It was an early start to get to the BBC studio at Portland Place for 8am.  I was the first down for breakfast at the Premier Inn Leicester Square, and the streets of London had relatively few people on them during my 20-minute walk to the BBC studio.  Nothing like the heaving masses the night before.

After signing in and going through the BBC’s security check, I was led down to the waiting room outside the studio. The presenters, Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock were already there. It felt a bit odd to see them in real life! I’m not used to seeing people on TV appear in real life!

Both Ben and Sally spent some time with me before the show to go through the sort of questions they may ask. Sally threw one question in about whether Huawei is a truly evil company or whether it’s just US propaganda, but we didn’t have time to cover that one on air (I said I believed it was politically motivated, as the government group that examines Huawei equipment hasn’t actually found any security flaws).  As we spoke, the makeup lady powdered my face to prevent the lights reflecting… lovely!

As 8:30 approached, Ben and Sally disappeared into the studio and then appeared on the TV screen in the waiting area as the programme began.

I waited to be called in. I looked down at my hands. They were sweaty. This was a new thing for me and I was a little out of my comfort zone!

I imagined the studio having several people operating cameras, etc. But there was only one woman coordinating activities. The studio was a big circular room and all the cameras were robotic and on circular rails, with the desk in the middle.  The coordinator woman led me to the desk and clipped a mike onto my shirt.  And then I was on!



Click this link to see the programme on iPlayer.  It’s available until 7 March 2019.  The Zen bit starts at 17:41.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0c1yk7k/bbc-business-live-05022019

The 5 minutes I was on the programme seemed more like 2 minutes, but it all went fine and I’m pleased about the messages I got across.

Later I saw the other clips they had included of some of our people in the office – great!

This publicity is all part of my Brand Ambassador role – moving Zen from being a niche “best kept secret” to a serious challenger brand to the big names in our industry.  Watch out big guys!!

Sally Bundock: “Zen service absolutely fantastic”

It turns out that Sally Bundock is a Zen customer.  She described the service she has received from us as “absolutely fantastic” and went on to say that it was much better than she would have got from an overseas call centre.

Very well done to everyone who has dealt with Sally’s queries.

Rory Cellan-Jones

After BBC Business Live, I met Rory Cellan-Jones in Café Nero, next door to the BBC.  Rory is the BBC’s Technology Correspondent and a very well respected journalist.  We had a good half hour chat, which he tweeted about shortly afterwards.

I’m sure we’ll stay in touch, and I look forward to getting some further media exposure for Zen through him.

Big thanks to our PR agency, Red Consulting, for setting up a very worthwhile day!

Richard