Anyone thinking creatively about choosing their twitter name should do their research and check out the tale of the American babysitter who decided to register @theashes, the nickname her boyfriend gave her.

Over the weekend, her followers rocketed from 300 to 5,525  as a confused or ‘stumped’ Ashley Kerekes received thousands of messages about cricket. After hours of bombardment, she cracked and sent this message: “I AM NOT A FREAKING CRICKET MATCH!!!” into the twittersphere.

Following on from the popularity, a campaign was launched to #gettheashestotheashes – and not to miss out on the PR opportunity the Qantas press office tweeted that the airline was bringing “@theashes to Australia for the Ashes”.

Not to miss a trick (unlike those behind our great cricketing institutions), quick thinking Kerekes has launched a T-shirt featuring her twitter outcry onsale for $19.99.

What’s more surprising to us is the lack of thought from those chaps responsible for The Ashes who appear to have missed the social media revolution and not got a grip of the way sports fans are communicating. Come on guys …. catch up!

I pity anyone that asks me how my first day was. Poor person. Whether family members and friends were expecting a perfunctory, “yeah really good thanks” or an underwhelming ”ok, just getting to know people really” they were in for a shock and an excitable 10-minute monologue.

Perhaps a sign of things to come, I jumped straight into the car with my colleagues of two minutes as we raced to two back-to back client meetings. Meeting the decision makers, movers and shakers at big businesses is as thrilling as it is frightening 30 minutes in to your new job, but hearing them laud your new company is unparalleled.

Had I known at 2 pm that just 7 hours later into my first day I’d watch the team pick up an award for Best use of Digital PR at the CIPR North West awards for their great work for The Rock, Bury then I might have anticipated what was to come.  I arrived at my second client meeting with 3 hours of experience and spent 45 minutes basking in the team’s glory. In their (our) review meeting with The Rock, they (we) were praised for the best digital PR campaign the client had seen. I felt like an unused sub picking up a Champions’ League Winners medal; a fraud.

Amazingly enough I continued to benefit from the hard work of my colleagues of , by now, 6 hours at the CIPR awards later that night. I’ve already given away the result. Even better though, I watched as Charlie, Jennifer’s former PR apprentice, received praise from the CIPR Awards’ judges for being an Outstanding Young Communicator. Another sign that I’m at the right place and, with hard work, I might be able to bask in the fruits of my own labour one day!

Given everything that the internet can tell us about our clients, customers and ourselves, it’s almost unforgivable for new business approaches to be made without some basic desk research.

Our landing page gives you an idea of what we do, who we work with and a quick click to the team page tells you who the team are. We really do make it easy.

For the sake of saving their blushes, I’ve removed the details of the ad agency who sent this, however … let’s be honest, I don’t think they’ll ever see it.

SUBJECT: Digital PR

Sent to: info@democracypr.com

Hi

Do you guys offer your clients any digital services , or do you include them in any pitch work? e.g social media – facebook apps, iPhone apps, micros sites, games, data collection sites etc?

Mark

From: Jennifer O’Grady [mailto:jennifer@democracypr.com]

Sent: 19 July 2010 10:46

To: Mark

Yes we do

Sent from my iPhone

SUBJECT: Digital PR

Sent to: jennifer@democracypr.com

Hi Jennifer

In house or do you outsource?

I’m actually after a partnership – we have all the skills to make iphone app, mobile apps, facebook applications, custom facebook landing pages microsites, games , viral – all the things clients want as we see a shift from traditional media and move to have campaigns which have a digital element or elements to them.

In recent months we have started working with PR agencies , so that they can be confident when pitching campaigns or for new clients that they can include a digital element.

If you want pop into our Leeds HQ – top floor penthouse office, I’d be happy to spend 20 mins with you and explain how we can help.

+ don’t worry we are very used to working with NDA’s so you can rest assured that your clients are kept safe!

From: Jennifer O’Grady [mailto:jennifer@democracypr.com]

Sent: 19 July 2010

To: Mark

Hi Mark

We do everything in house outside the app building, however, we also work with a number of different agencies to deliver that.

We have reciprocal arrangements with them, meaning that we send business in both directions.

I’m unlikely to be in Leeds over the next few weeks, but if you’re ever over in Manchester feel free to pop in, I’m sure I have 15 minutes that I can spare.

I can’t see him making the journey over to Manchester for a 15 minute chat, but that’s OK, because the truth is that they don’t really want our business, if they did, they’d have put the effort in.

