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Celebrate Twixtmas

Over at GREEN we are working with five leading charities on a campaign to put a new name on the holiday calendar - 'Twixtmas' (December 27th -31st) - and transform the time between Christmas and New Year to encourage everyone to do at least five things to change their world.

The 'five days of Twixtmas', campaigners argue, is an ideal opportunity for the estimated 3 million people in the UK who will be on holiday throughout the period to overcome time poverty and do something positive instead of scoffing, shopping and slothing in these credit crunch times.

Getting behind the Twixtmas call are leading charities the Foundation for Peace, Global Action Plan, Jumble Aid, the National Autistic Society, and World Vision.

The Twixtmas campaign has been devised by Wakefield-based GREEN communications for its client, the Flexible Thinking Forum, a not-for-profit organisation promoting flexible and creative thinking skills in business and the community, encouraging people to challenge set ways of thinking.

Each of the five days of Twixtmas is themed to offer a way of making the most of each day where people are invited to celebrate themselves, do something unselfish by celebrating others, and do something for a friend, for the planet, or for their future.

To spread the Twixtmas cheer people are being encouraged to give their friends and family a ‘Twixtmas High Five’ hand greeting and share their Twixtmas pledge - the five things they are doing to change their world - to let them know about Twixtmas and what it stands for.

The campaign is also providing a range of valuable tips and advice from leading experts in personal development and well-being to help everyone make the most of the opportunity of the Twixtmas period on the campaign web site www.twixtmas.com. Visitors can also download their own Twixtmas Pledge form.

Commenting on the launch of Twixtmas, Andy Green of the Flexible Thinking Forum said: “Most of us live in abject poverty when it comes to a key part of modern day life – we are incredibly time poor.

“The time between the Christmas and New Year holiday is a fantastic opportunity to take the Twixtmas Pledge and do at least five things to change our world for the better covering the spectrum of caring for people, peace, poverty, passing things on, or the planet. Who knows, Twixtmas could become as recognized as the other festive holidays.”

For further details about the Twixtmas campaign visit www.twixtmas.com.

Happy Christmas everyone

The card above is believed to be one of the first mass-produced Christmas cards - dating back more than 160 years - and can be found among the extensive special collections of Bridwell Library at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology.
The lithographed card caused a controversy in some quarters of Victorian English society when it was published in 1843 because it prominently features a child taking a sip from a glass of wine. Approximately 1,000 copies of the card were printed but only 10 have survived to modern times. Bridwell Library acquired its copy in 1982. The card was designed for Henry Cole by his friend, the English painter John Calcott Horsley (1808-1882). Cole wanted a ready-to-mail greeting card because he was too busy to engage in the normal custom of writing notes with Christmas and New Year's greetings to friends and family.
The card pre-dated color printing so it was hand-colored. The card is divided into three panels with the center panel depicting a family drinking wine at a celebration and the flanking panels illustrating charitable acts of feeding and clothing the poor.
Cole, who also wrote and published Christmas books, printed more cards than he needed so he sold the extra cards for one shilling each.
Widespread commercial printing of Christmas cards began in the 1860s, when a new process of color printing lowered the manufacturing cost and the price. Consequently, the custom of sending printed Christmas greetings spread throughout England.
Now we can just stick them on the internet… have a good Christmas.

Mostly for them...

Coming to terms with a disabled parent is hard. Mostly for them

Crap snow man

My daughter, who is old enough to know better, has just spent the last ten minutes in our back yard making a snow man - at 8.10 in the evening.
I love my daughter but this is a crap snow man.

OpenCoffee comes to Sheffield

Following the success of the OpenCoffee networking events we have held in Bradford, bmedi@ are running another event on Thursday 4th December 2008 in SHEFFIELD.
The emphasis of OpenCoffee is very much on the internet and new media industries etc. These free events are informal and see a range of technology entrepreneurs, designers, bloggers, developers, geeks, investors and anyone else who’s interested in digital media and technology exchanging ideas and striking up relationships that would otherwise never have flourished.
The philosophy of OpenCoffee is very much of an Open House of ideas and people.
OpenCoffee SHEFFIELD, is being sponsored by bmedi@ and the Showroom Sheffield. The event will take place on Thursday 4th December 2008 at The Showroom Sheffield from 10am to midday. The Showroom is located at Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX.
Please note it is only a two minute walk from the train station to the venue and various car-parks are available in the area.
The event is open to anyone who is interested in the region’s digital, creative and new media industries. You’re welcome to enjoy the coffee, bacon butties, the cakes and the company. We do however need to have an idea of numbers for catering, so please book your place by contacting Steve Ding either by e-mail steve@bmedia.org.uk. or ring 01274 747400. You can also register at Upcoming.
We look forward to networking with you.

