Pitch and Channel 4 scooped the ‘Best Sporting Campaign’ and ‘Best Use of Planning, Research, Measurement and Evaluation’ awards at the CIPR Excellence Awards on Monday 3 June.
The double accolades were awarded for the campaign to promote Channel 4’s television coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
In a closely fought contest for the ‘Best Sporting Campaign’, the CIPR judging panel considered that Channel 4 and Pitch provided the very best examples of delivering and controlling public relations within a bigger integrated campaign.
In addition, the integration of research throughout the campaign and delivery of stunning results against targets were acclaimed by the CIPR panel judging ‘Best Use of Planning, Research, Measurement and Evaluation’ category.
Channel 4 won the rights to the London 2012 Paralympic Games in 2010 and partnered with Pitch to face the challenge of changing public and media perceptions of the Paralympics. Prior to the two year campaign, only a fraction of the public could name a Paralympian and only 14% said they were looking forward to the Games.
Pitch and Channel 4 ran an innovative, challenging campaign; transforming the landscape over two years and shifting editorial coverage from the margins to the mainstream. The impact of the coverage and campaign showed significant results including changed perceptions of disability in the UK, a record-breaking audience as well as Channel 4 affirming its public service remit and succeeding in delivering a commercial return.
This award follows the recent ‘Best Use of PR’ category win for Pitch and Channel 4 at the BT Sport Industry Awards.
