Cleanology’s new hire makes the news on a major scale
Facilities Management & Cleaning / Cleanology

Cleanology’s new hire makes the news on a major scale

The Background

Leading London-based commercial and office cleaning company Cleanology recently appointed Juliet Widdicombe as a new Operations Director to play a pivotal role in the expansion of the family-owned firm.


The Objectives

As a long-term PR partner of Cleanology, Suzanne Howe Communications (SHC) was tasked with achieving targeted and high-quality media coverage announcing the appointment.

Key points that SHC wanted to communicate to the media in the press release were:

  • Juliet’s appointment showed that Cleanology was a successful company capable of attracting the most talented and ambitious executives in the cleaning and FM sector.
  • A vacancy existed for an influential Operations Director as Cleanology was poised for an expansion drive.
  • The appointment came on the back of 40 percent growth for Cleanology in the last year.
  • The press release was another opportunity to repeat key news lines about Cleanology’s lofty status – such as it being ‘one of the most established’ companies in its sector and also that its brand is linked to impeccable business ethics, such as it being a Living Wage Foundation Provider.

The Strategy

Announcing new hires – especially at a senior decision-making level – is a surefire way for any organisation to achieve a good spread of media coverage. Cleanology’s appointment story would be expected to be published by most trade cleaning and FM titles but should also be of interest to business and local media in London (where Cleanology is based). A key part of the media strategy was to target trade magazines that contain a dedicated section devoted to new appointments. For instance, top tier title Facilities Management Journal (FMJ) contains a monthly feature called “FM Careers – People” while another well-known outlet, Premises & Facilities Management, publishes news of new appointments in a regular ‘People Moves’ slot. SHC was successful in placing Cleanology’s story in both these sections and several other ‘Appointments’ round-ups.

Another key part of the strategy was choosing a press image which would make more of an impact than a straightforward headshot of the new recruit. SHC arranged for Cleanology CEO Dominic Ponniah to be photographed shaking hands with Juliet Widdicombe with a liveried Cleanology van in the background.

Cleanology’s website address is clearly identifiable in the image, while the van is electric-powered – a testament to Cleanology’s commitment to caring for the environment, as well as its staff and customers.

The Results

Between March and May SHC achieved a total of 23 pieces of coverage for Cleanology’s new appointment press release. There was a pleasing mix of online and offline coverage and there was blanket coverage in the larger circulation, top tier titles including Facilitate, ThisWeekInFM and FMJ, while the news was widely reported in other coveted titles such as Business Leader.

Media evaluation reports disclosed that all the coverage had a ‘positive tone’ and it amounted to an overall reach to nearly 155,000 readers. The Cleanology brand was mentioned 154 times, whilst 65 percent of the online coverage was published on websites with a ‘good’ or ‘very good’ domain authority ranking, with the rest appearing on websites with a still respectable ‘fair’ ranking.

For the record, coverage appeared in:

Cleaning and FM media: FMJ (offline and online), Cleaning & Maintenance (offline and online), Premises & Facilities Management (offline), Network 6 (offline),Tomorrow’s Cleaning (offline), Housekeeping Today UK (offline), Cleaning Hygiene Today (online), Facilitate (online), i-FM (online), ThisWeekInFM (online), Facilities Management Newsletter (online), Cleaning Matters (online), Facilities Management UK (FMUK) (online), The Cle@nzine (online), Tomorrow’s FM (online).

Business media: Business Leader (offline), Business Mondays (online), The Daily Brit (online), Family Business United (online), Business In The News (online), London Connected (online).

“Once again SHC didn’t fail to deliver. I was hoping for a bit of industry coverage talking about our recent growth, and wrapping that news together with our new hire news, to add extra weight. The story went viral! It got some of the widest coverage we have ever had, with every top industry publication wanting to report our story.

“SHC have again delivered and exceeded our expectations.”

Cleanology CEO Dominic Ponniah