We're delighted to have been appointed by the Manchester Law Society to brand the inaugural Manchester Legal Awards 2010.

We took the brief from the Manchester Law Society to create

the visual identity for its flagship annual awards ceremony held on Thursday

4^th March 2010.

The

event is already a sell out with 490 tickets sold for the event at the Midland

Hotel.

The RMS

PR agency in Manchester created the identity, website and supporting collateral including invitations and menus for the event. We're also handling PR for the

event

which

has been heavily backed by the Manchester Evening News. Short listed firms

include Pannone, Eversheds, Hammonds and Beachcroft.

We've

designed a fresh high impact identity that has been well received by solicitors

and barristers in Manchester. We're picking up more clients in

the legal sector as firms seek to refresh their visual identity in a bid to

stand out from the crowd.

Fran

Eccles-Bech of the Manchester Law Society, said:

"RMS has

created a brilliant brand identity for us and the feedback has been hugely

positive. They have gone above and beyond the brief they were initially given to

create a strong legacy for us."

RMS clients also

include the College of Law and Pro-Manchester.

When the Sky News team approached us about needing quality case studies of leading SMEs we were only too happy to oblige. One of our favourite clients - Shred Easy, the UK's leading confidential data destruction service, fitted the bill perfectly. Our profile of Shred Easy, script and two minute film made with a flip camera did the business. 

It was viewed 2,000 times in less than 12 hours.

We're going to enter it in the Sundance Festival next year.

Enjoy.

It's fair to say Ling Valentine is one of our most eccentric clients. Entrepreneur and owner of online car leasing business, LINGsCARS.com, Ling is a pioneer when it comes to promoting her business.

Some of her best promotional stunts have included branding a missile truck and a double-decker bus. One of her greatest achievements has to be when she was made into a cartoon character for British comic, Viz.

We've always known she was one in a million, that's why RMS entered Ling into the Natwest Everywoman Awards, which recognises some of the UK's top female entrepreneurs.

It looks like the judging panel thought so too, as Ling was presented with the Everywoman Iris Award at a ceremony held at The Dorchester Hotel in London.

Ling was given the award - sponsored by BT Business- for her effective use of IT in her online business.

Congratulations Ling, here's to many more!

Congratulations to two of our team who have been short-listed for this year's Future Pro-Manchester Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Victoria Richardson and Dan Gledhill are down to the last five in the challenge and the winner will be revealed tonight in the Eperney Bar in Manchester tonight.

They are joined by three other hopefuls Katherine Waugh of the excellent law firm Addleshaw Goddard, Melissa Davis of business pychologists Carter Corson and Rob Woollen of Innospace, the Manchester-based incubator.

The challenge launched in September in partnership with Innospace and Crain’s Manchester Business.

Our team have been praised for their "outstanding ability" in a series of written challenges set by a panel of judges including experts at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Business School, chairman of pro.manchester, Sue Webster, successful entrepreneur Vikas Shah and Insider Young Professional of the year, David Hunt from Creative Lynx.

Good luck to all!

We scooped shed-loads of media coverage today (and worked closely our friends at the BBC and Channel 4) because our very own Emma Cameron launched a unique project in partnership with luxury car maker Bentley Motors and St Luke's Hospice in Cheshire.

The former London Routemaster bus (pictured) has been luxuriously restored by Bentley Motors and handed over to the hospice.

Bentley Motors has supported the hospice for the past three years, most recently in April when it helped renovate one of the hospice's charity shops and rejuvenated the hospice garden during a production shutdown at its Crewe factory.

This latest project has taken 2,000 hours to complete with 59 Bentley workers involved

As you can see, the bus is beautiful and uses the leather for which Bentley cars are synonymous throughout, all hand stitched with the St Lukes and Bentley logos. Other skilled craftsmen from Bentley's woodshop, toolroom and maintenance departments developed bespoke work surfaces, rails, kitchen unit and shelves to help St Lukes staff in their public awareness and fundraising activities.

The bus, named Luke, will be used as a travelling shop for colleges and universities as well as an education and awareness base to visit schools and other events.

RMS is proud to be involved in this campaign. We hope you like it as much as our friends at How Do did.

Our client Shred Easy featured in a hugely popular section in the Daily Telegraph after we arranged an interview with their small business editor.

This is wonderful coverage because it reads like an advert for the business. The feature talks about how the business has flourished through the recession with an expanded fleet of trucks and an increased staff base of 180 employees.

RMS are experts at gaining national business coverage that delivers sales for our clients. Take a look here at the piece.

Ruth has plenty to say about the successful fundraising event we organised for the Duchess of York's project in Northern Moor.

How Do, the biggest online community for creative media types in the North West interviewed our managing director at length . . .  and here's what she had to say about the REAL story behind the headlines. Go Ruth!

When the Mansfield Building Society launched its new mortgage product, it wanted to make sure it hit the headlines.

The Nottinghamshire mutual had partnered with South Yorkshire Housing Association to offer first-time buyers an exclusive ownership deal - the first offer of a 100 per cent mortgage by a lender in 18 months.

This fantastic story was going to be big and RMS was tasked was ensuring maximum coverage for our client.

The Financial Times was the first to bite, running the story both online and in print  triggering a huge response from national TV and radio.

