The CHA Group

New Year PR resolutions

2012-01-06T02:22:00.002-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!
Yes, it’s that time of the year again. We have been quite busy here at CHA, new office, new venture and new people (including me, Lise, hello!) and we are now back and ready to kick off the New Year!

This year I decided to think about my resolutions from a different angle, maybe it would work differently this time. What about my PR resolution? Sounds immediately more exciting, more challenging (than going back to the gym #fail)

This is what I came up with.
1. Get moving on your social media. If you haven’t done it yet, get started on your social media campaign. Twitter, Facebook, at least the basics. Social media has definitely changed the way we communicate, share, break the news and get noticed. Twitter is probably the place where you will get the worst stories… but also the best ones. And if you still haven’t done your first move on social media, well, make a move! Social media is a must-have that nobody can avoid, whether you like it or not.

2. Online visibility. Get your coverage out of the cupboard - online is the place to be. On your website, your blog, Twitter, Facebook page and many more. You’re doing a great job? Brag about it! How do you expect potential clients to appreciate what you’re doing if they can’t see it!

3. Think outside the box. Competition is tough, economy is bad, we all know it and it’s no breaking news. Don’t be scared to present a new idea, speak out loud and follow your instincts. If you have a good feeling about a new suggestion, don’t drop it just because it’s different. That’s what people like; the unusual, the unexpected. And whatever you have to do, be creative and do something that has not be done before (we hate copycats!)

4. Networking. One of the greatest communication tools is “word of mouth”. Simple, easy and free! Here. Face to face, online, via Twitter (back to resolution number 1! You see…) Engage with your peeps, recognize them, follow them, do not let them forget about you ( here we go again… right back to number 3)

5. Stay tuned. PR is a fast moving, busy environment - there is something new every day out there! Stand out from the crowd when it comes to relaying the information. Use it to be more inventive, to think differently and to be more reactive. It can only be a weakness not knowing what’s going on around you.

But if you feel like you need any help or any advice on social media, design, PR and how to boost your business, we are experts. So feel free to come and talk to us. In the meantime, Happy New Year!

@FrenchieVsLizie

Ethical and Unethical Advertising at Christmas

2011-12-21T01:55:00.000-08:00

With Christmas time around the corner the increase of charity adverts will become more apparent. I’ve read many blogs discussing the unethical drive behind ‘tugging on peoples heart strings’ around the festive period in order for people to cough up money. But is it really unethical?

The most recent Cancer Research campaign is one of my favourite. Of course, the majority of charity adverts follow a structure with a clear call to action at the end, mixed in with some heart-tugging and tear jerking messages. However this particular advert does what it needs to do.

Admittedly, it does contain a lot of the expected codes and conventions of a traditional charity advert, in particular one designed to raise money for research and the awareness of cancer, but this advert is constructed to be more relating and therefore affective for the audience.

http://aboutus.cancerresearchuk.org/what-we-do/our-new-tv-campaign/

The advert is obviously tugging at the heartstrings so people tug at their purse-strings as the overwhelming majority of charity adverts do. However, this particular campaign brilliantly staggers the negative and positive emotion throughout. For example, we are initially saddened by those in the advert revealing how they felt when they were told their loved one was diagnosed with cancer but relief promptly arrives in smiles and happy endings. However, the advert ends with an elderly man alone on a sofa; possibly to illustrate that whilst work is being done to fight cancer it is still not enough. This is where the call to action for the audience comes in asking them to pledge just £2 a month to help people like those in the advert, who they can undoubtedly relate to in one way or another.

Christmas is a time for generosity and giving to those who are in need, and charities should be able to utilise people’s festive and giving mood to help benefit others. Although many people have commented on charity advertising around the festive period as a manipulative way to guilt people in to giving and therefore unethical, would the same people expect an ice cream brand not to advertise in summer?

Generation Y was brought up being promised everything, but may well end up with nothing.

2011-11-28T03:32:00.000-08:00

They’re called the Generation Y- teens and twenty-something’s, stereotypically known for their coddled upbringing, confidence, opinionated dialogue, free-spending habits, openness and drive for change.

Ultimately, however, more than 50 million members may be best remembered for whether they can overcome the dire financial issues many of them face.
As a fellow Generation Y-er I have found it increasingly worrying how this could have, or may affect me.

We’ve been brought up in a world of easy credit, where spending money you didn’t have was encouraged and as a result Gen Y is criticised for being frivolous spend thrifts, with their multiple maxed-out credit cards. But we didn’t really mind: debt had lost its stigma, because everyone was doing it. Besides, we were told that if we got ourselves into even more debt by going to university, we would be able to secure a job so that we could live a life, content in debt...or gradually pay it off.

But those promised jobs and employment security have vanished. This year alone, figures show that graduate unemployment has risen again, from 10.6% to 20%. However, when researching official statistics, it was near impossible to find any media channels reporting the same consistent figures.

A degree was going to open up doors and infinite possibilities, but according to media reports, this is not the case for everyone. The BBC recently found 28% of graduates from 2007 still have not found full time work. Those who fall into that category may try their luck with an internship; however, it appears that a growing number of organisations are not prepared to pay out for such opportunities- regardless of whether they are mutually beneficial. So unless you have parents or family that can support you financially, it is very difficult for many people to work several months for no pay, especially in places like London. I’ve noticed some employers tend to use the carrot and stick approach by raising the hopes of an intern by convincing them that there is a good chance there will be a job waiting for them at the end of their stint, but often ending in unemployment. Again.

However this is not always the case, as myself and many of my university friends have found full time employment, and putting our degrees into action. There are many employers out there that are eager and welcoming to take on graduates and run internships; but you have to be prepared to move to different parts of the country. To me, a lot of the graduate unemployment has many contributing factors and it is worth considering the following before going to university and once you’ve graduated. What degree are you taking? Is it specific enough, too specific? Academic and/or transferable? I.e. Philosophy is a very specific subject and may give you limitations when it comes to work, unless you specifically want a job that is directly relevant to philosophy. English is a degree that is more transferable, you can enter jobs in different industries that require skills like analytical thinking and reading, proofing, copywriting, journalism, communication, teaching...you get my point the list goes on. Another thing worth considering is whether you would consider moving to a different city in order to chase your dream career. If you are more willing to re-locate, you are more likely to find employment.

