RECOGNITION BUILDS ON INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE WITH LAUNCH OF DEDICATED ENERGY TEAM

Our own media release about our newly formed Energy team.........


Recognition PR, the North East England-based national public relations and marketing consultancy, has launched a specialist team to serve clients in the energy industry supply chain.




The firm’s experience and strong understanding of the oil & gas, nuclear and offshore renewables sectors, has enabled it to build up a practice of 15 energy industry supply chain companies within its portfolio of 75 clients.



Building on its expertise and reputation, Recognition PR has now formed a dedicated team to support organisations operating in these markets.



Led by Jamie Collis, who is a Partner at Recognition PR with more than 15 years’ public relations experience, particularly in the energy market, the Business & Energy Team is made up of experienced former journalists and marketing professionals supported by Graduate-level assistants.



Having established excellent relationships with national, regional and key trade media, Recognition PR delivers public relations strategies predominately for tier 2 and tier 3 contractors including TAG Energy Solutions, Darchem Engineering and Modus Seabed Intervention.



The firm is also the PR and Communications partner for business development organisation, NOF Energy. Recognition works closely with NOF Energy to promote the activities of the organisation and its 420 UK and international members to the media as well as aiding the growth of its reputation as one of UK industry’s leading member bodies.



Recognition PR also supports North East England’s renewables group, Energi Coast. Jamie Collis played an instrumental role, working with NOF Energy, to launch the initiative, which promotes the North East’s capabilities to become a hub for offshore renewable supply chain activities.



Jamie Collis, Partner at Recognition PR, said: “Creating a dedicated team to serve energy supply chain companies is a natural progression for Recognition PR as we have developed quite a unique understanding of the energy industry.



“This experience and expertise has enabled us to support our clients with authority through creative and effective PR strategies. With the formation of a dedicated team we can now expand our offering to more clients and further enhance the reputation of the supply chain through the media.”



Graham Robb, Senior Partner at Recognition PR, said: “The energy industry, and in particular the oil & gas sector, is one of the jewels in the UK economy’s crown and we are proud to work so closely with some of the supply chain’s leading companies.



“With increasing activity in the oil & gas sector, alongside the emergence of the offshore renewables industries to help meet our green energy targets, there is a greater demand for the supply chains’ high quality products, services and technologies. PR is an essential part of the marketing and business development mix, which plays an important role in supporting companies’ ambitions to secure some of the these opportunities in the marketplace.”

Welcome to Stacey and Matthew! Our Experiences Working at Recognition

Since leaving University at the end of the last academic year and beginning work at Recognition, we have experienced a dramatic learning curve. Through studying Media Studies with English and Multimedia Journalism Degrees respectively at Teesside University, we thought we were prepared for the challenges of working in the media industry. But in the two-month period that we have been at Recognition, we have woken up to the realisation that there is a lot more learning to be done. 

Transferring from University to a business environment has meant that we have had to adapt to an array of new systems and methods that are standard at a PRCA-accredited PR firm like Recognition. 

Due to our university courses being slightly different in content, we have each found different aspects of our roles challenging. 

Matthew 

Working on the Business Team has proved to be a real eye opener for me. Coming from a background mainly in music and sports journalism, I have quickly adapted to my new role. I have had to pick up a wide knowledge of how the business world works in order to successfully transfer my skills. 

As a PR Assistant on the Business Team, there are a lot of aspects that play to my strengths in journalism, such as writing press releases. 

The main challenge I have come up against is balancing my workload. Having to deal with many different clients and many complex projects over a wide range of sectors has meant I have had to quickly acclimatise. 

Stacey

During my time at Recognition I have had to adapt quickly to a busy office setting. After being placed on the Consumer and Healthcare Team I have had the opportunity to work on many varied and high profile clients.

In my new role as an assistant, I have been able to use my organisational skills from university and apply that to the clients I deal with. I particularly enjoy the aspect of my job that allows me to assist with event planning and client’s social media activities.

