Pictured above: COI's Stuart Baird, Helen Clarke, Jo
Sheppard and Gaby Insley
Nottingham based Government PR agency the Central Office of
Information (COI) won recognition for a successful youth campaign
to help get kids off the street and into positive activities on
Friday and Saturday nights.
The award, from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations
(CIPR), took the Pride Gold Award for community relations.
The work saw team members working with youth leaders, local
authorities and young people in 50 areas of England to create
engaging media opportunities. The objectives were to join up
community and Government partners, spread the message to
communities and encourage take up of positive activities for young
people.
Working with West Midlands colleagues, the PR team worked in
communities within Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Sandwell,
Birmingham, Coventry, Walsall, Stoke and Wolverhampton. Research in
the Midlands showed that there was an increase in young people
attending organised activities, and a corresponding drop in
anti-social behaviour.
The CIPR judging panel said about the campaign:
"The COI created a raft of events to appeal to the creativity
and energy of young people to give them activities to do at times
when they wanted to do them. The events took place on Friday and
Saturday nights.
"This campaign called for relations with multiple stakeholders
and an understanding of how best to communicate with young people.
The COI demonstrated good understanding of both.
"The use of social media to communicate and engage the Midlands
teenagers was effective in reaching the target audience
cost-effectively. The judges were impressed with the creativity and
variety in this campaign, and the use of various communications
channels."
Regional director Stuart Baird said:
"COI staff went after hours or at weekends to youth events,
directly engaging with young people and youth workers, building
relationships and working with them to create media opportunities.
The PR became a positive activity in itself - kids who were DJing
and rapping in youth clubs found themselves being broadcast on
local radio or became media stars for the day when we brought
journalists in from local newspapers."