Colchester-based PR and marketing agency, Big Wave PR, has been shortlisted for an East Anglian Marketing award.
The agency has been shortlisted for their work with Essex County Council’s Explore Essex. The firm helped to launch the Pete Wicks’ Dog Walking Trail at Weald Country Park near Brentwood. The grand opening included a dog walk with Pete and a collaboration with the Dogs Trust, which Pete is an ambassador for. The campaign hit the headlines in local and national media titles as well as gaining coverage in Australia and Canada!
Deputy Leader at Essex County Council. Councillor Russell Quirk said: “It was a pleasure to introduce the Pete Wicks Dog Walking Trail in honour of his work with dogs and mental wellbeing.“
“Exercise is essential for dogs and their owners. We have eight country parks across Essex, and we’re always keen to offer residents great spaces to enjoy walking with their dogs.”
Pete Wicks is an ambassador for the Dogs Trust, Basildon, which resulted in him fronting the ever popular and award-winning U&W TV docu-series ‘Pete Wicks – For Dog’s Sake’. During a recent series of the show, across the UK, Dogs Trust experienced its busiest ever month on record for adoption requests and saw a 20% rise in donations. He is also a men’s mental health advocate and has a Sunday Times best-selling book ‘Never Enough’ and chart-topping podcast ‘Man Made’.
Founder and Managing Director, Big Wave PR, Hilary Collins, is delighted with the shortlist. She says: “We were tasked with putting a new dog walking trail on the map and I think we achieved that! After launch I was getting calls from family and friends saying: ‘I’ve just heard it on Radio 2’, ‘Jamie Theakston’s been talking about it on Heart’, ‘I’ve seen it in the Daily Mail’, that’s when you know your campaign is a success.”
Big Wave PR has a strong background in winning top awards. The firm has walked off with a national PRCA (Public Relations Consultants Association) award. They are also winners of the Best Consumer campaign with the CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) nine years in a row.
Winners of the East Anglian Marketing awards will be announced on 11 September 2026 at a celebration event at Epic Studios in Norwich.
To find out more about Explore Essex and the Pete Wicks Dog Walking Trail at Weald County Park, go to www.explore-essex.com/pete-wicks-dog-trail. For Big Wave PR, visit www.wearebigwavepr.co.uk.