WORLD CUP IN A WAREHOUSE

On a sunny afternoon in the buzzing creative hub that is Hoults Yard Byker, O Communications joined forces with Muckle LLP and UBS to distract the business community from their day jobs and engage in a spot of 'networking'. Thanks to a 16ft screen, a hog roast and the Baghdaddies for entertainment the event quickly became the hot ticket in town with over 400 people attending.

Not one to forget our friends in the media, the region's newsrooms must have been eerily empty as everyone from news reporters and magazine editors, to picture desk snappers and national correspondents came out for a spot of sun - and an England goal to boot. The relaxed event even saw guests vox-popped by the BBC Look North TV crews and Brian Moore and the Metro FM team broadcasting live from the event all afternoon.

Press coverage started with the evening TV news bulletins and ran for days in the region's print titles. Connections were made, everyone forgot about their worries and possibly even a bit of business was done.

The only question now is what is the next event we can lay on to beat that! Watch this space...

STUDENTS TURN UP THE HEAT WITH PR AWARD

AS part of our commitment to nurturing young talent, we awarded a group of Tyneside students for their ingenious use of PR and marketing within their own Young Enterprise company last night.

O Communications has been a supporter of Young Enterprise North East for the past five years, and we created our own award category for this year’s annual Regional Final event, where students who have set up their own company battle it out to be named Company of the Year.

O Communications chief executive Kari Owers presented the PR and Marketing Award to Cookii Doh- a company set up by a group of year 10 students from John Spence Community High School in North Shields, which designs and produces t-shirts and hoodies with bespoke graphics for teenagers.

As a result of its marketing activity, Cookii Doh is already in talks with Cramlington-based men’s clothing company The Officers Club and is exploring possibilities with high street clothes retailer Next plc and play.com.

As part of their prize we will host a PR master-class for all the school’s Young Enterprise Company Programme students in the new academic year.

O Communications chief executive Kari Owers said: “The Cookii Doh team impressed me from the moment I approached their trade stand.

“Good PR is about being able to sell your idea in the first 30 seconds and they did just that – their branding, presentation, press coverage, advertising campaign, promotional ideas - such as selling hoodies to raise funds for the Haiti disaster - and their evident passion for the marketing of their business was infectious.

“The standard of their creative thought process was knockout for such young people, they had left no stone unturned in marketing their company to their target audiences, attracting partnerships and squeezing every last drop of knowledge out of the Young Enterprise experience.”

The YENE Company of the Year Award went to BrightLife Books, a company set up by year 12 students from Newcastle Church High School, after producing two paperback books, 'Ronnie the Runner bean' and 'Sunny the Sunflower' with a global environment and healthy eating theme aimed at children aged three - 11.

The books come with sunflower seeds so children can grow their own plants and a ‘Wheel of Good Health’ placemat to teach children about eating healthily.

BrightLife Books will now represent the North East at the National Final in London this July.

The other two finalist companies that were judged on the day include, Smarty Pants, a company set up by students from Teesside High School, that produces quality audio CD revision guides and online resources for the GCSE science market, and Munchkins, launched by a group of year 12 business and textile students from The English Martyrs School & Sixth Form College in Hartlepool, who produce personalised aprons and recipe books for children.