What a great way to begin my blogging adventure on the Radio Relations blog than to talk about what has been one of the most fun, exciting, interesting and varied of my broadcast career.
We were challenged by the lovely people at Bastion to work alongside them for their client The British Toy and Hobby Association, to extend the already impressive coverage usually achieved for the famous trade event, the Toy Fair.
For those not in the know, the Toy Fair is a yearly trade event, held in January, where buyers and members of the press are invited to meet toy manufacturers from all over the country and be introduced to what is 'New for 2012'. To you and I - the toys that the kids are going to be pestering us for next Christmas!
Our remit was simple; broadcast interviews to BBC and commercial radio stations across the country, LIVE from Toy Fair 2012 at London's Olympia. In addition we were tasked with creating a Video News Release (VNR) for distribution online to further enhance coverage.
Simple right? Well for the Radio Relations team, working alongside Independent Media News (IMN), it was!
It all began on Monday 23rd January when the 'tech guys' from IMN made tracks to the Olympia to begin setting up the required equipment for the LIVE broadcasts. This did not simply involved plugging in a couple of microphones and a mixing desk....after connecting several times to Radio Relations ISDN line to test the equipment and the actual line...the team then spent the better part of two hours tweaking the levels of sound to create the perfect balance of ambiance and vocal input to create a natural sounding, 'live from Toy Fair' broadcast. Which I have to say...sounded AMAZING!
While all this is happening, Jo Sutherland and the team from IMN were busy ensuring the stations had everything they needed for this exclusive consumer glimpse into Toy Fair 2012. Tasked with coordinating 4 different spokespeople, potential child spokespeople and reaching a client that was clearly going to be the busiest they had been all year with regular updates. I am glad to say - this all went without a hitch!
8:00am, Tuesday 24th January 2012: So the day arrives, armed with our Press Passes, myself and the IMN team break through tight security and make it to the studio. Back to back interviews began almost immediately, with stations such as BBC Scotland, LBC and BBC Cumbria waiting to go live. Assisted by the amazingly organised press team from Bastion the interviews went smoothly and sounded fantastic!
By this time though, I was long gone from the studio and heading out with 'Dan with the cam' to provide support and networking skills to get some interviews from some of the stand holders. At this point, I would like to thank the stand holders for their patience and understanding as we bugged them for comment. I am pleased to say though, having met some interesting company owners and marketing professionals, we got some quality footage that made the next step so much easier.
So, footage in the bag, interviews still going strong, this ended my time at Toy Fair 2012 - sadly! I would have loved to stay all day but pressing work commitments would not allow. For Dan, this gave him the chance to get back to his editing suite and begin editing - the end result, a great looking VNR that was ready and with the client the following day - complete with some online coverage. Now that is what you call service!
Please take the time to review the VNR linked below
A big thank you to LEGO, Playmobil and Green Board Games to name just a few of the contributors who were kind enough to allow us some time to film them and their stands.
