Credibility versus Cool at London Fashion Week

The Lunch bar at Michael van der Ham's show on Monday. Topshop sponsored the Billingsgate venue

My latte and "meringue, blood orange,[and] orange blossom cream" which were followed by a "ham hock and parsley pie". I did realise I ate my courses backwards, yes.

I think my sensitivity towards product placement is a little more exaggerated than the average person's. Even before I began working in PR, as a journalism graduate trying to make my way into the world of ethical fashion and fair trade writing, the little flashes of corporate branding would just niggle at me and flash up in my mind's eye at the most inopportune moments throughout my day. It sometimes happened after I watched an episode of X-Factor (those Nescafe mugs!).
When executed properly, product placement is a fantastic opportunity for brands to get their name and image out there without having to pay for advertising. Great news for PRs/PROs, as they like to embrace fun ways of improving an existing relationship between a consumer and a product. 
But what about when product placement goes wrong? An article by John Owens in PR Week made me wonder what the "right" kind of PR is.   
I had the chance to see first-hand on Monday when I went to London Fashion Week, and my hyper-sensitivity went into overdrive.
First I was handed an "I heart LFW" canvas bag with my floor plan and itinerary in... sponsored by the Mulberry Monster, and Vodafone. 
Both are credible companies, and in context of the situation, either cool in their own right (the 'Mulberry Monster' sounds cute doesn't it?) or cool by association for the right reasons (in Vodafone's case).
It was difficult to miss the 'Mayor of London' logos plastered all over the make-shift walls as you walked into Somerset House, an association which I personally have my reservations about, but makes complete sense. BoJo's team did a great job literally marrying fashion with politics.
I noticed throughout the day while I tweeted my excitement, that others were tweeting about theirs at LFW too. But they weren't getting all excited about Lady Gaga's 'Alejandro' sunglasses or the soundtrack to Sophie Hulme's salon show, they were saying their public Ps and Qs - to Land Rover and Mercedes Benz for chauffeuring them around LFW venues. Very clever guys, I see what you did there.
I am slightly upset that I missed "a pr effort to push cleaning products by scrubbing the catwalks with them as part of the show", which suffice to say is not credible, nor cool (apparently, who am I to judge?). Consumer brands were obviously falling over themselves to be associated with LFW, however tenuous or obvious the link.
"It's not about being cool, which is something transient. Credibility has depth," John Doe (PR agency) founder Rana Reeves told PR Week. 
Notable credible and cool collaborations occurred between Giles Deacon and Mercedes Benz, and Marios Schwab with American Express/W Hotels. I will also never forget the avant-garde Topshop-sponsored venue of Michael van der Ham's show at Billingsgate.
I curbed my cynicism early on and decided to just enjoy LFW for what it is; an amazing opportunity for new and existing British-trained designers to showcase a tiny nation's talent. 
I must confess that I'm not really sure what cool is, but if Reeves says that it's impermanent, then I'd be inclined to agree that credibility, could be the new cool.

Gaga's 'Alejandro' shades 

Is Carlisle everyone's great expectation?

I feel like I've kept my silence on Carlisle being "Britain's happiest city" for a decent amount of time to now say it's been dignified. Needless to say, the news came as a shock to me too.
I first moved to Carlisle at the age of four, when my parents uprooted my gran, my brother and I to take over a new business nearby the centre of town. We lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne at the time, and the new business venture had lured my parents from big-city culture to small-town comfort.
At the time they moved there was room for prosperity. Carlisle sounded like a nice place for them to bring up two children, and there weren't many other Chinese take-aways or restaurants in town.
But over two decades later and after living in other countries as well as other British towns and cities, I would say it's time to close the chapter on Carlisle. 
Friends have been debating for the past week (since The Times first ran RightMove's survey results) on the topic over Facebook, either mocking the very thought, or defending the city's character. One friend posted the quote that Carlisle is "possibly the whitest and least culturally sophisticated city in England but at least its [sic] a straight road to Newcastle". Harsh - but possibly true?
I first read the survey results on Facebook, after a close friend posted a photo - yes she was that shocked - of the article in The Times. I nearly spat my tea at my phone. My initial reaction suppressed, I then googled the article properly, and read on.
You see, the survey was not saying that everyone in Carlisle is happy really. I've had first-hand experience of meeting some of the most miserable people there are in the very city (miserable probably from their sheer ignorance). If ignorance, as they say is bliss, then I would say Carlisle is a very blissful city overall.
But how can bliss be measured? The answer is, of course, you can't. My own personal feelings on Carlisle aside, the survey results didn't deliver people's levels of happiness, they merely delivered confusing results on peoples' satisfaction levels.
Within my own close circle of friends from home, this has often been a topic of discussion. I've seen some of my most intelligent and successful friends leave Carlisle for further study or to work, and inevitably return back to their roots. Likewise, I have some incredibly intelligent and ambitious friends who left the day they left for university and don't set foot in Carlisle except for family occasions.
I've tried to figure out what it is that sets these two categories of friends apart. Success? Ambition? Drive? Happiness? But both of these categories of friends have found all of these things in  their own forms.
At the moment, I'm still trying to figure out what makes me happy, so actually, I'm envious of those who are already satisfied with their lives. The difference between my friends in Carlisle and me? They've found happiness.
A great man once told me "If you're comfortable, you're not being challenged, and life is about challenging yourself and your expectations".
I realised at that moment he was right. I like to live my life by that philosophy. Why do any of us do any of the things we push ourselves to do? We could always take the easier option and quit. Why don't we just quit? Why do we fight our battles?
The answer is the unknown. We do not know what is around the corner, and for some people, that is unacceptable. Sometimes it is nice just to have a routine and get on in life if one's found happiness.
But for those of us who haven't, I guess we just have to keep challenging ourselves and figure out what it is exactly we expect from life.

