Sally Sykes
Chair – CIPR North West,
Head of UK communications, AstraZeneca
The North-West PR industry continues to be a thriving, vibrant machine, which is reflected in another record number of award entries. But because it is quality and not quantity that counts, I am pleased to say this year's winners have again done us proud and shown our region can deliver creative campaigns of national calibre, which drive business results for our institution and company clients.
Here in the North-West of England, as elsewhere in the PR and communications profession, gaining Royal chartered status means 2005 is a highly significant year for the CIPR. We cannot thank the CIPR team enough for its efforts in achieving the chartered result. For the CIPR regional teams, it is a great boost for membership and professional development, bringing a new-found confidence that should shine through into award-winning campaigns and successful PRide events for many years to come.
Grand prix
British Gas
Thermal Imaging
Energy efficiency may be a worthy topic, but it rarely inspires sparkling copy. So British Gas turned to high-impact visuals to capture customers' imaginations. With Energy Efficiency Week (25-31 October 2004) as the hook, it snapped landmark UK buildings using a thermal imaging camera. The pictures perfectly illustrated the campaign's message – that on average 40 per cent of heat is lost through a building's roof and walls. Coverage included front pages in The Times and The Guardian.
Charity/not-for-profit campaign
GOLD
Mere Communications
Operation Alfie
North West Air Ambulance (NWAA) is a vital medical emergency service, but it is easy to forget that it is a charity, requiring £1m a year in donations to run. Mere Communications was tasked with raising awareness of NWAA's charity status, and encouraging donations through a series of helicopter landings in eight areas of the region. During the two-day campaign of flights into schools, rugby clubs, parks and hospitals, £23,500 was donated, and extensive coverage was won in regional and local press and media.
SILVER
Brazen
Turning Manchester Green with Pride
Greater Manchester Police
City United Against Robbery Competition
FINALIST
Brazen
Pant Amnesty For Jockey
Consumer Campaign
GOLD
Brazen
Creating The Dream Team For Subbuteo
Brazen
Teaching an Old Board New Tricks
SILVER
Brazen
Jockey: Celebrating 70 Years of The Y Front
Citypress PR
The Holiday Report
Context Public Relations Limited
Taking a Bite Out of Apple
FINALISTS
Brazen
Going To The Extreme For The North Face
Brazen
Scruffs: It's Gonna Get Dirty
Corporate and financial campaign
GOLD
Spin Media
Ensuring Global Acquisition
Feeling the effects of tough market conditions and the emergence of supermarket brokers, Opus Insurance prepared itself for acquisition. Knowing that big global brokers had UK firms on their shopping lists, Opus briefed Spin Media to raise the company's profile, using trade, local and regional press, as well as the business pages of the nationals. Spin kept the commercial broker's profile high with issue-led releases, resulting in stories on the cost of asbestos regulations and the rise in golf injury claims. The desired result came in December 2004, when Opus was acquired by US giant Willis Group.
Community campaign
GOLD
LEAPFROG
Face of Liverpool
The Face of Liverpool is an innovative piece of public art and one of the city's biggest-ever regeneration schemes. It features 32 diverse 'faces' that represent Liverpool, their images etched into glass portholes installed in a public park. Leapfrog was tasked with finding these faces, and engaging the community in the project. They invited Liverpudlians of all backgrounds to nominate themselves, and to tell the stories of how they or their ancestors came to the city.
To publicise the hunt, Leapfrog achieved regional and national media coverage, as well as using posters, viral emails and community group presentations. Winning faces include a 15-year-old Kosovan refugee and the descendent of a Jamaican slave. When Loyd Grossman OBE opened the public garden in January 2005, an accompanying book telling the stories of the faces was launched, garnering even more media coverage.
Integrated PR campaign
GOLD
Brazen
Scruffs: It's Gonna Get Dirty
SILVER
Urban Splash
Chips
FINALIST
Brazen
The Perfect Mix for Red Square
Stockport Council
Stockport - Action for Safety
Use of internal communication
GOLD
Allerdale Borough Council
Internal Comms Strategy
A team of two is responsible for all internal and
external communications in Allerdale Borough Council, covering a region of 126,000 hectares on Cumbria's west coast.
Keeping 400 employees over such a vast rural area communicating is a huge challenge, and a staff survey in May 2002 revealed 37 per cent of respondents did not feel the council gave them enough information to do their jobs properly, while only 54 per cent believed the council was a good employer.
