UNICEF ice skate completed

John Liddle from Elliott House raised £465 for UNICEF after skating his marathon on ice on Wednesday 4 July.

It took John two hours and 40 minutes to skate 432 laps of the Planet Ice Arena, which was the equivalent of 26.2 miles.   

John, a keen ice hockey player, said: “It’s a bit further than I am used to doing in one go. In hockey you normally sprint for a minute and then come off. This was a real slog. But I love skating so it was a good challenge.

“Planet Ice has been really great. They gave me free time to practise during their public skating sessions and for the final event itself.”

"I have been really amazed by the support I have received too. A lot of family, friends and colleagues have backed me to do this and together we've raised £465 for UNICEF. Thank you to everyone who donated – it helped to keep me going!"  

John thought up the challenge after writing about the work his client Kantar Operations has been doing to help the lives of children in Malawi, Bangladesh and Bolivia. Kantar Operations is part of the Kantar group of marketing insights companies which has a campaign to raise $1m for UNICEF projects in the three countries.

  

“I’ve done a lot of work looking into how UNICEF is putting in place practical measures to improve the lives of these children,” said John. “It’s not just the direct aid that they give to children, although that’s important. They’re helping governments and Non Government Oganisations put in place an infrastructure that provides care for children over the long term.”

“And I love the way that there is a real community spirit in Kantar that gets everyone together to raise money. It’s great to be a part of that.”

You can still sponsor John for his marathon quest by clicking here or email John Liddle.

John Liddle at Planet Ice

Why I’m skating a marathon for UNICEF

John Liddle gets ready to skate a marathon

When you spend a lot of time writing about vulnerable children, you’d have to be a hard-nosed hack to ignore their cry for help.

Elliott House write and design publications to promote what our client Kantar’s 28,000 colleagues are doing for a campaign called Brighter Futures and we report back on the children who are benefiting from those donations. The company is aiming to raise US $1m for UNICEF to help change the lives of children in Bangladesh, Bolivia and Malawi.

It can be heart-wrenching. Poverty, sexual exploitation, the need to abandon education in order to make a living or support a family – the wretched plight of people who have had the misfortune to be born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And yet it wasn’t the horror that prompted me to do something that might raise a few pounds to help.

It was the hope.

Because when you read more closely about the work that UNICEF is doing in these countries, it isn’t just about the direct aid to help children at the front line of poverty.

It is about helping governments and NGOs transform a political vision into a legacy that will result in sustainable change.

Take Bolivia. The South American country enacted a new constitution in 2010 that recognised the rights of children and adolescents.

That’s an important step. More than 40% (around four million) of the population is under 18, with half-a-million of those orphaned or abandoned. Another 800,000 have to do some kind of work to help support a family – that could be working in a shop or it could be prostitution or drug trafficking.

But Bolivia has recognised the problem and ensured that the rights of children form one of the fundamental pillars of how the country is run.

Of course, that doesn’t solve the problem. In fact, it raises more issues because the poverty of the country and the years of neglect of children mean that it hasn’t got the resources or the infrastructure to make their good intentions reality.

But that is the beauty of the support offered by UNICEF. As well as helping children directly at the front line, UNICEF has the muscle and the corporate ability to guide governments to putting in place an infrastructure to help young people.

These projects are not raising funds that will just end up in the pocket of some corrupt official or warlord. They have created a political will to make positive changes and are providing the support to make them last.

So when I pull on my skates next week at Planet Ice to do my marathon, yes I’ll be thinking of the blisters my feet will have by the end of it, the numb hands and the aching back. But I’ll also be thinking of the generosity of the people who have supported me and the future we may have given a child in Bangladesh, Bolivia or Malawi.

Please click here if you would like to support UNICEF and my marathon on ice.  

IOIC Award Winners

Cheryl and John Liddle from Elliott House Communications

There’s nothing quite like recognition from your peers to give you pride in the work that you do.

On Friday night, we had some excellent news when the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) named one of our newsletters Class Winner in the Ezine Category for Best Use of Digital Media at their National Awards and gave another of our publications an Award of Excellence.

You may have seen from our earlier blog post that the same title won the Central Region Award in February – that was fantastic, but to be named the best in the UK alongside the top names in communication in the country is an outstanding honour and achievement.

The interactive monthly newsletter – Vision – was developed in conjunction with the internal communications team at Kantar Operations, as a key tool for its Worldwide CEO, Sharon Potter, to communicate with staff based in the UK, North America and India about the direction of the business. The newsletter also goes out across the wider Kantar group of companies.

The judges said that they were impressed with the level of interaction and creativity in our innovative newsletters. It is also a real testament to our relationship with the client at Kantar Operations – Vision is a product of real team work.

