Busy January

Graham writes....It was a busy start to the New Year at Recognition. We have won a couple of new clients including Henderson Insurance brokers Ltd., and Costain Energy and Process which have both opened on Teesside. Pimlico plumbers in London has received lots of coveage in the national media for its reaction to the Government's boiler scrappage scheme. The Priory's senior managers had a media training course which resulted in a lovely email congratulating us on the high quality of the content. Duncan Bannatyne made an impressive plea for Haiti which received thousands of views. Our client Iain Sim of Coast & Country Housing made some impressive comments about industrial policy which were extensively reported. Also this the latest advert for TTE, Recognition's first client 20 years ago! Lots more happened besides, keep reading the blog!!!

Help for Haiti

Graham writes.....we were proud to help our client Duncan Bannatyne speak up for the victims of the earthequake in Haiti. Duncan is an ambassador for UNICEF. He made a video appeal at our studios which has been used on the UNICEF website and has had well over a thousand views on our own Broadband TV channel website; thanks to broadcaster Chris Evans for plugging it and well done to Paul White at Recognition for asking him to.

You can see the video at:

www.broadbandtvchannel.co.uk/clip.asp?clipid=512

Energy for the New Year!

Frances writes…….Recognition has always been at the forefront of promotion developing business sectors. Even in the recession one sector that is growing is energy. We recent won a great new contract to highlight a new North East investment by Costain Energy and Process and for several years we have been promoting one of the most significant trade bodies in the sector NOF Energy.

George Rafferty (pictured), Chief Executive of NOF Energy, which represents over 300 companies in the oil, gas and energy sectors, was featured in the media last week commenting on the Crown Estates announcement to licence nine new areas for UK offshore wind farms.He said: “This is very good news for North East businesses serving the energy sector.There is a wealth of skills and experience from the oil & gas supply chain that are transferable to the offshore wind sector. “This will provide new opportunities for our members and help create some of the 60,000 jobs that are believed will be generated by the development of these offshore turbines.”

George knows what he is talking about and, as a result of raising the profile of NOF Energy, is increasingly seen as a real UK expert in the energy sector.

Meanwhile my business partner Graham, has organised a working group of businesses to advise the Conservatives on the views of Tees Valley based businesses on reform of ONE North East should the Tories win. Energy and gas storage has been right at the heart of the discussions.

Recognition on TV in the New Year

Graham writes....Recognition TV advert....from January we are putting our money were our mouth is and advertising Recognition's services on TV. Successful marketing campaigns involve a mix of devices from research to PR to advertising. Recognition is now offering all three. Check out our ad......

Bannatyne Fitness headline sponsors 'Local Heroes'

Recognition has been working with Bannatyne’s Health Clubs in the North East which were the headline sponsors of the famous Northern Echo Local Heroes awards. In conjubnction with the event Bannatyne's has announced the winners of its ‘Search for a Club Hero’ competition who were guests of honour at a major sporting awards night.

The winners, who were nominated by their fellow members and Bannatyne’s staff, attended the Northern Echo’s Local Heroes Awards Ceremony on 3rd December alongside a number of famous North East sports stars and the cream of the region’s grassroots sporting community.

The Bannatyne’s heroes are:
Chester-le-Street – Joe Elsender
71-year-old Joe has completed the Great North Run over 20 times, which is even more of an outstanding achievement as he is partially sighted. Joe has raised thousands of pounds for charities supporting blind people through his running. He also helped establish the running club at Bannatyne’s in Chester-le-Street as well as a running club for local children.

Coulby Newham – Peter Swan
For the past five years Peter has been leading the Meseran Project, a charity that creates opportunities for young people in Middlesbrough and Africa. The project has funded the construction of schools in Africa and sponsored African children through secondary education. The fundraising has been undertaken by young people from Middlesbrough and Peter’s inspiration and motivation has helped show the young people of Middlesbrough what is going on in the world and how they can make a difference.

Darlington – Donna Gilmore
Donna became a ‘Good Samaritan’ to a fellow member. Ron Howe broke his leg in a fall and, as the only driver in his family, was left almost housebound. Donna came to his rescue and has been driving Ron to Bannatyne’s so he can meet up with his friends at the health club. In addition, Donna has also been driving Ron’s wife to appointments and shopping.

Durham – Jill Young
Jill has enjoyed a massive lifestyle change since she joined Bannatyne’s in Durham in 2008 and has been called an ‘inspiration to other members’ by fitness advisors at the health club. She has developed her fitness to such a level that she entered her first Great North Run this year raising £400 for charity. Jill now attends Bannatyne’s six-times-a-week and is training for her first full marathon.

Ingleby Barwick – Jennifer Clark
Jennifer swapped sofas for treadmills to kick start her healthy lifestyle and has so far lost five stone since joining Bannatyne’s. According to her nominator, Jennifer never says she ‘can’t do it’ and tries her very hardest to maintain her health, fitness and wellbeing. Bannatyne’s Health Clubs in the North East has announced the winners of its ‘Search for a Club Hero’ competition who will be guests of honour at a major sporting awards night.