So are degrees worthwhile, or is this unemployment malarkey down to poor reporting, spin on statistics or poor choice of degree? I’d say a mixture of the above. I’ve highlighted a few obvious pros and cons about attending university.

Pro:

opens doors to jobs that would otherwise be near impossible for you to get
allows you to continue studying for a masters degree or beyond
exposes you to more learning you might otherwise not experience
you don't have to worry that someday your field will require a degree. I.e. they tell you to get one or you will be let go or can't get promoted

Con:

likely to have more debt when you graduate
you can graduate without having gained any 'work experience' i.e. book knowledge vs real life experience
a degree doesn't guarantee a job or career

So is a degree worth it?

I think it all depends on the degree in question, the commitment from the individual and their willingness to relocate.

@kayle_grierson

My View on the Nurofen Crisis

2011-08-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

On August 25th it was revealed that some packets of Nurofen Plus contain not headache tablets but an anti-psychotic drug designed to treat conditions such as schizophrenia. A situation like this requires rapid and effective crisis communication even if, as early reports suggest, the brand itself is not at fault.

Crucial to effective reputation protection is providing lots of information and reassuring your stakeholders. In today’s world, that is most often achieved through online and telephone communication. But Reckitt Benckiser has appeared slow to activate these communication channels.

Hours after the MHRA had issued its announcement about the issue, there was:

-no information on the Nurofen website

-no information on the Nurofen Facebook page

-no information on the Reckitt Benckiser website

-no one manning the consumer helpline

The morning of the 26th a short statement had been posted on the Nurofen website, but information and reassurance was still in short supply. The danger is that consumers turn to others for advice rather than Nurofen itself, a risky proposition in terms of reputation protection.

When there is no information available online regarding the issue a consumer would usually turn to an available. However the Nurofen helpline shut at 5pm and the incident was reported by the BBC news at 6pm, reaching more stakeholders and lacking crucial support to protect or reduce the potential damage to Nurofens reputation.

Organisations which want to reassure their customers and retain their loyalty during and after a crisis need to communicate with them. That means being geared up to communicate via company websites and social media and having the capability to operate your customer helpline 24/7 if necessary. Failing to do this leaves customers in the unknown, potentially fearful and with your reputation in the hands of the commentators who are prepared to provide information.

For example The Daily Mail wrote: ‘It is thought militant activists carried out the sabotage operation with the intention of damaging Nurofen Plus’s makers… The company may have been targeted because it tests some products on animals’.

A spokeswoman for Virgo Health, said the agency is ‘not happy’ with the Daily Mail’s line and denies the company uses animal testing.

On the 26th after a statement was release on their website, Nurofen later announced a recall of all stock in retail outlets: a more expansive communication approach is now surely essential...too little too late perhaps?

This case is a perfect example of how businesses must be geared up to communicate swiftly and expansively if they want to retain control of their future in a crisis, with online communication being a priority.

The Nurofen plus case is still a shady one with mixed messages from official and unofficial sources, leaving stakeholders confused with who to trust.. It seems that even large corporations are still failing to grasp the important, critical stages of crisis management and communication.

- Kayleigh Grierson (@KayleighPR).

QR Codes...

2011-07-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

You may have seen them in posters, magazines, on websites and billboard advertisements. QR codes are cropping up more and more.

So what are QR codes exactly? QR codes or quick response codes are a two-dimensional bar code, which to the naked eye is unreadable but can be read by QR barcode readers and camera phones. QR codes can be used to display text, open a URL, and compose emails or SMS.

QR codes are becoming increasingly popular these days in media campaigns; a brilliant example is the World Park Campaign. The idea originated from New York Park wanting to engage to a younger more wired visitor, and they did this through QR codes.

The World Park sought to reposition Central Park as the modern, urban theme park it was once considered and get tourists, both local and international, to re-engage with it by creating an outdoor mobile museum.

Traditional and interactive media let consumers scan the adverts with their mobile devices to watch the commercials and discover unknown facts, rare stories, and movie scenes—just as they would at the event.

The first World Park event opened to the public on Arbor Day weekend 2010. More than 1,800 visitors used their mobile phones to scan custom signage called Parkodes™, QR codes resembling a digital tree, to play the park. Over 50 codes were placed throughout various locations, turning it into an interactive board game. Each sign revealed a question relating to the visitor's exact location. Visitors unlocked park secrets, famous movie scenes, views from the 1800's, and even hunted for a real world Shakespeare in the park.

The World Park gave New York City’s Central Park a voice, a new medium to speak through and created a new way for tourists to interact with this iconic landmark.

Looking at QR codes on a smaller scale they can be utilised in a less complex and personal way, to promote your artwork, blog, store, or to just display a message.

The Future of QR codes and Tags

The potential for QR codes is limitless. What’s most exciting is how they take what social media is doing well now, bringing people together with technology, and extending it to enhance the experience.

The next generation of barcodes will hold even more information- so much that an Internet connection will not even be necessary. The content will be effectively embedded in the code. Imagine scanning a digital code to manifest physical reality?

It’s amazing to consider where this can go and we are looking at incorporating them into our advertising and promotional material!

Google+

2011-07-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

With Google+ reaching its 10 millionth user within days we are all witnessing the biggest, unprecedented growth of a social network site. Ever. Regardless of whether you think its futile attempt to encroach on Facebook’s territory, - they’re making things interesting.

Google’s PR so far has been impressive. Initially G+ only allowed a special selected few to access the trial period of the site, which created an air of mystery and exclusivity. To put it simply, people want what they can’t have, and it certainly created a PR buzz. I for one was chomping at the bit to get involved.

