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Wilson Hartnell wins four awards at PR Awards for Excellence

Martyn Rosney Leave a comment
The winners of the 2015 PR Awards for Excellence were announced at a gala event in the Shelbourne Hotel Dublin. This year saw the highest level of entries in the 22 year history of the Awards. The Awards recognise the key role PR plays in helping organisations achieve their business objectives across 20 categories. Best Young Communications Professional Martyn Rosney, Wilson Hartnell

The winners of the 2015 PR Awards for Excellence were announced at a gala event in the Shelbourne Hotel Dublin. This year saw the highest level of entries in the 22 year history of the Awards. The Awards recognise the key role PR plays in helping organisations achieve their business objectives across 20 categories.
Best Young Communications Professional
Martyn Rosney, Wilson Hartnell

Friday, June 26th saw a true celebration of the PR industry in Ireland as over 300 people from 39 agencies or in-house communications teams and representing some 60 individual client companies gathered for the 2015 Awards for Excellence in Public Relations. Celebrating 22 years in 2015, these coveted awards set the industry benchmark for excellence across all areas of PR. They are prized the length and breadth of Ireland by the agencies and organisations who win them – for the value they add to current and future client relationships, and also because they are a boost to the morale of employees and colleagues who have proven their tremendous understanding of the power of public relations.

Wilson Hartnell Managing Director Brian Bell said: “Having already set a new record for the highest number of short-listed entries, we won three of the main PRCA awards for #womeninsport on behalf of Liberty Insurance, the An Post Cycle Series and safefood’s Childhood Obesity Campaign. In addition, Martyn Rosney in our Corporate practice deservedly took the accolade for Young Communications Professional of the Year, while our very own Sharon Murphy chaired the proceedings on behalf of our industry as PRCA Chairman. On behalf of the company, I want to offer my heartiest congratulations to everyone who helped win these awards on behalf of WH and our clients, to all the teams who worked so hard on our short-listed entries and to everyone in the company who gave their wholehearted support.”

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Six lessons from a “recent-ish” PR graduate

Martyn Rosney Leave a comment

I was delighted to present at the annual Communications Conference run by the DIT PRPA Society recently. The title of my presentation was,”Lessons from a recent-ish MAPR graduate”. As someone who graduated from the MA in PR in 2010 it gave me a good chance to take stock of some of the tips and tricks I have picked since I graduated. Well done to the organisers of the event who I am sure have a bright PR future ahead of them, I was particularly impressed with the high turnout for a Friday afternoon!

Standing out

  • Do what you can to differentiate yourself, there’s lots like you who are hungry for that first job out of college.
  • ALWAYS adapt your CV and cover letter to suit the job. Get creative with how you apply for jobs.
  • Volunteer, round out your CV. Get involved with different organisations or projects.

Writing

  • This will always be one of the most crucial skills for PRs.
  • Write all the time. Hone your craft. Blog. Contribute to other outlets where you feel you can offer an insight or opinion.
  • In the ideal world you want what appears in print/online etc. about your client to be as close as possible to your release. Make the job easier by always writing with the journalists in mind.
  • Avoid stupid grammatical and spelling errors.

Knowing your channels

  • Read, watch, listen as much as you can.
  • Pick up random magazines, go to random websites you usually wouldn’t. You never know where inspiration for a pitch will come from.
  • Never pitch somewhere without doing your research on the recipient. There is no quicker way to annoy media.
  • Never rely on someone else’s media list without checking all the recipients first.

Networking

  • Network as much as you can, you never know where your next client could come from!
  • Online is a great way of networking. More and more relationships are built and nurtured online.
  • Don’t forget about the “real world” though. Get to as many events as you can that fit with the work you want to pursue.

Understanding Business

  • Remember everything you do has a business objective.
  • Get a feel for the hours you work on different clients, try and be productive with your time.
  • Be humble. Remember, what some might consider “wishy-washy” is designed to fulfil some business objective.
  • Treat all those you deal with professionally at all times.
  • Don’t devalue yourself or the work you have put into getting your education by working for free.

Always Be Learning

  • The more you know about everything the better.
  • You never know when that blog post you read on that obscure topic might come in handy.
  • Try to learn about people in advance before meeting them.
  • Try to make yourself an expert on a topic where your organisation lacks that expertise e.g. Snapchat, Internal Comms, Photoshop.
  • Seek out opportunities to learn from colleagues, friends, clients, online and anywhere else you can.

These are just my own thoughts based on my own experience. If you have any advice for young communications graduates please share them.

The full presentation is here:

Wilson Hartnell takes home two awards at PR Awards for Excellence

Martyn Rosney Leave a comment

Wilson Hartnell was delighted to win two awards at the recent PR Awards for Excellence that were held in The Conrad. WH picked up awards for its work on Calor and Electric Ireland.

Robert Marshall, Account Director – Public Affairs, Wilson Hartnell, and Sharon Nolan, Strategic Planning Manager, Calor Gas pictured with An Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore and Nigel Heneghan, PRCA Chairman

Robert Marshall, Account Director – Public Affairs, Wilson Hartnell, and Sharon Nolan, Strategic Planning Manager, Calor Gas pictured with An Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore and Nigel Heneghan, PRCA Chairman

Calor won the award for its Calor Community Champion initiative in the “Best corporate campaign in support of organisational values” category. The judges deemed that the winner demonstrated a thoughtful and energetic approach to achieving their objectives. Alongside the excellent PR practice, the dimensions noted by the judges were: the well-integrated, strong, geographical reach achieved; the focus on social media and establishment of new connections; and the successful link which was made between the company’s business and giving back, locally, around the country.

Electric Ireland and Wilson Hartnell at the PR Awards for Excellence

Lynne D'Arcy, Account Director – Sports Marketing & Sponsorship , Wilson Hartnell, and Sean Walsh, Electric Ireland pictured with An Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore and Nigel Heneghan, PRCA Chairman

Electric Ireland scooped the “Best use of sponsorship” award.  The judges found that the sponsorship campaign from Electric Ireland was an outstanding example of a sponsorship achieving results which reverberated across all aspects of the brand communications. The judges found it a positive and appealing sponsorship – and the PR execution was creative, tactical, and well considered. The dynamic imagery created to launch the campaign became part of a fully integrated campaign, above and below the line. And the sponsorship achieved a real connection with consumers, the media and the company’s own employees – with post activation research showing that all objectives set were met, and far exceeded!