Along with the annual council elections, May 3^rd will also see the people of Birmingham voting in a referendum for the prospect of an elected mayor. Birmingham is one of 10 other cities that will be voting to decide on the mayoral position which, if accepted, will see an elected candidate take over the council’s existing powers. The elected mayor would be able to choose a deputy and appoint a cabinet under a new system.

The elected mayor would also share some powers with the council. He or she proposes the council’s budget and its policies on such areas as education, youth justice, crime and disorder reduction, children’s services and local development. Elected mayors act as natural ambassadors for their cities by becoming a more high-profile figure, having an advocate like this attracts investment and promotes a sense of strong leadership. This is certainly the case for Boris Johnson, the elected mayor of London. Without knowing too much about the politics of it all, recent surveys have shown that people are twice more likely to identify their mayor than other council leaders. If this has worked in London, there is no reason why such success cannot be replicated in the second city.

Under a new mayoral system, the general public would have a say on who runs the city council. This would be a major advantage for Birmingham as an elected mayor will be seen to best represent the needs of the City by having a proper understanding of the key concerns. With a shift of responsibilities from Whitehall to an elected mayor, Birmingham can benefit from a strengthened, more empowered, council with a cabinet who are better able to lead in their communities with plans, budgets and vision.

Here at Big Cat we are supporting the Yes campaign and will be voting to bring in a new mayoral system and an elected mayor. If you’d like to find out more information on the ‘Yes to Birmingham Mayor’ campaign, you can visit the dedicated Yes Campaign website.

If you’re unsure about where your closest polling station or would like some information on the council elections, please visit the Birmingham City Council website.

This month saw Big Cat’s CEO Nick Morgan complete the Goldman Sachs ’10,000 Small Businesses’ programme, the first of its kind in the area after a successful round in Yorkshire. The programme is designed to provide high-quality, practical support to the owners and leaders of established small businesses and social enterprises as they seek to grow. The 16 week course is an investment to help small businesses create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to business education, financial capital, and business support services.

Facilitated by Aston Business School, Nick completed a variety of modules ranging from M&A and growth strategies to sustainable entrepreneurship and business finance information. This was the first time this programme has been held in the Birmingham area and Nick fought off fierce competition to secure his place. With the programme being heavily oversubscribed, our CEO was put through a rigorous application process which saw almost 85 applicants for the 25 places.

Nick said, “Personal development is something Big Cat prides itself on, no matter where you are on the career ladder. The 10,000 Small Businesses programme was an enlightening experience which enabled me to explore new methodologies which will greatly benefit Big Cat’s continued growth strategy. I’d highly recommend people apply for next year’s cohort.”

With these new skills in our arsenal, Big Cat keeps ahead of the competition and invests in the future of the business as we continue to look for M&A partners.

Champagne all round this month at Big Cat as we are celebrating scooping up not one, but two amazing award wins!

Last week saw Big Cat pick up the Community Engagement Campaign of the Year award at the glitzy Golden Hedgehog Awards, beating off fierce competition from a number of top national agencies. We also came top of the class at the NOEA Awards, taking home the Community Event of the Year award.

The Big Cat team with with award for Community Engagement Campaign of the Year

Rob Dudley from Big Cat accepting the NOEA Award for Community Event of the Year

Both awards were won for Big Cat’s work on Jamaica Live, a 1-day Caribbean festival created on behalf of Punch Records in July last year. The event saw Big Cat transform Victoria Square in Birmingham into a Caribbean oasis featuring real Jamaican food, arts and crafts, storytelling, spoken word poetry and face painting. The event witnessed over 30,000 people enjoying the tropical climates of Birmingham whilst soaking up the authentic Caribbean atmosphere.

A huge well done to everyone who was involved on the project.

This week saw Big Cat attend the official launch of the Cultural Olympiad’s West Midlands Programme.  For those of you who don’t know what the Olympiad is, it’s the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic movements.

Over the past 4 years more than 16 million people from across the UK have taken part in or attended performances as part of the Olympiad. You may well have attended one of these, one of the largest in Birmingham last year was Jamaica Live, which Big Cat helped organise with Punch Records.

The event this week though was to officially launch the West Midlands programme for the months leading up to and during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Packed to the brim with stunning dance movements, live music concerts, diverse art installations and interactive workshops the West Midlands is certainly in for a treat over the coming months.

Particular highlights include The Voyage, an outdoor dance production of mammoth proportions set in heart of Birmingham’s Victoria Square; Boys Dancing, a series of films exploring the themes of masculinity, strength and sensitivity around boys dancing; and Spill, a dance piece touring playgrounds and parks across the region.

Locations for these events include the iconic Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, Much Wenlock (birthplace of the modern Olympics), Coventry Cathedral and Birmingham Symphony Hall.

One of the largest events in the calendar is the world premier of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s ‘Mittwock aus Licht’ (Wednesday from Light) performed by Birmingham Opera Company. The performance will feature four helicopters, two choirs, solo instrumentalists and live electronic and acoustic music. A pretty big show if you ask me and one not to be missed.

The Olympics is so much more than a sporting event, it is a celebration of multi-culturalism, heritage and unity, all of which will be demonstrated through the Cultural Olympiad’s programme.

If you’ve never known where to start when it comes to dance and the arts, this festival is the perfect way to be eased into it, especially as the majority of the programme is free.

I think a road trip will definitely be in order to go and see some of the performances, so who’s in?

Earlier in the year The Big Issue Foundation brought Big Cat on board to help deliver and promote the city’s first Big Brum Night Walk, which has successfully run in London for the past 3 years with over 650 people taking part at each event.

Not content with simply promoting the event, Big Cat are jumping right in and sending two of our own out onto the streets to complete the 23KM Big Brum Walk on 30^th March. Anthony Tattum and Chris Brown will ramble with an estimated 150 other participants through various historic locations right across the city.

In a bid to drum up sign ups from in and around the city, Big Cat will also be securing key influencers from Birmingham to be known as “Brand Ambassadors”.

If you’d like to support Big Cat on the walk and help raise money for The Big Issue Foundation and the homeless, please donate on the Anthony and Chris’s Just Giving pages.

If you fancy joining the cause, and burning off a few calories in the process, you can sign up here,
http://www.bigissue.org.uk/event/big-brum-night-walk

It’s been a very exciting month here at Big Cat with a hat-trick of fantastic account wins.  We’ve certainly been putting in the hours, but the results have been worthwhile!

The first win is a fantastic new campaign with Birmingham Hippodrome providing PR and social media support for its major cultural project, The Voyage. Kick starting the London 2012 Olympic Festival in June, the project will see over 140 performers telling the story of a passenger liner travelling across the continents on a spectacular boat that will be built in Birmingham’s Victoria Square. The Voyage will set sail on June 21^st-24^th, so make sure you pencil it into your diaries.

Big Cat is also working with The Big Issue Foundation, to promote its first ever Big Brum Night Walk. A 23KM walk that will find its participants exploring Birmingham by night with all raised funds going directly to support homeless and vulnerable vendors in the Birmingham area. Two of our own have jumped at the opportunity to take part on the walk. Read on how you can support Chris and Tat on their mammoth task.

Our latest win is Tails, a luxury cocktail brand. Bursting with authentic flavours, the cocktails come pre-made in a bar-esque shaker, with the user only having to add ice. Big Cat will be providing PR, social media, design and event support to some key milestones in the Tails calendar.

So as you can tell we’ve got a busy couple of months ahead, please spare a thought for us with our late night office hours.

With evenings still dark before it hits 5:30pm and winter well and truly settling in, you can be forgiven for deciding to hibernate during those cold nights in the comfort of your home in front of a roaring fire with a cup of tea. But have you ever taken a moment to think about those less fortunate who don’t know where they will be spending the night? The lucky ones are able to sofa surf on friends’ sofas but what about the ones who have to sleep under an office extractor fan or maybe just in a stair well? Not the safest place to be spending the night that’s for sure.

