It’s been another incredibly busy year at Pagefield, delivering multiple high-profile campaign wins for our clients, starting work with a host of exciting new clients, as well as bringing in stellar additions to join our growing team. Take a look below for some of our favourite highlights from the past 12 months.
New clients
This year, we began working with a host of new clients – including international drinks company Pernod Ricard and South West Water’s owner, Pennon Group. Our work with Pernod has focused on supporting the company with its political engagement in Westminster and the regions, while our work with Pennon centres around providing strategic counsel to the CEO and senior leadership on all aspects of corporate communications, from public affairs to PR and digital and social communications. Other notable new clients include the market-leading heat pump company Rendesco, RHA, Nuclear Restoration Services who oversee the nuclear decommissioning of the first-generation nuclear sites, Pure Data Centres and the Malta Film Commission.
New Pagefielders
We’ve brought into the team new hires across digital, media and political communications. In spring, we hired Partner Laura Price, who had previously delivered digital communications for Blackstone and FTI Consulting, to bolster our social and digital communications offer.
We further strengthened our bench of Senior Advisors, with John Alty, former Permanent Secretary at the Department for International Trade, and Patrick Diamond, who held a number of senior posts in central Government under Blair and Brown, and was previously Head of Planning in No.10.
More recently, we’ve welcomed two new Associate Partners – Sean Hamilton, who was Assistant Editor and Head of Features at The Sun and Luke Francis who joins us in early 2024 from Concilio Communications, having previously worked for London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Shadow Cabinet Member Lisa Nandy MP.
Standout coverage
- Parthenon Project: In May, we launched our proposal for an ambitious cultural partnership agreement in The Sunday Times, Reuters and Greek publication Ta Nea. We worked with the BBC’s Culture Editor on a feature about the negotiations, and following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelling a planned meeting with the Greek Prime Minister over comments on the Sculptures, our campaign was featured in The Guardian, Reuters, and the BBC.
- St Bartholomew’s Hospital: This year we helped St Bartholomew’s celebrate its 900th anniversary and on the day itself, we secured coverage with BBC Breakfast, GB News and Good Morning Britain, and further features in The Times, the Daily Express, the Evening Standard and The Sun.
- Lindus Health: We supported clinical trials company Lindus Health announce their Series A funding round with pieces in Tech Crunch, Sifted, Business Insider and the Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital. The company has since been named one of the ‘digital start-ups to watch’ by Sifted.
- Code First Girls: We secured coverage in the Financial Times as part of wider pieces about the tech and cybersecurity industries, including on the tech skills shortage, and worked with the BBC on a high-profile about women who are ‘career switching’ into the tech industry.
- Culligan: We commissioned content creator Victoria Gray to make a range of Christmas dishes using filtered water from Culligan’s ‘smart’ tap. From the imagery created, we developed features in OK! Magazine, the Sunday Mirror’s Notebook and Sunday Express S Magazine. Culligan recorded a spike of 130% visits to its website since the imagery has been published.
- Fundraising Regulator: We secured a Times exclusive and Times Radio appearance to discuss the Annual Complaints Report, as well as Mail Online and Which? features on the Fundraising Regulator’s ‘Safer Giving’ advice.
- Leidos and London City Airport: We supported clients Leidos and London City Airport with the launch of their new airport baggage screening scanners which allow flyers to carry liquids and gels up to 2 litres, with coverage in The Guardian and The Sun.
- Building Research Establishment: We supported BRE with their latest Cost of Poor Housing research with a feature in The Times’ Health Commission, which outlined that substandard homes in England cost the NHS £1.4bn per year.
Awards and Events
Finally, 2023 saw us celebrate some of our greatest parliamentarians, with our second Pagefield Parliamentarian Awards, with the following winners announced at our awards ceremony:
- Speech of the Year: Rt Hon Theresa May MP for her commemoration of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and 70-years of service.
- Select Committee Chair of the Year: Darren Jones MP for his work as Chair of the then Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee.
- Backbench MP of the Year: Tracey Crouch MP for her work on conducting the major independent Fan-Led Review of Football Governance.
- Frontbench MP of the Year: Rachel Reeves MP in her role as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
And, in November, the winners of the second Pagefield Press Awards were announced at our annual Autumn drinks reception:
- Scoop of the Year: Dean Kirby (formerly The i Paper) and Paul Morgan-Bentley (The Times), for their reporting efforts around the pre-payment meter scandal earlier this year.
- Journalist Whose Influence Grew and Grew This Year’: Charlotte Ivers (The Sunday Times).
- Up-and-coming broadcast journalist of the Year: Charlotte Ivers (formerly Times Radio).
- Most influential business or economic journalist of the Year: Mark Kleinman (Sky News), and Chris Giles (Financial Times).
