Porter Novelli wins Southern Cross brief

Porter Novelli has been called in to provide PR support to Southern Cross, the UK’s largest provider of care homes.

The Darlington-based company asked six agencies to pitch and eventually awarded the brief to Porter Novelli following a two-way final stage, PR Week reports.

According to the publication, the agency will be offering “crisis support” after a year in which Southern Cross has been the subject of negative reports about its standards of care.

Porter Novelli will also provide national press office services for all five of the company’s regions.

“We want to get more on the front foot with our marketing effort,” said Pauline Boyle, marketing manager at Southern Cross.

She also said that choosing a new PR agency was a “positive step” for the firm, which operates over 730 care homes and provides approximately 37,000 beds nationwide.

“Porter Novelli stood out with its strategic vision, strong creative ideas and all-round ability,” she told PR Week.