Boilerhouse is not a PR agency and we do not take on standalone PR work. However, we do have professional PR consultants and journalists within our team and will plan and deliver PR campaigns as part of wider communications activity undertaken for clients when required. Generally this saves clients the additional time and money involved in hiring separate PR resources.

Case study: Society of IT Management (Socitm)

Boilerhouse has been running the press office for this association for public sector IT professionals since 2001. During that time we have raised significantly the profile of the organisation, enabling it to punch above its weight and achieve national recognition for work in areas not generally considered exciting or newsworthy (local government and ICT). Socitm has achieved media coverage in national newspapers including the FT, Times, and the Guardian, trade media like Local Government Chronicle, Computer Weekly, and New Media Age. Recently, Boilerhouse has enabled to Socitm to embrace social media, and we have developed an active Socitm presence in global networks liked Linked in, Twitter, Flickr, and Slideshare as well as a range of local government specific networks. We monitor and contribute to a wide range of industry blogs and well as running Socitm's own blog.

Other PR work for Socitm has included:

• _ creating web content and monitoring and stimulating usage of Socitm's websites and development of facilities for web 2.0 and professional networking activities
• _ writing printed materials, exhibition stands, e-communications and video material to promote the Society's activities
• _ managing Socitm's involvement with third party events, conferences and awards, and working on the development and promotion of joint ventures with other organisations

The communications strategy and plan we recommended (and later delivered) met these requirements entirely. Communication of the changes, regarded by Department of Health in early 2007 as one of the major risks around the whole pensions modernisation programme, had proved, by June 2008, to be one of its success stories.