The main challenge I have faced is adapting to the writing aspect of the role. Coming from a wider media angle, writing was only one small aspect of my course. However, I have managed to improve my press releases considerably and I have learned a lot throughout my time here at the business.

In conclusion, we are extremely grateful to Graham for taking us on, and the rest of the Recognition team for making us feel so welcome. We both agree that it is a real pleasure to be part of such a high profile and well-respected company.

Graham writes.....

Once again Recognition PR has delivered excellent media coverage for the annual Radio Festival staged by the UK Radio Academy.

This year’s festival was held at the Lowry in Salford Quays near Manchester and was a great success.

Luminaries of the UK radio sector delivered fantastic presentations. Highlights included a speech by BBC Radio Two’s Jeremy Vine and John Myers who has been a hero of the commercial radio sector for decades. Billy Bragg gave the prestigious John Peel Memorial Lecture and Adrian Chiles interviewed Sony Radio Academy Gold Award-winning broadcaster and comedian Frank Skinner. Jamie from Recognition also met his broasdcasting hero, Johnny Vaughan.

This year the Hall of Fame dinner inducted legendary broadcaster Danny Baker, who has a show on BBC Five Live and was forthright and honest about programme changes that took him off air from the BBC’s London station! Others joining the Hall of Fame included Margherita Taylor, Helen Mayhew and Sandi Toksvig, and one of the greatest British voices of all time, Mick Hucknall, received the PPL Lifetime Achievement award.
Recognition’s team manned the press office and worked hard throughout the three day event. Well done to Caroline Walker, Melanie Smith and Jamie Collis!

Consulting with the public

Graham writes........Consultation is an important part of the process of delivering big projects. Handled well it can make a project better and speed its approval through the planning system. Handled badly it will make the smallest objection appear like a large scale protest.

Recognition has handled scores of consultations and most go very smoothly. The picture shows a consultation exhibition in Durham, which engaged with the public and resulted in minor changes to plans which enhanced the application.

I have some horror stories too. These are mostly from smaller developers attempting their first big schemes. They rush and involve the public late in the day in such a way that presents them with a binary choice – object or accept.

One developer wanted to build a large scale residential development on his farm. He wanted to apply for planning permission before the council’s summer recess and only realised at a date very near to the meeting that he hadn’t ticked the consultation box. He hurriedly arranged a public meeting at the farm, resulting in hundreds of people driving through the beautiful farmland he wanted to develop only to be given a talk by an architect who had never talked to a large crowd before. The result was a disaster. The people, who had never previously met, exchanged phone numbers and organised a protest group and the plans were subjected to a massive press campaign and refused!

Council meetings before recesses – Summer and Christmas – usually spark this sort of misguided consultation. It is unprofessional and counter-productive.

Recognition has a formula which ensures the public can have their say, the developer can make a case and any debate can be conducted in a rational way which avoids hot heads! Take our advice early and let the PR people be part of your team alongside architects and planning consultants.

Recognition's care operator's offering

Graham writes…..


I was very pleased to attend a conference for operators of care homes in Yorkshire at the end of September. Recognition has a new product to help this hard pressed sector deal with the increased media scrutiny it faces.

I was delighted that the regulator – the Care Quality Commission – also attended and heartened by the stance it is taking to root out poor practice and report its findings to the public.

The risk for good care home operators is they are tarred with the bad publicity that poor operators receive. Also, large groups of care homes are bound to have the odd ‘bad apple’ and exposure to immediate publicity can create the wrong impression of institutionally poor practice.

The answer is to have a methodology for answering legitimate media enquiries that will come about as the CQC starts to publicise its inspections. Too often care home operators duck and cover, instead of answering questions in an open and transparent way.

The scale of the media coverage is growing. Recognition handles PR for numerous care sector operators. As I write we look after operators which have in excess of 60,000 beds in more than 700 homes. On average 11.7% of the actual care homes in these groups receive some negative media coverage in a 12 month period, and this percentage will grow as a result of the CQC’s unofficial policy of publicising any bad report after one official warning is given.

