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BIG Partnership’s Aberdeen office has secured new client wins worth over £350,000 in a strong first half to the year, despite challenges in the regional economy.

The office has also secured its first contract with a company in the Middle East. BIG Partnership will be delivering four weeks of intensive PR and communications training to senior executives of The Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO).

Elevator, the social enterprise which supports enterprise and entrepreneurs in Aberdeen and Dundee, has awarded BIG a 12-month PR contract, while intelligent health solutions business, Iqarus, has engaged the agency to provide a wide range of services, including media relations, digital marketing, stakeholder engagement and events support.

To complete the recent hat-trick in Aberdeen, BIG has secured the contract to handle PR for SPE Offshore Europe 2017 in the run-up to, and during, the major oil and gas conference and exhibition.

A raft of small oil and gas businesses have also joined BIG Partnership’s growing client portfolio since the beginning of the year, even though a sustained low oil price is taking its toll on the North East. These include subsea production optimisation business, Enpro and remote inspection specialists, AISUS Offshore.

Zoe Ogilvie, BIG Partnership director and head of the Aberdeen office, said: “We’ve had a strong start to the year, putting us in a robust position despite the challenges. Our decision to invest in digital is paying dividends, as more oil and gas clients embrace new ways of communicating. Improving the measurement and evaluation of our services to demonstrate the return on investment has also helped put us at the forefront of the market.

We are particularly proud of winning the BAPCO work, as we were up against international agencies. We have been delivering services in the Middle East for our Aberdeen-based clients for several years, but this is the first time we have secured a contract with an indigenous business in the region.

“Times are tough in Aberdeen, but we remain quietly optimistic about our prospects for the year ahead. More than ever, energy companies need to tell their stories about the people and innovation that will get them through the next few years. It’s easy to panic when the oil price hits new lows, but our job is to provide sensible communications strategies which deliver results and add value in a cost-effective way.”

While maintaining its position in the Granite City, BIG has also been making progress in Dundee, where it secured several contracts including the Dundee Repertory Theatre.

The Aberdeen team has been supplemented by the arrivals of account executives Lindsay Ackers, who joined from Hill + Knowlton in London, and Caitlin Boag, from Lettuce Up North. Kirsty Kirkhope joined the office as digital account manager in 2015, as BIG targets offering an expanded digital marketing service to the oil and gas market.

BIG Partnership has made further in-roads in the North West with the launch of a new Manchester office and the appointment of a head of operations.

The move follows a string of client wins worth in excess of £250k in the last year, some of which include Transport for London, dairy technology firm, Fabdec and Merseytravel.

Sarah Lawless has been appointed as head of North West operations. Sarah will be based at the agency’s new office and joins from her previous role as head of PR and social media at Manchester-based agency, One.

Sarah said:

Joining BIG Partnership at such a crucial point in its expansion is a unique and exciting opportunity. BIG is a well-known agency, with a great reputation in Scotland – one of my main focusses will be to build on this in England.

Sarah added: “I will work with the Board to implement a region-wide strategy and place a strong focus on business development. The company has already made a positive impact in the region, and I am thrilled to continue this success and shape our position in the Manchester market.”

Bryan Garvie, director at BIG Partnership, said: “The recent office opening and the appointment of Sarah highlight an important time for the business. We are realising our vision to expand further into the North West, and with a permanent Manchester headquarters now set in place, we can widen our service offering to one of the UK’s largest economies.

“Manchester is bursting with opportunity and both have a prominent presence in the professional, legal and financial service sectors – all areas in which BIG is particularly strong.

“Sarah will be a key player in our growth in England, and has an excellent track record of implementing and delivering powerful marketing strategies in a range of sectors.”

International marine sports promoter, Powerboat P1, has chosen BIG Partnership to support marketing promotion for its Scottish Grand Prix of the Sea event this year.

P1’s national race series – P1 AquaX (jet-skis) and P1 SuperStock (powerboats) have experienced meteoric growth in both the USA and UK in recent years and the company has enlisted BIG Partnership to ensure its action-packed events make a splash in all the right places.

P1’s announcement of its race calendar earlier this year saw the inclusion of two new, major events in Scotland and Chicago. The Grand Prix of the Sea will come to Greenock this year, an event which was key to the appointment of BIG.

Brian Welsh, Account Director and Head of Sport at BIG Partnership, said:

P1 has done a great job in weaving itself into the social fabric of the community in Greenock on the west coast of Scotland and they have inspired the public and local businesses to get involved at all levels. The P1 opportunity is unique in that it genuinely provides value at a local, regional and international level. We are delighted to be involved with this growing event series.”

P1’s 20-event season started in Florida last month and moves to Scarborough for the P1 Yorkshire Grand Prix of the Sea on 14 May. Further race events in the United States (Florida, Indiana and Illinois), England, Scotland and Wales will be complemented by new events in Malaysia later in the year.

P1 CEO, James Durbin added: “We totally re-engineered our business five years ago to focus on creating value for our spectators, venues, racers and sponsors. Using data produced by Repucom, we have seen a quadrupling of broadcast value in the last three years to more than $35m and we are looking to these new agency partnerships to help us monetise this value.”

Ahead of the Royal Bank of Scotland Kiltwalk on Sunday, BIG Partnership brought the Glasgow rugby community together to encourage fans to don their tartan. It was all to support Hearts & Balls, a rugby charity which supports players who suffer life changing injuries.

