Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Ethical public relations is good business

by Sean

We are 14 years old. Now, compared to many businesses, that makes Ethos public relations a spring chicken, but in the public relations industry 14 years is pretty middle-aged.

During those years, business has changed rather a lot. Back in 1998 there was a newly elected government that promised an end to boom and bust and there was a sense of excitement and positivity about business. Fourteen years later the country (not to mention much of the world) is still trying to recover from one of the biggest economic ‘busts’ in history.

Technologically, much has happened in the business environment – who could have imagined in the late 1990s that people would use their mobile phones to check email; that they would tweet messages to an audience across the world and that book sales would move so significantly to online sites – not to mention that books are increasingly read on electronic readers?

In the PR industry we have all had to try and keep abreast of these developments and at Ethos public relations we have always tried to be first adopters of good practice in social media.

But the one thing that has remained constant has been our commitment to both our clients and the wider community. Since 1998 we have had a set of social objectives which outline how we want to conduct our business. These objectives help us define how we should act in certain circumstances. They are as applicable in the good times as they are in the middle of an economic downturn.

As we break open a small bottle of lemonade to celebrate 14 years in business – well, we had Champagne on our 10th Birthday – I can’t help thinking that if some of the banks and big businesses had the same commitment to their people and local communities as we have, we might not be in the economic situation we are in.

Cheers!

Posted at 8:25am on 5^th April 2012

'No Go Britain'? Almost 'No Go Christina'!

by Christina

After I finally made it into the Ethos public relations office, after fighting my way through the blizzard conditions that have gripped Saddleworth, we realised that today must be very much a ‘No Go Britain’ day for many people!

And with heavy snow battering many parts of the UK, what a day for Channel 4 News to chart 24 hours of the experiences of disabled people using public transport. Using Twitter Channel 4 News is asking disabled people to tweet their experiences of their journeys using the hashtag #nogobritain.

With such wintry conditions bringing traffic and public transport to a standstill this morning, it really made me think about the travel difficulties disabled people must have to face every single day.

Today has been a ‘No Go Britain’ day for the majority of people who live in the peaks and the pennines, so it will be interesting to hear the accessible transport stories of disabled people trying to travel in these wintry conditions.

My journey into work today, started with me scraping thick snow off my car, then after a very careful three point turn in my snow-covered road, I managed to make it onto the main road, where I sat in standing traffic as heavy snow continued to fall.

With not a gritter in sight and numerous cars abandoned, I did think I wasn’t actually going to make it into the office at all, but I persevered and finally made it down to the train station in Mossley, where I normally catch the train into Manchester city centre.

At this point, I was freezing cold and after waiting for the train, which was of course delayed, I finally made it into Manchester! And there wasn’t even a hint of snow in the city centre.

Walking through Manchester Victoria train station, in my full winter gear and welly boots, you’d never know that just ten miles up the road, there was such traffic and travel chaos caused by the heavy snow.

Even with the recent weather warnings and forecasts of snow and blizzards over the peaks and the pennines, none of us believed it would actually happen, seeing as we were enjoying the balmy temperatures of last week.

So many commuters have faced traffic and public transport chaos today, so we will be keeping a close eye on all the travel reports as well as Twitter to see all the ‘No Go Britain’ stories!

Posted at 1:52pm on 4^th April 2012

Stop bashing the BBC

by Rob

I have just paid for my TV licence for the year ahead and it made me think about the BBC and the media coverage they have been receiving over the past few years.

They have faced a number of challenges – such as the MediaCityUK move and high salaries for celebrities – but I feel that much of the criticism the Corporation has faced has been unfair and, in some instances, quite nasty. They have had a bit of a battering from all sides and that is why I think people should lay off the BBC.

As a service that is funded through its viewers, the BBC of course has to meet and reflect the needs and desires of its funders. I feel however that a lot of the flak they have had to take has been unjust – and from certain organisations with a selfish agenda.

Ever since the BBC announced that it was moving some services from London to MediaCityUK in Salford, it has been attacked by people questioning the move. I have always fully supported the move and when I visited the site I was very impressed by what they have done.

Although London has many great points, I think that the people who don’t appreciate the positives of MediaCityUK are being short-sighted. The North West has some of the best football teams in the country, it produces some of the country’s best music and some of the UK’s best loved shows are made here. People need to appreciate that the BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation, so it needs to reflect all of Britain, not just one city in the south east of England.

In addition to MediaCityUK heralding a new era of regionally-based national broadcasting, the BBC also boasts a very popular and informative website whilst producing new creative, entertaining, educational and engaging programmes that meet the varying needs and interests of its viewers.

