This year, we’ve been involved in some really exciting projects and campaigns for both new and existing clients. We’ve challenged ourselves to push to the next level, achieving some amazing results and putting our names to some truly outstanding results – some of which we have shared and some that you’ll hear about over time.
As a company and a family, we have grown and developed together, pushing ourselves to exceed expectations and to showcase the depth of talent that makes PRG a truly international operation. But I feel this year has been a year for us to grow in preparation for what 2025 holds!
We started the year with Laura departing, heading off to begin her dream job working for the BBC – good to have a friend in the camp there for the future. We welcomed Alex into the team, who slotted in so quickly and was an absolute star getting his teeth into Carrier Solutions, CIAT and other clients. He and I spent an action packed 24 hours at the Carrier Solutions Customer Conference at Sale Sharks Rugby, meeting the team and seeing firsthand how powerful the sponsorship of this successful club has been. Unfortunately, Alex’s journey at PRG was only a relatively short one, as he and his wife departed for a new adventure together in New Zealand. We wish them both well and hope that we will work together again further down the road.
Kathryn’s year has been a crazy one, as she has driven our charge into the European HVAC sector, thanks to our strong relationships with the Carrier Commercial and Carrier Solutions teams. We are currently working on pan-European strategies for promotion in multiple territories, operating alongside our partner agencies within our networks in Europe to deliver strong and integrated campaigns. As we head into 2025, you’ll be seeing an awful lot more of PRG’s international work, particularly for the Carrier brands and also with Amy working on launching her client Rapid Locking System into Germany and other European territories.
When people leave PRG, we always remain in contact, because you never know when we may end up working together again. This was highlighted back in the summer, when we welcomed Stephen Bridle back to PRG after nearly a decade away. Following Adam’s departure, as he headed off to live and work in Bristol, Stephen made contact initially with a view to coming on board as our Digital Marketing expert. But as it would happen, a new opportunity to work with our friends at Identity appeared. Having worked with them on the initial comms around the launch of their Human Network brand, we were invited to get involved with the promotion around their ground-breaking summit in Dubai. Sport Impact Summit, the brainchild of Eastbourne’s own Michael Gietzen, former cricketer and international sports CEO Sean Morris and health and wellbeing expert Mike Ford, was born out of a desire to address climate and health challenges across the globe through the power of sport. Boasting powerful brand partners such as McLaren, SailGP, Dubai Sports Council and ATP Tennis, PRG was incredibly proud to be a strategic delivery partner for this landmark first event.
Stephen returned to PRG to work closely with Ashley, Kathryn, Matt and Guy to deliver an integrated package of solutions to launch and promote the event – working closely with both the fantastic team at Identity Sport, Buz in Dubai, our good friend, event host and Sky Sports presenter David Garrido and liaising with the stakeholders and partners at the major brands involved in making this a huge success. We are excited about what is to come in 2025 as the event evolves and grows, but I am incredibly proud of how the PRG team has risen to this challenge and supported a groundbreaking and important global event.
Following Alex’s departure in the summer, we welcomed Anita, who joins Kathryn’s team and works across several of our HVAC clients. She was lucky enough to join at the start of Airbourne, the airshow week, where we took a table at the hospitality, culminating in Anita showing off her dancing skills with one of our clients – a great start to a new job. This year, PRG was a sponsor for the airshow, meaning that we produced all the promotional material and design work in exchange for promotion before and during the event. I was also proud to be asked to join the Steering Committee for the event, working alongside the Council and other stakeholders to help deliver a top-class event once again.
If you read my updates each year, or follow me on social, you’ll know that I love motorsport. So, this year, an absolute highlight for me was the Carrier Customer Conference at the start of November held at the home of British Motorsport, Silverstone. Kathryn, Ashley, Anita and I joined the Carrier team for a brilliant day watching presentations, taking part in the pit stop challenge, racing the track in simulators and meeting the legend that is the 2024 British Touring Car Champion Jake Hill. To top it all off, we got to meet the guest speaker, Damon Hill, and get our baseball caps signed. A truly memorable experience and a hugely successful event.
