So messrs Brown, Cameron and the other guy (or is it a woman, I’ve only heard of Vince Cable?) from the Lib Dems are rolling up their sleeves and giving it their full montgomery to try and convince us of their added value for the country beyond 2010.

Whilst broadcast will be their major media tool, what of the brevity and humbleness of the poster and its marketing power as things begin hotting up? 

Well, if you’re as disenfranchised as the rest of us, perhaps the poster  could be the tool that makes ‘election fever’ interesting as opposed to somniferous and like a late night subtitled Channel 4 film, you know, the one about a surreal Norwegian drama and an underwater caretaker. 

No doubt that good-old-fashioned campaign poster will be popular not just with the electorate and party pr’s. 

Online mockery has already begun with playful alternative themes mimicking the ‘I’ve never voted Tory before’ message as found on mydavidcameron.com, minus the narcissistic, condescending imperialist, Priory-proof wannabe leaders’s ingenous shibboleths. 

It’s the first election in which online campaigning will be given high priority partly due to the fact that witty independent creatives can heavily undercut advertising agencies and produce canny, playful images of for example, Mr. Brown’s caring Bob Monkhouse-look with the caption “If I had known you were coming I’d have baked you a cake.”

In addition, social networks will carry these ads and their viral effects across large parts of the population, given the congeniality to and popularity of Facebook and other social media.  

Whether cheeky, irreverent and/or adultescent (steeped in ‘yoof’ culture) spoof posters will up voting levels at the polls or make many of us even more cynical is another matter.

But at least it might make more people talk about politics, stop the cerebral downshifting and mobilise support for a particular party, using blogs and Twitter to fight their corner. 

Also, with the relative anonymity of the characters behind the source, there is no nemesis for the perpetrators other than people striking back with a more clever response. 

The other fun and challenging bit is that there are virtually no prophylactics to halt the design and spread of these spoofs. 

And where as previously at election time, leaders and ministers have met churlish, acerbic attacks on them with insouciance (eggs and flour washes off a suit quite easily) such could be the popularity of these spoofs that the necessity to react precipitously might paradoxically be their first response. 

Online could just make the difference at the next election in terms of the numbers enfranchised. Already, it has changed the rules of engagement and the eugenics of creative political online campaigning. 

 I’ll be taking more notice of all of the posters and online spoof posters during the campaign than listening to most of the analysis by politicians and commentators alike. 

The reason is, a bit like Harry Hill, your average politician’s repetition isn’t enough to make any of our leaders especially engaging. It’s merely deployment of the prosaic in an absurd context. Give me online poster cheek and silliness anyday. 

For decades, going to the cinema on your own was such taboo, you just didn’t do it, unless you were happy with a label describing you as friendless, plain lonely or a raincoat wearing type prone to leisurely exhibiting oneself in parks.

With 40% of households in the UK now consisting of single people, the restaurant has become the new cinema for Billy No Mates and Fifi No Friends.

Over in the U.S., solo women diners are amongst the fastest growing groups on the restaurant scene and whilst we haven’t done a poll here, my company’s many restaurant clients and contacts tell us that this is also a trend particularly at lunchtimes in shopping locations all around the UK.

The long-term rise in single living generally suggests that restaurateurs should be giving more consideration to this well-established group of customers.

Does the trend suggest though that eating solo is a treat rather than a dismal convenience? It is if you agree with a 1960 playboy’s famous quote that once remarked: “the best number for a dinner party is two, me and a damn good waiter.”

One of our clients commented recently that a single diner is reason enough for us to try and perform even higher for the customer. “They may be an inspector or a journalist!”

Whilst some owners say that eateries complaining about solo eating are just imposters for the industry, it can’t do wonders for margins can it? Well, the stats make things unclear.

Some clients’ single diners are known to have an average spend of three quarters of what a party of three might have because “they’re much more concentrated on the dining experience and less concerned with only having tap water to drink with meals.

”One also can’t overlook the referrals any one diner can make whilst risking his or her reputation in the lonely-hearts dining club.

And with the growth of fast-casual restaurants like Barburrito, perhaps these venues actively encourage amongst families and others, the lone diner.

Given the general phenomenon of singletons and the awareness around good food and eating out, Billy and Fifi are becoming increasingly important to a restaurant’s thinking even though it’s still largely an urban phenomenon. The single diner is here to stay so give them a comfy seat, not one at the worst table and don’t turn them away with a lie about availability.

Waiter training too might now include advice on a warmer greeting for solo customers. No more surprised or disdainful looks or the words “Just yourself then?” ends 

This week has seen many of us having to work from home thanks to the blizzard-like snow conditions and treacherous icy grounds. 

