About Me

Hi I'm Drew, and this is my personal blog's about me page.

I am founder of Battenhall, the communications agency for the social media economy. I live and work in the UK and I advise clients on social media and communications strategy.

I was voted the UK's #1 most respected industry figure in the 2011 New Media Age Reputation Online Survey, I was one of PR Week magazine's original '29 under 29' industry figures and I first entered the PR Week Power Book in 2010. I speak about PR and social media in the press and at conferences and events. Some more on my background is available on my LinkedIn page.

Some highlights of me and my companies in the media

SAScon, January 2014
Keynoting the Search, Analytics and Social conference in Manchester on 17th January 2014. Media Octopus published a thorough write-up, Andy Barr of 10 Yetis did a video interview about the event, PushOn did a great write-up as did Smoking Gun and Engageweb.

PR Week, 30 October 2013 - The commercial benefits of the Quantified Self
Drew Benvie, founder of social media agency Battenhall, says: "The Quantified Self movement is really not that complex. It's all about people logging details about their lives so that they can benefit in some way, by making improvements in their habits, diet, work life balance or something else."

The Guardian, 7 October 2013 - Around the web in social media marketing
"A report on Twitter and the FTSE 100 from Battenhall looks at how the UK's largest companies use social media. "Analyst firm Gartner says that 74% of consumers rely on social media for purchase decisions … Many businesses appear to be burying their heads in the sand however."

The Financial Times, 21 September 2013 - ENRC at a loss over Twitter
“Overall, ENRC plc is quite possibly the company that is most out of touch with social media,” said a report from communications group Battenhall.

The Financial Times, 11 July 2013 - Office perks that pay off
"At Battenhall it is the workplace culture that is perhaps the biggest attraction..."

Huffington Post, 7 March 2013 - Why the Comms Agency Model Is Ripe for Disruption
"So what does the future hold? I firmly believe a new kind of agency that is built for the social media economy can thrive, where everything starts with social, but the experience backing that up in each individual adds another dimension."

PR Week, 6 March 2013 - Hotwire UK chief Drew Benvie and MD Giles Peddy exit agency
"Benvie told PRWeek Battenhall will be a ‘comms agency for the social media economy,’ and a new way of providing comms support to brands. He added that ‘the agency model is ripe for disruption’.

Benvie said he had ‘optimistic’ plans to make Battenhall, which will be based in offices opposite Google’s Tech City Campus in the Shoreditch area of east London, ‘the next great agency’."

Featuresexec Media Bulletin, 6 March 2013 - Hotwire UK chief Drew Benvie founds Battenhall
"Hotwire UK chief executive and 33 Digital founder, Drew Benvie, is leaving the agency today to launch Battenhall, a communications agency for the social media economy."

ZDNet, 28 Jan 2013
Five places to view Vine videos outside Twitter

Huffington Post, 19 October 2012
Twitter's Censorship Move is a Step Closer to its Vision to be our 'Second Screen'

Channel 4, 21 September 2012
In a digital world where marketing campaigns are at the mercy of an unforgiving public, Channel 4 News looks at the brands that manage to come out on top after their marketing campaign is hijacked.

Huffington Post, 1 August 2012
Why Innovation Inside Starts Outside.

Gorkana, 4 July 2012 - Hotwire combines consumer teams
Drew Benvie, UK CEO at Hotwire, told Gorkana the move, effective from July 1, would strengthen the global Hotwire network. "We looked at the two businesses and Hotwire has diversified and expanded and developed a consumer specialism and we thought the best opportunity was to bring all the consumer expertise together."

Confused.com, 17 May 2012 - Credit card companies turn to Twitter to entice customers
"Drew Benvie, social media expert at public relations firm Hotwire, says this is something that looks set to catch on here."Rewarding customers for advocacy and engagement on social media is the future."

