Author: AD Communications

Space, the final frontier, these are voyages…and you know the rest. In the 60s, 70s, 80s and even the 90s, television and film depicted the humans of the future as great explorers, ‘we’ were an active species. In Back to the Future we glided round the streets on hover boards, in Star Trek we sought out new life and new civilisations and in Planet of the Apes…well we were slaves controlled by the giant apes we created, but that’s neither here nor there.

Author: Shireen Shurmer

A few cultural outings are vital to break up the long school holidays and this week we ventured out to see ‘Mr Stink’, which brings to life David Walliams’ children’s book for the stage.  The story – for those without young offspring – concerns the friendship between a young girl and an old tramp, the eponymous Mr Stink, through whom the young heroine and her family learn some valuable life lessons.

Author: Greg Mills

Interesting to read that Ogilvy PR Worldwide is going out on its own to drop AVEs and roll out new global standards for measurement later this year.  Rather unfortunate, though, that the internal announcement obviously didn’t get through to the agency’s top man in Europe, who according to the PR Week report, was ‘initially unaware of the plans’!  Anyway, getting back to the story itself, Ogilvy deserves some measure – no pun intended! – of congratulations for their planned actions. 

Author: Joanna Muggeridge

I’ve just finished a really good book. I absolutely couldn’t put it down, and, when I did pause for breath to surface away from the story I was captivated by, I wondered if my experience would have been the same had I been reading it on a Kindle or an iPad.

Author: AD Communications

Recently I attended a workshop in London. Run by the PRCA the topic of discussion was communication, and much of the conversation focused on building rapport and recognising body language.  The speaker also asked us to throw away our preconceptions and pay attention to the old adage “you can’t judge a book by looking at the cover” (does anyone else remember that Yardbirds song?…).

Author: AD Communications

Yesterday’s parliamentary debate regarding packaging created a flurry of discussion from professionals, urging me to sit up and take note. Having formerly discussed the prospect of print in a digital world (predicting development and growth, might I add) I decided to dig around for public opinion on the idea of packaging and the ramifications surrounding it. Having said that, this task proved somewhat difficult, given that there was virtually no coverage surrounding the debate that took place in Westminster.

When I registered to attend Marketing Week Live I didn’t expect print to play a central role in the event. My reason for attending this event, intended to challenge marketers with innovative ideas, trends and strategies on marketing & communication, was its rich and attractive programme of conferences. And, as I looked at its schedule in more detail, I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t spot any print related sessions.

Author: Lucy O’Dea

Call me cynical, but I was rather bemused to read that having just attacked the printing of the US Federal Register as “a stack of expensive doorstops” and “stupid spending” that “doesn’t benefit anybody”, President Obama, the leader of the free world had also launched his ‘Obama for America 2012’ re-election website, offering a host of campaign paraphernalia for purchase, and dare I say printed paraphernalia at that!

Author: AD Communications

May was the month of interpack – the triennial gathering in Düsseldorf of the worldwide packaging community. The organisers declared the show one of the most successful events in the 53-year history of the world’s most important trade fair for the packaging sector and related processing industries, with 2,700 exhibitors from 60 nations completely filling the 19 halls of the Düsseldorf fairground.

In 2011 one of Italy’s resolutions is to ban plastic bags: According to the national environmental association Legambiente, Italians have been wasting 20 billionplastic bags per year, which is more than 300 per person. The association estimates that the ban will save 180,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Author: AD Communications

Exhibitions are like London buses…but more frequent. If you were to ask a PR team, at any time, if anyone was preparing for an exhibition then the answer would undoubtedly be yes. However there seems to be a couple of times each year in which every single person finds themselves knee deep in press packs.

Author: Lucy O’Dea

As I walked the halls of the Harrogate International Centre the day before the opening of Northprint  2011, I couldn’t help thinking how it never  fails to surprise me how such organised chaos of the final preparations all come together in time to ensure the exhibition looks so perfect  when the doors open to the public.   And, who would have thought during that final set up day that within just half an hour of those doors opening, the first sale of the day would have been secured.  Talking to the exhibitors who made the sale, they too were rather taken aback at the speed of their first order.  But it just goes to show, be ready and never underestimate the attention you should give to those first through the door.