Beyond The Blue Training & Consultancy

‘There is only one thing worse than training someone and having them leave; that is not training someone and having them stay’

Our focus is on how we can change attitudes and views to ensure that clients gain an effective advantage. We provide them with skills, knowledge, confidence and perspective to help them manage in a more positive and professional manner.

Monday 21 June 2010

Diageo gives ‘icing’ fad the cold shoulder



Branding is key to business success, from the world biggest companies to the individual business owner running a pub, restaurant, club… or a training & consultancy company.


We all want a strong brand and one which people automatically associate with our core business values. At Beyond The Blue we work tirelessly to associate our brand with the quality we provide, excellence in customer service we deliver and the effectiveness of our training and consultancy for our clients.


What companies like Diageo have to do is balance the quality and strength of their brands with responsible alcohol consumption messages; an uneasy balance.


In an ideal world where the individual was responsible for their own level of consumption this would be simple, Diageo could simply concentrate on promoting the strength of brand such as Smirnoff against the other brands in the market; unfortunately we don’t live in an ideal world…


Every brand manager’s dream in 2010 is to have a marketing campaign which goes viral, it’s very effective (especially with the younger generations) and costs associated are minimal. Even better is when such a campaign is generated by user content rather than by the company itself, it affirms the value of the brand as it is in effect a customer recommendation rather than a marketing campaign; a message from a much more believable source.


The problem with these campaigns is that you have no control over them and what starts out as a positive message can quickly be hijacked into a very detrimental one. Stopping viral campaigns can be even harder than starting them; they are after all successful partly because they don’t seem to be the work of the corporation itself, so often if the corporation is seen to be trying to stop them they effectively promote them…


With this particular campaign of ‘Icing’ in the USA (something we would probably refer to as ‘Strawpedo’ in the UK) it does rather promote ‘binge drinking’, irresponsible alcohol consumption and an element of drinking which a corporation such as Diageo must dissociate itself.


The rules surrounding alcohol advertising in the US and UK are very different. Certainly in the UK with the introduction of the New Mandatory Conditions in April 2010 any link between an alcohol retailer and the promotion of such an activity, could land them in very hot water.


We are still awaiting the first test cases on the new conditions, but as a hypothetical example, a student night with a ‘strawpedo’ promotion would certainly qualify as a contender to be the first…


We should point out that Diageo has distanced itself from the ‘icing’ phenomenon and taken steps to stop the misuse of it Smirnoff Ice brand; individual alcohol retailers should make sure they follow suit.


At Beyond The Blue we run a number of different courses, which include;


• The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements;
• The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence;
• The National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS) which provides relevant information for anyone assuming the position of DPS in licensed premises.
Conflict Management and Resolution training compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.


Please visit our website at http://www.btbl.co.uk/.


For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


To view the original article please Click Here
Source – www.ft.com
Date – 21st June 2010

Sunday 6 June 2010

London pub ‘refused gay group drinks’



The Licensing Act 2003 contains provision for an authorised person (someone with the authority of the Premises Licence holder), to refuse entry to any person or ask them to leave without giving a reason.


Failure to leave a licensed premises when asked to do so is a criminal offence under the Act.


However it is very clear that you cannot refuse service, refuse entry or ask someone to leave based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, nationality or any other form of discrimination.


The provision to refuse entry is there to deal with people who are being disruptive, aggressive, drunk or who are involved in criminal activity, etc.


It is amazing that in 2010 there are still people running businesses which not only discriminate against sections of our communities, but have not realised the commercial advantage of going out of their way to make them feel welcome.


Whatever happened in this particular case I think any suggestion that Punch Taverns would do anything but condemn such behaviour is farfetched. However where discrimination rears its ugly head, nothing short of a full investigation and swift corrective action would be acceptable.


At Beyond The Blue we run a number of different courses, which include;


• The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements;
• The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence;
• The National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS) which provides relevant information for anyone assuming the position of DPS in licensed premises.
Conflict Management and Resolution training compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.


Please visit our website at http://www.btbl.co.uk/.


For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


To view the original article please Click Here
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 6th June 2010

Tuesday 1 June 2010

Woman trapped after 30ft nightclub sign falls on her


During our National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) course we examine all the licensing objectives; we spend time examining the ‘Public Safety’ objective and all the various issues that fall under this category.


I always tell the candidates attending that the full list of potential public safety issues is almost endless; here is another hazard to add to the list.


A nightclub sign falling on someone adds to the case of a Mirror Ball falling from the rigging in another case we are aware of. When mentioned during a course they tend to draw a giggle, yet have the potential to cause serious injury or death as well as providing an almost impossible case to defend and costly financial compensation.


As much as the licensing objective clearly not being met, I would imagine the first people on the scene would be the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) with their significant powers to prosecute.


You have been warned, if you see anything in your business which has the potential to undermine public safety (or for that matter the safety of employees) deal with it there and then or make it safe (exclude people from the area) until it can be dealt with.


In this case the victim getting away with a few stitches seems to be more through good fortune than safe working practices, but this makes it no less serious.


At Beyond The Blue we run a number of different courses, which include;


• The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements;
• The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence;
• The National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS) which provides relevant information for anyone assuming the position of DPS in licensed premises.
Conflict Management and Resolution training compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.


Please visit our website at http://www.btbl.co.uk/.


For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


To view the original article please Click Here
Source – Times
Date – 1st June 2010