Public Spirited Agency of the Year 2018

Ecorys UK awarded Public Spirited Agency of the Year 2018 at UK Public Sector Communications Awards

Ecorys UK has been awarded the Public Spirited Agency of the Year 2018 at the UK Public Sector Communications Awards.

The UK Public Sector Communications Awards celebrate and reward excellent communication strategies and campaigns, teams and individuals in local and national government, emergency services and not-for-profit bodies from across the UK.

The awards panel were given recent examples of campaigns including the Access City Award campaign which recognises cities for their efforts to make themselves more accessible for people with disabilities and the elderly.

To raise awareness on the campaign and on the importance of accessibility, a communication strategy was developed and aimed at driving interest and participation in the award (previous participants, newcomers and multipliers). The campaign intended to raise awareness amongst key stakeholders and the general public with a social media and traditional media drive, videos and promotional publications. Celebrity ambassadors were also recruited, such as the Czech Orchestra “The Tap Tap”, the Finnish punk rock band “Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät – PKN”, the German activist Raul Krauthausen and the German actor Samuel Koch, who encouraged cities to take part in the competition. Entries were received from across Europe and highlighted by an awards ceremony for the winning cities, with awards presented by the Commissioner.

The judges were impressed by this campaign’s commitment to ethical behaviour. They felt that the work demonstrated strong evidence and great public spirited values.

Other campaign examples included the delivery of a campaign for the European department for Justice to raise awareness of LGBTI rights, and put the European Commissioner on a barge at Amsterdam pride!

The award also recognises Ecorys UK’s understanding of the limitations and opportunities in public sector communications. Through an increased awareness of inherent limitations that the public sector faces in its daily work, in terms of funding, policy lines and unforeseen changes to the political and economic environment, Ecorys UK work on daily communications activities to mitigate risks in these areas. This is done by identifying key trends and strategies that allow a fast response in line with the wishes and objectives of clients and sensitive to the mood of the public.

In the past five years, the communications team has grown from 10 people to over 60, with communications work extending beyond the UK and the EU to include clients in Eastern Europe, Central America and South Asia. The team has grown exponentially in this short space of time by taking care of long-standing relationships as well as reaching out to new clients. Employees know that with each day, and with each tweet, slogan or sentence they create, they’re helping to improve the rights and lives of the people living in society.

Pictured are Karen Hayer, Senior Digital Communications Manager, and Paola Abis, Communications Consultant, who attended the event on 20 June 2018 at the Montcalm Hotel in London.