Having used G+ fairly intensively over the last couple of weeks, I can honestly say that it is the most intuitive, inventive and innovative platform I have ever come across. Not to mention the fact that it’s aesthetically pleasing. Putting my own opinions aside and getting down to the nitty gritty- What does G+ actually offer that others don’t?

Firstly G+ has a lot of web3.0 elements within it, but before I get out of my own depth with the technical stuff I’d rather talk about its features, so let’s start at ‘Circles’.

Circles offer something that no other social networking site can. Google Circles is your organisational tool for your friends, associates, coworkers, or otherwise somehow connected to you, human beings online. You can make a group for your friends; for your family members, for your online game buddies, or even a group especially for the peculiar people you don’t want to offend by blocking them out of your online life- you can make circles for whatever you like.

The main idea behind this clever concept is the ability to separate the messages and media you share between groups, unlike Facebook where whoever you are connected to can see what you share. I’ve had the awkward situation of having to apologise to my Nan for a number of unsightly, inebriated university photos I have been tagged in. This Circles functionality plays with every other bit of this whole ecosystem.

Now the ‘Hangout’ feature. Some say it’s similar to Skype, but personally I prefer it.

The aim of the ‘Hangout’ feature seems to be the idea that it’s a meeting place for you and your friends, you and your associates, or if you feel like it, the oddball bunch. It facilitates up to 6 people in a hang out at a time, so although it can get messy if you all want to talk its more functional than Skype.

Now, the ‘Sparks’ functionality I find less interesting, although to others probably quite useful. Sparks offers real time streaming to anything you may be interested in from Cooking to Sport or my stereotypical choices of clothes, shoes and beauty products. A nice little add on that others don’t offer.

Once you’ve had your first taste of Google+ you really do find yourself immersed in social networking heaven - one that’s fully integrated, fully automated and ridiculously simple to understand.

Many cynics have commented that Facebook shouldn’t be worried about Google+, Google is a search engine and that’s what they are good for and Facebook is a Social Networking site and that’s what they do best, but need I remind you Google+ built the first fully automatically driven car- and they are certainly not a car manufacturer.

The scary thing is that it is still in ‘trial phase’ with ‘bug fixes’ and ‘additional features’ on their way……

CH&A's Guest Blog: Work Experience Student Edward Hill

2011-07-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

Here at CH&A we are well aware of the importance of interns, work experience and mentor schemes, as these opportunities provide a good entry into the world of PR and Marketing for students, as well as being of huge benefit to us, the employer.

A perfect example of this mutually beneficial system is our recent appointment of Kayleigh Grierson, who worked for us as part of her placement scheme at University, this experience has helped immeasurably as Kayleigh has been able to integrate seamlessly and really hit the ground running. You can read more about Kayleigh’s appointment here.

Currently, we have Edward Hill with us on work experience. Edd will be experiencing the various facets of the PR and Marketing business over the course of this week, here’s hoping we don’t put him off too much! As an introduction to copy writing and digital marketing we have asked Edd to write a guest blog for us, and we think he’s done a stellar job, focusing on the effects of marketing within the music industry:

While most of us are aware of the music business being one of the biggest industries in the world, the majority of us are clueless when it comes to how it actually works. Is it just that marketing, a good advertising campaign and a catchy tune is all you need?

The majority of the population in the U.K are very aware of music, with ‘high climbers,’ and ‘new entries,’ making it into the extremely competitive UKtop40. Usually the UKtop40 is dotted with artists like Cheryl Cole, Nicole Scherzinger, and Jason Derulo. While these stars make good music, it seems to be that they do not spend much time writing and crafting the lyrics and creating the songs themselves.

As these are some of the planet’s biggest artists music wise, we would expect them to take their time and fine tune each and every song themselves. The reality is, unfortunately, that it seems they don’t. However, there are many exceptions: bands like Coldplay and artists like Adele and Jack Johnson make us feel as though they have taken time over every song, they make us feel as though they are very much worth the advertising and publicity they seem to acquire.

Adele is a perfect example of this theory. Adele has recently come into her own and has been recognised as one of the planet’s best and most powerful songwriters of today after her second album, ’21,’ was such a great success. Adele does have complete creative control over her music and it seems she spends days and weeks over every lyric. Is the reason for her second album being such a success that we are so used to listening to modern ever changing pop music written about rock star lifestyles, and when someone like Adele comes along and writes songs about things that relate to our everyday lives we realise what a talent she has for both singing and song writing? Or is it that advertising can just sell and type of music to any type of person?

As lyrics are becoming less important is it that advertising and ‘studio magic’ can make any one name at the top of that all important list of top 40 songs and artists? Even if Adele is appreciated now, who’s to say she will remain in our memory as one of the best songwriters of the decade? Will her studios and managers be saying ‘we’ll find someone like you’?

However there is an argument to be heard that advertising in music is a powerful thing for many good reasons. Marketing and advertising are being used more and more to make sure more people know about an artist or a song all over the world, this is a brilliant thing as more people can buy songs that they have heard about and like. Also with advertising and marketing and PR being so strong it means more people can have the chance to maybe, live their dreams whether it be to be a chart topping artist or to just be employed by someone and earn a living doing something they like doing. Also if there is less pressure on an artist to be the best songwriter as well as the best singer or composer then there is more chance for jobs along the way, e.g. songwriters and composers. Overall, it can be said that advertising, marketing and PR are powerful tools in every industry.

As always we welcome comments and suggestions, please do get in touch if you want to discuss anything, even if it’s just about the weather!

CH&A Digital.

2011-05-10T03:01:00.000-07:00

After a flurry of 4 day weekends and short working weeks CH&A are now back in the office, much to the MD’s delight!

This month we are taking a more extensive look at the power of Facebook and its potential shortcomings.

Facebook has been growing at an alarming rate since its inception in February 2004 and currently has nearly 600 million users worldwide. Originally set up as a way of interacting with fellow students, it now has the ability to share photos, provide an instant messaging service, create events, set up pages to advertise your business, provide email services with an @facebook.com address etc.

