23 July 2009
Ann Broad Collection Launch
Shorthose Russell helped launch the Ann Broad Collection at the exclusive Charlotte Street Hotel in London. The invitation only event was attended by over twenty journalists and interior designers all keen to get an initial glimpse of the Collection and to have a chat with Ann Broad - one of the UK’s most respected figures in the interior design industry. The Ann Broad Collection of curtains, fabrics and interior accessories is available to order online at www.annbroadcollection.com for all you budding interior designers out there.
02 July 2009
All For Show
Amanda and Rachel joined in the fun at the Bernard Matthews stand this year at the Norfolk Show to support our client. The stand was a huge success with even more visitors than last year. The stand educates children about the journey food takes from farm to fork. Visitors could see poults (baby turkeys) hatching and hold them, get involved in the arts tent and of course sample a delicious turkey roll. This year the stand was presented with an award too - runner up for the Best Stand Trophy.
01 July 2009
Still Re-cycling!
It was back to Halls Wood Wildlife Sanctuary for our third trip so far this year to take 6 large bags of shredded paper, which will be used for bedding for the animals!!
It was certainly a different picture from our last visit, no wellies or thick coats were needed, the sun was shining through the trees and the cats and dogs were all enjoying the sunshine and doing what they do best – sleeping!!
As you can see we are not the only company that help Halls Wood, when we arrived there were already lots of donations ranging from cat & dog beds, newspapers, blankets and cages.
Re-cycling at its best!!
16 June 2009
Nelson’s Journey
For the past year the team at Shorthose Russell have been mucking in to help raise money for our chosen charity of the year, Nelson’s Journey.
At the beginning of June we were pleased to present Kim Greensmith, CEO for Nelson’s Journey with a cheque for the grand sum of £623.83, which was raised as a result of a Sponsored Walk through Norwich & collection tins distributed at various venues.
For over a decade Nelson’s Journey has been providing advice and practical help for children who have lost a mother, father, sibling or other significant adult in their life.
Nelson’s Journey is the first charity Shorthose Russell has supported and it hs been a pleasure to have been able to help, first-hand with such a fantastic charity.
We all hope to have an equal impact on our next chosen charity.
05 June 2009
Can I grab a lift please?
We’re doing our bit to keep ‘Going green’ and on 22 May we held a Car Share day to help reduce our carbon emissions. Around half the office took part, grabbing a friendly lift with a colleague to save around 40 miles of travel and petrol – and it was nice to have some company in the car too!
After all that excitement there was free cake for those who participated. For anyone who drove alone (gasp!) there was a small ‘green fine’ in exchange for cake and with that money we’ve planted a tree through the Woodland Trust to coincide with World Environment Day on 5th June.
Get involved! National Car Share Day is 9 June 2009. For more information visit www.liftshare.com/business/nlsd.asp
28 May 2009
Meet Leesa!
Leesa Hamilton is a media and communications student, originally from Sydney, Australia, but currently studying abroad at the University of East Anglia. Leesa decided to partake in some work experience at Shorthose Russell to learn more about the PR industry. Through helping out with various jobs around the office, Leesa was able to observe the inner workings of the company. She thoroughly enjoyed immersing herself in the work environment, and particularly liked the endless cups of tea. Before Leesa returns to Australia to resume her studies, she is planning to travel through Europe; Spain, France, Holland, Croatia, Greece and Italy. Hopefully her experiences at Shorthose Russell will leave her well prepared to face any challenge that arises!
24 April 2009
Going Green on Earth Day 2009
Wednesday 22 April was Earth Day, an annual international event aimed at raising awareness of important environment issues.
As part of our greener office campaign, Lindsay Chapman went along to the Earth Day event, which was held at Burnham Deepdale to get some ideas and inspiration on just what we at Shorthose Russell can be doing to help reduce our carbon footprint.
With a whole host of exhibitors offering their green expertise its clear there really is something everyone can do, from recycling and composting to much larger and more ambitious projects such as installing clean energy with solar panels and wind turbines – so there’s no excuses!!
