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150 women shape up in Trafalgar Square

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The team embarked on a fitball frenzy this week, when we created the UK’s largest fitball workout for Simplyhealth. The event – held in Trafalgar Square – saw 150 women come together to launch The Vitality Show and raise £15,000 for Breast Cancer Campaign. All the women were recruited in just eight days through a mix of Facebook, Twitter and traditional media relations. We had a great turnout from TV, radio and print media and even managed to secure a plug on the ITV London News.

HOLLAND & BARRETT BANS PLASTIC BAGS

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Yesterday, Holland & Barrett CEO, Peter Aldis announced a total ban on plastic bags across all its 539 stores. During a press conference at London Zoo, Peter also used the opportunity to challenge other retailers to step up to the plate and follow suit. The move will reduce the number of plastic bags handed out by 7.6 million a year.

In place of plastic bags, the retailer is launching two specially designed fabric bags and a paper bag, featuring the Large Blue Butterfly – a rare breed that was declared extinct in Britain 25 years ago, but has since been successfully reintroduced following a Holland & Barrett funded programme, led by Professor Jeremy Thomas.

Nationwide, each person uses an average of 167 plastic bags per year – or an astonishing 13,000 over a lifetime. The majority end up in landfills or strewn across the countryside.

You can read the story here

Generating buzz for Burt’s Bees

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By Simone

Last week, we caused a big buzz at Kensington Roof Gardens, hosting the UK’s first major Burt’s Bees showcase. A healthy 57 consumer and trade journalists took a moment out of their day to visit and learn about the range, new products and the company’s history and values – as well as indulge in a spot of pampering in the Sanctuary Tent. If that wasn’t enough, we even had an on-site beekeeper and a glass observation hive, which provided a rare opportunity to study the bees at work.

Overall the day was bee-rilliant!

Okay, enough of the bee puns…

A problem shared, a campaign rewarded

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By Rebecca

The corks flew again last night, this time at the Communique Awards, as we picked up yet another OTC prize.

In an impressive show, our campaigns occupied three of the four nomination places for the prestigious ‘Best OTC Product Campaign’ award – Hedrin’s ‘Once a Week, Take a Peek’, Covonia’s – ‘Winning the Cold War’ and Colief’s ‘A Problem Shared.

In the end, Colief’s ‘A Problem Shared’ triumphed over the bugs and the bulls with their visually creative campaign that used a striking image of England rugby star, Ben Cohen recreating the famous Athena poster, L’Enfant. The judges said, “The image appealed to both sexes and created healthy debate…the male image was a genuinely clever idea.”

Not content with one prize, Hedrin’s ‘Once A Week, Take A Peek’ campaign was ‘Highly Commended’ in the ‘Best Patient or Public Campaign’ – a brilliant result against some tough competition. The judges said, “Great campaign – loved the text service to parents. This is great marketing.”

We’ve now won back to back ‘Best OTC Campaign’ awards two of the most prestigious healthcare ceremonies of the year. We are feeling proud today!

Klorane showcase success

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By Simone

Today, St Martins Lane played host to the UK’s top beauty journalists as part of the relaunch of Klorane’s Pomegranate hair care range. Celebrity stylist, Zoe Irwin, was on hand to comment and provide a consultation and styling service, using Klorane’s fabulous Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk – which is fast becoming a cult beauty product amongst celebrities, stylists and beauty journalists alike.

Two from two at the OTC Marketing and Fresh Awards

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It was cork popping night on Thursday, as we picked up gongs at two of the first bashes of the year.

First up was ‘Best OTC Public Relations Campaign for a Medicine’ at the OTC Marketing Awards – a great result against some tough opposition. “More bang for Thornton and Ross’ buck” commented one judge about our ‘Once a Week, Take a Peek’ campaign for Hedrin head lice treatment. The campaign struck the right balance between the parents’ need for information and support and blended the traditional with the digital – even stretching to the introduction of a school based early warning text message system for parents.

At the same time, some 200 miles North West of the Park Lane Hotel, we were picking up the ‘Freshest Use of a Celebrity’ award at the inaugural Fresh Awards. Created to recognise excellence outside London (there’s a lot of it about, you know), the awards were judged by chairman and industry stalwart, Mark Borkowski, PR Week’s Danny Rogers and Andy Green, MD of Green Communications. The winning campaign used ex Blue Peter presenter, Katy Hill to great effect as both ambassador and endorsee of LIPObind – a natural weight management supplement that helped her lose 4 ½ stone – about the average weight of a Blue Peter Labrador.

A panel member commented, “Frankly, I was impressed with the award entries; the ambition and ingenuity on display was invigorating. So many campaigns clearly demonstrated that PR outside the M25 is vibrant, alive and well and patently capable of withstanding the drafts of the recessionary winter ahead.”

Did you ever doubt it?

Taking slimming to the extreme

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An extreme slimmer left with huge folds of skin after shedding an amazing 45 stone has had his life transformed by specialist surgeons at McIndoe Surgical Centre, West Sussex. Colin Corfield first hit TV screens in 2007 in the ITV documentary ‘Lose 30 Stone or Die’, which chartered his extraordinary weight loss journey following a gastric bypass operation. After watching him on Channel 4’s Richard & Judy Show, where he was lamenting his struggle to find a plastic surgeon to carry out much-needed excess skin removal, we got in touch to offer him a consultation with our client the McIndoe Surgical Centre, before speaking to ITV to see if they wanted to do a follow up programme charting his next steps. 

Tonight, Colin will return to TV screens in the new documentary ‘Extreme Slimmers’ which follows his series of operations at the McIndoe Surgical Centre, where expert reconstructive plastic surgeon Peter Arnstein worked to remove the excess skin.

Seaweed pill fights obesity

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This week, we’ve been grabbing the headlines for a new Goldshield product – Appesat.  Imitating the effects of a gastric balloon, but without the risks of invasive surgery, Appesat enables people to gain control of their appetite, reduce their food intake and ‘train’ their body to physically and psychologically want less food.  It works by expanding, moving around and stimulating receptors in the stomach wall, which send a signal to the brain informing it that the stomach is full.  The coverage has been flying in, including the Daily Mail, the Sunday Mirror and BBC South East News.

Could 2009 be the year of the dry shampoo?

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Fuelled by a series of great reviews from journalists and stylists, the cult following for Klorane Dry Shampoo continues to grow.

Christina Aguilera may like to give us the impression she’s ‘dirrty’, but clearly this doesn’t extend to her hair, after she named it as one of her ‘secret beauty weapons’ in a recent interview with Elle. Mischa Barton has just told Cosmopolitan that she uses the product as ‘a styling agent’ when her hair is limp and Glamour.com delved into the secrets of top stylists, only to find that Klorane was used on what’s left of Britney Spears’ hair during filming of her video to Circus.

Take two bottles into the shower? Why take any?

A ringing Royal endorsement

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Nelsons – maker of Rescue Remedy and other alternative medicines, played host to a lifelong fan yesterday, as His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales toured the manufacturing plant and laboratories in Wimbledon. After learning all about the manufacturing process, the Prince went on to pay the company the ultimate compliment, saying, “For many years I’ve had nothing but admiration for what this company has achieved. In fact, I was brought up with Nelsons. My sympathies ‎are with The Duchess as she is not feeling well today, she obviously has not taken enough ‎Nelsons products!”