The CQC cannot be faulted for the policy of using a combination of inspections, warnings and publicity to drive up standards. But a good home will also comment in the press reports, reassuring the public, its residents and their relatives that action plans are in place to deal with the issues. On re-inspection a good tactic is to return to the issue and persuade a local newspaper to report that the home is now operating normally and has been given a 'pat-on-the-back' by inspectors. The CQC is quite happen to help present a balanced picture.

Recognition has a special product o help care providers – it is simple to operate and cost effective.

Click here for full information.

http://www.recognitionpr.co.uk/crisis-management.asp

New school year, new clients

Graham writes…As the business season starts again, like the new school year, we’re thrilled to be winning new clients as schools are welcoming new students. We’ve even won a school as a client- I’m especially happy to be working with my old Secondary School, Nunthorpe School, which I left many moons ago!

We’ve won a range of new clients covering a variety of different sectors, including Nunthorpe School, The Trout Hotel, Darchem Engineering, Barrier Group, V&A Vigar, The Nortech Group, Michael O’Connor Furniture and Bishop Property Services Ltd in Brighton, yes even companies in Brighton are contacting Recognition!

Recognition has developed a portfolio of clients in the Energy sector and this has been enhanced by recently securing three more firms from this industry: 

Darchem Engineering is an award-winning world class engineering company based at Stillington, Stockton-On-Tees. It has been in the North East for nearly 60 years and currently employees 650 locally.

The Nortech Group includes Nortech Solutions, Nortech Staffing Solutions, and Nortech Oil and Gas Ltd. Nortech Solutions is an engineering design and project management company, with the capabilities to provide fully integrated services through the life cycle of a project from concept to completion. Nortech Staffing Solutions provides advice and recruitment services. Nortech Oil and Gas Ltd. has a specific focus on the Oil & Gas industry.

Barrier Group is an industrial painting and coating specialist. Based in Wallsend and employing more than 200, it serves the oil & gas, renewables and marine industries.

From the professional services industry we welcome V&A Vigar; a firm of accountants specialising in all aspects of accountancy and tax affairs for small and medium sized businesses located throughout the UK. The company is made up of three distinct branches; V & A Vigar & Co LLP (Peterborough), V&A Bell Brown LLP (Holmfirth) and a newly launched branch, V&A Vigar & Co Darlington LLP. 

Our latest home services client is Bishop Property Services Ltd. The firm is based in Hove and caters for a large range of property needs, large or small. They offer a same day response service for boiler repairs, landlord gas certificates and small plumbing jobs such as leaking taps, pipe repairs and faulty showers or toilets and can deliver larger projects including the installation of bathrooms and kitchens and maintain and service commercial property portfolios.

Our latest client in the education sector, Nunthorpe School, is a specialist Science, Business and Enterprise 11 – 19 comprehensive school which is often among the top 30% of 11 – 16 schools at GCSE performance levels. 

From the hospitality sector we welcome The Trout Hotel, Cockermouth, which provides luxury four star accommodation and is renowned for the provenance and quality of its food with the emphasis being on home grown and locally sourced ingredients.

We are thrilled also to be working with Michael O’Connor Furniture; a family business established in 1983 with a wealth of experience in the furniture industry. It has two showrooms located in Sunderland and Stockton and can deliver to anywhere in mainland United Kingdom. It has one of the largest selections of cabinet furniture, upholstery and occasional furniture to compliment every room in your home.

We look forward to contributing to their success!

A New York welcome - a different way to use the training budget!

This blog is written by top Recognition PR Consultant Melanie Smith, who has just returned from a special trip to New York during which she learned even more about the latest developments in the PR Sector

Melanie writes............Feeling refreshed (after sleeping off the jet-lag) from my training and personal development trip to New York, I thought I would share some of my experiences from one of the most innovative and influential economies in the world.

I was chosen to visit The City to experience and explore several different workplaces across varied industry sectors. As many of you know, my colleague Jamie Collis visited New York three years ago to bring back knowledge of emerging technologies and developing themes within the PR sector.

