Media Bitch

Loose Talk: Empire, Absolute, ESPN, Kinetic, Sky One

2009-06-03T16:16:00Z

Page 30 - media biEmpire's 20th birthday celebrations continued last Thursday, when Bauer execs gathered at Centre Point for a charity auction of specially commissioned photographs, raising £20,000. Empire managing director Stuart Williams hosted the evening, where signed photos of actors such as Mel Gibson and Arnie Schwarzenegger - as organised by Steven Spielberg - were sold in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

In attendance were chief executive Paul Keenan and managing director of the men's division Geoff Campbell, as well as incoming FHM editor Colin Kennedy, Emap alumnus Barry McIlheney and MediaCom's Steve Goodman. Meanwhile, at the launch party for Absolute Radio's "Summer of Live", chief executive Donnach O'Driscoll invited guests to the rooftop of the Sanctum Hotel in Soho to listen to up-and-coming band The White Lies (pictured with DJ Christian O'Connell).

Spotted tapping their feet were Absolute's new commercial director, Chris Goldson, Mediavest's Patrick Whitnall, Vizeum's Zoe Schmid, Starcom's Victoria Gemmell and Manning Gottlieb OMD's Tim Pritchard and James Parnum.

Ashes team falls foul of Law on Lord's pitch
Forget this summer's Ashes, Bitch knows the important cricket tournament took place at Lord's Indoor school on 21 May. ESPN digital media's Cricket Challenge allowed players from UM, MediaCom, Mindshare and more to rub shoulders with star players including Devon Malcolm, Mark Alleyne, Stuart Law (pictured, far right) and Martin Bicknell. ESPN's Abeed Janmohamed organised the event but, sadly, couldn't organise a winning team.

The Ashes to Ashes team were true media - they didn't win, played hard and proved they couldn't hold their drink by spilling beer on the Lord's turf and knocking over their Champagne glass tower. A MediaCom, Mindshare and ESPN team took the cup, thanks largely to Law of Derbyshire, Essex and Lancashire fame.

Kinetic sweats it out in the '80s to raise funds
Last week's annual fundraising challenge by Kinetic involved staff clad in '80s spandex, sweating profusely and pedalling furiously on a static bike next to their colleagues - and paying for the privilege. The '80s Charity Spin, organised as part of the outdoor specialist's ongoing fundraising for Leonard Cheshire Disability and The Royal British Legion, included staff from JCDecaux, CBS Outdoor, Titan, Primesight and Mindshare. The gang paid a fiver each for the 90-minute session, which was conducted to a soundtrack of classic '80s hits. Bitch is reliably informed that everyone is "eager to do it again" except, perhaps, for JCDecaux's national sales director Jamie Lindsay, who had to nip off early to "pick up the kids". A coincidence, surely?

TV star sets record for the fastest stick-up
And finally: Clear Channel billboards received some PR on Sky One last week, when TV presenters Steve Jones and Konnie Huq competed on Guinness World Records Smashed! to see who was faster at pasting a billboard poster. The duo were helped out by Clear Channel's bill posters Mick and Mark, and T4's Jones even achieved a new record for the "Fastest Time to Put up a Billboard".

Regrets as i-Crossing loses its pole position

2009-05-06T16:11:00Z

And finally: Brighton-based digital agency iCrossing threw a party to celebrate the opening of its state-of-the-art premises above a Jamie Oliver restaurant on Black Lion Street.

When Bitch met chief client officer Mel Alcock last summer, he assured her the hip new office would feature a fireman's pole, so employees could zip between floors to arrive at their meetings on web analytics in style.

Unfortunately, architects designLSM scrapped the plans for the pole on safety grounds, so revellers had to make do with admiring the jazzy roof terrace, break-out rooms and canteen instead.

A mole confirmed: "The pole would have been a health and safety nightmare."

MEC makes a pitch for hedges and hedgehogs

2009-05-06T16:03:00Z

Another team of media types enjoying some fresh air is the community-minded bunch over at Mediaedge:cia, who have just returned from an away-day doing charity work in London.

The MEC in Action day saw more than 200 staff get their hands dirty for a good cause, as they dedicated a day to charitable works.

Everyone got stuck in, with UK chief executive Tom George displaying his animal-loving credentials by building a hedgehog house, managing director Steve Hatch helping to restore Southwark's City Farm and deputy managing director Alex Altman planting 81 metres of hedgerow at Bermondsey Spa. Excellent work gang, now back to the grindstone.

