Firstly, does Gordon Brown not have anything better to do than comment on Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross? Seriously Gordon, shouldn't you be cleaning up hospitals and helping the poor or something?
Secondly, my homepage is the BBC News site, and when I clicked on it a moment ago the first two 'latest' headlines I saw were;
'Gordon Brown announces a £700m plan to buy new armoured vehicles for the Army' closely followed by...'Government to cut support grants for thousands of prospective students due to overspend'
Now I know that the Army need better equipment, but do the Government really have their priorities right here?
Helen
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Friday, 17 October 2008
Cross/Gruff/Grass/Graph/Cruss
I am a member of a group on Facebook called, “People Who Always Have To Spell Their Names For Other People”. It is a worldwide collection of 381,326 who all join together to rant about the constant mispronunciation of their names – for anyone who has asked me for my name on the phone they will know me as Ruth Gross, G-R-O-double S for sugar...maybe not the correct phonetic letter but 95% of the time prevents mail arriving for Miss Cross/Gruff/Grass/Graph/Cruss
Rather a random topic to blog about it but I have been thinking about it this week following a conversation with somebody on the phone about my surname, who insisted I was wrong. Whilst I appreciate the anglicised pronunciation of my surname is Gross as in 144, the correct (and Polish version) is Gross similar to Cross. Yes it is Polish NOT English so if I correct you please don’t correct me back!
I apologise for the tirade but I know there are 381,325 other who know just what I mean!
Ruth G-R-O-S-S, granddaughter of Aleksander Gross, Zakopane, Poland
P.S. it is meant to be AleKSander, not AleXander
Rather a random topic to blog about it but I have been thinking about it this week following a conversation with somebody on the phone about my surname, who insisted I was wrong. Whilst I appreciate the anglicised pronunciation of my surname is Gross as in 144, the correct (and Polish version) is Gross similar to Cross. Yes it is Polish NOT English so if I correct you please don’t correct me back!
I apologise for the tirade but I know there are 381,325 other who know just what I mean!
Ruth G-R-O-S-S, granddaughter of Aleksander Gross, Zakopane, Poland
P.S. it is meant to be AleKSander, not AleXander
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Credit Crunchie Escapes Cadbury
With all the news of doom & gloom there was some good news for Cadbury’s today as they saw a 14% increase their sales following the relaunch of 80’s favourite Wispa after a campaign on social networking site Facebook.
It is a very interesting turn of events from a PR practitioner’s point of view, as new media is becoming more important as a source of material. Thanks to over 2000 members of the BRING BACK CADBURY’S WISPA facebook group, the choccie firm have now brought the bar back. I don’t know if the person who set the group up actually works for Cadbury’s or not but in our research for current & new clients, and local radio stations, show that more and more employees/communications folks are setting up discussion groups, social groups to reach new audiences.
I’m not sure if we’ll be replacing our press releases with social groups but it certainly is starting to factor in our communications strategy...it will be interesting to see if any other firms follow suit, especially in the run up to Christmas.
Ruth.
It is a very interesting turn of events from a PR practitioner’s point of view, as new media is becoming more important as a source of material. Thanks to over 2000 members of the BRING BACK CADBURY’S WISPA facebook group, the choccie firm have now brought the bar back. I don’t know if the person who set the group up actually works for Cadbury’s or not but in our research for current & new clients, and local radio stations, show that more and more employees/communications folks are setting up discussion groups, social groups to reach new audiences.
I’m not sure if we’ll be replacing our press releases with social groups but it certainly is starting to factor in our communications strategy...it will be interesting to see if any other firms follow suit, especially in the run up to Christmas.
Ruth.
Monday, 13 October 2008
Living legends at Notts Arena
I have met a lot of people in my life, I have met some of the best sportspeople in the world, cyclists and rugby player and I have even met Hollywood actors but on Friday night I was privileged enough to just share the same breathing space as three absolute living legends.
I went to watch Queen & Raul Rodgers at the Trent FM arena and it was absolutely amazing. Yes I hear you scoff, how can it be Queen without the presence of Freddie , I know because I was dubious about how it would work but it did, it really, really did.
Freddie was very much there in spirit and it was more of a celebration of the music than the ‘next generation’ of the band. A 15 minute guitar solo from Brian May and the same from Roger Taylor who beat out an impressive rendition of ‘another one bites the dust’ on an electric double base proved that these two chaps are indeed bordering on genius. Paul Rodgers was a sympathetic lead man, not trying to make the classics his own but very much doing justice to the fans young and old packed into the arena. I was concerned during the first few songs that his voice just wasn’t strong enough to be heard over the music, but a tweak from a sound guy and he was off, and in his element.
