June 2012
Unity is pondering...
Outstanding PR agency 2012
Unity wins Outstanding PR agency at the CIPR Awards 2012
Unity has won the 2012 Chartered Institute of Public Relations Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy award. This award recognises the achievements, performances and excellent work of a consultancy over the past three years and is the top of a list of 28 awards.
Nik Done, Unity Co-Founder, comments, “We are delighted to have won this award. It is recognition of all the honest work and creative thinking put in by our people, our clients and partners. It is recognition that the Unity formula of integrating consumer insights, ideation and earned media really works. Add a team full of integrity and diverse backgrounds and you have success. We have delivered these results day in and out for our clients”.
The Judges noted, "Unity's entry and presentation demonstrated a passion and excitement which brought out their clear mission for the business, backed up by an impressive commercial reality. Unity is clearly a cohesive consultancy with a strong culture. A recent record of outstanding client wins and campaigns demonstrated the very highest standards of excellence"
Unity was nominated in seven categories and the judges reached their decision from a range of work that Unity delivered. This included: Best use of Social Media, Crisis Communications, Not-for profit: 'Rhythmix #Cowell must pay', Best use of Media Relations: Netmums, the Real Parenting Revolution, Best stand alone event: The Thousand Readers of Jacob De Zoet.
Gerry Hopkinson, Unity Co-Founder said “We are innovative, integrated and take a fresh approach to our work. We want to be the Tin Pan Alley of today churning out hit after hit. Every day we work harder on delivering generous campaigns and delivering social currency for our clients. Unity builds brand friendship, brand fans and above all, brand love. As a company we are proof it’s possible to BE good and DO good in the world we live”.
This is the 45th industry award that Unity has won since 2009. It adds to the wider recognition that the company has received for its work that includes:
•Received a commission from the British Council - selected for being ‘an exemplary British business’.
•Undertook three pro-bono campaigns, including a high profile campaign for music charity Rhythmix, which saw us take on Cowell’s X-Factor and win (generating over 100 pieces of coverage, over 1,000,000 social media impressions, a charitable donation from Simon and a public apology).
•Founders were: featured in PR Week PowerBook; on-screen mentors in Channel 4’s Battlefront series; voted onto PRCA’s newly formed council; featured in Management Today/The Sunday Times’ 35 under 35; selected to represent the British Council at the Unbox12 in India, featured in Glamour magazine’s power list (alongside Cheryl Cole and Kate Middleton).
•Retained CMS (PR equivalent of ISO9000), passed by only 10% of Agencies.
•Won places on Unilever, Pernod Ricard and GSK rosters
• Increased – on average - sales of between 25% and 35% for our brand clients.
•Changed lives with our issues work (eg got £20m put back into the UK legal aid budget and created rebellion in the House of Lords, via our Sound Off for Justice campaign against cuts in legal aid).
About Unity
Unity is... an agency that builds brand friendship, brand fans and above all, brand love. What’s the point of that? Today, marketing comes down to the effective exploitation of three media channels…bought, owned and earned. Bought media is advertising, sponsorship and paid search, owned media is branded content and platforms, while earned media is PR, social media and the like. Of course there’s an ultimate form of earned media, namely … people who love your brand, products and services so much that they want to hang out with you, with others who like you too and tell other people about you. OK, so maybe three and a half. At Unity, we deliver integrated campaigns.