USA TODAY leads rave reviews of "Love Won Out"

USA TODAY LEADS RAVE REVIEWS OF "LOVE WON OUT"

Tokyo Rosenthal's new CD, "Love Won Out", received the latest in a series of rave reviews today from USA TODAY.

The review, written by acclaimed BNN music reviewer Simon Barrett, was published on USA TODAYS web site and joined many other positive reviews in the short time that the CD has been released.

Rosenthal, fresh off a tour of The Netherlands, was ecstatic over Barrett's comments. "It's not often that a reviewer takes the time to analyze a CD the way Simon did", said Rosenthal. "And I'm glad that after listening so closely he liked what he heard. So far, while it's only been several weeks, the experts seem to like what I've done and for me that's the 'acid test'. I thank them all for their time and consideration."

To read Simon Barrett's review go to http://content.usatoday.com/topics/article/Places,+Geography/Towns,+Cities,+Counties/Tokyo/016l1ZTaYh5Jq/1.

Additional reviews are available on Toke's web site(http://www.tokyorosenthal.com/)

To purchase or sample Tokyo Rosenthal's new CD "Love Won Out" go to www.cdbaby.com/cd/tokyorosenthal3.

For further information on Tokyo Rosenthal or where to catch a live performance visit http://www.tokyorosenthal.com/

Maximising the impact of your marketing in the credit crunch

Ten Ideas for Marketing in a Recession
by John Hicks of Headline Promotions, Press and Public Relations

Even the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is now using the “R” word. Yes, Recession is here! I fully believe that, because of it, just about every business and organisation out there is having to cut back on expenditure in some areas of activity, become more efficient, and more effective with their spend.

It’s nothing new, we are always being asked to do that, but this time it’s serious. It hasn’t been this serious since the 2001 Dot Com bust.

I was with a client earlier this week and we were brainstorming a marketing strategy for this recession and I was asked for my top ten ideas for marketing through these stormy seas. I thought I would share them with you.

1. Existing customers are key: In times of economic uncertainty, when budgets are getting cut back, people buy from who they know. This means you’ve got to engage with the customer base more frequently and deeply than ever before. Look at your communications strategy for customers remembering that it is far more expensive to attract new customers than it is to retain existing ones.

2. Supplier relationships. You will have already looked with your suppliers at ways of cutting costs and/or improving service. You will have already reviewed your purchasing policies and procedures to ensure maximum value. Now look for opportunities to work with them on joint promotions, joint marketing and advertising including newspaper and radio advertorials, links to and from their website or other ways in which you can help each other. These other ways might include attending trade fairs together or setting up regional/local seminars, workshops or exhibitions. Now is the time to be creative whilst limiting exposure to costs!

3. Joint ventures. Try and look for new working relationships. I was talking to a manufacturer who was seeking marketing advice. I talked myself out of the job because the solution was actually to go out and license the product to an existing High Street retailer who has the outlets and sales volume. I was lucky enough to develop a working relationship with a management consultancy and they introduce clients to me, and vice versa. No cost to either of us!

4. Measure Everything: Know what works, and what doesn’t, and stop what doesn’t. We do this in normal times but the pressure is now on to do it as effectively as we possibly can. I was working with my client Sunset Lingerie http://www.sunsetlingerie.co.uk/ and during the last few months we found that 36,000 hits were from people in the US. Result? We established a US mirror image site with US graphics, US sizes and priced in dollars. A low cost attempt to capitalise on the reality of who is using their website meant that they have an additional income stream.

5. Invest in Communications: Communications becomes a high ROI tactic in tough times. Use it! Make sure your PR firm is using all the social media tools at your disposal to get your message out. If you don’t have a PR firm then start a FaceBook page, start a blog, brand a You Tube channel, create a corporate page on Next2Friends http://www.next2friends.com/ and develop some viral content. Its low cost and it works. Use your PR firm to also push out some articles across the web to help raise your profile and make it easier for people to find you. And, do not forget to get out there! Be seen at trade fairs, have a stand at the local xmas fayre, donate a prize to the childrens ward xmas party, whatever is appropriate. It needn’t costs much money at all. Look at the Chicago Rock Cafe promotional car in the photograph above, this cost nothing! Yet, the profile of the venue was raised significantly over the twelve months of the sponsorship deal from the local Chrylser dealership!

