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Archive for the ‘PR’ Category

20.05.2013

Who says men don’t wear Pink…

Being a huge rugby fan, as soon as I heard that TNR were doing a photocall that involved some of the British & Irish Lions, I had to be there. Thomas Pink, Official Outfitters to The Lions, were hosting a rugby event at the White Horse pub in Parsons Green which was to be renamed ‘The Pink Lion’ for the day.

TNR Photograph – David Parry

Unsurprisingly the day had a very pink feel to it with Pink umbrellas, Pink pints and Pink rugby balls on show. There was a touch rugby session for kids, with advice and tips from former England and British & Irish Lion player Matt Dawson. While the kids played in the park, parents were either crowding the current players who are off to tour Australia, or loitering around the BBQ which was manned by former England and British & Irish Lion Phil Vickery. Phil was cooking up kangaroo burgers which were available alongside Pink pints to wash them down.

After the various events outside had finished, everyone crammed into ‘The Pink Lion’ to meet and chat to Lions legends, past and present. Captain Sam Warburton, George North, Rob Kearney, Geoff Parling and Ben Youngs all spoke to people, shared stories of previous seasons and their hopes for the tour, while Matt Dawson & Phil Vickery recounted their experiences.

Lions tours are one of the great traditions that remain in the professional era and access to the players at events like this is definitely something that should be maintained. It was a fantastic day put on by Thomas Pink which attracted big crowds with young & old enjoying themselves.

I for one can’t wait for the first test match and I’m backing us to win the series 2-1 against the Aussies. Our last series win was 1997 which feels like a long time ago now and I’m confident this crop of Lions will do the job!

Post by Alex Waite, Marketing Manager @ TNR Communications

Tweets by @TNRnews

Tags: aptain Sam Warburton, Britain, can men wear pink, Geoff Parling, George North, in London, Lions Rugby, Matt Dawson, official outfitters, Parsons Green, Phil Vickery, Photography for Marketing, playing Rugby, PR, PR Photography, Rob Kearney, Rugby, rugby events in London, rugby in England, shirts, Thomas Pink, TNR Communications, White Horse Pub
Posted in Photography, PR, Uncategorized | No Comments »

16.05.2013

First Shoot With TNR

To get to the Press Association office for 7.30am I had to wake up at 6am! Something I had not done for a very long time. Excitement is what dressed me that morning, and it was anxiety that made me rush out the door.

I met Daniele (Production Assistant) and was told we were to travel to South Wimbledon which was where the Nescafe photo shoot was taking place.

We were filming behind-the-scenes footage for the Nescafe 75^th anniversary photo shoot. The photo shoot was to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of Nescafe by incorporating the red Nescafe mugs into iconic events in history.

The first day was the shooting of the London Olympics and the Spice Girl’s at the BRIT awards scenes. The shoot took place on a fake street where The Bill had previously been filmed, in a fake sweet shop.

The weather was bitingly cold that day and it crept in from the outside. The model had to wear a vest and bicycle shorts and all the while holding a Nescafe mug up in his outstretched arm, and all I kept on thinking was poor bloke. How people suffer for their art!

A small disused, and somewhat dull room was transformed into the Spice Girls locker room for the 1996 BRIT awards. It looked amazing! Complete with the outfits they wore that night (we can reflect now and gauge that they were hideous), make up mirrors, stalls, a huge range of cosmetics and of course the Nescafe mugs.

What I had been oblivious to before my first day is that the photographer, along with the stylist, the model and those that are paying for the services will spend relentless time and hundreds of photos to obtain that perfect picture. I was watching perfectionists at work!

The second day was even colder and it didn’t help that the whole shoot was to take place outside on that fake street. It was the recreation of the Queens coronation which took place in 1953. A street party complete with twenty patriots were to have their picture taken, which including people from all ages. That meant children! And party meant sweets and sugar. Combining these factors with the bitter cold the word hectic sprang to mind.

However I was very surprised by how professional everybody was, including the children, and to manage everybody and get the shots needed before attention spans started to fizzle out and hands started wandering toward the cakes.

The final day of shooting on location was the Swinging Sixties recreation. Two young female models were to pose in a bedroom, (again in that fake sweet shop) complete with complete sixties styles. There was an infusion of colour, fashion and smoke. Pictures were moved, colour palettes were swapped around to create the perfect teenagers bedroom from the 1960’s.

