West of England
Case studies
MONTPELLIER PUBLIC RELATIONS
Pride Awards 2008 – West of England
Category: 1. Corporate communications
Client: Rickerbys Solicitors LLP
Project title: Helping business cut the red tape
Turning company law from a yawn to the top of the corporate agenda
Budget: £8,000
Background
Rickerbys – with fees exceeding £10 million – is the largest law firm in the Cheltenham and Gloucestershire business belt. However, the partners were concerned that aggressive networking by competitors amongst the business community was threatening their position as the first port of call for corporate and commercial clients. This was set in context, with the onset of the largest ever accumulation of law enacted, The Companies Act 2006, to impact on companies, which was set to revolutionise the way that companies of all sizes conducted business. Rickerbys’ corporate partners acknowledged that the legislation was, for the most part, dry and uninteresting, with the sheer volume of information being daunting for lawyers let alone clients; with 1,300 sections following 1,600 amendments tabled in the Lords. The Bill, which had taken years in the making, finally emerged with 925 clauses following a seven month passage in The House of Lords.
Objectives
Ahead of the competition, to seize the high ground of commentary on The Company Bill as ‘the property’ of Rickerbys, at a time when law firms across the UK were gearing up to exploit this new piece of legislation for marketing purposes. The challenge to Montpellier was to ensure that from the outset Rickerbys’ share of voice was dominant, despite the fact that the legislation was to be introduced over three tranches spanning more than a year. Moreover, local competitors were already making noises, and Rickerbys were concerned that they should not lose ground or leave the firm vulnerable to ‘guerilla marketing tactics’.
Planning
Montpellier formed a Companies Act project team, and led the development of the marketing strategy – incorporating Richard Knight, the Partner in charge of the firm’s CorpComm (Corporate & Commercial) department, specialist partners and the head of business development, all reporting to the managing partner Ann Compton. During the planning phase the firm hired a top City partner from Linklaters, Jonathon Morley, who assisted Montpellier in the legal analysis and distillation of priority business law. Co-ordination meetings were chaired by Montpellier, with a run-through and teleconferences ensuring legal experts and stakeholders including the IoD were included in the planning loop.
Implementation
The strategy devised took the form of a phased programme of activities to enable Rickerbys to ‘stamp’ its authority on the subject and to secure media buy-in months ahead of the legislation ‘go-live’ date.
Key elements included:
- Creation of a brand ‘BUSINESS Alert 08 – Rickerbys Guide to The New Company Law
- Development of a series of easy to understand ‘BUSINESS Alerts’ in the form of fact sheets, which were carried in local media, formed the platform for Radio interviews, and were deployed in email campaigns targeted at Rickerbys’ corporate clients and prospects
- Creation of an Open Seminar in the style of BBC Question Time, with Montpellier not only providing the creative format but enlisting speakers for the top panel. Montpellier produced a coup with the agreement of Patricia Peter, the IoD’s Head of Governance & Employment, to join the panel (this in itself provided a media platform), in addition to senior executives from Lloyd’s TSB, accountants Hazlewoods and local business leaders, in addition to Ian Mean, the editor-in-chief of the local dailies The Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo. Securing a media partner from the outset essentially spiked attempts by Rickerbys’ competitors to gain a media foothold and make serious inroads into the lucrative corporate market.
- Montpellier counseled Rickerbys to ‘think big’. The Partners were nervous that a ‘big conference’ could potentially backfire and yield little to no interest given the topic. Montpellier put in place a regime of media placement, supported by an e-marketing programme. In this way the target of 100 delegates was surpassed, with 150 business people signed-up.
- Selection of a prestige venue: Cheltenham’s iconic Queen’s Hotel for this landmark corporate conference in September 2007.
Top (Left to right): Cheltenham’s prestige venue Queen’s Hotel; Rickerbys corporate partner Jonathan Morley; IoD’s Patricia Peter; Hazelwoods partner David Williams; Ian Mean, Editor-in-Chief The Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo
Bottom: (left to right): Lloyd’s TSB director Mark Robinson; Rickerbys commercial partner Edward Davies; Email invite targeted to senior corporate decision-makers; Professor Barry Davies, Assistant Dean , University of Gloucestershire & Director Gloucestershire Enterprise Network (GEN)
Creativity
With a brand designed specifically for the campaign, Montpellier was able to create momentum for the whole programme. The client recognised that Montpellier ‘took the firm out of its comfort zone’. The harnessing of e-marketing, media alliances and early agreement with key stakeholders and speakers, ensured that the programme was not only well thought through, but was profiled as a major ‘must-attend event’ for the local business community.
Importantly, as part of the creative strategy to ensure buy-in of delegates, Montpellier recommended the development of an online question portal, which became a primer throughout the campaign from start to finish.
Results
- With a guest list comprising more than 100 clients and potential clients from exactly the target group i.e. SME’s and above (including a significant proportion of the county’s Top 100 businesses by turnover), the event was declared an unqualified success by Rickerbys’ managing partner Ann Compton.
- The campaign from the initial media bursts ensured that Rickerbys not only gained share of voice, but dominated the Company Bill agenda, and was seen as the only law firm to engage significantly with businesses on this issue regionally.
- The BUSINESS Alert fact sheets and email programme elicited interest from clients and prospects ahead of the event, provided data capture, and converted interest into new instructions for corporate work form existing and new clients.
- The CorpComm department leapfrogged competitor firms in terms of media profile, over a six month period and set the tone for media positioning of Rickerbys as the leading firm for corporate and commercial legal solutions.
- The innovative format developed by Montpellier has subsequently been adopted by Rickerbys for its new series of Intellectual Property seminars.
- Rickerbys cemented a relationship with the prime dailies in the region, which has become the platform for further collaborations and supported Montpellier’s mission to ensure the firm consistently outperforms competitors in media profile in the county.
- The BUSINESS Alert campaign, provided the platform for the firm’s continuing corporate profile, including the development of the Gloucestershire Top 100 Club – targeting the biggest businesses in the county.
- Coverage to-date across the firm surpasses its nearest rival by a minimum ratio of 5:1, and has amassed an AEV of £400,000 in the first 12 months.
http://www.rickerbys.com/business_alert_campaign_april.aspx
Professor Barry Davies, Assistant Dean, University of Gloucestershire & Director Gloucestershire Enterprise Network (GEN)
The key Montpellier team members:
Board director: Philip Hicks, who has worked on Hammonds, Freshfields, White & Case and a range of legal clients, who devised Rickerbys ground-breaking BBC Question Time format seminar on the introduction of the Company Bill, ahead of competitors.
Account director Lisa Pringle, MSc, who leads B2B client accounts and has become an expert in the marketing of professional services firms and heads up Montpellier’s B2B and trade PR portfolio
Account manager George Owen, who has steered the development of creative campaigns including the controversial ‘Three’s a crowd’ strategy for the firm’s divorce team targeting high net worth individuals
Budget
£8,000 for the Company Bill project in addition to the monthly retainer of £2,500.