The comms team introduced monthly team meetings, annual appraisals and specific comms tasks for managers, as well as ensuring the intranet and email were fully exploited to keep staff informed of council developments. A second survey in June 2004 showed a huge improvement, with 81 per cent agreeing that the council was a good place to work. Significant increases in other areas included use of the intranet and team-meeting attendances.
FINALIST
Bolton Council
Communications Presentation for Corporate Induction Finalist
In-house campaign
GOLD
British gas
Safety in the Home
British Gas's status as a safety expert – and the launch of its new safety website – was pushed in a high-impact campaign this summer. The Sun's 'British Grass' story – about the energy giant's anti-theft team uncovering 47 cannabis farms in a year – exemplified the team's ability to turn potentially dull subject matter into an interesting news hook. Other coverage included British Gas engineers appearing on GMTV and This Morning to discuss carbon monoxide poisoning. After such extensive coverage, qualitative research showed the message, 'British Gas keeps you safe', was strongly recalled.
SILVER
Cumbria Tourist Board
Lake District Campaign
Ever intent on increasing visitors to the area, the in-house team won praise for continually finding creative solutions and achieving strong results.
FINALIST
Urban Splash
Lister Mills
Trade or technical campaign
GOLD
Native Instinct
Tiara 9 on The National Healthcare Agenda
Healthcare IT provider Ethitec cut NHS waiting lists by 12 weeks when its Tiara 9 electronic appointment booking system was implemented in Leicestershire. But it had received little press attention – something Macclesfield-based Native Instinct wanted to remedy to gain UK-wide take up. It achieved coverage in the FT, The Observer and Computer Weekly, and secured a meeting with local service provider BT.
SILVER
Spin Media
Everyone's a winner
Spin's campaign for in-store kiosks that pay users for their contact details – for direct marketing purposes – achieved results when Punch Taverns agreed to a trial.
Weber Shandwick Manchester
How Healthy are your Hydraulic Systems
Shell's new industrial hydraulic oil,Tellus, was more expensive than its existing brand. By promoting oil as the lifeblood of a machine, 100 business leads came in.
Issues or crisis management campaign
GOLD
Spin Media
The 'ave it'' Campaign
SILVER
Communique
Boddingtons Brewery Closure
Low-budget Campaign
GOLD
Euro RSCG Leedex
Slim Chef
Osprey Communications
Fool Factor
SILVER
Brazen
Gran Day Out For Totesport
MTJ Associates Ltd
Bog Off
Weber Shandwick
Card-iac Arrest
FINALISTS
Brazen
Search For The Lambrini Girl 2004
Catapult Public Relations Limited
Bug on the Road
Cumbria County Council
Don't Say It with Flowers & Truckstop
Public sector programme
GOLD
Cumbria County Council
SAM Campaign
SILVER
Spin Media
Greater Manchester United!
Relationship management programme
GOLD
British Nuclear Group
"Taking The Time To Listen And Act"
SILVER
Brazen
Brazen Raises A Glass To Halewood
FINALIST
Communique
Taking Wickes To Another Level
Best use of media relations
GOLD
Euro RSCG Leedex
Slim CheF
SILVER
Brazen
Hot, Cold and Vimto (On Tap)
MTJ Associates Ltd
Naught 'n' Saucy Nik Naks
FINALISTS
Brazen
Cheesey Listening For Stilton
Cumbria County Council
Don't Say it with Flowers
PR Team of the Year
GOLD
Brazen
Brazen by Name, Brazen By Nature (Consultancy)
Stockport Council
One Place One Voice (In House Team)
FINALISTS
Citypress PR, (Consultancy)
Allerdale Borough Council, (In House Team)
British Gas, (In House Team)
Cumbria Tourist Board, (In House Team)
Young Communicator
GOLD
Leah Watson
Brazen
Small Team/Sole Practitioner
GOLD
Catapult Public Relations Limited
Packing a Punch
FINALIST
Peppermint PR
Peppermint PR
Newsletter
GOLD
Triangle PR
Arena Life Magazine
The Arena Group is the North-West's fifth-largest housing association, with 13,000 residents. The challenge for Triangle PR was to create a quarterly magazine for residents, Arena's 750 staff, partners, board members and industry contacts. With a budget of £16,000 for a 15,000 print run, the resulting magazine used a picture-led style with news and features such as healthy-eating recipes and 'what's on' diaries.
SILVER
MTJ Associates
The Taste
Retailers are tough to talk to, but the judges were impressed by the time MTJ took to tailor this retail-
specific newsletter in tone, layout and content.
Stockport Council
The Reporter – Miss it Miss Out
Charged with relaunching its staff magazine, Stockport Council breathed new life into it by skilfully integrating staff issues with overall corporate desires.
