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Archive for August, 2010

Camping: recharging the batteries after life in the PR fast lane

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Sometimes it is the simple things in life that help put all the other stuff in perspective. After a frantically busy few months working on some exciting, demanding PR campaigns, it was with some relief that I ventured over to France for a week-long camping trip with my nearest and dearest.

And what a restorative tonic it proved to be. Not in the ‘relaxing-at–a-five-star-spa’ kind of way but in its very simplicity. There is never a quiet moment in PR – full of surprises and with no two days ever looking the same – whereas my joyful trip over the Channel had a soothing pattern to it. A tent under pine overlooking a pretty beach, the sound of the sea by night, fresh croissants and baguette every morning, delicious cheese, building (umpteen) sandcastles, picnics, bike rides and more than the odd glass of red! The kids were in heaven and so was I – what a change from fast-paced London and my usual life. For all those PRs (and clients) living and working in the fast lane, I couldn’t recommend it highly enough (apart from the campsite loos)!

I stayed at the Indigo Campsite run by the eco-friendly Huttopia on the charming island of Noirmoutier, just off the coast of Western France. And it really did look like this …

The surprising supperclub

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

This weekend I went to the supperclub in Notting Hill for a hen party, which I’d organised with a friend.  After many painstaking hours of searching on the internet for the right venue, with the right atmosphere, food and music, my heart sank when we arrived.  We pulled into a dodgy back street under the A40 flyover; had all my research been in vain?!  The taxi driver even asked me ‘are you sure this is the right place?’  I was filled with dread.  If the concrete jungle with cars whizzing overhead was anything to go by – what was the inside going to be like?

Slightly nervous and trying to gauge the mood of the group, we entered into a dark bar with hardly any seating and not much finesse.  Time for bubbles to lift the mood!  After half an hour of fizz and girlie gossip, the venue threw open its doors to the ‘dining room’ to gasps from the group.  It was breathtakingly white, beautifully lit and oozed tranquillity and comfort.  Phew!  We were showed to our ‘table’ (an enormous white bed filled with soft pillows) to sip cocktails, wait for the evening’s entertainment to begin and our surprise four course meal to be served – very Sex and the City! 

The food was delicious too:  carpaccio of beef with rocket and pine nut salad to start; followed by prawn laksa; sword fish on a bed of samphire served with a sun-dried tomato and potato pancake for the main course; and frozen yoghurt with fruit and edible flowers for dessert.  In between courses we were entertained by an acrobat, drag queens and a weird and eye-opening food fight, which harked back to the days when the original Supperclub in Amsterdam used to be something entirely different!!

All-in-all, it was a brilliant venue for a fun, lively girlie night out, made all the better for the sense of anticipation on arrival instilled by its questionable location.

Sparkly lashes and nails to squeal for: business alchemy in action

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Yesterday saw glitter balls spinning over Bluewater announcing the (shocking pink) opening of the first ever UK hedkandi store, and with it the realisation of another example of Focus PR business alchemy: the partner initiative between elegant touch, the UK’s leading brand of false nails and lashes (and Focus PR client), and the ‘world’s most glamorous music and lifestyle brand’, hedkandi.  You can only imagine the glitz and squealing – it was something to behold.  The volume from excited teenage girls in figure-hugging dresses, coupled with the DJ set, was probably shared by much of Kent around noon that day.  And the tills were ringing from minute one: faux snakeskin clutches, glimmer eye shadow paint box sets, Pucci-esque dresses, feathery lashes and crystal dotted nails were flying off the hooks as teenagers on their summer hols rushed to claim their complimentary goody bag for being amongst the earliest shoppers.

Ministry of Sound Group CEO  Lohan Presencer announced that Liverpool will be the location of the second store as he snipped the oversize fuschia ribbon to mark hedkandi’s UK retail debut.  Looks like Original Additions, which owns the elegant touch brand, has backed another joint favourite.