Although many people have enjoyed these rare and occasional ‘snow days’, the weather has continued to create problems for the city’s employers and employees alike. 

However, there is a way to still have meetings from home, have face-to-face conversations and share information from colleagues’ desktops. 

 Leading Liverpool IT support company IT Answers, who are based on Water Street, are introducing clients to a range of specific business-led microblogging and collaboration services. 

The team, who provide IT solutions, daily IT support and develop bespoke business applications, say that many services are free to use, with charges only being applied for extensions on specific facilities. Services like DimDim, Evernote and drop.io offer additional features such as online meeting facilities and information synchronisation across various devices including iPhones. 

With DimDim for example, employers are able to have meetings with up to 20 members of staff via their computers wherever they are around the world, share each other’s desktops and have free voice calls, similar to Skype, on a daily basis. 

So there really is snow excuse when it comes to working from home… 

What a year, what a decade for creativity. 

It was when social media in the UK, mostly in the form of Facebook (business and leisure (‘bleisure’)) and MySpace for music really grew up. 

You’ve probably read all the stats now about how powerful Facebook and Twitter has been for brands and how ‘microblogging’ will takeover in 2010 as the buzzword in creative pr and marketing. 

Pity then that such creative outlets have made everyone a critic these days, quick to give advice or comment – and most of it negative. 

The other day, I was reading responses to someone lambasting a Liverpool eaterie on Facebook. “It’s crap and I’ll never go there again and I encourage you not you either.”

 I had to get involved and respond myself and by asking the question, “would you like to slag off your business in public without you making an official complaint to the manager or owner first? 

When I was in a gym last week, two receptionists were busy debating a Twitter conversation they began about the merits of a contestant that Simon Cowell has rinsed. In fact, they were so busy talking about this singer’s dodgy shoes and leggings, they hadn’t thought of serving me. 

I was thinking how they would have appreciated it if I had said: “You two are no oil paintings yourselves, why can’t you just serve your customers?” 

I don’t understand why there is so much hatred about, especially towards complete strangers, when it can’t be justified until you’ve met them. 

Katie Price seems to attract the most stick because of her ubiquitous appearances on the front cover of almost every magazine bar Investors Chronicle.  

So clever is Katie Price at investing in her future by marketing herself brilliantly, it cant be long before she’ll grace that cover too.

However, I’m certain that so many people’s Facebook pages contain vitriolic abuse about Katie Price. I’m guessing also, that if you type the keywords ‘Katie Price’ and ‘she makes me sick the daft cow’ into Google, you’ll be flooded with a choice of responses. 

I admit, I do have a passionate dislike of Spam (the so-called food) but I won’t be sending the various producers of it any nasty letters or kicking any of their directors in the shins. 

It seems that casual hate is the new ‘slightly perturbed’ and social media critics are playing their part in driving it. 

 Because we’re all now seemingly critics with an outlet to vent our frustration, let’s not lose our sense of emotional proportion despite what you think about Jedward. 

After all, there are some globally bad phenomena to despise and history will always remind us of that.             

There’s less to defend and more to steer clear of…

An avid reader of opinion pieces/expert views, I’ll admit I’m baffled by some of the articles I read about our industry, especially in defence of it.

We don’t generally need to defend the power of PR.

We’ve found that there’s a bandwagon effect to PR whereby competitors of our clients jump on it when they see their rivals generating the ‘column inches’.  I don’t think any amount of opinion forming defending PR’s value will turn significant heads and income our way. I prefer to look at how pr and marketing (they can’t be viewed alone) affects mainstream society and how it’s made the world so aspirational. Jack Johnson sprung the saying ‘You need aspiration if you want to really achieve greatness in this world’. 

I wonder whether Jack would have said that today? The wannabe phenomenon seems to have almost made aspiration a negative word.

You could argue in the consumer world that this can be seen at its most extreme in cars…i.e. why are there so many Ford Fiestas with tinted windows? Also, why are too many people wearing sunglasses in shops and cafes in Liverpool? Exactly who do they think is looking at them?

Defenders will say that ‘everybody wants a piece of celeb lifestyle (darling)’. I can deal with that I suppose because it does show the power of consumer pr and marketing better than anyone in our industry trying to defend the dark arts. 

However, I am struggling since the onset of Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice with the crossover of wannabe culture into business.

First everybody wanted to be on X-factor and look like Katie Price or Beckham, now they want to be Alan Sugar or Duncan Bannatyne. And again, you only need to look at pr and marketing as to why.

Liverpool is now swamped with wannabe marketers in all their forms. The issue is also apparent in leisure and tourism, I suppose because people think ‘its easy’. Licensed & leisure for example, is one of the most competitive sectors in which to make it…read Danny Meyer if you’re thinking of ‘having a go.’

