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.

Nick Clegg and David Cameron need not flex their creative muscles when it comes to smearing the current PM as it seems that Gordon Brown, shovel in hand, is more than happy to dig his own gave.

Having been advised recently to engage more with the public as it was felt he was previously seen as being too aloof, the PM has gone on the offensive meeting the public left right and centre. It seems though that his advisers forgot who their candidate was; the George Bush of British Politics.

The PM was in Rochdale when he came across life-long Labour voter Gillian Duffy. Towering over the pensioner, Brown began confidently defending policies on pensions and accepting praise for the state of the school system in Rochdale. When presses on the issue of migration the PM (seeming somewhat flustered at this point) tried to deflect the question stating “a million people come into here…but a million British people have gone into Europe”. Deflecting the question he returned to policies where Labour has had some success in an attempt to end the matter on a high.

However Brown was unaware as he extradited himself from the situation that his microphone was still. He began engaging in a personal conversation with one of his assistants in which he blames ‘Sue’ for making him speak with the woman and called the woman in question a ‘bigot’, assumedly relating to her pressing on the immigration issue.

This is not the first gaffe the Prime Minister has made but it may prove to be the final one. In Dec 2008 he was ridiculed in the House of Commons when giving a speech regarding the banking system. Meaning to say he saved the banks he instead professed to having ‘saved the world’. Needless to say, the Tories pounced on this momentary slip and the session descended into a debacle. Then in 2009 at the 65^th anniversary of D-Day the Prime Minister, seemingly gushing over his new friend President Obama, repeatedly referred to Omaha Beach as ‘Obama Beach’.

So whilst Brown tries to extricate his foot from his mouth (in the process blaming the news company who owned the microphone for taping a private conversation), Nick Clegg and David Cameron are certainly not going to be hiding their smiles in the wake of the latest Brown gaffe.

Celebrity Cruises have put an indefinite hold on the launch program of their latest super vessel the Eclipse. It was scheduled to begin a week’s worth of events to celebrate the launch including onboard parties with some very special guests. But in the wake of the chaos reaped by the Icelandic volcano the cruise company made the dramatic decision to abandon party plans and head for Spain to mount a daring rescue mission of Brits that have been stranded their amidst the air chaos. Dan Hanrahan, President of Celebrity Cruises stated: “A party at this time didn’t seem right – we had to help out.” And help they have.

Arriving at the Spanish docks in the early hours of the morning the ship was a sight for sore eyes for the 2000 plus Brits unsure of how they would ever make it back home. The cruise company have made plans to pick up customers on all inclusive breaks from Thompson, the Co-Operative group and Thomas Cook. On board the relieved travellers will have the run of the ship and be able to take advantage of the luxury facilities including multiple pools and a 24hr Casino, all free of charge in a deal with their travel providers. But after all the families have been through recently I’m sure they are just happy for a warm bed and the prospect of home.

But lets not be naive about the situation, as certainly this is an act of humanitarianism but it is not without its merits for the cruise company. The media and press attention that this ‘rescue mission’ is receiving is worth considerably more than the attention the launch would have gained originally. A stroke of PR genius, the Eclipse has been thrust into the spotlight and has become the figure head of the British rescue efforts. It’s not quite Moses parting the Red Sea, but it’s as close as we are going to get in these cynical times.

The ability of the internet to be accurate and factual has long been in question and now as social networking sites spiral out of control the question has been asked-when does news become noise?

A new survey of senior journalists featured in PR Week, has revealed the implications that the sudden and exponential rise of social networking sites has had on the traditional media sector, and is being blamed for cost cutting measures that are currently plaguing the Media sector. In Europe as cuts are being attributed to the economic crisis, Journalists have communicated a severe decline in their numbers and the quality of work available. With sites like Twitter and Facebook seemingly becoming a vehicle for breaking news this worrying trend has led some to believe it has become almost impossible to discern ‘news from noise’ as falsities run rampant in the digital realm.

