LONDON—Leading UK dairy supplier Arla Foods has appointed Publicasity to manage the trade and regional PR program for its range of cheeses, working to raise the profile of its branded portfolio and reinforcing Arla Foods’ position as cheese category leader. The appointment is an extension of an existing contract that involves managing Arla Foods BSM trade PR programme, including brand news from Anchor and Lurpak.

ZURICH— Gabi Badertscher (pictured), former head of the public affairs division at Burson-Marsteller’s Swiss operations, has joined corporate communications firm YJOO Communications as senior consultant and member of the board. Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller, Badertscher worked in various managerial positions in the airline, healthcare, education and training and financial sectors and was a member of parliament of the canton of Thurgau.

LONDON—Following a competitive pitch, Cancer Research UK has appointed Threepipe to help with one of the charity’s newest fundraising campaigns, Dryathlon, which challenges social drinkers to give up alcohol for the month of January and raises money through sponsorship or pledging money saved by not drinking. Threepipe will report into Kim Ireland, PR manager, Cancer Research UK, and will work alongside the charity’s in-house PR and social media team.

DÜSSELDORF—Alexandra Neelsen has joined Havas PR Germany as director of PR, supporting German CEO Lars Cords. Neelsen was previously director and management supervisor at achtung!, an independent agency, where she supervised a team of 25 employees, responsible for corporate and brand clients such as WestLotto, eBay, Kaldewei, Hermes, netbank and Asstel. Prior to that role, Neelsen was team leader at fischerAppelt communication.

LONDON—Travel association ABTA has named Stephen D'Alfonso as head of public affairs, overseeing ABTA's lobbying work and public affairs activities in Westminster and Whitehall. He joined the public affairs team in 2010 and has worked on issues affecting members, such as ATOL reform, APD and airport capacity.

LONDON—Social media agency We Are Social has hired Hypernaked's James Irvine, who joins the agency as a group account director. Irvine was a strategic account director at Hypernaked, working across brands within the Mars Petcare and Merisant portfolios. The firm also added Mark Wainwright as a senior account director on its adidas team. He joins from Launch PR, where he was a senior digital consultant. Lisa Hardy joins the agency as an account director from Social Fuel, and journalist and blogger Emma Gannon, formerly of Edelman, joins as a senior account manager.

HAUSMENING—Filip Miermans has been appointed head of marketing and corporate communications at glass processing and finishing company LiSEC Group. Prior to joining the LiSEC, Miermans was head of marketing and communications at Miba and has held executive positions at Heradesign (Knauf Insulation) and Ceratizit (Plansee Group).

LONDON—Aspectus PR has added MACH, a UK event dedicated to engineering-based manufacturing technologies, to its portfolio of conference and event clients. Aspectus will be managing a media relations campaign to broaden MACH's appeal across the wider manufacturing sector, attract new visitors and enhance its profile as one of the industry's must-attend events.