Journalist of the Month

Jennifer Savin is the Features Writer at Cosmopolitan. Covering all things Cosmo from living with drag queens, to Gambian travel tips, to prince seduction, to sexual harassment at work, Jennifer is the archetypal Cosmo writer. Jennifer took five minutes out of her glam, leopard print schedule to answer the infamous SBPR questions:

1. What are the 5 words that best describe you? Ahh, I’m so bad at answering questions like this! I just WhatsApped my boyfriend to ask for help and he said ‘funny, smart, honest, sweet, spontaneous’. I’ll take that, cheers.

2. What magazine do you love reading and why? Besides Cosmopolitan (obvs), I also love Attitude magazine for its great interviews and all round fabulousness and Take A Break because it makes me feel way better about my own life. Oh, and I’ve recently upped my fitness game so Women’s Health has become a new addition to the bedside table. Basically I just love magazines.

3. What is your favourite book? I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s my favourite, but I always recommend When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – the true, heart-breaking account of a doctor who becomes a terminal patient. It’s beautifully written. I also love trashy celeb autobiographies so much that my friends and I started a book club dedicated to them, it’s called Read It My Pony – we’ve just finished The Rock Says by The Rock.

4. Which song makes you dance? Work by Drake and Rihanna, What’s My Name? by Drake and Rihanna, or Wild Thoughts featuring Drake and Rihanna.

5. What has been your best career moment? Coming home after winning my first PPA New Talent Award last year and putting it next to my framed, decade old rejection-for-work-experience letter from Vogue. It was a poignant moment in realising how far I’d come and how hard work really does pay off.

6. What advice would you give your 20 year old self? Don’t get that tattoo, ya eejit.

7. Where are you happiest? Either getting ready for a night out with friends, with a glass of wine in hand and some old school R&B/garage on the go, or having dinner with a beautiful view and great company on holiday.

8. Who would be your number one dinner guest and why? Chrissy Teigen – my fantasy best mate. Although if she didn’t like me I’d be totally crushed, so perhaps it’s better to invite someone I dislike, such as Trump? I’d ask him why his face is the exact same colour as a McDonald’s hash brown and why Melania looks so dead behind the eyes. ☹

9. If you could have any superpower, what power would it be and why? Freezing time – growing up I always thought I’d make far better use out of Bernard’s Watch than he ever did. It was wasted on that kid.

10. If you had to ask us one question what would it be? Everyone I know who works in PR seems to be really organised and good at being on time for breakfast meetings (unlike me). Any tips on staying organised/becoming a morning person?

We're definitely all very organised - you have to be in a PR agency! As for mornings, the team's tips to start the day are:

• Beach walk to work - easy for us to say in Bournemouth but any bit of outdoors to start the day and wake you up will do the trick

• Eat breakfast!

• Grab a coconut milk iced coffee on your way in to work - these have been a massive hit with the team this summer and the café next door have been making a killing!

• Make a ‘to do’ list every morning so you have direction and purpose while you're sipping on your iced coffee

Client Win: The Connaught Hotel – Bluewater Spa Launch

Sunny Bird PR is excited to announce that the team have been chosen by Bournemouth’s Connaught Hotel to work on the launch of the Bluewater Spa later this month.

The Connaught’s luxury spa is celebrating its new look and partnership with British lifestyle brand Temple Spa at a VIP launch event on 12th September.

The SBPR team are inviting more than 200 esteemed guests including journalists, bloggers, and local business professionals from the Dorset region. The team will be project managing the event from start to finish, as well as securing that all-important coverage of the launch in target titles.

Named after its magnificent azure blue swimming pool, the Bluewater Spa is located in the heart of Bournemouth. The spa facilities include a steam room and sauna, fully equipped gym and relaxation lounge, together with four private therapy suites including a double room, where guests and spa members can book in for one of Bluewater’s nourishing Temple Spa treatments. For more information on Bluewater Spa visit www.theconnaught.co.uk/spa.

How We Created a Buzz For a New Luxury Chinese Restaurant

July was an extremely busy but exciting month for the team at SBPR with multiple events and new client wins. One of the projects the team worked on was the launch of the new 1805 restaurant in Bournemouth, a luxury Chinese venue serving traditional yet contemporary cuisine.

SBPR were invited to work alongside the newest brand in town to organise a VIP launch event supported by an integrated PR and social media campaign.

After meeting with the Company Director, Lin and General Manager, Andy, we gained an insight in to the ethos and story behind the restaurant which is inspired by ancient Chinese history.

