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AE/SAE/JAM – Consumer/Entertainment & Gaming
London, to £26k (according to experience)
You will have some existing experience of working on high profile events and have an entirely proactive nature. There is a lot of opportunity to learn and some really stimulating clients to learn from, however, a good attitude is required to really be able to make your mark. Ref: TF94S
more info

Senior Account Manager – Agriculture and Animal Welfare
Oxford, to £34,000
If you are looking to grow your PR skills within this niche environment then call now. Ideally, you will have a minimum of three years PR experience (agency or equivalent), or be looking to grow your journalistic skills within the world of PR. Ref: TF95S
more info

Account Manager – Agriculture and Renewable Energy
Oxford, to £26,000
From modern farming issues to offshore wind farms, your knowledge-transfer abilities should shine through. Two to three years comparable experience within consultancy, in-house, journalism or mar comms will be a distinct advantage. Ref: TF96S
more info

Account Exec/Snr Account Exec, B2B Tech, Digital & Media
London, to £27k
This full service agency specialises in the world of tech and digital media. A bunch of passionate, like minded and highly experienced professionals are looking to add to their growing team. Ref: TF91
more info

Snr Account Mgr/Account Director, Consumer/Food & Drink
London, to £40k
A rare opportunity to join this fast paced, consumer agency. The accounts are high profile, aspirational brands so your media contacts and written skills should be tip top. Ref: TF87
more info

Snr Account Manager, Consumer & B2B
Kent, to £34k negotiable
Based in Kent, this full service boutique agency is looking for a skilled Account Manager to join their PR team. You will be experienced at managing a range of high profile, leading name brands (food and retail). Ref: TF88
more info

Account Director, Consumer/Entertainment & Culture
London, to £45k
This exciting opportunity would be to work as part of a creative, supportive and passionate team. Their current client list includes a mix of youth, entertainment and fashion account business. Ref: TF86
more info

Account Manager – Consumer/Blue Chip Brands & Retail
London, £35k+
Able to demonstrate your passion and understanding for brands? Some knowledge of or experience in personal finance would also be useful although not essential. Ref: TF82
more info

Account Director/Account Mgr, Consumer/Luxury Brands
London, £ negotiable
Looking for a new niche environment? Or have come from an environment where the full 'hands-on' creativity is lost? Or maybe you have been working in house and are looking for the variety that comes with agency life. Ref: TF93
more info

Account Manager, Finance & Asset Management
London, £ according to experience
Do you have experience within financial PR, and the ability to demonstrate skill when dealing with clients/journalists? You will work into the client's asset management practice, although the opportunity may also offer work within their capital markets division. Ref: TF90
more info

Online Communications Manager, Aviation
Gatwick, £40k - £50k
Working closely with IT, you will develop a new website and intranet. Past experience of managing online and creative agencies, and responsibility for a large corporate website, required. Good writing and message crafting skills also needed. Ref: SS57
more info

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To apply for any of these roles, email your CV and a covering letter to jobs@unicornjobs.com, quoting the job reference in the subject line

In reality the secretive nature of the British government's press briefings to so called 'lobby journalists' was ended years ago, not least when Tony Blair's press secretary Alastair Campbell put the daily updates 'on the record'. These days a summary of the daily briefings is also put on the Number 10 website. 

But the new review of communications at Number 10 may further open up the daily press meetings, especially proposals to televise some or all of the briefings. Among the TV proposals being considered is one that the Prime Minister's press secretary's briefings be filmed, while another suggests that a senior minister provide a bespoke weekly briefing for the TV cameras. In the current government that minister would most likely be Peter Mandelson, widely seen as the current government's best communicator, despite continued mixed public opinion of the Business Secretary, even among faithful Labour voters.

The review is being headed up by Simon Lewis, the former Vodafone and Buckingham Palace communications chief who recently became Gordon Brown's press secretary. He announced the review, alongside Financial Times journalist Jean Eaglesham, who chairs the lobby reporters' group. Both will lead the review, which will also involve a number of other journalists and government officials.

Lewis and Eaglesham admitted the review was needed partly because of dramatic changes in the news media in the last decade, not least the 24/7 nature of news reporting in the internet and rolling-news-channel age, and the increasing importance of bloggers and social media in setting the news agenda.

However, there are other motivations for the review. With the reputation of the political community at an all time low following the fall out of the expenses scandal, Lewis' review is also part of an initiative to try and make government seem more open in a bid to renew public confidence in MPs and ministers.

Peter Mandelson led the accusations against the Tories and The-Sun-and-Times owning newspaper company last week, after The Sun's coverage of Gordon Brown's hand written letter to the mother of a solider killed in Afghanistan.

