Recognition’s clients among the most influential

Jamie Collis writes......The annual report detailing the 250 most influential people in the North East has been published by the Newcastle Journal. Recognition and its clients are featured.

Our clients have always been important in their own sectors, but it is good to see the Journal recognising the importance of business leadership in the way our region functions. Recognition’s Senior Partner, Graham Robb, was also featured as a new entry on the list.

Good communication of ideas, products and services can lead to influence. People who set the agenda and are at the forefront of their field are sometimes too quiet about their achievements and successes; however, properly presented they can result in influence and greater success.

RECOGNITION SIGNS UP TO PRCA INTERN POLICY

Recognition PR has become the first public relations consultancy in the North East to publicly commit to a list of firms paying at least the minimum wage to interns.

The Darlington-based firm has become one of more than 30 PR agencies across the UK to sign up to a campaign to ensure all interns are paid for their work.

The move follows an initiative by the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) – the professional body that represents UK PR consultancies – and PRWeek, a trade publication for the PR industry.

The PRCA placed a list on its site of all member agencies who commit to paying at least the minimum wage to interns.

Graham Robb, senior partner at Recognition, said he was proud the firm was setting an example as the first in the North East to join the scheme; the scheme reflects existing practice at Recognition.

He said internships allowed companies to evaluate the potential of possible employees.

Meanwhile, interns get the opportunity to build their CV and gain hands-on experience in a career sector.

Graham added: “There are many firms using interns in the North East but not paying them.

“Sometimes clients don’t know their work has been done by unpaid interns.

“By paying interns a modest sum you can give them a real taste of the cut and thrust of life in the workplace. The scheme is to be welcomed and I am proud to say Recognition has paid its interns for a long time.”

Tom Hawkins, PRCA research and policy executive, welcomed Recognition PR to the scheme.

He said: “I’m delighted to see another member agency wanting to join up to our expanding intern list.

“PR is a people business that must attract the best and brightest talent, not the best connected.

“Our industry must improve in helping to ensure that nobody is deterred from a career in PR because of their background.

“Recognition is making a progressive commitment to paying interns that not only improves social mobility, but adds value to the service it provides.”

Other agencies to have signed up to the pledge include Edelman, MHP Communications, Burson-Marsteller, Grayling, Portland and Cohn & Wolfe.

RADIO FESTIVAL PR SUCCESS!

Graham writes……Recognition won a prestigious account earlier this year and the work was delivered this week. We were appointed to handle the PR for the UK’s Radio Festival 2011, organised by the Radio Academy. Throughout the year we have been planning our media operation for an event that boasted celebrity speakers, leading industry figures and real debate about the future of this important medium.

Our team, which included Melanie Smith, Caroline Walker, Jamie Collis and me, attended the festival for four days and ran a dynamic and proactive media operation. The result was widespread coverage on TV, Radio and in the printed press. We also had extensive coverage on blogs, twitter and all over the internet.

The Festival – thanks to its creative producers and the inspired leadership of the Radio Academy – was the most successful ever.

Take a look at this tongue-in-cheek film with an American presenter, Elvis Duran, who was broadcasting live from the festival to 30 million listeners. It shows the virtue of juxtaposition – the leader of Manchester Council on a ‘zoo format’ US breakfast show!

Big Issue founder visits Coast & Country Housing

Graham writes… Last week John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, visited a range of Coast & Country Housing’s innovative projects which help people gain the skills required to find work. During his tour of the Redcar and Cleveland area, John Bird met people who have been assisted by such schemes as ‘Empty Homes’ and ‘Steeplechase’, which emphasise local employment initiative and helps people learn skills vital to finding work. John Bird also visited the ‘Living Sober’ scheme which helps people addicted to alcohol or drugs over come their addition.

We helped co-ordinate the visit, which resulted in excellent coverage, so far, in key regional press and a superb report on BBC TV.

We have worked with Coast & Country for seven years now and it’s still great to see its commitment to excellence and leading the way in providing schemes to not only providing affordable housing, but helping people raise their self esteem develop key occupational skills.

PR SPECIALISM - ENERGY SUPPLY CHAIN

Graham writes……The launch of the new TAG Energy factory on the banks of the River Tees was an exciting occasion. 200 of the top people in the renewable energy sector, local business and politics joined staff and their families for a celebration. The guest of honour was Rt. Hon Chris Huhne MP, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Recognition has worked with TAG Energy for a year, publicising the investment, preparing marketing materials and organising for top political and business leaders to see the new facility. Recognition is a specialist in PR for the energy supply chain. There are hundreds of businesses in the UK that have development products and services which are used in the energy supply chain and factories like TAG Energy are positioning Britain as a key provider of high tech engineering solutions to energy companies throughout the world.

Positive news in Tees Valley!

Graham writes........September 1st marked a new financial year at Recognition. The last year was a pleasant surprise. Turnover increased and profits were maintained in a difficult economic environment. The last few months have also been bright with three new client wins including Southdale – a national construction and development specialist – and NorChem a respected chain of pharmacies.
We have also been working with the new Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnership. Tees Valley Unlimited has announced its new Enterprise Zones recently and has been involved in communication with its stakeholders to promote its vision for the growth and development. Recognition is playing its part; promoting the organisation and ensuring that the media has all the information needed to report on significant milestones. This report on BBC TV told the latest story really well.