During my time I went to a PR firm, similar to Recognition in its ways or working, but significantly larger and several businesses which mirrored my clients including The Brooklyn Brewery and New York Radio Festivals, plus renowned newspaper, The New York Post.

PR firm, Cooper Katz and Company was my first stop and it was really interesting to see an office similar to Recognition as I walked in. After a lengthy discussion about the current economic climate and its effect on business, which was surprisingly positive from both sides, we compared procedures applied throughout the firms. We both took a lot from the meeting including new ways of working, which I believe both parties will adopt.

After an extremely long cab drive across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge I arrived at The Brooklyn Brewery and not to what I expected. I envisaged arriving at a thriving hub with beer enthusiast propping up the bar and keen tourists stocking up on Brewery memorabilia, what I found was quite different. The whole place was very quiet unlike my client, The Black Sheep Brewery, which runs a visitors centre which is an integral part of the Yorkshire tourism market. After being buzzed in through a locked door, I was led up to the Managing Director’s office where I met Eric Ottaway and the PR Manager for the Brewery.

This was a great meeting for me as it gave me chance to get some inside information about the day to day running of the Brooklyn Brewery and who they recommend as distributers in the US market. I gained a great insight into how they interact with their customers and was advised their social media success was due to interaction, interaction and more interaction! A great PR initiative they are currently running includes all members of staff designing their own beers using any flavours they wish. The beer is then sold at the visitor’s bar, which is only open when the tours are on for two hours every afternoon.

I made a fleeting, but very exciting visit to see Elvis Duran and The Morning Show, who I first worked with at The Radio Academy’s Radio Festival in Manchester last year, when he delivered a master class on how to broadcast the best morning show. It was great to see the team again and see where they broadcast their award winning show from.

Next was a trip uptown to The New York Post offices to meet with Thomas Hinton, the Business and Social Media Manager for The Post. When asked what the main aspects of his role were he said a bit of everything! This seems more of a common theme within this climate as people are expected to do more, merging roles together. When discussing social media Thomas very much believed in the Obama Effect, where everyone who ‘follows’ President Obama on Twitter receives a follow back, he believes this is a sure fire and simple way to increase your followers.

On the subject of emerging social media platforms, Thomas felt that Pinterest and Tumbler were at the top of their game in the States at the moment but Twitter was still the most influential and powerful social media tool and within six months both Tumbler and Pinterest would be more or less redundant.

Despite many publications readerships declining, The Post still registers a daily circulation of 555,327 and is ranked 8th in the world for number of unique visitors for an online newspaper.

The New York Festivals organise the New York Radio Festival, which rewards and highlights the best of radio talent. I currently manage the PR for The UK Radio Academy’s annual Radio Festival, which similarly aims to commit to encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK radio broadcasting and audio production.

A main theme which emerged from the meeting was communication is key. During events and seminars, social media, in particular Twitter, should be used to gain maximum coverage for each key point made.

The whole experience was more than a fact-finding mission, it was an inspiring and motivating adventure which has broadened my knowledge and expertise of how the industry I work in is progressing and evolving. Being a professional working in New York City was really exciting and a chance of a life-time, which I had the pleasure of experiencing first-hand (along with a few tourist attractions thrown in during my spare time of course!)

I want to extend my thanks to Graham and the Partners for giving me this opportunity. I was able to bring back my findings and present to my colleagues in order to support the business’ knowledge in moving forward as a progressive PR firm.

August silly season postponed…….

graham writes......August is traditionally seen as a ‘silly season’ in UK media. Parliament, councils, some courts and leaders of high finance are away and major news stories and announcements are delayed. This year though we have the spectacular of the London 2012 Olympics acting as a ‘news sponge’ (a catch-phrase now established by Alastair Campbell in the latest edition of his excellent diaries) keeping our media busy.




Every outlet is at it, from the BBC clearing the entire schedule of BBC 1 to local newspapers reporting the detailed progress of any local Team GB athlete and all sorts of obscure Olympic angles. One of our clients is a nursery school chain and is having an ‘Olympic’ visit from a local torchbearer; a little obscure but enough to generate coverage!



