| BIG CAT NEWS ARCHIVE |
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November 08 Big Cat are proud to announce the successful tender win to event manage the premiere of independent movie, Clubbed. The eagerly anticipated movie premieres early in the New Year and is a shining example of Big Cat’s versatility in delivering a wide range of events. Without giving too much away, the movie focuses on a man who becomes entrenched in the seedy underworld of Britain’s nightclub industry after learning self defence and provide for his young daughters. Big Cat will be working alongside Screen WM, who are major contributors to Clubbed, both financially and in sharing expertise |
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November 08 Big Cat are delighted to welcome new Senior Business Development Manager Julia South. Julia is an experienced salesperson with a strong portfolio and an impressive contact roster. Julia will be a key figure in the continued growth of Big Cat. |
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October 08 Birmingham based Big Cat Group has won a competitive pitch to relaunch the Stratton brand and will be delivering creative design, PR and marketing services. Stratton is an established jeweler with a reputation of delivering quality compacts. The high end jewelers have called on Big Cat’s expertise and creativity to re-launch the 148 year old brand and promote the company’s new line of compacts that will be sold throughout all of the nations Selfridges’ stores from Christmas. Stratton will be running their campaign alongside Selfridges’ ‘Pinkridges’ project designed to raise awareness and money for Breast Cancer Care. |
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Septembers 08 The perpetual expansion of Big Cat sees the recent hiring of 2 new members. |
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Septembers 08 Big Cat Group have won the contract to project manage Birmingham’s digital showcase that has been attracting worldwide interest. |
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August 08 Birmingham’s biggest city festival has called on Big Cat to handle their promotional campaign. |
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August 08 Big Cat have gone one step further to cementing their place as Birmingham's number one creative agency by winning the contract to project manage and PR The Creative City Awards. |
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July 08 Big Cat is pleased to announce the launch of its own blog that will bring news and stories from Birmingham’s number one creative full service agency. |
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June 08 Responding to a continued healthy growth in business, Big Cat take great pleasure in announcing the arrival of 5 new members of staff. |
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May 08 Big Cat Director, Nick Morgan, recently received the prestigious title of Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2008 Birmingham Young Professional of the Year Awards. Nick was presented with the award at a glamorous ceremony held at Birmingham’s International Conference Centre on Thursday 22nd May. The elite of Birmingham’s young business community were all in attendance, with NEC Group’s CEO Paul Thandi and co-founder of the revered advertising agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay, Trevor Beattie, presenting. Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY) was launched in 2000 and celebrates the achievements of the cities younger business communities. Eight years on, BYPY has made its mark as one of the most important, well-respected events on Birmingham’s business calendar. Being nominated for any award through the BYPY is a significant achievement with hundreds of top flight Birmingham professionals entering the 6 individual categories. Winning the Entrepreneurial category was a great achievement for Nick personally but also a reflection on the achievements of his company The Big Cat Group, co founded with Anthony Tattum. The team at Big Cat all offer their congratulations to Nick, and are proud to be working with such an inspirational professional in Birmingham. |
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May 08 Hagley Hall is one of only a handful of stately homes in Britain which is still privately owned. Home to Lord Cobham and his family, Hagley Hall is now looking to establish itself within the corporate events community in order to raise revenue to restore the 18th century house and its 350 acre parkland. Lord Cobham has enlisted Big Cat’s PR and Event teams to build a successful strategy from 2008. The first of Big Cat’s PR activities has seen Hagley Hall team up with leading retailer Selfridges to promote itself as a venue for the stylish and sophisticated in Britain. Over £30,000 of designer clothes were exhibited at the stately home to showcase the beautiful 18th century architecture, spacious banqueting rooms and impressive gardens, all an idyllic backdrop for weddings, corporate events, television crews and product launches. The Selfridges fashion shoot is part of a broader marketing campaign incorporating a progressive 12 month strategy to introduce Hagley Hall into the events communities. Big Cat will also provide a first rate, professionally focused Events team to fully support any corporate activity. |
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March 08 Since October 2007, Ed King, PR Manager, has helped Bank of Cyprus UK launch their business banking centres in Sutton Coldfield and Croydon by arranging the branch openings and business profiling in the relevant national and regional publications. Ed has worked along side Kevin Nugent, Design Studio Manager, to ensure the Bank of Cyprus UK had smooth branch openings and production of event collateral. Using some of our long term accredited suppliers we were able to secure a favourable price and rapid turnaround on the event collateral, and launch the Croydon and Sutton Coldfield branches of Bank of Cyprus UK with major success. Bank of Cyprus UK has continued to use Big Cat to profile their business banking centres and also for their media planning and buying skills, with Big Cat providing all print advertising since winning the contract. |
