Early this year Birmingham City Council (BCC) appointed Core to implement a PR campaign for the highly anticipated Chamberlain Awards.

Named after Joseph Chamberlain – one of Birmingham’s most respected Civic Leaders – the Chamberlain Awards is designed to reward BCC workers who go the extra mile to ensure that people of Birmingham receive quality services.

Core’s objective was to raise the profile of the awards scheme amongst the agreed target audiences, focussing strongly on the regional community. This was also to be the first year that the Chamberlain Awards would embrace social media through Facebook, Twitter and blogging.

Press releases were drafted to highlight the key areas of activity during the campaign, including nominations received, announcement of the finalists and the countdown to the awards ceremony. Case studies of the winners were also compiled.

Coverage was gained in a range of titles including Birmingham Post, Birmingham Mail, Solihull News, Bromsgrove Advertiser, Birmingham Observer and Asian Voice to name but a few. We are pleased to report that the PR campaign resulted in press and online coverage with an advertising value equivalent of £19,021.98 – more than five times the campaign spend!

Additionally, a total of 27 blogs were drafted and uploaded live to the Chamberlain Awards website, with 15 drafted prior to the ceremony and a further 12 uploaded live on the evening. Alongside the blogs, Core engaged with supporters via Twitter and Facebook creating fan bases for the nominees and providing a platform for conversations to develop. Both Facebook and Twitter updates were uploaded live from the awards ceremony on 11^th November 2011, engaging with many of the attendees.

To top it off, Lucie and Dan had a great time meeting all the finalists and winners at the photo-shoots prior to the awards and at the ceremony. Nothing however can be better that a glowing report from your client…

Lucy Cross, Corporate Recognition Manager at Birmingham City Council said: “Core went over and above to support our event with a multi-media PR campaign, they were great to work with, lots of ideas and I really valued the fact that they are quick to respond to my communication at all times.

“Lucie and Dan even came on the night of our event ‘The Chamberlain Awards’ to support us – they were flexible and turned their hand to whatever was required. Their live blog was brilliant and they have really swelled our follower numbers on our social networking campaigns. I recommend Core and would certainly use them again. Looking forward to next year!”