Thursday 27 November 2014

#Unlockaw14 – Christmas Blogger Evening at Superdrug

As Christmas creeps ever closer, finding that perfect gift is on everyone’s to do list. Last Tuesday we invited a few of our favourite beauty bloggers to Superdrug’s Marble Arch store for an exclusive shopping eveningoffering a taster of what Superdrug has to offer this year.

In keeping with all things Christmassy, guests were greeted by the ZPR team wearing their best festive headgear for the occasion.


With help from beauty specialists they had the opportunity to discover Superdrug’s exclusive brands, gifts sets and stocking fillers.

The bloggers were set a challenge: use the pre-loaded £20 gift card provided and tick off as many gifts from their shopping lists as possible. With personalised pink Christmas stockings in which to collect their gifts, our guests embraced the challenge with gusto, finding presents for teens to grandparents and everything in between.


Having hit their target of £20 our guests were asked to share their haul on their social channels, with the blogger who managed to tick off most on their shopping list winning the designer fragrance kit of their choice.


After hitting the high street, we gave our guests a bag of Superdug’s finest bath time goodies to take home and chill out with.

The event was a great success, and we’re looking forward to replicating the event with bloggers in other cities around the UK in the run up to Christmas.

Friday 14 November 2014

All aboard the St Asthore!

It’s not every day you get to travel to Cornwall for work but a couple of weeks ago, I made the five hour journey to Newlyn, near Penzance, to join a team of Cornish fishermen who have been supplying Waitrose with sardines for 10 years. The reason? After decades in the doldrums, the popularity of Cornish sardines is on the rise, with sales rising by a fifth at Waitrose, so I was travelling with a journalist from the Independent on Sunday to give them a behind-the-scenes look at how these delicious fish are caught. 

We met Jeremy, the Waitrose fisheries and aquaculture manager, at the harbour, just as the sun was setting and were given a briefing by fisherman, Peter Bullock and then – it was time to set sail! 





Sardine fishing can take between two and seven hours so there was a certain amount of excitement met with trepidation as we set off! Peter explained that the reason we had to fish at night was because that’s when the slippery, six-inch fish congregate off the coast in vast shoals. After about an hour of being on the water, it was suddenly all actions go as Peter frantically abandoned the cockpit and, alongside his two colleagues, brought in a catch of around four tonnes, after 45 minutes of intense hauling of the net. The beautifully luminescent sardines were then taken back to shore and packed with ice. Within two days, they’d then be in Waitrose branches around the country – ethically sourced, high-quality fish that can be traced exactly to a single fishery. 



It was then back to solid ground for a meal in a local restaurant (with a main of local fish, of course) and then, back to my hotel – safe to say after all that sea air, I slept well!