Westgate

Managing a storm with DFDS Seaways

2012-01-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

Ryan Jones, Account Manager

The first week back to work in January is always a challenge, but this year it was less about getting back into work routines and more about coping with storm-like conditions!

With winds of up to 90 mph across the whole of the UK, many homes and businesses were left without power and some schools and businesses were even forced to completely close. The disruption extended to travel services in the UK, including our client DFDS Seaways, the Dover-Dunkirk ferry operator. The extreme weather meant that for a prolonged period, Dover Port closed and sailings were postponed.

We have plans and processes in place for such situations and so we set about putting them into action. One of our main considerations in this type of circumstance is to ensure passengers are made fully aware of the situation. So, after liaising with the Dover Harbour Board about the status of closure, we were able to issue an approved statement on behalf of DFDS Seaways, announcing the Port of Dover had been closed. The statement was issued to all our media contacts including national news desks and regional broadcast.

BBC South East were on their way down to the Port to film the waves coming and we used this opportunity to secure a pre-recorded interview for DFDS’ marketing manager. This then meant ensuring the necessary arrangements and preparations were made, including briefing our client and gaining agreement regarding the logistics from the Dover Harbour Board.

As well as monitoring for print press coverage that was appearing throughout the day (many news publications put online live feeds of weather updates) we needed to alert our broadcast monitoring agency of our client’s interview with BBC South East. A simple task that can be quite easily over looked when there’s lots going on.

With the weather around the Port of Dover calming down the Port re-opened, and we moved into phase two. After further liaising with our client and the Dover Harbour Board we issued a final statement announcing that the Port was now re-open and that sailing would commence.

Whilst we kept our client updated throughout with coverage, it was at this point that we took the opportunity to summarise the coverage achieved, as well as analyse what worked well and what could be improved on. This eventful start to 2012 highlights the importance of preparation and taking the time to put detailed and comprehensive plans in place. We were able to respond quickly and effectively thus maximising the PR opportunities for our client.

http://www.dfdsseaways.co.uk/ferry-to-france.

westgatecomms.com

Winsor Bishop continues to sparkle in Norwich

2012-01-19T04:55:00.000-08:00

Jade Wilson, Account Executive

In the right context, a stylish and exclusive media event can be a powerful tool in a PR’s armoury for creating lasting and effective relationships with journalists. We were recently tasked with handling the publicity around the expansion of one of the UK’s leading independent jewellers, Winsor Bishop, which has been part of the Norwich city landscape for over 100 years.
The aim of the event was to host an exclusive champagne breakfast preview for journalists from the regional, trade and luxury lifestyle media. This provided our key media targets with the opportunity to see the newly expanded store and have an exclusive preview of the new jewellery ranges.

We aimed to achieve positive editorial coverage with the key messages that the store had doubled in size and would now stock a number of new and stylish ranges of jewellery (including the largest Links of London boutique in East Anglia). We also sought to raise the profile of Winsor Bishop amongst a wider demographic audience, for example young affluent professionals.

A crucial part of the process was ensuring the invitee list featured the most influential journalists from the trade and regional press.

Perception of the brand was also a key consideration; invitations were branded and personalised, echoing the VIP experience Winsor Bishop’s customers receive in store. They were hand delivered and each journalist received a personalised gift, giving them a taster of what they could expect to see on the day.

An exclusive event like this also provided a great opportunity for a photo call; we dressed the door of the new part of the store and invited photographers to capture the official opening. Importantly, we also made sure our own photographer was on site, to take photographs for use in the media and for the store’s own promotional material post-event.

On the day our preparations paid off as we welcomed nearly 20 journalists from our top tier media to the event. Coverage highlights included a three-page interview with Winsor Bishop’s Managing Director, Sophie Fulford in Professional Jeweller, half page news stories in the business section of the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News as well as news stories and product placement within a range of titles such as Meze Magazine, North Norfolk Living, and Places and Faces Norfolk.

The breakfast provided an excellent platform from which to kick-start raising the profile of Winsor Bishop. As this event has proved, events and briefings are a great tool for helping communicating key messages and establishing relationships between clients and journalists.

westgatecomms.com

From difficult times come opportunities

2011-12-06T04:48:00.000-08:00

Shaun Westgate, Managing Director

2011 has been a really good year for Westgate, we have done some of our best work for a diverse set of clients such as Wrigley, CIMA, DFDS Seaways, Adnams, Brunel Business School, Hyder Consulting, Superdrug and The Grass Roots Group. We are all very much aware that 2012 is going to be another challenging year for marketing communications companies, but there are clearly opportunities as well.

