Clarion Wins PR Agency of the Year

Clarion won PR Agency of the Year last night at the RAR (Recommended Agency Register) awards.

The RAR is part of the Carnyx Group, an independent publishing group which is also responsible for the UK’s largest marketing website, TheDrum.com.

This award is special because winners are selected based on their performance using ratings from their clients as opposed to a panel of judges. Client ratings are collected for criteria including creativity, effectiveness, strategic thinking, client service and more.

A very happy and proud team here at Clarion today.

THIS WEEK’S DIGITAL NEWS ROUND-UP FROM CLARION

Digital media outlets were abuzz on Monday following reports that pre-orders for the much anticipated Apple Watch hit almost one million in the USA. According to research by Slice Intelligence, 957,000 people ordered a watch. The Apple fan boy club is clearly still strong, with 72% of those having previously purchased an Apple product in the past two years. 

Reddit to launch newsletter
Everyone’s favourite online viral community, Reddit, has announced plans to launch a newsletter. The newsletter, called Upvoted Weekly, comes three months after their first podcast. The newsletter will be sent each Sunday - the perfect companion to your Monday morning coffee!

Foursquare Launches Pinpoint: Cross-Platform, Location-based Ad Targeting
After its recent partnership with Twitter, Foursquare has proved it is still a big player in the social media world. Central to the channels success, is its large database of location based data – a gold mine for marketeers. With this in mind, it is no surprise to see the launch of Pinpoint, a cross-platform, location-based ad targeting technology. Brands already getting in on the action include Google, Jaguar Land Rover and Samsung Galaxy.

Driving black votes for the general election
Every media outlet is currently bursting with news of what politicians are having for breakfast or which reality TV star has been spotted on the campaign trail. On a more serious note, comes digital campaign ‘Operation Black Vote’ . The campaign focuses on encouraging black people and ethnic-minority Britons to vote.  The thought provoking campaign is led by footballer Sol Campbell and sees a variety of famous black celebrities, who were photographed with makeup that whitened parts of their skin. Launched online, the campaign gained mass media coverage, highlighting how digital campaigns can drive the news agenda.

And finally
What’s that, you didn’t get to go to Coachella? Don’t worry; luckily Instagram has produced a list of the most ‘liked’ items of content on Instagram from the music event.  According to Mashable the app recorded approximately 83 million interactions on Instagram related to Coachella, just in its first weekend. 

Coachella 🌺🌸🌼🌻🐝

A video posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Apr 11, 2015 at 9:02am PDT

Clarion finalists for Drum Marketing Awards

Hot on the fantastic news of Clarion’s shortlist for two CIPR Excellence Awards, today we are pleased to announce a further two nominations for this year’s The Drum Marketing Awards.

The award ceremony rewards and celebrates the UK’s most effective marketing strategies. Clarion has been nominated in two categories:

The Long Term Marketing Strategy Award - Aldi Beers Wines & Spirits

UK discount retailer, Aldi, wanted to use beers, wines and spirits as a ‘hero category’ to bring ABC1 shoppers in store.  The challenge Clarion faced was that consumers perceived Aldi’s beers, wines and spirits to be not of good quality. Our strategy was to make Aldi famous for quality drinks.  We wanted to surprise and convince consumers about quality through credible endorsements from the media and other opinion formers.  We achieved this by entering prestigious awards and gaining national media coverage about positive results, by turning around perceptions of drinks writers through on-going engagement and sampling, and by capitalising on the exceptional price of Aldi’s drinks to generate national news coverage.

The PR Strategy Award - Pride in London

Working on a pro bono basis, Clarion developed a fully integrated PR campaign for Pride in London 2014 working alongside the Pride in London team. Utilising the #FreedomTo campaign creative, Clarion created a programme of news generation, feature placement, stunt activity and live interviews with celebrities from Graham Norton to Sir Ian McKellen and Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst.

The awards take place at Marriott Grosvenor Square, London, on Thursday 7th May 2015. Time for the team to polish the shoes, get the dress dry-cleaned and practice our victory dance!   

Clarion shortlisted for two CIPR Excellence Awards

Clarion is pleased to announce we have been shortlisted for not one, but two awards at this year’s CIPR Excellence Awards.

The Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding work of individuals, teams and consultancies across the UK and overseas. The two categories we have been shortlisted in are:

Consumer Relations Campaign -  Aunt Bessie's chicken v beef in the battle of the batter

To get mums thinking about serving Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Puddings with chicken – the UK’s favourite roast - we approached the world’s most prestigious debating society,  The Oxford Union, and asked them to debate the merits of serving Yorkshire puddings with chicken instead of more traditional beef. Blanket national coverage, widespread debate and a 3.2% sales increase was the successful result.

Diversity and Inclusion in Communications Campaign – Pride in London's ‘#FreedomTo’ Campaign.

Working on a pro bono basis, Clarion developed a fully integrated PR campaign for Pride in London 2014 working alongside the Pride in London team. Utilising the #FreedomTo campaign creative, Clarion created a programme of news generation, feature placement, stunt activity and live interviews with celebrities from Graham Norton to Sir Ian McKellen and Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst.

The coveted awards will be held at Old Billingsgate, London, on Wednesday 3 June 2015. Now for us just to decide what to wear…