At Hatch, I’ve had the chance to undertake general tasks that go on in an agency such as updating media contact lists, project researching and pitching news stories both locally and nationally.

The beauty of PR is the variety it offers and my experience at Hatch has given me an insight into how an agency runs, as well as allowing me to apply what I’ve learnt at University to a real life work environment.

As well as developing transferable skills I’ve become aware of the realities of what a career in PR entails, reassuring me that I have made the right career choice.

Written by Kelly Donnellan, Work Experience student at Hatch

After an eventful evening and a challenging quiz, we are delighted to announce that we raised over £800 for national charity, Parkinson’s UK.

Thank you to everyone who came along to support this important cause by participating in a fun-filled evening, and for all your kind donations. The funds will help the charity greatly in their research and support of Parkinson’s sufferers and their families.

If you missed our evening, and would like to donate to this amazing charity, please follow the link: http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/

The annual awards ceremony aims to reward and recognise the work of small, independent rescue centres that help to rehabilitate and re-house abandoned animals across the UK and overseas.

Various celebrities from the world of TV and film attended (some with their pets!) to show their support for such a valued charity. The Hatch team were left star struck after meeting Dame Judi Dench, who kindly presented an award!

Favourite amongst the Hatch girls was Boris the police horse, honoured with the ‘Hero Award’ for his efforts during the London riots of 2011. He posed for pictures and behaved perfectly during the pre-event press call before trotting back to his stables, unable to come inside the 5* Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel to collect his award!

The event was a great success with a range of national media covering the event including OK! magazine, London Tonight and The People.

According to old folk laws, 29^th February is the only day women are able to jump the gun with their potential grooms and pop that all important question. The tradition, which dates back to the 12^th Century, notes that ladies in love can ask for their man’s hand in marriage once every Leap, or indeed Olympic, Year.

So we challenged our clients’ brand ambassador, Long Jumper JJ Jegede, to take the leap of love over 12 Thomas Cook bribes-to-be!

JJ Jegede, Team GB Long Jumper, said: “Jumping at a competitive level is intense, but leaping over 12 brides is certainly quite a challenge! With this sort of training, I’m certain I’ll be ready for anything at London 2012.”

JJ is working in conjunction with our client Thomas Cook on a profile campaign to raise awareness of the range of Games Breaks available to consumers in the UK.

Having been given the ardous task of travelling to five star Dubai, I think I was the envy of most of the office thinking I was heading out for five days of sun, sand and cocktails on the beach. However, it pains me to say that my feet didn’t feel  the sand!!

Nonetheless, they did visit the back of multiple taxis and paced many hotel receptions. The two media events were well attended and were aided by Manchester United legends Lee Sharpe and Andrew Cole making appearances, plus the Premier League trophy as part of the MUFC Champ19ns Global Tour.

However, the hard slog was worthwhile with two successful events completed, good media coverage secured and overall a happy camp. A fantastic experience overall putting Hatch firmly on the international map.

The aim of Feel Good Friday is to encourage fundraising in the workplace through positivity, wellbeing and feeling good to become an established national fundraising day. To support this on 3rd February 2012, employees across Yorkshire and Humberside took part in lunchtime Zumba classes, came into work in their slippers and played ‘feel good’ songs, all in the name of charity.

James and Holly busked their way through Leeds city centre with local musicians and singers on the day, serenading workers and shoppers with Yorkshire and Humberside’s top voted ‘Feel Good’ songs. With the support of last year’s Apprentice contestant Leon Doyle and Noel Edmonds, the day was a great success with hundreds of business’s taking part and media coverage across the region.

The team has been hitting the phones and speaking with journalists about the planned activity at the show, including the main highlight event – The UK’s only Rabbit Grand National (…yes it’s a real event!) which has attracted international competitors from Sweden. However, the show is not only about rabbits, as we will also see over 3,000 cavies, gerbils, hamsters, mice and rats over the two days at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate. It’s safe to say that Hatch have gone animal mad!

In addition to this, Burgess, the 15ft giant bunny, took to the streets of Harrogate last week to practice his jumping skills and speak to the local residents about the show.

