Record-breaking month of media success for Holyrood PR

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Award Winning PR Agency Celebrates Best Month Ever

Scottish PR agency Holyrood PR celebrates record month of coverage with a montage of top performing stories

IMAGINE the glow of satisfaction that must wash over anyone who has just smashed their way into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Recent entrants into the hallowed halls of world-beating fame go beyond athletes, explorers and endurance specialists and include a woman with the world’s longest eyelashes, a collector with the world’s biggest selection of snow globes and a child with the world’s most watched YouTube channel.

Well, now the team at Holyrood PR is basking in the warm glow of record-breaking achievement. While we may not be elbowing our way into the famed Guinness book, we’re still proud as punch to shout about our own success.

Y’see, we’ve just had our biggest and most impressive haul of PR results in our 18 year history. Not bad, eh? So what exactly does that look like?

In  January 2019 we delivered more than 1,000 significant items of coverage for our delighted clients – meaning their important messages were put in front of millions of people. The coverage spanned broadcast, online and print media, delivering hundreds of millions of opportunities to see and hear about our clients and their products and services.

As well as appearing in local and national newspapers, specialist trade titles and magazines, the story ran on the biggest online news sites, TV and radio stations. It also included YouTube views, creation of GIFs and other memes, while generating huge amounts of Likes, shares and other engagement across all the main social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

While we always strive to deliver amazing results for our brilliant clients, this epic month delivered the kind of coverage and reach that would normally take four months to achieve. The success is all down to the sheer hard graft and amazing storytelling skills of the team at our award-winning PR agency.

Below are six of the biggest and best performing stories from our record-breaking month. Stories that caught like wildfire across the UK, Europe and beyond. Give them a check and get in touch if YOUR business might benefit from this kind of impossibly valuable and positive exposure.


1 – BRINGING HOME THE BLACK ARROW

Four montages display the success of tech PR in devlivering record breaking coverage for Edinburgh based Skyrora on the return of the Black Arrow to the UK

The Black Arrow rocket is the only British-led space project to have successfully reached space and deployed a satellite into orbit.
However, until recently it was a little more than a historic footnote, a story barely known to anyone outside the most avid followers of Britain’s space sector.That was partly because the rocket was launched in 1972 and its remains languished for decades in the desert of Australia’s outback.
However, all of that changed when our client, Skyrora, recovered the rocket and transported it more than 10,000 miles back to Britain.
With our expert handling – including research, writing and liaising with media outlets across the UK –  the story went stratospheric. It reached 40 million people – securing 520 significant items of coverage (and counting) in the country’s leading news titles and sites.
A notably highlight was a feature on prime-time live magazine show,he One Show, the daily BBC staple watched by five million people. Further broadcast coverage included prime-time mentions on STV News at Six, Forces TV, Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland, TALKRadio and Isle of Wight Radio.
It’s fair to say the astonishing success of this story ensured our record breaking month had a successful lift off.
Check a more detailed breakdown of the results by visiting this post.


2 – HAGGIS ICE CREAM SCOOPS A VIRAL HIT

Digital PR agency shares the success of Mackie's haggis ice cream in a compilation of montages

Our relentless work with luxury ice cream makers Mackie’s of Scotland hit a new high when we told the story of the latest  haggis and marmalade ice cream to celebrate Burns Night.
Thanks to our expertly crafted storytelling, packaged with beautiful and eye catching photography,  the story caught the attention of multiple media outlets.
Foremost among them was the Facebook-based Dessert Insidera dedicated digital channel with an audience of millions.
The pudding-loving channel even sent along a crew to film at Mackie’s dedicated ice cream parlour in Aberdeen to sample the haggis-inspired treat – with the resulting video racking up almost 500,000 views in just 48 hours.
But it didn’t stop there – the story gained further digital coverage on national news sites such as STV, The Herald, Scottish Field and Northsound 1. The widespread social media shares boosted by posts from local influencers reached an estimated 1,000,000 followers.
In total, the story about the limited edition ice cream has racked up an impressive 2,289,863 views and opportunities to see … so far!


