Soaring Communications

Archive for the ‘Soaring PR News’ Category

Communications and PR specialist, Soaring Worldwide has recently been selected by the Harrogate International Centre to take on the management and planning of its PR activities and reputation management.

The PR campaign is aimed at raising the profile of HIC across the business events industry using both traditional PR and social media marketing techniques.

Soaring Worldwide has extensive knowledge of the business events industry and will be helping HIC focus on its core market. HIC is about to undertake a multi-million pound development of its facilities, adding two new flexible event spaces.

HIC, brand manager, Lynne Farrow: “We have chosen to work with Soaring Worldwide to benefit from their extensive industry knowledge and understanding of our market.  HIC is growing rapidly and the launch of the new event spaces will mark a new phase in our expansion plans.  It is the perfect time to start raising our profile and we were keen to work with a team that combines expertise with a love of the destination and venue.”

Soaring Worldwide’s, managing director, Adam Baggs: “Working with HIC is already proving to be an incredibly rewarding experience.  Both HIC and Harrogate have so much to offer and we are truly excited at the prospect and challenge of increasing their profile across a range of media and markets.”

ABPCO – the UK organisation for professional conference and event organisers welcomes its first corporate member this month – the Barbican.

Barbican, head of corporate sales, Anthony Hyde: “ABPCO offers experts within the UK conferencing industry the perfect forum to unite, share ideas and improve through education and networking.  Venues are more than just suppliers to the industry, they are partners and this alliance demonstrates our desire to continually move closer to organisers and create long term relationships.  Associations provide nexus points for our industry, they bring together professionals, educate, measure success and reward achievement.”

ABPCO membership has previously been limited to individual professional conference and event organisers who have undergone stringent profiling and assessment by their peers. Corporate membership allows supplier organisations within the industry to become a part of the Association, sharing ideas and growing ABPCO for the benefit of all involved.

ABPCO, treasurer, Michael Foreman: “We are delighted to have the Barbican on board as one of the 1^st new corporate members of ABPCO. Our venues in the UK rival the best in the world and we feel that bringing these and other partner suppliers on board into our membership will not only cement existing relationships but offer new and exciting opportunities to work together.  We are confident that most major venues and convention bureaus will follow the Barbican’s lead in joining this programme and look forward to the positive impact that this will have moving forward.”

Swindon based Virtua, one of the UK’s leading providers of resources and solutions to the mobile telecoms industry are repositioning their offering with a raft of new marketing initiatives to better reflect their growth plans and commitment to clients.

The campaign has been created and managed by Lechlade and Oxford based Soaring Worldwide, a communications and PR agency specialising in message creation and dissemination.

The new initiatives have been led by extensive customer, engineer and staff feedback conducted in December 2009.

Andy Watts, director, Virtua UK Ltd: “We work in an incredibly fast moving industry and it is vital that our business reflects the pace with which our clients and potential clients are moving forward.  Our business is growing dramatically and this refinement in our market positioning and message better reflects the business we are now winning.”

From 17th February onwards, Virtua’s new strap-line will be: People. Passion. Performance.

Virtua’s name will remain the same but communications and involvement with customers is set to increase with the introduction of newsletters to clients and engineers, a twitter campaign (@Virtuateamtalk) and regularly updated blog (www.virtuateamtalk.uk.com).  Additionally, Virtua will be conducting an ongoing PR campaign with the relevant media.

Virtua also intend to re-develop and improve their website over the course of the next few months.

Andy Watts: “Virtua is going through some exciting changes at the moment, driven by our customers.  This refinement is bringing our positioning more up to date with the evolution of our customers rather than a complete change of our positioning. We want to make sure our clients and staff embrace the new, whilst staying true to our core skills and services.”

“It’s not easy for a technology and people company like ours to get the right sort of support from a marketing agency. We wanted people who we could work with and who understood our business, whilst bringing the right creative edge.   Above all we wanted to do business with people.  Adam and his team are people we like to work with and have already demonstrated that they are great at what they do.”