6. Data is king. Review both your data and the way it is collected and maintained. Ensure that the collection system is comprehensive and that it is kept up to date. Unless you are a government agency or department, where it is normal to lose confidential data on a train or left in a highly visible briefcase on the back seat of our car ready to be easily stolen by the first thief walking past, you must ensure that we comply with the strict requirements of the Data Protection legislation. Do not abuse that data. If you need more data, for direct mail shots or telesales campaign, buy some in. It is not that expensive and is an invaluable tool.

7. Your website. Increasingly, customers are using websites to find suppliers and find the best deals. Look at your website with fresh eyes, does it work, does it say what you want it to say, do you need special offers at this time, are your Unique Selling Points prominent? Also review with your webmaster is the Search Engine Optimisation is working its best. Check if you have plenty of links to and from your site. Look at opportunities to generate new income from affiliate scheme or advertising. I sold some adverts on some of my websites for $30 a year, not big bucks but that is money I didn’t have before and it took me five minutes to drop them into my sites. In addition, I now have another new business contact that I might be able to develop a new working relationship with.

8. Internal communication. When senior managers are under pressure, it is too easy to stop listening to colleague or communicating back to them. Make sure that your internal communications, even if just using simple email systems, are working. In particular, make sure you are listening to customer facing staff so that you are hearing the feedback they are getting from your customers.

9. Have a Strategy. Strategy is about sacrifice and if everything is a priority then nothing is a priority. Make it a living, breathing, document that you share widely with colleagues even if some commercially sensitive areas are withheld. Let the staff feel part of this process. Revisit it regularly and update it in the light of practical experience.

10. Business networking. I hate business networking events, even the better ones from Business Link, as I have never met anyone either sensible or someone I really would like to business with. They wasted my time. The best forum for meeting like minded business people that I have found is online at We Can Do Biz http://www.wecando.biz/ and membership is free. I guess what I like about it most is that the business people on there are friendly, helpful and business community minded!

And remember to create your own networks. The photo above was taken at a Recruitment Fair for Chicago Rock Cafe in Yeovil. I simply went round the town inviting retailers and other employers to have a free stand at a recruitment open day. The local newspaper sponsored it and gave us plenty of free advertising as a result. The exhibitors put out flyers in their stores or factories so Chicago Rock received plenty of positive PR. I made new business contacts. Chicago Rock also won some Christmas party bookings from the exhibitors. Cost? Nothing!!!

I’m sure there are lots of ideas about marketing in a recession. Please share a few with me as I surely could use all the help I can get, and let’s share it with others!

But, more importantly, have the faith to remember that these things are cyclical. Those of us with grey hairs have seen this before and prudent financial and business planning now will put us in good stead to be there at the end ready for the upturn.


You can read John’s blog on marketing for small businesses at www.headlinepromotions.blogspot.com or visit his website at www.headlinepromotions.co.uk

An outstanding example of a community based PR, helping our friends the honey bees

By John Hicks
Headline Promotions, Press and Public Relations

I admire a brilliantly produced and executed public relations campaign, especially when it has social worth. Let me tell you about one of the best examples I have come across, from across the pond in the US.

We know of the plight of the modest honey bees that are responsible for pollinating more than 100 different crops, $15 billion worth annually over in the U.S., and they play a critical role in the agricultural industry’s ability to provide food products to the rest of the world.

But, honey bees are dying at an alarming rate. Over the last several winters, a substantial percentage of the honey bee population in the United States and Europe has vanished, many under mysterious circumstances.

This is a new phenomenon. I remember back in the early 1960s going with my father to visit his hives in the rural English countryside and the bee population was thriving. Honey was abundant and we spent many happy hours spinning the handle on some sort of antiquated contraption to extract the honey from the comb. And, oh, was that taste wonderful.

For Häagen-Dazs ice cream, the reality of this threat has spurred the superpremium ice cream maker to launch a national campaign in the US to protect these tiny unsung heroes. Everything from poor nutrition to invasive mites to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) – a phenomenon where bees from a colony abruptly desert the hive and die – is affecting the bees.

This disappearance has scientists stumped and has the potential to affect many of our favourite nuts, fruits and berries – key ingredients in some of the most popular Häagen-Dazs flavours. In fact, more than 40 percent of Häagen-Dazs all-natural ice cream flavours include ingredients dependent on honey bees for pollination.

