Andrew Jennings, CEO of Larsson & Jennings, explains why Alicia Waite should win the Rising Star category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition:
Alicia has played an instrumental role in the growth of Larsson & Jennings during the past 12 months. As PR manager she has helped me make decisions that have had a significant impact upon the success of the business. She brought all PR activities in-house at the beginning of 2015 (we’d previously worked with an agency), and our coverage levels more than doubled. This simple decision not only saved the business significant amounts of money but also had a direct impact on driving sales.
Alicia has also led all media relations around the launch of our flagship Monmouth Street store. We started as a purely online business, but the store now accounts for more than 30% of the total business revenue, in large part due to the fantastic exposure we have received through both traditional press and social media.
She’s pioneered the way in which we work with cultural influencers to generate exposure. Through working hard to generate connections within the fashion, music and art sectors, we saw our Instagram following grow by more than 50,000 through partnerships Alicia brokered.
We’ve also seen record levels of engagement with our paid for media work thanks to Alicia’s negotiations with the likes of Vogue, Esquire and GQ. Her continued commitment and ambitious approach to her work has made Alicia an asset to Larsson & Jennings and a worthy candidate for the rising star award.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the top three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
