North East talent shines through

This month, our ‘Thank You’ campaign with the North East councils won a Drum Award for Marketing. We celebrated this fantastic achievement at a virtual event, and tried – with pizza and bubbly in hand – to make it feel as normal as possible.

The campaign was a team-up with PR agency Mcbryde & Co, media agency SD Advertising, photographer Dan Prince, and our clients at the councils, making this a fantastic collaborative win for local creative talent on a global stage. The Drum Awards rewards the most effective campaigns, people and companies from across the marketing and communications industry, and we believe that it validates our belief that there are some super-talented people in the North East.

Dan Appleby, Managing Director at Drummond Central, said, “Seeing the campaign awarded on such an impressive, global stage was really heartening. It was made by people in the North East to help protect people in the North East. And it proves how much exceptional marketing talent there is in this region.”

Our campaign had one very essential job to do – deliver social behaviour change and reduce the spread of Covid as we headed into the critical winter months. We had to start affecting change immediately by winning our region’s trust and inspiring them to change their behaviours.

The outcome was a striking and emotionally-charged campaign that featured real people, including high-risk individuals and key workers. It didn’t tell people what they could or couldn’t do. Instead, it thanked them for their efforts to reduce the spread of the virus.

A huge thanks to our brilliantly talented collaborators, the council teams, and everyone who helped us to deliver a campaign for the North East by a team from the North East. It’s been a privilege to share real-life stories from the front line and do our bit to fight Covid and keep people in our region protected and safe.

And as we write this, we have just learned that the campaign has also been shortlisted for a Marketing Masters Week award in the Health and Life Sciences category, so the celebrations may not be over yet.