A* For Effort

Want to see the sort of thing we can do for you? Have a look at these public relations, design, marketing and event management case studies.

These fine examples of best practice, successful PR, excellent return on investment, copywriting, design, digital PR and online marketing are the types of things we get up to everyday - but there's nothing everyday about our approach, service or results!

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ATS Euromaster

Objective

As part of a corporate hospitality deal, ATS Euromaster’s Fleet Services Division received six VIP tickets for each of Wales' Six Nations rugby game at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. The seats were seldom used and when taken, it was employees who watched the matches.

Activity

Lava created the ATS Euromaster Rugby Challenge - an online fantasy rugby game.

With the website live, an on and offline marketing plan was undertaken to attract players. An email newsletter and e-flyers were created and sent out by ATS Euromaster’s sales force.

A partnership with leading industry magazine, Fleet News, was established. Fleet News carried weekly editorial on the competition and encouraged participation. In addition to the magazine coverage, the website carried rugby news, scores and fixtures to keep people coming back.

Three mini competitions were run over four months. Prizes of a pair of VIP tickets to Wales' Six Nations games, were awarded to the fist and second placed players in each game.

Results

/ The initiative maximised the company’s corporate seats.
/ Over 200 players took part – all of them potential customers for ATS Euromaster.
/ 22 weeks of coverage in Fleet News and widespread regional exposure around each winner.

Branston: Cool To Be Cold

Objective

Raise awareness of Branston Ltd’s investment in a state of the art cold store as part of the company’s efforts to minimise its carbon footprint.

Activity

Lava developed a series of press releases announcing the investment, completion of the build and the official opening of the new facility.

The consultancy built on the coverage achieved by its initial press relations campaign by staging several journalist visits and providing them with a range of interesting facts and figures to illustrate their coverage with.

Branston’s new facility was an integral part of the company’s success in achieving ISO140001, which provided Lava with a further opportunity to generate positive coverage for the company in trade and local media.

Results

/ 8 press articles
/ 2 radio interviews
/ £13,300 in equivalent advertising value
/ 899,000 total audience reach
 

Eternity

Objective

Eternity: the jigsaw with the £1 million prize was the Ertl Company's first foray into the games market. Ertl wanted to launch the puzzle to trade buyers at January's Toy Fair to secure listings; launch the puzzle to consumers in June; and then create pre-Christmas excitement.

Activity

A teaser mailing, preview press release and a chance to photograph Eternity's £1 million prize brought trade buyers and the media to Ertl's stand at Toy Fair.

Eternity went on general sale in June. The world's media were present as Eternity's creator, Christopher Monckton, destroyed the only copy of the solution - the race to the prize began!

November. Sales were steady but media interest had died down. That was until it emerged the creator had made a serious error and was having to sell his ancestral home to cover the prize. money. Reality or publicity stunt? It didn't matter. The story captured the media's imagination and catapulted Eternity back into the limelight in a key buying period.

Results

/ £5m of media coverage, including every national newspaper and on BBC 1, ITV and Five.
/ Demand for the puzzle far outweighed expectations. Ertl quadrupled its manufacturing run.
/ Eternity was the top selling Christmas puzzle.

The launch of Eternity has now been mentioned in PR 2.0 by Deirdre Breakenridge

iFestival

Objective

To raise awareness of the innovation Festival (iFestival) and the importance of innovation to the region’s economy; encourage attendance at more than 170 events being staged during this six week programme across the East Midlands; and support the strategic objectives of The East Midlands Development Agency’s  (emda) innovation team in promoting the support services offered to East Midlands businesses.
 
The 2009 iFestival was delivered by the By Design Group on behalf of emda.

Activity

Lava’s hard working PR programme included more than 22 press releases, media briefing kit, photo opportunities, exclusive articles and media partnerships between October 08 and May 09.  A sponsorship deal was agreed with Business East Midlands magazine and Lava developed eight pages of editorial which included interviews with the iFestival’s high profile speakers.

Significant time was invested in maximising awareness of the iEXPO and the opportunity for a business to win £10k of support.  Lava designed and delivered more than 200,000 A4 iFestival supplement programmes, which were distributed in the region’s five main daily newspapers.
 
