News & Views

Freshfield has won a global contract to promote Super-Click – dubbed the most versatile click-flooring system in the world.

Following a competitive pitch, Freshfield was handed the brief to help Lancashire-based Super-Click International, which manages the Super-Click brand, build relationships with flooring distributors in the key territories of Asia, Central and South America, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia.

Super-Click is one of the world’s most versatile LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tile) floating floor systems. It differs from other flooring thanks to a unique locking mechanism, offering superior locking strength combined with ease and speed of installation.

Freshfield is advising Super-Click International on brand development, while a traditional and digital PR campaign will focus on supporting Super-Click’s presence at four key flooring trade exhibitions in Dubai, Hannover, Las Vegas and Shanghai. Freshfield will attend the exhibitions overseeing media relations activity. (more…)

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admin

It seems that only a minute percentage of marketing business is being done beyond the boundaries of London.

Despite the burgeoning digital industries growing up around the convergence of online and offline media, and seemingly unstoppable growth of social media, the north is still seen as a hinterland, it would appear.

This was an emerging theme from the conference organised by North West Business Insider held this week in Manchester at The Lowry, overlooking the spiralling buildings of the new digital age, MediaCity.

Everyone in the room agreed that the north has more to offer in marketing terms or, indeed, in any other sector of the new business world. (more…)

Posted by
Paul Tustin

When you set out to achieve anything, you evaluate results. But evaluation in the PR industry still remains a thorny issue.

Ogilvy PR Worldwide is to roll out new global standards for measurement after its Australian arm pledged to ditch AVEs. Other agencies are following suit.

For reference, AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent) is the price of a piece of media coverage if you paid for that space through advertising. It has a bad reputation as too many PR practitioners use it to measure the value of PR when it only measures the cost of media space.

Occasionally it can be a useful crude measurement of coverage and will still get used by big organisations and big agencies. But PR is much deeper than media coverage. (more…)

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Simon Turner

Almost lost amid the coverage of the English riots last week was an announcement from culture secretary Jeremy Hunt on which towns and cities will be considered for new local television services.

It’s a move, he says, to provide people with local TV news and information “truly relevant to them and featuring the people they know”.

I for one applaud this concept, especially as Preston, Burnley and Lancaster are in the running for the first wave of licences.

Living in a Lancashire backwater, I often moan to anyone who will listen (which is no one) that regional TV news is too centred on the big city regions like Manchester and Liverpool. (more…)

Posted by
Andrew Taylor

With all the talk about whether we are addicted to our smart phones (don’t ask Mrs G), a recent trip to the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) reinforced the old adage that ‘it’s good to talk’…well face-to-face that is.

I took a trip to ‘The Smoke’ to see if our client, Hawkshead Brewery, would be winning its category of the Champion Beer of Britain – unfortunately they didn’t but to be shortlisted is no mean feat in itself – and what struck me was that there wasn’t a smart phone in sight.

Ok, there was the odd one knocking around and a few tweets were being posted, but the main communications activity was a good old fashioned face-to-face chat. And it worked. People were introducing themselves to each other, talking about their products, making contacts and networking with suppliers, advisers or influential contacts.

One brewery, Cornwall-based Skinners, took it to the next level and had their own marching band led by their Queen of Cornish Ales, Betty Stogs (she had some serious stubble). Every half hour they would march around Earls Court, making a hell of a noise but people would stop and take in the procession. It was a great way of creating a buzz – a talking point and something which made me smile and, of course, I’ve remembered them. Simple and effective. (more…)

Posted by
Michael Gregory

In the small city of Preston we have made a breakthrough. A major one in fact. We have started working together. It’s almost like a eureka moment.

Visitors to Freshfield.com will have noticed that we have helped set up a company looking to drive the revival of our fantastic – yet tired – Winckley Square.

We have an architect, two lawyers, a finance specialist and a property adviser. Last but not least, we have Freshfield, the communicator – arguably the most important role.

For those of you strangers to Winckley Square, a redevelopment plan that involved totem poles, lavish water features and £3million were scrapped last year. The plans were unsympathetic to the Victorian heritage of the Square and received widespread condemnation. (more…)

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Simon Turner

Freshfield has become a founding member of a company aiming to drive the revival of the Preston’s historic Winckley Square.

Winckley Square Community Interest Company (WSCIC) has the backing of Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council and other land owners of the Square.

The Business Improvement District (BID) has pledged an initial £30,000 in 2011 and a further £150,000 over five years should it secure a second five-year term in December 2011.

WSCIC’s founding members and elected directors include: David Gill, consultant, Moore and Smalley Chartered Accountants; Simon Turner, managing director, Freshfield; Mick Goode, director, Croft Goode Architects; John Chesworth, managing partner, Harrison Drury; Richard McDowell, partner, Napthens; and Mark Clarkson, partner, Eckersley. (more…)

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Simon Turner

With the death of the News of the World following the phone hacking scandal comes disbelief that this was the same paper which raised more than £1.5m in 48 hours for the McCanns in their desperate search for their daughter Madeleine.

As a former journalist at regional and national level, including work for The Sun and Daily Mail, I can sense the sheer anger and frustration coming from the current newsrooms.

The same paper that campaigned and won the case for Sarah’s Law – enabling parents to ask for a check on those looking after their children following the Sarah Payne murder case – is now in tatters.

Some great, tireless work on behalf of those who need it has been undone, forgotten and now buried under an avalanche of shame. (more…)

Posted by
Paul Tustin

When it comes to designing a logo, so many organisations get it wrong because they don’t follow a simple set of rules.

Think of any iconic logo: the Nike swoosh, the golden arches of McDonalds, the BBC’s three squares, Apple’s apple or Google’s coloured letters. The reason it springs to mind is usually because it ticks all the boxes on the great logo checklist, which a good graphic designer will tell you includes the following traits:

Simplicity
One of the main aims of a logo is that it is instantly recognisable. A simple logo is memorable because it can be spotted if you’re flicking through the pages of a magazine, or from the bus as you’re flashing past a billboard poster. Effective logos are simple and free of clutter.

Memorable
This goes hand in hand with simplicity. People say a logo is effective if you can describe it from memory. Therefore it has to be distinctive and original, but also appropriate. (more…)

Posted by
Sam Nayi

As the number of organisations using corporate blogs continues to grow at a seemingly exponential rate, this is a question we’re often asked by our clients.

As usual, the answer to this question depends on the strategic objectives of the organisation and a blog must add value, rather than be there as a box-ticking exercise.

Blogs can provide businesses with an excellent opportunity to add fresh and authoritative content to their websites on a regular basis, significantly boosting search engine rankings as well as demonstrating thought leadership. They act as a powerful tool for real-time discussions and can be influential in building long-term relationships with customers.

While the benefits are clear, if a business has a desire to begin blogging it needs to be prepared to commit to it. Blogging takes time and resources if it is to be sustained. Here are some of our tips for creating a successful blog: (more…)

Posted by
Emma Booth