Awards

The Business Insider’s Top PR and Marketing Agencies 2020

We’re celebrating after hitting No5 in the Business Insider’s list of Top PR and Marketing Agencies in the North West for 2020.

It’s an amazing achievement for the Democracy team and testament to the work we do in PR and social media.

We’ve built our success on our ability to change what people think, feel and do and are thrilled to have smashed into the Business Insider’s Top Five.

 

The Prolific North Top Ten PR Agencies 2019

Democracy has been listed as one of the North’s Top Ten PR Agencies by Prolific North – the region’s leading platform for all media, marketing and creative news.

After much calculation and evaluation of our work by independent researchers, Democracy was ranked as ninth in the influential list of the North’s Top 50 Agencies. 

We were pitted against more than 200 agencies with offices in the north so are delighted to be listed in the Top Ten.

CIPR PRide Awards 2019

GOLD: Internal Communications Campaign for Dulux launch of the Quality Promise

The Judges said: “The Escape Room concept was a clever and effective way of engaging various internal stakeholders. Clearly a memorable experience for those involved, the campaign exceeded its targets in terms of both participation and key message retention. It was a creative idea, well executed.”

SILVER: Not For Profit Campaign for East Lancashire Railway

SILVER: Best Event for the launch of Cuprinol

SILVER: Sarah Howarth, Outstanding Young Communicator

Shortlisted: Community Relations Campaign, Low Budget Campaign, Travel, Leisure or Tourism Campaign and Best Use of Social Media.

 

MPA Inspiration Awards 2019

Winner of The Best PR Campaign of 2019 for the story of Colour of the Year for our client Dulux.

With more than 500 pieces of coverage judges praised Democracy for creating mass awareness for the new colour launch, knocking grey off the number two spot as the most bought paint for the first time ever.

 

The Drum PR Awards 2019

Corporate Social Responsibility  – Nominated. Celebrating 25 years of Dulux Community RePaint.

Democracy helped educate the nation in how to put leftover paint to use, diverting it from landfill and getting it into the hands of those who could not otherwise afford it via Community RePaint. This powerful story of people coming together to brighten up their communities not only struck a real chord with the media, but also resulted in a spike in donations of paint from the public and the growth of the Community RePaint network nationwide.

Business Charity Awards 2019

Challenge Event of the Year – Silver. Dulux London Revolution

Dulux has worked with The Outward Bound Trust (OBT) for more than 14 years, working to improve the lives of disadvantaged young people. This is a crucial part of the company’s CSR programme, which is designed to help motivate, develop and empower their employees. The Dulux sponsorship of London Revolution is at the heart of this partnership and Democracy amplified the story of the 2018 cycling event, where more than 240 Dulux employees took part, raising more than £100k for OBT.

The Drum Marketing Awards 2018

PR Strategy of the Year – Nominated. carwow, PR – a real driving force. 

When we started working with carwow in 2017, they were a David taking on the Goliath of the motoring industry and needed a partner agency to establish a national platform to drive awareness, trust and consideration, and accelerate growth.

This award nomination reflects the strength of our strategy and our results-driven implementation which helped the marketplace disruptor achieve 2 billion sales by the end of 2017.

European Search Awards 2018

Best use of PR in a search campaign – Nominated. Cartridgesave, A Day In The Life

Democracy’s innovative social experiment has caught the eyes of the judges heading up this year’s European Search Awards.

And it’s testimony to the creativity at the heart of the campaign. To raise awareness, trust and consideration of  UK’s leading printer cartridge retailing site, the agency devised A Day In The Life – a unique campaign that resulted in an army of amateur photographers descending to to the streets of Manchester to record a day in the history of one of the UK’s biggest cities.

The Grocer Drink Awards 2017

Low Alcohol – Eisberg Alcohol Free Wine, Eisberg Sparkling

With its finger firmly on the pulse of customer behaviour, Democracy persuaded The Grocer to generate a brand new category dedicated to low alcohol for its 2017 awards. Subsequently, Democracy secured a finalist nomination for Eisberg Alcohol Free Wine and its latest launch to market – Eisberg Sparkling.

Social Buzz Awards 2017

Best use of user generated content – Nominated. Cartridgesave, A Day In The Life

Recruiting an army of street photographers for a unique social experiment – to record a day in the life of a major city – Democracy provided an innovative and hugely successful way to create user generated content and drive mass awareness and consideration to the UK’s biggest printer cartridge retailing site, Cartridge Save.

