Case Studies
Isuzu Truck UK
Nikki King OBE, CEO Isuzu Truck UK and non – Executive Director of Catch22/Auto 22
“Quite simply, Frances Pardell of Pardell PR has revolutionised our business. As a relatively new entrant into the UK commercial vehicle market, we have consistently struggled to convey the message that Isuzu is one of the world’s largest truck manufacturers.
Since working with Frances at Pardell PR, our corporate profile has increased dramatically. She has gained huge media coverage for Isuzu and for me personally. I have now appeared regularly on radio and TV on serious business programmes such as The Bottom Line, The Daily Politics and Any Questions.
Every time such an appearance is made, our enquiry rate increases and our sales team are reporting that it is much easier to make contact with potential customers.
Pardell PR is the most effective PR company we have ever worked with and we highly recommend Frances to anyone who needs to increase their reputation and sales”
PardellPR became involved with Nikki King and Isuzu Truck UK a month before the transmission of Nikki’s appearance on the Channel 4 series Undercover Boss in July 2011.
After the programme, I continued to build on Nikki’s public profile. Despite being a legend in her own industry, Nikki was relatively unknown outside of it.
I approached the BBC One programme Question Time and the producer was encouraged sufficiently by our conversation to talk to Nikki. He decided she was not high profile enough for a BBC One programme and also said, ‘she’s the voice of common sense’, which appeared to be against her too!
Undeterred, I then set about strategising a path to Question Time. I managed to place Nikki on The Daily Politics on BBC Two as a guest in November 14th 2011. She was so good they immediately invited her back and she returned in February 2012.
I then placed her on the Radio 4 series The Bottom Line with Evan Davies. The earliest she was available to do the programme was in February 2012. She was brilliant at attacking corporate greed and was overheard by a producer of ITV’s primetime Tonight programme.
Nikki has since been interviewed and filmed for the Tonight programme at Isuzu HQ in Hatfield. The programme was transmitted in April.
I researched the name of the producer on Radio 4’s Any Questions and tracked her down in order to pitch Nikki as a panellist. She was so convinced by our one conversation she booked her on the spot. Nikki was a guest panellist on Radio 4’s Any Questions in February 2012, on which she got the loudest applause of the night. I have since arranged for Nikki to review the Sunday papers on Radio 4’s Broadcasting House.
I also wanted to focus on her public speaking and arranged for her to be a speaker at the Oxford Union, in a debate promoting female quotas in the boardroom, which she opposed. She won the debate by a landslide. She shared the opposition with the Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP and Rupert Soames OBE
After all this high profile activity Question Time was no longer a problem and they invited her onto the show on March 22nd, which she was unable to do and more recently June 22nd which she is also unable to do. She will be a guest on the programme later this year.
I also announced her appointment as non-Executive Director for a young person’s charity Catch 22 Social Enterprises and its offshoot Auto 22. I placed stories in the local media where the first Auto 22 garage is based (Gravesend Messenger and Gravesend Reporter) and also set up an interview in The Times Public Sector section, which appeared on March 9th.
In October 2011 I was invited to extend my work with Isuzu Trucks UK to focus on the trade magazines for their unique and award-winning Customer Care programme. I have since secured coverage for several releases I have written and a 2,000 word feature in the important trade magazine Logistics & Transport Focus, the official magazine of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK).
I helped Nikki write both her Oxford Union speech and the 2,000 word feature for the above magazine.
Coverage has also been secured in Coutts Woman magazine for their 24 hour feature (it is an online magazine which is syndicated to 10,000 female Coutts customers). I have also placed Nikki in the Readers Digest, for which she has written a two page feature for the If I Ruled The World section. This was published in June.
I set up a webchat for Nikki with gransnet, an offshoot of mumsnet, in January 2012 in order for her to talk to her peer group. The questions people posed were thought provoking and Nikki’s responses were stimulating and inspiring.
I’m now working on continuing the momentum of raising her profile.