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Buck and Hound
BUCK & HOUND
Rather than let the slowdown in work during the fi rst lockdown get to them, Claire Buckley and the team at Buck & Hound sprung into action on behalf of Dublin Simon Community
s a lean consumer PR
Aagency with a mix of clients, many from the hospitality industry, the team at Buck & Hound found their client portfolio impacted when the pandemic hit, as businesses pressed pause on their PR activity. “Many of them have returned with renewed vigour, which we’re extremely grateful for,” says owner and Managing Director Claire Buckley, “But at the time, we were staring into the abyss and didn’t know what lay ahead of us.”
The team didn’t waste any time sitting around and quickly decided to off er their services pro bono to a charity. “We’re a very busy offi ce and that’s how we like it,” Buckley states. “I knew that charities were going to be under huge pressure, and we wanted to use our skills to help a not-forprofi t whose services would be in high demand, so we did a callout on social media. Caoimhe O’Connell from Dublin Simon Community promptly answered and the rest is history.”
RAISING AWARENESS With demand for food banks alone jumping tenfold in the space of a fortnight, and one in six households in Dublin becoming homeless on a daily basis, the drain on charities was enormous. “We’ve been working with Dublin Simon Community on anything that they need support on as well as
ideating upcoming campaigns ever since April 2020. One of the most important things was that they wanted to make people aware of what they did and their services, for people who suddenly found themselves without a roof over their head eff ectively overnight. Our fi rst campaign was centred around driving mass awareness.”
The mission was to rapidly raise broad awareness for the services provided by Dublin Simon Community and drive much-needed donations through a hard-working press offi ce and infl uencer marketing campaign. Dublin Simon Community had never engaged in proactive public relations that simultaneously used the reach and impact of infl uencers to drive messaging and a greater share of voice.
“Buck & Hound leveraged our existing relationships with media and key opinion leaders to support some of the most vulnerable in our society who now found themselves caught in the crosshairs of two major crises,” Buckley states.
“A lot of the media rowed in behind us, and gave us some really amazing editorial.’
BUCK & HOUND
CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS
Dublin Simon Community’s Corporate Partnerships Team has a range of opportunities for companies looking to get involved in workplace fundraising, payroll giving, corporate volunteering and specifi c campaigns such as Longest Day and Staycation at various times of the year. The charity can provide impact reports to demonstrate where funds raised go, including testimonials from benefi ciaries, thus ensuring your staff know the huge difference they are making to the lives of some of the most vulnerable in society.
www.dubsimon.ie/get-involved/
IMPACTFUL CAMPAIGNS “Working with Dublin Simon has given myself and my team a really renewed perspective on what matters,” Buckley acknowledges. “The Dublin Simon Community are such a well-regarded charity, and that’s with good reason.
“It has been the stories of the services that they provide that so few are aware of - from prevention to treatment to housing - and working with some of their amazing clients who have been brave enough to tell their stories in the Irish media, that has really demonstrated the kind of services that are being off ered.”
Buck & Hound’s work with Dublin Simon Community has to date generated over 140 pieces of traditional coverage and pervasive infl uencer social content with a combined reach in excess of 33 million, an advertising space value equivalent of €500k, and a corresponding PR value of €1.5million, all of which is thought to be linked to approximately €72,000 in donations.
Discussing the impact, Buckley notes, “What it really shone a light on was all the diff erent ways that homelessness looks. It’s not just someone sitting on a street corner. Homelessness looks like all sorts of things; it can be families couch surfi ng—it comes in so many diff erent forms.”
Client synergies included a January challenge with healthy oils food brand Sussed, with all money raised matched by Sussed. Another client, Irish printmakers JANDO collaborated on Dublin Simon’s annual Longest Day campaign, which was supported through PR, advertising and creative with a percentage of proceeds from the brand’s limited edition Dawn to Dusk collection going directly to the benefi t of the charity. Other key campaigns have included Run@Home and Christmas Craic.
STAFF MORALE Working with a pro bono client during lockdown was a meaningful experience for the entire team, keeping them motivated during a tough year. “That old adage that ‘There’s no such thing as a selfl ess act,’ is true: the feel-good factor for us was immense, especially because Dublin Simon Community are so remarkable to work with that it was an absolute pleasure every single day,” says Buckley. “Since the fi rst project with Dublin Simon Community, the boost in spirits has been immeasurable and now, that we are back at almost full client capacity, it continues to be a source of inspiration for the team.”
While other plans for 2020 didn’t get over the line, Buckley is sanguine. ”I laugh to myself sometimes when I happen upon certain documents that had projections and fi ve-year plans that had to be curtailed due to the pandemic, but one of my goals for 2020 was for the business to be in a fi nancial state where we could aff ord to take on a pro bono client on a full-time basis. While the fi rst part wasn’t quite true, it was amazing to achieve that, and now that we’re once again in a really strong position, I have absolutely no intention of winding down our work with Dublin Simon.”
Buck & Hound is a creative and earnest award-winning PR, social, events and design consultancy. With clients across almost every sector, Buck & Hound work with brands to create energetic, strategic and engaging campaigns that drive measurable results. www.buckandhound.ie
