THE life of St George is shrouded in legend, with many tales of his bravery and martyrdom having been told over the years. George was born in about 280 AD in Cappadocia, Asia Minor (now known as Turkey) of noble and wealthy Christian parents and it is thought that he was of tall stature with fair hair.

When his father died he moved with his mother to Palestine and followed the usual path of most young noblemen by joining the Roman Army at the age of 17. Very quickly his ability and charm, coupled with his virtue and chivalry, earned him quick promotion to the rank of Tribune (similar to that of a Colonel) in the Imperial Guard of Emperor Diocletian.

During his time in the army he is believed to have travelled to Britain, visiting such holy places as Glastonbury and Caerleon. It is thought that he was accompanied by Constantine, a fellow officer and friend who later became the first Christian Emperor of Rome.

It was during his time in the army, when he was stationed near Silene in Libya, that the most famous of the legends was born - that of his fight with the dragon, which was documented by James de Voraigne, a bishop of Genoa.

ACCORDING to the legend a large beast, described as a huge crocodile with scaled wings, lived in a lake and terrorised the nearby town. Whole armies had tried to kill the dragon but had been defeated. The dragon had taken up a position outside the town gates which meant that nobody could get in or out of the town and its breath was said to be so poisonous that people would drop dead in the nearby area.

Therefore, in order to try and keep the dragon away from the city walls the locals offered it two sheep a day. However, they soon ran out of sheep and decided to try sacrificing some of the citizens, starting with the young maidens. Finally the King’s daughter was selected for sacrifice and was put outside the city walls to await her fate.

At that point George came along, mounted on his white horse, and slaughtered the dragon with a single blow of his lance thus rescuing the princess. For such a deed he was given a large reward by the king which he distributed to the poor before riding off back to the army.

George returned to Nicomedia to find that Emperor Diocletian, who was a pagan, was persecuting all Christians and putting them to death. Things came to a head on 23 February 303 when Diocletian issued a formal edict against Christians decreeing that all churches should be levelled to the ground. All sacred books should be burned. And this: 

'ALL Christians who hold any honourable rank should not only be degraded but should be deprived of civil rights. All Christians who are not officials should be reduced to slavery.'

THIS enraged George so much that he tore down the edict and threw it away, which resulted in him being arrested and brought in front of Diocletian. In the subsequent confrontation George denounced the Emperor for the harshness of his decree and the dreadful persecution of Christians.

Despite a number of inducements, George refused to renounce his faith and therefore was thrown into prison and tortured before being dragged through the streets and beheaded on 23 April 303 (now St George’s Day).

He was buried in his mother’s home by the sea at Lydda, Palestine although his head was taken to Rome, where it was preserved in the church that was dedicated to him. When Constantine became Emperor in 306 he ordered that a church be built over the grave of St George which became a shrine for all Christians.

Before long, the stories of his courage spread and he became famous all over world. A number of churches were dedicated to him, over 200 in Egypt alone. In 1222, the Council of Oxford appointed 23 April as his feast day and in 1415 he became the patron saint of England following the Battle of Agincourt. In 1497 in the reign of Henry VIII, the pennant of the Cross of St. George was flown by John Cabot when he sailed to Newfoundland and it was also flown by Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh.

In 1620 it was the flag that was flown by the Mayflower when the Pilgrim Fathers arrived in Plymouth Massachusetts. It is also the flag of the Church of England and as such is known throughout Christendom. St George is also the patron saint of Boy Scouts, as well as Catalonia, Moscow, Georgia and Aragon as well as being the Saint of Battles.

The Parish of St George, in the Southern Districts of Sydney, New South Wales, is the geographical origin of our name, St George Marketing & Public Relations.  

- Comprehensive historical research courtesy Crewsnest Vispa

For more information go to: http://www.crewsnest.vispa.com/stgeorge.htm

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 in this local privately-owned consultancy?
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 Co-directors (3) @ 25% share = $25,000
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Catalogue Marketing: A DM

Mega-Sales History Lesson

VETERAN branding, PR and marketing analyst REAGAN MURPHY reflects on the historic origins of the ubiquitous catalogue and the emotional impulse buys it still generates today.

