M&N team expands

M&N welcomes new Account Executive Charlie Pelter to its London office, having risen through M&N’s internship programme and benefitted from extensive PRCA training. Charlie has marketing, communications and event management experience in delivering integrated marketing campaigns across a variety of high profile corporate and retail brands. We would also like to introduce Radwa Allabban as Associate Director of our Abu Dhabi office. With over 12 years industry experience, Radwa has a solid international client side and top-agency experience gained in the UK, MENA and Far East markets, combined with an extensive property clients portfolio, which includes Mubadala Real Estate and Hospitality, Dubai Properties, Harrods Estates and DTZ. She is fluent in both English and Arabic.

Are you the bright spark we are looking for?

Overview: M&N Communications, is one the leading property PR agencies and we are looking for a recent graduate to support our team as an intern for up to three months. Working out of our London office in Kings Cross, you will support our friendly team on pre-planning consultation, corporate PR and project accounts, whilst gaining valuable experience and knowledge of property public affairs, corporate and project communications.

Applicant Requirements: Strong writing and research skills and a proven interest in the communications industry are essential; as are drive, enthusiasm, a sense of humour and the ability to adapt to a variety of different situations.

Closing Date: 25 February 2012

Interview/Start Dates: Interviews are available from our London or Guildford offices. We are looking for a intern to start with us at the beginning of February. The length of the internship can be negotiated with the right candidate.

Job Contact: Please send your CV and cover letter to Charlie Pooley at c.pooley@mncommunications.co.uk. If you require any furhter information please call 020 7760 7529.

Unfortunately we will not be able to respond to all applicants. If you have not heard from us by the end of January, your application has not been successful.

Abbey Wood win

Berkshire Investment Capital and Development Securities has recently appointed M&N to carry out a pre-planning consultation programme on a site in Abbey Wood, Greenwich. The consultation process will begin in the coming weeks. This project expands on M&N’s extensive experience in Greenwich, where we have worked on four phases of Berkeley’s Kidbrooke Regeneration since 2007.

Core Blimey!

Leading property company Core has appointed M&N to manage its corporate communications and assist with strategic marketing activity. The team will be working with Core to promote its extensive central London portfolio of high profile buildings and its development, refurbishment and asset management activities.

One to Watch – Dovehouse Interiors

M&N has recently been appointed to manage corporate communications for Dovehouse Interiors. Dovehouse is a specialist fit-out contractor in London and the South of England. Established in 2002, the practice carries out property refurbishments, renovations and fit-outs across all sectors: residential, office, education, healthcare and commercial. M&N will be providing communications expertise across media relations, digital and B2B marketing platforms. A key component of our strategy will be to put the spotlight on the practice’s expertise, and profile some of its key projects, such as the bespoke NHS health centres and Primary Care Trusts across London, and the retro style library refurbishment at the University of Sussex, Brighton. Dovehouse is also the practice responsible for the interior fit-out of Almacanter’s HQ in Quebec Mews, London.

M&N APPOINTED FOR THE ARCADE SITE IN WALTHAMSTOW

Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association (ISHA), has appointed M&N to manage a public consultation programme for a mixed use scheme on the Arcade Site in Walthamstow.

ISHA was selected as preferred developer by Waltham Forest Council and formed a partnership with Hill Residential to develop the site, with Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects (PTEa) appointed to design the scheme.

M&N will be undertaking an extensive public consultation programme in the coming months. A dedicated website has already been set up www.arcadesitewalthamstow.co.uk where all information, including images of the proposed development and dates and times of the public exhibitions, will be displayed.

M&N appointed on Capital Mall, Abu Dhabi

M&N has been appointed as part of a professional team led by DTZ, to provide marketing and communications support to leading Abu Dhabi developer Manazel on their Capital Mall project. Just 5 minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport and with easy access to Dubai, Al Ain and Mussaffah highways, Capital Mall is perfectly positioned to provide customers with a relaxed shopping experience – with over 250 retailers, spread across 60,000sqm GLA and 3,000 undercover parking spaces. Currently under construction Capital Mall is expected to open in Q1 2012.

A Good Foundation

Specialist recruitment consultancy Foundation Recruitment has appointed M&N Communications (M&N) to handle its PR. Foundation Recruitment, which specialises in recruiting for the real estate and wider built environments, is positioning itself as a market leader in the field. M&N will handle the company’s advertising and media relations, with the objective of increasing the visibility of its brand.

