Hot Flushes and Icebergs: How we gained a 488m Audience for our Clients
The 'Circular Economy' Goes Global
The Curious PR team will remember 2019 for being the ‘tipping point’ when Climate Change became Climate Crisis. How fascinating that it took a schoolgirl and a 93 year-old broadcaster to make this happen... No doubt we'll continue to see the likes of Extinction Rebellion take to the streets to protest at the sloth-like progress being made on reducing carbon emissions in time to save our planet from overheating. BUT will their over-arching message be diluted by a confused public that is unsure of what to drive, wear, eat? What's healthy for our planet is more confusing still than what's healthy to eat! So, do we need a 'traffic lights system' for environmentally sustainable lifestyle choices?
Here's one of our #FactsToLife: Each transatlantic flight melts 4 cubic metres of ice. If you're curious to know what a collapsing iceberg sounds like, view this clip - filmed accidentally last month in Svalbard by a client: watch the centre of the screen carefully and turn up the volume on your device...
Speaking of ice, January saw world leaders take to the snowy slopes of Davos, where they woke up to the $5Tr opportunity that is the ‘circular economy’. And unlike the icecaps, it's here to stay.
Closing the Loop on Unwanted 'stuff'
The timing of this Davos wake-up call could not have been better: combined with the annual post-Christmas 'retail hangover', we could shout about our circular economy client, Globechain, amid new data showing a staggering 50% of items we buy online and return goes to a landfill or incinerators! (Makes you think about the tops you bought in two sizes and colours: only half went back to the shelf to be sold on.)
Globechain lets companies list items they no longer want (office furniture, retail stock, construction materials etc) on its website for other organisations to collect (for free) to re-use, recycle or upcycle. Companies like this help 'close the loop' that means too much ‘stuff’ is wasted – at great environmental, social and financial cost.
Our resulting PR activity secured a live TV interview with Globechain CEO, May Al-Karooni, on BBC World News (Global audience: 110m). She also made the cover of Recycling And Waste World, and the news was featured in Material Recycling World, Environment Journal, Government Europa, Better Society. May also did a podcast with environmental sustainability platform, Edie.net. Her company has since been listed in the Forbes ‘Start-Ups to watch in 2019’. The only way is circular!
We Got All Fired Up about Women's Health!
2018-2019 marked a step-change in perception about women's bodies, including the subject of menopause and periods. (Thank you, Piers Morgan, for driving the debate, but we think if YOU were in great pain, you'd take time off work too!)
We helped bring information and advice to women suffering from pelvic floor weakness via a new campaign #PelvicRoar supported by our pelvic health client, Kegel8. The campaigned attracted new audience stakeholders, including politicians, GPs, midwives, obstetricians, journalists and bloggers.
The campaign reached by 99m people largely thanks to a full page feature we secured in the Mail On Sunday which quoted our brave case study and women's health physiotherapists. This was mirrored by an article in Mail Online that was shared 2,500 times! Articles also appeared in Glamour Magazine, Women’s HealthMagazine and British Journal of Family Medicine - supported by our engaging infographics, and our creation and management of social media.
Then, on World Menopause Day, PositivePause campaign founders, Jo and Ann, ensured Kegel8 was the only brand mentioned during the iconic show, BBC Radio4 Women’s Hour. On the same day, Kegel8’s MD and Founder was featured on BBC Radio Humberside - and in The Hull Daily Mail - with a perfectly-poised performance fuelled by our super-dedicated media coach, Kate Chacksfield! Job done!
Female Veterans Facing Hardship
In November 2018, the world marked 100 years since the end of WW1, and a century of women in military service. However, many women who left, and are now in their sixties, face particular hardship - either because they served when females had to leave to get married or have a family - or because they've suffered emotional or physical health issues since leaving. We launched a benevolence campaign on behalf of our charity client, the WRAC Association, which supports and gives grants to women who have served.
We issued highlights of the charity's new Report on this subject to the media, and were delighted that Channel 4 News broadcast a 4-minute piece, featuring interviews with the brave case studies we'd put forward. Watch the sensitively-filmed report by Social Affairs Correspondent, Victoria MacDonald, here.
This summer, we were thrilled that WRAC veteran, Pat Rosewell, was invited to BBC Radio London to talk about army days, fundraising and The Queen Mother's corgis on DJ Jo Good's show - along with Bletchley Park veteran, Betty Webb MBE, 96, live from Birmingham. The stories just flowed...!
We also accompanied three WRAC Association spokespeople to the studio for BBC Radio5Live with DJ Nicky Campbell to discuss serving as a woman during WW2, The Cold War and The Gulf Wars. Retired Colonel Ali Brown recalled being 'sent away' from her new post - purely for being a female! Betty discussed her work during WW2 and afterwards at The Pentagon. We expected a 5 minute interview slot, but they were invited to stay and take calls from the public - for 2 hours!
A Visit from HRH Sophie Countess of Wessex
In March, we liaised with members of the media who interviewed attendees of the charity’s 100th Anniversary Reception at Guildford Cathedral. Veterans got to meet HRH Sophie Duchess of Wessex, who attended in place of HM The Queen who is the charity's Patron. The media audience we reached was an impressive 500,000. Earlier, we commissioned a documentary about changing roles of women in the army, which includes footage of The Queen driving her Land Rover whilst serving in the WRAC, as well as interviews with new recruits. Press PLAY to watch!
Drones: Know Your Blades!
By 2030 over 76K drones will be used commercially in the UK, adding 628K jobs and £42Bn to the economy. The Civil Aviation Authority requires anyone wishing to operate a UAV for commercial gain to hold a CAP-C certificate before applying for commercial operations permission.
We’re putting Commercial UAV Academy (CUAVA) on the map. This highly-regarded training academy offers two days' training plus a practical flight test to enable students to fly a drone safely - whether they work in surveillance, photography, construction, agriculture, the military or other sector.
Safety is all, and learning from the best should be second-nature. Alan Perrin, Chief Drone Instructor, notes: “A disruptive technology that is readily available encourages people to use it immediately, without thinking of the consequences...”
Sure enough, the Gatwick drone fiasco of December 2018 saw hundreds of thousands of passengers affected. So, armed with our in-depth biography of Alan, we secured 9 media opportunities for him including The Telegraph, Channel 4 News, BBC World TV News, LBC Drive Time, and BBC Newsnight, reaching an audience of 116M. Read our blog Drones: Practical Heroes or Perilous Pests here.
Reach For The Skies!
We continue to raise the profile of Europe's leading aerial filming group Helicopter Film Services whose impressive work includes these movie productions below. We recently launched their latest kit: The Typhon2 combines six RED Helium cameras to film landscapes in a way that gives visual effects departments more creative and technical freedom. American Cinematographer carried the news. Likewise, we launched the TITAN ultra-heavy lift drone with remote camera head and an in-built ballistic recovery system. Both stories were featured in key trade press titles, including Televisual, Definition, 4RFV.
Huge congratulations to the CEO of HFS, aerial cinematographer, Jeremy Braben, for becoming an Associate Member of the British Society of Cinematographers - (and for surviving a 15 minute live interview on BBC Radio!) Below are a few HFS projects...
A huge thank you to everyone involved in making this magic happen. If you're curious to know how we've reached a global audience of 488m since 2018, drop me a line!
All the best,
Hannah Kapff & The Curious PR Team