Taking time to get to know your target consumer, to understand what they want and be able to apply it is a basic communication tool that every business benefits from.

This weekend, we’ve been working on the launch of The Rock in Bury, staging a social media campaign that has amassed almost 3,000 fans in less than two weeks.

The heart of this campaign has been to really get to know and understand what the people of Bury want from their new retail and leisure destination. Some love it, some have areas where they believe it can be improved – but every one of those 3,000 fans know that The Rock is listening to them and cares enough to want and keep their business.

This morning, GMTV interviewed TV comedy legend Bruce Forsyth about once again missing out on a knighthood in the latest Queen’s Honours.

The annual event is promoted to reward exceptional people and those honoured work in a wide range of fields including sports, education, medical research, heritage, and local arts and sports projects.

According to the official Gov website: “The people honoured this year include a pathologist, a nursery nurse, the coach of the England women’s football team, a GP, and a number of youth workers and volunteers. Among the more unusual professions on this year’s list are a station announcer at Fenchurch Street Station and the organist at the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool.”

Bruce, who picked up a CBE in 2006, missed out on his knighthood again this year. On the GMTV interview he mused that the support that he’d received from 25,000 Facebook fans and the media, promoting his long years of service to the entertainment industry, may have influenced the final decision in the opposite direction.

If true, then this underlines how out of touch the decision makers are with the power of the ground swell of public opinion now harnessed by Facebook and other social platforms.

We’re not suggesting that knighthoods are given out based on the same voting system as the X-Factor, but a good leader (just as a good brand) uses all the methods available to listen to what’s important to their public, learns from them and makes decisions accordingly.

Who knows Bruce – next year …. the Queen will be saying ‘nice to see you to see you nice’, and you’ll get that Brucie Bonus you so rightly deserve.

Working for a traditional, English brand such as Duerr’s, we’re often reflecting on our national identity.

Ahead of St George’s Day, we commissioned a poll about lost traditions, due to be unveiled next week, we’re creating the first English Whisky Marmalade and we’re even encouraging the people to embrace the lost art of jam making by digging out long forgotten recipes featuring English ingredients (unfortunately my mum can’t enter the competition….silly rules!).

Last weekend, I had what I believe to be, one of the most ‘English’ of all experiences. As a true city slicker, I took a trip to the countryside for a minibreak (Bridget Jones style) and stepped back to a forgotten time when neighbours left their doors open and red squirrels roamed the land in their masses.

The barriers that us city folk put up came crumbling down as I found myself compelled to make friends with random strangers because I admired their ingenious foldaway picnic blanket, spent all my money on nick nacks in craft shops where I felt obliged to whisper, ate my own body weight in scones with cream and jam and developed a taste in rural art thanks to my slightly hungover euphoric state….

By the end of my fantastically English break, I came to the conclusion that although i’ve spent the majority of my adult life travelling the world and visiting far off cities, there is no place in the world I would rather be.

Now not being much of a map reader, I loved this iphone app from the National Trust, that helps you to find a National Trust place near you, wherever you are in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. You can see it on the map, find out opening times, prices and facilities and access information. Just perfect to help a city girl navigate the unfamiliar terrain.

One word of advice though… when the National Trust says ‘sensible footwear recommended’, take heed….. Rock and Roll chic may look fabulous, but heeled boots and a climb up to a waterfall is not always the most sensible option!

Apparently Jamie Oliver’s school dinners are making children cleverer. Since the introduction of his nutritious meals, SATs results have dramatically improved. Perhaps there’s a scientific reason, or maybe kids are being spurned on by the ever more infrequent reward of chocolate for doing well.

Oliver’s scheme may be making kids healthier, but the media don’t seem to like his “I was right all along” stance.

In fact school dinners are certainly on the media menu today as they also report on fingerprint scanners being introduced in a school in Brent, North London to substitute cash in canteens.

Although mother’s can watch what their kids are eating this way, danger surely looms. As a child, I was constantly worried about the infamous demand of ‘Give me your dinner money.’ Well imagine if a surly bully forced you to give him your thumb.

A year has passed since the first Twestival in Manchester, and although I’m sure you’ll hear much about the money that was raised for @concern and the great work it will do, I wanted to highlight how much things have changed.

In 2009 Twitter was for those who wanted to share and embrace ideas, ask for help or off load their frustrations about the projects they were working on, it was real people sharing real things in a virtual world.  Twestival brought these people together and virtual relationships were cemented in real life. Many of the PR and media types were only just beginning to take the social media space seriously and a few uninitiated PR and marketing types hovered around the edges like fish out of water. (classical example, one PR agency put forwards a gadget as an auction prize that wasn’t MAC compatible – eek(!))

