Catriona Pollard

Business Awards

The City of Sydney tasked CP Communications (CPC) to engage with Sydney’s centrally located business community to recognise, reward and celebrate local business achievements through the City of Sydney Business Awards. Additionally CP Communications were involved in encouraging the same community to attend a series of seminars designed to provide tactical advice, resources and networking opportunities for SMEs within the City of Sydney.

CPC developed a strategic PR strategy which focused on raising the profile of the awards and the seminars as well as engaging with target audiences with the aim of encouraging them to enter their business in the awards and attend the seminars.

Objectives

• To raise the profile of the awards with target audiences.
• To encourage eligible businesses to enter the awards.
• To present the City of Sydney Council as supportive of the Sydney business community and appreciative of their contributions to the local government area.

The Seminars
CPC developed a strategy to build awareness of the ‘Let’s Talk Business Seminars’ as a City of Sydney initiative as well as increase the number of seminar attendees. CPC developed a media pitch including key information about the events as well as an invitation to attend. This resulted in significant media coverage in a range of different business publications.

In addition to media pitching, CPC provided each speaker involved with information about the event and encouraged them to distribute this via their networks. Information was posted on business listing sites to further reach Sydney business people and boost attendance.

As a result there was an increase in attendees to each of the seminars from 80 to 120, exceeding the campaign’s target.

The Awards

The launch
CPC developed an initial media release to engage the attention of key media including, local news, business publications, ethnic media and online sites. This release included information about the awards including the new categories for the year, interesting local business statistics and an invitation to attend a launch event.

This resulted in many journalists attending the launch function and a significant amount of media coverage which helped to increase the number of awards entrants and public votes from previous years.

Driving entries
The awards had more than 20 different categories businesses could enter. To assist in reaching businesses across a range of industries, CPC developed numerous media angles around several of the key categories. These were pitched to industry publications and resulted in highly targeted media coverage which helped to boost entries in those industries.

Announcing the winners
In addition to media releases being distributed to announce award finalists, CPC distributed an embargoed media release to target publications announcing the award winners. Key journalists were also invited to the gala dinner, with CPC arranging numerous media interviews, including live radio interviews, with category winners.

Results
As a result of the PR campaign award entries increased to more than 520, a significant increase from previous years. More than twice as many members of the public from previous years nominated businesses and there was an increase of over 20 per cent in voting.

CPC achieved significant media coverage reaching over six million people. This included articles in:

• Central Magazine – a story every week the awards ran
• Major metropolitan publications including mX Sydney and The Wentworth Courier
• Major daily newspapers including the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review
• Business magazines including Dynamic Business and Nett
• Ethnic publications
• Industry vertical media relating to the award categories
• Sydney radio stations.

 

 

 

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by Catriona Pollard

Digital Advertising Agency

Prime Digital Media turned to CP Communications to raise their brand awareness and profile among media buying and planning agencies both nationally and internationally.

CP Communications developed a strategic PR plan to position PDM as Australia’s leading out-of-home digital media company.

PDM is Australia’s leading provider of out-of-home digital (OOHD) media and control Australia’s largest, centrally managed out-of-home digital network.

Media buying and planning agencies were still being educated on out-of-home digital media; CP Communications used this opportunity to develop a number of case studies and articles to educate the industry and position PDM as the expert.

CP Communications also distributed numerous media releases on PDM projects, including their work with Telstra and their environmental initiatives. These media releases received coverage in publications such as B&T and AdNews and OOHD publications.

This coverage has significantly raised brand awareness within the business community and specifically with media buying and planning agencies.

“Working with Catriona and her team at CP Communications has proven rewarding and insightful. Catriona delivers on her word - her ‘can-do’ attitude has resulted in us starting to gain real traction within our target markets,” Angela Byrnes, Communications Director, PDM

CP Communications has achieved extensive national and international media coverage for PDM in online and print publications which include:

• Marketing Magazine
• AdNews
• Digital Media
• mUmBRELLA
• Australian Anthill

 

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by Catriona Pollard

Engaging an Online Community

Macquarie University’s Women, Management & Work Conference

Macquarie University has been running the annual Women, Management and Work Conference for 23 years, with the conference focusing on Women and Leadership: Ignite your strengths. Leading women spoke about how women can use their unique strengths to become influential leaders.

