Chime Communications Limited is a marketing services company headquartered in Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Chime is the holding company for companies which include sports marketing, public relations, advertising, digital, marketing, research, corporate responsibility and healthcare communications. Chime was founded as a private company in 1989 following a management buyout from Lowe Howard Spink and Bell to form Lowe Bell Communications and subsequently floated in 1994 as Chime Communications plc before going private again in late 2015. Chime comprises five divisions, 54 companies and over 2,000 people. Until July 2012 the now disgraced PR firm,

Bell Pottinger Bell Pottinger Private (legally BPP Communications Ltd.) was a British multinational public relations, reputation management and marketing company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. On 12 September 2017 it went into administration (bankr ...

, was wholly owned by Chime Communications.

Operations

The group comprises CSM in sport and entertainment; the VCCP Group in marketing communications; and VCCP Business for communications in specialist market places.

Executive management

The company is governed by an executive management team, consisting of Adrian Coleman and Matthew Vandrau (co-chief executives), Jo Parker (chief operating officer), Stephanie Brimacombe (managing director) and David Crowther (chief financial officer). Notable former directors include Lord Davies of Abersoch (who left the board following Chime's takeover in October 2015),

Lord Hannay of Chiswick David Hugh Alexander Hannay, Baron Hannay of Chiswick (born 28 September 1935) is a British diplomat. Biography Hannay was born in London and educated at Craigflower Preparatory School, Winchester College and New College, Oxford. He entered th ...

and Dame

Sue Tinson Dame Susan Myfanwy Tinson, DBE, FRTS ( Thomas; born 15 January 1943), best known as Sue Tinson, is a British business executive and former television executive at ITN.

(who both left the board on 31 December 2006), and

Lord Bell Timothy John Leigh Bell, Baron Bell (18 October 1941 – 25 August 2019), was a British advertising and public relations executive, best known for his advisory role in Margaret Thatcher's three successful general election campaigns and his co ...

(who left the board in June 2012 following a MBO by Bell Pottinger's management team).

Good Relations group

The Good Relations Group, owned by Chime Communications Limited, has 215 staff, 172 based in the UK. As well as Good Relations, the group also includes agencies Harvard, MMK and Ptarmigan; some regional offices of

Group were also rebranded as Good Relations following Bell Pottinger's MBO in June 2012. The Good Relations Group CEO is former London Olympics communications chief Jackie Brock-Doyle.

Clients

Group clients include Sky,

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy ...

and EADS. Until July 2012, it also managed PR for Nintendo. Prior to the MBO split, notable Bell Pottinger clients won by Good Relations included: * BPEX. In September 2007 Good Relations was briefed by BPEX, previously the

Meat and Livestock Commission The Meat and Livestock Commission, (MLC), was set up by the UK Government under the Agriculture Act 1967 with Government money with the remit to promote the sale of red meat. The MLC was previously an independent non-departmental public body, bu ...

, to run a campaign to raise consumer awareness of the issue. The objective was to show that messages about the plight of pig farmers were reaching consumers in order to persuade supermarkets to increase the price paid to farmers. They came up with a ‘Pigs are worth it’ campaign. * PowerPerfector: an energy-consumption reduction technology company appointed Good Relations in September 2009, ahead of the UK government's 2010 push on carbon reduction. * Almac Group: a provider of integrated drug development to the

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

and

pharmaceutical industries The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...

, appointed Good Relations in March 2010.

London Stock Exchange de-listing

Chime was de-listed from the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...

on 16 October 2015 and re-registered as a private company following a takeover by

Providence Equity Partners Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. is a specialist private equity investment firm focused on media, communications, education, technology investments across North America and Europe. The firm specializes in growth-oriented private equity investme ...

(81.1%) and

WPP plc WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It was the world's largest advertising company, as of 2019. WPP plc owns many compan ...

(18.9%). Chime was re-registered as a limited company on 19 October 2015.

References

{{Reflist Companies based in the City of Westminster Public relations companies of the United Kingdom Mass media companies based in London