Good to hear!

A major client today revealed editorial coverage generated by us has been directly responsible for meetings with three potential customers, including one of the world's biggest IT companies and another where our client wasn't even on a tender list being drawn up (and which has since been put on hold). 

Our role is all about raising awareness, influencing perceptions and obtaining intelligence through communication programmes, which have strategic and tactical value across a range of business applications.

However, we still get a kick when we hear about these quick wins. :0)

View from the top

As well as producing press releases and case studies, part of our role is to identify opportunities for our clients to offer opinions using their expertise on current hot topics. With this in mind it was great to see Peter Jones, managing director at Logistics Learning Alliance, featured in the Viewpoint column of this week's Motor Transport as he highlighted the importance of management training.

Click here to read the article.

Transdek featured in Handling & Storage Solutions

We're pleased to help our client Transdek champion the idea of improving supply chain efficiency by integrating the loading bay and using it as a data source. Handling & Storage Solutions is featuring the story as part of its September supplement The Supply Chain – Loading Bays & Doors. To take a look at the online version, click on the link. Integrate the loading bay

Maintaining momentum

As a Leicestershire-based public relations consultancy, we're pleased to see the East Midlands leading the way for growth, according to research by the Royal Bank of Scotland:

http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/midlands/121705-east-midlands-leading-way-growth?utm_source=eastmidlands_newsletter&utm_medium=top_story_article&utm_campaign=eastmidlands_news_tracker

No doubt our boss is pleased to see his home town of Warrington in the mix too.

Maintaining East Midlands' momentum means marketing, but we would say that wouldn't we!

Throughout the recession, we've continued to work with a number of companies who recognise the commercial value of maintaining a high profile to help secure further growth and prosperity.

If you'd like to find out more about who we've worked with over the years and what they have to say about us, take a look at http://www.q-storm.co.uk/experience/.

Unusual in a good way

We’re proud to have been in the PR business for almost 25 years, riding out two recessions, which have seen budgets decimated and countless ‘boutique’ agencies disappear.

We have witnessed major changes in how we ply our trade. Electronic communications and, more recently, social media have, thankfully, replaced the endless stuffing of envelopes with press releases (and the sticking of captions to the back of the photographic prints we sent out with them).

Some things haven’t changed though - one of these being the care and time we invest in cultivating strong relationships, both within our client organisations and in the media.

As a result, we’re currently in discussions with three prospective new clients via three individuals who have worked with us in previous roles.

It also means that we’re often the first port of call for journalists looking for contributions, who know they can rely on us to give them material they can use. Journalists like Laura Cork, former Managing Editor of, and regular contributor to, Works Management, who says:

“Your prepared material is great. You look at the features bulletin, throw your hat in the ring, sell your client to us and give us the information we need. It’s unusual in a good way. We’re always very happy with what Quiet Storm delivers. It’s always relevant.”

While we can now communicate in a split second, taking the time to build strong relationships built on understanding and mutual respect remains a fundamental pillar of our success.

What's your favourite logo? It's all in the Mind...

What's your favourite logo?

My vote would go to Mind’s ‘squiggle’.

Not only does the logo clearly, imaginatively and effectively summarise the organisation’s purpose, it’s also one colour, which means the charity can utilise it in a variety of formats without its stationery and signage costing the earth.

I was prompted to go public with my admiration for the Mind logo, having received an email from a business promising to remove complexity from my business thanks to their quick-to-deploy diagnosis tool.

It’s a pity the tool wasn’t applied to their corporate identity, which appears to be a pastiche of Mind’s logo, minus the… erm… simplicity.

Connecting a suspiciously similar squiggle to the end of the word ‘Simplicity’ rather than the beginning seems to suggest that when you complete the diagnostic process you end up where you started, but in a bit of a mess. 

Kudos to Mind – a great organisation doing marvellous work and with an excellent logo to boot.

Upstairs, downstairs!

We’re very pleased to have been appointed by the Logistics Learning Alliance (LLA), one of the leading logistics and supply chain management training companies in the UK, to provide them with an ongoing public relations programme.

The backdrop to our success demonstrates one of the benefits of social media, in this case LinkedIn. Although Leicestershire based LLA is in the same building as us (upstairs) initial contact was made through an invitation to link, which lead to a dialogue online and a quick intro meeting.

