Media mix: Agencies hired by Lancs LEP; Frontier; Polaris & more

THE Lancashire Enterprise Partnership has appointed two agencies to deliver an initial 12-month media and communications campaign.

SKV Communications and thinkinplace are tasked with developing and communicating a “compelling Lancashire economic narrative”  by delivering a strategic campaign to reach target audiences, working alongside Marketing Lancashire.

thinkingplace will deliver a three month exercise of engagement, meeting with a wide range of interviewees to get ‘under the skin’ of Lancashire. The agency was instrumental in delivering an economic narrative for Burnley which also launched the Burnley Bondholder scheme which brings businesses together to promote the town.

Manchester-based SKV Communications will update the LEP’s digital platforms, and deliver campaigns to key regional and national audiences.             

Richard Bond, director of strategy at SKV, said: “Lancashire already has so much going for it, and we are looking forward to sharing the positive news with the media and target audiences.”

Both agencies will report to Ruth Connor, chief executive of Marketing Lancashire.

LEP chairman, Edwin Booth, said. “The LEP is forecasting £1bn growth for the county, creating 20,000 new jobs and 17,000 new homes. With the help of SKV Communications and thinkingplace, we will be promoting these messages, and more to come, with confidence and flair.”

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MANCHESTER-based business-to-business agency Frontier Public Relations has re-branded following a raft of new client wins and a move to a new office.

The company, which has grown from five to eight full-time staff since May 2015, took the decision after seeing record growth during the last 12 months.

The re-brand, which will include a new website, will solidify Frontier’s focus on its specialist markets of housing, construction and sustainability – with the company securing clients including Weaver Vale Housing Trust and Omfax Systems.

In April 2015, the agency doubled the size of its office space after moving to a new based at University of Manchester’s Incubator Company’s (UMIC) facility in central Manchester.

Managing directorDavid Innes-Edwards said: “It has already been a fantastic start to 2015 for Frontier PR, with a number of new client wins, a move to new office space to accommodate our growing team, and now the launch of the new Frontier PR website. We are looking forward to the second half of the year as the agency goes from strength to strength.”

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MERSEYSIDE maritime andd engineering specialist PR firm Polaris Media has appointed its first European exports partner – the Warsaw-headquartered British Polish Chamber of Commerce.

The company, run by brothers Ben and Sam Pinnington, said the move would see the BPCC’s Lukasz Lemke represent Polaris to Poland’s maritime, energy and engineering sectors.

“As one of the few specialist maritime and engineering PR firms in Europe we believe we have a strong exports offering in expanding nations like Poland,” said Ben Pinnington.

“We have a number of unique selling points to promote. We can solve the difficulty of writing to a professional standard of English – the language of the maritime and engineering industries.

“We can further solve the difficulty of profile raising to a mass global audience. Using our skills as journalists, knowledge of the sectors and media contacts we can help Polish companies generate publicity worldwide. Few companies can offer this specialist service in Poland with expert support in the country from the BPCC.”

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BOLTON-based digital marketing agency Bring Digital is to provide free digital marketing training to businesses across the North West.

The event, which will take place at Bring Digital’s head offices in Bolton on the July 16, will cover three specific areas of digital marketing SEO, PPC and social media.

“We’re passionate about what we do and we are keen to introduce business owners across the local area to digital marketing and show them the potential it could have for their business,” commented David Ingram, Bring Digital’s Managing Director.

Bring Digital has over 30 clients from a wide range of B2B and B2C industries including DW Fitness Clubs, Love Energy Savings and British interiors brand Graham & Brown.

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A&P, the multimedia agency based in Preston and London, has continued to mark its 25th year by being chosen to deliver a new website for Leek United, the Staffordshire based Building Society.

After successfully winning a multi-agency pitch, A&P is to deliver a state-of-the-art, responsive website for Leek United, supplementing the building society’s 12 branches over four counties. 

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CREATIVE studio NoChintz in Manchester has been crowned design practice of the year at the Mixology Awards in London.

The news comes just six months after the Manchester-based interiors and branding team was handed the award for best design team in the Northern awards, meaning that it now holds both titles which celebrate the best in office design. 

The company’s operations director Dominic Beardwell said: “This is absolutely fantastic news and I am just so happy that all of our hard work has been recognised.”