PR and social media agency CP Communications were engaged to develop new strategies to increase interest in the conference. CP Communications rejuvenated the conference by creating an online community and carrying out PR strategies that achieved fantastic coverage and resulted in the conference being sold out well before the date.

Strategy
Macquarie University engaged CP Communications to raise awareness of the conference and drive registrations. They aimed to achieve attendance of 200 delegates. With the level of competition from the increasing numbers of conferences, CP Communications felt an innovative approach was needed. Director of CP Communications, Catriona Pollard said, “The focus of our strategy was to use the various issues the conference would cover, to strike a chord with the target audience. We wanted a long lasting campaign that didn’t end when the conference did.”

CP Communications reignited the conversation in the online community “Women at Work Australia” which included blogging, Tweeting, Facebook and a YouTube channel. They also added a new platform, a LinkedIn group. The community was a discussion of topical issues about women at work and in leadership positions, rather than focusing on the conference itself.

The online community provided a place for people to find helpful information, share women’s issues and be engaged with interesting information. The online community exists year-round, making a lasting impact on women’s leadership issues.

CP Communications actively contacted and included advocates of women’s leadership issues in order to reach a wider network of women interested in these issues and who were therefore possible attendees for the Women, Management and Work Conference.

Media strategy
CP Communications identified that the media talent were the conference speakers and invited them to be involved in PR, offering the chance for free publicity and to contribute relevant articles for us to pitch to publications or post on the blog.

CP Communications wrote a media release about the conference, offering key speakers for interviews on their specialty area. It was distributed to hand-picked publications ranging from business and women’s magazines, national papers, HR publications, radio, TV and other niche areas.

A media pitch focusing on key speakers and their speaking topics was sent to television morning shows, current affairs programs and radio. A separate pitch offering the speakers to be interviewed was sent to the lift out sections of major newspapers such as the Sunday Life, Good Weekend and AFR BOSS.

A specific pitch was sent to journalists shown to regularly report on women at work issues, a pitch focusing on women’s careers was sent to the career section of major papers, and pitches focusing on women in specific sectors were sent to industry publications, for example, Human Resources.

Speakers were invited to provide contributed articles, which were pitched into online publications. For example, CEO of Unimail Andrea Culligan wrote a blog post which was published on Mamamia.com.au, generating over 250 reader comments. She then wrote another post which was published on the blog of the Brisbane Courier-Mail.

We identified that many of the target audience were affiliated with associations that focus on women and the workplace. We offered these associations discounted prices for their employees and members. We also sent articles and media releases to be included in their calendars and newsletters.

Social media strategy
Twitter:
CP Communications tweeted from the Twitter handle @womenatworkoz. The profile included the link to the conference and tweets offered the opportunity for followers to comment on issues surrounding women at work and in leadership.

“The initial tactic was to follow high profile women who have written articles or blogs on women’s issues and to follow some of their followers,” Ms Pollard said. “We would tweet at least four times a day with links to relevant articles, inspirational quotes and re-tweets of advocates’ comments.”

The hashtag #WMWC was developed for use in the lead up to the conference and for attendees to use while tweeting at the conference. This created an online, live report of the event for those who couldn’t go but were interested in what was being discussed.

Facebook:
The strategy for Facebook was two-fold. CP Communications created a Facebook fan page based largely on the issues surrounding the conference and the Facebook advertising was used to inform people about the conference and drive them to the website.

The fan page was created for community members to keep up to date with conference news as it happened, and to interact with members of the page. Speaker profiles were posted, polls around women and leadership issues were conducted and photos from past conferences were uploaded.

Blog:
The Women at Work Australia posterous blog was created as a space for people to contribute ideas relating to women at work and in leadership positions. CP Communications uploaded posts three times a week, as well as posting blogs written by conference speakers. People were encouraged through Twitter and Facebook to comment on the posts.

Bloggers:
CP Communications created a list of Australian bloggers who are advocates of women and leadership issues and offered them interviews with conference speakers. Bloggers then wrote about the conference on their blog. This resulted in the conference being promoted to very targeted, engaged audiences.

