Pictured above: Adam James

A West Midlands public relations agency set up by an award-winning journalist is guaranteeing media coverage for its clients.

Springup PR, set up by award-winning journalist Adam James, is so confident of its knowledge of the media industry that it is offering retained clients their money back if it does not secure them coverage in target publications.

Before launching Springup PR, Adam James was a freelance journalist. For more than a decade he contributed news and features to publications such as the Guardian, Nursing Times, Mental Health Today, Community Care, the New Statesman, Sunday Telegraph, the Times Educational Supplement, Independent on Sunday, women's magazines, and dozens of specialist trade publications.

James said: "We can offer guaranteed media coverage to retained clients because of our confidence in what makes journalist and editors bite at a story pitch, as well as those pitches that don't. For more than a decade I have been pitching and selling-in stories to the press. So I like to feel I've developed a refined sense of what works, and what does not.

"At the end of the day, clients pay PR agencies to win them media coverage. So, if media coverage is not secured, then they are entitled to get their money back.

"Yes, our guarantee may be considered a high-risk strategy. But it's fair.  Time will tell whether it's a successful strategy or not.

"I am presently working in partnership with a marketing agency on behalf of a major healthcare client for whom I have won fantastic coverage. Now I hope to do that for similar clients."

Adam James picked up journalist of the year award from mental health charity Mind in 2001 for his coverage of mental health issues in the Guardian newspaper and the Times Higher Education Supplement.