The name of the restaurant marks the year that the first Chinese man became an established British citizen, a significant moment in history and a move so rare it required an Act of Parliament.

We had only a week to secure 50 guests for the launch event, including VIPs, regional journalists, lifestyle bloggers, and the town’s hospitality and tourism professionals. We researched and created a targeted contact list using our connections and sent out personalised invites, following each one up.

Within just two days we had exceeded our target and secured 90 guests for the launch. We invited and organised for the Mayor and Mayoress of Bournemouth to attend the event, deliver a welcome speech and take part in a ribbon cutting, alongside Jeff Mostyn, Chairman of AFC Bournemouth.

The celebration featured a spectacular lion dance to bring good luck and fortune, and guests were treated to bespoke cocktails and an exquisite three-course meal.

To enable us to capture the evening, we sourced a professional event photographer who we thoroughly briefed and directed to ensure we had newsworthy press shots. As a seated event, we created table plans and strategically placed guests so that they had the chance to meet and network like-minded professionals and most importantly, to make sure all the guests enjoyed the evening.

The SBPR team provided on the day event support which included welcoming guests, checking off the guest list, liaising with journalists and bloggers, and introducing guests to the 1805 management team.

Alongside managing and co-ordinating the VIP launch event, the SBPR team used their social media expertise to create the 1805 Facebook and Instagram business pages. We posted engaging content ahead of the event to create a social media buzz around the event and handles that bloggers and guests could tag on the night increasing reach and engagement.

During the event the team posted images, live videos and stories across and reposted the bloggers’ content on to the 1805 profile. Following the event, we shared reviews, testimonials and photo highlights from the launch event, all of which resulted in an increase in followers, likes and overall engagement across Facebook and Instagram.

From a PR perspective, we compiled a post-event press release highlighting the restaurant’s history and ethos, details of the launch event and the venue’s key USPs. The press release was distributed with images to key target titles and followed up to secure first-class coverage.

The event was a resounding success, with an amazing turnout of over 90 guests who thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Attendees raved about the food and service leaving glowing 5-star reviews across the restaurant’s Facebook page and on TripAdvisor.

The event created a huge buzz around Bournemouth, making a name for the restaurant, and posts on social media rolled in from sought-after influencers.

As a result of our excellent media relations strategy, we secured 10 pieces of regional coverage, smashing our target of five pieces, with a further two pieces of coverage set to come out in long lead titles over the Autumn.

The Company Director Lin Xin said: “You have truly proved that I’ve made the right decision to work with your team. I can’t believe how quickly you get back to me and with great news as well!”

1805 is located on Beacon Road, Bournemouth. Visit the website at www.1805.co.uk.

Get Yourself on the Radio!

With the rise of Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube it’s very easy to think that radio is dead, but in fact it’s still a huge part of how we consume media. With 90% of the population of the UK tuning in to the radio at least once a week, it’s a platform that shows no sign of slowing down and certainly can’t be ignored in your publicity campaigns!

Getting a handle on how to get yourself or your brand on the radio can be challenging, but with some top tips from our recent meeting with Sky News Radio Editor, David Terris, we’re here to help. Here’s our top tips on how to make the most of radio…

Be topical

When you’re deciding whether to pitch your story to radio it’s important that your news is current, topical and has mass appeal. If it ties in with an awareness day (you can find a full calendar of those here), a breaking celebrity story, new Government legislation or just a topic that people are talking about at the time, it will be much more likely to get picked up by the station in question.

Provide the full package

Providing radio journalists with all the assets they will need is key when pitching. If your story is great but you don’t have excellent case studies, data and a spokesperson you may well see a lack in pick up from the station.

Radio stations prioritise stories with data attached to them above all else, and absolutely LOVE a survey story with regional results. We recommend pitching to journalists with the full results, brilliant case studies and a broadcast trained spokesperson ready to go should your story get picked up.

Be diverse

Gone are the days of having perfect pronunciation and Queen’s English on the radio. Having a ‘voice for radio’ can help your case studies to get you on air. Regional radio stations in particular like to hear from a broad range of regional accents, so don’t shy away from showing off your accent loud and proud!

Give them a call

As David Terris, Sky News Radio Editor says: “We should all be talking to each other more on the phone”. Picking up the phone to a big-shot journalist can be intimidating, but ensuring you are prepared with a succinct pitch and all your assets will make it a much easier experience – and who knows, you may even enjoy it!

Timing is everything

So you’ve got your assets ready, you’ve prepared your pitch and you’re ready to pick up the phone and shout about how brilliant your story is. What next? Well, radio journalists have certain times that they like to receive phone calls ready for their planning meetings. David Terris says 9.30am is the best time to send an email, before their morning meeting, and following up with a call after 10.15 will make you much more likely to get an answer.

