Reclaimed waste mermaids make a splash for World Ocean Day

Our task: To generate news coverage for an exciting media stunt for not-for-profit Be The Future focusing on educating children about climate change, whilst also highlighting the sheer amount of plastic waste in the sea for World Ocean Day.

Our strategy: To develop the story further, we ensured it contained lots of strong news angles and statistics. We then created a media package containing a press release and images to catch the eye of the media, including some spectacular mermaid shots in time for World Ocean Day. The campaign made a real splash!

Our tactics: A survey of 2,000 people in the UK by Be The Future shows over a third of parents (37%) would love to teach their kids more about climate change if they had the right tools or ideas. We utilised the findings to identify a strong, relevant figure. World Ocean Day on 8 June also added to the story as it gave us a current news angle and headline - Reclaimed waste mermaids make a splash for World Ocean Day.

Results: The story achieved outstanding coverage both in the UK and overseas in Sydney. Our Yorkshire mermaid Helen Hill made waves on BBC Look North, Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Business Woman. Securing coverage in The Times was another big success- generating an estimated 37.3k views. And, to top it all off Sydney mermaid Sally Giblin made a special appearance on Channel 10 in Australia showing off her stunning tail.

Sydney Mermaid Sally Giblin (left) and Yorkshire Mermaid Helen Hill (right)

NHS underwater: Unprecedented coverage for a huge climate change issue

Our task: To generate news coverage around a report created by climate change not-for-profit Round Our Way focusing on flooding at NHS sites across the UK

Our strategy: To develop the report further to ensure it contained plenty of strong news angles and statistics, then create a media package containing a series of interviewees, press releases and images to catch the eye of the media. We were able to use our unparalleled knowledge as journalists ourselves to ensure the story we were presenting was as powerful as possible

Our tactics: We worked with the UKHACC (UK Health Alliance on Climate Change) to identify a strong senior health figure to give us a head-turning news angle and headline - then also a case study of someone on the ground at Yorkshire Ambulance Service. She in turn gave us some brilliant insights into how flooding was affecting the NHS, including flood waters coming right up to the door of 999 call centres, as well as a series of strong photographs which depicted the story effectively

Results: The story was syndicated by the Press Association which helped us achieve an incredible 176 pieces of coverage in less than two weeks, including five national pieces and 171 regional. This included hits in the Independent online, Evening Standard, Yahoo! News and MSN generating 1.3million estimated coverage views

As a result of the outstanding coverage, and work with the UKHACC, former BBC and Channel 4 News journalist and Aubergine co-founder Emma Gardner was invited to deliver a talk and training session to senior health professionals at the British Medical Association on how PR works and how to best prepare for broadcast media interviews

Floodwaters outside 999 call centre at Fairfields, Doncaster - Yorkshire Nov 2019

Aubergine shortlisted for THREE major PR industry awards

We’re over the moon to announce Aubergine has been shortlisted for no less than THREE top industry awards, which are due to be announced in May.

We’re shortlisted for PR Agency of the Year at the 2022 Prolific North Champions Awards. At the PRmoment Awards 2022 we’re up for two gongs; Best Use of Research and Boutique Agency of the Year.

For the Best Use of Research award, we worked with climate charity Hope For the Future on two major surveys of the British population comparing attitudes before and after the COP26 climate summit.

We commissioned Opinium to carry out two nationally-representative surveys before and towards the end of climate change summit COP26, and used the results for national and regional stories which also included case studies. We worked with an independent market research consultant to write effective questions in order to create the best possible news angles.

In a two-week window, the campaign received 59 pieces of coverage with a readership of 448 million, including pieces in Evening Standard, Mail Online, the Independent and a swathe of regional media. Constituents used the media coverage to leverage meetings with their MPs to lobby on local climate issues.

Being shortlisted for Best Boutique Agency is big news for us. Winner of the PRmoment Awards’ New Agency of the Year in 2019, we’ve thrived since then in a challenging climate. Set up for remote working before the pandemic hit, our team of former journalists and PR experts consultants has levelled up its client base in 2022.

We’ve managed to carve a niche within sustainability particularly in food tech, a fast growth industry worth £250billion tackling climate change and a growing population’s health issues.

We’re proud to have created head-turning campaigns which consistently beat KPI’s and contribute to the growth of their global clients.

Our agency has seen a 50% growth in the last 12 months and makes a six-figure profit thanks to low overheads - all during a very challenging time for the PR industry as a whole.

The awards ceremonies are in May and we’ll be attending keeping all our fingers and toes crossed for at least one win - watch this space…