Blog
22 August 2008 Week Ten
Maybe not the most original topic but I felt I needed to get to be bottom of the weather and the excuse for what we Brits call “summer”. With terms such as “Monsoon seasons” now being haphazardly thrown by meteorologists, I wanted to find out exactly why I am still wearing my winter wardrobe…
Firstly, the origin of the word monsoon lies in the Arabic word of “Seasonal”; the European Monsoon, which climatologists claim hits us in the early part of June, literally means the westerly winds, which are dormant for the winter months, blow in from the Atlantic (picking up moisture along the way!) therefore resulting in a wet period of about a month – six weeks afterwards (Professor Hurbert Lamb). The long, lazy summer days we all remember from youth are fabrications we made up to make ourselves feel better, Lamb’s studies, collected over 100 years, proved this has always been the case – Britain does not, in fact, have hot, dry summers – why else do you think people started holidaying abroad?!
The Rapport office has been subject to a re-vamp today which involved a lot of plugging and unplugging of wires (amongst other things!) but the new layout means we will all be able to communicate a lot easier and creates a much better working environment, meaning we can continue to build Rapport both in and out of the office.
Finally we just wanted to wish all the guys who work down the corridor at Manchester Pride HQ who have been working tirelessly all year all for the festivities this weekend – let’s hope it stays dry!
Happy bank holidays!
15 August 2008 Week Nine
I’ll start off this week with some exciting news from within the Rapport camp; Rapport co-director Abi has been nominated for the prestigious “42 Under 42”, the North West Business Insider’s recognition of young business talents across the region. You can find Abi’s nomination in this month’s Insider and more information in our news page.
We are finding it refreshing to wake up in the mornings, turn on the TV and have an alternative to Lorraine Kelly in the form of the 2008 Olympic games, although it seems that they are not what they once were, or more specifically, the equipment used isn’t. While Medieval archery bows were carved from Yew with a hemp string to create the spring need to propel the arrow towards the impending tribe, in Beijing in 2008, things have clearly moved on.
Today’s “recurve” bow is designed so 'the limbs' curl back away from the archer, helping to increase the bowstring tension, they have sights and stabilisers and are made of carbon fibre or fibre-glass. According the Telegraph this week, the bowstring is synthetic and strung to a maximum of about 50lb pressure. When an arrow leaves the bow, its initial velocity can be as high as 240ft per second, or about 160 mph. Seems to take all of the fun out of it if you ask me!
It seems being crowned European Capital of Culture is not enough for Policy Exchange as the right-wing think tank, based (surprisingly) in London, stated this week that regeneration in Liverpool should be abandoned and residents should move south if they want to prosper. The report claims that ports like Liverpool’s are no longer needed, as today’s travel and imports are monopolised by freight and aviation. I think the regeneration of Liverpool can only be a good thing (although admittedly they could have started a little bit earlier!) and I highly doubt any Liverpudlian’s will swapping the Mersey for the Thames anyway!
Finally, it was an enlightening trip to the dentist this week for our designer Paul, who was informed that those of us who have all their wisdom teeth can no longer go around bragging as they are genetically less developed than those who don’t. It seems that humans no longer require wisdom teeth and therefore, as Darwin’s theory of evolution dictates, they are slowly being erased from the species, making those without more advanced – or was that just a tall tale to distract him from the drill?
8 August 2008 Week Eight
As a happy windows Vista user (although well aware of how much it annoys those in the office who don’t use it) it amused me this week to see that Microsoft, in a bid to improve Vista’s reputation, have launched a new commercial comparing the close minded views of the anti-vista population to “flat-earthers”, or those who still believe the earth is flat! Not sure that’s the best way to change people’s minds Bill.
Another topic which got us talking was from an article asking what is the correct etiquette for the use of mobile phones during meetings and lunches? One camp believes that digital communication should never be more important than face-to face and rarely will there be a reason so important that a users phone needs to be put out on the table, ready to be answered as soon as it vibrates. The opposing view suggests that this is the face of our changing world; that technology is constantly changing and developing so we therefore need to adapt. Whichever viewpoint you take this is a topic which looks set to rage on for the foreseeable future.