It can, in essence, provide the entire internet experience within its own boundaries. For instance you can watch trailers for the latest movies, view music videos, find out what your favourite band is currently working on, what an artist is doing next, read the latest news, all without leaving your Facebook profile.

With this in mind it is worth pondering the question; ‘will Facebook eventually become the internet?’ i.e. will people log straight into Facebook for their online experience or will they still proceed to a search engine to get what they want.

This is a vital question that marketers need to answer, as it determines where the online audience will be in the immediate future. For instance, in the recent past marketers have relied heavily on PPC campaigns allied with organic SEO to drive traffic to their websites, whereas now sites such as Facebook are playing an increasingly important role. This is demonstrated by the fact that a lot of companies are now pushing their facebook.com/product websites in their advertising, rather than their own websites.

Smirnoff Advert displaying Facebook address

A rewarding upshot of this shift in behaviour is the opportunity this presents to marketers such as myself – targeted advertising. With traditional online marketing methods such as PPC campaigns, banner advertising, SEO etc there was a degree of ‘scatter-gun’ to the approach, due to the fact that you were never entirely sure who you were talking to, with social media advertising this problem is almost eliminated. Social media advertising allows marketers to target adverts based on much more detailed information, such as gender, age, what movies they like, what music they listen to etc. For instance if you are promoting a film which is similar in content to Star Wars, you can advertise directly to all people on Facebook who have listed Star Wars as a movie which they like. Powerful eh?!

Another question that is posed by Facebook’s dominance and prevalence is ‘where will it end?’ or indeed ‘will it end?’ Over the past two decades we have seen the emergence of online communities, a lot of which achieved a degree of success before waning and inevitably falling by the wayside to the next big thing. Starting out with Friendster, social networking sites have been evolving since the late 1990s, with MySpace, LinkedIn and FlickR following soon afterwards.

MySpace is a perfect case to look at, as initially MySpace was the primary social networking site in the UK, however its profile pages allowed little expansion, with only a limited number of photographs allowed to be uploaded and with no privacy settings. It was these shortcomings, which helped fuel the transfer of millions of people to Facebook when it became available.

Which is why it is worth considering ‘what comes after Facebook?’ Will Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) bite off more than he can chew and end up irreparably damaging the company’s standings? Only time will tell, but it’s going to be an interesting journey!

In agency-related news this week we have been appointed by RuRoC – a UK based extreme sports helmet manufacturer, who have recently been chosen by Team Lotus F1 as their official helmet supplier for the pit crew. CH&A are delighted to be working with RuRoC and are looking forward to helping them achieve their potential in the coming months and years.

The PR team have been very busy this month, most notably attending the launch of Britain’s Next Top Model as part of promoting Heaven Skincare, by Deborah Mitchell. Deborah’s skincare range was also reportedly being used by Kate Middleton prior to the Royal Wedding, so the phones have been ringing off the hook with journalists wanting more information, as well as a free sample or two!

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog, I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on the Facebook debate, so please leave your comments below.

Chris H – Digital Marketing Manager.

CH&A Spring Forward!

2011-03-21T04:40:00.000-07:00

Another month down in 2011, where is this year going?! They do say time flies when you are having fun and we have certainly been enjoying ourselves at CH&A this past month, with lots of coverage achieved for clients as well as welcoming Duncan, our new Head of Studio, to the team.

Duncan brings a huge amount of skills and experience to the team, having worked for some of the biggest Design & Marketing agencies in the world, with this in mind we decided to throw him into the deep end and task him with overseeing the FREEE Clothing photo shoot with the Ospreys!

FREEE Clothing is a new clothing line from Italy, which is due to launch nationwide later this year and is also one of the new shirt sponsors for the Ospreys Rugby Team next season. CH&A put together a photo shoot with some of the Ospreys’ players modelling the FREE Clothing to create powerful and engaging point of sale (POS) and promotion shots for a UK-wide advertising campaign. A selection of the shots can be found here.

One of the T-Shirts used in the photo shoot was signed by all of the players present and was donated to Pepper Crescent to auction off during their Bob Champion Cancer Trust evening on the 14th March. All of the CH&A team attended the fundraiser, which served not only as a great event supporting a fantastic cause, but also as a preview for the Cheltenham Festival with Mike Cattermole and Mick Fitzgerald in attendance, not to mention the Totesport Gold Cup itself!

March has also seen some great coverage achieved by our PR team, Water and Stone Bathrooms were featured in this month’s Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms magazine (click here to view the article), Memorial Woodlands received a fantastic write up in the Funeral Service Times and the Ospreys website featured videos of our photo shoot (click here to view).

In other news, CH&A have been appointed by Servisair to handle all of their Crisis Management across 27 stations in the UK and Ireland. CH&A have extensive experience within the aviation sector and are specialists in crisis management, so we’re delighted to be able to combine this knowledge and skill and look forward to providing Servisair with quality service over the coming months and years.

CH&A has also been appointed by Deborah Mitchell to handle all aspects of Public Relations and Marketing for her range of skincare products – watch this space for more news and information regarding some incredible beauty products (the girls are very excited by this!).

As ever in the CH&A offices we are busy bees but please don’t hesitate to give us a call if you’re interested in improving any element of your company’s PR and Marketing. We are experts in Digital Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Graphic Design and a whole host of other disciplines, so if you’re looking to improve your current strategy or to start again from scratch do give us a call! Or you can pop by our offices in the Royal Crescent (number 12) and we’d be happy to chat over an excellent cup of coffee in Pepper Crescent (any excuse for caffeine!).

Lastly, but by no means least, it’s my duty to say (through gritted teeth!) well done to Natalie, Duncan, Colin and Rachel who all backed winners during the Cheltenham Race Week. Colin thought he’d done well by backing Long Run in the Gold Cup, only for Natalie to get 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

On the whole a great March, here’s to a super April!

Chris H – Digital Marketing Manager.
www.thechagroup.com

January... Done!

