Archive for the 'PR' Category
10 February 2012 at 06:54
As The Beatles once wrote, "It's been a long time, now I'm, going back home. I've been away now, oh how, I've been alone".
It's a lovely song, really it is. But I only meant to quote the first 5 words...I just got carried away...the music in my head replacing the voices....er...
Anyway, it has indeed been a long time since last we met. How are you? Really? Well, you should get that seen to. Meanwhile, our apologies for radio silence, we've had a crazy few months and there's no let up.
What's new?
Most of our time....what am I thinking...ALL of our time (and then some) is being spent on the wonderful Bath Festivals.
All? Well, not all. The web brigade (those Hostpipe boys are like skirmishing Rifles circa 1814, so keen eyed and dynamic are they, just with fewer bayonets and more cross browser compatibility) continue to support Stewart Signs with all things technical. And there are some other bits and pieces.
A shameless plug
Do you like words? Do you like festivals? Do you like the glorious city of Bath? Well, you'll love The Independent Bath Literature Festival - 2nd to 11th March, with 200 events featuring:
William Boyd, Jim Al-Khalili, Stella Rimington, Sandi Toksvig, Lynne Truss, Nadine Gordimer, Tony Parsons, Alain de Botton, Claire Tomalin, Ali Smith, A.L.Kennedy, Carol Ann Duffy, A.N.Wilson, Salley Vickers, Jeremy Paxman, Evan Davis, Alan Titchmarsh....and that fella Charlie Dickens will make his presence felt.
Quick sticks - it's selling out!
Book your tickets: 01225 463362
Tags: The Independent Bath Literature Festival | Stewart Signs | Hostpipe | Utopia Communications
Posted in Websites | PR | Bath Festivals | Events | Fundraising | No Comments
22 October 2010 at 11:26
TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.
That’s a lot of TEDs.
A question from the floor
Yes, once again our MD brought along his itchy microphone finger. And no, it wasn’t just because our host, Mr Ingham, announced that the event was being filmed or that it was taking place in Bath’s Little Theatre Cinema (actually, it was a little bit of the latter).
What Owen wanted to know, even if no one else did, was how much influence could these global conversations really have, how could they change the world? The TED Conference steers clear of political, religious and commercial content / angles in its talks, so how can TED breakthrough the barriers to influence when so many of the big decisions that affect our lives are embedded in politics, religion and commerce?
The problem is, Owen couldn’t articulate the question in his head because he was being lulled into a dream state by the talk which, by this point, was being set to one of Peter Gabriel’s atmospheric soundscapes. So, he just asked whether, in this ultimate context of free speech, there were any speakers TED would not give the stage to. Yes, there were.
Another great event from Creative Bath
It was probably Utopia’s 5th outing to a Creative Bath event this year and, with this kind of calibre firing power lined up*, it’s hardly surprising that we didn’t hesitate to sign up as members (which we urge all our creative colleagues in and around Bath to do….do it here!).
What’s next for Utopia in Bath?
Aha, thought you’d never ask. Well, we have some exciting news to share, about which we are uber happy. We’ve recently won a new client in Bath, a name everyone knows and is about to know even more, but we’ll leave it there (oooh) and reveal all on our next blog. Meanwhile, here’s a picture of Chris Anderson talking:
Chris Anderson....talking
* Apologies if this jumble of words makes no sense, I was eating a mixed metaphorical roll as I typed.
Posted in Mind Expansion | PR | No Comments
04 October 2010 at 11:25
A rainy, autumnal evening in Bath could not dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for an inspirational new public art sculpture project in the city. Even the late arrival of the main attraction seemed not to matter as we sheltered in the Old Petrol Station Workshop in Crescent Lane with wine and canapes provided by the nearby Marlborough Tavern.
Utopia was there thanks to an invitation from Thring Townsend‘s supremely stylish marketing director Lizzie Hefferand we were in the company of Bath’s new girl about town, interior designer, Kate Mackenzie.
Bath does it again
Since we’ve been working in Bath, we’ve been blown away by the sheer depth of creativity and talent the city produces. Not only does it seem to endlessly ooze artists and innovative projects but it also manages to attract the best in managers and organisers – the people behind the scenes who make things happen.
Inspired and Ambitious
Art at the Edge (or Art on the Edge, as I absent-mindedly called it and which surely means something entirely different), is no exception. The brainchild of Justin Braithwaite, a retired international businessman, this is a public sculpture project as inspired as it is ambitious. Looking forward to the Olympics in 2012, it celebrates the work of 29 British sculptors who were asked to create a 1.5 scale sculptural interpretation of an Olympic or Paralympic sport, to be cast in bronze.
Paralympics Athletics Sprinting by John Buckley
A 30th sculpture will be chosen from a nationwide competition, launched last month.
