Media Bitch's Diary 26 July

What goes on on Tour...

Bitch always likes to grip onto something sturdy and scream if she wants to go faster, so she was impressed to se that Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France, but this girl doesn't care about that as much as she does you ,my little media riders.

So Bitch was suitably impressed to see that there are a number of people across the sector who enjoy a good hard ride, none more than that energetic lot from News International.

Turns out that Abba Newbery, News International's director of advertising strategy, along with Hamish White, head of emerging platforms, and Lizzie Wiltshire, account manager at Evidon, worked up a bit of a sweat as part of a threesome who broke away while attempting a stage of the Tour de France (if the photo is anything to go by).

Not in the picture, but also taking part were: David Dinsmore, managing editor of The Sun; Victoria Silberbauer, deputy director of legal affairs, and Kathryn Cooper, economics correspondent of The Sunday Times.

Unfortunately, Kathryn had a bike accident and managed to break her arm (Bitch feels queasy at the very thought). However, she didn’t notice this until finishing the stage, because she painfully powered through and, for her troubles, got blood poisoning from the cut on her arm. That's dedication for you.

Charity begins at the Mail

This girl believes in doing her bit for charity and will always use her celebrity to turn up to an event for a good cause, but she draws the line at handing over thousands of pounds in one go, unless it is on those shoes she just has to have.

So it came as quite a shock when she found out that the Mail had been running  a competition since May to find the sportiest people in media (not this girl – she likes a good gym session, but not in the way you're thinking).

The Magnificent Media 7 finalists were announced at the beginning of June. The media community was then invited to choose the most buff (sorry, sporty), and Bobby Griffin, who is a below-the-knee amputee who takes part in Parabadminton tournaments, received the highest number of votes. In all, more than 4,200 votes were cast and it was a closely fought battle. Here he is pictured with Guy Zitter, managing director of Mail Newspapers, a fine physical specimen himself.

The Magnificent Media 7 were: Tim Radcliffe (MEC); John Maloney (Maxus); Bobby Griffin (Response One); Nick J Smith (MEC); Louise Wood (CST The Gate); Flora Spencer (MediaCom), and Matt Lovell (Arena Media).

Turns out Bobby had to give the £5,000 cheque away to a sporting charity of his choice, which Bitch hears he was more than happy to do. This girl just wonders how many Mulberry handbags that would buy?

The great outdoors

Those boys and girls at Initiative have been up to a few tricks, Bitch hears. To mark the departure of business director Simon Kennett after 12 years, some of his colleagues organised a special goodbye.

After 12 years of travelling back and forth to the Interpublic Group agency's headquarters, you would suspect that Simon would look a little older and more haggard than that. However, Bitch is assured that his colleagues were kind enough to have used a "really old photograph".

It was all done with help of Chris Marjoram, managing director at Rapport. Simon is going to be taking a career break and travelling the world.

Just one thing. This girl is a little confused by the picture, as is she the only one who thinks that Simon’s picture looks like a bit of a prison mugshot? Bit of a shame the graffiti above states "4 all the shoplifters". A mistake or a genuine piece of media placement? You decide. 

Well, until next week my little backpacking types.

Bitch xxx

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk