25 Feb Pickering and Ferens Homes chooses Mercury as its new agency

A flourishing communications agency has been selected as the preferred bidder to work with an East Yorkshire-based housing association that provides accommodation for the over-60s.

Mercury Design and Marketing Ltd, which operates from headquarters in Saxon Way, Priory Park, Hessle, beat off stiff competition to be named Pickering and Ferens Homes’ new marketing and PR partner.

The charity, which owns and manages more than 1,200 properties across the region, selected Mercury based on its creative ideas in terms of communicating with the association’s residents and stakeholders.

Kelly Todd, founding director of Mercury, benefits from a strong background in communicating with the over-60s, as well as being a former journalist.

“I have got some very exciting ideas about how we can re-launch Pickering and Ferens Homes’ magazine,” she said. “I will be working closely with members of the association’s Resident’s Editorial Group on an on-going basis to ensure they feel a real sense of ownership over their new-look publication.

“The first thing we will be doing is hosting a workshop at our office to enable residents to work alongside our copywriters, designers and creative team, giving them a taste for how a professional communications agency operates.

“In addition to this, we are tasked with carrying out a wide range of other activity including public relations, annual reports and graphic design.”

Roger Elliot, director of Pickering and Ferens Homes, has welcomed Mercury on-board. He said: “On behalf of myself, the staff and the residents of Pickering and Ferens Homes, I would like to welcome Mercury to our team. I am certain that we will enjoy a strong working relationship with them and this can only have a positive effect on the way in which we communicate with residents and stakeholders, which is becoming more and more important for housing associations nationally.”