What's going on
An eclectic view on the news of today from team Flagship… if it’s in the media (from plot developments in Glee to the financial pages of the FT) there’s a strong chance you might read about it here
The Flagshipometer: what we think is hot, or not, right now
2nd May 2013We had a bit of a discussion the other day on what we at Flagship think is “on trend” or “so yesterday”. By no means a scientific study, but we are a pretty cosmopolitan lot, wide age range, a few girls, a few boys,...
View Post >Lessons for PR from the commentary box
26th April 2013I am a football fan; if you’re not then please don’t necessarily stop reading this blog. What I’d like to do is show that being a good media commentator – one that gets printed or put on camera and, once there, gets people’s attention...
View Post >Breaking News and Chinese Whispers – how the media reported the Boston Marathon
24th April 2013The recent attacks at the Boston Marathon were shocking and distressing. News channels went into overdrive as the story emerged, developed and grew into a chaotic frenzy driven by journalists all clambering to get their hands on the latest facts and figures, the latest...
View Post >Who polices the police’s PR policies?
19th April 2013It has all been going wrong for Paris Brown, the 17-year-old “Youth Police and Crime Commissioner”. Last week, the youngster became the first person to hold this new, essentially PR, role which was created so that the good constables of the Kent Police Force...
View Post >Facebook paid messaging: another head scratcher
10th April 2013From system updates and privacy issues to a much-debated IPO, Facebook has certainly had its fair share of criticism since launching back in 2004 – but its latest move is a particularly puzzling one. Having floated the idea before Christmas, the social network has...
View Post >Take me to the bridge
3rd April 2013Despite trying desperately hard to appear like men and women of the people, it’s generally not a good idea for politicians to promote or defend their policies by suggesting that they know how ‘normal people feel’, especially when said politicians are Conservatives. This was...
View Post >Blustering Boris’ PR crisis
26th March 2013Boris Johnson, our floppy-haired Mayor of London, was caught in a pickle this weekend when he was interviewed by Eddie Mair on The Andrew Marr Show. The usually eloquent and nimble-tongued Johnson seemed utterly unprepared for Mair’s dogged questions on his extra marital affairs,...
View Post >A funny thing happened on my way to becoming a UK citizen…
4th March 2013If you want to remain in the UK indefinitely, or become a UK citizen, you need to take a “Life in the UK” test, a test I bitterly complained about for months. The study guide was dry and boring and so were the facts...
View Post >When is a launch not a launch?
22nd February 2013When you have nothing to launch, that’s when. This week techies and gamers whipped themselves up into a frenzy of excitement at the prospect of the launch of a new Sony PlayStation. The now ubiquitous tech launch stage, as made famous by Apple, was...
View Post >Where are you Delia? Not on the telly that’s for sure
11th February 2013Those who know me will be surprised that I am writing this blog. As a lifelong Ipswich Town supporter I have to dislike Delia Smith, not because her Yorkshire pudding recipe is unsuccessful for me, but because of her devotion to Norwich City football...
View Post >Tainted Love
8th February 2013Chris Huhne has fallen on his distinctly rusty “sword of truth” and is awaiting his (custodial?) fate. The spotlight is now on his ex-spouse. Let us, for the purposes of this article, assume that Vicky Pryce’s plea of ‘marital coercion’ is accepted and that...
View Post >What am I on? I am on Oprah confessing…
28th January 2013The confirmation last week that Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs throughout his career is a bit like the moment you realise as a girl that Disney has given you totally unreal expectations about love – a cruel and all too real blow. Last...
View Post >Is it ‘rs4950′ or just chance?
22nd January 2013I trust you’ve all seen the latest issue of Leadership Quarterly. This learned journal has announced a momentous discovery: the identification of a ‘leadership’ gene – the prosaically titled ‘rs4950′. But the journal is, of course, hedging its bets: it accepts that leadership skills...
