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Pearce and Woolstencroft named Orion campaigns directors amid raft of promotions and hires
Francesca Pearce and Virginia Woolstencroft have been named Orion campaigns directors amid a raft of promotions and new hires within the publisher’s communications team.
Alongside Pearce and Woolstencroft, Helena Fouracre, Javerya Iqbal, Yadira da Trindade, Frankie Banks and Jenna Petts have all also been appointed into new roles effective immediately.
Pearce joined Orion in 2019 and has spearheaded publicity campaigns for authors including Noel Fitzpatrick, Dame Joan Collins and Nicole LePera. Her campaigns for debuts Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan and Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord, alongside Ellen Turner, won and were shortlisted for PPC Awards. She has also spearheaded a number of brand partnerships including the Rixo X Refinery29 Book Club and was named a Bookseller Rising Star in 2020.
Woolstencroft has been at Orion for eight years, in which time she has worked on campaigns for Reverend Richard Coles’ Murder Before Evensong, for which she received a PPC Annual Award, adding to the PPC wins and shortlistings she gained in previous years for Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason, Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers and How To Argue with a Racist by Adam Rutherford. She was also nominated, alongside deputy marketing director Cait Davies, at the 2022 FutureBook Awards for her work on Orion outreach initiative, Orion on Tour.
In their new roles, Pearce and Woolstencroft will continue to work across all imprints and support communications and strategy director Sandra Taylor, and publicity director Leanne Oliver. Pearce and Woolstencroft will take an increasingly strategic role in campaign development for Orion’s Commercial and Literary publishing and imprints.
Elsewhere in the team, Fouracre has been promoted to senior marketing manager. She has worked with brand authors including Veronica Henry, Rylan and the Hairy Bikers and has also driven the launch and growth of Orion’s influencer community “The OCC”. She is currently devising Orion Fiction’s biggest 2024 debut launch campaign, Love Letters to a Serial Killer, and major non-fiction launches from Joshua Fletcher, Emily English and Lydia Millen.
Furthermore, Iqbal has stepped up to the role of marketing manager, having joined Orion from And Other Stories in 2022, and Da Trindade is also promoted to marketing manager. Banks has been promoted to publicity manager, having joined Orion from Little, Brown in 2022. Petts has been promoted to publicity manager.
In addition to the promotions, the Orion Communications team welcomes two new members: Aoife Datta joins as senior publicity manager, from independent publisher Scribe, and Lauryn Embleton joins from a cult tattoo brand to work on the Laurence King gift, puzzles and games list as campaigns manager.
Sandra Taylor, communications and strategy director, said: “I’ve long been in awe of the best-in-industry campaigns delivered by Orion and, since joining the company late last year, I’ve seen first-hand how dedicated, talented and, frankly, brilliant each individual within our communication team is.
"I’m pleased to be recognising their contributions with these promotions and it’s a real joy to welcome Aoife and Lauryn and the range of experience they each bring. We’ve got the best team in place to deliver a brilliant autumn and beyond, to accelerate Orion’s growth and continue to take our authors and illustrators, books and products to more people."
Anna Valentine, managing director of Orion, said: “Our integrated communications team has played an instrumental part in helping to secure Orion’s record-breaking 10 appearances at No 1 in the Sunday Times bestseller charts this year.
"Virginia and Francesca have played a crucial role in the success of the literary and commercial lists over the last few years, and I’m excited to give them more scope to influence the strategic direction of those areas. Helena, Yadira, Javerya, Frankie and Jenna are exceptional campaigners, each one creative, passionate and ambitious, and I’m very happy that we are able to recognise their contribution in this way.”