Lava proposed and coordinated iChat, securing the use of commercial radio stations Lincs FM, Oak FM and Rutland FM to reach more than 400,000 listeners with speaker and sponsor interviews focusing on the importance of innovation.  iChat also included presenter talk-up in the run-up to the interview series and two weeks of radio advertising promoting the iEXPO.

Results

/ 108 pieces of media coverage including press, radio, online and broadcast.
/ £60,385 in equivalent advertising value.
/ 4,195,716 total audience reach.

Lincs FM: Da Vinci Code

Objective

In August 2005 Hollywood descended on Lincoln to shoot scenes for the Da Vinci Code at the city's cathedral. During the week of filming local radio station, Lincs FM secured several exclusives but looking ahead, it also wanted to be associated with the movie on its release.

Activity

Lava moved quickly: block booking Lincoln Odeon's biggest screen for the film's first showing.

Between August 2005 and April 2006, the Odeon was inundated with similar requests. Even Lincoln's Mayor and MP wrote asking for a charitable screening to be staged. But, with the film set to be the year's biggest smash, it didn't make commercial sense to give seats away for free.

Thankfully, Lava developed an initiative in which everyone won. Lincs FM offered the tickets to the premiere as competition prizes. Listeners won the tickets by calling a premium rate phoneline, with all of the profit's being donated to the Mayor's charity - Lincoln BABIES.

Results

/ Lincs FM achieved its objective of taking ownership of the film in Lincolnshire.
/ £1,000 was raised for Lincoln BABIES via the telephone line and donations on the night.
/ Lava's supporting PR activity created widespread coverage for Lincs FM and the charity.
/ Lincs FM received a letter of thanks from Lincoln’s MP for organising the premiere.

Lincs FM: Daniel Bedingfield

Objective

Before the Engine Shed and Lincoln Live!, the East Midlands' city of Lincoln struggled to attract internationally recognised musicians. That all changed when Lincs FM 102.2, the county's commercial radio station, hosted an intimate, exclusive and acoustic evening with Daniel Bedingfield. The initiative, which created talkability and encouraged non-listeners to tune in to the station in order to win tickets, was instigated and managed by Lava's Matt Hammerton.

Activity

In the 12 years of broadcasting to Lincolnshire and Newark, Lincs FM 102.2 hadn't previously exploited its excellent working relationship with some of the UK's leading record labels. That was until Matt Hammerton and Lincs FM's Head of Music approached Polydor to see if any of its artists was interested in performing in Lincoln. To their surprise and delight, Daniel Bedingfield agreed to a 20 minute set.

With Lincoln's Drill Hill secured, an on and off-air marketing campaign was devised.

Lava's creative input brought the event to life - with presenters giving tickets away on air and in person at mystery venues around the county. Members of the Lincs FM Listener Club and visitors to the station's website were also offered chances to win tickets.

Two 'golden tickets' were offered to Lincolnshire and Newark's Daniel Bedingfield Super Fans - who competed head to head live on the radio answering questions, set and asked by Daniel himself.

Perhaps the most touching part of the event, was when 11 year old Victoria, an autistic child, was able to meet her idol back stage and then have a song dedicated to her live on stage.

Lava's proactive PR campaign ran alongside its management of the event to ensure widespread pre and post media coverage.

Results

/ Extensive and widespread media coverage before and after the concert, including the Lincolnshire Echo and Lincolnshire Pride
/ A packed house on the night who enjoyed a 90 minute performance
/ Widespread talkability and an increase in audience and hours in the proceeding quarter's RAJAR figures

Living Gardens

Objective

Living Gardens is one of Lincoln's largest garden centres, situated five miles or so outside of the city. Despite having the largest range of patio paving, decorative aggregates and hard landscaping products, a tremendous plant centre and extensive range of garden furniture and equipment, awareness of Living Gardens has, traditionally, been low. Lava was brought in to raise awareness of the garden centre and establish a reputation for quality and personal service.

Activity

Lava devised a multi-faceted, hard working PR campaign for Living Gardens.

Lava's market research discovered that while other garden centres were more established and better known amongst potential customers, they were considered 'cold' and 'uncaring'. Lava recommended that Living Gardens communicated its personal touch in all PR and marketing activity.