I heart Camden

Camden venue, Roundhouse

I genuinely do. And not in a cool, trendy kind of way, because I don't speak hipster; I mean in a cultural, I find it strange and beautiful at the same time, kind of way. I like walking through the market stalls and catching whiffs of the "incense"... Rifling through the vintage handbags in Camden Stables Market... And dreaming about buying the miscellaneous tea sets I find for my "new flat".

You never know what you might end up buying at one of the stalls found in Camden Stables Market

Camden has a lot of character. When I took the bus this morning through Camden Park Road towards Tottenham Court Road, the menagerie of people clambering on and off the bus made me smile. To me, it's everything that I like about London - it's a diverse melting pot of characters and cultures.


So when I read that I could get an app courtesy of Frank PR/Camden Town Unlimited which essentially walks you through Camden's hotspots, my smile grew even wider.


Technology is such a huge part of everyday life for many people, one can't imagine what it would be like to suddenly live without a smartphone. It's like imagining living life without a fridge freezer. How do you plan your meals? (I am aware that many students manage to get by without a freezer, one of my student cousins, we'll call him R, and his housemates are such examples). How would I keep my five year old niece entertained when I'm babysitting her without her Memory game and Ninjump? (Kidding...)


For me personally, I would be lost without my trusty Samsung Galaxy SII. It's the size of my head, granted, but without Google Maps, I'm not quite sure where I would end up in London half the time. In fact, just this morning I had to make the ultimate tourist/new kid on the block manoeuvre when I somehow managed to get discombobulated between Tottenham Court Road and, erm, Tottenham Court Road Underground station.


The Camden Town Unlimited app is genius. It's free to anyone who wants it from the Apple store (I'm waiting for the Android edition, Camden Council, if you're reading this) and it's not just for people like me, who get lost easily. It's for anyone who's interested in culture, arts, or indeed anyone who wants to see just how diverse London can be.


Imagine if every city and town had its own app - open, unlimited access to local food, music, theatre and galleries at your fingertips.


Let's just say I'd probably still get lost, but I'd know the nearest place to go for a tapas restaurant which also hires a live jazz band on weekends.

When Corporate goes Ethical

   

"The excellent execution of this campaign showed that cause-related marketing does not have to be dull." 

So says Warren Johnson, MD of W Communications, of Selfridge's Project Ocean campaign launched between March-August last year. Erm, pardon? Is he suggesting that charity and campaigning for causes in the 21st century has become... unsexy?


Gone are the days when women used to march up and down streets and chain themselves to Parliament for the right to vote, and those other days when Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was the soundtrack of your Green Peace protests. 


Nowadays campaigning and standing up for a belief usually means choosing the Fairtrade certified teabags instead of Tetley's at your local supermarket.

"Touch to donate"

But not at Selfridges. Last spring/summer they rolled out a fun, eye-catching campaign to promote their partnership with the Zoological Society of London to help save the seas. A rather savvy, intelligent, and colourful approach to their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda.

Selfridges' Project Ocean window display last summer

Selfridges then proceeded to remove all endangered fish from sale in its restaurants and food halls (hurrah) in a bid to enhance their message. Their objectives?


* To raise awareness about the plight of the oceans and the potentially disastrous consequences of over-fishing
* To encourage consumers to change their habits to eat only sustainable fish
* To raise funds to support marine conservation projects across the globe


As straight forward as those objectives sound, I would have felt real empathy for a company trying to make a mark on society's ethical conscience in a time when pursestrings were/are tightening, and charities were/are struggling - had I not seen the amazing campaign Selfridges rolled out in the end.

Selfridges used a variety of events such as chef demos, live music events, art installations (my fave), a fashion exhibition and store windows  to interact with their consumers and drive home their message. The price tag? For a campaign of this scale, I'd say it was a pretty well spent - it all came to under £100, 000; a number which would probably keep Jessie J fans happy... Or not.


In a credible and fun campaign, Selfridges managed to claim the CSR throne from Marks and Spencers with one clean move. They gave the public ethics. They gave them Prince Charles (an in-store visit as patron of the Marine Conservation Society no less). They gave them a 1940's-themed photocall (nostalgia, is like, so in right now).


And they gave them one more reason to shop with them... Because if Selfridges aren't protecting our seas, who will?

