2020 has been, for all of us, an extraordinary year (we won’t use the word unprecedented!) We’ve all found new ways to work, communicate, and continue doing what we love – almost exclusively online. 

For Lynn, this year has been one of both new and unexpected challenges, whilst presenting many new opportunities and huge potential for growth and expansion. Here we review some of our highlights for 2020, as we continue to look forward with excitement to the possibilities for a successful, growing, remote-working agency that the New Year will bring.

Award-winning strategic communications and behavioural insights agency

Earlier this year, we were included in PR Week’s UK-wide new agencies to watch 2020 list, and in August we were delighted to be announced as the winners of PRCA DARE’s New Consultancy of the Year award. 

Lynn was also shortlisted as a finalist for Creative Start-up of the Year in the 2020 Wales Start Up Awards, celebrating the best new businesses in Wales, as well as the Social Media Awards 2020, in the Best Direct Response Social Media Campaign category for our Free Your Mind Campaign with NHS South East London CCG.

Fusing academic models with creative communications to create campaigns that work

We worked with South East London CCG on one of its most successful campaigns,  #FreeYourMind,  a mental health campaign which is now widely recognised as an innovative results-oriented campaign by NHS teams across the UK.

We delivered up to 4.5x improvement in engagement, at 2.3% overall campaign engagement and 3.7% engagement across key social media channels, compared with typical campaign benchmarks. 54% engaged with our key calls to action, driving more than 25,000 clicks from our campaign content to our microsite, and crucially, we engaged with seldom-heard groups, including 44% engagement from BAME residents (from a mean BAME population of 39%).

Not only was the campaign shortlisted as a UK Social Media Awards 2020 finalist, but in November was also awarded Silver in the Data-Driven category at The Public Service Communications 2020 Awards.

We also worked on the ‘Back to School’ offshoot for this campaign, catering to more specific audiences, and reached 307,945 south east London residents and, in a matter of four weeks, drove over 3,000 conversions to the main #FreeYourMind hub. 

Over the summer, Lynn worked with Mid Wales Tourism to conduct the first-of-its kind behavioural insights research for Welsh tourism to better understand the specific challenges facing the sector as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was a pioneering piece of research, not just for our client MWT, but the wider Welsh tourism, to help them understand how to respond to the pandemic using behavioural science tactics. We provided tangible actions that could be implemented across communications, policy and the local environment to encourage our audiences to meet positive behavioural goals. The report informed a website review and was instrumental in the development of Visit Mid Wales’ autumn campaign. 

Another pioneering research this year was our work for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), to help them raise awareness and increase uptake of advanced training for motorcyclists across England as well as to ascertain the blockers preventing this. The goal of this DfT-funded project was ultimately to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by motorcycle accidents. 

We undertook in excess of 50 randomised trials across England to provide insights on engagement and influences that drive action – including analysis on high engagement and low engagement groups, segmented by region, interests and demographics. And because of our granular testing, we were able to spotlight specific types of content that drove action locally. In a matter of weeks, we generated a 4.6% engagement rate and drove 11,783 clicks to the call to action. 

And we’re just wrapping up our localised flu vaccination campaign for south east London, where an application of behavioural science and data-driven methodologies has been supporting an increase in vaccination uptake across key at-risk groups. 

For the team here at Lynn, working on these successful, award-winning campaigns has only reinforced our commitment to delivering the highest quality PR and communications campaigns by taking a strategic, data-driven approach based on behavioural insights and research. 

Finishing the year on a high

As we head towards the end of the year and look forward to the opportunities and challenges that a brand New Year will bring, we’re finishing 2020 on a high. Our team has expanded with 6 new employees on board, and at the end of November, Lynn CEO Shayoni Lynn was recognised as a Fellow of the PRCA, the world’s largest professional PR body, due to her outstanding contribution to the PR and communications industry. 

Speaking about the momentous challenges, changes and growth we’ve experienced this year, Shayoni said: “This year has been a whirlwind! I am so proud of how the team at Lynn have adapted to changing contexts and challenges so we can continue to support our clients across a range of meaningful projects that deliver intrinsic human value. From public health and road safety, to tourism, hospitality, supporting in-house teams with strategy development, internal communications, skills development and so much more – this has been a year where we have learnt so much. And to be able to support teams during this difficult time has been an absolute privilege.”

We’re excited to discover the possibilities and new innovations that may be just around the corner, as we continue to grow and expand our work and the array of clients we’re working with, throughout 2021 and beyond.

Want to apply behavioural science to your communications projects in 2021? Get in touch at contact@lynn.global

This article was written by Shayoni Lynn, CEO at Lynn.