Loop PR

Streetcar, the UK’s largest car club, has announced it is to almost double its fleet within nine months, and add several new vehicle types to the scheme.

From January 2010, Streetcar will add the BMW 1 and 3 Series¹ to its existing fleet of VW Polos, Golfs, Tourans and Transporter Vans, increasing the number of vehicles from 1100 to just under 2000 by September 2010.

As Brett Akker, Streetcar’s co-founder explains: “These moves are part of our radical expansion plans for 2010 and will create a more dynamic service to suit our increasingly diverse customer base. Now we have something to suit every occasion, budget and member; from the student to the city professional to the business opting to replace their pool car scheme with a more cost-effective alternative². We believe our growth will enable more and more people to consider giving up a car, a trend which we’ve already seen increasing dramatically over the past six years³.”

Streetcar has become an increasingly popular alternative for those who need occasional use of a vehicle. Membership has more than doubled in just over 12 months to 75,000 and is expected to rise to 250,000 by 2012. The scheme boasts over 1000 locations across seven cities; London, Brighton, Cambridge, Southampton, Guildford, Maidstone and, most recently, Oxford. The number of locations is to increase to 2,000 during the course of 2010.

Jesse Koti, who regularly uses Streetcar, said: “I am delighted that Streetcar is introducing BMW to its range.  Driving a luxury car will make our trips an even more pleasant and enjoyable experience. Streetcar has just become an even more attractive alternative to owning a car in the City.”

The new BMW models will be available 24/7 for rent by the hour, day, week or month. Members will be able to reserve a car online (www.streetcar.co.uk) or over the phone, as little as 30 minutes in advance, and use remotely activated smartcards to unlock the vehicle.

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Notes to Editor

1. BMW has the lowest average CO2 emissions of any premium car manufacturer for the second year in a row according to new independent research. Courtesy of its award-winning EfficientDynamics programme, BMW records a UK fleet average of 159.4g/km based on all BMWs sold in 2008.

1. By using Streetcar vehicles for staff business travel, organisations can make significant savings against running their own fleet.  Streetcar is the business travel option for over 2000 businesses including Surrey County Council who saw a cost reduction of 26% per mile driven with Streetcar compared to their previous car pool costs.

1. Independent research conducted by Transport for London shows that each car club vehicle on the road replaces an average of 26 privately-owned cars. This is because each car has an average of 40 users and, of those, over half chose not to buy (or replace) a car when they join the club. Streetcar has already taken over 20,000 privately-owned cars off the UK’s streets and is aiming to prevent the emission of around 50,000 tonnes of CO₂ over the next two years.

• The cost of hiring the BMW 1 Series is:

1 hour - £6.95

24 hours - £69.50

· The cost of hiring the BMW 3 Series is:

1 hour - £8.95

24 hours - £89.50

• Case studies are available on request.

For all media enquiries, please contact Louise Evans on 07891 242476 or Charlotte Maule on 01252 725346

Well hello again!

Stunt doll training helps to improve relationship between children and pets

A ‘stunt’ doll is being used as part of a new training programme to help prepare dogs and cats for the arrival of a new baby or improve their relationship with young children.

The process is the brainchild of the UK’s leading pet behaviour specialist and star of BBC’s Dog Borstal, Debbie Connolly¹, and involves exposing pets to a doll dressed in used nappies and baby clothes, handled against a background of downloaded noises such as an infant crying or loud rattles and mechanical toys.

Debbie Connolly who runs www.safepets.co.uk, the highly-acclaimed training organisation dedicated to promoting responsible animal ownership, said: “The introduction of a new baby is a frightening experience for a dog or cat. Strange smells and noises, coupled with the general disruption to their lives, can cause aggression, fear, intrigue and confusion. There’s evidence to suggest that the high pitched noises of a baby can even remind dogs of prey, a factor that is thought to be behind some of the extreme incidents of aggression which have occurred in the past.”

She added: “Most importantly, my training techniques can be recreated easily by owners in their own home². By getting hold of a doll, used baby clothes, dirty nappies and recorded sounds, expectant parents can help prepare their animals for an event that should be filled with happiness and joy, not extra stress or, at worst, tragedy.”

