News
HSL News – Summer 2011It’s been a busy summer here at HSL – here’s a round-up of what’s been happening
Watching the phone hacking scandal unfold
During June and July each day saw a new revelation in the phone hacking scandal – heads were rolling left right and centre along with the demise of the News of the World. Rumours are now circulating regarding the launch of The Sun on Sunday – we’ll just have to wait and see....
Supporting a number of clients in developing their social media strategies and watching twitter follower numbers increase
Our social media activity on behalf of clients is really gathering pace – if we’re not tweeting we’re monitoring Twilerts, working with clients on defensive strategies or developing employee guidance notes. Our expertise is growing the whole time – boosted by Louise’s attendance at a conference on social media in July.
A quick hop over to Holland to run a pan European PR workshop – in English thank goodness
Alison enjoyed some time out of the office on a quick trip to Arnhem in Holland to run a PR workshop for a group of marketing managers from France, Sweden, Holland, North America, Belgium and the UK. It was a great experience although the flight back was less than pleasant due to massive thunderstorms over Europe.
Sharing in the excitement of two imminent new arrivals – that’s babies – plus 4 newbies to the business – Clare, Claire, Arti and Agne and of course Jen and Joe’s wedding.
The summer has been an exciting season of change! We all had a fantastic time at Jen and Joe’s beautiful wedding in June. We welcomed back Mrs Thorneywork from honeymoon in addition to 4 newbie’s, Claire McInerney, Clare Watson, Arti Mehta and Agne Slikaite. Now looking forward to the arrival of Cecile and Margot’s babies.
More cakes for MS cake bake day which raised £36
Everyone produced (or bought) fabulous cakes for our MS fundraiser. Once again our cake bake was a success as everyone in the building enjoyed our culinary (or shopping) skills! We were thrilled we managed to raise £36 for the cause, roll on the next one!
HSL Celebrates World Book Day
The HSL team has many avid readers and bookworms, so when World Book Day came around last week on 3rd March there was no shortage on recommendations and favourite authors and titles:
‘Adventures on a Scottish Isle’ Monty Hall – ‘Very funny’
‘A Prayer for Owen Meaney’ John Irving – ‘Classic but quite bizarre’.
‘Black Beauty’ Anna Sewell
‘Birdsong’ Sebastian Faulks – A moving and shocking novel, heart – warming and heart – breaking. By the end I was in pieces!’
‘Charlotte’s Web’ E. B. White – ‘The first book that got me into reading, I loved it and still do!’
‘Crime and Punishment’ Fyodor Dostoyevsky – ‘A misunderstood novel and a gripping read. Fantastic writing and weighty philisophical ideas. A must read’.
‘Emma’ Jane Austen – ‘The romance, the amazing characters and the comments on society – just brilliant’.
‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Steig Larsson – ‘I don’t know what I’ll do when I finish the last one.’
‘It’s Not What You Think’ Chris Evans – If you’re a fan of his programmes then it’s a good read’
‘Marley and Me’ John Grogan
‘Memoirs of a Fruit Cake’ Chris Evans
‘Perfume’ Patrick Suskind – ‘One of those books you can read again and again. Full of atmosphere, intrigue, murder and romance – love it!’
‘Poirot’ Agatha Christie
‘Restless’ William Boyd – ‘You can picture everything so clearly.’
‘Stand and Deliver’ Adam Ant – ‘I’m amazed at the famous people he dated.’
‘The Far Away Tree’ Enid Blyton – ‘One read many times as a child’
‘The Gruffalo’ Julia Donaldson – ‘An amazing writer, all of her books are excellent!’
‘The Pact’ Jodi Picoult – ‘These books have taught me so much about things like brittle bone disease, leukemia, child abuse and the American legal system.’
‘The World According to Garp’ John Irving
HSL News - February 2011
New Year, New Plans!
The start of a new year often means starting afresh and working towards new goals and ambitions. That’s certainly true at HSL – plans, plans and more plans were the order of the day for January and February – in between we also got some work done!
Egypt, Libya and New Zealand.
With a considerable number of travel industry Clients, HSL has been keeping a close eye on the recent unrest in Egypt and Libya as well as the devastating earthquake that has hit New Zealand. By developing detailed crisis management plans HSL is prepared for every outcome
Roses are Red...
