Horizon support for the BRW Franchising Forum

Horizon was pleased to be able to support the inaugural BRW Franchising Forum, held in the Hilton Sydney. It was a great opportunity to bring together strong, iconic Australian brands and hear them discuss the things that matter the most to them. Our clients were present, including Pack & Send, Snap-on Tools and Gloria Jean’s Coffees, getting the most out of presentations from luminaries including Don Grover, CEO of Dymocks; Roger Gillespie, Founder and Executive Chairman of Baker’s Delight; and Nabi Saleh, Founder and Executive Chairman of Gloria Jean’s Coffees.

 

HORIZON COMMUNICATION GROUP WINS INTERNATIONAL PR AWARD

Horizon Communication Group in partnership with New Caledonia Tourism has won a prestigious  Golden World Award for Excellence in PR from the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) in the Travel and Tourism category for positioning New Caledonia as one of the best gourmet experiences outside of France.

In 2007-08 Horizon Communication Group and New Caledonia Tourism worked together to develop a new integrated communication campaign designed to boost Australian visitation to New Caledonia.

The resulting gourmet campaign supported a more than 10 per cent year on year increase in visitation over the campaign period and lifted ‘gourmet’ from the fourth to the top reason Australians now travel to New Caledonia.

Will we ever know what’s under the bonnet of Utegate?

Kevin and Wayne’s credibility is being called to account in the latest political stoush which is shaping up to seriously damage the reputation of the Labor Party. Their problems began when years ago Kevin Rudd accepted the use of a utility from a car dealer and friend, John Grant. The question is now whether the car dealer received special assistance in accessing a government loan scheme. Kevin and Wayne both say no, they didn’t help out John Grant.

He received the same amount of support and assistance that any other car dealer would have been entitled to – nothing more, nothing less.

But add to this mix a public servant called Godwin Grech, an employee who thinks he saw too much and who believes that yes, indeed, John Grant was given a few little benefits not accorded to others. And now there is mention of an email that seems to support Godwin’s word.

Or is there?

BRW Franchising Forum highlights

I am right here at the BRW Franchising Forum, enjoying the knowledge burst from a wide range of influential speakers and some fabulous attendees. Held at the Hilton Sydney, the forum is tackling some of the hard questions that retailers and service providers are seeking the answers to. We’ve heard from Dr Christopher Caton, Chief Economist from BT Financial Group. His review of the economic situation has given me pause for thought, and a feeling of confidence that we’ll get through this ‘recession’ intact (and yes, he used the ‘R’ word).

Also the presentation by Adrian McFedries, Managing Director of DC Strategy was insightful. It gave us a couple of key findings to take away:

1. The must haves for any franchise operation includes a solid value proposition, obviously you need a customer and a sustainable business model.
2. Adrian believes that there are too many franchise systems in Australia, and of the 1000+ systems there are only 120 to 140 that are of quality.
3. More potential franchisees are prepared to invest heavily in franchises, with 10% now prepared to pay up to 500k for a franchise.

The forum has been great so far. We’re looking forward to the rest of today’s activities.

Posted by Justin Flaherty, MD Horizon Communication Group

Storm in a teacup?

If you thought NSW Premier Nathan Rees spending $16,000 on DJ’s tea and groceries was rich, think again. A much bigger storm about pollies spending is brewing in the UK. This brouhaha should be giving our own politicians some cause for concern.

Over the weekend the British papers continued to publish revelation after revelation about dodgy MP expenses: diverting the national attention from sick pigs to fat cats. The list of expense claims is seemingly endless – from Christmas tree decorations, to dry rot repairs, chocolate, security guards ($50,000 on that one from a MP married to a millionaire novelist), and hundreds of thousands of dollars on second home furnishing and overhauls . Even the Prime Minister’s cleaning bill is under question.

Jackman tweeting notes are slightly off key

I’ve been following the sagas of ‘our Hugh’ for the last few weeks, and trying to weigh up the pros and cons to his approach to Twitter. Hugh’s road accident of a Tweet involving the words ‘harbor’ and ‘Opera Center’ has only raised our concerns higher as to the right and wrong way to employ Twitter for clients.

Twittering: is it for twits?

Here’s an interesting thought – new technology gives celebrities the power to directly influence their reputation with fans and the public at large. The hot news from this year’s Oscars was not Hugh Jackman’s dancing, but that celebrities were all a-Twitter from the various Oscar parties – posting comments and videos onto their accounts for the social networking site.

Chipping at the Gunns truth leaves us hollow

I was watching Australian Story the other night on ABC 1 and was surprised to see that, once again, the pulp mill issue has been brought into the media spotlight.

After all the hype earlier this year, Gunns still has a proposal lodged with the government waiting for approval of the mill, which has more or less been approved, pending funding (the company’s bank ANZ rejected funding the project after it was subjected to public scrutiny for supporting the mill).  

Now, I’m sure most people have an opinion of this issue, but I’d really like to pose the question to you – who is in the wrong and why?

Facebook – friend or foe?

Like every man and his dog right now, we’re investing more and more time in how we can tame the beast that is social media to engage cleverly and meaningfully with today’s consumers. But there’s also a dark side to the Facebooks, MySpaces  and You Tubes  that is changing the face of news reporting and issues management.

 

 

Sex selling column inches? Who would’ve thought.

Sex sells editorial column inches and it seems that one of the oldest stunts in the publicity book has delivered yet again. Over the last couple of days the Advanced Medical Institute has earned themselves bucket loads of coverage by putting a shock publicity tactic into play.