To discover and prevent what’s killing our honey bees, the US Häagen-Dazs brand is launching the Häagen-Dazs loves Honey Bees™ campaign to fund sustainable pollination and CCD research at Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, Davis.

“Häagen-Dazs ice cream is made from the finest all-natural ingredients, and the plight of the honey bee could mean many of the ingredients used in our top flavours, like Vanilla Swiss Almond and Strawberry, would be difficult to source,” said Häagen-Dazs brand manager Josh Gellert.

Putting all its marketing might behind the issue, the Häagen-Dazs brand has launched an amazing website, supported by print, television and online advertising, dedicated to educating Americans about the problem and seeking their help to spread the word and join the campaign. The effort includes information in retail stores and Häagen-Dazs® Shops and a full public relations campaign.

To further spotlight the issue, the Häagen-Dazs brand launched a new honey bee-dedicated flavour – Vanilla Honey Bee which I must go and try just to check if I can recapture that flavour I remember from my childhood. The brand is also tagging all of its honey bee-dependent flavors – from Häagen-Dazs Wild Berry frozen yogurt to Caramelized Pear and Toasted Pecan ice cream - with a HD loves HB™ icon. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the new flavour and all HD loves HB tagged flavours will be used to fund the $250,000 donation to UC Davis and Penn State.

Häagen-Dazs has recruited prominent university researchers and beekeepers to serve on a Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream Bee Board to provide insight and consultation on the complex honey bee situation.

“Honey bee health and sustainable pollination is a major issue facing American agriculture that is threatening our food supply and endangering our natural environment,” said Diana Cox-Foster, Ph.D., leading CCD researcher at Penn State and Häagen-Dazs Bee Board member. “Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream’s generous donation to Penn State’s research programmewill provide immediate funds for research, outreach and student training to help find a CCD solution and preserve our natural food supply.”

“The Häagen-Dazs brand and UC Davis have a shared goal of preserving our local natural ingredients in a sustainable future and their donation to the UC Davis Laidlaw facility will help us reach our goals through advances in research and community awareness programs,” said Michael Parrella, Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream Bee Board member and associate dean, Division of Agricultural Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UC Davis.

There are several ways consumers can help save our pollinator allies upon whom we depend:

• Create a bee-friendly garden with plants that attract honey bees.
• Support the Häagen-Dazs loves Honey Bees program – a portion of the proceeds of the sale of all bee-dependent flavours will go toward helping the honey bees.
• Educate neighbours, schools and community groups about the severe situation the honey bees and our food supply are facing which is why I am penning this article.
• Buy local honey, never a hardship!
  

You can see how the Häagen-Dazs brand is helping honey bees by visiting http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/. and be impressed how marketing and public relations, community relations, business interest and consumer awareness can be sometimes neatly combined for the common good.

In my view, this is one of the best PR campaigns I have ever seen. Gosh, I wish I had thought of it!

Author details – John Hicks is Managing Director of Headline Promotions, Press & PR established in 1996 in Basingstoke, Hampshire, to provide PR, promotions, event management, marketing and web design support for small business in the UK.

John Hicks, a member of the Institute of Direct Marketing, brings together many years of experience across a wide range of business sectors in the UK and Far East. John and his small team's particular speciality is in the manufacturing, retail, internet radio, security, professional services, hospitality, leisure & entertainment sectors but are well-versed across many sectors.

John writes for a number of journals worldwide including the Californian Chronicle, Los Angeles Chronicle, the EzineArticles article resource website and the UK’s Daily Telegraph Newspaper blogsite. He is also an occasional consultant to City financial institutions, advising on the leisure and entertainment sector in the UK.

John is a complementary partner of Ambiance Consulting - one of the UK's leading change management consultancy practices.

During his career, John has operated a busy 750 capacity 24/7 snooker and pool hall, Chinese restaurant, sports bars and live music venue in the south of England - in addition to previously having been a national promotions manager for a division of Europe's leading late night venue operator and promotions manager for a global drinks manufacturer. He has also worked in newspapers, local radio, the education sector and a substantial manufacturing sector advisory body in the UK.

Valuing social networking sites in terms of my valuable time

Popular social networking sites, including the giants of these, MySpace and Facebook, have undoubtedly changed the human fabric of the Internet.

Largely the domain of a predominantly youthful user base, they are also well supported by older users. There is also a firm base of professionals using it for business purposes also - from advertising to networking.