Advocates from a range of businesswomen’s networks including Sphinxx, Girl.com.au and Australian Women Online agreed to include conference information in their newsletters which collectively reached tens of thousands of inboxes.

YouTube Channel:
We updated the YouTube channel, Women at Work Australia, with interviews with conference speakers. The short videos included information around the speaker’s presentation and their opinions on challenges facing women at work.

Throughout the conference, CP Communications interviewed speakers and attendees about the conference and their opinions on women’s work issues. These were posted on the YouTube channel and fed into Twitter, Facebook and the Women at Work Australia blog.

The results
CP Communications’ social media strategy achieved some outstanding results, including:

• The Twitter community growing by more than 1,000 followers during the six month campaign and resulting in substantial traffic referred to the conference website.
• Significant engagement on social media in the form of discussions and retweeting of posts.
• The conference’s hash tag #WMWC became a trending topic within the Sydney area leading to an increased exposure of the conference.
• A highly successful social media campaign which helped to achieve the registration target and financial goals.
• A sizeable increase of engaged followers and continued discussion on women’s issues
• "CP Communications' work on the Women, Management and Work Conference using social media, PR and promotional activities has ensured that the event is vibrant, relevant and a success. They are an integral part of the team." Megan Nixon, Marketing Manager, Faculty of Business & Economics, Macquarie University

For Macquarie University, moving from an ‘advertising only’ campaign to social media and public relations was a risk. But with significantly increased attendance numbers and ticket sales, the organisers were thrilled with the results achieved by CP Communications, and the Women, Management and Work Conference is set to continue in coming years.

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by Catriona Pollard

Film Festival

CP Communications was engaged to significantly raise the profile of Starlight Films on the North Shore and with major metros newspapers in the entertainment sections. Jill Keyte, Managing Director of High As A Keyte, “engaged CP Communications to promote the ‘jewel in its crown’ of annual events, Starlight Films, because we were looking for a PR company with a different approach”.

Starlight Films is the biggest and best outdoor cinema for those living and working on Sydney’s North Shore (and those brave enough to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge!). It runs over the summer months in Pittwater and North Sydney.

Strategic PR
Using media releases as the medium to distribute information and engage journalists’ interest, CPC wrote and distributed 10 releases over the season. Topics ranged from a family theme targeting family and parenting journalists and publications, to music publications with bands at Surf on the Turf, activities for Australia Day and entertainment writers were contacted for the launch of both seasons.

Massive media coverage was achieved with over 25 print articles covering the Cinema, and over 45 online articles/mentions. “We liked Catriona’s enthusiasm for Starlight Cinema, her ideas and persistent drive to attract publicity, she provided excellent service,” Ms Keyte said.

Online PR and marketing
In addition to traditional media, CPC also devised a strategy to target people not on the Starlight Films mailing list, by offering giveaways via enewsletters distributed to thousands of people. An online campaign was also run targeting online entertainment sites and blogs.

Social Media Campaign
With the growth in popularity of social media applications amongst Starlight Films' targeted publics, CPC implemented a social media campaign during the cinema's 2009 season.

CPC developed a social media strategy aimed at best meeting Starlight’s business objectives. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn were decided to be the most appropriate channels and best suited to Starlight’s needs.

Twitter
Following the implementation of the campaign Starlight Films' followers had increased from zero to more than 650 (at the time of writing). This was achieved by searching for Twitter users in the North Shore region and greater Sydney region. Starlight Cinema or @Starlightcinema followed these users, who more often than not would follow back. This ensured followers were in the direct target market of Starlight Cinema.

Interactive competitions were organised by CPC that both generated conversation around Starlight and increased their followers. 20 free double passes were given away in the week leading up to the Starlight Films opening. Followers were asked to retweet details about the opening night, with the first 20 to do so winning double passes to opening night.

Every Tuesday during the season CPC ran a Twitter competition asking followers a quiz question about a key Starlight fact. In order for followers to find the answer to this question they needed to visit the website. The first five followers to do this won a free double pass. This competition not only generated conversation, but also encouraged people to visit the Starlight website.

Additional competitions were run in conjunction to Starlight’s special events, including the chance to win a bunch of roses when booking tickets to Valentine’s Day and an Indian dinner voucher when booking tickets to Mystical India.

