It's hard enough to remember our opinions without remembering the reasons for them

We're Moving

Well, today is the last day in the Hatch office. It's served us well for the last two and a half years, having seen us grow from two to ten. Sadly space has become a little too limited so the time has come for us to part ways.

Luckily the move isn’t too strenuous, with the new office being about 10 meters away across the courtyard, so I’m sure we will pop in every now and again to see the old office and reminisce about the halcyon days.

With the new office also brings a new website which should be up and running in the next few weeks, so check back soon to see how the new office is taking shape.

Posted by James in Hatch / Thu 07/10 / 15:21

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Honesty has to be the Best Policy

With the age of online transparency upon us and instant consumer reaction and upfront comment here to stay - is the age of PR exaggeration and manufacturing a good old fashioned news story dead?

Now, I have always been honest during my PR career and upfront with clients and contacts alike.  However, I have to admit that in the past on one or two occasions I have stretched the truth just a little to sell the story.  Products might not have been flying off the shelves, the student on work experience was not actually going to get married to the receptionist, as depicted in a client case study, and my giant shirt might not have been the world’s biggest!

 So, I hold my hands up. In my defence I felt it was harmless fun and when the papers ran stunt stories on the death of the artic roll and subbuteo, only to bring the brands back due to popular demand, I felt my small transgressions paled into insignificance. 

This musing was prompted when I came across an ‘egg on the face’ incident for Walmart, in the US. The poor team were hung out to dry when they supported a story about Laura and Jim camping on Walmart carparks and blogging about their experience.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2006/db20061009_579137.htm

The trouble was they were being fed news and key messages by Walmart and so they became more unbelievable, with critics eventually questioning the couple’s authenticity.  Whatever the truth of the story, Walmart’s critics investigated Laura and Jim online and holes developed in their story. 

I am sure clients and agency professionals alike, over the last ten years, lived by the mantra - “Oh nevermind if they are not a real couple or case study, we will get them to make up a story to illustrate the campaign,  it will be fine!”

The art of our industry is to present people, products, services and brands in a good light and I think the industry possesses some of the best storytellers in the business. 

Surely the trick is now to drive a debate and a conversation both off and online with our target audiences in an up front, open and honest, engaging way. 

Thereby, we the guardians of reputation, can be part of an honest conversation which is far more powerful than a manufactured news article.  Stunts and ‘made up news’ need to be fun and obviously manufactured as the online generation make Poirot look inept!  

Posted by James in Hatch, Social Media / Tue 06/10 / 17:23

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Embrace your own Human Clock

If you love photography, synchronicity and celebrating humanity then you should definitely check out the Human Clock.

It was during my first day here as a new recruit at Hatch, when I discovered I’ve lost all sense of time. Now I’m not a big clock watcher and often have no clue what the time is……….and sometimes when your bored the time does tend to drag on and on and on and on. I hate to admit it, but in previous jobs, occasionally I longed for the clock to strike 5pm.

But how this has changed. As I immersed myself head first and with great gusto into my first day at Hatch the time whizzed by, as jokes, emails, press releases and conference calls were the tasks of the day. Now not too long ago it was 9am on my first day and now it was 5.30pm and time to ‘cluck off’. Where does the time go? I think we have an uncanny and built in knack to tell when certain daily events are – such as lunchtime, snack time…………..…oh and of course when its time for a brew (ahem………..James!), but I think we find it harder to assess other key times throughout the course of the day and often miss them. I’m going to make a note from now on to regularly check the time when I can, as it seems, for me, to stretch the day out and prolong the daylight, which I’m all for!

Now the Human Clock is a great little website I’ve stumbled upon, where every 60 seconds a different image is displayed that somehow magically tells the time. Although I doubt we all check the time every minute. There are plenty of obvious pictures on there with people holding up a sign of the time, giving a shout out to their favourite band or hometown, but the human clock also has many colourful pictures that fall into charming coincidences.

They offer a tidy little desktop window so you can also watch the pictures change throughout the day (go on give it a go…….…you won't be disappointed). To me it gives clockwatching a little more giddy up!

You can even submit your own photo and become part of a global art project.

I hope it inspires your work week, as it did mine!

Posted by James in Hatch, new staff, PR, recruitment / Tue 06/10 / 10:09

Tags: hatch, pr, new recruit

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Winners again!

On Wednesday night Jason and myself headed off to the Russell Square Hotel in sunny London to attend the inaugural Recommended Agency Register Awards.

The RAR Awards are all about recognising service excellence from marketing companies.  The awards themselves are not your usual submit a case study and examples of work style event; instead the RAR awards base the results on actual client feedback. Our clients are questioned and asked to provide rating in a whole host of categories. These ratings are then weighted so that a small number of high scores can’t skew the field. Making it a level playing field.