View Post >Man I feel like a woman
18th January 2013First it was Bic’s range of girl-friendly pens, next came the Cadbury Crispello chocolate bar and now Fujitsu has launched a pink laptop called the ‘Floral Kiss’. These products have been met with a significant level of disdain from the public: how dare brands...
View Post >Friends Forever
17th January 2013I was interested to read recently about a new approach to charity fundraising being used by Joshua Malina (Will Bailey in The West Wing). Malina has recently said he will follow on Twitter anyone who donates at least $10 to Mazon – a Jewish...
View Post >Chained off
4th January 2013Despite most of us spending half our lives shopping and interacting with large corporations (most of us work for them in one way or another), so many consumers these days seem to have an aversion to ‘chains’, ‘corporates’, and ‘multinationals’. The latest company to...
View Post >Rising rail fares off the tracks
2nd January 2013I’m not usually the first to complain. In fact, I’m usually the one to ask my bossier/bolder friends to return my food and drinks if they aren’t up to scratch in a restaurant, or suffer in silence at the idea of returning a top...
View Post >The year that was …
21st December 20122012 has been a humdinger at Flagship Consulting – we have welcomed some new faces, said some fond farewells, executed kickass campaigns, marvelled at the Olympics, organised once in a lifetime events and generally enjoyed this most British of years. Here are the key...
View Post >What’s mine is yours
20th December 2012The latest saga that seems to have infiltrated my Twitter feed is the furore over Instagram’s change to its terms and conditions. Recent rewording states “You agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos”. This suggests...
View Post >Let’s get Quizzical
26th October 2012Tuesday evening saw Flagship pop round the corner to local watering hole, the Lukin, for their annual charity Pub Quiz in support of the Family Holiday Association. Now in its third year, the Family Holiday Association’s Big Pub Quiz Challenge 2012 is a nationwide...
View Post >Ceefax bites the dust
24th October 2012Apart from being surprised that Ceefax – the BBC’s teletext service – was actually still in existence, the news that the service has now been turned off made me realise how much the media landscape has changed in the past fifteen years. Growing up...
View Post >Timeshare for the next generation
9th October 2012As a timeshare novice, I found it interesting to attend a session at the RDO conference this September, entitled “How much PR does the industry need?” The session was facilitated by our managing director, Jackie Murphy, and discussions varied from the (murky) history of...
View Post >Waitrose Twitter hashtag failure invites ridicule, or does it?
21st September 2012Was the supermarket asking for trouble when it challenged tweeters to finish the sentence ‘I shop at Waitrose because…’? This week, Waitrose found itself in the infamous ‘posh’ spotlight for its upmarket image and largely middle-class patronage, as Twitter jokers piled in to ridicule...
View Post >It’s all in the name
31st August 2012A wave of excitement hit the office recently when we discovered that Crayola will be releasing its own range of nail varnish. Yes, you did read that right. The popular brand of crayons and other great children’s stationery is launching a range of pretty...
View Post >Like a Virgin…dumped for the very first time
29th August 2012If anyone ever doubted the power of a brand, then one need only look at the public support for Virgin Rail’s campaign to get the Government to reconsider its award of the ‘West Coast’ rail franchise to rival operator First Group. Under normal circumstances...
View Post >Is Livestrong bigger than Lance?
28th August 2012Lance Armstrong is more than a man who has won seven Tour de France titles. He is more than a man who has beaten cancer. And he is more than a man who has raised £300m for his Livestrong Charity. Lance Armstrong is a...
View Post >Perceptions successfully changed
14th August 2012After what was such a spectacularly successful two weeks for Great Britain, on and off the sporting field, it’s hard to not write something about the Olympics, so I’m not going to resist. As we glow in the aftermath and wonder at our athletes’...
View Post >Whither Boris?
8th August 2012Image from The Daily Mail The Olympics circus is in full swing and, as expected, Boris is bouncing – and occasionally dangling – for London and Team GB. Boris – he of the redundant surname – has contributed massively to the gaiety of the...
View Post >Will Facebook leave users Wanting?
