Outstanding In-House Team
Essex County Council
Essex County Council set up an in-house agency, Essex Communications, in 2009, delivering a full account-managed service for clients within the council and promoting the wider county of Essex as an unrivalled place to live, invest and visit. Its objectives included increasing the number of residents feeling informed, satisfied and believing that the council delivers value for money.
The team has delivered more than £1m in savings by centralising comms, with all campaigns being delivered on time and within budget.
Best Use of Social Media
Essex Health by Mosaic Publicity and NHS North East Essex
Mosaic Publicity was commissioned by NHS North East Essex to develop a social media campaign aimed at increasing the number of 15- to 24-year-olds taking chlamydia tests. The Primary Care Trust (PCT) wanted to beat the national target of testing 35 per cent.
Mosaic set up accounts on social media sites and linked to a dedicated website. It also ran a Facebook ad campaign directing people towards chlamydia screenings, competitions and a YouTube channel full of health videos.
The PCT beat the target by five per cent, undertaking 18,303 tests. It has since credited Mosaic's campaign with helping it become one of the top PCTs in the UK for the number of tests undertaken.
Best Use of Media Relations
Boring Day produces interesting results by Holdsworth Associates
Tech start-up True Knowledge developed an online 'answer engine' that uses artificial intelligence to directly answer questions. Holdsworth Associates was asked to promote the service globally, especially in the US, explaining what it can provide that other search engines cannot.
The PR team needed to create a story that would excite both specialist and mainstream press. It came up with a quirky question - what's the most boring day in history? - and researched the answer, which was 11 April 1954. It provided the media with information on events that took place on this day, and used the hook to discuss how True Knowledge is able to reason unlike other search engines.
Before the campaign, a search of social media sites for True Knowledge revealed less than one mention a day, but in the five days following this, 158 mentions were identified.
In the same month that the campaign took place, the site received 5.2 million unique visits compared with three million two months previously.
Outstanding Consultancy
Tribe PR
Over the past three years, Tribe PR has continuously achieved its key objectives to stay in profit year on year and win more clients. Anticipating that a change in government would have an impact on the spend of its public sector clients, the team set about winning new business from the private sector.
Tribe, which prides itself on being a PR specialist rather than a 'bolt-on' to wider marketing services, operates a flat structure in which all employees are expected to make valid contributions to agency life.
This year, Tribe also began an internship programme with the University of East Anglia, resulting in its first intern being taken on as a permanent employee.
