Edelman, the "world's largest independent PR agency", as they like to say, has recruited former BBC global news boss Richard Sambrook, who will join the company as its Global Vice-Chairman and Chief Content Officer in May, after three decades on the media side of the fence in various roles at the Beeb.

Sambrook's news and television skills will be very much utilised in his new role, helping Edelman clients to produce their own video content (an increasingly important task for many PR departments, as discussed in this esPResso interview with Dan Humphreys) and advising companies on crisis and issue communications.

Confirming his new job, Sambrook told Creative Business: "I'm delighted to be joining Edelman in this new senior role. They are a company which I have long respected. Edelman's leadership with digital media and their work on Trust and public engagement sets them apart and I'm greatly looking forward to helping to develop their content production and their approach to crisis and issues management".

Edelman chief Richard Edelman added: "We are delighted to have someone of Richard's calibre and experience joining our global team. His journalism and senior media company management resume is difficult to rival; equally important to us and our clients, Richard has been at the forefront of the digitisation of news and its interaction with the audience and stakeholders. Through his work establishing several BBC News channels [around the world] and his own long-term and personal commitment to social media, he understands very well how the audience is now - to use his own words - 'on the pitch', how content and news must be shaped by the needs of the consumer, and the new opportunities provided by social technologies".