Following on from our Lights, Camera, PHaction blog last week, the PH Media film crew took to the streets of Manchester on August 21^st to find out what shoppers really think of in-store music.

Thankfully, the weather held out and we spent the day meeting and interviewing the throngs of shoppers in Manchester City Centre.

Our newly appointed Head of Radio, Ian Ockerby, joined the film crew to oversee the day’s activities, and here’s what he had to say:

“We met some fantastic people – all very passionate about music and shopping.  They had some very interesting views and opinions, but you’ll just have to wait and see what they had to say”.

Ian was recently featured on How Do – a website dedicated to media industry news. Click here to see the feature in full.

Our final production is coming soon – just one more day of filming to go!

If you’re out and about in Manchester this Saturday 21^st August, keep a look out for the PH Media camera crew.

We’re filming the second shoot for our exciting new video project, and although we don’t want to give too much away at this stage, if you’re in the Exchange Square area between Selfridges & Co. and Harvey Nichols, feel free to come and say hello.

And you never know – you may even get your face on the telly.

We’re just hoping this dreary August weather (!) decides to brighten up a bit before then.

It doesn’t take much to get a song wedged in your head. Listen to something on the way into work, and you’ll probably hum it at your desk for a few hours afterwards. Hear somebody whistling a tune, and you can’t help joining in. And sometimes, they appear completely by themselves. And no matter what you do to distract yourself, you can’t stop singing it.

Welcome to the strange world of musical images – otherwise known as earworms.

But what makes a tune catchy? Why does it drop into your head without any warning? And what defines how long you’ll be humming it?

Researchers at Goldsmiths University have set up an interesting project to find out.

What’s an earworm when it’s at home?

Earworms aren’t as gross as they sound. Actually, it’s just a nice little phrase to sum up the experience of a tune on rotation in your brain. It doesn’t have to be a full song, either. It could be a melody, part of a melody – even just a bar of notes. And you don’t know how it got there, nor how long it’s going to stay.

Earworms are very common, too. The team at Goldsmiths point to research suggesting that “over 90% of the population experience them at least once a week.” That means they’re a big part of our psychology – whether through mimicry or something else. But with so little known, and lots of insights relevant to all aspects of music, psychology and even audio branding – there’s plenty of space for looking closer.

So: the Goldsmiths earworm researchers are asking three big questions on their website:

What features do typical earworm music tunes have in common?

Are some tunes naturally more ‘sticky’ because of the way they are constructed?

What do people who frequently experience earworms have in common?

Are musicians or people who love music more vulnerable? What about people with different personality types?

What causes earworms?

Are some situations more ‘high risk’? What about the frequency of exposure? Can earworms have a purpose?

Help out with the earworm project

You can help the team answer these questions by visiting their dedicated site: earwormery.com. On their site, the team is collecting the earworm experiences of people from all over the UK. Read more about the project, fill out their questionnaire, and be part of some really unique research. You can also follow and contribute to the team’s work on Twitter by using the #earworm hashtag.

PH Audio looks forward to seeing the Earworm project’s results!

In the meantime, why not tell us about your earworms in the comments below?

Only last week, we talked to Mark about his book deal for his debut novel with Simon & Schuster. Today, Mark’s audio play The Miner and the Thief (written to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike) is available to download online. And the best part – it’s absolutely free.

Here’s a brief synopsis:

25 years after the strike that divided Britain, ex-miner Joe is forced to question his most cherished ideals when he confronts a young man who breaks into his Yorkshire home. Warning; contains strong language.

The play stars Ian Curley as Joe and Chris Barlow as Ethan and is produced by Iain Mackness, executive produced by Ashley Byrne and directed by Mike Heath. It’s a Made in Manchester/Dark Smile Production for The Independent.

You can download Mark’s play here on The Independent’s website, and here on iTunes.

Congratulations Mark (again!)

Mark Griffiths writes comedy and drama for radio, TV and stage. His first ever commission was for Radio 4’s Week Ending programme at the age of seventeen, closely followed by a stint writing material for Smith & Jones for BBC 1 aged eighteen. His writer/contributor credits include TV Go Home (E4 and tie-in book), Comedy Nation (BBC2), The News Huddlines (BBC Radio 2) and co-creating BBC sitcom The Basement.

