Our top ten moments of the year!
A very warm welcome…
Hello, Hello and welcome to High-Rise’s Top Ten moments of the year!
In this blog, we take a trip down memory lane and take a look at some of the best moments of the year. We have had a busy year gaining PR in the press for our clients. Here are our highlights.
Number 10 – The Modernist Society’s take on the Black Country
We’ve had another great year working with The Modernist Society with their publication of The Black Country Type. This is a series of photographs depicting the unknown and unusual parts of the West Midlands.
This book has received great reviews and has been featured in The Guardian, Dezeen and BBC News. We’ve been busy sharing the secret places in the Black Country that are a surprise to most people.
Number 9 – Have you heard? LinkedIn live audio event success
We’ve had a busy year in terms of webinars and audio events. With a total of 5 events in the past year, we started off with ‘Reputation Management: Top Tips for Responding to the Media in a Crisis.’ This featured insights from High-Rise Managing Director Helen Furnivall and garnered significant interest with 95 sign-ups. This was followed by ‘Media Training: Top Tips to Help Media Spokespeople Give the Best Interview.’ This was co-hosted by Helen Furnivall and Gemma Peers, Head of Marketing and Communications at St. Ann’s Hospice. This session attracted an impressive 250 sign-ups.
Continuing the educational content, our live webinar titled ‘What is the Point of PR? The Value of Earned Media in Successful Campaigns,’ was a riveting discussion led by Helen Furnivall. She was joined by Molly Robinson, co-founder of the We Will mental health campaign, and Ben Morling, a professional in festival and music PR.
Most recently, our event ‘Digital PR: Top Tips for Maximising a Digital Approach,’ featuring Ben Morling and High-Rise employee Jack Gevertz, saw an overwhelming response. This had 285 eager sign-ups.
Thank you to all who joined us in these sessions. Stay tuned as we gear up to bring you more insightful events in the upcoming year!
Number 8 – EastEnders actor teams up with charity client Henshaws!
In the world of PR, you never quite know what story you’ll be writing next. But there was something truly heart-warming about getting to share the tale of a young boy, Shane Plange. He’s taking on the literary world with the help of actor Jack Ryder despite his sight loss.
Actor Jack Ryder, best known for his role of Jamie Mitchell in EastEnders from 1998 to 2002, met Shane through our client Henshaws, the Greater Manchester-based sight loss charity.
Shane, a 10-year-old boy who uses a cane and reads text in braille, teamed up with Jack to craft his very own werewolf-filled novel.
We pitched away and secured coverage in publications such as the Metro, with its whopping 26.4 million monthly online visitors. As well as this, we secured coverage in several local newspapers, helping to raise profile on the charity and their incredible project.
Number 7 – Shining a spotlight on Circada
In November we secured our client, Circada, a total audience of 30.7 million through a digital PR press release. This was titled ‘How many hours of sleep does a child need to be well rested’.
Digital PR releases are optimised for relevant keywords. This makes it more likely that they will appear higher up a search engine leader board. This can significantly increase the online visibility of your brand, products, or services.
Digital PR press releases can also attract targeted traffic to your website. When your press release is optimised for specific keywords related to your industry or niche, it is more likely to reach audiences who are interested in your products or services.
Number 6 – Greater Manchester Youth Network take to the big screens
Greater Manchester Youth Network (GMYN) have seen great success in their campaign. It was a year in the making with us! The charity launched their business engagement campaign earlier this year. This saw them partnering with JCDecaux to take their young people to the big screens of Manchester!
We’re proud to have worked with GMYN who have led and designed the campaign from start to finish. The charity held a business event that gained the attention of over 60 businesses who would like to support GMYN.
We also promoted the event through our PR and media work. And we reached an audience of 2.01 million people viewing the coverage we secured.
Number 5 – Going global with TikTok
As we entered into December, we also entered into Whamagedon territory.
For those who haven’t heard of, or participated in Whamagedon, it’s a game you play with yourself and friends in which you see how far you can get into December before hearing ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham. Once you have heard the song, you have been Whammed!
Our social media guru Molly is always keeping a keen eye on current trends to get our name and brand out there. So due to the global virality of the challenge, and the clever use of specific hashtags, our TikTok caught the eye of a researcher from the Today Show (owned by NBC). NBC (The National Broadcasting Company) is America’s leading ad-supported television network, with an average viewership of 5.15 million daily (Statistica.com).
Whereas the Today show racks in a whopping 2.76 million daily viewers and 48 million monthly unique online visitors. This whole fiasco resulted in us being featured in an NBC News article, a Today Show live and online segment, and linked to in this Forbes article!
Number 4 – High-profile podcasts with High-Performance
One of our most impactful endeavours this year revolved around the inspiring narrative of Dr. Waheed Arian. He is a remarkable individual who transitioned from being a refugee to an A&E doctor. His powerful journey from fleeing Afghanistan to establishing himself in the UK made pitching easy, garnering attention from prestigious platforms like the New York Times and the High-Performance Podcast.
Securing such high-profile coverage was a result of our strategic approach to pitching journalists and tailoring our messaging to align with each outlet’s unique focus.
Number 3 – easyfundraising vs easyGroup, the not-so ‘easy’ battle
Back in October we successfully secured national media coverage for our client easyfundraising as they prepared for their legal battle with easyGroup next year.
This media coverage was closely tied to the indie band Easy Life, who are also facing a copyright infringement lawsuit from easyGroup. Leveraging the Easy Life angle provided us with a valuable opportunity to raise awareness about how shoppers can donate to charity through easyfundraising at no additional cost!
We have secured over 1.7 million views and listens on BBC Radio 2, Charity Times, BBC News, The Times, The Guardian, Sky News and more. The charity donation platform will continue to argue their case and raise money for charities and causes that need their support.
Number 2 – Runner up! Working with Adidas on their international advertising campaign
Earlier this year we worked with our client St Ann’s Hospice in getting one of their dedicated supporters in an international adidas advertising campaign.
From previous national coverage of Barbara’s achievements, the world renown sports brand adidas got in contact with us. They wanted Barbara to feature in a new campaign advert for their brand, specifically their ‘impossible is nothing’ advertising materials.
Sophie accompanied Barbara to the adidas shoot where Barbara was filmed running for the advert. Barbara features amongst the likes of Liverpool footballer Mo Salah and Egyptian runner Khadija Hegazy.
You can watch the advert that we secured for St Ann’s Hospice here. This video alone has 1.1 million views, celebrating that running needs nothing but you.
Picture = (St Ann’s Hospice, media, press releases, 2022, march, Barbara Thackray jpg)
Number 1 – Boxing their way to the top: Box Power tackling
Box Power approached us earlier in the year with a mission to tackle the ongoing lack of transparency surrounding broker fees charged by firms during their energy contract negotiations.
In response, we strategically crafted a press release and facilitated a joint letter endorsed by prominent UK trade associations. This effort effectively brought attention to this industry practice within their sector.
Our endeavours resulted in a feature in The Guardian and widespread coverage across various sector-specific publications. This multifaceted approach succeeded in shining a spotlight on an overlooked issue.
The extensive coverage prompted action from Ofgem, leading to the initiation of a consultation specifically targeting the non-domestic market. Ofgem is now working on releasing its findings, including the narrative we brought to public attention in the near future.
Have a very Merry Christmas and check out our social media channels on the right hand side of the page!