Who Looks the Best? Dom Steals your Votes!

We asked you to judge which RPM board member looked the best in their Christmas jumper, in return for a chance to win tickets to the Somerset House ice-skating rink. In the words of Dermot O'Leary, the voting lines have now CLOSED! We can finally announce that the board member with the highest number of votes (who will have to wear their Xmas jumper into work on the first day back in Jan) is................DOM!

Dom received a whopping 75% of all votes, with 25% to Lee and a sad 0% for both Hugh and Robin.

Thank you for all your comments and responses. Here are some of the best we received:

"Surely Hugh’s chest wig must take the prize"

"It’s got to be Dom, simply because he’s doing such a great Alan Partridge impression! He must be really busy right now broadcasting all his cheesy Xmas jingles and jokes on Radio Norwich"

"On the subject of jumpers, I’m very disappointed in Hugh – that’s neither a jumper nor Xmassy"

"Dom!!! Not just for the jumper but for the happy face! Lee should be struck off for his miserable expression!!!" ;-)

"It has to be Dom – he’s the only one who looks like he’s just drunk a bottle of Johnnie Walker all to himself"

"I think Lee’s jumper, but most importantly his expression in the photo, is the best"

The Pop-Up Bandwagon

As Christmas fast approaches, the battle of brands on the high street commences, but what is their most powerful weapon? In order to beat the competition, brands need stand-out and tangibility on the high street to attract consumers and ultimately drive sales, so it is not surprising that pop-up shops are on the up. We take you through the top four advantages to these savvy temporary stores, and why brands are jumping on the pop-up bandwagon like there's no tomorrow...

Pop-up shops are beneficial for both retailers and consumers. For retailers, they give brands that don’t usually have presence on the high street or in high footfall areas greater exposure and allow them to test a product on a particular market. For consumers, they are offered a tangible experience of a brand they may have only previously come across online.

Pop-up shops offer a great opportunity to showcase a brand or product in an exciting environment. Their ‘now you see it, now you don't’ dynamic lends the activity an air of excitement, creating a buzz and increasing traffic. Pop-up shops are about presenting something new in an engaging way that creates intrigue and hopefully a memorable experience.

If coupled with a social media platform/strategy, which is recommended, retailers can increase consumer engagement through using innovative interactions that help drive people online to either Facebook pages or online stores. This enables retailers to build a relationship with consumers over a longer period of time, increasing brand loyalty.

In this economic climate, the future for pop-up shops is extremely promising. Retailers are offered the chance to ‘test’ their products and customer behaviour in a trusted environment without having to tie themselves in to long contracts.

RPM Award Winners!

We are proud to say that RPM is the only company to have three key members of staff featured within the prestigious Event 100, which lists the most influential people in the events industry.

Out of the 250 industry figureheads who put themselves forward, our CEO and Founding Partner Hugh Robertson was voted in at No.6, followed by Managing Director Dom at No.24 and Head of Production Rory Sloan at No.65.

...And those aren't the only awards we've won this year. We recently picked up Best Design at The Blades Awards for Sky at the O2, Best Experiential Event for Smirnoff Paintfest at the Eventia Awards and the Agency Leadership Award at the Field Marketing and Brand Experience Awards.

Better expand that trophy cabinet pronto!

RPM Launches Beechams Breathe Clear!

We've launched the new Beechams Breathe Clear hot drink through a sensorial sampling campaign that seeks to drive sales and rival the Lemsip leadership. The activity offers consumers the chance to breathe in the menthol sensation and taste the Hot Honey & Lemon Menthol Flavour in a non-medicated sample, targeting men and women over 18 who use hot drinks to relieve the symptoms of cold.

A bespoke pop-up coffee bar-style structure with large cup tables, hydraulic moving vapour swirls and sampling areas enables consumers to taste the flavour of the Beechams Breathe Clear hot drink and experience the menthol sensation. The combination of the honey and lemon coupled with the menthol vapour is considered to be the first of its kind in what is deemed a very slow-moving category.