Glasgow Warriors hooker Fraser Brown and back-row James Eddie joined GHK players Daniel Campbell and Danny Hoffman for a photo to promote the event, all wearing tartan provided by Slanj, an official partner of the Kiltwalk. Big Partnership Senior Account Manager Gregor Hollerin, a long-standing member of GHK’s first XV, will join his teammates on the 26 mile walk to raise money for Hearts & Balls. He will take on the challenge alongside 12 colleagues from BIG’s Glasgow office, who will be walking for a number of different causes.

After the Glasgow event on Sunday, next up to take on the challenge is BIG Partnership’s Aberdeen office, as the Aberdeen Kiltwalk takes place on June 5. With the Edinburgh event not till September 18, the Edinburgh office has plenty of time to wear in their walking boots.

Kiltwalkers can still sign up for the Glasgow event to raise money for Scotland’s children. With walks of six, 13 and 26 miles there’s a challenge suitable for everyone.

Glasgow Science Centre, one of the UK’s foremost scientific institutions and visitor attractions, has chosen BIG Partnership to assist its communications efforts for the coming year.

This follows a period of successful project work during 2015, including the re-launch of the Planetarium and the opening of the energy focused Powering the Future exhibition.

BIG will work closely with the Science Centre’s in-house marketing team to promote the benefits of science to a range of audiences including young people, parents, educators and businesses.

Neil Gibson, founding director at BIG Partnership, said: “We’re incredibly pleased to be appointed as Glasgow Science Centre’s retained PR advisers, after having worked closely with its marketing team on a number of projects last year.

It is an exciting time for science and Glasgow Science Centre has an important role to play in engaging the public on science topics through its work with policy makers, schools, the media, and public and private sector organisations.”

Dr. Stephen Breslin, chief executive of Glasgow Science Centre added: “BIG worked with our marketing team to communicate messages to a range of different audiences last year. They managed a range of situations from issues and stakeholder management to media relations and digital marketing. They’ve been able to find new and creative ways to help illustrate what the Centre is doing and we look forward to working with them going forward.”

In aid of this year’s #passitonweek, BIG Partnership helped Glasgow’s top shopping destination, the St. Enoch Centre, boost awareness of its Empty Shop – an initiative led by Zero Waste Scotland.

Received with great success, the shop took in almost 1,000 items of donated clothing – equivalent to 142 per day. All of the garments are to be given to a great cause, Glasgow’s Salvation Army.

Located on the 1st floor of the centre, across from H&M, The Empty Shop started off bare each day, only to be filled by people’s generous, good quality clothing donations.

To help raise awareness of the campaign and drive more footfall, BIG arranged for Daily Record reporter, Anna Burnside, to spend Sunday in the shop – seeing how the project worked and lending a hand to the store’s volunteers.

The result? A great two-page spread in the paper!

BIG also did its bit by organising a time-lapse video of the first day at the store.

The Empty Shop project began in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as a new way of collecting donations for the city’s poor. It has since gone worldwide and its notable backers include one of the best football players on the planet: Neymar. He showed his support by posting a photo of the original shop to his then 28 million followers on Instagram.

Among the Scottish celebrities to donate their clothes were First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, with the promise of a scarf, and Outlander star Sam Heughan, who donated a suit.

To learn more about the project and its roots, visit its dedicated website.

We may be the largest PR and digital marketing agency in the UK outside of London, but this year’s Subsea Expo in Aberdeen demonstrated that we can help clients reach far beyond Blighty’s shores.

Photosynergy Ltd (PSL), a spin out of the University of St Andrews, wanted to raise its profile and awareness of its LIGHTPATH product, through national, local and trade media, as well as through its digital marketing channels.

Using Subsea Expo 2016 as the platform, BIG Partnership announced high-profile endorsement of the product from a major North Sea operator, combined with continued support from two of the UKCS’s biggest inspection, repair and maintenance companies: Bibby Offshore and Harkand. Coverage was secured on Energy Voice, Subsea UK News and World Pipelines, among others.

Media relations activity was augmented with website optimisation and a LinkedIn advertising campaign, targeted at those attending the Expo. This approach delivered 200 visitors to the PSL website, as well as a combined 32,000 impressions and 72 social interactions across paid-for and organic posts.

The combination of PR and digital marketing resulted in a host of enquiries coming in from India and Singapore, an invitation to a respected industry conference in Canada and a partnership opportunity from France. With a number of sales secured and connections made, it was a BIG result for another client.

PSL Director Don Walker said:

The profile of PSL and our unique LIGHTPATH system has been successfully raised through a combination of traditional PR and optimisation of the website with a social media campaign. We are very satisfied with the support and guidance received from the whole team at BIG Partnership.”

Ahead of next month’s Grand National event, Aintree racecourse was inundated with hundreds of equine racers – but these fine steeple jumpers were of the two-legged, rather than four-legged, variety.

BIG Partnership worked with client North West Cancer Research to launch the charity’s flagship fundraiser ‘Canter for Cancer’, which took place on Sunday 6 March.

Former Brookside actress, Suzanne Collins, and Liverpool FC legend, Alan Kennedy, joined runners at the starting line to take on the 5k route around the famous racecourse. BIG worked closely with its regional media contacts to maximise the profile of the inaugural event, resulting in a front page splash and dedicated online gallery in the Liverpool Echo.

The mane event (sorry!) may have taken just thirty minutes to complete (or slightly longer in the case of our Liverpool office, who also ran the course), but months of careful planning and media management went in to making the event a success.

Harnessing our collective creativity and supportive local stakeholders, BIG developed a series of proactive stories to generate buzz in the local community and encourage hundreds of pre-event registrations. North West Cancer Research has committed to funding more than £12.3million-worth of research in the next five years, helping to develop new ways to detect, treat and prevent it.