Best Bits of 2018!

As we move rapidly through the festive season and ever closer to the new year, the team have been busy reflecting on one hell of a year! As this year draws to a close we thought we'd share with you our best bits from 2018!

The Team

The team celebrated a host of promotions and new starters this year including Lizzie who was promoted to PR Account Director and Alex who was promoted to Junior Account Manager. Lu, Georgie, Laura, Jess, and Kelly all joined the team in 2018 on a permanent basis and we also welcomed Raluca and Rachael as interns. A busy year indeed! #dreamteam 

The Clients

Our growing team in 2018 was thanks to our growing client base this year with an amazing 20 new clients joining us! 

The Courses

2018 was the year that also saw the SBPR team deliver our 'Reaching Millions' PR & Publicity Courses which were so well received that they've turned from a one-time event to a regular occurrence. Held in London and at our offices in Bournemouth, we've now had over 100 attendees not including our social media courses, strategy workshops or press release workshops! 

The Work

In between courses, workshops and strategy clinics we achieved some amazing results for our clients this year. Highlights include 60 features for new client Jimmy's Iced Coffee as well getting Jim's face on the front of The Grocer, Dr William Bird from Intelligent Health being featured on BBC's Spotlight, securing 90 VIP guests at the launch of luxury Chinese restaurant 1805 in just five days, getting 4 million listeners for Ramsay Health Care UK in just one day of radio interviews, securing 200 VIP guests at the Bluewater Spa Launch in the Connaught Hotel, securing brand-new client Carbon Retreat a feature in the Daily Mail just days after signing with SBPR, increasing the reach of Miss Dorset 2018 by 11 million people, securing over 120 features for The Green House Hotel including the Carbon Cost of Weddings and the UK's first Vegan Wedding Package, securing 170 VIP guests as well as BBC coverage for the opening of Revolución de Cuba bar in Southampton, and getting our client Tara Howard from the Venus Awards on ITV's This Morning!

The Social

This year the SBPR team have achieved some incredible results on the SBPR social media channels with our Facebook reach increasing 533% from 3,000 to over 20,000 this year, a 140% increase in followers on Instagram, our Linked In followers increasing by 87% to over 4,000, and our engagement on Twitter increasing 67% from 0.9% to 1.5%!

The Awards

This year, Sunny Bird PR proudly sponsored the PR Excellence Award at both the Dorset and London Venus Awards. The whole journey was fun, inspirational and rewarding, we met so many incredible women who were all achieving so much in their fields, it was truly very difficult to choose only one winner for each area! We were also fortunate enough to celebrate three of our own clients being finalists in the Dorset Venus Awards (in different categories!) and got to celebrate with the lovely Kelly as she won the Sustainability Award! And at the London Venus Awards we had two of our clients in the finals, Marisa Peer and Alice Morrison, and we also had our resident journalist, Steph Clarkson in the finals for Journalist of the Year!

We would also like to thank Tara and the Venus team for choosing me for the front cover of their programme, it was such an honour to be chosen and so much fun doing the photo shoot - thanks as well to Tailor Made Estate Agents for letting us use their fabulous properties in Sandbanks for the location of the shoot.

As well as sponsoring an award we were also shortlisted for an award by Team Jobs at the Dorset Business Awards. SBPR were up for Team of the Year award and we were all super excited at even being nominated. We were up against some stiff competition and didn't win this year...but watch out 2019...we're coming to get you!

2018 was the year of the awards as we attended the OK! Beauty Awards with our longest-standing client, Good Night. The SBPR had curated a social media campaign for Good Night's latest product, Sleeping Beauty, thanks to a great product and our hard work....we won (and we got to meet lovely Peter Andre which was easily the highlight of the year for some of us!)!

Needless to say we’ve all had a truly fabulous year both as a business and as a team. A massive thank you to all our clients as we wouldn’t be here without you! And we massively look forward to enjoying next year with you all too.

Win £1,000 Worth of PR!

Win £1,000 Worth of PR Every Month!

Every month we'll be giving away £1,000 worth of PR to one lucky company or person. All you need to do is OPT IN to these lovely newsletters (yes, this is our way around GDPR!) and it could be you. Whether you're an existing client or you've never worked with us before, you'll all be in with an equal chance. So OPT IN now and not only will you still receive our amazing monthly newsletters but you'll also be in for a chance of winning £1,000 worth of PR!

How We got 4 Million Listeners for our Client

Find out how we set up 13 radio interviews including national stations, Sky News Radio and talkRadio, for our client Ramsay Health Care by reading our blog post here.

 

 

 

How We Achieved Editorial in Coveted Wedding Media..

Alongside an impressive collection of wedding coverage, the Sunny Bird PR team also secured over 62 pieces of hotel coverage for The Green House Hotel in just 6 months. The coverage achieved reached over 2.5 million readers and included reviews and roundups and has an advertising value of over £95,000! To find out how we did it check out our blog post here.

New Business Wins

The Sunny Bird PR team has started working with some fabulous local clients including TV Chef Sarah Ali Choudhury, founder of the Venus Awards Tara Howard and the Most Rad Iced Coffee on the market, Jimmy's Iced Coffee. As we welcomed Jimmy's to the nest, we asked the team, how do you drink yours?