We are busy doing lots of green activities this year including more recycling and reducing our energy usage – watch this space for updates!!
16 April 2009
Bernard Matthews Spring Fling
More than 4,200 children attended this year’s ’Spring Fling’ on Thursday 16th April 2009 at The Norfolk Show Ground. Amanda from our PR team, was also there to lend a helping hand to our client Bernard Matthews. The ’spring flingers’, aged between 4-14 years old, had over 60 stalls to visit, including Bernard Matthew’s ’Farm to Fork’ stand. Children who visited the stand saw turkey eggs hatching, handled three-day old turkey poults and created their very own turkey masks! More than 1,500 goodie bags were handed out throughout the day - A huge success all round.
13 March 2009
SRL & Comic Relief 2009
Each member of staff was required to wear something RED, this was a £1 entry fee (or £2 if you didn’t). We then took turns to blow approx 90 RED balloons, each containing slips of paper, some of the slips of paper carried forfeits and some carried nice ’surprises’. Here are just a few...
Make the morning tea round for a week, bake a cake for afternoon tea, bring bacon rolls/croissants for breakfast for all, ’win’ a bottle of wine and the Star Prize was to win one nights stay at The Swan Hotel in Lavenham, donated by a very generous client. The balloon ’popping’ was a cost of 50p per balloon.
We also had two jars of sweets and the idea was to guess how many sweets were in each jar, this was also 50p per guess.
The day’s frivolity was nicely finished with tea and butterfly cakes kindly made my Rachel.
Fun was had by all and our office antics raised a very impressive £85.00.
Well done to everyone!!
20 February 2009
Bernard Matthews Youth Awards
Konnie Huq, former Blue Peter presenter, hosted the inaugural Bernard Matthews Youth Awards, on Tuesday 17th February to celebrate the achievements of inspiring bright young people from Norfolk and Suffolk. More than 100 young people aged between 11 and 18 were highlighted for their amazing accomplishments at the nomination stage. The finalists and winners from nine categories were congratulated with a £1,000 prize to help them realise their goals, ambitions and dreams.
02 February 2009
Re-cycling with a difference!!!
Tara and Rachel visited Halls Wood Wildlife Sanctuary to deliver all of our office shredded paper which will be used to provide bedding for some of the rescued/convalescing animals.
The sanctuary is home to lots of different animals that are either lost, unwanted, neglected or mistreated. From geese to donkeys to cats and kittens and many more .... all these animals have now received some additional bedding for during the cold winter months.
Now that’s what we call re-cycling with a difference!
19 January 2009
Something new!
January marks the launch of Bastin Steward - a commercial property firm with the objective of shaking up the industry through their innovative approach and new range of services. We’ve worked with them on all aspects of marketing the business and wish them every success with the launch. Bastin Steward is a fresh, unique commercial property organisation based in Norwich. Their expertise, services and most importantly the way they work, makes Bastin Steward exceptional.
To launch in the current market conditions requires a savvy and confident team which is precisely what you get from this organisation. We have been working on all Bastin Seward’s marketing and PR, from brand creation through to marketing materials and local and trade media support. Take a look at their website for a preview www.bastinsteward.com
16 January 2009
Farewell Tony!
When I founded the agency almost 13 years ago I had hopes but no expectations that it could succeed as impressively as it has. It’s difficult to imagine now that on 1st May 1996 it was just me, a phone and a desk! Having had previous experience of the agency world in Norwich (and having sworn I’d never go back into it) I had a clear view on balancing ambition with the type and size of company likely to have a successful long term future.
We have grown to become a regional agency which is not the biggest but has a reputation and diversity of clients of which I am very proud, while achieving a stability which is particularly valuable in turbulent times. Over the period, the mix of services has developed with demand and technologies. Creativity and a commitment to service is still fundamental but is now applied to PR, consultancy and electronic marketing in addition to more traditional activities.
