Archive for February, 2010

The Cultural Quarter’s own man on the door

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

The cultural industries quarter's own man on the door

Now Manchester is renowned for it’s own fashion sense and the Northern Quarter is the spiritual home of the city’s creative types. We are pleased to acknowledge this fantastic mural, the cultural quarter’s very own door picker perhaps? Just check out that tache. Quality.

Perhaps we should name him. Anyone got any suggestions?

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UK Advertising to clear recession in Q3 2010

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

The advertising market in the UK will return to growth in Q3 2010 for the first time since 2008, a new forecast from the Advertising Association and Warc has predicted. According to the Report total adspend is estimated to have fallen 12.7% in 2009. Overall, this would amount to the most severe recession faced by the industry since the survey was launched in 1982.
Revenue levels decreased by 13.2% in Q3 2009, a rate of contraction that is expected to moderate to 5.2% in Q4. By medium, the internet was the only channel to see figures improve in the nine months of last year, up by 3.7% in all.
In contrast, press ad sales were off by 25.5% in the same timeframe, with outdoor down by 20.4%, and TV, radio and direct mail all posting declines in the mid-double digits. Cinema witnessed a more modest drop of 1.8%, and actually enjoyed an expansion of 10.2% during Q3.
The web’s share of adspend rose by just over 4% in Q3 yoy. Press was down by a similar amount on this measure, with all other major media essentially flat.
Looking forward, it is estimated that advertising revenues will decline by 3.8% in Q1 2010 and 0.8% in Q2, before registering an uptick of 2.8% in Q3.
Source: MediaTel

So what effect, if any will this have on the PR sector? Many PR firms have thrived during the recession as many businesses have cut overall marketing spend and ploughed more into reputation management and brand building by PR channels. As advertising comes to the fore again, many PR’s will have to resume the regular fight to keep their share of the pot against the big spending ad boys.

However, this time it may be different. As the battleground for ownership of social media continues, savvier marketers are switching on to the fact that PR’s have always been the best people

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Ainsley Harriott, prick with a fork sausages

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Larger than life TV chef  Ainsley Harriott is currently the victim of a round robin email. Allegedly these sausages were actually on sale in Ireland until the packaging error was finally spotted.

This has now gone viral with many posts online (sorry for joining in Ainsley!). Looks like Ainsley’s going to need some serious reputation management advice.

Ready, steady sack the copywriter Ainsley!

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