Bye bye, Cafe Royal

The Golden Geese shed tears on Sunday 21st December when we visited our members’ club client Chinawhite for the last time. We’ve not all been barred or anything – but we’ve had to bid our farewells because as we type, the site is being demolished to make room for a new six star hotel. So, no more Paper, no more Grill-Room and for the time being, Chinawhite will close until the new venue is ready in Summer 2009.

We’ve got so many happy memories of all the clubs inside the Café Royal building. The hedonistic halcyon day parties thrown by David Piper in the Grill Room, the spectacular launch of Paper, Helena Christiensen’s star studded birthday party, the macabre Chinawhite Magic shows, Keira Knightley’s 21st …all have been wondrous occasions that we’ll never forget. We’d write a book about our adventures at 68 Regent Street, but then we’d all have to leave the country and change our names. So, here are just a glimpse of our favourite moments over the past five years:

Laura: “Being in the thick of it when the crowd went mad at the Chinawhite MOJO party in 2006. The Alabama 3 played live and Larry Love was amazing. He sang Johnny Cash songs, I was dancing with Shane McGowan, MC QC Ian Glen, QC Mike Mansfield AKA ‘the Champagne Socialist’ and members of the Guildford 4 and the Birmingham 6. I’ve never known an atmosphere like it.”
Felicity: “Bumping in to Jude Law three times over the course of one evening at Chinawhite at the Peace One Day party in 2008. We were on proper ‘hello’ terms. It was almost as exciting as meeting Boris Johnson on High Street Kensington!”
Laura Lou: “Watching Bonnie Tyler sing ‘I need a hero’ live at Chinawhite at David Gest’s All Star Souls party in 2006, she’s a real hero of mine herself. Our Fujifilm Finepix launch at the Grill-Room in 2007 was a really special moment too. Seeing Patrick Wolf performing live with his Ukulele after months of to-ing and fro-ing with contract issues and small print was really amazing, as everything just came together.”
Remy: “I’m a beauty buff so for me, it was meeting Nadine Baggot, beauty editor of Hello Magazine, at the Chinawhite Pamper Party in 2008. We swapped cards and stayed in touch. Nadine attended a beauty day at Selfridges and I got a photo of the two of us together which is on my desk next to my other favourite picture (of Zac Efron).”
Miki: “Dressing up as a giant rabbit for the first ever Chinawhite Magic Show. Forget Issa and Temperley, this was the best outfit I’ve ever worn! I think Laura Topham very much enjoyed being my rabbit companion too. The dinner parties in the Mao Rooms were brilliant as well...and I loved it every time we had a celebrity secretly stashed in the corner when no one else in the club had a clue..like Prince and Janet Jackson."
Emily: “I went to Chinawhite after my 6th form Prom, I was 18! I snogged a Russian boy called Vlad the Slav.”
John: “My best memory of Chinawhite is a simple one, having an endless supply of amazing cocktails delivered to my table - oh and eating delicious Mimi’s Bakery cupcakes that the team devoured in a secret little boudoir-esque nook at Charlotte Ward's book launch for ‘Why Am I Always The One Before The One'"
Katie: “Dressing up as the Green Absinth Fairy for Chinawhite’s Halloween magic show. Meeting Caprice and introducing her to Sebor absinth sour cocktails was fun. I’m not sure how keen she really was on them but she was very polite and drank one anyway!”
Cleo: “Tough choice - Right my unofficial top moment had to be when Tom Curtis knocked out a light in Chinawhite whilst getting too into air guitar at a Rick Parfitt Jnr gig. We were all jumping on the tables and chairs in a scene reminiscent of an early Black Sabbath concert, with lychee cocktails rather than beer! As for the official top moment, it had to be Halloween in Chinawhite 2006 - it was such an amazing atmosphere - one that could only happen in an establishment where the crowd knew how to let their hair (and rabbit ears) down and just have a bloody good time. Oh and from the PR buzz point of view - Keira Knightley having her 21st in the Grill Room was a pretty good one too!”

Santa's Little Helper

Product placing a Christmas stocking stuffed with adult toys courtesy of Kinky Play isn’t the easiest of tasks – especially with only a month to do it in. Passion, persuasion and bribery were put in to overdrive as account manager Laura Lou rallied her team to approach every single shopping and online retail contact we knew. Many told us there was no room at the inn, but we finally cracked it with politicsandthecity, talkSport, the Daily Sport, Scarlet Magazine, Refresh Lite and Metro. Our joyful clients at Kinky Play told us that on the day that the Metro piece ran, their site picked up 65,000 hits with over 100 sales and rising...