3 – THE FAIR ISLE KIDS WHO FLY TO SWIMMING LESSONS

A collage of coverage achieved for a public sector PR story about three Fair Isle kids who fly to their swimming lessons

While most primary school kids only have to travel a short distance to take part in swimming lessons we uncovered the amazing lengths some Scottish schoolchildren go to for the chance to splash around in the pool.
Working with Scottish Water to build awareness about its Learn to Swim programme, in partnership with Scottish Swimming, we dug out a story about the kids who regularly catch a plane on a 55 mile flight from their home on remote Fair Isle to visit their nearest swimming pool in Lerwick on Shetland.
While we knew the story would hit the spot with the media and capture the attention of the public there was still plenty of work required to ensure the story would make a huge splash.
As well as securing brilliant images of the kids by a light aeroplane on their island home, we also secured video interview with them, to ensure online and broadcast media would have superb, rich content to share with their readers and viewers.
Naturally, our story helped the three youngsters involved to stake their claim to be the most dedicated group of kids learning to swim in the UK.
But it also generated massive amounts of media coverage that reached well over eight million people, thanks to coverage which included an article on Mail Online, the UK’s biggest online news site and  features on BT and AOL and a host of other top national and specialist titles in print and online.


4 – BRINGING MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS’ LETTER TO A MODERN AUDIENCE

A montage of coverage secured by Scottish PR experts for Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

Few things capture the attention of the public as well as Hollywood movies – so as buzz built around the Bafta-nominated movie about the life of Mary Queen of Scots, we spotted an opportunity.
It seemed the perfect time for us to promote the vital work of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), which boasts an extensive medical database that dates back to the 15th century.
Capitalising on the movie-driven increased public interest around the legendary Scottish monarch, we shared a fascinating story about a letter written by the Queen which exempted surgeons from engaging in battle to focus on helping the wounded. Written in 1567, the letter demonstrated how Mary Queen of Scots paved the way for the Geneva Convention 300 years before it came into force.
Naturally, the story attracted huge interest in Scotland – but it also travelled much further afield, generating at least 1.9 million opportunities to see.
It featured in Scotland’s most respected titles such as The Times and The Sunday Post as well as on some of the biggest news portals online including YahooAOL and Mail online.


5 – REVIVING ROBERT BURNS’ FABLED LOVE SPOT

A montage of coverage secured by Charity PR agency for Paths for All

Scotland’s Bard, Robert Burns, is a character who holds an amazing allure for people across the world – and Burns Night, the celebration of his life and work held every year on January 25, is a truly global event.
So timing proved crucial for another success story when we chose January as the ideal time to share the story of another client, the charity Paths for All, which is dedicated to helping Scots achieve a healthier, happier life through walking.
Thanks to a cash grant from the charity, a group of local volunteers in Ayrshire were able to revive a local beauty spot, fabled to be the site of Rabbie Burns’ engagement to Highland Mary.
The hard work of volunteers included repairing and replacing decaying wooden steps, making the path accessible to any interested in visiting the site which played such an interesting role in Scotland’s cultural history.
Our perfectly-timed telling of the story reached more than five million people, securing at least 35 major items of media coverage for Scotland’s leading walking charity.
Those articles appeared on globe-spanning web portals 
Yahoo and mail online, as well as coverage in regional and national influential titles.
It was also shared across Twitter and Facebook by numerous news outlets reaching hundreds of thousands of people digitally.


6 – LAUNCH OF LUXURY HOMES WITH ONE OF THE BEST VIEWS IN SCOTLAND

Property PR photograph featuring the living room at CALA Homes The Crescent - a sweeping curve of glass fronted contemporary apartments.

Unlike anything ever launched in Edinburgh, The Crescent at Donaldson’s is a bold and sweeping arc of 84 glass-fronted apartments in a world heritage location.
As if the glass-fronted homes weren’t impressive enough in their own right, they also enjoy spectacular views onto one of Scotland’s most celebrated buildings – the iconic Donaldson’s College.
When it finally opened the doors of its two new show apartments in January 2019, the five-star reviews came flooding in as our major, carefully-planned public relations push came to fruition.
Developed by our client CALA Homes (East), we ensured the stunning, groundbreaking properties were celebrated across the media.
Firstly we worked with  The Sunday Times – to secure a major article in all UK editions of its hugely respected property supplement,  HOME, which put the development in front of an estimated 2.25 million readers.
However, we didn’t stop there. In fact, the launch racked up 41 significant items of media coverage, reaching millions of people via prime Scottish and UK national titles, as well as relevant trade titles, ranging from business through construction, architecture and lifestyle publications.  


From rockets to ice-cream, our team of experts managed to secure more than 1000 items of coverage in national print titles and leading online news sites – as well as shares across social media.

Whilst January might have been a record-breaking month at our Edinburgh PR agency, our team work hard every day to make sure the stories of our clients reach the widest – and most important – audience.

Why not get in touch with our Scottish PR agency and find out how we could the stories of your business?

Getting in touch with us couldn’t be easier. Simply give us a call on 0131 561 2244 or take a few seconds to fill in the form below:

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