Soaring Worldwide, managing director, Adam Baggs:  “It is so exciting to take an existing brand and really develop its potential.  The management team at Virtua are so enthusiastic and quite simply – great fun to work with.  The next few months will be full of exciting developments and we look forward to creating a long term relationship with Virtua.”

Soaring Worldwide (formerly Soaring PR) has been appointed by the Kyoto Convention Bureau to plan and manage its PR activity in Europe and North America. 

The campaign, which will initially run for six months is a first for Kyoto CVB, who have previously focused on exhibitions, direct marketing and advertising to raise their profile in overseas markets.

Kyoto Convention Bureau’s, international marketing coordinator, James Kent, is managing the project: “Despite being Japan’s second most significant city for meetings and events (and world famous for our bullet train), Kyoto’s cultural heritage and excellent conference and incentive offering is far less well known.  Our infrastructure and superb international access are perfect for groups of all types, including events for thousands in our larger venues.

“2010 is Japan’s MICE year, an initiative Kyoto is firmly supporting and promoting through our own external marketing activity.  To enhance this we have chosen to work with Soaring Worldwide, benefiting from their extensive industry knowledge and understanding of our country and culture.”

Soaring Worldwide’s, managing director, Adam Baggs: “Working with Kyoto Convention Bureau is already proving to be an incredibly rewarding experience.  The city has so much to offer and we are truly excited at the prospect and challenge of increasing their profile worldwide.”

“The Barbican  is always one of the worlds freshest venues, the regularly changing exhibitions ensure that there is a new space, a new experience, a new option for clients every time they visit.” Anthony Hyde, Barbican, head of corporate sales.

Two of the Barbican’s latest projects include:
•    A music video for the world famous Prodigy
 •    New delegate menus based around the “Radical Nature” exhibition

The Prodigy filmed their latest video at the Barbican yesterday (8 July ).  The working title is “Take Me to Hospital” and it once again demonstrates the centres ability to provide an unique setting for any event.  The shoot required immense flexibility from the venue as the band experimented with various themes and ideas throughout the Centre.

The new delegate menu has been created by in-house caterers Searcy and is based on Terrines and Verrines*.  The Radical Nature art exhibition throughout the Centre has provided the inspiration for the menu  with its focus on land art, environmental activism and experimental architecture.

Anthony Hyde  continues: “Events are defined by the delegate experience and their capacity to absorb the information presented to them.  Creativity and the atmosphere  set the scene, excite the visitors and ensure they are mentally prepared for the event’s content.  As a venue we continually push boundaries and our links to the arts provide the perfect opportunity to develop new concepts for our commercial clients.”

*A terrine is a glazed earthenware cooking dish with vertical sides and a tightly fitting lid, generally oblong or oval. By extension the term also refers to food prepared in a terrine. A verrine is a confection, originally from France, made by layering ingredients in a glass. It can be either sweet or savoury, making a dessert or a snack.

We persuaded leading and award winning web channels www.eventsreview.co.uk and www.meetingsreview.com to interview a couple of our clients recently about key topics.  The results have filtered out during the past few weeks but include;

Brian Kirsch from Event Assured discussing Swine Flu  - FLU STRAIN: Why over-reaction to the pandemic could prove fatal.

Adam Baggs from Soaring PR discussing PR but including case studies of our work with Nexus and the Barbican – ATTENTION SEEKER: Raising the profile of your event.

Several other interviews of leading industry figures were also filmed on location in the Barbican.

TIME TO SHINE: Celebrating the best in experiential and digital marketing

LIFE SAVER: The British Heart Foundation takes its message to the people

Leadership methodologist and Soaring PR client , Paul Bridle , has been featured in a leading publication discussing the role of accountants and their ability to act as leaders.  Hard hitting stuff and rather brave as the publication was Accountancy Age  - a magazine written for the accounting industry.  Have a look at the link below to read more.

http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/features/2245227/leadership-never-top-dog

My interview with Events: Review has been syndicated across to their international channel – www.meetingsreview.com

Click here or on the image below to see the interview .