With the central theme in place, Lava worked with Living Gardens to establish a series of press opportunities around personal occasions. The garden centre searched (and found) Lincolnshire's longest married couple in time for a Valentine's Day reward; canvassed mum's on what they really wanted for Mother's Day; developed a patriotic patio kit in the guise of England's national flag in time for St George's Day and discovered that the caveman cook is on the verge of extinction for National BBQ Week.

The chance for a charity to win a £2,500 garden makeover was offered to readers of Lincolnshire Life, resulting in a double page spread to launch the initiative and a full page on the successful entrant.

A monthly email newsletter and the establishment of the Living Gardens Club have also worked in tandem with Living Gardens' revised advertising strategy.

Lava capped its activity off with a weekly gardening column in the Lincolnshire Echo's Staying Supplement, with Living Garden's managers taking it in turns to answer readers' problems.

Results

/ Four full pages in Living Gardens' priority media - the Lincolnshire Echo.
/ Extensive coverage in Lincolnshire Life.
/ A more focused marketing, PR and advertising campaign that's delivering real results for the company.
/ Living Gardens' brand values clearly communicated to potential and existing customers.
/ Sales nearly 20% up year on year, despite appalling weather!

Mower-Magic.co.uk

Objective

Introduce people to the Robomow range of robotic lawnmowers. Promote the benefits of owning an automatic mower.

Activity

Lava devised a three pronged PR campaign to raise awareness and communicate the Robomow’s USPs.

A press release programme was developed, focusing on the amount of time lawnmowing requires, the mundane nature of the chore and the cost (both financial and environmental) of using petrol mowers or lawn tractors.

The second strand of activity, focused on securing Tried & Testeds with the media, including gardening and gadget correspondents on national newspapers and specialist gardening titles.

Finally, Lava developed seasonal activity targeting online gardening communities, technology writers and gadget blogs, with the introduction of the limited editon 'Sir Cut A Lot': a Robomow with a special Cross of St George emblazoned on its shell.

Results

/ 38 newspaper articles.
/ 4 Tried & Tested reviews, including: The Sun, The Mirror, Garden Answers and Garden News.
/ 1 Television appearance on the Alan Titchmarsh Show.
/ More than 30 bloggers and websites covered the introduction of Sir Cut A Lot on St George's Day.
/ £306,083 in equivalent advertising value.
/ 22,101,291 total audience reach.

Spaldings Scores At Saltex

Objective

IOG Saltex is the groundcare industry event of the year. Ensuring you stand out from the crowd and enticing visitors to stand is of paramount importance. As Spaldings retained PR consultancy, Lava was tasked with promoting the company's presence at the show, with the aim of generating media coverage and creating footfall.

Activity

Lava devised the Spaldings' Saltex Soccer Challenge - a high profile initiative to engage current and potential customers and the media. Like all the best ideas, the central concept was simple - visit Spaldings' stand during Saltex, beat a member of the Spaldings team at table soccer and go into the hat to win a host of fantastic football prizes, including tickets to see one of the Premiership football clubs supplied by Spaldings in a league match.

Lava launched the initiative with a pre-event press release and careful targeting of Saltex preview features in the groundcare, local government, sports and amenity media.

A flyer promoting the Soccer Challenge was designed and sent out to Spaldings database of current and potential customers, with an email version also designed and mass mailed to groundcare professionals.

In the run up to Saltex Lava challenged all of Spaldings key media to a game of football on the stand during the show and further reinforced the challenge in the exhibition press pack.

Results

/ Increased year-on-year footfall to Spaldings' stand.
/ More than 50 participants in the Spaldings' Saltex Soccer Challenge.
/ Extensive media coverage of Spaldings' attendance at Saltex both before and after the show.

Stormsaver: BS8515:2009

Objective

Capitialise on the introduction of British Standard 8515:2009 governing rainwater harvesting to promote and reinforce Stormsaver’s market-leading position.

Activity

BS 8515:2009 is a long and highly technical guide to best practice in the specification and installation of rainwater harvesting systems.

To help architects, specifiers, mechanical and electrical contractors and end users get to grips with the standard, Lava proposed and developed the introduction of a plain English guide to the standard.

In just three weeks, Lava researched, wrote, designed, printed and publicised the six page gatefold brochure, which was offered as a PDF download via Stormsaver’s website – meeting a secondary objective of increasing traffic to the company’s site – and as a conventional brochure.