Our charity ezine Bright that we produce for Kantar’s Brighter Futures initiative to raise US$1m for UNICEF was also highly praised by the judges and picked up an Award of Excellence. It’s a fantastic interactive publication that we produce with a great team at Kantar. The only shame was that it was in the same category as Vision – and there could only be one Class Winner!

It was a glamorous affair with several hundred of the leading communicators in the country at a lavish ceremony at the London Hilton Park Lane presented by TV broadcaster Fiona Phillips. As well as the win, it was just a wonderful night, celebrating with great people from Kantar, Kantar Operations, and UNICEF.

And to top it all off, England beat Sweden in Euro 2012 – what a night!

Charity begins at work

We've recently produced a great 24-page magazine that showcases all the work one of our clients has been doing to raise money for its corporate charity. The organisation, which is made up of 13 different companies, has 28,000 global colleagues who have all been united through a common goal of raising much-needed funds for their chosen charity.

We have been working with the company since the launch of the campaign in 2010 and provided regular communication to their employees around the world to update them on their progress. They are already ahead of target on the fundraising side of things – but the campaign has also had business benefits too.

As a relatively new group of companies the charity has given them a common purpose – one that transcends day-to-day business issues. Group-wide challenges have given colleagues in separate companies a reason to work together and any perceived barriers have been broken down to make way for a much greater cause.

I interviewed one of the company's active fundraisers last week who told me that supporting the charity had created a fantastic network of contacts across the group. The relationships that have been formed and the creativity that has been encouraged through events, regular communications and initiatives have not only helped the charity but also the business.

The feel-good factor that charity work can bring should not be ignored in the workplace. While helping those less fortunate should be a priority for us all – the additional business benefits are evident too.

John gets his skates on

As we have spent so much time interviewing colleagues, writing about the campaign and designing the publications, we felt compelled to get involved too. That's why Elliott House's John Liddle will be skating a marathon for UNICEF soon – that's 432 laps of the ice rink with no stops!

As an ice hockey player, his abilities on the ice are better than most but it could take well over two hours for him to complete the marathon so stamina and determination will be needed.

Coventry's Planet Ice have kindly offered John free ice time to practice. 

You can find out more and donate on John's fundraising page and we will post regular updates on his progress. 

Chocolate Vs the Internet

How did we survive without the internet? When I started my journalism training about 17 years ago, the world wide web was a very new concept – one that many of us sniffed at as a way of researching our stories due in the main to the lack of online content.

Google wasn't our life line then – we were still scouring library shelves for the facts.

I spent my summer breaks from University writing long letters – yes, handwriting letters with pen and paper – to friends who didn't live nearby. Stamps were cheaper then. Deliveries from the postman were exciting because they often included bulging envelopes with scribbled addresses as well as the printed bills and junk mail. Friends had taken time to write about their lives and deliver a mini parcel to me. I still have all of those letters stored away.

Facebook has changed the way we communicate. There's no need for letters and stamps when you can chat instantly. You don't have to wait a few days to find out your friend has seen a band, had a haircut or got a new job. You are informed immediately – a live feed into their lives, with pictures.

Social media is even making email communication defunct. I can remember sending my first email back in 1996 – I think it took the recipient about a week to reply. The letter got there quicker.

It's a different story in 2012 of course. A recent study from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) showed that consumers in various developed countries would happily sacrifice chocolate, alcohol and coffee in return for internet access. And I would be one of them.

Elliott House relies on the internet – without it, I can't access emails, check updates, work with our team effectively, research my stories (online content has somewhat improved!).. and the list goes on.

There's such a thing as Nomophobia now too. A recognised condition where people live in fear of being without their mobile phone! I don't think that's just down to the need for calling someone either – our mobiles, like the internet, have become increasingly smarter. Social media can be accessed on the move, emails can be read on route to your next meeting, you can do the weekly food shop, book a restaurant and even bag a holiday all by the tap of an app.

The internet has become our right arm. We rely on it to work, shop, research, eat, and keep in touch with people among its many other uses. It has made our lives easier in one respect – but harder in others. The faster we can work, the more we can do. We're always switched on.

Communication has never been so easy. But when things get easier, does our attention to detail slip? We often say things we regret later – now mistakes can be published for the world to see, making an embarrassing mark on your Facebook wall or Twitter feed. Foolish messages that were quickly mistyped in haste and sent. No time to reflect on your way to the postbox. Correspondence is free and instant.

Anyone can publish their musings these days. We're all 'citizen journalists'. Google is our life line now. Or is it?

