Autumn agenda This season sees theblueballroom sponsor two major industry events.

First, the Employee Engagement & Employer Branding ’08 on 23-24 September. Communications specialists from Shell, Levi Strauss, The Coca-Cola Company, Rok, Nokia Siemens Network, NASA, Lloyds TSB, BAT, Panasonic, BT and BAA Heathrow will share their experiences under the banner of ‘Maintaining the Momentum’,

Second, the Melcrum Strategic Communication Management Summit UK 2008 on 14-16 October. Communications guru, Roger D’Aprix, will be joined by Tesco, GE Healthcare, Nokia, AstraZeneca, HP, Transport for London, Sandwell Community Caring Trust, Unilever, IKEA, Foreign & Commonwealth Office and BUPA.

Both events are a great opportunity to listen to real-life examples of internal communications and meet likeminded industry professionals.

See you there.

Double take Network magazine scoops two major accolades: silver at Europe ’s biggest corporate publishing awards and third prize at inkom. Grand Prix 2008.

18th June 2008
High ho silver: Network, the global management magazine for Deutsche Post World Net, beat off stiff competition from over 600 entries to scoop silver at the BCP 2008 Best of Corporate Publishing Awards in Munich.

27th June 2008
inkoming: Network also picked up third prize in the ‘Magazines with circulation over 10,000’ category at the DPRG inkom. Grand Prix 2008 , the German PR association internal communications awards, in Berlin . The judges’ summary said: "Managers are also employees, and this is exactly the target group Network has in focus. It's a first-class magazine…comprehensive information about the inner life of the company, well-written articles, modern design and imagery."

Jill Meiburg, Network’s Managing Editor at DPWN, said: "The Network team works hard to constantly fulfill its mission to provide managers with an insightful, evocative magazine. It's great to see our efforts recognized with these awards."

Network is produced by theblueballroom and medienfabrik under the direction of DPWN’s Editor-in-Chief, Franz-Josef Ebel, and Managing Editor, Jill Meiburg.

19th May 2008
theblueballroom opens thebluedoor: A new public relations agency launches in Farnham, offering traditional and online expertise.

theblueballroom announces the launch of a new ‘sister’ public relations agency, thebluedoor (www.thebluedoor.com), offering traditional and online expertise

Both agencies stand by the principle of specialising in separate but complementary areas of expertise. Although internal and external communications requirements are often briefed from the same department, both disciplines require different skills.

thebluedoor’s expertise lies in formulating and implementing strategic, creative marketing communications campaigns that enable businesses to tell their story credibly. The agency understands that engaging with a business’s key audiences and stakeholders involves listening to the objectives and scoping the landscape in which the brand operates. In addition, good, ethical and effective PR – both traditional and online – ensures that the stories told are credible, rigorous and compelling. thebluedoor will offer companies strategic consultancy, online PR, media relations, creative services and copywriting.

Sheila Parry comments: “thebluedoor will be headed up by managing director Abigail Harrison who ‘grew up’ in London’s agency arena. We’ve had an ongoing relationship with Abigail, however at the end of 2007 theblueballroom was asked to run an exciting PR campaign for an online B2C business and the results that she achieved were phenomenal. Abigail took a complex offering and turned it into a story that was compelling and timely. thebluedoor looks to build on this success, and we’re off to a flying start with a significant new business win resulting from a competitive pitch.”

About thebluedoor:

• a specialist external communications agency that aims to make a positive impact on the way businesses are viewed and understood;

• works to design and implement effective communication programmes crafted to start conversations with target external audiences;

• offers research and strategic consultancy to creative development, media relations, copywriting, training and implementation of communications campaigns.

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May 2008
"They don't just go the extra mile – they'll go a light year!" Just one of the comments from our recent client survey.

At theblueballroom we don’t like to rest on our laurels, and instead always look for ways to improve. And what better way to do this than to find out what our clients really think about us?

We were very pleased with the results from our recent client satisfaction survey, which included comments such as:

“Big up their responsiveness – it’s quite exceptional.”

“They don’t just go the extra mile – they’ll go a light year if you’re in a fix and need smart, clever and creative help yesterday.”

“Very honest employees, who take the time to find out what your exact needs are.”

“Every person I’ve dealt with at theblueballroom is – without exception – helpful, professional, skilled in their area, and they all have such a positive ‘can-do’ attitude.”