Huffington Post, 9 May 2012 - Life hacking through self tracking
"With the summer fast approaching, the Olympics and Jubilee season upon us, the web-savvy amongst us are turning to 'self-tracking' to get the most out of our time. "

Yahoo News, 3 May 2012 - London mayor and local elections: Why social media is key to who wins
"Digital expert Drew Benvie, UK group MD at PR firm Hotwire, believes social media has ensured politics is now more transparent and open. He said: "It's plain to see that social media is popularising politics. From the trending topics on Twitter to the communities amassing on Facebook, what has changed is the ability for the politicians to reach their audience with a call to action faster and more directly than ever, whether that’s to vote, pledge or pass on."

BBC News, 27 March 2012 - Friends Reunited relaunches site with 'nostalgia' focus
""I'm quite excited to see it come back," Mr Benvie, who is now UK managing director of public relations firm Hotwire, told the BBC. "I can see a lot of opportunity here for the slightly older social media users of today - those who aren't digital natives. I think what Friends Reunited could do is fill a bit of a gap for the average internet user who isn't being served by Facebook.""

BBC News, 2 January 2012 - News Corp's Rupert Murdoch joins Twitter social network
""I would have advised him to think very carefully before opening up this can of worms," said Drew Benvie, UK managing director of public relations firm Hotwire. In his view it would be a big challenge for a new tweeter, who was "not quite ready to take the stabilisers off".

PR Moment, 10 August 2011 - Why the News of the World’s demise heralds a new era for newspapers and the PROs who feed them
"Drew Benvie, UK managing director of PR agency Hotwire Group, says it will enrich PR‘s talent pool: “The PR industry has long enjoyed the transfer of talent to and from the media industry. In the wake of the closure of News of the World, there are without doubt more people in the talent pool and I think we will see a number of good people jump the fence and join PR agencies and in-house teams.”

PR Week, 4 July 2011 - 33 Digital MD Drew Benvie Becomes UK MD Of Hotwire Group
"33 Digital MD Drew Benvie has been promoted to take over as UK MD of the Hotwire Group."

New Media Age, 30 June 2011 - Reputation Online top 100
"Drew Benvie #1 in Reputation Online most respected survey"

PR Week, 2 June 2011 - PR Week video interview
"David Engel, partner at Addleshaw Goddard and Drew Benvie, MD at 33 Digital discuss the debate over Twitter and super-injunctions, as well as the latest legal developments to affect the PR industry"

PR Week, May 2011 - The PR Week Power Book

Brand Republic, May 2011 - The web's most influential advertising, media, PR and digital bloggers
"#45 - Drew B's Take on Tech PR"

Information Age, April 2011 - Hard to escape
"Social networks also expose individuals to analysis and monitoring by business, whether or not they are aware of that fact.“Monitoring social media has rocketed up the business agenda in the past three years,” says Drew Benvie, managing director of marketing agency 33 Digital. “Around nine out of 10 corporates now monitor social media at some level.”"

PR Week, 24 February 2011 - Power players of social media PR
"Who is driving the growth of social media in the PR sector? Benvie launched Hotwire's digital PR agency 33 Digital in 2009. He was previously a director at Hotwire, an account director at Lewis PR and an account manager at Bray Leino. His blog was ranked the second most influential PR blog in 2010 by Cision and he had 6,765 twitter followers as PRWeek went to press. In 2006 he wrote Wikipedia's page on social media."

PR Week, 27 January 2011 - Feature: Is Quora the new Twitter?
"As well as the posts on influential sites like CNN and TechCrunch, 33 Digital MD Drew Benvie says the site benefited from the Christmas holiday: 'The early adopters of Twitter like TechCrunch said the site was good, so people made a mental note to register. When everyone arrived back from their holidays at the same time, there was a mass increase in registrations and invitations spreading across Twitter.' "

PR Week, 14 January 2011 - The best of tech blogs
"Quora is the new shiny thing in social media. It has been on the block for a few months, but only really began being talked about in November. Quora mixes the best of social sites and appeals to a broad audience."

PR Week, 14 January 2011 - 2011's top PR trends feature
"PRWeek predicts the five key issues set to shape the comms industry during the next 12 months. We invited an expert panel to discuss the issues and their implications for the PR industry in a special PRWeek podcast..."

