The State of the City
Current mood: enlightened
Category: Blogging

State of The Nation Report

Last night Midnight attended The Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce (BHCC), State of The Nation debate at The Sallis Benney Theatre.

The event was busy and welcomed the elite of the Brighton and Hove business scene.  The format allowed 30 minutes for networking before the debate, so Ben and I quickly set to spreading the merits of winning a BAHBA!

Roger French, OBE and MD of Brighton and Hove Bus Company, chaired the debate fielding audience questions to a panel of key city decision-makers, including Tony Mernagh, Chief Executive of Brighton and Hove Business Forum, Adam Bain, Working Links and Julie Stanford, president of BHCC.  Adam Bates, stepped in to replace leader of the B&H Council, Cllr Mary Mears who sent her regrets.

Tony Mernagh kicked off the event with a snapshot presentation illustrating the current economic climate of Brighton, the South East and the whole of the UK.  Brighton excels in certain areas but lags in others. The working population is getting younger and better qualified which is good, but there is a high percent of graduates that are working low qualified positions in Brighton, which takes jobs away from people without qualifications and hence has a knock on effect to increase the number of people on job seekers allowance. 

The presentation also touched on the need for increased office space in the city and praised the efforts of local developers including Brunswick Developments and the City Point consortium. 

Other topics put to the panel included improving the public realm of the city (Pam Jarvis, SAM) and the importance of allowing a safe and controlled environment for graffiti.  A contentious subject was the recently opened Starbucks on St. James Street in Kemp Town, which opened without planning permission and why was this allowed.  Tony Mernagh was in the hot seat for this one but coolly answered that the franchise had the right to open during its appeal process. Employer legislation was also discussed and the amount of bureaucratic red tape annoyed many of the business owners in the audience.

All in all it was a good event, informative and provided a great platform to promote The BAHBAs.  A number of business cards were swapped in exchange for a BAHBA leaflet!

Caroline Puttock, Midnight Communications

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the business tool for the 21st century
Current mood: animated
Category: Blogging

Great piece in the current edition of Business Week, handily bought to my attention by Mr Mayfield and his Open (finds, minds, conversations) blog.

Ten years ago, Business Week led on an article in which they predicted how a new phenomena called blogs - which had the potential to turn us all in to publishers - would change the way we do business. It's a fascinating article to read, knowing what we now do, but more interesting still is how the article continues to stimulate debate and has even become part of academic study.

The premise of the original piece was that if businesses didn't catch up with blogging, they'd be left behind. They'd discovered the business tool for the 21st century! Hooray! But 10 years on, have things panned out as Business Week expected? According to Forrester, only a quarter of Americans read a blog once a month - hardly evidence of a revolution in how we consume media. 

'Blogs will change your business' was written in the dark days of Web 1.0 when the interaction and connectivity we now take for granted was just a doodle on Mark Zuckerberg's school book. While blogging has undoubtedly shaken up the media world (some are now even more influential than their 'established' peers. Technorati is accepted as the best source for deal making in Silicon Valley), it is possible to say it was a false start. Networking and connecting is where the real potential lies.

The old barriers - personal, professional, commercial, political, social - are dissolving, and it is social media in all its forms - not just blogging - at the heart of that transition. Unsettling as it is for management, it's empowering the rest of us to shape those relationships to how we want them.  The 'top down' supplier-customer model of business is no longer sacrosanct. At Midnight we're witnessing the same transformation in the way PR works - it is no longer about simply issuing our clients' stories (from one to many). It is about using those stories to connect audiences (linking many with many).

The networks that social media facilitates, or provides the tools for, blend previously isolated worlds and open up new possibilities for those who are brave and agile enough.

But - and this is something we debate internally - what is the point of providing the tools for and generating these connections and conversations without evaluating what is said - and acting on it?

It will be very interesting to see how that question is answered - and what the impact of that solution has on business and communications in the next 10 years.

