Defining excellence
21st Jun 2010
"Last night's CIPR Excellence Awards ceremony brought home the extent of diverse activities that come under the umbrella of public relations.
We were up for the best public affairs award for our work on the 'save childcare vouchers' campaign. We achieved a significant policy shift from government. The awards recognised the best of breed across varied disciplines including events-led media relations, digital campaigning, internal communications and corporate communications to name but a few.
The range of distinct categories is misleading as the best practitioners within each sub set will employ a range of skills to achieve success for their clients. Analysing an audience, refining messages and determining the most influential communications method was common to the best campaigns.
In our case, success came as a result of detailed understanding of the policy context, grassroots campaigning combined with targeted parliamentary advocacy, detailed work with journalists and winning the support of a range of third parties.
After all the air-kissing and champagne quaffing, it was back to work bright and early to prepare for an important pitch next week. Perhaps the subject of our next award entry?"