So Recognition is using the Olympics to plan other material for clients to be distributed in the two weeks following the closing ceremony. This is a time that media will be looking for material.



We are also using the period for one of our most exciting training initiatives. Lucky PR consultant Melanie Smith is to visit New York in a five day trip that will visit some of the top US PR firms together with meetings at US based businesses in the same sector as her clients and two major media outlets – a top radio station and the New York Times.



The visit will help us to exchange ideas and consider future planning for the ever changing media and web based social media environment. Melanie will be reporting back on this blog in a few weeks and we expect her visit will help Recognition to maintain its place at the forefront of dynamic PR activity in the UK.

Employment Minister at Tees Valley Business Summit

Helen writes...........

It’s been another busy month for Recognition, including the firm providing PR support for Tees Valley Unlimited’s inaugural Tees Valley Business Summit.

We also arranged for Employment Minister Chris Grayling to give the keynote speech at the high profile event, which attracted hundreds of local businesses.

As a result, the event was well covered in the regional media including newspapers, business websites and magazines and broadcast.

Mr Grayling talked about the importance of private sector business growth to an area’s economic wellbeing.

He also spoke about helping long-term unemployed people find work, including the provision of work experience and work placements, strides being made to simplify business regulations, such as health and safety, and the significance of apprenticeships.

The Summit also featured 50 exhibitors, as well as ten workshops, including one delivered on PR campaigns by Recognition partner Jamie Collis, and 16 one-to-one appointments with business advisers.

DIGITAL PR IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA SETTING

Graham writes.......

Recognition is keeping ahead of the game when it comes to digital PR. We have enhanced our social media and digital services to meet the increasing demand for digital marketing and PR campaigns in this new media age.


We can ensure that your company’s news and details of services or products remain just a click away via the use of social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, web videos, blogs and forums, websites, and e-newsletters.

As part of our strategy, we have welcomed to the team two new members of staff that have fantastic digital skills.

Nazila Maparzadeh (pictured) joins us as a PR Assistant on the consumer team. Nazila gained a degree in Multimedia Journalism from Teesside University and brings to the firm extensive knowledge of social media, video, audio and web development. Marie Carter (see previous blog) also joined us in May.

Our investment in skills, technology and services has led to Recognition PR winning new digital PR contracts with the Just Learning Group and Bristol Street Motors; the objective of which is to increase the digital presence of the two companies.

Recognition’s new clients will be familiar with the changes I have instigated to ensure that emerging social media platforms are properly exploited as a way of promoting products, services and people. For existing clients it might be helpful to know that we have established a growing list of new services and that all members of our team are now active on social media platforms. Furthermore, the recent recruits to the firm have been selected specifically for an expertise in this important and growing element of the marketing mix.

Recognition’s fees are designed to cover the costs of an all-round PR service advising on strategy and tactics and promoting PR messages.

Some clients now want to go further, but aren’t as familiar with how social media works as their children! I have prepared a very short presentation about the basics, which any of the team can deliver. I also am offering an enhanced social media service should there be any requirement for it. Instead of day rates we offer this service on an hourly rate, with a minimum of two hours per week. The charge is £60 plus VAT per hour.

The enhanced service includes:

o Prompting re-tweets from 3rd parties

o Preparing and delivering social media commentaries

o Managing social media dialogue with client’s customers – passing on details via a private email relating to ‘positive customer service’

o In the case of multi-site organisations, engaging with each location to generate regular news

o Devise tweets/campaigns for engagement with customers (competitions, and other interactive devices)

o Arranging for the client to have a corporate presences on LinkedIn

o YouTube – populating a client-centred YouTube page with relevant yet simple and low-priced videos (videos approx. £200 plus VAT each)

 Assessment of presence using Google Ratings

Recognition helps Institute of Directors organise football talk

Graham writes........

