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What does success look like in PR? Award-winning communicators share their answers
From changing government policy to seeing a campaign become part of everyday conversation, more than a dozen CIPR Excellence Award winners explain what success really means.
This is the next part in our series exploring some of the best responses to success in thought leadership. In this instance, we speak to CIPR Excellence Award winners about the ideas, people and principles that shape great communications.
Having explored what makes an award-winning campaign and where communicators find inspiration, we asked:
What does success look like to you?
David Fraser, founder of Ready10: Getting sent my own campaign on a WhatsApp message from a friend who has no idea I had anything to do with it.
Efetive Eguko, head of campaigns, Bank of England*: Success is delivering communications that make a positive difference to people's lives and achieve meaningful outcomes. It's about creating genuine impact, not just activity.
Gregor, co-founder, Story Shop*: Doing what we are paid to do, whether that is raising awareness, raising money, attracting investment or increasing sales.
James Hawkins, director of communications and external affairs, BBPA: Success can be many things and look very different depending on what the matter at hand is. One thing is for certain: it is never just an output. The campaign to achieve a government u-turn was clear-cut. Success meant achieving that. Not a half measure. But at other times in the weird world of PR and public affairs, success may also mean achieving nothing; that is, achieving no change or preventing something from being reported that you really did not want to. That said, explaining that, however, to a client or chief executive at times can also be a measure of success.
Oli Bradley, managing director and founding partner, Words+Pixels: The landscape is tough right now, and delivering the work itself has never been harder. So as a very basic measure of success: if we can create opportunities for people to learn, grow, build a career and deliver work they're genuinely proud of, that's it. It's an idealistic view, of course - because even getting a couple of those right is a huge achievement.
Ritoók Teréz, PR team lead, Mediator: Of course, winning awards is incredibly rewarding, but I don't think success can be measured by trophies alone. To me, success is when a campaign achieves its business objective while becoming part of a wider conversation. The best PR doesn't just generate coverage. It changes the way people think about an issue, even if only slightly. That's when communication creates lasting value.
Shona Mathew, business director, Kindred: In terms of campaigns, it’s when all the pieces come together. PR can be nerve-wracking when it comes to whether something will land in the way you envisage. So success is when it does, whether this is all at once or a campaign that builds over time; seeing it all come to fruition is always very rewarding.
Sara McCracken, founder, Sara McCracken Consulting: I love media work, so reading about a client’s work in print or hearing them on the radio always makes me smile. I also love the flexibility that being an independent PR gives. Success is being able to spend more time with my family and choosing to work at the best times for me, not necessarily nine to five.
Stephanie Dobbs, deputy head of external relations at Deloitte UK: Success is a result that demonstrably changes minds or behaviour, and ties back to meeting clear business goals or reputational outcomes. It's also the campaigns where we learn from one another or support each other to achieve great results.
Tony Garner, managing director, Viva PR*: Simple: happy people. Staff who feel fulfilled by work that genuinely makes a difference, and clients who are delighted by the results we deliver together.
Tim Reid, director and lead media trainer, Tim Reid Media: Mountains of media coverage which shifts the dial. TV crews waiting for your clients to arrive. Reporters responding within minutes of you sending out a news release or a pitch. Oh, and at the end of it all, winning an award in a room full of your peers when you didn’t think you had a chance in hell.
Trevor Webb, associate creative director at 23red, part of Capgemini: When the initial campaign evolves into something that feels alive, connecting with people and culture.
Will Holloway, creative director, Smarts*: If people who don't work in or care about marketing are talking about your campaign, then that to me is success. Another metric is having a campaign featured as a quiz question on The Chase. I'm lucky to have had one question read out by Bradley … but sadly even the Chaser got it wrong.
*These organisations are CIPR Corporate Affiliate members. Find out more about a CIPR corporate affiliate membership - open to groups of five or more.