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Focus PR's Hilary Meacham (left) and Sally Alexander

We were shortlisted recently for a European Excellence Award for our month-long media relations-driven campaign aimed at bringing Cowes Week 2010 to life through business columns, sailing press and lifestyle media. The Awards are hosted in a different European city every December and were set up to honour outstanding achievement in communications on an international scale.   Last year we collected an award for our Cadbury Twisted social media campaign in Vienna and this year we flew to a very snowy Prague to join in the celebrations.

We sat in the majestic Žofín Palace amidst a sea of different nationalities, all of whom were getting on like a house on fire, and checked out the competition in our category (Sports and Lifestyle).  Our campaign for Cowes Week had secured a total circulation of over nearly 800m and included nine pieces featured on TV, 10 pieces on radio, 97 pieces of print editorial in national newspapers, consumer lifestyle media, sailing titles and online; so we knew we were in with a chance.  Also in our category were entries from the Youth Olympic Games, the Prague International Marathon, Puma Bulgaria entered by Publicis Consultants and a campaign called ‘How fit are you at 90?” entered by komm.passion. 

As we looked through the entries we realised we were one of only a handful of UK consultancies and, what’s more, one of the few independent PR agencies present, up against large multi-nationals such as Edelman and Hill & Knowlton – a huge achievement in itself!  Unfortunately we lost out to the kom.passion campaign.  However, despite not winning the award, we felt a tremendous sense of pride at having been shortlisted two years in a row for the same client and to be part of such a buzzing and vibrant industry on a European scale. 

It has been a tough year for PR agencies with communications professionals Europe-wide feeling the bite of recession and the need to adapt to the ever-changing media landscape.  It was clear, as Marc-Olivier Voigt opened the evening’s celebrations and as the night went on and we saw creative entry after creative entry, that every single person in that room felt an enormous sense of achievement simply by being among some of the industry’s best in a tough economic climate.  A heart-warming thought against the -8°C winds blowing outside!