To Gift or Not To Gift?

There's nothing quite like stumbling out of a party with a bag of mystery goodies to rifle through, particularly when it's eons until your birthday. It's a fabulous way for brands to sample their wares, and without question I've become a loyal fan of many products after first encountering them in gift bags. It also leaves the recipient with a warm fuzzy glow and happy associations with the event and the brand gifting them.

The inspiration for this blog subject came from someone at lunch last week who mentioned that a girlfriend is obsessed with gift bags. OK...you say, aren't we all?, but this woman is married to a man worth $11 billion. Yes, that's with a b, not a meagre m. This is a woman who could probably buy every company represented within most gift bags, but she simply loves them.

Celebrity Meltdowns

When someone looks in on the PR world from the outside, it's usual for them to want to know more about the celebrities we often work with. Oh, the glamour of it all! they think. While the majority of my experiences with celebrities have been great, for every time a little gold dust sprinkles onto your shoulder when you rub it against theirs, there's also some shockers...

PR F@#k Ups

A f@#k up is a f@#k up in any industry - this is not a dig at PRs...I am one after all, and one doesn't like to scheiben in one's own nest. But - where there's a f@#k up, there's a lesson to be learnt. Some of the standard FU's in PR world are typos in media releases, forgetting to BCC everyone, forgetting to invite someone important, drinking too much at your own event. Yawn. Let's get onto the juicy stuff:

Everything You Need to Know About Gatecrashers

Ah...gatecrashers. We've all had them, sometimes we haven't known what to do about them (without causing a scene), and yet they remain either a source of amusement or a frustrating fact of life for all event producers. Firstly, you have to discern which type of gatecrasher you're dealing with:

How to Hire Work Experience Students

I have always been a huge advocate of work experience within our industry. It's a tough one to crack, so sometimes it's the only way in. Work experience students can be enormously helpful whether you're starting out, established, or just crazy busy and needing an extra pair of hands, stat.