You will know the names: LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, Next2Friends, FastPitch, Ecademy, Photobucket as well as the plethora of blogging and photo sharing sites.

Time is precious to everyone, none more so than to a small business owner like me. Over the past few years I have joined many, often following an invitation by a friend, colleague or business acquaintance.

The trouble is that I now find that I do not have the time to use them to full advantage and my inbox is inundated every day, especially as those creative geniuses at Facebook devise ever increasingly obscure ways to persuade members to spend time not only theirs but, by spreading the web, encouraging me to spend my time too.

This week alone, I received two more invitations to join new social networking sites! So, I have decided to cull my memberships of these sites. It was an interesting exercise so I would like to share this experience with you.

My interests divide into four key areas: business (networking and blogging), personal and music (live music being my passion).

Music was easy. Of all the memberships I have, MySpace is the most dynamic and user-friendly. I have maintained old relationships and made lots of new ones through MySpace and, especially as I rarely get e-mails from them, I am keeping my page (www.myspace.com/headlinepromotions).

Business more difficult to weed out. Of all the networking sites I belong to for networking, only one has actually generated any business contacts - either suppliers or customers. That is WeCanDoBiz (http://www.wecando.biz/). I do like this site and it has proved successful business-wise. It was very simple to register and is free.

Blogging was not an issue. Blogger dotcom (hhtp://www.blogger.com) is no useful and so easy to understand that I would not for one moment consider changing. Some of my blogs are well read (such as my Headline Promotions, Press & Public Relations blog site: www.headlinepromotions.blogspot.com) so that speaks for itself. Others are actually the website content for my domains (e.g. my world record attempt resource http://www.worldrecordattempt.co.uk/) so are effectively free hosting sites and, because of their ease of use, avoid the employment of webmasters to maintain them!

For personal contacts, because of the sheer number of contacts I have on there, I have to remain with Facebook, annoying though that is. It is peoples’ obsession with inviting me to play bingo, or poker or hangman that cheeses me off. Just recently, spammers have got in there and I now receive misspelled invitations to see myself on friends videos; clicking on the link reveals that it is spam with viruses so I hope that Facebook take urgent action to stop this. I am aware that I can reduce the volume of daily e-mails by changing some of my notification options and I am going to do this very shortly to ease the burden on my inbox!

I did actually look at Facebook for advertising but the sheer volume of targets and the time it took to try and work out what and how to maximise the impact of any campaign outweighed any advantage over my existing and effective PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns on Google.

Somewhere in between business and pleasure is a relatively new social networking platform called Next2Friends. I have not yet fully grasped the full potential of this site either for business or pleasure but I am sure it is huge.

I have created a corporate page for Headline Promotions, Press & PR and am working my way through the site to try and grasp how I can use it best. But the ability to video events (whether business or personal) and share them in real time or as video for later access by people I choose to allow, is enormous.

Take, for example, Sunset Lingerie (http://www.sunsetlingerie.co.uk/) for whom I am organising a fashion show. I could video that on my mobile phone and it will appear in real time on Next2Friends and be retained for people to see later. I could, in fact, have it showing live on their website or mine. Similarly, if one of my world record attempts is taking place, then I can show that live or recorded. This is something I definitely wish to explore further.

So, will it save time? I think it will. This means I can focus my attention on the sites I have chosen to continue to support to my advantage and theirs!

Personal memories contain marketing lesson

I received a letter this morning from Premier Travel Inn at Yeovil. It thanked me for leaving a feedback form and expressing their thanks for making positive comments about the Travel Inn and the Airfield Tavern pub next door.

The feedback I gave was very positive. The standards in both the hotel and the Airfield Tavern were superb and the staff in the pub and hotel were very hospitable. The food, from their extensive Table Table menu, was excellent both in terms of quality and price.

All this made the weekend very enjoyable. Yeovil holds such fond memories for me even though I haven’t been back there for years.

Working with some fantastic people - from the wonderful Dudley and Aileen Miller at The Foresters’ Arms in East Coker in my younger days through to that larger than life character, Adrian Hopper (now Marketing supremo at Yeovil Town Football Club and whose hospitality, when I popped in, was up to his usual standards) who rather foolishly encouraged me to be the editor of the business and the leisure & entertainment sections of his Clarion Newspaper.

It was in this beautiful country market town in rural Somerset that I first got the buzz from marketing and public relations, that buzz still giving my life a sparkle even today.
Yeovil has given me some amazing memories. Let me reminisce for a few moments.

