LONDON—Ruder Finn has appointed Robin Grainger to the newly-created role of director of connected communications. He will lead the development of an international capability that will help clients enhance their communications by drawing on complementary expertise within the agency. Grainger joins the agency from Brands2Life, where he spent 10 years, most recently as director of international.

CASABLANCA—Sopexa, the Paris-based food, beverage and lifestyle marketing agency, has opened its first African office in Casablanca, Morocco. Sopexa Africa, led by business development manager Hassan Sefrioui, will guide the agency’s clients in African markets and continue to grow Sopexa’s activity in six key countries: Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Senegal. In addition, Sopexa will leverage its global network of agencies to African clients looking to export and market their products internationally.

LONDON—Golin has been appointed by the Financial Times to work with its commercial team, with a focus on digital advertising.

LONDON—uSwitch.com, the independent price comparison and switching service, has appointed Brands2Life to lead its energy PR brief. The agency’s remit is to reinforce uSwitch.com’s brand position as a consumer champion and develop campaigns that encourage more people to switch their energy suppliers and save money.

TEL AVIV—GKPR, an international public relations firm based in Tel Aviv, has hired veteran technology journalist David Shamah as its first journalist-in-residence. Shamah will with GK account teams to develop high-level thought-leadership articles and original contributed content. Prior to becoming tech editor of the Times of Israel in 2012, Shamah wrote for The Jerusalem Post for close to 15 years. He also for ZDNet, where he covered Israel’s technology sector.

LONDON—Havas-backed Chandos Communications has promoted co-founder Teresa Wincrantz to partner. Before joining Chandos Communications as an associate partner in April 2015, Wincrantz was a director at CNC Communications and prior to that held senior roles at M: Communications and Brunswick.

LONDON—Weebly, the Silicon Valley-based web-building platform, has appointed W to its UK communications account as it asserts a wider presence in the fast-growing European market. W's brief, designed to boost awareness of the platform in Britain—especially in the start-up community—will see the agency drive sign-up and usage to empower millions of new businesses to flourish in the digital economy.

LONDON—Loxone has appointed technology PR agency Wildfire to build awareness in the UK for its unique, centrally managed, home automation solution. Wildfire will focus on creating a seasonal consumer insight campaign, focusing on how every day experiences can be transformed with a fully automated home.