PRG’s resident golf star, Ashley, has been continuing to hone his skills and has taken part in both client and charity golf days. Ashley has also stepped into the role of PRG’s HVACR expert, further immersing himself in the sector as we continue our aggressive growth strategy along with our in-house HVACR consultant Andrew Bailey.
Ashley, Kathryn, Matt and the wider PRG team have relished another exciting year working closely with Chubb Fire and Security. We really are an extension of the UK marketing team, working across so many areas of the business, we are extremely proud of the relationship that has built over the last four years. We truly do offer a full support service and can be called on to fulfill such a wide remit, making them a really rewarding client to work alongside.
One of our longest standing clients, Condale Plastics, has really ramped up their marketing with us in 2024, including the creation of a high-quality company promotional video. Recently, Kathryn and Anita arranged for Mims Davies MP to visit their factory in East Grinstead, meeting with the team to discuss the widening skills gap in the manufacturing sector in the UK.
Amy and I took a road trip to the Installer Show in Birmingham in June, catching up with clients and meeting potential new ones. Amy and Matt worked hard to produce an exhibition stand for Rapid Locking System that would allow them plenty of visual appeal, showcase the products and mean that Grant had plenty of space to engage with potential customers. Whilst there, we also met with Mark from our client Bailey, who are also part of the Marmon Group, to discuss strategies for campaigns around their hugely successful drain rod and accessories ranges.
Guy has now been at PRG for just over a year and he’s delivered a broad range of websites, including a brand new website for local private school Buckswood, our favourite new local seafront restaurant The Glass House, London-based cleaning company Xenon as well as the recently launched Big Futures Show website for the event in Eastbourne in April. He and Stephen are developing our new digital strategy for 2025, but you’ll have to watch our socials for that in the New Year!
Jo’s role as Finance Director has meant she’s had to juggle the day-to-day of finance, along with being on the management team and implementing a new accounts package, training the team and ensuring everything went seamlessly. Of course, she’s done this whilst also steering the family ship, which she effortlessly juggles with great success.
Speaking of which, Jenson and Lara continue to make us proud. Lara is in her final year of Junior School, where she is showing real talent with her art and graphics (see the image at the top of the page which is Lara’s design for our PRG Christmas cards). She was lucky enough to take a trip to the Houses of Parliament this year as part of being a school MP. She didn’t see our friend and local Eastbourne MP Josh Babarinde that time, but we’re planning a visit as a family with Josh in the New Year. Jenson is now a teenager, so we get Kevin and Perry style grunts in the morning, but once he’s woken up then he is a fantastic character with a really wicked sense of humour.
I’ve tried to continue to support my children’s schools, taking part in the first ever Careers Day at Ocklynge, where Lara was my assistant, as well as mock interviews and Eastbourne Youth Radio for Cavendish, which I hope Jenson will take part in next year. We also supported Eastbourne DigiFest for the second year, helping to foster and support digital skills and opportunities in East Sussex.
Looking forwards to 2025, PRG will be turning 45! We had very muted celebrations when we turned 40, as we found ourselves in the middle of a pandemic. However, we intend to mark our 45th in a variety of ways – I’m not going to spoil anything, but we have some big plans in the pipeline. We recently worked with our good friend and ace photographer Jim Holden to get some brilliant new team photos ready and I think a call to Sam Thomas is in order too, so we can update the PRG story which we first told in Sussex Business Times in 2020.
As always, I’d like to send out a big thank you to the suppliers and friends of PRG who help us throughout the year, including the team at M-Tech Systems, as well as our long-time business coach and close friend Martin Riley.
I struggle to put into words how amazingly proud I am of the people that make up the PRG family. Each and every one of them brings so many skills, so much experience and such huge character to the table each and every day. I am so grateful for what has been achieved in 2024, but there is so much more to come in 2025.
We will be shutting the doors for a well-deserved Christmas break at the end of the day on 23rd December and returning on 2nd January. Any emergencies, please contact me on my mobile as always (07765 031145). I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2025!