The Mansfield chief executive, Nigel Quinton was interviewed on prime radio programmes; Wake up to Money on BBC Radio 5 Live and The Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 - exactly the kind of audience the Society wants to be targeting!

Further coverage followed in BBC's lunchtime business programme, Working Lunch on which Nigel Quinton was interviewed. In fact, a whole segment of the programme was dedicated to the Mansfield's news!

What's more exciting is the interest that this fantastic coverage has generated for our client's product.

We're pleased to be on the official suppliers list for the Creative Credits scheme in Manchester organised by NESTA.

Creative Credits is a world-first programme designed to help SMEs in the Manchester region become more profitable.

The scheme is aimed at Manchester-based SME's who want access to PR, design and marketing. NESTA wants local companies to apply for 'Creative Credits' worth £4,000.

These can be used to purchase services from the RMS PR agency in Manchester to develop ideas that will enhance your business.

We're happy to be involved - and want to hear from you if you are an SME in Greater Manchester. Call us now on 0161 927 3131 for more details.

You simply apply for the Cretive Credits scheme online here.

We've already had a few requests for help from Manchester-based SME's - feel free to call our director Peter Davies if you need help preparing your application.

Manchester mortgage fraud specialist Daniel Berke was interviewed today by BBC Working Lunch and BBC economics editor Hugh Pym thanks to our PR team.

Daniel heads up the fraud division at Manchester law firm Lewis Hymanson Small.

When we read the news that Chelsea Building Society has posted a £26m loss for the first half after a £41m mortgage fraud we knew he would be the perfect spokesperson, and got straight to work, speaking to our media contacts at the BBC. Great result for a long standing client.

The RMS PR team features in a high profile two-part TV documentary on ITV1 that airs tonight and on 25th August.

RMS PR in Manchester was called upon by the Duchess of York to raise awareness and funds to help build a community centre in Northern Moor, Wythenshawe.

Rather than organise an impersonal fund-raising dinner, we decided to organise an exclusive private dinner with a hand selected guest list of 30 Cheshire business people who are all committed charity patrons.

Each made a donation for a seat at the dinner, while the Radisson Edwardian Manchester and UKFast made significant additional donations.

The Duchess of York said:

"The RMS PR team were utterly brilliant and did a fantastic job. They managed to complete this Herculean task even though most businesses are carefully watching their CSR budgets. This just demonstrates their contacts, clout and professionalism."

Stephen Miles, general manager at the Radisson Edwardian Manchester made a contribution in kind by providing a champagne reception and five-course meal in the hotel's private dining room.

Contact RMS PR in Manchester for more infomation on The Dutchess on the Estate

RMS is pleased to announce we are working with Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company on a major project to rejuvenate the River Irwell in partnership with Salford City Council, Manchester City Council and Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council.

MMU art student Emily Spruce has led on an exciting community campaign as part of the project with Ordsall Community Arts to brighten up the banks of the river and create a panoramic 35 metre mural, with the help of local school children and Salford Youth Service.

We've started how we mean to go on for this public sector PR by securing a nice bit of telly coverage on the BBC here.

If you're looking for a Manchester PR company you can't go wrong with the RMS team.

Spending your Saturday night walking through the streets of Crewe and Nantwich may not seem like fun but here at RMS we are always keen to get behind a good cause.

That's why Ruth, Natalie and Emma joined 1,763 women to take part in the St Luke's Midnight Walk - a half marathon - on Saturday.

We're delighted to say we played a part in raising £340,000 and our aching limbs are a small price to pay for helping the hospice out.

This is why you should appoint RMS PR. There's no finer example of why our PR team are the most talented PR consultants in Manchester.

Our client (the Stafford Railway Building Society) is now famous all over the world.

Thanks to our good friends at the Financial Times for working together with the RMS PR company in Manchester.

The Office of The Duchess of York has appointed the RMS PR company in Manchester to support the launch of a regeneration project in Wythenshawe.

The RMS team is helping the Duchess of York and her team to find corporate sponsors for a new community centre for the residents of the Northern Moor Estate which will provide a place to bring the neighbourhood together and a safe environment children to enjoy themselves.

£40,000 is needed to open the centre. Local residents are holding a fundraiser on Monday 25th May at Rackhouse Primary School.

The Duchess of York has long campaigned in support of local communities and is currently filming a documentary in Northern Moor to be aired on ITV later this year.

Ruth Shearn, managing director of RMS PR, design and marketing in Manchester, said:

"We're looking for local companies that will support this valuable initiative. There are plenty of businesses that would love to lend a helping hand and we're looking to target them through a mix of PR, direct mail and online campaigning.

"We are more than happy to support the Duchess of York in this important local community project. Our entire agency is working hard to help raise the funds needed."

Lucy Chilten, from the Office of the Duchess of York, said:

"Our goal is to help the community make improvements and to open a community centre for the residents where children can receive careers advice, learn new skills, play sports and have fun. We're very grateful for RMS's offer of sponsorship support on this project."

FACTOR 50 our official pro-bono charity client which raises money for the skin cancer department at The Christie,

raised more than £10,000 at its first official black-tie event.

The event, hosted at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester, attracted more than 300 guests who dug deep to fund research into malignant melanoma, the skin cancer which is contracted by more than 9,000 people in the UK every year.

