Holly Bocock, 29
Head of comms, Portas
Bocock joined retail PR specialist Portas a year ago as an account director. Since then she has been promoted to group account director and now head of comms. She handles clients including Clarks, Westfield and Mercedes-Benz.
Mary Portas, high street guru and Portas founder, says she attributes “virtually all of our new business wins to Holly”. “Holly’s natural intuition and creative spirit mean that she comes up with outstanding solutions for our clients. Clarks never foresaw ranges of sell-out shoes until Holly got involved.”
Bocock is now setting up a new division within Portas to spot entrepreneurial businesses and help them crack the UK market.
Maura Brickell, 29
Campaigns director, Riot Communications
Brickell has enjoyed a speedy ascent to the top following a work experience placement at Bloomsbury and jobs as a press officer and campaigns manager at Headline Publishing.
She is now one of the youngest PR directors in the UK publishing industry. The reason for her rise is sheer hard work and steelydetermination, says her boss, MD Preena Gadher.
Brickell’s strong relationships with clients including publishing heavyweights Penguin, HarperCollins, Puffin, Waterstones and Simon & Schuster generate significant revenue for Riot.
Perhaps her best campaign was catapulting an unknown author to best-selling stardom: Sarah Winman, author of When God Was a Rabbit.
Sophie Broom, 22
Comms director, Financial Reporting Council
At just 22 and a mere 18 months into the job, Broom has made herself indispensable to her employer.
She writes all the speeches for the CEO Stephen Haddrill and the chairman Baroness Hogg and has overhauled the comms process internally, generating content from internal colleagues to help build the FRC’s profile.
Head of comms Peter Timberlake says: “In my 30-plus years in comms roles, I have never come across anyone as talented at her age as Sophie. She has the knowledge and confidence of someone ten years her senior and is a key reason why the FRC’s profile is rising so fast.”
Kiera Donovan, 27
Regional comms director, EMEA, Subway
Donovan has been working with the Subway brand for five years in the UK and Ireland headquarters. She started out doing maternity cover on reception and quickly impressed with first-rate interpersonal skills and a sharp instinct for brand comms.
Her switched-on, focused working style has made her an integral comms linchpin for senior management across Europe.
Last year she presented PR plans to Fred DeLuca, co-founder of Subway, and developed the business case for the introduction of in-store calorie labelling. In recognition of her ability, Donovan has been asked to lead the Subway Big Play Communications strategy for Europe.
Alex Duckett, 22
Senior account executive, Havas PR Manchester
Remember the news that parents could now bet on what class of degree their children would get? That was Duckett’s idea. He persuaded Ladbrokes to let it happen and secured a full page in The Sunday Times, among others. He also launched Greggsnut: Greggs’ version of the ‘cronut’. It sold out within hours and secured 32 pieces of coverage.
He joined Havas PR in August 2011 on a year’s placement from Leeds Metropolitan University. He proved so valuable that the agency kept him on a paid retainer before giving him a full-time job upon graduation. Havas PR MD, Manchester and Edinburgh, Brian Beech says: “By the time he is 30, Alex will be in a very senior position at one of the UK’s leading agencies.”
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