By REAGAN MURPHY,

Media Consultant,

St George Marketing & Public Relations

stgmpr@yahoo.com.au

www.stgmpr.com.au

WHILE the humble catalogue probably owes much of its modern day fame to the staggering worldwide success of New York based department stores like Sears & Roebuck, the concept’s pioneer was Aaron Montgomery Ward who came up with the idea 30 years earlier than S& R, in the 1860s. Even today, despite the technological revolution of the New Millennium, the emotional attachment and impulsive buying decisions/desires only a hard copy catalogue can create with customers can never be underestimated.

Retail (B2C) and B2B catalogue producers need to continually add different tantalizing, professional spreads to their catalogues, generating ‘impulse-buy’ spikes. Suppliers expect retailers to invest thousands of dollars buying their quality stock yet they invest very little in creating that Wow Factor to get across their unique point of difference from other suppliers.

A great lesson can be learned from the likes of Philips, LG, Sony and Panasonic who routinely produce first rate B2B catalogues to support their electrical and household retail channels sell container loads of quality product. There is no reason why other Australian suppliers cannot follow suit (B2B) albeit scaled down, with their retailers doing likewise (B2C).

Whilst it is not cheap to do great creative B2B or B2C advertising (and frequently promote your strengths and produce compelling, thought-provoking and stimulating catalogue marketing), just think how much it is costing retailers by them not exciting their customers. A fortune!

It’s worth reflecting for a moment on the fascinating history of the catalogue because many of the prejudices it faces today were rife when Chicago’s Aaron Montgomery Ward produced his revolutionary “Wish List” version in the 1860s. Ward's friends and associates thought he was a lunatic at the time. Despite these doubting Thomases and a raft of major setbacks – including the loss of an entire inventory in the Great Fire of Chicago – Ward persisted.

Today’s retailers should be HALF as tenacious. In August 1872, with two employees in a tiny shipping room on North Clark Street, Chicago, and a working capital of $US1500, he produced the world’s first mail-order catalogue, comprising 163 general products. Montgomery Ward wrote all the merchandise descriptions and copy until 1880 when he reluctantly delegated this side of the business to his department heads.

Rival rural retailers soon despised Ward and even took to publicly burning his catalogues as Ward had argued they had been over-charging farmers long enough. Australian retailers today need to obtain a bigger slice of their customer’s disposable income, because the cost of some quality items can be the same price of a home entertainment system or even a new plasma TV. Retailers of home theatre systems and plasma TVs invest vast more funds than most retailers do in the crucial persuasion stage of marketing and advertising, to convince them to buy ... and buy now! Repeat sales that only catalogues can achieve consistently ... because of their emotional Wow Factor!

Ward’s mail-order catalogue’s popularity spread like wildfire across the length and breadth of America, becoming revered as a “Wish Book” (full of quality dream purchases) and eagerly awaited favourite in all US households. Without realizing it, Ward had become a de facto goal-setting teacher for millions of people. Montgomery Ward & Company was also the first retailer in the world to offer (in 1875) its customers a “satisfaction guarantee”. For repeat sales, “think catalogue”. Now who said retailing ‘history never repeats’? The Montgomery Ward company remained a specialist mail-order business until the mid-1920s. They opened their first retail store in 1926 at Plymouth, Indiana and within three years this number had grown to a staggering 531.

Their copywriters included the hugely talented Robert L. May who, in 1939, invented the enchanting Christmas storybook character, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for a Montgomery Ward Christmas catalogue. Within seven years the Rudolph catalogue reached a print run of six million copies. Not all success stories have happy endings, however, for the Ward's catalogue was last published in 1985 and by 2000, the company was forced to close, after 135 incredible years.