In a survey led by Burson-Marsteller which interviewed some 115 journalists from 27 countries, the majority felt that PR industries played an increasingly crucial role in the traditional media sectors. Most confirmed that they worked more now with PR agencies than in previous years as agencies are being heralded as the deliverers of accurate information and providers of substantial leads for stories. It makes sense as PR companies have their fingers on the pulse of society and are adept in recognising even the most subtle changes and are at forefront of client representation.

I myself, fell prey to this web of social network inaccuracies recently regarding Martin O’Neill quitting Aston Villa. The story spread like wildfire amongst my friends and on different sites and it was difficult to discern if this was fact or fiction. I contacted one of my sources at Villa who told me the rumours were totally unfounded. I conveyed this to my friends and fellow Villa supporters but despite my efforts they chose to follow the rumours. Perhaps this is more a reflexion on the gullibility of my friends but I think it represents how social media is able to breed and fuel wild fire rumours on a world wide scale.

Social media sites are certainly the future of communication but beware of the information they impart on you as it may be fact and it may be fiction. For clarification seek out a PR expert for they shall show you the way!

Birmingham based 360 agency, the Big Cat Group have been awarded the PR contract to support Birmingham City Council’s Working Neighbourhoods Fund promoting the success of the SMEs that have benefited from the funding.

The Big Cat PR team have been brought in to help the Birmingham City Councils communications teams to raise awareness of projects being delivered after help from the fund.

The Working Neighbourhoods Fund has secured a total of £31million to help new and struggling businesses with the aim of stimulating vital enterprise and business activity in the Birmingham region.

Carol Alderson from Birmingham City Council said: “Having worked with Big Cat on previous campaigns such as the Creative City Awards, we were already aware of their capabilities and felt they would be able to deliver this campaign successfully.

“The Working Neighbourhoods Fund can make a real difference to so many SME’s in the region so it’s vital that we get the message out there to as many businesses as possible. After hearing their ideas and plans for the contract we decided that Big Cat would be the best agency to help us deliver the results.

Anthony Tattum, Managing Director of Big Cat said: “As we too consider ourselves to be an SME, we understand how vital this sort of funding can be in getting a business up off the ground. We were delighted to pitch for the campaign and that we have been given the opportunity to deliver it as well. We look forward to working with Birmingham City Council on this campaign and many in the future”.

Since kick starting the campaign back in January, the Big Cat PR team have secured a number of fantastic pieces of coverage for the Working Neighbourhoods Fund. Kirsty Davies, a jewellery designer based in the Jewellery Quarter received particular interest having been invited onto BBC WM’s “Mornings with Joanne Malin” to discuss her designs and the fund. She has also appeared on the Creative Boom website and will soon be featured in the Birmingham Mail.

According to a recent study, Marketing Directors feel that PR agencies are better equipped at delivering social media strategies than advertising agencies.
90 per cent of the participants thought that PR agencies were better placed to work with in social media then their advertising counterparts.

Obviously this is music to our ears here at Big Cat, having run a number of successful social media campaigns including Bodies Revealed, Funworld and the current CSI: The Experience. However I’m not sure it’s entirely true.

Yes PR agencies can write the copy, upload the links, images and statuses as well interact with other users, but I think sometimes it’s good to have a second set of eyes to look at the campaign, finding new ways to target demographics whether it be through Google Ad Words, Facebook banners or even images and links on Marketing material.

In all honesty I think that’s why our campaigns work so well, although one person in the team might take lead in the realm of social media, he/she always gauges the opinions of the other departments, seeing what they can bring to the table. For a social media campaign to be truly successful a fully integrated campaign with input from across departments can work a lot better than one person sitting at his desk all day on Twitter and Facebook.

How many places are you Mayor of? Have you got the Superuser badge or maybe you’re a Superstar?

For many people this might look like some playground game, but in fact it’s the latest application to hit the social media world by storm.

Foursqaure, a new geotagging application available on iPhone, Blackberry and Web Browser, allows you and your friends to “Check in” at destinations across the globe in order to earn points and badges.
I have to admit, I was and still am pretty addicted to this, checking in every place I visit. Some of my friends have said it would be incredibly easy to stalk me, but I just thought “Who would want to stalk me?”