Highlights included:

- 77% of our clients came across us through a recommendation

- The top four ways our clients describe us: professional, responsive, high quality and collaborative

- The top three reasons people choose to work with us: recommendation, understanding of their business, quality of personal contact

- 95% of respondents said they’re likely to work with us again

Of course there is room for improvement, and we will use the feedback from the survey to target these areas, making sure we provide an even better service in future.

The responses were completely anonymous, and for each completed survey we made a donation to an Oxfam scheme to provide school dinners for children in poor communities, encouraging them to go to school. Thanks to our clients, we bought 1,800 school meals. Bon appetit!

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April 2008

A picture paints a thousand words:

Clive Glenn & Sheila Parry proudly accept the CiB 2008 Award of Excellence for ‘Best News Photo’

A photo for Network – Deutsche Post World Net’s global management magazine – capturing the spirit of DHL’s overwhelming support and sponsorship of an amazing desert trek wins a Communicators in Business Award of Excellence.

According to the judging panel: “You just have to look at this image: it's impossible not to. This is a corporate shot of the highest quality. It makes you want to read the story. It takes a while to spot the DHL logo but once you see it you can't ignore it, which means it’s perfectly placed in the image. Excellent quality and depth: you can almost feel the sand and count the hairs on the camels. I think the image is excellent.”

Clive Glen, theblueballroom’s Bonn-based picture editor for Network says: “The challenge was to commission a stunning picture capturing the adventurous and arduous nature of the expedition and DHL’s pioneering attitude. As in any project, it’s the clarity and inspirational style of the overall brief that gives the best results.”

And on hearing of this latest accolade, Jill Meiburg Managing Editor at DPWN said: “Network images must be stimulating and evocative to capture reader interest. Images of this calibre are the cornerstone of a magazine that aims to build pride in the organisation that readers work for.”

The winners were announced on 23rd May at the prestigious CiB Conference Awards Dinner.

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March 2008

Quality assured: theblueballroom awarded ISO9001 2000 accreditation.

Everything theblueballroom does for clients centres around improvement: in internal communication, the media, the messages, the company’s bottom line, the whole employee experience – the list is almost endless.

Clients regularly tell us that their needs and expectations are met – and often exceeded – but a chieving ISO9001 proves it to the outside world.

According to Denise Gill, theblueballroom’s Finance Manager: “This shows we practice what we preach.  Over the years, everyone here has worked hard to achieve the highest possible standard of working procedures to make sure we deliver increasing customer satisfaction. This accreditation formally recognises the success of how we do things and a testament to realising our goals, individually and as a team. It’s a standard of excellence that reassures all who work with us (and for us) of a seamless, efficient and happy working experience.”

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March 2008
Read, white and blue…

Magazine adds US awards to trophy cabinet

Success in business is closely linked with effective employee communication. First-class internal publications are the cornerstone of a superior internal brand promise. They must shout newsstand quality in design, with stunning pictures and great credible storytelling. Ultimately, they must be a good read that cuts through everyday noise and delivers impact and memorability.

Network – the global management magazine for Deutsche Post World Net – certainly does just that. It recently scooped major accolades at the prestigious League of American Communications Professionals (LACP*) ‘Inspire Awards'.

Network not only secured the first-place 'Platinum' award in the ‘employee communications print bi-monthly’ category but also won 'best visual design’. In the overall top 50 ranking, Network came second in competition with 550 other staff magazines and newspapers from 21 countries.

theblueballroom’s Bonn-based team works alongside a German corporate publisher, medienfabrik, together producing English and German editions for 60,000 executives and senior specialists in over 220 countries worldwide.

According to Jill Meiburg, Managing Editor at DPWN: “We wanted the gravitas of a global business publication. Straight talking and honest; intellectually stimulating and evocative; creative and visually stunning – ultimately, offering a read that is professional, contemporary and compelling. Credibility is at the heart of our editorial approach and we pride ourselves on getting answers to tough questions. We’re thrilled and proud that the outside world sees this in our magazine.”

Previously Network won a Communicators in Business (CiB) Best Internal Magazine Award of Excellence in 2006 and again in 2007. And 2nd place at the DPRG INKOM Grand Prix 2007, the German PR association internal communications awards.

*LACP provides a forum for discussion of best-in-class practices across the communications profession and recognizes those who demonstrate exemplary communications behaviours and capabilities.

Read Sheila Parry’s blog post: the Beauty of Magazines

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