Whilst winter well and truly arrived this month we’ve been so busy the freezing conditions almost went unnoticed. Three award wins, a number of additions to the team and several new business opportunities have more than occupied our time.
So it gives us great pleasure to announce that Smoking Gun PR has picked up a trio of trophies at the CIPR PRide Awards. Our staff were commended with Gold in the Best Not For Profit Campaign category (Crufts Factor 2013), Silver in Corporate Social Responsibility (Kumho Cash For Causes), and top honours for Best Use of Planning, Research, Measurement and Evaluation (Crufts Factor 2013). All of which we are understandably very proud of.
Not content to rest on our collective laurels, though, we’ve already begun taking steps to ensure our work will be in the running for similar commendations next time round. Recent weeks have seen our biggest intake of staff to date, with no less than three faces pledging their allegiance to Quay Street and the clients we assist, expanding on our ability to efficiently deliver ingenious PR solutions.
Our new Senior Account Manager, Stacey Waugh, arrives after a six-year stint for a major London consumer agency, bringing with her big firm experience and plenty of innovative ideas. Meanwhile, Eddie Dunthorne has taken up post as Account Executive, a role he’s well suited too following 12 months working at Thomson Reuters in New York City- a position that has nurtured a razor-sharp grasp of a great news angle.
In addition to those two recruits we also welcomed Jane Alcock to our permanent starting line up. Over the last three years this evergreen communications professional has been anconsultant here at Smoking Gun, but now finds herself in the position of full time Associate Director. After working in the industry for years at a host of agencies around the country, you’d struggle to find a more qualified and experienced expert in our field.
Plenty to discuss then, and this is before we mention any ongoing work, like Oven Pride’s recent blogger event. Designed to promote the brand’s return to TV advertising, the initiative was an outright success based on the back of one simple message; Get Your Oven Clean for Christmas. And, elsewhere, the team managed to bag no less than 156,437,362 opportunities to see our client roster in October alone.
We’re also expecting to make some signifiant new business announcements in the very near future too; various letters on three contracts are currently being dotted and crossed to finalise the deals. Needless to say then, watch this space for further details, and in the meantime why not take a look at this video from last month’s round table session at the UK FAST HQ in Manchester, where our very own MD Rick Guttridge was asked to share some wisdom on market research, and we can catch up again soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_kvHa9sMWw