Gillian Nuttall, fundraising manager of Factor 50, formed the charity in honour of her friend Jon Herron who sadly passed away from Malignant Melanoma last year.

The evening began with a champagne reception followed by entertainment during the dinner from Catherine Tyldesley, Paul Pashley (the man who sang Swing at the Rooney wedding), and Souled as Seen.

Gillian Nuttall, fundraising manager for Factor 50, said:

"This proves how important the funding of research into the terrible disease is to people in this country. We're working hard to raise awareness and we're delighted with the huge turnout from people who travelled from all over the country.

"We're continuing to seek support and we welcome any individuals or organisations who want to join our campaign in whatever way they can."

Dr Paul Lorigan of The Christie, said:

"The Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the largest single site oncology centre in Europe and our team has the largest melanoma practice in the UK.  We are working with Factor 50 to help create awareness of the disease, the importance of skin care protection as well as raise £250,000."

Manchester law firm Ralli, design firm Rhino, web hosts UKFast and Manchester PR agency RMS PR also sponsored the event. See www.factor50.org.uk

Memories of blackboards, school dinners, itchy blazers and the school bell came flooding back to our Account Executives - Rachael, Gemma, Emma and Nicola yesterday.

As part of our ongoing CSR commitment to the local community we headed to Wellington School in Timperley to take part in a mock interviewing day for year 10s.

The team got to act out their best Sir Alan impressions and quiz students about their career ambitions, work experience and outside school activities. It was a rewarding day all round. It's good to give something back!

We made sure we left in time to finish our homework!

Team RMS was in the thick of the action when more than 1,000 athletes from across the globe crossed swords at the Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships in Belfast.

Overseen by our international event management client, Sportworks, the event attracted world-class fencers from 85 countries around the world. We checked into the international media centre and witnessed some of the world's best athletes go head to head in the Sabre, Epee and Foil disciplines.

Always keen to maximise on PR, we tracked down Sir Steve Redgrave, who was on an official visit to the University of Ulster site and managed to secure a photo of him alongside members of the GB fencing team - result!

Our head of design Dave Merrell is taking part in an Eric Waugh exhibition at Generation Pop on New York Street in Manchester on Thursday 16 April from 6.30 - 9.30pm.

Eric Waugh is a performance artist from North America who paints ‘live' to the beat of any style of music.

Dave loves art and design and his personal work is influenced by street and comic art which he describes as ‘pop stromic'. He has previously been part of an exhibition at Generation Pop where all his work sold within minutes.  He was tickled pink to meet the Mayoress of Manchester too.

We're hoping that the auction of Eric Waugh's work on the night raises a substantial sum for the NSPCC.

WE'VE hit the UK headlines many times with our cosmetic client Dr Newman's Clinic but we are never content with dominating the media in our country - so we targeted the US.

There's no hiding away from the economic downturn and some people are finding they want to put a better face forward for the future. That's why specialist skincare expert Dr Newman, who treats conditions such as rosacea and thread veins on the face and legs, has seen a surge in patient numbers in recent months.

We told the press about this increase in patients at the clinic and watched the national hits - in titles such as The Sun and Daily Star - rolling in. Not happy to rest on our laurels, we secured coverage on Fox News this week.

We're passionate about our pro bono work at RMS and were delighted to get our chosen charity St Luke's Hospice featured on the BBC on Friday.

The team at the hospice are proud to have Bentley as a corporate sponsor and have found an unusual way to reap results from the downturn in the car industry.

Workers at the Crewe factory are currently on a seven-week production break and are filling their spare time carrying out worthwhile projects for their local hospice. 

Bentley staff have been refitting one of the hospice's charity shops as well as turning the hospice garden into a peaceful haven for patients and staff alike.

Well done Bentley for showing your corporate social responsibility credentials. You're doing a sterling job.

Here at RMS in Manchester we're footy mad so it's no surprise that when Marple Athletic Junior Football Club asked us to sponsor them for the second year running we agreed.

The club has just finished competing in the Stockport Metro League under 10s division where the first team is ranked first after winning 18 matches, drawing two and losing just one.

The Under 10's team is managed by Padraig Walsh and Clive Breed and the club looks after more than 200 registered players in TEN different age groups.

We're happy to support this lively team even if they did thrash Ruth's local side, Hale Junior Football Club, by 8-0 recently! We firmly believe that playing in a sports team helps children learn how to work together, appreciate fair play and stay healthy.

Marple Athletic FC is an FA Charter Standard Club where parents and grandparents are encouraged to applaud fairly and adhere to good standards of behaviour. The club offers players social activities, football tournaments, seaside summer camp tournaments and presentation evenings. There is also the opportunity for parents to gain F.A. coaching qualifications. 

Hopefully we'll see you on the sidelines for the Fleetwood Cup, the biggest junior football tournament in the North, on May Bank Holiday.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Ruth Shearn our resident daredevil, took a leap of faith at the weekend and completed a charity zip wire across the Manchester Ship Canal, on behalf of Cash for Kids, the Manchester based charity that works directly with disadvantaged children.

Ruth coasted at approximately 35 mph over the 300 metre wire that ran across Salford Quays from the Imperial War Museum to The Lowry.

Each competitor was asked to raise £150 before the event and organizers Rejuvenate estimate that over £40,000 could be collected in total.