In the last 12 months, nearly 2000 ratings have been made by brand owners and marketing professionals who are keen to recognise the contribution that their marketing suppliers have made.

The Hatch team were shortlisted in three different categories, and despite some very tough competition, we walked away with the gong for Best Public Relations (less than 30 employees).

Needless to say there were a few sore heads the following morning.

We’d like to thank all out clients for their feedback and well done to the whole Hatch team.

Posted by James in Awards, Hatch, New Business, PR / Fri 04/10 / 11:00

Tags: rar, awards, hatch communications, pr

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We’re Recruiting!

After a whole host of new business wins we are looking for a number of people to join the Hatch team.

We are looking for candidates from all levels, from experienced Account Directors, through to eager young pups wanting to break into the industry.

The roles are incredibly varied, giving the right person the chance to work on a range of consumer, B2B, online and sports accounts. 

We are looking for someone who will fit in to our great little team, who is willing to get their hands dirty and is passionate about the industry.

An understanding of how social media works is essential and experience of utilising these social media channels would be welcomed.

Send your CV’s to – poached@hatchcommunications.co.uk

PR luvvies need not apply

Posted by James in new staff, PR, recruitment / Mon 03/10 / 10:13

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A Very Merry Christmas

Just a quick note from all the Hatchlings.

Thank you for visiting the site in 2009 and we wish you a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Posted by James in Fun stuff, Hatch / Wed 12/09 / 12:29

Tags: santa, hatch

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We just love Gold.....

Don’t worry this post is short and sweet and will not be littered with any other bad Austin Powers quotes. We just thought we’d let everyone know about our very successful night at this year’s Yorkshire CIPR Awards.

We were shortlisted in two categories, Best Event and Outstanding Small Consultancy and despite some very stiff competition the Hatch team walked away as winners of both categories.

A big thanks goes out to the team who’ve worked their socks off over the past 18 months. Hopefully there will be many awards to come!

Posted by James in Awards, Fun stuff, Hatch, PR / Fri 11/09 / 10:07

Tags: awards, hatch, pr, cipr, leeds

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Sorry, we forgot to mention.

We have been that immersed in work recently that we completely forgot to mention that we have yet another new member of staff. Well, she is not entirely new, but she is here 100% of the time now.

Anna Wilson has been with us pretty much from day one, working a couple of days a week whilst completing her public relations degree at Leeds Met University.

A few weeks ago Anna finally finished her degree, and because we couldn’t bear the thought of some other agency getting her, we snapped her up and got her working here full time.

As an added bonus (and to make us feel like we can identify a good candidate) Anna this week was awarded a First in her degree. We are all very proud of her!

Posted by James in Hatch, new staff, PR, Graduate / Thu 06/09 / 12:23

Tags: pr, graduate, new staff, anna wilson, pr team, events

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The lost art of head shot photography

In the wonderful world of PR we are often asked to organise photography for a whole plethora of things. Events, launches, stunts and of course the ubiquitous cheque presentation, are always being briefed into our ever-helpful photography colleagues.

But out of all these photo necessary situations, the humble head shot is often the most difficult to master.

Luckily our fearless leader, Mr Jason Madeley, has kindly created a very simple ‘how to’ guide for photographers everywhere.

The basic premise of the guide is to try NOT to recreate any of the shots below.

So, if at any time your client/model/new staff member turns up to a photo shoot bringing with them a Morrissey-esc haircut, an appallingly patterned tie, a green crushed velvet background and someone else’s hand to put under their chin, I beg you, please, kill them.

Posted by James in Fun stuff, Hatch, Jason, Photography / Thu 04/09 / 15:27

Tags: jason madeley, pr guide, photography

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It's been a while....

Yep, it's been a good week since we last posted something. Mainly because I (James) was on holiday last week enjoying a snow and sun filled break in Meribel. Much hilarity was had, but thankfully no broken bones!

Anyway, another reason for the lack of updates has been due to the sheer amount of work we have been getting through over the past week. Not only were we a man down, but we also picked up a hat trick of new business, which I am sure we will tell you all about once they are fully bedded in.

Another snippet of good news is that we have a new team member joining us this week in the form of Katie. As well as Katie’s obvious skills and experience in the PR world she also brings with her her love of unusual sandwiches, something I can assure you all, she is very famous for around these parts.

So the Hatch team extend a big warm welcome to Katie and her Lasagne Sandwiches.

Recipes available on request

Posted by James in Fun stuff, Hatch, New Business, new staff / Wed 03/09 / 13:40

Tags: katie eborall, james hickman, sandwhiches, meribel

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