New housing group hits the media

Client: WALSALL HOUSING GROUP (whg)

Project: A group-wide media relations campaign

Background: whg was launched in March 2003 as a result of the Midlands’ largest and most successful transfer of social housing.

Objective: To raise the profile of whg amongst customers, potential customers, local organisations and opinion formers.

Our role: After whg’s launch, Word Association was tasked with designing and delivering a media relations campaign to create a positive image of the new housing group locally. whg faced several difficult PR challenges but Word Association was soon able to make headway with the media and has steadily built whg’s reputation. A member of the Word Association team works at whg three days a week and has devised an innovative campaign to communicate positive key messages and set up a whole PR protocol for whg. Internal contacts have been identified to gather information ‘on the ground’ and policies drawn up including how to deal with sensitive media issues. Plus, training has been run for staff on talking to the media.

Results: Increased positive media coverage has resulted from the campaign, which has led to easier management of customer consultation processes.