I produced this (hypothetical) Public Relations campaign for Hope Street Hotel. The campaign was based around a new law which affected the hotel, and how they would overcome this change.

1. PUBLIC RELATIONS
CAMPAIGN
Hope Street Hotel
Quinn, Finbarr
Abstract
This portfolio contains a public relations campaign outline. The campaign aims to focus on a
message of equality within Hope Street Hotel and show our audience how the hotel
embraces Scouse culture. The portfolio contains a press release based on the campaign,
information on who we aim to communicate with and the tactics to be used in doing so.
Contents:
 Press Release
 Campaign Outline

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Press Release
Finbarr Quinn
Hope Street Hotel
+44 (0)151 709 3000
sleep@hopestreethotel.co.uk
Publication of wage reports concerning gender
Be Boss at Ladies Day is our campaign launched to promote the equality within
Liverpool’s Hope Street Hotel. It aims to highlight the “boss” females who are the
heads in a number of departments here.
The campaign is a reaction to a regulation that requires independent business to
publish wage reports related to gender. Wages are in no way dependent on the
gender of our staff at the hotel.
Embracing Scouse culture is an important aim for Hope Street Hotel. We take pride
in being privately owned by a Liverpool native and independently run.
We have therefore made the decision to publish the gender wage reports on
Independent Liverpool.
We are happy to publish the reports on a public sphere. They can therefore be found
on GOV.UK too.
Our sister restaurant London Carriage Works will also take on these regulations. In
doing so we aim to show our customers that our staff are treated alike.
We acknowledge the attention on our hotel and so spreading a message of equality
is vital to us.
The new procedure will take effect on the 5th of April 2017. The first report will be
issued on the 4th of April 2018.
CIPD state the new legislation aims to highlight ‘differences in pay between men and
women’.
ENDS
Word count: 212

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Campaign Outline
What are they objectives/messages of the campaign?
 Hope Street Hotel as an equal place for all
 Make connections with other independent businesses in Liverpool
 Promotion for the hotel
 Show that Hope Street Hotel’s behavior will not alter with the new legislation
Who are our publics?
 Women – making the link with Ladies Day at Aintree will make women the
key public of the campaign at large. Ladies Day is renowned for hundreds and
possibly thousands of women attending the racecourse in what is referred to
on Aintrees official site as “bringing a touch of elegance” to The Grand
National. Gruing and Hunt (1984) observe both how and when publics form.
By bringing my campaign directly to where my public is formed in numbers, it
enables the campaigns message to be communicated effectively.
 Early/mid 20’s to early 30’s – in researching the links Hope Street Hotel has
already made with blogs it was brought to my attention the type of target
audience they have. Review type posts from Lucy Fennings (2014) and
Abigail Alice (2017) where useful in identifying this public. Dewey (1972, p.23)
introduced the concept of identifying your public. His theory is that publics are
those who come together and consciously work to solve an issue or problem.
In this case, the message of equality within Hope Street Hotel and promotion
is the “issue”. This type of public is therefore an active public too.
 Scouse people – Using Moffit’s (2011) theory of ideologies to encode a
message, they will be able to understand the campaign title “Be Boss at
Ladies Day”. Moffit states that certain phrases or words will only make sense
to members of a particular culture or society. I have identified the ideology for
this campaign as the word “boss”. Scouse people use this word with positive
connotations when referring to something. Encoding these connotations into
this campaign shapes the delivery and processing of the meaning to the
public.
Who are our stakeholders?
 The Liverpool community – one of the messages I wish to portray about
Hope Street Hotel is that they embrace the culture of Liverpool. In doing so
the people of Liverpool become a stakeholder of the campaign. Tench and

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Yeomans (2009) argue that identifying your stakeholders is a vital step in
public relations. It allows the organisation to recognise potential problems that
may occur within the campaign. By recognizing how to communicate with the
people of Liverpool this could result in Hope Street Hotel gaining a better
reputation to them.
 Independent Liverpool – I have this organisation as a stakeholder because
working alongside them puts their reputation on the line. The process of
identifying stakeholders allows for a better long-term relationship with them.
Tactics used to achieve success:
Working with Independent Liverpool is a key focus
This organisation works to promote privately owned businesses in Liverpool. As
Hope Street Hotel is one of these, taking advantage of their following could be very
beneficial. Yaverbaum (et al, 2011) points out that in working with blogs it is best to
use those that are relevant. In this case, Independent Liverpool is just that. Analysis
of their website resulted in the finding that their blog consists of industry expertise
and they embrace Scouse culture like Hope Street Hotel. Independent Liverpool’s
blogging content has a theme. Blogs of this nature tend to be successful.
(Yaverbaum et al., 2011) Articles with what they consider “tips and guides” to
Liverpool, are often posted. Featuring in these types of entries could be used as a
promotional tool for the hotel and their message.
Independent Liverpool Blog

