Wednesday 23 November 2011

Superdrug on ice...

Yesterday saw the Superdrug team really get into the Christmas spirit as they hit the ice to celebrate the start of the festive season. The team were joined by an army of journalists at the Tower of London ice rink and twisted and twirled their way around the ice to showcase all the hottest products available this Christmas.

The ZPR girls took to the ice in the exclusive skating session before hanging up their skates to highlight the best of Christmas. Hot chocolate, mulled wine and twinkling lights accompanied the festive spirit, although gazing at all the beautiful products nearly tripled the length of our Christmas lists!

Minus a few less than graceful stumbles, the team were gliding around the rink like pros by the end – Torvill and Dean watch out!

Tuesday 20 September 2011

There's no business like show business....


From London to Liverpool the fashion team has been working in true style the past couple of weeks, from star studded VIP fashion events around the country to LFW.

To start off the glamour the Peacocks team headed to four stores around the country to launch the Boutique collections at Peacocks. To celebrate the launch the stores held a preview VIP afternoon in the Liverpool, Manchester, Belfast and Newcastle stores hosted by a celebrity face, two gorgeous models modeling the new collections, amazing offers in store and best of all champagne and nibbles.

As customers queued outside to meet Zoe Salmon in Belfast, Pearl Lowe in Liverpool, Gemma Atksinon in Manchester and Anna Foster in Newcastle the stores were buzzing. The staff were full of life, the music was booming, the champagne was flowing and the Autumn collections screamed BUY me. Customers left the stores smiles on their faces and a shopping bag in tow. The day was a success.

Next stop…London Fashion Week. All week we waited in anticipation in the office awaiting the arrival of our LFW tickets. What shows are we going to? Do they cross over? What do we wear? Are we seated or standing?

It got to Sunday morning and we trotted into town, in our heels of course to head to Richard Nicoll and Nicole Fahri. London was alive, everyone was dressed in their best, from punk style to city chic; fame hungry fashionistas, bloggers, editors, make-up artists and photographers were ready for day three of LFW. Towering models strutted down the catwalks in structured shapes, beautiful cut work detail, delicate lace and ice cream pastels. It certainly got our taste buds going for SS12.

To end the day on a high the doyenne of fashion, Anna Wintour was sitting in the FROW, just a row in front of us at Nicole Fahri with her trademark neat bob and oversized sunglasses. The only thing missing was Kate Moss sitting beside her to make the stunning collection absolutely complete.

Monday 22 August 2011

ZPR Girls

Last week saw the crème de crème of the beauty world gather at the oh so chic Sanderson Hotel to help Superdrug launch the new Optimum Super Antioxidant Grape skin care collection.

The Superdrug team hosted a delicious breakfast (grape themed of course) to celebrate the launch and attendees were given an expert presentation on the science behind the range.

The ground breaking range is the hottest new product in the world of anti ageing and guests were also treated to a relaxing facial incorporating the new products, which left skin looking glowing and radiant. The results have sent the beauty obsessed office into a bit of a frenzy, so we are pleased to announce the range is now in store (form an orderly queue as its predicted to be a sell out)!

Monday 18 July 2011

Sky high with Superdrug

On Friday 15th July, Superdrug took events to another level, quite literally. To celebrate the launch of Superdrug’s new own brand false lashes we took false lash lovers up 443ft high as we held an event on the London Eye.

A very first for the London Eye, we created our very own Lash bar in our very own pod overlooking the sights of London. We held the event for the best beauty bloggers around and managed to apply 47 sets of lashes in two and half hours. The social media world became a lash frenzy as bloggers tweeted they were sky high having their new false lashes applied. One of the bloggers loves the new range so much she had arrived wearing her #30 lashes.

The event was captured by our resident videographer Ted Beagles, our token man in flight and all we were missing were the G&T’s and a boogie box to really get the Friday night underway.

All of the girls left the pod fully lashed up and ready to hit the town. All in all a great success! Look out for Superdrug's lashes in store now and on special offer until 2nd August.

Thursday 2 June 2011

ZPR 10th Anniversary Celebrations!

This week has been all about the ZPR 10th anniversary celebrations. The ZPR team were joined by clients, friends, and journalists to ensure last nights party went off with a bang! The party took place in the super stylish gallery below our office, where the fabulous Lisa Moorish DJ’d with some funky 80’s classics – making it irresistible for some of the team to bust just a few moves on the quiet…Lucy G and Georgia!