Almost 2 years ago I sold the business to the current Managing Director, Mark Harvey, who has done so much in recent years to take our output to a different level. Mark, and
Steve Rowland (head of creative) and Peter Joyner (head of PR) who now have stakes in the business alongside him, create a strong and experienced team. Having seen and admired what has been achieved I have decided that the time is right for me to retire at the end of January, certain in the knowledge that the company is in the best possible hands and in the belief that it has an extremely bright future.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank clients for all their past support and to wish them and their ongoing relationship with Shorthose Russell, all the very best for the future.
On a personal level, my plans for retirement are still at a formative stage but (no surprise to those who know me) initially there is a holiday.
My wife, Linda, and I are going to Cambodia to visit our eldest son Robin who is working for a charity out there. He had strong links with the agency having worked in the business in the early years, making a great contribution to getting us established. From Cambodia we are taking a boat down the Mekong river to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam before returning home and looking forward to a relaxed approach to Spring and the coming Summer.
Tony
14 January 2009
"National coverage to start the New Year"
2009 has started with a bang for Shorthose Russell’s PR clients. Already we’ve achieved some fantastic pieces of coverage in the national newspapers for the third consecutive week.
Coverage includes The Sunday Times (three consecutive weeks), The Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph (two consecutive weeks), The Sunday Mirror, The Times and The Independent.
Our clients are really happy, which makes us happy as well, and we’ve lots more in the pipeline!
If you’re interested in getting this kind of coverage for your business then please get in touch.
12 January 2009
Bernard Matthews Youth Awards
The count down begins to the Bernard Matthews Youth Awards. We were stunned by the amount of inspirational entries we received for the inaugural awards - over 100 entries across nine categories. The SRL team are now putting their event organisation skills to work preparing for the gala awards event to be held in February half term. Keep your eyes peeled on the site as we will be revealing the celebrity presenter soon. For more info take a look at www.bmyouthawards.com
22 December 2008
Norfolk County Council Win!!
More great news, we have been given the opportunity to work again with Norfolk County Council having recently won a project to design templates and style sheets for the NCC HR Intranet, to be released in the early part of 2009.
The aim of the Intranet is to act as a complete source of employment information for over 40,000 employees; staff, managers and HR managers employed by NCC. The development of the Intranet will also provide the HR department with a new recognisable corporate brand.
18 December 2008
Who ate all the pies?
Mince pies have been a feature of the Christmas period for as long as we can remember but according to Wikipedia, they were not always the delicious sweet treat we savour today. At one point they were pastry cases filled with liver, hard boiled eggs and ginger as well as dried fruit! Mmmmmmmm!
Despite the credit crunch looming over us, our hunch was that not many Britons would sacrifice taste over price with their pies this festive period. Although do more expensive items necessarily mean quality products?
Here at Shorthose Russell, we thought we’d put the logic to the test and decided to set up a Mince Pie Taste Test Bonanza.
Each member of SRL purchased mince pies from a different store or bakery and each day we would taste test our purchases against the following five criteria:
Appearance
Pastry Quality/Taste
Mincemeat Quality/Taste
Mincemeat Quantity
Overall Satisfaction
The overall winner was our local patisserie, Cafe Francais in Drayton, followed very closely by Asda’s own brand.
Sadly their had to be a loser and our least favourtie were from Sainsbury’s.
Although we’ve had the enjoyment of a mince pie a day, we now have the pain of losing those extra pounds we have gained around the waist. Apparrantly it takes 4 miles of walking to shift the calories from a single pie. Wish us luck!!
12 December 2008
Digital December
Norwich University College of the Arts recently launched a new on-line competition called ‘Digital December’ which we were delighted to sponsor.
Aspiring artists from across East Anglia were encouraged to enter, with the chance of winning unique and coveted on-line exhibition space at www.digitaldecember.org
The competition featured two age groups, under 18’s and 18+, and was open to anyone enrolled on or applying for, a full or part time education course, from MA to pre-GCSE students.
The Digital December website features eight categories: Animation, Design for Publishing, Film and Video, Fine Art, Games, Graphic Design, Illustration and Photography
The photographic category was judged by our very own Creative Director Steve Rowland.
