2024 saw the arrival of a new Government, ‘brain rot’ and the Eras tour on our shores. We may, or may not, have had a Brat summer and some Seth Cohen obsessions from millennial youth were renewed.
At Pier, we’ve seen big change this year. We welcomed five new starters and celebrated reaching our sweet 16th year in business.
We continued to work with some truly wonderful clients, while celebrating some amazing new business wins, in a huge year of growth for Pier, particularly in our renewables division.
There’s much to reflect on, so strap in as we run through our 2024 year in review. Thank you if you played a part in our story this year.
January
We started the year with an early celebration – we secured the PRCA Communications Management Standard (CMS) accreditation again. This recognises our high standards and commitment to delivering industry best practice.
Champagne corks were popped too for Rachael, who was promoted to Account Executive.
We welcomed new clients the Pubs Code Adjudicator and independent grid consultancy, Roadnight Taylor. Our renewables team kicked off their busiest year to date, attending multiple events including the annual EEEGR House of Commons reception and the Scottish Renewables Offshore Wind Conference.
We also launched our partnership with Still Good Food, pledging to volunteer and fundraise for this small but mighty food waste charity through 2024.
February
It was the first of many public consultation events this year for Pier, and in February we were out manning events for RWE DBS Offshore Wind Farm in Yorkshire and Beacon Fen Energy Park in Lincolnshire.
We helped the East of England Co-op announce its partnership with EV charging network, Osprey Charging. For Essex County Council, our Love Essex, Love Food influencer campaign went live, challenging residents in Essex to embrace their leftovers and reduce food waste.
March
March brought endless variety. From creating stop motion videos for biscuits, to launching the ‘Everyday Magic of Maths’ with celebrity mathematician, Bobby Seagull, for Essex County Council’s Essex Year of Numbers, we had a blast.
We moved into floating wind for the first time, with stakeholder engagement for the Stromar Floating Offshore Wind Farm in North East Scotland the first of many new business wins in renewables this year.
Olivia went to the Festival of Knowledge with EEEGR, while Amy and Becky hit up the Nourish: Food & Drink Innovation Conference (Tastebuds Collective) and the International Food & Drink Event (IFE), in two straight days of expert-level networking.
We also celebrated landing a nomination for Best Agency to Work For, for the second year in a row at the UK Company Culture Awards.
April
April saw our first of several new starters this year as Account Executive Lois Kwong joined our ranks, and headed to Solar & Storage with Caroline on her first day!
We landed a homepage lead story on OK magazine with Ali Bastian for Vitalite and Allergy Awareness Week, and delivered a robust communications strategy for the University of Suffolk Dental Communication Interest Company (CIC).
Pier celebrated reaching the final of the PRCA Dare Awards, with a nod for hard-fought Medium Consultancy of the Year.
We helped HIPPO launch its sponsorship of British Superbike rider, Shane Richardson, the beginning of a year-long journey for Rachael into the world of superbikes, and delivered some compelling research on ‘fussiness’ ruining the family dinner for loose frozen food specialist, Fieldfare.
Becky was out and about volunteering at one of Still Good Foods’ shops. We welcomed plant-based dairy alternative Sheese to our growing client roster in our portfolio of brands for Saputo Dairy UK, adding food service to our trade PR deliverables.
And, it was the final of the Suffolk Food & Drink Awards, ending several months of Pier’s involvement with the awards that saw ACRE Farm + Bakery crowned as winners of our sponsored category. Amy, Becky, Lisa and Lucy went to the glitzy award ceremony at Snape Maltings, surrounded by all that is great and good in our local food scene.
May
Talking all of things local, you couldn’t move in May without running into a hysterical Ipswich Town FC fan celebrating the return of the club to the Premier League after 22 years.
The whole company joined together multiple times in May. First, as we collectively travelled virtually from Saltburn Pier in Yorkshire, to the Prince of Wales Pier in Falmouth – the two furthest piers from each in the UK – to raise money for Still Good Food.
Then, in real life at our annual away day where we tackled the Crystal Maze LIVE Experience! Such fun, and we welcomed our second new starter for the year, Emma Hynes, to take on the various zones and join the stark divide between Pier team members who remembered the Crystal Maze. And those that didn’t…
The HIPPO team were busy delivering a ‘DIY Legacy’ campaign video shoot with celebrity carpenter Robert Bent and partnering with DIY and home improvement influencers from across the UK. And our renewables team could be found at SNS and the All-Energy Exhibition & Conference.
