Monthly Archives: March 2010

Mar 21 2010

Dementia – not much fun

Last week I spent a long time on my feet (actually for hours on end) – and then played squash last night. I felt just a little bit older when I crawled out of bed this morning!

As a creature of habit coffee at The Cheesecake Shop is an essential part of Sunday mornings – it is on the way to the paper shop?

As I queued for my coffee (and bacon sandwich) an old lady jumped in front of me to order. I don’t mean ‘jumped’, more shuffled. She hadn’t seen me. I guess she was in her late 70′s. Although the staff were embarrassed about her jumping the queue I nodded my approval that they should serve her. The only problem was that she didn’t know what she wanted – nor did she have sufficient monies. Eventually tea was suggested – and she was not charged.

My wife says that often in the local co-op she comes across old folks who have forgotten what they are looking for. They know what they wanted when they left home but when faced with the relentless aisles of goods – they forget.

The NHS are currently running a campaign about Dementia – and we would all do well to tune in to it.

Five simple ways we can help are set out:

1 Respect and dignity – Focus on what the person can do, not what they can’t.
2 Be a good listener and be friendly – Support and accept the person, be patient.
3 Do one little thing – Cook a meal or run an errand, it all helps.
4 Make time for everyone – Partners, children and grandchildren will be affected. Could you do something to help one of them?
5 Find out more – Understanding dementia makes living with it easier.

After my breakfast I went out on my bike – and so feel even older!

Old age – it comes to us all – so perhaps we should all take a few minutes to think when we see old folks struggling. It’s not going to be long before that pensioner in front is you and me…

Mar 20 2010

MIPIM 2010 : Press round up

Last weeks MIPIM conference in Cannes was a heady mix of breakfasts, lunches and dinners – sprinkled with on-to-one meetings and press interviews.

On the whole the PR this year was positive – and summary of some of the coverage is here:

Nottm Evening Post -Sell sell sell – 15th March 2010
Nottm Evening Post – my Robin Hood story – 16th March 2010
Nottm Evening Post – Krasnodar tie-up – 17th March 2010
Regenration & Renewal magazine – blog – 18th March
Nottm Evening Post – The development sales in Nottingham – 19th March
Nottm Evening Post – my article about the benefits of MIPIM – 19th March
Offplanpropertyexchange.com – web site story about Krasnodar – with my partner Matt Hannah’s comments – 19th March 2010
This is business east midlands – web story about sober MIPIM – 19th March 2010

There were two interviews for Radio Nottingham and one for Estates Gazette TV – blogged here.

We still have to try to get the Press to realise that this is not some champagne fuelled non-stop party. It is a key marketing event fro the City of Nottingham – and an important world event.

Mar 19 2010

Nice is not at all Nice

I arrived home tonight after a long day of travelling – which shouldn’t have been! Nice to Birmingham is a couple of hours courtesy of BmiBaby.

Nice Airport by Lafrance


We left Cannes in plenty of time – to arrive at Nice Airport at 12midday. Then our problems started. The Check-In opened at 12.15 for our 2.15pm flight. After the queue started to move we seemed to be making pretty slow progress – caused by a broken luggage belt. Luggage was being taken through the main concourse on very small trolleys. We eventually made the front – to be asked the usual questions (are you carrying explosives, guns, knives of other things that might be able to blow a plane up?) I wonder how many people nod…

We headed up the stairs to go through the security / undressing thing. Another half hour wait. We thought we were in luck when we were transferred to the first class security system – except there were only two machines. But even the posh people have to take their shoes and belts off.

After re-dressing we queued to go through Passport control. The whole queuing episode took two and a half hours. We were then encouraged to run to the plane.

No time for coffee or duty free shop!

This then made the plane late – but you can always rely on such journeys to contain much more misery. The lady who sat behind me was heard to say how unlucky she was to be by the over-wing escape door. Not nearly as unlucky as the 20 people around her who were subjected to a barrage of ‘chat’ for the entire duration of the flight. Think engine noise mixed with Joan Rivers. Her husband had a hearing aid – I suspect the batteries had worn out years ago. She never drew breath.

We were fairly desperate for food and drink. This arrived on our descent into Birmingham 95 minutes after we had taken off. We were asked to hurry our all day breakfast and coffee (I think it was coffee – dark brown and hot). As the last mouthful went in – the rubbish bag was thrust at me.

It does make you realise what a miserable place an airport can be when things don’t go right… Some went to Cannes by Eurostar – this might be an option!

Mar 18 2010

MIPIM 2010: The final day

So we reach the final day of MIPIM 2010 and it was a busy start.