Every day throughout December one successful applicant will have their work displayed on the site in the lead up to New Year. In addition, one person from each category who had made an outstanding contribution will receive a special commendation.
The winning work is on display at www.digitaldecember.org and on the BBC Big Screen at Chapelfield, Norwich throughout December. An exhibition at the new BBC multimedia exhibition space in The Forum, Norwich is also planned for February.
10 December 2008
UK Trade and Investment
Shorthose Russell are delighted to have been awarded a contract from UK Trade and Investment in the East of England, to implement the East meets East campaign, aimed to raise awareness and promote Chinese business opportunities to the regional business community. Alongside UKTI and the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), SRL have created, and will be executing, an integrated marketing campaign incorporating a range of marketing initiatives to realise the campaign’s objectives including: a full events management programme for a conference taking place in Cambridge on 15th January 2009, web site design and build, comprehensive media relations programme and a stakeholder relationship building element to ensure all relative third party organisations are aware and actively promoting all East meets East activities.
31 October 2008
We did it...
The Shorthose Russell team left Burton Road in the bright sunshine on Friday afternoon ready for the 6 miles walk ahead.
Our first port of call was The Boundary Pub, where a quick snapshot was taken before heading down Aylsham Road towards The Golden Star. Our journey along Aylsham Road was met with some very friendly hello’s, waves and ‘hoots’ from passers by, although we think the ‘hoots’ were more for Mark than us girlies!!
On entering the city centre dressed as cats, we were met with more smiles and looks of intrigue.
Once we had collected the tins from Henry’s and The Murderers we headed down Rose Lane toward The Nelson Hotel for the last collection. Whilst there we were all ready for a pit stop, so a round of hot chocolates, espressos and green teas were ordered.
After our refreshments we set off homeward bound, however as a slightly different route was chosen what started out as a 6 mile round trip ended up to be more like a 9 mile round trip!!
Despite the cold and the sore feet lots of fun was had along the way and we all felt very pleased with ourselves once we were back inside our warm office and the kettle was on!!
Well done to everyone!!
The money raised from the collection tins and sponsorship forms will be counted and the total amount raised will be posted on our site as soon as possible.
21 October 2008
A sponsored walk from Burton Road....
The Shorthose Russell team will be venturing out on the afternoon of Friday 31st October to participate in a sponsored walk organised to help raise funds for the Nelson’s Journey charity.
Helping with additional funding are several pubs on route who have kindly agreed to us leaving Nelson’s Journey donation tins on the bars. The participating pubs include, The Boundary, The Golden Star, Henrys and The Murderers, so if you happen to visit these pubs before the 31st October please dig deep and donate your loose change.
If you do happen to see us crazy lot out and about on our sponsored walk please feel free to beep and cheer us on......or possibly give us a lift!!
All monies raised are going to Nelson’s Journey, a fantastic local charity.
09 October 2008
Bernard Matthews Youth Awards
The whole team at Shorthose Russell have been involved in creating and implementing the inaugural Bernard Matthews Youth Awards.
The awards are supported by media partner, the Eastern Daily Press, and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Charity (D of E) and is a unique event aimed solely at recognising the positive contributions young people make to our community.
We have worked with our client Bernard Matthews Farms to create an awards scheme that highlights the achievements of inspiring young people in Norfolk and Suffolk. There are nine categories, £1,000 of award funding up for grabs and a celebrity hosted gala awards evening - find out more by visiting www.bmyouthawards.com and if you know an outstanding young person why not celebrate their achievements by entering them for an award?
07 October 2008
Travel For Travelling PR...
Unfortunately our carbon footprint hasn’t been too good this week as Head of PR, Pete, jetted off to Gran Canaria for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) 2008 conference.
Pete was there to host a media breakfast with the national consumer and trade travel media.
Our client Hoseasons was extremely happy as they got to meet with journalists from the Sunday Times, The Express, The Independent, Marketing, PR week, The Sun, Metro, The Telegraph and a host of travel trade titles.
Pete said next time we will try and persuade them to come to Norwich!
22 September 2008
Moments that made the year...