The Montgomery Ward catalogue was inducted into the New York Grolier Club’s Bibliophiles Wall-of-Fame in 1946, ranking it alongside Webster’s dictionary “as one of 100 American books chosen for their influence on life and culture” on USA households. Groliers certainly didn’t regard the humble catalogue (as too many retailers and suppliers regrettably do) as mere “junk mail”. They honoured it for its impact on life and culture ... the same is true today. For an obligation-free branding evaluation, marketing and PR analysis of your small business (usually worth $330) contact: Reagan Murphy at St George Marketing & Public Relations on 0414 640 274 or by email: stgmpr@yahoo.com.au

Or visit their website: www.stgmpr.com.au

20 YEARS MASS MEDIA, DRTV AND DM EXPERIENCE

MEDIA Consultant Reagan Murphy has been an award winning Southern Sydney based journalist and national magazine editor for 15 years. He has over a decade’s unique experience in advertising, marketing and public relations including 20 years mass media experience. For 10 years he covered bushfires, airport expansions, murders, politics, councils, hospitals, sport, real estate and the environment as an award winning senior newspaper journalist. He is currently Assistant Editor of the Greyhound Leader, a national weekly sporting publication based in Kogarah.

He was also an ACP chief sub-editor, group production editor for six national auto titles and a national features editor for one of three Australian national daily newspapers. His biggest stories included the sinking of the Mikhail Lermontov (1986), a Liverpool apartment block blaze which killed eight (1994), the John Newman assassination (1994) and the Hong Kong handover (1997). Exclusive face-to-face interviewees included: PMs Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, NSW Premiers Neville Wran, Barrie Unsworth, Nick Greiner, John Fahey, Bob Carr, Morris Iemma. He has also interviewed Pele. 

Reagan has also been a media buyer and media planner for some of Sydney’s biggest Direct Response TV ad agencies, personally generating $3 million of new business over 18 months on such proven DRTV advertorial campaigns as Bright Ideas for Ita Buttrose, Max Walker & Stan Zemanek. He has organised TVC schedules worth $2m on The Morning Show with  Kerrie-Anne Kennerly and Bert Newton’s Good Morning Australia. His specialty is re-branding corporate identities, producing and publishing club and company histories, employee/shareholder newsletters and editing large national magazines. His marketing, PR copywriting and advertising experience has included such blue chip accounts as Panasonic, Honeywell, PRD, NEC, Sony, LG and Philips.   

CAREER MILESTONES:

1998-2001: He was headhunted by a leading Sydney media and advertising agency in 1998 as a copywriter/proofreader, marketing and public relations consultant, working in direct response press, radio and television advertising until late 2001. Media buyer and media planner for some of Sydney’s biggest Direct Response TV ad agencies, personally generating $3 million (in collaboration with others: $6 million) of new business over 18 months on such proven DRTV advertorial campaigns as Bright Ideas for Ita Buttrose, Max Walker & Stan Zemanek (pictured right).

Max Walker. 

2000: Volunteered his media services to the Olympic News Service for SOCOG during the 2000 Sydney Olympics covering all events conducted at Darling Harbour, ranging from boxing, greco-roman wrestling and tae kwon do to weightlifting, fencing and judo. Reagan was often the first Australian reporter (after NBC America) to interview gold medallists and obtain and translate “flash quotes” for the world’s media within a 15 minute deadline turnaround. He is an award winning journalist and national magazine editor for 15 years with a decade’s unique experience in advertising, marketing and public relations including 20 years mass media experience.

2001-2004: After 10 years as an award winning senior newspaper journalist, ACP chief sub-editor and a national features editor for one of three Australian national daily newspapers, he gained invaluable experience and training as a television and radio advertising media buyer and planner for some of Sydney’s biggest Direct Response TV ad agencies. In one 18 month period alone he personally generated $3 million of new business on DRTV advertorial campaigns as Bright Ideas for Ita Buttrose, Max Walker & Stan Zemanek. Since then he has organised TVC schedules worth $2m on The Morning Show with  Kerrie-Anne Kennerly and Bert Newton’s Good Morning Australia.