June
More renewables events in June – Global Offshore Wind (GOW) and an EastWind event – and exciting new business opportunities, kept Kate, Steph, Caroline, Sophie and everyone in renewables very busy.
Meanwhile, we were delighted to enter the petfood market for the first time with our new client Supreme Petfoods. Our brief to deliver social media content of rabbits, guinea pigs and other endlessly cute small animals continues to bring joy every day!
Kate joined Shane and his superbike at the Installer Show for HIPPO and we landed some cracking BBC coverage for Ellison’s.
Operations Manager Lisa also had a busy May, publishing our Carbon Reduction Plan and attending the CIPD Festival of Work.
July
Pier was pleased to support the Pubs Code Adjudicator in July with an event announcing the results of its Annual Tied Tenants Survey, running two sessions in London with key stakeholders and national media.
As a specialist renewable energy PR agency, our stakeholder consultation work continued to grow. We won new projects in July, and we were in Yorkshire again delivering events for RWE DBS Offshore Wind Farm.
Shuran Mo joined Pier for our summer internship through the Taylor Bennett Foundation – our third successful year (please do read all about Shuran’s time with us here) – and Becky and Eiléanór went to MADFEST. And, we can hardly believe it, but Renewables PR Consultant Sophie celebrated 13 years at Pier!
August
In amongst various sickening holiday photos from the team, we were busy landing more new business and stakeholder consultations in renewables. The change of government in July boosted confidence in an already thriving industry, and our years of experience in renewable energy and industry relationships paid off.
Lucy Brown was awarded a thoroughly well-deserved promotion to Senior Account Manager.
And, after three successful years of projects and campaigns, we were also incredibly pleased to secure another three years on the Essex County Council framework.
September
The new business continued to roll-in September. We started working with Greenscape, who provide renewable energy solutions including air source heat pumps, solar panels, battery storage, and EV charger installations.
In food, we started working with new client Fenmarc to promote their new brand VEG TABLE on social media.
There were more big stakeholder consultation wins to celebrate, and a place secured on a big public sector framework, new to Pier.
Olivia stepped up to Senior Account Executive in a much-deserved promotion.
We also found out the CIPR had taken a break from the PRide Awards in 2024, usually celebrated in September. We were sad not to be able to join our peers and celebrate PR best practice. However, it has meant we can hold onto our reign as PR Consultancy of the Year for another year, so you’ll forgive us for doing that.
October
The autumn brought a slew of new starters as the renewables business continued to thrive, starting with Laura Monteath, strengthening our presence in Scotland. Three other new renewables clients signed-up too, including more stakeholder consultations.
Becky and Amy ran a Storytelling workshop for the Tastebuds Collective, and The Grocer Dairymen report landed, with a significant presence for Saputo Dairy UK brands secured thanks to Pier’s trade PR strategy.
And, another fantastic promotion – this time, Lisa took a step-up to our senior team into the newly created role of Operations Lead.
November
Steph and Karen barely had time to sit down in November, thanks to two weeks of stakeholder consultation events for Stromar Floating Offshore Wind Farm, tackling snow and freezing temperatures at the very north of the country – and some spectacular views too.
We welcomed Abbie back from maternity leave, and new account manager and former journalist Jack Tappin joined Pier, further bolstering the renewables team.
More renewables new business came in, and one for the foodies too – an exciting project to promote an upcoming food history exhibition.
We helped Still Good Food announce the incredible news it has received the highly prestigious King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
And, we achieved our second year of Cyber Essentials Certification.
December
We ended the year with a flurry of activity for Freeport East, with an exciting broadcast piece recorded and ready to go live in the new year, and news about their eventful year including the launch of two growth funds celebrated.
Our last new starter for the year – new renewables account executive Sian – completed our biggest year of team growth for many years, putting Pier in great stead for a busy 2025.
…
If you made it this far – thank you and well done! We can’t believe what a journey Pier has had this past 12 months. We’re heading into 2025 with some fantastic new clients, a strong team and the energy to make a real difference in what we do. See you on the other side!
