I Swear This Won’t Do Cameron Any Harm

Dan Clifford, director at Haslimann Taylor, writes:

In a world rocked by recession, sweeping global illnesses, corruption, and war, the news finally peaked this week with the breaking story that David Cameron needs his mouth washed out with soap and water.

In a radio interview Cameron explained away his un-cool absence from the world of Twitter by trying to fashion a cool reply “too many twits might make a twat”.

My first reaction was to burst out laughing, not because I think it was clever (and I’m fairly sure it was preconceived) and not because I think it would have struck a chord with younger voters (which has been rumoured to be his motivation) – I laughed mainly because it was absurd and bizarre and in a serious world it offered some entertaining light relief.

Arguments are already raging about whether twat is a swear word or not (which in itself is brilliantly funny) and broadsheet newspapers are running lengthy articles on the origins of the word and the way that different upbringings lead to different perceptions of its vulgarity.

Mr Cameron probably tried too hard when he followed it up with the expression “pissed off” as he summarised the publics feelings about the expenses scandal, and he does have to be careful that his efforts to be cool don’t turn him into the cringeworthy uncle who tries to be ‘down with the kids’. You would have hoped that ‘Hug a Hoodie-gate’ would have taught him some lessons.

However, I think the commentators who are now trying to say that Cameron will regret this slip of the tongue are missing the point; choosing to focus on the fact that his attempts to prove he is a man of the people have, in fact, shown the opposite.

But that does not take into account the fact that people already know that nearly all politicians are detached from the real world – and that being the case voters don’t expect to connect with them in this way.

What Mr Cameron has shown is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously, he’s not arrogant enough to think we should all like him just because he’s a clever politician and knows that he has work to do on his public image. But most importantly, he has shown us that swear word or not, we’re more interested in someone saying “twat” than the majority of other words spoken by our politicians.

Cannock Gates Makes An Entrance For West Midlands School

A West Midlands school has bagged themselves a fantastic new entrance worth up to £2,000 from gate manufacturer Cannock Gates after going head-to-head in a competition with ten other finalist schools from across the UK.

Roman Way First School in Redditch was so determined to win that it generated over 74,000 votes. The competition also struck a chord with regional press generating 110 pieces of press coverage, which could have been read by over six million people, as well as six radio interviews with a listenership of 644,000.

Jane Scarborough, head teacher, commented: “Pupils and teachers at the school have been working extremely hard to encourage people to vote for us. We’ve sent flyers out and put posters up all around Redditch and we’ve held coffee afternoons for parents to come in to school and vote. In addition, we’ve had support from schools all over Worcestershire, companies, both local and international, plus West Mercia Police Force.

“We are absolutely delighted to have won the competition and we’d like to say thank you to everyone that has voted for us. We’re all really excited about working with Cannock Gates to design the perfect entrance for our school.”

Julie Turnbull, general manager for Cannock Gates, comments: “We’re so pleased that Roman Way First School has won the prize. As a Midlands based company ourselves, it’s great to be able to support a school on our patch! We offer wrought iron style and wooden gates in over 750 standard sizes and designs and we also offer a bespoke service, which means Roman Way First School can really have fun choosing the new gate. The gate will be fitted in the near future and we hope it will welcome many pupils and visitors to the school for years to come.”

Red Lion Pub Relaunch A Roaring Success

The transformation of a run down country inn into a stylish gastro pub has proven to be a big hit with the community and regional press.

The Red Lion, in Ashington, West Sussex, welcomed over 600 guests to a special champagne opening party where visitors were introduced to the new surroundings at the pub which has been completely refurbished.

To keep the local community informed about the pub’s plans links to the Red Lion’s website were posted on key forums. Haslimann Taylor also secured sponsorship by the Red Lion of the village Fun Run and opened a dialogue with community wardens who are key local opinion formers.

As well as being popular with the local community the event also attracted wide spread interest from regional press. Coverage was achieved in the local paper for four consecutive weeks, a ‘Hello’ style photo spread appeared on the social pages of Sussex Life with pictures from the launch party and presenters on Splash FM talked about the party live on air every day in the week preceding the event.

Landlord Mark Jackson said: “The evening was a tremendous success. We had in excess of 600 guests at the party and took great pride in showing them all the new surroundings and great new menu. The feedback has been fantastic, and the general feeling has been that the new-look Red Lion is exactly what the area needed.”

Should CEOs Be Media Spokespeople?

Bron Eames, managing director at Haslimann Taylor, writes:

The FT was asking the question recently whether CEOs should be media spokespeople or not. Predictably, the importance of media training was brought up. As was media relations being part of the job, as was the media’s appetite for picking up on bad news and looking for a quick hit.

There are times when the need for common sense is really quite staggering. Of course people, staff, customers, shareholders, local communities want access to the CEO. If he or she can’t communicate effectively, surely they should not have been appointed?!

Media training will help with confidence and technique, and an understanding of the practicalities, but being a good communicator should surely be part of the mandatory criteria for the man or women at the top?

Honesty and integrity are more important now than ever before – even when the news is bad, people need to know.

