ZPR girls and BOY!

Yes I am male and I’ve been catapulted into the female-dominated world of ZPR. But fear not readers, the life-size David Beckham poster is still in place (soon to be joined by a life-size Jennifer Anniston poster?) and topics of conversation still include all things beauty, fashion and eligible men.

I may have been thrown in at the deep end, but the good news is I’m learning fast. Sunin was a hair dye from the 1980s and it’s back at Superdrug, nudes are in (it’s a clothing colour!) and House of Holland is not in Amsterdam, it’s a design house which has just lent its touch to a new range of tights from Pretty Polly.

On the client front, it’s also been in at the deep end. Easter for new client B&Q is like Christmas was for my old employer (very busy!!) and in the three weeks I’ve been here we’ve issued, on behalf of B&Q, three national news stories, there’s been two store openings, a product release every day and I’ve become an expert on peat, apprentices and green energy.

And we’re not expecting any let-up in pace. Two busy DIY bank holiday weekends are on the way and the onset of summer means Britain gets busy in its garden – not surprisingly a key time for the UK’s biggest garden retailer.

So business as usual at Z PR, there’s just a man about the place.

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Every young girls dream...

Us ZPR girls do like to work in style and recently we were involved in what you could call "every young girls dream". Our client Superdrug was involved in the TV show, Coleen's Real Women - as the Liverpool lass trawled the streets to find a new face for Superdrug, finally picking the gorgeous looking Liz. Zaria, Jenny and Lucy made their claim to fame with helping Coleen to pick the new face! Once again this week we were mixing it up with the celebs- as the Superdrug team met with the lovely Girls Aloud in the Westfield store as they brought out a range of luscious lashes and did a signing in store which was very successful and mobbed full of Girls Aloud worshippers!

Also on the beauty front Selfridges had lifestyle editor of The Metro Bel Jacobs experience working behind the counters of Illamasqua, Creed, Trish McEvoy and Kiehls and said she was inspired by the girls who worked there!

On Monday, we launched the 'Investment Easter Egg' at Selfridges - a luxurious chocolate egg complete with a one ounce gold bullion coin. The delicious handmade chocolate egg by chocolate makers Melt, priced £1000, actually makes for a wise investment with the value of gold set to rise during 2009, despite the current economic climate. The egg really is worth its weight in gold!

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A celebration of celebrations...

Last week ended on a high (with the exception of price) as Peacocks' £8 chain bag moved into half a page in Friday's edition of the Daily Mail after being heralded this season's IT accessory, with over 10,000 sold since the start of the year.

We wished a joyeaux anniversaire to Selfridges who turned 100 on Sunday, with not a wrinkle or grey hair in sight. Congratulations arrived in the form of fabulous coverage generated in key media including ITV, Evening Standard, Independent, Daily Express and Londonpaper. Celebrations kick off in May with Selfridges' Oxford Street hosting a 'yellow festival' and a series of exclusive product collaborations with the world's leading designers.

This week our hearts turn to the great outdoors. As the sun came out to play, Brits decided to treat their back gardens to a makeover as sales of greenhouses and Grow Your Own seeds rocketed by 150 per cent and 27 per cent respectively at B&Q . ZPR's all set for a home spun summer, either that or a great excuse for a diet as Lucy lays her fifth tomato plant of the season to rest.

Yoga fanatics Zaria and Niravta floated their way through Friday following their pre-work yoga work out. Never been one to do things by halves, Zaria then spent most of Saturday locked in a head stand in pursuit of the yoga higher ground (either that or Warrior 5)

Namaste.

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Spanking Success

Men's six packs were at the forefront of the consumer news agenda last week following the launch of male control wear at Selfridges - promising to do for men's torsos what Spanx have done for flabby female thighs. We generated fantastic coverage in most of the dailies, broadcast and even Chris Evans couldn't resist the urge to trial the six pack enhancing body suit on his radio show.

The beauty team had a great success last week following Superdrug's in-store shopping day for beauty journalists at their Westfield store. Thirty nine key journalists were dazzled over Superdrug's latest summer beauty essentials - every girl's dream.