Street View gets the close-up on BlowUP

2009-05-06T16:01:00Z

Bitch can exclusively reveal that Google's Street View service is now being used to prove just how hard working media types are, especially on sunny afternoons in July.

Anyone casually spying on the Islington offices of Universal McCann will see giant poster company BlowUP Media holding an outdoor pitch.

BlowUP managing director Dominic Gesua, complete with flip chart, can be seen selling his offering to UM's Sophia Durrani and her team, alongside a representative from client H&M and staff from outdoor agency IPM.

Gesua said: "It's not often the internet can prove how hard the media world works to impress clients but, in this case, Big Brother has the evidence - surely a first?"

Loose Talk - Daily Mail Literary lunch

2009-05-06T15:58:00Z

Bitch joined Middle England last week at the Daily Mail Literary Lunch, where 500 Mail readers were entertained by ex-MP and Countdown star Gyles Brandreth, former Tory leader Michael Howard's wife Sandra and Radio 4 Today presenter John Humphrys (pictured with Brandreth).

The Mail's John Teal and Brad Young, plus guests including PruHealth marketing director Katie Roswell, Initiative's Jane Wolfson and OMD's Tim Forrest helped bring down the average age of the other diners at London's Royal Lancaster Hotel.

All three speakers were promoting new books and host Brandreth quipped he had often dreamt of going to bed at night with former model Howard but, instead, ended up waking up in the morning with Humphrys.

Howard's third novel revolves around a bomb attack in London's West End and involves some amazing "coincidences" with real-life events. Humphrys' latest tome tackles the difficult subject of confronting death, including the rights and wrongs of assisted suicide.

As a very agreeable lunch drew to a close, Teal admitted he would never go so far as to consider assisted suicide, as he had "died a death" at far too many Daily Mail sales conferences already.

Out & About 7 April

2009-04-08T13:48:00Z

The MEC Access UK team won an impressive seven awards, including sponsorship of the year, at the Hollis Sponsorship Awards

Manning Gottlieb OMD’s Jake Amos, Harry Lingard, James Thorley, Glenn Burchnall and Matt Hamilton after winning Blink TV’s quiz night

Model Lauren Budd adorns JCDecaux's first live billboard on Old Street

Loose Talk 7 April

2009-04-08T10:47:00Z

Men's magazines dedicated to either metrosexual matters or scantily clad women are closing for good or retiring from print. Time for a grown-up, sophisticated and challenging publication dedicated to this other, but not exclusively, manly interest: digital technology?
That's what Condé Nast thought as it launched Wired magazine at Skylon, in London's Southbank Centre. GQ editor Dylan Jones, DDB chairman Stephen Woodford and Jamie Jouning, publisher of Wired were among the guests. Others included Aegis Media's Nigel Sharrocks, OMD' s Jonathan Allan, Neil Brown and Tim Forrest, M2M's Nick Bailey and Nicola Anderton, and Zenith's David Grainger, Rupert Dadak and Tim Lamble.

Meanwhile, at Level 31 @ Paramount, thelondonpaper launched its two-day live music event called thelondonpaper Headliners, with a live set by FrankMusik and a DJ performance from Lily Allen's ex, Seb Chew.
Here, guests included MediaCom's Richard Isaac and Vizeum's Tony Giordani, while thelondonpaper was represented by managing director Ian Clark and Caroline Orange from News International Commercial.

Like to claw back Fred the Shred's pension?

2009-04-08T10:44:00Z

Bitch has found a non-violent alternative to throwing stones at the mansion of disgraced Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir Fred Goodwin - playing Fat Cat Cash Back on www.mousebreaker.com.
One of media's biggest fans of the game is Domenico Cattini, new-media sales executive at IPC Ignite's digital team, who has already won a total of £12m of Goodwin's pension money in the - sadly only virtual - online bank.

Mail sales teams have been disconnected

2009-04-08T10:40:00Z

Belt-tightening times at Derry House, the home of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, which have been hit by the downturn in advertising revenues.
The Mail on Sunday sales executives, once equipped with company mobile phones, have had them revoked, while more senior executives have had to part with their BlackBerrys.
Their counterparts on the Daily Mail were never afforded such luxuries and, in the immediate future, are unlikely to receive them.
The Daily Mail, whose sales operation was last year renamed Daily Mail Connect, is, it appears, to remain disconnected for now.