Recognition was delighted to help the Institute of Directors organise a members event in Houghton Le Spring. Members in County Durham and Sunderland have heard an inspirational insight into the life and work of one of the North East’s leading football bosses.

Margaret Byrne, chief executive of Sunderland AFC, addressed a lunch event of business leaders at the Evolve Business Centre, Rainton Bridge.

 

Northern Ireland-born Ms Byrne talked about her life as a solicitor prior to joining the Premier League outfit as Club Secretary, a position in which she was involved in a range of activities, including player negotiations.

 

And she described the day club’ owner Ellis Short asked her to take on the position of Chief Executive as the best day of her life, closely followed by being appointed to the FA Council. The challenges clubs face under new Financial Fair Play legislation and the diversification of the club into areas such as event management and concerts, as well the commercial links with overseas markets, also formed a part of an insightful talk on management of a top flight club.

 

I am the chairman of the local Institute of Directors committee and I thought that Margaret’s talk was hugely inspirational for members and guests, who were enthralled by her story and ambitions for Sunderland Football Club.

The links between football and the wider community, including business, are increasingly important and the economic contribution made by clubs is huge, and we are very grateful that Margaret took time to attend the event.

Linked In site connects Recognition PR

Recognition PR has become the new owner of the North East England Business Network on the popular social media site LinkedIn.

The network has over 3,500 members from businesses and organisations around the North East and is used to exchange information and experience to help make running a business easier.

The North East England Business Network was established by Steve Affleck in 2009 and has grown to become a valuable resource to its members. Steve decided to transfer ownership because he is relocating to another part of the UK but wanted to ensure the ethos and purpose of the network was maintained.

Recognition is one of the North East’s largest PR firms, representing high-profile clients including The Bannatyne Group, The Priory Group, Bristol Street Motors and Black Sheep Brewery. The firm also operates a video and audio production arm, producing web videos and web TV programmes from its studios in Darlington.

Steve Affleck said: “Recognition acquired the group after a process of evaluation bids from new owners. LinkedIn does not allow groups to be ‘sold’ so the bids were evaluated on the best approach to maintaining the original purpose of the group. Recognition’s extensive business network and high level participation in respected business organisations made the firm a logical choice to take the group forward.”

Graham Robb, owner of Recognition PR, is also a member of the North East board of the Institute of Directors and the Entrepreneur’s Forum, two organisations which subscribe to the philosophy of the North East England Business Network and will subsequently be able to post information about their own activities and events.

Graham Robb said: “Recognition has been at the heart of the North East business community for years and taking ownership of this LinkedIn group will enable the firm to maintain the group’s philosophy, grow its membership and reach out to a widely network of connected business users. By sharing the facility with other interested groups we will ensure it becomes a ‘must use’ resource for people in business.”

Wetherby Whaler opening receives warm welcome in media

Caroline Walker writes...........


Being a PR professional is always hard work, often stressful with deadlines to meet and clients to service but it is also great fun and incredibly satisfying, particularly when it involves fish and chips, celebrities and a Yorkshire icon.

The opening of the new Wetherby Whaler fish and chip restaurant and take-away in Guiseley near Leeds was such a project.

Simple enough you might think, but this restaurant is no ordinary restaurant. It is the spiritual home of fish and chips, the iconic original Harry Ramsden’s. Back in its hey-day it was the largest fish and chip shop in the world and boasted stained glass windows, art-deco plasterwork and shimmering chandeliers.

The restaurant, now in corporate hands and unloved and underused, dwindled and in late 2011 it closed its famous doors.

All was not lost however and Yorkshire fish and chip entrepreneurs Phillip and Janine Murphy, owners of four Wetherby Whalers, stepped in.

Several months of intensive work followed and the 5th Wetherby Whaler was created. True to the ideals of Harry Ramsden the £500,000 refurbishment was designed to bring the restaurant up to date, while maintaining the atmosphere the restaurant was renowned for. A baby grand piano, much of the original plasterwork and stained glass were saved and updated and ten band new chandeliers were installed.

A grand opening was needed for this landmark restaurant and Recognition worked closely with the Murphy family to ensure that it was a glittering affair.

