The brief
Food waste recycling business Keenan Recycling, enlisted the support of Refresh to elevate national awareness amongst its key target sectors: care, hospitality and food retail.
The Aberdeen-based business was founded in 2001 and specialises in collecting food waste which is then taken to partner anaerobic digestion plants to create renewable gas and power.
Since 2014, Keenan Recycling has been supporting organisations across Scotland as legislation changed around food waste, mandating it to be separated and recycled, rather than being sent to landfill.
With similar laws expected to be enforced across England and Wales within the next year, Keenan was keen to appoint a PR agency that could raise its profile amongst businesses that would need support in adapting to these changes. On top of this, the brand was also keen to amplify its net zero agenda.
25
key industry contacts
53
pieces of coverage
493
likes on LinkedIn
The campaign
Keenan’s number one priority was to get in front of heads of sustainability and procurement in the care home, hospitality and food retail sectors.
Refresh felt the best way to achieve this was by putting Keenan in front of its target audience via a roundtable. It gave the team a platform to discuss the issue of food waste, which is a vital piece of the puzzle in the UK hitting its net zero ambitions – and was also a topic that attendees were passionate about, too.
To ensure the longevity of the roundtable discussion, Refresh supplemented the activity with a series of reports which explored awareness of the new legislation and next steps for businesses. The reports included key soundbites from roundtable attendees which either challenged or supported the findings from the market research. The inclusion of quotes from key figures in the sectors also gave the report more authority when approaching trade journalists with the story.
The activity was further enhanced through social media support and a number of press releases that were rolled out to raise awareness of the campaign and drive traffic to the new website.
Through this activity, Refresh introduced Keenan Recycling to a number of potential partners whilst also positioning the brand as a thought leader with unrivalled in-house expertise.
The results
Through the campaign, we achieved:
- 25 inroads with key industry contacts, including heads of sustainability and procurement from Keenan’s target sectors, care homes, hospitality and food retail, as well as the waste industry, campaigners, and local government
- 12 attendees at the roundtable within Keenan’s core audience groups
- Attendance from Welsh minister, Kathryn Brown, head of recycling in the Welsh Government’s Climate Change Group, currently responsible for overseeing the development of the Business, Public and Third Sector Recycling Regulations
- A follow up meeting with Kathryn Brown and her team who wanted to have input from Keenan on the incoming regulations and the practicalities behind enforcing them
- An increase in web traffic by 1,246% on the day of the roundtable when compared to the same day the previous year
- 53 pieces of coverage in key care home, hospitality, food retail and sustainability trade titles, all of which included a comment from a Keenan spokesperson and at least one key message
- 493 likes and 59 reposts generated for social posts on LinkedIn
Services delivered include:
- Strategy and planning
- Event planning
- Contract management
- Event day coordination
- Market research
- Content development
- Press releases
- Social media
- Lead generation
- Trade press office
- Media relations
- Thought-leadership
- Measurement and evaluation
“Refresh's professionalism, strategic thinking and understanding of our industry has been impressive. They have proven themselves to be an invaluable partner in shaping our brand image and enhancing our public relations efforts. One of the things that stood out about Refresh was their ability to craft compelling narratives and tell our brand story in a way that resonated with both the media and our customers. Their expertise in media relations was evident as they secured numerous high-profile placements for our company in leading trade publications. These media placements not only generated significant brand exposure but also positioned us as a thought leader in our industry. From the beginning, Refresh PR took the time to truly understand our goals, values and target audience and then developed a comprehensive PR strategy that exceeded our expectations. The whole team also demonstrated excellent communication skills and a genuine commitment to our success.” Marketing and Communications Manager, Keenan Recycling