Ian Halstead finds out how the region’s PR agencies are faring after the toughest year on record.
Just as truth is the first casualty of conflict,
PR activity is often an early victim of
an economic downturn. It’s a paradox
that just when image and reputation matter
most, many corporates trim their marketing
spend in a desperate attempt to cut costs.
Even though 2009 was tough for most
Midlands agencies, some still had years
to remember – for the right reasons – and
have begun 2010 in the same fashion.
Trimedia beat its annual budget by an impressive 14 per cent after picking up more than £300,000 of new business including work for Advantage West Midlands (AWM), the Manufacturing Advisory Service and Marketing Birmingham, according to Rachel Roberts, its Midlands director.
The Huntsworth subsidiary was also rated the region‘s outstanding consultancy by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), judged on such criteria as profitability, client gains, staff development and corporate social responsibility.
In January 2010 Trimedia shed its corporate skin to become Grayling and brought in Kate Macnamara to head its regional team, after Roberts decided her work-life balance would be more in sync running her own agency, Spotty Dog Communications.
Macnamara reckons Grayling’s highlight for 2009 was extending its roster of public sector clients, notably AWM. “It was a good win, in itself and for our prospects, because people in that sector often gain peace of mind by knowing that you can work in their culture,” she says.
Private sector client wins might have been scarce: “We increased activity more through existing clients,” says Macnamara. But the churn rate remained low. “We have had several clients for a long time, and even the average stay is more than six years.”
So if the Midlands can provide rich pickings, why haven’t more national brands followed Grayling?
“I think it’s a route London agencies went down a few years ago, setting up lots of offices in different regions, but then there was a swing back to just having two or three,” says Macnamara. “I don’t think Birmingham is particularly under-represented, though, compared with Manchester and Leeds.”
Wherever Trimedia went in 2009, Willoughby wasn’t far behind, as the CIPR awards demonstrated. Managing director Jane Ainsworth is as optimistic as her plc peer about 2010, after three client wins in the first few weeks.
“We did so many pitches in December that I decided to cancel my holiday,” she says. “Then Warwick Castle came back in January and asked us to handle its trade, corporate and wedding activity. We also gained new accounts in the flooring and heating sectors.”
Ainsworth has been wedded to the Willoughby brand since joining 13 years ago as a graduate trainee and believes much of its success is down to the gentle touch.
“Julia (Willoughby) has always wanted to make this a fun place to work, and to give everyone pride in their work. If we make people feel good to be here, they will make their clients feel good,” she says. “We always celebrate the agency’s birthday, and everyone gets an extra three days off between Christmas and New Year to make sure they have a proper break. Julia also expects us not to work evenings and weekends. Fee income was down during 2009, but we didn’t shed staff because we wanted to be loyal, and to ensure that we didn‘t come out the other side of recession with a depleted team.”
Social media has become the fastestgrowing channel in the marketing and PR community and, as Willoughby‘s website makes clear, its office is just full of tweeters, bloggers and Facebook folk.
“Without a doubt, such activity adds value. We put the ‘Christmas Day atWarwick Castle’ auction on e-bay, attracted interest from 20,000 people and had coverage as far away as Russia and Japan,” says Ainsworth. “I agree that such strategies depend on the demographic of your target audience, but, for example, if you were doing something aimed at teenage boys you would have to use social media.”
Former Nottingham Evening Post staffer Liz Cartwright, now director of Cartwright Communications, agrees. She believes her background gives her agency an edge in cyberspace and offline.
“PR has changed dramatically, not least in the way it is now a proper business, not a rather fluffy sector with lots of Cressidas flocking around. Like any business, you need to adapt your model when new tools become available,” she says. “It certainly helps to have been in the media because you understand how journalists work, when they are really under pressure and know which deadlines are targets and which are real.”
Cartwright also believes the skills of pith and precis, honed during her time in print media, are equally important in the blogosphere. “Reaching people via blogs and tweets is very important. We did a launch for the Christmas show at Lakeside Arts Centre, which was a regional production for children. We identified three influential bloggers who were all mums and their reviews generated massive interest,” she says.
“We ran another successful competition via Twitter, and when you have a tight word count you have to get your messages over succinctly. There are lots of ways not to waste words, but you do need to know them.”
Cartwright feels that some PR practitioners are not embracing the opportunities of cyberspace as fully as they might: “New technology will always have an impact on how we work, as I remember when we moved from typewriters to PCs. Whether it’s blogs, tweets, or the use of video, I think any PR business that is slow to make changes will be left behind. We have just been accepted for the Central Office of Information roster, and while it needed a great deal of work, I know it will be worth it,” she adds.
At another steadily growing independent – Kinetic PR in Birmingham – managing director Angela Podmore believes being an owner-manager gives her an advantage when pitching to many potential clients.
“Kinetic is a small business, so I can relate to the challenges that managers of other small businesses face. I think there is an immediate mutual respect and understanding, which goes a long way to establishing a rapport,” she says.
Some of Kinetic’s best, and most long-lasting, work has been for small companies. Podmore says: “It’s not PR in the old sense; the projects have been more about developing a comprehensive communications programme, but it makes me proud to hear from these companies several years later who say that our tools are still in place, and still working,” she adds. “It doesn’t matter what size a company is, they have a reputation and their only choice is deciding what emphasis to put on quality. We’ve done projects for small companies, and did a pharma company with 500 staff, but the key is always to identify what makes them unique. There is a perception that good work must be expensive, but that is nonsense. We’ve done some great work for less than £5,000, and did another project for less than £2,500.”
The blue touch-paper topic is the merits of in-house PR. “Objective counsel is what we give, and I am comfortable telling any chief executive what I think of his media strategy and how it needs to change, because if he disagrees it isn’t the end of my world,” says Podmore. “There is alchemy in the best PR work. Both parties need the confidence to deal robustly with each other. If you are an in-house PR executive, though, you don’t want to lose your job by giving a director advice he doesn’t wish to hear.
“My impression of in-house PR people is also that they are rarely proactive. They are not driven by the desire to achieve amazing results for a client, they are focused on avoiding bad news.”
An intriguing take on life in the PR community comes from Sarah Hughes, managing director of Giraffe Communications. She founded the agency in 2002 with a network of a dozen or so associates whom she had known from her early days at Camargue, and while deputy head at Trimedia Harrison Cowley’s Birmingham office.
“Building a company of size meant that between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of my time was spent on IT, finance, administration and HR, and I didn’t like that,” recalls Hughes. “Eventually, I returned to the original structure. Sometimes you have to try something to realise it isn’t for you. Now I am working more efficiently, and my quality of work standards, and my quality of life standards are where I want them to be.”
Also in: March 2010
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Getting the Midlands moving
Transport issues are at the heart of plans to grow the Midlands economy. Ian Halstead reports on what might happen in 2010.
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Climate change
Warwick Manufacturing Group’s founder Lord Bhattacharyya, an ambassador for collaboration between businesses and universities, warned of tough times ahead at Insider’s special event.