Katie Rebekah Osborne: Capital FM Arena

April 2012

Katie Osborne, Digital Marketing Manager for the Capital FM Arena and National Ice Centre, talks about her experiences with social networking and visiting celebrities

I MOVED to Nottingham from Yorkshire when I was ten. I was scouted by a local model agency at 13 but myparents wouldn’t  let me sign with them until I finished school, so I started modelling at 16 when I was studying for my A Levels at Sixth Form. During this time, I had a part-time job at Kookai and the companyentered me for Miss Nottingham in 2000, which I won. I went on to Miss England, where I came second and represented Great Britain in Greece (Athens, Mykonos and Crete), Malta and Singapore. By the time I was 19, I had signed to an agency in Knightsbridge and did London Fashion Week which was incredible. I also did a further two A Levels and travelled to some amazing places around the world. Then I was offered a great contract to work in Japan, but at the same time I was offered a place at uni and decided to take the ‘career’ route instead… Uni was incredible- and I was even lucky enough to do work experience as a runner at the BBC and Sky TV. The day I found out I had got the job at the Arena was up there as one of the best feelings ever.

I was brought in to the Capital FM Arena and National Ice Centre two years ago to market and establish the brands online. At the same time they recruited a Web developer. When I started they had two websites, two Facebook friend pages, a Flickr page and a Twitter account. We now have four websites, four Twitteraccounts, four Facebook fanpages, two YouTube channels, two Flickr accounts and several Linked-In profiles and groups.

The first time I was shown around by my manager and saw the dressing rooms and star corridors backstage,it was a really exciting feeling. I remember seeing the racks of costumes for Strictly Come Dancing who were in at the time and all the flight cases and glitter backstage... and it occurred to me how we could pass on that excitement of being behind-the-scenes to our customers- offering outsiders the inside scoop!

Even now, I still get excited when I see a show being set up or even the artists who play here – show days are the best buzz ever - but for a different reason. I know that if we get exclusive video or pictures of wardrobe, make-up, or, better still, of the artist themselves, the social reaction and coverage we’ll get from it, along with the local (and sometimes National) media, will be amazing. When I got a snap of The Wanted, our Twitter and Facebook went crazy- especially when they tweeted us to say thanks!

But, it isn’t that easy getting this kind of content. Sometimes I can wait around for three hours at the end of a long show-day just to get one photo of an artist backstage! And backstage access isn’t guaranteed… I’m not always allowed backstage to take photos. I work closely with our brilliant Events team who introduce me to the promoters and tour managers of each show and then turn on the charm and take it from there! Nearly two years on from covering my first show backstage, we have built up a fantastic portfolio of backstage access for a variety of artists and shows, from Tinie Tempah to Justin Bieber and Strictly Come Dancing to Arctic Monkeys. And of course, the same promoters come back, so if I nail one shows backstage coverage, the likelihood of getting access again is high- particularly as our coverage can often result in last minute ticket sales!!

Sometimes you’ll get access to the dressing room, the stage, the tour bus and even the artist. That happened with JLS, who were all lovely guys- and even retweeted our coverage to our followers. That made me do a victory dance in the office! The guys I work with are used to me screaming every now and again when an artist interacts with us socially. It’s a standing joke in the office that I’m a nerd. I went on the tour bus for JLS, Britain’s Got talent and Iron Maiden – theirs was the best, with mirrored ceilings! I met Justin Bieber after he finished his soundcheck. And Willow and Jaden Smith who were supporting him. There was a rumour that Will Smith would attend the concert, which he did backstage with Jada - as you can imagine, I put that straight out on Twitter!! Vanilla Ice was amazing. I remember he let me update his Twitter on his phone. Tinie Tempah and Labrinth were pretty cool. Really nice guys. That show had a load of last minute ticket releases so I gave this show huge push socially on the day, tweeting out pics of his trainers, stage and basketball rings backstage – by show doors, we had just one standing ticket left over. The promoter was chuffed with the coverage and even gave me meet and greet passes for the gig. The security manager for The Saturdays took me round backstage to do some photos. I remember being in their dressing roomtaking pics of their outfits, when the door swung open and Marvin from JLS (dating the group’s Rochelle Wiseman) walked in! My immediate reaction was to tweet about it. Which I did a minute later after as soon as I left the room!! And later that night, Aston (Merrygold from JLS) turned up in his supercar backstage as well to watch the girls from the mixer. Again, we were given some meet and greet passes for the work on this show and I remember having my photo with Mollie from The Saturdays. She looked amazing, whereasafter working a crazy 12 hour day, I had definitely looked better!!