Ruth's promised that her next stunt will be even more dangerous and wants to go paragliding for charity. If you know of any other high adrenaline charity events please get in touch so we can stich her up/raise more cash for charity.

We think it's great that students can now take a masters degree in social media at Birmingham University. It's exactly the sort of news that's guaranteed to delight and wind people up in equal measure.

However we reckon that students should be given the opportunity to learn in the commercial world. Our plan is to get them away from the classroom and stuffy old lecture halls.

It's all very well being able to put together a Facebook Group or set up a corporate Twitter but it's important that students are armed with practical tools to help them apply their newly acquired skills in the world of business.

That's why our digital team is soon launching an intern programme for existing new media students to enable them to learn how to apply their knowledge within a commercial setting.

We'll keep you posted on progress. Keep an eye on our website or subscribe to our RSS feed to get the details before anyone else.

We're really happy to annouce that one of the UK's biggest shredding companies has appointed the RMS PR team to handle its public relations brief.

Shred Easy, based in Trafford Park, in Greater Manchester employs ninety people in eight sites across the country. Its customers include Marks & Spencer, Kellogg's and a number of public sector organisations.

We've already bagged a massive piece of publicity for them here.

Shred Easy offers a total shredding service including the collection, destruction and recycling of confidential materials including paper and IT equipment such as hard drives and memory sticks.

The firm also offers secure onsite destruction making it easy for businesses to destroy sensitive information quickly in an eco-friendly way.

Jim Watson, managing director of Shred Easy, said:

"The RMS team showed an excellent understanding of our business and are the most creative agency we've seen. We've picked the right creative agency as we continue our growth in 2009. The RMS campaign has already started with a fresh look at our marketing collateral and a major PR push into the national media and regional media titles read by business figures."

Anusree Saha, channel marketing manager, for Shred Easy, said:

"We've tasked RMS with the challenge of making sure that our profile is sky high before our key audiences. We're going to be working on some exciting offline and online marketing and PR activity with the team."

We reckon that Shred Easy is a dream client. Its services are the zeitgeist. We aim to get to a tipping point where it's considered risky for a business not to use Shred Easy. We'll be hammering home the key messages that using Shred Easy is secure, convenient, economical and green. Its exciting stuff in a recession proof sector and the entire RMS PR team in Manchester loves the brief.

Take a peek at their website here.

Our design and digital department here at RMS PR is booming. The work is flooding in so we've expanded our studio by hiring the award-winning David Merrell as head of design.  

Merrell, 32, is from sunny Flixton and has bagged loads of awards for major consumer brands sold in Tesco, Boots and John Lewis. He's a dab hand with professional services brands too - having designed corporate identities for lawyers and accountants.

The Manchester Evening News devoted a massive splash to the RMS PR design studio in Manchester in its media page this week.

Dave is now busy developing design concepts for a range of RMS PR clients in Manchester including College of Law, pro-manchester and Character World.

We reckon David is a talented designer and a real asset to the RMS PR team. His enthusiasm for design and the way he approaches his work is a major turn on for our clients. We love his entrepreneurial drive. So will you!

To take a look at some our recent design work - drop us a line now.   

Demand for our RMS PR agency Manchester branded umbrellas has bowled us over as the iconic design quickly becomes a design classic and runaway success.

Our designers created the pink and black flocked umbrellas to reinforce our distinctive (and much loved) branding - as seen on our subtle office wallpaper design. See below or click here to view a short clip of Rachael on YouTube showing them off.

Our original order of fifty umbrellas was soon snapped up by clients, journalists and contacts. Ace Northwest marketing newsite 'How Do' also lent their support here.

Let's face it, it's guaranteed to rain in this neck of the woods. Manchester rain is legendary. That's why we decided to design our own brollies and take cover in style. We had no idea that the designs would be so popular and that we'd have to keep ordering more.

So ... now we've commissioned a charity version of our brolly which we're selling with all proceeds going to our offical pro bono charity clients - St Luke's Hospice in Winsford and Factor 50, the Manchester-based national skin cancer charity.

Drop us a line if you too want an RMS PR brolly. Not only will you be stylish but you'll be helping two important local charities. Bidding starts at £25.

Public relations agency RMS PR is delighted to announce its new group on popular social network site Facebook. This new group will serve as an interactive forum for the Manchester PR agency and people on Facebook can connect with professionals at the PR company and keep up-to-date with public relations tips and PR industry events.

Facebook is a social networking utility at the leading edge of the Web 2.0 revolution and has become a valuable resource for companies to advertise and expand their online presence.

RMS PR has recognised the importance of harnessing social networking and Web 2.0 to build an online presence for their leading PR agency.

"Our Facebook group is a great new way of communicating the benefits of public relations," commented Peter Davies director of RMS PR in Manchester.

"We aim to take advantage of the emerging social media opportunities which Facebook and similar sites create. We're helping clients evolve their PR and marketing with Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 technologies like Facebook are growing very fast throughout the internet and allow users to retrieve information and interact with other users. "Knowledge and use of Web 2.0 technology is becoming more important moving forward in building success online."

Connect with RMS PR on Facebook.

About RMS PR - Public Relations Agency in Manchester

RMS PR is one of the top PR agencies in Manchester. Through their dynamic PR team RMS PR deliver bottom-line benefits and commercial value. As a leading independent public relations consultancy they deal with client publicity and media coverage on a national scale.

