Czech Republic: 'Mind the Gap' campaign wins European Excellence Award

Grayling, the global agency specialising in PR, public affairs, investor relations and event management, is pleased to announce that the "Mind the Gap" campaign of the leading European insurer Aviva was named the Best Financial Campaign. Last week during a ceremonial evening in the palace on Žofín Island, this Europe-wide project from Aviva Insurance received the award at the European Association of Communication Directors Excellence Awards which every year honour outstanding achievements in the communications profession on a pan-European scale. The campaign was delivered in partnership with Grayling.

The aim of this unique, pioneering campaign was to profile Aviva as a leading expert representing the interest of the public in the retirement debate across Europe. The campaign was designed above all to encourage the general public to adopt a retirement saving strategy – ie to save more and save earlier – and to initiate and lead debate in the public sector around retirement policy reform across the EU, Russia and Turkey.

The integrated public relations and public affairs program was delivered using Grayling’s unrivalled network of specialist communications teams across eleven markets: Russia, Poland, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Spain, France, Romania, UK, Ireland, Italy and Hungary.

In the course of the six-month campaign the following successes were achieved:

• Over 750 "on-message" articles, including more than 180 printed articles and more than 85 national broadcast pieces across Europe; one of the primary objectives was to profile Aviva’s country General Managers and 58% of all media coverage quoted these European leading representatives of Aviva;
• Over 45 interviews during the campaign across Europe;
• Balanced pan-European media coverage with 57% from Western Europe and 43% from Central and Eastern Europe.

Commenting on the Award, Jon Bunn, corporate affairs & communications director for Aviva Europe, said: “I am delighted that our 'Mind the Gap' campaign has been recognised at such a high profile forum as the European Excellence Awards. The quality of support and commitment provided to the project by Grayling, who worked alongside Aviva’s communications teams in our markets across Europe, was central to our success. The campaign successfully profiled Aviva’s expertise, knowledge and leadership in this area and reinforced our commitment to our customers.”

Michael Murphy, general manager of Grayling agency, added: "Recognition through industry awards is always a bonus and in this case it's the icing on the cake after such a successful project. The Aviva campaign was particularly complex; requiring seamless integration of PR and PA, and with delivery spanning a hugely diverse range of 11 markets from Russia and Poland through to France and Spain. Its success is a testament to our ability to deliver a pan-European strategy and approach coupled with expert local market delivery and execution.”

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Media contact:
Gabriela Bártíková, Head of Corporate and Public Relations, Grayling
Telephone: +420 224 251 555
E-mail: gabriela.bartikova@grayling.com

On the awards
Awards from the “European Excellence Awards” are the most prestigious prizes for professionals working in the field of communications in Europe. The awards cover a wide range of communications disciplines across Europe with prizes given for the most outstanding campaigns. The “European Excellence Awards” are organised by the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD).  EACD was founded in 2006, its headquarters are in Brussels and it is a network for communications professionals from all fields across Europe.