(From left to right) Laraine Penson, Sophia Dryden, Lucy Laville, Andy Green, Megan Edwards and Anne Gregory

Leeds Met, in partnership with the CIPR, hosted a free event at the Rose Bowl last week, to help students improve their interview skills.

The event involved PR experts from the industry giving a presentation to students offering tips and advice, followed by speed dating style group interviews.

Andy Green of Green Communications began the evening in his own colourful and energetic way, with not ten but eleven top interview tips. Andy was followed by Laraine Penson who gave an open and endearing reflection about her recent interview experience for the Director of Communications role at Northern Ballet.

Professor Anne Gregory of Leeds Metropolitan University delivered a valuable presentation on how to answer five killer questions in an interview and Lucy Laville gave insightful advice from her own experience as an interviewer.

The students then split up into four groups, and the four professionals rotated around each group, asking them interview questions and offering advice.

Natalie Dickinson, a second year PR student said: “the evening had a really good format – the group workshop was very interactive and gave me the opportunity to engage with the professionals. 

 ”I now feel confident  about my upcoming interviews and have picked up some valuable tips on how to sell myself.”

The event was a success, with PR course leader Lucy Laville branding it a ‘triumph’. 30 students from all levels of the PR course attended, making the student to professional ratio balance perfect. The students thoroughly engaged with the professionals and succeeded in gaining all the help and advice they needed.

The event was organised by Leeds Met CIPR Student Representatives Megan Edwards and Sophia Dryden, with support from Public Relations Course Leader, Lucy Laville.

Megan said: “We wanted to create an event that was relevant to students at this time, whilst giving them the opportunity to network and gain hands on experience with the professionals – we think we succeeded in this.”

Sophia added: “We would like to thank the professionals for giving up their time to attend at the event, we know how busy they are, so really appreciate their help.”

As prospective university students weigh up their offers of places, a new survey finds the highly competitive battle for new students is fought first and foremost on the university’s own website.

The survey of nearly 250 prospective university students found the majority (30% – nearly a third) of students used the university’s own website to conduct research about which academic institution to attend.   This was more than any other research method they employed.

The research was commissioned by news navigator www.OneNewsPage.com and conducted by www.theanswerbank.co.uk.

Prospective students’ next most popular form of research was visiting the campus in person (26%).  This was followed by asking teachers, family and friends (18%).

Published independent research and press articles were used as research by 16% of would-be higher education students. 

Just 5% were content to choose a university by its reputation alone. And chat rooms and online forums also had little influence.  Again only 5% said they used these to research which universities to attend.

 Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer, CEO of One News Page, says:

“It’s clear just how important the university’s own website is in attracting new students and influencing their decision to attend it.  Our research shows that a good site is the best marketing tool, and a poor website is highly damaging when it comes to wooing new students.  As this year’s school leavers are making up their minds where to study, university webmasters should be ensuring their sites are presenting their institution at its very best.”

While a good university website helps attract students, a poor one has the opposite effect.   Almost two thirds (61%) of respondents said a poor website would put them off attending that institution. And well over hal (55%) agreed with the statement that “A good univeristy website speaks a lot about the quality of the institution.” 

Andy Carter

Leeds City Council and Leeds Metropolitan University have teamed up to help public relations students get on the job training, assist with their studies and boost their employment chances once they’ve graduated.

A partnership between the two organisations has been developing for several years which gives students the opportunity to do real work for a real organisation. It not only benefits the council, it contributes to the student’s learning and can often make a difference to their final grade.

This year, a number of under graduates from Leeds Met’s public relations school have been carrying out various projects to audit different council activities, for instance, investigating issues such as culture and internal communications.

Andy Carter, head of communications said: “There’s no point in getting students in on work experience only for them to sit there watching what the council’s communications team does.  Instead, they need to be involved and getting their hands dirty.  That’s why our work with Leeds Met is so valuable – the council gets something out of it and the students benefit too.”

