Dragon Awards in the press

Anish Shah, Corporate Responsibility Officer at the City of London, posts on the press coverage this year’s Dragon Awards has attracted

The City of London Corporation utilises Public Relations (PR) to drive applications to the Dragon Awards, maintain the Awards position as a prestigious Corporate Responsibility initiative and, of course, promote each shortlisted and winning entrant.

A three-phased PR campaign is conducted; first, the opening of applications is announced to national, trade and regional media.

Secondly, the shortlist is announced to target media with each shortlisted entrant’s regional and trade press being targeted. This year, each shortlist entrant was mentioned at least once in the press with many being included in several pieces.

The third and final stage is the announcement of the winners. Key national, trade and regional press are targeted and on-the-night photography is also shared with media.

This year, a total of 39 pieces of coverage were secured with a reach of 3,406,526 people and an Editorial Equivalent Value of over £320,000. Key pieces included a full page piece in the Evening Standard on the opening of applications to the Dragon Awards. The piece, entitled ‘Developing a skilled workforce’, examined how firms are increasingly stepping up to provide training opportunities for the young and included a case study of a winner from the previous year.

Leading trade publication Philanthropy UK ran a feature on the winners and City AM covered the ceremony in their diary section.