He has written several original plays, including Leona Cash (BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play 2008); The Impossibility Club and The Lullaby Witch (both for 24/7 Theatre Festival, Manchester). The Lullaby Witch will be performed at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

As one of PH Audio’s dedicated audio producers, Mark Griffiths spends his days making client productions sound the way they should. But by night, he’s a hugely talented scriptwriter and novelist – and for his efforts he recently landed a publishing deal for his debut novel with Simon & Schuster.

In this post, Matt catches up with Mark to learn about the book and find out how he’s juggled the sound of words with writing them.

Hi Mark! Big congratulations on the book deal. We’re all looking forward to robbing your champagne and canapés. Can you tell us what the book’s all about?

Well, the book’s a science fiction comedy for children of about seven or eight and upwards. It’s called Space Lizards Stole My Brain! and it’s about an ordinary school boy who becomes possessed with the mind of an alien lizard warlord.  It’s autobiographical, obviously.

It sounds pretty unhinged – in a good way – and perfect for the age group. But over the years, you’ve also written comedy and drama for radio, TV and stage. Tell us a bit about how you’ve come to writing for children.

I know exactly the kind of stuff I can do, the jokes I can do, and the stories I can tell. I have a lot of quite bizarre, wacky ideas, and children’s fiction seems the best format for a lot of those ideas.

You also have experience as a copywriter, too. As a copywriter myself, I’m interested to know whether writing adverts and producing them has had any impact on the way you write fiction.

I suppose my background’s in radio production and copywriting. I’ve worked for a couple of radio stations around the North West as a copywriter and producer of radio commercials. And throughout that time I was also writing freelance, working on sketches, pilot shows for BBC radio and TV, so there’s a crossover there.

Do you think there’s a key component to writing successfully across lots of formats?

I think the techniques of good writing apply across all types of writing, whether that’s an on-hold script, a stage play or TV stuff. For copywriting, you know it’s important to remove unnecessary words, keep the voice active, use interesting verbs. These are crucial skills in copywriting, and they transfer really well to script writing or novel writing. The skills you use in writing copy for our clients, you’d draw on those writing anything else.

Have you found it tricky to write a novel while doing a full-time job?

Well, I’ve had busy break times and lunch times! It’s good to have a little project to do in your spare time. I think it’s all about self-discipline, as you’ll know as a writer yourself. You get into a habit of doing a certain amount a day. While I was writing this one, I’d say to myself , “try and write a thousand words a day”.

And have you any tips for the aspiring novelist?

For me, it was a textbook case of using the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook – in my case specifically, the version for children’s writers. You write the novel, you send the first three chapters to a variety of agents, and you hope for the best. I sent it to around 25 in total, and was honest about multiple submissions. It’s not only good manners to do that, but it means that if there’s interest they might get back to you quicker!

Well, we’re all glad they did. Thanks for chatting, Mark!

SPACE LIZARDS STOLE MY BRAIN! will be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2012

PH Audio features in this week’s Print Week Magazine. Christian Peacock, sales and marketing director at Blackburns of Bolton, tells Print Week’s Deputy Features Editor Philip Chadwick about how OHM is an important marketing tool for the print industry.

Read the full article here

This year’s event took place at Daytona Manchester, where after loads of thrills and a fair few spills, the heats revealed a strong grid for the final race.

Tight lines and tidy cornering gave Ops Director Jason Daye first place, with Sales Execs Terry Rodgers and Tom Ritchie taking second and third.

But trophies aren’t the full story – the day’s fastest laps were put down by Simon La Band, Mark Williamson and Kieron Driscoll.

While the UK’s press occupies itself with icy roads, epic snowmen and Eurostar’s winter engineering problems, weather over in the States has thrown up its own challenges for another large travel company this weekend.

Delta Air Lines – who’ve had to cancel a large number of flights owing to bad weather in the wake of the massive Eastcoast snow storm – have apparently misjudged their callers’ taste in on-hold music.

According to accounts from many angry Twitter users, stranded travellers and would-be passengers are calling the airline only to hear Let It Snow on a loop.

