The award, which celebrates the most outstanding tourism Event in the South West, comes after 33 successful years of the Bristol based festival, held in the rolling hills of Ashton Court.

The Fiesta is the largest event in the South West and one of the top five outdoor events in the UK, generating £13 million to the local economy.

45% of the half million people who visit come because of the media coverage so over the past two years it has been our job to attract press to the event which have included The One Show, BBC Breakfast, The Guardian, Times, Independent, Telegraph, Daily Mail, I and Sunday Mirror, to name a few.

Chris Hathaway, chairman of the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta said:

“The Fiesta has become synonymous with Bristol and the South West and it’s with great pride that we accept this award, having worked hard to deliver a world class ballooning event that promotes Bristol regionally, nationally and beyond.”

The Balloon Fiesta takes place over four days and this year will be staged on 9-12th August.

Having evaluated their systems and strategies, we took a fresh approach, introducing new communications tools such as e-newsletters, social media channels and video and building relationships with key target media.

We have achieved a 40 times return on investment and secured regular coverage in the national broadsheets, tabloids, broadcast and consumer media. This shift in emphasis has helped Haynes titles reach new audiences and created unprecedented levels of coverage for the company, whilst maintaining strong relationships and high levels of editorial exposure in motoring and motorsport publications.

We have generated nearly 70 articles in national newspapers, various national radio and TV features and well over 1,400 pieces of coverage overall since starting our work with Haynes. Highlights include reaching 18.5 million people through the PR campaign for Tiff Needell’s autobiography, securing The Bee Manual a place in The Sun, and featuring the Wallace and Gromit Cracking Contraptions Manual on MailOnline, which reaches 80 million users a month.

We recently launched Haynes Publishing and Haynes Books on Facebook and Twitter to help Haynes directly engage with enthusiasts worldwide. The results so far have been positive, with 3,500 new fans connecting to the Facebook pages within a month of launch and a combined 2,000 Twitter followers connecting with Haynes after 10 weeks, purely through Twitter outreach alone.

“It is a brave PR agency that takes on a publishing house. Spirit, in my opinion, is the bravest.
“They hit deadlines and keep an eye on the news agenda which means that our authors and titles have the best chance of getting maximum press exposure.”

Jeremy Yates-Round, Managing Director, Haynes

Website versions of newspapers are continuing to grow – with MailOnline replacing the New York Times as the world’s most read online paper – and new platforms are beginning to change the way we consume our media.

Whilst TV stations are increasingly sharing news resources, radio audiences continued to rise throughout 2011.

So how does this all affect your media strategy for 2012: Our top tips are:

•    Get to know journalists on Twitter but don’t pitch through social media – 80% prefer contact through email
•    Make it easy for the media – shrinking newrooms mean that journalists are more hard-pressed than ever
•    Content is king – they want pictures and video as well as carefully-crafted words

And finally…buy an i-pad and get used to the content you need to create for this platform as tablet-based media consumption is firmly on the rise.

For the full report, click here.

This comes after a hugely successful opening event in September, attended by Rt Hon David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science.

Cressida Curtis, Head of Corporate Communication, Quintain said:

“Spirit did an outstanding job of establishing the Bristol and Bath Science Park as the vibrant and exciting location for ambitious science-based businesses to locate.

“Adaptable, full of ideas and with a solid grasp of the media we wanted to hit, the team achieved all the objectives we set for the campaign and were also a pleasure to work with.

“The launch of the Science Park was the most effective campaign run in 2011 across Quintain’s portfolio. We’re looking forward to building on this work as we reach out further afield in 2012.”

This is an exciting opportunity to join our small but highly effective agency and contribute to our continued success.

With a diverse range of clients, including those in the property, leisure and environment sectors, the new team member will have a chance to lead and manage a portfolio of clients whilst contributing to the growth and development of the company.

For more information and a job description please click here.

Over recent weeks we have been assisting Jacks Brasserie with the launch of their new Spring menu and a Valentine’s Day event which is sure to get diners hot under the collar.

The restaurant, which has a stunning waterfront location on Bristol’s Harbourside, will be hosting an exclusive taster evening on Thursday 9 February, to celebrate it opening for the 2012 season. Guests will have a chance to indulge in a range of mouth-watering canapés based on dishes from the new menu, made from the finest, locally sourced, seasonal produce.

Jacks Brasserie is also offering something a little bit naughty for Valentine’s Day, when diners will be invited to participate in an aphrodisiac canapé demonstration course before sitting down for a love-themed five course meal.

We’ve been working on a marketing and PR campaign that uses media relations and a range of marketing tools to build interest for the events and help Jacks get off to a great start in 2012.

If you fancy chasing away the winter blues at a Jacks Brasserie event, click here.

Hooking into the dramatic story of the first episode about the ‘Ball Cutter,’ a flesh-eating fish that uses its human-like teeth to sever and devour certain male body parts, we reeled in coverage in The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Mirror, Daily Mail, and MailOnline, amongst others. This image was featured as ‘picture of the day’ on Telegraph.co.uk and also ran on Huffington Post and metro.co.uk.

Presenter Jeremy Wade has appeared on Daybreak (ITV1), Live with Gabby (Channel 5) and ITV West Country Tonight. More than 100 items of coverage have been identified so far, giving a 70-fold Return on Investment.

We’re now working on a Twitter campaign to engage with and build audiences through the series.

River Monsters is on Tuesday nights on ITV1 at 7.30pm until 21st February.

This filming opportunity was set up by Spirit to mark the arrival of the 50th PlayPod in the region and was also covered by local radio and newspapers.

The coverage offered a colourful, lively explanation of how the Bristol-based charity works with staff and children to encourage creative, active outdoor play using clean, safe waste material salvaged from businesses.

To support the expansion of Scrapstore PlayPods across the country, we publicised the arrival of the first PlayPod in the West Midlands, gaining coverage in several Birmingham and West Midlands newspapers including the widely read Wolverhampton Express & Star.

This was thanks in part to the support of Dr Who star Arthur Darvill, aka Roary, who has just become a patron for the Children’s Scrapstore and enjoyed a ‘PlayPod lunchtime’ at a Walsall infant school.

The choir were performing in a number of Christmas carol concerts throughout the region, which have helped to raise the profile of the charity and informed people of the great work that they are doing to help homeless people to get off the streets.

ITV West came along to film the choir’s final rehearsal before a Christmas Eve performance and interviewed Choir leader and St Mungo’s Deputy Manager Jenny Riley who was thrilled by the level of interest.

Jenny was also invited to the BBC Radio Bristol studios along with a choir member to discuss their work and the impact that the choir has on its members.

The St Mungo’s Community Choir has around 15 members including people who have experienced homelessness, staff members from the Compass Centre and people from the local community. They were formed in 2009 and rehearse every Thursday evening at St Mungo’s Compass Centre.

The Specsavers Opticians campaign, run by Beattie Communications, launched a range of new glasses by fashion consultant and TV presenter Gok Wan at the High Street chain. Their strategy included hosting a glitzy launch party featuring a number of celebs and journalists, and securing multiple interviews on local BBC radio stations through GNS.

Caroline felt that they had run the campaign very effectively on a limited budget, and offered a range of recommendations which could have enhanced the launch.

Her advice included offering free designer frames to selected celebrities to encourage ‘celebrity spots’ and create more buzz, and developing an online tool or app which would allow a limited number of the frames to be ‘tried on’.

The article firmly establishes Caroline Harris as the fashion queen of the Bristol PR scene… or maybe not!