2nd August 2012Rumours of a Facebook “Want” button are fuelling discussions about what this could mean for social commerce in the travel industry. Acting in a similar way to the “Like” button, “Want” is predicted to allow users to create and share a virtual wishlist of...
View Post >Proud sponsor of gender stereotypes?
27th July 2012I can’t work out whether I think P&G’s ‘Proud Sponsor of Mums’ campaign is good, bad, indifferent, sexist, demeaning or just quite sweet. For the uninitiated, P&G, the global consumer products giant, has for a while been running a campaign that aims to champion...
View Post >Guest Post: Mind the gap
26th July 2012I just performed stand-up comedy in London. But, I did so with a quite a bit of trepidation. That’s because I’d been forewarned by denizens of both sides of the pond that the American sense of humor (humour?) didn’t translate well. I was also...
View Post >Show us the funny
23rd July 2012If we’re being stereotypical, cynicism is a right British trait, and cynicism was rife amongst the Flagship Consulting team when we were presented with the daunting task of performing a stand-up comedy set. But we were too quick to pass judgement… In order to...
View Post >Report: Social media in accountancy
9th July 2012‘Social Media in Accountancy’, an evaluation of the top 60 (by fee income) firms, conducted by Flagship Consulting, has identified those organisations with the strongest presence across social media channels. The study used our own algorithm to evaluate performance via a mixture of online...
View Post >Their own worst enemy?
29th June 2012“Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin”. Sir Josiah Stamp, President of the Bank of England in the 1920s, was a blue moon rarity – a banker prepared to question the probity of his profession. The default setting for bankers these days...
View Post >Why are professionals so afraid of having personalities?
25th June 2012Go to any networking event for any industry and you’re guaranteed to find groups of professionals actively discussing the latest trends and gossip with their peers. They have opinions, insight and personalities. However, move these discussions to an online forum and far too often...
View Post >(Not such) great expectations
21st June 2012There is sometimes a lot to be said for managing expectations. As England continue their progress (steady and unspectacular progress granted) the nation is pleased and, if we’re honest, pleasantly surprised. Unlike previous tournaments, we went into this one expecting the worst and hoping...
View Post >Don’t rain on her parade – Flagship celebrates her Majesty’s reign in style
7th June 2012It’s not often I get to take part in a once in a lifetime event but on Sunday it happened, I became part of living history. Along with Lewis, Ellie and Sophy, I was lucky enough to be involved in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee...
View Post >Flagship’s comedy night and summer party!
31st May 2012Thursday 19 July, Vanilla, Great Titchfield Street, London Flagship is looking forward to welcoming clients and contacts to a summer drinks event in celebration of its partnership with US PR firm Peppercom. After an introduction from Jackie Murphy and Diana Soltmann, the evening’s comedy...
View Post >The Great British Summer of 2012
29th May 2012The promise of summer leaves most people ecstatic.; excited about the prospect of longer days, enjoying a pint after work outdoors and baring enough skin to get even a smidge of colour. As an Australian, I usually take summer for granted. This summer however,...
View Post >Rocking the boat
24th May 2012Our little blue boats were well and truly rocked last week with the news that Blue Peter will no longer be shown on BBC1. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the news has caused outrage in the media, with...
View Post >Why a holiday means more than you think
22nd May 2012The understanding that a holiday can do us good is not exactly a revelation – most of us appreciate the need to get away from work / life / the rat race and relax a few times a year. And why shouldn’t we? The...
View Post >#craphashtags
26th April 2012Only three years ago the hash sign suffered a meagre existence. Its purpose unknown to the upcoming generations, hash’s humble façade was seen only as part of an emoticon or on a sheet of music. And then came Twitter. Twitter did for the hash...
View Post >The million mitten question
12th April 2012What will come to symbolise the Olympics in London this summer? The Vancouver Olympics were remembered by many (admittedly by people who were there) by the red mittens that were worn by spectators in their millions. These proved very popular and created a lasting...
View Post >Nick Clegg, The Voice and chair turning.