One of the latest council and Leeds Met projects is being managed by students Mary O’Shea and Jenny Singh. They are investigating whether the use of social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter are effective as communications channels for the council’s libraries service. The results will be shared with the authority and used to improve the service.

Shirley Beresford from Leeds Met University said: “We have had a strong relationship with Leeds City Council for many years with a number of our students being offered the valuable opportunity to do some ‘real’ work.

“We’ve carried out a range of projects – such as communication audits – in a number of council departments.

 “Feedback from the work is excellent and I’m delighted that we continue to develop new opportunities for students and Leeds City Council in the future.”

Councillor Richard Brett, joint leader and executive board member with responsibility for communications said: “These students are potential council communicators of the future and I’m delighted that we’re able to offer them the opportunity to work closely with us.  Proper ‘on the job’ training is by far the best way of gaining new skills.  The fact their work has the potential to help us improve our services is a definite bonus.”

Social networking sites are becoming increasingly popular and are being used by many organisations to support their PR and marketing activities. Mary and Jenny are keen to collect a range of views and have set up a short online questionnaire which they would be grateful if people would complete. It can be found by clicking here.

Debbie Hulme

With 2009 proving to be the toughest year yet for graduates seeking employment, it has never been more important to shine above the rest after leaving university.  With research showing that the number of graduate jobs on offer has fallen by 28%* – what can students and graduates be doing to increase their chances of employment? 

Extra-curricular activities, courses and creative programs are often a good place to start.  Every year, students can be part of various programs to make an impression on companies they would like to work for and give them the chance to get noticed by reputable employers.  

The Young Creatives Network Awards (YCN) is specifically for art and design students and involves a number of major blue chip brands, including Bacardi and Google.  These companies set real live briefs for students to submit creative work for a chance of winning a coveted award.  The awards run in conjunction with many Universities, Colleges and Art & Design Schools across the UK and in 2008, another brand, The Feel Good Drinks Company set a challenge to find a new creative concept, that would spread ‘feelgoodness’. 

 The Feel Good brief was won by De Montfort University student Debbie Hulme.  The company also worked with five other applicants after the winner was announced giving them all additional work experience with an established brand. 

Debbie went on to develop a short-stop animation featuring a family of Gnomes making a Feel Good juice drink which was then recreated and used for a National TV ad and a regional poster campaign.   The experience gave Debbie the chance to work with a top class graphics company and award-winning animator, as she stepped into a ‘creative consultant’ role on the project.  This not only added considerable weight to her CV but most importantly, enabled her to land a job instantly with a local graphic design agency upon leaving uni. 

Debbie added: “I was amongst so many other graduates trying to find a job when I left university; I knew it would be tough.  However after winning the competition for The Feel Good Drinks Company, I was able to leave university not only with a First Class Honours degree, but a great CV and I’m delighted to say I was lucky enough to secure my dream job in a design agency in my local town!”

2009 marks the 8^th YCN Student Award scheme and the hunt is on again to find emerging students and creative stars.  The Feel Good Drinks Company believe the scheme worked so well last year that the company has now set a new brief for 2010 centred around brand awareness and focusing on its key brand message. 

Some Hints and Tips to Help Futureproof your degree include:

1.       Think about other qualifications or courses you can take to increase your employability – For design students, programs such as Photoshop – this saves a company’s training time

2.      Become a member of a professional body for your chosen trade – e.g. CIPR for Public Relations – it shows you are serious about your career and industry

3.      Get as much work experience in your industry as possible, even non-paid for if you can afford it.  This again shows how determined you are about your career and working for either that particular company or another in the same sector

4.     Approach companies directly, don’t wait for jobs to come to you.  Research your top ten companies you would like to work for and tailor a cover letter and CV, offering yourself for intern / work experience opportunities as well as full-time employment

5.      Keep an eye out for opportunities to get involved with key companies you may be interested in working for, be it through competitions for their marketing/advertising campaigns, Facebook fan pages, Twitter or other places they may ask for input on any ideas.

