Karbon is dedicated to engaging with its customers to shape effective services and regularly reviews its methods of communications. As part of this I was asked to lead a project considering the role of newsletters in the development of relationships with customers, before making recommendations for the future and implementing them. 

Research carried out by project partner NGI Solutions with internal working groups, customer focus groups and via surveys established a desire for a new-look hard copy magazine. In-depth feedback helped to shape the design and content and together with creative agency Twentyseven we developed a completely new approach, with Karbon customers at the front and centre of all stories. Residents play a central role in the creation of the magazine – suggesting stories, submitting photographs and advising on content topics. The new magazine has been a great success, with research revealing it is read by 78% of recipients, with 72% finding the stories helpful and 65% rating the style as excellent. 

“I have found working with Laura a delight.  She is creative, reliable and a talented writer.  She has worked incredibly well with colleagues across the business and our customers, which is all down to her professional and warm style.  She was instrumental in redesigning what we believe to be (because our customers have told us!) a much-improved customer magazine that balances our need to communicate corporate messages by putting the customer at the forefront of meaningful story telling.  

“Nothing phases Laura, from what I can tell, and she can work extremely well in complex environments.  She is not afraid to challenge the norm and come up with new and creative ways of doing things.  Any business looking to gain meaningful impact from their communications project would be lucky to have Laura as part of their team.”

Christine Paxton
Assistant Director Business Development and Communications,
Karbon Homes
 

Northumbrian Water is required by regulator Ofwat to make available to customers information about its plans and performance. The company makes great efforts to ensure this information is easy for customers to understand, is accessible and engaging. Over recent years I’ve worked with Northumbrian Water’s internal team to support a wide range of projects involving the communication and translation of often technical information to customers. Projects have included the organisation’s Annual Performance Report and its five-year plan for 2020-25. 

“Laura has worked with Northumbrian Water for several years now, acting as part of the team when we need specific copy writing or strategic communication support. It was fantastic to work with Laura on our PR19 business plan, her brilliant writing style enabled us to translate complex technical reports into engaging, customer friendly content. Laura is fantastic; she’s that very rare combination of creative flair and focussed strategic delivery. Every business will benefit from working with Laura.”

Jennie Collingwood
Head of Marketing and External Communications, Northumbrian Water

Working with lead delivery partner NewcastleGateshead Initiative and creative agency Twentyseven, I helped to communicate the content of the Exhibition to all audiences through marketing materials. My involvement began with preparations for the event launch to stakeholders and continued to the development of the event website and programme, right through to the evaluation report.

Smashing its audience target of three million, the Exhibition attracted visits of 3.8 million across 300 events, performances, installations and activities spanning 80 days. There were over 1.9 million unique page views of the Exhibition website between June 2017 and September 2018, with average monthly unique visitors of 61.7k.

“Laura quickly understood the complexities of the project and breadth of content that needed communicating, establishing an engaging tone of voice and style of writing that appealed to the Exhibition's broad range of audiences. Laura was brilliant to work with and worked closely with the whole team, often with very tight deadlines and always with a smile on her face and endless enthusiasm for the project." 

Carol Bell
Executive Director, Great Exhibition of the North 

Since we’ve been working together Transmit Start-Ups has become the UK’s leading provider of Government-backed Start Up Loans. More than 4,000 entrepreneurs have been supported with £40.5million and free mentoring to maximise the impact of their loan.

I work closely with the Transmit team to help communicate strategic messaging and tell the stories of entrepreneurs supported. My experience of running my own business is useful when creating content for campaigns such as Give it a Go, which encourages more Brits to become their own boss. 

“Having Laura as an extended member of our team works perfectly for Transmit. She's a great source of ideas, an excellent writer, and a creative mind who also really understands how to link PR and communications to business performance. She's every bit as enthusiastic about our business as we are - and that's worth its weight in gold.”

Suzy Jackson
Marketing Manager, Transmit Group

I’ve worked closely with the corporate affairs directorate in recent years on a range of fascinating projects to promote the quality of the research undertaken and its impact on society. I’ve worked hand in hand with academics, in-house teams and outside contractors to research, create, manage and deliver content for use in media relations, internal communications, digital and traditional marketing.

“Laura is an excellent writer who can translate often complicated science into compelling copy for the layman. She led the PR campaign to promote the British Science Festival when it came to Newcastle University in 2013, securing significant coverage in regional and national press and exposure on social media, which helped attract thousands of visitors to the city. 

“Laura has since worked alongside the University’s in-house team to support a campaign (www.ncl.ac.uk/impact) to highlight our research strengths; capturing successfully in print and on-line the cutting-edge science that is happening at Newcastle.” 

Abi Kelly
Executive Director of Corporate Affairs, 
Newcastle University
 

I worked closely with partners, researchers, clinicians, patients, patrons, fundraisers and the media to lead and develop a PR campaign to launch the campaign and ensure the fundraising got off to a strong start. This was one of the most rewarding projects I’ve worked on to date – both personally and professionally – and I’m delighted to report that 13 months after its launch the fund is well ahead of schedule with 75% of its target raised. 

“Laura managed the publicity of the Future Fund campaign with great skill and integrity, working with everyone from the young patients in the children’s cancer ward to celebrity patrons of the Future Fund with ease. 

“She went above and beyond to ensure that the campaign was a success and to establish robust foundations for the public campaign. The Future Fund has gone on to raise £4.1 million of the target ahead of schedule, so this hard work in the initial stages has certainly paid off. 
I would highly recommend Laura as a PR and marketing expert. She is both warm and professional and is a pleasure to work with.” 

Dr Katie Harland
Senior Advancement Officer, 
Newcastle University
 

Photo Credit: Mike Urwin Photography

I formed part of a team that devised a daring rebrand for Inspectas, tackling head-on the communications challenges of the industry and highlighting the friendly, professional personality of the company. I worked closely with the design and web team to develop a tone of voice to apply to copy for the new website, for marketing materials and a script for a short animated film.

“Laura invested considerable time and effort in getting to know our business and the challenges involved in our area of work.  She also gained an accurate understanding of the personalities within the company and how they may want to be perceived within the brand.

 “This research resulted in a brilliant and accurate understanding of who we are and how we want the brand and website to be communicated alongside the daring visuals utilised in our website.  The copy Laura created was outstanding and alongside the branding and web design has allowed our website to be classified as one of the best in our industry.”

Craig Candlish
Director, Inspectas

I was recruited to write for Luxe when it launched in 2009. I write the children’s section, Little Luxe, along with my daughter Nina and we explore all the fun bits of being a child: kids’ culture, toys, clothes, days out and what’s going on in the region for the smaller members of the Luxe readership. I also provide content for other subject matter and I love being a member of the Luxe family.

“Laura has added more than a little sparkle to Luxe magazine since she joined us some six years ago. She has a great, natural and witty writing style. She is a joy to deal with in terms of deadlines- i.e. she always hits them! She researches her topics, writes sharp copy and provides the right imagery for designers.

 “Laura also teams up with Luxe for copy for other subject matter and again, she is excellent at working to a brief, to a deadline and providing clean, crisp copy. We love having her on the team and she is always a great ambassador for Luxe.”

Kathryn Armstrong
Editor, Luxe

I’ve been collaborating with Twentyseven for the past seven years on all kinds of communications projects, from crisis management materials for a local authority dealing with mass redundancies to creative, commercial copywriting.

 “We love working with Laura – she combines creativity and business insight with oodles of positivity and energy that make her a valuable part of our team!”

Richard Fowler
Creative Director, Twentyseven

I was recruited to provide communications support for Venturefest North East in preparation for the 2015 event at Hilton NewcastleGateshead. The brief was to develop the profile of this major business event to ensure the target audience was aware of the opportunities it provided. Activity focused on simplifying messaging, developing media relations, creating engaging social media content and cementing partnership relationships.

"I worked with Laura White at Newcastle Science City, where she led on PR activity for what was a very complex organisation. She always impressed me with not just the quality of her work but also her positive attitude and drive to get things done.

 “When I set up my own business, I approached Laura straight away to see if I could secure her services. She understands the needs of smaller businesses and the flexibility required in this environment. Her contribution to the promotion of Venturefest North East is highly valued and really making an impact."

Simon Green
Executive Director,
Venturefest North East

Photo Credit:  Andrew Hepinstall Photography