A car, a taxi, a plane, a boat and a walk. Ten hours of travel. ‘Six o’clock. Eight metres. In the sedge. A Lighter Spotted  Siberian Warbler.’ TICK. Ten hours ten minutes later they are Home, one bird up, £300 down and ready for the next call.

It is an irony that too often these very tired birds rarities (although possibly as common as a Sparrow in Mongolia), perish of fright with seventy telescopes homed in on them ever closer. No bodyguards for these Celebs from this unlikely paparazzi.

The hunt is a primeval urge in us. Stamp collectors and train spotters are similarly addictive number quests. But how shallow and dangerous is the numbers game? What is the chase for numbers achieving?

By its very nature, a number chase is a narrow chase. It has no time for developing relationships or affinities. The satisfaction of a gain is all too quickly banked and forgotten in favour of the next. A little like gambling – another numbers game. The cost of ticking off that one bird for a moment’s satisfaction makes a poor ratio of effort versus result. Like the young stud accumulating bed notches, every conquest merely returns one to the starting line so there is no journey to be lapped.

Yesterday was Armistice Day. I find The Two Minute silence difficult to fill. The numbers of dead in The First World War are too colossal to comprehend so the mind struggles to relate. I try and imagine just one of those numbers as a person (as I have known no war dead). Just one person can fill hours of time, let alone two minutes. One seventeen year old’s death. His life lost, his Mother weeping, his Father spending the rest of his days an alcoholic. His life lost for no purpose. But 100,000 lives? The mind has no grip on that. It numbs.

Numbers are dangerous. They are lifeless and flat. They exclude love, bonding, loyalty and learning. Never forget the moment the Jewish face became a Jewish number in WW2, humanity was abandoned. Numbers are volatile, misleading and inevitably lead to a state of futile flux. Like the ‘Grand Old Duke of York, who had 10,000 men, he marched them to the top of the hill and he marched them down again. When they were up they were up, when they were down they were down. When they were only half way up they were neither up nor down’. Who cares?

Successful marketing is about building and growing real relationships. It is about listening, relating and understanding. The birdwatcher who provides a wonderful garden habitat is rewarded with loyal birds he comes to know and enjoy. He will be happier than the birdwatcher blindly trampling habitats to chase a number. And so it is with business. A business that creates common ground with their target audiences and studies, interacts and nurtures, is building a loyalty and a recognition which creates reward and long term sustainable value.

Matthew Rymer

During the election campaign, Cheltenham was blanketed with Conservative billboards, the result of significant financial targeting of this marginal seat by their Head Office, backed by Party donors. However, I for one was not surprised to see that the Liberal Democrat majority increased despite this advertising.

The electorate will not be told who to vote for. Billboards, in particular, give the impression of Big Brother politics and unless the posters are very clever in their subliminal messaging (and they were not), they will have little effect. In fact, I would dare to say the effect could be negative, if only to spur the very voters targeted to shore up the opposing party.

The reason I see the electorate wanting to witness cross party compromise and real and true policy reconciliation in Government is because of the value society now places on honest communication. In today’s politics, when the party differences are relatively slight as they all clamber for the mass of middle votes, ‘lion pit’ warring politics does not seem real or honest. Simply, it does not ‘stack up.’ Therefore, we have lost faith in our politics and politicians (I would dare to say the expenses row was more symptom than cause). Hearing politicians talk of near Armageddon should their opposition win power, and vice versa, becomes as tiresome as it is dishonest. The outlandish nature of the cross party bickering and exaggeration of claims becomes so ridiculous that we, the electorate, lose interest, faith and resopect.

Marketeers had adopted consensual marketing long before the politicians. Turn the word ‘electorate’ to ‘consumer’ and you see the quest for honesty as a parallel. I visited The Real Food Festival in London last week and it was truly inspiring and exciting to see how the industry for honest, natural food and drink is burgeoning. We want the truth behind the label, whether on our strawberries or our jumper. Websites empower consumers to rank, vote, interact and comment. Social networking sites spread truth like wildfire. Successful advertising has long jumped from preaching from its pulpit to interacting and engaging with its congregation. Today, empowered by technology, honesty and truth have become paramount demands of the Consumer. Underestimate them at your peril!

In this Election, the influence to change the election result from the vested interests of our national newsprint was diminished in favour of the more honest (and faster growing) video medium. The Leaders’ Debates ignited the nation’s interest and are a reflection of how critical video is becoming in today’s marketing mix. These debates may have been full of subliminal messaging (recited set pieces, choreographed posturing etc) but the electorate felt at last able to deduce their own conclusions. Indeed, video advertising is forecast to become a formidable force on mobiles and smartphones as it proves it can move products and heighten brand awareness in measurable ways.

Be honest and be real and, whether brand or politician, perhaps your most feared threats and opportunities may become your greatest marketing allies!

Matthew Rymer

Managing Director

Attraction is in the suggestion, not the obvious. When we flirt with the opposite sex,  we are tantalizing, exciting, challenging and inviting a response. We are certainly not baring all!

Generating successful media interest in a product, service or business reflects the very best of a successful flirt.  The moment a press release joins all the dots and tells the story it is doomed. It will be too long, too opinionated, too obvious and too advertorial. The best press release pinpoints seductive facts and suggests investigation and exploration.

If you had a six pack or a rather ample bosom, you would not bare it and label it (at least, I would rather hope you would not!)?  However, your sense of fashion might suggest it. Ask any copywriter or journalist for a little advice and more often or not, they will advise you to write, then shorten it, then shorten it further and then condense it.

We just staged the initial, and regional launch, for our client The Pembrokeshire Pasty & Pie Co. They are opening a small pasty and pie shop in Tenby on 1st March. Our release was short but signposted the greater story. Within 24 hours, it was headline news across Wales – on radio, TV and in the press. The Pembrokeshire Pasty is to battle The Cornish. Every paper picked up on two lines in our background notes: that the Pembrokeshire Pasty recipe might have been invented to feed the workers building St David’s Cathedral in 1181. Had that been our headline, it would have been questioned. As an understated possibility, it was not. There is certainly circumstantial evidence to suggest this is true, but no hard evidence as yet. That is the successful flirt.

Media relations excites me. The journalists, freelancers, producers, researchers and editors all want a story and I strongly believe there is a story behind every business. Just akin to flirting – everyone can attract someone.

And So To The Marriage!

Now, onto the inevitable consequence of successful flirting… Marriage! I believe too many businesses struggle alone. In these difficult economic times, there is more reason than ever to look for strategic alliances (marriages!) for the greater success. There was recently an article in The Sunday Times exposing a well known author for plugging a rather delightful holiday resort in her latest novel in exchange for a rather expensive holiday.  As the publishing world reduces advances and prepares for the ebook revolution, authors will increasingly look to manage their own affairs more acutely. Her novel will be judged on its merits. Why promote a resort by accident when one can create a viable alliance?

Small town shopkeepers are suffering more than most in this current climate. More than once, I have seen a pair of neighbouring shops – both suffering – and wondered if they knocked out a side door they could reduce and share staff costs. We may regard ourselves as a nation of small shopkeepers, but I do wonder whether our lack of community spirit reflects itself in business too?

I challenge any business to look again and ask themselves: Who can we ally with? To share customer databases, to endorse each other and to generate news stories, profit share and piggy back exposure?

A successful business may flirt with and marry as many as they are able to. So why be celibate?!

Matthew Rymer