It’s not the threat of competition that irritates us in the pr business. It’s everything to do with our passion for the industry in getting it right for clients and the effect the ‘w’ word has on the industry. Far be it from me then to defend PR, but more to ask businesses to be weary in trying to sort the wheat from the wannabe. ends 

Life is sweet for Liverpool’s burgeoning eating out scene, says Joel Jelen

For those of you who’ve been pre-occupied abroad recently, getting some real sun to bolster that permatan, Liverpool’s Food & Drink Festival is just around the corner.

Not great timing I’ll admit if you’ve just promised yourself to lose a few pounds as part of some new resolution formed on the beach.

Do it from September 21st when the festival finishes I say.

Why? Because it’s taken Liverpool just over a decade to grow into a city now recognised for the quality of its eating out experience.

About ten years ago, deep pocketed investors including Grosvenor and the groups behind the likes of Chaophraya, Palm Sugar, Zeligs and Barburrito in Liverpool One were probably thinking correctly (if they were at all) that Liverpool was a ‘cultural food and drink desert’ along with trade press who actually made that very statement.

Despite the recession and all the prevailing negative stats in the industry nationally, 30% of people in the region are now eating dinner out of home at least once a week, Source: Allegra 2009).

I’d be guarded to say that restaurants have escaped the brunt of the credit crunch despite the social proof that eating out for many is now a convenience and not a luxury.

They haven’t and it’s been very tough for some but that’s not wanting the festival’s Sefton Park launch to become a guilt trip. It will be more so, a roadblock on Sunday September 13th…a destination because of the quality on offer, to an extent driven by that convenience eating.

The festival site has doubled in size this year having accommodated more than 20,000 people last year.

60 of the region’s top businesses have taken space on the site in 2009…it’s by far the biggest showcase the city has ever witnessed.

The magnitude of it all says a lot about Liverpool, all the right things in fact.

Firstly, that an organisation in the form of SK Events exist (they’re not a client) that can handle what others have previously struggled to do at this level.

Secondly, punters now take their eating out habits far more seriously partly because the service in Liverpool venues matches the much-improved perception.

In addition, there are thankfully far fewer businesses setting up and playing at it helping to maintain the reputation of the sector.

There are also a number of initiatives being mooted that could help the industry in future years too including a foundation being established for the chefs of tomorrow.

Finally, I would argue that regional media never used to take the industry seriously.

Many editors saw ‘food and drink’ as a frivolous departure when hard-nosed business news stories about the industry were presented to them.

It was forgotten by those editors that it was food and drink that revitalised many national newspaper editors’ interests in Liverpool in the nineties, having spent the previous decade bashing the place.

Liverpool’s bars, restaurants and food producers will be showing off their wares come September 13th and it will be sweet revenge to all those who said it would take decades before the city was taken seriously in the sector.

That day has arrived and when I mention that the likes of AA Gill commented that 60 Hope Street is a London restaurant in Liverpool, Antonio Carluccio says Il Forno is one of his favourite restaurants and Delifonseca is being applauded by the nation’s food establishment, I’m actually scratching the surface here.

Find out why on Sunday September 13th and you’ll get your just desserts by going along. www.liverpoolfoodanddrinkfestival.co.uk

Joel Jelen is head of agency at Ubiquity pr www.ubiquitypr.co.uk

MANY firms desperate to attract more business online are increasingly in danger of being sucked in by novice marketing agencies aggressively selling the virtues of SEO (search engine optimisation) techniques.

Experienced marketing professionals with integrity will tell you that traditional SEO when used in isolation from e-pr or digital pr will not generate business. Companies perhaps using the PR industry’s services for the first time coupled with an expanding number of savvy clients now want maximum tangibility. Just five years ago, we operated in a far more nebulous arena.

Unfortunately, as is rife in our fickle world, there are a disappointing number of marketing firms with short term thinking for both their own business and their clients that are plugging SEO to death. Some of these agencies have already left many ex-clients crying in their wake.
The facts are that a business wanting more clients and prospects needs an online marketing strategy that is a combination of SEO marketing and prolific media exposure via digital or e-pr.

If everybody is for example, spending money on pay-per-click then how can that secure a client top ranking on Google? However, if a business is flavour of the month on a consistent basis through regular editorial across print, broadcast and online, only then is it maximising its spend and visibility to win new business.
In some ways, the problem is partly that so many people think they can do marketing & pr and “have a go”.

There are very few industries that relate to the notion of being able to do a “bit of dentistry” or “a bit of architecture”.
E-pr capitalises on the foundation that SEO creates and is a crucial element in a solid SEO strategy.