To meet these needs and interests the BBC has to pay a certain price for top talent. Whether you think Chris Moyles or Graham Norton deserve their hefty wage, or if their pay is ‘right’ in such difficult economic times, is a whole other argument – however I don’t see people complaining when ITV or Simon Cowell pay even more money to their stars.

To produce quality shows you need quality actors and presenters. A hefty pay cut could hamper the Corporation’s ability to produce shows that millions of people love – is this really what the complainers want?

It seems to me that, when it comes to media coverage, the BBC are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Everyone who pays their licence fee is allowed to complain and deserves to have their voice heard – and they have lots of channels to do this. As we all know, it is impossible to keep everyone happy all of the time but it just seems to me that people want to fling complaints at the BBC over anything and see what sticks.

The BBC is envied around the world yet it seems to get a tough time in the UK. The British are good at attacking success stories but this time I really think they should stop and give BBC bashing a rest.

Posted at 9:37am on 30^th March 2012

Didn’t we have a lovely time in Bangor... and Lowestoft

by Sean

I am looking forward to a couple of days at home this weekend. Last weekend, and the one before, saw me travelling across the UK – for a mixture of business and pleasure – from the Menai Straits in North Wales to Lowestoft on the North Sea coast. In between, I visited Reading, London and Norwich.

I enjoy travelling around the UK – especially when it is by train and you can take in all the scenery and wildlife from the comfort of your seat, as well as catching up on work and emails.

This epic journey gave me plenty of time for thinking between meetings and, as I sat on the train to Norwich passing the site of the soon to take place Olympics in London, I couldn’t help thinking back to an afternoon on Bangor Pier the week before.

Before paying the princely sum of 30 pence for admission, I noticed there was a plaque proudly marking the reopening of the pier in 1988. This beautiful pier was reopened following a restoration project managed by the then Manpower Services Commission’s (MSC) Community Programme. Today, sadly, the pier, which was constructed for the grand total of £17,000, is facing a shortfall of up to £1 million for its ongoing maintenance.

The Olympic site is rightly held up as a case study in regeneration for a previously deprived part of east London, but from the train window you see so many other places across the UK desperately in need of cash.

In this time of austerity, of course, there has to be some prioritisation of projects, but the recreation of something akin to the MSC, which could utilise the energy and time of trainees and the unemployed, should surely be on the agenda. Not only would this help preserve some of the UK’s greatest physical assets, but would provide meaningful job opportunities and on-the-job training for those who really need it.

Posted at 10:13am on 15^th March 2012

The heat is on – it really shouldn’t be!

by Debbie

I have just returned from a holiday in New York City and have come back on a quest to find out how much public buildings spend on central heating!

My arrival at JFK Airport was the first experience of the ‘hot house’ atmosphere everywhere in the city. As my family and I waited for over an hour to get through immigration, everyone in the queue (or should I say line) was sweltering.

Outside it was probably about minus two…but inside it was probably about 80 degrees.

At our hotel we practically stripped off as we waited to check in and when we arrived at our room on the 36th floor – one of the first things we did was try to open a window to let some air in.

I had prepared for the trip with thick coats, lots of woollies and an investment in layers of thermal underwear. I needn’t have bothered as the city was enjoying an unseasonably warm February – most days it was sunny and mild – like a spring day.

But clearly guardians of the thermostat controls in shops, restaurants, museums and even inside the Staten Island Ferry – had not noticed. We huffed, puffed, sweated and sweltered in Macy’s, at Ellis Island, at the Museum of Natural History, in a bowling alley, the Empire State Building – and even in yellow cabs!

One evening as we chatted to a couple of German tourists over an extortionately priced beer, they told us that as frequent visitors to the city they preferred the sweaty winter season to the ice cold summer season. During the summer months – public buildings are air conditioned to within an inch of their life. You needed your thermals on every time you went indoors.

On a serious note, the city that never sleeps should wake up to the fact that its carbon footprint needs some serious attention.

Posted at 2:43pm on 21^st February 2012

Go Compare? No – Go Away!

by Rob

I was interested to read in a recent poll for Marketing magazine that Webuyanycar.com's musical ad campaign was named the most irritating in the UK.

As a regular TV viewer I watch my fair share of adverts and often want to throw something at the screen when an annoying ad comes on.

Some of those that make my blood boil, namely the Webuyanycar.com, Go Compare and singing Halifax adverts, not surprisingly all made it into the top 10 in Marketing’s poll. However is the fact that I remember these adverts, for all the wrong reasons, playing into the advertisers’ hands? Is their advertising strategy simply to be irritating so we remember their brand?