Everyone spent hours setting up scenes, tweaking bits and pieces here and there, making sandwiches for a tea party, coordinating people into place, getting people dressed and in make up, hauling all the equipment needed and it was all to obtain that one perfect shot for each scene to celebrate Nescafe’s 75^th birthday.

Post by Nathan Tansley, Production Intern @ TNR Communications

Posted in Online, Photography, PR, Video | No Comments »

10.05.2013

BT Sport Launches

With Sir Alex Ferguson announcing his retirement at the end of the season and David Moyes being appointed his successor; sport has shown it has the power to dominate the media. This is probably one of the reasons that BT worked relentlessly to mount a challenge to BSkyB and launch their own sports channels.

While there have been previous attempts by ESPN and Setanta to knock Sky off their perch as the largest paid for sports provider in the UK, early signs show this could be a serious contender with shares in BSkyB falling by more than 5% initially.

TNR Photograph appeared in the Independent

Whether or not customers will actually be better off by switching from Sky to BT to quench their sport thirst is hard to say as both offer slightly different packages. However competition is usually a good thing for consumers, and I’m sure sports fans around the UK are pleased to have more options available to them.

TNR Photography left to right appeared in the Metro and the Daily Telegraph

Post by Alex Waite, Marketing Manager @ TNR Communications

Tags: Alex Ferguson, broadcast, Broadcast PR, BT, celebrity photos, David Moyes, football, Manchester United, sky sports, sport
Posted in Photography, PR, PR Photography | No Comments »

06.03.2013

Best Jobs in the World

Sunshine, azure blue seas and crystal clear skies. An image worthy of anyone’s dreams. Unfortunately for most waking up to this is exactly that, a dream.

However Tourism Australia are launching their second campaign of the “Best job in the World”, and this year it’s bigger and better!

With 6 incredible jobs to boast and a contract worth a staggering £67k for 6 months, it seems impossible that this can even pass as work! This time around the jobs include an outback adventurer in the Northern Territory; a park ranger in Queensland; a wildlife caretaker in South Australia; a ‘lifestyle photographer’ in Melbourne; a ‘taste master’ in Western Australia; and ‘chief funster’ in New South Wales.

TNR were there at the launch of the campaign, filming the TV release and the press photography for Tourism Australia at London Waterloo.

With a lifeguard on show for the ladies, a beautiful brunette in a striking red bikini for the chaps and a giant kangaroo and koala for everyone else in between, it made for a great photocall and attracted a fair bit of attention as you can imagine

In 2009, Briton Ben Southall rose to the top of a 34,000 high applicant pile, gathered from over 200 countries to win. The lucky 34 year old got to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, snorkel and swim, whilst making friends with the locals and basically enjoy the tropical Queensland climate and lifestyle. Not a bad way to spend 6 months…

Post by Tinashe Sithole @ TNR Communications

Tags: Best Job in the world, Best Jobs, broadcast, Broadcast PR, fashion photography, PR, PR Camapign, TNR Communications, Tourism Australia
Posted in Broadcast PR, Online, Photography, PR, PR Photography, TV, Video | No Comments »

12.02.2013

Handle with EXTREME care!

This had to be one of the oddest briefs I have ever received. Photograph a box arriving at Heathrow, the contents of the box will not be visible at any time. Now I have been known to work wonders but this maybe pushing it too far. How was I going to get a usable press picture out of just a box. However as two bright yellow eyes peered directly at me from inside I realised I might just get something out of this, though it would be tough. The box contained a Sumatran Tiger being transported to London Zoo for breeding.

Tiger transportation

All my lens’s were too big to get a good picture through the tiny holes in the box and realising there was no other way I turned to the great enemy of the pro-photographer. Camera phones have never been a favourite thing of mine, even for shooting holiday snaps but it was the one thing with a lens small enough to shoot through the hole.

Tiger transportation

Thus rewarded with my grainy close up of a tiger, I became very interested to see if it would get used. It brought up some of the big questions in press photography, we all agree that the camera is a tool for the eye of the photographer, but this was a particularly unsophisticated tool. The question is at what point does the right picture become wrong due the poor quality of the tool used? I still don’t know the answer, the shot was used on the Mail Online. I leave the decision to you.

