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.

Hi I’m Chris, 22, originally from Wolverhampton, now living in Birmingham. My favourite film is “A tale of 2 sisters”, favourite food is Cornish pasty and favourite band is Epica.

Right, that’s the introductions out the way. If you’d hadn’t guessed from all the tweeting I’m the new Senior Account Executive here at Big Cat, working alongside Natalie in the PR team.

This is the start of my third week here at Big Cat, and in all honesty the first chance I’ve had to blog. It’s been an incredibly busy two weeks in the office, filled with client meetings, tenders and the occasional rubbing of shoulders with celebrities…what a life eh.

My role here at Big Cat will be to support Natalie on all fronts as well as look after clients’ needs/wants in regards to social media. So if you have any questions about what’s trending in the world of social media or just want some advice, don’t be afraid to drop me a line.

Stay tuned to the Big Cat Comms blog as we’ll be keeping you up to date with the goings on in the office and what’s happening in the world of PR.

The NEC call on full service agency to promote Europe’s most exciting funfair.

BigCat will be responsible for a full scale publicity campaign including PR, media buying and social media as well as designing and distributing the Funworld event’s branding and promotional material.

Funworld will run for 22 days from 18 December in Hall 5 at Birmingham’s NEC complex and it will be the largest event of its kind in the UK. It is expected to be attended by around 100,000 people over the Christmas period.

Funworld, the value for money family attraction, will house around 50 exciting rides and attractions over 25,000 square metres, equivalent to 3 football pitches.

Anthony Tattum, Marketing Director of BigCat says: ‘We have worked with The NEC on several projects over the years and it is always pleasure to be involved with them. Funworld promises to be a huge event and it is our goal to lay strong foundations in order to ensure it becomes an annual event.’

Louise Sambrook, Show Manager of The NEC Group says: ‘We were looking for an agency with strong local contacts and knowledge of the entertainment industry and we feel BigCat excel in both of those areas.’

Yesterday was the press day for Bodies Revealed that was very well received from all and sundry. A lot of press photographers had a field day with a lot of the exhibits. Two friends of the company and superlative artists in their field, Karen Strunks and Alex Hughes applied their skills to the exceptional specimens on display. Please enjoy and visit Karen’s and Alex’s websites, they’re two really talented artists.

If you can’t see the slideshows, click for Karen Strunks and Alex Hughes’ images.

Having completed an English degree at Aberdeen University in June, I was fully aware that I had one more chance to revel in the spoils of what would be my last summer as a student, before I embarked upon what was to be, if not a career, at least something that would fill my pockets in the absence of the all too heavily relied upon student loan. In order to offset the trepidation and prevailing angst, my friends and I avoided the subject of the ‘real world’ at all times and carried on our lackadaisical student lifestyle with vigour, sitting back and watching the last few students slowly dwindle out of Aberdeen. All of a sudden it was my turn to leave!

 Having returned home to live with my parents, the next few months weren’t much fun. Sending off about 50 job applications a day and only getting the response of; ‘Dear Benjamin, thank you for your application, however we feel that you do not have the necessary experience for this position’. Now answer me this, how was I supposed to gain the experience I needed if no one would employ me? Slowly it began to dawn on me that I may have to settle for a job in telesales or knocking on doors. I went for knocking on doors (at least this way I’d be outside and keeping fit!)

 At 15 I never thought I would be sat where I am right now; at a computer in an office in Birmingham city centre writing about myself. In fact, apart from that I am wearing my own choice of casual clothing, I am pretty much the epitome of everything I swore never to become. I was going to be a rock star and/or writer and although these dreams are not yet entirely out of my grasp, they are not yet providing an income. At the uncertain yet still youthful age of 25, I have just been granted an internship at Big Cat Group, a PR, marketing and events company, that luckily for me offers a place where I can gain the experience that was so desperately sought after. It was the opportunity I had been waiting for and after an interview, a blog post and a trial shift here I am. It’s only my second week on the job but I am thoroughly enjoying the work I am doing. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first applied for the position, I envisaged three months of photocopying, making tea and fetching biscuits from the shops. So far it has exceeded my expectations and not a photocopier in sight! Its allowing me to think, create and use some of the ‘skills’ that I learned at university and although I am not getting paid I feel that it is at last giving me some direction and control in my life. Maybe I am ready for the ‘real world’, just maybe…