Rocket provided the canapés and drinks for the evening, which seemed to be thoroughly enjoyed by all - if we can judge it on the rate they disappeared for the platters! Everyone ooh’d and ahh’d over our the rare tuna spring rolls, ricotta parcels and miniature slices of beef Wellington to name a few – but more importantly the delicious treat desserts, and mini ZPR cupcakes were what all the party guests were desperate to get their hands on! Eating all of this delicious food of course makes thirsty work, and the canapés were washed down with lots of celebratory champagne and special ZPR style Zellini cocktails!

The atmosphere was fantastic as we were joined by some of ZPR’s most loyal and respected friends and supporters, who all came along to wish us a happy ten year anniversary. To mark the occasion we asked our guests to sign our special ZPR commemorative cheque book to tell us which charity they would like to us donate some money to, as a birthday gift from ZPR.

Judging by the amount of thank-you tweets we received this morning we can definitely say our party was a hit and enjoyed by all! Here’s to another fabulous ten years of ZPR!

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Well what a celeb packed week so far!

Monday morning we kicked off with the fabulous Gwyneth Paltrow on the entirely edible and very tall B&Q Garden at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Making an appearance on the garden which aims to show people how they can grow fruit and veg just about anywhere, Gwyneth posed along with her new cookery book in front of the 30ft vertical tower as the entire press at Chelsea descended on the garden to get their shot and a glimpse at the actress.

Followed by this, TV presenter Lorraine Kelly arrived on the garden in a beautiful floral inspired outfit along with B&Q celebrity ambassadors Kirstie Allsopp and George Clarke. All were given a VIP tour of the garden by the designers as the sun shone over the tallest ever garden at Chelsea.

This was followed by a champagne and canapé reception on the garden for press as top journalists and bloggers got the inside scoop on how the garden was created. Filming from the garden was also popular as BBC News, BBC Breakfast, Daybreak, BBC South and even the South Korean public TV station, climbed the tower’s stairs to film up high and live from the garden.

Another high on Monday was the arrival of Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to the world famous show. Her Majesty even stopped by the B&Q Garden to chat to the garden designers and the B&Q team.

Tuesday was D-Day as the results from the RHS judges were announced, in a some what surprising way. Designer Laurie Chetwood, broom in hand, was tidying up the garden ahead of the arrival of the thousands of visitors as presenter Nicky Chapman ran up unannounced, crew in tow to tell him that The B&Q Garden had received top honours with a Gold medal. The B&Q team were ecstatic as the months of hard work had paid off.

Tuesday 29 March 2011

Last week saw the exciting opening of the new Superdrug concept store in Wimbledon. After being closed for three weeks, the beauty lovers of Wimbledon were more than a little excited to celebrate the opening of the new look store.


The new store looks sleek and sophisticated (you couldn’t say the same for us as we clambered to see latest beauty products). The lovely store team welcomed the face of Superdrug Joanna Page into the store to mark the opening.


Our favourite part was most definitely the play table, a lovely area with mirrors and make up tissues where you can try out ALL the hottest new products – so basically every girl’s dream come true!


Almost 100 movers and shakers in the beauty industry made the trip to Wimbledon to have a sneak preview of the store before it opened to customers the next day and to celebrate this next step of Superdrug's Take Another Look strategy.

Monday 21 March 2011

What does Nick Clegg, Prince Charles, George Clarke, Ken & Deirdre Barlow, B&Q store manager Maureen Milligan and 96 year old colleague Sid Prior all have in common? Well they have all played a part in what has been an action packed couple of weeks over at B&Q.


It all started calmly enough in B&Q stores on a nondescript Saturday morning, pretty typical of any other weekend. Then at exactly 11.30am out of nowhere comes music, and quick as a flash there’s hundreds and thousands of people dancing their socks off to the tune of the Black Eyes Peas, ‘I Gotta Feeling’. The scene was recreated up and down the country across 330 stores in what was the biggest flashmob the country has ever seen. Even B&Q’s grandaddy of them all, 96 year old Sid Prior got into the swing of things at B&Q New Malden. The event was great fun and helped show people how easy it can be to learn a new skill, whether it’s dancing or drilling, you just need to be up for having a go!


