We post our news releases on our media page to give you a sense of what we cover and the standard to which we do that. However, a new client recently pointed out that we don’t then tell you where they end up being used. The reason for this is that media monitoring is now [...]
We have recently been given several images from clients following staff photo shoots. And those taken outside definitely get a thumbs up from us. Somehow the breeze, plain old fresh air, and interesting backdrops seem to bring out the best in everyone. Way back in the mists of time when Emma used to organise annual [...]
We’re proud to announce that Ten Stories High now has it’s own part time apprentice. Emma’s son Adam (14) gets pressed into action to take pictures for our clients when budgets for professional photographers don’t exist. A cracking photograph not only increases the editorial value of a story but can literally double the space your [...]
We can only but admire the entrepreneurial spirit of the team that look after the Quaker Tapestry in Kendal. They’ve turned an expensive disaster into positive PR. Here’s their story: What started off as a planned, minor repair job ahead of an Easter opening, is now a major one costing at least £25,000 (with loss [...]
This year is the 100th anniversary of the RHS Chelsea flower Show. Last year we had great success with coverage of Jo Thompson’s Celebration of Caravanning garden. Which means that gaining similar levels of coverage for Jo this year is even more of a challenge – not many media outlets will focus on a designer [...]
Saturday 13th April is Auriculas day for one of our gardening clients, Woottens of Wenhaston. There are predictable approaches to raising interest in the event (contacting gardening publications and local media, using their own website and social media channels) but there are other outlets, which are often overlooked – the facebook pages and social media [...]
We can’t but help note two funny coincidences where the efficiency of custom officials has helped us spin a yarn or given us something to talk about… When a shipment of goods, destined for a show garden in Japan, was held up by officials who found a snail amongst the contents, the story resulted in [...]
There’s been much talk in the press about the retail sector recently, mainly on the back of Christmas trade results and the HMV fiasco. And not much of the news has been good news, so we’re really pleased that local retail clients in Wainwright’s Yard, Kendal are bucking the trend. They are just a step [...]
Here’s a useful set of pointers on what makes a property, particularly its interior, right for an editorial feature in one of the national glossies. First of all you are entering a highly competitive market. With the trend towards internationalism we are seeing a lot more examples of homes in Europe and further afield in [...]
A dog is a great conversation starter. We both have dogs (above and below) and know this to be true. But our doggy induced discussions are not just confined to real life encounters with other owners. We’ve discovered that the online world is also a great place in which to start up canine conversations. In [...]
Three star hotels in the Lake District are not uncommon. So how do you differentiate your offer from that of everyone else doing a fairly similar thing, at a fairly similar price, trying to attract the same audience? Last year, according to TripAdvisor, The Damson Dene Hotel in the Lyth Valley had more five star [...]
It’s not always easy to find time in business to research your market, and it can be a big investment to commission external reports. So it’s worth investigating what’s already out there. We were copied in to a recent report from Taste Cumbria and while it wasn’t full of surprises, it did reconfirm a lot [...]
We have lots of lovely clients on our books, including a company that researches consumer behaviour. Some of the things they find out are amazing and unexpected (like 10% of us used some form of technology during Christmas dinner, or that some of us work across seven mobile screens at any one time). But what [...]
We regularly tell clients that it is the story that counts and not a bulging book of journalist contacts. So if you have a good story and aim it the right journalist (and publication) then it will appear as editorial regardless of the relationship with the recipient writer. It’s true, a good contact can’t turn [...]
We’ve been working with Wainwright’s Yard in Kendal for a few years now and we have kept coming back to the same point in our marketing discussions – the thing that makes the Yard stand out as a shopping destination is the level of service offered by the retailers and eateries, many of which are [...]
Dallam School has been named the North of England winner of a £4,000 prize for innovative and creative foreign language teaching by the British Academy. Selected out of 159 UK schools, the judges were impressed by a bilingual initiative where pupils from years seven, eight and nine, spend tutor time and some lessons conversing entirely [...]
We work very closely with Low Sizergh Barn and we are really enjoyed this latest phase of their brand development work with Emma C and Emma D (bizarrely, they have been asked if they are sisters) leading the way. Having followed an illustrative and typographical route, it’s good to be challenged on how this translates [...]
Kendal Nursery School, or Brantfield as it is known locally, has had a great week. Their Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ rating is now public knowledge, our local MP Tim Farron paid the school a visit, and they have a new website, which we helped them to design, build and populate. Clare is a past parent so it’s [...]