Birmingham YMCA has recruited 360^o agency Big Cat Group to support them in an ambitious fundraising project. The target £1.5 million to be raised will enable the YMCA to build community facilities that will feature as part of the £13.5 million re-development of the current site on Reservoir Road, Erdington.

BigCat will be project managing aspects of the fundraising activity including implementing a sponsorship strategy and promoting the 18-month fundraising project through an extensive PR campaign.  BigCat were selected to assist the YMCA after the delivery of a successful PR campaign in 2008, where BigCat helped to promote the objectives of the re-development, helping the YMCA to secure the existing £12 million.

The youth and community centre, part of the scheme called The Orchard, will house facilities including a multi-use sports hall, training and meeting rooms and a ‘chill-out’ space for young people.  These facilities have been designed to create a platform for YMCA residents to integrate themselves productively into society, through voluntary activity and paid work at the project.

(Left) Anthony Tattum, Marketing & Communications Director, BigCat. (Right) Alan Fraser, CEO, Birmingham YMCA.

Costs for the Erdington development are estimated to be approximately £13.5 million, of which £12 million has already been secured.  The scheme has been included in Birmingham City Council’s ‘Places of Change’ programme – a national initiative to create places of change for formerly homeless people, and help integrate them back into the community.

When I first got wind of the Peter Andre and Katie Price break up I cynically thought that it could quite conceivably have been a PR stunt.  The Andre – Price union has been lived out completely in the lime light with OK exclusives on their wedding and a number of TV series surrounding their everyday life. Their relationship was even conceived on a reality TV show.

The break up of their 3 ½ year marriage has turned into a war, with the battlefield being the national news and TV.  Firstly, Price’s TV interview with Piers Morgan: this was probably the most sensible thing that her PR agency could have suggested. During the interview Price had the chance to portray her side of the story, pull on the heart strings of all watching whilst talking about the ordeal of being dumped.

Andre has been advised to keep quiet and appear to be the bigger man – which has worked. Photos of Price almost naked in a pool with her new boyfriend appeared on tabloids the same day as photos of Andre picking berrys with his children, that’s a point for team Andre PR.

Stories litter the tabloids about Jordan’s infidelities and drunken antics whilst Peter is on the front covers portrayed as the victim who has been left to bring up her children.  The UK’s father of the year seems to be using his positive press coverage as a vehicle to promote his album which is currently destined for a number one spot.

Katie is also planning a come back with a ‘what Katie did next’ programme. She is currently using The Outside Organisation looking after her PR; these guys are exactly what she needs if she ever wants to pull back from all of her recent mistakes. The Outside Organisation also helped Heather Mills after her recent split with Paul McCartney although we all know who came off the better out of those two.

Millions of people go into work everyday and log onto the online version of their preferred newspaper. They do this because it’s free!

Financial Times editor Lionel Barber has recently said in a Channel 4 news interview that the newspaper industry must charge people for reading newspapers online, and that free content on the web was the biggest mistake the industry has made in the past ten years. Is this the beginning of the fall for the online newspaper?

The FT currently has 117,000 paying web subscribers, which represents 10% of those registered on FT.com. Surely this new approach to online news would result in a huge decline in the online readership.

Lionel wants this future business model to create revenue lost from lack of online advertising which supports the free online content. He also wants other newspapers to do the same. Perhaps this is too little too late?

Many newspapers such as the Guardian, Times Online and many regional newspapers have put time and effort into pushing there online capabilities: creating communities around there newspaper, with thousands of people following them on twitter and interacting with them via blogs and commenting. Will they follow in the footsteps of the FT? Would you pay to read an online newspaper?