This project was a straightforward case of producing eight individual partner reports for residents, one annual group report and one financial report. It involved interviewing and liaising with about 70 people, writing copy from scratch, designing, artworking and then picking over every detail of copy, images, captions and tables of data for over four months. We achieved our goal, which was to deliver a strong cohesive, creative look under the banner ’Moments that made the year’ operating within the Circle Anglia brand framework. And best of all, the client has said nice things about it!
04 September 2008
Mel’s the cat’s whiskers
Give a girl an excuse to dress up any day .... Mel donned a cat suit with a difference at a recent event for Shorthose Russell’s charity of the year - Nelson’s Journey.
The whole SRL team will be following in Mel’s paw prints later in October when we take a very special journey of our own all in aid of Nelson’s Journey who provide an invaluable service to children and young people who have experienced the death of a significant person in their life e.g. Mum, Dad, Brother or Sister.
Stay bright eyed and bushy tailed for further details.
29 August 2008
SRL Away Day
If you went down to the woods yesterday you’d be in for a big surprise …. The whole SRL team descended on Thetford Forest for our annual away day.
From our woodland retreat we pondered the meaning of life, work, clients and green issues – came up with some great answers and ideas – and then got stuck into some highly competitive orienteering and a bloodthirsty game of rounders!
28 August 2008
Orienteering
Not only were we set loose into the forest wearing florescent yellow ponchos and left to our own map reading and sign spotting devises - part of our orienteering task was to re-create the title of a film or TV programme using the theme of woods, forests, wildlife etc …. The example given was ‘Forest Gump’ …. Our highly creative team came up with ……..
27 August 2008
Movie Magic
..... SIMPSONS THE MOVIE (spot Petra’s fabulous Marge!)
Don’t try this at home kids!
27 August 2008
Movie Magic
It goes without saying but ..... All Creatures Great and Small
10 July 2008
Green Fingers
Our client, Anglian Home Improvements has been presented with a prestigious Flora Silver Gilt Award at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, for its striking ‘Green, Black and White’ show garden.
The garden, designed by Krista Grindley seen in the photo, is Anglia’s first at Hampton Court and was praised by the panel of selected RHS judges for its colourful displays and eye catching features and finishes.
The garden design’s aim is to inspire people to integrate their homes and gardens and create both outside and inside spaces that can be used for entertaining and relaxing in throughout the year.
07 July 2008
Meet Amanda our newest member of the team
Amanda Bunn joins our busy PR department from just down the road at The Money Centre where she was Marketing and PR Coordinator.
Amanda will be working on a number of regional and national accounts in her role as PR Account Executive and we are really happy to have her onboard – Welcome to the SRL team Amanda!
01 July 2008
Working Holidays
We’re thrilled that the National Trust has chosen us again to do their Working Holidays brochure.
We’re onto our seventh copy in a row and every year we treat it as though it’s the first time. Never change for changes’ sake, more to make sure that we get people excited into booking that holiday.
25 June 2008
Showing Off
Former Olympic medal winner Sharron Davies popped down to spend the morning on the Bernard Matthews stand at this year’s Royal Norfolk Show.
The stand was specially designed to illustrate the journey food takes from ’Farm to Fork’ and was absolutely packed with children.
Sharron is supporting the ’Turkey for Today campaign’ and spoke to stand visitors about the importance of a healthy balanced diet, challenged children to turkey egg and spoon races and signed recipe booklets.
Here she is being interviewd by Anglia TV on wednesday.
12 June 2008
Watsons Launch
We’ve been working with Watsons, one of the region’s best known established property consultancy, to bring together its three specialist divisions; Watsons Residential, Percy Howes Commercial and Edwin Watson Partnership under an inclusive new ‘Watsons’ brand.
The launch of the Watsons brand was revealed to sixty staff and over a hundred clients at a special event held at the Sainsbury’s Centre on Thursday 12th June – it’s the Watsons team in the photo.
The move to unite the individual brands under the Watsons name reflects the consultancy’s desire to simplify and centralise the business while retaining its core disciplines across the property sector.