We couldn’t let St Valentine’s day go by without showing our fab team how much we love them – chocolate hearts all round (courtesy of M&S) yum!
The HSL Harriers
The Wokingham Half Marathon couldn’t have fallen on a worse day; the conditions were wet, windy and cold. However this didn’t deter Agency Principle Justine. Following on from Margot and Jen’s half marathons last year, Justine proved to us all that you don’t have to be in your twenties to be put through your paces, on a horrible day. This summer the HSL Harriers will be running the Race for Life for the sixth year in a row, let’s hope that it’s not held on the hottest day of the year like last summer!
HSL News - January 2011
Trains, Planes and...Blizzards?
Adverse weather conditions in December saw the closure of both Gatwick and Heathrow Airports. Numerous trains were delayed and cancelled; elderly people didn’t leave the house for weeks.
HSL, however, soldiered on, venturing into the office despite the cold conditions, work continued as usual. Meetings were attended, phones were answered, press releases were sent out and tea was made.
With a number of travel industry Clients HSL set straight to work, addressing the increased customer and media interest in travel disruptions and cancellations. HSL quickly, clearly and concisely dealt with the media allowing the Clients to focus on their customers during the bad weather spell.
HSL Stretches Its Charity Muscles
It’s been a busy few months for HSL in terms of charity work, there’s been cake sales, fun runs and a Macmillian Christmas E Card to keep everyone busy.
Instead of sending out cards, HSL has made a £250 donation to Macmillian for the HSL Christmas e-card. Not only saving the environment but supporting a worthwhile cause as well.
Diectors Alison and Justine put their Santa suits and running shoes on for a Santa fun run race in Bushy Park. Joined by four hundred and fifty of their closest Santa friends, Alison and Justine managed to raise a very respectable £260 for the Princess Alice Hospice.
We like cake at HSL, making cake, eating cake, buying cake and selling cake for charity. Which is exactly what happened at the end of November, when HSL held a cake sale for breast cancer awareness and raised just under £75.
Thank you very much to HSL’s extremely generous Clients, colleagues and friends for their continuous support of the multiple charity events that took place throughout the past year.
HSL Goes To The Dogs
This year, HSL headed to the dogs for our Christmas party in the hopes of winning big, or in some cases just winning at all. It was a bitterly cold night but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the team, who set to work losing as much money as they could, in the shortest number of races possible.
The night was a huge success, fun was had by all of the team and the winner of the night went home a whopping £16 richer.
HSL News – July
Press stories imitating art
The HSL team has made the most of several stories in the soaps and TV dramas in the last month for the benefit of our clients. Thanks to Corrie for a great ID fraud storyline and the ITV drama, ‘Identity’ was also a great platform for some excellent media exposure.
Gearing up for the 2010 British Transplant Games
Justine, Maddy and Dom, ably supported by Sam, Mel and Kim (not the eighties pop group!) have stepped up the activity for the 2010 British Transplant Games, which start on 19th August in Bath. Organised by the charity Transplant Sport UK (TSUK), 700 transplant athletes aged from 2 to 82 are already in training for the big event. Around 1,700 visitors are expected to flock to Bath to take part and support the transplant athletes.
Last year some 3,500 lives were saved or dramatically improved thanks to the generosity and courage of donors and their families. However, across the UK whilst the number of people waiting for a transplant is on the rise, the number of potential donors is falling. So the PR job is ever more important.
To find out more about the British Transplant Games visit www.transplantsport.org.uk
To join the NHS Organ Donor Register simply log on at www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.
If you have a few minutes, why not complete our short survey on attitudes to organ donation. Click here to complete.
Too hot for Rounders
The HSL annual summer picnic went ahead without a spot of rain this year – unlike last year! In fact it was too hot for rounders – so the team just languished on rugs, munching goodies, entertaining a few youngsters who’d come along with their parents and mulled over holiday plans! A perfect evening.