A Bit of Good Clean Fun....

Golden Goose PR has been lucky enough to generate a vast amount of coverage for our clients this year, but perhaps our favourite ever piece is from Kate Walsh’s Prufrock, just before Glastonbury 08. We had the bright idea to approach Comet to suggest that we bring the brand to the festival. Our plan was to create a mobile ‘My Beautiful Launderette’ – with only very subtle Comet branding, natch. Oh, and we’d have SWAT teams (err…ourselves) racing out to rescue mud-soaked victims and clean them up all nice and pretty. We'd use low temperature washes, environmentally friendly detergents and educate the great unwashed in the ways of eco-friendly, good clean living. OK, so it was slightly an excuse to get the whole team knee deep in mud whilst we pranced around to Neil Diamond and The Ting Tings. But anyway, Comet loved it. And so did Hugh Robertson and the lovely people at RPM, the ultimate experiential marketing agency that specialises in marrying brands with festivals. We had some inspired meetings, plans were hatched – but Michael Eavis probably quite rightly put his foot down. It’s all ever so slightly about the dirt, after all. We still went to Glastonbury, but on a jolly, rather than a mission. But we did happen to mention our little idea to the Sunday Times… anyway…it’s a great plan that couldn’t happen this year..but that’s not to say there’s not another way…festival planners for 2009 take note…

Supporting Samsung with the inaugural Pink Ribbon Party at the Park Lane Hotel

At any one time, the Golden Goose PR office is buzzing with charity activity. Over the years we’ve supported Breast Cancer Haven, MediCinema and global ceasefire initiative, Peace One Day. Then in November, we were approached by GSP and Samsung to publicise the first ever Samsung Pink Ribbon Party, a gala dinner for 17 global breast cancer charities including Susan G. Komen For The Cure and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

The party took place at the Park Lane Hilton. GSP rolled out the pink carpet and GGPR drummed up a sparkling guest list. Our star studded cast for the evening included Jerry Hall, Jasmine Guinness, Jade Parfitt, Camilla Rutherford and many more remarkable women – all of whom took the time to chat to digital entertainment megasite, t5m; whom we introduced to Samsung to record and syndicate footage all over the world. With two tables of press guests including Grazia, Woman Magazine, heat, Closer, OK!, the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Telegraph and the Sunday Times, we had the best ever audience to witness the highlight of the evening: a presentation of a $3m cheque from Samsung to help fight breast cancer. Live performances from Beverley Knight and Kelly Rowland got everyone on the dancefloor…in fact, the lovely George Starck from Woman Magazine was singled out by Ms Rowland and invited on to the stage for a smooch and a serenade.

Working through the night with t5m, we were able to transcribe interviews and place quotes in the diary and showbiz pages of The Express, thelondonpaper, the Mail on Sunday and OK! Magazine before 8am the next day. We syndicated photos taken by the wonderful JAB Promotions over the course of the week. The style press picked up on the stunning jewellery worn by Kelly Rowland, Amanda Donohoe and Camilla Rutherford - and this of course was lent by our jewellery client, Robinson Pelham. This was a really rewarding, happy and wonderful project to have been involved with.

Brief Encounter: The story of David Gandy, the Cartier Polo and the Perfect Pants

Not everyone arrives at the Cartier Polo carrying a pair of white underpants, but that is exactly what our gander, Remy Le Fevre, was tasked to do on the morning of 27th July.

Waddling valiantly across the rolling green fields of Windsor Great Park, tailored to perfection and positively glowing in the blazing sun, Mssr Le Fevre had one mission: to ask the perfect being known as David Gandy to sign a pair of his Dolce & Gabbana smalls.

There was a motive behind this extraordinary challenge: the autographed undergarments would assist GGPR with a spot of fundraising and publicity for global ceasefire initiative, Peace One Day. Remy’s keen eyes scanned the horizon, looking for the perfect torso that was last spotted on a boat in the middle of the ocean wearing nothing but a similar pair of white Dolce & Gabbanas...

Resplendent in the beautiful surroundings of Chinawhite Rock The Polo, the mighty specimen that is known across the world as David Gandy swept into Remy’s midst, surrounded by other god-like creatures, all of whom belonged to the genetically blessed family that goes by the name ‘Select Models’. Remy approached David Gandy...and showed him his pants. The Gander’s breathless, parted lips whispered the words, “Mr Gandy, would you do us the honour of emblazoning your symbol on these smalls”. To which Mr Gandy replied, “Of course! Anything for Golden Goose PR.” Aaahh!

