Yorkshire based public relations and integrated communications agency, Acceleris, has been shortlisted in the PR Strategy of the Year category in the Drum Marketing Award for its ‘Celebrations of the Sea’ project on behalf of the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society.
The world’s first photography exhibition underwater, ‘Celebrations of the Sea’ was created and delivered by Acceleris on behalf of the charity, which is one of the oldest in the country and supports retired seafarers in financial hardship.
The unique, national exhibition, sponsored by canned seafood manufacturer John West, was displayed in living aquariums in Sea Life Centres across the UK and featured celebrities and every day people photographed carrying out their ‘day job’ but underwater.
Celebrities and personalities including TV historian Dan Snow, TV chef Mitch Tonks – one of the leading seafood chefs in the UK, Countryfile presenter Ellie Harrison, world champion cliff diver Gary Hunt and UK surfing champion Tassy Swallow all featured in the exhibition, designed to showcase Britain’s reliance on the sea.
Louise Vaughan, Director and Head of PR at Acceleris, said:
At Acceleris, we always strive to deliver high quality, cost effective integrated communications campaigns for all our clients and this campaign is a great example of the complete service we are able to offer. From conception to evaluation we successfully delivered a project which has received national recognition from the media and resulted in a significant uplift in donations to the charity.
It is a true credit to the hard work, imagination and commitment of our team. We are delighted to have our work recognised on a national stage and are looking forward hearing the results at the ceremony in May.
The project was promoted through both online and offline activity which saw the charity profiled across national media including ITV’s Daybreak, OK Magazine, the Metro, BBC Online and the London Evening Standard, reaching a total offline audience of seven million people and being heralded by The Guardian as “beautiful”, “well thought through” and “highly innovative”.
The Drum Marketing Awards is a national awards programme, now in its sixth year, which gives credit to the marketing industry in the UK. The awards, which had a record number of entries this year, are open to in-house marketing teams and agencies based anywhere within the UK.
The short listing follows a string of recent appointments for the agency, including Bauer Media, multi-channel retailer High Street TV and Bradford based, Tong High School, and short listing in three categories of the Golden Hedgehog PR Awards to be announced on 21 March. Acceleris, which has grown to be named the region’s third largest agency by fee income, was also named Agency of the Year at the CIPR Awards 2010/2011.
The ceremony is due to take place at the Emirates Stadium in London on 9 May 2012. For more information on the Drum Marketing Awards visit: www.thedrummarketingawards.com
