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Outstanding consultants: The team from Brandon Hill Communications (Pictures: Kingbridge Photography)
Brandon Hill Communications has been named ‘Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy’ at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations PRide Awards for the West of England region.
More than 200 of the region’s PR talent gathered at the Marriott Hotel in the city centre on Wednesday night to recognise the success of the best communicators in the region.
The Clifton-based agency were also Gold Winners in the ‘Integrated Communications’ category for their ‘We Love Broadmead’ campaign.
Ian Muir, Brandon Hill founder and managing director, said: “Winning this award is a fantastic boost for the Brandon Hill team that has worked tirelessly, building a strong, new public relations brand during a very tough year.
“I am proud of the calibre of our team, the quality of work they are producing and, above all, for the shared belief running through Brandon Hill that together we can build a very special agency.
“Our ambition is to provide the best place to work for our staff and the best work for our clients.”
The awards mark the end of a difficult year in which local media has been hit hard by the downturn in advertising spend and forced to lay off dozens of staff and cut back on operations.
But Tom Bowden-Green, chairman of the CIPR in the West of England, said the PR industry in the city was showing “great strength and creativity”.
“The PR industry has seen many challenges in the last year, but our agencies and in-house teams have shown we can compete on a national level and they play an important role in the economy of the region.”
Meningitis Trust: Won gold for ‘Best In-House Public Relations Team’
Bristol teams also won big in the 24 other categories this year. Gold awards went to Pam Lloyd PR for ‘Best use of Media Relations’, Dangling Carrot PR for ‘Consumer Relations’ and Geometry PR for ‘Corporate and Business Communications’.
The Meningitis Trust, whose communications department is based in Stroud, won gold as the ‘Best In-House Public Relations Team’.
Silver awards went to Bray Leino for ‘Corporate and Business Communications’ and the ‘Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy’ category. Pam Lloyd PR and Geometry PR also gained further awards in the silver categories.
A new ‘alternative’ award for freelancers, supported by recruitment company Xchangeteam, was also included this year. The ‘Freelancer of the Year’ award was presented to Sofie Boddy.
The special award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the PR Industry’ went to Jennifer Bryant-Pearson, founder of JBP Public Relations.
Click here for the full list of award winners…
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