Contract wins puts PR company on course for record year

An independent communications specialist has secured a number of new clients which it says puts it on course for a record year.

Cucumber PR, which is run by husband and wife team Russ and Joan Cockburn, has been appointed by Berriman Estate Agents, MET Recruitment and Pebbles Care to deliver a series of campaigns.

The trio of contracts comes just a week after it was successful in a competitive tender to provide media relations support for the Manufacturing Growth Programme, a provider of specialist support for manufacturing SMEs in England.

This award will see the Albrighton-based agency become the press office for the organisation, responsible for developing case studies, thought leadership articles and securing national coverage for the Manufacturing Barometer – the largest survey of its kind for small to medium-sized manufacturers.

“I don’t think any business could plan for what 2020 has thrown at us,” said Russ.

“When Covid-19 hit the UK in February, we had five of our regular clients put us on hold and we went back to basics, working out what we needed to break-even each month and, like many businesses, identifying where we could cut costs.”

He said: “Suddenly things started to change, with a number of our existing clients requiring additional media relations support to promote their roles in the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium or the efforts they were undertaking to lead the fight back against the virus.

“We had customers creating virtual Ventilator engineers, another making nose clips for face masks and In-Comm Training launching the Skills Pledge to protect hundreds of apprentices during the pandemic. It was a real show of British strength and ingenuity and it was great to get the stories out to local, regional, national and global audiences.”

Joan said: “The recent wins are a great way to finish the year and also helps to broaden our client base into residential property and specialist care for young people for the first time.
“Whilst 2020 isn’t what we expected it to be, it has proven once again how SMEs can adapt to even the most demanding situations, collaborating and innovating our way through the tough times to emerge stronger than ever.”