Europe, Middle East & Africa
Grayling in Europe, Middle East and Africa is a vibrant communications network comprising 62 offices in 40 countries. Experienced teams in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and throughout the rest of the region, work seamlessly with the rest of the global network and its sister marketing, advertising, events and branding companies to achieve the best results for clients.
The consultancy’s six regional practice areas - consumer, technology, public affairs, financial communications, corporate communications and healthcare – each are run by experts with years of experience in their fields. Grayling’s clients benefit from working with leading PR practitioners from a variety of industry backgrounds.
Grayling’s offering is enhanced by proprietary products and services to help clients meet the challenges of today’s business environment, including crisis and issues management. A leading Interactive and Emerging Media consultancy demystifies podcasts, viral marketing, blogs and other social media, while the head of Grayling’s global Corporate Responsibility practice is based in London, supporting clients with strategies and communications.
Chris Dobson
Managing Director, Central and Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe & Eurasia
chris.dobson@grayling.com
Murphy Michael
CEO
Telephone: +44 20 7932 1841
michael.murphy@grayling.com
Michael Murphy is CEO of Grayling. Prior to this role Michael was CEO of Trimedia International which merged with Mmd and Grayling to create the Grayling of today. Under his leadership, Trimedia was named Best European Agency at the European Excellence Awards 2008 and Best Multicountry Agency to Work For 2008 by the Holmes World Report.
With a career spanning over 30 years, Michael has considerable experience in handling global communications programmes in most parts of the world.
In 1993, Michael Murphy was appointed Head of Shandwick’s Hong Kong Office and, the following year, took over as Chief Executive of Shandwick’s Asian operations. He was later appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Shandwick Europe and then Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Shandwick International, with responsibility for Europe and Asia Pacific.
Michael was working for The Hatch Group, a small €6M UK PR company, when it was acquired by Huntsworth plc in 2003. The following year he led Huntsworth’s acquisition of Trimedia, kick-starting the fastest ever growth story in European PR.
Michael also chaired a joint study between the UK Government and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) into the future of the UK PR sector.
Tobin Loretta
CEO, UK & Republic of Ireland
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7025 7534
loretta.tobin@grayling.com
With over 20 years' experience in consumer marketing and public relations, Loretta is CEO of Grayling UK.
During her time with Grayling she has championed its expertise in devising UK-wide PR programmes that truly excel at grass-roots delivery. For this reason the agency now works for five government departments running public awareness campaigns that require a national through regional strategy. To really challenge behaviour and change attitudes you have to ‘get local’ and this is a cause Loretta regularly promotes on behalf of the consultancy.
Loretta has been with the consultancy since 1994 and in her present position from July 2008. Prior to this she was Managing Director and has also headed up the Birmingham office and the Business Development team.
Before joining Grayling, Loretta was with BroadVision Communications in Cheltenham and her in-house marketing experience includes a corporate PR secondment into Central Independent TV and a marketing role at Premier Brands UK. Since moving into the consultancy sector, her consumer brand experience has encompassed Typhoo, MGF, Rover, Comet Group plc, npower, BUPA, Showerlux UK and a number of media sector clients.
Dobson Chris
Managing Director, Central and Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe & Eurasia
Telephone: +36 1 266 7833
chris.dobson@grayling.com
Chris is responsible for Grayling’s operations in Central and Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
Chris entered the world of Public Relations in the early 1990s, spending his formative career in the London consultancy world. There, he worked across a varied UK and pan-European client base, with a focus on supporting corporate clients entering the UK and European markets.
In 1999, Chris joined Mmd as General Manager of its Hungarian office. During his five years in this role, he was a founding member of the Hungarian PR Agency Association, oversaw the growth of the office into the clear market leadership position, managed a 30-plus team across a strong and varied Fortune 500 client base, and set up the now-thriving Hungarian Public Affairs division.
In tandem with his stewardship of the Hungarian office, Chris played a key role in developing the consultancy’s organic network of offices in the early 1990s. He supervised entry into a number of Central and Eastern European markets, including Bulgaria and Ukraine, and established regional business development and client management practices in response to the growing contribution from multi-country client relationships.
Chris has led a number of client relationships at national, regional and international level, across a variety of industry sectors, but with particular focus on financial services and energy. He has run in-depth Public Relations, media and crisis training programmes both internally and externally and is a regular speaker at industry events and contributor to industry journals. His experience spans all 18 countries of the region, with particular recent on Russia and the emerging markets of Central Asia.
In 2004, Chris took on a pan-regional role based in Hungary, before assuming the COO role for the region in 2005 and re-locating to Russia in early 2007. Since late 2009 he has been based in Budapest, from where he is a regular traveller throughout the region.
Taylor Guy
Managing Director, Grayling Momentum, Middle East
Telephone: +971 (4) 390 1630
guy.taylor@grayling.com
Guy was educated in the UK and started his career with Haymarket Publishing and later joined a specialist marcoms agency working on clients such as Kellogg’s, Heinz, Coca-Cola and Kimberly-Clark.
In 1990 he moved to Dubai and became increasingly focused on Public Relations and Public Affairs, working closely with the local media, NGOs and government ministries around the region. In 2002 Guy became a founding partner of Momentum.
Guy is Managing Director for the Middle East, based in Dubai, and is also responsible for a number of clients across a broad range of industries, from leisure real estate to corporate, and from consumer goods to charitable works.
