Author: NB Team

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NB x Groundwork Volunteering

This October, NB took a break from driving PR and social for the hottest tech brands to step outside and give back to the local community. 

The team travelled to Wormwood Scrubs to support the charity organisation Groundworks and improve the habitats of the many animals living in the open space while being able to reconnect with colleagues and boost our mental well-being in the open air. This day out was part of NB’s wider ‘Lifetime Programme’, focusing on improving physical and mental well-being for all our staff as a priority through a range of benefits and activities across the year. 

Wormwood Scrubs is home to birds, squirrels and our newly beloved choice of animal (which we’ve learned a lot about recently) – the common lizard. 

Sadly, the lizards were in hiding for both days as we scythed, chopped and raked a significant amount of scrub from the grassy area – enabling the meadow to thrive! 

In one day alone NB’s first team cut and collected around 3500 sq metres! Both teams smashed the day, but we heard group two led the way – not that we’re competitive or anything!

Senior Content Manager Katy Ryder said: “It was great to spend the day volunteering in west London’s Wormwood Scrubs with Groundwork and an expert ecologist. Wormwood Scrubs’ tagline is ‘more wild than tame’ and I feel fortunate to have played a tiny part in protecting London’s wild side with this brilliant bunch!”

All our work was done to encourage more wildflower cover that provides food and habitat for pollinators including butterflies and safeguard the habitats of smaller animals. Wormwood Scrubs is one of the few lizard breeding populations this close to central London!

Beth Anderson, Account Manager at Nelson Bostock, added: ”I have found that Nelson Bostock understands the importance of looking at different ways to boost team togetherness and mental health within the workplace, and volunteering with Groundworks was a perfect example of this. Being put into a completely different environment in the outdoors, with all your teammates and working together to contribute towards a positive impact on a local community was an amazingly rewarding feeling and really helped to boost my mental wellbeing!”

Massive thanks and kudos to the team at Groundwork for arranging such a rewarding experience, we’ll be back soon. 

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Meet the Bostockers: Lorraine

In recognition of this year’s Black History Month, we wanted to highlight The 10,000 Black Interns Foundation and how they have helped NBU connect with talent. Since 2022, 10,000 Black Intern’s purpose is to transform prospects for young Black people in the UK by securing students and graduates with paid internships across an array of sectors.

NBU’s Lorraine Fordjour accepted an internship with us via the programme this summer and we’re excited that she has since joined us permanently as an Account Assistant to continue her career in PR with us ✨

Read what she has to say about the experience:

What advice would you give to a young person/woman of colour early in their career?

Go for it even if you don’t feel qualified. Despite what society might lead you to believe, do not let your skin colour be a barrier. Believe in your power, strength, and ability to accomplish anything you set your mind to.

What have you done to celebrate Black History Month?

Hmm I can’t say that I’ve done anything specific this month as I celebrate blackness every day haha. But I did watch The Woman King twice this month, I’m even planning to watch it again this week. 10/10, everyone should watch it!!

How do you think the 10,000 Black Interns Programme and Nelson Bostock have helped with developing your professional career?

The programme undoubtedly put me in a position that I didn’t think I could be in. I found it challenging to get a job in the media after graduation since I lacked the essential experience. Additionally, the fact that I had never done an internship and had not participated in a placement year did not help. My future seemed brighter after getting this internship and being hired as an account assistant shortly after the programme has made it possible for me to establish my professional career. Although the journey has not been an easy one, I am thankful and hopeful. I’m really excited to learn and ready to grow at Nelson Bostock!

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Meet the Bostockers: Linn

Meet Linn Nyrvik who joined last month. Linn joins the Social Media team and loves nothing more than technology (which is handy), London town and strong coffee. She’s going to fit in really well.

Tell us about yourself.

I’m a small-town girl from Sweden who moved to the city of my dreams 3 years ago (Though, I’ve lived abroad for a decade, but that’s for another time). Safe to say that London has been nothing short of amazing experiences. Professionally, I have a background in journalism and social media from the Nordics, the UK and China. Most recent, I worked with in-house social media in a small management consulting firm. I’m now taking my first step into the agency world, which is super exciting!