Be prepared

Clear your diaries for the day if your news breaks! If your story gets picked up, you and your spokesperson could be called into a station for an interview at a moment’s notice.

Don’t forget podcasts

With many more people enjoying their TV and Radio ‘on demand’ don’t neglect podcasts! Sky News Radio for example puts out a daily news podcast, a weekly politics podcast and their entertainment podcast ‘Backstage’ fortnightly. These can be excellent opportunities to get yourself and your brand longer and more in-depth pieces of coverage than the brief news snippets you hear on live radio.

Don’t stop pitching!

Getting amazing broadcast coverage can take a lot of hard work and perseverance. If your story doesn’t get picked up don’t be disheartened. It could be that a breaking news story came through or it just wasn’t right that day. David Terris says: “Don’t stop pitching!”. Just because a story doesn’t break, doesn’t mean your next story won’t!

To find out more about how to do your own PR, including getting yourself and your business in front of broadcast, print and online journalists make sure you check out our Reaching Millions – PR and Publicity course! You can find more information here.

Sunny Bird PR and the Venus Awards

As a PR agency consisting solely of women, we think it’s important that women get the recognition they deserve, which is why this year we’ve become an official sponsor of the Venus Awards.

The Venus Awards were founded by Tara Howard to celebrate the achievements of working women just like us. Tara held the first ever Venus Awards in 2009 in Dorset and has now expanded into a total of eight regions around the UK, with the inaugural London ceremony launching at the prestigious Waldorf Hotel this December.

Our close relationship with the Venus Awards began when our founder, Sunny herself, won two Venus Awards in 2009 - Entrepreneur of the Year and PR Excellence - and became a finalist in the Media, Marketing and PR category in 2015, a pivotal moment which helped support the growth of Sunny Bird PR as an agency.

Like Tara Howard, we know that there are women out there achieving so much in their field and yet not always being recognised for what they do. So, this year, we’ve introduced the PR Excellence Award for both London and Dorset, for women who have produced outstanding PR results for their organisations.

Not only are we sponsoring our own category, but we’re also working closely with the Venus team on the PR for the London and Dorset awards. As a newcomer to the London scene, the Venus team faced the challenge of how to raise their profile where the awards and Tara herself weren’t well known.

The solution was to make the Venus Awards newsworthy, which we did through a ‘Working Women’ survey. Sunny Bird PR worked with the Venus team to compile a survey on the working lives of over 2,000 women, revealing shocking statistics around the gender pay gap, working parents and women in leadership. Using the newsworthy stats from the survey and hooking onto current topics in the media, this resulted in multiple pieces of coverage in key HR and business titles such as Employee Benefits, HR Director and NatWest.

Aside from the survey, we also worked closely with the Venus team, nominees, winners and ambassadors to collate a bank of case studies highlighting the success stories within Venus – women who had overcome sexism, health problems, parenting and childcare issues and even stalking to become high achievers in their field. The quality of the case studies and their compelling stories resulted in the team securing 12 pieces of coverage including a fantastic piece on the Telegraph Online!

Having successfully raised the profile of the Venus Awards, the team then worked their PR magic on its founder. Using Tara’s expertise as a business woman and a voice of authority for women in business, the team pitched Tara to broadcast resulting in Tara featuring in a coveted slot on This Morning.

To date, extensive media coverage has reached over 100 million people successfully raising the profile of both Tara and the Venus Awards in the London area.  This led to the Sunny Bird PR team securing a media partner for the London awards with the Time and Leisure Group, a huge achievement for the team that guarantees fantastic coverage and builds brand awareness in a new region for the Venus Awards, as well as multiple sponsors for each of the award categories.

Increasing Venus’ brand awareness will help them expand into more regions around the UK, bringing ‘the working women’s Oscars’ to more women. With a strong media partnership, we’re expecting to see businesses queuing up to sponsor next year’s Venus Awards.

Client Win: Carbon Retreat

Sunny Bird PR is delighted to announce its new partnership with fitness and wellness brand, Carbon Retreat.

The specially tailored retreat aims to beat a variety of addictions ranging from compulsive shopping disorder to alcoholism. Carbon Retreat aims to help people in a calm and relaxed environment from day visits to residential stays. Having just opened its doors to a new exclusive venue in Hertfordshire, the brand came to Sunny Bird PR looking to raise the brand’s profile, educate potential clients on the range of addictions they treat, and ultimately attract potential new clients.

