Primal PR

Primal PR

primalpr.com/

The New Boathouse

Mill Lane

Maidenhead

Berkshire

SL6 0AA

Longest-held clients

IKEA, Michael Van Clarke, The Perfume Shop

New business contact

Bernice Dixon-Lines, director

bernice.dixon-lines@primalpr.com

01628625900

 

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CEO/MD

Natalie McLean-Reid, MD

natalie.mclean-reid@primalpr.com

01628625900

Describe your agency in five words.

It’s all about the ideas!

How would you sum up 2011 at your agency?

Busy but amazing! We had a massive growth spurt, delivered fantastic results and added a host of new accounts to our client list.

What was your agency’s high point of 2011?

To bring one of our most successful years ever to a close, every member of staff received an iPad2 for Christmas.  After such a busy year we were all ready to let loose at the Christmas party so the surprise gift kicked off the celebrations perfectly and made for a fantastic evening – I think the free bar helped as there was a lot of love in the room that night!

What was the low point?

Bursting at the seams of our gorgeous riverside offices and having to consider a move!

Please give an overview of your staffing through 2011, including significant hires and internal promotions. 

We increased staffing by 20% last year across both our London and Maidenhead office.  We also employed a Head of Social Media to strengthen the fastest growing area of our business.  It’s helped us deliver innovation and results for our clients and shape the direction of the social media offer in Primal PR so a very significant hire for us.  

There were also a lot of promotions because our teams absolutely excelled themselves.

What were your three best campaigns of 2011?

The Perfume Shop Mother’s Day Bus Campaign which won us a Gold CIPR PRide Award. ‘Little Black Dress’ campaign that was rolled out across 10 Capital Shopping Centres in the run up to Christmas and the Polaroid Christmas Projection campaign because of its originality.

What were your most exciting client wins of 2011?

Winning back Polaroid after the licence was sold was a proud moment and testament to the results we continue to deliver for the brand.  Our relationship with IKEA also stepped up a gear leading to original experiential campaigns that delivered an increase in sales of 88% in some stores!

Of which achievement in 2011 are you most proud?

Being in the position to be able to hire talented staff and create a whole new team.

What trends did you notice throughout the year in the industry?

PR agencies have had to broaden their expertise to keep up with the demand for social media and utilising digital channels.  Being an agency that delivers great press coverage is no longer enough, it’s our innovative, integrated campaigns that deliver the best results.

Tell us  how your digital work became more measurably effective in 2011.

We always set KPI’s before any campaign to allow it to be evaluated against expectations and use tools such as Tweet Grader to give us specific analytics.  More recently we’ve bought software to enable us to measure the current online brand sentiment across all platforms.  This allows us to demonstrate how our campaigns are improving brand perceptions and to shape our messaging accordingly.

We are presently implementing social media strategies for Original Penguin, Michael Van Clarke, STABILO, ION and the Realm portfolio.

What’s your priority for the agency this year?

To smash our targets and add to our portfolio of big name brands.