Month: September 2018

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News

Client survey feedback – it’s good for your ears, your soul and your business plan

Word cloud of positive desciptors of DTW

[Every year we do a client survey – one of those jobs it’s easy to put on the back burner or forget about. To put it simply – make sure you don’t!

We get client feedback all the time – whether that is anecdotal whilst ‘on the job’, more formally in client review meetings, or a quick mention on social media. It’s all important, and all welcome – good or bad (though I’m pleased to say we get a lot more of the good).

Feedback, research, insight. Call it what you will, it is hugely valuable. In today’s always on, permanently plugged in social media world, there is no shortage of feedback, and there can be a danger we close our ears and switch off.

Anyway, back to the DTW survey. It sounds a bit like we’re blowing our own trumpet (we are!). In addition to the questions, we also asked our clients to sum us up in three words – so here’s what they said.

Graphic depicting client survey result that 100% of our clients would recommend DTW to others
Graphic depicting client survey results 2018
Word-cloud of comments from client survey

If you are one of the clients who responded then huge thanks – it’s because of you that we are able to do the work that we love.

If you’re reading this and would like some PR and marketing support then just give us a call on 01287 610 404 or email me at chris@dtw.co.uk and we can have a chat about how we can help you.

Thanks for reading

Chris

Categories
Insights

Animating the future proves just the job for UEFA

Screenshot of UEFA Nations League animation

Warning: this is a blog about animation, not football.

Just thought we’d better get that out of the way first.

The new UEFA Nations League generated an impressive mix of confusion, apathy and shrugs all round when it was first announced, so the UEFA comms team have no doubt had their work cut out trying to explain the new competition format.

The answer – animation.

Good choice. When you’re faced with communicating a complicated issue or one that doesn’t have any simple ‘real’ visuals that can explain it or bring it to life, animation comes into its own.

 

In this case UEFA also managed to follow up a good idea with excellent execution. Its suite of short animations explains the two key elements of the new Nations League format.

Clever, simple and effective, they follow the golden rule of still working when played with no sound and put the viewer in charge of the pace they learn at. As a consumer, you or I can go back and re-watch any particular element that we might need more than one viewing to register properly.

The UEFA animations have been widely shared with and used by the media, increasing reach and lending third-party credibility and increasing understanding of and, I hope, support for, the new-look tournament.

You need some clever animators, an eye for detail, a damn good knowledge of flags, and a comprehensive proofing system for a job like this to deliver it. But first of all, you need the idea – well done UEFA – it’s not often they get credit for very much to be fair.

At DTW, we find we’re increasingly using animation to showcase complex concepts or bring to life ideas that just don’t work with video footage.

You don’t need to worry which employee you want to give a starring role to in case they decide to leave, or if the project you want to showcase is still a construction site, because you’re creating your own universe and you have control over the characters, the plot and the setting.

If you want to see a bit more you can see some examples of our most recent work.

Thanks for reading

Chris.

Categories
News

DTW MD Chris Taylor re-appointed to CIPR Council

CIPR logo

Hi – Chris here – I’ve just been appointed to the council of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (no election needed this year). The CIPR is an important body that leads the PR profession, not just in the UK but across the globe.

A copy of my CIPR candidate statement is below. All comments and feedback welcome – whether you’re a member or not.

We’ve got a great new President-elect in Jenni Field and a strong line-up on Council for the next two years to take the public relations profession forward.

Strategy. Leadership. Ethics. These are the cornerstones of the CIPR’s new-look chartership assessment day. I can’t think of three better words to sum up what the CIPR must focus on for the next two years.

Strategy– I’m a huge supporter of the drive to position PR as a strategic management function – otherwise the robots will take our jobs. Our skills are in demand, but never has there been more people (or machines) who think they can ‘do PR’.

Leadership– we’re suffering from a lack of effective leadership in public life. Now that ‘the experts’ are fighting back, the CIPR has a real opportunity to carve out a position for the UK as an international centre of excellence for the PR profession with the CIPR at its heart.

Ethics– the CIPR has always led the way in promoting ethical standards. We need to maintain that by continuing the drive to professionalism. Truth, transparency and authenticity have never been more important or more challenged and our profession has to lead the way.

Our core commitment remains the same – PR is the discipline that looks after reputation. That means speaking truth to power, saying the unsayable and always using our eyes and ears to understand before opening our mouths to give professional advice.

If I am elected to Council I will:

  • ensure the CIPR keeps its focus on professionalism, making a modern, meaningful and responsive CPD system at the core of our work.
  • support the leadership team whilst ensuring that the needs of ordinary members remain at the heart of the CIPR’s mission
  • help ensure the CIPR maintains its high ethical standards in a challenging and fast-moving environment
  • ensure a strong voice for regional and sectoral groups.