Staying on the subject of every girl's dream, this week we shifted from beauty to chocolate, celebrating delicious coverage for Selfridges' Easter story. Sales of Easter chocolate have increased by a massive 80 per cent compared to last year, and to celebrate this, Artisian du Chocolat launched a lifesize Easter bunny girl in Selfridges' Oxford Street store complete with edible chocolate bathing suit, collar and cuffs! Hugh Heffner definitely missed out on this one...

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Spanking Success

Men's six packs were at the forefront of the consumer news agenda last week following the launch of male control wear at Selfridges - promising to do for men's torsos what Spanx have done for flabby female thighs. We generated fantastic coverage in most of the dailies, broadcast and even Chris Evans couldn't resist the urge to trial the six pack enhancing body suit on his radio show.

The beauty team had a great success last week following Superdrug's in-store shopping day for beauty journalists at their Westfield store. Thirty nine key journalists were dazzled over Superdrug's latest summer beauty essentials - every girl's dream.

Staying on the subject of every girl's dream, this week we shifted from beauty to chocolate, celebrating delicious coverage for Selfridges' Easter story. Sales of Easter chocolate have increased by a massive 80 per cent compared to last year, and to celebrate this, Artisian du Chocolat launched a lifesize Easter bunny girl in Selfridges' Oxford Street store complete with edible chocolate bathing suit, collar and cuffs! Hugh Heffner definitely missed out on this one...

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18th February

We didn’t let a little (or rather a lot) of snow scupper Peacocks’ spring/summer 2009 launch at The Haymarket Hotel. The fashion set were wined, dined and treated to a star studded fashion show headed by London’s latest darling Amber Le Bon who wowed the audience with this season's must-have's including Peacocks’ £16 jump suit, rose print fluted shift £14 and itsy bitsy leopard print bikini for a skimpy £8 – placing ‘value’ as this season’s most sought after trend, regardless of whether you’re a recessionista or simply looking for the latest fashion at great value.

From IT girl to IT colour – which ZPR is declaring to be green this season following the launch of B&Q’s greenest ever store in New Malden last week. The store was unveiled to key business journalists on Wednesday, the release of a survey on Thursday revealing that six out of ten women would prefer to date a handyman over a banker and the week ended on a romantic high with a pre-Valentine's eco-singles night on Friday.

This week is ending on le note de rouge as the ZPR girls paint the town red in celebration of another successful week at the forefront of retail PR.

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Well what a hectic start to the year ... Xmas trading statements galore and fantastic news for ZPR clients with Superdrug, Peacocks and Selfridges all posting great Christmas performances and a solid start to the year with their January sales.

We're feeling in the mood to celebrate ... why wouldn't we? Selfridges is celebrating its Centenary year this year ...Open to the World since 1909! So expect some really cool products, events and activity - watch this space because this year the future's not orange it's yellow.

Well actually it's orange and yellow (also two of ZPR's logo colours) as this week we're celebrating winning a project to work with B & Q on the launch of its newest and greenest store in New Malden, Surrey. So it’s about to become even easier to make your home more beautiful and ease your conscience when the store opens early in February this year with 50 per cent less carbon emissions than the average store.

So you see from yellow to orange to green - we're all set for a truly colourful year.

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January 9th 2009

2008 proved to be an amazing year for the Peacocks girls who ended the year by smashing the £40 million AVE target by over 1 million to a grand total of £41,105,502!!

To bring us down a few pegs we had to say a very sad goodbye to Helen Croft who has jetted off to sun, sea and camels in Dubai. Of course, us girls at ZPR find any excuse to socialize over some alcoholic refreshments and fine cuisine…in reality, we forewent alcohol for copious amounts of Coca Cola, Green Tea and Indian tapas on Wardour street (it is the month of the detox after all).

We’re now into the first week of January, with Lucy Gillis being appointed as Peacocks’ new account director. An incredible first week with TWO broadcast hits on This Morning and GMTV.

The Superdrug team has also managed to smash its target of £50 million AVE for 2008. This was helped by the immense success of the Superdrug January sale which hit just about every paper, radio station and website in the country.

For those of you who drank far too much over the festive season and are looking to cut down on the booze in the New Year, Selfridges has exclusively introduced a new way to help save on the units without sacrificing the taste of a pint with its new range of beer crisps – a cheaper alternative also at just 99p! We can safely say that no packets have been opened in our office as of yet, but never say never.

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