CPC managed the Starlight Cinema Twitter account on a daily basis. This included updating followers on movies that were screening, special events, advice on what to take, general Starlight information and answering any enquiries or questions followers had.

Facebook
CPC developed a strong fan base for Starlight Cinema through their Starlight Cinema Facebook page.

The team regularly updated the Facebook page with information and photos from the event. Fans were encouraged to upload their own photos to the fan page and interact with Starlight and each other.

Facebook was also used to create events for each special event running which was both posted on their page and sent to all fans to increase awareness of what was happening at Starlight Cinema.

LinkedIn
CPC developed a LinkedIn profile for the producer of Starlight Cinema, Jill Keyte. Ms Keyte was briefed on the benefits, how to use the social media platform and helped her ‘link’ with individuals.

Through LinkedIn, CPC was able to help Ms Keyte to form groups relating to Starlight Cinema and send invitations, special offers and information out to her contacts via LinkedIn.

As a result of this social media campaign Starlight Cinema created a presence for themselves on social media platforms, engaged with potential customers, generated conversation around the event, increased awareness and increased ticket sales.

"We engaged CP Communications to promote Starlight Cinema, because we were looking for a PR company with a different approach. We liked Catriona’s enthusiasm for Starlight Cinema, with her ideas and persistent drive to attract publicity, she provided excellent service," Jill Keyte, Managing Director, High As A Keyte

Media coverage CPC secured for Starlight Films'  include:

• mX
• The Mosman Daily
• The North Shore Times (online)
• The Sydney Morning Herald

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by Catriona Pollard

Hilton Worldwide Australasia - Regional

Hilton Worldwide is the leading global hospitality group, spanning from full-service luxury hotels and resorts to extended-stay suites and mid-priced hotels. For 91 years, Hilton Worldwide has offered the highest quality accommodation and delivered outstanding customer service to business and leisure travellers.

CP Communications was approached by Hilton Worldwide Australasia to help it to:

• Strengthen the positive reputation and image of Hilton Hotels & Resorts with Australian and New Zealand media through careful messaging and external communication management.
• Position Hilton Australasia Hotels as the number one destination for both luxury and business travellers.
• Strengthen its reputation as an innovative leader in the hotels and tourism industry.
• Position Hilton Worldwide Australasia as the number one employer for training, career development and innovative HR practices.
• Strengthen its reputation in Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Position Hilton Australasia properties as number one in providing exceptional customer service and delivering exceptional guest experiences.

To achieve these goals CP Communications executed a two part strategy involving thought leadership strategies and awareness tactics promoting the properties.

CP Communications developed a strategy that focused on the ‘behind the scenes’ business development and HR practices of Hilton Worldwide as well as the luxury, travel and hospitality target sector. This strategy shed light on what Hilton Worldwide Australasia does differently from other hotel brands, raise awareness on key issues, topics and changes happening with in the industry and present Hilton Worldwide as a thought leader and change agent for these key topics of discussion.

This PR strategy deployed tactics such as proactive media pitching on key issues and topics as well as interviews with senior Hilton personnel. It also utilised media releases to keep the market abreast of company news, new initiatives, executive appointment and special promotions.

The second element of the PR program for Hilton Worldwide aimed to focus on regional stories and conduct a national media and blogger outreach program targeting key travel, lifestyle and food media.

The highly tactical PR campaign was divided into three segments which PR activities focused on for a three month period: MICE (Meeting & Events Industry), leisure and food & beverage. This involved proactive pitching around these three core areas as well as organising media familiarisations so journalists could experience Hilton and write favourable stories.

As a result of CP Communications’ PR program significant media coverage was generated for Hilton Worldwide and the designated properties across the Australasian region.  This was secured across a variety of publications including print and online across industry and consumer segments.

This allowed Hilton Worldwide Australasia to significantly increase its profile among target audiences and be seen as a leader in all its chosen target industries.

The results

Through CP Communications’ strategies, Hilton Worldwide Australasia achieved:

• 169 pieces of coverage in top tier media.
• A significant increase in its profile among its target audiences and was seen as a leader in all its chosen target industries.
• Speaking engagements at national and global conferences to further position the organisation and its spokespeople as credible experts in their chosen fields.
• Coverage in print, online and blogs across all target industry sectors including Australian Gourmet Traveller, Australian Traveller, QANTAS Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review and Harper’s Bazaar resulting in strengthened brand reputation and recognition.

Some of the media coverage included:

• Australian Gourmet Traveller
• Harper's Bazaar
• Latte Summer
• LifeStyle Food
• Polka Dot Bride
• News.com.au

 

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by Catriona Pollard

Marketing Software Company

CP Communications was engaged to raise the profile in Australia and New Zealand of Aprimo, a leading global provider of marketing software and services that enhance the productivity and performance of marketing organisations.

CP Communications work with Aprimo on a PR strategy that includes media releases, ghost-writing of articles, case studies, pitching and speaking opportunities.

Media releases are used when Aprimo wins a new client account, hires significant new staff or launches a product. We pitch to marketing media in order to improve awareness of Aprimo among marketers and marketing managers.

CP Communications write two new articles each month to pitch to specific industry magazines including those relating to marketing, business, online retail and financial services. These have been identified as the sectors in which Aprimo wishes to raise their profile. The articles are ghost-written for the spokesperson of Aprimo and are an effective way of establishing Aprimo as a marketing thought leader.

CP Communications researches relevant features in newspapers and industry magazines, and devises an angle to pitch the spokesperson. This provides the journalist with an expert to speak to when writing the feature, and positions the spokesperson as an expert in the industry.

Aprimo has been published extensively both online and in print, including in AdNews, B&T, Direct, Marketing magazine, Professional Marketing and PowerRetail.

Coverage included:

• AdNews.com.au
• Marketingmag.com.au
• B&T Today
• PowerRetail.com.au
• Marketing magazine
• Direct Online
• MarketingMag.com.au
• PR WIRE
• Direct
• Professional Marketing
• InternetRetailing.com.au
• PR Wire
• MarketingMag.com.au
• Marketing magazine
• Idealog.co.nz
• Professional Marketing
• CEO Online
• DynamicBusiness.com.au
• NZ Retail
• AdNews
• B&T
• DynamicBusiness.com.au

 

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by Catriona Pollard

Online Business Directories

Catch is an online division of Reed Business Information Australia. Its subsidiaries include Fatcow.com.au, Ferret.com.au, FranchiseBusiness.com.au and Infolink.com.au, which are online business directories servicing specific industries in Australia.

Objectives

• To raise the profile of each directory within the industry’s they target. For instance for infolink.com.au industries targeted include building, construction, design and architecture.
• To position Catch and its subsidiaries as thought leaders on online search marketing.
• To demonstrate the benefits of Catch directories to the target audiences and increase users.

Strategy
CP Communications’ PR strategy ensured each subsidiary had its own voice relevant to its specific industry.

The campaign executed for Catch was mainly educational. A large portion of businesses in their target sector were still learning how online marketing can be beneficial so informative articles, tips and comments on this topic were central in the PR materials developed.

The PR strategy for Catch included traditional PR, including media relations, speaking opportunities and drafting expert articles. It also included the development and management of a LinkedIn group, called franchising Australia, New Zealand and India.

Public relations tactics

To generate media coverage, research was carried out with Catch’s customer database to produce data on topical issues, such as the carbon tax. Media releases were utilised to announce the findings of this research and to raise awareness of Catch and its subsidiaries and position them as a credible expert on particular industries and how they are affected by certain market changes.

Expert and how-to articles on online marketing were drafted and pitched in, and industry publications were used to engage target audiences - to educate them on the benefits of online marketing and position Catch (or the relevant subsidiary) as a trustworthy and effective marketing option.

Proactive media pitching was carried out to ensure Catch and its spokespeople were quoted in articles on online marketing targeted towards their audiences. This also included offering spokespeople for interviews to media on particular topics affecting Catch’s target audiences, like the NBN. This helped to ensure Catch and its subsidiaries were seen as industry experts.

Speaking engagements at trade shows and trade association conferences were secured to further position the company and its spokespeople as credible experts in online marketing.

Social media tactics

A LinkedIn group for franchises and franchisors was established to generate discussion within this industry and engage directly with these target audiences.

CP Communications managed and maintained this channel, regularly posting discussions based on current and topical issues as well as linking to content created for Catch’s franchise subsidiary, Franchise Business.