The event will consist of PR experts from the industry talking to the students and offering tips and advice, followed by them holding mock interviews, which will prove invaluable towards improving interview skills.

Professionals attending include Andy Green of Green Communications, Professor Anne Gregory of Leeds Metropolitan University and Director of Communications at Northern Ballet, Laraine Penson.

The event invites all levels of PR students, as strong interview skills are crucially important to all at this time, as they work hard to secure 12 month work placements, short-term placements and graduate positions.

Second year PR student Becky Knowles said: “as I am currently preparing for an interview with the Disney Channel for a year long internship, this is the perfect time to have an event like this – it is sure to be very helpful.”

The event has been organised by Leeds Met CIPR Student Representatives Megan Edwards and Sophia Dryden, with support from Public Relations Course Leader, Lucy Laville.

Sophia said: “the event is a great opportunity for students to network, as well as gain advice from the people who have the knowledge and expertise to help improve their skills.’

The event will take place between 6.30 and 8pm in room 414 and refreshments will be available.

Will Watson updates his followers during a meeting

The Leeds Met Students’ Union Executives are showing Leeds City councillors who appear to be stuck in the dark ages just how useful a few Tweets during a meeting can be.

Earlier this week the Lord Mayor, Cllr Judith Elliot, banned councillors James Lewis and Jamie Matthews from using Twitter during meetings of the full council. The ruling has been heavily criticised by councillors and senior PR professionals who believe a Twitter or two can be a very effective way to communicate important information to wider audience.

Will Watson, Associate President Education, is an avid Tweeter and will often keep the students of Leeds Met updated on the Union’s Executive meetings via the social media platform.

Will said: “Twitter is fantastic way to engage with our students over issues that matter to them, the ruling to ban our city’s councillors from tweeting is an absurdly arcane measure. Councils should strive to move with the times just like business do; social media is an ever growing beast and used in the correct way can be extremely powerful.”

Monday sees the monthly Executive meeting and Will, along with other executive officers will all be tweeting away.

Twitter supporters Coun James Lewis, Ollie the Twitter bird and Stuart Bruce

Councillor James Lewis said: “The incident in question was a very important housing plan for a part of Kippax just outside of Leeds, the public gallery was empty so I thought I would try to inform as many of my followers on Twitter as I could.  It’s great that the politicians of the future are engaging with their publics using social media and I hope they continue to do so.

 Stuart Bruce, managing director of Leeds-based public relations and social media consultancy Wolfstar said:

 “New media and the internet doesn’t replace traditional political channels, but it’s playing an increasingly important part. This will be the UK’s first election where the internet will play a significant part so it’s refreshing to see the politicians of the future embracing new forms of communication

To follow Will Watson on Twitter click here  and to follow the Leeds Met Students’ Union click here

By Carly Ann Smith

The night of the 22nd February had finally arrived…..the big debate….. “Is PR killing real journalism?” The event was organised jointly by the University of Lincoln’s Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations department and the Lincoln School of Journalism. It was sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Anita Raghavan, a journalist with Forbes magazine and Marc Wadsworth, a lecturer at City University and founder and editor of thelatest.com formed the journalists side. Andy Green, author, partner in Green PR and creativity entrepreneur and Peter Smith, a lecturer at Lincoln University with significant PR experience formed the PR team. The stage was set.

Both sides put forward some great points.  Anita claimed that PR practitioners were there to pull ‘the wool over people’s eyes’ and to deliberately shade the truth and even lie.

Andy Green didn’t feel the need to stay behind the lectern and read from notes. He was calm, collected and engaged with the audience. Using a glass of water to represent his point he argued there is no definitive truth, people are always biased and when things are placed in a large context their meanings can be changed. He wanted to work together with journalists to create better consumers of media and claimed we had a collective interest. This is a point contested by Anita saying she didn’t see any middle ground that they could meet on.