The team are looking forward to another busy weekend on 28^th and 29^th January, and after our recent CIPR PRide Award wins for the show last year, the pressure is now on to make this show the best yet!

If you wish to attend the show, then it’s not too late to get tickets as they are available on the door, and all the details are online at www.thesmallanimalshow.co.uk

Budweiser took over from E.ON, who sponsored the most famous domestic Cup competition in the World for five years, at the start of the 2011-2012 football season, a deal that the FA searched greatly for after E.ON announced their non-renewal.

Has the sponsorship made an impact? In my opinion, it has been a quiet activation from Budweiser after a very loud and bold announcement at Wembley in June 2011 and in the first round of the competition in August. Budweiser secured the TV rights to stream the game live on Facebook, the first ever live game to be broadcast via social media. A move that very much indicated Budweiser wanted to explore the social and online avenue of sponsorship activation.

Since then, and even in the first week, I did expect another big campaign to launch. After exploring their social channels, there is some activity in terms of voting for your Man of the Match, but from what I have seen, there has been limited Budweiser impacted press in the lead up to the third round and over the weekend.

Sponsorship activation always takes time to bed in with fans and people connected to the particular sport. I still call the now Blue Square Premier League, the Vauxhall Conference. This is probably something I shouldn’t admit, but associations are made by the average fan and the success of sponsorships can be judged using this criteria.  

Although Budweiser started well with an innovative idea, the pressure is on to get the press on side. Once they get Sir Alex Ferguson to say “The Budweiser FA Cup”, they have cracked it! Good luck chaps…

Having already faced the 4 hour journey to Taunton just before Christmas to find out Arthur was actually on holiday, the Prize Team had their fingers crossed he would be in this time and they could successfully present him with his cheque!

Luckily there was an answer when they knocked on Arthur’s bungalow in Crewkerne, although they had literally just missed his wife who had gone to the supermarket! Nonetheless, Arthur was absolutely delighted to have won and it was great to present him with such an amazing prize. There were lots of celebrations with Arthur and his neighbours which resulted in Amanda and Holly smelling of champagne for the long journey back to Leeds, dreaming of what they would do if they were to win £20, 000…

Thanks to our cleaner for keeping our office spick and span. Thanks to the Wharfedale Business centre staff for unblocking the toilets on more than one occasion (James still hasn’t taken the blame yet). Thanks the The Drum, PR Week, The Business Desk, The Yorkshire Post, The YEP, Business Insider and all the other media we deal with. Thanks to all of those who attended the Small Animal Show in Harrogate. Thanks to Manchester United, Liverpool FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Manchester City, Glasgow Rangers and Celtic. Thanks to Fresh, The CIPR and RAR. Thanks to Kate the accountant who makes sure we all get paid on time. Thanks to Buon Apps Italian Restaurant for making your delicious meals. Thanks to Beirra Morretti for helping us through those stressful moments. Thanks to the CIPR Judges, we trust your views no matter what the outcome. Thanks to Russell Hobbs and Breville for ensuring Holly, Kirsty and Jason have a steady supply of toasties. Thanks to M-Tech for sorting our IT issues. Thanks to all the agencies we work with. Thanks to Thomas Cook, The RFL, Crabbie’s, TNS, PCH, Monitise, Hitachi Capital, Burgess Pet Care, Science Warehouse, Willow, One Medical and The Webb Group. Thanks to all the staff over the past year, Jason, James, Matt, Kirsty, Tom, Charley, Holly, Amanda, Rosie, Lesley, Katie, Jo, Scott. Thanks to the best freelancers in the business Jo and Shona. Thanks to the Staples delivery guy (if you’re reading this Kirsty wants your number, but hasn’t plucked up the courage to ask) Thanks to Waitrose and Sainsbury’s. Thanks to all our suppliers. A big thank you to all the ladies at Otley Post Office for putting up with our bulk mailings and finally thank you to anyone we’ve missed.

Have a great Christmas and a very merry New Year. Good luck for 2012.

The Hatchlings