Google has turned the lights off and made their homepage black to promote Earth Hour, which is a global environment initative. I'm impressed by how much difference changing a single colour makes. Perhaps other company's with well known colour schemes could try this.

I'd like to see Coca-Cola turn their cans and bottles green for a few weeks to celebrate their environmental efforts. But then again I'd like to see Coke become more environmentally friendly anyway.

Labels: coca cola, colour, earth hour, formby, google, marketing, matthew watson, public relations

Last night I went the Underground club in Southport to see what the new Club NME night is like. A band called Pencil Toes were playing, they sounded alright I suppose. Afterwards they played the usual music, which was great as always. I do like Underground but there is a feeling that they've sold out, by running the NME night. I'm not sure. The music was still good, although I did think the atmosphere wasn't like how it used to be. A great shame.

As we entered the club we were stamped with the club's logo. This if fine. However, I fell asleep on my hand last night and woke up this morning with the club's logo emblazoned across my face. Talk about using your customers as brand ambassadors!

Labels: brand ambassadors, club, formby, matthew watson, music, nme, pencil toes, southport, underground

To prepare for my mum's 50th birthday party on Saturday, and the photo shoot with Alex Petricca, I went shopping in the MetQuarter in Liverpool today. I got a great new pair of jeans and a thin leather belt from Energie in their 70% off sale. I also got a stripy grey shirt in Levi's with £12 off. Bargain.

Also got a half price silk tie and plenty of balloons and what not for my my mum's party. I've even made some paper weights out of black paper, two pence coins and photographs to keep the helium balloons I've ordered in place.

Labels: 50, birthday, energie, formby, levis, liverpool, matthew watson, metquarter, mum, shopping

Crystal Castles are headlining the Skins Party in Liverpool on 25th April, that I talked about in my 'Skins Party!' post a few weeks ago.

The rest of the lineup includes:

Hervé who do an amazing mix of Thriller by Michael Jackson. I hope they perform that. Ladyhawke who have a great song called Back of the Van. David E Sugar whose song Chelsea Girls I quite like. The Freelance Hellraiser who have a few good song, my favourite is probably Siouxsie RMX. There will also be another band who have won the Skins competition to find an unsigned band.

Only a month to go now. I cannot wait!

Labels: channel 4, crystal castles, david e sugar, formby, freelance hellraiser, hervé, ladyhawke, liverpool, matthew watson, michael jackson, party, skins, thriller

I returned from a fantastic break in Nice yesterday. During my stay we visited Monaco, where this photo was taken, and Ventimiglia in Italy.

I tried moules mariniere for the first time, which I really liked, and snails, which I didn't. Although they tasted fine, they had a very strange texture and I couldn't get it out of my head that I was eating snails. I also had gnocchi for lunch in Italy, which I wanted to try in Venice but didn't get the chance.

We're already planning to go to Rome in September since this trip was such a success. I'm also planning a short trip to Dublin for my friends at university and I when the exams are over. Ryanair are offering penny flights to Dublin from Manchester. With taxes that means that the flights will cost just £20 return. I've also found a cheap place to stay, The Marlborough Hostel. The hostel charges less than £10 a night and provides free breakfast and internet access. I think that sounds great. Have you tried this hostel before?

Labels: dublin, formby, france, marlborough hostel, matthew watson, nice, rome, ryanair

Simon's flat in Antibes is beautiful - very Ikea. Yesterday he was in work, so Caroline and I explored the town and the harbour. We got incredibly lost but somehow managed to get back to the flat in time to go out for a chinese meal.

For lunch we found a nice little restaurant where a crazy waiter served us. He was one of the hightlights of the day. As he walked around the restaurant he kept screaming before coming over to our table and pretending to drop a cup of coffee on us. He then proceeded to tidy up a table next to ours. He picked up a half full jug of water and poured it all over the table before walking off and sticking his tongue out at us!! Later on as I waited to use the toilet he ran in and banged all the doors, making the people using the toilets think it was me. A very amusing lunch by anyone's standards. The food wasn't half bad either, I had tartar de la mer.

Today Caroline and I are travelling to Cannes for a few hours, before meeting Simon for dinner in Nice tonight. Tomorrow Simon has the day off, so we plan to visit Monaco for another day out.