LOCAL ITV ADVERTISING – act now or miss the chance before ITV reforms!

Recognition doesn’t do advertising; except with ITV. We are one of the smallest registered agencies dealing with ITV and have worked on several successful campaigns in recent years. We tend to offer our clients the opportunity to advertise on ITV’s local transmitters thus reaching audiences around locations they are targeting. A good example was a new nursing home in the Northern Ireland – a well-made TV advert produced some excellent enquiries; another was a restaurant in North Yorkshire. Both adverts were only transmitted locally. The adverts were affordable because ITV allows advertising to be bought by transmitters; its so-called ‘micro regions’. A typical example is the ‘micro-region’ serving Teesside, North Yorkshire and South Durham. An advert made by Recognition will cost from £1900 plus VAT to make. Then, if it is a 20 second advert transmitted 30 times in a week (11 times in peak viewing hours) the airtime will cost £3742 plus VAT, if it is a 30 second advert the same package will cost £4678 plus VAT. However, due to new technical requirements of the Sky satellite system (with the advent of new HD channels) the number of micro-regions is being reduced. This will start after January 8th next year. Hence there is now urgency to book local campaigns before ITV runs out of local space! If you want one chance of using ITV’s least costly packages get in touch with Recognition quickly!

Toby’s telly reports for the internet

New! LOW COST INTERNET VIDEOS from £200 (plus VAT)


Recognition’s services business has introduced a new LOW COST band in its video offering. From £200 plus VAT our own Toby Nichol will attend your premises; shoot properly framed video and produce short web video reports (2 to 6 mins) for use on your web site.

In this age web sites have moved on. They need video more than ever! But you don’t have to go for an expensive re-design. Recognition will produce a web video for you and host it on our site; which your site can link to! See our own site for an example of how it can look! www.recognitionpr.co.uk

Toby Nichol is Recognition’s young and enthusiastic audio visual star! We recruited him from our local college two years ago and he has built up this critical element of our service. He is now equipped with a professional camera, computers and editing suite, together with the high speed broadband needed to place videos on line.

Toby’s service compliments the high quality service we already provide, using professional TV crews all around the UK.

The prices fall into the following bands:

1) Simple web videos (Toby’s service) from £200 plus VAT
2) Videos for use on Web or on DVD (shoot by our professional network of TV crews) from £390 plus VAT
3) Web TV programme from our Darlington based studios from £600 plus VAT
4) Fully produced DVDs shot on multiple sites from £800 plus VAT

Give Recognition a call on 01325 363436 to find out more and discuss your requirements

Great fun with Fish 'n' Chips!

Sometimes our job can be great fun! This weekend was a case in point.The Wensleydale Heifer, in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, has re-captured the record for the world’s largest serving of fish and chips. We helped organise the event and gained tremendous media coverage for one of our smallest clients. The chefs broke the record by frying a fillet of prime halibut, in its famous Black Sheep beer batter, and hand cut chips weighing a combined total of 101 lbs. They also cooked a vat of mushy peas to accompany the record-breaking dish. The Heifer was determined to use American Independence Day weekend to reclaim the world record, which was held by The Black Rose Restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts, USA with chips weighing almost 44lb and the fish 34lb, for the UK. The fish and chips were prepared in a custom made, giant pan made by Beekly Fabrications. The fillet was coated in over four gallons of batter and accompanied by an amount of chips proportional to the size of fish. The fish was weighed prior to cooking and then battered and fried as a single fish before being divided into servings. Local Black Sheep beer was used in the batter and served at the event. The record was officially verified by Guinness World Records and the dish shared amongst around 250 villagers and friends, who made a donation to the Help for Heroes charity.

Summer success

Graham writes: June has been a busy month so far......! I was delighted to win an assignment to promote a leading investment bank and wealth management business which is developing a presence in Yorkshire. This world class business has some great clients in the North, many of whom are activitely investing in the regional economy. I'm looking forward to tell people about its offering and promoting its take on the ways our economy can grow.
Meanwhile in the North East clients that invest continue to prosper. GT Engineering has won more work from Russia. It has secured a £50m contract with Russia’s leading automotive manufacturer, which will enhance significant growth over the next five years. GT, now established as world leaders in this field, has landed a contract to supply exhaust gas control systems for a new range of heavy duty diesel engines to GAZ Group in Russia.
The contract will help GT Group, which currently employs 300 people, to achieve its ambitious growth programme of increasing its workforce to 500 in the next three years. The Prime Minister is visiting Russia later in the year and GT's founder has written to him to tell him how the relationship can pay off.
Finally, we want to be working with the new Local Enterprise Partnerships throughout the North. I organised a number of events, via clients, to enage with local communities. These have taken the form of 'Question Time' style panels. We asked our clients to help pay for them and invited the LEP along. We've done this in Leeds, Darlington and Redcar. Hundreds of businesses have attended the three events. Look at the video to get a taste of the format.