2011-02-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

We made it through January, the most depressing month of the year! And Post-Christmas, the team here at CH&A is officially looking forward to summer! This month has brought less snow and more talk of holidays. The office has been very quiet whilst Natalie has been off living the high life in New York, where she shopped till she dropped and drank far too many cocktails – if there is such a thing – leaving the rest of us an envious shade of green. Chris is now desperate to go snowboarding again and Rachel is planning a trip to South Africa. Roll on pay day(s)!

In the PR world this week, the ongoing topic of internships has reared its head yet again. It has emerged that one London agency currently has 20 interns working there, all unpaid and undoubtedly overworked. It has created a bit of a debate in the CH&A office – are internships a good idea?

With so much fierce competition for jobs in the PR industry, many are left with no choice but to intern, to gain that valuable experience and get their foot firmly on the career ladder. From the employer’s perspective, investing time in interns who have very little or no experience can be a time consuming and costly affair, especially if the intern has no real longer term plans to stay within the company once the internship is complete. But should Graduates be leaving university expecting to work for free?

Internships offer those starting out the chance to get a foot in the door and a real insight into the industry. It is a great opportunity to get invaluable experience, build up CVs and learn from people in the industry through on-the-job training. Many agencies offer a real chance of employment afterwards too. For the agencies, the option of employing an intern is an appealing one as interns can provide agencies with a new, fresh perspective and eagerness to learn, for very little (if any) cost. But the harsh reality is interns can work for months unpaid with the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel being offered a full time, paid position. Which rarely happens. Far too often they are viewed as the office dogsbodies; photocopying, making coffee and answering phones without the opportunity to get involved in what they applied to do in the first place. All to get that agency name on their CV.

The additional problem of affording to do an internship is also an issue. Only the wealthier can afford to intern and be supported – especially in the city. Those struggling after leaving university already have very little cash, let alone enough to fund travel, food and accommodation on no wages for extended periods of time. It is a distinct possibility that in the future the PR industry may become closed off to those who do not come from wealthy families if the current system does not change.

Intern employers have to be fair and flexible. Many agencies including CH&A feel that interns are a valuable part of the team and, once trained, are first in line when a junior position becomes available. Our own intern, Kayleigh, worked with us during her placement period of her degree. Her expenses were covered and she was always well-fed (even better than when at university, we are told!) We look forward to welcoming Kayleigh as a full-time, paid member of our team on completion of her degree later this year.

As always, this month has been a busy one with our clients. We are happy to announce we are now working with Freee, a fabulous new clothing line, straight from Italy. Their tee shirts and hoodies are a mix of urban-chic meets surfer, and the range will be modelled by the Ospreys rugby team later this month. Needless to say, the ladies of the office are very much looking forward to the photo shoot!

We are also organising a press trip for some lovely journalists to head out to Budapest, to visit the head office of our client, a Hungarian dental implant specialist. The journalists can see for themselves the excellent quality and superb facilities the clinic has to offer, in amongst some sightseeing of the city. More details to follow.

We are also very excited that a new designer will be joining our team. Interviews are taking place this week and by next month’s blog, we hope to be able to introduce you to our newest member.

And last but not least, a big happy birthday to Chris who becomes officially old next week! Don’t worry Chris, no grey hairs are showing just yet!

The CH&A Team x

Blue Monday? Pah...we laugh in the face of that marketing ploy.

2011-01-18T02:11:00.000-08:00

First blog of the New Year and it is being written on Blue Monday. What is Blue Monday?

Apart from being a fine tune popped out by New Order in the 1980’s (those were the days, breaking out of my all-girls boarding school with nothing more than a fiver in my pocket and jumping on the train to go clubbing in London...)...ahem... "Blue Monday" isn't what you'd call a widely accepted scientific fact; it's an idea coined in 2005 by psychologist Cliff Arnall, a former part-time lecturer at Cardiff University in Wales.

Somebody asked him to work out which was the most ‘depressing day of the year’ and by using magical wizardry he came up with…. January 17th. Now we don’t doubt that there were some fine reasons for choosing this exact day, credit card bills coming in, New Year’s resolutions broken etc, but legend has it that it was nothing more than a marketing campaign to encourage miserable sun deprived English men and women to start booking their summer holidays. What a cunning plan. And boy don’t we wish we had thought of it first.

So, not to be outdone, we have spent an unhealthy amount of time in the office, thinking of days that we could initiate and who could sponsor them. Here goes:

14 February Day most likely to have sex sponsored by Anne Summers
12 November Most dangerous day to drive your car sponsored by the RAC
21 August Day most likely to get fired sponsored by Gordons Gin
22 August Day most likely to get a new job sponsored by Reed Employment
22 December Day most likely to be burgled sponsored by - ADT
4 April Day most likely to get a new hairstyle sponsored by Blushes

……. And on and on and on!

On the basis that we have to get back to work we are going to stop here but please, feel free to send us your ideas to digital@thechagroup.com

The office is a hive of activity as always; work is well underway organising a Service of Remembrance at Memorial Woodlands. The event, on Friday 20th May, will be a chance for guests to pay their respects to serving men and women who have lost their lives in combat since 2000. The service follows last year’s moving inauguration ceremony and we are delighted to already have confirmation of some very special guests attending this year.

Our luxury bathroom designer client, Water and Stone, is looking forward to some great coverage in the ‘Weekend’ section of the Gloucestershire Echo and Citizen soon, and also a feature in glossy mag, Cotswold Preview. The articles will feature a stunning bathroom they did for a client in Minchinhampton recently, with photos taken by truly talented interiors photographer Nick Yarsley.

We have also streamlined the case studies section at www.waterandstonebathrooms.co.uk giving their fabulous work a chance to really be noticed and appreciated. More updates are coming soon.

We sent out our first e-zine to clients, friends, and interested parties last week. Focussing on Twitter and how ‘in cyberspace, everyone can hear you tweet’, and the debacle that was the communications crisis strategy at London Heathrow Airport in December when frozen particles of water ground one of the busiest airports in the world to a shuddering halt. If you would like to be included in our next e-zine then please drop us a line digital@thechagroup.com. You can view the last eNews here.

