Long presentations, poor catering and no fun? I must be referring to the traditional idea of an annual company conference…

…but not at Launch Group!

Our End of Year meeting, held annually in August, is a real highlight in our busy calendars. And this year it is gearing up to be bigger and better than ever before.

The details have been a carefully guarded secret since we announced the dates earlier this year, and since then, the Training Team have been busy creating a two day event that will see us travel over 190 miles and consume more than 125 meals between us! It is a great opportunity to get together and share the year’s successes and plan for the coming months. Our consultants work incredibly hard to produce brilliant results for our clients, so this gives us a chance reflect, relax and get motivated for the busy months leading us into the Autumn.

Watch this space for photos, conference gossip and some new faces as we celebrate another fantastic Launch year!

I have always loved singing, and even though my kids will tell you that I can’t sing very well, I refuse to believe it!

One of my goals for a long time was to join a choir, and the only thing putting me off was the ‘audition’ aspect - especially as I didn’t know if I was an alto, soprano, upper alto…again my family would probably say baritone. So I was excited when my sister, Janet, emailed me to say that she had just seen a report on the BBC’s Evening News about the new trend that was taking the country by storm – the Rock Choir. We quickly signed up for a ‘taster session’ and have been hooked ever since. I’d urge anyone to give it a go.

Since joining we have performed at the London Marathon, at the Hammersmith Apollo and have even had our own show at the Shaw Theatre. We also collectively released an album that reached number 8 in the album charts! And, as LG’s FD, Philip, will confirm, we also made it on television (though, much to his disappointment, we didn’t make any money out of it – the enjoyment and sense of satisfaction made it worthwhile)

The success of the Rock Choir is such that I’m beginning to think it must be some kind of cult….not that I care, it makes me happy! 

Last week, we closed the books on 12 months of trading, which as ever, has made me reflect on key influences that have shaped our performance over the last year.

Firstly, despite one of the worst recessions in history, there’s been a lot of activity with clients and prospects, which tells me, the role for PR and its increasing influence on the digital scene is encouraging. And at unusual times too – lots more mid year activity. It’ll be fascinating to see how this plays out over the next 12 months.

Secondly, budgets have been harder fought over. And often smaller, too.  There’s absolutely zero room for sloppiness or complacency – and that certainly adds an intensity to things.

Finally, people. We’re always on the look-out for stellar people to join the trailblazing Launch family … but good people have been thinner on the ground this year. Lots of people have stayed put, many have lost their jobs … so recruiting the best hasn’t been easy. And you should never compromise – we certainly don’t.

There’s one thing that’s impressed me throughout, however, and that’s the Launch spirit. We’ve had epic wins, we’ve had some near epic wins, we’ve had some great client gains (and a few client economy-led shrinkages), major award wins, major award runners-up spots … and we’ve had extreme weather fluctuations, which with a creaking heating / cooling system, has tested everyone.  But one thing consistently shines through – and that’s a positive attitude and a willingness to get the job done – whatever the weather. 

Over the past three months we’ve been searching for the in-house team who has shown true entrepreneurial spirit in the face of adversity. The entries, from all sectors, were impressive, with creativity winning the battle against negative perceptions, challenging trading environments and budget and staffing cuts.

The winner, Thames Water, who on a budget of zero demonstrated news from nothing generation at its very best, will receive £15,000 of consultancy from Launch Group over the coming months.

The judging panel, which included Danny Rogers, PRWeek Editor; Claire Murphy, PRWeek Consultant Editor; Johnny Pitt Launch Group’s CEO; Andy Nash, Launch Group’s Director of Client Strategy and Marcus Waley-Cohen, one of the entrepreneurial founders of Firefly Drinks, also highly commended Bulldog Natural Grooming and Thames21.

Click here to read the full feature in PRWeek. 

So, readers now have to pay to access online editorial content for both The Times and Sunday Times. Why is it so shocking that we have to pay for journalism? We demand and expect quality journalism and yet it would seem that most of us refuse to pay for it. Is the prospect of advertisers-funded information really that appealing? Free access to information is a great thing – of course – but here we’re talking about well-researched, thought-provoking editorial content is another thing and it has real value.

The way we consume information is changing fast, and it is fascinating to see how newspapers are reacting and adapting their digital offer. A lot of newspapers must be considering following Mr Murdoch’s example, but unfortunately, it might just be too late… Maybe newspapers should have made their online content paid-for from the start. But then, hindsight is a great thing.

Hi, I’m Holly, a new Account Manager at Launch Group. I’ve just come to the end of my first week and thought I’d share what I’ve been up to as the newest ‘Launcher’…

Monday

Surprisingly, no first day nerves, just a sense of excitement at joining a PR Week ‘Best Place to Work’ accredited agency. The team is very welcoming and I have a day of inductions planned to get me up to speed. It’s nice to be back in Soho too!

