PR agency behind Marathon Man finalists for prestigious industry award
A Cumbrian PR and social media agency has been shortlisted for a respected industry award.
Platinum Live has been announced as a finalist for the Not-for-Profit Campaign of the Year at the 2023 Prolific North Champions Awards.
The prestigious Prolific North Champions Awards, which celebrates top talent across the North's thriving creative, digital, tech, media, and marketing sectors, will be held on the 18th of May 2023 at Emirates Old Trafford, The Point.
The firm which is based in Whitehaven supported Gary McKee pro-bono throughout the twelve-month marathon-a-day challenge.
From their head office in Whitehaven, they secured coverage for Gary across the world. Managing Director Oliver Hodgson, said: “This is an incredible achievement for not only our team but the close-knit 365 challenge team including Amy, Elwyn, Katherine and the charities.”
“Gary’s 365 challenge was the talking point of New Year’s Eve last year, and rightly so, but leading up to that was hours of hard work, planning and expertise.
“Throughout those twelve months Gary showed up every day and ran 26.2 miles, inspired millions and raised an incredible amount and to say we played a small part in that will stay with me forever. I’m incredibly proud.”
In total Platinum, Live leveraged over 480 pieces of editorial coverage, 72 pieces of TV coverage, and 53 regional and national radio hits were secured across the whole campaign, including CNN, ABC News, Sky News and BBC World. Google searches for Gary and his challenge shot up by 130% on his final day resulting in £1.3 million being raised for Macmillan Cancer Support and Hospice At Home West Cumbria.
Platinum Live also commissioned and sponsored the production of '365' a short film to share Gary's story which has been viewed more than 450k times, shared by celebrities including Ryan Thomas, Carol Vorderman, Helen Skelton and Jake Quickenden.
Talking of the news, Gary commented: “From the moment I met Oliver at Platinum Live I knew the PR side of the challenge was in the best hands possible. It was always going to be an important part, I set a target of a million pounds, and we needed to reach beyond Cumbria, we needed to get the message out there and Platinum Live has done just that working alongside our existing team.
“The Platinum Live team built a platform from the beginning and raised the bar continuously culminating in achieving all our objectives. I’m proud and excited to say Platinum Live will be looking after all my future challenges.”