969 pieces of coverage (and counting) later and we’ve certainly covered a lot of ground this year. Although it’s very satisfying to secure a piece in the national media or a coveted TV spot, it’s honestly just as rewarding to get coverage in a niche title that’s perfect for the brand or business. We’re grateful for the interesting PR campaigns we’re able to work on.
We PR businesses in a range of sectors, which brings great variety, but the common thread is that most of our clients are business owners or founders. So that coverage can make a real difference to them and their team. Here’s a selection of our highlights from 2021.
New clients, fresh challenges
We’re happy to work on projects or longer-term PR pushes, where we always start with a three-month trial. Our first task is to quickly understand a business and its objectives, which is sometimes through our Three Lens Messaging Session, sometimes through an interview, depending on the task.
In 2021 we’ve enjoyed promoting a major electric vehicle push for one of the South West’s biggest dealerships, raising the profile of a world first eyewear brand for a design agency, supported FMAUK during their biggest annual push – Fibromyalgia Awareness Week – and we’re currently working with brand consultancy, Firehaus, to shine a light on the fantastic work they do turning scale-ups into powerful brands.
Giving a 360 degree view of Armadillo
As an award-winning agency running CRM campaigns for global brands such as McDonald’s, Disney and Carnival UK, we always enjoy amplifying the work Armadillo is doing from its Bristol base. We’ve been pleased to achieve consistent coverage in industry bibles such as Campaign and The Drum on top of other publications.
But this year has also meant promoting some new voices in the team, who’ve given their heartfelt opinions about topics that matter, such as mental health policies and supporting staff through Ramadan. Giving your staff a platform is an important investment and we know that it’s something prospective clients and recruits are becoming more keen to see. Anecdotal feedback has shown the importance of hearing from a range of people in a business about things that matter to them.
A time to celebrate
We’re often told that clients don’t feel comfortable spending time talking about themselves, their businesses or their achievements – that it’s not really their style. We see it more as a celebration – a celebration of what’s been achieved, which will benefit you, your business and your staff. We do it every week with our Instagram #ThreeOnThursday. So this year, for the first time, we encouraged SMEs too join our Instagram seven-day challenge and we were so pleased with how many people got involved and started celebrating their wins.
PR can be a celebration too, and it’s been great to help clients acknowledge achievements, from Boatman Admin winning South West VA of the Year, to Sharp Thinking Marketing winning national recognition, to Armadillo winning five DMA Awards – its biggest ever haul.
Making an impact, 10 years on
Reaching a decade in business is an important milestone and we’ve helped the BCRM, Create Health and Loom Digital to celebrate reaching 10 years in style. And this year we’ve done the same for Independent Design House (IDH); a specialist engineering firm that’s rapidly expanding across the globe.
It’s satisfying to get under the skin of a business and help the team to start talking about some of the great work that’s going on, as well as what the business stands for. For IDH, we’ve done this through a range of channels working together: PR, email, their website and LinkedIn, and the feedback from their team and their clients has been brilliant.
Christmas PR for the boppi and bopster brands
For the lifestyle media, Christmas starts in July, and that’s when brands start promoting their ranges in time for publication during the festive season. So I’m particularly proud of the work we’ve done with Click Europe, home of the boppi and bopster brands. Having started their first PR push in October, we worked hard as a team to secure coverage on The BBC, in The Sunday Times, The Sun, Hello and through a range of other publications and influencers. We’ve had an estimated 2.2m coverage views, and rising.
Our own coverage
It can be hard to practice what you preach, but it’s also important. We’ve heard opinion from Leigh-Ann, Georgia and me as well as a range of five year anniversary coverage. A big thank you to everyone whose featured our news.