We historically built our business providing outstanding creative and strategic solutions in PR, design and Digital. Over the last few years, we have found increasingly that we can optimise clients’ marketing budgets by providing integrated marketing plans designed to help the client’s business meet very specific commercial objectives. Westgate’s integrated offering has given us a very distinct platform within the marketing agency environment, particularly for clients who are interested in working with one agency partner for cost effectiveness. We now offer expertise in an incredibly diverse range of areas and disciplines including Public Relations, Design, Digital Comms (Web design, SEO, PPC), Advertising, Social Media, eCRM and printed communications.

The diverse set of marketing channels contained within our integrated plans are glued together with compelling campaign themes and original creative ideas. This integrated approach is clearly a very effective way for businesses and organisations to optimise their media spend without engaging in a multi-agency marketing programme. The other benefits are clear – consistent and compelling messaging, ease of management and measurable results.

westgatecomms.com

Using creative print design to help celebrate 100 years of Wrigley

2011-10-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

Shaun Westgate, Managing Director

We have just designed a striking new Centenary book for Wrigley – this year Wrigley celebrates 100 years since landing on our shores and bringing its world famous chewing gum to the UK.

The book we have designed for Wrigley examines the changing role of gum in our society and celebrates some of this iconic brand’s key achievements over the past century, as well as looking ahead to how things might continue to change with future innovations.

The creative execution contained two separate brochure elements, linked together and labelled THEN & NOW, enabling the reader to view both brochures in unison. This design solution is a great example of print design being used to convey a brand’s history in a clear yet fun and engaging way.

westgatecomms.com

Report the news, or dispel rumours?

2011-09-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

Sarah Whelband, Account Director

During the aftermath of the London riots, a journalist took to Twitter to ask whether journalists have a moral responsibility to dispel rumours, rather than to report the news.

As I, and many thousands of people, turned to Twitter during the riots to keep up-to-date with what was going on, it was clear that there was a huge amount of scaremongering with rumours flying about. Hearsay was tweeted and re-tweeted to hundreds of people in a matter of seconds.

It also became apparent that people were turning to journalists on Twitter to get clarity and reassurance; to confirm or deny whether the rumours of spreading violence and mayhem were in fact true.

It was interesting to see how the role of the media changed during those few days. Using social media as the medium to communicate with the local community, journalists became mediators; a calm voice of authority within the storm of tweets all around them.

I believe journalists do have a responsibility to dispel rumours and it is a huge moral dilemma, but also a duty, for them to avoid sensationalising and exacerbating a situation that could quickly spiral out of control, even though it may make a great story. It was shocking to see how rapidly sentiment spread across England, resulting in ‘copycat’ riots occurring in cities right across the country, all encouraged by people on Blackberry Messenger, Facebook and Twitter.

Social media is now becoming as influential as traditional TV and radio news coverage and I believe that the journalist’s role needs to adapt to fit this new audience. It should not be just about getting a great headline, or the biggest scoop, but also about giving a balanced and accurate view of the facts.

Westgate

Managing a storm with DFDS Seaways

Winsor Bishop continues to sparkle in Norwich

From difficult times come opportunities

Using creative print design to help celebrate 100 years of Wrigley

Report the news, or dispel rumours?

The power of press trips

The print and the (online) pauper

How To: building a brand’s corporate profile

Getting real results from integrated marketing communications

Max Clifford’s got a point – regional profiling is a force to be reckoned with!

Modern, iconic identity for Data Capture Solutions

Evaluating PR success

Using your Annual Report design to persuasively convey your key messages

Rely on your intuition to help you in business

Amazing Insight

The right approach to tender for new business

There’s ‘Snow’ such thing as a fair-weather PR

The importance of networking

Where do great design ideas come from?

Is anybody listening?

Stay competitive – An effective SEO / PR strategy

Pitch Perfect

Are the streets of London paved with PR Gold?

Day in the life of an Account Manager

Where is the natural home for social media for your business?

My day at Kettle Chips…

So what actually is corporate PR?

How useful are smartphones in PR? iPhone 4 versus BlackBerry

Keep Calm and Carry On – Highly engaging graphic design

Sometimes you just need to say things in print – Hyder Consulting takes the lead

The little details that make a successful PR

Are enough businesses really making the most of their marketing budgets with public relations, design and social media?

Good design translates well into the digital space for research company Harris Interactive

Brave new design for ICMM

Twirting with Twitter

Promoted Tweets – A corporate sell out or strategic move?

Latest news and insights from Westgate

The design of your logo is more important than ever

Making your MBA programme stand out

We live in exciting times for exploiting social media

Inspiration at the Turner Contemporary

Don't neglect traditional printed direct mail

Reluctance to change the design and approach to the Annual Report

A cheery thought

In sickness and in health: Building your brand in tough times

The secrets of creating a successful annual report

Getting it right

Continuing to grow in a recession