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Independent Liverpool’s social media following is also huge. Their Instagram in
particular has over 49 thousand followers. On their Instagram, they regularly post
images of a publicity nature related to the
other businesses they support.
Strategically planning posts on their
Instagram allows the campaign to reach
large numbers. It also makes Hope Street
Hotel more accessible to the audience.
(Brogan & Zarella, 2010) For example, the
day after Ladies Day an image could be
posted on their account of the women in
suits with a brief explanation of the
message we aim to portray.
Ladies Day at Aintree aims to get national media coverage for the campaign
(Read further to find out more)
Independent Liverpool Instagram

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I aim to make this day the key driving force in the campaign. Essentially the day is
focused around gender so using it to draw attention to the female employees within
the hotel is advantageous. This phase of the campaign aims to ensure media
coverage. Butterick (2011, p.150) argues that in order for a press release to be
effective it should be relevant to the diary of whichever organisation publishes it. In
this case, the aim is to have Liverpool Echo publish the news release. Previous
years at Aintree Ladies Day receives substantial coverage from The Echo, which
makes it a perfect candidate for publishing our news release. Butterick (2011, p.150)
also points out the importance of providing as much information as possible in a
news release. In doing so, it makes life easier for the journalist by offering them
relevant material for their story. This will make them more likely to cover your story
too.
Google Search “2016 Ladies Day Liverpool Echo”

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“HSHHH” (the hotels guide magazine) features information on some of the female
employees at the hotel. The ideology to Scouse people of the word “boss” which I
mentioned previously, comes into play at this point of the campaign. Exercising
inspiration from the 1928 “Lucky Strike” campaign (Heath and Toth, 2013) and the
2012 “No rights, no women” campaign (Allagui and Breslow, 2016) we aim to receive
national media coverage at this point. By putting together a clique of female
HSHHH Screenshots
Screenshot of Google
search “Ladies Day 2016
Fashion

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employees from the hotel at Ladies Day, dressed in outfits and other commodities
stereotypically associated with power and being a “boss”, they will stand out against
the other females at the event.
PR plays a central role in the reputation of organisations. It is important here to
acknowledge the problems or mixed message this tactic could entail. The
organisation should therefore consider elements such as their stakeholders during
the decision making process. (Butterick, 2011) This again highlights the importance
of a news release focusing on why this type of strategy has been used in media
publications.
Local bloggers are beneficial in PR
This form of online media is more beneficial in PR for communicating with an
audience compared to other media forms. (Butterick, 2011) Linking up with local
blogs such as Visit Liverpool or Scouse Bird Problems allows for promotion for both
the hotel and our message. It also ties in with the message of embracing Scouse
culture by using bloggers from within the city. Butterick (2011, p.154) describes blogs
as a way the writer can “record their thoughts on everyday incidents such as…
companies they have been customers of.” A plan could be put in place for bloggers
to have an overnight stay at the hotel in exchange for a feature post on their blog.
The use of blogs in the campaign allows room for dialogue with our audience. Blogs
often have a comment box where readers can record their own thoughts on what
they have read. It is significant in PR to listen to your audience and most importantly
learn from them. Reviews of comment sections on blog posts and other forms of
online media allows the company to adapt their behaviours where they need to.
(Butterick, 2011)
(See the section on working with Independent Liverpool for more information on featuring on blogs
and other social media.)

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Timeline of campaign
4th April - Feature on Independent Liverpool's social media
5th April - Law is in effect/Feature in an article on Independet Liverpool
6th April - Feature on a blog post/send news release to possible publishers
7th April - Ladies Day at Aintree
8th April - Review media coverage of Ladies Day and how our news
release has been used
9th April - Feature on abother blog post

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Bibliography
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 Yaverbaum, E., Bly, R., Benun, I. and Kirshenbaum, R. (2011). Public
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 Tench, R and Yeomans, L (2009) Audiences, stakeholders, publics. In:
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