HSL News – June
Budgets, The World Cup and Fund raising
The Emergency Budget provided an excellent opportunity for commentary with the rise in IPT and VAT. As usual, the HSL team was hot on the case, providing proactive and reactive comment achieving great pick up in both national and trade media. Initial enthusiasm for The World Cup soon gave way to despondency as England struggled to get to grips with the game. But it's not all been bad news, the World Cup has proved a prime opportunity for PR for some of our Clients. Finally, on the hottest day of the year, four of us completed the Race for LIfe in Richmond Park raising £350 in the process thanks to our generous Clients, colleagues and friends (who were no doubt relaxed in their gardens with a glass of Pimms as we slogged round the course).
HSL News – May
HSL follows the news agenda
Reflecting its proven philosophy to respond to the news agenda, HSL has recently secured high profile exposure for several key motor industry Clients in both tabloid and broadsheet media.
“During the General Election campaign it was incredibly important to create news content on behalf of our Clients that met the media brief” confirmed Wendy Harrison, Managing Director. “By monitoring the news agenda, but staying apolitical, we were able to give the press what they wanted, positioning our Clients very effectively as expert spokespeople.”
HSL didn’t make a drama out of a crisis
With a number of travel industry Clients, the HSL team was put under considerable pressure as a cloud of volcanic ash caused the closing of British airspace. Clearly thought-through crisis management plans, set in place for each Client to anticipate situations that would cause increased customer and, therefore, media interest, provided the HSL team with the right foundations to respond without making a drama out of the crisis.
“Our Clients knew that they could depend on the account teams to support them with the right messaging and media handling” explained Justine Hoadley, Director, HSL. “And that meant that they could concentrate on dealing with their customers questions – in the full confidence that media interest would be responded to efficiently and professionally.”
Identity fraud expertise wins HSL new Client
Having worked in the identify fraud and theft arena for a number of years, HSL’s experience has seen it win two new Clients in this sector in the first few months of 2010.
“Our working relationship with a number of public sector and government bodies has positioned HSL as a key PR expert on a wide range of ID fraud and theft issues”, confirmed Alison Reeson, Director, HSL. “And this certainly played a large part in our winning two new accounts encompassing identity fraud and theft communications messages. We are now working on campaigns that will come to fruition in the early Summer.”
Cakes for MS
At HSL we'll find any excuse for a spot of afternoon tea and cake and this month it was all in a good cause for MS Cake Day. Some of us even managed to bake rather than buy cakes to sell in HSL towers and we raised just under £50. It's a good job we've started training for the Run for Life in June!
Reflecting its proven philosophy to respond to the news agenda, HSL has recently secured high profile exposure for several key motor industry Clients in both tabloid and broadsheet media.
“During the General Election campaign it was incredibly important to create news content on behalf of our Clients that met the media brief” confirmed Wendy Harrison, Managing Director. “By monitoring the news agenda, but staying apolitical, we were able to give the press what they wanted, positioning our Clients very effectively as expert spokespeople.”
HSL didn’t make a drama out of a crisis
With a number of travel industry Clients, the HSL team was put under considerable pressure as a cloud of volcanic ash caused the closing of British airspace. Clearly thought-through crisis management plans, set in place for each Client to anticipate situations that would cause increased customer and, therefore, media interest, provided the HSL team with the right foundations to respond without making a drama out of the crisis.
“Our Clients knew that they could depend on the account teams to support them with the right messaging and media handling” explained Justine Hoadley, Director, HSL. “And that meant that they could concentrate on dealing with their customers questions – in the full confidence that media interest would be responded to efficiently and professionally.”
Identity fraud expertise wins HSL new Client
Having worked in the identify fraud and theft arena for a number of years, HSL’s experience has seen it win two new Clients in this sector in the first few months of 2010.
“Our working relationship with a number of public sector and government bodies has positioned HSL as a key PR expert on a wide range of ID fraud and theft issues”, confirmed Alison Reeson, Director, HSL. “And this certainly played a large part in our winning two new accounts encompassing identity fraud and theft communications messages. We are now working on campaigns that will come to fruition in the early Summer.”
Cakes for MS
At HSL we'll find any excuse for a spot of afternoon tea and cake and this month it was all in a good cause for MS Cake Day. Some of us even managed to bake rather than buy cakes to sell in HSL towers and we raised just under £50. It's a good job we've started training for the Run for Life in June!
