It is interesting to note that
The latest project being taken up by them is the 420,000 sq ft shared office business site renovation and a new project at Broadgate in
Although the group appeared to be reconsidering its presence in Broadgate area last year, Griggs has now clarified that with these new projects British land will consolidate its position in the markets here.
In
Minerva may be able to build its defences to such a level as to combat any takeover bids threatening it. The company has almost concluded talks for sale of a building in
The £40m sale will help Minerva stay afloat even as takeover bids are looming large from a South African investor. The sale involves centrally located prime deskspace in the
The property will be purchased by a mystery buyer who will be revealed after all formalities are complete and the sale is officially done. The property, which was previously expected to garner £39m, comes as a lifeline to Minerva. With this deal, Minerva can hope to avert the £85m takeover bid from Nathan Kirsch.
Minerva’s property values have shown an increase of 10pc from June onwards, and this is being touted as evidence of the company’s recovery. The company’s pro forma NAV per share has also grown to almost twice the Kirsch offer to 95pc. This is indeed a huge growth for the company whose NAV had touched rock bottom at 5.47pc. This happened during the recession when property values dropped dramatically, eroding the company’s asset base. In addition, tenancy rates were at an all-time low, and Minerva was unable to find tenants for two of its developments.
CEO of Minerva Salamaan Hasan was happy to state that the company is now confident about its ability to withstand any takeover attempts. He also revealed that a 1m square feet space tenancy is likely to materialise soon at The Walbrok and St. Botolphs. As the company has refinanced and does not have any other major debtors, its future growth is assured, said Hasan.
In the Autumn 2009 Western Corridor Office Market Report, Jones Lang LaSalle predicts that the Thames Valley and West London areas would be hit hardest by the continuing current downturn in the economy.
The recession has seen a flight of companies from the high-priced
Part of this will be due to the addition of nearly 700,000 sq ft of new office space scheduled for completion by December 2009. The rest will be from companies reducing space occupancy due to manpower reductions, relocations or mergers. The estimated vacant office space available in London by the end of 2010 will be close to 4 million sq ft, which will be a mixture of new developments, second-hand space and tenant- controlled properties to be vacated.
This trend will continue to push down rentals as well. Rental income is expected to show negative growth with 2009 alone witnessing a drop of 11.2%. The turnaround is expected to start only in 2011, with an average growth of 1.1% for the next four years.
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If you’re serious about getting great results from your PR you may find that you have to severely challenge your current reading habits. A recent client completed her PR assessment form with a comment about how she had always read a certain paper because her parents had and she’d just fallen into the habit too. She now realised that she had to read a lot more widely to understand the amount of opportunities that are out there, and which ones would work for her.
I wonder how many of us are also guilty of falling into media comfort zones. And what can we do about it?
But before, I spill the beans; I thought I’d remind you about the importance of knowing The Sun from The Daily Mail, or Arena from Loaded. There are 4 main reasons why being media savvy will help your PR.
1. You will be aware of what publications are out there and therefore aware of all the opportunities open to you.
2. Different publications, even in the same niche, require a different approach. Both Woman and Good Housekeeping appeal to women in roughly the same age group but the language they use, and the subjects covered, in each of them, is so different that they may even need a different press release to reflect both the differing reader concerns and language.
3. As you read more widely you’ll come to spot more and more opportunities that you weren’t aware of, perhaps even before your competitors.
4. You may spot publications that you could write for and, hey, even earn a second income!
So, how do you get to grips with all the possibilities that are out there?
1. Let’s start by making a list of all that you usually read (and you can do this as a team if there is more than one of you). Include things that you read for fun as well as business, things that you regularly read whilst sitting outside your client’s/MD’s office, and websites that you usually visit.
2. Now go through that list and cross out anything that you wouldn’t want your business to be seen in, or wouldn’t do your business any good to be seen in anyway.
3. Now, look at your remaining titles and suss out any gaps. If you’ve only covered one trade magazine, what about the other five that barrage you with requests for subscriptions? If you religiously read The Guardian can you accept that you really should start to become more aware of the opposition? So, here’s list two – make a note of all the publications you need to get to know.
4. Now comes the difficult part, fitting them into your daily routine. Understand that you are going to have to move away from your comfort zone. I love to curl up with the Sunday magazines and wallow in materialist lusts (Gotta have those shoes/Nigella’s new book/a kitchen like Jamie Oliver (yeah, as if!) but I make myself read the newspaper first. One way that you can do this might be reading through a publication each week on the train before you allow yourself to relax and settle into your novel.