We are firm believers in investing in professional photography as part of any marketing strategy, but there are occasions when the images you have available are not of a high enough quality for a print advert. In that case, typography can be your saving grace. Low Sizergh Barn have excellent photography representing the majority of [...]
Today I visited Google and there I uncovered an astounding fact, the words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ do not appear in the top 100 most commonly used words in the English language. In fact according to most sites analysing language use, they don’t even appear in the top 500. What has happened to good old [...]
We don’t often blog about individuals but Jonathan Denby is worth a mention. Many business owners don’t realise the pot of gold they are sitting on in terms of their personal experience of an industry. The media have column inches and air time to fill and stories often require opinion from within an industry to [...]
As an enriching exercise, joining a book club is proving its value. I don’t usually read non fiction books but we have collectively agreed to one fiction and one non fiction title each month. Last month, Just My Type by Simon Garfield popped up on our reading list. For those of you not familiar with [...]
We secured two pieces of editorial coverage this weekend in the nationals and they have confirmed some inklings that we’ve had for a while: 1. Subscription services for editorial opportunities are not as effective as your own research into the right publication and the right journalist. A direct approach which results in the PR, the [...]
Promotional events can often bring back that childhood fear of being the only one at your own birthday party, but if you get just one or two things right they can end like this: “Absolutely brilliant, fantastic, knackered but happy…” Those one or two things are all about the kinds of people you are hoping [...]
While we often work with clients on a regular basis to set hours, we also work with businesses who just want us to dip in and out. In the case of Plumgarths Farmshop we’ve worked on their PR for their PGI protected cumberland sausage, and with freelance designers on their packaging, shop advertising banners, print [...]
We blogged recently about the Wainwright’s Yard brand work and mentioned that we were working on short adverts for use in the cinema, here they are: and They’ll be shown in rotation over a 15 minute period before the films. As the cinema format is PowerPoint and we have long been very allergic to such [...]
The amazing and talented Emma Carlow has been working with us for a year now. In spite of the fact that we are based in Kendal and Emma in Lewes, working together has been really easy and Emma has played a definitive role in the development of several of our clients’ brands. We thought we’d [...]
Some of you will already have seen our news release about the new apprentice joining 1818 Auctioneers, but photographer Steve Barber took such a good picture of Stuart Waring and Kevin Kendal at the salerooms, that we couldn’t resist blogging about it too. This week is National Apprenticeship Week (6th-10th February) and we were really inspired by [...]
Often you get a couple of bites at the editorial cherry. Very occasionally you get another bite when the original story begets a side story. Which is exactly what happened when Lady Mary Archer opened the Quaker Tapestry Exhibition at Ely Cathedral. We we pleased with the articles previewing the exhibition. And we were pleased [...]
We’re working with Jo Thompson (above) on her RHS Chelsea 2012 show garden publicity. Her Caravan Club sponsored garden is just a little bit marvellous, featuring as it does a 1950s vintage caravan named Doris, a hammock, a dog kennel, and a stream that doubles up as a wine cooler. What’s even more marvellous is the [...]
This arrived in the post this morning for my middle son. It came all the way from America and: had lovely stamps on the envelope, was personally addressed, had a personal, hand written note of the sender on the back, contained something hand crafted as well as a printed request for a response inside. He [...]
It seems that in Cumbria we are constantly making, discovering, and celebrating random connections. Here’s today’s example: Emma and I first worked together at the Lake District National Park and we both knew Sheona Southern. Twelve years later we are all working freelance in communications and collaborating on projects where marketing strategy and implementation are [...]
Just look at this! We were thrilled to be recommended to Sea Gem’s owner by our client, and the garden’s award winning designer, Jo Thompson. Having rewritten the website content, selected a gallery of images suitable for the location hire and luxury holiday hire markets, restructured the social media campaign, and worked with freelancers to [...]
Occasionally clients collide in an interesting way. We have been working on a new website for garden designer, Jonathan Denby, for which we are trying to capture the essence of a quintessentially English Arts & Crafts garden. This has led to experiments with ageing treatments for images. On Low Sizergh Barn’s website we’ve been writing copy [...]