Results

Through CP Communications’ strategies, Catch and its subsidiaries significantly increased its profile among its target audiences and were successfully positioned as an expert on online marketing.

This was achieved with extensive media coverage for Catch and its subsidiaries, covering print, online and broadcast across all targeted industry sectors as well as numerous speaking engagements.

Some of the coverage highlights have been numerous radio interviews on ABC Radio National and regional radio stations, and print and online coverage on NETT.com.au, Franchise Review, Dynamic Business, Marketing Magazine, NineMSN, Manufacturer’s Monthly, Australia’s Best Mining, Hospitality Magazine, Factory Equipment News, Architecture and Design and BCI Australia.

In addition, various Catch subsidiaries now regularly contribute (which posts are drafted by CP Communications) to numerous industry blogs such as Build Online, Furniture Online and Dynamic Export.

The LinkedIn group created and managed by CP Communications generated constant discussion and high levels of engagement and grew to 508 members in less than 12 months.

Some examples of coverage:

• FranchiseBusiness.com.au - NETT.com.au
• FatCow.com.au - Rural Business magazine
• Ferret.com.au - Australian Manufacturing Technology magazine
• Infolink.com.au - Australia's Best Building and Construction magazine

 

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by Catriona Pollard

Recruitment Company

Constructive Recruitment turned to CP Communications to raise brand awareness in their key industry sectors specifically in the resources, construction and engineering sectors.

Constructive Recruitment is a specialist in recruiting for the construction, engineering and resources sectors throughout Australia and overseas. They have offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth providing employers and jobseekers with strategic industry advice and specialist recruitment services.

CPC devised a strategic PR plan to raise Constructive Recruitment’s profile in to ensure that they were recognised as the leading recruitment agency in the resources sector.

CPC developed a number of articles to position Constructive Recruitment as an industry expert in their targeted sectors. These articles were written on topics such as “How to retain staff”, “How to recruit like an expert” and “How to chose the right recruitment agency”.

As a result, Constructive Recruitment has been interviewed by major Australian publications including the The Australian Financial Review, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald offering their expert comment.

CPC raised Constructive Recruitments profile nationally, specifically in Western Australia and Queensland obtaining coverage in The Australian Financial Review, REIQ Journal, Australian Mining Review, Mining Chronicle, Queensland Business Review, Track and Signal and Property Australia.

"CP Communications provided a strategic approach to PR for Constructive Recruitment. They developed a deep understanding of our business and have achieved fantastic results getting us in publications our target customers read. They are friendly, professional and committed to getting results," David Marriott, Constructive Recruitment

CP Communications secured over 50 pieces media coverage in a range of publications including:

• The Australian Financial Review
• Australian Anthill
• The REIQ Journal
• Australian Mining Review
• Manufacturers Monthly

 

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by Catriona Pollard

University Faculty

Over several years CP Communications has implemented a thought leadership program for the Macquarie University Faculty of Business and Economics which has resulted in significant financial returns and over 200 pieces of positive media coverage.

Macquarie University Faculty of Business and Economics offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in addition to strong academic research in the fields of accounting and finance, actuarial studies, business, economics and business law.

Objectives
Macquarie University Faculty of Business and Economics appointed CP Communications to raise its profile in Australia as a leading business and economics faculty in the academic and business community and to drive business research investment. The faculty also aimed to attract quality academic staff and students at both a postgraduate and undergraduate level.

PR Strategy
A key focus of the PR strategy was raising the profile of key members of the Faculty, many of whom were experts in their fields. This included securing interviews and using expert articles from staff such as the Dean and Heads of Departments, while also drawing on other media talent when opportunities arose.

Media announcement
Media releases were used to inform key media on new courses, senior level staff appointments and other newsworthy events. Media releases were distributed to carefully selected media based on the topic of the announcement; common examples are higher education, economics, business and accounting.

Media pitching
Media pitching based on the current news agenda was a key tactic. This involved identifying opportunities where faculty professors could provide commentary and interviews on key news topics.

Case studies
Current and former students of the faculty were interviewed on a regular basis about their experiences while studying. These were used to create case studies which could be used as the basis of a media story.

Expert articles
Research reports from the faculty’s professors were edited and used for expert articles and then secured in key publications.

