Admire PR was once again proud to support Loneliness Awareness Week and in this case study, Campaign Director for the Marmalade Trust, Alice Peperell explains why she chose to retain Admire PR and the successful delivery of the promotion.
“I was brought on his campaign director for Loneliness Awareness Week, which is an annual campaign originated by and is still run to this day by the Marmalade Trust, believed to be the only charity, definitely in the UK, if not the world, solely dedicated to raising awareness of loneliness, reducing loneliness, and increasing connections.
When I came on board there was a historical relationship between Admire PR and Marmalade Trust spanning two years and while I could have gone out to tender to find a new agency, there was a lot of history, indeed there was a lot of trust too. I had an initial call with Andrea Bristol, and I really liked the vibe, the passion for the cause that felt really natural, authentic, and intuitive.
We were facing a short lead in time to get the campaign live, so the familiarity and passion felt right. When you meet a contractor that you align with and have good rapport, you stick with that. I am used to coming into a project and I build teams. With Admire, it just felt like a natural progression to continue.
They were our PR agency for the campaign. We worked collaboratively to identify who we were going to reach out to, and Andrea had a whole roster of news outlets and we had contacts, my trusted contacts from previous campaigns. These would get specific deliverables, like case studies from people who experience loneliness and were willing to talk to the media.
Putting together a timeline, we decided not to focus on an influencer strategy this year, but we did identify some influencers. Admire PR did the outreach to them. We then worked collaboratively on a press release and Admire PR did the outreach to the press ensuring that the Loneliness Awareness Week was on everybody’s radar.
They were also a part of meetings with some of our partnerships. For example, with Next Door and also with Heineken, it was crucial to have Admire PR present for those conversations and bring their expertise and preferred approach.
When I interviewed for the role, I was asked if I’d given media interviews before, I hadn’t, but was comfortable with public speaking and I’ve given lots of presentations. So, I’d be happy to do it. But, you know, some training would put me in good stead. As part of my onboarding, I was told that I would get media training and Admire PR recommended I meet with Nigel Morgan, the media training consultant with the firm.
The media training was invaluable. Not least, it was invaluable timing. I had the training on the Friday and then my first media interview on the Monday. Having never done a media interview before I asked for and was given a list of questions by the radio broadcaster and expected to spend our half hour interview going through the questions and giving answers.
However, those questions just got put aside and I was thrown curveballs and was put on the spot, outside my comfort zone. Honestly, it went completely off script as if they were really trying to catch me out. However, the training had prepared for the worst-case scenario, something just like this. Even though this interviewer was a safe bet, it wasn’t Newsnight and I’m not a politician!
Had I not had that media training, I absolutely wouldn’t have been able to answer with the confidence and the clarity that I was able to. And consider, it was my first ever media interview and probably the hardest interview I’ll ever have. I only got asked three questions arranged beforehand, right at the very end. With the training I was able to bring the interview back to the messaging, bring in some personal story and deflect. They were asking me some incredibly controversial questions that I just really wasn’t experienced to answer but I felt prepared because of the training. There’s always room for improvement but thank God I had that training! After the that the other media interviews felt like a doddle.
The campaign hit its goals. We did revise them slightly around the number of in person activities. Everything was achieved and we did incredibly well. Back in 2019 the campaign pivoted from purely in person events and activities because of the pandemic, to a digital campaign. In 2023, it was the first time we’d run a digital campaign alongside in person events. We more than doubled the number of in person events compared to 2019 and our digital impact was just shy of the impact we had in 2020 when the whole world was in lockdown.
We were thrilled with the success of the campaign, and I would wholeheartedly recommend Admire PR. They really went above and beyond, where we had gaps in terms of resource they stepped up, often at the last minute, to ensure that we were covered. Together with their professionalism, it really showed their commitment and passion to the campaign. I would 100 per cent recommend them.”