On Friday we enjoyed a bit of a team building exercise and if you were in Manchester City Centre you would probably have seen us trudging around, camera in hand asking passers-by to take pictures of us in front of seemingly strange companies and attractions; but there was a slight method to our madness and we all learned more about Rapport and some exciting future ideas which we can’t wait to get started on…
1 August 2008 Week Seven
In the week where Superdrug’s new make-up range for men “Taxi Man” hits the shelves (featuring both “guyliner” with an extra thick pencil so men can grip it easier and “Manscara”) and Japan launches its new eel flavoured fizzy drink, you begin to wonder, is the retail industry missing a trick or are people actually spending as ever before in spite of the all omnipotent “credit Crunch”? Damning evidence to the contrary, came from Sainsbury’s who claimed they are experiencing rising sales of Tupperware and sandwich bags as people attempt the “BYO” (bring your own) lunch!
Chris has been in London this week completing the final leg of a roadshow which started back in June and spanned five locations, while the rest of us held the fort in Manchester with one major problem in particular to overcome…
Along with the many joys of summer, comes the perils and we have definitely felt our fair share this week when the Rapport office was plagued by an infestation of Fruit Flies. The fruit fly is, as you may have guessed, is attracted to thrown away food, fruit in particular. This has therefore deemed our bins as unusable and caused the annoyance of having to keep taking rubbish outside. As well as to have a rant; I tell you this in order to help prevent such disasters striking in your office. Amongst the many tips out there, one which I think may be particularly effective is to put out a bowl of wine which, after firstly being attracted to, the flies will drown in – then it’s up to you what you do with the rest of the bottle!
25 July 2008 Week Six
One for the sharp eyed amongst you, guess which “geeky-chic” celeb I went to see play a secret gig on Oxford Street’s Odder last Saturday?
Shame I forgot my camera phone did actually have a flash (my friend wasn’t too impressed!) but the trade mark black waist cost should give it away…
This week we produced our first event for M&S’s Per Una brand, it gave us a chance, not only to work with a new and very high profile brand, but also to exercise some Rapport creativity through the stage set design. For more on this story and an image of the event please go to our news pages.
With Sarah still sipping her Sangria on a Spanish beach and everyone you see radiating a healthy glow, thoughts in the office have turned to The Art of Relaxation; what constitutes a “holiday” For some of us it’s simply a week off work, pottering in the garden, for others it’s the non-stop action of a Swiss ski slope or Canadian mountain. For some it’s a week-long party, while others it’s a back pack and a Vietnamese forest. It seems that as long as it gets you away from the old routine it’s bound to do the trick (and did I mention 6 days until mine!)
But even if there aren’t any holidays on your horizon, or worst still you are suffering from the post-holiday blues, if nothing else your week won’t have been as bad as this guy’s! .
A story which caused much amusement to us in the office this week was that of a New Zealand judge who had banned ridiculous names after a young girl took her parents to court to change her name on grounds of embarrassment after they named her “Talula does the Hula from Hawaii” This got me thinking about how there are so many ways of spelling and pronouncing names now that even the most simple name have to be spelt out; a definite sign that Britain is definitely becoming more multi-cultural, as foreign names and spellings become more common. Maybe the government were right to release advice to Polish immigrants coming to Britain on how best to spark a conversation with us, apparently “How are you?" is not a question!
18 July 2008 Week Five
Things seemed to have calmed down a bit more this week and with no events to execute all attention has turned to planning for the ones coming up. After winning the pitch to deliver this year’s national ‘Search for an Entrepreneur’ which entails 12 high profile events starting in September and running through until September (see our news stories for more details) it really does feel like the calm before the storm!
It’s been glitter sticks and uhu galore in the office since Abi and Chris set us the challenge of presenting our creative ideas for next year’s Retail Awards. The Awards will take place at the beginning of next year in the form of a road show, spanning the length and breadth of the UK with over 400 people expected to attend. We were asked to come up with branding ideas, set design and entertainment amongst other things and showed our ideas in a pitch style presentation on Thursday afternoon. The standard was extremely high (even if we do say so ourselves!) and it’s exciting to see which ideas we might be able to put into action next year.
Paul has been working away in “design corner” preparing for our first pitch for the NWDA since being appointed to their preferred supplier list, all documents need to be submitted on Monday morning so the pressure really has been on this week!
Chris flew off for a mid-week trip to Vienna on Wednesday, as he visits a venue in the Austrian Capital in preparation for the next AstraZeneca event to be held in September.
Finally we waved a jealous goodbye to Sarah who has jetted off for 9 days in the sun, its supposedly the hottest summer that Spain has seen in 10 years; shame that’s definitely not the case here in Manchester!