5. If you work in a team you can assign particular publications to particular people and each of you can be responsible for reading your own publication and then giving a brief run down of what you think is important along with possible press opportunities in a weekly press meeting.
6. Does your trade magazine have a website? If time is really strained then this is a fall back. Send yourself regular reminders via Outlook or whatever to go and take a look and catch up on the latest news.
7. Make catching up on your reading a little bit of “me time” – disappear for fifteen minutes with a publication and a cappuccino and make it into a daily ritual that gives you a bit of time to breathe. If anyone queries it, you are working after all!
8. Once you really get into it, you’d be surprised at what possibilities are out there. You’ll spot your major competitor being interviewed in a golfing magazine and sneakily dropping his business name in there. You’ll see interviews on mothers who run businesses in a women’s magazine and notice someone from your local networking group on the page.
Think outside the box. I was once interviewed for a mobile phone magazine (years ago, when they were pretty clunky!) about how vital it was to carry my mobile with me in case a journalist wanted to contact me urgently. And it was a double page spread with a picture of me and my (clunky) mobile phone and Tower Bridge in the background. It did my business wonders (even though I had changed phone companies by the time it came out!)
9. You can’t afford to be smug once you feel everything is under control. New titles open all the time. Make regular trips to the newsagents (big station branches are great for this) and check for new titles. Read what’s sitting around in the waiting room of your dentist or your clients and don’t be afraid to ask if you can photocopy something if it looks vitally important!
10. Finally, and this is something I urge you to continue doing, always ask your clients what they read – for pleasure as well as work. And, if Dog Lovers International keeps cropping up, you know what you’ve got to do!!
Copyright © Paula Gardner and Do Your Own PR 2004. All rights reserved.
Paula Gardner is a PR and Media Coach. You can sign up for more PR advice and information at
http://www.doyourownpr.com/subscribe.asp, or check out her website at http://www.doyourownpr.com
As an owner of an independent record label, I often get asked how to put together a great press kit. I have found that young musicians understand their music, but are often intimidated by the marketing end of the business. In this article I will help you figure out how to position yourself, whether you are a Latin female vocalist building her base, or an upstart garage band just looking for a break.
What is a Press Kit:
First of all, there is nothing magical about the term “press kit”. All we are talking about is a little background on you/your band, some basic facts, good quotes about your music, a couple of good pictures, and a sample of your music. You will use this to send to newspapers, lawyers, radio stations, A&R reps, promoters, and anyone else who is willing to spend five minutes reviewing your material. Additionally, on the internet you will hear about an electronic press kit, or EPS. An EPS is the exact same thing as a conventional press kit, except it is downloadable as an electronic file instead of a hardcopy form which must be mailed.
The main purpose of the press kit is to generate interest in the artist and their music.
What to include:
Include a limited amount of background information on yourself. It is fine to say where you are from, but no one really wants to hear about every singing performance you did during elementary school. Sometimes less is more.
Talk about your music. Who do you sound like, and who does your music remind people of. The reader needs to be able to have a good idea of what your music sounds like just from your description. Be thoughtful and feel free to be a little funny here (but stay professional). Saying something like your band sounds like a cross between “Maroon 5 and Green Day after 20 cups of coffee” helps the reader understand. Remember, if you don’t generate enough interest in the first minute, they will never listen to your demo.
Talk about what you are good at. What makes your band special and different from others? What skills and experiences do you bring to the table? Remember if you are looking for a record deal, you need to prove to your reader that you have all the right ingredients for them to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars marketing you. Launching a new artist is risky, so you need to help the record exec understand why you are a solid investment.
Include quotes and/or press clippings as you generate them. A good quote from a reputable source (not your brother-in-law) can add a lot of credibility to your press kit. It lets the reader know that you have already been reviewed and your material is worth listening to. Ninety percent of press kits unfortunately end up in the trash, some good quotes and positive reviews can create the momentum necessary to get heard, and who knows – maybe even become famous.
You can go with one page dedicated to a bio (biography), and a separate page focused on quotes about your music, or you can combine the two into what some people call a “one pager”. My personal preference is to boil everything down to a tight one pager. My desk gets cluttered and papers get separated. If you have you quotes separate from your bio, there is a possibility that I could misplace one or the other. With the advent of digital photography and high quality color printers, it is even possible to include a small picture on your one pager to make it even more complete.
