Communications consultancy Cognito adds three advisors to UK office

The UK arm of Cognito, a marketing and communications consultancy for the financial services industry, has added three new team members: James Hannaford, Emma Martin and Kirsty Howe. The trio will operate from the firm’s London office, as it bids to accommodate changing client demand in the UK.

Founded in the UK in 2000, Cognito has since spread across the world, to hold office spaces in New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Amsterdam, as well as its headquarters in London. The firm specialises in marketing and communications consulting for the financial services industry, and has been going through a period of exponential expansion of its headcount in recent months, to meet with the changing demands of its client base.

Across its footprint, Cognito added eight professionals to its global workforce in recent months: three to its US team (Dominic Leung, Rebecca Cooper, Katie Dillon), one to its Dutch team (Gwendolijn Kappen) and four to its APAC team (Maya Sivamany, Michelle Kwok Yai Lan, Abigail Peters and Andrew Kagoro). Earlier in the year, the firm also expanded its UK staff by three at the  start of 2018, with the hire of Benjamin Thiele-Long, Ketna Mistry and Georgie Gold to its London HQ. Now, Cognito has continued to build upon its presence in the UK’s capital city, with the addition of another three employees.

James Hannaford has arrived at the consultancy as Director of Digital, a role which will see him advise on all aspects of digital marketing, including website design, organic and paid search marketing. Before signing with Cognito, Hannaford co-founded his own boutique digital and web agency, GoboPlus, which included The Daily Mail Group, Vivienne Westwood and Channel 4 on its client roster. He has also worked at Creode, a creative media company based in London & Leeds, for eight years.

Emma Martin is also to be based in London, and has been appointed Director of Content Strategy for Cognito in the EMEA region – which is headed by Vivienne Hsu, who also heads the Americas division – joining from UK content marketing agency SevenC3. She worked with clients including BlackRock, Bloomberg, Fujitsu, Savills and UBS during her six years as a Director, Business & Finance at the firm.

Kirsty Howe, the third and final arrival at Cognito, will take on the role of Senior Account Executive. Howe commenced her career at HSBC doing media relations. For the last three years, she has been working at ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants, England and Wales) in media relations and brand marketing.

Commenting on the three new recruits, Cognito Founder and CEO Tom Coombes said, “Clients are increasingly seeking consultancy for brand, digital and content strategy to meet complex communications and marketing needs. We are therefore continuing to hire the best talent in the industry and bring experts with diverse, complementay experience together to help companies tell distinct stories confidently and creatively. We are delighted to see James, Emma and Kristy join our UK team.”