 

Hulk Hogan was wicked. He told me I reminded him of his daughter. I wasn’t quite sure how to take that one... Lady Gaga recorded part of her Born This Way album when she was here in 2010. She set up a studioin the star dressing room. Michael Buble played ice hockey with the Panthers when he was here. When Batman Live was here they brought the original Batmobile here as a treat for the cast, which I only found out about by keeping an eye on Twitter- so I retweeted the casts pictures out.

A lot of the time, for confidentially reasons, we can’t publicise a lot of what we see. One of our Events team passed a major rock singer coming out of his dressing room singing “I’m Every Woman” at the top of his voice, which was hilarious. The nicest artists I’ve met were probably Tinie Tempah and The Wanted. Stars of reality TV shows like Strictly and X Factor are always lovely too. Support acts are the best as they are always really up for coverage as we can help get them the right exposure.

I don’t really get starstruck – backstage coverage is just part of my job. And I like to think I do it well! I really do feel so lucky to have the job I have- it is amazing. But hard work! Yes, social marketing is fun and exciting, but it’s also a massively powerful platform which requires 24/7 monitoring and dedication- I’ve been known to update our social platforms from 7am, right up until to 11.30pm after a show. Or when I’m on holiday, Christmas Day, and even when I was off after having my wisdom teeth out because we had the One Direction on-sale, which was crazy online! As well as becoming another channel for customer service, I believe social networking also really adds to our customers show experience, before, during and after an event… And people expect it from us! I think perhaps, I’ve created a monster! My motto? Keep calm and carry on tweeting J

The Capital FM Arena Twitter account now has nearly 10,000 followers which is the second largest in the UK after the O2 Arena. Katie tweets from @KatieRebekah, @CapitalFMArena and @Nat_Ice_Centre. Links to all the Facebook, YouTube and Flickr accounts can be found at www.capitalfmarena.com and www.national-ice-centre.com

The Saturdays: Rochelle

October 2011

 WE were in Nottingham last week actually on a radio promotional tour. Vanessa and I went shopping. I bought a coat from Zara and then we went to Pret (A-Manger). We had a few people say hello and take our picture. It’s funny because once one person does it, you get quite a few more doing it.

This weekend I’ll be packing because I know we are away next week on a promotional tour. I’m not sure where we’re going to be honest. It could here, it could be in Timbuktu. But that’s typical really. I quite like it.

If I’m at home at the weekend I like a healthy mix of staying in and going out. A lot of it depends on what sort of a week I’ve had.

I love @The X Factor. @I think the groups and the girls are the strongest this year but I think@ Frankie @will win. I like@ The Risk@ and@ Misha B.@

I don’t think of them as possible competition for us. We’ve not actually got any competition at the minute as there are no other girl bands around. I’m not complaining but it’s nice to have a bit of healthy competition. It doesn’t mean that you’ll be rivals and hate each other.

I’ve heard of @Parade@ but I haven’t heard their album yet. I don’t think it’s out yet (it’s released on November 14). But we’ve met them a couple of times and they’re sweet girls.

At the moment I’m loving @Beyonce’s@ (right|) latest album and I still love @Adele’s album.@ When we were recording our new album I was consumed by that and didn’t really listen to anyone else. You get a bit OCD about it. Just in case you hear a new drum beat or something.

The album’s out on November 21 and it has taken us about a year to finish. I’m excited for everyone to hear it now. It’s nice when you are creatively involved. There are 12 songs on the album and we wrote seven.

It’s a pop album, a mixture of ballads and uptempo stuff. We don’t shy away from pop, we’re proud of being a pop band. It’s what we enjoy and what a lot of other people enjoy.

I’m reading a book about Madeleine McCann (@Madeleine by Kate McCann@) at the moment but I keep stopping and starting. All of our down time is when we are in car and I get so car sick when I try and read. Even texting while in a car gets me going. So I tend to sleep most of the time. Even 15 minutes is better than none at all. It does me good. I’m back on form after a nap.

We’re always on the go and dancing when we perform so I keep fit that way. I hate the thought of getting into a gym as well as what we already do. So I don’t. I probably should.