Speaking engagements
Numerous speaking engagements were secured to leverage and highlight the experience and expertise of the faculty’s professors. These speaking opportunities successfully raised the profile of the faculty and its professors.

Results
CP Communications has been working with Macquarie University Faculty of Business and Economics for over four years and considerable media coverage was secured for Macquarie University Faculty of Business and Economics through proactive media pitching, media releases, expert articles and case studies.

This coverage successfully raised the profile of the faculty in Australia as a leading business and economics faculty in the academic and business community.

Significant media coverage includes ABC radio, the Australian Financial Review, BRW, HR Daily, Human Capital, In the Black, Insto, The Conversation, The Sun-Herald and The Australian.

 

 

 

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by Catriona Pollard

Women on Boards

CP Communications was engaged to raise the profile of Women on Boards, a social enterprise to improve the gender balance on Australian company boards. Women on Boards brokers women into board roles, offers professional development and mentoring programs, hosts excellent events and ensures a high level of dynamic interaction across its large and influential network.

We wanted to raise awareness of both Women on Boards and the board issues among senior women managers and executives, influential male decision makers, men in middle management and company chairs, CEOs and senior decision makers of ASX listed companies.

CP Communications developed a PR strategy that incorporated media releases, pitching well-written articles and opinion pieces to target media. We pitched interview opportunities to print, radio and television relating to features or topical issues, researched relevant conferences for the Directors of Women on Boards to speak at. We were also responsible for promoting events held by Women on Boards to drive attendance, and for managing social media accounts.

Media releases
Media releases were distributed to select media outlets to announce company news, events and comment on topical issues. They were used only when most appropriate. Media releases included the announcement of the ThinkWomen National Breakfast Series, the announcement of the new Next Gen mentoring program, the event details of the Gender Matters Conference and a response to the release of the Australian Financial Review’s list of Australia’s top paid CEOs and senior executives.

Articles and Opinion Pieces
The directors wrote articles and opinion pieces which we edited and pitched to relevant magazines and major newspapers such as Superfunds magazine, HR Monthly, Australian Career Practitioner and Dynamic Business. The articles were about topical issues such as gender quotas, new statistics such as the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) census data and industry-specific issues such as women on boards in agribusinesses.

Events
Women on Boards hosts regular conferences and seminars. We promoted the bi-annual Gender Matters conference, the ThinkWomen National Lunch Series and the ThinkWomen National Breakfast Series. We promoted these events with media releases and tailored media pitches.

Social Media
In the two months leading up to the Women on Boards Gender Matters Conference, CP Communications managed the Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts for Women on Boards to drive awareness of and registrations for the conference.

On Twitter, CPC tweeted at least four times a day and also pro-actively and reactively engaged with the online community to increase awareness and hype around the conference and women’s issues related to people in the workforce. The hash-tag #WOBGM was created and used before and throughout the conference with relevant tweets. This hash-tag was also used by other conference attendees and Twitter followers interested in the conference.

As a result, the number of people following @Womenonboards increased by over 40% from the start of this project to 1,143 followers and is now on 44 lists on Twitter. Measuring the effectiveness of Twitter on Klout and TweetReach showed that positive sentiment around the conference increased significantly as people tweeted their appreciation of consistent and effective use of the #WOBGM hash-tag and management of the @Womenonboards Twitter handle. @WomenonBoards reached 12,951 people on the day of the conference alone.

Results
CP Communications achieved over 50 pieces of media coverage for Women on Boards across newspapers, magazines, radio and online. Major pieces of print coverage included articles in The Daily Telegraph, HR Monthly, Australian Farm Journal, The Courier Mail, The Adelaide Advertiser, Management Today, BRW, AFR BOSS, Superfunds, Australian Mining, Australian Financial Review, In The Black, Australian Banking and Finance, Australian Career Practitioner, Herald Sun and NETT.

Major online coverage included Australian Women Online, MyBusiness.com.au, Australian Businesswomen’s Network, HR Club Sydney, AAP Sydney, Connected Women, DynamicBusiness.com.au, Women In Business, Crikey.com.au, Herald Sun online, NETT.com.au, The Punch, Switzer, First 5000, and The Boardroom Report.

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by Catriona Pollard