Tuesday 8 December 2009

We have the X Factor

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…but the team at ZPR was still hard at work getting amazing coverage for their clients in festive features aplenty!

Phew, what a week it’s been. Christmas is truly open for business with the papers bursting with silly season stories and Christmas gift guides. Here at ZPR we’re really getting in the swing of things, our tasteful tree is up and we’re gearing up for our Christmas office party on Friday…

But before we head out to Cow Shed for our pampering session we must update everyone on what has been another amazing week. As the Jewel in the crown, B&Q’s presence in Kingfisher’s quarter three results last week were outstanding with so many of our key products and messages included on top of the financial performance. Leopard print wallpaper, lime green kitchens, real Christmas trees, Showroom Academy and the scary Mother-In-Law effect all caught the imaginations of the business editors.

Jackie had a great time at London Television Centre on Saturday where she and the team from B&Q decorated the GMTV studios with eight full size trees and baubles to match. The Deck the Halls range certainly lives up to its name!

The Selfridges team is tuning up this afternoon as they count down the hours before they join X Factor semi finalist Danyl Johnson tonight as he performs live at the Selfridges Christmas sing-along in aid of Mothers4Children

Danyl will be singing a selection of well known Christmas carols to help raise donations for Mothers4Children, Selfridges’ dedicated Christmas charity for 2009. Mothers4Children’s ambassadors including Yasmin Le Bon, Louise Redknapp and Lisa B will also be present.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping on your nose, Yuletide carols being sung by Danyl Johnson and folks dressed up in their best designer gear! Bring on Christmas on Oxford Street!

Tuesday 1 December 2009

From Soho to Shanghai

The calendar turns its page to December 1st and bang, Christmas is upon us. The papers are laden with fabulous festive gifts featuring all our clients, Lucy’s humming Wham’s Last Christmas, and we’ve just about got enough money left over from last week’s death by credit at the hands of Selfridges’ Christmas Comes Early.

Selfridges’ grotto opened last week to record bookings (over 40,000) for kids (and the young at heart) to board Santa’s Express, ride through a magical winter wonderland filled with incredibly cute penguins and polar bears, before arriving at Santa’s station and being granted the opportunity to ask for an updated version of last year’s Super Mario Cart (or in my case, a Givenchy bag).

Over in the adult-only world - we added a touch of spice to the media, spreading the word that corset sales were 70 per cent up at Selfridges and Bordelle’s £900 feather corset completely selling out. News spread like wild fire (helped along by images of a six foot blonde parading the £900 corset) and materialized in blanket coverage in print, broadcast and online

Jenny and Zaria landed home safely from their press trip to Shanghai, which celebrated the opening of Superdrug’s parent company, A S Watson's 500th store opening in China. Journalists were treated to an insight into the differences between beauty retailing in the East and West, in between an entertainment schedule including twelve course Chinese banquets, visits to the fabulous sightseeing spots, boat trips, street markets and lots lots more. Zaria ran up a £500 bill in the hotel’s Vue Bar on the 33rd floor on a cocktail of internet roaming fees, (as she tried to keep abreast of ZPR news from an eight hour time difference).

Now over to this week and the launch of the UK’s first Christmas tree drive through at Selfridges. That’ll be a Christmas tree and a side of fries please – oh go on then, I’ll have a dollop of ketchup since you’re asking.