And so it came to pass that the ultimate object of cotton desire was created – a pair of white Dolce and Gabbana undies, signed by the beautiful David Gandy himself. Remy returned to base exhilarated ....and more than a little excited, to say the least.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN V.I.P....

If you think that Remy was the only Goose having adventures at the polo, then think again. Back at the ranch, (or rather, the splendid, breathtaking superstructure that was the Chinawhite Rock The Polo marquee, created by genius events agency GSP) Laura Lou and Felicity were sticking 29 candles on to Sam Young’s birthday cake. Sure enough, our favourite London DJ was about to get another year older and we planned to surprise him with a birthday cake created by Mimi’s Bakery and presented by Mark Ronson as the pair swapped sets. At 7.55, the countdown began: David Benett and Richard Young jumped on to a platform positioned by the DJ booth to get the best pictures and Flick and Laura Lou went and tapped Mark Ronson on the bum (they were meant to touch his shoulder. Mark, we apologise – but you didn’t complain at the time!), handed him the cake and we were off...

Sam seemed genuinely surprised and delighted – and the pictures went all over the UK media. The Sun, Closer Magazine, Reveal, Star and even Grazia used the photos. We even shared our cake with Kelly Brook, we just wish she’d eaten more than we did!

Boris Becker spends an early Christmas with The Geese

The turrets of Golden Goose PR echo with the shrills of festive music from as early as July, when we plan client activity for December 2008 and January 2009. This year, we seized upon an opportunity to publicise a number of brands and services at once, by creating a pre-Christmas Christmas party in the opulent surroundings of an £8m flat in Chelsea. The luxury residence was created by our award winning property development and interior design client, mdesign – which has since picked up ‘World’s Leading Apartment’, ‘Best UK’ and ‘Best London’ Apartment in the UK Property Awards and the International Property Awards, as sponsored by CNBC.

On a fine end-of-summer’s morning, we decked the halls with boughs of holly, rigged our tree and filled the apartment with seasonal gifts that could inspire the nation’s luxury, style and consumer press to pack their Gift Guides with our clients’ wares. Flashing Fujifilm digital cameras and printers took pride of place in the living room, with Robinson Pelham jewellery in the master bedroom. Pineapple Dancewear was draped on to mannequins and cocktails made with Effen vodka were served to guests by the Foxyshots girls. Our luxury water client got a look in too; all the non-drinkers were spoiled for choice with options of ganic luxury aroma water in ginger (Naomi Campbell’s favourite), festive cranberry and caramel.

As our guests stared in awe at the stunning interior that was created by mdesign, our jaws dropped open when Boris Becker walked in. Yes, only weeks after Felicity met one Boris (Johnson) on High Street Kensington, here was our 2nd favourite Boris, the Ginger King Of Tennis, walking in to our party. Not only did Boris B have a good look around, considering the apartment for a potential future purchase, but he left with a Golden Goose Goody Bag, crammed with Soap & Glory and Pineapple products and a Stella McCartney fragranced candle.

All in all, it was a great turn-out, with attendees including the FT How To Spend It, Sunday Times Style, Grazia, Stella, The Telegraph, The Times, The Mail on Sunday, The Independent, Tatler, Marie Claire, thelondonpaper and CNBC – as well as a number of stylists and property media specialists. We’ve had stacks of coverage since and product requests, as well as a great feature on mdesign and its outstanding accolades, which ran on CNBC http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=928109607&play=1

Fucking good coverage

It would seem that the editors at The Telegraph are a little on the prudish side when it comes to rude words, not once but three times was FUCK omitted from the City Diary when they were talking about one of the latest evenings scheduled in at Chinawhite. Not even worthy of expletives, it would appear that the celeb hosted night was drawing blanks (four in fact) from either a red faced Jonathan Russell who wrote the piece or a nervous sub-editor with a big red pen, whilst City AM was a little more risqué only limiting themselves to ‘F*ck’.

Nevertheless, it was another great piece of pre-hype coverage, targeted at those who have both the money and the time to kick up their heels and say “Fuck the Credit Crunch!”, while this blog entry gave us Geese the chance let those missing three words see the light of say.

MOOB Madness

Golden Goose PR headed out onto the streets of Britain with Virgin Active this week Virgin Active to conduct their Moob shopper demonstrations to raise awareness of obesity and to encourage the British public to get in shape. Highlighting the bits we all love to hate including bingo wings, jelly belly and muffin top and with the slogan ‘Love your good bits, lose your bad bits’, the campaign aims to incentivise people to start exercising and get body fit.



