I’ve been celebrating a few milestones lately.

The first is to have reached more than six months with Acrobat PR, which for a new venture is worth marking, especially as it looks like we’ll reach 12 months quite comfortably at this rate as well.

I’ve been able to keep busy between looking for new business and meeting the needs of  Weston Hospicecare who have had a lot going on this year, including their 20th anniversary campaign. As well as the launch of the anniversary appeal and generating publicity in the press, radio and television, I was also able to supply them with copy for a four-page special insert that the Weston Mercury ran as part of a media partnership. It was a busy couple of weeks getting that lot together but good fun too.

The second major achievement is scoring my first front page coverage, thanks to the Cheddar Valley Gazette.

Cheddar Valley Gazette

Front page stories were my bread and butter as a journalist, but from the position of a PR trying to promote Weston Hospicecare, it’s even more satisfying to see the story on the front page.

The reason it was on the front page is because from a news angle it was a great story of triumph in the face of real adverstity. Jean Millard, from Cheddar, is a wonderful woman who has been living with a terminal lung disease for the past five years, but she was only given three years to live when they diagnosed it.

Her zeal and determination not to give in, with the support of Weston Hospicecare, is a heart-warming story from the sort of people I’m now privileged to work with.

In terms of media coverage it’s still true that nothing beats a good story as  journalists on papers like the Gazette are still (thankfully) judging each story on its own merits. I think that’s even more important to me now as a PR, because not only do I have to get the attention of whoever I call up, but really give them something genuinely worth running in the paper, otherwise why would they bother?

Thankfully that’s never been a problem with Weston Hospicecare, or Leukaemia Research who I worked with towards the end of the summer to help promote their first ever Forget Me Not walk. They too are a great group of people with many stories to tell which really puts a face on the business of raising money for charity.

It’s been eight months in total since I left the Evening Post to launch Acrobat PR and as well as working closely with clients such as Weston Hospicecare and Leukaemia Research, I have also been working on short-term projects and campaigns for some of the big PR agencies in Bristol and Bath.

Of course there is always a lot of uncertainty but I feel my experience in newspapers and the media generally from the past ten years has proved invaluable and has really helped to make a successful start to Acrobat PR.

simonp Uncategorized Acrobat, aqua, Bristol, clifton, leukaemia research, trunki, Weston Hospicecare

They say good comedy is all in the timing, which could mean the timing of my decision to start my own business in the middle of the deepest recession for a generation, is the biggest joke around.

But what are you supposed to do? Faced with the prospect of watching endless episodes of Cash In The Attic, or getting into this great city to make a living out of the skills I’ve been honing over the past ten years, the choice was clear.

Now, I know that the path from journalism into PR may be well worn and not the most original, but it is a move I have been considering for some time and the chance to be my own boss has always been very appealing.

So the opportunity arose and I’m glad I have taken it. Since I left the Bristol Evening Post at the end of March, I don’t feel I have stopped work at all. But that suits me as I like to keep busy and certainly trying to build a new business from scratch in this climate keeps you busy.

So far so good. I have been working with the wonderful people at Weston Hospicecare and helping them to get coverage for several events over the past six weeks. We had a great day for Fred’s Hospice Run which saw 400 bikers cruising into Weston to raise money for the charity, and had some fun putting a video together for YouTube.

And I was also enlisted to spread the word about the third birthday party for Trunki, the suitcase on wheels for kids, invented by Bristol-based designer Rob Law. That made it as far as the California Chronicle online. Not sure any Hollywood A-listers saw it though.

I’m really passionate about Bristol and the South West so it is great to work with people who are doing such amazing things for the region, whether it’s providing fantastic healthcare, or leading the way in terms of design and industry.

And I’m also very pleased to get my website up and running, so many thanks to Sam who built it, and Ami who designed the logo and branding.  

Through this blog I aim to bring you news of how Acrobat PR is performing and the ups and downs of going it alone, more ups than downs I hope.

simonp Uncategorized Acrobat, Bristol, PR, Public Relations

The new Acrobat PR website is coming soon. In the meantime, please give us any feedback or comments on the current in the comments box below.

Admin.

admin Uncategorized Acrobat, Bristol, PR, Public Relations