30th March 2012There’s something strange going on when you start drawing parallels between Saturday night TV talent shows and government strategy, but on this occasion the similarities are definitely there. New BBC talent show ‘The Voice’ is all about giving singers the chance to demonstrate their...
View Post >Tax gets personal
20th March 2012One of the series of managed leaks preceding tomorrow’s Budget is the news that we are all to receive annual personalised tax statements telling us not only how much we’re paying in income tax and national insurance, but also where it is being spent....
View Post >Tourism Ministers and representatives “grilled” at the Best of British
19th March 2012Last week at the BoBI show at Birmingham, I attended The Tourism Society’s “Minister’s Question Time”, chaired by Bernard Donoghue FTS, Director, ALVA. In a lively question and answer session, John Penrose MP Minister for Tourism and Heritage, was put on the spot a...
View Post >Is your brand totally flawsome?
16th March 2012I’m not overly fond of dull people. People who talk endlessly about nothing, don’t talk at all, or simply go on about how wonderful they are. I like the eccentrics, the conversationalists and the real people of the world who share their real thoughts...
View Post >What does the Guardian’s Open Journalism campaign and America’s Next Top Model All Stars have in common?
7th March 2012… Brand comprehension “What!?” I hear you say. “Woah! Hold your horses. You are putting one of the UK’s leading papers, the one which blew phone hacking wide open and is championing a new era of journalism, together with a looks-focused, formulaic, cable reality...
View Post >Social media will run the Olympics
28th February 2012Recently I attended a conference titled the ‘Socialympics’ which, as the name suggests, focused on the role of social media throughout the upcoming Olympic Games. The heavy debate about the impact of the Olympics guidelines, brought in last month by the International Olympics Committee...
View Post >Have you got the write stuff?
27th February 2012Yes, I admit it; I’m a spelling, punctuation and syntax pedant with a capital – illuminated manuscript – ‘P’. When I chose to walk the mean streets of grammatical exactitude, I knew I was taking on a perilous assignment. There would, of course, be...
View Post >Social media shop fronts for travel agents
16th February 2012Social media is changing for brands with both Twitter and Facebook rolling out new profile formats. Twitter brand pages have just launched in the UK with a handful of large consumer brands such as Asda and Cadbury’s, and Facebook is expected to announce its...
View Post >Is the media simply collecting tokens?
10th February 2012Recently a former Radio 4 controller called for more ethnic minority representation on flagship programmes ‘Today’ and ‘The Archers’ which came weeks after the decision by Neighbours to move its first Asian family into Ramsay Street. This should be applauded as a proactive step...
View Post >News from Flagship to combat the January blues
23rd January 2012How did you get through Blue Monday? Or should that be both Blue Mondays? That’s the problem with pseudoscience (harsh? Check out The Guardian on this): first, you’ve got to devise an absurd “formula” for ‘the most depressing day of the year and then...
View Post >Why I think the South West has so much to smile about this year!
What ISN’T there to smile about in the South West? We are so lucky with spectacular countryside, miles of coastline, a laid back lifestyle and – of course – cider (there is always need for cider)! I am always amazed (though, on reflection, I...
View Post >Feel good news from Flagship
Winning Awards We’re delighted to have been shortlisted for the new ‘Golden Hedgehog Awards,’ a new awards programme run by PR moment and sponsored by Precise and the PRCA. Our work on the English Language Day ‘Location Lingo’ campaign has been nominated. The campaign...
View Post >Case study: Making people smile can lead to award winning work
Humour can be a creative way to capture the attention and imagination of the public and this is what Flagship used at the heart of its campaign for the English Project when it reached out to the nation and asked people to nominate their...
View Post >Guest post: A funny thing happened on the way to a rubber chicken dinner
To the best of my limited knowledge, Peppercom is the only strategic communications firm in the United States that offers clients a comedy experience. Some clients may think our work is a joke, but that’s a different matter entirely. We use the words ‘comedy...
View Post >Is augmented reality the next game changer for travel brands this year?
