INTEGRATED COMMS
Juice by NewcastleGateshead Initiative
Juice is NewcastleGateshead's festival for children and young people, the first of its kind. Launched in 2009, the festival celebrates the creativity of young people through ten days of theatre, performance, visual arts, photography and film-making. The team produced family-friendly listings for the festival along with a full brochure and age-specific flyers. A poster campaign and press advertising accompanied online activity, photocalls, reviews, competitions and feature-led articles. The PR team also recruited a team of young Juice ambassadors to provide peer-to-peer marketing. More than 26,000 people attended the festival and more than 9,000 children and young people actively took part in or contributed to the festival.
BEST NEWSLETTER
Nexus Matters by Nexus
Public transport company Nexus decided to add a newsletter to its comms output alongside a website and media relations activities in 2008. The newsletter now comes out five or six times a year and is sent out to more than 3,000 stakeholders by email. Surveys have shown awareness of Nexus' activities and services has increased among stakeholders since the newsletter was launched.
IN-HOUSE TEAM
NHS North East
The team at NHS North East has helped the organisation's media profile rise by 300 per cent in the past year. It has run a campaign aimed at raising awareness of healthcare-associated infections and a recruitment drive for junior doctors, as well as working on online and internal comms. NHS North East's website attracts about 6,500 hits a month.
OUTSTANDING PR CONSULTANCY
Gardiner Richardson
Despite the recession, Gardiner Richardson has almost doubled its fee income in the past year and not lost a single account. An anonymous internal survey showed staff felt informed and involved with the agency, and felt they had been able to contribute to the agency's growth. Wins included English Heritage and NHS North East.
BEST EVENT
World Cup in a Warehouse for Hoults Yard by O Communications
Hoults Yard in Byker, Newcastle is an office space made up of revamped pottery buildings and has about 400 media professionals working within it.
To showcase the yard's warehouse space and raise awareness, O Communications decided Hoults would host an event for 500 of the top movers and shakers in the region to watch England's match with Slovenia during the World Cup. A 16ft screen was set up and there was catering, live music and a video message from former PM Tony Blair. The warehouse was decorated to create atmosphere and sponsorship for the event was secured. Guests who watched the match included regional celebrities and a media pack.