Decipher hoax tried to make twits of us all

2009-04-08T09:58:00Z

Our growing infatuation with social networking service Twitter made some of the best April Fool spoofs quite credible this year.
The Guardian's headline about the paper's "Twitter switch after 188 years of ink", came second to consultancy Decipher's announcement that it had installed a new Twitter TV set-top box, the TwitBox, at iBurbia Studios. This revolutionary invention claimed to sum up The Apprentice's verbal jousts and EastEnders' key plot moments and dialogue in 140 characters. It also aimed to help "the rest of us keep up with major shows like Lost or 24 without the aggravation of actually watching them".
Allegedly, Twitter was about to launch a global online UGC video initiative. Its name, on an empty web page, gave the game away: YouTwit.

Great Viral - BlackBerry's Storm

2009-03-25T14:53:00Z

Two fruits can tell a story in less than 20 seconds if they happen to be the symbols for two of the most iconic brands in the world. New York-based agency Guava's ad for BlackBerry's Storm touch phone shows a blackberry used as a bullet being shot violently through an apple. The clip has already been viewed more than 720,000 times on youtube.com.

Speakers keep it brief for wedding day dash

2009-03-24T15:59:00Z

Thinkbox's TV on a Shoestring wasn't just a seminar on how to get big results from small budgets - it also revealed how to run an event on time.
The secret? Have a team member dash to their own wedding after the final presentation. Marketing director Lindsey Clay warned that Visha Kudhail, marketing communications executive, had very important business to attend to and no delay would be allowed. So, not only did the bride make it to her civil ceremony on time, but all the seminar attendees were back at their desks by 1.30pm.

Miron is reunited with an inspirational Brand

2009-03-24T15:57:00Z

Global Radio's chief executive Stephen Miron was seen snuggling up to comedienne Jo Brand this week at the WACL (Women in Advertising and Communications, London) dinner, where she was guest speaker.
Brand inspired plenty of media ladies with her blunt talking, but she only had eyes for Miron, who she knows from way back when they spent time together on the comedy circuit.
Meanwhile, Media Week columnist Tess Alps was chosen to give the vote of thanks to Brand and expressed immense gratitude to her for promoting Doc Martens as the ultimate female footwear. Female media executives everywhere are now searching through their cupboards to find their flowery pair from the '90s.

Dubai sun beckons for fun day winner Sarah

2009-03-24T15:53:00Z

Havas-owned media agency Arena BLM organised a fancy dress day to raise money for Comic Relief, and rewarded the member of staff wearing the funniest outfit with an all-expenses paid holiday to Dubai.
Motivation to be the most outstanding dresser was high and the team raised £400.
Deputy managing director Henry Daglish arguably went to the most extreme lengths, shaving some of his hair to create a style inspired by the A-Team's B. A. Baracus.
But while Daglish waits for his hair to grow back, BLM Quantum affiliate manager Sarah Flannery will be enjoying the Emirates sunshine.
Flannery won with her excellent dinner party table costume, which was all self-made.

Loose Talk #6

2009-03-24T15:48:00Z

As Metro celebrated its 10th birthday, little did the 1,000 partygoers, including Metro's Zoe Dando, Steve Auckland and Lisa Roxby, know something was lurking in the shadows. At about 11pm, Metro planner Jo Putnam was leaving the toilets when she came face to face with her biggest phobia: a live snake.
Thankfully, the snake wasn't a London Zoo escapee, but part of the circus-themed party, which featured acts including jugglers and dancers. Jo was only coaxed back on to the dance floor when she was assured the snake lady would not be there with her "friend".
Meanwhile, on the same night, the sixth annual NABS Big Bash was held at Battersea Park Evolution. The Prohibition-themed party proved the recession hadn't dried up people's good nature, as £1.3m was raised. The most lavish bidder of the night was MediaCom founder Allan Rich, who forked out £13,400 to buy tickets to see Madonna and Britney at the O2, a pampering package, a golf day and a Kia Pincanto car. Mediaedge:cia's Verica Djurdjevic paid £500 for a dinner with Ogilvy's Rory Sutherland and The Spectator's Matthew D'Ancona, while Outdoor Plus' Jonathan Lewis bought a training session with the England football team for £1,700.