Last night saw the political and business leaders of Guernsey get together for the annual IoD debate. Moderated by Nick Ross the discussion was wide ranging: tax, students, the brain drain, farming, sausages, economic migrants and of course, Jersey.
16 years since Orchard ‘branched out’…
On “day one”, sitting alone in Prospect House in Guernsey – now flattened to make way for the southerly end of the Admiral Park development – I had no clients and no idea how Orchard would develop. But I needn’t have worried. I soon had plenty of work to keep me busy, with Martel Maides and the Bella Luce Hotel being two of the first clients to sign us up.
Feeling liberated?
The 9th May 1945 is an important date in Guernsey’s history as it marks the end of Nazi occupation during the Second World War; a significant part of the island’s complex history.
Every year islanders celebrate Liberation Day to remember the difficult times and those that experienced them and to revel in everything that makes Guernsey special.
A quick survey of team Orchard shows a keen few ‘lib dayers’, so here are their thoughts on the high points of Guernsey’s very own public holiday.
Harry: “The best thing about liberation day is getting together with friends to celebrate in town. You always end up bumping into someone you haven’t seen in years and having a good catch-up.”
Emma: “The occupation and all that happened in Guernsey during that period of Channel Islands history is pivotal to life here and this seems to mean more to me the older I get.”
Di: “Going into Town to lap up all the nostalgia going on and this year to listen to Dealer’s Left who are kicking off Lib Rock, on the Albert Pier!”
Election candidates have worn their heart on a new media sleeve
Voters in Guernsey have been able to get much closer to candidates in the 2012 election. In addition to the traditional doorstep visits, hustings meetings, manifestos and media coverage, this election has seen some candidates making themselves more accessible through the use of various facets of online and social media.
Four years ago there were hardly even any websites but this election we’ve seen some really impressive sites, plus candidates communicating via Twitter and Facebook and some even making daily broadcasts using audioboo.
Capitalising on the media revolution of recent years has brought benefits to both candidates and voters. Candidates are no longer restricted to the amount of information they can squeeze into a four page manifesto. They can expand on this, and react to the issues raised during household visits, as their campaign unfolds in a variety of other ways.
Where are they now? (part one…)
Last week we heard from our current crop of account executives about working in PR, and of course, working at Orchard. We promised to bring you news of some Orchard apples that have moved on in their PR careers, having been lured away to other parts of the UK and indeed the world. Today we have guest blogs from Martyn and Emily, now forging PR careers in Nottingham and London respectively.
Orchard is still recruiting for an account executive, so if a career in PR sounds like the thing for you, please get in touch.
Want to work in PR?
You might have already heard – Orchard is hiring…
We have a vacancy for an account executive, often the first step onto the PR ladder for many people. It’s a position that comes with fantastic opportunities for learning and experiencing new things and developing skills and meeting very useful people. So, rather than writing out another job ad, we thought who better to tell you why you want to be a PR account executive at Orchard than our awesomely talented team themselves. So we asked them a few questions to see what they think.
What is the best thing about working in PR?
Chloe: Seeing coverage you have achieved for your clients. It sounds nerdy but you get a real buzz from opening a newspaper and seeing your story.
Cat: No two days are ever the same because quite often you are reacting to stories reported by the media and participating in issues management. It is also a great chance to develop relationships with clients, journalists and photographers and sometimes you even get the chance to meet a celebrity!
Good communication is always worth investing in
Autumn must be approaching as an old chestnut has already appeared. That much exercised question, usually raised by a politician, about whether the public sector should pay for professional communications advice.
On this occasion it’s former long-time States of Guernsey deputy, former broadcaster and now Guernsey Press columnist Peter Roffey who is airing his view in today’s paper off the back of a States department revealing that it has a communications budget for a major project and has hired external help (not from Orchard).
Media Quiz Photos!
Last week was the Orchard Media Quiz 2011, and whilst the lovely folk at Channel TV ran out eventual winners, we’re very pleased that so many local journos, editors, reporters and presenters turned out to take part. Along with Channel TV therewere three teams from BBC Guernsey, two from the Guernsey Press, the Island FM radiobabes (and Mike) and GBG magazine (with a couple of freelancers).
The best bit, of course, is that we took photos of them all enjoying themselves!
Orchard Media Quiz winners 2011…
The dust has settled on another fine evening of brain teasing. Nine teams of the very best Guernsey’s media has to offer gathered at the Guernsey Yacht Club for a titanic stuggle over six rounds of questions, each more fiendishly difficult than the last…
The big winners on the night were ‘The Yoga Ravers’ from Channel TV, whose team of Tamara Timothy, Andy Will, Rob Moore and Alice Humphrey walked away with the coveted (and all new) Orchard PR Media Quiz trophy:
Other honourable mentions go to ‘The Gadaffi Ducks’ from GBG Magazine with an assortment of Guernsey’s freelancers, who came second and ‘Hardcore Prawn’ from the Guernsey Press, who came third. Orchard PR’s very own ‘Quizzee Rascals’ came in a very honourable fourth.
We’ll have more pictures soon, but if you can’t wait check out the quiz action on twitter.
Welcoming Waitrose to the Channel Islands
‘Every pr should spend time working in the press office of a supermarket’, Ed Watson ex-Asda PR, now at Debenhams (as quoted in Corpcomms magazine)
The brief: We began working with Waitrose last summer following their successful purchase of five shops in the Channel Islands. Waitrose displayed a refreshing and honest approach to their knowledge of the Channel Islands; they had undertaken extensive research before purchasing their shops but knew that the Channel Islands could not be treated as another region of England. They understood that to have a successful communications campaign they needed to engage the people that lived and worked in the islands. That is where Orchard came in…
We were taken on to perform a local press office function for the supermarket and to be the company’s eyes and ears in the islands in the lead up to the new branch openings.
Orchard PR was also tasked with the management of two stakeholder events; both to take place the night before the first branch opened in each island. The events were to mark the company’s arrival in the islands, and to celebrate the culmination of all the hard work undertaken to get the branches open. We wanted to get the great and good of the islands to come to the events to meet the movers and shakers of Waitrose.
