“The Think Again training is inspirational…able to deliver exactly what we need at the time we need it – which is NOW”

A ringing endorsement – one we’re really proud of – from the Chair of the Federation of Music Services.

So far, 25 local authority music services have taken part in Think Again’s Campaign and Communication programme and another 25 are being given the opportunity when the second programme gets underway in March.

Full details here.

Need convincing of its value? Listen to just one testimonial from the first sessions:

‘The course is practical, challenging, relevant and enjoyable. The leaders are experienced in media and marketing, and they share their experience openly and professionally.”

We can do the same for you, of course, whatever business or sector you’re in.

We’re really good at helping people and organisations get their message across (it’s not just us who say that, our clients do too – give us a call and we’ll put you in touch with some for a reference).

But sometimes you can’t beat the direct approach – and we can all learn from the legendary Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, and his  brilliantly blunt letter to a director.

A lot of media training focuses on TV and video. Rightly, because getting your message across on TV is a powerful and sometimes complex skill. We spend a lot of time helping our clients perform well in front of a camera. But we don’t forget the importance of radio, especially BBC local radio – which often allows you a longer, more relaxed and very different way of making your case.
So we always offer the chance to recreate a radio interview – even a phone-in if required – in all our sessions. And digital technology has made radio even simpler and more immediate. In this rucksack is the Think Again broadcast-quality radio studio, checked and ready to go back on the road for another round of client visits next week.
Give us a call, and we’ll put you in the picture – and on the air.

We spend most of our time helping people to say what they really mean.  Our mantra is “have one thing to say and say it as clearly as you can”.  We’re on the road (and in the air) again for the next few weeks, working with local authorities on the the clarity of their communication.  After an excellent session with the great team at Cornwall Learning, we were confronted with this sign at the entrance to Newquay Airport.

Some work to be done there on clarity of message.  We’re happy to help.

Marc Jaffrey has been given an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list.  The award is in recognition of his services to education.

Marc took on the role of Music Manifesto Champion in 2004 to campaign for improvements in music education in schools and communities. He led a team drawn from the music industry, the arts and education to influence government policy and unlock record levels of funding for young people’s music making.

Thanks to Marc’s leadership, millions more children now have the opportunity to play instruments and sing. “I feel privileged to have worked with an amazing team of people who are as passionate as I am about music and its importance to a child’s development.”

“Music has the power to inspire, enrich and transform a young person’s experience of learning. It is fun, it gives us all a lift and it brings out the creative individual in us all. I am proud to be honoured in this way. Our music education system and our music industry are world leaders. This award recognises the brilliant work being done by thousands of people around the country to keep Britain musical. Music is working for children, our young people and our nation as a whole.”

Darren Henley, Managing Director of Classic FM and Chairman of the Music Manifesto, says he’s delighted by Marc’s award.  ”Without his tireless efforts, many of the landmark changes in music education over the past few years would simply not have happened.”

marc.jaffrey@thinkagainmedia.co.uk

Photo by Hazel Thompson

Happy Xmas and the best for the New Year from all of us at Think Again. It’s been a pleasure to work with you all through 2009 and next year is already shaping up to be even busier and more exciting.

In particular, standby for one piece of news coming very, very soon.

Have a peaceful and safe holiday season, and see you all in January.

(photo by our brilliant and award-winning colleague Hazel Thompson)

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign changed elections forever, in particular the way his young team used digital media and social networks to mobilise support, spread their key message and help voters feel they could make a difference.

We’ve been using his campaign as an example of good media practice with many of our clients; and it’s clear his success and tactics have not gone un-noticed; the Conservative party are using many of them in preparation for next year’s UK election and more examples will emerge as polling day approaches.

One of Obama’s campaign insiders Rahaf Harfoush has written an intriguing guide to how the tactics developed. Essential reading for anyone involved in getting a message across to a wide range of audiences.

Get it here on Amazon.

Bob Lefsetz is one of the most consistently entertaining commentators on music and culture.   For a quarter of a century, his “Lefsetz Letters”  have been a passionate but clear-eyed take on the music business; championing the fans and the artists but with little time for the shroud-waving and special pleading of record label dinosaurs.

His latest thoughts on music education are worth reading, prompted here by the efforts of the great Quincy Jones.

As we travel the country working with the UK’s music services, the value of teaching children a musical instrument, or singing, becomes clearer than ever – and the stories we’re collecting will provide valuable evidence in the campaign to preserve that  precious resource.

Lefsetz has stories to spare, and he tells them well. But the line that echoed most with me is buried in the middle of his letter  ”Screw kids taking lessons in order to raise their math and English scores, kids need to learn music for music itself.”

More miles on the clock and more nights in chain hotels. But still feeling privileged to be working with such inspirational people.

Not one, but two great examples this  week of how digital and social media are changing the world of campaigning, and taking a battering ram to the old gatekeepers.

First, the Trafigura injunction story showed the futility of thinking that anything can be kept truly secret when communication is instant, global and in the hands of the users. On the face of it, a victory for free speech and open-ness, although it’s worth reflecting also on the dangers it reveals  – well captured in this post by PC Pro’s Barry Collins.

 Second, the comment article by the Daily Mail’s Jan Moir , originally headlined “Why there was nothing ‘natural’ about Stephen Gately’s death”.   Within minutes of it appearing in first editions and online, the backlash had begun.  A record level of complaints to the Press Complaints Commission – a Twitter campaign and a Facebook group headed “The Daily Mail should retract Jan Moir’s hateful, homophobic article”.  

Her assertion that “healthy and fit young men do not just climb into their pyjamas and go to sleep on the sofa never to wake up again” had also angered those organisations campaigning to raise awareness of the many conditions which cause exactly that. 

Several companies, including Nestle (no stranger to the power of online campaigns), Visit England, Kodak and National Express asked for their online advertising to be removed from pages featuring the offending article.  

The Mail didn’t retract anything, but they did change the headline to the apparently less controversial “A strange, lonely and troubling death…” and publish a “clarification” from Jan Moir.   Her claim that she was the victim of “an orchestrated campaign” and that many of those complaining had not even read her article will have raised wry smiles from anyone who remembers the Mail’s own campaign against Ross and Brand a year ago.