Project your self

GREEN Communications has been appointed to create a launch PR campaign for a new generation of pocket projectors. So this week I have been messing around with one of the pocket projectors being distributed by Personal Projector.
The Aiptek projector takes a bit getting used to by luckily Personal Projector offer a one to one service and were able to talk me through any problems. So much so that I will be using it in a couple of weeks to present a pub quiz at my rowing club.
Personal Projector retails a range of new projectors which provide professional presenting and display technologies without the need to use traditional large projectors or even a laptop.
The devices, which are about the size of the Apple iPhone, can display document files such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word and PDF’s, photos and slideshows and even video files, and can produce a high contrast quality display up to 50 inches.
Shiny Media have already done a review which you can find here. My verdict is that if I wasn't given one I would probably buy one - perfect for a mobile sales team, or anyone pitching new business, or showing family holiday snaps and videos - or even doing a pub quiz.

Fancy a job with GREEN Communications?

GREEN Communications is recruiting again. This time we are looking for a talented Account Manager with a sound knowledge of the consumer, lifestyle and business sectors to join our highly motivated team.
You will need to hit the ground running and have a passion for creative media relations, a desire to deliver outstanding coverage for your clients, the ability to think on your feet and manage an executive team.
The ideal candidate will need a broad spread of media contacts across consumer, lifestyle and business within the broadcast, national press, consumer press, online as well as freelancers.
An interest in social media is also desired. There will also be scope to develop a role at GREEN’s in community relations and public consultation.
The work you will be required to undertake will have a broad business and consumer focus and will include working as part of a team to help implement high profile campaign activity.
Further information visit call Ian Green on 0845 4503210. Send CVs with covering letter to Ian at Green Communications, Wakefield Media Centre, 19 King Street, Wakefield, WF1 2SQ or email: ian@greencomms.com.

Talking at the Art of Marketing

I'm getting ready for a gig in Gateshead tomorrow as I am speaking at this years’ The Art of Marketing Conference at The Sage.
The Art of Marketing is organised by Business Link and the Chartered Institute of Marketing takes place on Monday, November 10. The event has been designed to appeal to anyone with a marketing remit, whatever their company size, whether they be regional businesses, marketers or PR professionals.
With a mix of workshops and presentations, the event will act as a forum to share knowledge and best practice and will help attendees inject new direction and creativity into their marketing plans.
I will take part in the Digital Dialogue in an open discussion about the impact of digital media on marketing on communications – in particular focusing on Social Media and the impact of blogs and social networks.
Other speakers include: Ian Gibbons of Mobious; Ki Media’s Kev Price and Paul Asensio from Robson Brown.
Full Disclosure: The Chartered Institute of Marketing is a client of GREEN.

Testing time for Azor

Through FuelMyBlog those nice people at King of Shaves, where CEO Will King is a very active corporate blogger, have sent me a Azor razor and some of there excellent shaving gel.
I already use the King of Shaves gel, having been introduced to it by my son, and it works very well.
Anyway I presume they sent me the Azor to test it out and see what I think about. Let me make one thing clear I am like Esau - I am a very hairy man. I shave every morning and by lunch time I usually have a 5 o'clock shadow.
The closest shave I have ever had has been with a cut-throat razor - but that was done by a professional barber and I don't think I would ever have the skill or courage to do it myself.
As for the Azor, it gave me the best shave I have had for ages - and while I generally use Gillette disposable razors (they're blue - don't ask me what they are called) I would be tempted to convert full time to Mr King's razor.

