Public Relations - to the point.

Breen Media sister company named as one of the world's most influential PR firms.

July 2010

Rein4ce, a sister public relations company of Breen Media, has been named as one of the most influential PR companies in the global reinsurance industry.

Reinsurance magazine named rein4ce as the fourth most influential PR/Marketing company in the reinsurance sector, ranking it alongside firms in London and New York in its widely-respected Reinsurance Power List 2010

Rein4ce is a niche insurance and reinsurance PR company set up in 2008 as a spin-off company of Breen Media, which is based in Uddingston near Glasgow.

Run by former journalists Mairi Mallon and Stephen Breen, rein4ce has worked for clients in London, New York, Bermuda and the Middle East, including Munich Reinsurance America, the Bermuda Stock Exchange and Yellowblox.

Mallon tweets and blogs as @reinsurancegirl and she is widely seen as one of the most innovative users of social media in the reinsurance world.

In its commendation, the magazine stated: “The new kid on the block, ex-journalist Mairi Mallon’s rein4ce is making waves, especially in social media. One to watch, especially in Bermuda: she’s pulling in new clients at speed.”

Mallon, rein4ce’s Managing Director, said: “I am absolutely delighted that rein4ce has established itself among the leading PR firms in the reinsurance sector in such a short period of time.

“We have spent an awful lot of time experimenting with social media to find the tools that work best for ourselves and our clients and it’s pleasing to see that we are now reaping the rewards of that hard work.

“Our success has shown that small Scottish companies can punch above their weight and operate successfully on an international scale if they use social media in a targeted and thought-out way.”

(About rein4ce: rein4ce is a niche insurance and reinsurance public relations company set up in 2008 by Mairi Mallon and Stephen Breen, former journalists who worked for a variety of titles including The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday, Daily Record and Reuters. It offers PR services to insurance and reinsurance companies and business servicing the insurance and reinsurance sectors. For further information call Mairi Mallon on 07843 076556 or visit www.rein4ce.co.uk) 

Prestige Scotland appoints Breen Media for high profile Scottish PR accounts

May 2010

Prestige Scotland, the dedicated Scottish catering division of Sodexo Prestige, has appointed Breen Media to handle its events catering PR in Scotland following a competitive pitch.

Breen Media is working on promoting a number of prestigious accounts, including Official Hospitality at The Open at St Andrews in July, and catering and conferencing at Hampden Park, in the Scottish media and the meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) press.

Anna Fenten, Marketing Director for Sodexo Prestige, UK said: “We are delighted with our new partnership with Breen Media. They have won the pitch to provide support in MICE and Scottish media for our events catering business and will be working on high profile accounts like hospitality at The Open Championship in St Andrews, conference services at Scotland's National Stadium, Hampden Park and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.”

Stephen Breen, Managing Director of Breen Media, said: “This is a great win for Breen Media and we are delighted to be working with a client operating in so many prestigious and interesting venues throughout Scotland.

“Prestige Scotland operate in some of the best and most varied venues in Scotland for conferences, business meetings, events and product launches and we look forward to highlighting this.”

Based in Uddingston just outside Glasgow, Breen Media was set up by former national newspaper journalists Stephen Breen and Mairi Mallon in 2005. They have worked with clients including Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Central College Glasgow, Mechanex UK, Dubai International Financial Services Centre, Scottish Spina Bifida Association, and David Wilson Associates.

Central College and Mechanex commended in college business awards

March 24 2010

Congratulations to Breen Media clients Central College Glasgow and Mechanex UK, who were commended last night in the Business into Colleges Awards run by Scotland's Colleges.

They were short-listed in the Compact Award section for the work Central is doing on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Mechanex to improve its procurement procedures.

Mechanex, a leading air conditioning and ventilation business which recently won a £1.1 million contract with John Lewis Partnership, nominated Central for the award.

The award ceremony took place on Wednesday, March 24, at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. Keynote speaker Keith Brown MSP, the Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning Keith Brown, highlighted the benefits colleges deliver to the economy through working with business, and First Minister Minister Alex Salmond, in a recorded message, praised colleges for helping Scottish businesses through the recession.

Mechanex appoints Breen Media

March 2010

Breen Media has been appointed to raise the public relations profile of Mechanex UK, a fast-growing ventilation and air conditioning business.

Breen Media has been able to secure extensive early coverage for the company's £1.1 million contract with the John Lewis Partnership. The news was covered in publications such as The Herald, USA Today, The Scotsman, Business7, FM World, and Modern Building Services.

Stephen Breen, Managing Director of Breen Media, said: "We are delighted to be working with Mechanex. It is a first class company that is really thriving in these tough economic times thanks to their excellent product and customer service."

Alan Finlayson, Managing Director of Mechanex, said: "We are excited to be raising our public profile through Breen Media and I'm delighted with the results achieved so far. Our relationship with breen Media will help to develop the business and position us where we need to be in the marketplace."

Breen Media trains the Scottish Spina Bifida Association.

February 2010

Breen Media has been polishing up the media skills of the Scottish Spina Bifida Association.

The charity does great work and has an excellent story to tell. However, it has grown and needed better skills and strategy to deal with the media effectively.

Stephen Breen and Mairi Mallon teamed up with our training partners, professional actress Bridget McCann and experienced camerawoman Dianne Barry, for a full day’s session.

Stephen and Mairi started the day by brainstorming with the Spina Bifida team about story ideas, key messages, and target media to help them with a long term PR strategy.

After a mock interview, which we filmed, Bridget took the team through a range of exercises to calm them down, build up their confidence and help them to project themselves effectively, while Dianne was able to dissect their performance in front of the camera.

We followed this up with some coaching on how to answer tricky questions and reinforce key messages and filmed them once again.

By the end of the day – which we provided pro bono as part of our corporate social responsibility commitment - all the participants saw dramatic improvements in their performance and felt much more confident in dealing with the media.

Deborah Roe, Head of Fundraising at the charity, said: “The Scottish Spina Bifida Association were very fortune to be able to participate in a day of public relations and media training and we not only thoroughly enjoyed the day as a team building exercise, but also learnt incredibly valuable communication skills that will allow us to maximize our message to our audience, whenever media opportunities present themselves.

“We can’t wait to put the skills learned in the seminar to good use. Thanks to Breen Media and Bridget and Dianne for giving us the ‘how to do’ and confidence to deal with the media."

Breen Media sets up specialist reinsurance company rein4ce

September 2008

Breen Media has launched a specialist public relations and communications company targeted at the insurance, reinsurance and risk management industries.

Founders Stephen Breen and Mairi Mallon set up the new business, rein4ce, in response to a growing demand from copanies in the re/insurance industry who need writers and public relations professionals with a detailed knowledge of these niche sectors.

"Reinsurance is a very specialised subject, and what we constantly hear from reinsurance marketing and PR departments in they have to waste a lot of time explaining the basics of what they do when they talk to copywriters and PR agencies," said rein4ce Managing Director Mallon.

"When it comes to corporate communications, we are convinced that there is a big demand for rein4ce's unique combination of great writing, industry know-how and extensive contacts."

rein4ce is offering a range of services including copywriting, web writing, social media consultancy, speech-writing, ghost-writing articles, generating story ideas, and public relations consultancy services. The company is also offering complete media start-up packages for new reinsurance companies that includes logo and brochure design through to web writing and an initial press release.

The services will be aimed at a wide range of professionals within the reinsurance, insurance and risk management industries and businesses that service them including PR and marketing departments, brokers, underwriters, associated professionals such as lawyers, bankers, accountants, captive managers, professional associations and overseas jurisdictions.

For more information, visit www.rein4ce.co.uk