Nicky Forrest, Author at Phipps

Dry January. Really?

Nicky Forrest — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 13:39:18 +0000

Dry January is over, but no one at Phipps has been celebrating. That’s because we are an agency of boozers. Can’t do without it. Wine, beer, gin, rum, cocktails. Love the stuff. What we worked out though, is that as an agency of 17 people we actually managed a collective dry January. Everyone had a couple of days off and between us, we managed to clock up over 31 alcohol-free days. Not a bad effort!

“Giving up alcohol is not only boring but is actually bad for your health”

On the subject of Dry January, my very good friend, the science writer Tony Edwards, author of “The Good News About Booze,” says this: “If you already drink sensibly, giving up alcohol is not only boring, but is actually bad for your health. That’s because alcohol – wine, particularly – is as important a part of one’s diet as the much touted 5-a-day fruit and veg.”

If you don’t believe him, he suggests you take a look at what a panel of US Government-appointed nutritionists say in their latest Report: “The U.S. population should be encouraged and guided to consume dietary patterns that are rich in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, seafood, legumes, nuts; (and) moderate to low – non-fat dairy products and alcohol (among adults). Regular consumption of nuts and legumes and moderate consumption of alcohol are components of a beneficial dietary pattern.”

So, here we all are at our Thursday night agency get together, sampling non-alcoholic drinks – the winner was a rose water, pomegranate and lime concoction made for us by Phipps’ resident barman, George Holley. And the verdict? Very nice for an occasional night off. Does rose water count as one of your five a day?

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What do Kerry Katona and an Orangutan have in common?

Nicky Forrest — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 13:42:23 +0000

Who’d have thought that Iceland, who was once fronted by Kerry Katona as it’s very own celebrity queen of the jungle, would be making it’s mark this Christmas with a campaign for deforestation. Is it because the Iceland marketing team, who famously dropped Katona as quick as a coconut falls from a tree, is secretly paving the way for an I’m a Celebrity, Noel Edmonds dressed as an orangutang -‘That’s why dads go to Iceland’ campaign?

Probably not; although I do think the idea has some creative merit.

No, it’s because back in April this year, Iceland pledged to make all of its own label products palm oil free by the end of 2018. I have to say that since that announcement, I regularly nip into Iceland on my way back from the gym and stock up easy meals for the family. I can wholeheartedly recommend its fish stew mix and macaroni cheese for one with not a dash of palm oil in sight.

But for me, the strength of this campaign (and praise be to the broadcasting laws that prevented the ad from airing on TV) is that my kids, who until the Iceland campaign was unleashed on social media, refused to eat Whole Earth no palm oil peanut butter on grounds of texture, now know that if a slightly runnier spread on their bagels in the morning might help to save deforestation in south east Asia then it’s a small sacrifice to make.

Oh and back to the original question; they both thrive in the jungle and long may it stay that way.

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Women in Wine: Panel structure and Questions.

Nicky Forrest — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 17:23:08 +0000

Our MD Nicky talks about the Women in Wine event she was involved in this week…

I was invited last night to talk to the Women in Wine London group @WineWomenLDN about consumer PR and communication in the wine industry. The panel included the illustrious Abi Barlow from @BDCreativeUK and @michelcherutti wine educator extraordinaire. We all agreed that the on trade has a key role to play in innovation, experimentation; that brand owners need to be focused and singular when developing a brand and not target too widely; that traditional media is as influential as ever it’s just that influence now comes in many other forms and from many other channels; and that women are the key wine consumers in the UK and that the trade gatekeepers need to listen up.

If you want to be invited to the next event then contact Sula or Regine . It’s a fantastic, supportive and inspiring group of women!

regine.lee@libertywines.co.uk sula.richardson@wset.co.uk

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Welcome to the new Phipps

Nicky Forrest — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 09:50:34 +0000

Welcome to the new Phipps. It’s not just a new website; it’s a rebrand.

It all started when we realised that for a long time we had been doing a whole lot more than just PR. Last year we organised 45 events, 8 sponsorships, worked with over 100 influencers, executed social media campaigns for seven of our clients and organised promotions with six UK supermarkets and major retailers. Of course at the core of all our campaigns is the drumbeat of a strong media relations campaign, but we do so much more.

As an agency, when your offer is wide, it’s hard to articulate and so our new website tries to encapsulate all that we do and in the ‘Work’ section you’ll see it laid out by our four new communications pillars: PR, Events, Social and Trade. The ‘Insights’ section shows you what we’ve been up to recently and if you want to meet us, find out about recent awards or fancy joining our team then just go to the ‘About Us’ section!

We’d love it if you had a look round – tell us what you think!

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A Riesling to Celebrate

Nicky Forrest — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 11:48:48 +0000

As a mother, I used to think that there were two types of people on the planet; those who have children and those who don’t. We all live in the same parallel universe but our lives are so very fundamentally different. But perhaps it’s even simpler than that? Perhaps the divide is just those who love Riesling and those who are yet to be converted.

