Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Launching the world’s first snore absorption room; creating the world’s biggest shave; reinterpreting art with technology; revealing the best place in the UK to bring up a family… As 2011 draws to a close, we take a look back month by month at some H+K Strategies campaigns and work throughout the year.

January: City & Guilds Million Extra

You're hired: Karren Brady+ City & Guilds' Chris Jones

To start the new year, preparations to launch City & Guilds first ever Apprenticeship Summit went underway early on. The aim of the campaign was to help ensure one million Apprenticeship starts by summer 2013.

In January, we commissioned a report to identify the barriers employers face in hiring apprentices with the findings discussed by key political and business leaders at the Summit, hosted by Apprentice star Karren Brady.

Nearly 100 pieces of coverage resulted from this campaign as well as a request from Professor Alison Wolf to receive a copy of the full report after seeing the articles to include in her Government review of 14-19 education.

February: Intel Remastered

Shortlisted for various industry awards, our Technology team created an exciting art campaign- Intel Remastered to showcase the creative application of Intel technology. The project saw 13 modern artists reinterpret iconic masterpieces using digital technology and techniques.

Pushing the boundaries of art and creating one of the most talked about art events on the year, the stories and inspiration behind classics such as Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ and Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ were retold and presented to a digital-savvy audience.

Launched to 330 400 key influencers from the media, bloggersphere and creative industry with critical acclaim, coverage in key publications and channels saw over 1,400 members of the public attend the exhibition over the four days.

Intel Remastered Showreel from jotta on Vimeo.

March: HSBC Expat Explorer

March saw the launch of HSBC’s new interactive Expat Explorer tool, an online resource providing users with unprecedented access to data and insights from its annual survey of life abroad. The tool contained information based on the findings looking at quality of life, financial incentives and bringing up children abroad.

From basic PDF reports in 2008, the survey results were developed digitally and in 2011 became a highly interactive online resource allowing users to interact with the data through engaging, highly visual infographics and search tools which are fully shareable across all major social media platforms.

The tool was well received by the expat community and international media, even winning this year’s The EMMAs for “Most Interactive Use of Technology in Global Mobility (Knowledge)”.

April: Will + Kate say “Eye Do”

With the nation gripped in Royal Wedding fever, it wasn’t just T-mobile’s wedding dance that got people talking. To celebrate Will and Kate’s big day, EDF Energy London Eye offered free tickets to married couples called Will and Kate for a week.

Will + Kate say "Eye do"

May: SoBe

To launch SoBe, a drinks brand popular in the States, into the UK market, we developed a fully integrated campaign and devised a multi-faceted digital programme to run alongside traditional PR activities.

Teaming with singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding, we sent Ellie out to Miami, South Beach to film an exclusive web series. Webisodes were premiered on the Facebook page where fans saw Ellie meet running legend Raven, jam with local musicians, taste local delicacies and generally discovering the spirit of South Beach.

Global Peace Index

May also saw the launch of The Global Peace Index (GPI). GPI ranks the countries of the world according to 23 external and internal indicators of peace, using data calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit. This year, we launched the fifth annual GPI globally and hosted an event at Chatham House. Thanks to a combined strategy of traditional media outreach, tailored press releases for all 149 countries and a multi-media news release, we reached over 1.5 billion people in 48 hours.

This year’s GPI painted a pretty grim picture – the world became less peaceful for the third consecutive year and the global economy lost $8.2 trillion last year to violence. You can check out the video here for a summary of the findings. For close friends of H+K, you might even recognise a familiar voice.

2011 Global Peace Index from Vision of Humanity on Vimeo.

June: Gillette’s Biggest Shave

The best a man can get at its best. This summer, we worked with Gillette to set a world record for the world’s biggest shave. A 2,800 square meter environmentally-friendly image of tennis champion, Roger Federer was created in grass and then “shaved”.

A close shave for Federer

July: IHG trials snore absorption room

Working with Crowne Plaza hotels, we carried out some research, which found that more than half of UK couples are losing between one and five hours sleep a night due to the snoring and snuffling of their partners. That’s up to a decade of lost sleep over a lifetime. To combat this, Crowne Plaza trialled a new snore absorption room aimed to help the sleep deprived tune out and nod off from their noisy partners. The campaign inspired The Independent, Daily Mail and top travel blogs such as Gadling to cover the story.

You have entered the No Snoring Zone

August: LG sponsors London Fashion Week

In the run up to the capital’s fashion event of the year, LG Electronics partnered with London Fashion Week and became its Official Garment Care Supplier. LG provided LFW with a dedicated steam team and garment care expertise backstage to help designers get their clothes ready for the runway.

Partnering with experienced fashion stylist, Sara Hassan, we produced an exclusive behind-the-scenes video footage, and invited influential fashion bloggers to catch the steam team in action and backstage buzz.

September: Family Investments

This year, children’s savings provider, Family Investments published its first ever Family Friendly Hotspots Report, which identified the top 20 places in England and Wales that offer the most desirable environment for bringing up a family. The findings revealed that Devon is the cream of postcodes, naming Winkleigh as the best place to raise a family.

The report became a talking point with the campaign achieving over 200 pieces of coverage including Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, BBC, Daily Mail, The Sun, amongst others.

October: A Walk in the Park

A Walk in the Park website, launched by our Healthcare + Wellbeing team helped to raise awareness of the condition, canine osteoarthritis and a newly available treatment to help manage this condition. Canine osteoarthritis affects one in five dogs, causing pain and discomfort for millions of pets in the UK.

To help launch the website, we set up an exclusive partnership with K9 magazine’s Canine Arthritis Awareness Month, attended Battersea Dogs & Cats Home Annual Reunion event and achieved editorial coverage in a broad range of pet owner titles. As a result, the campaign message reached a broad audience and the website holds its place at #6 in organic Google search.

November: Tech City one year on

In November, Tech City celebrated its first birthday by unveiling an interactive map of the East London technology hub. The Tech City initiative was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron last year to help the existing cluster of tech-digital and creative companies flourish. Our role has been to help promote the area, highlight the investment and job opportunities, profile key spokespersons and local entrepreneurs, and position Tech City as the digital capital of Europe.

Image courtesy of Tech City Map

To date, we have achieved over 250 pieces of coverage across broadcast, print and online reaching an international and national audience. We also help to manage a healthy online relationship on Twitter, growing the number of followers from 290 to over 3,800, as well as maintaining the blog and keeping it up-to-date with latest news and guest posts.

December: Linde Group

The Energy + Industrials team has been kept busy this year with Linde Group. The team was tasked to deliver a high impact international PR programme that puts Linde at the heart of global industrial gases industry.

H+K helped to elevate Linde Gas through strategically-chosen editorial opportunities in trade media as well as key vertical publications both regionally and internationally through in-depth features and by-lined articles. Through this programme we successfully positioned Linde as a thought leader and key player in the specialty gas sector.

It’s been one busy year at H+K towers and these campaigns are just a snapshot of what we’ve been working on in 2011. 2012 is set to be an even more exciting year with the Olympics coming up.

What will the Olympic year bring? Watch this space.