A year on, and we’re in HulaBar – the place is bustling as virtual relationships are cemented into real life. But the question is . . . . where are the Twitter fans of old? The event was full of PR people who are now firmly planted in the Twitter culture. I was asked by an interviewer my twitter name, why i use Twitter and my favourite celeb to follow – after admitting celeb followings isn’t really my thing the girl seemed to be at a loss.

I couldn’t help but think that the place I should have been was over in Madlab, where all the interesting people had got together to talk emerging digital, what’s new and how the landscape is changing.

The Madlab is a community space for people who want to do and make interesting stuff – a place for geeks, artists, designers, illustrators, hackers, tinkerers, innovators and idle dreamers; an autonomous R&D laboratory and a release valve for Manchester’s creative communities.

It’s here where PR and social media people need to be paying attention. It’s here where we’ll understand about what happens after Twitter. It’s here where we’ll learn.

So, I was asked at the event which person I’d recommend to follow this Friday – on reflection I change my answer to this follow @Madlab.

We’ve secured another great result for our newest client Scruffs Workwear as revealed that more than half of all tradesman get jiggy on the job once every year.

Ladies – if you’re looking for some at home action, we suggest you avoid the Gardener, as the research indicated he’s the most likely to kiss and tell!

Working for a client who produces baby food – means that we’re always on the look out for baby related strories and initiatives that might be a media opportunity for the BabyDeli brand. Childhood obesity usually tops the list, but this week it was the launch of a Baby Lottery that caught our attention.

A human egg is being given away this week to a woman plucked from the audience at a fertility seminar. The ‘lottery’ winner is to receive £13,000 worth of IVF treatment and is set to link US based IVF clinics and British clinics in an order to sidestep strict UK payment and guidance laws.

Anti-IVF payment for profit regulations mean a British donor can expect to get £250 for her eggs and supplies are drying up. US donors however are paid up to £6,000 a time and therefore, unsurprisingly, up to 500 students a month donate eggs in order to help pay for their education.

Consultants at the London Bridge Centre and IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia, are hoping Wednesday’s event will start a transatlantic trade to help with the lack of donors in England and believe that this lottery style event will attract people as it does in consumer driven America.

This randomly picked winner will not only get the egg but will be able to leaf through profiles of donors, who are generally pretty, university educated young women and then choose who they would like to donate an egg to them.

It’s apparent that there is a need to increase the number of eggs donated in Britain, but creating a “win a baby” competition can’t be the way.

As a PR professional operating in the baby market, I understand that organisations have a responsibility to market their products in the right way. As a woman I can understand the desperation couples feel when they want a child and simply can’t have one. As an auntie i understand the joy that a little girl or boy brings to a family. But as a human being, i can only ask the question . . .  How do you tell a child that he/she was the prize in a lucky dip?

Computer Engineer Barbie, unveiled at Toy Fair early this year to the gasps and exclamations of the media and the online community as Barbie (now well into her 50s) embarks on a new career following the results of a democratic ‘voters poll’.

In case you’ve missed the early previews, Barbie will now come complete with binary-themed clothing, pink netbook, stylish pink spectacles and a fetching bluetooth ear piece. (How come she isn’t on a mac?)

But I’m not quite sure how I feel about Computer Engineer Barbie. I know many women working in the industry through our links with Girl Geek Dinners and BarCamps, have attended events where talk about shoes and tech sit side by side, but most of them don’t wear pink or have hair quite so quaffed. So, as a member of the geek squad, do i fell patronised?

Let’s be honest, Barbie is hardly a role model that we can all live upto? If Computer Engineer Barbie was full size, she’d stand out like a sore thumb at a geek event … but then wouldn’t she anywhere? From Vet Barbie to Astronaut Barbie – those blond locks and impressive vital statistics would leave most normal people feeling like they were in the presence of a supernatural goddess.

But despite appearences, to me Barbie has never been just about the way she looks. Barbie is an ambassador for women, crashing though glass ceilings and breaking down gender barriers and egnighting a spark of possibility in the imagination of youngsters.

So, I’m welcoming Barbie, not because of the way she looks – but because if there’s a chance that a child playing with the doll might start to open their mind to a world of new opportunities then whatever she’s wearing, she’s part of the gang.

For that reason alone, my 3 year old niece will be getting one for Christmas – but please, don’t tell her!