Guest blog by regular TNR photograpgher David Parry

Tags: Broadcast PR, headshots, image, Media, photo, photographer techniques, photographic agency, Press Association
Posted in Online, Photography, PR, PR Photography | 1 Comment »

08.02.2013

Video brief 101

A question that I frequently get asked by clients is “can you give me a rough quote on a video?”

Unfortunately this is never an easy answer for a production company to give, as it depends on a number of factors. I can assure you that by asking questions, we aren’t trying to be a pain in the a*se; we are trying to pull out key info that will allow us to give you a quote that matches your brief and expectation.

I thought it would be useful to be list a few points to consider when you are looking to speak to a production company about a video brief. There may well be additional questions; but this should give you a great starting point in the planning stages.

Length of filming time for the crew

Is it a multiple location shoot?

This is important if you are trying to keep costs down. A large part of the cost of a video is hiring the film crew, so if you can keep all the filming time and locations to a minimum this will help.

Will you require interviews?

Depending on who the video is for, it’s normally best to have no more than 4 – 5 interviews. It is also important to work with an experienced producer who will be able to extract key sound bites from the interviews that can be integrated into the edit.

The amount of edit time

This is something that the production company will be able to advise you on, and is something that will affect cost. As with the number of interviews, days and locations, the number of edits will have an impact on cost.

However you can also benefit from economies of scale here as well. If you plan for multiple video activity and can capture all of your footage across a few days you can then edit it into a series of videos which will bring the overall cost down.

How many different edits are required?

I’m sure you are quickly becoming familiar with the ‘multi-channel story telling’ phrase. If you are planning to push the video content out to broadcasters, websites (editorial & specialist), social media site and bloggers then you need the right style to suit the platform and their audience.

Who is the audience?

This can dictate if graphics, animation, voiceover, music, grading etc need to be considered.

Of course we are always happy to run through all of these areas on the phone or in a meeting when clients are planning editorial or creative video, but I thought it would be good to show people why we can’t always give a rough cost straightaway!

Post by Alex Waite, Marketing Manager @ TNR Communications

Tags: broadcast, Film, Media, Online News Release, Online video, PR, Video, Video production
Posted in Broadcast PR, Online, PR, Social Media, TV, Video, Videocall | No Comments »

23.05.2012

Dans Le Noir Blogger Edits

For the launch of Alpro’s new products for 2012, they commissioned TNR to produce a corporate and social media video and a number of bespoke videos for bloggers. The event was held at the infamous Dans le Noir in Farringdon, London. This remarkable restaurant not only challenges customers’ senses by serving food and drink in pitch black. Not only does it arouse awareness and understanding of those suffering from impaired vision (as all the staff are blind) the main idea behind the concept is to completely revolutionise your sense of taste.

And that is where this venue, in particular, proved to be highly effective for the Alpro launch. The idea was to show that soya-based products can be just as tasty as non-soya based foods. Here, a number of journalists and bloggers were invited to taste some of the beautiful dishes prepared by the restaurant’s chefs- all made with soya products.

We created a bespoke video for three bloggers who attended the event and were completely unaware of what to expect or what product was used in their meals. Take a look at each experience…

Blogger 1: Giovanna Falcone

Giovanna, author of Gi’s World (and wife to McFly front man, Tom Fletcher) writes about books, movies and entertainment. When talking about the food Giovanna cleverly guessed it was Alpro by the time they reached dessert, saying, “It feels like you’re drinking Nutella but you’re not, and it’s healthier for you!”

Blogger 2: Emma Parlons

Emma is a freelance journalist and came to this event to write a blog for West London Living as well as her own blog lifeofbabylon, which covers food, restaurants, film and theatre. At first she wasn’t particularly relaxed about “leaving [her] site behind”…

Blogger 3: Coraline Grassin

Coraline seems fairly unsettled in our final bespoke edit. She was unsure what was meat and what was vegetables!

Creating bespoke videos not only increases coverage for our clients but also allows us to create relationships with bloggers and their communities. We concluded from our bloggers breakfast (held at our office this morning) making bespoke videos or providing footage which appeals to the topics they cover for their audience, allows us to explore an extra area of the media which is becoming more and more popular.