We have a lovely new client, Acolyte Home and Gifts, and our brief is to secure editorial coverage, particularly for the individual products listed on their ecommerce site. This is a great brief as it’s purposeful and the results are easy to measure, but there is a list of prerequisites that need ticking off first. [...]
The start of the year often has an ‘out with the old and in with the new’ feel about it, but we’re contrary and decided to tip that idea on its head when working on an advertising brief for Low Sizergh Barn. Taking inspiration from old style handbills (traditionally a small printed notice or advertisement [...]
As Mums we find celebrations are most often focused on the children, so we were very excited to receive a parcel over the holidays inviting us to take part in a game of adult pass the parcel. The bon bon, sent by our lovely designer Emma Carlow, consisted of layers and layers of crepe paper [...]
Thinking about Christmas in October seemed preemptive. Yet Good Housekeeping completed its Christmas best buy pages in July so we were too late for a plug for Anne Wareham and her book, The Bad Tempered Gardener. However, we’re in full festive swing in November and glad to be seasonally in sync on two other lovely [...]
How badly wrong The Royal Bank of Scotland have got their online business campaign. Take a look. Males in business… Females in business… Given we’re in tough times it would be lovely to see the banks embracing creativity and representing a bright and diverse Great British business landscape. Instead we’re left with creative cliches and [...]
We recently took on a PR brief for the Gardening World Cup. The main aim was to raise the event’s profile beyond the domestic Japanese media. One of the criteria for success was the total AVE (advertising value equivalent) of any coverage gained and we use Precise to collate mentions and calculate the value of [...]
We’re always really chuffed when a copywriting job becomes something tangible. When we are working on the briefs we either rely on early design spreads or imagination to get us to the end result, so it is gratifying when the print or web version appears. And more so when the words really do work well [...]
We’ve been a bit remiss with our blog lately so thought we’d catch up by outlining some recent jobs and points of interest: Iggy the office dog loves his Humptie and we’re really pleased to see Kendal Upholstery heading towards the launch of their new Humpties website. We’ve helped with media coverage of a change [...]
This year we’ve been working with Citizens Advice South Lakeland to help them boost their fundraising profile. One of the first jobs was to create a leaflet asking for donations. Due to client confidentiality there’s a scarcity of photographic images available for use. Illustration offered the answer, and ticked all the boxes. The leaflet has [...]
Marketing success is all about understanding your audience. Fail to understand them and your marketing efforts and investment simply will not deliver. Take a quick look at this advert from Volkswagen and we’ll see you on the other side for the lessons that can be learned… Short, sweet, and bang on the audience. Bring on [...]
You may know from reading previous posts and Emma’s pen portrait that she’s very proud to be involved in gardening PR, specifically show garden PR. For the past two years she’s worked with designer Philippa Pearson at both Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and RHS Chelsea. As Hampton Court kicks off this year both Emma [...]
Marketeers often encourage clients to occupy the ‘expert space’, and ‘position key staff as experts’ but the truth is not everyone can become the media-recognised expert in their field of work; we’re not all Justin Urquhart Stewart, you know… But you can genuinely add value to your customers, generate interest in your business, and gain [...]
We’re enjoying delivering a 5 week course on Social Media for Business at Furness College in conjunction with Ibex Creative. Yesterday, Steve from Ibex led a session on Facebook and Blogging, here’s the presentation. Social Media Training for Furness College with Ten Stories View more presentations from ibexinternet Of course, to make real sense of [...]
1. Create a Facebook advert Drive traffic to your business page or to your website with a Facebook advert. There are great options for targeting from age and gender to location and interests. And it’s more cost effective than many pay per click alternatives. 2. Promote your event using the events app The Events application [...]
We’re currently working with Ibex Creative and Furness Training, delivering social media know how to businesses in the South Lakes. This presentation provided an introduction to the tools available to SMEs and led to several talking points within the first session. We thought it might be of use to others wondering where and how to [...]
A cake band to let people know its flavour, origin and ingredients. A cake band that stands out in its surroundings. A cake band that holds its own against the competition. A cake band in keeping with the brand. A cake band that makes people pick up the cake and buy it. A short conversation [...]
Lately, three examples of the handling of public opinion have warranted our attention and consideration: 1. Following a difficult buy out and transition period, our client (and company MD) rolled up his sleeves and responded personally to extensive customer criticism on the forums. Honesty was warmly welcomed, apologies fully accepted, and plans for the future [...]
