Business Diary: September 17

Diary is withholding the real name of the agency to spare its blushes so let’s call it donkey gazpacho (in trendy lower case, of course).

The cover note reads: “Good Afternoon, I trust you are well, 
having a good week and no 
doubt looking forward to the weekend?”

Diary hates email small talk. The 
email goes on: “I am writing to you 
on behalf of donkey gazpacho as 
we are running an event as part of Leeds Business Week. This event is 
a big opportunity for us to engage 
and reach out to local businesses.

“We were hoping to feature our press release (see attached) within the Yorkshire Post news/business/blog feed or wherever you deem appropriate to provide us with some additional exposure etc.”

Then, included below the press release, came the good bit from one of the agency bigwigs. It said: “I mean this in no cranky way, but the press release on XXXXX XXXXXXX is pretty weak. It’s not your fault or XXXXX; I should have checked it.”

That sounds pretty cranky to Diary.

It went on: “I have however, made some changes – not perfect but with a more mature style and format for media. Not sure if you supplied the quote, but they need to bring the story on a bit more. My quote for you is pretty bland, so change it by all means.

“I think it would be useful to send to the journalists yourself by way of experience.

“Bit of a friendly email, with press release attached. A photo of you or XXXXX to go with it would help. Professional of course!

“Also, please add as a story on the donkey gazpacho website. Do you know how to do this?”

Helpfully, he included the username and password for the website’s content management system in the email.

#PRfail, as they say on Twitter. Still, it should be a good learning experience.

The extra mile

MULTISENSORY company Experia plays a key role in helping a family carry out major home renovations to accommodate the needs of their disabled daughter on Channel 4’s Double Your House for Half the Money tonight.

South Yorkshire-based Experia was approached by Channel 4 to donate specialist equipment for the show.

But after seeing the West Sussex-based family’s fundraising efforts to create a better environment for seven-year-old Iona-May, who suffers quadriplegic cerebral palsy, the firm decided to go one step further.

“I was bowled away when I saw the amount of effort put in by the whole family with the fundraising,” says Richard Nelson, marketing manager at Experia. “This family really had gone the extra mile for Iona-May, and we couldn’t let them settle for second best with the crowning glory of the house, the sensory room.”

Experia donated a state-of-the-art wireless sensory room, including features such as UV lights and a projector, to help create a calming and relaxing environment for Iona-May.

Vicki Thorne, Iona-May’s mother, said: “I have to admit to being totally blown away with the sensory room – simply awesome. It is still hard to believe that this amazing room is actually in our home and that we can go in there anytime we like and play as a family or for peace and quiet or therapy sessions with Iona-May.

“There are so many times when Iona-May is unwell or the weather is bad and we can’t get out and the sensory room is going to be the central part of the home where we can spend quality time together as a family. Nana has story times and music sessions planned with Iona-May and Henry cuddled up on the bean bags which will give me some free time too.”

The show, hosted by Sarah Beeny, airs at 8pm tonight.

Insult to injury

There were some red faces at Morrisons this week after a Muslim family were sold a cheese and onion pasty which contained a little bit extra.

No, there was no horse meat contamination, but the pasty did contain large amounts of minced beef.

The problem was that while this might seem a bargain – three beef, cheese and onion pasties on special offer at 57p – the minced beef wasn’t halal.

To add insult to injury, Morrisons then tried to recompense the Muslim family by offering them a bottle of Champagne as an apology – forgetting that alcohol isn’t allowed either.

Apparently the devout family were highly insulted at the double offence.

Morrisons has since apologised and a spokesman said: “Clearly this is not good customer service.”