To become a predominantly chartered profession we must engage with decision makers and people outside of the industry to showcase the value that PR, and CIPR members in particular, bring to society.

We’re getting there – we’re increasing the numbers of people doing CPD, becoming accredited and, crucially, getting chartered status, every year.

I’m a Chartered Practitioner (if you’re thinking of doing it – go for it and #getchartered). I fell into the CIPR family 14 (gulp!) years ago because my new boss told me it was a good idea – he was right.

Since then I’ve been Chair of the North East group for three years, and been a Council member for the past eight.

For the past two years I’ve also played an active role on the Professional Development and Membership Committee.

As for my day job, that is Managing Director of DTW– we’re a strategic PR consultancy based in the north of England working in the infrastructure, public sector and membership organisation sectors. If you want to know more about me catch up with me on twitter @dtwchris.

It’s 14 years since I joined the CIPR. The world has changed a lot since then. As CIPR members we need to lead the way and set high professional standards. I’d like to continue to play my part.

Categories
News

Colourful fund-raising for Teesside Hospice

Photo of Chris and Lorna covered in coloured chalk after taking part in a colour run

Chris and Lorna decided to take a colourful approach to fund-raising this weekend.

They were each joined by their daughters to raise money for Teesside Hospice as part of its annual 5K Colour Run in Stewart Park in Middlesbrough on Sunday morning.

As you can tell from the photos it was a quiet, uneventful day full of shy retiring people!

Chris Taylor, MD of DTW said: “Teesside Hospice is a great cause and the colour run is loads of fun. It’s one of those occasions where you just need to have fun and dive right in!”

Teesside Hospice offers palliative care for people over the age of 18 who are living with a life-limiting illness when a cure is no longer possible. Its care is provided 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year and reaches thousands of local people. If you want to help the team continue this great work, you can donate online to support what they do.

Categories
News

Northern Spire opening hits the heights

Photo from a drone of traffic crossing the Northern Spire Bridge

Last week was quite a week for team DTW, and a career highlight for me, personally.

After three amazing years of working with Sunderland City Council and contractor Farrans Victor Buyck Joint Venture on the city’s new impressive cable stayed bridge, Northern Spire finally opened to traffic.

Our role throughout had been to use our knowledge and experience in working with large infrastructure projects to provide support around community engagement, media and public relations, education, social media and video production. It was an enormous task, but one we did with gusto – embedding ourselves with the on-site team, sometimes working extremely long hours, providing education sessions to more than 2,000 children, and even travelling overseas to capture key moments in the project.

Construction being what it is, since work began in May 2015, the whole project team has been striving towards reaching the end, and when the final opening came last week – first to pedestrians on Tuesday and then to vehicles on Wednesday – it was everything, and more, we had hoped for.

It is estimated that a staggering 20,000 people came out to take a stroll across the bridge deck during the pedestrian walk-over. We had children cartwheeling under the pylon, countless selfie-takers, a busker playing guitar and cycling and running clubs trying us out for the first time. We even had a naked cyclist. The weather was warm, the atmosphere holiday-like, and the whole experience quite magical. You could see hardened members of the engineering and construction team, who have worked all over the world, become visibly moved and humbled by the response from the community.

Throughout the two days, a large contingent of print and broadcast media were also based on site, with Northern Spire dominating every North East news broadcast on TV, radio and in newspapers. All in all, it was an incredible, rewarding and exciting week, albeit long and tiring, but something that the DTW team will cherish.

I can’t lie, from a PR and video perspective, Northern Spire has been a dream project to work on, with so many captivating, awe-inspiring, moments to capture along the way. Add in Sunderland City Council’s desire to engage, educate and excite the community, and we were given countless opportunities to showcase what we do best.

DTW feels incredibly proud and privileged to have been part of the Northern Spire team. We have worked with so many talented and experienced engineers from across the world, who, thankfully for us, recognised the importance of great communication and went out of their way to help. Whilst the DTW team have topped up our knowledge on bridge building and construction, both with Northern Spire and the Mersey Gateway Bridge, which opened in Cheshire last year, hopefully some seasoned engineers have also learned much about PR and communications, too.

Now, it’s onwards and upwards for team DTW. Here’s to our next big infrastructure challenge!

Karen Westcott,
Senior Strategist, PR, Engagement & Public Affairs

See how Sunderland’s new Northern Spire bridge came to life, from start to finish, with the Story So Far video:

Watch the great unveiling of Sunderland’s new Northern Spire bridge, first with a pedestrian walk-over day, followed by the opening to traffic:

Gallery