School days are over

Whilst visiting family this weekend, I had the opportunity to catch up with my 15 year old cousin; a precocious, intelligent, but angry boy - just your typical teenage guy. We chatted about why he shouldn't buy a Mac yet (too pricey), and whether he had a girlfriend or not (no, still too pricey). Then we started talking about school.
That was when he really opened up. Despite the decade-wide age gap between my cousin and I, and a change in government since I was at secondary school, I can see no visible improvements to the way children are currently being taught.
We chatted about how big his classes are (30-odd teenagers in one classroom sounds unbearable for all concerned), how he felt about his teachers, and how he felt about understanding what he was being taught.
As the conversation went on, it began to dawn on me that his experience merely scratched the surface of the problems surrounding the infrastructure of education in this country.
He handed me his report card; a brief look at his weaknesses and his strengths; prior to Parents' Evening later this month. I scanned his list of subjects. In separate columns next to the subjects, were four more columns each either with the initials AE, ME, and BE printed within them, and a grade for last term, and a grade for this term.
Vincent told me that they stood for Above Expectations, Meeting Expectations, and Below Expectations. Without giving too much away, the AEs and the MEs were almost equally balanced out, with a few BEs scattered onto the page. This was great, the kid seemed to be doing OK in school - but then I looked closer. Next to one subject, he was achieving a B last term, and as a result he was Above Expectations. Scan further along, and he was still achieving a B, (all in all good news), but in the next column along, it appeared he was Meeting Expectations.
My immediate thought was "Should he not be set new goals? How could someone who was exceeding expectations last term, not be set new goals and pushed to his maximum potential? How could he be meeting expectations if he was exceeding them last term?"
It dawned on me then, that my cousin was another student, another number, lost in a sea of students struggling against the odds set out for them.
Vincent's results proved that he had potential but instead of nurturing this, his school had a 'let him get on with it' attitude. This makes me exceptionally angry.
Since the move towards a literally more Conservative government who have promised to use education as a way to break class systems and patterns, there appears to be no visible efforts to actually help schoolchildren when it comes down to it.
It makes me think that there are thousands more students out there receiving the same lax treatment from their schools, which for whatever reasons, aren't helping students gain the most out of their education. And all this, in the midst of the current coalition government trying to get rid of  "mickey mouse" qualifications so that people can once more be packaged into neat little boxes ready to be served up at the end of their 18 year education.
I don't blame the teachers in any way, shape or form. The average class size in a state-funded secondary school is said to be 20.4, but clearly Vincent's school falls into the 6.6 percent of schools which have classes of one teacher for every class of 30+ pupils. I've heard first-hand from teachers who have worked around the clock marking homework and planning lessons, and their frustration at their lack of time and resources to help struggling students who are destined to fall into the same pattern their predecessors have.
So with a lack of resources, a lack of teachers, and yet more cutbacks, how do you solve a problem like the school system?
The answer is clearly, yet to be discovered.

A Jaded Nation

This week, the Edelman Trust Barometer revealed statistics which confirmed something we all knew: only 30 percent of the nation "found CEOs to be believable spokespeople for their organisation". The statistics show a nine percent drop in our faith from 2010. The survey also found something which reflects where the missing faith has been placed - there was a 25 percent rise in the credibility of "people like yourself".

This subject has been debated and dissected a million times over before I even begin typing, but I found myself drawn to this article, dry as it may have appeared when I started reading, for reasons which became clearer as I read on. The problem isn't just that the Goodwins and the Hesters of the corporate world are seemingly being rewarded for a botch job; the bigger problem is that as a nation, we can't identify with their apparent values and work ethic in the slightest.

Stephen Hester was away at his chalet in Switzerland for the weekend when he received the news that ministers and the media were outraged by his RBS shares bonus, and that he probably wasn't going to see a penny of it.  Cue images flying around in my mind of a downtrodden balding guy in a Christmas jumper, holding his head in hands by an open log fire, on a leather sofa, being consoled by his beautiful wife who strokes his back with perfectly manicured fingers. Amidst general economic despair and climbing unemployment, particularly in youth unemployment figures might I add, how could we, as a nation, possibly relate to his woes, or feel that he could represent us in any way, shape, or form?

Hester's basic salary is £1.4 million; from our perspective, the bonus he's missing out on sounds like a drop in the ocean to a guy like him. Most of us cannot imagine what earning that amount may feel like, but we do know what it feels like to stand in Topshop for half an hour, stroking that dress and convincing yourself that you earned it, and you really really need it because essentially, you are pumping money back into the economy, or if all else fails it's OK to not buy lunch for the rest of the month. Yes, I speak from personal experience.

I've drawn my own conclusions from these results, and the overriding factor for me isn't that I can't trust any CEOs in the world - it's that there aren't many I can relate to on a human level. We're almost led to believe they are a super-human robot race, built to serve the purpose of their company and naught else. As noted in my previous blog post, I have a lot of respect for Antonio Horta-Osorio, Lloyds Group's CEO for refusing his bonus, and I definitely believe that the sudden focus on bankers' bonuses and the media's ethical frenzy over them was in part set-off by his actions (amongst other factors).

Sometimes it takes one to know one - and most of us can probably deduce now if we haven't already, that becoming CEO of a bank is not in our life plan.