I’m joining the social media-team in NBU as a senior social account manager and work with clients Canon UK and EMEA, WWT, Dynabook, MSI, Vestel and Toshiba. It’s going very well so far and the clients are a pleasure to work with.

Which aspect of your job are you most passionate about?

I’m passionate about b2b and tech social media marketing, because it’s a very fast phased and fast changing market which I appreciate, and it allows for new ways of being creative and innovative. Additionally, I’m very much a people person, and passionate about developing strong relationships with peers and clients.

Any rituals that spark your best work?

During the lockdown, I developed a quite long and energy inducing morning routine to start my day off in the right way. This includes dancing to old tunes, cold showers, quick runs in a park, strong coffees, and visualisation/manifestation meditations. The days where my mornings start off the right way are most often the days I deliver my best work.

What is it about tech that you love?

As a millennial, I have really seen how tech has fundamentally changed the world – how we interact with each other, the global economics, almost every industry etc. Tech is fascinating as it’s forever evolving into something more complex and better. It keeps you on your toes 😊. Working with tech is a no brainer for me – who doesn’t want to be part of forming the future world we live in?!

How to spend the 25th hour of your day?

Outdoors (no matter the weather) and socialising with friends. Staying up a bit too late and have an hour extra sleep in the morning.

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Meet Esther – our latest Winning Mind

Esther scooped this month’s Winning Mind Award. We find out how her career could have been so different 🕵️‍♀️ but now she works at Nelson Bostock and carries tote bags 🤣.

Why did you pick a career in PR and Communications?

I fell into PR by chance, but it’s turned out to be a great match for me! I love being creative, writing, and meeting new people, and it’s a career which requires an interest in all of those things – so I’m really glad I said ‘why not?’ and decided to apply for Nelson Bostock nearly three years ago.

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Always carry a tote bag with you in case you need to do an emergency shop. (From me to me – and now you!)

Tell us a bit more about your interests – how would you spend an ideal Saturday afternoon?

It’s cheesy, but my ideal Saturday would simply be making memories with my loved ones. Catching up with friends, exploring new places, eating good food… it’s not hard to see why London appeals to me.

And what are your hobbies?

I love all things arts, culture and entertainment – particularly theatre and music, whether it’s taking part when I can or being in the audience. I actually performed at the Edinburgh Fringe for the second year running this year!

What’s one thing that people should know about you?

Don’t try to talk to me while I’m cooking for a group or I’ll cry.

What’s one thing that would surprise people about you?

I once applied for a job at MI5 (and got to the third stage!). Can’t believe they didn’t want me in the end really.

What makes you a Winning Mind?

Perseverance in this case! It can be a skill to know not to give up on a good idea first time round and to find ways to breathe new life into something.

Any advice for future Winning Minds contenders?

Great ideas can come from anywhere and a fresh point of view can do a world of good. Also, set aside time to really think about the work you’re doing rather than robotically ticking things off your list – our unique perspectives and ideas are our most valuable tool.

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Case studies

Giving WWT the Edge in telecommunications

To establish World Wide Technology as an authority in the Edge computing space, and to position itself as a partner for service providers looking to provide Edge capability to their customers.

WWT is known and trusted in the IT industry as a system integrator capable of complex deployments at scale. It wanted to capitalise on the emerging opportunities presented by new connectivity technologies, and specifically, Edge computing – a foundational technology for 5G, and an area of deep expertise for its partners (Dell and Intel, among others).

The approach

Nelson Bostock consulted on a piece of research of enterprise decision makers in businesses with revenue of greater than $1bn in the UK, US, Japan and Germany. They were asked about the drivers and barriers to adoption of Edge, the key use cases, and who they considered to be the natural partners for the deployment of the technology. Through this research, conducted by Analysys Mason, we established the scale of Edge investment, the sectors most likely to benefit from the technology and the steps that telecommunications providers needed to take to sell it to their customers.