It's nice and sunny too :)

Labels: antibes, caroline, formby, france, holiday, ikea, matthew watson, monaco, nice, simon

If ever there was a need for an example of how not to celebrate a divorce, then Heather Mills has met that need. Yesterday, after dousing Paul McCartney's lawyer with a glass of water she proceeded to rant for 11 minutes about how hard life would be with the 20-odd million pounds she got. Not exactly appealing to the masses or the journalists hounding her outside the courts either for that matter.

Perhaps a quick comment to say she was glad a settlement had been reached and happy to have the marriage and the divorce behind her might have been more apt. Either way I suspect Heather knew she'd be criticised on the front page of all the newspapers the next day.

If I ever get divorced I'll do it properly. Although I do hope I don't!

P.s. I'm in Nice. It's nice. Ha ha ha...

Labels: divorce, formby, heather mills, matthew watson, nice, paul mccartney

Tomorrow I shall be jetting off to Nice from the John Lennon airport in Liverpool. I'm away for five nights, returning on 23rd March. So, this blog might not be updated until then.

Au Revoir!

Labels: airport, au revoir, blog, easter, formby, holiday, john lennon, matthew watson, nice, the beatles

I'm working on a business plan at the moment for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship module of my degree. The business plan is for my theoretical PR consultancy, The Monitor Lizards. The consultancy will provide blog monitoring and online reputation management services for medium sized businesses in the UK. I think a basic fee of £200 a month would be reasonable. What do you think?

I just had my first online business meeting using a webcam as part of the Opus project too. Exciting stuff.

Labels: blog, business plan, entrepreneurship, formby, innovation, matthew watson, monitor lizards, opus project, public relations, video meeting

Stephen Davies of prblogger.com recently posed the question 'Where are all the student PR bloggers?' Now he's created a list, and for some reason or another I top it. See the list of UK PR student bloggers here.

It's not the first time Davies has helped me. I quoted his Behind The Spin article, 'Blog-it-yourself and watch your profile rise' in my dissertation. I think this serves to prove that blogging can raise your profile. This is certainly true in Google. A search for 'Matthew Watson' shows my blog as the 4th result, just behind a Professor Matthew Watson from the University of Warwick.

Labels: behind the spin, blogging, dissertation, formby, google, matthew watson, prblogger.com, profile, public relations, stephen davies, students, university of warwick

I treated myself to a new t-shirt from Topman. I love it.

Labels: blondie, clothes, easter, formby, matthew watson, more tea vicar, nice, t-shirt, topman

Dissertation asking Is blogging the future of Public Relations? Done.

Thank you to everyone who helped me with interviews:
(Alphabetical as always)

Heather Constantine, the parliamentary researcher for Ann Widdecombe

Iain Dale is a political commentator who blogs at www.iaindale.com

Sarah Halton of Tangerine PR

Roger Haywood the former CIPR and CIM president.

Ian Green the director of media at Green Communications

Johannes Kokert and engineer at Leica Microsystems in Germany

Simon Law, a junior product manager at Amadeus in France

Thibault Masson, the founder of international online marketing consultancy Fashion Fox

Katie McLoughlin of Trinity Mirror North West

Alexander Petricca, a professional photographer and blogger in Liverpool.

Douglas Smith the former CIPR president and MD of Parliamentary Perceptions

Margaret Tarpey the MD of Concept Communications

Nina Watson, the senior account manager at Concept Communications

Paul Watson the Global IT manager of Rolls-Royce Energy

Philip Young, a senior lecturer at the University of Sunderland and prominant PR blogger

Special thanks also go out to:

Maxine Barnett who organised the 'Two PR Greats' lecture and introduced me to Douglas Smith and Roger Haywood.

Anne Gregory whose lecture on 'Public Relations and its Struggle for Respectability' at the Bradford University School of Management helped me enormously.

Labels: cipr, concept pr, dissertation, formby, huddersfield, is blogging the future of public relations, matthew watson, public relations, students, university

I had a great phone interview with Ian Green of Green Communications today. Ian is the director for media at Green and works with Andy Green, the author of Creativity in Public Relations.

He gave this advice: "All students and PR practitioners should start blogging. I think it is a good way to show off your writing skills and show that you can think. I’d recommend people pick a subject they have knowledge of and stick to it."

So hopefully this blog should stand me in good stead.