Gold award for GREEN

Congratulations to colleagues at Green which won gold at this year’s CIPR PRide Awards for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire for a campaign it ran on behalf of Graduates Yorkshire - the dedicated website for matching employers in Yorkshire & Humber with graduate talent from the region’s universities.
We ran a campaign informing businesses and local authorities the importance of investing in graduate recruitment to achieve economic regeneration. It was based on a report by Geoeconomics, commissioned by Graduates Yorkshire, which claimed Yorkshire and the Humber’s long-term ambition to become a successful knowledge economy is threatened by its failure to retain more graduate talent in the region.
The Graduates Economies in Britain report provided a snapshot of the region’s position in the graduate intensive “knowledge economy” and highlights the crucial role that graduates have in supporting and strengthening the knowledge intensive sectors.
Graduates Yorkshire Chief Executive Martin Edmondson, said: “This campaign was successful because the report is vitally important to the region’s future and Green Communications found a way of making an in depth report accessible and relevant to people in Yorkshire.”
“The findings are even more relevant in these economic conditions. Companies need to keep investing in graduate talent to improve efficiencies, become more productive and achieve high value returns.By investing in the future, Yorkshire firms will become more robust against the downturn and be in a position to achieve real growth when the business climate improves.”
Thomas Atcheson, Senior Account Manager at Green Communications, said: “Just like the CIPR Awards for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, The Graduates Economies report recognises the talent and potential we have in the region. We are proud and delighted that our hard work has paid off with an effective campaign and this award is the icing on the cake.”
And the judges said: "Green worked hard to gain standout in this campaign. A very nice balance of online and offline activity to reach stakeholders and keep momentum going. Tangible results generated interest, drove traffic to site; and sign up of employers meant that the core objectives were met. All the judges felt this campaign stood out in the category."
Fair doos the picture shown here is from Pic-Biz.

Payment-by-results PR: Jury’s still out

pr,We’ve had an interesting debate today at GREEN about the pros and cons of offering payment-by-results (PBR) PR.
The debate has been interesting, because we really didn’t reach any firm conclusion on the pros and cons. However, we do know of two agencies which offer this service – one is doing very well (mainly because we suspect they quickly convert PBR clients to retained clients on a fixed monthly) while the other is struggling.
So what is PBR? Basically for every column inch generated by a PR company the client pays a success fee. So, for instance, GREEN in one month might generates £40,000 worth of coverage in national, regional and trade press then the client agrees to pay us 33% of that value. In other words at the end of the month we are at liberty to issue an invoice for £13,000.
Fantastic! So then, how do we value the client’s three-minute slot on BBC Radio 4, or The One Show on BBC TV, or a five minute piece of ITV? All of which we have achieved for clients in the past. That’s worth… erm thousands?
However, if the client gets tough we agree a 25% rate which means £10,000 fee for us. If the client is unhappy with that then perhaps we can reset the matrix.
Okay, so we say we will charge £200 for every £1,000 of coverage generated. On this model, and based on the above scenario, where we have generated £40,000 worth of coverage in a month that would justify us issuing an invoice to the client £8,000.
Oh Dear! Still too rich for the client? Okay we cut a deal and we say £150 for every £1,000 of coverage generated. Monthly fee: £6,000. Still too much? Okay let’s say £100 for every £1,000 generated. Monthly fee: £4,000.
Damn! The client only has a budget of £3,500 a month – which is probably what we would have agreed as a monthly retained fee anyway.
The reality is that communications consultancies do work on payment by results even for a client on a retained monthly fee – because if they don’t deliver they get sacked. What do you think?

The world backs Barack Obama

As The Economist points out all democratic systems have their quirks, and America's is no exception. The electoral college is a 200-year-old institution. According to its rules, Americans do not vote directly for their presidents. Instead they cast a ballot to decide who wins their state's electoral-college votes.
Stuart Bruce put me on to this. According to The Economist the number of these votes in the electoral college is fixed by the number of people the state sends to Congress, which in turn is based on its population. All states have a minimum of three votes and there are 538 electoral-college votes up for grabs in total. The presidential candidate who secures the most electoral-college votes ends up in the White House.
Critics of the electoral-college system say it can produce a president who has lost the popular vote, as happened in 2000. They also complain that the winner-takes-all system employed by most states leads candidates to focus on a small number of "swing states" and ignore more reliably partisan ones.
There have consequently been many attempts to reform the electoral-college system - over 700 so far - though until now nobody has suggested that the entire world be included.
Now The Economist has. If we could all vote McCain would be toast and Obama will be in power come November 5. Check it out.
Interestingly the only nations in favour of McCain are Macedonia and Georgia.