Foundation Recruitment is committed to a forward thinking property recruitment process and, with M&N’s knowledge and expertise spearheading its communications strategy, it is in an excellent position to take the company forward and reach its goal to be the ‘real estate recruiter of choice’.

Fabulous for the PR industry or not?

There aren’t many PR’s I know that were not tuned into the return of Absolutely Fabulous on BBC One over the holidays. Since then there have been numerous tweets and blogs circulating on whether the hilarious series is detrimental to the PR industry or not.

Well, I have watched the two episodes that have aired so far, and I am still as amused by Eddy and Patsy’s antics as ever, and not at all concerned about the impact it has had on the perception of PR (unlike Mark Borkowski).

One thing I will say is that the industry has moved on dramatically since the first Ab Fab, and although Eddy pays lip service to blogging, ‘twittering’ and everything that is ‘au courant’, she doesn’t seem to have moved past long Bolly fuelled lunches and Lacroix sweety. But that is exactly the point.

It is satire not a documentary on the world of public relations. In the real world and faltering economy, we are busier than ever providing strategic advice and analysing our clients’ campaigns for return on investment than we are taking long lunches with journalists and getting our knickers in a twist about what Ab Fab has done for the reputation of our industry – if anything it has been the best PR we have ever had!

So, I will continue to soak up Ab Fab as the unapologetic entertainment it is intended to be, and anticipate more tweets and blogs about other recently aired satires and their impact on industry reputations – Channel 4’s Hacks anyone?

Are we really social?

It would appear that social media is still having a moment, with no sign of dying down. It’s becoming the norm, and increasingly unusual, not to keep in touch hourly with Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, Foursquare and LinkedIn, to the point that it’s hard to know where one starts and the other begins. Even our politicians are in on the act. The Commons recently voted to allow MPs to tweet inside the Chamber, and David Cameron has joined Linkedin uk.linkedin.com (I'm still waiting for my request to be approved!).

However, I can’t help but ask is this making us more social or actually the reverse? Once started it’s hard to get off of this digital motorway. The hours for socialising with friends are spent reflected in a faint laptop glow or "checking in" at your location on your smart phone, before you manage to say hello to the real people you are meeting.

There’s no question of the commercial value of the digital boom we’re engaged in. This needs to be embraced with open fingers, but when associates, colleagues and friends are in danger of becoming thumbnails or numbers, you can’t beat lunch with a client or a drink on a Friday night to really get the social juices, with all the commercial benefits, flowing.

BCSC looms….

Whilst my colleagues at M&N are old hats at the BCSC game, 2011 will be my first conference experience and the stories I have heard give me the impression of a varied, hectic, and ultimately enjoyable couple of days.

Parties, dinners, lunches, coffees and drinks seem to be very much the order of the day(s) so I’m left wondering when the work comes into all of this (but don’t get me wrong, I like parties as much as the next girl). This impression I have is positive though and I shouldn’t get too much of shock when it all starts. As we all know, being in the communications business is all about relationships – with clients, industry experts, politicians, journalists, I could go on… - and so many of these relationships are made, and kept, at these key industry events. It should be a good sign that we don’t really think of this as work, but as the fundamental foundation of our chosen profession and ultimately one of the reasons all the staff at M&N started in this business.

Perhaps, in my relative ignorance, I’m just too keen at this point and I’ll come crashing back down to earth when my first BCSC is over. But I’m hoping that my impressions are correct and this will be the first of many. I’ll let you know.

Taking life 5 steps at a time

My third week of working in London approaches and I find myself exhausted. The work is not to blame, the capital city, however, is a definite contributing factor. Everybody tells you to take life one step at a time but having watched those with a modern working London lifestyle I find myself realising that they don’t have enough hours in the day to take life one step at a time. To do everything they need and want to do, a minimum of five steps at a time is necessary.

I used to wonder how ‘celebs’ didn’t get recognised more often in day-to-day London life - apparently a lot of famous faces reside in the capital but very few people tell stories of bumping into Harry Potter! The pace of life takes the majority of the blame, and on the very rare occasion you get time to double take on ‘Harry Potter’ it is more than likely to be someone playing dress-up! It is however, apparent that you may happen across ‘Harry Potter’ or one of his friends when around Kings Cross station as the latest tourist attraction to appear is the infamous Platform 9 ¾.