The PR agency in Manchester consists of experienced professionals with backgrounds in business PR, consumer PR, public sector PR and journalism, working alongside designers and marketing professionals. With an unrivalled bank of media contacts across the UK, clients benefit from insider knowledge.

Take your brand and business to the next level with fantastic media coverage! Request more information online about RMS PR agency in Manchester or call us on 0161 927 3131.

The RMS PR agency in Manchester is working with national children's charity, STEPS, to support its Baby Hip Health Week campaign and we've already secured national headlines on the BBC health pages here and today - a MASSIVE piece of BBC TV exposure here

We're working collectively to lobby the House of Commons and overcome national failings to uphold a baby hip health screening policy, following a piece of research which showed more than 50 per cent of Primary Care Trusts have no guidelines in place. RMS PR is highlighting the problem of babies born with hip problems - called DDH or development dysplasia of the hip.  

RMS PR has ensured the awareness campaign is catapulted on to the national agenda, by using its political lobbying expertise and also joining forces with radio presenter, Sara Cox, who was affected by development dysplasia of the hips (DHH) as a child.

Take a peek at www.steps-charity.org.uk for more information.

The RMS PR company in Manchester is always looking for charities and organisations that need profile raising in the North West. The exclusive RMS PR mix of advertising, design and marketing a charity will help swell your coffers and put you on the NATIONAL media agenda.

Call the RMS PR charity and fundraising PR team in Manchester on 0161 927 3131 or contact us NOW.

Rick Blears of RMS PR in Manchester has just returned from spending a day with American Internet marketing guru Seth Godin at his London ‘tribal' seminar. Rick joined the great and good of online marketing, including top execs from Microsoft, HP, IBM, Universal Music, Shell, and Dell , ex (failed) ‘Dragon' entrepreneur Rachael Elnaugh, et al.

The spellbindingly lucid and evangelical Godin began the proceedings by complimenting Rick on his choice of tie and sartorial elegance (there were only three people wearing ties out of the 400 geeky attendees) then spoke for more than two hours about breaking the mould of conventional marketing.

After a further two hours of intense Q&A's the seemingly indefatigable Godin invited the gathered faithful to the pub!  As former marketing Vice-president of Yahoo, he's presumably used to buying big rounds...

As the guest of long-standing RMS PR client, www.Lingscars.com directors Jon and Ling Valentine, Rick was very flattered to hear Seth Godin using Lingscars as an example of on-line best practice. A true ‘purple cow'.

For the immensely successful and lauded business theoretician to position RMS at the leading-edge of the ‘third industrial revolution' was praise indeed. This is the man who advises Google, Microsoft, American Express and Proctor and Gamble, to name but a few. 

One of the books he wrote looks like this:

The RMS PR company in Manchester kicked off with a front page lead story in The Law Society Gazette featuring the launch of our new client, The Legal Alliance - TLA.  Within three hours of the publication landing on lawyers' desks across the UK, TLA had already received dozens of calls from interested potential member firms (and so did we - so all the lawyers interested in joining please contact TLA directly on 0845 002 0795)

Then a quarter page in the Evening Standard for our long-standing client, Auction Finance, talking about how they are experiencing a surge in sales since the start of the New Year as bargain hunters are stalking the auction rooms anxious to get out of banks and into property investments.

And to top it all, we have secured national headlines on the BBC health pages for new client and national children's charity STEPS, to support its Baby Hip Health Week campaign.

Using our political lobbying expertise, we are currently helping STEPS highlight the failure of Primary Care Trusts to screen babies for health problems. We have an event next week at the House of Commons and have secured the support of BBC radio presenter Sara Cox, who was affected by development dysplasia of the hips (DHH) as a child. Have a look here.

These are just the tip of the iceberg but ones we are particularly excited about because within hours, they all led directly to sales enquiries for our clients.

RMS PR - the leading design and PR company in Manchester. If you want fluff - try other PR companies in Manchester.   

Passwords and PINs are boggling the minds of Britons

It's a burden that comes with the digital era we now live in, having to remember multiple internet and computer passwords.

Our client, software and web development company, Acid Computer Services wanted to highlight the problem and dubbed the condition, Logjamnesia - ‘the partial or total inability to recall computer and internet passwords and PINs due to memory overload'

So, the RMS PR company in Manchester set out to raise some press coverage for Acid and the new condition and enlisted the help of eight times World Memory Champion, Dominic O'Brien to offer his top tips on improving your memory.

The new term received blazes of coverage but we were thrilled when renowned consumer publication, Which? put the article on the news section of their website here.

Today's ‘confession' from the ex-CEO of Bank of Scotland that the bank was warned by the FSA three years ago to put a break on its over-zealous lending came as no surprise to me.

I have an abnormally high interest level in the fortunes of Bank of Scotland on a professional and personal level because it had a profound effect my own fortunes and was pivotal in the success of my own business.

A decade ago, RMS PR - then a tiny agency - was fortunate enough to be appointed to handle media relations for the Bank of Scotland across the whole of England.

What a brief!  It remains one of the most enjoyable and rewarding periods of my career to-date.

As with any new client, it was important to get under the skin of the organisation, understand its culture and define succinctly its USP.

