Raising brand awareness, reaching new markets and revealing advanced products with targeted PR.
HOME TO BOOST
J. A. HARRISON had relocated, modernised and rebranded.
The near century-old family business, which makes and sells advanced seals and gaskets to heavy industry, was brought home to the owners’ struggling home town of Oldham – after decades in Manchester city centre.
An impressive £2.8m hi-tech engineering facility gave the company top tier accreditations to serve highly regulated industries – and a strong competitive edge over rivals worldwide.
The company also refreshed its image with a crisp new logo that made its global intentions clear.
Now in situ, the Shepherd family’s key objectives were to announce its arrival and get word out to potential new customers that it was open for business.
ENGINEERING CONTENT
AN OUTLINE PR strategy was drawn up to mirror the firm’s brand goals.
JA Harrison’s prospective and existing customers were researched to ascertain industry media outlets.
An interview with MD Keith Shepherd provided a deep dive on the company’s history, facility, products, customers and future.
It also evoked dialogue that could be refined into strong messages and compelling quotes for press releases and other media outreach.
News lines around the benefits that JA Harrison now brought to new and old customer groups were logged.
The new manufacturing facility offered specialised gaskets and seals, with the industry’s fastest turnaround times.
There would be less downtime for oil rigs, power stations, pipelines and petrochemical plants – saving businesses millions of pounds.
The factory’s new engineering works made advances in automotive, aerospace and defence technology possible.
Its clean supply chain met tough safety standards demanded by medical, food processing and pharmaceutical industries.
There were many reasons for trade media to report the opening of JA Harrison’s new installation.
COVERAGE SEALED
COPY-RICH press releases were crafted to relay each USP to respective media.
Images of the facility were bundled with them.
Campaign content was sent to trade press with prior notice, and follow-up calls.
The PR work secured articles in eight leading trade magazines, and on their websites.
Each advertised the company’s new capabilities to prospective customers, and raised the company’s new brand profile.
Several magazines and journals published articles about J. A. Harrison’s new manufacturing plant. They can be read through the links below.
POWERHOUSE BRAND
COPY-RICH press releases were crafted to relay each USP to respective media.
Images of the facility were bundled with them.
Campaign content was sent to trade press with prior notice, and follow-up calls.
The PR work secured articles in eight leading trade magazines, and on their websites.
Each advertised the company’s new capabilities to prospective customers, and raised the company’s new brand profile.
BBC BROADCAST
WHILE a press release went to BBC North West, the publicly-funded channel declined to run a story about JA Harrison. It needed to be commercially impartial.
But, conversations led to an agreement that BBC North West could deliver its budget night report from the plant.
Two weeks later, then business correspondent Nina Warhurst brought BBC camera crew to film her interviews about budget decisions with staff – as a first time house-buyer, a single parent and a company director.
Nina then delivered her outdoor live feed to the BBC studio, and North West, from under JA Harrison’s new signage.
The company’s ‘Powerhouse’ facility dominated the first six minutes of BBC North West Tonight on budget night. Nina’s report repeated later that night.
JA Harrison’s story and brand reached one of the region’s largest annual audiences – an estimated total of 700,000 viewers.
BBC WORLD OUTREACH
SOON after, JA Harrison was approached by the BBC’s ‘StoryWorks’ department to create a factual video about its business. It would be broadcast on BBC World as part of a commerical series called ‘ The British Bid’.
JA Harrison commissioned Stones PR to write a 5000 word story brief which relayed history, purpose, filming locations, interview candidates, existing content, as well as important on-site health and safety matters.
It also hired me to manage the film production within its facility, provide access to people and places, monitor interviews, review the first edit and return it with notes for the final cut.
The show went out on BBC World three months later.
CONQUERING
HEROES RETURN
TOWARDS the end of the year JA Harrison put itself forward for the Oldham Business Awards, and asked for Stones PR’s support to help it win.
An entry application that no panel could ignore was crafted. In precisely 1700 words we left no doubt that JA Harrison was the deserving winner of the Oldham Business Awards’ £5 – 10m turnover category prize.
Copy highlighted new premises, leading products, exemplary service, top tier accreditations, relentless growth, a rich history and global footprint.
It touched on rebranding, a new website and a PR campaign that brought Oldham to the world, and the BBC to Oldham on budget night.
Local job creation was highlighted, regeneration fully illustrated. The bid finished with an emotive passage on what exactly winning the award would mean to the company and family, now home in Oldham.
JA Harrison was awarded the £5 – 10m turnover category at the Oldham Business Awards.