From a blue blue Monday, with best CH&A wishes

The Team
x

Ding Dong Merrily on a PR & Marketing High!

2010-12-20T01:00:00.000-08:00

In this season of Goodwill we bring you glad tidings of our latest employee Miss Rachel Thomas. Rachel has joined the team as an Account Executive and is already proving a valuable asset to the team. Welcome Rachel, we hope you will be very happy with us here in the Royal Crescent and we look forward to hearing more stories of your various phobias and foibles...but we have to be honest, we are struggling to understand how you find Wallace and Gromit scary!

Work continues apace despite the Christmas holidays rushing up on us at break neck speed.

December has been a big month for newsletters and magazines for our clients; we have produced Imagine for Interserve, Woodlands News for Memorial Woodlands and the Garrett Gazette for Garrett Ingredients. We thoroughly enjoy working on these projects for our clients and are very proud that they are so well received.

We have achieved features for Great Local Offers in The Cheltonian Magazine and have lined up a host of features for Water and Stone in publications such as Cotswold Preview, Utopia and Kitchens Bathrooms & Bedrooms, using photos taken by local photographer Nick Yarsley. We also took Alison Ebanks’ portfolio into the next generation by uploading all her designs onto an iPad, allowing her to show prospective clients her previous work in glorious digital high-resolution. It looked truly stunning and Alison was delighted. The only downside to the story is that now everyone in the office now wants an iPad for themselves and is about £350 away from being able to afford one. Grrr.

In a massively generous gesture to local charity The Pied Piper Appeal, Le Spa donated a luxury overnight stay for two including a host of treatments, all food and a basket of facial products to the Total Star Radio Christmas auction and helped to raise over £6,500 for sick children in Gloucestershire.

There is a wonderful, heart warming twist to this story; the winning bidder didn’t want the break for himself but to give as a ‘thank you’ gift to friends who stepped in to look after their little girl when their newborn son stopped breathing and had to be rushed to hospital. The good news is that the baby is now fully recovered and as we write the well deserving pair are enjoying their break at Le Spa. Don’t you love it when good things happen to good people?

Stadium Marketing Solutions had a massively successful trip to the Soccerex Exhibition in Brazil this month with all the fancy new marketing kit we produced for them. We re-skinned their stand and produced new pop up banners. We also sent them off with pre-loaded and branded USB sticks, new stationary and translated a new brochure into Portuguese. It was all go in the run up but the hard work and late evenings in the office paid off!

New business continues to roll in and we are delighted to have been appointed by Deborah Mitchell to do a research project. Rachel is spending more time than is good for her trawling the gossip sites for relevant information!

So as Christmas rolls into sight, the team are in varying degrees of panic regarding present buying and card sending. Colin gets Mrs Colin to do it all so is fairly relaxed. Natalie is nearly finished everything and looking rather smug, Chris is a single boy which he thinks absolves him of all festive responsibilities and will, as per many other single men, be making some rush purchases at 16:45 on Christmas Eve. Rachel is preparing herself for a strategic attach on Cheltenham’s shops during remaining lunch hours and Louise is like a rabbit stuck in the headlights, having not purchased one card or present and is in total meltdown over the whole event. Whatever we do, or don’t do, the day will arrive, food will be eaten, wine will be drunk, presents will be opened and receipts will be requested. It’s Christmas. Enjoy x

Merry Christmas to one and all from everybody at Colin Higgins and Associates.

November / Movember

2010-11-04T07:24:00.000-07:00

November has arrived, bringing with it....frosty weather? Icy winds? Freezing rain? Er no. Just a lot of unseasonably mild weather. Winter coats lay unworn whilst walking home in the dark after work, in a summer dress, is a rather odd experience I can tell you.

What November has brought though, in shed loads, is good news for the team here at CHA.

Good news point number one: We have won ANOTHER CIPR Gold award for our Internal Communications work with Aviance. Click here for the full CIPR statement http://tinyurl.com/28a7wfr (we are award number 3)

Good news point number two: Chris has started growing a mo (moustache) for Mo-vember.

http://uk.movember.com/mospace/547006/ this will take you to Chris’s page on the official Prostrate Cancer website where you can follow his mo’s progress and donate your hard earned pennies to help defeat this pernicious illness. 45,000 people supported the Prostrate CancerCharity in 2009 and helped to raise over £5 million. Go Chris!

Pic: Chris, on day one of his ‘for charity but also because I want to look like Tom Sellick - moustache growing attempt. What a happy boy he is.

Work wise things are going great guns. We have brought on a few new clients this month; Into Play, a children’s nursery in Longleven’s Gloucester and, continuing a long standing relationship, we provided marketing material for Stadium Marketing Solutions to take to Rio de Janerio, Brazil, where they will be exhibiting at the world famous Soccerex.

Chris is mighty envious that he can’t hand deliver the goods to the event which is described on their website as,

‘...As well as the conference, exhibition and the two-day spectacular Football Festival, Soccerex mixes business with pleasure through a long list of social events, culminating with The Soccerex Sugar Loaf Extravaganza where delegates will enjoy five-star cuisine and musical entertainment, in the company of soccer legends, on Sugar Loaf Mountain.’

Natalie and I fail to see what the fuss is all about. It’s only football after all.

A beautiful cow by any other name

Earlier this month we organized what has to be the photo of the year for local food ingredients supplier Garrett Ingredients when they rebranded from Renshawnapier. One photographer, a full complement of staff a herd of dairy cows and a huge amount of lady luck later, the picture of the year was in the bag. Not in the cow pat. Thank Goodness.

Click here to see coverage achieved for this story.

Haven’t they Grown!

Annual ‘Apple Day’ celebrations came around again at the end of October so we put our wellies on and went back to Memorial Woodlands to see how apple trees planted to celebrate ‘apple day’ three years ago had grown. Looking back at the photo of the children who planted the original trees we wondered how they much they had grown as well so, with a little detective work and some really helpful mums, we managed to track them down and invited them back to be photographed again beside their trees.