If an SEO company approaches you, aside from checking their credentials at Companies House, ask if they use a combination of marketing and pr applications online to help you attract more prospects. If they say yes and prove it, only then can you be sure that you’re not having the wool pulled over your eyes.

Nothing’s changed in networking.
 
Your personal value still is whom you know.
 
If you’ve been in business for 10 years, mathematically you’ll probably have around 75 close contacts.
 
That may not sound a lot but I’m talking about real close, i.e. people you like and respect and would recognise you if you bumped into them next to the tomatoes in Sainsburys.
 
Add to these 75 all the folk in their close quarters, the cumulative figure is some 20,000 potentially valuable people.
 
The trick of course in ‘using’ our contacts is to always think givers gain.
 
And, to remember that little of the best-connected people’s networking activity is carried out with a specific goal in mind.
 
Granted, if you ask for everything when networking you get nothing. But if you concentrate your effort on people you most like and who seem to like you back, watch your business grow.
 
Leveraging your own network really is nothing more than just asking people whose company you enjoy, to dinner for nothing other than the pleasure of their company. Even the shyest people can do that.
 
The next stage does require some application in terms of making sure how well people know what you do and then how inspired they are to refer you.
 
Think of this as part of you referral strategy and if you haven’t got one, get one!
 
Don’t get lost in the word strategy either. All I’m saying is get organised by making sure your merry band of close contacts tick all the boxes under 1, know exactly what you do 2, trust highly in you 3, understand how you help others 4, the problems or pain you solve.
 
And, don’t forget, that because very few people want to ‘talk turkey’ after work hours (if that’s when that next networking event is), make sure you are perceived as having a wider purpose to your working life. This will greatly increase your chances of a referral.
 
You might also want, in a quite moment, to sit down and make a detailed assessment of your best contacts. Ask yourself, whom do they know, how willing are they to refer you and what might inspire them to make a free introduction.
 
Oh, and don’t forget either that the best networkers are altruistic and selfless. Give referrals like you don’t remember and receive them without forgetting.

Joel Jelen

Customer service. Long the bain of the discerning shopper in Liverpool but times are a changing and the evidence of improved and in fact, very good customer service has never been more apparent than in our restaurants, particularly those with a coherent and committed policy towards training their staff.

So good has the service become… witness it for your self in the likes of 60 Hope Street, Il Forno and Malmaison… isn’t it about time that we learned how to be good restaurant customers?

Through our client base, we get to experience the many different varieties of eatery in the city and of course, eating out is always about the ambience as well as the food.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had it ruined though by some pompous (often business) type being incredibly rude to staff without justification just because he or she thinks the world owes them something and they’ve got a few quid. In our book of restaurant marketing parlance, the customer is NOT always right if he or she feels it give them the right to treat waiting-on staff as second-class citizens.

The prevailing image in the UK of someone working in licensed and leisure is still of a transient type who could do better rather than that of an aspiring careerist on the way to the top of their game. And sometimes that all too obviously manifests itself in the behaviour of your arrogant suit.

Of course, the issue cuts across all restaurant footfall and it’s not just about the suits. So, whoever you are or think you are (!) never mind about complaining.

Here are seven golden rules on being a good restaurant customer:

1, Don't talk on your phone while the waiter is taking your order. It’s a two-way relationship and he or she wouldn’t do it to you.

2, Please ask about menu items once your guests are all seated if you’re in a big party, rather than ask the poor waiter to repeat over and over as they trickle in. It’s the wrong way to start the evening.

3, Don’t get personal with the waiter, so you think you own him or her for the night. Nobody likes over-familiarity in everyday relationships so what makes you think your waiter will appreciate it?

4, If you know the proprietor of the restaurant, just ask the waiter to pass on your regards to them in case they are present. Don’t play ‘Billy Big Biscuits’ sounding like you’re his or her best mate and are looking for special treatment or a discount. It’s embarrassing and won’t work. Anyway, if the restaurateur was your best mate, he or she would have personally invited you.

5, If the restaurant has a ‘bring your own wine’ policy, ring in advance to check they don’t stock, e.g. your favourite New Zealand Marlborough. If they do, don’t bring it!

6, Move to pay the bill soon after receiving it and don’t hide it under plates or you’re bag. Don’t make it a treasure hunt for the waiter. It’s degrading and makes it look like you don’t want to pay.

7, Tipping is your prerogative, but always do it in cash. Ten per cent is sufficient and courteous, whilst beyond twenty per cent is entering into Bill Big Biscuits territory again.

Make the waiter feel appreciated not subservient and that’s the key to a successful restaurant experience for all concerned!

Bon Appetite!

Joel
Ubiquity PR