East Anglian Firms Changing the Face of PR

Rebecca Scrase PR extolls the virtues of being a freelancer in The EDP and EADT

Public relations has changed – and not every firm will survive. But in East Anglia PR agencies are leading an industry-wide revolution.

But the general public's view of the relationship between PRs, their clients and the media is wide of the mark - and as the internet revolutionises everything agencies and in-house teams alike have had to up their game.

Many have been left behind - but East Anglian firms are punching above their weight with award-winning campaigns which are having knock-on social and economic benefits for the region and attracting national recognition.

A number of companies have succeeded in gaining public awareness of issues that would normally have editors and their readers snoring. These include tricky messages around recycling and water scarcity.

The team at Spring took their inspiration from summer family activities to come up with an interactive, fun fair-themed, community engagement event at The Forum in Norwich city centre.

Overall, against a target of 8,000 interactions, Spring achieved 21,000 in just six days.

"This worked because it looked at people first, and built out from there," she explained.

"People are bombarded with messages from organisations, politicians, 'influencers' and others all trying to get a share of their focus and open their minds to something. For any of this to have a hope of working it has to really stand out and speak to them directly."

Rebecca Scrase on 'stellar rise' of freelancers

Rebecca Scrase, who runs a PR firm near Ipswich, with clients including tourism businesses Norfolk Cottages and Suffolk Secrets, said the key to success was not a single message campaign but "as the result of a continuous, targeted, multi-channel communications strategy where stories are constantly evolving and media relationships curated over the long term".

She predicted the freelance sector would continue its "stellar rise" in the gig economy as businesses look for more flexible and cost-effective business solutions.

"Multi-platform content creation will see traditional editorial being favoured for video and podcasting and the distinction between marketing, SEO, advertising, PR and even journalism will become increasingly blurred," she said.