A new way of growing a business -Pitching for Management

Yesterday evening I think I saw the future - and it works!

You have a great idea, you have the finance and now all you need is the people - often the most difficult part of the start-up process.

The innovative Angel News team have come up with an exciting and challenging way for new or expanding companies to find key personnel.

Pitching for Management enables a company to showcase their work to a carefully selected group of professionals.

Last night the format was simple. Meet at six after work. Drinks, three eight minute presentations. Coffee. Three more presentations. Buffet dinner.

The presentations varied but the enthusiasm didn't. I must confess to being lost on one or two of the high tech products but each pitch concluded by focusing on  the business's  requirements.

Over dinner there was much exchanging of cards and it was obvious that the evening had been a success.

I spoke to several of the audience and was impressed by the breath of knowledge and experience. Somebody had clearly done their homework and created a great invitation list.

This is a great new form of business development and one that I would recommend to both start-ups and professionals. I will predict that we will hear much more about Pitching for Management in future months

Can a PR firm harness the power of blogging?

Public relations is yet to come to terms with the implications of blogging. All the usual rules apply to blogging that should apply to any other media outlet. It is a big mistake to write bloggers off as of no consequence. Ignore a blog post today and it can come back and bite you tomorrow.

A PR firm in New York decided to try and harness the power of blogging. Ten out of ten for trying!

Bloggers were invited to an upmarket New York restaurant together with their guests. They thought they were in for a gastronomic treat. They were upset to find that this was a ruse to serve up some production line food and film them complimenting  the food.

The expectation was  to use the footage for promotional videos on YouTube and the client web site, and for bloggers to generate buzz when they wrote about being pleasantly surprised.


The company were using a technique much used in American advertising in the 1980s and 1990s where diners in upscale restaurants unknowingly enjoyed instant coffee instead of the house brew, to more recent Pizza Hut ads, where diners, again in upscale restaurants, unknowingly enjoyed pasta from Pizza Hut.

"But while consumers tend to laugh along with the ruse, ConAgra was about to learn that bloggers, who often see themselves as truth-seeking journalists, find the switcheroo less amusing, especially when it entails them misleading their readers beforehand."

The full salutary story can be found on the New York Times media and adverting page.