The team at Sunny Bird PR have already been working closely with founders, Claire Taylor, Andrea Whiteside and addiction expert Chris Hill. Within just three days of working with Carbon Retreat, the Sunny Bird PR team achieved coveted national coverage in The Sun and The Daily Mail following Claire’s appearance on ITV’s This Morning.

The Sunny Bird PR team has extensive PR retreat experience ranging from Bliss Sanctuary for Women in Bali to the No1 Bootcamps in Ibiza and Morocco. Sunny herself launched her own Boot Camp retreat business (before founding Sunny Bird PR) which she promoted through PR alone so we know just how to get the best results for Carbon Retreat. To find out more about this specialised retreat, visit their website www.carbonretreat.com

Client Win: Revolución de Cuba

Sunny Bird PR is delighted to announce that Revolución de Cuba has instructed us to work on its 17th bar and restaurant launch.

The Cuban-style bar and restaurant will be opening in Southampton this September and will be a welcome addition to the centre’s busy restaurant and night-life scene, letting you dine, drink, dance and escape to Havana, all in the heart of Southampton.

James Lavin, Marketing Manager at Revolución de Cuba, commented: “We’re looking forward to opening our authentic Cuban cocktail bar which is perfect for the Southampton public. We are a team of rum-lovers, who knew from the get-go that taking on the spirit of Cuba would be challenging, but Revolución de Cuba truly captures it.”

The team at Sunny Bird PR are working alongside James on an exotic and glamourous launch event this September where local media, bloggers, influencers, dignitaries and prominent business people will be treated to a truly VIP event.

The launch event and guest list will be managed by the SBPR team and will be complimented by exciting pre-launch pop-up events.

SBPR will secure essential pre-launch and post-launch coverage ensuring that this Revolución de Cuba launch is the talk of the town.

Pride Campaigns to be Proud of

If you haven’t spotted the rainbow flags flying across social media over the last few months, where have you been?! June marked the official “Pride Month” but up and down the country people have been celebrating for the whole summer, with Bournemouth Pride taking place last month.

We couldn’t help but get swept up in the excitement of Pride, so in true Sunny Bird PR fashion, here is a roundup of our favourite Pride campaigns!

Absolut Welcome all Flavours

Absolut have worked with Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ charity, for two years with both 2016 and 2017 seeing exciting campaigns for Pride Month. This year, the vodka brand took it one step further with a huge call to action. Not content with just wrapping London buses with the rainbow flag, Absolut also installed donation points in the back of every seat on two London buses.

Step onto any London bus and you’ll see the tops of everyone’s heads as they stare down at their smartphone. Absolut found a way to make this productive with a way for passengers to donate to Stonewall with just a tap of their phone.

Using insight, new technology and, of course, plenty of colour is what we believe made this campaign so effective. 

No Labels. Just Pride. With YO!

This is an interesting one. While most brands bandwagoning (or should that be pridewagoning?) on the Pride hype simply slap a rainbow effect upon their logos and branding, Japanese restaurant and Pride in London partner YO! have thrown out the whole lot from its High Street Kensington store, removing all insignia and labels from its storefront as part of its No Labels. Just Pride campaign.

The concept, which has also been rolled out onto YO!'s various digital channels, comes as response to recent research by Pride in London revealing that the LGBTQ+ community feel ‘over-labelled’. In removing all its branding, YO! hopes to initiate a much-needed conversation around not labelling people and will encourage the nation to celebrate what Pride is really all about.

Kisses at Heathrow

Last month, a very unique flag was flying over London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2, one made entirely out of rainbow-coloured kisses.

This crowd-sourced artwork was made possible by the kisses of over 6,000 international passengers passing through the UK's biggest airport. A choice of vibrant red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple lipstick was given to anyone interested enough in puckering up to a blank canvas needing a bit of tender love and care. Hey, we've all been there right?

This Heathrow Pride takeover also sees the airport logo receive a Pride makeover and many digital screens across the airport transformed into vibrant displays of rainbow colours.

Skittles Causes Controversy

Skittles, the official “taste the rainbow” candies ditched its signature rainbow of candy colours in favour of an all-white appearance for one reason: to honour June pride month.

The message on the back of the limited-edition bag read, “During Pride, only one rainbow matters. So we’ve given up ours to show support.”

However, the white bag and the white-only coating on the shelled fruity treats was considered a misstep that raised the issue of exclusion. Critics took to Twitter to share that they felt the new direction was inadvertently tone-deaf, rather than supportive of LGBTQ people, as the company intended.