This month marked the launch of National Poverty and Homelessness Action Week, a campaign which aims to raise awareness of those living on the streets and without a permanent residence.

Did you know:

• According to Council figures released in 2011 Birmingham saw a disturbing 140% increase in homelessness between January and June 2010, with between 800 – 1,000 people now being housed in B&B’s across the city.
• There are 243,000 people out of work in the region
• There has been a 9,000 increase in the past 3 months
• 9.2% rate of unemployment
• There are nearly 18,000 households registered as homeless in the city (1.75m nationally; 157000 regionally)
• More than 350,000 people are on Social Housing waiting lists in the West Midlands; 1 in every 14 households
• 18,000 new households are expected to form in the West Midlands each year to 2033, but just 8,250 new homes were built in the region last year

Big Cat has been working closely with Birmingham YMCA over the past few weeks to raise awareness of the scheme and how the general public can get behind the scheme.

I was lucky enough to spend the day with the team from Channel 5’s Live with Gabby the other week who came to Birmingham to film a piece on the city’s homeless crisis.

They were blown away with the work and support the YMCA offer and what they were doing with such limited resources. The piece aired last week and as you can imagine the entire team were found crowded around the TV watching it.

Alan Fraser, CEO of Birmingham YMCA took on a leading role as he depicted the situation the city is facing and what people can do get involved. This was closely followed by interviews with past and present residents about their situation and how facilities like the YMCA’s Orchard can help those in need.

A few days later, Alan was asked to appear on BBC WM’s breakfast show to further elaborate on the situation

Although Action week has finished now, the problem is still very real and organisations like the YMCA are battling hard to help those in need. If you’d like to see how you can show your  support, perhaps with a donation of either time or money then drop the YMCA a line on  0121 477 4644

Well it’s been a busy month for birthday’s as we celebrated not one but two, more senior dates of birth. Last week, both Antony Tattum and Rob Dudley celebrated the big 40, a considerable achievement bearing in mind what the pair are like. We’re surprised they’ve made it this far to be honest.

The pair are of course trying to keep it on the down-low, something we don’t do at Big Cat so we thought a mention in the Big Round up was more than adequate.

Many Happy Returns to both Rob and Antony. Here’s to many more years of your escapades.

Unless you’ve been sitting in a very dark room for the past 12 months you’ll have undoubtedly seen the arguments for and against the High Speed Rail link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

Well today Phase 1 of the controversial project has been given the green light by the government. Whilst many people are shouting from the roof tops about how fantastic this is, what exactly does it mean for Joe Bloggs and the region? Does it just mean that that weekend away to London can start 30 mins earlier? Far from it, infact the benefits to the West Midlands are rather significant.

• Will boost the West Midland’ economy by £2.5 billion
• Up to 10,000 new construction jobs
• Up to 2,000 operational and maintenance jobs
• £35.3 billion in economic benefit to the West Midlands region
• Up to 60 – 70,000 local jobs by 2040 as a result of relocation of jobs from other areas in the UK
• Reduced carbon of up to a million tonnes a year by 2055

*Source http://www.go-hs2.com/News/NewsListings.aspx

As with any argument though there are said to be some downsides to the development.

• The new HS2 trains will use x3 more power than traditional trains
• Will increase carbon emissions
• Benefits will mainly go to London; more people travelling to London than to other regions
• Will prove detrimental to small towns and villages along rail route

*Source http://stophs2.org/facts

What are your thoughts though? Will HS2 help uplift the economy or will it destroy our countryside?

Companies are looking for more meaningful and creative ways to push their brands out to target audiences. The simple text based press release no longer cuts it especially as newspapers up and down the country are now going digital. With fewer newspapers around, securing coverage in the local paper is becoming more and more difficult as community stories take precedent over the launch of a new product.

PR agencies are now looking to go direct to the consumer, and so PR 2.0 was born. Although it may sound like some bizarre acronym, PR 2.0 is just the combination of traditional PR methods with social media and digital tools. The aim is still the same, to communicate with influencers and the consumer audience, it’s just the means that have changed.

The idea of PR 2.0 has been around for some years now, but following the recent boom in digital and social media technology, the PR industry has had to learn to evolve in order to stay ahead of the game, and inturn ensure clients are one step ahead of their competitors. More and more companies are using platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to interact with their markets, jumping traditional print formats completely. When articles are issued to papers now, all company names are hyperlinked and sometimes the releases contain video content. All of these tools enhance the user’s experience.

We’ve been utilising PR 2.0 at Big Cat Group for a number of years now. All of our press releases are supported by digital technology; it just depends on the nature of the client and their needs. We understand the importance of creativity. Just because something is text based doesn’t mean it can’t be engaging and be supported by additional content such as videos.

PR 2.0 isn’t a subject that is stationary. Every day a new website or social media platform is released and we make it our job to ensure our clients utilise them to their advantage. We do our research and we understand what works. Just because your competitor is on Myspace and Bebo doesn’t mean you have to be too. To stand out of the crowd you need to be different and that’s what we do best.

A week has passed and after numerous foot massages, hot baths and the odd pint or two, the Big Cat bosses, Nick Morgan and Anthony Tattum have finally recovered after competing in last week’s BUPA Half Marathon in Birmingham.

After months of grueling training in rain storms and heat waves and even signing up to a military fitness camp, the pair completed the course smashing their previous records.

The race wasn’t just about male ego though and seeing who could run the fastest. The pair pledged to raise money for The Prostate Cancer Charity, something which is close to both of their hearts.

Altogether they raised a total of £490.

A huge congratulations to Nick and Anthony for all their hard work. It must have paid off as we’ve seen them wearing suits which clearly haven’t been out of the wardrobe in sometime.

If you haven’t sponsored either of them yet, there’s still time. Just click the link below and enter your chosen amount

http://www.justgiving.com/anthonytattum

http://www.justgiving.com/nickbigcatmorgan

October is always a busy time for the Big Cat’s. Not only is it Nick Morgan’s Birthday but it’s the companies birthday as well and this year we’re celebrating 11 years of continued growth and success.

The whole country across all sectors has felt the pinch of the credit crunch. Many businesses have fallen at the wayside but others have come out fighting. After 11 years, Big Cat Group has seen one of its most successful years in 2011. Whereas many companies have had to unfortunately make staffing cuts, Big Cat has continued to grow, hiring new members of staff in its events, marketing and digital departments.

With more staff comes the possibility of a greater capacity for clients. All departments within Big Cat have seen a broad range of new clients come on board from a variety of sectors including hospitality, professional services, charity, government bodies and entertainment to name but a few. The clients themselves have again ranged vastly from the launch of Bournville College’s £66million campus, a Jamaican music festival, a Birmingham based auctioneer and a digital festival.

To coin the famous telecommunications tag line, the futures bright, the futures orange and here’s to another 11 truly fantastic years.

Happy Birthday Big Cat!!!!

So, what’s your favourite colour? Perhaps you’re a traditional primary colour type of person, who likes a passionate red or maybe a cool blue? Perhaps you’re a little more sophisticated and like a nice teal? Ever thought about owning your favourite colour? Well now you can thanks Dulex.

Working alongside humanitarian charity, UNICEF, Dulex are offering people the chance to purchase a colour and donate money to charity. The average Smartphone can display 16.7 million colours, so if all of these colours were purchased for just £1, think of the difference this would make to the lives of those less fortunate.

Big Cat took up the challenge and purchased their highly symbolic shade of orange. When this blog was written, over £58,000 had already been donated since the launch of the campaign one week a go. What an amazing achievement this is for Dulex, not only for the lives they are helping to save, but also the running of a successful social media campaign.

There are so many companies launching campaigns at the moment which haven’t been thought through fully. The ‘Own a colour’ campaign is a perfect example how social media can not only raise brand awareness but also help the less fortunate.

