Sign In
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Thursday 28th October 2021

I Have (PR) Designs on You!

By James Knight.

One of my favourite places to visit is the Design Centre In fashionable Chelsea Harbour, it gives me a real buzz of life, where innovation and creative minds meet. Their events really inspire me.

I missed my visits during lockdown, personal meetings with people I regard as friends and the tours around the showrooms, always well attended.

During the lockdown every showroom had a digital space to introduce their latest collections, supported by a free to view, virtual programme of more than 60 events.

Exceptional digital programmes online were great publicity for the Design Centre bringing the Centre into offices and homes.

London Design Week 2021 was a hybrid event adapted to the circumstances with confident vision, much was online which was well attended, with great speakers, like interior designer Kit Kemp, who brought a new dimension of design.

In June 2021 Artefact, a new contemporary craft fair, went live, with the new Design Avenue, which is a magnificent, including new exhibitors and galleries.

Recently the Focus 2021 has come back live with a PR campaign to make it a special event. The visitors flocked back after being locked-up for so long, but still with areas online. Allowing sharing of both experiences. Attending the event was, I can tell you a breath of fresh air.

New brands appeared during the lockdown through an intensive PR campaign. Porta Romana's MD, Ali Milam, made a very good point: "During Covid we worked continuously through, we worked together on solutions of trading with new ideas."

During Covid the Design Centre developed with IGTV Video tours and leading creative well-known people showing viewers around their showrooms, the Personal Shopping Web Site was viewed and used by many people.

The Centre’s MD, Claire German, sums it up by saying: "we are a strong collective group of brands," that most certainly is true. During Covid the Design Centre used its time with creative ideas, attracting new clients and using a mixture of PR and marketing to promote its showrooms and PR for its clients, with a monthly newsletter online.

Excellent credit to a business we Londoners should be proud of.

Professor James Knight is an international businessman, public relations practitioners and academic. He was Fellow of Bournemouth University Public Relations School, guest speaker at Judge Cambridge, Surrey, Bath and Reading, International Mentor for Oxford Brookes on Hospitality. He is a Fellow of CIPR and the Society of Public Relations of America, as well as a fellow of the Institute of Directors.