If you're wondering why Patsy and Edina are brightening up this post it's because I started up a facebook group today. 'The PR People' should help people on my course stay in touch after uni and keep each other up-to-date with any announcements. At least until the next big internet craze comes along and replaces facebook.

Labels: absolutely fabulous, andy green, dissertation, edina, formby, green communications, ian green, matthew watson, patsy, public relations

Now Hotmail isn't working either.

Labels: e-mails, formby, hotmail, matthew watson, Service Unavailable

At the moment I'm in the process of finishing my dissertation.

What I need is some extra time, an excellent spell checker and the ability to type several hundred words a minute.

What I don't need is someone getting a little too trigger happy with a bulldozer and cutting through the network cable, bringing the entire university network down along with all the e-mails that I desperately need from people I've contacted.

And it's raining!

Labels: dissertation, e-mails, formby, huddersfield, matthew watson, rain, university

I have got tickets for the skins party in Liverpool. It's on the 25th April, which is the end of term and therefore the day that I finish university. Or at least the end of my seminars and lessons, I still have an exam after that. But it's very exciting regardless. I shall keep you updated with what bands etc are playing as the lineup hasn't been announced yet.

Will you be attending?

Labels: formby, huddersfield, liverpool, matthew watson, party, skins, university

I interviewed Thibault Masson for my dissertation today. Thibault is the founder of an excellent French company named Fashion-Fox. Fashion Fox is a consultancy specialising in online marketing for fashion company's around the world.

Thibault helped answer about a million of my questions and gave some brilliant answers as well as an insight into the French blogosphere. This should help hugely when I consider language barriers and cultural differences that affect blogging.

He said that not all businesses should blog especially if they are, "Blogging about something that no one care about like the CEO's new hair cut." This ties in great with an article I have by Janet Street-Porter from the Independent called 'Just Blog Off!' about the uninteresting Waitrose blog written by the MD about his weight loss.

So I urge you to check out Fashion Fox. It's a great resource run by a great person! Also if you are interested in fashion, Thibault runs two fashion blogs Chaussure-femmes.com and Lingerie-Meets-Underwear.com

Labels: blog, blogging, david bowie, fashion fox, formby, france, janet street porter, just blog off, masson, matthew watson, not so chubby, public relations, the independent, thibault, waitrose

Since the assessment day last month I have been checking my e-mails constantly waiting for a response. Today it came. I'm not going to be working for PR week's international consultancy of the year 2007, Hotwire PR.

They said :

As you know we had over 400 applications for positions, and you did incredibly well to get down to the last 35. We found it very, very hard to assess who should go on to be in the last 12 candidates for final interviews – but we made the decision based on a number of factors including your knowledge of technology, your writing and your understanding of PR.

Bearing all of that in mind, I am sorry to say that we haven’t shortlisted you. This doesn’t mean that you didn’t do a great job – just that it was very competitive and inevitably some good candidates weren’t shortlisted.

I've asked if there is any feedback they can give me to help with future interviews. So we'll have to see what happens with that. I really liked Hotwire and enjoyed the assessment day, so even though I didn't get the job I enjoyed the experience and the trip down to London. Plus it also means I don't have to cancel my trip to Nice next week as that coincided with the final interview dates.

Labels: formby, graduate, hotwire, job interview, matthew watson, public relations

On wednesday night (27th) I was treated to an interesting lecture by former CIPR presidents Roger Haywood and Douglas Smith at the University of Huddersfield. The event was well turned out with Anne Gregory, another former CIPR president, in attendance.

Andy Green of Green Communications, who is the honorary research fellow at the University was also there offering an insight into the public relations world.

Roger Haywood left me very impressed with his tales of public relations past and his hopes for the future of the profession. He offered us advice for when we apply for jobs, saying that we should includea photograph of ourselves with out CV. To make it truly standout from the hundreds of other applicants who might be applying for the same position. A great little piece of advice I think.

Douglas Smith invited us into his world of political public relations and lobbying. He presented us with a three-page handout containing plenty of information on how to succeed in the political arena of public relations. Although this is not an area that is of particular interest to me, I found it incredibly useful with regards to my dissertation and my plans to discuss political blogging.

Best of all - the event was free!

Labels: andy green, anne gregory, cipr, douglas smith, formby, huddersfield, matthew watson, public relations, roger haywood