The agency beat off 18 rivals to become the retained corporate PR and public affairs agency for the Switchover Help Scheme, funded by the BBC.
The brief, which spans both corporate PR and stakeholder engagement, will see Fishburn Hedges liaise with MPs, local government bodies, charities such as Help the Aged and Age Concern, and the media.
The brief also incorporates an aspect of corporate reputation management.
Ron Finlay, director at Fishburn Hedges, said: ‘It is not necessarily possible to reach older and disabled people through traditional media, which is why we need to ensure stakeholders are fully involved in the scheme.’
The brief is ongoing until 2012, when the four-year switchover campaign will be complete. Fishburn Hedges is on a retained contract, which will be topped up by project briefs as the switchover moves from region to region.
The Switchover Help Scheme saw credentials from 19 agencies and heard pitches from six, including Trimedia, which had been working on the account on an interim basis. This year it will contact more than two million eligible people as the initiative is rolled out to the West Country, Wales and ITV Granada regions.
Service provider Eaga and Digital UK will handle consumer PR. Fishburn Hedges has worked as Digital UK’s PR and PA agency since 2005.