After finding out more about LLA, we produced a PR proposal, highlighting our supply chain and logistics expertise, met again in our offices (downstairs), and after outlining a strategy for promoting LLA, we’ve ‘linked’ up. The official kick-off is today but to demonstrate what can be achieved we’ve already supplied a piece for the Leicestershire Chamber magazine, Business Issues for Leicestershire, which has just been published in the July/August issue!

An online lesson from Kasabian

You've got to hand it to Kasabian.

Just a decade after forming the band in Leicester, Tom, Serge, Ian and Chris returned to their roots and played at least three songs from each of their five albums to 50,000 fans in the city's Victoria Park, just one week before headlining at the daddy of all festivals, Glastonbury.

The night was a tremendous success and a true love-in between the group and its adoring followers, marred slightly by the distinct lack of toilets for the gathered throng (note to organisers: 50,000 into 100 does not go).

The fortnight before though, was a classic case of how the internet will fill an information vacuum, with potentially damaging consequences.

When the tickets for the gig went on sale several months ago, the only thing for certain was that Kasabian were playing Leicester. Leading up to the sell-out event, the band confirmed there would be support acts on the day, but would not say who they were.

Excitement raged through the city and Kasabian's national fan base. Not only would we be paying homage to our local lads, there'd be other major stars involved as well.

Still no word from the band, but the web was awash with rumours. Damon Albarn, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and The Maccabees were regular mentions, with the rumours apparently given credence when Tom Meighan mentioned The Maccabees in a pre-concert interview with the local newspaper on 8th June.

Reaction to the official support announcement on 17th June was, it would be fair to say, mixed. Replacing the rumours with the reality of a bunch of DJs had the fans reaching for their keyboards.

Comments like: "What a lot of old tosh… how bad are the support acts… not a classic day out is it… I'd have preferred Sam Bailey and Showaddywaddy…" far outweighed expressions of delight at the revelation.

The build up to the event was punctured and took some time to recover its momentum as people reassessed their expectations and braced themselves for Beardy Man, Zane Lowe and the trumpet miming of Rudimental.

The internet had launched the event and sold the tickets, then sent high expectations for the event soaring even higher before bringing them crashing down to earth.

Okay, so the planet wasn't destroyed and people didn't riot on the streets as a result. There was some negative comment online, but nobody had bought tickets expecting to see Mr Gallagher so nobody got rid of their tickets as a result. The gig was still a sell-out.

Those who wanted to see the DJs pressing play on their iPods and prancing around on stage got in early. The others simply drank themselves silly in London Road pubs instead, then queued to get in the park so they could queue for the loos.

However, even if Kasabian hadn't firmed up on the support acts, managing expectations and filling the vacuum before the internet filled it for them might have been a good move. They got away with it this time, but it would be nice if the build up to the band's next gig on home soil wasn't as much of a roller coaster of anticipation and disappointment.

Moan over lads. Now go and smash it at Glastonbury!

Harnessing 'The Kate Middleton Effect'

While the topic of ‘order picking’ might be bread and butter for some our clients, it hardly screams sex and, as the old saying goes, sex sells.

Fortunately, a mention of the Duchess of Cambridge has the same effect, resulting in an enthusiastic response from the editor of a leading materials handling magazine and web site to our piece on an interesting but somewhat less glamorous subject!

http://www.hsssearch.co.uk/page_473368.asp?hlight=the+kate+effect

Finding interesting ways to present our clients’ key messages is our bread and butter – get in touch if you’d like us to help you spread the word!

Honeywell energy performance contract shortlisted for award

Congratulations to Honeywell Building Solutions on being shortlisted in the "Energy & Carbon Management - Long Term Payback" category of the 2degrees Awards. 

Nice to see that making £11.5 million of energy and operational savings for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board made such an impression on the 7,000+ sustainability experts who voted for the shortlist. Now, on to the final!

Read the Award entry here...

Award winning events!

Another successful day in the office! The award entry that we produced for temporary structures specialist Neptunus helped the company pick up Best Structure Company at the Event Production Awards 2014 last night.

The submission showcased the impressive projects that Neptunus had undertaken for events organisers across the country over the past year.

Neptunus beat off stiff competition from a number of competitors at the black tie event to win the highly coveted award.

This is why I like my job...

Okay, so it may be a bit schmaltzy, but the message is clear...


The power of words.

New media star in the making!

Delighted to see Malcolm Wilson of Norbert Dentressangle doing so well on his debut television appearance earlier today, less than 24 hours after Bloomberg TV had contacted us looking for a supply chain expert to be interviewed about online retailing.

Bloomberg TV: figuring out logistics for uk consumers