Click here to see coverage achieved in the Thornbury Gazette.

Finally, we have a new member of the CHA team. Bernard was, like the lead characters in all the best novels, left on the shelf following an estimated £285 million spend on Halloween goodies by UK residents. Louise could not see him left on the literal shelf so paid for his freedom and gave him a new home at 12 Royal Crescent. He sings and dances to a fab version of ‘Rappers Delight’ and has the CHA team rockin’ away of an afternoon. We are thinking of posting him on You Tube. Watch this space.

2010-10-07T04:10:00.000-07:00

It’s official. We love autumn, a truly spectacular time of year!

For Natalie and I it means the winter clothes are finally in the shops and we can plan our ‘look’ for the new season (Louise is going for military chic with a splash of goth thrown in, Nat has had a neat bob for a very classy winter look) and for Colin it means rugby on the telly with one of his famous hearty winter stews to accompany it. What’s not to love?

It is that wonderful betwixt and between time, when summer ends and winter arrives, when the sun is still strong but early morning frosts are beginning to become part of our daily windscreen scraping ritual.

Work wise Colin Higgins & Associates is as busy as ever. We spent time with client MemorialWoodlands at the Frampton Country Show mid September, talking to the public about their woodland burial ground as well as enjoying a fabulous day out in spectacular late summer sunshine. This beautiful photo was taken in the grounds of Frampton House early on the Sunday morning before the gates were open to the public. Can’t you just feel the tranquility?

Members of the team also spent an evening in London with client Aviance organising their staff Prize Draw. Two lucky members of the Aviance staff walked away with brand new cars and unfortunately for us we weren’t entered into the draw but we were there to film the draw and make sure the whole evening ran smoothly.

On something of a roll, we took on another new client last month ‘Great Local Offers’. Great Local Offers is an online discount voucher company with a difference; it tries to focus on truly local companies, and even tells you how many miles away the offer is from your house. Genius! Currently in Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Yorkshire, we are working hard on brilliant ideas to expand their customer sign ups and recruit new ‘Great Local Offers’ across the country.

Natalie and Colin took a trip to visit our client Interserve in the Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary and the Cumberland Infirmary.

Le Spa continues to keep us on our toes with beauty therapist to the stars Deborah Mitchell making a visit to train the staff in her amazing LIA Therapy treatment (including the Bee Venom Mask). Naturally we told the press about her visit and the coverage received has been phenomenal with pieces in all the local papers including the Gloucestershire Echo, Swindon Advertiser, Wilts & Glos Standard, Stroud Life and Stroud News & Journal. We also had a mention on Star Radio’s Breakfast show thanks to a cheeky text by one of the team! We are now pushing forward with plans for Christmas at Le Spa including corporate entertainment menus and of course the ever popular Twlight Spas.

We were delighted for Water & Stone’s Alison Ebanks, when she was inundated with calls after people saw the pieces about her reaching finalist in the Contract Bathroom Designer of the Year Awards. The power of PR at work again! Results are due out any day, and we are keeping everything crossed for her!

With the Cheltenham Literature Festival on our doorstep and about to start any day now, this literature loving company is chomping at the bit to see some of their favourite authors in the flesh. Nat is going to see Nigella Lawson, Chris will be gutted if he can’t get tickets for Armando Ianucci and Peter Capaldi, doing a talk based on Malcolm Tucker’s character in TV programme ‘The Thick of It’ and Louise is hoping to hear Rachel Johnson talking about her time as editor of venerable magazine The Lady.

What would be on your ‘dream authors’ list?

So, it’s heads down through autumn and in to winter now, keep doing what we do well, do more of what we don’t do enough of, do enough of what we need to and do less of what’s bad for us. Sorted.

Regards

‘The Team’

2010-09-03T03:35:00.000-07:00

So, the British summer is coming to an end (not sure it ever really began) and its full steam ahead once more at Colin Higgins & Associates!

Louise has just come back from her holiday in Rhodes (we were deeply impressed with her interest in the culture and history of the famous Greek Island….and her ability to party until dawn and see the sun come up over the acropolis) and Natalie is, as I write, sunning herself in Ibiza, leaving the rest of us here all a little jealous. (Chris especially!)

In the last few months we have taken on a handful of new clients, which is keeping us all very busy.

Firstly Le Spa a health spa hotel based, in Cirencester. Justifiably labelled as the Cotswold’s premier health club, it has been an interesting, busy project.

To date we’ve been focussing on increasing the range of beauty therapy treatments available at Le Spa, and introduced them to celebrity beauty therapist to the stars, Deborah Mitchell and her famous Bee Venom mask. Deborah and her unusual mask have been splashed all of the papers in the last few weeks being tagged as the natural alternative to botox and giving amazing results to everyone from Danni Minogue to Michelle Pfieffer!

Here are links to two national press articles about the treament:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/beauty/article-1298041/The-Duchess-Cornwall-55-bee-string-facelift.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/7917062/Ive-had-the-Camilla-face-lift.html

Having looked at before and after shots this treatment really is the “bees knees” so excusing the cheesy puns it really has been a wise investment.

We also spotted an opportunity to put Le Spa’s name in the national papers when we heard that Chloe Madeley (Richard and Judys Daughter) was looking for a location to do a glamorous 1950’s style swimwear shoot. Le Spa to the rescue! A great day was had by all and we are waiting to see the article in print in the next few days. Watch this space.

From beautiful bodies to beautiful bathrooms, we are delighted to now be working with Alison Ebanks, owner of bathroom design and installation firm Water & Stone in Stroud. Alison is really hot property in the bathroom design business, with a bunch of awards to her name already and she’s just been nominated as one of the finalist in The Contract Bathroom Designer of the year 2010. We are keeping our fingers crossed for her and drafting a release in anticipation!