Dulex is a household name in the UK. How many other paint suppliers can you think of off the top of your head? So surely this wasn’t just about raising brand awareness, there had to be a deeper meaning. By utilising their USP of the paint colour palette, Dulex have created a fantastic campaign which was spread like wildfire across Facebook and Twitter, every Digital Director’s dream. People can donate as little as a pound with every single penny helping.

Well done Dulex for this fantastic campaign.

Scary concept for any PR however there’s been a lot of talk over the past 2 years about the death of the press release and how the digital landscape is re-shaping how traditional publications source their news.

Would social media and digital content really put the nail in the coffin of the good old press release though? Personally, I don’t think so. Agreed, press releases have had to become more advanced in delivering key messages by utilising hyperlinks and alt-tagged images; however from the conversations I’ve had with journalists they still prefer receiving and initial press release (as long as it’s relevant of course – but that’s a whole other blog).

This week I read in the CorpComms publication about how Japanese car manufacturer, Nissan utilise a rather extensive ‘Newsroom’ on their site which incorporates images, video, text, sound and social media sharing. If they have a story to tell, no matter what the format, it goes up on the Newsroom. The idea of this is to tell the story behind the brand rather than a monotonous release. If an article is considered ‘boring’ though, surely that’s down to the author and the topic?

Does the digital Newsroom remove the need for the old fashioned sell-in? Again, I don’t think so. Back in my freelance days, if a company wanted their good-news story telling I’d prefer that they send it me rather than me having to trawl through a site. Many of my journalist friends don’t have the time anymore to do indepth research unless it’s a ground-breaking story which is a real shame as this is where the real gems come out, but with how the industry is at the moment, time is incredibly precious.

Nissan’s editor-in-chief, Dan Sloan commented: “Nissan is not putting an end to traditional ways of promotion and advertising; it’s more a recognition that innovative messaging and delivery is the main objective, and on occasion cheaper than traditional methods.”

The Newsroom method does seem to work for international brands such as Nissan though, especially when a head office may be in the UK however the audience is in Japan for example.

The future of the press release still seems to be uncertain at the moment; however one thing is for sure, audiences are demanding more from their news via a variety of mediums and it’s our job to ensure they get what they want.

This past week, the Big Cat Office has looked like a jumble sale with every nook and cranny filled with either a bean bag, BBQ equipment, bunting or some form of party paraphernalia.

No, we haven’t been preparing for the annual Big Cat Summer BBQ but instead counting down the days to Jamaica Live, a 1-day festival extravaganza taking place at the heart of Birmingham in Victoria Square.

Organised by Punch Records, with Big Cat providing event and PR support, Jamaica Live was a celebration of Caribbean heritage and culture as part of the London Olympics 2012 Open Weekend. You may be wondering what exactly this had to do with the Olympics…well it’s a little known fact that the Jamaican Olympic team will be training in Birmingham over the coming year, so like any celebratory occasion we thought we’d throw a big party to celebrate.

On Saturday 23rd July, Birmingham’s Victoria Square was a hive of activity with the authentic sights, sounds and smells of Jamaican culture, with a range of activities taking place including traditional Caribbean cooking, drumming workshops, arts & crafts, storytelling, spoken word and dominoes. The Square also saw a large stage erected where the audience was treated to performances from Monique, the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra and Levi Roots who rustled up a storm on stage with his cooking demonstration.

Across the course of the day, over 32,000 people were said to have passed through Victoria Square, the majority of who stayed for the entire event. The Big Cat team had a fantastic day working the event and at the end of it all were proud to have been able to make the festival a reality. With so many budgets being cut at the moment, and funding incredibly scarce for projects such as this, it was fantastic to see so many people coming together, putting their differences aside and enjoying themselves. Some even learnt about a whole new culture, a rarety these days.

OK, so you’ve taken the plunge to commit to social media. You understand that the more you engage your customers the more likely you are to keep them. And you know that the way to do that is to engage with them without resorting to interruption tactics and sales messages.

Once you have a strategy, it’s time to choose a network. It’s got to be Facebook, right? Not so fast. You might be about to make an almighty mistake. Just because Facebook is the biggest (some say notorious) social network of them all, that’s not to say your customers are interested in connecting with you there.

In fact, despite the meteoric rise in the number of business pages on Facebook, most of them are failing because either a) their owners are not producing compelling content b) their owners are not committed to engaging with their customers c) the platform wasn’t the right one in the first place. Ask yourself the following questions before you start.

Where is your audience?

It’s not enough to say: “everyone has a Facebook account”. This may well be true. But are people interested in liking your page? Probably not. They might like you out of kindness if you ask them. But what’s the point in that? If they’re not engaging with you. You need to take some time to listen. Where are your audience having conversations about your product/service/industry? Where do they hang out? Use Google Alerts/Social mention or the Twitter hashtag to find out. Then spend some time listening before you jump right in.

Is the functionality right?

Now you’ve identified where the conversations are happening, figure out whether the platform supports the content you want to share. If you’re a photography business, you’ll want to share a lot of pictures. So do your homework: where are your customers and think about how they’ll want to engage with your content.

Can you commit?

There’s an expectation with some networks that you regularly produce content. Twitter, for example, offers the opportunity to be almost limitless in the content – this requires somebody managing the conversations with some regularity, ideally a working day. If you can’t commit to social media, don’t do it.

How will you measure your activity/goals?

This is important. Especially when you’re justifying the investment to your seniors. You will have set out your goals way before you’ve chosen your platform, so make sure the platform supports your goal reporting. If your goal is to drive more traffic to the website, make sure you’ve setup your analytics to measure that. If you’re looking to engage customers consider how the customer rates the quality of the post (IE YouTube ratings, Facebook likes, Twitter retweets or LinkedIn comments).

Are you prepared for the haters?

Finally don’t forget that you will get problem customers taking pot shots at you on social networks. That’s fine. Really it is. If a customer has an issue with late delivery of a product or the level of service you’ve provided have a plan to deal with them. And make sure you deal with it publically where appropriate – this will do great things for your reputation in the long run.

Think inside the box

Often the question we get from our customers is “what do I say?” Don’t forget the solution may not be all about Twitter and Facebook – they might be just the broadcast platform for your content. The real conversations might well be happening on your blog. This is where you can share interesting and useful information about your business that feeds both the search engines but confirms you’re an expert in your field.

Pic by WebTreats

Last week I attended a conference titled Social Media in a Corporate Context  (SMCC), organised by Communicate Magazine, as a Live-event Blogger. It’s difficult to find a really useful conference that is informative, interactive and filled with interesting case studies, but this event fitted the bill.

Attending the event was a great opportunity for me to listen to and engage with current issues and case studies surrounding social media within business, along with gaining the experience of live blogging and tweeting at an event as it unfolded. During the day individual blogs received up to 70 views, which was impressive as drive towards the site was driven by tweets generated at the conference using #smcc.

One of the first presentations was by David Noble from the TKGB titled: Things to make and do (on a mobile platform). Noble, firstly spoke on mobile applications; their growth, development and uptake on smart phones and the iPad along with how the industry is developing as a whole. Interactivity and communication was his key goal within his presentation and so he initiated group discussions through brainstorming sessions in order to create content for an app, which would be produced during the day.

Producing an app in a day (or ½ a day as it needs to be approved for sale before 2pm by iTunes), is something that I had not considered to be really possible as I imagined that there were a great many processes and stages involved, but it was produced and was available from the end of the conference for free download in the iTunes store (app name smcc).

This type of app building using the thoughts, opinions and discussion outcomes from a group at a conference such as this one, made for an exciting and usable output and something which I believe could be replicated for and at other events.

The app itself enabled the producers in this case to have a permanent record of ideas communicated and shared throughout the day (on social media), along with just being a super cool product to share with others who did not attend the conference.

Now that I know that’s its possible to build an app in a day I keep wondering; If I could build my own app, what would it be……. and if Big Cat was an app what would it look like?