19th January 2012Kunoi’s foray into the world of augmented reality is just one of a number of digital initiatives being launched by the brand in 2012. During the last two years Kuoni has worked hard to position itself as a younger, more ‘in touch’ lifestyle brand...
View Post >When PR stunts hit home! Bravo Wikipedia
18th January 2012This morning, like every morning, as I drove my way into work, I listened to Radio 5 Live (easing my way into the day). The show was, like many I have heard rumbling around on the net, on TV, on twitter and amongst colleagues,...
View Post >Two screens are better than one
9th January 2012Picture this: a Tuesday night in, your favourite cooking show on TV, cell phone beside you and laptop on your knees. Your attention switches between catching up on Facebook, sending texts and learning a great new recipe for bouillabaisse. The recipe impresses and you...
View Post >Fined to get fit
5th January 2012Now here is a clever idea. A new app has been developed that fines people when they don’t stick to a pre-agreed gym programme, and rewards those that do with the money collected in fines. According to the people who developed www.gym-pact.com it’s all...
View Post >Never work with children
5th December 2011Apparently over 20,000 people contacted the BBC to complain about Jeremy Clarkson’s latest outburst. Now, I’m no flag-waver for the bejeaned buffoon, but I think we should cut him some slack this time. After all, most of us know what Clarkson’s for. In short,...
View Post >Intern-al politics
2nd December 2011As the graduate recruitment market continues to tighten, internships have become the Holy Grail. So much so that an event was held at Number 10 last month to discuss social mobility and internships with the main topic of discussion being whether a good internship...
View Post >Keep Calm and Carry On…with the commercialisation: it’s good for our spirits
Reports published today suggest Brits are demonstrating ‘Blitz spirit’, and despite the economic doom and gloom, we’re actually pretty resilient here in the UK. The idea of ‘Blitz spirit’ conjures feelings of nostalgia and we do indeed have a current enthralment with objects and...
View Post >Mike Tindall situation threatens accessibility of rugby stars to fans
15th November 2011On Friday Mike Tindall was fined £25,000 and dropped from the England team following his behaviour at the World Cup. A truly sad end for a man who has earned 75 England caps and was part of the winning World Cup squad in 2003,...
View Post >Events we’ve organised
27th October 2011Our events team is highly experienced and just as excited about organising launch parties on the high seas, running ‘the event of the summer’ in London for client Greenwich or coordinating a design festival across central London. If you’re interested in the types of...
View Post >Flagship news
In October we announced the exciting news that Flagship Consulting and Peppercom Inc, a leading US communications agency headquartered in New York (“Peppercom”), are forming a strategic alliance to provide clients with a broad range of marketing and communications services in the UK and Europe....
View Post >Creating local waves around national events
The theme of this newsletter is “events” – happenings in the real (and now virtual) world which gather a group of like minded people together. We are pretty good at events in the SW – from the America’s Cup regatta, which has just happened...
View Post >Advertising is dead. Yeh right.
26th October 2011There have been many debates lately around the power of advertising and whether consumers are becoming numb to it, or simply taking every opportunity to avoid it, especially on television with the rise in online viewing and catch-up TV. I’m in the camp that...
View Post >A question of trust
Research results this week urged companies to improve the way they communicate with consumers and to strive to exceed regulatory requirements instead of seeing them as a barrier they have to find a way around. The report carried out for DLA Piper by polling...
View Post >Is this the return of the golden age of justice?
21st October 2011What do judges do? Well, if you want to be po-faced about it, they conduct court proceedings and dispense justice. But we all know what they’re really for: they’re there to be gloriously politically incorrect, to demonstrate their contempt for, and ignorance of, popular...
View Post >Sport shows that leadership takes many forms
18th October 2011At a recent Football Association breakfast event I heard Fabio Capello, supported by a panel of Stuart Pearce, John Barnes, Dennis Wise and Sir Trevor Brooking, take questions from Club Wembley members on a range of topics such as the future of the England...