This was achieved by travelling around the country and meeting the managers and directors who were the lifeblood of the organisation.  It was clear they were a different breed and that a different culture did exist.  It was tangible, palpable - I loved each and every one of them. Some, naturally, more than others!  What they all had in common was decency - they were old-fashioned gentlemen bankers.

In all the media stories we pumped out to the media, we emphasised the fact that Bank of Scotland was not a faceless, process-driven organisation but one that genuinely cared for its customers, took a personal interest in them, that gave sound advice - the embodiment of Scottish prudence.

Most importantly - and this was the USP we identified - the managers had autonomy.  They could take decisions for themselves without the need to refer to some ‘higher-order'.

This empowerment meant the buck stopped with them so they thought long and hard about the decisions they took.  This could have led them to be overly cautious and risk adverse but I can vouch for the fact, they weren't.  They would take a leap of faith with customers - but only after seeing the whites of their eyes and feeling the fire in their bellies. 

They would then take a decision based on a gut instinct that had been honed over years.  Invariably their decisions were sound.

This simple and honourable approach to doing business continued for several years.  We succeeded in securing stacks of media coverage across the UK for them, and helped topple their arch rival RBS from its top spot as leading lender of corporate finance in England.  Hallelujah.

Then we started to spot the seeds of change.

There were grumbles and rumbles among the 100 plus gentlemen bankers we had loved dealing with for three years.  They started to talk about cultural change within the organisation - that they were being set ambitious sales targets for the first time ever; that their decision-making powers were being eroded in favour of a centralised, process-driven system.  They were not happy. 

The very thing they had loved about their jobs - the empowerment and ability to get up close and personal with their customers - was being taken away.  Some, possibly the more enlightened and visionary ones, left for other banks.  Others, the more optimistic and naive, stayed and tried to adapt to their new roles and way of doing business.

RMS PR was retained for a further year and witnessed firsthand the seismic changes that went on internally.  We talked with the ‘old guard' about the new way approach to doing business, about the young swords who'd usurped them - none of them career bankers but target-orientated salesmen.  And, yes, the word shark was even mentioned a few times.

We stopped working with Bank of Scotland 7 years ago. Today it has emerged the organisation was warned 3 years ago to change its ways of doing business or it could have a catastrophic effect on its customers and the wider economy. 

It saddens me what happened.  They had the keys to the kingdom, They had survived and prospered for over 300 years just by sticking to the basics and giving prudent, common sense advice. 

Greed got the better of them and sadly, it has had a knock-on effect on the rest of us, too.

We've traded on our association with Bank of Scotland for many years - it's a great name to have had on our list of clients.  It saddens me profoundly that the brilliant job we did for that then fabulous organisation will now be tarnished by association with the organisation it turned into.

Ruth Shearn, Managing Director, RMS PR, 12th February 2009

As Celebrity Big Brother draws to a close the Manchester Evening News asked Ruth Shearn for her expert opinion on Terry Christian's re-branded image. In today's paper she got to wax lyrical about the power of reality TV and it's influence on Terry's career.........

"Madchester legend and all round raconteur, Terry Christian, has gone from zero to hero in the space of two weeks after his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother.

Until recently Christian was better known nationally at least for his grating tones and presenting the anarchic post-pub yoof show The Word back in the early 80s.

Never one to shy away from controversy this is a media figure who began his career on Devil's Advocate a programme made by Granada Television about youngsters on the dole.

He's since cropped up on the radio presenting chat shows on Talk Sport and GMR. In fact Talk Sport has never been the same since dogging fan Stan Collymore joined the team.

Terry's appearance on CBB has seen the beginning of the remolding of the Christian brand. He's been diplomatic and relatively sane in comparison to a house full of odd bods. The controversy kid has become the one who'll calm petty quarrels over shopping lists. I'm quietly ashamed to admit the re-branded Christian has worked for me because I'm bowled over.

Reality TV now seems a down-market stage for Z-listers to morph from an insect to a butterfly and change their images overnight. This worked well for Jordan. One trip to the jungle in I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, tackling rats and flirting with Peter (I've been tangoed) Andre, led to biographies, a new hair care range and fulfilling her equestrian dreams at the Olympics.

Terry is obviously hoping for the same after his stint in the CBB house. Whether this happens of not we can always look forward to the inevitable biography, new column and fitness DVD.

Since the death of Tony Wilson there has been a gap in the market for a new Mr Manchester. The question is can Terry fill the position? He's very much a local lad, the opposite of Cambridge-educated Wilson.

When I next see him propping up the bar at the next MEN Diary party I'll quiz him about that new fitness DVD!"

For more information please contact RMS PR in Manchester today or give us a call on 0161 927 3131.

Ruth developed a serious crush on 'Starsky' from 'Starsky & Hutch' back in 1975 - along with millions of other teenage girls of her day.  She filled the scrapbook, wrote the fan mail, hid photos under her pillow and suffered all the usual adolescent pangs with the flames of true love in her heart. 

In her case, however, the embers never fully cooled.    Thus it was that, on Boxing Day, she found herself being whisked on a surprise 300 mile round trip, to no less a theatre of dreams than Sunderland Empire, where heart-throb Paul-Michael Glaser, now 64, was earning his theatrical corn as the roguish 'Abanazar' in a production of Aladin.   

