Viva named top North West PR agency for third time in five years

Viva PR has been named Outstanding Small Public Relations Consultancy for the third time in five years at the CIPR Pride Awards North West.

The agency first won the consultancy award in 2016 and then again in 2019 when it was last contested, as Covid saw last year’s ceremony cancelled.

Viva also scooped three client campaign awards at the ceremony, which was hosted virtually by the BBC’s Jason Mohammad.

The agency’s Brave Britons Awards campaign for global hearing aid specialist Amplifon took home the Gold prize for Best Event, fittingly on the same day of the 2021 ceremony, which took place earlier in the afternoon.

Viva’s ‘We Saved Christmas from Covid’ campaign for Blackburn BID took home Silver in the Public Sector category, while its ‘Breaking Boundaries’ campaign for mental health charity Lancashire Mind also scooped a Silver in the Healthcare category.

Viva’s ten-person, two-dog agency team wins top industry award at the CIPR PRide Awards

Tony Garner, Viva’s founder and MD, said: “It genuinely feels like a Hollywood moment for me and I need to thank all the people who have shown faith in a little agency – rapidly turning into a large agency – in Rawtenstall for their support throughout a turbulent 18 months.

“From losing 40% of the business and having to furlough three staff in March 2020, we ended the year with record turnover. We pulled together as a team like never before and to see our efforts rewarded with the Small PR Agency of the Year title by the industry professionals at the CIPR tops it all.

“It’s the third time we’ve won in five years which says so much about our amazing team, their standards and their desire to keep delivering. The great thing is we’ve also been producing incredible work in recent weeks that I can’t wait to tell the world about.

“A huge thank you has to go to everyone who stuck by us during those bleak weeks last year. Winning three campaign awards also gives recognition to how we tackled Covid disruption head on across a variety of sectors – I’m just so proud.”

2021 is turning into quite a year for Viva. The agency has already won the national PRCA Workplace Champions award in recognition of its workplace wellbeing and a PRCA DARE Award NW for its ‘We Saved Christmas from Covid’ work with Blackburn BID.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the world’s only Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners, with nearly 10,000 members.

The CIPR PRide Awards returned in 2021 to recognise the outstanding work delivered across the UK in the past two years.

The CIPR Judges said…

Best Event:

The use of Major Holland’s story really captured the feeling of a nation during the pandemic and demonstrates how it could be used to enhance the narrative behind the event to encourage entries, but also raise awareness of the awards and Amplifon as a whole.

Small PR Consultancy:

We were impressed with the clear, structured objectives and performance analysis at Viva – its step-by-step growth plans are pragmatic even in this year “like no other”.

We noted the balance of focus on clients and the business with an equal focus on people and culture – evident in things like the appointment of a head of happiness. The emphasis on maintaining a strong culture seems to have helped see the agency through the tough COVID period.

Extending the cultural ethos into the community earned this agency points too – collaborating to showcase the range of local businesses at a time when they most needed the support was also commendable.