This is not a plea for companies to spend more on media training, but for more boards to understand the importance of communications. Bad communications can damage share value on its own, and in the current economic climate, that risk is surely one to avoid?

TV Designer Launches Interior Design Competition At Swindon School

Top interior designer Derek Taylor visited Ridgeway School in Swindon this week to launch a competition to design a bedroom for the new showhome at Bryant Homes’ Wichelstowe development.

The designer, who appears on ITV’s ‘60 Minute Makeover’, offered his expert advice on creating a stunning design scheme, and demonstrated a variety of different mood boards.

Derek said: “Interior design is important because it sets a house alight, turning a blank canvas into a vibrant living space. The kids at Ridgeway School seem really enthused by this contest, so I can’t wait to see the exciting themes they come up with.”

Year 9 pupils at the school will now battle it out to impress Derek with their own bedroom designs. The winner will not only scoop £100 of prize vouchers, but will also have their concept executed by Derek, who is designing the rest of the new Fairfield showhome at Wichelstowe.

Entries will be submitted before the school breaks up for summer, and the winning design will be in place for the start of the new school term in September to coincide with the launch of the new showhome.

Neil Simpson, regional sales and marketing director for Bryant Homes, commented: “This competition is a unique opportunity for the pupils at Ridgeway School, as their creativity is not limited to pens and paper. The winning design will literally jump off the page and become a reality in our new showhome, which is a fantastic prize for one talented youngster.”

Bryant at Wichelstowe offers homes for all types of purchaser, with a range of two, three and four-bedroom properties available. For those looking to move up the ladder, the three-bedroom semi-detached Chester is priced from £169,995 and the four-bedroom detached Fernlea is priced from £209,995.

Consisting of three neighbourhoods, Wichelstowe is a carefully planned urban extension to the town of Swindon. Plans for the area, located to the north of the M4 between Junction 16 and Croft Road, will create a modern living space which benefits from community facilities and an abundance of green spaces.

For more information on the range of properties currently available at Bryant Homes’ Wichelstowe development visit the marketing suite on Croft Road which is open daily from 10.00am until 5.00pm. Alternatively, telephone 0845 671 9013 or log onto www.bryant.co.uk.

Derek Taylor with pupils from Ridgeway School

Project To Use Waste Chip Fat In Asphalt Commended By Engineering Industry

Young engineer Helen Bailey has won a prestigious industry award for her pioneering work which could reduce the carbon footprint of Britain’s road building industry using waste chip fat.

Helen (25), research manager at quarrying and heavy building materials and construction company Aggregate Industries, was awarded the Fiona and Nicholas Hawley Excellence in Environmental Engineering Award 2009 by The Worshipful Company of Engineers.

She developed a solution using waste vegetable oil to achieve the same key properties as bitumen to bind asphalt mix, beneficially exploiting a waste material without loss of performance in the asphalt. A prototype of her process is currently being trialed by Aggregate Industries in Newark.

Helen commented: “The asphalt industry produces approximately 25 million tonnes of asphalt every year, requiring about 1.25 million tonnes of bitumen. This comes at a significant environmental and economic cost, as the whole process relies on expensive imported hydrocarbons.

“I wanted to find an alternative with the same key properties as bitumen in the asphalt mix, using a waste product readily available within the UK. The solution I developed complies with UK Standards for asphalt whilst reducing the carbon footprint in resultant products. My work forms part of Aggregate Industries’ ongoing commitment to sustainable construction.”

Helen was presented with the Hawley Award and a cheque for £5,000 at the Worshipful Company of Engineers’ Annual Awards Dinner, on Tuesday, 7th July at Skinners’ Hall, London, by the Master of the Engineers’ Company, Mr Chris Price OBE FREng and the guest speaker, Mr Peter Jones OBE.

Helen plans to use the prize money to fund an educational trip to Japan to present her paper at the International Conference on Asphalt in August 2010. She is currently studying for a PhD in engineering at The University of East London, supported by her employer Aggregate Industries.

Patents are in the process of application.

The Worshipful Company of Engineers is one of the City of London’s modern Livery Companies and has over 300 members. The Company promotes the development and advancement of the science, art and practice of engineering. The Fiona and Nicholas Hawley Award aims to inspire engineers under 30 to present a project that has at least reached prototype stage in meeting the three environmental engineering tests of social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Helen Bailey with the Express Asphalt team in Newark

Bus Company Launches Appeal For Aspiring Gardeners

Calling all green-fingered Chester residents! A local bus company is appealing for talented topiarists and budding landscape gardeners to design a car park garden.

Arriva North West, which runs numerous services into Chester from surrounding areas, is appealing for local people to get green and creative and design a garden which will fill a car parking space in the city.

Debra Mercer, marketing manager for Arriva North West, said: “Buses offer a way to reduce congestion, with a full bus taking up to 40 cars off the road, and we know if more people left their car at home more open space could be freed with fewer car parks needed.

“Therefore we want the people of Chester to help us illustrate how much more greenery there would be in the city centre if the space used for a car park was a garden. By creating the car park garden we will hopefully show the people what could be achieved if more people caught the bus and left the car at home.”