A dedicated team of ‘Moob’ men paraded around London and through Birmingham and Manchester city centres in their bras to draw attention to the rise of man boobs within the UK male population and the latest Virgin Active campaign which encourages people to remedy their unwanted shapes through exercise. Fitness professionals were on hand to answer any exercise related questions. Spot our Account Manager Lauralou behind her placard at the burger van (not buying a burger though obviously!)

Making Friends

Golden Geese, Miki and John headed off to Kensington Olympia for the official unveiling of their latest client; Scarlett & Crimson, at Brand Licensing Europe 2008.

Scarlett & Crimson are the best of friends and rock-chic kids of the “Juno Generation” who are set to be the hottest thing in 2009 as they’re discovered by tweens and adults alike. Coolabi is the company spearheading their world-wide domination ahead of the first in a series of books by Simon & Schuster, which will be out next summer – they’ve also got some secret Scarlett & Crimson designer collaborations in the pipeline too.

Scarlett & Crimson weren’t the only ones we bumped into at the event, in fact we had to fight our way through hoards of ninja turtles, ballet dancing mice, wannabe geese, inflated humans and a chirpy builder before Miki’s dream came true, she finally met Scooby Doo!

Flashy in Pink

Never ones to pass up an opportunity, Golden Goose PR's webbed feet hit Oxford Street running when we heard there was an opportunity to get client fujifilm involved with Selfridges infamous ‘Beauty Editors Day’ .

With only a few days to go before the big event (which was in aid of the charity Look Good Feel Good), Account Executive Remy set about achieving the impossible; to ensure that Fujifilm had a branded presence on the store floor and that our client worked with all of the 27 beauty editors from the world’s leading publications including Zest, Cosmo, Stella, OK!, Glamour, Hello and You to ensure that everyone who attended had a truly memorable day.

After working with Selfridges to finalise our clients attendance, we managed to call in sample stock, organise customer gifts, arrange branding and brief a dedicated Fuji-team to wow the visitors on the shop floor with some seriously swish cameras.

Armed with a selection pink FinePix Z20fd and FinePix Z100fd cameras the seven-strong team were able to let customers take away a little memory of their shopping trip. Not only that but by demonstrating the Portrait Enhancer Mode, the portrait pictures taken surpassed many customers' expectations plus they were able to take their pictures home thanks to the Fujifilm IrSimple technology and some strategically placed Fujifilm printers on the shop floor.

By the end of the day we’d snapped hundreds of people and put Fujifilm front of mind of its core target market and media, through some positive brand interaction and a lot of flashy fun! Selfridges was so chuffed with how we were able to add something extra to the day, and in such a short time, they’ve already asked us back to do another event in a few weeks time!

News from 'the Nest'

It’s been a busy week on the news front in the nest, with most of our clients and even us Geese scoring some serious column inches.

Covering a broad spectrum of media; from kids’ classic The Beano (where we even managed to get Dennis the Menace swinging a golf club in support of adventure golf client Jurassic Encounter), through to celebrity bible OK! Magazine where Virgin Active glided in with a full page spread on the latest fitness craze.

Verlocke! also got a hair raising shock too, when we placed their first piece of coverage in More magazine and it had their phones ringing off the hook; with over 250 enquiries within 48 hours of publication! Signing up Rachel Coyle (little sis to Girls Aloud's Nadine) as the face of the brand has certainly paid off with coverage in the News Of the World and heatworld.com


And of course, not afraid of the limelight ourselves, we Geese were quizzed, coiffed and shot at for a feature in The Sunday Times Style about recycling fashion.

A Mayoral Moment

When it comes to die hard fans, there are few that are as devoted to the cause as our Tory-Goose; Ms Hardingham. On hearing that her idol, London Mayor Boris Johnson was walking the streets of High Street Kensington to listen to the voice of the people, it didn’t take two ticks for her to plump her feathers and fly the nest in search of her quarry.

Fighting through the hoards of paparazzo, police and general HSK riff raff, Flick charged on up to the Mayor and politely curtsied *whispering under her breath “I love you Boris”* - then with the determination found in the soul of all good Geese, she thrust a Fujifilm camera into the hands of a nearby copper and asked whether she’d take a picture of them together. At this point most people would smile and say “cheese” however the lovely and demure Flick said quite proudly; “Your hair is my idol”.