PR Week, 3 December 2010 - Best of tech blogs
"A new way of using Facebook is emerging, called whitewalling. This is when users are concerned about the content posted on the web about them without their control."

29 October 2010 - Cision's top 10 UK PR blogs
Cision publishes its bi-annual blogger tables, with Drew ranked #2 in the top 10 UK PR blogs list.

Behind The Spin, 26 October 2010 - PR, social media and the next big thing
Article about Drew's career and focus on how the next big thing can shape a business and an industry.

PR Week, 8 October 2010 - Best of tech blogs
"Today, I did a talk at #TwitterConf - a conference for communicators - all about Twitter. My talk was on how Twitter has impacted PR and what the future holds. My hypotheses: Twitter is not a destination - it is a gateway"

PR Week, 1 October 2010 - Best of tech blogs
"New Twitter launched last week. When trying it out, it struck me quickly that the new look and feel is more like a Gmail or Tweetdeck feel than a stream of updates. So I tried using keyboard shortcuts to navigate through the content. Guess what. It works."

PR Week, 13 August 2010 - Best of tech blogs
"One week ago, I started asking Twitter whenever I needed to make a decision. My post from last week explains why I did it and what it entailed. Also, to read about how it happened, look up the Twitter hashtag asktwitter and you'll see a lot of the conversations."

Reputation Online, 2 August 2010 - How not to do WOM
"As flagged by Drew Benvie, MD of digital PR agency 33 Digital, Warner Bros. has fallen foul to the scattergun approach so often employed by the lazy or uninformed."

Reputation Online, 1 June 2010 - An interesting example of crisis management from Starbucks
"Digital PR agency 33 Digital’s MD, Drew Benvie, flagged the “wave of foul mouthed wall posts” yesterday morning. “Several posts when I looked said ‘f**k Israel’ a hundred times or more. I have a screen grab but posting it here wouldn’t add much more to what I’ve just described other than lowering the tone,” he wrote on his blog."

PR Week, 26 February 2010 - PR Week Podcast: Foursquare
"Stephen Waddington, managing director, Speed Communications and Drew Benvie, managing director, 33 Digital discuss the impact Foursquare is having on social media and the privacy concerns surrounding it."

PR Week, 26 February 2010 - Best of tech blogs
"One of the most common question marks over the future of social media I hear is that of privacy. Many people say it is too much an invasion of privacy to share personal information online. This week, the privacy topic took a twist..."

Reputation Online, 24 February 2010 - Drew Benvie on ‘Lessons from Foursquare’
"Anyone who follows a Twitter veteran or reads some of the international technology blogs will have noticed the emergence of Foursquare last year. With its October 2009 launch in the UK, brands quickly began noticing this new addition to the web furniture."

PR Week, 24 February 2010 - Digital PR Specialist Urges Caution Over Social Networks Disclosing Locations Of Users
"Digital PR specialists have warned brands to tread carefully amid privacy concerns over new social networking sites that disclose the exact location of the user. 33 Digital MD Drew Benvie, who has led the roll-out of both Debenhams and the FT on Foursquare, said these spats merely illustrated the rapid advance of social networking technology..."

PR Week, 21 January 2010 - Best of tech blogs
"In March last year, I started using Foursquare, which was then a US-only service that seemed to plug nicely into Twitter and that I heard all the right people had moved over to. In October, it launched in the UK and this month, it seems to have hit its first UK tipping point.."

BusinessWeek, 15 July 2009 - Hey America, we have our own Facebooks
"In certain countries the communities are based on the local language and personal style of networking rather than what is the big American trend," says Drew Benvie, managing director of online marketing agency 33 Digital. "And once a community is gathered around a site, it's very difficult to dislodge it."

PR Week, 20 May 2009 - McCann Erickson Bristol survey reveals comms chiefs face social networking bans Drew Benvie, managing director of 33 Digital, said communications professionals who were blocked from social media sites should not use this as an excuse for not understanding the technology. Benvie said such people should attempt to gain access via their IT departments.