The Harry Potter replica is maybe the latest but not the last thing Kings Cross Central will have to offer for the mass travelling to London. Kings Cross is a hotbed of new development and is there any surprise? With my train journeys either starting or ending in Kings Cross I have witnessed the scale of traffic that flows around and throughout the grand structure and also the hum that comes from the new developing building that will be known as T1 – the new development will be a mixed use, 350,000 sq ft building and one of the first to be constructed as part of the 67 acre regeneration scheme.

The fortunately positioned offices of M&N on York Way are in prime location to witness the spectacular changes currently taking place in and around Kings Cross Central, and the general buzz of excitement will not be dying down anytime soon with more plans being revealed for the 67 acre regeneration. Expect life being taken at more than 5 steps at a time and prepare for hoards of visitors slowing down your travel time!

Hoodies, headlines and hearsay

With dramatic headlines and photos splashed across the front of all English language newspapers in Abu Dhabi today, you’d get the impression that the UK is at war with itself. And sadly that is what most of our Emirati friends now think. Holidays are being cancelled and investments are being reviewed. Because, as we all know, perception is reality. Or is it?

Water cannons, rubber bullets, more police? Perhaps, but I’d also urge a more balanced media reporting of events. The actions of a few mindless young criminals, for that is what they are, has severely damaged the UK’s international reputation. But the media must also bear some responsibility.

Twitter and instant messaging has certainly played its part in creating carnage on the streets, as well as now helping with the cleanup #riotcleanup. But whatever social media and social issues have helped ferment such unrest, this is not happening on every street and in every town or city in the UK. Unfortunately that is the impression being given by some irresponsible news reporting.

The public want facts not hysteria. And hearsay is the most dangerous communications channel of all.

Top of the Shops

Having lived here in Abu Dhabi for the past two years, I can safely say that the range of shops is a little on the sparse side compared to Dubai. However, that is set to change with a whole host of new malls due to open across Abu Dhabi over the next two years. From high-end boutiques and eateries at The Galleria on Sowwah Island, the ‘destination’ Yas Mall on Yas Island and the community sized, middle-market Mushrif Mall and Capital Mall amongst others, Abu Dhabi aims to stem the floods of shoppers on the Sheikh Zayed Highway to Dubai with a heady dose of retail therapy.

Success will be in the tenant mix. Simply opening a mall just isn’t enough anymore, especially now there are plenty to go round in Abu Dhabi. Shoppers don’t want to see the same old shops with their limited choices or to go to malls finding only a handful of shops open... and only the same handful open 12 months later.

Word of mouth here in Abu Dhabi is by far one of the greatest drivers of success. From cafes to hairdressers, a great recommendation can make or break a business here. Historically, the lack of malls, meant there wasn’t much choice but as more and more retail space is added – some 250,000 square metres to be added this year alone – positive word of mouth will become all the more important. Mall operators take heed; there’s a huge expat population out there waiting to spend their hard earned dirhams but you’ve got to give us a good mix... otherwise it’s back on the road to Dubai.

To blog or not to blog…

We’ve all spent years carefully preening the public faces of our companies and managing every aspect of their image to the outside world. We’ve all been media trained and now naturally bow to the protocols and approvals processes crafted by communications consultants (such as ourselves) to maintain consistency of message and brand reputation. It’s comforting to businesses to have this protective ‘brand management’ shield around them but is this all about to change?

The onslaught of the blog has got some businesses jumping for joy and others cowering behind the photocopier. Blogs are non-technical, inexpensive, immediate, creative and an easy way to access mainstream audiences and particularly, the previously unengageable ‘yoof’; 18 to 24 year olds make up around 25%+ of all adult bloggers. They will be the business world in five years time – we need to be ready. Embrace the online world and there will be infinite possibilities for business.

But amidst this joy in freedom of expression and the unbridled sense of living in the now, are we forgetting the hidden dangers of spontaneity in the business world? Are businesses, or more dangerously, individuals blogging away happily, free from approvals processes or protocols with no thought for why they were there in the first place? Journalists and competitors will be lapping up these literary faux pas but where does it leave brand reputation – not to mention a company’s legal position?