View Post >Blackberry’s comms outage overshadows service issues
14th October 2011Blackberry has never been a trendy brand. Secure, safe, functional, great for dads – sure, but certainly not a phone you’d have to worry about flashing around on the train. But that’s fine – that’s exactly what Blackberry is known for, and that’s why...
View Post >Big Bang or Damp Squib?
10th October 2011Twenty-five years ago – well, give a day or two – the City resounded to a very Big Bang. Whether we feel that Mrs Thatcher’s de-regulation of the financial markets was positive or pernicious, none of us would deny its immediate and lasting impact. ...
View Post >Making progress on malaria
14th September 2011Yesterday I attended the launch of Roll Back Malaria’s Report on a Decade of Partnership and Results, alongside our client Sumitomo Chemical (maker of the life-saving Olyset net). Held at The Commonwealth Club, the event was attended by representatives from the WHO, London School...
View Post >Guest post: Why do young people fare so poorly in the media?
24th August 2011Post by Trudy Kilcullen, Chief Operations Officer at the Jack Petchey Foundation Following the recent riots in London and across the UK, headlines such as ‘Feral Scum’ and ‘Youths on the Rampage’ were rife within the media. Looking at the ages of those who...
View Post >Guest post: Can local media be rebuilt after the riots?
10th August 2011It was no surprise to me when I read Roy Greenslade’s blog post “Local newspapers fail to rise to the occasion to report on the riots” on Media Guardian. Greenslade is a respected media commentator and professor of journalism at City University – he...
View Post >Are law firms too posh to tweet?
5th August 2011If you’re after entertainment, I urge you to check out the reader responses on the The Lawyer’s website; usually they’re marvellous mix of vitriol and superciliousness. In short, lawyers, love a good ‘hate’ and a recent piece on who’s up and who’s down in...
View Post >And in the meantime…Flagship organised the event of the summer
27th July 2011It’s not often you get to watch the jaws of over 250 travel media and PRs literally drop in amazement, but that’s what happened when they arrived at the recent TravMedia event we held for our client Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. After...
View Post >How do you unlock the entrepreneur within?
20th July 2011Entrepreneurialism doesn’t always have to be linked to starting and growing a business: it can flourish in any commercial environment. That’s why head-hunters are always being asked by large, established businesses to find people with entrepreneurial skills. And we’re helping corporates to promote their...
View Post >Entrepreneurs are flourishing in the SW
Summer in the SW is always a time of renewed life. The influx of people, surfers on the beaches, walkers on the moors and, yes, even the jams of campervans on the A303 demonstrate just what this corner of the UK is all about...
View Post >It’s been a busy few months at Flagship…
We’ve been appointed to handle the launch of Altaia Partners, a consultancy specialising in advising corporates on people-related ‘change’ issues. The three partners have all worked in-house at a senior level and have a deep understanding of the impact of takeovers, restructuring, disposals or...
View Post >Introducing…Sarah Catterick
Hello Flagship watchers. I’ve recently joined the team as an Account Manager. I’m from North Yorkshire via Geordieland, where I took a Business and Marketing degree at Newcastle Business School, which involved a year’s placement at market research specialists TNS. Up till now –...
View Post >News of the World is now the news of the whole world
12th July 2011On Sunday the News of the World ended. Or at least we thought it had. Instead what has followed is an increasingly scandalous, spiralling web of events worthy of a big screen debut. A week later, the headlines of one paper (or three if...
View Post >When cyber space knocks at the door – brands caught up in News of the World phone hacking
6th July 2011Well, once again it’s been quite a day in the world of journalism and social media. Following on from the super-injunctions debacle, we are now witnessing a collective coming together on social media to pressure companies to stop advertising in the News of the...
View Post >James Brown to get the Boots?
8th June 2011In a world where the power of the celebrity endorsement continues to grow, there aren’t many large high-street retailers who don’t have a piece of this lucrative pie. Lily Allen, Kate Moss and Daisy Lowe are just a few examples of celebrities who have...
View Post >An age old debate – Facebook for under-13s?
