In the War on Dodgy “Bargains”, Scottish PR Agency Delivered Incredible Value for Money Campaign

Our PR agency is recognised as one of the best in Scotland with a string of Gold and Silver PR awards. We want to take you Behind the Bling and explain what that mean for real businesses  a lot like yours. We deliver measurable results, like more sales or more website traffic. If you’ve considered PR, our Behind the Bling series will help answer your questions. 

 ADMIT it – just like the rest of us you’re a sucker for a bargain. Yet sometimes if a deal seems too good to be true, it pays to be wary.

So what if we told you that for just a couple of grand we could:

• Deliver the most publicity ever achieved in Scotland on your subject
• Convince a government minister to front your campaign
• Ensure a sell out audience for your event AND
• Prove such a media success that your cause landed more funding?

Now that would be a genuine bargain and one you’d want to snap up in double quick time.

Well the good news is that everything outlined here is totally legit and above board. It had to be since the people we were working with were those leading the fight against the conmen, criminals and counterfeiters trying to flood Scotland with dodgy goods.

Our inventive PR services helped the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) cut through with a loud and clear message that positioned them as the leaders in the battle against illicit trade in everything from poisonous vodka to toxic cosmetics.

So just how much positive buzz did we manage to create about the SBRC’s Anti Illicit Trade Summit when it was held in Scotland? We’ll let them answer that question for us.

Mandy Haeburn-Little, director of SBRC said: “It has been acknowledged by Police, Government and HMRC that this is the single largest piece of media attention that Scotland has ever had on the issue of counterfeiting.”

Wow. Impressive stuff. Especially when you consider this was achieved on a modest budget. Even more impressive since the results didn’t stop at the 50 items of media coverage generated. Here’s how we stacked up against the tough objectives set for the campaign:

Arrange for guest speaker to front campaign and arrange interviews with media.
Result: Our early coverage helped convince Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill to deliver the keynote speech. And he undertook interviews for STV News at Six, Kingdom FM, Radio Borders, Radio Tay and Radio Scotland.

Ensure the event was a sell-out
Result: The summit was full on both days (295 guests) with partners/sponsors impressed that different delegates attended on both days meaning specific sectors were targeted effectively.

Raise national awareness of SBRC’s expertise in taking a lead in the fight against illicit trade.
Result: The event marked the first time US Homeland Security, Interpol and Europol had met together in Scotland to discuss the challenge against the criminal gangs. The level of media interest generated has seen SBRC win new funding to continue its mission and campaign work.

Some bargains really are too good to be true. The harsh reality is that the dodgy DVDs, cheap spirits and knock off goodies may have a tempting price tag – but that rarely reflects the real cost of counterfeit goods peddled by criminal gangs.

How can our public relations services benefit your business?

However, when Holyrood PR delivers a PR campaign that defies the price tag, it really is likely to be one of the bargains of the century. That’s why we were awarded Silver in the Best Use of Media Relations Category at the 2014 CIPR Scotland Pride awards.

What could your business achieve with the help of real measurable results like these.  If you want to find out more about how PR could help your business it couldn’t be easier to contact us.

You can give us a call on 0131 561 2244 or take a few seconds to fill in the simple form below and we will get straight back to you.