Marc described PR professionals and journalists as being in a ‘sickly embrace’ and claimed PR practitioners needed journalists more than they needed them. He wanted journalists to ‘return the spin’ instead of letting journalism become ‘churnalism’ – mere printing of press releases with no investigation.

Peter Smith said, “To be a good PR professional one had to think like a journalist.” Journalism isn’t dying it’s just changing. He emphasised we must ‘survive together or die separately.’

Questions flooded in from the floor with students (and lecturers alike) asking probing questions.

The debate posed a further question for many people: journalists attack PR for being biased, but surely the only difference between PR professionals and journalists is that PR professionals are transparent in their intentions? Everyone understands that they work for a particular company so their intentions are clear. It has been claimed that “any story that you look at will select some facts over others, highlight some opinions over others” – Is that not classed as spin because it was a journalist who said it?

The big result? 11 for and 34 against the notion that PR is killing journalism. Even PR practitioners wouldn’t claim this is a definitive result, to suggest however that it carries ‘next to no information at all’ defeats the object of having the debate. This is a debate that is unlikely to be settled and is undoubtedly one to watch. If journalists think that real journalism is in decline maybe they should look elsewhere for the cause…

The CIPR will be hosting a careers morning for students and graduates interested in starting a career in Public Relations. We understand that it has become increasingly difficult for graduates to enter their chosen career. This event will provide you with useful hints and tips to help you get that all important first foothold on the PR ladder.

The event consists of three bite-size sessions offering advice and guidance on what employers are looking for; getting your foot in the door and then CV and interview tips. All sessions include an opportunity for you to ask questions.

Following the event you will have the opportunity to network with a few select PR recruitment consultants and PR organisations.

The programme for the morning is as follows:

        09:30 Registration with tea/coffee and a continental breakfast
        10:00 Event starts
        10:10 Chair’s intro
        10:15 Session 1 – What employers are looking for
        10:50 Session 2 – Getting your foot in the door
        11:20 Session 3 – CV & Interview advice
        11:50 Chair’s closing comments
        12:00 Presentation ends – Exhibitors
        13:00 Event closes

• Date: Monday 19 April 2010
• Time: 10am – 1pm
• Location: CIPR HQ, 52-53 Russell Square, London, WC1B 4HP
• Cost: CIPR Student/Affiliate studying members – £5 +VAT
• CIPR non-members – £7 +VAT
• Web: www.cipr.co.uk/Training/prawards/getting_started.asp

To book tickets click here. For further information contact Vicky King, CIPR Group Development Officer on victoriak@cipr.co.uk

Ben Cotton and Laura Fischer

A Leeds Met student and graduate are impressing the world of PR after collecting awards at the European Public Relations and Research Association Spring Symposium.

MA Public Relations student Laura Fischer received the student award for her website New Media in Practice, which explores PR and New Media, while former PR student and Graduate Trainee Ben Cotton picked up the social media award for the Best Practitioner/Researcher Blog for his site Social Web Thing.

The Euprera Spring Symposium awards, which were held over three days at the University College Arteveldehogeschool in Ghent, Belgium, recognised candidates who maintained an online presence equivalent to at least ten weblog posts connected to communications/public relations ahead of the competition deadline set for earlier this year.

Ben has since been tweeting his joy of winning the award and said on his blog:

“I’m delighted to have won the award and must confess that I’m slightly surprised given the strong standard of blogs that Social Web Thing was up against. As I said throughout my presentation with Neville Hobson and Philip Young, the success of SWT has little to do with me and much to do with the many people who have kindly given their time to answer Q&As or give opinions – which in turn have stimulated much debate. So thank you all.”

Laura describes her success on her blog:

It was a great honour for me to receive this award and get the chance to present my blog in front of many of Europe’s top PR academics at the symposium. Quite apart from presenting it in interaction with Neville Hobson, one of the world’s leading communications commentators, blogger and podcaster, and panel administrator Philip Young, University of Sunderland.