Guests of honour at the official opening included Harry Ramsden’s daughter Shirley Dillon and granddaughter Jayne Dinan who travelled from Ireland for the occasion.

Also in attendance were local dignitaries, including Stuart Andrew MP, Sir Ken Morrison and members of the 1970’s Leeds United team. Twin sisters, then called Mavis and Wendy Raistrick, who featured in the press and in a book about the famous restaurant when they attended a celebration there in 1952, could not be left out. The sisters walked from their home in Horsforth to be first in line when the restaurant marked its 21st anniversary by selling fish and chips at the original price.

Yorkshire legend Dickie Bird OBE, a regular visitor to the Wetherby Whaler in Wakefield, also enjoyed the occasion.

Media from across Yorkshire came along to enjoy fish and chips and report on the event. Cameras flashed and TV cameras whirred as a blue plaque was unveiled by an emotional Shirley Dillon, who was certain her father would have thoroughly approved of the new restaurant.

Lots of media coverage, a happy client, and a fish and chip lunch into the bargain! A good day’s work!

NEW ADDITION TO THE TEAM!

Recognition Marketing and PR has welcomed Marie Carter as a Senior PR Consultant on its business-to-business team, which works with prestigious clients such as NOF Energy, TAG Energy Solutions, Ebac, DurhamGate and The Institution of Civil Engineers.

Marie, 37, lives near Durham City, and prior to joining Recognition, she ran her own successful PR consultancies, MC Communications and Vet-PR, after starting in business in 2005. During that time Marie has worked with clients such as the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) and Durham Business Club. Marie is also a former regional journalist having worked for Johnston Press titles and freelanced for The Northern Echo, among other publications. She also has a strong political and public affairs background with experience both as a local authority Press Officer and as an MP’s Researcher following graduation from the University of Stirling (Politics & German BA Hons.)

Recognition Marketing and PR acts for a wide-ranging portfolio of more than 50 clients including major construction and property companies, manufacturers and the education and health sectors. The company also specialises in crisis and reputation management and is the only North East PR firm to have its own video and audio production studio, producing web videos and web TV programmes from its base at Lingfield House in Darlington.

Marie said: “I am delighted to join such a well-known and well-established PR agency as Recognition and to be working with a list of such prestigious clients. I believe that my background in business, public affairs and journalism will bring a very worthwhile mix to the existing superb business-to-business PR team at Recognition.”

Graham Robb, Senior Partner, commented: “I am very pleased to welcome Marie to the Recognition team. She brings with her a wealth of experience in public relations and the media as well as in business.

He added: “Over the last twenty years, Recognition has grown to become one of the North East’s largest and most successful PR firms. We have done this by investing in high quality people and pushing the boundaries in terms of new technology and media.”

"Rich List evacuee" causes media frenzy

Paul writes...

Sometimes a story really captures the imagination of the media and creates a mini frenzy of activity across the whole range of print and broadcast outlets. Such was the case when John Elliott, founder of Recognition’s client, Ebac, announced he was “giving away” his fortune.

When it came to deciding how he wanted to pass on the business, John – TV’s first Secret Millionaire and a member of the illustrious Rich list – shirked convention. He would not sell the business (that meant there would be a chance manufacturing could be taken abroad, taking jobs from the area) and it would not be passed down through the family, despite their involvement in the company.

Instead, a Foundation would be launched, preserving jobs and manufacturing in County Durham and ensuring profits would be ploughed back into future growth. There would be no shareholders to take money out of the business.

This mix of a Rich List evacuee and an inheritance bypassed was media gold. The days prior to the official launch of the Ebac Foundation, interviews started, with The Northern Echo preparing a front page splash and BBC Tees pre-recording for their mid-morning show. The morning itself started early, with live interviews on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast, Radio 4’s Today programme, as well as BBC Tees’ breakfast show.