Tea Received: 2

Tea Made: 0

Paper Read: Telegraph

Tuesday

Getting to know Launch processes and relieved to find everyone is as media savvy as campaign results show! The Butlins team secures a great hit for their ‘Fine but Fun Wine List’ from top drinks writer Anthony Rose. 

Tea Received: 1

Tea Made: 0

Paper Read: Guardian

Wednesday

Briefed on an upcoming launch event for premium Vodka brand Black Moth. I also get to taste the delicious cocktails which is a bonus! Keep an eye out for Black Moth from July; it is a must have for any Vodka connoisseur.

Tea Received: 1

Tea Made: 0

Paper Read: The Sun

Thursday

Briefed on two more interesting campaigns - The Discovery Channel premiere of James Cracknell’s ‘Toughest Race on Earth’ and Yell.com’s ShopView programme which is revolutionising the way SME businesses promote themselves.

Tea Received: 1

Tea Made: 1 (for me)

Paper Read: Daily Mail

Friday

Talk through the Butlins 75^th birthday project (particularly excited as my childhood ambition was to be a Red Coat!). I fill in my timesheet then it’s off to the Friday afternoon ritual of end of week catch up over some beers and wine. My first week has flown by and I had loved every minute!

Tea Received: 0

Tea Made: 2 (1 x me 1 x Account Director)

Wine: 2

Paper Read: Daily Star

A massive congratulations to the Launch Group team who took part in Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life last month.

The 20 strong team joined British athlete Paula Radcliffe and 7,000 other women in Battersea Park to walk, jog and run the 5k course. The team smashed their £300 fundraising target and managed to raise a fantastic £505 to help beat cancer.

The whole team did incredibly well and are already looking forward to next year.

Check out the Supporters’ Network and its Twitter feed for all the latest Race for Life news!

I recently came across this charming advert for Spam in Japan, and I couldn’t help but smile. If I was going to sell Spam, this is exactly the way I’d do it. There’s just something about the cheery Spam can character that makes me want to leap up in the air and yell, ‘get me some of that Spam!’

I think it’s fair to say that here in the UK Spam suffers from a dated, war time rations type of image. Japan, on the other hand, puts Spam on sushi - who would have thought it? This could catch on…

Focusing on local has become the mantra among the food and drink industry, but I was buoyed to see an independent magazine publisher take the same route recently.

You may have missed it (you certainly will if you don’t live in south London), but the New London Review hit the streets only a couple of weeks ago.

This magazine-sized glossy monthly covers south London with a focus on Brixton, Streatham and Clapham. Its editorial team will have a tough task marrying up these demographically diverse areas.

For those who have never been near SW2, 12, or 16, Streatham has that ‘off-tube’ feel you get with a places off London’s subterranean transport network – herds of buses chugging up the high street pavements bustling with that strange friction you get when pedestrians are forced to share the same space despite having wildly different degrees of urgency.

Brixton is a curious mixture of ethnic markets, grand Victorian housing stock in various states of (dis)repair, cheery crackheads and media professionals looking for a bit of ‘edge’ in their home neighbourhood.

Clapham is stuffed full of affluent, young-ish professionals, most of whom would be quite happy never to venture beyond the strip of upmarket bars and restaurants scrabbling for pavement space in the half-mile between Clapham North and Clapham Common tube stops.

So what is the first issue of the New London Review offering this mish mash of South London denizens?

First, fairly high-profile bylines. ‘How to lose friends and alienate people’ author Toby Young gives his thoughts on education. Former Culture Secretary James Purnell gets a DPS on neighbourhood activism.

Food features highly. Chic café owner Rosie Lovell gets interviewed on her new venture in Brixton. Clapham chef Adam Byatt gets to plug both his restaurant and new book. There is even a short story about meat by Jonathan Cooper.

Issues-based journalism too. Blogger Jason Cobb gets four pages to write about local politics.

This is high-brow stuff for a local mag and the production values are excellent too. The editorial team has gone for portraits rather than photos on picture bylines and the front cover is a fabulous piece of pop art based on West Norwood High Street. The design values are excellent throughout and the whole thing reminded me of the FT Weekend magazine.

The introductory offer is 10 issues for a tenner (as supposed to a £2 cover price at the news stand) and it seems like a bargain.

As crappy, free, ad-vehicle print titles spring up like weeds, I wish the publishers of this plucky, focused, well put together little mag the best of luck.

The annual PRWeek Top 150 PR Consultancies League Table has been unveiled for 2010, and despite a tough year for the industry, it estimates an average growth for PR agencies in 2009 of approximately 0.75 per cent.

Here at Launch, we are very proud to have risen an impressive 22 places with significantly above-average  growth. Click here to see our featured company profile.