New Team Members

We've had a busy first quarter at Sunny Bird PR welcoming some lovely new clients and also some fabulous new team members. To find out more about Anya, Lu and Alex read their bios on our Who We Are page.

GDPR & ENewsletters

With GDPR just a matter of days away, the SBPR team has been busy attending seminars, workshops and finding out all about GDPR for us and our clients. We thought we would share our findings in this handy blog post for any of you that are still in the process of getting your heads round it.

Journalist of the Month

Delphine Chui is a Digital Editor at Hearst and creates content across all of Hearst’s brands with a particular focus on interiors. When she’s not busy writing copy and being a digital content creator for the likes of Red Magazine, Country Living and Harper’s Bazaar, she can be found finding some zen in the great outdoors. Read Delphine's answers to the infamous Sunny Bird PR questions here.

 

 

Royal Wedding PR Campaigns

Working in and with the media it was pretty hard for us to not get swept up in the Royal Wedding fever. We weren’t that excited about dresses, hats and celeb guests though, we were more excited about which brands had used the Royal Wedding as an effective PR springboard to catapult their brand or product into the sparkly ginger light. Here we have included a few of our favourite national campaigns as well as some local events that we felt hit the magic markle spot.

November Newsletter

How We More Than Doubled Coverage,

Boosted Traffic & Exposure

for a Client Leading to Increased Sales!

Ramsay Health Care UK is a private health care company whose primary objective is to be seen as a trusted and responsible, expert-led health care company. One of the key PR objectives was to secure backlinks to lead the readers back to Ramsay’s website and boost their SEO. By working with Ramsay’s key focuses and marrying these up with awareness days and topical times of year, the team has achieved 74 pieces of coverage in target titles for Ramsay’s demographic.

Why is PR important when it comes to

your business, brand or product?

Public relations can be very powerful for a business as it places you in front of your target audience and gets your voice heard amongst the rabble of a crowded market.

The job of a PR agency involves educating the media, key journalists, influencers and potential consumers on the USPs (the unique selling points) behind your brand or product so that they will then ultimately recommend it to their readers, followers or friends and tempt your chosen demographic to use your brand, product or service.

PR is important for numerous reasons; here are just a few to consider…

Journalist

of the Month

Katie Avis-Riordan is an online features writer for countryliving.co.uk  and housebeautiful.co.uk. Katie recently came down to Bournemouth to review the beautiful Green House Hotel which you can read here. Katie took five minutes out from being wined and dined to answer the infamous Sunny Bird PR questions…

 

 

 

PR Campaigns

The Good, The Bad and The Viral

The festive season is well and truly upon us, but that doesn’t mean we’re winding down at Sunny Bird PR. As we wrap up against the incoming cold spell, we thought we’d wrap up the best and worst PR campaigns we’ve come across this month.

This month’s round up of thought-provoking campaigns include putting coats on statues, a savvy survey which reached 33 million readers, a virtual look into homelessness at Christmas and an election campaign which embarrassingly backfired.

What We've Been Up To This Month

How We Got 70 VIPs to a Launch Event

Las Iguanas came to us in advance of opening its first Bournemouth restaurant asking for support on the all-important launch event. Our regional knowledge was required for a marketing strategy, regional media relations and most importantly, getting VIP guests to the launch event.

How We Improved Our Social Media

We make it our business to know the ins and outs of industry favourites Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. One of the best ways for us to be the best is to make the Sunny Bird PR channels an example. As the channels change the way they do things, we need to change with them so here we have outlined the changes we’ve made to our own channels as we adapt to achieve the best results.

Bye Bye Berliner

With news that the Guardian and Observer are becoming tabloids, the Sunny Bird PR team discuss the pros and cons of tabloid, broadsheet and Berliners...

PR Campaigns - The Good, The Bad and The Viral

This month's PR campaigns include an experiential from our favourite tonic, an equality message from an ice-cream giant and the best salescreature in the Czech Republic...

journalist of the Month

Gemma Ralph is the Deputy Editor at Hospitality Interiors magazine. A self-confessed foodie, fairy light fiend and lover of all things cosy, she has taken a few moments away from glam interiors to ask the infamous Sunny Bird PR questions for Journalist of the Month…

How We Got National Coverage for a Regional Client

We don't just achieve outstanding national coverage for big name brands, we also work with regional businesses like Dorset Cruises based in Poole. We reached out to key national titles about the Gin Cruise and secured over 30 pieces of coverage including reviews of the gin cruise by top name journalists. Our activity resulted in Dorset Cruises reaching over 40 million people!

To find out more about how the Sunny Bird PR team could achieve the same amazing results for your business email us on hello@sunnybirdpr.com or call us on 01202 293095.

How to...Work With Bloggers

Bloggers are often more trusted than celebrities, journalists, brands and politicians. Recent research has shown that over 80% of all consumers will make a purchase after reading about the product on a blog. Find out how your brand can best work with bloggers here...