The news seems to be saturated at the moment with arguments about the censorship of ‘adult content’ in music videos. Every time you turn the TV on there seems to be a new focus group jumping on the band wagon targeting artists such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears for their sexually explicit music videos and lyrics. Their argument is that children should not be subjected to adult content at such a young age, and that these videos should be broadcast after 9pm.

Personally I’m not sure what all the fuss is all about. I’m not denying that there are certain videos that should be aired after the watershed, however surely it is the parent’s responsibility to monitor what their children are viewing, be it online or TV?

Living in a digital age should come with some precautions, and many applications do have systems in place to prevent underage children being subjected to adult content. Internet browsers have parental controls, you can lock TV channels off and gaming consoles even have timers on to limit time spent on them.

Many of these platforms run a substantial amount of advertising which is funded by these artists and as a result, I can’t see them stopping the broadcast of these videos anytime soon. Perhaps more of the videos may appear after the watershed but even still, children will find a way to watch them.

With the music industry already struggling, can it afford to take another hit?

Whose responsibility is it to monitor content? The artist, the Broadcaster, or the parent?

Monday 16^th May saw the PR team head down to the Docklands in London to manage a press day for the Monster Energy Extreme Freestylers tour, and what a day it was.

Not used to the manual labour that the Events team endure on a daily basis, Big Cat PR rolled up their sleeves, erected 30ft tepees, helped set up ramps and managed national, regional and broadcast media for this unique and rather extreme press day.

The aim of the day was to raise awareness of Extreme Freestylers, a motocross stunt event which is hitting the UK this July at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. For the press day, we flew over World Champion, Nate Adams and UK Champion Chris Birch (as well as their bikes) to show the press how extreme this sport really is. Journalists took to the track on mini bikes following a masterclass from the experts and then bore witness to a jaw-dropping display from the riders on an articulated lorry which transformed into a ramp.

The day was a great success and fun was had by all. The coverage has already begun with a number of articles in the Independent, Daily Mirror and News of the World already being printed.

We’re all really excited about the UK tour date in July and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the crowd.

Team building is a big business for venues nowadays with sessions coming in all shapes and forms, many of which our events team have covered down at the Old Library. However April saw the tables turned as the Big Cat’s were allowed out of the office and into the big wild world.

The day arrived and we all piled into cars, heading in a convoy to our destination. After an hour’s drive we arrived on a farm in the middle of no-where. It turns out we really were getting messy. Today’s adventure involved the Big Cat’s getting behind the wheel of various 4×4 and off road vehicles. The team building didn’t stop there though. The tasks involved us driving a reverse drive off-roader…whilst blind folded, extreme 4×4 through boggy marshland and tag team off-road buggying.

Despite all the mud and sludge we had a great day out which really helped develop our skills when working in teams, something that’s vital in our line of work.

A BIG thank you to Nick and Anthony who organised and paid for the trip!!

April has certainly been a busy month for Big Cat Group. Not only have we won marketing contracts for Aston Business School, bloc hotels and Reed-Midem but we’ve also just been appointed to provide PR, marketing, social media and media buying support for Monster Energy’s Extreme Freestylers event which is hitting Cardiff this July.

The event, which features a whole host of death-defying motorbike stunts, music and wholesome family entertainment, will be arriving at Cardiff Millennium Stadium on Saturday 2^nd July.

2011 will be the first time Extreme Freestylers has come to the UK and we’re hoping it won’t be the last. Having been a sell-out event in Australia, where it originated for a number of years now we have high hopes for this year’s event and are all really excited about working with some of the world’s champion stuntmen.

If you’re wondering why we’re all so hyped up about the event, check out the video below

Birmingham-based full service agency, Big Cat Group has recently been appointed as event and marketing consultancy for two of the city’s top membership organisations, Birmingham Forward and Birmingham Future.

Established in 1990, Birmingham Forward is an inclusive, independent, non-aligned corporate membership organisation which provides a platform through lobbying and events for its members to be clearly represented locally, regionally and nationally.

Following the success of Birmingham Forward, it was decided that a sister organisation was required to fulfil the unique needs of younger professionals, assisting them in their careers and developing talent to inspire and sustain business excellence. In 1993 Birmingham Future was established and since then has developed a membership base of over 500 individuals from across 21 sectors.

The award-winning Big Cat Group has been chosen to manage and implement a calendar of networking, lobbying and educational events for both Birmingham Forward and Birmingham Future. These events will range from the prestigious Chairman’s Gala Dinner, the highly attended AGM, debates, meet and mixes, seminars and various speed networking events.  A strategic and integrated marketing campaign will support the extensive events calendar.

Anthony Tattum, Managing Director of Big Cat Group said: “We are extremely proud to have been chosen to work with such outstanding organisations as Birmingham Forward and Birmingham Future.

“Big Cat Group has been a contributor to Birmingham Forward and Birmingham Future for a number of years with our CEO, Nick Morgan winning the entrepreneurial category in the nationally renowned Birmingham Young Professional of the Year as well as a number of our team sitting on the Events and Marketing committees.

“By utilising our expertise in marketing and event management, Big Cat Group will be able to provide a first class service, building upon the knowledge and connections that we have developed through our continual involvement in Birmingham Forward and Birmingham Future over the years.”

Big Cat Group had a rather unexpected surprise thrust upon them today. We have been named one of the top 50 event companies to work for in the prestigious Fab 50 awards, organised by trade publication, Event Magazine.

The campaign, which kicked off a few months ago involved Event Magazine searching for the top event companies in Europe, whether they are agencies, exhibitions, suppliers or a venue.  Big Cat faced some stiff competition this year, battling companies that have teams of 300 employees or more. Just goes to prove that quality will always beat quantity.

Everyone at Big Cat is proud to be working for the organisation whatever capacity they’re in. We have a laugh but also get the job done, surpassing client needs whatever the brief. It’s great to see outsiders recognising our admiration and determination to take Big Cat places. So what better way to be recognised than to be named one of the top event companies to work for the country?

Well done guys.

Touching on a recent note featured on Big Cat’s Posterous page, I wanted to follow up on the subject of QR Codes and the Brits outlook towards the technology. You may not think it, but QR codes are published in the majority of print/ visual content today; however it’s common that we turn a blind eye toward it because nobody really seems to know what it is, or how it is used.

QR Codes are the square, black and white, pixilated barcodes you would usually find on print adverts, business cards and on web sites; however they can be printed on almost anything. They are readable by QR barcode scanners or camera phones. Scanner ‘apps’ are easily downloadable to android and iPhones. Blackberry phones are said to come with software pre- installed to retrieve the barcodes full of information. So why don’t we use them?

The West has taken a slower approach towards QR Coding even though this technology could be very useful for future marketing and communications. In a recent survey of 1000 British teenagers, 72% of 11-18 year olds did not have software to read QR Codes or were not aware their phone could read them (thenextweb.com). It is debatable that 11-18 year olds are the wrong market for QR Codes, although, personally, seeing as 11-18 year olds are the future, they should be first in adopting this technology and spreading it as they naturally tend to do with new technologies and gadgetry.

QR Codes can be used to link online content like videos, links, text, photos and more. Pepsi recently did a campaign involving QR Codes which would lead you to a URL containing videos and competitions. Let’s hope in 2011, the British public will start to become more aware of QR Code technology, and more business will start to integrate the barcodes into a way of communication. You can even make a personal one using websites like ‘youscan.me’. So why shouldn’t you become tech- savvy, create your own and spread the word!

You’ve probably seen over the past few months the Big Cats tweeting about massages, health checks and various other healthy living initiatives. No, we haven’t been slacking in the office, more the opposite. The management team have introduced “Wellbeing Wednesday”, an initiative that will both reward and de-stress the team, ensuring that we’re all looked after and in turn can continue to work to the highest of standards.