The highlights for me? Too many but I was particularly impressed with the Bohemian Rhapsody, a giant image of Freddie playing the first verse started the song which was continued by the band & audience alike. The other was ‘We Will Rock You’. I looked out to see 18,000 or so people clapping in unison –Brian May said to the audience, I wish I could swap places with every one of you so you could feel the electric atmosphere tonight. It was pretty good from where I was sitting!
Ruth
I went to watch Queen & Raul Rodgers at the Trent FM arena and it was absolutely amazing. Yes I hear you scoff, how can it be Queen without the presence of Freddie , I know because I was dubious about how it would work but it did, it really, really did.
Freddie was very much there in spirit and it was more of a celebration of the music than the ‘next generation’ of the band. A 15 minute guitar solo from Brian May and the same from Roger Taylor who beat out an impressive rendition of ‘another one bites the dust’ on an electric double base proved that these two chaps are indeed bordering on genius. Paul Rodgers was a sympathetic lead man, not trying to make the classics his own but very much doing justice to the fans young and old packed into the arena. I was concerned during the first few songs that his voice just wasn’t strong enough to be heard over the music, but a tweak from a sound guy and he was off, and in his element.
The highlights for me? Too many but I was particularly impressed with the Bohemian Rhapsody, a giant image of Freddie playing the first verse started the song which was continued by the band & audience alike. The other was ‘We Will Rock You’. I looked out to see 18,000 or so people clapping in unison –Brian May said to the audience, I wish I could swap places with every one of you so you could feel the electric atmosphere tonight. It was pretty good from where I was sitting!
Ruth
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Pizza Hut PR
Yesterday I went on BBC Radio Nottingham to do their morning paper review and one of the stories I picked out was about restaurant chain, Pizza Hut, changing it's name to 'Pasta Hut'.
My opinion on this story was simple. It's a crime. Pizza Hut will always be about the pizza, and surely that's why we love it?
On the show, the presenter suggested that it was just a publicity stunt and I scoffed 'what's the point in that?'. But being in the PR business I looked at the story again today to see if it was, in fact, a stunt. And it is.
In an attempt to generate a healthier image, the chain is replacing it's pizza-dominated menu with more pasta dishes, and to promote this change they're temporarily renaming 30 outlets 'Pasta Hut'.
As part of the exercise, customers are being asked to express their views on the name change at pastahut.co.uk and the chain will then decide if it is to become permanent. So after my initial disbelief that they would go to all the trouble of rebranding just for a PR stunt, I'm actually quite impressed. It's certainly got everyone talking.
I just hope they don't change their menu too much, my Dad and I were frequent visitors on a Saturday when I was younger and I'd be sad to see it lose it's traditional appeal just to be healthier. We know it's not healthy, and we still love it!
Helen
My opinion on this story was simple. It's a crime. Pizza Hut will always be about the pizza, and surely that's why we love it?
On the show, the presenter suggested that it was just a publicity stunt and I scoffed 'what's the point in that?'. But being in the PR business I looked at the story again today to see if it was, in fact, a stunt. And it is.
In an attempt to generate a healthier image, the chain is replacing it's pizza-dominated menu with more pasta dishes, and to promote this change they're temporarily renaming 30 outlets 'Pasta Hut'.
As part of the exercise, customers are being asked to express their views on the name change at pastahut.co.uk and the chain will then decide if it is to become permanent. So after my initial disbelief that they would go to all the trouble of rebranding just for a PR stunt, I'm actually quite impressed. It's certainly got everyone talking.
I just hope they don't change their menu too much, my Dad and I were frequent visitors on a Saturday when I was younger and I'd be sad to see it lose it's traditional appeal just to be healthier. We know it's not healthy, and we still love it!
Helen
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Monkey business
A restaurant in Japan has hired two unusual waiters - a pair of macaque monkeys, Yatchan and Fukuchan.
The duo, who are popular with customers, serve hot towels and drinks and are given soya beans as tips.
Following a recent bad experience I had at a local pub where after waiting 20 minutes to be served at the bar I was met by a sour faced barman with an attitude, I think this restaurant may be onto something. After all, these guys are only to eager to please and I think it can be argued that they are likely to be much better waiters than some human ones.
A video of the monkeys at work can be found at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7654267.stm
Emma
The duo, who are popular with customers, serve hot towels and drinks and are given soya beans as tips.
Following a recent bad experience I had at a local pub where after waiting 20 minutes to be served at the bar I was met by a sour faced barman with an attitude, I think this restaurant may be onto something. After all, these guys are only to eager to please and I think it can be argued that they are likely to be much better waiters than some human ones.
A video of the monkeys at work can be found at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7654267.stm
Emma
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