Phil Bloomfield

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Midnight spikes competition in community volley ball tournament
Current mood: energetic
Category: Blogging

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The Marilyn Monroe Show
Current mood: sassy
Category: Blogging

The Marilyn Monroe Show

Introducing America's sweetheart, Norma Jeane, sex bomb actress, Marilyn Monroe and the sharp tongue wit of… Zelda Zonk?!

The Marilyn Monroe Show comes to Brighton for its UK premiere, chronicling the rise and fall of the most famous celebrity of her time.

In this new musical, Marilyn is joined on stage with her naive younger self, Norma Jeane, and her lesser-known alter-ego, Zelda Zonk. Together they laugh, fight and cry through the memories, revealing the innocence, ambition and flaws behind the star and expose the truths behind the myths.

This gripping musical drama features original songs by Michael Dresser, the show's creator, and is performed nightly from May 19 - 25 inside the amazing Parlure Spiegeltent as part of the 2008 Brighton Festival Fringe.

xMarilyn

p.s. Become a fan of The Marilyn Monroe Show group on Facebook!

Contact details:

Email: Marilyn@midnight.co.uk

Website: www.themarilynmonroeshow.com

Office:  01273 709 709

Venue:  The Parlure Spiegeltent, The Green at St Peter's Church  Brighton, United Kingdom

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Is it a bird, is it a plane? No! It’s Midnight
Category: Blogging

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No! It's Midnight

Our MD, Sarah Ogden, really did put Midnight up in the sky last Friday, when she took the team to monkey around at Go Ape. This tree top assault course saw the Midnight massive leaping with gazelle-like grace between the high wire obstacles ensconced in the woodlands of Leeds Castle. Well, OK, so maybe the monkey comparisons are more like it – you can check out photos of the day here and make your own mind up!

The Lifestyle team were the stars of the show, with fearless Fi effortlessly taking on the most terrifying heights, and Hannah pluckily egging on the less courageous of our troop. As well as the team conquering the rope bridges, Tarzan swings and zip slides despite varying degrees of vertigo, yours truly also managed another, rather unique personal best….shutting down the entire adventure park.

Having arrived at the rural idyll that is Leeds Castle, I decided a scenic shot of the hailstorm that befell us would make a nice addition to the blog. Having taken my snap, I was horrified to hear cries of "Lightening storm! Evacuate the park!!" boom from base camp, where upon a troop of anorak clad staff scuttled into the forest demanding treetop adventurers to descend.

Having cleared the park and with the hail storm easing up as abruptly as it had begun, it suddenly occurred to me that the lightening flash that had ended our day out as soon as it began, may, in fact, have been the flash on my camera. Gingerly raising this prospect with Go Ape's staff, I saw that this appeared to be a joint consensus.

The assault course was promptly repopulated and Midnight was kitted out with safety harnesses (the male equivalent of a wonder bra), and we were soon having a tree-mendous time swinging around in the forest canopy.

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The plastic bag debate is heating up
Current mood: breezy
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

The plastic bag debate is heating up and in my opinion it couldn't happen quick enough.  The harmful effect of abandoned plastic bags has been evident for quite some time, but not until recently has it received significant media attention.

We're seeing a previously unheard of alliance between The Daily Mail, environmentalists and the retail industry. The Mail launched its Banish the Bags campaign at the end of February with days of coverage depicting suffocated sea life, hammering home the message that while the bags themselves are used for about 15 minutes, they take several thousand years to biodegrade. 

We were then treated to the sight of Marks & Spencer's joining the nation's conscience guardian by announcing it will no longer give free throwaway carrier bags to its customers, but charge a 5p fee per bag.  Even though critics argue that it's a tokenistic gesture by one of the most carbon-inefficient of sectors, it is nonetheless a move to be praised.  