31st May 2011Last weekend, comments made by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg were taken to mean that he wants to get younger children using the social networking site. When asked about the issue at the e-G8 Internet forum in Paris on Wednesday, he claimed his comments were completely...
View Post >TravTweetup returns for the Summer
25th May 2011TravTweetup, the travel industry’s hottest social media meetup, will return on 21 June. We’ve teamed up with Flight Centre UK to host the event in Jetlag Bar – giving an aeronautical feel to the event, which lands on the longest day of the year....
View Post >Do super injunctions generate public interest?
23rd May 2011It has been an interesting week in the world of privacy. In the past two days there have been approximately 30,000 tweets relating to super injunctions and the footballer allegedly caught up in the middle of this media cyclone. In real time, this represents...
View Post >Why is corporate language so awful?
18th May 2011‘Why is corporate language so awful? Why are companies so pompous when they address an audience? Why are they so afraid of straight speaking and an individual human voice. And why oh why when somebody takes over at the top – of a company...
View Post >Guest Blog: The Bribery Act – Should we cancel the golf day?
4th May 2011Post by Ian Hargreaves, Litigation Partner, Addleshaw Goddard The media has generated a lot of heat, but precious little light, regarding the impact of the 2010 Bribery Act. Ken Clarke’s Guidance, as required by statute, intended to soothe the concerns of UK plc and the...
View Post >Getting to know our heroes
26th April 2011Us sport obsessives are …well…obsessed. You see, what might seem completely irrational behaviour to a non-obsessive – travelling hundreds of miles to see your boys in the first round of the Cup, committing to memory (without trying) the name of every football league ground,...
View Post >Social media’s role in disaster recovery
21st April 2011This year New Zealand was hit by the worst tragedy the country has experienced in my lifetime. The aftershocks of the Christchurch earthquake were felt worldwide by Kiwis in all corners of the globe. New Zealanders on the ground have very quickly started picking...
View Post >Encouraging behaviour change to help save lives
I am working on an exciting new PR project which the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) has just launched in partnership with our client, Olyset Net. The ‘Me and My Net’ competition aims to raise awareness of the importance of mosquito nets in malaria prevention...
View Post >Flagship talks tourism strategy on BBC politics show
19th April 2011Last month Flagship’s Sophy Norris blogged about the Department of Culture Media and Sports new tourism strategy. Her thought leadership approach clearly resonated with the BBC and last Sunday she was invited to appear on Andrew Neil’s the politics show. Watch it here.
View Post >Guest blog: What’s good for one good cause is good for us all
13th April 2011Leigh Daynes is director of advocacy, campaigns and communications at charity Plan UK According to the most recent figures available online, the voluntary sector spent £2.6 billion on marketing communications in 2007/8. This enormous spend has been matched by increased professionalism among third sector...
View Post >Flagship’s cutting of the month
11th April 2011Here at Flagship HQ, our monthly meetings always finish the same way – with an award for the best cutting of the month. We pride ourselves on achieving well placed coverage in the best publications and this month the Norwegian Cruise Line team came...
View Post >Whether MI5 spy or ‘Silk’ clad QC, we’re being inspired by career TV
5th April 2011It is not uncommon for profession based television programmes to enjoy widespread recognition both here in the UK and overseas, with hospital and police dramas having engaged audiences over the years. Recently, other sectors have been muscling in on the action, even capitalising on...
View Post >TBU11 – A call to action
28th March 2011Sophy and I spent last weekend at the Travel Bloggers Unite conference held in Manchester, where we spoke on ‘branding doesn’t engage people; people engage people’. We took the audience (which ranged from new to established travel bloggers) through the importance of personal branding...
View Post >Guest blog: New Bill will make it harder to bring libel claims
15th March 2011Post by David Engel, Partner, Addleshaw Goddard The Coalition Government today published a draft Defamation Bill and opened a consultation period on its proposals, which closes on 10 June 2011. Many of the provisions appear primarily to codify and put on a statutory footing the...
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