The SafePets’ programme has also been extended to cover the relationship between young children and pets. Connolly commented: ” Rather worryingly, some animals only change their behaviour when a child becomes mobile and this can often catch the family unawares. With the help of a larger doll tied to skates, I have introduced a training programme which familiarises the dog with the frenetic movement of a young child, helping discourage anti-social behaviour such as jumping up.”

Kyra Cooper, from Camarthenshire, called in SafePets during her pregnancy to test her greyhound Casper’s reaction to the doll and prepare it for the arrival of her new baby.

She said: “Casper needed to learn not to touch the baby, nor lick food from its face. Debbie pulled the Stunt Baby round the floor on string and wiped food on its head and clothes - at first Casper was intrigued by the doll and kept trying to eat its dirty nappy, but eventually Debbie trained him to relax around the baby, and get used to all the strange movements it made.”

Cooper added: “I couldn’t be happier with the results; Casper is such a brilliant dog with my baby Roxalea. He is gentle and even ignores her learning to walk and falling all over the place.”

There is no excuse for not preparing the dog or even the cat, said Connolly. “You have the luxury of knowing for some time that a baby is coming, so it’s important to take action, early.”

Contact information via www.loop-pr.co.uk

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Notes to editors

1. Debbie Connolly is the founder of www.SafePets.co.uk, the UK’s leading animal training website. Debbie Connolly has appeared in the BBC3 reality series ‘Dog Borstal’ and writes regularly for a number of publications including ‘Dogs Today’ magazine. SafePets provides advice packs, training holidays, lessons and home-visits for owners and their pets.

2. The training pack can be purchased at www.safepets.co.uk for £3.99.

Streetcar, the UK’s largest carsharing club, is set to dramatically increase the number of bays in Cambridge due to rising demand.

Streetcar is planning to increase the number of available vehicles from 11 to 31 following a surge of increased demand. In nine months, membership has increased 50 per cent as Cambridge residents look to find cheaper alternatives to buying a car. Bays will be chosen by residents, who can nominate locations on the website www.streetcar.co.uk.

Brett Akker, co-founder of Streetcar, said: “We’re delighted to be able to expand our service in Cambridge. Our phenomenal success in Cambridge and across the UK has shown that people really want the flexibility and convenience of owning a car, without the costs and hassle that go with it. Coupled with Cambridge’s strong transport links, the Streetcar service will provide the perfect option for people looking to give up a car, a trend which we’ve seen growing among our thousands of members¹.”

Streetcar has become an increasingly popular alternative for those who need occasional use of a vehicle. Membership has more than doubled in just over 12 months to 75,000 and is expected to rise to 250,000 by 2012. The scheme, which is simple to use², boasts over 1000 locations across seven cities; London, Brighton, Cambridge, Southampton, Guildford, Maidstone and, most recently, Oxford.

Cambridge Resident Naunton Pugh said, “I am delighted that the service is expanding in my city. Streetcar is the green, cheap³ and efficient alternative to car ownership.”

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Notes to editor

1. Independent research conducted by Transport for London shows that each car club vehicle on the road replaces an average of 26 privately-owned cars. This is because each car has an average of 40 users and, of those, over half chose not to buy (or replace) a car when they join the club. Streetcar has already taken over 20,000 privately-owned cars off the UK’s streets and is aiming to prevent the emission of around 50,000 tonnes of CO₂ over the next two years.

1. Members book a car online or over the phone, as little as 30 minutes ahead of time, and use remotely activated smartcards to unlock the vehicle, which is typically within three minutes walk of their home. At the end of the journey the car is returned to a dedicated Streetcar parking space. Prices start from £3.95 per hour. Annual membership is £59.50.

1. According to the RAC’s annual research, the cost of owning a car has rocketed by 19% since last year, with the average family spending £2435 to keep their vehicle on the road. Additional costs such as finance, insurance and depreciation bring this figure to £6133*. Car owners typically save over £2,000 per year after joining Streetcar.*(Source: Here)

Contact Loop PR for more info

Let’s not naively get into the ‘was it a PR stunt or not’ discussion. I think anyone who knows even the slightest bit about brand noise must admit Simon Cowell is a PR master. Keeping ‘Jedward’ in the X-Factor is hugely smart - they are a car crash of an act … but Cowell knows there are millions of people keen to rubber neck and ratings will remain very high.

PR Week spins around the usual PR mouthpieces here and comes to a very similar conclusion:

PR experts have defended Simon Cowell’s decision to keep controversial twins John and Edward on the X Factor, after ITV received 3,000 complaints.