Some people have voiced complaints over the charge, and say the move will cause M&S to lose customers.  M&S shoppers are already prepared to pay a dividend just by shopping there over somewhere like Lidls or Somerfields'.  So I doubt having to pay 5p for a bag or by being thoughtful, and bringing one from home, is going to turn people off.   I'd hope that M&S shoppers will be proud to support the initiative which will not only have a positive ecological impact, but also help to reduce litter - especially since the retailer has confirmed an income from the sale of plastic bags will go to local environmental schemes.

The plastic bag ban is not new.  In April 2007 Rebecca Hosking, a wildlife photographer, had plastic carrier bags banished from the small South Devon town of Modbury after witnessing its devastation on the animal population.  And here in Brighton our own eco-warrior Chloe Hanks is campaigning for a plastic bag free city - which has itself announced this week to be 'Plastic Bag Free Week'.

Other countries, like Canada, Denmark and Ireland, have successfully charged customers per bag for years.  It gives shoppers greater incentive to reuse bags. 

The media can publicise sad pictures of dolphins and birds with plastic bags over their beaks everyday, but for a large majority of people it is the 5p charge that will make them, even if inadvertently, consider the environment.  It is the quickest and most effective way to encourage people to take fewer bags. 

The earth is our responsibility. When will everyone notice that?

Caroline Puttock, Consultant, Midnight Communications

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Could this work for you?
Current mood: rockin
Category: Blogging

What do you think?

I read an interesting blog today from Tom Nixon about his thoughts for an 'anti retainer' model of payment. Check out his original post and my response. What are your thoughts?

Phil Bloomfield, Head of Client Services

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Midnight celebrates thirteen years of success!
Current mood: bouncy
Category: Blogging

Midnight celebrates thirteen years of success!

Midnight Communications celebrated its thirteenth birthday in style last night at The Queen's Hotel in Brighton, with 200 of the city's key business people and socialites.  

Filled to bursting with current and past Midnighters, clients and friends of the city's pre-eminent PR consultancy, the event had a 'Lucky for some' theme to reflect the fact that we turned 13 on the 13^th of this month!

Guests' palms were crossed with silver as they arrived for good luck, and thanks to the presence of tarot-reading mystic Barbara they could be used in exchange to find out what the future might hold as well.

But it was not all spookiness and superstition. We were also celebrating the joy of entering adolescence.  Becoming a teenager needn't mean pulling on a hoodie and drinking cheap cider though - Midnight at 13 meant a circulating magician, a special ASBO cocktail, musical bumps, a giant pass the parcel game and musical chairs (in which our esteemed Mayor won a signed Albion jersey!). 

And of course it wouldn't have been a Midnight party without a karaoke session, although Craig's bravura performance of Limp Bizkit's 'Rollin' couldn't compete with the sheer emotional intensity of Meatloaf's 'Two Out of Three Ain't Bad' by a certain member of the senior management.  

Midnight is known for throwing fantastic events for clients - but this one was for us and it was great to see so many friendly faces sharing our special evening.  Caraline Brown, Midnight's founder and our MD, Sarah Ogden, hosted the party and was rightfully praised to the skies for reaching the landmark anniversary.

The good news for those still suffering is that our client KORU supplied all of the guests with a stash of their energy strips for an instant boost to regain focus.  Phew, I think I'll have another!

Happy Birthday Midnight, and here's to the next thirteen years!

Phil Bloomfield, Head of Client Services, Midnight Communications

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Valentine’s Day
Current mood: enthralled
Category: Blogging

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Journalism or ‘churnalism’ - what happens in your newsroom?
Current mood: inquisitive

Dominic Ponsford comments on Guardian writer Nick Davies 'searing indictment'  on what he calls "churnalism" in this week's Press Gazette.

Davies reports on the lasted findings from Cardiff University's journalism department, which indicate 80 percent of news stories in UK nationals are partially made up of recycled material from the PR industry and / or other news sources.

Phil gives his own opinion here.

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