Post by: Daisy Bambridge, Production Support @tnrcommunications

Tags: alpro, blogger, Dans Le Noir, PR
Posted in Online, PR, Social Media, Uncategorized, Video | No Comments »

18.05.2012

The ‘PR’emier league

The challenge was made and people from the PR & Comms industry came thick and fast to enter. At stake was something far more important than any account win or piece of blanket coverage. This was the chance to impress fellow industry professionals with your pointless football knowledge and crucially give you bragging rights until the start of the new season.

Over 30 people entered with teams from the likes of M&C Saatchi PR, McDonald’s, PR News Wire, Cow PR and Weber Shandwick aiming to top the table. While it wasn’t quite as an exciting climax as the Barclays Premiership, it was special in its own right and a hard fought campaign.

Man city

League champion was Lewis Miles from Freud Communications. On his triumphant win Lewis said ‘I can’t quite believe it. I haven’t been this excited since I won player of the year for gladys Rovers under 10s. Bring on next season’.

There will be a trophy presentation and a chance for everyone to catch up for a drink to reflect on the season soon (date, location TBC). The competition will be running again next year, so spread the word and keep an eye on @tnrnews for more info.

‘PR’emier league fantasy football top 3

Lewis miles – Freud Communications

James Gilheany – Speed Communications

David Edwards – Sony

Post by Alex Waite, Marketing Executive @ TNR Communications

Tags: PR, TNR
Posted in PR | No Comments »

02.12.2011

PR Happy Hour

The inaugural PR Happy Hour launched on Tuesday 22^nd November at Foundation Bar in London’s Covent Garden.

A popular question asked during the evening was “so why are you doing this?” The popular notion was that TNR & PR Newswire must love a good social drink (which of course we do!), but this myth was put to bed by our joint MD Tim Kerr being teetotal. As a result of this, I thought I would set the record straight and clarify the thinking behind the first PR Happy Hour.

My colleague Penny Joyner and I sat down and decided we wanted to host a PR & Media event that people within the industry would actually want to attend. We initially thought about an informal breakfast, afternoon or evening meeting and came to the conclusion there were a lot of these events in people’s diary’s already. We then thought about potentially hosting a networking event, but having compared this to speed dating in the original invite – you know our views on that. (Apologies to those speed daters out there, please don’t take it personally!)

The rate we were discounting ideas at rapidly narrowed our options. The main criteria of the event was to lay on something different, fun & sociable for people. We figured that people in the PR & Media industry have a tough life that often involves juggling multiple balls at 100mph – figuratively speaking. Then the idea struck us that we should just host a drinks event at an uber cool location like Foundation Bar. The idea was not to give the evening a label like “networking”, and to just do it because – well why not! The idea of people just turning up to evening drinks to chat, let off steam and just shoot the breeze started to tick all the boxes.

It was however missing a certain something, a little USP to climb nearer to the top of people’s social diary. I’ve always been a believer that the simplest ideas are often the best, and when the idea of free drink was voiced, I knew that we had found a winning formula. I mean, what better way to round people up in one place than by offering free drink! We successfully got TNR & PR Newswire on board to very generously sponsor the bar; which is no mean feat in the PR & Media industry. Then out of that the name ‘PR Happy Hour’ was born!

The night itself saw people come from as far afield as Bristol & Gloucester. Some arrived at the beginning & stayed until the lights came on, and some popped in for a few hours for a chat and colourful drink from jam jars. We had a great turn out including David Ross from The Sun propping up the bar chatting to people; Cowboys (my name for blokes from Cow PR), 10 Yetis, McDonald’s, Frank & Ketchum to name but a few. Our stunning TNR camera person, Gemma De-Ville, caught the eye of a few as she shot the whole evening on her Z5 in a pair of 5” Kurt Geiger heels without even a wobble!

A lot of effort was put in to make the evening a success and we certainly enjoyed it, in fact I’m pretty sure everyone there did as well. We definitely believe this is the template for more evenings to come and will be looking at dates in 2012 soon. Keep your eyes on the @PR_Happyhour Twitter feed for more info!

Post by Alex Waite (Marketing Executive @ TNR Communications)

Tags: Foundation Bar, Media, PR, PR Happy Hour, TNR
Posted in PR | No Comments »

TNR

Bridging the gap between PR and Media

Archive for the ‘PR’ Category

Who says men don’t wear Pink…

First Shoot With TNR

BT Sport Launches

Best Jobs in the World

Handle with EXTREME care!

The ‘PR’emier league

PR Happy Hour

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