If you’ve got a passion for planting and would like to see your garden design created by Arriva visit www.arriva.co.uk/garden or call 0845 270 1660. The deadline for entries is 31st July.

Ends

Contact: Jess Hardisty or Denver Coulson on 0121 355 3446 or corporate communications, Arriva plc on +44 (0)191 520 4106. For media enquiries outside normal office hours, Arriva can be contacted via its 24-hour media pager service on +44 (0)7623 920 615.

Internal Training – Reducing Costs, Increasing Value

Sarah Kent, deputy managing director at Haslimann Taylor, writes:

As part of our annual staff survey, we always ask our people what they value about working at HT. One aspect that is always up there with flexi-time, our annual away day and the snack machine, is training. Haslimann Taylor has always prided itself on investing in its people, but the current economic climate has presented us with an interesting challenge – how to maximise the potential of our team whilst getting a bigger bang from our training buck.

For us, and for many companies, the answer lies pretty close to home. We have a real mix of experience and expertise at HT – ex print and broadcast journos, former in-house professionals, those whose background is agency through and through and not to mention some with a career in the profession spanning nearly three decades (no names mentioned!).

Although we had tapped into this wealth of knowledge on an ad-hoc basis in the past, we had never created a formalised internal training programme. So in April we launched the HT Academy – a series of training courses for HT people by HT people.

I’d be lying if I said that saving costs wasn’t a significant driver, but when the feedback forms came in, it soon became apparent that we had a real win-win situation on our hands – lower cost training that the team felt was actually more valuable than many external courses (and better still, they wouldn’t be cancelled at the last minute because too many people had dropped out to make it worth the trainer’s while to travel up to the Midlands from London).

Developing and maintaining an in-house training programme does take commitment and time. It is vital that it is given the same importance and approached with the same professionalism as paid-for courses. We ensured that we trained the trainers and always provide course outlines, delegates packs, post-training feedback forms and, of course, refreshments.

The most powerful aspect of internal training, whatever industry you’re in, is that it can be tailored in a way that external courses simply can’t be. We keep groups small, because it doesn’t cost any more to run three training courses rather than one, and because we know the people so well, we can adapt the level, tone and content accordingly. We use a mixture of industry best practice and real examples from our own clients and we are able to deliver what we believe is a competitive advantage by ensuring that the HT culture and ‘the way we do things’ always underpins the theory.

Everyone will always have an element of external training in their annual schedule – it’s vital that we provide a well-rounded approach and keep ahead of the game in ever-evolving areas such digital communications. But the HT Academy is here to stay and we believe its graduates will be better than ever.

Graduate Trainee Programme Is The Path To Promotion

Birmingham PR consultancy Haslimann Taylor has promoted Meg Woods to the role of account manager.

Meg joined the company as a graduate trainee in 2006 after leaving the University of Sheffield with a degree in History, and has worked her way up the career ladder under the direction of senior account manager Emma Howden.

Speaking on the promotion, Meg said: “Having just left university I had limited PR experience but joining Haslimann Taylor at graduate level gave me the structured training programme I needed, as well as a solid grounding in all aspects of PR. I really enjoy my job because of the variety it offers, from planning a launch event with a pub landlord to visiting journalists on national publications and even detonating an explosion at a quarry! I’m really proud to have been promoted to the role of account manager.”

Managing director Bron Eames said: “Graduate trainee programmes are an excellent way to start your career, giving you support and training as well as the help and advice of senior colleagues. Meg has done a fantastic job on all the accounts she supports, securing excellent results for our clients. When she joined us Meg was new to the world of PR, but we knew she had good qualifications and the right skills and attitude to be a successful communicator.

Megan Woods

Builders Get Advice On Staying Safe In The Sun

Thousands of construction workers across the UK are being encouraged to cover up and slap on the sun cream as part of a national sun safety campaign from Taylor Wimpey. Sun safety posters have been put up on developments across the country and the housebuilder has linked up with on-line retailer thesuncareshop.com to offer discounted sun cream for all its employees and contractors working on site.

The initiative comes on the back of recent research which revealed that one in five British men never wear sun cream.

The sun safety posters, which appear on the company’s Bryant Homes and George Wimpey developments, offer the following advice:

1. Keep your top on
2. Keep your hard hat on
3. Stay in the shade whenever possible and during breaks
4. Use a sunscreen of at least SPF30
5. Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration
6. Tell your doctor about any new or changing moles

Ed Woods, Taylor Wimpey’s director of health, safety and environment, comments: “We want all of our people, whether employees or sub-contractors to go home at the end of the day safe and healthy. We’ve been promised a scorcher of a summer this year, so it’s important that people working outside take sensible precautions. The purpose of this campaign is to get people thinking about sun safety and provide advice on some simple steps that they can take to protect themselves.”

Brickie Russell Gibb (pictured right, with Martin Rees) said: “This is a really good idea. To be honest, I think we all know that we should put sun cream on when we’re working outside, but we either don’t think about it or don’t have time. The posters will be a good reminder and the discounted sun cream is an added bonus!”