Padua Communications gets great news coverage with well-targeted PR

For many of our clients, the first time they get in contact it’s because they’re looking for PR support.

Yet when we meet we often find their need is much wider, and that a number of our services – from videography and blogs, to social media management and events – will work wonders for them.

That’s because there are now so many new ways of communicating with your audience. Yet despite these advances in technology and the rise of citizen journalism, it is still vitally important to manage the mainstream media and ensure you hit the headlines the old-fashioned way.

Spreading the message around the globe

Recently, as part of a carefully managed, strategic PR campaign, we recently secured great press coverage for one of our clients, getting them picked up by four separate BBC programmes and into over 10 publications. It was just the kind of coverage we aim for. Really positive messages, direct to the target audience, while getting across the message that our client is a company with a strong social responsibility.

Ardingly College in Sussex teamed up with New Technology CADCAM to become the first school in Europe to enter the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The Ardingly students designed, built and raced a solar-powered car 3,000km across Australia.

It took them three years of hard work to prepare for this amazing feat, and when they were ready to race, we were there to help them secure great press coverage. We collaborated directly with the students, also offering media training to the school so they developed their own PR skills too.

Harnessing the power of the BBC

We worked with some of the 80 students involved in the project, helping them pull together a media list of local, national and international contacts.

One of our PR specialists arranged for a presenter from the BBC’s technology programme Click not only to feature the story on the show, but even to accompany the school for the race. Click wasn’t the only major name to cover the story, with others including the Mid Sussex Times and Independent Education Today getting in on the action too.

Of course, we made sure coverage also included specialist publications specifically for New Technology CADCAM’s audience, getting pieces in Engineering, Electronics Weekly and Design Solutions, reaching a combined circulation of 64,000.

Ardingly student James Price was media manager and one of the drivers. He said: “Padua Communications gave us great insight into the vibrant and at times hectic world of marketing and PR. They taught us how to sell and how to pitch, the importance of communication and presentation, and the value of marketing – skills we will keep for life. It is likely that without their support we would not have made it to the Challenge.”

Making the most of it

In keeping with all the work we do for clients, we made sure that New Technology CADCAM got many pieces of content from one event. We produced a promotional video about the entire project (see below), and used clips to promote their work at a number of events.

https://youtu.be/JjrYlbnnNwM

Particularly rewarding was the fact that Dassault Systemes, owners of SolidWorks, one of the solutions New Technology CADCAM’s sells, felt the story was so impressive that they promoted it through their own channels.

SolidWorks itself reported the story on its own blog, spreading the word to an even wider audience. We also encouraged New Technology CADCAM to involve students in two high-profile industry events by inviting them to share the stage when they discussed the project.

As our client on this project, Bridget Mason, Marketing Manager for New Technology CADCAM, concludes: “Conducting the PR around the Ardingly Solar Challenge was a great opportunity for us and it was important that it was handled professionally.  We had no hesitation in asking Padua Communications to help us with it. Having someone on hand to conduct the interviews, get the BBC involved and organise the video shoot was brilliant, and the results were amazing.”

Do you need PR that really hits the mark? Email us at [email protected] or call 0203 282 7570.