Yesterday, I was working from home and minding my own business, when an unexpected, unsolicited and rather lovely email popped into my inbox. It was from Neil Kerber, one of the UK’s leading cartoonists whose drawings can regularly be seen in Private Eye, Daily Mirror and Vogue.
 
He said “Dear Sophie… I draw interesting people, so I drew you, and thought you might like to see it.”
 
I wrote back to him straightaway to thank him for his interest and, out of curiosity, to ask him how he had found me. Being in PR, one likes to know that one’s own marketing is working.
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He said that he had found me on Twitter and had been inspired to draw me in the style of his infamous Polly Bean character, who has graced the pages of Private Eye for more than twenty years and features on the Vogue website.
 
I can’t help but be flattered although slightly baffled by his attention; Kerber has sold originals of his cartoons to Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman, Charles Saatchi and other collectors and fans.
 
I thanked Neil for the picture and told him about my alternative life as a gallery Curatrix, having put on art exhibitions for the Venice Biennale and now being the proprietor of a small fine art gallery in my own home. I hope that he  might choose to exhibit his work in one of my shows. 
 
In the meantime, I  liked Kerber's direct and personal sales technique and shall consider buying his sketch of me (which is based on the picture featured on this page) below.
 
What do you think, readers?

Some time ago I attended a conference and heard the very enigmatic Tim Langlois talk about Specsavers' simple, but extremely effective consumer digital strategy. "We give them entertainment and then when they need new glasses, they come to us." Langlois said that real time reaction to the media agenda with hilarious content was the key to their success. In June 2014, during the decisive World Cup Group D match between Uruguay and Italy, Specsavers' digital team responded to Luis Suarez biting Giorgio Chiellini by tweeting a picture of the Italian defender next to a picture of cannelloni, along with the #shouldhavegonetospecsavers hashtag. This week, Specsavers outdid themselves again with this simple but brilliantly timed tweet after Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty presented the award for best picture to La La Land, instead of moonlight, after being handed the wrong envelope by PWC. Their catchprase has now even been shortened to #shouldve,  having become so popular that it no longer even requires the inclusion of the brand name for it to be recognisable. 

The next unlikely heroes of the week are British Transport Police, whose reaction to a rather bizarre situation on a train that got out of hand, had the hashtag #bagelgate trending on twitter. The BTP were called to investigate a brawl that started when passengers on the 00.54 Great Northern service from Kings Cross put the baked goods on fellow passengers' heads. The police diffused the situation but it was their playful response with a serious message that got the Twittersphere talking.