]]> http://www.behindthespin.com/news/and-the-winner-is/feed 0 http://www.behindthespin.com/news/de-montfort-student-goes-the-extra-mile-1170-miles-to-be-exact http://www.behindthespin.com/news/de-montfort-student-goes-the-extra-mile-1170-miles-to-be-exact#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:31:46 +0000 Behind the Spin http://www.behindthespin.com/?p=1460

Annika Wahl

As the annual race to land the dream placement begins, Public Relations students across the country are vying to stand out from the crowd and to prove that they have the competitive edge over their peers.  

University libraries will soon be full of hysterical PR students cutting and pasting a years worth of PR activity so that portfolio’s are fit to burst. However one student who should feel calmer than most about her employability is Annika Wahl, a MA Public Relations student from Leicester’s De Montfort University.

 Annika, 27, has recently returned from a month long placement at KOM ltd, a PR consultancy based in Reykjavik, Iceland. Whilst working at KOM Annika gained experience working in public affairs, crisis management and lobbying. Each day presented a new task for Annika as she was sent out to various different companies and clients of KOM to spend a day with PR manager. 

A native German, Annika began her studies at the Institute of Journalism and Public Relations in Gelsenkirchen before moving to England to complete her MA. 



Annika said “My time at KOM was without doubt the most enjoyable and most valuable experience of my career so far.  Each day provided me with a new challenge and a unique learning experience.  I feel lucky to have been given the insight into such a professional company and am tremendously grateful to the KOM team who have helped my PR skills develop considerably”   

Annika in Iceland

In her final week Annika was asked by KOM to prepare a presentation on social media and how they could implement it into future campaigns.

Annika added “My presentation was a fantastic way to round off my placement.  Social media was something that KOM had used very little of and I hope that my presentation illustrated the power that social media can add to an organization.

This summer Annika will return to Iceland to write her Masterthesis.

Liz Bridgen from De Montfort University Leicester, added:

 “MA in PR students at De Montfort University undertake a four week work placement in a public relations environment as part of their studies.  This is the first time that a student has gone abroad for their placement and Annika certainly made the most of her time in Iceland.   As well as learning about the PR challenges faced by the country and its institutions, she was able to use her PR knowledge to counsel agency clients and colleagues.”

Now is the time for undergraduates to look for summer internships, according to leading recruitment expert and internship specialist, Ben Rosen of Inspiring Interns.

Google trends have shown that there has been a recent increase in the amount of people searching for the word ‘internship’, highlighting how popular this method of finding a job is becoming.

Rosen says: “March is the ideal time for students to spend what free hours they have building up their CVs and really thinking about where they want to work when they graduate. Leaving it to the last minute isn’t a wise idea as competition for placements is hotting up, so students need to get ahead of the game.”

Rosen says: “Internships are a great way for graduates to showcase their talents, gain invaluable experience and find out whether their chosen career will suit them. It’s a win-win situation because the business also benefits as they are provided with some talented, affordable help and are given the opportunity to  trial a prospective employee to see if they are the right person for their company.”  

 

 

She says: “It’s a daunting task looking for work straight out of university and there’s so much in the media about how we’ll never find a job, it can leave you extremely disheartened.  A lot of people want to get into PR and so there is fierce competition for the jobs, particularly in central London and if you’ve not got any experience you’ll struggle to even get an interview. However, joining Inspiring Interns gave me the support and confidence I needed to find a role I loved.  After I completed my three-month internship I was offered a job – a job I would never have got or even known about without Inspiring Interns.”

