Winner – 'Pandemic, Purpose and Planet', The Academy for Morrisons
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Morrisons took an immediate decision to put purpose before profit and do its bit for customers, colleagues and communities. The supermarket needed a completely new PR strategy and programme to both communicate what it was doing, and to help it to create relevant new services and products to ensure nobody was left behind.
Read: PRWeek UK Awards 2021: Winners revealed
The Academy banned vanity metrics such as reach and engagement, with success against that new strategy measured solely on tangible impact. It based its campaign on a 10,000-strong panel’s insights on the three main areas of concern for customers: having safe access to food, the welfare of the most vulnerable, and ensuring environmental and sustainability issues were not ignored.
Its team delivered a huge range of campaigns and initiatives through the year, including launching partnerships with Amazon and Deliveroo, donations to food banks and Morrisons becoming the first supermarket to remove plastic bags completely. Just as impressive was a range of PR-led initiatives including quiet hours for the elderly and key workers; discounts for NHS staff, teachers, blue light cardholders and farmers; Pick Up Packs customers could easily donate to local good causes; and the creation of an entirely new product category – pre-packed Food Boxes ordered online and delivered to the customer's door the next day.
The supermarket was hailed by commentators as “winning the supermarket pandemic battle”, an assertion backed up by a nine per cent like-for-like sales hike, all while making the pandemic that bit easier for millions of customers and vulnerable households.
The judges said
An impressive team effort in a difficult year, showing a desire to make a bigger, more positive difference than just audience and coverage numbers. Many different campaigns all achieved their aim, delivering results in many different ways.
Highly Commended – 'Santander: Scam Sonnets', Taylor Herring for Santander
Santander briefed Taylor Herring to find a new way to engage people with anti-fraud advice. The poets Pam Ayres and Suli Breaks were enlisted to turn the words used by scammers into Scam Sonnets as part of a media campaign that banked plenty of coverage and got 3,800 people signing up to the bank’s virtual scam awareness events.
Shortlisted
'ENO X Uber: Drive-in Opera' by Uber with Hope&Glory for Uber
'ThankYouPostie' by Fanclub PR for Notonthehighstreet
'Visa Where You Shop Matters' by Grayling for Visa
