The agency has been taken on by food giant Baxters to create awareness for its range of Jack Daniels Sauces, targeted primarily at the barbecue market.

Baxters launched the sauce range, which it produces under licence, in November last year and has since succeeded in gaining shelf-space for the brand in all of the UK’s major multiples.

However, up until now, the firm has apparently favoured a ‘softly, softly’ launch, building the range up for its first major marketing push prior to the start of the all important ‘barbecue season’.

And this is where Democracy steps in.

O'Grady: having fun

“At the moment we’re getting our plans in place and looking at creating awareness of the brand through reviews, product placement and targeting journalists,” O’Grady said.

“We’ll be mixing in traditional PR tactics alongside online and social media channels, with the idea of creating a real buzz for National Barbecue Week.

“We’re looking forward to it, it’s going to be really good fun,” she added.

O’Grady picked up the brief after Baxters’ brand manager Geraldine Marks, who previously worked alongside her when she was at Halewood and O’Grady at Brazen, approached her to talk about ideas for a strategy for the new range.

Up until that point the client had been dealing solely with London-based agency Church, which is believed to be handling the rest of the upcoming marketing task for the JD sauces.

O’Grady also noted that the initial success of the agency had led her to advance Democracy’s growth plans, with the result that she was now looking to recruit new staff.

“There’s some big projects on the horizon,” she concluded, “and I need staff that understand how PR really works now – that building brands is about more than simply speaking to journalists.

“That’s still important, of course, but there’s other methods and channels that can be utilised now.”

Manchester-based Democracy sells itself as ‘a new PR agency for a new way of thinking.’

www.democracypr.com

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