I was so lucky to work with the legendary Bruce Welch of The Shadows. Bruce had just come back from Cliff Richards’ birthday cruise with some wonderful tales of that trip and “the good old days” when he and Hank Marvin established the band. We put together a charity Shadows reunion show at the Westland’s Sports and Social Club, a magnificent live music venue, well worth visiting if you are down that way. The sponsors were Vale Motors of Wincanton, the local Subaru and Hyundai dealer. It was a magnificent show and Bruce was brilliant to work with.

Another of my memories was holding a motor show for, coincidentally, Vale Motors in the aforesaid Westland’s Sports and Social Club. It was a terrific event and Bryan, the Dealer Principal, pulled off real coup when he persuaded Hyundai to let us launch the new Hyundai Sonata at the event. It was well supported and the bottom line was that cars were sold as a result! I would mark it as an eight out of ten. It would have been a ten out of ten if two little mistakes had been avoided.

Firstly, the Mayor of Basingstoke - a wonderful man called Councillor John Cruddas, well loved by the townsfolk - unveiled the new Hyudai Sonata. Bryan’s guests included the government Trade & Industry Minister and a senior executive from Hyundai. It was unfortunate, therefore, that the Mayor announced that he was unveiling the new HONDA Sonata. An “oops moment“!
The second “oops moment” came when the fanfare sounded. Imagine the scene. The lights in the main hall were dimmed and the spotlight fell on the car on the stage which was shrouded in a cover. The whole room went hushed and then the big fanfare sounded - it was the Space Odyssey theme tune - one of those nerve tingling moments.

Sadly, the track was from a cheap CD I had picked up in Woolworths for a few pennies. It sounded fine on the car CD player. Imagine my horror when it went out at ten thousand watts through the house PA system as the most awful crackly and unmelodic offering ever heard. The strobe lights flashed all round the building as the wires lifted off the cover to unveil this magnificent car. But the sound was awful and, still reeling from the Mayor’s mis-branding, I was just wanted to go in a corner and fade away. Luckily, the client saw the funny side of it and no harm was done!

Of course, my introduction to the nightclub and leisure scene, which stood me in good stead for the rest of my career, was leaving The Clarion to join Chicago Rock Café Yeovil as its Marketing Manager. General Manager Lynn Bowler and Area Manager Abbie Bassir gave me the freedom to try all sorts of initiatives and develop new skills. They made marketing and PR fun - but they were results orientated and I have never forgotten the lesson that there has to be a “bottom line” outcome of all the activity we undertake.

But, boy, did we have some fun. We had some great parties at Chicago Rock. An Elvis Night with sixteen Elvis impersonators all on stage at the same time making me cry with laughter, terrible local bands in a “battle of the bands” contest emptying the building making me cry in despair, Yeovil Carnival childrens’ parties, YDRfm local radio parties - they are all fond memories.

Two events there stick out in my mind though. Firstly, was the world record attempt by DJ Danny D. playing the longest live DJ set in a nightclub using only vinyl records. The photo above shows Danny and I, covered in champagne, after he reached 120 hours non-stop playing. DJ Tony Temple of YDRfm and I stayed up all week with Danny (I couldn’t do that now!).

We gained some good media coverage and Alex of AFH Web Design broadcast the whole 120 hours live on the internet (apart from the inevitable little hiccups when service went down for short breaks) and attracted 11,000 listeners from across the globe. In those early days of the Internet that was a staggering number!

Secondly, YDRfm launched a promotion night at the club. The theme was “cops and robbers” and customers were invited to come in fancy dress for free admission. I was there with my camera waiting for the radio station presenters to arrive dressed as cops so I went outside at the agreed time only to find policemen and pretend drunken revellers struggling on the pavement. The police were outnumbered so they were handcuffing people to the railings outside the club. I was busy snapping away taking photographs, dashing between all the actors, thinking how realistic they all were and impressed that Tony T had laid on such an elaborate show for the onlookers.

Imagine my horror when Tony and his colleague Rob Denslow appeared around the corner wearing silly plastic imitation police helmets and carrying water pistols. They were dumbstruck at what was going on and I suddenly realised that this was no publicity stunt. It was the real thing! And at that moment, a riot van arrived and out piled a team of officers followed by a K-9 unit.

