Two prestigious honours were awarded to the team at Somerset-based Plum Communications & PR in Bristol on Friday night, at the glittering black-tie event that was the 2012 Chartered Institute of Public Relations PRide Awards for the West of England.
The marketing and PR agency, which is based just outside Weston-super-Mare, lifted the silver award for ‘Outstanding Small Consultancy’, which recognises the achievements, performance and excellent work of a small consultancy over the past three years.
The award win acknowledged Plum’s rapid growth as an agency; only founded in May 2010, Plum has delivered dedicated marketing and PR campaigns for a wide range of clients across the South West, and boasts a client list including Spectrum Housing Group, Summerfield Developments, Amethyst Systems, North Somerset Council, People Against Poverty and Merlin Housing Society.
Headed up by Director, Karen Morledge, the small team at Plum offer a range of services to local businesses, including PR strategy, social media marketing, crisis communications planning, website development, and effective copywriting.
Picking up the award on Friday evening, Karen expressed joy at receiving such a prestigious honour:
“I really am delighted that Plum has won this award in what are considered to be the industry Oscars. We fought off some stiff competition from other agencies throughout the West of England. It’s a testament not only to the work that we have done so far for our clients, and also to how quickly we have grown – a big thank you to all of our clients who have made this possible, as without them we wouldn’t be here!
Whatever the task or budget, we always look to deliver work to the highest possible standard for our clients – work that achieves real, strategic objectives. That’s what we like to call a Plum job”.
It was a night of double celebrations for the agency, as Ben Veal, Account Manager for Plum, was named runner-up for the sought-after ‘Outstanding Young Communicator’ award, which recognises young professionals who make a valuable contribution to the companies they work for, and who show considerable promise as future leaders of the profession.
Ben, 28, specialises in helping companies engage directly with their customers through the use of engaging social media campaigns, and has provided bespoke social media training to a number of local businesses since joining the growing agency in April 2012.
“I am delighted that Ben’s contribution to the industry was recognised on the night” adds Karen.
“Since joining Plum earlier this year, Ben has strengthened our client offering even further with his passion for PR and social media marketing. He is a real credit to both the team and the industry”.
Over 150 individuals attended the evening’s awards ceremony at The Grand in Bristol, which was jointly compered by CIPR West of England Chair Sarah Pinch and Chairman of Mentor Communications Consultancy, Magnus Carter, and sponsored nationally by Precise, PRWeek, and Specialist Speakers, and locally by ST16. Guests enjoyed a black-tie dinner before a night of entertainment, which culminated in the announcement of this year’s ultimate PR accolades for the region’s leading public relations and communications talent for their work in the industry over the past twelve months.
Jane Wilson, CEO of the CIPR, commented: “The CIPR West of England PRide Awards celebrate the best PR and communications campaigns and teams from across the region. The sheer number of high quality entries received this year, especially when things are still pretty tough out there economically, is testament to a thriving regional industry. The CIPR PRide Awards represent the best, most creative and most effective public relations work across the UK.”
View the full list of results, with gold winner case studies, on the CIPR website.