PR Week, 8 May 2009 - Hotwire launches digital agency

Communicate, 8 May 2009 - Hotwire unleashes 33 Digital
Hotwire, the tech PR specialist, has launched a new specialist digital agency.

PR Week, 27 Feb 2009 - Poke vs a hug
Drew's blog is featured on the Technology page in PR Week

PR Week, 27 Feb 2009 - Poke vs a hug
Drew's blog is featured on the Technology page in PR Week

PR Week, 25 Feb 2009 - Tech agency Hotwire has emerged as the most active PR consultancy on social networking tool Twitter
‘As a platform for use in public relations, Twitter is invaluable,’ said Benvie. ‘From networking, to story mining, to issues tracking and news seeding, the only limitation of systems such as Twitter is how far you’re willing to go with experimentation and breaking new ground.’

PR Week, 20 Feb 2009 - Magazines get interactive: Hotwire lands John Menzies' account
"Hotwire director Drew Benvie said the new service could drastically change the way people read magazines in the future: 'The brand has the potential to radically adjust the way magazines and advertisers interact with consumers. Think an iTunes for magazines. This is a stepping-stone to a more interactive version of a magazine.'"

PR Week, 19 Feb 2009 - PR Week video podcast
"In this week's podcast, Hotwire's Drew Benvie on how digital magazines will affect PR."

PR Week, 6 Feb 2009 - Ex-BBC journalist joins Nixon McInnes
"Drew Benvie, head of digital at Hotwire, explains, ‘brands in all sectors are looking for social strands to their integrated campaigns.'"

The Guardian, 26 January 2009 - Russell Brand hits Twitter
"I notice @DrewB has beaten me to the punch with Russell Brand aka RustyRockets reinvents Twitter"

PR Week, 30 November 2008 - Best of tech blogs
"Drew's blog is featured in the technology page: Keep a check on brands"

PR Week, 26 August 2008 - Unravel the web chatter
"Drew Benvie, director at PR agency Hotwire, says that by tracking issues as well as brand mentions, press office teams can begin to steer the digital media agenda..."

PR Week, 15 August 2008 - lastminute.com signs Hotwire
"Hotwire has been given the brief to run lastminute.com's Unleash Summer campaign. The agency will conduct a social media consultancy campaign targeting blogs and networking sites including Flickr and Facebook. The campaign will run until the end of summer. Hotwire digital director Drew Benvie is in charge of the account."

PR Week, 19 June 2008 - Best of tech blogs
All about Associated Press and bloggers.

PR Week, 29 May 2008 - Top 40 tech consultancies 2008
"Most significant hires of 2007 Ginni Arnold, new UK deputy MD, Drew Benvie, head of digital media, and eight 'young guns' from the 2007 graduate intake."

PR Week, 22 May 2008 - Brown web initiative blasted by bloggers
"'With online video and Twitter feeds having been used to great effect by politicians such as David Cameron and Barack Obama in the past, this is Brown playing catch up,' said Drew Benvie, a widely read PR blogger and director at tech agency Hotwire."

PR Week, 13 Mar 2008 - client wins
"Hotwire is now running the Piczo account, with ex-Lewis social media expert Drew Benvie in charge."

PR Week, 14 Feb 2008 - Opinion Article
"PROs should be creating online content and building applications in an effort to protect their territory, says Hotwire director Drew Benvie."

PR Week, 26 Sep 2007 - Second Opinion
"What the PR team for this campaign did well was to make sure core enthusiasts were on-board first before reaching out to wider, less informed audiences."

BBC Radio 4, September 14 2007
"A debate on eBooks on Radio 4's You and Yours"

PR Week, 20 June 2007 - Technology news
"Benvie: to join rival Hotwire"

PR Week US, The Cycle blog, 1 June 2007 - Google hires
"Many people have speculated that Google is looking for 70 PR people. We asked David Krane, director of corporate communications [at Google]..."