Team Nottingham at MIPIM 2010


There was an interview with Estates Gazette TV – which was a bit nerve wracking! And then an interview with the Nottingham Evening Post. There were the usual questions raised about why we need to be at MIPIM.

My view is really simple – if we knew which 5% of marketing was successful – we would do only that 5%. MIPIM puts a large proportion of that 5% in the same place, in a short space of time. Nottingham is trying to place itself in a position to take advantage of (hopefully) an improving market. If we don’t we will miss out. We are here competing for business with other Cities – London, Manchester and Leeds have a huge presence.

The ending of our day – was our joint party with Gleeds, Morgan Tucker & Mabers Architects. We had around 60 people on the Nottingham Yacht. The atmosphere was one of optimism. I’m not sure I agree with The Times view that this year was ‘Gin & Panic‘. We met some people who are looking at opportunities again.

So another year closes, as expected I have a fistful of business cards – two fantastic leads – real work which I think will come to fruition. We met some old friends and new ones too. The Krasnodar experience was really interesting.

There was a comment today that the City Council and the private sector need each other in equal amounts – and I think that this is the case.

Next year may be quite challenging – as Nottingham City Council may not have the budget to sponsor a presence. My initial take on this is that being here is a must – for both the private sector and the public sector. But time will tell – I will post my reflections on the show in the next few days.

So, with that, it’s back to the apartment to pack and head back to Blighty – and the sudden realisation that the view from my office window next week will be very different!

Mar 18 2010

MIPIM 2010 : Nottingham meets Krasnodar

Last night on board the Powdermonkey Yacht a gala dinner was held to celebrate the signing of a partnership agreement between Nottingham City Council and Krasnodar.

Krasnodar delegation on Nottingham Yacht


The dinner was hosted by Council Leader Jon Collins – fresh from his cycle ride to Cannes. The Mayor of Krasnador was present and just before dinner a signing ceremony took place.

I was slightly concerned about the ‘language difficulties’ as my Russian is limited to ‘Da’ and ‘Niet’. We needn’t have worried as the translators (Marina and Boris) were brilliant. We had a great evening – informative but fun. We seem to share a sense of humour – they do actually ‘get’ our sarcasm.

Krasnodar have a huge presence here in MIPIM – with 106 delegates. It rather makes our team look inadequate. Their sponsorship package includes a tent at the site entrance – which contains some amazing models (the building kind!).

It was interesting hearing about their developments – they have quite similar problems to us – much of their infrastructure (trams, trolley-buses and buses) are old and in need of major investment. They need to improve public transport but have little or no cash to do it. They are a ‘car reliant’ population – petrol is around 1/3 of the cost in the UK.

The delegation was high powered, with the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and four of his Directors. Our delegation included Jon Collins, Jane Todd (CEO of Nottingham City Council), Geoff Hibbert (Director of Workspace) and Mich Stevenson (Chairman of NRL). This was in addition to the private sector sponsors.

This agreement has the potential to be hugely beneficial for both parties”, said Councillor Jon Collins. “There will first be a sharing of expertise and ideas, which should develop into investment opportunities and stronger economic links. I’m looking forward to developing a strong working relationship with my Russian counterparts, and then developing plans to maximise the benefits of the agreement.”

Mayor Evlanov stated: ”I am delighted to have the opportunity to strengthen the relationship with our friends and colleagues from Nottingham while both our cities are here at MIPIM. Signing the partnership agreement is the next stage in developing firm friendships and economic links

It was a fascinating evening – and we were told that we made a million new friends. The only real issue I had was the number of ‘toasts’ in the meal!

Mar 18 2010

MIPIM 2010 : Breakfast in Derby

It was an early start yesterday in search of breakfast yesterday at the Derby event.

Hosted by Adam Wilkinson and Hilary Jones (leader of the Council) the presentation was upbeat! They premiered a film about Derby – showcasing 1,000,000 sq ft of new schemes. Two I have blogged about before here.

The key message was that the Council were trying to change peoples perception of the City.

The Blueprint Sadler Square scheme - promoted at MIPIM


There was a heartfelt talk by Bert Pijls the CEO of Egg – he was passionate about the city and how it fits their strategy in the UK, where they handle 2m accounts. As part of Citibank now, Egg shares in the benefits of having a massive infrastructure – with over 200m accounts worldwide. What was also interesting was their tie-up with one of my key clients – The University of Derby.

Adam Wilkinson set out his vision for the future of Derby and launched a new £10m regeneration fund.

As I sat and listened to him talk about the big five employers (Egg, Rolls Royce, Bombadier, Toyota & Westfield) you do realise the importance of these significant inward investors to any City. And that is really what MIPIM is all about – attracting the next major employer.

