Election rule no. 1

Never say anything derogatory about anything or anybody until you've checked that your microphone is switched off.

Offering Samaritans a helping hand

We're delighted to announce that we have agreed to take on Leicester Samaritans as a client on a pro bono basis.

Leicester Samaritans is one of over 200 Samaritans branches nationwide, and offers confidential emotional support to anyone is distress.

Samaritans' vision is for a society where fewer people die by suicide because people are able to share their feelings openly without fear of being judged. Samaritans believes that providing the opportunity to be listened to in confidence, and accepted without prejudice, can alleviate despair and suicidal feelings.

The Leicester branch is one of only 12 throughout the country that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It handles approximately 40,000 contacts each year.

The service is offered by around 140 trained volunteers and is entirely dependent on voluntary support - no Government grants, NHS budgets or taxpayers' money spent here (which is another blog - actually, a rant - completely).

Even using the team of volunteers, the running costs of the branch are in excess of £55,000 per annum.

Leicester Samaritans is always looking for new volunteers and needs financial support if it is to continue with its fantastic work.

In addition, the organisation wants everybody in the county to be aware of the work it does, so anybody feeling low and who wants to talk knows where to turn.

Our job will be to help to convey those messages. We’re delighted to be involved.

If you feel you may be able to offer Leicester Samaritans some form of help or support, give us a call on 01530 276550 and we'll put you in touch with the right people.

We are the champions!

We aim, we shoot, we score! Goooooooaaaaallll! The results from the big award ceremony are in… and wait for it… our client won! I bet this is how Wayne Rooney feels when he scores a winning goal for England. There was much joy and jubilation in the office this morning when we heard the great news... although not as much champagne as I had expected. :0)

The award was presented by the hilarious stand-up comedian Michael McIntyre at a lavish black-tie dinner and dance ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in London, which went on until the early hours of this morning.

Although I didn’t get an invite to the award ceremony (huh), it was reward enough to know our team were the champions (honest).

The slick Subbuteo-themed design carried out by Hill Langdell (www.hilllangdell.co.uk) helped the entry stand out from the crowd.

Let’s just hope the England team has the same success this summer at the World Cup in South Africa. Come on England!

Ten rules of reputation management

We've handled more than our fair share of crises - although none have been more dramatic than the first I experienced, which happened to be the assassination of Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt and entailed a mad dash back to the Middle East from the UK.

Nowadays, the focus tends to be the impact on our client's reputation rather than the threat to world peace.

A quick confession - I love handling crises. Clients, however, don't share my affection and so - reluctantly - we have compiled a list of rules on how to manage the reputation of a business without needing to call on us.

Although you know where we are if we're needed!
Reputation

They think it's all over! It is now!

I have to say it takes a lot to impress me… but when I saw the amazing job that the designers Hill Langdell did with the award entry I’ve been working on over the last few weeks, it exceeded all my expectations.

With it being a World Cup year we wanted to go with a football theme, but not in an obvious way. So, after a get together and several cups of tea, we came up with the stunning idea of using Subbuteo as the theme.

We shoot, we score! Based on this, the entry folder was made as a Subbuteo game box, with players included (all in my client’s branded colours of course) and with the award submission document inside. This had the same theme and featured page numbers on Subbuteo players’ shirts.

The big challenge was getting hold of Subbuteo - it doesn't appear to be sold any more, but friends and family raided attics and toy cupboards and we ended up with more than we needed.

Hill Langdell took some great photographs and they used these throughout the entry to convey my client’s key messages. It looks like all the long hours and sleepless nights that they put in have really paid off.

Just like the England team, we’re looking forward to a good result once the competition is finished.

To find out more about Hill Langdell visit www.hilllangdell.co.uk or call 01332 363388.

Money well spent

For the second time in recent months, we have a client who had intended to reduce their PR budget after the first six months, deciding to maintain the original level of activity.

In an economic climate where every penny still counts, this goes to show that the results we have achieved for them represent a healthy return on their investment. In this case, in addition to media coverage with a value of more than seven times the fee, the client has also received a number of sales enquiries as a direct result of this work - not bad for a company which only set up in the UK last year.

Their decision makes the hard work, and in some cases, sheer persistence, involved in achieving these results all seem worthwhile. And who knows, if we can improve on the success of the first six months, they might even increase the budget...

Awarding success

Well I’ve nearly finished compiling the award entry I’ve been working on for the last few weeks. 10,664 words and 159 pages later there is light at the end of the tunnel. Now comes the fun bit … where the whole document is sent off to the designers to work their magic and add that professional touch to the entry.

It then comes back to me for final proofing before going to the printers. The whole office will wish the entry luck when the courier comes to collect it.

Only one month to wait then it’s the star-studded award ceremony presented by comedian of the moment Michael Macintyre. My client will face the moment of truth and find out if they win!

It's the winning that counts...

An interesting client meeting on Friday to discuss the possibility of entering (and hopefully winning!) one or two industry awards, primarily as a means of attracting positive publicity.

The client already had a very clear idea of which awards they'd like to win, but was somewhat less clear on what it was about their business that might justify such aspirations. This is a common mistake, which often leads companies to enter awards that the proverbial 'cat in hell' stands more chance of winning.

Believe it or not, in order to win an award, you must have done something 'award-winning' and we encourage clients with such aspirations to look first at their business, products and services to identify those elements that genuinely differentiate them from their competitors. Then look at the award schemes, categories and criteria and identify those which 'match' your particular success story - if you've done this properly, there probably won't be many.

Having done this with the client in question, we now have a realistic shortlist of awards which they might actually win!

This was also the first time this company has enlisted external help to produce awards entries. In the words of the marketing manager: "We've always cobbled them together ourselves, but we've never won anything."

Far be it for us to suggest that the two things might just be connected! Whilst there are never any guarantees, with our proven track record in producing winning award entries, I get the feeling their luck might be about to change...

Reaping the awards

Finally, after months of preparation and planning, award time is here! I’m currently knee deep in compiling an award entry for a client – this gives me memories of writing my dissertation all those years ago.

Apart from having a new piece of glassware for the trophy cabinet, awards bring much more value to a client. They boost team morale, add more weight to PR and marketing activity and reassure customers that they are dealing with a quality business.

This client was the runner up in last year's awards. Let's hope we can go one better in 2010!

Every cloud has a silver lining

Just like the weather at the moment this job can be very unpredictable!

A few days before Christmas I came up with an idea for an article for one of our clients in the supply chain and, after a few discussions with the editor, sold the idea of a feature in a sector magazine.

The article was supplied on time and I called to check it had been received. All seemed well. However, in one of today’s trade e-newsletters I discovered that a new editor has just been appointed to the publication.

A quick call to the now former editor confirmed this. It also transpired that the article hadn’t been passed on as the magazine was taking a new direction.

I immediately contacted the new editor, he seemed to like the idea as well, wanted to take a look and would let me know. I fired it over with some relevant photos and crossed my fingers.

Bingo! We’re on. He wants to run it as an exclusive in the next issue and also commented: “Great pix.”

Particularly good news as I have a meeting with the client tomorrow.