We felt even more connected to this project when we heard that the bronzes are being cast in the foundry just down the road from us – at the world famous Pangolin Editions in Chalford.
A Parallel Project
We were at the Petrol Station on Friday night for the launch of the project, in the honoured presence of 50m freestyle Olympic swimmer Mark Foster. In another sculpture project running parallel to the main event, Mark’s perfect torso is to be carved in Bath stone by sculptor Ben Dearnley.
Mark Foster and Ben Dearnley
Mark ‘crawled’ in (geddit?) a little later than scheduled, but all was forgiven as he smilingly unveiled the hunk of stone and gave it an honorary chisel before posing for photographs and making the ladies swoon.
Justin spoke modestly about the project and his own involvement, but the truth is, he has already done an extraordinary job by getting this off the ground. Supported by an experienced team and with Peter Whitehead and Radio doing what they do best, the countdown to 2012 will be a very busy and exciting time for all.
Justin Braithwaite
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24 September 2010 at 11:24
The Holburne Museum’s prestigious portrait competition is a biennial event, which allows artists from the southwest to showcase their considerable talents.
This year’s competition has brought forth some stunning work in a variety of different styles and on Wednesday night, along with other corporate sponsors of the museum, we tipped up at The Chapel Row Gallery in Bath for a private view of the portraits submitted by this year’s finalists.
TTJ with Chapel Row's Peter Dickinson
Always made welcome by the Holburne Team
Made welcome as always by the stylish and unstoppably-social Marnie Whiting, sponsorship guru Christine Stokes, Clara and the team, we sipped and mingled and viewed in the company of our new collaborators and friends from Taunton: Lizzie and Stuart Ginbey from Teapot Creative and OccaMedia.
Lizzie and Stuart
A Bit of History….
Museum Director Xa Sturgis explained how Thomas Gainsborough and his eighteenth century contemporaries had turned Bath into one of England’s most important cities for portrait painting. The Holburne Portrait Prize was established in 2002 as a way of recognising this and also of allowing local painters to show their work to a wider audience.
Portraits today are very different to those painted by Gainsborough and friends. In his day, only the wealthy could afford to commission and they did so to prove it. The results, though invaluable barometers of the time in terms of fashion, style and painting technique, are often formal and poised; the imperfections of the subject often glossed over or painted out for vanity’s sake if not for posterity.
Real lives on show
What is inspiring about the portraits we viewed at Chapel Row is that the opposite is true. No touching up here, no illustrative botox: the subject is painted how he is, imperfections and all. These are celebrations of ordinary people with real lives; their stories are written on their faces and the twenty first century artist’s skill lies in conveying that to the viewer.
Roy Strong
The People’s Prize
The winner will be selected by a distinguished Prize Panel and will receive £5000 for a portrait of an individual identified with the cultural life of the southwest. But the people of Bath will have their say too: visitors to the exhibition will be asked to vote on their favourites and the artist with the most votes will be awarded the People’s Prize.
We had our favourites on the night – including The Handyman Can and Hope – and we voted accordingly, but the field is strong and any one of the 30 finalists on show could be in with a shout.
The Handyman
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29 June 2010 at 11:21
It’s not as glamorous as Breakfast at Tiffany’s….yet
Mist burning off the canal and the heat of another glorious English summer’s day (I know!) accompanied us as we walked through Sydney Gardens this morning to our rendezvous with a bacon buttie and Dr Xa Sturgis, Director of The Holburne Museum of Art in Bath.
As Corporate Members of The Holburne, Utopia were invited for a tour of the building site that is going to be, once again, Bath’s finest museum of art and treasures when it reopens in spring 2011.
The Holburne Museum of Art will be spectacular
And that’s no understatement. Lovers of the classics (some amazing Gainsboroughs to boot) and the modern (they launch with Peter Blake’s collection) will be enthralled when the doors open in the imposing Georgian facade at the front….and in the stunning glass & ceramic extension at the back, leading into Sydney Gardens.
A Private View for businesses at The Holburne in Bath
If you want an exclusive private view and to share in the Holburne’s fascinating development through the coming year, all you have to do is follow our lead and contact Marnie Whiting; Corporate Membership has all sorts of benefits and we can’t wait for our next event…and we can’t wait to see some of you match the Utopia Communications’ style gurus in hard hats and riggers!
The Holburne’s Fundraising Manager, Marnie Whiting, lends our Tamsin a hard hat hand
T’daa – it fits – sort of. Impressive..
Meanwhile, even more impressive, Dr Xa Sturgis is our enthusiastic guide
Orange and green and blue and Utopia’s MD should never be seen – if one more person sings YMCA…
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22 June 2010 at 11:20
Celebrating Craigie Aitchison
The University of Bath put together an inspirational exhibition last week: a retrospective of the paintings of Craigie Aitchison. Held at the home of the Vice Chancellor in Lansdown Crescent, Bath from 15th – 20th June, this glorious collection of 30 paintings by one of Bath’s most adored Honorary graduates, was an unexpected treat and a triumph for the University Organising Group, chaired by Marian McNeir MBE.
