Edinburgh Winter Festivals appoints Stripe to PR account
Edinburgh Winter Festivals (EWF), has appointed Stripe Communications to provide its PR support for the city’s Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations for this year.
The decision followed a tender process involving eight Scottish agencies including incumbent, Porter Novelli which has worked on the account for the last two years.
Stripe’s brief will be to develop a communications strategy raising awareness of Edinburgh on a global scale, promoting the multitude of Christmas and Hogmanay events, driving attendance and working with EWF’s sponsors and partners. As well as bringing colour and sparkle to the city, these festivals generate huge economic impact, with over £136m of economic benefit being derived since the formation of the EWF team in 2004.
The work will start immediately with Morna McLelland, Associate Director of Stripe heading up the PR team, working with John-Paul Murphy and the corporate communications department at City of Edinburgh Council. Edinburgh’s Christmas and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay have been operating since 1999 and 1993 respectively and this year the events are expected to attract over 500,000 visitors to Edinburgh City Centre.
John-Paul Murphy, marketing and communications manager for the Festivals, said; “I was delighted with the many high-quality tenders we received, which made this a tough decision and certainly demonstrates the fantastic expertise within the PR business in Scotland. However, Stripe’s strategic approach and creativity shone through and I’m pleased to be putting their talent to good use for Edinburgh.”