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AVN goes head-to-head with TV Eggheads

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22nd Mar 2012
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At 6pm on Friday 23 March the marketing team from AVN, an association for accountants in practice, will carry the hopes of the profession as they take on BBC2’s ‘Eggheads’.

Known for its innovative marketing approach, could AVN’s ‘Five Marketeers’ be pioneering a new low-cost media strategy?

Not so, according to team captain Steven Baldwin, who told AccountingWEB: “As much as I’d like to do it more, it’s not. I was the one who put the team forward. The rest weren’t as enthusiastic about it so if I suggest anything like this again I think they’ll collectively throw something very large at my head.”

Describing the day of filming as "bizarre", but "really enjoyable", Baldwin said there were plenty of opportunities to chat with quizmaster Jeremy Vine when the cameras were off.

“We were filming for two hours so between takes we were chatting with Jeremy Vine,” said Baldwin. “Tom [fellow team member] and I play table tennis table at work, and Jeremy used to play for his school, so we had that in common - he was really good to chat with.”

But would he recommend going on TV game shows as a guerilla marketing tactic? “It depends how we come across really, but for the experience I’d recommend it to anyone. It was more for fun, they mentioned AVN and what we do briefly, but I don’t think we’re going to get a lot of press coverage.”

In addition to Baldwin the team consisted of Luke Jackson, Sue Davenport, Susan Clegg and Tom Holdsworth.

Davenport, head of marketing at AVN and the only accountant on the team, recalled how they ended up on the show: “The whole thing came about as a result of the bad snow last winter. We’d been hosting a marketing course in Nottingham for accountants, but as we were due to leave the venue we realised the snow was too bad to attempt the journey in our cars.

“Our managing director Shane came to the rescue in his 4x4, which had a TV screen on the dashboard. As the traffic was stationary we started watching an episode of Eggheads, and Steven suggested we should enter. We all laughed and thought no more about it – until we found out a few weeks later that Steven had in fact entered us and we had an audition!”

Susan Clegg said: “Although we all regularly work with the accountants who are members of AVN and have a good idea of what goes on in an accountancy practice, Sue was the only qualified accountant in our team. I think the rest of us were really hoping they wouldn’t throw in a sneaky question about company car tax rates or P11Ds just to trip us up!”      

The final result remains a secret, but was a bit of a nail-biter according to the AVN team. Quiz show fans should tune in to BBC2 at 6pm to find out how they did!

Have you ever appeared on TV or radio? If so, what did it do for your professional reputation? Feel free to share your media experiences with other AccountingWEB members by commenting below.

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Mark Lee headshot 2023
By Mark Lee
23rd Mar 2012 10:46

ah yes well

Firstly - I hope the AVN team fared well against the eggheads. I won't be home in time to watch it, but then again I'm a recovering quizaholic and now avoid them at all costs....

In answer to the Q at the end of the article:

I've been interviewed on radio re tax developments many times and can sadly say it has never done anything obvious for my professional reputation. No one has ever got in touch to say they heard me on Radio 3 counties or on Radio London.

Equally no one has ever been in touch after my appearances on TV when I have provided comments re tax stories for sky news, London tonight, BBC news,  BBC Breakfast or Newsnight.

Now, to be fair, viewers in their thousands may well have looked me up on the web and found that I'm no longer a tax adviser myself. I direct all such enquiries to the Tax Advice Network. But it was the same when I was in practice. No clients ever commented on my appearances either.

The one occasion when I really expected some people to comment was when I was featured on Newsnight in 1996. I shared the experience in a couple of blog posts: http://marksaccjokes.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/not-another-boring-accountant.html and http://marksaccjokes.blogspot.com/2008/06/not-another-boring-accountant-part-two.html

But no one has ever commented on my attemptes to prove that not all accountants are boring. Maybe I was just too embarrassing. ;-(

Mark

 

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By David Gill
23rd Mar 2012 12:48

Film beats TV and Radio...

Well done to the team at AVN - brave guys!

If you want to experience the ultimate in promotion by/of tax advisers, follow the attached link:

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4135658/Craig-Whyte-advisor-is-a-[***]-star.html

Who needs an EBT when you can have active film scheme participation? I think this trumps both Mark and AVN!

 

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John Stokdyk, AccountingWEB head of insight
By John Stokdyk
23rd Mar 2012 18:43

What a remarable result!

The five AVN marketeers did it! In a quite remarkable sequence all four of her colleagues got ejected from the final showdown panel, leaving head of communications Susan on her own to face the five Eggheads.

But they fumbled one question and Susan came through with a correct answer about who the play/film Another Country was about, and she won 3-2 with the answer, Guy Burgess.She did all the work, but the four AVN marketeers behind her were jubilant. 

We got this message through from Steven: “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that it was one of the best days of my life. It’s hard remembering it because we were so nervous on the day and when you’re in the studio with the lights and cameras on you sort of just phase out because there’s so much to take in. It was both bizarre and a really enjoyable day.”

Robert's quips about guerilla marketing weren't far wide of the mark. At the beginning of the show, Steven got in a very effective TV studio pitch for what AVN does. 

He was also quite a hit with the ladies watching on Twitter. 

"That guy on Eggheads looks like that guy from Busted," tweeted @Sophie_McFLyTDH.

"He's Steven - cute, cute, cute with nice, clear skin." replied DameRuMare.

On more mundane matters, I sent a congratulatory tweet to AVN to find out what they spent their winnings on.

They replied: "Tempted to say we invested it in the accountants of the future... But in honesty we mainly frittered it away."

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By ShirleyM
24th Mar 2012 10:11

Congrats to AVN

I watched the program and it was a nail-biter at the end, and a very well deserved win :)

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