The answer of course is yes, as Gio Compario (the Go Compare Man) and Compare the Market’s meerkat, Aleksandr Orlov, are now very well known. But, in my opinion, they are only well known because so many people hate them. They certainly don’t persuade me to buy from them and, to me, the increase in brand awareness is not worth the backlash that a lot of these brands ultimately face.

Go Compare is now as much about a ridiculed opera singer as about car insurance. But it doesn’t need to be like that.

A number of brands have managed to produce ads that you remember but are not annoying – John Lewis being the most recent example. Their ad for Christmas 2011 – a boy eager to give his parents presents to a cover version of The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" – was simple, heart warming, ingenious and reflected the ethos of the brand well. To me, this was much more appealing than an irritating opera singer or a run of the mill choir of bankers! It would also encourage me to shop there – although I do base my purchases on much more than just one advertisement.

At the end of the day it is all down to personal taste (whether you have any or not!) but I think it is telling that Go Compare is having a review of its advertising account and the future of Gio Compario is up in the air.

It seems that even Go Compare has tired of its mascot…

Posted at 12:27pm on 20^th January 2012

Tribute to Blockbusters legend

by Christina

As a thirty-something who fondly remembers tea-time as a kid watching and thoroughly enjoying the ITV children’s quiz favourite, Blockbusters, I was sad to hear that its legendary host, Bob Holness had died at the age of 83.

Blockbusters had a simple but winning formula, in which sixth-form contestants would answer a series of questions based on letters of the alphabet and no weekday was complete without the half hour show!

The news of Bob’s death also brought back memories of what a truly great, lighthearted show it was – what with the hand jive and gold run, and who could forget the comedy classic - “Can I have a P please Bob?”

Bob Holness became a massive hit with school and undergraduate viewers, who helped to swell the ITV show’s ratings to 11.5million at its peak.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Holness and his wife, Mary, when I was a student studying journalism at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston.

Blockbusters came to our Student Union and after the main event, myself and a fellow journalism student went behind the scenes to interview Bob and what a genuinely smashing bloke he was!

A very modest man, Bob was a delight to talk to and I remember him being really enthusiastic about the fact that we were studying journalism at university and he was very positive about the media industry as a whole.

But the main aspect, which was totally obvious from speaking to Bob, was just how much he loved being the host of Blockbusters from 1983 to 1993 and he really did deserve to achieve his cult status at the helm of the show.

A talented and much-loved presenter, Bob will be missed. But as many people continue to pay their tributes to the legend, at least we can rest in the knowledge that his memory will live on as Blockbusters can be seen on digital TV channel, Challenge, which airs a number of the old classics, including Play Your Cards Right and 3-2-1.

I for one will be tuning in.

Posted at 10:54am on 10^th January 2012

Thank Dickens it’s Christmas!

by Shaun

' "A merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year!" '

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

I’m a huge fan of Charles Dickens’s work and regular visitors to the Ethos public relations website may have noticed the story on our home page a couple of months ago about my involvement with the Dickens Journals Online project. As part of next year’s Dickens bicentenary celebrations, the project is putting online a weekly journal edited by Charles Dickens in the 19th century.

I have been helping to edit the errors from the journals which resulted when they were scanned onto computer. It is hoped that, by the 200th anniversary of Dickens’s birth on 7 February 2012, over 1,000 magazines will have been completed and, with well over 800 now done, there’s every chance of achieving this. Dickens Journals Online is an open access project which will be launched in March 2012 and will provide a valuable educational and historical resource.

Of course, Christmas is the time of year most associated with Dickens. In fact, Dickens is often credited with inventing the modern Christmas – the domestic celebrations, the charitable acts and the perennial “white Christmas”. Without Dickens, Christmas wouldn’t be what it is today and I’m sure it will be hard to escape the Dickens films, TV adaptations and musicals over the festive period.

In the days of tweets, texts and blogs, reading Dickens can sometimes seem daunting, but many of his most famous stories are very accessible. A Christmas Carol is a great place to start with its seasonal blend of comedy, pathos and the supernatural. Nobody characterises the breadth and depth of human nature better than Dickens and A Christmas Carol is full of joy and sadness and all the emotions in between.