A somewhat confused Mayor muttered his thanks before shaking hands and asking for her opinion on the extension of the congestions charge, at which point she thought there were better things to be doing (like writing up this entry onto the news site) so headed back to the office with a very satisfied grin and photo to be framed and mounted on the wall. All in all, a very good start to the month indeed.

Ice-conic water unveiled

Whilst most big spending at nightclubs is all down to Cristal and vintage Dom Perignon, thanks to us Geese; Maya on Dean Street offered up an impressive £10,000 water bill last night to VIP guests when launching its super premium drinks menu.

We’d managed to negotiate for our premium drinks client LiquidLust to provide the world's most expensive ice, which was re-frozen from bottles of Berg water to create a massive iceberg which was displayed on the bar top. Maya’s mixologists then hacked at it to produce the ice for each of the premium cocktails and help launch Berg to London’s high society.

Quintessentially Magazine, Mail on Sunday, News Week, The Sun, thelondonpaper, London Lite and Now Magazine were among some of the press through the door and helping the Geese prop up the bar. As well as the obligatory movers and shakers (not the cocktail shakers behind the bar you understand!); Robert Cary Williams, Charlotte Dutton, Zac Maybach, Thom Fell and Dickson Poon who were sipping their drinks with mini icebergs.

Creating a scene

With pressing media deadlines and concrete barely laid, GGPR was tasked to get a lifestyle shot of the new Jurassic Encounter Adventure Golf course over to the picture desk of a national newspaper ahead of its launch on the bank holiday weekend. Never is a goose shy of a challenge, so donning sturdy work boots and with a handy Fujifilm FinePix 100fd they marched on over to New Malden to the still unplanted, mud filled pre-historic basin that will eventually become one of London’s coolest new tourist attractions.

Discovering the 18-hole adventure golf course was still knee deep in cement, topsoil and anxious workmen, and with not a green leaf or dinosaur insight, the only solution was to get creative and trust in the fact that the camera never lies (well not the Fujifilm ones anyway). Working speedily with the gardening crew (who luckily had just rocked up with a van full of foliage) we geese coordinated a mass clean up around putting greens four and five, identifying a perfect natural frame for the picture with the aid of a convenient palm tree, then came the dinosaurs. A raptor here and pterodactyl there, along with a few more bamboos, ferns, shrubs and grasses and the much sort after picture was almost complete, the missing ingredient… that human touch.

It didn’t take long to find two willing volunteers to have a quick putt around our impromptu Jurassic garden, so in two shakes of a Brachiosaurus’ tail we’d managed to work wonders – a lifestyle picture of what Jurassic Encounter could be like, but it wont be until it opens on Saturday 23 August that you actually undertake your own golfing adventure to find out how close to the finished venue it’ll be.

A FinePix moment?

It was a sad day in EastEnders last week as the Square bid farewell to Mickey Miller, his step-father Keith and loyal hound Genghis.

Just before leaving to start a new life in the Cotswolds, Mickey, played by Joe Swash was presented with a digital camera in the Queen Vic by his friends. The question on the lips of The Geese is whether or not it was the infamous Fujifilm FinePix Z20fd - answers on a postcard please . . . .

Golden Goose PR tees up a media plan for Jurassic Encounter

Jurassic Encounter, the first adventure golf experience to launch in easy reach of London and the South East has appointed Golden Goose PR ahead of its launch on the
8th of August.

Located at New Malden’s famous ‘World of Golf’, Jurassic Encounter is a thrilling 18-hole golf course, complete with roaring mechanical dinosaurs, man-made ‘primeval’ caves, cascading waterfalls and lush vegetation – all set within a half acre site that recreates the mood of a land that time forgot.

As players of all ages take to the course, they will encounter fun challenges to test their golfing skills as well as a few cleverly timed encounters with pre-historic beasts. Pterodactyls, brontosaurs and T-rex are amongst the nine playful species roaming the course…and when players least expect it, they are known to join in…

Golden Goose PR's campaign will include lifestyle media outreach, national and regional marketing campaigns and the creation of ‘The Raptor Cup’, a fun and educational challenge to get kids excited about playing golf.

Dog blog

With the new site launched and our dedicated Goose Tales blog, Golden Goose PR wanted to take the opportunity to introduce its' canine friends.

Firstly is Sir Lenny Watson AKA The Urban Fox










Then there's the demure Coco Wood a chocolate lab with a fascination for yoghurt pots and anything cardboard.






Newshounds Titus and Stewie love nothing better than getting stuck into the papers especially the FT and Esquire.






Finally we have Molly, she may look tiny but she is reported to have the best size:bark ratio - 'more hound to the pound' so they say