The story was the first major manifestation of The Sun's much publicised shift of political allegiance to David Cameron's Conservatives. Though – while reigniting the debate about Britain's role in Afghanistan – if anything the Brown-bashing scoop boosted public sympathy for the Prime Minister, many seeming to think he was being unfairly criticised for making an effort to personally respond to army families' grief.

Nevertheless, some at the heart of government felt the need to publicly chastise The Sun for running the story. It was while doing some chastisement of his own that Mandelson accused the Tories of "effectively forming a contract" with the Murdoch papers, adding that he wondered what concessions Cameron might have to make to the media firm, if and when he forms government, in return for their fulsome support.

But Hunt says such allegations are "absolute nonsense", and that for Mandelson to make them was "completely wrong and totally improper". In an interview, albeit with Sky News, the news channel partly owned by Murdoch, of course, Hunt said: "There are no deals. I think what Peter Mandelson said is extraordinary. If there was some deal between the Conservatives and News Corp now, then what about Labour's deal in 1997 or 2001 or 2005? It's absolute nonsense. If you look at what we've been saying on media policy, it's been very, very consistent for the last two years".

Mandelson's comments about The Sun/Conservative alliance come as Hunt confirmed changes his party would make to media ownership rules should they form the next government. Ahead of speaking at the Manchester Media Festival, Hunt told the Telegraph the Tories would remove rules that limit cross-media ownership in the regions, allowing local radio and newspaper groups to merge. Hunt is also expected to reconfirm plans to limit the digital expansion of the BBC. All of which will be welcomed by the Murdochs (Rupert and son James), though also and possibly more so by many of their competitors.

In reality The Sun is probably backing the Tories at next year's General Election because their victory seems more and more assured, and the red top tabloid likes to be seen to back the political winners. Since the tabloid announced its support for the Tories, and even as it began its first really vitriolic attack on Brown, Rupert Murdoch announced that he still had a lot of respect for the Prime Minister, and that he regretted his UK taboid's decision to switch sides, even though he conceded it was the right decision.

There has been increasing support in political circles for more transparency in the world of lobbying. Some in the public affairs sector support some sort of register, though mainly on a voluntary rather than statutory basis, perhaps in line with the voluntary register that has already been launched at a European level. But others in the industry are opposed to any new regulation of the way they operate.

In its report, the Cabinet Office throws its support behind the voluntary register idea, though without the stick of threatening to launch a compulsory system if the industry can't agree on how to better self-regulate. The Office has said, however, that it will continue to review efforts made regarding a voluntary register.

The report does put more pressure on those of the political side of the equation to declare their exposure to lobbyists. The list of civil servants who must declare any hospitality or expenses received from political consultants or their clients will be extended, and that information will be published online every quarter.

Responding to the government's decisions regarding the lobbying review, the chair of the Select Committee who proposed the statutory register, Tony Wright, told reporters: "I am glad that the government has accepted some of our proposals to increase the transparency of lobbying but disappointed that it has not accepted the case for a statutory register, which is where I think we shall eventually end up".

In related news, a group in the House Of Lords has proposed that peers should not be allowed to do any paid lobbying work. The committee of Lords is also keen to improve the public perception of Parliament, and hopes the ban on lobbying work would end damaging "peers for hire" stories in the press. It's thought that if the government adopted the proposals about eight Lords would have to give up ongoing lobbying work.

If the rules are introduced in the Lords, pressure for similar restrictions on MPs in the Commons would grow. Responding to the Lords committee's recommendations, David Miller of SpinWatch told PR Week: "It is obvious that the ban on parliamentarians acting as lobbyists must now extend to the House of Commons. Public trust relies on knowing that MPs and Lords are acting in the public interest".

Any new rules to restrict MPs and Lords operating in the lobbying sector would actually be welcomed by the Association Of Professional Political Consultants. Their chair, Robbie MacDuff, told PR Week: "Our view on this is very simple: Parliamentarians should not be paid lobbyists".

The umbrella brand will take the name of one of its bigger PR divisions, MS&L Worldwide. Also sitting within the all new MS&L Group will be Publicis Consultants Worldwide, JKL, Winner & Associates, TMG Strategies, PBJS, Relay, Capital MS&L, Hanmer MS&L, Carré Noir, SAS, Masius and Publicis Events.

The Group will be overseen by Olivier Fleurot, who will take on the role of Group CEO. He has reportedly been overseeing both MS&L Worldwide and the Publicis Consultants Worldwide since those agencies' respective bosses departed earlier this year.

