Go to the PrettyGreen home page | skip to main menu | skip to content

Archive for the ‘agency’ Category

The Dying Swan

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Is it just us, or does anyone else find it a little strange that even today House of Swan can be running experiential programmes, and that Agencies are still willing to take the brief (money).

In a previous lives many of us have worked on cigarette brands and associated products and even today are really proud of the work. Thinking about it, it was some of the best work a lot of us have any done. However, being honest now, no-one’s going to give you an award for giving more (young) people cancer.

Marketeers are generally smart, educated people. Shouldn’t we start declining the briefs and actually as an industry start forcing our peers to see reason and “Just Say No”. A few years ago Glastonbury adopted an approach that saw them turning away brands that were owned by the tobacco companies, even if the weren’t actually tobacco products.

We’re all for free choice, one mans poison is another mans ….and all that, and lots of people in the Pretty Green House are smokers, but is it morally right for intelligent marketeers and Agencies to be sat around using there amazing talents to give people cancer.

“Got it John, what if we changed the logo and made it gold, surely consumers will smoke more (and die younger)”

“Hey Julie, why don’t we align ourselves with music and get people to think we’re really cool (we’ll definitely increase throat cancer then)”

“Frank, why don’t we make great vending machines, position ourselves design guru’s (we might even be able to create designer oxygen tents for them later)’

What also used to be the case is that a lot Agencies have both charities and the COI on their Client list, working on briefs to improve the fabric of society. Seems a little ironic, that one teams trying to repair and patch up society, whilst another’s trying to undo it.

Anyway enough of the serious stuff, as we mentioned last week, we’ve been addicted to playing Lame To Fame. Those fantastic lame associations to anyone famous, the lamer the better. Here’s a few of late:-

  • I once rubbed shoulders in the VIP room of Icon Nightclub in Coventry with Robbie and Well ‘Ard from Eastenders….., he’s now a personal hero
  • I walked by Sarah Cox yesterday she gets her hair done in Charles Worthington
  • Bumped into Billie Piper in Covent Garden, well nearly we both had huge bumps and of course I had to follow her round the shop to compare sizes!!  Had a lame chat with Robbie Williams at LAX last week, as a horde of us waited to get through immigration.
  • Denise Van Outen stuck her tongue out at me when I did a photoshoot with her and was hurrying her up in Make Up
  • My dad used to go out with Micheal Barrymore’s ex wife
  • I had a row with (Hollyoaks heart throb and one hit wonder) Will Mellor about the fact that Victoria Beckham is a nice lady and not a pouting grump.
  • I got to sit next to Glenn Mederios on the plane when I was 11 and he was having his top 10 hit ‘nothings gonna change my love for you’ – i had a KISS and a signed photo
  • When I worked in scruffy murphy’s in Newcastle ant and dec used to come in and drink there – I poured them many a guinness with a NUFC logo on top
  • My best mates aunty is Jenny Agutter
  • Had to pull a mangled Rhys Iffans from launching on my girlfriend at a party
  • My mates child a few years ago ran into a girls dress with a ice cream, only to look up and the father was Jude Law standing in front of her

Last week we had a chocolate Road Trip up to Cadbury World. More chocolate than you can wave a stick at. A great day being shown round by Gerard and his team. A must for anyone who’s interested in our heritage and or chocolate. We’re not sure that the Clients going to sign off our raid on the tuck shop as we were leaving. We kept the cabs waiting for 15 minutes as the smash and grab took place.

Hamish and Nick have also been at it again. They’ve been up all hours with the video camera. We’re not sure quite what to expect, but we here that it’s around a character called Phil Good. We’ll post it when we’re allowed to look at their comic capers.

On Thursday this week we’ve got a party we’re organising in conjunction with Wonderland and Vice for Red Bull Cola, “If God Made Cola”, with DJ Yoda and Dante which is looking like a lot of fun. If you we haven’t invited you, sorry. Please just send Claire and email and let her know why we forgot you (along with why you should be invited).

And last Thursday saw the annoucement of the PR Week Award finalists. We’re up against 4 other Agencies for New Agency of the Year, Diffusion PR, Bondy Consulting, Tetra Consulting and Wolfstar. We haven’t locked horns with any of them yet, but I’m sure we will over the coming years. We’ll send over some drinks at the Awards, just let us know what your tipple is.

Posted in agency | No Comments »

New Year New Client

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

It’s always a hard landing the first week back after Christmas, but it was made a lot easier with the fact that we picked up a new Client. We can’t really talk about it, but a great addition to Pretty Green, and we’re really excited about the project.

We also had Thierry from The Kitchen on the Market Kitchen last week, cooking a very simple ham hock macaroni cheese, and trying to convince Caprice that sardines are great (1 out of 2’s not bad), and we’re having conversations with quite a big brand about doing a large partnership, which could be interesting.

Also quite a sad week, one of our long standing Clients, and someone Strings has worked with for years at both Stella Artois and Red Bull has moved overseas, which is a little sad, but it does mean we’ve got a great place in the sun for trips abroad.

The main topic of debate in the office last week, was whether or not it really was as cold as people kept telling us, or whether it was just the standard British trait to talk about it. Virtually every person we met would start the conversation by saying “it’s so cold”, which for Emma it was as she’d just got back from holidaying in the sun, but there was no sympathy from anyone in the office. Especially as she made everyone else look like they really were ill, even if they weren’t.

Posted in The Kitchen Parsons Green, Uncategorized, agency, pretty green | No Comments »

Chicks Away

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Strings spent the weekend working with the Red Bull crew at the amazing London Red Bull Air Race, but to be honest felt quite guilty (if truth be told) as he didn’t actually do anything as it all ran so smoothly and there were no crises to get stuck into. But once again he was blown away by the absolutely stunning spectacle that is the unique F1 of the skies. The skill of the pilots flying so close to the river, the thrill of thinking they’re going to crash on every run, and the scale of the logistics involved. He’s also amazed that his father-in-law is the spitting image of Peter Besenyei, who came fourth (see We’re Loving).

Whilst Emma decided to add a bit of colour (namely pink) into our Monday. Pretty Green met up with the lovely Georgie and Cat from SuperChicks. SuperChicks is a great (no boys!) Online and park training club, that enables exercise to be a lot more fun and social than the lonely treadmill. Experienced SuperChick trainers take group sessions in parks all over London with fat burning regimes that will have you looking like Elle Macpherson in no time. Emma knows, she doned her trainers and did one and hasn’t stopped harping on about it since…she was especially happy to discover that she had lost the equivalent of 3 large red wines and a packet of crisps for her pain…line them up barman.

Posted in Air Race, London, Superchicks, agency, mark stringer, pretty green, red bull | No Comments »