The only tricky moment was when I realised that I was wearing my bright pink ‘Invest in Nottingham’ lanyard – oops.

Mar 17 2010

MIPIM 2010 – Robin Hood makes an appearance

As promised I gave a talk last night about the work of The Sheriff’s Commission on the Nottingham Yacht.

Tourists and Robin


The Yacht was busy – so busy they shut the doors (is that the right term?) – around 40 people were marooned on the harbour wall. Someone told me that at least 50 heard the talk.

As usual, I relied on my trusty MacBook pro and Keynote to deliver and it didn’t let me down! I love Keynote – it is just so much better than PowerPoint – especially as you can embed video! The real Sheriff of Nottingham made an appearance – setting out the reasons we have set up a Sheriff’s commission and what Nottingham wants out of it – for visitors and the public alike. But also there was footage of some of the tourists who were posing around the Robin Hood statute.

The talk was well received – but was rounded off by an exclusive look at the trailer for the new Robin Hood film (released in the UK on 14th May 2010). I have to say the trailer looks amazing – and what an appropriate place to show it – in the film festival capital of the world!

I perhaps don’t need to elaborate on what the talk contained as most of it is on my blog here – but my summing up was that Nottingham needs a world class attraction based around Robin Hood – probably centred on the Castle. We want to make it part of a series of Nottinghamshire attractions – including the Major Oak at Sherwood Forest.

There was real interest after the talk and I have met some potential investors today who might be interested in developing it…

As to whether I wore green tights – you will never know….


UPDATE 28 March 2010

It seems we may have had a premonition! The film is to open the 2010 Cannes film festival. May 12th is the day when Sir Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett are likely to be in Cannes promoting the film. This is likely to be great news for the movie and for Nottingham – as the PR is likely to be even bigger than we anticipated.

Mar 16 2010

MIPIM 2010 : Jon Collins and Nigel Turpin ride into town

This afternoon after a staggering 1,000 mile ride the Leader of Nottingham City Council, Jon Collins and Planner Nigel Turpin rode onto the Croissette in Cannes with 81 other riders.

The riders arrive in Cannes


It seemed like a long time ago since we waved them off in Nottingham’s Market Square last Tuesday (see blog post here).

They have endured bitingly cold winds (and yesterday the crosswinds blew one rider into a snow filled ditch) – but have basically cycled all the way to Cannes!

Nigel suggested the speedometer said 1,040 miles! One day he was sustained by 14 bananas!

They were met by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London – who was full of praise. Team Nottingham did manage to persuade him to pose away from his posters of London.

They have raised money for Charity and raised Nottingham profile. It was a fantastic effort – and will be even more impressive if they cycle back? I haven’t mentioned this just yet, maybe after they have had a drink.

The Pink t-shirt came out again for my meeting with Boris


They were met by a huge cheering crowd and London Mayor Boris Johnson – who was full of praise, unsurprisingly. He was suitably impressed with Team Nottingham’s turn out in our pink t-shirts – which almost perfectly matched the riders jerseys!

Hats off to Jon & Nigel – a thousand miles in 8 days is pretty impressive!

Mar 16 2010

MIPIM 2010 : The Derby CEO and Radio Nottingham

This morning it’s a bit less sunny in Cannes, but the show is now in full swing. Security seems a bit tighter – my conference pass was scanned twice on the jetty! Breakfast on the yacht was a good start to my day; looking at my diary the next food stop might be this evening!

Being interviewed by Radio Nottingham


A couple of weeks ago I was discussing with John Forkin at Marketing Derby the changing face of technology – it was primarily that I knew he had commissioned a new film to celebrate Derby (to be shown at MIPIM) and I had seen the really excellent New York film I blogged about here.

John asked me if I would meet up with him, Adam Wilkinson & Hilary Jones – to discuss this and also the schemes which my firm are involved in currently in Derby.

We spoke about Friar Gate and Sadler Square. Both schemes have the ability to change the face of Derby. Friar Gate Square is a scheme being promoted by developers Lowbridge and comprises 75,500 sq ft of offices in 2 building. Our PR on the scheme is here. Sadler Square is being promoted by Blueprint. Nick Ebbs CEO of Blueprint is here and is upbeat about the scheme, which is much needed in this part of town.

Adam is really upbeat and will be announcing some significant changes for Derby tomorrow.

My next stop was an interview for Radio Nottingham – apparently we are on the news. Justifying the cost seems to be the theme! If Nottingham want to play on the world stage – and have the accompanying benefits – jobs, great shopping and a vibrant city – the costs pale into insignificance!