Events

The Co-operative Bank Henley Literary Festival The brief: To launch a new literary festival, building brand awareness and establishing the event in â�˜the big leagueâ�™ of literary festvals from the outset. We knew we had a challenge on our hands: literary festivals are springing up all over the UK and the Henley market enjoys a wealth of successful festivals and events on its doorstep. To succeed would require something fresh, contemporary and stimulating. Mexia worked alongside Festival Director Sue Ryan and the rest of the committee to develop the overall marketing strategy and messaging using our unique Foresight planning process. Given the rich variety of authors and subject matters covered, from sport to politics, adventure to fiction, lifestyle to childrenâ�™s books and more, the core message of the campaign was â�œsomething for everyoneâ��. As a start-up event, our marketing budget was very limited. We decided to focus on an initial launch to local businesses and community groups and centre our efforts on PR, backed up by a strong online presence, door drops and programme distribution supported by an outdoor campaign of banners and posters in the final run up to the event. The PR effort focused on regional press, as research for other local events showed that the majority of uptake would be in the 10 â�“ 15 mile radius around Henley, although online PR and national coverage did attract a much wider audience, with visitors attending from all over the UK. Once the initial launch announcement was released, we worked on a steady stream of news, author profiles and updates on ticket sales to maintain a high profile in local media. In the final weeks, the emphasis for PR shifted to regional broadcast with interviews on local radio and regional television. The results were amazing: weekly coverage in the local Henley paper plus regular in-depth features in the Reading Evening Post in the weeks running up to the festival, features in numerous other regional papers and magazines covering more peripheral towns like Marlow, Maidenhead, High Wycombe and Slough, plus coverage in the Daily Telegraph and the Times ensured phenomenal media exposure. A total of 57 pieces of print coverage were generated (most of these in-depth pieces) between June and September, including 35 in September alone. The event was listed on 26 event listings and attained a broad online coverage, with website visitor numbers rocketing in the weeks leading up to the event. With a total of eight radio interviews and coverage on both BBC and ITV regional news, the PR campaign ensured that the Co-operative Bank Henley Literary Festival was firmly on the map. Andrew Oâ�™Hagan of the Daily Telegraph described it as â�œone of the best literary festivals in the countryâ��, praise indeed for a festival in its inaugural year. Commenting on Mexiaâ�™s efforts on behalf of the festival, Festival Director Sue Ryan said: â�œThe Henley Literary Festival went from a standing start to getting 5,000 people attending events. We had no advertising budget and so the PR was absolutely key and Mexia came up trumps â�“ we had masses of coverage in local and national press as well as radio and TV. It was an impressive feat by any standards.â��

Tourism

Leisure trade and consumer The brief: to launch The Mersey Partnership�s first ever Italian marketing initiative at the BiT trade show in Milan. �Mexia�s international market knowledge and language skills proved invaluable to our launch at BiT Milan and we received an excellent response to our first ever presence in the Italian market. We asked Mexia to assist with our second outing at BiT and, given the success of our first year, have expanded their remit for BiT to include PR with Italian media. We will certainly be considering Mexia for other initiatives.� James Wood Campaign Marketing Manager The Mersey Partnership

Conferences and meetings

The Mersey Partnership Business Tourism The brief:    to launch The Mersey Partnershipâ�™s Business Tourism divisionâ�™s first international initiative at EIBTM, Barcelona.   â�œFollowing Mexiaâ�™s success with our leisure tourism division, we asked for their support for our first ever European initiative at EIBTM in Barcelona.  Mexiaâ�™s creativity proved invaluable, providing us with a great pre-show marketing concept and competition draw to the stand which proved key to our success in building contacts and generating leads.  Mexiaâ�™s PR skills ensured that we were fully prepared with multi-language press materials and that we did not miss out on any press office opportunities.  Kursha Woodgateâ�™s [Managing Director, Mexia] language skills were a huge differentiator for our stand â�“ there are few exhibitors who can attract buyers in six languages!  Kurshaâ�™s thorough knowledge of our offer ensured that, not only could she attract interest, but she was also able to engage prospects who spoke little English and would otherwise have passed us by.  Mexiaâ�™s contribution certainly made us stand out from the crowd and resulted in triple the leads we could have expected, not to mention excellent awareness building in the international business tourism industry.  We will certainly be using Mexia again to support our international efforts.â�� Kerrin MacPhie Business Tourism Manager The Mersey Partnership

Conferences and meetings

Arena and Convention Centre, Liverpool The brief:     To launch Arena and Convention Centre Liverpoolâ�™s first ever stand  alone presence at International Confex and to raise its profile amongst target trade media. â�œWe approached Mexia at the eleventh hour as our existing PR agency had an emergency which meant that we would be without PR support for our biggest trade show in the UK.  With virtually no notice, Mexia picked up the project and launched into action.  Press release angles were developed and a first release issued on day 1 of Mexiaâ�™s appointment to ensure that we didnâ�™t miss out on our target trade publicationâ�™s news deadlines to coincide with the show.  Mexiaâ�™s creativity, understanding of our target media and great writing skills ensured that we had excellent pre-show coverage which generated significant interest in our activities during Confex amongst our primary target audiences. With seven pre-confirmed press appointments and a further 10 journalists visiting the stand, Mexia generated coverage in virtually all of our top target trade publications and created a PR pipeline of no less than 20 anticipated articles.  Our PR was so successful, even the Event Director commented on it! In addition to providing great PR material for the press, Mexiaâ�™s creativity and marketing skills provided an extra edge when it came to concepts to attract visitor attention.  We wanted to do something to promote our â�˜greenâ�™ credentials, so Mexia came up with the concept of a â�œBe seen to be Greenâ�� campaign which we launched at our Eco-Party where we gave away 50 tree certificates to offset our carbon footprint.  Not only did this generate significant press interest, but also served to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability to our target audiences â�“ our green campaign stickers were visible on lapels all over Confex. We were truly delighted with the results delivered by Mexia and will certainly be looking to use them again, in particular in support of our international efforts.â��   Jacquie Rogers Convention Centre General Manager Arena and Convention Centre, Liverpool

Public Sector

The Environment Agency The brief:    to develop a communications planning tool and template for the corporate affairs department, Thames Valley Region. â�œWe initially briefed Mexia to develop a communications plan template for the department.  Following Mexiaâ�™s input, we soon realised that what was required would be more elaborate: a communications planning process embedded in a â�˜walk-throughâ�™ guide and a communications plan template, all to be delivered via a workshop to ensure internal uptake and understanding of the new tool.  Mexia certainly rose to the challenge and developed a bespoke planning guide that we have already implemented throughout our Corporate Affairs department.  The feedback from the workshop was fantastic.  Our team is now motivated and enthused that they have been given a consistent and systematic way to develop communications plans.  We have already asked Mexia to help in other areas.â�� Jo Joinson Marketing and Communications Manager, Corporate Affairs Thames Valley Region Environment Agency

Other client experience

Mexia's team has experience in PR and Marketing Communications spanning several sectors. In addition to the recent case studies outlined above, our experience includes the following companies and organisations: The Right Solution Connexica United Business Centres plc Wessex Fertility Physiocare Co-operative Bank Henley Literary Festival Regus Toshiba ExpedITe OKI Bay Networks ECI Telecom ACCESS The Netherlands Synon EC Soft Andrew Network Products