So when you’re munching on your turkey this Christmas, don’t be a Scrooge – think of all the Tiny Tim’s out there and spread a little happiness…

Merry Christmas!

www.djo.org.uk www.dickens2012.org

Posted at 2:25pm on 21^st December 2011

Local radio must be safeguarded

by John Walding, Honorary Secretary, CIPR North West Group

In an industry where many organisations value the importance of local coverage, our BBC Local Radio stations provide an important and vital platform for people to promote our events, our expertise and our successes, something that could change under the proposed changes to Local Radio outlined in Mark Thompson's 'Delivering Quality First'.

Nearly 400 jobs are set to go in local broadcasting across England as part of the BBC's plan to reduce its budget by 20% over the next five years. 280 of the posts under threat are from BBC Local Radio across England, with potentially almost a quarter of the workforce under threat at BBC Radio Manchester. There will also be a move towards stations sharing some afternoon, evening and weekend programmes - with one pan-England programme from 19:00 until 22:00.

Local Radio is being asked to find savings of 12% (10% after re-investment). The BBC as a whole has been tasked with making savings of between 16-20% – so Local Radio has been relatively protected. However this does feel higher because the cost of buildings and technology which are required to broadcast in 40 locations and means that the cuts inevitably fall on the people who make the programmes.

Love it or loathe it our BBC Local Radio Stations provide vital information on what is going on and an opportunity to tune in and listen at length to the people, issues and events that affect and shape our localities. It provides us as communicators with an unrivalled local channel with which to speak in our local community. Without it we will find the local broadcast landscape an even more challenging place in which to be heard.

When our regions face challenging times be it weather, riots, or times of great tragedy it’s often our local BBC station we turn to give us up to date news and analysis of what is going on. It is hard to see how commercial radio can devote the same time and resource to this, and the BBC stations will retain the ability to stay local when people depend on them most.

Local radio has also been the training ground for a whole host of our broadcasting talent, many who have gone on to become household names after cutting their teeth reporting on the people and issues affecting our regions. Will it still be the same post cuts?

We realise that the BBC is facing some tough challenges in responding to the impact on its budgets but it is vital that we ensure that local radio is left in a position to deliver the quality of programming that our regions deserve. We can all make our voices heard by taking part in the current consultation into the BBC’s Delivering Quality First proposals which runs until 21 December.

All too often we have watched as cuts have changed the nature of our local news and programming. Let's make our voices heard to help safeguard the potential threat to yet another.

Posted at 3:26pm on 13^th December 2011

Made in the UK – I wish

by Sean

Finally, my 14 year old Pioneer CD player has given up the ghost. I am a bit of a gadget geek, but I’ve never been too fussed about my music system as I mostly listen to music in the background.

I can’t even really remember buying this ‘hi-fi’ system but as I was taking it out of the cabinet to consign it to the municipal electrical recycling skip, I noticed on the back a small plate with the words ‘Made in the UK’.

Now, I must confess that I do try and support products made in the UK, although that is becoming increasingly difficult. I don’t do it for any nationalistic or xenophobic reasons, purely from the point of view that if I buy stuff made here, I am more likely to be helping to keep jobs in the UK.

Don’t get me wrong, it isn't always made in the UK for me. I am more than happy to buy products from elsewhere in the world – pasta has to come from Italy and paella rice needs to come from Spain – but I am never (knowingly) going to buy apples imported from China, for example.

I think it is important that key manufacturing skills are kept in the UK. Until recently, I thought that the exodus of manufacturing to the Far East was driven by consumers demanding cheaper and cheaper products, but when looking around for a new CD player – yes I know that it now has to include a docking station and DAB radio (told you I liked gadgets) – products made in China can be as expensive as those made in Europe.

I am assuming that there are two possible reasons for this. Firstly, that some companies manufacture their products cheaply in China and sell at a high price to maximise their profits, without thinking through the knock-on effects on local communities in this country, or that China (and other countries) now have the skills that are sadly lacking in the UK so can justify the higher prices, as we can’t make the things here.

Obviously there are some important exceptions to this, with very high end audio manufacturers still making excellent products in the UK, along with quality British made shoes, and clothing for example. Made in the UK still adorns by shoes and belt and cutlery.

Current Government policy (or rhetoric) is fully behind UK manufacturing, but I have yet to hear any broader discussion from them about the importance of consumers (and businesses) buying British. Clearly, in a free global market, and especially within the EU, there are issues about promoting one country over another, but surely consumers should spend in a way which keeps a large proportion of their money in the local economy?

As a Europhile, my default position is to purchase European products if I can’t find a suitable British one. So, I will soon be buying a Loewe Soundbox.

UK manufacturing’s loss is Germany’s economic gain.

Posted at 5:01pm on 29^th November 2011