Explaining the move to bring all of the Publicis PR operations under one division, Fleurot said in a statement: "By sharing best practices and knowledge across regions, we provide clients with a seamless and consistent approach and help them to manage their most pressing business and communications needs. In a fast-changing world undergoing unprecedented transformation, our clients are looking for an organisation that provides both global scale and specialised services. Our network, under one brand, one leadership team, and a common purpose, will be able to meet the challenge".

Media Week, aimed mainly at those on the media-buying side of the advertising industry, will close after almost 25 years in business. Revolution, which covers digital marketing and internet-based media, will become a quarterly supplement inside sister title Marketing. It's thought both titles will retain their websites and accompanying award events.

Unlike PR Week, which serves the more clearly defined corporate communications sector, there has always been some crossover between those Haymarket magazines aimed at the marketing and advertising sectors – Marketing, Campaign, Media Week and Revolution.

The restructure is expected to result in just one editorial team covering the wider marketing and advertising industries, creating content for the print-based Marketing and Campaign magazines, and the Marketing, Campaign, Media Week and Revolution websites. They will also continue to feed in content to the Brand Republic website, which aggregates content from all of Haymarket's marketing titles as well as the more autonomous PR Week. 

Haymarket has begun a consultation with staff on the restructure, which is expected to result in 18 job losses.

The advertising industry's regulatory body has been interested in having a more proactive role in overseeing online marketing for a while now, especially so called 'search advertising'. But the body is funded by the industry it regulates, and has so far struggled to agree with key players in online advertising, in particular US-based Google, how its regulation of their part of the industry should be paid for.

But the ASA announced yesterday that Google had agreed to provide "vital seed capital" to help launch a digital advertising regulation initiative. However, the agreement is pretty short term, and a more long term arrangement needs to be sorted out. Nevertheless, it has been hailed as a landmark deal in the self-regulation of online advertisng. 

The ASA's Winston Fletcher told reporters: "This stands to be an incredibly important development in effective self regulation by the advertising industry. It promises to strengthen significantly the reach and work of the ASA, which will be good for our industry and vital for consumers. The active role that Google has played has been essential".

The campaign will centre on a new TV ad which will be sound-tracked by Kerslake's version of the hymn 'How Can I Keep From Singing?', recorded exclusively for the supermarket chain. A number of other promotions will follow, including Kerslake performing at various Waitrose organised events. They will also stock the singer's music in store.

As well as promoting the retail chain in the run up to Christmas, the partnership will also promote the singer, whose debut album is released this month. Presumably Waitrose hope that if they help launch Kerslake to the masses they will share in the press coverage that may follow.

"[Your press rooms are] are aiming for three audiences: the media and the public and your client.

There are far more journalists out there researching stories than you will ever have in your little black book, so make sure they can find your client's latest news.

As for the consumer, we are talking about public relations here and there is a strong case for going direct to the person buying your client's holidays.

Is that beyond the brief? Outwith the contract? Perhaps. Call it a little extra something – something which might keep you employed and prevent the client switching their PR budget over to a search company or digital agency instead.

Let's get practical here with some quick top level SEO tips for a travel PR agency wanting to create an online media room for its clients' news.

1. Set up a WordPress blog. It is cheap and easy but needn't look cheap and easy. Then link it to the navigation on your corporate site.

2. Write short useful news posts about your client's new hotel, destination, cruise ship, daily life. Avoid the stilted, verbal straight jacket of the formal release. Let's have a bit of genuine enthusiasm and puff-free excitement. If it doesn't excite you, don't bore us with it.

3. Link out, generously – obviously to your client (first link) but also to other useful resources. Pay attention to the link text and don't overdo it

4. Write an informative eye-ctaching headline for humans, a concise tag line for search engines, and a useful address slug [the URL of each individual page] for good navigation.

5. Use your PR skills to compose a decent meta description. The kind that people will click on if Google decides to show it within the search results. Google says it doesn't bother with meta keywords anymore but I still think you can throw seven or eight into the mix.

6. Link to your online media room in every communication you despatch, including your business cards.

7. Leave relevant, useful, friendly, helpful comments whenever you come across an appropriate online conversation, including Twitter, with your link.

8. Set up Google analytics to help measure traffic, so you can respond to trends such as what is popular, and how people find you. When something works, do it again.

Anything else? Yes, lots, that is just a start. But it is an important start and something which can be done right now.

You may not be able to waggle a Google-approved search professional certificate under the noses of your clients but at least you can tell them you optimise their releases and ensure their news is more widely read online. And in an age of struggling newspaper figures, that can only be a good thing for a PR business".

Read the full blog (and lots of other articles for people in travel PR) here.