Then it was back to Ebac for an event, featuring Lord Digby Jones, which attracted further coverage on BBC Look North, Tyne Tees TV and BBC News Channel, as well as interviews with The Daily Mirror and The Journal. Media interest continued through to the following weekend, when MD Pamela Petty – John’s daughter – travelled to BBC Television Centre in London to take part in 5 Live’s On The Money and BBC News Channel’s Show Me The Money.

John’s act of selflessness has, with justification, attracted a lot of attention, as the media continue to ask the question of “why” he has taken this step.

The Journal article 17 April

This article by Graham Robb was published in the Newcastle Journal:

We don't need to do anything clever, just invest in making the things we all buy


We are in another two weeks of landmark economic news in the North East – a projected 1000 new jobs from OGN manufacturing wind farm turbine piles in Newcastle and the re-firing up of the blast furnace at the Redcar steel plant closed under the last Labour Government. We also had the formal announcement of Nissan’s plan to invest £127m in the Wearside plant to build its latest hatchback. The announcement was made by the Prime Minister during a visit to Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. The latest jobs calculations suggest 255 direct jobs and 900 supply chain jobs from Nissan. All these massive projects have been backed by taxpayers’ cash from the Coalition Government.
This hat-trick of good news is, in some ways, more important than the ‘rear-view mirror’ UK growth figures which will be published next week. They will be used to determine if the Government is on track to grow our economy and there will be lots of fierce arguments over the smallest percentage in the data.
However, I have begun to wonder if these figures are as important as they are made out to be. I want my own business to grow, but only at a profit. The old saying is as true now as it has ever been: “Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity but cash is King!”
In business I’m looking for a cash surplus. And so should ‘Great Britain Limited’. Surely, this makes our balance of trade, not the growth figures, the most important economic indicator. In the North East we really are top dog in this respect. Our export growth continues and we still export more than any other part of the UK. The Nissan investment proves there is an appetite from business to export even more.
I bought a new tumble drier recently. In the electrical superstore I needed to ask which one was British. They found one – a ‘White Knight’ model – it was competitively priced and had all the correct functions. It had a Union Jack logo, was made near Halifax and I saw no reason not to buy it. Everyday goods like this are too often imported. It’s great that we make high end products for export, but we also need the basics for our own market. If a British firm can make a competitive tumble drier why not a washing machine, fridge or TV? It has been 20 years since we vacated this sector of the market, isn’t is worth another look?
One man who believes that import substitution can help our economy is North East manufacturer John Elliott. He’s an old friend from the NO to Regional Assembly campaign and he founded UK manufacturing firm Ebac, which makes domestic dehumidifiers and ubiquitous office water coolers. He believes the trade deficit is so important he has launched a website – www.stopgapuk.co.uk - to promote his new Stop Gap campaign.
The total trade deficit rose to a monthly figure of £1.76bn in the last year. Only by placing manufacturing back at the heart of the economy can this be reversed. We don’t need to do anything clever, simply invest in factories that can make the things we all buy. Importing goods from China may give us cheap goods today but is disastrous in the long-term.
Take my tumble drier; if it wasn’t made at all in the UK what is to stop importers from increasing prices as competition dries up, transport costs rising and Far East economies becoming more wealthy? This is already happening to minerals such as oil; it won’t be long before our imported manufactured goods rise in price too.
That is why I’m pleased the Government is trying to rebalance the economy. Enterprise Zones offer serious incentives for new factories and the Regional Growth Fund is targeting manufacturing in our region. The aim is good, but the resources are limited and the rules on state aid are tough.
The UK Government should interpret them as loosely as other countries do and continue its policy of backing manufacturing by whatever means are at its disposal.
My own firm is not in the manufacturing sector but it will grow because of it. The argument, put by Labour, that the region’s large public sector base created jobs by injecting public sector workers’ spending power into the economy is more accurately applied to our manufacturing firms. The last Government sprayed the cash at public sector agencies, but allowed steel plants and micro-processor factories to close. This Government has less money to spray, but is targeting at the right sectors. I hope more landmark announcements will follow and the rising tide of manufacturing and exports will lift all the region’s businesses.