His specialty is now re-branding corporate identities, producing and publishing club and company histories, organizing oral histories for councils, employee/shareholder newsletters and editing large national magazines. His marketing, PR copywriting and advertising experience has included such blue chip accounts as Panasonic, Honeywell, PRD, NEC, Sony, LG and Philips.   

  2004: National Marketing Consultant for a 25 year old express freight transport company turning over $90 million pa with 300 employees and nearly 1000 sub-contracted drivers nationally.

  The 3 month contract included re-branding the fleet, producing 3 dedicated monthly newsletters for drivers and staff, organising major national events and 3 interstate driver recruitment seminars. 

  Received a $5000 performance bonus.  

ACHIEVED "spectacular results" organising new courier driver careers nights, attracting 67 in pouring rain to a Sydney seminar, including a woman who drove three hours from the Central Coast. Another 41 (again, in pouring rain) to a Brisbane seminar and 83 (again, in pouring rain) to a Melbourne seminar.

INTERVIEWED at extremely short notice (TV current affairs style) 10 drivers and warehouse staff to find out why they had been with the company for so many years (in some cases 15-25 years) using a Sony handycam. For the careers night.

SPONSORED the 49th annual 2004 Walkley Awards (Best Artwork and Design category) for Excellence in Journalism and Communications. The nationally televised gala ceremony was in Melbourne's Crown Casino on December 2.

CO-ORDINATED weekly base tours for clients, prospects, suppliers and media representatives of the new national corporate headquarters at Rosehill and organized premium home turn signage of the brand at Rosehill race track.

2003-2006: Business & Communications Manager for Direct Marketing & Retail Fashion Catalog specialists Huntingdales Advertising and currently General Manager of Print Management firm Zulu Vision. Registered the name St George Marketing & Public Relations on St George’s Day, 2004.

2006 to present: After two years extensive market and business research, officially launched the boutique home-based consultancy on September 15, 2006, at the Rockdale Town Hall, by supporting the amateur production of SHOUT! This was a 50^th anniversary musical paying tribute to Australia’s King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Johnny O’Keefe, who last performed live at the Rockdale Town Hall in September, 1956. Every performance sold out and the cast received unprecedented (positive) online critical acclaim. Reagan was unexpectedly cast as Raymond O’Keefe, the father of “The Wild One” after taking his 16 year old daughter Jessica-Claire to the auditions; she made it into the ensemble. The production was one of the most successful in the history of Rockdale Musical Society, turning a profit with three shows remaining thanks to full houses and invaluable free radio publicity organised by St George Marketing & PR on prime time (2UE's Steve Liebman, Mike Williams and 2GB's Alan Jones and Murray Wilton). Member of the community consultation group appointed by State MP for Rockdale and NSW Government Minister Frank Sartor to refer issues of public concern on the future development and protection of Cook Park (Botany Bay foreshore, from Kyeemagh to Sans Souci). From December 2006, Assistant Editor and PR Consultant for the Greyhound Leader, a new Kogarah-based national weekly sporting publication. Other clients include Dynamic Rewards, Radiance and MC services for Moby Disc.    

 OTHER MILESTONES:

Stunning success as an events organiser came with the professional staging of the 2001 Ossie Mingay Awards at Star City with MC Ian Muddle for the $6 billion Australian electrical appliance industry. Dick Smith and Gerry Harvey were inducted, by Reagan, to the inaugural Mingay Hall of Fame Awards for Lifetime Achievement (service above self). More than 300 people attended the event, which was televised (see below). Strategic problem solving skills include his organisation of a significant business-to-business (B2B) meeting with Sony Australia’s senior IT executives for a three hour working lunch at the Park Hyatt discussing vertical portals and online catalogue services. Also boosted circulation and trebled the size of Counterpoint Magazine, from a struggling 40 pager to a profitable 120 pager.

Copyright (c) 2004-2007 St George
Marketing & Public Relations.
  All Rights Reserved.