Unsworth Sugden Blog

Families enjoyed the bank holiday weekend in true British style, with our client Barratt East Midlands at its development in Mansfield.

Daisy the donkey supplied by Dunton Stables

The authentic Punch and Judy was a hit with the children

Who could say no to free ice-cream!

A sales advisor with the specially made Barratt branded sticks of rock

Green fingered youngsters living at Barratt West Midlands’ Monarch Fields development entered into a competition this month to grow the tallest sunflower. A prize will be awarded to the winner in September.

Some of the children with their seedlings ready to plant.

The first phase of work has begun on a £15m project for our client Westleigh Developments, causing a media flurry on announcement. Along with Westleigh, the redevelopment of the former British Union Shoe Machinery (BUSM) works on Ross Walk, Belgrave, is the result of a collaborative partnership between Leicester City Council, the Homes and Communities Agency, and two housing associations based in Leicester and Nottingham.

Featured in today’s Leicester Mercury, the low cost housing scheme for an initial 119 new properties, was herald for bringing affordable homes to the Belgrave Community, something that was in great demand.

BBC Radio Leicester also featured the story last night, which you listen to by clicking on the following link: bbc-radio-leicester-270710-1742

Westleighs Chris Beighton with land owner, Mandeep Singh, representitives of the LHA-ASRA and NCHA and Leicester City Council's Director of Planning, Andrew Smith.

Four weeks ago I got a phone call from PR Director, Hannah Elwell, to say that I had been selected as the new PR Assistant at Unsworth Sugden. Naturally I was thrilled to hear that my PR career would begin at the established Leicester agency after completing my MA degree in Public Relations at De Montfort University. I can’t quite believe how quickly time has passed. As PR Assistant, no two days are ever the same, with tasks varying from sourcing bouncy castles and face painters for company events to liaising with trade and consumer magazines. My position within the department means that I am involved with practically every client. This gives me an all round view of the client base and target media, an advantage that makes my job role feel very valued. I gain great satisfaction out of supporting Hannah and the Account Executives in their client preparations.

The PR department along with the rest of the staff have been extremely welcoming and I already feel very much part of the Unsworth Sugden team.

After training for what seemed like an eternity, Marina and I finally took part in the 10km Race for Life at Leicester’s Western Park last Saturday, the 10th July.  During what has been the hottest day of the year to date, we set about running the some 6.2 miles along the bumpy course with the other 1,500 brave souls who were all running/walking/crawling to raise money for the very worthwhile charity, Cancer Research. After 58 minutes I made it to the finish line with Marina hot on my heels - both of us smashing our personal best times. It was a great day fuelled with emotion as it’s humbling to see just how many people have been affected by cancer in some way or another. We’ve received a lot of support from friends, family and work colleagues and between us we’ve raised over £700 - something we’re both very proud of. Question is - who will be joining us next year?!

Post event sweats...

Last week the new coalition government announced its Emergency Budget and when the Leicester Mercury revealed it was looking for comments and reaction from the local business community, the PR team leapt into action.

After a few quick phonecalls we were able to set up a telephone interview between the newspaper and the managing director of client Westleigh Developments, Chris Beighton.

This resulted in a small opinion piece in the following morning’s paper, but as the interview went so well Chris was interviewed again later that week for a much larger article. After liaising with the paper we were delighted to read Chris’ Business Interview, which appeared in this Tuesday’s Business supplement.

 It just goes to show how a quick reaction can achieve some brilliant PR coverage.

Longstanding Unsworth Sugden client, the Earl Shilton Building Society, has been recognised as one of the country’s top children’s account providers at a national awards ceremony.

The Society was highly commended in the Best Children’s Account Provider category at the 2010 Moneyfacts Awards, which were held at the Millennium Mayfair Hotel in London last Friday. A representative from the Unsworth Sugden PR team accompanied employees from Earl Shilton to the awards, which were hosted by ITN News’ Economics Editor, Daisy McAndrew.

This was the first year that Earl Shilton has been nominated  at these awards, so to finish second only to the winners in its category was a fantastic achievement.

Subsequent work by the PR department has seen the story feature in both the Hinckley Times and the Leicester Mercury.

ESBS' Jamie Clarke with guest host Daisy McAndrew

We recently welcomed De Montfort uni student Liam Grimmette to the PR department for work experience.  Here’s how he got on…

I’m just coming to the end of three weeks work experience at Unsworth Sugden which has been fantastic. My first day started with a brief tour of the building where I got a very positive vibe. Everyone had a smile on their face which was welcoming in itself. It wasn’t long before I felt like a genuine member of the team and I had a list of jobs to do.

My first jobs included coming up with competition ideas for a future newsletter and updating the company marketing calendar. I remember one of my lecturers at university saying that no day is ever the same when working in PR, and they weren’t wrong. Over the past three weeks, I have done everything from writing press releases and putting together launch event packs to arranging press-cuttings for meetings and researching strawberry-shaped balloons. The work experience has also enabled me to gain insight into how a PR company works together to create successful results.

Overall, my experience at Unsworth Sugden has been priceless and has been genuinely enjoyable throughout. The clients at Unsworth Sugden are very fortunate to have an extraordinary PR company representing them.     

The latest issue of client Axess 4 All’s ‘Platform’ newsletter is now available following work by the PR team. Issue 3 sees the launch of service lifts as the latest addition to the client’s product range, looks at some recent case studies around Leicester and further afield and features a Spot the Difference competition with £100 of M&S vouchers up for grabs.

You can see a copy of Platform on the Axess 4 All website. Just visit www.axess4all.com and click on News, where you can download a PDF.

Getting the perfect shot is not just a case of good luck… we work closely with our photographer Toby Savage to ensure clients get the very best images possible.

Take for instance Zest, a Barratt Mercia development in Coventry. The crescent of family homes at this development all faced north, so in order to capture the homes bathed in spring sunshine in front of a perfectly clear blue sky, Toby had to be on site really early in the morning and wait for just the right moment before the light moved to a different position.

And what a result! The pefect shot…

Zest