Fed up traffic buster knows who he’s gonna call – his Edinburgh PR agency

Ever wondered what real PR looks like in action? This account of real time news reaction tells exactly how professional public relations can achieve powerful results. 

WHEN Jerry Stewart got into his car on a chilly Thursday morning, he knew the Scottish winter had finally bitten because of the heavy frost across his windscreen.

A five minute delay while he de-iced and waited for the car demister to work its magic was no biggie.  Just minutes later though, Jerry knew it was going to be a bad day.

As he joined the M8 at the Newhouse junction traffic reports on the radio confirmed what he was seeing with his own eyes – massive motorway tailbacks. The traffic jam was at least 10 miles long. Like tens of thousands of other motorists he had to endure a slow crawl along Scotland’s most vital artery.

Unlike those other drivers, Jerry works closely with Scottish PR experts – so within hours he was making headline news on Scotland’s national TV channel and in its most trusted quality newspaper, warning Scotland’s new transport minister to get a grip of the situation – and quickly.

Here’s a rundown of how that unfolded – and an object lesson for any business about the value of building a long-term relationship with trusted public relations professionals. 

As Jerry was stuck in his car along with a large chunk of Scotland’s workforce, he was listening to radio reports outlining the reason why – heavy snowfall at Harthill.

Actually, the first snowfall of the year and to Jerry’s mind it was questionable just how “heavy” it really was. Certainly more than a light dusting, but to his experienced eyes nowhere near the levels that could reasonably bring a modern nation effectively grinding to a halt.

While the traffic chaos meant misery for huge numbers of motorists, it was even more painful for Jerry. As the boss of Scotland’s biggest independent Courier company, Eagle Couriers, a smooth running motorway network is business critical.

“We make 2000 journey along the M8 every week. Nobody knows this motorway better than Eagle Couriers,” is how Jerry puts it in his typical, plain talking fashion.

“What I know is that something serious failed that morning for a pretty routine snowfall to cause those levels of disruption. And quite simply that isn’t good enough.”

When Jerry finally arrived at his Bathgate offices after an hour-long commute that should have taken no more than 20 minutes, the first thing he did was to pick up the phone to his trusted public relations advisers with Holyrood PR, PR in Edinburgh.

Little over an hour later this media release was approved – a carefully crafted message to the new Scottish Transport Minister, Derek Mackay. Jerry was delighted with the tone and wording of the release, so a short time later it was winging its way to influential journalists.

The results were spectacular. First up was a major mention on STV’s evening news roundup, Scotland Today. Jerry’s comments also featured heavily on a detailed weather story which ran on STV’s website.

At the top of the half hour bulletin, newsreader Laura Miller teed up the show by announcing: “A winter warning – a leading businessman tells the Government to get a grip of transport problems in the first flurry of snow.”

And the following morning Jerry was also quoted extensively in The Scotsman’s two page round up of weather disruption – again with a clear focus on his message to the Transport Minister.

Jerry said: “It stopped surprising me a long time ago that the team at Holyrood PR deliver these kinds of amazing results. They have given Eagle Couriers an influential voice which is listened to in the transport sector.

“I have no doubt the transport minister will have seen this and taken note.  That means Holyrood PR haven’t just given me a voice, these were the frustrations of tens of thousands of ordinary Scottish road users.

“This is exactly why we have work with Holryood PR for many years. They are proactive, fast and get results that, without any doubt whatsoever, have a positive effect on our business.”

So how could you benefit from the work of our award-winning public relations agency?

Could your business use this kind of powerful profile boost? You can see more of the coverage we’ve generated at our  Eagle Couriers PR Hub.

Every client of Holyrood PR gets a website section dedicated entirely to them – no extra charge, all just part of the fantastic, value for money service. We offer a wide range of PR services, including PR photography, media relations, PR video, crisis management, online content strategies and consultancy on how to get the most from your website. We’ve won multiple PR awards for our work.

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