• Start looking – With summer fast approaching students should make the time to look around. There are specialist internship companies, like Inspiring Interns, that can help you find your placement and give you reliable and trust-worthy advice to help you impress employers. 
• Update your CV – Your CV should be your most powerful weapon to wow prospective employers. Make sure it includes all your relevant experience and is accurate, tidy and easy-to-read. NEVER lie – you may be asked about what you said which can only get you into hot water, as Lee McQueen from The Apprentice experienced first-hand.
• Get connected – If you meet people at events make sure you keep in touch and follow up meetings with an email so they have your contact details. Friends and family may also have good connections, but again recruitment consultancies and internship specialists will have a book of contacts that they can scroll through to find a placement that suits.
• Keep optimistic – The job market may be tough at the moment but there are internships out there that can give you the experience that will put you one step ahead of your competitors. Never get down-hearted and always be optimistic that you can find a job that you will love. 

A graduate from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth with a degree in Arts and Event Management, Chloe has succeeded in curating her own events from art exhibitions to multicultural arts festivals with a 17-hour back-to-back programme of events.

Chloe is passionate about the creative contribution the Arts has to the events world and has previously worked as Events Manager for the London Festival of Youth Arts and for multicultural arts event, Inside Out Dorset. In 2007, her passion was recognised by the Cultural Olympiad South West Team, when she was shortlisted from over 100 people for the steering committee FUSE2012.

Before joining LLPR, Chloe worked for the reputable restaurants, The Print Room, Aruba and WestBeach, on a variety of functions from B2B events including the Hotel and Catering Show Gala dinner, to private events and added-value arts events such as Flamenco Shows, Opera nights and Wine Discovery Evenings.

In her new role at Liz Lean PR, Chloe will concentrate on not only continuing, but expanding the LLPR Events service offering. Along with the B2B and consumer events, Chloe will develop the agency’s own LLPR branded exclusive events as well as private events.

Managing Director, Liz Willingham said:

“We have always been known for our events work but we have noticed a distinct increase in such projects as organisations are rightfully choosing ‘face to face’ sales and awareness opportunities. It also supports our extensive stakeholder engagement activity. In recent months, we have created and orchestrated the exclusive series of launch events for Bournemouth University’s new Executive Business Centre as well as for many other new and established restaurants and organisations throughout the region.”

 “Now with Chloe on board, our strength in this aspect of our work can only grow and we are being creative about the breadth of services LLPR Events will offer. We like to do things a little differently – this gives us the perfect opportunity to go even further!”

To help make students aware of the symptoms of the disease, the Lymphoma Association has created a simple acronym: PITS – Persistent lumps, Itching, Tiredness and Sweating.  And in order to get the PITS message out, they’ve launched a fun and attention-grabbing online competition.

Students are encouraged to pitfart (a noise made by cupping your hand over your armpit) and upload a clip of their skills via the campaign hub at http://www.pitfart.com/. 

Winning the competition is simple; the student whose video receives the highest number of views will gain the trip to Paris, which was kindly donated to the charity by The Flight Centre.  

While visiting the website, students will also read about the signs and symptoms of lymphoma.

Julie Mercer, Head of Communications for The Lymphoma Association said: “We’re really excited about the campaign and have had some fantastic feedback by people who had been affected by lymphoma. Research shows that standard health messages generate a poor level of awareness among the student age group, so we’re hoping that a tongue-in-cheek competition and a trip to Paris will raise consciousness of the disease and its symptoms”.

The competition will run until 2^nd March 2010.

To enter the competition or to find out more about lymphatic cancer, please visit www.pitfart.com or contact the Lymphoma Association’s Freephone Helpline on 0808 808 5555.

The conference has been set up by Michael White as part of his role as CIPR Student Representative for the Universityof Gloucestershire. Open to students and businesses alike the #AddMe Conference aims to tackle the key questions of how to create, manage and utilise relationships online. To highlight the significance of creating relationships online keeps the #AddMe Conference open to a wide range of topics.

Michael pleased by the progress the conference is making saying, “Social media is a key topic of interest and importance. It is changing business models and for me it is important to put a conference on to address people’s interests and concerns. The #AddMe Conference will serve as a valuable resource for anybody interested in the changing communication landscape.”

