The JAM Jar

As if the build up for the Fifa World Cup, which kicks off next month, wasn’t exciting enough, The Printworks have released their very own World Cup song to take on the chart rivals.

Written, produced and performed by Aniff Akinola, aka Box Bottom, Our Telly’s Bigger Than Your Telly is an addictive tune that will hopefully go down in World Cup history.

The video features local stars like Bez and Rowetta from Happy Mondays and boxer Ricky Hatton, along with a group of volunteers and iconic Manchester landmarks as a backdrop.

Available to download on iTunes from June 9th, all proceeds from the track are being donated to Forever Manchester who support local community groups making a positive change across Greater Manchester.

Thursday was an exciting time for us Jammers as we headed out on the road – well, a few miles down the road – to MediaCityUK to be precise – to film a segment for BBC North West Tonight promoting the track. #JAMontour!

So Harrogate was this week named as the happiest place to live in Britain (see here), with Manchester coming a measly 91st out of 111 locations in Rightmove’s Happy at Home Index – down eight places from 83rd last year.

The survey – asking nearly 50,000 respondents to rank how happy they are with their homes and communities – showed that Mancunians are particularly concerned about the price of their property and their satisfaction with local amenities.

Now granted, London is home to all ten of the lowest ranking areas in this most recent study, but why are we supposedly so miserable up here in our northern little city? It can’t just be about property either, I mean look at our weather – where else can you find yourself needing to take both an umbrella and a pair of sunglasses as you leave the house for work?

Take the people too – it doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re buying, somebody somewhere will call you love upon your first meeting. We’re full of love for anyone and everyone here. Just having a natter about the weather with the waitress at lunch is enough to brighten my afternoon (which undoubtedly the sun will have failed to do).

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to Harrogate and it certainly is a delightful little place to be. But we’ve got tea shops here in Manchester (okay, often known as pubs…) and scenery too (squint through the crowds in Piccadilly Gardens and there is some grass underneath, I promise you), not to mention plenty to do – queue for days for the best view of the top acts at the Phones 4u Arena or even check out the scene at The Printworks on a Saturday night! Besides, Harrogate doesn’t have a lovely little Maurice and we certainly do – 1-0 to Manchester in the eyes of us here at JAM!

We are delighted to announce that JAMpr has been appointed by Golden Square shopping centre, Warrington, as its retained PR agency to drive positive awareness of the centre’s fashion and dining offering, along with its family-focused events.

We secured the three-year contract following a three-way pitch and are kicking off activity with the launch of GS Collection, a campaign promoting the centre’s wealth of fashion outlets.

We will manage and execute all local and national press office activity, social media, blogger outreach, event management, charity work and stakeholder engagement initiatives to support Golden Square’s new marketing strategy.

The team is tasked with raising the profile of the centre and driving footfall to its 140 outlets, which include Primark, Marks and Spencer, Boots, Debenhams, as well as popular dining establishments such as Costa Coffee, Nandos, ASK Italian and Starbucks.

Anna Batt, Marketing Manager at Golden Square, says: “JAM’s understanding of our business, target audiences and proposition really shone through and the team delivered a creative, engaging and targeted solution to our brief. We were impressed with JAM’s strategic approach, forward planning, creative ideas, knowledge of the media and overall enthusiasm for our business and with a proven track record at delivering results, we are confident that JAM will strengthen our reputation and position in the region and beyond.”

To win Golden Square is a huge milestone for us. We are delighted to be working with such a well-known brand and the team is looking forward to driving Golden Square’s PR activity forward over the next three years. The popular shopping centre has over 12 million visitors a year and our campaign will support the new marketing strategy, build on Golden Square’s strengths, drive footfall and reinforce its positive reputation among its key target audiences.

Golden Square is our second major win this year, joining clients such as The Printworks, Transform Cosmetic Surgery, Argos for Business, Carl Kammerling International, my Travel Cash and EHL Ingredients.

Last night was the Prolific North Awards, we pruned our hair and threw our glad rags on and set off to celebrate the great work done this year, in the wonderful world of media. We were up for Small Agency of the year, which unfortunately we didn’t win, but big congratulations to the guys at Smoking Gun who did win – and in the fine words of Kelly Clarkson (we think) – What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

A live tweeting screen at the event soon descended into one man’s plight to find a date, so shout out to #singlesam if you’re reading this; we hope you did find a date in the end, oh the powers of social…

We’ve also had a new starter at JAMpr, Nia Dawson, who joins us from the agency Lexis in London; initiated with a shot of Sambuca at last night’s awards we hope she comes back to us on Tuesday, please swing by to say hello if she does!

Before we head off for the bank holiday weekend we wanted to share our new favourite app with you – Cloak. Cloak scrapes Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare to let you know where all your friends, ‘friends’, and non-friends are at all times so you never have to run into that special someone. Think of it as the antisocial network. So if you’re looking a bit worse for wear after a big bank holiday night out, rest assured that you have the power to make sure you won’t get caught.

Have a great weekend!

Nia @ JAM Towers