The availability of the guide was signalled through Lava’s email marketing campaign which saw each of Stormsaver’s 5,000 contacts and customers receiving advance access to the guide via a direct email campaign.

Even greater awareness of Stormsaver and its new publication was secured through a proactive PR campaign with Lava targeting environmental, architectural, building and water industry trade titles. Press releases were complemented with feature-length articles, ghost-written by Lava for the company’s directors, ensuring widespread coverage.

Results

/ 9 articles
/ £10,483 in equivalent advertising value
/ 52,381 total audience reach
/ 107 copies of the guide being downloaded on day one
 

Stormsaver: Industry Leaders

Objective

To reinforce Stormsaver’s market leading position by raising the profile of the company directors within the environmental, architectural, building and water trade press.

Activity

Lava devised a strategic PR campaign to position Stormsaver’s directors as thought leaders in the rainwater harvesting industry.

A programme was developed, focusing on key industry concerns, trends and issues. Lava devised a number of comment pieces and white papers and positioned them within key industry press.

Lava also developed and suggested a comprehensive national and regional awards plan, focusing on innovation and sustainability, to diversify the PR reach.

Lava canvassed key print and online trade editors to establish their opinions and understanding of Stormsaver. From feedback, Lava was able to develop a comprehensive plan of which publications to target with specific key messages and opinions.

Lava devised a feature article programme to highlight, discuss and give opinions on key industry issues. These were then placed in key trade publications, online forums and industry specific websites.

A case study programme was also developed to emphasise Stormsaver’s experience and capabilities in particular market segments.

Lava built on both the case study and feature article programmes, by placing a regular opinion column in a key trade publication. These columns highlighted key issues such as the benefits of rainwater harvesting, new industry regulations, as well as offering personal advice to readers.

Results

/ 95 articles + 1 front cover.
/ 9 feature articles.
/ £64,940 in equivalent advertising value.
/ 2,291,645 total audience reach.

Survive & Thrive

Objective

To raise awareness of emda’s Survive & Thrive business support events across the East Midlands.

Activity

Five half-day Survive & Thrive events were organised for early December in all five of the East Midlands’ counties (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire.)

With such a large geographic area to cover, the strategy involved taking the message of Survive & Thrive to each county and undertaking a high-profile public relations campaign to ensure widespread awareness and take-up of places at five events.

The public relations strategy was integrated into a multi-disciplinary campaign comprising advertising, direct mail, email marketing and public relations to not only engage with business and secure registrations but raise awareness of the business support services, the role of emda and offer inspiration by detailing some of the things businesses could do to best prepare themselves for the difficult times ahead.

News releases were drafted for each of the counties to communicate the benefits of attending the events and ‘sold in’ to key media.

The whole campaign was devised and delivered within an eight-week period, including all aspects of the marketing campaign, event management and registration process.

Results

/ 43 articles across the East Midlands.
/ Over £20,000 in equivalent advertising value.
/ 26 radio interviews.
/ 2 television news items.
/ 5.13 million total audience reach.
 

Velcro

Objective

Following years of neglect Velcro, the original hook and loop fastener, lost its brand values and became a generic. The brand owners wanted to reinstate its heritage and quality to increase sales in the DIY and craft markets.

Lava's Matt Hammerton developed and implemented a marketing campaign to help Velcro reinstate itself as the original and best hook and loop fastener in the eyes of DIY enthusiasts and haberdashers.

Activity

An educational campaign was devised to promote Velcro's significant benefits when compared to competing products.

A marketing communications campaign comprising in-depth market research; effective media buying and the undertaking of a strategic advertising campaign; negotiation and delivery of a series of sponsored editorial columns; journalist briefings; trade competitions; and exhibition support was undertaken alongside a proactive PR campaign targeting both trade buyers and consumers in the DIY, craft and haberdashery sectors.

Results

/ An enormous amount of valuable publicity was generated, helping increase sales for Velcro brand products and secure new listings
/ A consistent message was delivered across all marketing activity reinforcing the brand values
/ The campaign won Best Integrated Marketing Campaign and the Grand Prix Award in the 2002 Institute of Public Relations North West Cream Awards