06 June 2008
CIM Awards
Last night we were delighted to win the Best Consumer Campaign in the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Regional Awards for Excellence.
Our work for Imagine Spa was applauded by the industry for its creativity, professionalism and above all its results. We’re all really delighted as it’s a project that everyone in the agency has worked on and contributed to over the last year.
31 May 2008
Having A Ball with Nelson’s Journey
Shorthose Russell are supporting local child bereavement charity Nelson’s Journey and had a ball with this ’purrfect’ event.
Nelson’s Journey celebrated its 10th Anniversary with a fun filled, fundraising ball that raised over £6000 for the organisation.
The black tie event, entitled the Cat’s Whiskers, saw over 250 generous Nelson’s Journey supporters enjoy a glamourous ball at Caistor Hall.
Guests of honour included charity patrons Karl Minns of the popular Norfolk Nimmo Twins, and Harry Potter star Chris Rankin. As you can see, Chief Executive Kim Greensmith and Karl Minns had a great time.
All money raised will go towards helping the charity to continue to provide and extend the levels of support they offer to bereaved children in Norfolk.
09 May 2008
House proud
We have been appointed, after competitive pitch, to develop and deliver the Annual Report and Accounts for leading housing organisation Circle Anglia.
10 April 2008
Dinner with an Icon!
Last night the saw the ‘semi official’ launch of the rebranding work we have delivered for one of the most iconic Norwich institutions - Zaks restaurant.
As a special treat the Zaks team kindly gave us a trial run of their new menu timed to coincide with Hayley’s final day before maternity leave.
We had a great night and the new menu went down a storm, unlike the impromptu singalong which the Zaks team are threatening to use as a way to call last orders in the future!
31 March 2008
We say "Hi-Ya" to Lisa and Rachel and "ta-ta" to Hayley...
But not for too long as Hayley is heading off on maternity leave – best of luck Hayley and we can’t wait to see you and baby number two very soon.
Lisa Lincoln has joined the team and will be taking over Hayley’s accounts in addition to working up more creative, dazzling and awe-inspiring ideas for all our existing clients! Lisa has been appointed Marketing Account Director here at Shorthose Russell. Lisa has over 10 years web development experience working with an extensive range of international and national blue chip clients. Originally from an advertising background, Lisa has worked with a variety of organisation focussing on website build and online promotional solutions.
Rachel Jackson has been appointed Public Relations Account Director. Rachel has six years agency experience spanning international, national and regional clients. Rachel’s appointment is a direct response to the rapidly growing portfolio of clients the PR division has gained following a number of high profile business wins.
19 February 2008
SRL buy-out
Shorthose Russell Ltd, one the region’s leading Marketing Communications agencies, has undergone a management buy out led by Managing Director Mark Harvey, Creative Director Steve Rowland and Head of PR Peter Joyner.
The new team, headed by Mark, has taken over the reigns from previous MD and founder of the agency Tony Shorthose, who is continuing to work within the business.
“We are really excited about this new phase of growth in SRL,” said Mark Harvey, Managing Director of Shorthose Russell. “Over the last five years the company has grown and developed and become a truly full service communications agency, offering PR, design, online and marketing consultancy services to some leading national and regional brands".
“This success has been due to our approach to marketing communications – where we provide clients with senior account handlers who are capable of delivering campaigns that have a positive impact on their intended audience.
“We do have plans to grow and develop the company, but not to the detriment of the quality of work we deliver to our current and future clients. Our aim isn’t to be the biggest agency in the region, but to deliver great results for anyone we work with.”
One of the first things the new team has done is launched a national travel PR arm, Paul Gogarty Communications, to capitalise on the national expertise the team has developed. The new arm has already won work with Himalayan Kingdom, Activities Abroad and Headwater and delivered a project for the Burgundy Tourist Board.
25 January 2008
SRL awarded Watson’s Re-brand
Shorthose Russell has been appointed to lead the re-brand of property services group Watsons after a competitive 3-way pitch.
Ben Steward Managing Partner at Watsons said “We are delighted to have such an experienced and creative team leading this work for us and really excited about our image refresh”.