Soaring PR’s managing director, Adam Baggs  was recently interviewed for award winning web TV channel, www.eventsreview.co.uk

During the interview, Adam discusses the benefits of PR , the need to work closely with editors and the advantages of third party endorsement.

Click here or on the image below to see the interview in full.

As part of our partnership with R3 events, the organisers of CoolConf ’09, Soaring Cmmunications’ readers can receive a 25% discount on the conference fees.  Simple click here and use promotional code SPR25.

To find out more about the event, have a look through the release issued below or visit – http://www.coolconf.com/

High level speakers and partners, including LOCOG announced for CoolConf ‘09

Commercial Opportunities from the Olympics in London

Coolconf, taking place from 2nd to 3rd June  2009 at the O2 will benefit from a host of high profile speakers offering members of the event industry advice on how to achieve commercial success from the Olympic Games  in 2012.  There will be an exhibition and networking opportunities in addition to the speaker sessions and workshops.

Session topics and speakers include:

• Lessons Learnt from the Commonwealth Games in Manchester  2002 – Andrew Stokes, Chief Executive, Marketing Manchester.
• London 2012 – Is your Business Ready to Compete? – Mike Mulvey, Chief Executive, London Business Network.
• Where and How to Identify Business Opportunities – Andrew Ghijben, Senior Partnership Manager, Business Link in London.
• The Importance and Benefits of Signing up to ‘The Olympic Fair Pricing Charter’. – Tracy Halliwell Visit London .
• The Art of Successful Bid Writing & Tendering. – tbc
• So you want to be Sustainable, but don’t know what it looks like in Practice? – Alex Lepingwell, The Sustainable Events Group.
• How to become Part of the Olympic Supply Chain. – Mike Mulvey, Chief Executive, London Business Network
• Key Strategic Priorities to Consider when Attracting and Retaining the Right People. – Holly Rawlings, Springboard UK & Pauline Brown, HR Specialist, Engaging Talent.
• London’s Role and Opportunities. – David Hornby
• Britain ’s Role and Opportunities. – VisitBritain.
• Life on the Big Screen – Opportunities for London and the Regions. – tbc
• Business Case Studies. – Lisa Pennington, Managing Director, Definitive Events & Andrew Coupe, Managing Director, Portland Spa.
• Sponsorship Panel. – Sally Atkins, London 2012 Programme Manager Deloitte & Malcolm Plows, Venue Operations Director, Coca-Cola, London 2012 Project.
• Identifying, Approaching & Pitching to Sponsors & Agents. – Nick Rusling, Managing Director, IMG Mass Participation Sport
• Holland Branding: The Olympic Games  2008 and 2012. – Mr. H. van Driem, Managing Director, Holland Business Promotion Office
• Raising Finance – how to get your Bank to say Yes! – Martin Bumpus, Senior Manager, Lloyds TSB
• The Benefits of Getting Graded and Becoming Accessible. – Provided by Jackie Ellis, Live Tourism.
• Taking Creativity Seriously  Richard Limb, – President, National Outdoor Events Association
• The Olympics Act – What does this mean for SMEs? – David Powell, Brand Protection Lawyer, LOCOG

The latest agenda is available on www.coolconf.com

The event is being organised by R3 events and tickets are available at a cost of £295 for one day or £450 for two. Online registration is available via www.coolconf.com

The event is sponsored by Business Week, Visit London and Visit Britain . 

Event partners are:

• Venue Partner: indigO2
• Catering Partner: Create
• AV Partner: Purple Audio
• PR Partner: Soaring PR
• Luxury transport provider: Club Class Bus   
• Ethical Water Provider: Life Pure Water
• Webcast Partner: Groovy Gecko
• Quiz Partners: QuizQuizQuiz

Supporting associations:

• MPI 
• TESA 
• NOEA
• ESSA
• ISES

 Exhibitors Include:

• Nimlock
• BAF graphics ltd
• KINET-X
• Limeblue
• CompeteFor
• Create (food and party design)
• Purple Audio
• Kaotic Event Productions