I was appointed to provide PR consultancy support to the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre (3M BIC) in October 2012, to help raise its profile at a regional and national level, help position it as a Centre of excellence in enterprise and innovation, and influence local businesses to become part of the 3M BIC’s unique culture.

The initial remit was to encourage businesses to set up base at the 3M BIC. I arranged a media day and invited key regional business journalists to visit to the centre. The day resulted in positive press coverage for the Centre and highlighted that the 3M BIC isn’t just ‘serviced offices’, but helps facilitate business growth by opening doors to national and international markets, providing access to financial support and pioneering technology, as well as links with the University of Huddersfield.

There was shift in focus early in 2013 to promote the meetings and conferencing facilities. I worked alongside the in-house marketing and events team to put together a campaign across various advertising channels to help raise awareness of the spaces available. Since then, there has been an increase in the number of companies from a wide range of sectors that are now utilising the meetings and conferencing facilities.

I have also been working closely with the team to raise awareness of the state-of-the-art technology available to businesses, from 3D printing to Advanced Manufacturing, as well helping to launch the 3M BIC’s first Network Membership and Professional Services Membership for companies interested in linking up with the 3M BIC and businesses across the region.

Key achievements include:

• The centre is now full to capacity in terms of tenants in the building
• There has been an increase in businesses using the meeting and conferencing spaces for events
• The 3M BIC has featured in two national Sunday newspapers - The Sunday Telegraph and The Sunday Times
• In my first year at the 3M BIC, coverage reached an audience of approximately 5,126,625 with an Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) of £76,821, PR value of £230,468, making a return on investment of 18:1.