Make sure the overall language and tone of the press kit is consistent with your image. If you have someone help you write your bio, make sure they have heard you music and know what you are all about before they hand you something that might sound great, but isn’t about the real you.
Include a couple of different 8×10 pictures that show off different features about you and your band. Include shots that would be appropriate in a news article, but also highlight your key assets from a visual perspective. Your press kit should look professional, but your pictures should reflect your style and music, so you pictures can be much more crazy and creative. Make sure you clearly label the picture with you name and contact information.
If you don’t have good pictures of your band, one of the best ways to get some is to go to a modeling agency and ask for a referral to a good local photographer. These photographers are often willing to do some great work for around $300 for the whole package. Make sure you get an agreement upfront that you own the copyrights after the shot and get the high resolution digital images on CD (with a copyright release you can print these photos at any major retailer). A photographer who does work with models is very different from a photographer who takes family pictures. They have a much better idea of what you want, they will encourage your creativity, and they are much more willing to give you the copyrights.
A current gig sheet can also be useful showing where you have recently played and where you are playing in the near future. This can demonstrate that the music is current and has a following in the community.
And of course, your music. Send a high quality CD demo, preferably mastered if you budget permits. Avoid burning your own CD on your home computer with a stick on label – it looks cheap. There are many new CD duplication services on the internet that will manufacture you CD with a printed color insert, and on disc printing even if you only want a few copies (CD replication is for batches over 1,000 but CD duplication is for batch sizes as small as 1). Expect to pay around $5 a retail ready disc for 1-5 CDs, with prices dropping off for larger batches. Make sure you clearly label the CD and the case with you name and contact information. The worst thing in the world that could happen is that they love your music, but they have already lost the rest of the press kit and don’t remember the name of the band.
What Not to Include:
Don’t oversell yourself. Saying that you are the greatest band that ever lived, might be true, but it probably isn’t. Be positive and promote yourself, but focus on statements that are credible. People in the music business hear hype all of the time, and for the most part are numb to it. Hype is good to use with the general public on things like posters (they often believe it), but your press kit reader is more sophisticated and will see it as cheap theatrics.
Including too much of your personal history can make you seem like an amateur with nothing meatier to talk about. Your reader wants to understand your music today, only your psychologist needs to know about every little detail of your childhood.
Don’t include anything that makes you look too desperate. You want to come across as a quality professional artist. Remember, you make great music. If your band is called the Chicken Heads, then it might be cute to include a rubber chicken in the box, but otherwise I would stick to the basics – bio, quotes, gig sheet, pictures, and music.
How to Package It:
Include a professional looking, personalized cover letter targeted at the person you are sending the press kit to. Your message needs to be different if you are sending it to an A&R rep at a label seeking a record deal, versus sending it to your local newspaper for a review in their music section. Be brief and to the point. Also, be clear and state exactly what you would like from them.
Put it all together in an organized package. Since you are most likely mailing your press kits, make sure that the CD does not bend the photos, and that your kit will arrive looking the way you intend. You may even want to test a press kit (send it across the country to a wrong address, and then it will come back to your return address) to evaluate your packaging.
Your Music Is Art, But Your Press Kit Is Business:
Remember, be professional. The person you are sending this press kit to probably gets hundreds of them, most of them are garbage (and that’s where they end up too). Your music can be crazy and wild, but your press kit needs to be more business like. You are asking someone to spend their valuable time reviewing your material. You may also be asking them to enter into a high risk expensive financial relationship with you. The person you are dealing with is in the music business, they need to make a living. The only way they can do that is to deal with real talent. By presenting a professional package you give them confidence that you are dedicated to making great music, and not just messing around.
A Word About Unsolicited Press Kits:
Avoid wasting your time and money sending a press kit to someone you have not talked with already. Always call and make contact first, ask who you should send it to and what their process is. If possible, have someone who knows the person act as an intermediate and make the initial introduction (this can work wonders). The music business is all about contacts, create and leverage your network. After sending your press kit, call in a couple of weeks and follow up to make sure they received it and got a chance to review it.
Example:
To see a good example of a press kit, go to Legend Vega’s website at http://www.legendvega.com.
Scott Richards is the president of an independent record label, 3JVL Productions, Inc.
Want to hear great music?
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