We reckon they’d have been better recording some comfort messages directing callers to helpful pages on their website…

…But we’re sure they probably know that by now.

Hang on (please)

We’re a patient bunch, us Brits. Along with fax machines, umbrellas and radar, we invented queuing.

We queue at Alton Towers. Queue at the post office. Queue for pints. Queue for burgers after too many pints. We’d queue for sleeping if somebody said it was the right and proper thing to do.

Waiting politely is a nationwide sport. To the rest of the world, we’re a country of hooligans, stag-doers, beer-drinkers and queue-ers. To rest of the world, we’re either battering each other, voicing baddies in Bond films, or standing quietly in a line.

But, according to new research by TalkTalk, there’s a problem with that stereotype.

As a country, we’re fast losing patience.

Patience: the last virtue

TalkTalk’s study – which aimed to look at how people’s expectations have changed since the growth of high-speed internet – found that it takes an average of just 8 minutes and 22 seconds to snap while we’re waiting.

That’s 502 seconds before we cross what they’re calling ‘the point of impatience’. On crossing this point, we apparently go bonkers, melt, flip out, or worse. Then, we start cancelling services, slam the phone down, shout at managers, stomp about and lob things at the wall.

And that’s just on average.

Apparently, all of these terrible things happen after 3 minutes 38 seconds waiting for a website that’s taking its time; 5 minutes and 6 seconds if the kettle hasn’t got its act together; and 10 minutes and 1 second waiting for mates to arrive.

If you’re waiting on the phone, complete thermo-nuclear meltdown takes as little as 5 minutes and 4 seconds.

So what can be done?

Well, there are ways to mediate any of these problems. That’s the ingenuity of marketing. So in the cinema, you’ll find quizzes up on the big screen before a film. They’re easy, sure, but they’re also a good way to show up relatives if you’re feeling like a smart-alec.

In the Doctor’s surgery, there’ll be a telly on the wall with tips for healthy living, reminders, and more.

At the dentist’s, there’s been a magazine with your name on it since time began.

And for telephones, there’s On-Hold Marketing.

The problem with leaving callers on hold and out of sorts

Part of the problem with waiting on hold is the music – or the lack of. Many companies use silence, or beeps, or lift music (which doesn’t count). For some, these noises can be mildly irritating. To a few, it’s an excuse to hang up and never bother again. You only need to take a quick scan for “on hold” using Twitter’s real-time search to see how waiting on hold throws up plenty of aggro.

But what’s the alternative? How can a company minimise the psychological effects of waiting on hold?

Professional On-Hold Marketing

On-Hold Marketing combines CD-quality music on hold with professionally written prompts, delivered by professional voiceover artists. It’s different to music on hold because it’s targeted – it’s bespoke to the company using it, and its uses range from informing customers about new deals which might benefit them, to entertaining them with light-hearted humour.

So, on-hold messaging can even provide a bit of comfort – a way to let your callers know you’re on your way, and that you’re sorry they’re having to wait.

That might sound a small mercy, but if you consider that more than 70% of callers are put on hold every day – and that of these, plenty will hang up if put through to silence – it’s innovative services like this that can sometimes mean the difference between an enquiry and a really bad mood.

Photo Credit: Missy and the Universe @ Flickr

So it’s not quite Christmas yet, but it certainly begins to feel a bit more like it when the markets hit Manchester.

From the 18th of November until the 22nd of December the markets are back in full force around Manchester’s city centre — complete with beer tents, roasted pigs and German sausages!

The usual stalls are back, too, so you’ll expect to find beer and Gluhwein tents, confectionery and sweets, plus a lot of quality leather and knitted goods. There are gifts for everyone, plus Christmas trees and hot food from continental Europe. One of our favourites? The Swiss macaroni and potato dish!

For more information about the Manchester Christmas Markets, visit the Manchester City Council website here.

Does this sound familiar?

Gluhwein to warm up, bratwϋrst, beer, crepes, more beer, a walk around the stalls to make room for a roasted pig muffin, maybe buy a knitted reindeer jumper for your Dad, even more beer, stumble home…