These findings formed the basis of a report, The Edge Disconnect, which was the cornerstone of an integrated campaign spanning PR, a media partnership and lead gen activity across social and display advertising. In addition to the report, we created a series of supporting assets, including a downloadable strategy guide, ad units, a landing page, three podcasts and a series of blogs and LinkedIn Pulse posts.

Over two years after campaign launch, The Edge Disconnect is still being promoted and continues to gather leads for WWT’s US marketing team.

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Case studies

GoCardless: launching a consumer influencer campaign for a B2B fintech

Goal: Be the leading voice on late payments

Work: ‘Late payments’ is an ongoing problem for British SMEs and an area with which GoCardless wants to be associated. We wanted to do something bold that could create a human-interest story and could reach new and relevant audiences. Nelson Bostock helped GoCardless launch its first-ever consumer campaign with an influencer…and “Awkward Money” was born.

We brought the issue to light with a suite of assets:

  • Research: to gain new insights into the emotional side of late payments
  • Influencer: to amplify our reach to new audiences in consumer media and social
  • Real life SME stories: to normalise the issue and bring the research to life

To add authenticity to the campaign and meet our objective of reaching new consumer media and social audiences, we partnered with Emma Gannon.

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News

NB Poetry: Thoughts on loneliness

A collection of poems about loneliness, and resources to help, organised by the Winning Minds Matter team for Mental Health Awareness Week ’22.

For the past four years, the Mental Health Foundation has chosen a theme for Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) – past years’ have been body image, kindness and nature. The human experience is infinite and getting more complex by the day, so it’s nice to have something to focus on and connect with.

This year, the theme is loneliness. Whether in ourselves, our friends, our Princess Dianas or our pets – or even our encounters with strangers – we all know how it can be.

Enter our poetry collection: a series of words, thoughts and feelings from Nelson Bostockers, inspired by MHAW’s theme for 2022. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and to the Mental Health Foundation for orchestrating such an important national event. Not only did we raise awareness and spark much-needed conversations, but we also got to hear some beautiful poetry written by people we work with every day.

It was very hard to choose, but here’s a small selection that we think is lovely:

Loneliness can strike
When I’m all by myself or
In a busy place
Fiona Rush

Sometimes, it’s fine, sometimes you’ll shine
But we can’t be our best all of the time,
It’s OK to be mad, and sometimes sad,
Just remember it’s never that bad.
Little by little you learn to grow,
Like the spring after the snow,
As summer shines, most of the time,
Just remember you’ll be fine.
Stand up tall, even if you feel small,
And if you’re staring at your phone, give someone a call,
Time after time we forgive and forget,
Never believe your future is set.
You are only human it’s how we were made,
But time to time we head into the shade,
Your happiness is paramount,
So when you can make every moment count.
Ash Scott

Does it sound like a buzzing current, a loose cable
Harmonising with you every day?
Or a tube train, wailing along a route
You so often commute?
The daily score of bots, create storms of online chatter
Rumbles on like your mind doesn’t matter.
But if you’re feeling alone
Pick up the phone
Friends in green bubbles
They know what to do when you’re in trouble.
Blur the lines between lonely
And the loved ones you see
Because balance is necessary
It’s alright to be sad,
That’s how you’ll know when you’re happy.
Rowley Sadler

Thanks everyone. For the Mental Health Foundation’s recommended resources and helplines for dealing with loneliness, and anything else on your mind, please visit this page.

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News

Game-on for MSI!

MSI Gaming Win

Here’s some good news. Nelson Bostock has started to work with leading computer hardware manufacturer and gaming laptop specialist, MSI.

In recent years, MSI has established itself as one of the world’s top laptop brands. It is known for industry leading innovation and its bold ambition to create the perfect gaming laptop. The integrated brief will deliver a mix of media relations, content marketing, community management, influencer relations and events.

