February 25th, 2013
Setting the Record Straight: Who Catapult Really Works For
An agency, which apparently considers it a competitor, has come to my attention recently, only because it is telling people facts about Catapult that aren’t true, including the fact that Catapult “only deals with very small, local clients”.
That is a total falsehood. My first client was Abbey National Direct – hardly local or small. I don’t think Yorkshire Building Society, CIS or Bennetts Insurance (in Bradford, Manchester and Peterborough) fall into either category either.
In fact, our client base stretches across the country and beyond, with many clients like CocoRose London (the clue’s in the name) and Chocolate Ecstasy Tours being just some of the clients we have worked for in London.
The funny part about all of this is that, until very recently, Catapult has always had a very small percentage of local clients. One of our sales messages, for the past 15 years, has been that clients come to Catapult for its expertise rather than for its geographical location.
Even now, what I call ‘local’ is actually Chorley and South Preston. I only have one client within a ten-mile drive!
I do, however, have a vast network of clients in Cumbria – built up through word of mouth recommendation.
So it occurred to me that I should set the record straight with regard to some other points. Here we go.
1) Catapult only does consumer PR. This is not true. We excel at consumer PR because it allows us to demonstrate creativity but have several B2B clients. I spent my early career cutting my teeth in international freight forwarding and electricity and gas supply. It doeesn’t get much grittier than that at a B2B level.
2) Catapult only does tourism PR. Again, not true. I do have many clients in tourism and travel and am one of the few PR professionals in the country with a specialist CIM Diploma in Tourism, which I studied for part-time for two years in 2009-11. However, I have a vast amount of experience in other sectors like financial services, insurance (pet, travel, home, motor, wedding, motorcycle, farm, ex-pat healthcare) as well as in food/catering, retail and sponsorship maximisation/CSR. Catapult has handled everything from finance to fragrance and from festivals to fashion. It has proved its creativity in every field from sport to shoes.
3) Catapult only works with little clients. Wrong. I have already detailed big clients that we have worked for and my most recent client acquisition is another well known and award winning building society. Large clients find great appeal in accessing a creative brain that can bring really fresh and potentially award-winning ideas to the table, along with excellent national contacts.
4) Catapult only works with big clients. Again, wrong. I find ways of making PR affordable for all, my most recent ‘smaller’ client being Tale Trails Cumbria, which I launched on a shoestring budget.
So wherever you are in the country, Catapult can assist you with your PR and come to meet with you at your base. Whatever your budget, I can find ways of accommodating it and whatever your sector or business focus, I will prove that is a consultancy that does its own thing and concentrates totally on its clients rather than finding time to put down other agencies.
What you get with Catapult is total passion, huge amounts of creativity and fun. It doesn’t matter to me whether you are down the road, or 300 miles down the road. I can Catapult you just as effectively as all the other clients who have experienced the Catapult difference over the past 15 years.
23 awards in the trophy cabinet must mean something …. Oh, and not one was won for a client within a 50-mile drive!