The campaign will run for five weeks across five high-footfall locations throughout the UK including:

• The Arndale Shopping Centre, Manchester – 11-13th November
• Glasgow Central Train Station – 15th-18th November
• Victoria Train Station, London – 22-26th November
• Meadowhill Shopping Centre, Sheffield – 30th November-4th December
• St David’s Shopping Centre, Cardiff – 8-11th December

The Board's Christmas Catwalk - Who Looks the Best??

For those of you who've received RPM's festive advent calendars, you will have seen this dashing photo before. BUT, for those of you who haven't, you're in for a treat! As you can see, the RPM board could hardly contain their excitement for this year's Christmas countdown and slipped on their tasteful Christmas-themed jumpers to surprise you all (I'd like to stress that these are their own jumpers, purchased themselves, and not by their mothers).

RPMers are putting who looks the best to a vote, so, starting from the left we have Lee (Grumpy), Robin (Bashful), Dom (Happy) and Hugh....(Cold/Nippy?!). We want to hear from RPM fans and followers who you think looks the best in their Xmas outfit.

Tweet us @rpmltd and have your say! The board member with the most votes has to wear their Christmas jumper on the first day back at work in January, so it'll be worth it!

Event Top 100 - All's Well That Ends Well for RPM!

What a successful night it was for RPMers at The Brand Event Awards last night. Taking place in the UnderGlobe, the evening was complemented by a classy Shakespearean theme with roaming band, fresh cocktails and delicious canapes all topped off by a performance from band The Lionels. Before announcing the award winners for each category, Event Magazine announced the final Event 100 list, and we're proud to say that both Hugh (No.6), Dom (No.24) and Rory (No.65) were all featured. Congratulations, boys - "All's Well That Ends Well" indeed!

Working with the Family

Working with family members can be tough when it comes to business, but when the partnership is right, the relationship can be extremely beneficial. After being interviewed by Business XL on Family Business, RPM’s CEO and Founding Partner Hugh Robertson sheds more light on his hints and tips on working with family members, leaning on his experience working with younger brother Dom, RPM’s Managing Director.

Over to Hugh...
I founded RPM in January 1993, and my youngest brother Dom joined the company in 2000, working his way up to become Managing Director in the summer of 2009. This year, we celebrated our 18th birthday as well as winning Agency of the Year, and we are working with some of the UK’s leading brands including Diageo, BSkyB, E.ON and Heineken.

Your No.1 tip for working with family?
I think the key to working with family members is to re-set the time you have together as family as opposed to business partners, and also ensure that nothing is ever left to fester or remain unresolved. When Dom and I are in the work environment, it is the same as it would be with any other colleague. We also spend a lot of time together outside of work, not talking about work, otherwise it can really dominate the relationship.

Another is meritocracy. Employing a member of the family within your business should be done on the basis of a meritocracy and their ability, not just because you’re related to them. Luckily with Dom, he has always been more than capable and is a very admirable Managing Director.

What are the advantages of working with family?
The advantage with RPM is that Dom and I share a sense of unity, and there’s an implicit trust in both of our abilities to manage our respective parts of the business. I recently had a back operation that put me out of work for over four months. Worrying to any CEO, yet despite being out of the office for a significant amount of time, I knew Dom would help run the business with vigour and great capability, and I didn’t have to worry as much as I potentially may have done had we not been related.

Obviously, if we were a whole family working in one business, and things weren’t going well financially, then family businesses can definitely have their disadvantages. My father runs his own business, so luckily no chance of that happening.

Working with the family ensures that trust is already within the business and there’s an established sense of loyalty. Dom and I share the same values, but we also have complementary skills. Again, when you work with your brother, you already know them well enough not to have to apply the controls required when employing strangers.

Do you think family businesses are important to the UK and business growth?
Entrepreneurial businesses are important to the UK economy, and if they are family, then this is great but not necessarily the most important element. Where there is a trade involved, then I think they are important for a continuance of tradition and expertise.