The conference will highlight the significance of creating relationships online and will explain the continually adapting communication landscape for industries. The evening will begin with a talk from David Phillips who is an active PR practitioner, has been involved in the communications landscape for 20 years and is the author of three books about online public relations. He will be followed by Alex Sass, named “Best of British: Entrepreneur” by Attitude Magazine and currently heading up the digital team at Renegade Media. He will cover methods of digital PR, social media marketing and a warning to the industry.

The keynote speaker of the evening will be Aren Grimshaw. His roles include lead organiser of the Cornwall Twestival events, founder of Cornwall Social Media Cafe, marketing director of Tonick Media, publisher of Business Cornwall and consultant to a range of clients. He is a regular speaker on the subject of social media and its role within business.

The event will take place at the University of Gloucestershire, Park Campus on Wednesday 10^th March at 7.00pm until 10:30pm. Normal tickets cost £5 and student tickets cost £3 (using promo code STUDENTDISC). Refreshments will be available on the evening.

Further information and ticket sales can be found at: http://www.addme.mikewhite.co.uk/

You can also follow the event on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/Addmeconf

John's winning poster

 A Leeds Met student has won a poster competition aimed at raising the awareness of mental health amongst young men.

John Barton, a second year Graphic Design student at  the University was crowned the winner of the ‘Big Boys Should Cry’ campaign which was set up by the Leeds Met Students’ Union.

The campaign aims to raise the awareness of the Leeds Met Counselling Service amongst young male students and to break down the stigma attached to men seeking counselling. The winning poster which was entitled “I had the balls to go to counselling” was chosen from a shortlist of 12 and will appear in around 25 participating bars and clubs regularly visited by male students.

John and his winning poster at the awards

Elizabeth Taylor, PR Officer for Leeds Met Students’ Union said: “We were shocked to find that many male students put off seeking counselling because they see it as dent to their masculinity.  The counselling service deals with a myriad of different cases, so however big or small the problem we want our male students to feel comfortable in seeking help. We believe with our campaign can make counselling more accessible to male students.  

Counsellor at Leeds Met, Sue Dominey said: “It can be difficult to admit you are experiencing problems, feeling emotionally upset and worried, if everyone else around you appears fine. Sometimes men wear a ‘mask of cool’ on the outside, which hides inner distress and vulnerability. I believe it is a sign of strength and courage for a man to ask for help.”

Not only does John’s poster become the face of the Big Boys Should Cry campaign, his prize also includes gig tickets for The Cockpit, a book on poster design from OK Comics and a gym membership.

John said: “I wanted my poster to be memorable and to really make a difference to the lives of my fellow male students. I felt it was important to add a touch of humour, however. Behind the humour, the poster maintains a powerful underlining message that it takes guts and honesty to seek counselling.”

There are currently Stardoll communities in 17 languages in over 200 countries. To date, over 48.8 million Medolls have been created, and more than 39 million unique users worldwide visit The Stardoll Network each month.  

Somerville Road becomes Accident Avenue

Snow, ice, wind and rain make for a dangerous time out there on the roads at the moment! To highlight the rise in motor insurance claims during the recent bad weather, Confused.com has covered an entire street in Worcester in bubble wrap. The price comparison website identified Somerville Road in Worcester as having one of the highest numbers of car insurance claims in the UK in the last five years.

 Everything from the trees, pavements, vehicles, lampposts, even to the garden gnomes have been covered, to create the ultimate safety blanket for motorists. Some insurance providers have seen a 41% increase in claims following recent weather conditions, so to highlight the extra care needed on the roads, the popular price comparison website have cushioned the blow for the residents in Somerville Road by bubble wrapping the hazardous contents of the street.