At the Stage Door, 20 minutes after the curtain came down, the two finally met, 33 years after Ruth's first pubescent longings took their grip.   The outcome was photographed for posterity by partner Rick.   Dropping three decades at a stoke, the polished PR guru proceeded to proclaim her undying affection for the somewhat bemused balding American veteran of TV, stage, screen, Big Brother and pantomime.  

After chatting politely for a few  minutes, Paul-Michael retreated to the safety of his cab, leaving an almost hysterically delighted Ruth wondering how long it would be before her fleeting teenage dream would become reality again. Needless to say, daughter, Alexis, 7, found the entire episode highly amusing.

Our esteemed MD took to the catwalk at Manchester United Football Club to strike a pose and raise vital funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

She strutted her stuff alongside Daniel Craig’s younger brother Harry and was delighted to raise almost £1,250 for the charity.

Taking centre stage was a nerve-wracking experience for Ruth but she was only too happy to make her fashion debut to get cash rolling in for Marie Curie.

Log on to www.justgiving.com/ruthshearn to show your support.

Stafford Railway hits the national headlines again!

We all rushed out to buy the Daily Mirror on Saturday, as it featured another article about our client Stafford Railway Building Society. This time the article was entitled ‘Safest Bank in Britain’. It again contained our key messages about the Society, positioning it as a safe place for savings and a good place to get a mortgage. The newspaper is read by more than one million people, so we were delighted with our result.

We achieved three national hits this week for our client Stafford Railway Building Society. The Financial Times, News of The World and the Sunday Express all featured the 131 year old society.

The articles focused on the return to traditional building societies as the giant banks collapse and trust in financial institutions wavers. Chief executive Mike Heenan was positioned as a financial expert and the Society as a safe place to keep savings. Since the articles appeared, the Society’s phones have been ringing off the hook and the branch has never been busier. Needless to say everyone at RMS is delighted we’ve made such a big impact on a Society that is one of the smallest in the UK.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8133217c-b820-11dd-ac6d-0000779fd18c.html

We headed down to Character World’s head office in Cheadle last week to watch BBC Newsround film in their showroom.

Character World teamed up with the University of Manchester to launch 3D Spider-Man bedding and we just knew the story would be perfect for Newsround.

Local school children took time out to visit the company and donned 3D glasses to give their opinions of the duvets on camera. The result was fantastic exposure for Character World as children all over the country added the company’s latest product to their Christmas list.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7750000/newsid_7751000/7751029.stm

Our managing director Ruth Shearn was one of a select group of Manchester professionals invited to take part in a promotional video shown at the EN ‘Dealmaker of the Year" Awards at the MEN Arena in Manchester on Thursday night.  

Ruth, along with the likes of Sally Toumi, Paul Lupton, Jeremy Cole and Phil Tarimo were kerraled into lip-synching to the Nikelback song Rock Star - with hilarious results. We reckon Ruth's Hacienda/Madchester/Bez impression stole the show. Little Alexis was also a hot favourite.

It was all in aid of Versus Cancer. In the charity auction, RMS PR secured four back stage passes to the prestigious gig which will take place in March 2009.

The night which was hosted by Darren Proctor included business advice from private equity genius John Moulton of Alchemy Partners and a musical interlude from ex-Yes man and grumpy old man Rick Wakeman.

RMS PR would like to thank Alan Townley of Excel and the EN editorial team (Stu/Liz) for putting on a great night. The RMS PR team ended up taking over the Hard Rock Cafe - and then hitting the Press Club until the early hours.

Since launching the in-house RMS PR digital and design division, less than two months ago, we’ve had some fantastic design briefs from existing and new clients.

Along with no less than three corporate identities – for future pro manchester, Dr Newman’s Clinic, Acid Computer Services – our Head of design Dan Segal has also produced several  brochures, advertisements and point of sale displays.  He’s just started on the design of an exhibition stand and Report & Accounts for our long-standing client Stafford Railway Building Society.

If you're an existing client - give us a call now and we'll do an audit of your current design requirements.

When we discovered Company magazine was seeking a case study of someone who had a dramatic change of career we knew it would be good fun to push our very own Rachael Richards forward.

Never shy at coming forward, our Rachael was lucky enough to take part in a 'glamorous' photo shoot for a ‘new job, new wardrobe' feature in this month's mag.

She transformed herself from being a farmer in mid Wales to a PR consultant here at RMS PR.

We love putting ourselves in our clients' shoes as often as we can. All the fun of the fair...

RMS PR has got into bed with Manchester's coolest accommodation provider to ensure you'll be hearing a lot more about Blue Rainbow Apartments in the future.

Manchester's only 5-star accredited serviced apartment hotel is THE place to stay in town. The privacy of your own 1 or 2-bedroom luxury apartment right in the heart of the city, with all the service you would expect from a 5-star hotel.

And with plans to open new Blue Rainbow apartment hotels across the UK, we've come on board to help spread the word.

Having stayed there ourselves we can't wait to tell business travellers and tourists alike what to expect from a short break or a longer term stay at Blue Rainbow.

We'll also be helping to promote Blue Rainbow's star studded launch party planned for January 09 and there's already a race in our office to book rooms before they all go!