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December 2007 Sports Across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent County Sports Partnership (SOSSOT) have announced plans to hold the UK’S largest one-day multi-sport event for young people, the Partnership Youth Games 2008 (PYG). Winning the full event management account, The Big Cat Group was successful in a highly competitive pitch due to their renowned work with the Greater London Authority and the Children’s Commissioner. The Partnership Youth Games 2008 is planned for Saturday the 5th of July, and will take place on Shobnall Green, Burton Upon Trent. The Big Cat Group will be responsible for all aspects of the pre-event and on-the day organisation including liasing with local authorities, managing the event budget and organising medals, certificates and trophies for the contestants. The Partnership Youth Games 2008 will see 1,500 young people taking part in 8 events throughout the day and will be most extensive sporting event for young people ever held in the UK. |
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Oct 2007 Big Cat event director Nick Morgan has been appointed by the Birmingham Forward to sit on the Marketing, Membership and Events Committee. The role of the committee is to oversee and develop the marketing strategy of Birmingham Forward. Nick will provide specialist support and guidance approving venues and sourcing guest speakers for a range of events, helping to ensure that an interesting, varied and active events programme is available to members. The Committee is also responsible for communication with members, the Birmingham Forward Yearbook, for media policy, and for running the Patrons, and Business Affiliates schemes. The Committee is currently chaired by Dawn Roberts of Headline Communications. |
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May 2007 Nick Morgan, events director at Big Cat Group, is guest speaking at UCE after being invited to share experiences with students on the prestigious Event and Exhibition Management MA course, the first of its kind in the UK. Speaking on the complex issues surrounding risk assessment, licensing, live vs. corporate events, Nick will be appearing regularly to support students study at the campus near the iconic Millennium Point. Designed to provide the professional skills needed to successfully put together and organise exhibitions, conferences and other events, the course invites key figure heads from the city to aid study. Having been developed with the NEC to ensure the qualification is tailored towards careers within the events and exhibition industry, Big Cat Group will be one of several handpicked organisations providing expertise and counsel. The event marks the start of the company’s relationship with UCE, as both Nick and fellow directors look to embark on similar speaking opportunities. Mathilde Stein, course director of Event and Exhibition Management at UCE commented: "The students all found it both very interesting and inspiring. Some of the key take outs: 'impressive, level of detail' 'so much knowledge of licensing' 'have seen his face around in Birmingham for years, never realized until today what a wealth of expertise he had, and how serious his business was' 'highly inspiring.' I will be delighted to welcome Nick back to speak and get more involved in the course." Since the company’s inception in 2000, Big Cat Group has managed events for companies including the LSC, My Travel, Topman, Hugo Boss and Virgin Trains. |
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December 2006 Big Cat Group has been recognised by a national industry body for their work on a public sector event for the Greater London Authority. Activ8, a celebration of being a healthy young Londoner through play, healthy eating and exercise, attracted over 25,000 people at Hyde Park last August. Organisers Big Cat Group won the contract after pitching against eight other leading London events agencies. Showcasing a range of activities for children from birth to 18, the event was an opportunity for attendees, including parents and carers, to participate in activities ranging from athletics to arts and crafts. The event attracted national media attention for its wide selection of all encompassing activities, and was attended by the Mayor of London Ken Livingston and Olympic athlete Linford Christie. Activ8 has been Shortlisted in the Public Event of the Year category, as part of the Eventia Corporate Event Awards 2006, a national award scheme to recognise excellence in the planning and execution of events that have been produced exclusively in the UK. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, due to take place on Thursday 30th at The Hurlingham Club in Ranelagh Gardens in London. Events director at Big Cat Group, Nick Morgan commented: “The awards are a prestigious achievement for the company – the judges look beyond the gloss of high budgets to understand and assess the underlying quality of event planning, creative thinking, logistics and execution.” The ‘Activ8’ event was designed to highlight and promote children and young peoples’ access to London’s parks and green spaces. Messages of healthy play were fundamental to the day and achieved by staging and promoting interactive fun activities combined with outdoor pursuits. Profiling details of the company’s use of in house resources, success in gaining goodwill and ambition to extend the involvement of young people in activities beyond the actual event day, Big Cat Group have attained praise from the Events Industry Association and will feature in Event magazine. The success of the event and of the Big Cat shortlist has been attributed, in part, to the strength of their event manual, a comprehensive document containing extensive detail on operational procedures. Big Cat Group have been heavily involved in diversionary youth activity for South Staffordshire Council as well as other public events including the first Soundstation music festival which took place in Birmingham city centre in May of this year. |
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September 2006 Local agency Big Cat Group has been shortlisted for a national award by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. The PRide Awards is the only awards scheme showcasing the best PR work being carried out across the UK regions and nations. The agency has been shortlisted amongst the regions largest PR agencies in the best use of small budget category, for their work on the Soundstation 2006 music festival. The event took place earlier this year at Birmingham’s Eastside Park and included high profile acts such as Mercury Music Award nominees Guillemots, Boy Kill Boy, Orson and headliners Graham Coxon. The agency attained high profile press coverage for the event on a regional and national scale, as well as creating a strong web presence on the new media phenomena myspace. PR account manager Sally Rushton comments: “This is a fantastic achievement for the agency and we are extremely proud of the nomination. “The judging process is extremely rigorous with a national panel of industry experts assessing the shortlisted entries and choosing the medallists. Recognition from the industry is therefore extremely prestigious and highly sought after.” Colin Farrington, CIPR Director General and Chairman of the Judges, said: "This year's Pride Awards finalists are impressive, showcasing PR at its best and demonstrating the difference effective communications make to business and society. The quality of this year's shortlist is testimony to the excellent work being carried out by communications professionals across the UK." The awards ceremony will take place at the Belfry in February 2007 for the Midlands PRide Awards. |