However the creators of Foursquare have come under criticism recently as apparently this fun application aids robbers in finding empty houses.

Obviously the owners replied straight away stating that there are a lot easier ways to see if anyone is home, the big one is if the lights are switched off.

So what do we think then? Are all these applications and games putting our security at risk or are they just a bit a fun?

I’m a big kid at heart so I think I’ll still be checking in on a regular basis.

If you hadn’t guessed by the title, I thought I’d do a blog about one of the latest social media platforms to hit our computers; Google Buzz.

It’s almost every week that we are introduced to a new way to communicate with friends, upload pictures and note down our thoughts on the web, however its only a small handful of these which become a world phenomenon, many just get lost in the either. And although some may be seen as a success right now, give it a few months and there will be another platform banging on its door, ready to jump in its grave before the lid has even closed.

The latest “attempt” at social networking is Google Buzz, which in a nutshell is a cut down version of Facebook which runs directly from your Gmail account.
Obviously Google feel that their platform is the best as it links in with all of their other gadgets; Gmail, Wave, iGoogle the lot. Now I’m all for integration (starting to sound like Tracey Turnblad now) but is Buzz just another hair brained scheme from Google in an attempt to mononpolise another market?
They’re not content with their email, maps, and Android, instead they decide to invest in a £multi-billion market with a success rate of just 1%.

Their key plug for Buzz is that unlike Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, it needs no setting up, as long as you have contacts saved in your address book. If you’re anything like me though you won’t. I’ve used Gmail for a good 8 years now and I think I have about 3 contacts in there if that. All my personal contacts I save on my iPhone or on Outlook, both of which I feel are easier to access.

Personally I think rather than inventing new platforms, Google should be concentrating on bettering their current portfolio, especially things like Google Wave. As sad as it sounds I was really looking forward to Google Wave. I waited ages for an invite and when I finally received one I found I had no use for it.
It wasn’t until this week when I actually used Google Wave for what it was built for; online conferencing, and I have to say it worked rather well (for me anyway, other members of the call kept dropping out).

So what do we think? Will Google Buzz just be another fad; here today gone tomorrow, or has it gone far greater potential? I think give it 2 weeks and people won’t even know what it is.

I came across a blog last week entitled “10 reasons why you should get rid of your PR firm”. Personally I feel all the reasons are rubbish, well for Big Cat at least.

In response to the blog I thought I’d do my own “10 reasons why you should hire a PR company”

Now I’m not one of those types that thinks every company in the world needs a PR firm, it all depends on circumstance, resources, what you actually want to accomplish and whether or not you can achieve it yourself.

Most PR companies deserve your time because……

1) We know our market

There are a vast range of resources out there which allow PR companies to analyse their market, whether it be software such as Media Disk which allows us to find the right journalist for the right story, or online websites such as Mintel which contain a whole wealth of stats and figures on any topic you could imagine. If you want to know your market you’ve got to put the time and research in.

2) We speak English

Many PR firms have a number of B2B clients which specalise in technical goods that Joe-Public aren’t interested in. Due to the type of market, much of the material has to be technical as well, however you have to be careful not to overload it. If you’re writing for the trade press, the reader will know much of the technical info already so you can get straight to the point. There’s no need to skirt around the topic, most times its better to dive in straight to the point.

There’s also an opposite to this. As PR’s we’re often asked to “flower-up” a release, make it more interesting and appealing to the reader. Again, this is another trap that a good PR knows to avoid. It’s ok adding the extra multi-syllable word here and there, but you have to be careful not to overdo it, otherwise your release ends up looking like an 18th century novel rather than an article for a newspaper.

A good PR can write a release to fit any subject area, whether it be B2B or for the general public. Through research, practice and meticulous proof reading you can ensure that any release is ready for its target audience and is easily understandable.