There doesn't seem to be an end in sight to the expansion at RMS PR with the appointment of Dan Gledhill as senior account manager.

Dan (34) joins us from a national PR and Advertising agency where he spent four years handling clients in the property, regeneration, retail and construction sectors.

Dan's extensive media background includes spells at Lancaster & Morecambe Newspapers and the Manchester Evening News and he also holds the Advanced Certificate in social and market research from the Market Research Society.

In his words, Dan chose RMS PR because of "the fantastic team and great range of clients." Dan - welcome to RMS!

We're always getting national media coverage for our clients.

Between the profiles of Sir Ian Blair and Condoleezza Rice - last night we lined up an interview for our client Chris Baguley of Manchester-based Bridging Finance Limited on the major BBC Radio 4 show The World Tonight.

Chris is an expert in short term finance and helps professional services firms get access to cash for their clients. We know that - you know that - and thanks to RMS PR - so do the loyal 9.6m (that's nine point six million!) listeners of the BBC's flagship news and speech station.

Have a listen here.

We're delighted The College of Law has appointed RMS PR to handle its PR ahead of its £5.5million launch in Manchester next year.

Our legal PR expertise is the best in Manchester and teaming up with The College of Law is a perfect fit. We love working with lawyers. Especially the young bright sparks emerging from Chester - and Manchester.

Europe's largest legal training and educational establishment is opening its city base in September 2009 and the RMS PR team will be helping boost the learning establishment's profile in the city and the whole of the North West. PR Week covered our appointment here.

The College of Law - which already has bases in Birmingham, Chester, Guildford, London and York - delivers bespoke courses which are tailored to individual student's needs.

Tutors pride themselves on the innovative teaching methods, with lessons delivered online and through podcasts as well as face-to-face learning.

Our team will work with the College's in-house marketing team and regional director Tricia Chatterton to help raise awareness of the establishments' work and to position the outlets as the best place to study law in the region.

The Manchester Evening News ran a big piece today about our appointment as well as How-Do, a cool gossip column for creative types in Manchester. Look out for The College of Law in the media more often now RMS PR is on the case!

RMS PR - the PR firm of choice for lawyers in Manchester.  

We had great fun launching our new overseas property PR division this week. 

Stone Roses legend Ian Brown once said "Manchester has everything except a beach"...well, we recreated a beach in our office in Altrincham, decked out Matt and Rachael in Club Tropicana-esque garb and hired top Manchester photographer Jason Lock to do the rest. It worked a treat and the RMS PR team has been profiled here and here.

Our award winning work for clients including Cypriot property specialists Morpheus Investments and Menorca's leading estate agency Bonnin Sanso has catapulted the RMS PR team onto the radar of major overseas property developers looking to ramp up their PR actvity.  

Matt who is heading up the overseas property division for RMS PR has extensive PR experience in the travel and overseas property sectors and is eager to grow this specialism for the team.

Fun and sunshine - there's enough for everyone.

We've just appointed one of Manchester's top designers to head up the newly launched RMS PR design and digital service.

Daniel Segal joined our team last week after applying through our own website here and we love him to death already. He's settled in well and is already adding commercial value to our clients and our business.

His first project is to rebrand ‘young pro∙manchester' the young networking arm of pro∙manchester.

Daniel is a class act. He was previously head of design at £50 million turnover Manchester-based Per-Scent Group where he revamped The Fragrance Shop, the group's 103-strong estate of retail stores, as well as a number of celebrity fragrances.

During his ten year career Daniel has worked on major brands including Macmillan Cancer, Sony Ericcson, Barclays, Phillips and Tour de France. Before entering commerce Segal taught art and design at schools including Manchester Grammar School.

RMS PR welcomes 'The Seagull' to the team.

RMS PR is the UK's first PR agency to help turn a client into a cartoon in a best selling comic.

We had great fun helping to turn one of our clients into a cartoon in Viz - a leading comic. It's a major coup for us - and all good fun. A great example of innovative PR. We would say that - but its leading to BUMPER sales already for Ling.

The Manchester Evening News liked what we did and ran a massive piece today here.

We've worked with www.LINGsCARS.com since it was launched in Gateshead in 2005 by Ling Valentine and her husband Jon. The business has become the UK's leading online car leasing website and leases over £4m of new cars every month.

Our marketing campaign has included PR coverage in the Financial Times, BBC Radio 5 Live as well as a carefully executed appearance on BBC's Dragon's Den which saw Ling offered £50,000 for a stake in her business - but turned it down claiming that "Chinese eat dragons for breakfast."

It fits perfectly with our client's brand and is exactly the sort of profile that Ling and her customers love. We love Ling and Ling loves RMS PR.

RMS PR helped the organisers of the Urban Hero Awards grab the headlines for its event on Friday at Old Trafford. A front page scoop in the Manchester Evening News was the very least this important charity deserved after a top notch event.

The prestigious awards ceremony publicly recognises those who have battled serious obstacles in their lives including drug addiction, tough backgrounds, and loss of parents and family, to emerge as heroes.

The honours have been awarded by the Manchester-based youth charity The Message Trust, which has been working across Greater Manchester for 15 years, to improve the lives of young people.

Our client www.internetcashback.co.uk was a major sponsor of the event and we look forward to helping the organisers, in the future.