It's not just what you do but how you do it!

In case you were wondering, we did do rather well at the CIPR presentation evening last week, securing two silver awards for our work on behalf of one of our major clients, Golden Square Shopping Centre.

What made that success particularly satisfying was the size and reputation of the other shortlisted agencies. A great boost for team morale and a welcome reassurance for the client, if any was needed, that he chose the right team to work for him!

Awards are great, they look impressive on the office wall and they’re a source of enormous pride. Winning them is good fun and they provide an opportunity to crack open a bottle of bubbly and get stuck into a bit of celebratory brand-building.

They also let you know that you’re doing some good work and generating ideas and results that are appreciated by your peers. That’s particularly relevant and extremely gratifying.

But let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that an award here or there, however prestigious and appreciated, is in itself any guarantee of future success or longevity for an agency.

Awards usually measure an output or an outcome. They’re about what you do, and results ARE important. But they don’t usually provide a measure of how you do it. And that, it seems to us, is just as important and can be a real differentiator for a successful agency.

Clients are placing increasing emphasis on working with a team that shares their values. They appreciate empathy and a more meaningful working relationship. They also value integrity, great service and consistency more keenly than ever before.

These are the attributes that add real value and depth to a client relationship and help create the most important quality of all: sustainability.

And the award goes to….

Modesty often prevents us from blowing our own trumpet but with trade awards in every sector from retail to catering there are huge opportunities for businesses small and large to raise brand awareness by making the most of these chances.

So is it worth putting pen to paper on those award entry forms? Yes! Competition for new customers is fiercer than ever before and we always advise our clients to look out for award opportunities that give them that extra special accreditation to help raise their companies head above the competition.

Often the application forms are straightforward but remember to fill them in properly (read the instructions closely – there is often a word limit), make sure to include clear objectives and results, say why your entry is different (remember the judges will have read a hundred other entries so give them something memorable) and check it!

Awards are fantastic for staff morale, recognising great work achieved, branding, third party endorsement and the evening is a fantastic networking opportunity. So make sure you take the time to look for award opportunities – whether that is entering one or even sponsoring one!

We also make sure we practise what we preach and with the CIPR Pride awards this week where we are shortlisted for two awards both for our client Golden Square Shopping Centre, we’ll be crossing our fingers on the night that the award goes to de Winter!

Value of celebrity PR

Here at de Winter we have just finished the ‘Christmas lights switch on season’ and what a Christmas it has been!

Last week culminated in the one and only Peter Andre in Warrington. He was great, the crowds loved him and the media coverage and buzz ensured it was a surefire success for the client, Golden Square Shopping Centre.

What is the real value of Celebrity PR?

Companies spend millions on celebrity endorsement and it has helped to change the media's attitude to PR.

Celebrities are great for the tabloids, and so the media are now more than happy to speak to us creative PR’s who have a celebrity story.

The appetite for celebrity is huge. This is because people can get so much more involved in celebrity life. You can now view a right Royal rugby knees up seconds after the photo is taken in Queenstown and images of Jordan at McDonalds. In today's world of Big Brother, Heat and Grazia no celebrity story is too small and the public eat it up.

For brands this is an opportunity and it doesn’t need to be expensive. A clever, creative use of a well known face can reaffirm a brand’s relationship with its audience, can get people talking about it (huge currency on social media too!) and generate massive PR coverage in the national press. The use of Peter Andre for Golden Square Shopping Centre is a great example – he has his own reality TV show therefore a ready-made relationship with an audience.

Far too many people stick their noses up at celebrities – but they simply don’t ‘get it’. The famous, whether A-list or D-list, have succeeded in not just developing their own personal brand equity but creating a demand for it too.

The thousands who queued on Friday night in Warrington are proof how celebrity PR can be a cost effective marketing tool to generate huge media and public awareness. Which in monetary terms far outweighs the actual celebrity booking fee.

Christmas is coming early to the studio at de Winter…

Brand new IMacs – the stuff that a designer’s Christmas dream are made of!!

We’re really looking forward to their arrival and to testing out their true power and potential. They’ll be faster, easier to work with and will help us ensure that we meet client deadlines effectively and with maximum creativity. And don’t they just look sleek and fantastic?!

But there’s a dilemma. Do we upgrade to Quark9 or do we switch to Indesign, the design programme that’s threatening to become an industry standard?

Visit any on-line forum and you’ll see that there’s a 50-50 split with as many pros as there are cons.

However, you do get that sense that Quark might be in danger of being pushed out of the market at some point in the longer term.

The de Winter team has found it to be a great application for page layouts of brochures, newsletters and reference books consisting of many hundreds of pages.

The debate continues in house but the decision will ultimately be based on what we believe to be the most sustainable and reliable option, and which of the programmes can help us as a team deliver the standards of creativity and output that our clients continue to expect.

Watch this space!! And if you have a view, we’d welcome your comments!

Advertising, boring, advertising

You may be one of many that dislikes television advertising and resorts to channel-hoping or even recording a program just so you can fast forward through the ads.

The de Winter team took a recent trip out to hear a talk by Sir John Hegarty as part of Chester Litterature Festival. Sir John is the advertising genius behind such iconic TV ads as the Levis Strauss laundrette moment, and the Audi Vorsprung dutch Technik campaign.

It was a really interesting and insightful speech where Sir John shared some of his past experiences and successes.

It wasn't just jean sales that went through the roof as the result of the Levi ad!

Sir John explained that although the censors wouldn't allow a man on a TV advertisement to strip down to his Y fronts, they were happy for the model to be wearing boxer shorts! The result was that boxer short sales went through the roof!!

Another great ad by the genius was the 'X-box - Life is short. Play more' campaign.

Again, this was something completely different and very powerful only to be subsequently banned from TV due to complaints from many people including pregnant women.

Whether in television, radio or print, creative advertising can generate massive impact!

Who said advertising was boring!