 

Northern Digital Awards 2017

Best Use of Social Media – Winner. Hi-PRO, Making high protein peanut butter a supermarket staple

An award winning example of a social campaign that delivers measurable commercial results. Democracy implemented a two phase strategy that leveraged the reach of influencers and delivered direct to consumer activity, that in six month help drive the sale of 70,000 jars and extend Sainsbury’s initial listing from 357 to 573 branches (96% of its supermarkets).

The judges described this entry as “having clear objectives and excellent results. An overall outstanding submission.”

CIPR PRide Awards 2016

Best Community Relations – Gold award. Knowsley Safari, Birds, Bats and Bugs

The judges said: “A solid campaign, driven around achieving regional engagement amongst local schools and families. On site research was used to create a talking point for media and the campaign objectives were achieved within a tight budget. The creation of an online education hub was an interesting tactic and events were designed to inspire and entertain. Overall, a great community relations campaign.”

Best Healthcare Campaign – Silver award. CORGI HomePlan, Making Noise Around The Silent Killer

Raising awareness of carbon monoxide poisoning through national newsmaking, a CO alarm giveaway claimed by more than 120,000 people and a downloadable factsheet accessed by more than 20,000 people.

 

 

Northern Marketing Awards 2016

Northern Marketing Awards

Our ground-breaking work to launch Hi-PRO peanut butter using the power of social media influencers has been rewarded with a nomination for this year’s Northern Marketing Awards, in the category of Best Use Of Social Media.

We will find out if we’re winners when the awards are given out at Manchester’s Hilton Hotel on October 19.

Best Use Of Social Media – Democracy and Hi-PRO

Northern Digital Awards 2016

Best Digital Marketing Campaign, CORGI HomePlan

Recognition that PR can really understand and apply their skill set to the digital landscape. The story of how Democracy changed search results for CORGI HomePlan using best in class newsmaking, digital content development and customer consideration channels to dramatically increase customer conversion rate.

Judges comments: “The judges thought that the strategy and execution was very impressive. With effective & high quality detail throughout, the goals and aspirations of the organisation were easy to understand.”

UK Search Awards 2015

Best use of PR in Search, CORGI HomePlan (Finalist)

Yes we didn’t win… But we were the only PR first agency to make the shortlist, a clear demonstration of how different Democracy is. 

CIPR PRide Awards 2015

Best Use of Digital, Gold Award – Write Christmas, cartridgesave.co.uk

Heartwarming seasonal campaign involving storytelling and schoolchildren, which returned a raft of valuable links for e-commerce retailer cartridgesave.co.uk.

Judges comments: “Cartridgesave.co.uk is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of printer ink cartridges. As an online business with a transactional website and no high street presence, PR is used to help create a ‘shop front’ and get potential customers to stop and ‘pop in’ through increasing brand awareness. Democracy proved that digital PR could get potential customers popping in over Q3-4 2014 and convert new, organic traffic to sales.”

Best Use of Digital, Silver Award – A Crisis Of The Digital Age, CORGI HomePlan

Recognition that PR can really understand and apply their skill set to the digital landscape. The story of how Democracy changed search results for CORGI HomePlan using best in class newsmaking, digital content development and customer consideration channels to dramatically increase customer conversion rate.

Issues or Crisis Management, Silver Award – A Crisis Of The Digital Age, CORGI HomePlan

Transforming the online reputation for CORGI HomePlan to dramatically increase their customer conversion rate.

CIPR PRide Awards 2014

Best Use of Social Media, Gold Award – We Buy Any Toy Car

How to turn a PR disaster into PR gold. Democracy’s smart, sassy and fun response to an online hoax letter which could have potentially been very damaging to We Buy Any Car.com.

Judges comments: “This campaign epitomises how PR practitioners can and should use social media to both manage an issue and create positive sentiment. Key to its success was the speed with which Democracy implemented a smart, sassy and fun response to an online hoax letter which could have potentially been very damaging to We Buy Any Car.com. Just as important was the good, playful humour and tone of voice used to convert the online community’s criticism into compliments. Democracy is to be congratulated for its swift response coupled with real depth of engagement with consumers, journalists and social media influencers.”