Also having a go at a spot of drilling was Nick Clegg when he popped into B&Q Sutton to launch Eco Apprenticeships as part of the Green Deal, and George Clarke who been busy designing and fitting a replica of Ken and Deirdre’s house at the Ideal Home show. Sponsored by B&Q, the house is an impressive eco-refit. Get yourselves down there to have a look, it’s open til 27th March. Prince Charles has already taken a peek when he stopped by the Show on Thursday.


And if that wasn’t enough, B&Q store manager Maureen Milligan scooped one of the top gongs at the Retail Week Awards having been crowned the Store Manager of the Year. Huge congratulations to Maureen who was at the ceremony to collect her award and celebrate an impressive achievement.

Friday 25 February 2011

We may be in the midst of The Brits and The Oscars, but this week it was the CEW UK Beauty Awards sponsored by Superdrug that had us on the edge of our seats.

The nation’s beauty experts headed over to The Royal Horticultural Halls for the product demonstration evening and to celebrate the nominations for this year’s awards. Brand experts were on hand to talk about the products and to give out samples for the voters to try.

The night was extra exciting for us – as well proudly sponsoring the awards, Superdrug had both its Optimum Swiss Apple Serum and Own Brand Skin Restoring Oil entered for awards!

After selecting product to test and vote for, guests were also treated to a lovely glass of champagne (or two… or three…) and the chance to have a mini manicure at Superdrug’s Andrea Fulerton Nail Bar - by none other than Miss Fulerton herself .

The evening was a great success, the products are voted for by women in the beauty industry and the media and the winners will be announced in May – wish us luck.

Monday 14 February 2011

After a busy start to the year, the ZPR team was excited this week as our focus fell to the oh so glamorous business of beauty.


The Superdrug team hosted a luxurious breakfast and spa morning to celebrate the up coming launch of the new Optimum Swiss Apple Day Cream. In between tucking into a delicious brunch (all apple themed of course!) guests were treated to a bespoke facial using the new products and a gorgeous manicure using GOSH's newest spring shades.


The relaxing facial was based around the newest addition to the exclusive anti ageing day cream and left our skin feeling gorgeous, refreshed and looking amazing (if we do say so ourselves)! Being pampered at the same time as catching up with our favourite beauty journalists - now that’s what we call multi tasking!

Tuesday 11 January 2011

ZPR Girls

It may still be freezing outside but from butterfly trends to bird cages we are already looking ahead to spring (and warmer weather we hope)!



We’ve been on the hunt to get our New Year make over tools at bargain prices and with a to die for work wardrobe under £100 from Peacocks and beauty fixes galore as Superdrug hold the VAT on their own brand products there’s no better reason to hit the shops! And it’s not just ourselves we’ve been making over, the whole office has been stocking up on gorgeous home goodies from B&Q and Lakeland.



When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, it’s less about what we’re giving up and more about what we will be doing more of! Instead of saying no to delicious food, those of us with less than impressive culinary skills have decided to learn how to make it ourselves by signing up to classes at the Waitrose Cookery School – we’ll keep you posted!

Friday 7 January 2011

So we've been absent from our blog for a couple of months in the madness that is the final quarter of the year in retail. So much shopping to do! Working and playing hard and too busy tweeting to blog. So the first week of Jan and we return to the blog.

What do we love most about the first week of January - the Feb issue of Vogue and the New Spring Lakeland catalogue - what more can a girl ask for!?

And what about the rest of the year? Well we've just updated our things to look out for in 2011 and this is what we reckon you'll be doing this year:

Watching a Royal wedding or two. Given this we predict a trend for street food and trestle tables

Grandma Food - all things comforting including baking bread and butterfly cakes

White - no not all year round snow but wearing white as well as tipping it to be the second white Christmas in a row

Butterflies - not just butterfly cakes but all things with butterflies on from the latest fashion accessory to the latest garden accessory

Attracting bees, butterflies and birds to your garden or your rurban retreat

Building on this floaty folklore image you will be wearing high waisted seventies style wide legged jeans

Embracing your inner nerd from all things iPad to QR codes, hauling and skittering

And what better than the over-sized envelope bag to keep your high tech gadgets in along with your tangerine lipstick!?

Holidaying in Beirut

And yogatoxing in Yeovil

Happy New Year from the ZPR Girls