 Will Thomas, Confused.com’s Head of Motor Insurance explains: “We work with dozens of insurance providers, and we’ve picked up on the fact that claims activity has shot up recently due to the bad weather. I’ve spoken to some who have seen as much as a 41% increase in claims compared with a normal non-snowy period. In fact, one saw 1300 registered on the heaviest snow day of January 13^th – double that of the same day last year. We thought we’d highlight the need to take care out there and make sure you’re fully covered on the roads with the best motor policy in our own, fun way. The residents have been really supportive of the stunt – it would have been great fun to do this for every street in the UK, but sadly we ran out of bubble wrap!”

 For top tips from Confused.com on how to keep safe on the roads, and make sure you’re fully covered, visit www.Confused.com/AccidentAvenue

Global trust in business is up modestly, with trust in business in the UK stable at 49% and high in three of the four BRIC countries, with Brazil, India, and China above 60 percent. Trust in banks declined dramatically in most western countries, plummeting 39 points (68 to 29 percent) in the US and 20 points (41 to 21 percent) in the UK from 2007-2010.

“Trust in business has improved, but the patient has a long road to go for a full recovery,” said Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman. “The increase in trust in business belies its fragility. There is concern that short-term actions have been taken only as a result of the crisis and that government will need to remain a watchdog. Companies will have to prove the skeptics wrong and show they can achieve both profit and purpose.”

For the first time, this year’s survey shows that trust and transparency – which ranks in top spot in the UK (72%) – are as important to corporate reputation as the quality of products and services. In the US and in much of Western Europe, those two attributes rank higher than product quality—and far outrank financial returns, which sits at or near the bottom of 10 criteria in all regions.

Academics/experts or industry analysts are the most credible voices for information about a company. But the credibility of CEOs showed notable recovery in many markets, jumping by nine points in the US (to 26 percent) and by 13 points in the UK (to 33 percent).

Reports from industry analysts and articles in business magazines remain the most credible sources of information about a company, at 47 percent and 42 percent, respectively. However, the credibility of mainstream media, including television, newspapers, and radio, is waning. In the US the credibility of television news dropped 20-plus points in two years (from 43 points in 2008 to 20 points in 2010). In the UK radio news coverage dropped by 20 points in two years. In the BRIC countries, television news and newspapers declined by more than 15 points each in two years (to 40 and 30 percent, respectively).

The full report and UK highlights are available at http://edelman.co.uk/trustbarometer/

The Gas Work Street team enjoy the icing on their cake!

Birmingham-based digital media agency, Gas Street Works, is to open up its self-developed filesharing application, ReviewSpace, to the rest of the creative sector later this month – following a successful 3 month in-house trial period.

Directors of Gas Street have ploughed thousands of pounds into developing the application over the past 12 months, having briefed their technical team to create a product that will allow users to collaborate on digital, cross platform projects – enabling agencies and clients to share large media files including, images, sound and video files regardless of their individual software capabilities.

Initially designed to overcome issues with the sending and opening of large files by clients with limited IT infrastructure, the application also enables both the creator and client to comment on projects as they develop – with amendments, suggestions and approvals stored in project threads that can be accessed at any time, by anyone involved.

Crucially, the software will also enter the market with a lower price point than any competitor products as traditional project management bolt-ons such as budgetary tools and time management applications have been omitted.

Justin Sawkins, Head of iMedia at Gas Street Works, said: “Ultimately, ReviewSpace has been developed by us – the end user.

“It is a project that has been in development for 12 months and a concept for over 5 years, when we realised that sharing files of different formats across different software didn’t have to be as problematic as it was. The creative sector simply needed a platform such as ReviewSpace to bridge the gap between software providers.”

Gas Street Works, created in 2000 by Stuart Udale and Michael Kretzmer, specialises in the creation of corporate, educational and consumer videos for a client portfolio that includes the NHS and the Home Office.

The agency is now looking beyond video into the realms of software applications, hoping other businesses will recognise the potential that ReviewSpace offers.

Justin added: “We genuinely believe that ReviewSpace offers an affordable solution to issues encountered by every agency working within this sector. Our objective was to create a product that would be, to coin a phrase, a piece of cake to use and feedback from our clients and colleagues suggests that we have done just this

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