Horizon PR

Public-relations company set up by Breakthrough Media and M&C Saatchi, used on the RICU contract

Horizon PR Limited
Type	Private limited company
Founded	16 March 2015
Defunct	20 August 2019
Headquarters	36 Golden Square, London
Industry	Advertising and public relations
Parent	Joint venture of Breakthrough Media Network Ltd and M&C Saatchi

Horizon PR Limited was a London public-relations company incorporated on 16 March 2015 and dissolved on 20 August 2019. The Guardian reported that Breakthrough Media Network Ltd set it up as a joint enterprise with M&C Saatchi, and that it promoted civil-society groups as part of Breakthrough’s contract with the Home Office unit Research, Information and Communications Unit. Journalists contacted by Horizon were not told of that contract.

Company

Company number 09491072. Status dissolved. Type private limited company. Nature of business 73110, advertising agencies. Registered office: Company Secretary, 36 Golden Square, London W1F 9EE, the M&C Saatchi address. Last accounts were made up to 31 December 2017.

The Guardian quoted an M&C Saatchi spokesman: “Horizon was created to support the public relations of civil society groups, voluntary organisations and NGOs who want to drive positive social change.” The paper reported that Horizon promoted the work of community groups under Breakthrough’s RICU contract, that journalists were not told the groups were being represented as part of that contract, and that Breakthrough said there was no obligation to disclose the government’s involvement.

A later account says the directors included Breakthrough’s Robert Elliott and Scott Brown alongside figures from M&C Saatchi World Services, and that Horizon briefed journalists at a police cordon. The cordon claim is that account’s. The Companies House appointments of Elliott and Brown are on the filing.

People

Scott Wayne Brown and Robert Stephen Elliott, directors of Breakthrough Media, were appointed on 30 June 2015 and resigned on 31 January 2016. Andrew Simon Blackstone, appointed on incorporation, is also a director of M&C Saatchi PR Limited at 36 Golden Square. The officers page still listed Blackstone, Molly Hooper Aldridge and Marcus Edward Peffers as active at dissolution.

Officers of Horizon PR Limited

Name	Appointed	Resigned	Born	Nationality
Andrew Simon Blackstone	16 March 2015	—	April 1969	British
Molly Hooper Aldridge	30 June 2015	—	March 1976	British
Marcus Edward Peffers	30 June 2015	—	October 1969	British
Scott Wayne Brown	30 June 2015	31 January 2016	March 1978	British
Robert Stephen Elliott	30 June 2015	31 January 2016	September 1982	British

Relation to RICU

RICU’s favoured contractor was Breakthrough Media Network Ltd. A Breakthrough document seen by The Guardian said the objective was to “influence online conversations by being embedded within target communities via a network of moderate organisations”. Horizon was the press arm of that arrangement: it placed stories for the groups, without telling reporters that the work sat inside the RICU contract. Breakthrough Media was renamed Zinc Network Limited on 2 March 2020, after Horizon had already been dissolved.Companies House, ZINC NETWORK LIMITED overview Companies House, accessed 5 October 2026.

See also

Breakthrough Media Network Zinc Network Research, Information and Communications Unit M&C Saatchi Prevent

External links

Horizon PR Limited at Companies House Inside Ricu, The Guardian, 2 May 2016