Drunken revellers from some event in the town were involved in a real-life fracas with the police. Another “oops moment”! I really wish we had then the technology we have today - wouldn’t it have been awesome to have video’d all that on my mobile phone and posted it on Next2Friends like I could do today!

There is a third of my two memories. I persuaded J2O to sponsor the launch of a Christmas anti-drink drive campaign at the club. I also persuaded the actor from The Vicar of Dibley of (“No, no, no, yes” fame) to endorse it. The PR and marketing success came when the regional bus company kindly agreed to take the poster and put it in every bus! The impact was huge! TV coverage was wonderful because they managed to get the Mayor of Yeovil to be filmed being breathalysed outside the club by traffic cops! What a wonderful image that was!

Well, the real point of this article was to congratulate Premier Travel Inn on taking the trouble to write to me. It was a good marketing ploy as I was delighted to receive it. If they were my client, which sadly Whitbread plc are not, I would have recommended enclosing a voucher for a discount on my next visit. I would have certainly used it!

I guess that had my response to the feedback form been negative then I would have received a different (apologetic?) letter. Either way, the lesson for marketers and PR people is, firstly get that all important data, and, secondly, never to waste a good opportunity to communicate a positive message to existing customers.

Crisis management: handling bad publicity in the credit crunch

Barclays Bank spending half a million pounds on a three day jolly for well-heeled clients would not attract media during normal times, but these are not normal times, we are in the throes or a recession caused by, and exacerbated by, banks.

So, Barclays taking 320 executives and customers to Italy for a lavish banquet on the shores of Lake Como, with an evening of music from Milan’s world famous Scala Opera, may be viewed as a PR gaffe particularly as, days earlier, the media had slammed the bankers for taking executives on a lavish trip to Monte Carlo.

The story featured heavily on TV and radio news, egged on by full page coverage in The Sun newspaper under the heading “Credit Crunch Hasn’t Hit Fatcats”.

So, if you were handling the PR for Barclays, how would you respond?

Well, The Sun quotes a Barclays spokeswoman as claiming Sun readers would not be interested in the trip. She is quoted as saying: “This is an event for bankers and clients. It’s not a story for your readers.”

That isn’t an opening line I would have recommended. However, perhaps it gets better.

She is then quoted as saying: “You can’t stop doing business just because of the credit crunch. This is not a jolly going to dinner, it’s an educational seminar. It’s more important than ever to keep this kind of thing going in the credit crunch.”

Personally, I think she almost got it right. Emphasising that any company must do their utmost to keep their business together in this tough economic climate is the right thing to do. Stressing that it is an “educational seminar” is, quite frankly, fruitless.

I guess that, invitations having gone out, Barclays could not have cancelled but I suspect the executives in charge, caught up in the excitement of packing their best bib and tucker, did not give cancellation a moment’s thought.

Equally, they would not have thought about the PR downside of this trip. That should have been the starting point but, as the event has gone ahead, what would be the best way to handle the negative PR?

Barclays’’ spokeswoman was correct in saying that there is a sector of the market which is still capable of generating business for the bank. The target customers are used to being treated in a special way and, if they do not work in this way, it opens the door for their competitors to step in. I would have added, if it were true, that these events are being scaled down and that more opportunities to use UK facilities are being explored.

The media and the public might not like this but they would accept the reality.

In truth, in a matter of weeks this will be “old news” and forgotten - until some over-enthusiastic bank official heavy-handedly seeks to evict a family from their home for being late with repayments, or they hike up bank charges still further!

Prince Andrew’s helicopter goes on display

PRESS RELEASE
Prince Andrew’s helicopter goes on display

During the 1982 Falklands conflict, His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, flew a Westland Sea King helicopter which will take pride of place in a special exhibition next year.

The Prince’s Sea King, XZ574, was built by Westland Helicopters of Yeovil in the UK and first entered service with the Royal Navy on 6th October 1976. The aircraft was finally retired from service on 7th October 2004 having flown 9,168 hours and then held in reserve until it was decided that it could no longer be returned to active service.

AgustaWestland, the successor company to Westland Helicopters Limited, have fully supported a restoration project by completing a re-spray of the aircraft, restoring it to its original 1982 colour scheme.

It is planned to display the aircraft within the Fleet Air Arm Museum, at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton, next year when this icon of Naval Aviation History will add to the Museum’s new exhibition celebrating one hundred years of naval aviation.

