So that was the month that was… the last four weeks here at Smoking Gun have involved award wins, nominations, marriages, conferences, front row TV coverage, and new client projects. Best get a move on with the roundup then.
In true forward motion style, we’ve just been signed up by Arriva Buses UK to work an extended brief across the whole of the country following the exceptional work for Arriva North West. And, sticking with transport, rentalcars.com has also opted to hand us an extension of our original agreement, a clear sign our team have been doing something very right indeed.
More evidence still can be found in our awards. Not only did we win big at the MPAs earlier in the month- walking away with Best Small PR Agency for the second year running- we are also up for no less than five CIPR PRide Awards this week, which follows the CIPR Inside Conference we attended, brushing up on the latest trends in employee engagement and internal communications.
In terms of the accolades, we’ll be competing in a variety of client campaign categories, plus we’re in the running for team of the year, too, so here’s hoping there will be a few more trophies heading our way, and champagne corks taking flight.
[Tweet “@SmokingGunPR scoop Best Small #PR Agency at the @MPAweareyou awards, with @CIPRNORTHWEST nominations to boot”]
Ever keen to learn more by seeking external as well as internal inspiration from powerful industry females, some of our account managers attended a recent Women in Business event and left suitably fired up.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Rose Allerton, who left the office in October, heading for her wedding, and then honeymoon, making us all swoon like Take That fans gazing at posters of Mark Owen circa 1994.
You may remember we were a partner at the Ecommerce Show North, too, which celebrated just how vital the sector is to the region’s economy, showcasing the best in the business. The event was a resounding success, to say the least, with plenty of business cards exchanged, and new ideas spawned which we’re looking forward to seeing the results of very soon. We were also delighted to hand out an award in the best Sports and Leisure category at the Northern eCommerce Awards.
Speaking of results, Silentnight secured arguably the most standout from our endeavours this month, with our media relations experts placing their sleep expert partner, Dr. Anna Weighall, onto the iconic BBC Breakfast couch where she discussed the current state of British children’s sleep patterns. Take a look at the footage here:

All of which just about brings us to the end of this recap, save for mentioning one of our team was also asked to appear on a FLOOR panel for the Design Manchester festival, to talk about the branding of Manchester as a creative and musical hub, its ability to move forward as a city within this context, the current rate of development and the impact of that on its cultural assets.
All in all a very busy, and very interesting time- and nothing could be more indicative of why we do this in the first place.

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