It’s date time at Stand Agency

May 14, 2013 Written by Nikki Peters

By Nikki Peters

At Stand Agency, talk has turned to romance. Don’t worry, we aren’t planning on sharing dating tips or lamenting “the one that got away”. We thought we would combine our chat about love lives with a media spin.

Not unlike most PR agencies, one of the first things we do each morning is have a good rummage through the news to see who is saying what, when, where and how. Devouring the papers one morning we got thinking – which news source would we date and why? Do feel free to join in and share your favourites too. Would you have a showbiz romance with dinner at The Ritz and holidays to St Tropez with the Daily Mail? Or would you prefer a date full of debates and long holidays with The Guardian?

Molly, our ever enthusiastic intern, would “for shizzle” choose to date the i paper, as would our glamorous MD Laura. Tough competition here ladies.  Molly explains that with the i paper the dinner-table-chat would be engagingly broad-ranging, and would include some random titbits that she’d then pass on as fun facts of her own to friends at a later stage. The i would be opinionated, dry, funny and left-handed.  She says, “I’ve never dated a lefty (in the writing-with-that-hand sense.) And he’d be a great kisser for good measure.”

Laura on the other hand has different motives for her choice of date. She believes the i paper would offer a broad range of conversation without being a bore on any one topic (yawn). Laura is looking for a date that has the knack of seeing other points of view, without necessarily agreeing with them.  She thinks the i would be an interesting and entertaining date but there is one caveat.  Laura insists “they would probably need to brush up their celeb gossip for me to agree to see them again, after all there is only so much news you can discuss before the talk leads to a more light hearted subject!”

On a similar theme, our resident Scottish politics and football guru, Account Manager Blair would like to date the Independent. Why, I hear you ask? “It’s concise, intellectual, well-balanced and aesthetically pleasing.” Just like his description.

Ultra-cool (she’ll hate that description- on account of her coolness!) Associate Director Fran would like to date National Geographic. How cultured! She thinks it would be “adventurous, occasionally outspoken with a love of travel and a brilliant eye for a photo.” I can see the artistic holiday snaps of the date now in one of Fran’s favourite places, South America.

Calm, collected and juggler of all tasks Director Rebecca would date the New Statesman. Rebecca explains her choice. “It’s recently rejuvenated because they worked out that women might actually be interested in politics and signed up lots of feminist and female writers”. Rebecca also values that her date has reached out into new media.  She thinks the date would go well because they would never be short of a viewpoint, they are interested in the same things and they wouldn’t mind if she checked Twitter while they were having a drink together.

Pub loving Account Director Penny has decided that she may be a slight commitment phobe as she has only managed to narrow it down to two choices, which she says is better than her real-life dating situation. The first is thedailymash.com, of course! She thinks it would guarantee laughter, an essential component of any date. Penny likes people who know what’s happening in the world, but can’t cope with anyone who takes themselves too seriously. With its surreal and satirical take on the news stories of the day, the mash could certainly never be accused of that. Her second date would be with Time Out, because she loves London, and loves doing stuff. There would be no problems coming up with pubs to meet in, restaurants to eat in, or exhibitions to visit.

Our travel loving and crisis calming consultant Jo Jacobson would like to head on a date with the BBC News website. She lays down her reasoning as such: “I know where I stand, it’s uncomplicated and straight-forward. We won’t have any arguments, just balanced debates that will be balanced. I will get regular updates on how the date is going and I won’t have to guess if they will call me.” I feel like I would enjoy meeting up with Jo and the BBC for some honest advice when I need to be calmed. Good choice.

Marvellously creative consultant Jo Rosenblatt would like to date The Sunday Times; a big hulk of a newspaper for a lazy weekend sounds lovely. Jo says is has “a bit of substance, a bit of style and is one paper that you can rely on to entertain for a good few hours along with a cup of coffee and a full English.” Perhaps on a first date, The Sunday Times could wow Jo in some of the classier breakfast cafes of North London.

Now, my choice would be the Evening Standard. A paper that starts late in the day, the date would be an after work affair – one where you can have a cocktail or two… It’s free, easily accessible (i.e thrust into your hand) and covers all topics with tiny nuggets of news. What’s not to love? Our date will be in some of the new and exciting bars and restaurants in London and I can’t wait!