 

PR Campaigns - The Good, The Bad and The Viral

This month we present a beer brand bringing people together despite their differences, a charity asking for people to walk, run or cycle an outline of a ‘ballsy’ shape to raise money and awareness, and a well-known craft beer company sets up a crowd funding page for a spectacular opening...or so it says...read the full review here.

 

Journalist of the Month

Laura Hampson is a 23-year-old travel and lifestyle journalist for the Daily Star Online. She took a moment away from her busy schedule to answer our Journalist of the Month questions and gave us all a tough question in return. Read all our answers here.

Doubling Traffic & Doubling Sales - How Did We Do It?

Find out how we did it here...

How We Get Overseas Clients Coverage in the UK

We have clients all over the globe so we need to know how to get the best results from public relations on an international level. For Bliss Sanctuary for Women, a luxury retreat in Bali, our strategy was to raise the profile of the retreat in the UK resulting in the sanctuary being fully booked. Find out how we did this here.

How to...Get the Best Out of Your PR Agency

Making sure you get the best out of your PR agency is crucial for seeing that all important return on investment. The Sunny Bird PR team has compiled a How To guide to help you do just that.

PR Campaigns - The Good, The Bad and The Viral

This month we present a fashion designer using a dating app to showcase his latest collection, a florist attacking the big apple with guerrilla bouquets and some uncomfortable seating options on Mexico City’s pubic transport. Read the round-up here.

Journalist of the Month

Claire Scott is a journalist for The Irish Mirror and Dublin Live and a lover of G&T’s! She kindly took a moment away from her busy schedule to answer our Journalist of the Month questions and gave us a craicing question in return...

How We Got Our Client a TV Show

How We Got Our Client a TV Show

We worked with author, Alice Morrison, last year to promote her first book, Dodging Elephants. In true Sunny Bird PR style we smashed it out of the park and generated so much national coverage that the BBC got in touch with Alice and commissioned a TV series all about her travels. The Story Behind the Story

Welcoming Journalist Steph to the Sunny Bird PR Team

March saw us welcome Steph to the team as one of our ‘sounding boards’ and most trusted media experts. She offers Sunny Bird PR a no nonsense approach when it comes to what press want from PR’s and brands in order to feature them. Steph cut her journalistic teeth writing for the Femail section of the Daily Mail where she specialised in human interest features, went undercover at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant and wrote investigative pieces on the trade in human hair for hair extensions and the rise in street begging. Steph's Bio

How to...Contact a Blogger

Bloggers and blogging have taken the world by storm – bloggers have the power to influence millions of consumers. In this digital age, consumers are more likely to trust the word of a blogger than other more traditional marketing tactics and businesses should be paying attention. How to...Contact a Blogger

PR Campaigns - The Good, The Bad and The Viral

Each week the Sunny Bird PR team research PR campaigns that have made their way into the media and choose one to share that demonstrates effectiveness, reach, simplicity, message and in some cases the opposite – how not to execute a PR campaign. Every month the team chooses their personal favourites and here we deliver them - The Good, The Bad and The Viral from the PR Campaign world. PR Campaigns

Blogger of the Month

Chichi was a features writer for House of Coco and has now moved into freelance work. Chichi also works around the clock as a fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogger, she has stepped away from wardrobe and make up long enough to answer the infamous Sunny Bird PR questions! Blogger of the Month

Spring Newsletter

Hot Tips for the New Instagram Slideshows

Instagram is an integral PR tool and as such we make it our business to get to grips with the latest features so when the social giant brought the new Instagram Slideshows we couldn't wait to get to grips with it. We’ve created our first slideshow which can be found on our Instagram feed here and we have also compiled a 'How To' blog so you can get the most from Instagram's latest feature...Instagram Slideshows

Mother's Day Campaign Increased Sales by 2,656%

Our Three Pregnant Dads campaign led to a 2,656% increase in sales, 2,000 shares on one Daily Mail article alone as well as a 1,850% increase in Facebook social media engagement.

We created a Mother's Day campaign for The Book of Everyone that grabbed the media's attention with three middle-aged businessmen wearing 15kg 'empathy bellies'. The campaign was designed to show how much they appreciated all the mums out there by putting themselves in their shoes for a month.

PR Campaigns - The Good, The Bad and The Viral

As well as creating PR Campaigns, the Sunny Bird PR team also enjoys finding the best of the rest. This haul offers a diverse mix of campaigns from giving money to the homeless, inspiring women after the US election, a 4D tunnel that stimulates all five senses and two unique alcohol brands who want to be THE spirit people drink. Check out the team's choice of PR Campaigns 

Blogger of the Month

Rhiannon Duffin is a Dorset-based, successful lifestyle and fashion blogger who focuses on seaside living, beauty, fashion and accessory brands. Rhiannon took some time out from writing her blog to write ours and answer the infamous Sunny Bird PR questions so we can all have an insight into the world of a glamorous fashion blogger…check out her answers here Blogger of the Month

Sunny Bird PR Rebrand

Since our exciting rebrand, lots of people have been asking us how and why we did it so we put together the above video to explain just that. You can also read all about it on our blog.