”We have quickly established a close working relationship with Midnight - it is collaborative and they feel part of our team. They have helped us widen our connections across Sussex, in particular West Sussex, and have been a great driving force to consider our networks beyond Newhaven and the region, positioning us as a town and what we do as the enterprise zone through the PR wins we have achieved. We have a new energy and focus to our content and marketing objectives and it feels positive and all about impact
Corinne DayDirector, Newhaven Enterprise Zone
The challenge
How Midnight partnered with Newhaven Enterprise Zone to transform the town into an economic powerhouse on the South Coast
We believe PR has the power to change lives and transform perceptions in a positive way that lifts entire communities.
It’s no coincidence the projects we love working on are also the most meaningful and impactful. Challenging negative perceptions of a business or brand is tough but satisfying work; changing the perception of a whole town and positioning it in the right way on a regional and national stage to attract inward investment requires a more strategic approach.
Since 2017, Newhaven Enterprise Zone (NEZ) has worked hard to change the image of Newhaven, which was seen as one of the most socially deprived on the South Coast. With its proximity to Brighton, good transport connections with the only passenger ferry service in the county and a flourishing culture scene, there was an opportunity to tell a positive story of how funding and support from NEZ was helping the ever-growing community of thriving businesses and the town, more broadly.
After five years of significant inward investment from government and regional funding sources and business rate relief for businesses relocating to the town, Newhaven Enterprise Zone was at a crucial point as it looked to implement a new business plan, offer funding opportunities for up to £2.2 million to local businesses and build strategic partnerships to support its vision. As an initiative close to our base in Brighton, there was more than a little local pride in being asked to bring our expertise and experience to bear on this campaign.
How Midnight met the challenge
We love a bold, ambitious objective – and NEZ’s couldn’t have been any clearer with its vision to transform Newhaven into an economic powerhouse in Sussex by 2030.
To support this ambitious vision, we needed an equally ambitious strategy that shone a light on the people and businesses within the town that gave Newhaven an edge.
Our PR campaign activity was designed to increase the opportunities for positive exposure of Newhaven, NEZ and the key projects and initiatives happening in the town. We take a people-first focus to identifying and extracting the kind of stories we know attracts media attention. With a large proportion of our team from a journalistic background, we knew what would gain attention, so we looked at the media opportunities available and started telling the meaningful stories that matter.
The appointment of “Champions” and appointed spokespeople gave us the expertise and insight to secure coverage in regional business publications as well as provide engaging content for the NEZ website and social channels. We monitored the media for opportunities to pitch NEZ for comment and researched and pitched the NEZ into potential speaker opportunities to put Newhaven in front of a wider audience.
Building a coherent picture of success is more than hitting the media. It’s a constant battle to maintain and improve business sentiment locally, so community engagement was an important part of the strategy. We hosted regular Q&As and supported events in the town to share positive news and showcase business success stories.
A key part of the communications strategy was informing businesses of funding opportunities to unlock commercial sites and funds to support the growth of local businesses. With an eye firmly on sustainability, a low-carbon fund was established to help local businesses decrease carbon emissions, providing us with potential media opportunities.
Telling meaningful stories consistently to amplify coverage
Did the strategy work? Better than the client imagined, as we secured a total of 51 items of coverage in the first few months of working together on the campaign against a target of 60 for the full year. Positive messaging and news stories ran across regional business, broadcast and regional news, with 229 mentions of NEZ in the coverage and an audience reach of 22 million.
Consistency was central to the success of our campaign, and the team delivered a steady stream of positive news stories via social media – Twitter and LinkedIn – along with monthly news stories and press releases to highlight positive activity.
News releases were timed to feed media outlets and generate a steady stream of coverage to position Newhaven as a town offering businesses a location with competitive prices and a thriving business community to attract inward investment.
Fostering connections and partnerships for long-term impact and growth
Ask us what we think we do brilliantly, and we’ll run off a list as long as your arm (if you have a very long arm). Ask us what we think we do brilliantly that few other PR agencies do, and we’ll add “sharing our network and building connections”.
For more than two decades, we’ve built an incredible network of people, businesses and organisations, many of whom we’ve worked with directly or indirectly on client projects. As your strategic partner, we know one great partnership with the right connection can amplify your impact and reach. And our work with Newhaven Enterprise Zone was a perfect example of building connections for the benefit of all our clients. Our introductions helped NEZ forge partnerships with the county’s other major passenger arrival-departure point, Gatwick Airport, alongside other key partners and collaborations across the county.
By communicating the success achieved by Newhaven Enterprise Zone in boosting the town’s economy and an ambitious strategic plan to realise its potential, the initiative has been hailed as a model of success.