Today was the second of these “Wellbeing Wednesday’s” and it wasn’t all whale music and stress relief like the first. Today’s session was a health check with a qualified physiotherapist. Despite what many people in the office feared, there wasn’t any poking or prodding (well maybe a tiny bit). We all had our blood pressure tested, as well as weight, height, BMI and cholesterol. I’m happy to report though that all the Big Cats are well and only a few people were are out of breath after the 3-minute exercise session (better cut down on all those Saint Cafe lunches).

We’re all wondering what’s in store next month though? All we’ve been told is not to wear ‘posh’ clothes. I have a feeling it could get messy.

The news has been packed to the brim recently with arguments for and against the governments ‘Big Society’ policy, but what exactly is it? Every story on BBC News seems to be linked to this policy and as a result the country is going down the pot hole because of it (or so they say). What does it mean though and more importantly what does it mean to me?

Well, the aim of the policy is “to create a climate that empowers local people and communities, building a big society that will ‘take power away from politicians and give it to people’”. Surely this is a good thing though? Apparently not. The reason why the Big Society is in the news so much is because of all the cuts that are taking place across the country. These cuts are proving detrimental to community projects, schemes and institutes throughout the UK. There are so many organisations which are being affected by this, however I’m going to pick on two which I feel particularly strong about; local libraries and KIC.FM, a community radio station in Wolverhampton.

So, libraries first. In all fairness I haven’t visited a library since my university days where many an hour was spent with my head down in a dusty text book about the complexities of contract law. I buy all my own books from Waterstones, and the majority of those are fantasy novels not found in your local library. My eyes were opened this week though when I saw that libraries perform a much greater role than just lending books; many centres provide a hub for community activities such as workshops, social groups and even day care facilities. The argument of “Everything is going digital” isn’t particularly true though, at least not in my opinion. Yes, books are now digital but not everyone can afford a Kindle or even a computer at home. I’m not afraid to stay my ground and stand up for the future of digital, but sometimes digital just doesn’t fit the need and the conversion often causes more problems than it solves

Next on my list is KIC.FM. For those of you who know me, you’ll be aware I spent five years at this community station and it is actually the key reason why I got into PR. Since moving to Birmingham I’ve had very little contact with them until last week when I discovered that they have had their funding cut and will therefore seize to exist as of the 31^st March.

KIC.FM helped me in so many ways such as presentation skills, problem solving and forward planning. It’s one of the sections that really stands out on my CV and helps differ me from all the other applicants, something which is becoming increasingly difficult in today’s job market.  Since launching back in 2001, the station has helped over 500 young people through the V Inspired Scheme, many of whom have gone onto fantastic jobs.  Is pulling funding from projects such as KIC.FM really going to help sort out the economy or will it infact reduce the skills young people develop outside of school and college? Will this then inturn affect how they perform in the working world?

At the start of the blog, many of you would have wondered how the Big Society will affect you. Well those are my two ways in which it has affected me, what are yours?

Last week we were told by the papers that it was one of the most depressing weeks of the year; a month since the Christmas holidays, plummeting temperatures and lack of money. Hardly an incentive to get stuck into work now is it?

Well last week, mobile network Orange took it upon themselves to spread some unseasonal cheer with their ‘Winter Warmers’ campaign. The idea is simple, people tweet using the #winterwarmers hashtag recommending friends who are having a rather rubbish day. If their cause is worthy enough the Orange team jump in their van and hand deliver a woolly scarf and a cup of hot chocolate to the deserving party. Over the course of the week, Orange’s Street Team hit Birmingham, Manchester, Brighton and London, spending a whole day in one city spreading peace on earth and hot chocolate.

Now I’m a big fan of these ‘good will’ campaigns but am finding it very difficult to work out what the commercial gain is for this particular one. Although it’s a fantastic idea, what do Orange get from it? I suppose I’m answering my own question by writing this blog, but it doesn’t make me want to suddenly change phone networks or internet provider. Nevertheless it certainly generated a considerable amount of buzz on twitter with people recommending their friends throughout the city. Perhaps that was precisely it though and the gorilla tactic was purely for brand awareness purposes.

From looking at the recipients of the gestures though, I’m wondering if some deeper research had gone into it. The majority of people who received winter warmers were from the creative industries, many of whom are big players (or are seen by many as). Maybe I’m looking far too deep into this harmless good will campaign, or perhaps Orange deserve more credit than they’re given?

We weren’t even 2 weeks into the New Year before the latest of a long list of new social media apps seemed to take the world by storm. Quora, the simple question and answer platform was the latest app to rise from the ashes and have everyone tweeting about it. This blog isn’t about Quora though, more so about the multitude of new applications which seem to appear out of thin air every week, each one claiming to be new, innovative and exciting.

Is there too much technology out in the world nowadays though? Have we lost the art of conversation and meeting people in real life? Gone are the days when you would walk into a restaurant and see couples gazing into each other’s eyes with a sense of yearning. Now, these same couples seem to staring into the depths of their iPhones or Blackberry’s. Admittedly I too am one of these tech zombies, however I’m trying to change, I promise.

When you live, work and breathe digital media, where do you go to distance yourself from it? Can you distance yourself at all?

Surely this technological saturation can’t be good for brands though can it? If we’re continually subjected to the same offers, apps, websites and digital content do we in fact switch off to them all, making campaigns less effective? Perhaps the platforms which have made business-consumer interaction so easy have now crammed so much information into the market that key messages are no longer picked up?

I know it’s a horrendous cliché but for in this instance it’s true, maybe companies do need to start thinking outside the box? There are plenty of digital campaigns out there but maybe brands need to mix it up a bit and really WOW us with something new. Who knows, 2011 could be the year where everything changes….again!

Just before everyone broke up for the Christmas break, Big Cat Group had some rather well deserved news. Despite winter 2010 being an incredibly busy time in the office, we decided to put ourselves forward for the PRCA’s Consultancy Management Standard (CMS), the gold standard of service for the PR industry.

An independent auditor visited the office and studied how the consultancy is managed as well as how clients are serviced. After a nail biting three hours we were told we passed with a fantastic 96.5%.

Francis Ingham, Chief Executive PRCA says: “Well run businesses consistently deliver the results clients are looking for. The Consultancy Management Standard was developed specifically to ensure that PRCA members have the systems and structures in place to meet and exceed clients’ expectations. The Standard has been so successful that is has now been adopted in 11 countries around the world.”

Well done to everyone at Big Cat for all their hard work!

It seems that 2010 really was the year of the cat (or at least year of the tiger according to the Chinese calendar). Big Cat Group experienced an exceptionally busy and indeed fruitful year in 2010. We celebrated our 10^th birthday; launched Big Cat Europe; opened offices in France and Spain, CEO Nick Morgan won International Entrepreneur of the year; numerous new business wins including Hello Business, Bournville College, O’Neils and CSI: The Experience; won a number of awards for our design work and venue The Old Library and not to mention passed CMS with one of the highest scores in the region.

Nick Morgan, CEO Big Cat Group; Mike Molloy, MD Big Cat Europe; Anthony Tattum, MD Big Cat Group

CSI: The Experience

Despite all of our successes, we’re not getting complacent in the office. We’re already working on a number of new and exciting exhibitions both in the UK and Europe. This is on top of a few surprises that we have up our sleeves.

2010 was a tough year for businesses across all sectors and 2011 doesn’t seem to be looking much better. We’re not being put down by this though. There are plenty of new opportunities out there, you just have to look that tiny bit harder.

Happy New Year everyone from all at Big Cat Group

PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals the world’s largest animal rights organisation really know how to capture the attention of the public and the media, with it’s shocking, no punches campaigns.

Ingrid Newskwirk , PETA’s founder has spear headed the organisations now notorious  campaign posters featuring naked celebrities. In the 90s they asked supermodels like Naomi Campbell to appear nude on billboards with the slogan “We’d rather go naked than wear fur”. Through celebrity endorsement PETA successfully made animal protection sexy, current, and fashionable, for the first time.  

