Wordville wins UK PR & Marketing Company of the Year 2016

Well, we're celebrating at the little village of Wordville after being told that we've won an award for outstanding work.  The bunting is out, the brass band is tuning up and the Mayor has had her hair done.  Thanks to all those who nominated us.  

Sponsored by the International Business Innovation Association, The Innovation & Excellence awards recognise businesses that have transformed over the past 12 months setting clear industry trends and advances.  

The judging panel at Corporate LiveWire considered the strengths of each shortlisted candidate, setting its sights firmly on the most innovative, groundbreaking and client-focused firms, teams and individuals who have transformed the way in which they do business. 

This year’s winners include Google, Uber, Airbnb Inc, Microsoft, and Wordville to name a few.

The full winners guide can be found at: http://www.corporatelivewire.com/innovation-and-excellence-awards.html

Pema takes BBOXX to Nepal- Part 2

Despite my fear that I’d somehow not be able to live without my phone – I’ve survived to tell the tale and it’s thanks to the BBOXX.

 When I ask people what they miss when they’re on holiday, most people reply with the usual home comforts; tea, their bed, food. For me, in Nepal, it was electricity and wifi.

Now don’t get me wrong- Nepal has come on leaps and bounds since my last visit and seems light-years ahead of the country I remember from my early childhood. But it still has its problems; one of them being stable, reliable electricity.

As soon as I landed there were some issues. My phone had died about six hours into the journey, which meant there was no way of contacting my mum, who was picking me up. I don’t know our home phone number in Nepal, and even if I did, I had no money whatsoever on me to call it. Not the ideal start to the holiday. Luckily for me, she’s even more nervous about me travelling than I am so had been waiting at the airport for several hours. First panic over.

As we drive to the house from the airport, I can see that one half of the road is blacked out – power cuts. My mum tells me that parts of the city black out at different times, sometimes it’s houses a few metres apart that do or don’t have electricity for a night.

The first morning- 6am- knock, knock, knock. It’s my mum, she’s eager to see the BBOXX, or should I say charge her phone. Bleary-eyed and rather reluctantly, I get up so we can set it up.

The first thing that became apparent was that there are lots of bits and bobs (this is the correct technical term). Now this is when alarms bells start going off, as my mother and I are the least techy people I know. However, it was actually surprisingly easy to set up and use. So if you’re as incapable as me when it comes to technology, then don’t fear- this is easy peasy…once you read the instructions.

So now we have our phones charged, the next issue is wifi. There is none at my grandparents' house so there’s not much I can do with my phone expect turn it on, play angry birds and hope someone texts me…all I can say is it was a long two weeks.

 

By Pema Seely

24 hours in Vienna

As some of you may know, last weekend saw Christmas celebrated Wordville style. Not for us the food induced coma and drunken jive round the local watering hole. No- we jetted out the city and hit the streets of Vienna for a whirlwind 24 hours of frozen fun and frolics.

I don’t think any of us know how such a momentous party concept came about. It’s possible Lucy mentioned the idea in late summer and, once in the public domain, it was impossible to retract. We ran with it like hungry leopards smelling buffalo, and before we knew it we’d booked flights, a hotel and were researching the nuances of the city’s many Christmas markets.

This epic Christmas party (which we’ve been assured will NOT happen every year), provided a fitting end for what has been an action-packed 2012 at Wordville. For those of you that can bare to read them, here are some highs, lows and memorable moments from the trip…

1.    Suitcase situation- The moment Steph realised that she’d locked her suitcase- with her phone, purse and key inside it. Now this would be an unfortunate situation for anyone but for Steph, our resident news wire, this forced separation from her iPhone was quite catastrophic. What if there was a flash flood somewhere, another royal got pregnant or ASOS had a 50% off bonanza? Thankfully it wasn’t long before Pema came to the rescue with a blunt airport knife and, using some questionable skills, triumphed over the lock to reunite Steph with her cash.

2.    Let the party commence- After a long journey, a rapid change and a stumble round Vienna in search of food, we were finally settled in a buzzing bar over-looking a snow-dusted cathedral. With drinks in our hands and a hefty selection of bar snacks, it finally sunk in that we’d made this happen.

3.    Doing it Wordville style- If there’s one thing we like doing- even more that ringing up the FT- it’s dancing. Determined not to leave Vienna without showcasing our skills, we took to the floor of some unsuspecting establishment and strutted our stuff till the early hours.