3) We’re not journalists

Journalists are 100% essential for any PR. Building rapport with journalists makes life a hell of a lot easier, and I’m not on about sending them gifts (which I’m sure they love), just treat them normally. A couple of my closest friends are journalists and the one thing they hate is people who brown nose. Just show a general interest, they’re not aliens (which surprisingly many people still believe). It seems (despite how much both sides disagree) journalists and PR folk are more a like than either of them realise.

4) We care

I’m relatively new to the industry however I still get a buzz when I get a piece of coverage, it doesn’t matter how big it is or whether its national or in a small local paper, to me coverage is coverage. Hopefully I’ll always feel like that.

One thing I can’t stand is blanketing out a press release to a million journalists. If you’re a good PR you have your contacts and know who to target. If you’re venturing into a new arena, do your research and pick up the phone. However its better to find out when journalists aren’t on a deadline though and time your calls for then.

Sending out a release to 14 titles isn’t a result to me, it’s not until I see the story in the appropriate publication that I know the job is done. I’m pretty sure this is how the client feels as well as telling them the release has been sent out isn’t what their paying for.

5) We manage our resources

I’m going to use the old cliché here and say that all businesses are under pressure to generate the same if not greater results on far fewer resources. However its upto the good PR to keep tabs on the resources and manage client expectations accordingly. Over-servicing has become essential over recent months, however the majority of the time its the only way to get the results. Quality should always overcome quantity.

6) We’re good at publicity

This is sort of self-explanatory. How else would you know about a good PR company unless their good at publicity? There are so many platforms to promote a company whether it be via newspapers, trade titles or social media. However word of mouth and recommendations still seems to be the best way to get new clients.

7) We don’t like ruts

Any good PR loves a challenge and something new to dig their teeth into. That doesn’t necessarily mean a new client though. It’s a PR’s job to make their own work interesting, that’s the challenge. Injecting life and new ideas into a campaign not only keeps the client happy but also the agency team.

8 ) We choose good clients

We’re not all money grabbing Fat Cats, many of us like to pick who we work with and for very carefully. There are a number of PR firms in Birmingham, including Big Cat who are proud of who they work for and the results they achieve. A lot of the time people think its the client that chooses the PR firm, but the PR firm has to have some say in it as well otherwise the campaign will never succeed.

9) We make the industry look good

All in all the majority of PR agencies do a dam good job. Every single one is different, each with their own methodology, quirks and perks. I’m not saying that all agencies are fantastic, far from it, however they don’t deserve the bad reputation which they seem to have developed over recent years.

Some of the countries greatest product awareness stunts were designed and implemented by PR firms, so next time think before you come out with a comment such as “Oh, you’re one of those.”

10) We love what we do

Simple as that. We, the team at Big Cat love what we do. We love our clients, we love our work and we love each other (well  most of the time). Becuase of this we do a damn good job, and this is why we continue to work with some of the best clients in the country

Well it’s been a busy old few weeks here at the Big Cat office. Usually during the run up to Christmas people start winding down, brew the mulled wine and pop open the mince pies…no such luck here, it’s been hands on deck.

Last Friday saw the launch of NEC Funworld, Europe’s most exciting funfair, which Big Cat PR and Marketing had a helping hand in promoting. Featuring over 60 adrenaline fuelled rides including The Superstar, Frisbee and Frog, it’s enough to turn your stomach (which Chris Brown can testify too).

As with any launch though, you have to have a high-profile celebrity, and boy did we have an act. X-Factor legends John and Edward performed a number hits on the night which included their very own interpretation of “Ghostbusters”. The hall was buzzing with atmosphere, with a crowd of screaming girls (and a few boys) chanting “JEDWARD! JEDWARD!”. Some of the girls had been queuing up since 1:00pm in the afternoon and during the time had practiced a little routine to wow the twins with.

The launch event was a great success though with the Big Cat team even having some time on the rides themselves….well we had to make sure all the rides worked ok.

But, no rest for the wicked though. 3 days left till we break up for Christmas and we still have a pile of work to get through. Some great projects coming up in the New Year though which we’re really excited about, however it’s all a bit hush hush at the moment so you’ll have to wait and see what they are.