However, there is an opportunity to have a sneak preview as the internationally-acclaimed Museum will open the doors of its extensive reserve collection at Cobham Hall, opposite the main site, from 10.00am - 4.00pm on Thursday Oct 23rd. Entry price is just £3.00 for adults and £1.00 for children

The reserve collection includes over thirty historic aircraft, including one of the largest collections of Westland Helicopters in the world so there is plenty to see, especially the Prince’s Sea King for those impatient ones of us who cannot wait until next year!


Ends

Note to Editors

The UK’s Fleet Air Arm Museum is located at Ilchester, Somerset adjoining the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton.

It’s mission is “To collect, preserve, interpret and make accessible, material relevant to all aspects of the history of naval aviation and the operations of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Fleet Air Arm, the aircraft they have flown, the people who have served with them, and the ships and stations where they served, in the context of the development of aviation at large."

For more information about the Museum and this event please contact
Jon Jefferies, Head of Marketing
Fleet Air Arm Museum
Tel: +44 1935 842638 (International)
or 01935 842638 (UK)
http://www.fleetairarm.com/

Photo of the helicopter available – please e-mail John Hicks (below) for jpeg


Media enquiries to:

John Hicks M.IDM
Headline Promotions, Press & PR
Telephone: +44 1256 329742
john@headlinepromotions.co.uk
http://www.headlinepromotions.blogspot.com/

Lingerie fashion trends dictated by changing breast sizes

Fashions and trends in lingerie retailing are not just about changing tastes and style. Here in the UK, womens’ breasts have jumped a cup size in just five years requiring lingerie retailers and underwear wholesalers to reflect on their product ranges.

In these times of boom and bust, there really is only one statistic that looks certain to keep on growing. As new figures revealed this week show, British women are now boasting bigger breasts than ever.

In the past five years alone, the average bra size in the UK has increased by an entire cup size, following a global trend for increasingly ample cleavage.

The average bra size in Fifties Britain was a modest 30B. But factors such as better diet, cleverer cup measuring and even, it has been claimed by some, the increase in female hormone oestrogen in our water supplies, have all contributed to a massive increase in the size of British women’s busts.

A mere five years ago the average woman sported a bra size of 34C. But now she’s had to increase the size of her underwear to a 36D.

Of course, it isn’t just around the chest that women are expanding – they are also slightly taller today at an average of 5ft 4in and even weigh more, too, at an average of 9st 6lb.

Modern women also have larger waists, now 34 inches, and bigger hips, measuring 40 inches. It’s a trend being echoed throughout the world, too, as shown by our statistics of the average woman aged between 20 and 40.

But in this global economy of ours, are the British ladies alone?

In China in the Eighties, the average bra size was 34A but in the past two decades this has increased by two cup sizes to 34C, just like actress Bai Ling. Canadian women too have proved that breasts are getting bigger, moving up from an average B cup to a C cup.

But busts are not heaving voluptuously throughout the world. Actress Milla Jovovich is a typical svelte Russian and her waif-like figure reflects the trend among her countrywomen. They are on average 5ft 6in tall and have smaller chests.

At 5ft 7in Milla herself may be taller than most of her female friends at home in Russia but her fashionable washboard chest at 32B is similar to that of the average Russian woman, although considering that Milla works mainly in America she would often be surrounded by women with much more ample bosoms.

American ladies are known for being that little bit rounder thanks to their more calorie-laden diets. Curvaceous Mariah Carey, for example, has an ample 36C bust, as does former Cheers star Kirstie Alley.

UK on-line lingerie retailer Sunset Lingerie’s spokesperson, John Hicks, says that the larger cup sizes it sells, in sizes from D and above, now represent 40 per cent of sales and that, increasingly, hits to its website http://www.sunsetlingerie.co.uk/ are for their “plus size” ranges.

But John says that women often go up several cup sizes when they are properly fitted for a brassiere. UK television shows such as BBC1’s “What Not To Wear” and ITV’s “How To Look Good Naked” are encouraging customers to ensure they have correctly sized bras.

“So, Sunset Lingerie’s Plus Size model, Laura Leigh West, whose 36D chest will feature in a new range to be launched in 2009 will be “normal” whereas she would have been exceptional just a few years ago.” John added.


Article first published in October 2008 by on-line publisher SearchWarp.

Photo courtesy of Sunset Lingerie http://www.sunsetlingerie.co.uk/