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December 30, 2009
:: Catapult's Best Noughties Bits :
As the end of the Noughties draws nigh, here are some of the highs of the last 10 years at Catapult PR, in no particular order!

November 2000 – Catapult PR becomes the first PR consultancy from outside Manchester to become NW PR Consultancy of the Year, scooping 4 awards in one night and gaining a life-long friend in BBC newsreader Nigel Jay.

January 2001 – Unforgettable night in Birmingham as Catapult PR scooped the award for the Best Consumer PR Campaign of the year, from any region, at the national CREAM Awards. The night was as memorable because of the compere – the Ali G lookalike – and the fact that Jane became Tony Blackburn’s “chosen one” and recipient of his gold medallion. This was, of course, prior to him being crowned King of the Jungle.

Possibly 2003 or 2004 – the year Catapult’s Jane and Debbie were asked to sit on Eddie Kidd’s knee!

The Catapult corporate hospitality event at Thornton Cleveleys Cricket Club, Despite the torrential rain, the Mexican-themed day and night will live in the memory for the Tequila Rounders match, the Salsa session with the mad Sombrero-wearing Mexicans and a very long night at the bar. No wonder one client said he had never laughed so much!

Thinking about it, the judging of the inaugural Catapult PR Man of the Match Award for the First X1 with Thornton Cleveleys Cricket Club’s Andy Smith from the second X1 was also hilarious. Great days.

The Catapult client party held at Guy’s Thatched Hamlet. How many balloons did we physically blow up to put in the net again????

Catapult Christmas parties. The best was probably the one in Preston with all that on table dancing, but the one at the Imperial was pretty good until the fisty cuffs started!

Meeting Corrie bad boy Aidan Critchley. What a charmer for one so young.

Various employee nights out. The ten-pin bowling night was great – particularly when Debbie nearly went sailing down the gutter – but the corporate salsa sessions were also pretty good.

The Send Shirts To Skopje Campaign – 13,000 shirts crammed into the Catapult offices, support from football clubs and fans across the country, the Send Shirts To Skopje version of the FA Cup and the boys day at Warton loading them on to the Hercules. What a campaign!

November 2005 – The mislaying of David just as the announcement of the Small PR Consultancy of the Year Award was being made. Luckily, expert tracker-down Nigel Jay pulled him into the room just as Jane was making her way to the stage and he joined her in one seemingly seamless walk to glory.

Jane’s second career meeting with Raymond Blanc at the Hi-Life Diners Club awards where he signed the book he’d already signed years before with the inscription “Let’s not leave it so long next time.”

The wasp infestation in our old Marsh Mill offices and the visit of the "bee expert" and the way the pub’s cat used to jump through Jane’s first-floor window when it fancied a nap under the fax machine! The look on some visitors’ faces when that happened was just classic.

Having legendary artist Tony Hart celebrate a new part of the Catapult venture - and draw us a special picture.

Chinese New Year at Winnie's round the corner from our former offices. What great nights out those were.

All the times we went to the Mews Thai Restaurant in Poulton, sat on the floor cushions with stick it notes on our foreheads and tried to guess who we all were. They must serve the very best red wine in that place.

The Primary Direct Christmas party held at Elvis’s Chinese Palace near Stockport. Nights out with Helen and Tim were always memorable events (or should that be near-memorable events), but this was one fab night. Jane even managed to sort of sing in tune in duet with Ryan Buda in a rendition of ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling.”

On a similar theme, the Primary Direct media party at Navaho Joes in London. All those bottles of champagne to drink at the end of the night thanks to Mr Bensusan’s generosity.

Which leads on to the great Primary Golf Day, when Jane and Nicole were stuck out on the 8th tee (or somewhere close) with a table, lots of chocolate bars and crisps. When the deluge came and the sunshade turned a tad wet, what else were girls supposed to do but tuck in before hitching a ride back on a golf buggy

The first Primary golf day when Jane won the putting contest for non-golfers but showered a poor guy in soil every time she tried to hit a shot on the driving range!

The winning of the North West Farm Tourism Initiative account in 2005. A joy of a campaign because of the willingness of the client to take up Catapult’s creative and off-the-wall ideas. Great coverage comes to those who believe. Also remarkable because Jane managed to persuade David to jump into Windermere in January in a wet-suit with a hole in it!

The national PR Excellence Awards in London where Catapult was proud to fly the flag for the North, the North West and most of the country north of London! Also memorable because Jane caught up with former employee Chris again.

Talking of Chris, the NEC Motorcycle Show event where the Playstation media challenge game queue was jumped by a legendary motorcycling hero and Chris sent him to the back of the queue!

The “Search for a Geisha” campaign – which went international in just a few hours. Never has Jane’s mobile rung so much in such a short space of time.

All those bizarre pitches. The one spent sitting on the toilet seats (in a showroom, one must hasten to add) was particularly memorable. Who says PR is glamorous?

Wonderful creature-discovery sessions spent at Lakes Aquarium and getting the chance to promote loveable otters Mia and Smudge is just a dream for a girl who weeps buckets every time she watches ‘Ring of Bright Water’.

The Ullswater Steamers Ceilidh cruise in June 2009. The most perfect hot summer weather, idyllic and moody scenery and fantastic entertainment. Even the slightly hairy drive home over the Kirkstone Pass couldn’t take the thrill out of this night. Can’t wait for 2010’s cruise – might even find someone for a second ticket!

The Red Deer experience in November 2009. The wettest Ms Hunt has ever been in her life, but a great day out with the RSPB experts, some obliging deer and lovely warming mugs of hot chocolate.

The 2009 Mascot Stone Skimming Championships – memorable for Ms Bell’s near killing of a Coniston duck (she claims she couldn’t see through her mascot head) and even more memorable for the fact Jane had to give the TV interview pretending to interpret for mascot La’al Ratty, apologising for the afore-mentioned near killing of a Coniston duck. The video is supposedly hilarious – particularly for the interview and Jane’s parade across the stones, to the water’s edge, holding the hands of two mascots! Ms Bell has the evidence somewhere, but JKH really doesn’t want to see it!

The Whitehaven Maritime Festival promotion and a fantastic day spent in Whitehaven with all those atmospheric Tall Ships.

And, of course, Jane’s little meeting with Gino D’Acampo at BBC Gardener’s World in June 2009, where a little Italian conversation got her two rounds of kisses – and some in the book too. Hang on, he wasn’t King of the Jungle then either, so that means she’s kissed two kings of the jungle and set them on the road to success ……. what else would you expect from jungle Jane. Anyone fancying winning the show next year can book a kiss appointment with Jane, subject to them being a bit of a workaholic, reasonably easy on the eye and preferably having a bit of charm, some hair, lots of intelligence and wit, a desire to live amidst the olive groves one day, a love of fast cars, cultural exploration, Thai red curry nights in the Mews Café, Poulton, otters, creative, blonde women and lots of laughter. She’s not that fussy.

Well, that’s the best of the best. What a decade for Catapult, its clients and its comrades in arms. Roll on 2010.
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