4.    The Sheep pig- Yes. It may shock some of you to know but the greatest treasure in Vienna does not lie amongst the crown jewels; it’s not hiding in the museum quartier and you most certainly won’t find it in Mozart’s house. However, scour a straw filled enclosure at the heart of one of the city’s lesser-known Christmas markets, and you may be rewarded with a glimpse of… the sheep pig. We all agreed that this fleece-covered piggy was unlike anything we’d ever seen. It was spectacular, even when scratching its bum on the water butt.

5.    Getting in…and out of the cold – After spending some time, and quite a few of our hard-earned euros, in two of the city’s bustling Christmas markets, we were all ready for a sit-down and a break from the -2 °C conditions. Entering into a warm café and thawing out with a hot drink and some Viennese pastries was the perfect end to truly memorable 24 hours in Vienna.

By Polly Robinson

The Tea Drought

I read an interesting fact the other day. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world. In our office, I can quite confidently say it’s the other way round. Our kettle is by far the hardest working member of our team and without it we would be at a loss, or at least the three heavy tea drinkers, myself included, would be. In less than five weeks, we have worked our way through a box of 250 tea bags and countless pints of milk.

 I think tea is a versatile drink that plays a vital role in our daily lives. It’s a drink shared between friends over gossip- it helps to forge bonds. It can be a drink to cheer someone up or an energy drink. Within our office, brainstorms are rarely held without a cuppa in hand – I strongly believe it helps to spur our creativity. Consumed first thing in the morning, the first round of teas is always met with huge enthusiasm and it is only after that first restorative sip that the thunderous sound of keyboards tapping begins.

This Wednesday, our office suffered a fate worse than death. We ran out of tea bags.

Now I know the fact our office was without tea bags for several hours isn’t front page news. It won’t be trending on Twitter or have the FT banging down our door but, for us, the impact was severe.

Working in PR, we pride ourselves on our ability to anticipate change and spot potential crisis. We then take the necessary steps in advance to avoid them. Here at Wordville, we’re experts in crisis management. We anticipated this near disaster the previous Monday and placed an order with Tesco’s for delivery on Wednesday afternoon. Ideally we would have picked Wednesday morning but hey- you can’t win them all. 


By Pema Seely

This is not just a cake... This is a Wordville cake

At Wordville we have something of the pioneer spirit about us- you may have noticed the Wild West influence on our website. So, when faced with Easter, we opted out of eating ourselves into a chocolate induced stupor (temporarily), and instead decided to bake a cake.

Now this was not any old cake… This was a Wordville cake. Super soft chocolate sponge and fudgey chocolate butter cream, all painstakingly iced as an edible tribute to the London morning paper- the Metro.

As we all stood gazing at our creation- the looks in our eyes similar to those mothers bestow upon their firstborns- we fell to thinking how similar baking is to creating a PR campaign and how, as consummate PR professionals, we had approached it in exactly the same way.

The Recipe/ Planning

I am yet to come across a PR campaign that did not begin with a brainstorm. Some ideas are taken up and run with; others get lost in the wash. All contribute to make the finished article what it is. Before embarking on our cake, we brainstormed, debating the weighty issues of flavour/ decoration with a sincerity normally reserved for media targets.

Baking/ Execution

Any PR campaign involves an awful lot of processes. These may vary in fun factor- making a press list is probably the PR equivalent of greasing the tray- but all are important and all must be done. Our cake presented us with a similar ‘to do’ list and to complete it, we fell into characteristic patterns of teamwork and delegation… with one small difference. At work I may be a mild mannered AAE but in the kitchen I turn into something of a baking Hitler. Soon Steph/ Pema/ Jess were weighing/ mixing/ spreading whilst I enjoyed my first taste of directorship.

Icing/ Wow-factor

I like a lemon sponge as much as the next person but put it next to a chocolate confection, oozing ganache and adorned with red berries and it will pale in comparison. Understand this basic human attraction to the ostentatious and you have PR nailed. Every campaign needs that attention grabbing wow-factor; the icing-on-the-cake that makes the public/ media sit up and listen.

As PRs, all we ever want is to make headlines. Looking at our cake I realised, yet again, that’s just what we’d done.

By Polly Robinson