O.TV

by Kari Owers, chief exec

Today marked the completion of a recent journey we’ve taken to bring our client Benfield together with a local legend, Run Geordie Run. We had a vision for bringing the North’s biggest motor retail group together with the social media sensation and it has finally taken shape.

Today marks the start of Mark Allison, aka Run Geordie Run’s, journey across Australia in autumn 2013 – as Benfield is the first sponsor to get behind this exciting journey of 2600 miles in the searing heat of down under.

Without the support of commercial partners to get him there, Mark won’t be able to achieve his dream of running from Perth to Sydney in 70 days.

No one who is on Twitter can have failed to notice @rungeordierun and follow his amazing journey last year running across the USA. He became a local hero as he blogged every step of the way, and attracted an army of supporters on Facebook and in the media, inspired by his tenacity to raise money for St Benedict’s Hospice and the Children’s Foundation.

When I met Mark I knew instantly he was a perfect match for family motor group Benfield; a company passionate about its local communities, sport and charity. Benfield is also a frontrunner in social media, and intends to share Mark’s journey with its own army of followers.

Benfield’s strapline and Twitter hashtag ♯EnjoytheJourney is quite symbolic of Mark’s run, which is set to be a physical and emotional challenge even greater than the USA run due to the heat and terrain.

Good luck Mark, and well done Benfield for seeing the potential of being part of his amazing journey.

Mark needs more sponsors to get him to Australia. If you can help, contact him on sponsorship@rungeordierun.com

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Tags: BRAND, CHARITY, GEORDIE, PR, SPONSORSHIP

After a bit of Twitter stalking and the odd e-mail or two, it was arranged that I would spend a week with the team at OPR.

It all began with an introductory meeting and a chat about my PR experience to date; I was given a list of tasks to complete and guidelines to follow over the next few days.

I’m coming to the end of my MA degree and coupled with my previous work experience I’m quite confident in writing press releases, compiling media lists and conducting research, but what I’ve never had experience of is having ‘free-reign’ of these tasks, being able to input my own creativity,  and organising my own diary.

Look at any job advertisement on PRWeek or the CIPR Jobs’ website and you’ll see one of the main skills mentioned time and time again is time management and the ability to prioritise tasks.

Having the opportunity to practice writing press releases, compiling media lists and conducting research in a real-life office environment has been absolutely invaluable.

During my time at OPR, new tasks have been added and other tasks removed from my to-do list reflecting the ever changing and extremely fast paced environment of agency-based PR – a skill you’ll never learn in the lecture theatre.  As my list changed, so did my priorities in order to meet deadlines and more importantly, to not let the team down!

If I had a problem or didn’t understand something, I could ask and a member of the OPR team, who would be more than happy to help me.  Not only would they point me in the right direction, they would also explain why it was the right direction.

I would strongly recommend any student or aspiring PR pro do a work experience placement here – it’s a fantastic company with an extremely talented team. Sacrificing a week or two of your time is worth its weight in gold with the practical experience you’ll gain at OPR.

Anne-Marie Bailey

Blog:                         www.raisingtheprofile.wordpress.com

Twitter:                                    @AM_Bailey

LinkedIn:               http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/anne-marie-bailey/39/342/987

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It is that time of year again – the season of giving and this year, OPR is collaborating once again with Newcastle Women’s Aid to enable colleagues and clients alike to become real life Santas and make a child’s gift wish come true.

Instead of hanging traditional baubles on our tree, we have hand-written Christmas gift wish tags from children who will be spending Christmas in protective refuge accommodation.

Leaving home at a time of crisis can be traumatic at any time, let alone at Christmas and some families who come to stay at the refuge arrive distressed and with very little personal belongings.

Newcastle Women’s Aid provides support services to women and their children who are experiencing domestic violence and abuse by providing 24 hour direct access to refuge accommodation, an outreach service and a designated children’s service. The charity provides both practical and emotional support to victims in order for them to make changes and have a life free from abuse.

The generosity and support of everyone who bought gifts last year really made a huge difference to the children who spent Christmas at the refuge so we hope that this year we can bring some more Christmas magic to the fantastic staff, volunteers and the families.

The baubles have been filled out with each child’s Christmas gift wish to Santa and hung on the branches of our little tree.

If you would like to help make a child’s gift wish come true, please feel free to come in to see us and take a bauble or drop chrissie@opr.co.uk an email to be sent your wish – then just include the little gift in with your Christmas shopping.  All you need to do is wrap it, and return it to us by Monday 19th December with the child’s name on to be delivered in time for Christmas.  By buying just one extra gift this year, you could help make a disadvantaged child’s Christmas the special magical time that it should be.

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OPR has created a social media campaign for Benfield Motor Group that has driven its online presence into new territories.

Working in partnership with Different Advertising, OPR created and managed the ‘Benfield Charity Drive,’ a unique campaign which saw three small local charities each take a share of £10,000.

Benfield’s Charitable Trust donates 5% of its profits every year to worthy causes, and charity drive put the power in the hands of their Facebook fans to nominate smaller local charities it might never have heard of.

Digital sales and marketing manager, Benfield Motor Group, Mark King: “We’re delighted with the amount of activity and involvement the campaign has generated online and offline. It shows how passionate people in the North East are about helping their chosen charities gain much needed funds.

“This is the first time we’ve used social media to help decide who we donate money to and it has been a real success which highlights how influential this type of innovative campaign can be.”

Benfield used a Facebook application on its Drive Benfield page to ask the general public to nominate and then vote for a local charity that they would like to see win a share of £10,000.

The campaign ran from the start of August up to October 30 and saw Benfield’s Facebook page increase its likes from just over 100 to well over 9000 fans.

The Charity Drive application allowed users to nominate a local charity by a set date, with the top ten most nominated charities then going to a public vote. Each nomination and vote was automatically posted on Benfield’s wall.

In the final month of the competition voting went to a different scale, with just under 10,000 votes cast. The winners were 4Louis, Metro Kids Africa and Sweet Dreams our Angels.

Kari Owers, OPR chief executive, said: “Benfield’s charity drive campaign has been very successful on a number of fronts. It has obviously increased the motor retail group’s reach on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, but more important than the numbers, it has created massive swell of engagement and two-way dialogue.

“It has spilled over into offline PR, with numerous media articles picking up the initiative. It has also had a viral effect with charities and their supporters posting on their own Facebook walls, and tweeting to their followers to increase reach even further.

“Benfield’s ‘enjoy the journey’ marketing campaign is all about lifestyle and appreciates customers don’t always want to talk just about cars. Cars are about freedom, journeys, experiences and daily life.

“By using this approach in the social media strategy, they have become the retailer of choice with Facebook and Twitter users across the North. We are now running the Enjoy Rewards weekly treats on Twitter, and planning for a series of new campaigns in 2012 that will continue to drive their online conversations with customers.”

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