The word ‘pit’ evokes all sorts of images. A hole in the ground used to trap animals.  Or the acronym for Pressure Indicator Transmitter. Ask anyone who has stood in front of a hostile and non-receptive prospect and both hold resonance.

Then there’s the ‘ching’. Or ‘ker-ching’, as one of my former colleagues often enjoyed saying whenever he thought of the income that winning a half-decent pitch brings.

Reconstruct the word and you’ve got images of a ship pitching in heavy seas, struggling to stay afloat and teetering on the brink of disaster. Sometimes it’ll capsize with all on board lost. Sometimes the ship rights itself and sails safely into port. You get the picture?

The point I’m attempting to make is that pitching is a process that brings highs and lows to consultancy life. There’s nothing more rewarding than an inspired pitch that puts smiles on the faces of the prospect and the consultancy alike. Then there’s the pitch that has all the awkwardness of a bad first date; best forgotten and put down to experience.

The quality of a pitch is usually directly proportionate to the quality of the brief. If you are looking to engage a PR partner, it’s essential that you  invest your time to identify what you want to achieve with PR. I’ve presented too many times to recall, some good, some bad, some just plain dreadful and some so outstanding that my delight had to be shared with strangers in the darkness and warmth of a good Nottingham hostelry. But the quality of brief can’t always be to blame. For my sins I have a pretty impressive track record of success with boys toys. William Britains. Britains. Corgi. Bassett-Lowke. Vanguards. Meccano. I recall presenting for a well-known girls’ brand. Call me old fashioned but the prospect of contacting journalists and describing the delights that emanate from the dolls derriere sent a shudder through my very soul. We didn’t get that one!

Clive Purcell, Joint MD

Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts laconic response when asked to describe 25 years with ‘the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band ™’ was “5 years playing and 20 years hanging around”. That’s pretty much how I felt yesterday filming with the BBC’s Countryfile team at Chatsworth House, except there were no groupies, no drugs and I didn’t play the drums.

But I did do a lot of hanging around. And fetching and carrying and organising to keep to the tight filming schedule.

The ‘palace of the peaks’ is undergoing its biggest restoration in more than 150 years so we’ve been extremely busy trying to persuade our friends in the media that it’s something they should take a big interest in. And they have. Aside from Countryfile, GMTV, The Daily Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, The Sunday Times, The Times and BBC Front Row have all run features as well as a whole host of regional broadcast, print and web media.

Of course, it’s a success that has been a long time in the making. The team here began developing different storylines, identifying key media, targeting specific journalists and feeding through information months ago.

Chatsworth has always been progressive and keen to stay out of the decaying, musty and dusty stately home ghetto so while it has history and grandeur in abundance the unveiling of new galleries is just as important. The Duke of Devonshire has a passion for modern art and is now able to display, in one place and for the first time, works by artists such as Lucian Freud and Allen Jones as well as a new, computerised animation of his daughter-in-law Laura Burlington by Michael Craig-Martin.

Those expecting rural staples such as farming and forestry on Countryfile (broadcast 28 March, BBC1) will actually get both sides of an institution in glorious transition including the chance to see the House as it was when it was first built as the stonework is given its first clean in 300 years.

“Ah, all things come to those who wait” and at the end of a day spent planting trees, sheep-herding and tromping through the mud of rural Derbyshire I did at least have the pleasure of 30 minutes driving much-admired Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury to Chesterfield station to catch a train back to the glitz and glamour of London – and a party with the Rolling Stones. Maybe.

New Meccano UK website

Anyone been watching James May’s ‘Toy Stories’ on BBC2?  Meccano, Lego and Airfix got some great profile ahead of the pre-Christmas battle for sales.   Tweets on twitter were deafening in the days following the Meccano programme, with die-hard devotees abuzz with excitment.

We work with Meccano across a number of communications platforms, including media relations and online.  It’s a fabulous brand and we are proud to announce the birth of Meccano’s new UK website.  A lot of hard work and thought went into the development of a flexible CMS that is used across four sites/territories – UK, France, International and US.

Our client the Employabilty and Skills Group (esg) has won a £14m contract to supply support services to JCP.  Advisers need to be able to see what programmes are available to their customers on any given day and in any area covered by the contract.  We developed a searchable microsite that gives advisers all they need to know at the click of their mouse.  Plus they can download customer information leaflets on each programme from pdf for customers to take away.  Plus we have created a suite of printed assets for JCP advisers and customers for those who prefer the literal to the virtual.

Launchpad modules flyer

The simple solutions are always the best.

Website landing page

Having researched other further education providers business offer, we identified a clear opportunity for Castle College to draw attention to itself.  We proposed segmenting  the college’s employer delivery offer, whilst presenting it in an eye-catching way that draws on the college’s corporate palette. 

The design essence reflects the different levels at which employee and employer development is pitched, using different sized bars as a visual metaphor, complete with ladders and silhouette images to represent progress and diversity.  The finished item is ‘Excellence for business’ – a portfolio comprising roller banners, folder, flexible one and two page templates, an advertisement and website.