The AIKEN team is delighted to have been shortlisted in not one, not two… but three categories at the CIPR PRide awards for 2023. Working closely with our clients we brought to life three creative campaigns that ran over the past 12 months ranging from local oats–based goodness to a media relations campaign that was out of this world.

First up, our 2023 PR campaign for Darkness into Light (DIL) has been shortlisted in the Health and Wellbeing category. This special event, proudly supported each year by Electric Ireland, is one close to our hearts at AIKEN, and helps to promote suicide awareness and bereavement services not just in Ireland, but across the globe. Our creative campaign straddled the worlds of arts and sport, featuring a charity fundraiser to win a unique painting of Cave Hill by Anna McKeever, along with incredible DIL challenges involving our ambassadors Al Mennie and Chris Dawson, who surfed and cycled through the hours of darkness all in a combined effort to raise vital funds for life–saving charities across Northern Ireland.

We are also up for an award the Content Creation Category. Our client, White’s Oats, wanted to promote their stellar brand by celebrating world porridge day. With White’s target audience in mind and our market research in hand, we hosted an invite–only cooking session at Belfast cookery school, The Waterman, for local influencers who demonstrated an authentic interest in food. 13 influencers from a range of sectors allowed us to capitalise on their personal following and increase our range and impact on such an important day to the brand. We raised awareness of White’s being a market leader and increased their visibility across all social platforms.

Last and certainly not least, we are up for the award of Best Use of Media relations for our work on Nerve Centre’s project, Our Place in Space. Our objectives were very clear: to drive football to the exhibition across the UK, break a Guinness World Record (spoilers: we did it!) and raise awareness around STEM subjects. We put together a strategic media relations campaign and took an omni–channel approach to deliver our key messages and maximise our client’s visibility across all strands of media.

We look forward to the in–person event in October and celebrating with industry colleagues across Northern Ireland.