With awards season gearing up we’re delighted to say that two of our tactics have already been shortlisted for a gong. Removal Van Persie, a cheeky stunt we created for Coral Bookmakers outside the Emirates Stadium last year is up for Stunt Of The Year at The Golden Hedgehog Awards (coincidentally being held at the Emirates).

Meanwhile, our pet campaign for MORE TH>N, which included the world’s first Bedtime Story For Dogs, has been put forward as a contender in the PR Strategy category of this year’s Drum Marketing Awards.

From rampaging rats in the restaurant to Basil’s less than textbook style of management, Fawlty Towers gave Torquay a less-than-positive image. 40 years is far too long since Britain’s treasured town was last in the hotel limelight though, and so hotel.info thought it was time to redress the balance, especially as their latest Service Quality Report revealed that the British seaside favourite makes it into fifth position for service levels nationally…

And with Manuel, Sybil and co. firmly banished to the Torquay annals of hotel history, we’re pleased to have played our part in the dawn of a new ‘English Riviera’ (perhaps) – with the likes of The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Mail Online picking up on the story. Oh and just in case you’re interested, Norwich, Leeds, York and Sheffield made up the rest of the list of helpful hotel havens, with the latter taking the title from a survey of over 25,700 hotels!

We hunted high and low, far and wide. Now our nationwide search to find the UK’s greatest pet pads has come to a grand close with the announcement of the winning MORE TH>N Pet Pad Of The Year 2012.

The triumphant animal house belongs to a two-year-old St. Bernard called Wellington, and brings new meaning to the old phrase ‘in the doghouse’ – being an incredible 1:3 scale replica of his owner’s family home. In fact, so painstakingly true to life was the canine crib it featured all of the mod cons of the three-bedroom detached it was based on – including floor and wall insulation, carpets, lighting, rippled Cotswold windows, guttering, a slate roof and a glorious garden.

The announcement and photography went down a storm with the media, securing a full page in the Daily Express (pictured), together with strong pick up in The Times, Mail Online, Huffington Post, London Evening Standard, Times Online and Express Online.

The inaugural MORE TH>N Pet Pad Of The Year competition was judged by celebrity dog owner Dawn O’Porter and TV vet Marc Abraham. check out all of the entries here.

Ah, the 1960s. Ask anyone of a certain age about their memories of the flower power decade and they’ll likely reel off the old adage “If you remember it, you weren’t there”. Except when it comes to interior design, that is.

For it would seem that sixties home decor was so groundbreaking and iconic that it cut through the hippie haze and firmly anchored itself in Brits’ memories – to the extent that over 50s women now regard it as the most influential era ever for interior design.

However, the good times of shag pile rugs, pop art and space-age plastic chairs quickly gave way to the 1970s house of horrors: with Artex and Anaglypta still sending shudders down the spine today. And the desire to escape the bad design memories of the disco decade are evidently one of the reasons why the average 50+ woman has spent over £158k redecorating her house in her lifetime.

A nice nostalgic story for our client isme.com which saw pick up in the Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Daily Telegraph and Express online.

It’s the oldest cliché in the book to say that ‘it’s a funny old game’, and we were pleased to link in with Coral to inspire one of the more bizarre transfer window coups of recent times… Snaring ex England, Chelsea, Manchester United and AC Milan midfielder Ray Wilkins as part of the betting institution’s backroom staff!

Becoming the first and only betting company to EVER appoint a Director of Football, Coral allowed Ray a full free reign over his transfer kitty… and he quickly bought in some seasoned odds experts – highly sought-after Barry Bale, 32 from Hull, Derek Lampard, 29 from Preston and Adam Cole, 24 from Croydon.

And, like any good transfer extravaganza story, we were pleased to see our Ray hit the headlines, with the deal featured across the general and sporting press. Quick on the action were The Sun, The Sun Online, The Daily Express, The Express Online, The Drum, Sport Magazine, Sport Magazine Online, Zootoday.com, Goal.com – not to mention a sizeable interview on Sky Sports News and a social reach of well over 7.5million.