Bring it on Cowell - we salute you!

At times of stress, partners and fridge no longer first port of call for comfort!

Women are twice as likely to share their feelings online at times of stress, than burden their partner, according to new findings.

The poll, carried out by the new women’s online community, www.powderroomgraffiti.com, suggests that women are increasingly turning to the blogosphere to relieve stress. 58 per cent of respondents said that at difficult times, such as Christmas, they wrote more online, either by blogging, commenting or taking part in social networks. This compared with only 23 per cent who said they turned to their partners when things got on top of them.

18 per cent said they had even found themselves substituting writing for the more traditional stress relievers such as alcohol and comfort-eating.

“Our research would certainly indicate that the blogosphere has a real psychological benefit for some women and appears more effective than the more obvious stress relievers of alcohol or face-to-face exchanges with a close confidant.”

said Diane Hayman, editor of Powder Room Graffiti.

She added: “Being encouraged to speak honestly is clearly very liberating for women. Since we launched Powder Room Graffiti, whose main aim is to give women a chance to tell it how it is, we’ve seen people share and debate the full gamut of subjects, many of which would be off-limits in a coffee morning setting or on the pages of a glossy magazine.”

Mel, who blogs as ‘PigInTheKitchen’ and is a regular contributor to Powder Room Graffiti, said:

“I get such a sense of release from writing my thoughts down and, the more stressed I get, the more I turn to my laptop. It’s helpful that there are other women out there who also share their trials and tribulations and this drives a very strong sense of community. Blogging and writing is very therapeutic - it is my voice, in my space and it gives me back a sense of self where I am not just ‘a mum’ and ‘a wife’.”

The website is at www.powderroomgraffiti.com.
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Further information:

Rebecca Pain 07974 212544 or 01252 725346 or Louise Evans 07891 242476 or 01252 725346 or via the website.

About www.powderroomgraffiti.com

PRGraffiti, which launched over the summer, is currently experiencing a rise up the Alexa ranking (from 847,795 to 279,695 since July 2009). Rejecting the glossy tradition of celebrity gossip and beauty tips, the site is already gaining a reputation for enabling more mature women to express, share and debate their views with honesty. Paying its selected contributors and guaranteeing quality writing, the site represents a new breed of online editorial which carves out a unique path between magazine journalism and unstructured user-generated content.

About John O. Morisano

John O. Morisano has spent the last 20 years helping to build and run entertainment and media companies. From his first job forward, John has always found himself at the heart of a company’s operations.
A CPA and graduate of Pace University in New York City, Morisano started his career at the Vista Organization, Ltd., a publicly-traded indie film company, and aided in its sale in 1989. He then joined the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers in its entertainment and media practice. In 1993, he moved to Paris to take over the European operations of Activision, the World’s leading video game publisher. He subsequently moved back to the States and co-founded that company’s business development group.
John left Activision in 1995 and returned to NYC from LA where he served as interim CEO of UK based Dewynters NA. In 1996, he joined forces with Tim Nye at the SunshineCompanies where they focused on angel investing in start ups and offering management expertise to take companies through the early stages of their growth..
While at Sunshine and through its investments which include the Sunshine Theater, Pickerel Pie Entertainment, Sunshine Direct and SaysMe.TV, John has overseen the production of dozens of hours of television, numerous feature films, hundreds of hours of Internet content and a wide variety of other types of branded intellectual property. PowderRoomGraffiti represents the meeting point of many of the skills he has developed in content, technology and management.

About Diane Hayman

Diane studied Psychology at Durham University, where she also rowed for the Great Britain U23 squad, and worked as Women’s Sports editor of the student newspaper.
After University, she went to work for Andersen’s Consulting (now Accenture) as a management consultant for 2 years, 6 months of which were spent in Chicago.
For the next 9 years, Diane worked in the City for BZW, Barclays Capital, and WestLB, mostly as an interest rate trader, but also in Treasury Sales, and in Marketing. During this period she travelled extensively, including a year in Paris (which is where she first met John Morisano) and a year in New York.
Having given up work to have 3 children in quick succession (now aged 11, 10 and 8), Diane wrote a blog -’Drunk Mummy’- which gave her her first insight into the quality and humour of online writing, and she made numerous contacts in the online writing industry. The whole experience inspired Diane to launch PowderRoomGraffiti.