The winners, who were nominated by their fellow members and Bannatyne’s staff, will attend the Northern Echo’s Local Heroes Awards Ceremony on 3rd December alongside a number of famous North East sports stars and the cream of the region’s grassroots sporting community.

Nigel Armstrong, Managing Director of The Bannatyne Group, the headline sponsor of the Northern Echo’s Local Heroes Awards, said: “Each of these members has shown real dedication and commitment, whether it’s been through improving their lifestyles or by helping others. "

Training; New York style!

Graham writes……training is important and so is sharing best practice. This month Recognition has put both into practice by sending Jamie Collis, our Director of Communications, to New York to visit the senior people at some of the world’s top PR firms. He returned to us today full of stories and new ideas. He met with Donald Trump’s PR person and media outlets throughout Manhattan. The result of his trip will be to bring the latest techniques and ideas to Recognition’s clients as we continuously develop our service. This is something we have done before. A few years ago I accompanied another member of staff to meet PR & media professionals in Boston. New approaches were introduced by Recognition which proved successful; also the firms learned a lot from us. It is interesting that the Government will only fund recognised training courses yet our staff, our business and our clients will get more out of this more innovative approach to training and personal development!

Pudsey, Duncan and the cleaning businesss...

Graham writes.....a fun day filming this week for two clients; Duncan Bannatyne and the terrific company he has invested in, UK Commercial Cleaning. Duncan was endorsing the BBC's Children in Need. Also the BBC was fiming a catch up report on his Dragon's Den investment in Tony Earnshaw's UK Commercial Cleaning. We managed to put the two together in an amusing film in which Pudsey Bear asks Duncan to help children in Hartlepool clean up a local area, Duncan asks UK Commercial Cleaning and so it goes on...

I've been involved with Children in Need for 24 years. I first presented the radio output on local radio in 1986 and every year at least one of Recognition's clients has had some involvement. It is something the BBC does well and in difficult economic times people respond even more.

Incidentally, we have a new member of staff at Recognition, Kimberley Walker. It was her first day at work so she joined us for the filming...a strange first day at work, to be photographed with Pudsey and filming with the BBC, but we have an interesting job to do!

NEW TV CAMPAIGN FOR WENSLEYDALE

Graham writes…..if you have a moment this week please buy a slice of Wensleydale cheese at the supermarket. The Wensleydale Creamery is a rural community business and, as well as handling its PR, we have launched its first TV advert. The campaign distances the firm from the well known ‘Wallace and Gromitt’ image (which will be used for special occasions) and focuses on the key selling point; that it is the only Wensleydale Cheese made in Wensleydale. Others are the products of big agri-businesses and in the supermarket cheese wars try to undercut Wensleydale Creamery on price. The truth is that the Wensleydale Creamery makes the cheese using milk from more than40 farms in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. These farmers have higher costs because they have responsibilities to the environment under the National Park rules. Buying the real cheese will help them and keep the Dales as a green and pleasant land!

Pimlico’s ‘Secret Millionaire’

Graham writes.......Well done to Charlie Mullins, managing director of Pimlico Plumbers, who took part in an episode of Secret Millionaire last week. A charity dealing with support for cancer sufferers and a special garden centre for people with learning disabilities were among the recipients of large cash sums from Pimlico Plumbers as a result of Charlie’s generosity. I thought Charlie came across really well. It is always best to be yourself on these shows. The producers are careful to generate the best ‘reveal’ moment at the end but the programmes also tell the story of the subject’s ‘journey’ and change of lifestyle. Charlie is the third Recognition client to appear on this programme, which was the brainchild of UK TV genius Stephen Lambert. We met Stephen before the first programme aired, as one of our clients for involved in the pilot. It was a difficult thing to sell at first – the TV company telling a business millionaire he would be made a fish out of water for a week with no access to home or phone and a microphone and TV camera following every move. What is more they are expected to give out large sums of their own money to take part. Matching up the right project to the right millionaire is also a big job, in Charlie’s case the project took two years from initial contact to transmission. But it was worth it, a great show and everyone was a winner!

The Shadow MPC - 'Panel publicity'

Frances writes……today our firm organised two of our regular ‘shadow MPC’ panels on behalf of clients Arlington Financial in the North East and Lee & Priestley Solicitors in Yorkshire. The idea behind these panels is to position our clients as leaders of opinion and decision makers (which they are of course!) The panels work in conjunction with two newspapers and, in the case of the North East, also with the North East Chamber of Commerce. The Yorkshire Post and the Northern Echo each send a reporter to report the deliberations of the panels and interesting copy is generated from the front line of the economy. Each panel consists of around 10 leaders of the local economy. They debate the current trends and offer their view on what the Bank of England should do with interest rates when it decides on Thursday. We have other panels that work in a similar way, for example the property panel in conjunction with the Northern Echo and Latimer Hinks Solicitors and the commercial developers panel in Huddersfield in conjunction with Baxter Caulfield and the Huddersfield Examiner. The decisions of the two shadow MPCs were that rates should be held……click for a video