11 July 2008 Week Four
While a big conference held at the Renaissance Hotel has seen Abi and myself out of the office for the majority of the week, I am told that the new I Phone 3G (out today) has caused a buzz in the office. It has been reported that 02 are receiving 1300 emails a minute regarding its availability. Abi and Chris have been seriously toying with the idea of dropping the corporate Blackberry in favour of the designer lifestyle gadget; now the rest of us just have to come up with a reason to justify getting one too!
Paul was proud to disclose his latest design project this week when he revealed the new corporate identity he has created for Manchester loans company V-Loans, you can read more about this and see Paul’s design in our news pages.
Sarah has been busy familiarizing herself with the new neighborhood (having never worked in Manchester City Centre before) by sampling and rating all the local coffee outlets. Using three judging categories; quality of coffee, atmosphere and volume of noise she has concluded that, in her expert (and maybe slightly shaky!) opinion, Drip located in the Northern Quarter comes out on top.
Finishing off the week, Abi and Vicky headed for the capital to have a look around the venue for an exciting event with a new and very well known client, while Chris and Sarah have been having some very interesting talks and meetings while they prepare for the next pitch for an impending and very big NWDA event.
To finish things off on a ‘sweeter’ note, a big thank you to Stuart, who is involved with our media productions, for supplying us with fresh scones this week, the perfect accompaniment to the 11 0’clock brew. Anyone else who would like to send us treats and snacks can do so by posting them to our office address, or alternatively pop in and join us for a cup of tea!
4 July 2008 Week Three
The week got off to a much deserved relaxing start on Monday which saw the whole Rapport team in the office at the same time for the whole afternoon – an amazing feat given the past few weeks!
Excitement was in the air when we finally reached PO number 1000 after a grueling battle as to who could guess what date it would land on. Victory in the end went to Vicky, although there have been some allegations of foul play!
Not wanting to miss out on what could potentially be the only hot day of July; while Abi caught the train to London for a conference the rest of us enjoyed a picnic in the sunshine on Tuesday lunchtime.
Speech in hand, Chris headed off to Ireland on Wednesday for a long weekend to celebrate his brother’s wedding.
While Abi went from London to Sheffield with Vicky in tow for the South Yorkshire Property Gala Dinner, returning on Friday when we attended a site visit to the Renaissance hotel on Deansgate in preparation for a large conference taking place next week.
Paul (who admits his post-holiday blues are not as bad as he feared!) and Sarah have both been busy working on some exciting Rapport projects which are likely to be revealed in the near future - watch this space!
30 June 2008 Week Two
This week has been exceptionally jam-packed, and even busier than last week, so sincere apologies for the slight lateness of this week's blog!
The beginning of this week saw Abi and Sarah head down to London to complete the first leg of a two part roadshow, while myself and Vicky traveled to Cardiff for the annual Welsh Dealmakers Awards.
Without even catching her breath, Vicky headed straight to Sheffield for the South Yorkshire Dealmakers, where by all accounts Chris Barry (occasionally in character as Gordon Brittas) did a fantastic job of comparing and even signed an autograph for a star struck crew member!
While after a quick couple of hours back at base, Abi and I went up to Edinburgh to complete the second leg of the roadshow that her and Sarah had started at the beginning of the week.
Not to be outdone; Chris jetted off to the slightly more glamorous location of Bangkok, where the final leg of our three continent roadshow took place towards the end of the week.
An extremely busy week all round and in case you were wondering where our designer Paul was throughout the craziness - he has been sunning himself in the South of France - now why didn't I think of that...!
19 June 2008 Week One
A very warm welcome to the brand new and very much improved Rapport Website. We hope the site can become a regular part of your cyber life, providing you with industry news, interesting viewpoints and the comings and goings of life at Rapport.
As this is week one we wanted to ease you in gently with some exciting Rapport news; we are pleased to announce a new member – Sarah Dymond joined us on Monday so we've been busy in the office (and Ikea!) preparing for her much anticipated arrival.
They say everything happens at once and this certainly proved to be the case last Thursday when we had four events taking place in four separate locations around the world! The first two were situated at the two Manchester football stadiums, a third at the Royal Armouries in Leeds and the fourth was the penultimate leg of our 3 continents road show, held in Houston, Texas.
Not ones to miss out on local traditions upon their travels; while in Texas the Rapport team turned their hand to shooting at a purpose built range in the heart of the deep South.
Next week is the final leg in the Thai capital, Bangkok, we can only hope they don’t get too immersed in the culture there!
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