News

A year in review: looking back at Carnsight’s 2023

19th December 2023

Originally posted to www.carnsight.com

Saying Hello and Goodbye

We experienced both happy beginnings and bittersweet endings this year. We welcomed Alexandra in April and farewelled Georgia in May. In July, we hosted Ruby for a week as she completed her work experience placement and learnt first-hand about the wide and wonderful world of PR. Our website underwent an exciting redesign spearheaded by Son of Jesse, and we also launched the very first edition of our Carnsight Communicates newsletter on LinkedIn! As the year ends, we’ve just entered double digits, sharing over 20 newsletters with you all. The amazing Jen Allen worked on a fresh brand photoshoot to complement our new digital look, and our What Do You Call This Series was a hit on Instagram, reaching new audiences and sharing our laughter over differences in Cornish, Welsh, and Aussie slang.

Coverage

In another exciting milestone achievement, we once again secured over 1,000 pieces of coverage for clients in 2023. Together, we made national headlines in publications like The Telegraph, The Guardian, and The Independent. We reached international audiences in Spain, France, Australia, The USA, and beyond. We placed pieces in coveted industry press and trade titles like Campaign and The Drum. We secured appearances for clients on television screens, radio waves, podcasts, magazines, and print and digital publications. ITV, Times Radio and the BBC were among the opportunities secured. We worked across a range of industries, including consumer goods, hospitality, construction, education, technology, property, social care, and B2B/agency.

Reaching new audiences

We had the pleasure of working with some new platforms and partners to deliver educational content and podcasts. Some highlights included:

Giving back

Earlier this year we took part in Dorothy House Hospice Care’s Women’s Midnight Walk around Bath. In June, our team walked in the memory of loved ones lost and also in support of the amazing people and organisations delivering end-of-life and hospice care. Together, we raised £245 for the cause and had many meaningful conversations with friends, family, and strangers about the life-touching work of palliative care. Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause and all those involved, we are so grateful to have had this opportunity to support and connect with this inspiring community.

Circus Starr is another of the organisations we’re proud to have supported this year. Circus Starr brings the fun and festivities of a family day out to children with additional needs or families in difficult circumstances. This inclusive and inviting initiative has a special impact on each local community it travels to. According to the organisation, for many who are able to attend, the joy of a trip to the circus can encourage creativity, bring people closer, and allow them to grow stronger and more confident. A great way that businesses like us can support this lovely initiative is by donating tickets for those in need. We’ve shared a link here for more information if you’re interested in learning more about what the organisation does or the various ways to support it.

On behalf of our clients and Carnsight community, we ended the year with a donation to the British Red Cross to support people in crisis and humanitarian aid. The British Red Cross aim to get the right aid to the right place as quickly as possible, helping those in need whoever and wherever they are.

Award wins

We wrote award entries for both ourselves and our clients, earning spots on shortlists and bringing home an AFI win for Wyatt and Sons Fencing. Carnsight was shortlisted for the South West Business Masters’ and Wyatt and Sons earned a place in the running for Business Leader’s Family Business of the Year. We celebrated The Coconut Tree’s Negroni of The Year win from Dine Out Magazine, and saw the Bournemouth restaurant place first in the SME Awards.

“Carnsight have supported us on three award entries to date – including winning ones! We know we have the results but their support is invaluable to present our data in a way which really speaks to the judges and their criteria. With this winning formula we’ll definitely be working together on more in the future.” – Victoria Hockely, Loom Digital

Celebrations

Carnsight treated us to two delightful trips to Lucknam Park to celebrate our hard work and achievements, once earlier in summer and now, just in time for the new year. Taking time to rest, relax and reset was a wonderful treat for us all. Thank you Carnsight!

Looking ahead – 2024 industry predictions

Our social media manager, Yasmin, breaks down the future of social media in last week’s blog post here, covering the rise of raw content, the need for verification, and the use of platforms as search engines. As for our predictive insights into what may be in store for PR in 2024, here’s a quick recap:

  1. Better back it up – more scrutiny around claims made in the media, a need to validate authenticity and fact check will be on the rise as we continue to battle misinformation in the media and the potential inaccuracy of AI-generated content.
  2. Embracing commercial – this is a tough pill for us PRs to swallow, but it looks like there’s less and less escaping it. As more publications are looking to monetise where possible, we are starting to see a trend of commercial relationships impacting the appetite for editorial opportunities. In 2024, we predict this is only going to become more prevalent.
  3. AI – as much as we might all feel like we’ve heard enough about AI, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s here to stay. We’re certain this tool and its myriad of applications will continue to make waves in 2024, for both better and worse. We share more on this in Alexandra’s blog about how AI is being used to enhance PR strategies.

Something’s looming on the horizon…

To wrap up our wrap up, we’re finally letting you in on a Carnsight secret (well, sort of). We’ve been working on a project this year, and it’s going live in January! Stay tuned for more on this over the next month – we’re taking a page out of Hansel and Gretel’s book and setting out a few breadcrumbs for you to follow as we get closer to the full reveal.

We’re also bringing back our Spotlight Challenge from 2021 on Instagram, which is a great chance for our local community of small businesses to shine a spotlight on their achievements guilt-free. It will be running from Jan 22nd to the 28th, and we’ll be sharing more details on @carnsightcomms in the coming weeks.

Bye for now

To our clients and our Carnsight community, we want to say thank you. Your support and kindness throughout the year is greatly appreciated. May you all have a fabulous festive season – enjoy yourselves when and where you can, and have the happiest of new years. Happy holidays folks, we’ll see you in 2024.

All our best wishes,

Team Carnsight

Member

About Carnsight Communications

At Carnsight Communications we create strategies and campaigns to showcase our clients’ brilliant work through PR, content and social media. We help them get noticed by the right audience, at the right time. We specialise in creative agency PR.

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