The goal is to continue to develop MSI’s reputation in the UK – strengthening its leadership in gaming, and broadening its reach into creative, business and performance segments.

Jeff Kuo, General Manager, MSI Notebook Division, says, “Nelson Bostock understands our products and our aspirations, and we’re excited to achieve some outstanding results together.”

The appointment will utilise 30+ years’ of consumer tech experience, and our use of human understanding to better connect with key audiences. Now let’s start playing er… I mean… get to work.

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Meet Elaura – our latest Winning Mind

Elaura Lacey scooped this month’s Winning Mind award. We find out what’s the best piece of advice she was given and how she can totally rock the dance floor.

Why did you pick a career in PR and Communications?

I love being creative and getting to use my writing skills, so a career in PR was the perfect fit for me! I really enjoy having the opportunity to work with exciting clients, meet journalists, and think of fun and interesting ways to land coverage or execute a campaign – there’s so much to learn and great people to learn it all from!

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Don’t bite off more than you can chew – as a junior, it’s easy to put your hand up for everything but it’s important to think about what’s realistic to achieve and not to overload yourself with work. This sentiment doesn’t work in the context of a client lunch though – in that case, tuck in!

Tell us a bit more about your interests – how would you spend an ideal Saturday afternoon? 

If the previous answer doesn’t make it clear, I’m a big foodie and love exploring so my ideal Saturday afternoon would be spent looking around different London markets and trying as many different dishes my tummy will allow.

And what are your hobbies?

I’ll say right now reading – I’ve got my book challenge set at one a month and it’s probably the first new year’s resolution that’s stuck past February. My theme so far is feminist literature, having read Little Women and Pride and Prejudice but there was an interval with James Acaster’s Classic Scrapes – not as high-brow but darn funny.

What’s one thing that people should know about you?

I have two little black cats at home named Winnie and Binx after the cinematic masterpiece that is Hocus Pocus.

What’s one thing that would surprise people about you?

For six years, I competed nationally and internationally as a ballroom and Latin dancer.   

What makes you a Winning Mind?

I’m very proactive on my accounts and think creatively about new ways to land announcements and look for new opportunities to further coverage. Back in November, I won Winning Minds for successfully hijacking a relevant news moment and landing additional coverage for Twilio in two tier 1* retail titles.

Any advice for future Winning Minds contenders?

Winning Minds is about going the extra mile and being a credit to your team, so giving your 100% and being there to support those around you will put you in a good chance to win!

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Meet Nicole – this month’s Winning Minds

This month’s Winning Minds Award went to Nicole Louis. Nicole tells us more about her passions (Tottenham) and how to talk to yourself as you’d talk to your best friend.

Why did you pick a career in PR and Communications?

I’d never considered a career in PR – or what it entailed – until I was 22. I knew I wanted to do something creative where I could write and a colleague at the time suggested PR. It was a perfect match.

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Talk to yourself as you’d talk to your best friend. It’s so easy to give yourself a hard time when you make a mistake or if something goes wrong. But if your friend made a mistake, you wouldn’t tell them that they’re stupid and it’s the end of the world. So why do we so often do that to ourselves?

Tell us a bit more about your interests – how would you spend an ideal Saturday afternoon? 

I love going to a new place and trying out all the good food and drink spots. That’s always the best part about visiting somewhere new.

And what are your hobbies?

Pretending to be Britney at karaoke, practicando mi español, watching Spurs.

What’s one thing that people should know about you?

I can’t keep a plant alive, but I can make your press office thrive.

What’s one thing that would surprise people about you?

I did a course with the Academy of Cheese in lockdown and it’s probably up there as one of the best things I’ve ever done.

What makes you a Winning Mind?

It’s a great feeling when you deliver an idea or piece of work that hits a client’s objective for a campaign. I want to be proud of the work that I do and to know that it made a difference.

Any advice for future Winning Minds contenders?

It’s easy to get sucked into your to do list. But sometimes carving out 30 mins to just think about your client, a problem they’re facing, or what’s coming up, can lead you to your next big idea.