New Media Age, 15 May 2007 - Talk is cheep
"Twitter is apparently addictive. Drew Benvie, an early Twitter adopter, says: "In my first week using Twitter I was not able to walk in a straight line or make 20 yards without hitting a lamp post. I was hooked to my mobile." His blogging social network had become cumbersome, "but Twitter had sparked it to life."

He believes Twitter has "the potential to change the way consumers interact with one another through social networks," with big implications for digital marketers. He thinks Twitter will take off in the UK because we're SMS addicts and its much easier and faster than blogging. "

The Guardian, 27 March 2007 - Why are so many people blogging off?
"You have to be opinionated and passionate about what you write, or your enthusiasm will wane," says Drew Benvie, social media adviser for Lewis PR and a blogging expert."

Silicon.com, 16 March 2007 - CEOs told 'blog and embrace web 2.0'
"Drew Benvie, resident blogging expert at PR company Lewis, told silicon.com it shouldn't be assumed a CEO blog is going to be an instant hit. Benvie said: "A CEO should only be blogging if they have something interesting to say that their customers and their stakeholders want to hear."

PR Week, 7th February 2007 - The Essential Blogs - Podcast
"Lewis PR's resident blog expert, Drew Benvie, talks to PRWeek about the blogs all PROs need to know about and why keeping abreast with just some some of the ones that matter is time well spent."

Taxation Magazine, 19th October 2006 - Online Soapbox
"Drew Benvie, a blogging expert from Lewis PR has the following hints on starting an informative business blog..."

PR Week, 28th June 2006 - 29 under 29: the next generation
"The publication's first '29 under 29' list recognises outstanding achievement and details the top UK PR professionals aged 29 and under. PRWeek has identified 29 young PR professionals who have already made a major impression on the industry... Benvie is a self-confessed geek, but his tech interest has brought him rapid career progression and a reputation as an industry authority on blogs, podcasts and wikis."

PR Week, 22nd June 2006 - Blogs under audit
"The extent to which agencies are developing methods of blog evaluation can be seen in the number of those that now employ a dedicated ‘blog expert’. Drew Benvie is head of Lewis PR’s blogging division, and says PROs need to learn a variety of skills."

PR Week, 15th June 2006 - Podcasting enter the mainstream
"Lewis PR head of blogging Drew Benvie argues that the opportunities for PROs are huge."

PR Week, 11th May 2006 - Tapping the potential of MySpace
"Sending out friend invitations or mass emails is counter-productive, says Lewis PR account director Drew Benvie: 'Spam will damage your brand, because people might start talking about the fact that you are doing it."

Business XL, 10th May 2006 - Benefit from podcasting
"Drew Benvie from fellow PR firm Lewis the key is to think of podcasting ‘as just another marketing tool. There will be certain sectors where it isn’t top of your agenda, manufacturing for instance,’ he continues, ‘but for businesses in the media, fashion, technology and consumer goods markets it definitely has relevance, especially as consumers become more tech-savvy themselves."

International Herald Tribune, 3rd May 2006 - How many false starts before 3G takes off?
"Drew Benvie, 28, an account director at Lewis Public Relations in London, acquired a 3G phone in October 2004. He said he used the phone to post material on his technology public relations blog, which he calls "Drew B's Take on Tech."

PR Week, 6th April 2006 - Keep your messages out of the trash
"One of the best-known bloggers in the PR industry in the UK is Drew Benvie, account director at Lewis PR (pictured). He says clients are becoming increasingly worried about how they are being perceived on blogs."

PR Week, 2nd March 2006 - Tread carefully in the blogosphere
"theblogconsultancy.typepad.com/techpr - An insider's take on the PR industry, particularly the tech sector. Its author, Drew, is a London-based PRO who has been blogging for four years."

The Guardian, 23rd May 2005, Office hours
"Drew Benvie is a technology PR consultant and seasoned blogger. He believes that the key to successful blogging is to be opinionated and that's what makes the anonymous rants of www.callcentrediary.blogspot.com so compelling."

Back to homepage