RHS Chelsea is afforded global media coverage, receives 157,000 visitors each year, and involves a PR scramble for column inches and TV coverage that begins months before the show. We were fortunate enough to have the PR brief for a large show garden last year and had a lot of fun on media day spotting [...]
Pitching your story to journalists can feel like a precarious business but there are key factors that make securing editorial coverage easier. We’ve rounded up the best – and simplest – advice from journalists and added our own number one: 1. The perfect pitch is helped by the perfect picture. Our lovely students above made [...]
We have lovely local clients in the food and retail industries and we often encourage them to use the ‘buy local’ rallying cry as a central message in their communications. Recently, the preparation of one such client’s advert led us to an office conversation on why that message doesn’t translate as strongly to the service [...]
There’s no denying it, whether you’re a pro, anti or ambivalent Royalist, yesterday was good PR for Britain. But even on a day where the top industry professionals had everything planned to the minutest detail, there were always going to be some things that couldn’t be controlled: 1. Every other PR in the world making [...]
As copywriters we regularly have to avoid the baggage of marketing speak and a growing list of overused phrases. We do this sometimes less successfully than others (the odd ‘industry leading’ does creep in only to be removed later with a vicious strike or two of the backspace key), so our office mantra has become: [...]
The most common issue we face is lack of marketing budget. Times are tough and those with cash to splash are few and far between. For us this is a challenge to relish and signals the time to get clever… If your marketing budget is minimal and you need high impact from low investment then [...]
In one of those rare moments of serendipity the principles behind one of the marketing exercises we demonstrated in a workshop for the Lakeland Businesswomen’s Network on Thursday were clearly demonstrated in practice just one day later… We do a balancing exercise with clients (not the gym sort) – a taking stock moment which they [...]
What did you think of the video? It shows the power of advertising, particularly in this viral format. And the combination of typography and illustration is spellbinding; it has impact, draws you in, makes you want to get involved. The edit it flawless. There’s no denying it’s technically adept and brilliantly designed. Except, for all [...]
It’s International Women’s Day today, the 100th day on which we’ve been asked to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. We won’t be joining any of the public events, and this blog doesn’t approach the question of whether we need these days or not (see Lucy Mangan in [...]
The success of our work for clients is often based on good media relations; building up contacts and publication knowledge and finding opportunities for media mentions, product placement, and editorial from features to news in briefs. We were so excited this week when 3 of our clients received a mention in the national press (often [...]
How exciting to be offered the chance to work on new and unusual ideas. FieldSkills offered up a challenge to market a new range of adventure holidays launching for 2011; trips to Borneo to cycle SE Asia’s highest peak, desert treks in the Sinai and adventure weekends closer to home in the Lake District. Challenge [...]
A seemingly simple job can occasionally develop into something of greater significance. While changing the milking times on the Low Sizergh Barn website we discovered from the family that our admin task was actually linked directly to an international story about the global price of cereals shooting up. What was the story? India and China [...]
Sometimes you can hardly call it work! This morning we had a visit from Evsie, cartoonist extraordnaire, to arrange an event in Kendal’s Wainwright’s Yard shopping center on Good Friday (22nd April). He’s going to make himself available to draw shoppers and their dogs during the day to raise money for a local charity. We’ll [...]
Often the projects we are working on involve us drafting in extra talent; for Wainwright’s Yard, a unique shopping development in Kendal, we called upon the very lovely Emma Carlow of Lewes for advert design from a distance. Intuition on the right look for an eclectic mix of independent and brand name shops supported by [...]
Part of the joy of managing social media channels for our clients lies in discovering quirky and interesting snippets to keep their twitter streams or facebook pages fresh. Our favourite today was nature’s example of how to woo in style: dance, dine and walk on water! Highly appropriate for Valentine’s Day and shared across the [...]
We’re crossing our fingers that this event we’re promoting for The Quaker Tapestry will get a Daily Mirror mention on the 26th February! It’s already featured online, on the regional news and in Saga magazine; proving that a very diverse audience offers an interesting media placement challenge. Made by 4,000 men, women and children, aged [...]
We’ve a lovely job on promoting this alternative Easter Day event for Michael Loftus at Woottens of Wenhaston, a specialist nursery in Suffolk. The nursery’s auricula collection is being amassed for a one day display on Easter Sunday (24 April) in a new inside area; it will not only look and smell fabulous (the scent is in the leaves) [...]