Gravytrain, an online marketing agency, has appointed ex-Jellyfish SEO account director Helene Hall as its new director of search and adds three senior hires to bolster its international capabilities.

Kevin Taylor, Gravytrain CEO, says, “We are delighted to welcome these new faces to Gravytrain. Helene in particular, coming from client side to an agency, brings invaluable insight into exactly what our clients want. With some of our new additions speaking a number of languages fluently, these hires will help to expand our international reach and allow us to deliver a more strategic and targeted approach for our customers across the UK and further afield.”

Content discovery platform Outbrain has announced its acquisition of Visual Revenue, a real-time recommendations service that helps editors test headlines and optimise their content for search and across different platforms. By merging, Outbrain and Visual Revenue are combining the largest platform in the paid content recommendations space with the leading platform for editorial decision support.

Outbrain’s links reach more than 80% of the population and is twice as efficient as its nearest competitor.

Getty Images has appointed Suzanne Baker-Downes as senior account manager for film and television. Baker-Downes will work from the London office and will focus on new client services and developing the company’s video division.

MHP Communications announced its appointment of Mark Cater as head of corporate practice, leading the team in delivering MHP’s strategic media relations services to clients across the UK and Europe, and overseeing the expansion of the practice into new international markets.

Carnegie Orr has acquired Gaught Conlon, a specialist branding consultancy which works in 30 countries around the world. This will allow Carnegie Orr to expand its branding capabilities and provides Gaught Conlon with access to new markets, including Russia where the former has just opened a new office.

Digital and CRM agency Tangent Snowball has launched a new website and online community for communications professionals in the third sector. The Little Black Book of Campaigning offers a community forum for discussion and learning about how to build engaging online campaigns. Members of the new community can share top tips about how to build powerful digital campaigns, as well as how to avoid pitfalls.

The Brand Union, a WPP-owned brand strategy and design consultancy has announced the promotion of Wally Krantz to worldwide creative director of corporate branding. In his new role, Krantz’s responsibilities will span across the consultancy’s 23-office network.

Krantz was previously the executive creative director in the New York office and lead the development of brand identities for some of the agency’s most prominent clients.

Hill+Knowlton Strategies UK (H+K) has bolstered its expanding issues and crisis management team with the appointment of Giles Read as a director. Read returns to H+K from ArcelorMittal, where he was the general manager and group head of media relations.

Read will be providing corporate reputation support to clients including: executive-level crisis counsel, issues preparedness, brand rehabilitation, training, internal and external stakeholder communications as well as rolling out H+K’s proprietary crisis simulation tool, Flight School.

Project Sunblock, a leading content verification company, has today announced it will be expanding its European operations into mainland Europe by opening a Berlin office. The company, which is seven years old, is adding Germany to its global network of offices to meet the growing demand for wishing to remain secure online whilst carrying out advertising campaigns.  

Former Oldham Athletic star, Andy Holt, has joined Manchester agency SEONext as head of commercial development. As part of his new role, Holt will be supporting the company’s sales function – particularly within the sports market – as well as enhancing customer value through the ongoing research and development of its products and services.