Riesling inspires a slavish devotion in people which I find fascinating, and The Riesling Fellowship, hosted by Wines of Germany UK held last week at Vintners’ Hall, is all about celebrating Riesling in its many guises. To my knowledge, I actually don’t think that any other grape variety has its own fellowship. Which should tell you all you need to know. There is simply no other grape that can touch it for its beguiling charm, its ethereal sublimity and its downright versatility.

For Wines of Germany UK, it is the grape variety of the mind, body and soul, and what better way to spend a Thursday night than hosting an event that saw ‘Generation Riesling’ producers and members of the wine trade join together for an evening of tasting, fine dining, seminars and celebration.

‘Generation Riesling’ is a group of over 500 dynamic young producers who work together to promote their wines on the global stage – www.generationriesling.de. Eleven of them flew over to join in the fun and show their wines to a highly appreciative and receptive UK trade. ‘Generation Riesling’ producers are the future of German Wine; of that there is no doubt. Their wines are graceful, powerful, thoughtful and bold. So thank you guys for coming over and bringing your wines – we hope you had a good time!

And of course throughout the evening two new Riesling Fellows were appointed; Paul Grieco from NYC for converting thousands of US citizens to the joys of Riesling, and journalist Albert de Jong from The Netherlands whose self-declared mission in life is to reveal Riesling to those who are ‘blind’.

I feel a Damascene Riesling conversion coming on.

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We’re not scared of the big bad booze claims

Nicky Forrest — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 08:59:17 +0000

As a woman I was delighted to hear the news of the new recommended drinking limits. I can still drink my 14 units a week, no problem. My husband who, with respect, weighs considerably more than me and can therefore drink me under the table, was less happy. What isn’t clear is why the UK is now out of kilter with every other nation where the guidelines allow men to drink roughly twice as much as women; largely because men’s alcohol processing enzymes are twice as efficient as women’s. Lucky them.

What is just as surprising is that Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies’ basic message is that there is no safe level of drinking.

Speaking to leading science writer Tony Edwards author of The Good News about Booze which is the seminal work on the relationship between alcohol and health says that ‘the irony is that if people who already drink within the old guidelines do follow her advice and completely stop drinking, their risk of disease and premature death will increase…. Medical studies now running into many hundreds and published in the worlds top journals say that providing you don’t go overboard on the booze, drinking will help you live a longer and healthier life.” He goes on to say, “Heart disease is the number one killer and and the number one medicine for preventing it is a moderate daily intake of alcohol according to hundreds of medical studies.”

Edwards suggests that the committee missed some major pieces of unequivocal evidence in coming to their conclusions. One is that when alcohol is tested in clinical trials it increases HDL (good) cholesterol and reduces blood clotting and the inflammatory markers associated with heart disease. Other pieces of hard evidence show that moderate drinkers have lower risks of dementia, strokes caused by blood clots, arthritis, obesity, prostrate problems, kidney stones and even the common cold.

In 1948 when the NHS was created the doctors regularly prescribed alcohol but in 1987 the Royal College of Physicians wrote a paper on alcohol describing it in the well known scientific term of ‘evil’ and it’s been downhill ever since. Guidelines were created then under the guise of alcohol is bad for you but if you must drink, limit it to 14/21 units a day, and the announcement this week is broadly the same in but with intakes being lower.

Alcohol has now well and truly been demonized by the medical health profession and they have made the evidence tell the story that they want it to. But what is it that is so flawed in our society that they came up with the conclusions that there is no safe amount of alcohol that you can drink?

Binge drinking. For sure. The culture of throwing it large on a Saturday night and creating havoc in the streets. Definitely. The millions of pounds spent by the NHS treating those that have been injured or harmed by alcohol. Absolutely. But while this is the group of people that should listen up, the new recommended drinking limits will not reach this group because they aren’t the listening kind.

So it’s yet another futile government ‘recommendation’ based on misguided information that won’t save the NHS any money and won’t help us change our binge drinking ways.

So what should the drinks industry do to defend itself now that it has been deliberately demonized so that it can’t fight it’s own battle. Who will listen to us? Dame Sally Davies has quite literally beaten the credibility out of the industry so that all it can sound like is a bunch of evil handed crack cocaine dealers pushing drugs at the school gates and whining when the teachers tell us to stop.

So what might this mean for alcohol sales in the UK? The industry is already doing a good job at self-regulation with alcohol sales falling from their peak in 2004. And the industry deserves commendation for its efforts in voluntarily reducing the strength of drinks as per the Responsibility Deal and highlighting the health implications of excessive drinking. Should we expect consumers to change their habits based on this report and its half-baked recommendations?

Dare we hope that the UK population is smart enough to see through it for what it is; an ill thought through, incompetent and somewhat sinister anti-alcohol piece of propaganda. With UK consumers already becoming increasingly watchful over their alcohol intake they are unlikely to appreciate being dictated to in this manner and I would hope that they will dismiss the guidelines as unworkable and irrelevant.

Let’s hope that those who are involved in the drinks industry can work together to keep the show on the road. While the government is probably willing us to all implode in a barrage of liver disease, we should take heart in the fact that there is irrefutable medical evidence which shows if we carry on drinking moderately we’ll live a whole lot longer than those who don’t drink at all.

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