Water & Stone have a really stunning showroom and have worked with some big names including the fabulous Hemple Hotel in London. We love it when we get a client that is so easy to rave about! On the minus side, Chris is suffering from massive bathroom jealousy and the hours spent on their website looking at luxury showers is making him somewhat of a ‘bathroom bore’. No Chris, you can’t have a multi coloured LED lighting system with ipod socket in your bathroom.

As you would expect from an award winning PR company like Colin Higgins & Associates, we like to keep our finger on the pulse of current thinking and we were impressed with PR giant Saatchi & Saatchi’s idea to bring creative minds together from all over the world with ‘The Impossible Brief’.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been tearing lives apart for over 60 years and to date political leaders have failed to reach a diplomatic solution to create a sense of closeness between the two nations. So the guys at Saatchi have thrown the problem open to the world and said ‘let’s get creative minds from around the world to propose their own 'out of the box' solutions on how to bring together two nations that for a long time have been physically close, yet mentally worlds apart.’

It’s an interesting idea. In this in industry we spend our days thinking creatively, maybe, just maybe we could come up with something. Hmmmm……

Can you crack the impossible brief?

www.theimpossiblebrief.com

Right, we are off for yet another fabulous coffee from the shop downstairs, Pepper Crescent, and to ponder if a celebrity football match could solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

2010-07-16T04:19:00.000-07:00

9 July 2010

Well that’s that over for another 4 years. England’s World Cup run that is. Not sure we could have taken any more tension, Chris and Natalie certainly couldn’t. Let’s hope the word vuvuzela disappears into the African sunset along with Capello’s victory dreams. Did you hear a Russian businessman has paid approx £14,000 for an Austrian hand crafted gold and diamond encrusted one.. .WHY? Apparently it is for his business partner…again…WHY?!

From a marketing point of view we were impressed with the guerrilla marketing tactics employed by Bavaria Beer but didn’t envy the two ladies who spent a good few days languishing in a Cape Town jail for all their creative genius. I think we will stick to less risky promotion ideas if that’s ok?

Wimbledon has also come and gone in the blink of an eye; were we all too busy actually enjoying the good weather to sit inside and watch the telly? Natalie is on week three of her tennis-fest, long may it continue, well at least until it clouds over a bit hey Nat?Glastonbury celebrated its 40th birthday this year and some members of the team are ashamed to say they’ve never been. Discussions are underway regarding a work outing next time… but with campsites looking like this (insert photo) I think some members would spend the entire tut tutting and muttering under their breath. Glyndebourne anybody?

Work continues apace; we visited an exhibition at Olympia ofinternational hospitals and clinics offering everything from dental implants to laser eye surgery (and a few more dodgy bits in between!..) so we are now following up talks with a handful of overseas medical concerns. We will keep you posted, however if you suddenly see any members of staff bearing a striking resemblance to Sylvester Stallone’s mother then you can be fairly sure we are now working for a plastic surgery clinic on a pro-rata deal. One press release equals one age reducing medical procedure.

Am now currently pondering the potentially interesting list of what everyone might have done, but can’t afford the libel fees so going to stop here.

Other work has seen new articles added to www.parkingindurham.co.uk and production of the latest newsletter, Woodland News, for Memorial Woodlands www.memorialwoodlands.com/latestnewsletter.php, which shows all the lovely photos from the inauguration of the new War Memorial, which took place in May.

We have had initial talks with The Royal Horticultural Society at Hampton Court Flower show regarding our client’s 2011 Chelsea Garden which was very exciting. Much foliage was stashed in the back of the car on the journey home but what we are going to do with the life-size faux marble model of Michelangelo’s David I have no idea. The looks we got as we whipped back down the M4 in the boss’ car, well where else was I supposed to hook the seat belt?

On a more serious note we have begun providing internal communications to Aviance as they withdraw their baggage handling service from London Heathrow. Thankfully the HR teams from Aviance have managed to secure jobs with fellow baggage handlers Menzies as they take over BMI & Lufthansa airline contracts.

Facebook, love it or hate it it’s here to stay and we found these most amazing statistics online today:

http://www.onlinephdprograms.com/facebook-facts-you-probably-didnt-know/

And still no time to talk about itunes accounts being hacked into, Nationwide’s retreat from sponsoring the English football team or Lady Gaga beating Barack Obama into number one slot of having the most ‘friends’ on Facebook. Next time perhaps.

From

“The Team”

2010-06-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

From our new offices in Cheltenham’s Royal Well Crescent, CHA staff are enjoying the fabulous weather, the World Cup, and the joys of working above one of the best eateries in Cheltenham, Pepper Crescent!

We continue to look after our regular clients from both a marketing and PR perspective, whilst also pitching for new clients from a wide variety of sectors.

Articles written this week range from one client climbing Mt Snowdon to another attending an aviation security course with special interest in counter terrorist measures. Fascinating stuff. We are in the final stages of production of an in-house magazine for our Facilities Management client and are very excited to be beginning talks about doing a Chelsea Garden for another.

Last month the whole team travelled down to Thornbury near Bristol to see many weeks of hard work come to fruition. Our client asked us to organise the inauguration of a new War Memorial for the South West of England and we were delighted that the day went off without a hitch, with over 150 guests including members of the Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Royal Marines attending. The sun shone for the first time this year and the birds sang their hearts out and everyone agreed, it was truly a day to remember.

We are actually rather proud of this event and are busy drafting our CIPR Pride Award entry on the back of it, fingers crossed.

If you would like to see some photos or the ITV news coverage of the day, please have a look at our home page.

It’s certainly a very busy time at Colin Higgins & Associates!

Our staff continue to work and play hard in equal measures; Natalie has managed to keep up with her sports, this time trying her hand at tennis for a record ‘two whole weeks’ (anything to enjoy the sunshine!) whilst also enthusiastically supporting England as they inch their way through the World Cup; Chris is just about to move flats and has started playing in a new band; Colin is knee deep in dust as his house is knocked about by men who he claims he “pays far too much money to, for people who do so little work”, and Louise, newest member of the team, is looking forward to perfecting her rendition of the Dolly Parton’s classic “Jolene” at Karaoke next week.

From

The CH&A Team