Picture credit: Kennington News
The magnetic pull of Craigie Aitchison
It’s not often that an exhibition has an emotional as well as a visual impact but this one had both. Each painting had been generously loaned and many of the proud owners had travelled long distances to attend. There was a lot of love in the room as they greeted each other like close family members who had something very special in common.
‘I do mostly black people, dogs, religious pictures and still lives,’ is how Craigie Aitchison described his pictures. It is perhaps the 7ft high Dog in a Red Painting, showing a pale and forlorn (or is it pensive?) Bedlington terrier against a block, red background, which is his most recognised work. The scale of this particular painting is breathtaking and yet its simplicity is magnetic, pulling visitors back again and again to stand in front of the fireplace and just gaze upwards.
Affectionate portraits of a genius in carpet slippers
Indeed all his pictures, large and small, are affecting in their different ways: from the tiny, delicate Dog Tree Butterflies to the garish Bedlingtons are Best and from the numerous crucifixion paintings to the spare, colourful portraits, each tells a story with a unique kind of economic intensity. This collection was a rare visual feast and us Utopians felt honoured to have been invited to a private view.
Speeches by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Kevin Edge and by Marian McNeir painted their own affectionate portraits of Craigie the man; a gentle eccentric who shuffled more than walked, who climbed up on benches to paint, but fell off whilst totally engrossed and who received his Honorary Doctorate wearing a pair of carpet slippers. He adored his dogs, particularly his muse, Wayney the Bedlington, and inspired love and lifelong loyalty among friends and patrons alike.
Posted in Mind Expansion | PR | No Comments
21 June 2010 at 11:19
All of a sudden, getting down and dirty with nature seems to have become a middle-class pastime.
There’s a boom in survival courses pitting hopelessly equipped man against the environment. Middle-aged, world-weary urbanites actually pay good money to spend a weekend in the deepest, darkest backwaters of rural Britain, learning how to build fires, whittle wood and pitch tents in the rain. As adults living increasingly indoor lifestyles, it’s as if we’ve deprived ourselves of any kind of normal contact with the natural world and we need this kind of extreme shock therapy to make us re-connect.
Doing it differently: Welcome to The Forest School Learning Initiative
Utopia has been giving PR and media consultation to an extraordinary company who see things a little differently. The Forest School Learning Initiative, based in Winchcombe Gloucestershire, believes that giving children regular contact with nature from a very early age not only supports learning but it also gives them a lifelong interest in and respect for their environment. Perhaps these lucky kids won’t ever have to go through the pain of a mid-life bushcraft course.
The Forest School concept came to the UK from Scandinavia in the mid-nineties and its appeal is rapidly taking hold. The benefits to children who regularly take part in Forest School sessions are enormous, as Louise Hunt, of the FSLI told me:
“Forest School removes adult-lead learning and presents the children with a safe area and opportunity to be independent. The adults are simply facilitators and children learn how to deal with risks and the complete curriculum in an environment they care for and look to sustain. The classes in the woods are longer than ordinary teaching sessions: the children can leave all their baggage behind and, through small achievable tasks, grow in confidence and self esteem”.
And now, when sedentary, indoor lifestyles and obesity threaten young people as never before, the Government, in desperation, has issued firm directives that all school age children should get more exercise and spend more time outdoors. But, as Chris Packham, host of BBC’s Springwatch warns in this Sunday Telegraph article, over-zealous health and safety regulations seem designed to contradict this initiative.
Forest School and its unique style of learning appears to be an essential ingredient for a well-rounded education and, as the FSLI can report, where headteachers encourage and facilitate it within their schools, it has a massive impact, particularly among children who live in Britain’s towns and cities.
One such inspired head teacher in the Tewkesbury area has taken a bold decision and has instructed the FSLI to provide a huge Forest School Fun Day for all reception-age children under her supervision.
The Forest School Learning Initiative finds a natural home in Utopia
As we continue to build our own sustainability profile and are increasingly committed to working with companies who take a broad, environmentally-sound approach to business, we are happy to be associated with the FSLI, its ethos and ideals. The promotion of a healthy outdoor lifestyle to today’s children is an expression of hope and expectation that the next generation will treat their environment with a little more respect.
As Robert Louis Stevenson memorably said…
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant”.
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01 June 2010 at 11:07
Bath Life magazine celebrating the arrival of MASCo WALCOT in Bath on 7 May
Utopia’s PR Director (and it has to be said, easily the most photogenic one of the team), Tamsin Treverton Jones, is pictured middle right flanked by Sir Roy Strong and MASCo WALCOT MD Steve Tomlin and MASCo WALCOT’s Sarah Allberry left.
