuest and Partner she led the Level 3 PR team and worked on clients such as Borland, FirstMark, Hewlett-Packard, Red Hat, Build Online, Crystal Decisions, Evans and Sutherland, and later Band-X and Accrue Software through her own agency, Rubycom. She has strong technology credentials and the ability to grasp complex technology messages and turn them into meaningful content. Her approach is efficient and focused and she has great media contacts. Her knowledge of the German technology and vertical trade media, business and national press is excellent. She combines this knowledge with firm and invaluable advice on what a client needs to do in order to generate press interest. Katharina runs Rubycom, our affiliate PR agency in Germany. Click here to go to the Rubycom site. |
 |
JILL WARDROPPER – LONDON jwardropper@iconicnet.co.uk With a reputation for drawing on her extensive experience to create practical PR solutions, Jill is a great writer and an excellent organiser. Starting out as an IT journalist on the UK title Computer Weekly, she has wide PR experience at clients including Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Systems Software Associates (SSA), ICL, Oracle and Cap Gemini. Jill is 'fantastic at walking into an organisation and immediately getting to grips with what matters'. She has undertaken caretaker PR manager roles in some major blue-chip technology companies, including Compaq, ICL and HP. Experience working with some pioneering agencies such as Firefly and Beattie Media and an eye for process means she has strong project management skills. She has masterminded a range of client services initiatives, including media evaluation, media planning, resourcing, staff training and mentoring schemes. If you want to read more about Jill, you can download her CV here. |
 |
LAURENT DURGEAT – PARIS laurent@prformance.com Laurent has more than 7 years of experience in public relations and marketing related disciplines. Before moving to freelancing, he was country manager for UK public relations company Firefly Communications from 1999 until 2002. His client portfolio included B2B high-tech companies (Softbank, Atos Origin, Red Hat) as well as consumer and vertical businesses (the parenting portal www.magimaman.com and the pet portal www.zooplus.de). He was previously account Director at the French PR consultancy, Groupe HardCom where he ran IT and Telecoms accounts such as Genesys Lab Inc., Lucent Octel, Hitachi, Invention Machine and Natural MicroSystems. Before moving into the hi-tech arena, Laurent worked in the insurance sector (AXA-UAP) and for the French ministry of Defense as Communication Officer. Laurent is a regular speaker in the Paris conference circuit and teaches at the French PR school CELSA (Sorbonne University). He publishes www.planete-rp.com, the leading French PR community portal with a 7000 member newsletter and 12000 unique visitors per month. You can find Laurent's portal site by clicking www.prformance.com |
 |
SCOTT HENDERSON – VANCOUVER shenderson@iconicnet.co.uk An independent consultant with more than seven years experience in marketing communications and public relations, Scott is a media relations specialist. In Canada he has led accounts for international training company Priority Management, investment firm Raymond James Ltd. and the biotech company Cardiome Pharma Corp. He is creative, systematic and knows how to build rapport with journalists. He is ‘relentless at getting ink (media coverage) and has very strong media instincts.’ Scott is a quick study and, whether it is technology, investment banking, or congestive heart failure, his strengths lie in making the complex understandable. He has several years experience in the technology sector having worked both in-house and for UK PR agencies specializing in IT. Previous clients include: Cisco, Sequent, Dell and First Software. Scott has worked with technology start-ups providing early stage marketing consultancy. In addition, he was PR manager for PCsupport.com. Active in politics, Scott worked for Prime Minister Kim Campbell in Canada and while in the UK, he worked media advance for Prime Minister John Major during the 1992 and 1997 General Election tours. At the request of the Conservative Central Office, Scott returned briefly to the UK in spring 2001 for William Hague's Campaign Tour. Scott's CV is here |
 |
CRAIG HEATH – LONDON craig@freshlemon.co.uk Craig possesses a proven track record in graphic design and advertising covering many different industry sectors. Beginning his career at Firefly Communications working with Compaq, Siemens and Cisco, he then moved on to Prima Communications where he became creative director and was instrumental in winning new business and working with clients such as Mitsubishi, Emap, GSK and Reed. His skills centre around a number of disciplines such as advertising, direct marketing, multimedia and design for print. Recently he has been a founding member of Fresh Lemon, a creative collective based on progressive and client focused work offering design and advertising services. With a philosophy and belief that creativity stretches beyond just one discipline, Fresh Lemon can offer the services of not just designers and art directors but also of animators, illustrators, photographers and interior designers all of which benefit the client in producing effective and impressive results. Strong both conceptually and in application, Craig has consistently dedicated his time and energies for the sake of quality work. |
