My day

5.30am: Rudely awoken at this time every weekday morning, I am generally on the bus to work by 7.00am. This enables me to check my emails, read the Sunday newspapers, and stare out the window at the Thames and Westminster.

8.00am:This particular Wednesday differs from the usual mid-morning journalist briefings. As business advisor of the England 2018 World Cup Bid we organised a PwC penalty shoot-out competition in the City hosted by ex-Liverpool player John Barnes. So the first, frantic few hours of my day consist of chasing John, briefing event helpers and the camera crew, and reminding contacts to turn up. All while performing a sun dance.

11.00am: Noon is approaching and kick-off is imminent. As a pop-up PR stunt we relied upon viral style email campaigns targeting city businesses. As John Barnes arrives, having literally flown in from Dubai, the crowds start to gather. As do the rain clouds.

12.00 noon: Even though the heavens open at midday we have a stream of city workers already queuing to show off their skills to the footballing legend. In fact, as the lunch break continues we attract hundreds of spectators and participants from businesses such as UBS, icap, Nomura, Lloyds TSB, City Index, Deustche Bank, Charles Stanley and the Big Issue.

1.00pm: Amidst the fun, John is interviewed by the Guardian and the PwC production team, with the view to uploading footage to the England 2018 website, Facebook, YouTube, and the PwC homepage.

3.00pm: We printed 400 PwC Back the Bid t-shirts and handed them out during the competition but by 3.00pm, as the site is being cleared, there is still demand for them from passers-by and workers from the surrounding offices – all desperate for John's autograph.

4.00pm: Having hijacked the City at lunchtime we head back to Embankment Place for a debrief with the Press Office. The overwhelming conclusion is that we need to do more stunts – as we managed to reach out to our own staff, graduates and potential recruits, as well as employees from major clients and future clients. Alongside our research that is pumped into the market, this type of event not only reinforces our Sports Advisory brand but helps increase PwC as a household name.

5.00pm: Interview requests from the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme and Five Live come in towards the end of afternoon and by 6.00pm that night I am hurriedly prepping our head of sport, Julie Clark, on tricky questions such as the economic differences between the World Cup 2018 Bid and the Olympics 2012 for her drive-time interview 20 minutes later. Our chairman spoke on the same topic on the Today Programme a day later.

This pop-up PR stunt was timed with the submission of the Bid Book to FIFA (including our economic analysis) and allowed us to simultaneously celebrate the upcoming World Cup while highlighting the more serious messages surrounding the importance of the England 2018 World Cup bid.