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10 May 2010 at 11:09
Utopians join the party
The Official Opening of MASCo WALCOT on Friday 7 May was a roaring success. Amazing to see it all come together on the night with lots of exhaling as our coffee table brochures, sustainability booklets, business cards, street signs, flags, display visuals, and ‘official opening’ plaque arrived on time.
With so much adrenalin kicking about the system, we found it impossible to relax, so while our designer Skip ‘worked’ the room, our PR and Marketing team of Tamsin and Owen manned the society photographers and the door, welcoming guests warmly into the waiting arms and smiles of the MASCo WALCOT staff: MD Steve Tomlin, Director Debbie Kedge, Director Kevin Harris, Director James Walker, Director James Hurley, and Lindsey Orr, Alexine Southwood and Sarah Alberry.
VIPs
Attendance couldn’t have been far off 400; Walcot Yard was pumping! Great speeches by Sir Roy Strong (who officially opened MASCo WALCOT) and Steve Tomlin. And a wonderful turnout of support, including from the Chairman of Bath & North East Somerset Council, the Deputy Mayor & Deputy Mayoress, Bel Mooney, Cllr Marian McNeir MBE and countless well known faces and names from Bath and beyond.
Lots of support as well for the new Walcot Yard sustainability alliance, Nash Partnership and Geofutures, who are collaborating with MASCo WALCOT on an exciting new development for this World Heritage City. Both companies were out in force and all enjoyed the stunning setting and hospitality of the specially created VIP room – fantastic work by Posh Tarts.
Music and….dancing?
The Yard was heaving, the hog roast disappearing, the bar thronging, the stairs jamming, the fire pits burning…just one thing missing, but not for long: Music! And another coup by Steve Tomlin as he welcomed to the stage Indy Award Winner Vince Freeman and his band with special guest saxophonist, Patsy Gamble, who not 4 hours later would be dashing to the airport to continue her tour in Poland.
At this point it would’ve been wise to restrain Utopia MD, Owen. But with so much adrenalin and fatigue, it was only to be expected that he would take to the floor (whether it took to him or not is a matter of some debate). He will deny everything, but Health & Safety Officers were about to be called in for fear lives may be lost, such is his unique blend of thrash waltz…
At a more sedate hour of the evening, a couple of snaps were taken for the company album. Here we see from left to right enjoying the VIP room: Utopia Account Director Tamsin Treverton Jones; Charlotte Marshall; Fotofacade’s Andy Marshall (the photographer behind the fantastic new MASCo imagery); Utopia Creative Director Justin ‘Skip’ Parry.
The VIP area, before the hordes:
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28 December 2009 at 11:14
What have we been up to in Utopia?
Don’t give me that look. I know it’s been ages since the last post, but we’ve been busy. Since the launch of the MASCo rebrand, their marketing activity has grown and grown, culminating in the Christmas-lights-style-switch-on of their new website.
Designed with the customer first, it’s already had lots of positive feedback. So what’s the focus for our marketing of MASCo in 2010? PR, email, and internet marketing. I want to bring that advertising spend down and hike up their exposure with a combination of traditional editorial and clever online activity. We’ll keep you posted.
What’s new?
Word of mouth has so far been the winning formula for our own client wins, but with the new Utopia Communications website about to launch (yes, finally!), we’ll be pushing more. The site includes a showcase of our recent work, which you can also navigate by service criteria (marketing, creative, web, PR), and there’s a client area that will keep communication flowing on individual projects.
A flurry of quotations and commissions ended the year (including two requests for copywriting arriving on Christmas Eve), so we look forward to leaping into spring (we don’t like winter) with all sorts of new challenges and interesting clients…apart from a new travel company coming on board in November, the construction industry seems to have taken a shine to Utopia. Resist urge to weave in building puns.
Happy New Year!
To all our clients, suppliers and friends, we wish you all every good fortune for 2010.
Utopia Communications
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Branding | Strategic Marketing | Websites | Email marketing | Advertising | Social Media | PR | No Comments
18 September 2009 at 11:15
Never thought I’d write those words…except in my dreams (and in her Gladiator days, obviously). We’re ending a busy busy week of new client wins and oodles of marketing, copywriting and web activity for current clients with a trip to the GMG Village Fayre.
Olympic swimming ace and Cotswold amazon is speaking, freelancers are networking, companies are commissioning (we hope!), and ostriches / kangaroos are being eaten. Yikes!
If you’re looking for seriously sticky copy, graphic design, web design, SEO, social media, and PR, you’ll find it at Cheltenham Film Studios and the village fayre tomorrow 12pm – 5pm.
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