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August 2006 Big Cat Group has joined the Cities Professional Services Networking and Lobbying Group Birmingham Forward, as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to become more involved in the representation of city’s professional service sector. “Birmingham Forward has a crucial role to play in creating the right conditions for economic growth in this city”, director Nick Morgan explains. As part of a larger organisation, we are able to promote Birmingham as a vibrant place to invest and do business more effectively. In the longer term this will benefit Big Cat and the professional services sector in what is the largest business district outside of London.” Birmingham Forward currently represents over 250 firms and a range of organisations from accountants to solicitors. Birmingham city centre is the largest and most diverse professional services cluster in the West Midlands – with more than 600 companies. Recent research carried out by Birmingham Forward revealed there to be more than 80,000 employees of professional services firms in Birmingham, making it the most significant concentration of these activities outside London. Professional services/firms are a vital source of knowledge and expertise for all branches of the contemporary economy. They are strategically important for the competitiveness of cities and regions such as Birmingham and the West Midlands. Big Cat Group’s membership of Birmingham Forward and Birmingham Future brings access to a network of associated professional and financial disciplines. Such links are essential to ensure a competitive edge and develop more effective relationships within the business community. Big Cat Group is a full service marketing communications agency, providing design, events, PR and media buying services to corporate clients across the UK. |
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July 2006 Media and events management specialists Big Cat Group has been awarded an event contract thought to be worth in excess of £5,000 for global construction and management consultant, Turner & Townsend. Big Cat Group’s Birmingham team were awarded the work following a creative pitch that included hospitality, venue finding, set and audio/visual design, entertainment and management. The inspiring corporate event will take place at Birmingham’s oldest church, St. Martin’s at the Bullring. Designed by Birmingham architect Alfred Chatwin and built in 1875 the extensive renovation of St Martin’s in 2003 was part of the iconic shopping centre’s £500million redevelopment. The Birmingham based events team are designing, planning and implementing all elements of the 250 delegate showcase event due to take place in September. Rebecca Southwell, Turner & Townsend marketing manager explains: “Our London office held their own cocktail party at the royal opera house earlier this year. It was essential that we locate a venue as equally impressive in Birmingham and we have been able to achieve this with the help of Big Cat.” The event will utilise the unique space in St Martins Church, where guests will be served a lavish champagne and canapé reception beside the oldest monument in the city - a 1325 effigy of the Lord of the Manor Sir William de Bermingham. Big Cat account manager Laura Edwards explains the choice of venue: “St Martins Church is a fantastic opportunity to create a real talking point amongst guests. “We have been working to discover unique venues across the region to meet continuing demand from our clients.” Big Cat Group is currently organising a number of high profile corporate events including the Birmingham Bierfest ‘FestofAle’ and the Grand Winter Ball. |
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June 2006 Midlands event management company Big Cat Group has delivered the 10th youth diversionary event for South Staffordshire Council. Praised by Tessa Jowell and recognised nationally by the IDEA, HYPE is an innovative multi-agency approach to offering a meaningful, educational, preventative and diversionary activity to 11-17 year olds. Now in its fifth year, the most recent ‘Big Day Out’ attracted some 500 young people to the suburbs of Wolverhampton in Baggeridge Park. Set with the overall aim to increase participation the events have proven to be highly successful in getting more young people into sport and the arts beyond the event day and into the long term. Big Cat has provided basketball coaching, dj-ing, graffiti art, urban sports etc to some 7000 young people profiling activities that many young people may not come into contact with or know how to pursue outside of the event. Many events companies may be able to organise outdoor activity based events of this nature, but as Nick Morgan Big Cat events director explains: “Ensuring that the event is secure and safe for young people goes as standard for a Big Cat event, yet unfortunately it is so often ignored by event organisers. It is vital that all current legislation should be met and that the use Not only this, but it is vital that the event is designed and delivered without being too patronising so as not to put off any young people attending.” ensuring that they met all current legislation and use well established suppliers, as the industry is very competitive which often leads to a grey market. Part of the South Staffordshire Crime Reduction Partnership’s Communities Against Drugs initiative, the project is led by South Staffordshire Council Leisure Services working in partnership with the Crime Reduction Partnership and linked to the Crimestoppers national SNAP (Say No And Phone) initiative. It is supported by Staffordshire Police, South Staffordshire Youth and Community Education Service, South Western Staffordshire Primary Care Trust, KIC fm and West Staffordshire Rural Transport Partnership, Community Council of Staffordshire and the Countryside Agency. |