Today, Newskwirk along with a team of top strategists meet weekly to discuss new actions and publicity strategies, where no suggestion is considered too outrageous.  PETA is not afraid to cause controversy and use it to PETA’s advantage, embodying the idea, that all publicity be it negative or positive, is a strength to the PETA brand. The group also targets celebrities who chose to wear or endorse fur, throwing flour , red paint and following them around with placards listing their ‘crimes’ against animals. These actions have kept PETA firmly in the public eye and generated millions of pounds worth of publicity for the organisation.

PETA knows the power of a campaign that splits audiences and captures the imagination of the general public. It’s recent campaign features Pamela Anderson posing like a 1950s pin up with her body, sliced and sectioned, like an animal is after slaughter. The campaign stir’s the imagination immediately, by comparing the human body to animal meat, a thought that is deeply unsettling for most.

Anderson, a lifelong vegetarian has been involved with PETA for a number of years, her name along with other celebrities including Justin Bieber, Drew Barrymore, Alec Baldwin and Stella McCartney, has helped to keep PETA support strong, even after serious mis-haps, such as running a series of promotional material targeted at children with the slogan “Your Mummy kills animals”.

The face of a celebrity immediately makes any product, in this case, the lifestyle choice of animal activism; sexy, apparitional and glamorous.  Similar to L’Oreal’s ‘Your worth it.’ campaign, PETA has used celebrity endorsement with the same success and longevity.

As the camera lights flashed, Kate Middleton and Prince William all doe eyed and smiles, announced their engagement to the world, causing a media, business and PR hustle across the globe.  PR companies throughout the world began to type releases that linked their clients to the newly engaged couple in whatever way possible.

The Telegraph Newspaper recently published an article disclosing the hundreds of “Hot” and “Exclusive” releases sent to their journalist’s inbox within hours of the Royal Announcement. http://bit.ly/aJig0p

Some of my highlights from the article include an Irish Ferries plug “Kate and William: Dublin’s on your doorstep,” A tea room in Marylebone, London was pleased to announce that they would be “offering all engaged couples called William and Kate a complimentary afternoon tea.”

However, my personal favourite is from a car hire company entitled simply as “Kenyan Car Hire – Not sure if you’re planning any Kenya ventures following William and Kate’s engagement but if you are, please find below car rental fact box lead rates.” Hmmmm exciting! Really gets you in the mood for a good wedding eh?!

In a desperate attempt to monopolise on a global event, PR companies have forgotten one of the golden laws of good PR practise. What makes good news?

PR should never be just shameless, desperate advertising. If you haven’t got a story, don’t pretend you have one.   

Here’s an idea. The British Legion  have created a charity single which enables people to buy two minutes of silence for the bargain price of £1. Although the track may be lacking in sound, the singles accompanying video certainly makes up for it in celebrity appearances, with the likes of Prime Minister David Cameron, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, DJ Mark Ronson, tennis star Andy Murray and popular actors David Tennant and Bob Hoskins appearing on screen.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph Newspaper The Royal British Legion’s Director General Chris Simpkins disclosed why he believes sound won’t be missed on the release; “Rather than record a song, we felt the U.K public would recognise the poignancy of silence as its clear association with remembrance.”  Sunday 14^th November – is Remembrance Sunday – The Silent Singles campaign is rooting to be number 1 on this date, you can show your support by purchasing the track and accompanying video from: www.silentsingle.com  

This concept is a moving and unique spin on the charity single. However, it is in fact not the first silent single to ever be released. In the 1950s the composer John Cage created 4’33 which as the title suggests, is a totally silent track that lasts exactly 4 minutes and 33 seconds.

Cage’s track incredibly is also making a bid to top the UK charts this winter. In a growing movement to keep Simon Cowell’s X-Factor from dominating the coveted British Christmas Number 1 spot. A group on facebook have begun a movement to get Cage’s 4’33 to the top of the charts. www.facebook.com/cageagainstthemachine

This year’s campaign cageagainstthemachine is a tongue-in-cheek parody of last year’s successful campaign to keep X- factor winner Joe McElderry from the top of the charts by the mass buying of the 1990s cult smash Killing In The Name by Rage Against Of The Machine. Watch the following video to see a leading world orchestra “performing” Cage’s soundless masterpiece.

To me, the nation’s continued efforts to regain control of the charts, once again confirms that we have come to the end of reality televisions dominance of our TV screens. The UK has fallen out of love with this once leading program format. With the demise of Big Brother earlier this year and with the continued negative press and social media coverage of this year’s X-factor we have gone from loving, to ruthlessly bashing these shows and enjoying it.

John Cage 4’33 will be available to download from December 13^th to receive the chart eligible link sign up here: http://bit.ly/cageagainstthemachine Lets make this year’s Christmas truly a Silent Night!

Birmingham will see a new side to its LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community this month as SHOUT, the regions only Queer culture festival returns promising to be the biggest yet.

Building upon the success of last year’s festival, SHOUT 2010 will continue to enhance the city’s queer aesthetic. This year’s programme boasts a wealth of activity, bringing internationally acclaimed artists to the city, providing local producers with a unique opportunity to be part of a number of exclusive projects.

The 2010 programme’s visual and performance arts activity is based on the theme of ‘Invisible/Visible’, exploring the place of Black and Asian LGBT people in the city’s cultural landscape. The varied programme aims to promote the diversity of the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities whilst consolidating Birmingham’s developing role as an LGBT tourist destination.

This year’s festival covers a number of strands including: film, theatre, visual arts, music, performance, literature and community with activities taking place across the city at venues such as mac, Town Hall, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Nightingales and The Victoria.

November traditionally the month of Guy Fawkes burning, fireworks and bonfires, this once predictable month – often over shadowed by its neighbour December, has received a reinvention and indeed a rename. November is no more – welcome to the mighty world of Movember.

Movember is a global fundraising event which spans the whole month of November, during this time participants also known as ‘mo bros’ grow moustaches and various other facial plumage in order to raise money and awareness of the still taboo subject  – prostate cancer.

Movember was launched by a group of men from Melbourne, Australia in 1999. The tongue-in cheek campaign really caught people’s imagination and Movember became an official fundraising organisation in 2003. Now in its eleventh year the event has participants that span across the globe. Using social media tools such as Flickr, YouTube and Facebook, the Movember tribe have created an online community, where participants and supporters alike can share their stories and compete with each other to become the ‘Man of Mo’(the man deemed to have grown the ultimate moustache.) There are also awards for individuals and teams alike who raise the most money for The Prostate Cancer Charity (TPCC). This initiative is a genius way of getting men thinking about and talking about their health, this year’s event will not only raise millions of pounds, dollars and euro’s but will also save lives throughout the world by spreading awareness.

Please follow our CEO and MD’s photo diary as we track their ‘Mo’ growth over the next few weeks at www.bigcatpr.tumblr.com and share your photo’s too.

For added inspiration please watch the video from last year’s World Beard and Moustache Championships…these are not men who grow moustaches, these are moustaches who grow men.

Last week was Alcohol Awareness week, did you know? I didn’t.  This lack of communication between awareness organisations and alcohol consumers is unfortunately all too common. The ‘Drink Aware’ campaign endorsed by the Government seems to carry a mixed message. The ‘drink aware’ logo’s that are enforced on all alcohol adverts, be it in print, cinema or television are almost hidden, and hardly a distraction to whatever multi-million pound marketing strategy the alcohol industry moguls have delivered.

Government campaigns that advise people on healthy lifestyle choices consistently fail. Cigarette boxes with health warnings and even photographs of dead cancer patients, failed to stop people smoking. Yet when the government actually changed legislation and enforced bans on smoking advertisements such as billboards, sports sponsorship and television, a greater amount of people quit.