Twitter is like fire; exciting and can spread fast.  It is rapidly becoming a vital Marketing and PR tool with a lot of companies utilising it to give there brand a voice. Social media is winning the race marketers have been keeping there eye on: social media VS word of mouth. We have some social media none believers in the Big Cat office – here is an example of how wrong you are!!

Our Marketing and Digital Director Anthony Tattum was out and about in Birmingham when he stumbled across what he thought was a Banksy on a wall in the Jewellery Quarter…

Thinking that his followers would find this interesting, Anthony tweeted a Twitpic. This simple act resulted in a wave of retweets across Anthony’s 712 followers.  The next day a picture of the ‘Banksy’ appeared in the two top regional news papers Birmingham Post and Birmingham Mail (no one can accuse the Birmingham Post & Mail journalists of not being on top of their twitter!!)  There was a photographer down on Henrietta Street within a few hours of the first tweet.

Even @banksynews responded to the tweet… Sadly the picture was a fake, but it is useful to demonstrate the power of twitter and the Birmingham online community.  Would things have moved so fast without Twitter? I don’t think so!

Important social media tools Twitter, Facebook and WordPress have been the centre of an ever-growing debate about brands online presence, leading to the million dollar question – ‘Should brands be on twitter’?

This question has been talked about cloak and dagger amongst the twittersphere and the marketing community for months now; cropping up on blog posts, tweets and more recently into the media with a feature about it on BBC Radio 4 this week.

One of the major factors in the debate is that brand tweets are lacking the personal touch. I think that is the point: at Big Cat, most of the team tweet about everyday life, work and general things of interest. We have built relationships, become part of the community and will continue to do so…. We also have @bigcatcomms which is the ‘faceless’ twitter account supporting this blog. We want the @bigcatcomms twitter account to engage in a different community than the personal staff accounts, @bigcatcomms will tweet only about PR to the people that want to listen!

What are your thoughts? My answer: YES companies should have brand presence online!  Social media is the new word of mouth, a way to engage a target audience. Companies utilising these tools are not doing any harm (as long as they don’t spam you).

Sarah Brown: wife, mother and Public Relations genius!

Besides being the wife to the most talked about man in politics, Sarah is using her strength as an expert in Public Relations to do a damn good job of PR for brand Brown.  Sarah is venturing outside of the realms of the women before her, appearing at Glastonbury with Naomi Campbell and partying at charity functions with Paris Hilton, not sure what message this is portraying, perhaps personality, an area in which her husband fails?

I was surprised to see Sarah guest editing last weekend’s issue of Fabulous. As patron of Wellbeing for Women she themed the issue on women’s health with articles such as miracle pregnancies, Jools Oliver’s traumatic pregnancy and how the ‘Wellbeing for Women’ has helped women to realise there dreams off motherhood. The Editors letter featured a thought provoking phrase ‘Britain’s army of women – mums, sisters, daughters, best friends – is what helps keep the country going.’ I did muse over this being either a key message of Wellbeing for Women or a public joke about Sarah’s belief that she’s keeping the country together?

Sarah has her foot firmly in the PR door keeping up with the latest industry trends by becoming a social media wizard – a PR must!  With her @sarahbrown10 twitter account receiving more than 400,000 followers and a blogging from G8 summit on downing streets website (wonder if she had to persuade Gordon to let her do that?)  Having worked within the industry for many successful years Sarah certainly knows what she’s doing.

A recent article about her self promotion on Independent online received a lot of negative comments and ridicule about herself and her husband. Unsure of the objectives of Sarah’s actions / strategy – herself, her husband, the charities she represents or her future carer – Sarah is only doing her job.  As a wife and a PR.

Hello and welcome to the BigCat Communication blog…

If you are interested in the PR industry then this is the blog to read! We will be commenting on the industry, our own campaigns and other peoples.

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