Savills: "humping and gazumping"

On the basis that all publicity is good publicity, it's been a terrific few days for Savills.

The firm has enjoyed an editorial on the leader page of the Sunday Times as well as coverage in the New York Daily Post and in several French provincial newspapers, not to mention almost every print and online news outlet in the UK.

The subject of all this coverage has not been the firm's new research, nor its latest high-value London house sale, nor yet another success at an awards event. The thousands of social media and newsprint mentions have instead been generated by... condoms.

A don't-put-condoms-down-the-loo email has been sent by a senior manager to staff at the firm's Sloane Street lettings and sales office. The memo does not appear to question why there should be condoms around the office in the first place, but merely suggests the fragile old drains in the building suffer when there's a proliferation of prophylactics.

Perhaps the moral of all this - if moral is the right word - is that in the 21st century, senior managers might just have guessed that an email of that kind would be leaked.

As a result, Savills' publicity has gone through the roof. By far the most tweeted comments relating to the incident cited the Sunday Times' editorial as the best version of the story. It carries the now-classic headline Humping and Gazumping, and here it is (with thanks to the newspaper):

The scene: evening at the offices of Savills .... where staff have been ordered to stop making love in the office because contraceptives are clogging lavatories. Enter Romeo.

Romeo: But soft! What light through yonder window breaks It is Juliet and she is pointing out a pleasing aspect from the original iron balcony over a mature south-facing garden.

Juliet: What man art thou

Romeo: O speak again bright angel! And explain how this garden offers easy access to off-street parking in a prime central London location.

Juliet: Speak you also, gentle Romeo, of the five large bedrooms in this sought-after property, four of them en suite.

Romeo: Mercutio, is that you lurking in the shadows

Enter Mercutio from Tybalt, Capulet and Rutley, a rival agency.

Mercutio: We've been, er, viewing the downstairs lavatory. Juliet was about to make me a very attractive offer.

Romeo: Alas, then I depart and ... oh, please try not to block the drain.