It goes in phases, really. You join a gym in January and go for a few weeks and then don’t go again until the next year.

The last film I saw was @The Inbetweeners@ (above). I love The Inbetweeners anyway and yes it was good. It’s just like The Inbetweeners on holiday.

Eating on the go drives me insane so we make sure we sit down and have time to eat properly. Even if it’s just half an hour. On the road you can end up eating a lot of bad food. But there are a lot of Marks & Spencers and Waitrose now so you can have something that’s good for you.

I love cooking. If the girls were coming round for dinner I’d do something easy because I don’t like doing the timing. One thing’s always cold. So it would have to be a chili con carne or something like that.

I’d love to do@ Come Dine With Me,@ although I don’t like the idea of people snooping around your house.

I’m with The Saturdays all the time and they are like my four best friends but for a perfect weekend I’d like to spend it with my mum and my family and other friends from home.

The Saturdays play the Capital FM Arena on Monday December 12. Tickets are £19.50 from the venue, call 08444 124624 or visit www.capitalfmarena.com. Their new album, On Your Radar, is out November 21.

The Saturdays

June 2011

SHE is the posh blonde one, the daughter of an accountant, the one who wanted to be a singer since she was seven years old. And Mollie King admits it took her dad and mum (a doctor’s secretary) some convincing that pop music was the right career for her.

“I’ve got two older sisters,” says King, who turned 24 last weekend.

“One is a lawyer and the other is a banker, so when I said I wanted to be a pop star it was a bit...”

Of a disappointment?

“(Laughs) No, not at all. It was more like ‘where did this come from?’ Mum thought it was a brilliant idea but for my dad it was more ‘gosh, how are we going to go about this?’ My family’s not at all in the performing arts world, so it was a complete shock.”

The turning point for dad was seeing his youngest daughter in his daily paper.

“My dad reads The Guardian and there was an article about us, so he was impressed then.”

She adds: “And now they really are The Saturdays’ No. 1 fans. They come to everything they can possibly be at... hang on just a minute...”

King is hopping from one car into another. Where is she off to?

“I’m actually going to, erm... I’m going to see... I’m going to, erm...”

She turns to her best friend in the seat beside her.

“Kate, what do you call it where we’re going to? The horses? The races.”

You’re going to watch horse racing.

“(Laughs). You can tell it’s my first time going.”

It’s a rare day off for her and the rest of the group who have been working on their next album.

“We’re writing and recording that at the moment. It’s the first time we’ve been allocated a lot of time to write the songs. On our last one we did write one of the tracks but this time we’ll be writing a good percentage of them, which is nice because the album now feels really personal to us.

“At the end of June we’re going in for a week’s writing camp with producers and writers from all over the world coming to see us, which is really cool. We are still beginners when it comes to writing so it’s nice for us to be working with such talented people.”

The album won’t be released until November but the first single from it, Notorious, was released last month. It’s their tenth hit in three years, following the likes of If This is Love, Forever Is Over, Missing You, Ego and Higher.

The Saturdays’ Frankie Sandford had plenty of column inches in the tabloids when her relationship with Dougie Poynter from McFly broke down but what is the situation with the rest of them?

“Four of us have boyfriends and Vanessa is single,” says King.

“My boyfriend’s a model. It’s actually very new. It’s been two months.”

And how he’s adjusting to the attention?

“He’s used to being photographed with his job but he didn’t really realise how much we get photographed in The Saturdays.”

She adds: “I’m really busy but he’s equally as busy so we do have to make time to see each other. But that kind of makes it more special when we are together. We plan to spend nice days together and to do things that are fun.

“If you really like somebody you can always make it work.”

Although singing is her priority, she does harbour ambitions to act and had a taste in Hollyoaks.

“We made a little appearance, which was funny. And we were acting but it was only a very small part. One of the characters was hitting on me and I had to give him a ‘back off’ look.”

Ahead of the next session of writing for the new album, The Saturdays appear alongside the likes of JLS and McFly at Alton Towers Live on Sunday June 19.

Says King: “I’m so excited because I haven’t been to Alton Towers before. I hope that I get to go on the rides. I’m told they have the scariest rides in the country and I’m quite a daredevil, I’m quite up for it.”

Tickets, including theme park entrance, are £55. The concert starts at 4.30pm. For more details visit www.altontowers.com.