Ian's inside view on Insider

Many happy returns to Yorkshire Business Insider – which is 10 year’s old this month. Current editor Peter Baber, who is sadly leaving to enter the work of corporate recruitment asked me to write a retrospective as back in the day, I was launch editor of Insider which has since emerged as one of the business stalwarts of the Yorkshire business scene.
Here it is what I had to say for himself:

Going back to your old school is always a salutary experience.
It serves to emphasise how much has changed and how little has changed. Yes, we might be a bit thicker around the waist, thinner around the hair line and prone to make involuntary noises when we bend over but we are all still pretty much the same.
It’s ten years now since I had the privilege of editing the first issue of Yorkshire Business Insider and looking back at how the region’s business scene has changed during that period one struggles to identify any defining moment. And the telescope of time offers a different prospect and perspective to the one you might imagine.
True, when Insider first launched Yorkshire had the biggest number of companies listed Stock Market after London and the south-east. Many of those businesses were taken to market during the 1980s by a new breed of uber corporate financiers in the region. Today, after the flight from public to private during the 1990s, there are 75 companies, the bulk of them listed on the smaller Alternative Investment Market.
Many of those companies that are no longer listed on the stock market still exist albeit in the portfolio of a private equity fund or as part of a larger group, probably foreign owned. Incidentally it was probably the same lawyers, accountants and brokers who advised on the reversal out of the Stock Market, with consummate fees, one presumes.
Old industries have disappeared – does anyone still make shoddy in Yorkshire? And new industries have emerged – don’t forget the origins of the commercial internet where in Leeds with Freeserve and Planet.
But then some things get bigger while others diminish. Back in 1998, the year Britain was introduced to Viagra, Furbies and Pokémon, the Yorkshire and Humber economy was valued at £55bn. Since then the region’s Gross Domestic Product has risen to £80bn. But then all things are relative – the North-West economy is worth £109bn.
All this has happened under a Labour Government, so the Noughties have been pretty good to Yorkshire so far – Leeds, Sheffield and York have thrived. Hull and Bradford less so. By and large John Prescott’s Regional Development Agencies have delivered.
As Chancellor Gordon Brown laid down two strict fiscal rules. The Golden Rule that over the economic cycle, the Government would only borrow to invest and not to fund current spending and the Sustainable Investment Rule which dictated that net public debt as a proportion of GDP will be held over the economic cycle at a stable and prudent level.
Now, after ten years those rules are looking a bit shaky. The world credit crunch, dodgy deals by some of the UK’s biggest financial houses and declining GDP in all of the world’s developed countries are beginning to have an impact.
And Yorkshire is not immune – as a region we are still a major exporter operating in a truly global economy. It used to be the case that when the US sneezed the UK caught a cold. Now decisions made in Shanghai or Delhi or Moscow have a direct impact on the region’s economic well being.
However, Yorkshire and its business people continue to have a sense of purpose and there is still a tradition for entrepreneurialism – a legacy of the Victorian industrial inventiveness and Yorkshire cussedness. I am often puzzled when commentators suggest that the region is poor at developing home-grown entrepreneurs but our track record is rather good as illustrated by Insider 42 Under 42 feature which annually highlights the entrepreneurial talent of the future.
No doubt the next 18 months are going to be tough and as the region begins to find its stride in the 21st Century there is much to reflect on but it is important to remember that the Broad Acres of Yorkshire has never been one for relying on past glories and has always been conscious of the dangers of becoming complacent and self-satisfied.
The region has emerged, as Insider has chronicled over the past decade, as a place which still welcomes and fosters new entrepreneurial talent whilst understanding that the crucial driver of progress is innovations and change.
It is significant that when the then Newsco Managing Director Nick Jaspan decided to launch a second Insider (the first was based in the north-west) the only viable region which we believed could support a monthly business title was Yorkshire. Nick is now running How-Do which I highly recommend.
With its intelligent readership, depth of businesses from professional services to steel manufacturers, Yorkshire emerged as the only viable option to support a publication like Insider. Indeed, when the Yorkshire Post launched a so-called spoiler monthly business glossy aimed at shutting us down we remained unconcerned.
Insider has now been in the hands of five different editors and continues to go on from strength to strength. I will always take an interest Insider, in spite of the fact that many of the people I knew there have now moved on.
And at a time when regional newspaper journalism is in decline with circulation falling across the board and jobs under threat it is heartening that Insider’s future looks assured for the next ten year.
It’s a real asset to Yorkshire business.