Last Week’s Alcohol Awareness week wanted to discuss the impact of alcohol advertising on children, after it emerged children and young people watching the World Cup, viewed up to 5 alcohol adverts per match. The campaigners wanted to pose the question, should alcohol advertising be banned? And what part does the advertising industry play in the social problem of binge drinking and alcohol abuse in the UK? I would argue that it is not necessarily the advertising industries failings, but the government’s inability to provide stricter guide lines and to actually implement them. If we want to protect young people from the dangers of binge drinking, then the misleading glamorisation of alcohol products in adverts need to be quashed – placing a barely visible ‘Drink Aware’ logo in the corner, it’s as useless as a screen door on a submarine.

October has been a busy month for Big Cat Group. We’ve celebrated multiple client wins, expansion into Europe and our 10th Birthday. Amongst all the celebrations though there has been a considerable amount of work going on, especially with the run up to Hello Business, part of the Hello Digital week.

If you haven’t heard of Hello Business, it’s a 2-day conference which aims to equip businesses with the tools and technology for them to expand and grow in the evolving digital world we live in.

Working on this project has certainly opened my eyes to the ‘digital’ world. Gone are the day’s where I used to think it was based on Twitter and Facebook. However I didn’t actually expect it to be so vast.

One thing that has surprised me is what the word ‘digital’ actually means. Having done my research, read numerous articles and listened to some of the world’s leading experts, ‘digital’ can mean both everything and nothing. It used to be linked to Freeview boxes for TV’s then came along the digital camera. But now the word encompasses absolutely everything. Every gadget, gizmo and utility in the home is now ‘digital’.

Does that mean the word has lost its meaning? Is digital now the norm, so much in fact that there is no need to call anything digital?

Thought leader, Peter Hinssen covers this topic in his new book “The New Normal”, a definite read if you’re interested what the future holds for the digital world.

Last Friday saw the Big Cats give something back to the community and where better then Moseley Park, a place where over recent months we’ve held many an event there including Mostly Jazz Festival and Moseley Folk Festival.

So we donned on our gloves, rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in. The task at hand was to build a path leading down from the main gates. The ‘Lads’ grabbed their shovels (and some seriously heavy machinery) and dove straight in. The ladies on the other hand didn’t want to get their hands dirty so decided to paint the fence (in all fairness they helped later on though).

So next time you visit Moseley Park, make sure you take the time to admire the carefully constructed path laid out in front of you.

There has been a lot of talk in the PR trade press these past few weeks about internships and the horror stories that young graduates are going through in order to get their ‘dream’ job.

Many high-flying industry experts are stating what a bad idea internships are, with hundreds of graduates being taken for granted every day. I’m not saying that every company is perfect but to slate the initiative off as whole is just madness.

In today’s society a degree is worth didily-squat. Everybody has one, so agencies look for graduates who go that extra distance to secure a job, whether that’s through volunteer work, extracurricular activities or indeed internships.

I say all this from a point of experience; I left university with a respectable 2:1 in Business and Business Law. I worked at high street retailer Next for 3 years, ran a radio station, produced my own shows and even did a bit of freelance for a few record labels.

I got my first job in PR two years ago following a three month internship. Admittedly I did some photocopying and the occasional tea round, but this was of my own accord. I worked on a broad range of clients performing a variety of tasks such as writing press releases, organising features, media liaison and the occasional bit of research.

This internship not only helped me learn the basics of the industry but also allowed me to decide whether it was something I actually wanted to continue with as a career. Obviously the answer was yes otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this.

Since starting Big Cat back in November 2009, we have had a number of interns across all departments, many of whom have gone on to secure a fantastic job. We don’t make you do laborious tasks like photocopying – we throw you in the deep end. We hire interns because sometimes you need that bit of extra help during busy spells.  This could be in the form of writing releases, liaising with press or securing coverage.

Internships are a 2-way street; the agency needs support on its accounts, the intern needs on-the-job experience. If objectives and expectations are not set and met then what’s the point? Nobody wins and infact both parties can waste a lot of time and money in the process.

Leader, unique, great….we’re all guilty of using these buzzwords in press releases, news articles and other promotional material but it seems that so are the rest of the world’s PRO’s. Earlier this year PR strategist Adam Sherk undertook a study of the most overused words in press releases. The results are pretty damming, especially when you look down the list and spot the odd word that you use in your own releases (usually on clients request albeit). Adam created a list of the top 100 overused words however as that’s a few too many here’s a list of the top 10 perpetrators instead/

What is the reason for the overuse of these words though? Have PRO’s become lazy and stuck in a rut, churning out the same old phrases over and over again or is it the clients fault? Are they that driven to have their keywords in a press release that it makes all future releases look the same?

Personally I think it’s a bit of both. In the short time I have been in the industry I’ve been guilty of using the words ‘Leading’ ‘innovative’ and ‘unique’ but can anyone honestly say they haven’t? Of course everyone thinks their product/service is unique. Would people really buy a product if it had no USP? Most likely not.

Note to self – must use new words in press releases

Social media appears to be everywhere, with the likes of Facebook and Twitter regularly making the headlines in news broadcasts all over the world. With this burst of online communities and networks, businesses have begun to look at ways of using it for contacting consumers. So seemingly PR and social media would fit hand in hand as if almost made for each other.

Social Media is being used so much now, to the point of becoming a new form of live coverage, following major events worldwide from the 2010 World Cup finals to the UK election debates not to mention press conferences and pretty much practically anything and everything else. But what are the best ways for PR to tap into social media effectively?

Importantly sites like Twitter and Facebook should not be used for invading clients or customers personal space, or used in a poor and lazy attempt to simply pour out endless streams of what can only be described as ‘spam’. This will only reflect negatively to the targeted audience.

They should be used for interacting with clients and their target networks, advising, commenting and conversing with people around common and business interests. One impressive strategy is making your company more personal by giving their social media a personality of its own through an employee, which leads nicely into resolving complaints in the public domain quickly and efficiently. Virgin and PayPal are just two examples who manage this very efficiently.

Being able to create a relationship with your targeted network is exactly what PR using social media is all about. Of course it lends its hand to showing off your latest bit of coverage or new account wins, but really if you can utilise it to network and build relationships and create a positive rapport then PR fits perfectly with social media.

Social media is still relatively new and with the speed technologies are developing at the moment and instant access to the internet we have available it’s hard to stop and think before the next strategy needs be devised. But as long as you keep on communicating with your networks and stay up to date with the latest talking points you’re on the right track.

Big Cat Group and AMP Entertainment have joined forces to launch a new European live entertainment consultancy, Big Cat Europe. The new entity will have operations in Barcelona, Birmingham, London and Paris and will be delivering projects across Europe.

The pan-European consultancy will offer services including booking and marketing services for a broad range of international touring exhibitions and family shows. The new firm will offer complete tour support drawing on the operational and marketing capacities of Big Cat and utilising the extended international reach of AMP.

The company recently handled the negotiation and set-up of the European premiere of “Star Trek: The Exploration” exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Science in Valencia, Spain. The exhibition opened on 22^nd July and will run until February 2011.

Established in 2000, Big Cat Group is a full-service agency incorporating PR, marketing, events and creative design functions.  AMP’s working relationship with Big Cat has grown through collaborations on the UK debuts of the exhibitions “Bodies Revealed” in October 2009 and “CSI: The Experience” in March 2010. In addition to carrying out the communications and marketing plans, Big Cat handled the setup logistics and on-site management of both exhibitions.

As part of the deal AMP France and AMP Spain will become Big Cat France and Big Cat Spain.  The businesses will continue to offer their core sports, entertainment and experiential marketing services, and will also be expanding their service offer to include creative design, advertising, public relations and event management in France and Spain.

Both AMP and Big Cat see important synergies to be reaped from this merging of forces. Mike Molloy, Founder of AMP now named Managing Director of Big Cat Europe said: “We are looking forward to announcing new clients and projects in the coming months.  I will be working with Nick Morgan, CEO of Big Cat Group, to integrate the teams of the two companies to make these new projects a reality.”

