Forestry Commission names triple agency roster for £750,000 brief

On 31 July 2012, PRWeek reported that the body responsible for Britain’s forests and woodlands was pulling together a roster focused on six regions and worth £750,000 over three years.

Spirit Public Relations will handle work in the South West and West, which includes the Forestry Commission’s national office in Bristol and forests of Coleford, Exeter and Westonbirt.

Manchester-based Creative Concern will work across three northern areas, covering Sherwood Pines, Penrith, Bellingham, York and Pickering.

Finally, Camargue picked up work for two areas of the South, focusing on Lyndhurst, Bucks Horn Oak and Santon Downham.

The roster represents a rethink of the Forestry Commission’s comms set-up and will see the agencies promote Britain’s forest spaces, while engaging private landowners and stakeholders – work previously kept separate.

Forestry Commission head of comms Mark Funnell said: ‘The new contracts will help us to attract more visitors to the Public Forest Estate to enjoy the wealth of activities available, from cycling to holidays, and walking to wildlife. They will also help us motivate people to take greater care of their woodlands and forests.’

The review comes after the decision that England’s national forests should remain in public ownership. The Government performed a U-turn in February 2011 when plans to sell off state-owned woodlands and axe the Forestry Commission were met with widespread public opposition

This article was first published on prweek.com