Next Bradford OpenCoffee

Following the success of bmedi@’s previous OpenCoffee events, we are running another event on Thursday, October 16.
The emphasis of OpenCoffee is very much on the internet and new media industries. The free events are informal and see a range of technology entrepreneurs, designers, bloggers, developers, geeks, investors and anyone else who's interested in digital media and technology exchanging ideas and striking up relationships that would otherwise never have flourished.
The philosophy of OpenCoffee is very much of an Open House of ideas and people.
OpenCoffee Bradford(Shipley), is being sponsored by the YoYo Bar & Restaurant as well as hosting the event here.
The event is open to anyone who is interested in the region's digital, creative and new media industries. You're welcome to enjoy the coffee, the cakes and the company :) To book e-mail steve@bmedia.org.uk or register at Upcoming here.

The Emperor's new clothes?

The excellent Brendan Cooper has posted a compelling piece de-bunking at least three of the Holy Grails of social media: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, The Long Tail by Chris Anderson and Blink also by Malcolm Gladwell.
For the full post go to Blink: It's the Tipping Point for the Long Tail.
Brendan has discovered some compelling "scientific" data and commentary which rather debunks some of the concepts which first propelled most of us to jump of this bandwagon in the first place.
Before you decide to have a go at Brendan he does point out that he is simply the messenger and having discovered some rather vigorous research on the matter which undermines the thoughts and anecdotal narrative of Messrs Gladwell and Anderson.
For my own part I am always rather suspicious of these sort of self-help, philosophical, business books. I read them of course and become convinced that they are right. But a couple of days afterwards I am always puzzled and struggle to remember what the hell the are talking about and whether it does stand up to reality.
I've attended many conferences over the years where the key note speaker has been a so-called "business guru". You sit there with the rest of the delegates, listening open-mouthed as the build their proposition, thinking: "My God! This man is a genius!"
Afterwards, less than ten minutes later, you discuss his speech/presentation/spiel with fellow delegates and realise you can't remember a damn thing he said. Nor have any of you taken anything concrete away from the performance that you could apply to your own business etc.
It's simple entertainment. All style over content.
If I could recommend two books about what real business is about they would be Liar's Poker and Barbarians At The Gate. Enjoy!

Some thing to think about

Local newspapers: Use them or lose them

I took a phone call from an old newspaper colleague a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to know if I could help a former work mate find a job after being made redundant by a major regional newspaper publisher.
I seem to be getting a lot of these calls recently - and this issue was neatly addressed by Peter Wilby in today's Guardian.
Since 1989, circulation is down 51% to 12,549 for the Birmingham Post; 49% to 70,028 for the Leicester Mercury; 43% to 50,256 for the Northern Echo (I used to work there); 62% to 32,874 for the Argus in Sussex; 38% to 38,844 for the Echo in Southend; 38% to 36,516 for the Herald in Plymouth; 49% to 20,976 for the Oldham Evening Chronicle; 46% to 19,956 for the Halifax Evening Courier. North, south, east, west, large, small, morning and evening, the story for Britain's local papers is one of unremitting gloom.
Obviously, blogs, the internet, YouTube et al are having a huge impact on regional newspaper journalism and they are not going to go away. The main problem is that, certainly with the dailies is that they are pretending to give local, regional and national news.
But parochialism is everything - and regional newspapers seem to have forgotten that. In my part of the world, what makes news in Bradford doesn't make news in Leeds (ten miles distant).
Indeed, regionalism may have been deemed dead in some respects certainly at a local political level where people are not interested in what the councils of Hull, Leeds, Bradford or York have planned for their citizens. In spite of this I still love the Yorkshire Post and buy it every day. Similarly, as a resident of Barnard Castle I bought the Teesdale Mercury every week when I lived there.
Local is so important in regional newspapers. Back in the day when I was still a journalist - that meant covering the Women's Institute meeting, the Parish Council and the local art competition.
Curiously, I was in Alnwick in Northumberland a couple of weeks ago to grab a meal off the A1 on my way to meet with friends in St Andrews, Scotland. In the car park I found a purse. It obviously belonged to a lady of more mature years and, touchingly had a picture of her husband and about £22.00 in it. It had a receipt from the Post Office and that is where I handed it in.
Later, after our meal, I headed back to the Post Office to buy the local newspaper. The woman behind the counter recognised me and informed me that the lady had retrieved her purse and informed me: "She didn't have your phone number because you wouldn't give it to me. But she said she was going to write a letter to the Northumberland Gazette about it."
Bless! That's what local, regional newspapers are all about.