Nick Morgan added: “Big Cat Europe will fill a specific niche in the European market that links major international content developers with promoters and venues. The new business will fully utilise the skills and resources of Big Cat and AMP which offer a range of complimentary services.”

Birmingham based full service agency Big Cat Group has been recruited by government regeneration agency Urban Living in partnership with Arts Council England to help promote their Beyond Bricks community arts campaign.

Beyond Bricks focuses on engaging creatively with local people and restoring community pride in neighbourhoods within the Urban Living catchment area.* as part of an ambitious regeneration programme which aims to improve housing and living conditions for thousands of people. The scheme is one of a number of projects which Urban Living has established in order to increase community cohesion within the area.

Big Cat will support the campaign by handling the PR for a number of artistic projects and workshops taking place over the next four month which are being managed by community arts organisation Multistory. Activities range from creating a local magazine to erecting community statues, allowing residents to work together and celebrate their community.

Anthony Tattum, Managing Director, says: “We are thrilled to be working on such an important project for the communities of Birmingham. The Beyond Bricks campaign has a community spirited message with the aim to bring people together. We are excited about being involved in such a worthwhile venture.”

Tess Randles, Urban Living’s PR and Communications Manager, adds:”We wanted to ensure that the Beyond Bricks campaign would really get noticed and engender the kind of pride and involvement that makes a tangible difference. This is why we brought Big Cat in and the signs are that the campaign is already getting noticed.” 

Robbie Earle finds himself in troubled water after his performance at the World Cup would certainly have scored low on the Capello Index.

Earle, who was sacked early last week for passing on tickets that he, had obtained through ITV for family and close friends only. The tickets somehow managed to find their way into the hands of 36 female Holland supporters who just so happened to be pulling an advertising stunt for Bavaria Beer.

This landed Earle in big trouble with FIFA, the FA and England supporters. FIFA have launched into legal action with the Dutch beer company, whilst 2 of the 36 females have found themselves in South African Court, possibly facing jail for illegal advertising.

England fans have been complaining that pundits shouldn’t even be able to get their hands on anywhere near the number of tickets Earle had managed to buy from ITV at a discounted rate.

Somehow, I don’t think Earle will be able to pass off the troop of young females as his close family and friends, and the ex Wimbledon and Jamaica international has even been dropped as an ambassador for the 2018 World Cup bid.

This is the second issue ITV have blundered into since the World Cup began, after their HD coverage missed Steven Gerrard’s early opener against USA. With all the bad press around at the moment, they’ll have certainly been hoping for a Gary Lineker love rat story to break at any moment for them. However in true fashion bad things do tend to come in 3’s, and although we can’t firmly put the blame on ITV for England’s lacklustre performance and 4-1 capitulation to Germany so it would seem they are now through the worst of it.

They missed one of England’s 3 world cup goals, one of there pundits sold on tickets and made them and himself look like rather stupid, and before they could redeem themselves England managed to knock themselves out of the competition. Never mind, 4 more years!

When opening the post last week we came across the latest edition of Midlands Business Insider featuring this years ’42 under 42’ supplement, identifying the regions cream of the crop in entrepreneurial talent. You can imagine the surprise on our faces when we reached page 28 to find Big Cat CEO, Nick Morgan within the supplement. Ok it wasn’t that much of a surprise as we put him forward for it but its fantastic news that he made the cut.

Well Done Nick from the entire Big Cat team!?!

It seemed to have crossed the line but the FA has evidently seen fit to intervene in the latest scandal to have hit football. Whilst not quite on the national scale of Ashley Cole’s numerous affairs or John Terry’s infidelities, it does pose the most significant threat to the harmony of the England team and strikes at the heart of the credibility of the one time untouchable England Manager, Fabio Capello.

The subject of the controversy is Capello’s new business venture unveiled on 10^th May, which would have seen him publish his post match reports from the World Cup in order to collate a performance table/ranking system. The goal of the service termed the Capello Index, would have been to create an accurate scoring system that would be implemented into Capello’s soon to be released video game Capello XI. The move was immediately branded as a ‘PR own Goal’ from the usually suave Capello.

Imagine if you will having submitted a tender or proposal, that the first thing your bosses did was to immediately Tweet about your performance even going so far as to give you a score out of ten. The embarrassment alone would impair your judgement on your next case and cause you to question yourself, making decisions that normally you would not. That in effect, is the system that Capello was hoping to deploy.

Amidst the growing debate Capello’s employer (the FA) have stepped in and put the kibosh on the deal suggesting that the move is insensitive and could affect the mood of the players. This comes as a massive blow for both Capello and Pitch who were brought in to handle PR for the account. In the wake of all the bad press and with an indefinite postponement and distancing from Capello, it will be interesting in the coming weeks to see how Pitch can disencumber the rubble of their campaign.

In the wake of the sex scandals that have left Woods a virtual recluse for months, last weeks Masters was supposed to be the beginning of the way back for the fallen hero. Behind the return were a dedicated PR team that have guided him through his recent turmoil to deliver him to the Masters. But the reality of the ending is far from the fairy tale Woods’ remaining sponsors would have hoped for.

In basic terms for a man that has not played competitive golf for some six months, to be able to contend on such a brutal course as Augusta is a feat in itself. Alas, his final day with its ups and downs, moments of pure genius and foolery saw him finish the tournament in a commendable fourth. But what was the perception of the new Tiger and did he at times revert back to the man people associate with the scandal?

Prior to the Masters Nike ploughed millions of dollars into adverts that showed a humble Tiger listening to words of wisdom from his departed father. Earl Woods was widely regarded as the only person Tiger was willing to answer to and the campaign was at first heralded as a stroke of genius for its utilisation of a voice over from Woods’ father. Whilst the advert may have swayed fans, it seems to have further enraged his long suffering wife and could potentially be the last nail in the coffin that is their marriage.

This was seemingly the height of the PR effort that frankly has been less than stellar, topping off a catalogue of errors that, in my humble opinion, have made this situation ten times worse. In the first instance Woods’ ridiculous commendation of the efforts of his wife in freeing him from his crashed vehicle reeked of cover up and opened the floodgates for the press to dig deeper and the gold diggers to line up. Subsequent denials then confirmations and stories of huge payouts to tell tale women, have all piled on the agony for the Woods family. This culminated with his presentation to the world where he admitted his guilt. But even this was wooden and did little to assuage the anguish felt by fans who had been let down by their hero.

Finally, Masters week was upon us and what we all expected was a triumphant return. It was not to be however and the polished veneer of a new humble Tiger fell away at times and he allowed the arrogance associated with the old Woods to seep back into his performance. With a week that started with Woods fist punching crowd members, smiling and acknowledging the crowd more than ever before, it ended with him sloping off like a petulant child highlighted by his three putt on the 14th. It seems his PR efforts stop when he is not winning.

Let me clarify my position. I am one of those long standing fans who quite honestly could not care less about what he gets up to off the course. For me it’s all about his talent. I respect and understand his sullen nature at times as he is a consummate professional performing under difficult circumstances. His lack of attending celebrity venues is a representation of his sportsman discipline. Granted, had that same discipline been applied to his love life then none of the last six months would have happened but they have.

With Woods on hiatus for the near future, his PR team will no doubt be dreaming up new ways of presenting brand Woods to the public once more. I just hope that they do a better job in the aftermath of the storm than they did in its eye.   

In 2008 Big Cat were responsible for the PR account for the inaugural Hello Digital festival designed to bring together non-techies and techies alike to explore the new developments in the digital world.

 The efforts of Big Cat generated a PR campaign worth an estimated £180,000 and was spear headed by a publicity stunt involving a 8 foot robot named Titan. He took over the Bullring shopping centre squirting patrons and generally wreaking havoc all in the name of Hello Digital resulting in features on ITV News and multiple articles in regional press. 

It seems the menacing robot has reappeared and was spotted at The Gadget Show Live which took place at the NEC from 8^th – 11^th April, showing that when it comes to forward thinking you just can’t beat a Big Cat.