It’s a fast paced world and we all need to be part of the race, that’s certain. However we all need to keep one eye on the pitfalls of ‘trigger fingers’ or ‘loose cannon’ syndrome, business wise. No company wants its public face to be red-cheeked or worse, suffer irreparable damage to its reputation. The message for all of us business bloggers: be creative but be careful.

The Budget – A Graduate’s View

Now that the dust has settled and the reactionary post-mortems of this year’s Budget have been conducted, the long term impact of the proposed changes to the planning system remains to be seen. But considering the impacts from a personal point of view, it may be easier to consider how the Budget could affect thousands of young people in my position.

Speaking as a recent graduate and current intern, the Budget could provide some reason for cheer. Raising the tax-free income threshold to £6105 in April 2013, then to £8000 will, according to calculations, put an extra £452 in my pocket per year. This is somewhat soured by the news that duty on alcohol will now account for £1 in every purchase, while the average cost of a pint will increase to £3.12. Ouch. However, with the news of a 2% reduction in Corporation Tax (with a further percentage drop in the next two years), there is a greater possibility that companies will use their increased revenues to invest in training programmes and graduate schemes to the benefit of future graduates, in turn helping to alleviate the high unemployment rate among 16-24 year olds. Fingers crossed my optimism is not misplaced.

A Retro-Revolution

In tough economic times and in this age of austerity, reminiscing about the good ol’ days seems to be on many peoples minds. Everywhere we turn, across all kinds of industries, we are seeing a return to the past.

But how good were those good old days? Not everyone looks so good with hindsight; last year saw the return of Gordon Gecko portrayed in a less flattering light than the original 1980s classic Wall Street, which reflected the banking world of the day. Within architecture, like high wasted trousers, tall buildings are ‘in’, with over five towers planned for completion in the City by 2012, something that has not been attempted since the onset of the recession in 2007.

Just like those big city plans it seems that the government has given certain ideas a dusting-off, we have already seen a dramatic shift in philosophy to old and previously forgotten ideas with the introduction of Localism. This idea, now rebranded is another example of the onset of the retro-revolution, first coming to prominence during the anti-globalisation movement of 1980s America. Even as the industry prepares for an entirely new planning system it seems that developers are already viewing the old and unwieldy system they once criticised with this sense of nostalgia, what we must be careful of is that we don’t stray too far into the past and remember that everything looks better with the rose tinted spectacles of hindsight.

We hope, of course, that the Coalition Government will find a way forward in 2011, taking the best of the old and combining it with the innovation of the future. Unfortunately none of this will be revealed until the Coalition tells us just what role they wish us to play within the ‘Big Society’. What we do know however, is that the planning and development sector will adapt to the new plans as it always has, so for now, all we can do is wait and anticipate what contribution yesterday will make to today.

Mad dogs and Englishwomen….doing business in the summer desert

Whilst the Arab world goes into summer hibernation, the Western world grapples with just how to keep the wheels of industry turning in the UAE.  It’s 47 degrees in the shade but business activity is cooling as per its annual tradition.  At the end of summer, Ramadan and the month of fasting means this limbo period continues until sometimes mid September. 

On secondment to our Abu Dhabi office for three months, I see in this another quirky characteristic of east meets west.  Western consultants beaver away to meet the most rigorous Eastern deadlines but what seemed urgent in spring, becomes dramatically less so by summer.  Major offices and headquarters become the Mary Celeste as employees escape the country for extended breaks in cooler climes.  Decisions are not to be made during this time.  But what does this mean for progress and working with international partners on the global stage? 

Hong Kong, London and New York do not hibernate during summer though arguably they do get a little sleepier due to holidays.  So how does the UAE play catch up, if they are actually playing catch up at all?  In my experience, somehow it works.  Arguably the expatriate workforce has a major role to play in holding the fort during summer.  Whilst there are no momentous initiatives launched, events held or deals signed, these three months provide a highly valuable period to reflect, research and prepare.  Because by the autumn, the UAE business machine goes into overdrive – ever more powerful due to this time of consideration and strategic re-direction.  The phrase ‘hit the ground running’ could have been invented by Arabian business people.  And I am proud to say that we Westerners and the expatriate workforce meet this challenge head on!