Issues or Crisis Management, Silver Award – We Buy Any Toy Car

Best Technology Campaign, Silver Award – 3D Print Cup, cartridgesave.co.uk

Harnessing the most talked about tech breakthrough of its time to create a competition that was talked about far and wide and delivered excellent brand awareness and links for cartridgesave.co.uk

Best Event, Silver Award – Handepay’s Cashless Street

How we turned an entire street of independent traders in Manchester cashless for the day as a social experiment – and had Sky News, BBC Radio 4, The Guardian, The Sunday Times and many more along for the ride.

Royal Television Society North West Awards 2013

Innovation in Multiplatform – Hollyoaks, Channel 4 and Lime Pictures

Creating the world’s first fictional social network, DocU, to highlight the dangers of cyberbullying on Channel 4’s teen soap Hollyoaks, saw Democracy’s creativity spark rafts of online coverage and even end up in the show itself.
Andrew Barron, Digital Product Manager, Lime Pictures: “Democracy produced a visually impressive site that delivered on the functionality. The supporting blogger outreach campaign built links to help with Google ranking and widen the reach of the campaign. The feedback through Facebook made compelling reading – confessions from viewers about how they too had been victims of cyberbullying made the project really worthwhile.”

CIPR PRide Awards 2013

Issues and Crisis Management, Gold Award – Black White Denim

A real David vs Goliath story as an independent fashion boutique in Cheshire took on the might of a South African based trader with multi-national links – and the power of hard-working PR saw the little guy win in the end.

Judges comments: “This campaign took on a large corporate to deliver a winning result for Democracy’s client in a short time frame. As a small business in Wilmslow, Black White Denim was given a big voice by Democracy as they set about building a body of stories that the large corporate, who was at loggerheads with them, was unable to ignore. Targeting key influencers, such as Chancellor George Osborne and Samantha Cameron, and building support from media titles such as Drapers and Vogue, Democracy PR ensured that, only five weeks after embarking on the branding battle, the large corporate backed down.”

Healthcare, Gold Award – Eisberg Love Your Liver

Harnessing January abstention from alcohol with a charity link-up that saw hundreds of people receive free liver screening up and down the country demonstrated amazing return for Halewood International’s alcohol free wine brand, Eisberg

Judges comments: “This campaign demonstrates a fresh way in which UK health bodies and the drinks industry can work together to promote responsible drinking, with the sole aim of reducing the impact of liver disease. The varying tactics used by Democracy, and the timings they deployed, ensured the campaign delivered maximum results. These ranged from working with the British Liver Trust to encourage the Government to make early liver screening available in a bid to save the lives of one million people every year, to a two week tour to conduct instant liver tests. As well as the impressive media results achieved, the campaign directly impacted on a number of people with the volume of liver tests conducted. In addition, for the client itself, the brand saw a strong percentage increase in sales versus the previous year.”

Best Use of Photography, Silver Award – Knowsley Safari

A picture paints 1,000 words, and nowhere is that more true than to convey the majesty of Knowsley Safari’s collection of animals, from lions to tigers, giraffes to elephants, rhino, meerkats and many many more. Democracy drove visitor numbers through carefully selected media shots that gained coverage across online and print media.

SomeComms Awards 2012

Private Sector Award – Rock TV

Lifestyle TV series set in a shopping centre in North Manchester, demonstrating breadth of the retail and leisure offering and hosted online to increase footfall, basket spend and dwell time across the destination.

CIPR PRide Awards 2012

Best Healthcare Campaign, Silver Award – Eisberg, Love Your Liver

Best CSR Campaign, Silver Award – Eisberg, Love Your Liver

Unique link up between British Liver Trust and Halewood International’s Eisberg alcohol free wine brand that combined hard-hitting news with a UK health tour to dominate the news agenda throughout January.

Fresh Awards 2011

Best Digital Campaign, Silver Award – Get Your Rocks Off

Facebook-driven, real world to online engagement campaign ahead of the launch of Bury’s brand new retail destination, The Rock, that saw 2,500 rocks hidden around the town, driving the locals treasure hunt crazy.

CIPR PRide Awards 2010

Best Social Media Campaign, Silver Award – Get Your Rocks Off

2,500 rocks hidden in the town of Bury in North Manchester created a buzz like no other as locals went treasure hunt crazy on a facebook driven real world to online engagement campaign ahead of the launch of the town’s brand new retail destination.