Winning formula

Winning team: Elliott House with Kantar Operations at the IoIC awards. (l-r) John Liddle, Ian Feeney, Cheryl Liddle, and from Kantar Operations: Richard Coombe and Baljit Thandi

We don’t like to brag, but Elliott House Communications has just won two communication awards.

The Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) held its Central Region Awards on Friday 24 February and we were named Class Winner in the best Electronic Newsletter category and also won an Award of Excellence in the Best Electronic Design category, for the newsletter we produce with Kantar Operations.

More than 100 of the region’s top internal communicators attended the glittering award ceremony at the Radisson Blu, East Midlands Airport.

The interactive monthly newsletter was developed in conjunction with the internal communications team at Kantar Operations, as a key tool for its Worldwide CEO, Sharon Potter, to communicate with staff based in the UK, North America and India about the direction of the business. The newsletter also goes out across the wider Kantar group of companies.

To be shortlisted alongside the region’s best communicators was already an achievement – but to win is an excellent result for us and the team at Kantar Operations.

Communicating consistently across three diverse regions is always a challenge but the innovative newsletter, which allows readers to interact with the content, has received much praise internally. We are thrilled that it has been recognised by its communication peers at the IoIC awards.

Like I say, we don’t like to brag. But we are rather proud. 

The Elliott House team with the trophy – John Liddle, Cheryl Liddle and Ian Feeney. 

Romantic communications

Love is in the air – well according to Hallmark and the 24hr supermarkets that were still selling flowers at midnight to last minute love makers.

In the rather chilly month of February, you can set your heart aglow with some commercial tat from the loved-up shops. Over-priced flowers (unless you made it to Tesco in time to buy the £5 dozen red roses it had on offer – who said romance was dead?), bumper boxes of chocolates and cuddly teddy bears that will spend the rest of the year gathering dust before you recycle them and that garish heart cushion in time for next year's haul. 

Don't worry, I am not going to cast misery over this rather marvellous love-drenched day. I am someone who is always happy to throw my full and sometimes quite frankly ridiculous support over all traditional events. (I am renowned for my annual Grand National party, not to mention Eurovision – although things haven't been the same since Tezzer's departure.) I just think it's amazing that we need a day to help us to communicate how much we love/like/fancy someone.  

Generally, words come easy for me as I spend my days tapping away at my computer at Elliott House Towers but for those that just can't confess their all, perhaps they need a nudge from Mr Valentine and his cohort of romantic retailers. 

Maybe we should celebrate that we have at least one day in the year when lovers, partners, husbands, wives, admirers and stalkers can actually say how they feel or at least get some help with expressing it. 

It's just a shame that we have to rely on the retailers to put those words in our mouths. Often the cheesy lines and forced innuendo mask any originality and personality. 

As silly as it sounds – it's a problem that often crops up in the corporate world. Now, I'm not suggesting that people should confess undying love in their company communications – but language is a powerful thing and should be used wisely. 

We often plump for words that we wouldn't normally use in every day talk. Using February 14th as an example, would you say: 

"I would like to utilise today to leverage my feelings for you so that I can yield a high return." 

Perhaps, we should just dump all the jargon and say, I love you. 

Much easier. More understood. And will probably get a much greater return on investment. 

So, on this day of loving and giving – here are my top words and phrases to 'dump' from your comms and some new, much better looking versions for you to fall in love with: 

DUMP                                  DATE

Utilise                                    Use 

At this point in time               Now 

Commence                            Start 

A large proportion of            Lots

Paradigm shift                       Major change 

Outside the box                     Creative

Blue-sky thinking                  Creative

Actionable items                    Things to do 

Buy in                                    Agree

Deliverables                           Tasks

Going forward                       In the future/from now on (if you need to use it at all)

Operationalise                        Do

Ramp up                                Increase

Strategic solutions                 A plan

Happy Valentine's Day from Elliott House Communications! 

Why readers matter most

We're a little bit excited at the moment because we've just been shortlisted for TWO awards at the Institute of Internal Communications awards for the central region. We're competing against the great and the good in the area and so it's fantastic to be recognised by our peers.

The publication that has been shortlisted is a monthly interactive newsletter we produce for employees of a global company. We ensure the content can be understood by a multi-lingual readership and make the newsletter easy and interesting to navigate.

We also have to think creatively for new ways to design and present the corporate information each month to keep it engaging for employees so they want to read about the future direction of the business.

Although awards are really nice (and fingers crossed for the 24 February everyone), even better news came recently when we were able to evaluate the monthly click-through rates on the newsletter. After two years, the numbers of people looking at the newsletter keeps on increasing and the new quarterly 'special' issues are attracting higher numbers too.

There's no denying, we're dreaming of that big awards trophy, but the truth is, the most important judges of our work will always be the readers.