Comic Relief is arguably the highlight of charitable TV marathons in the UK, and has been since its inception in 1985. Originally, fundraising for the event was focused around buying red noses and getting sponsored for sitting in a bath of beans.  But that was then and now things are done a little differently. Despite the financial pressures of a recovering economy affecting everyone, this year’s total broke all previous records. Were the British public particularly eager to part with their cash? Or could social media have played a part in helping them reach such a grand total?

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I’m no budding photographer, but like many people, I do love the convenience of capturing what I want when I want. However, despite finding my iPhone’s camera feature being incredibly handy it can get a little boring. You see, I’m a big fan of instant photography and was very sad to see the demise of the Polaroid and cameras alike. What I loved about them, particularly Polaroid cameras were the reddish tints, grainy prints and dark edges. It gave your photographs so much more personality than those found today on Facebook. It’s hard to explain what it is, but it’s like when you’re having a clear out at home and you find an old photo of your parents from the 70s, there’s something instantly hypnotic about it. Don’t get me wrong, digital cameras are fantastic in their own right. The ability to take hundreds of photographs, preview, edit and upload them to the web in seconds is just a few reasons why film photography has been left dead, not to mention it’s a hell of a lot cheaper. What I want though is something that gives me the quality and personality of Polaroid and the convenience of digital.

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Picking up from where Julian left off on Day 1, I started my day at Earls Court by throwing myself into a seminar on “stories of multichannel marketing success” and started to quickly understand why Julian had been so impressed the day before!

“Consumers now have a megaphone”

Grabbed my attention straight away.  The marketing landscape has changed dramatically. If we only look back to the year 2000 – it is enough to make me feel like I have been part of a pretty impressive revolution! Previously as marketers we all focused on a “push” strategy, we planted ideas in consumers heads, told them what to believe, and what to buy. The interaction was all one way and we just kept on banging our big marketing drums!

Times have changed…

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You know when you were little and you went to your Grandparent’s house and listened for hours about what life was like, ‘in their day’? They used tin baths, outside loos and they didn’t have a telly. It sounded alien, especially the telly bit. I used to spend hours wondering just what they did to fill their time. Well, I suppose families were bigger back then.

It never occurred to me that stories I tell to my kids would make me appear just as archaic. I’m only 35, but it’s happened already. I was telling my 6 year old the story about how we didn’t have a telephone in our house when we were growing up. There was a phone booth at the end of the street that took 2 pence pieces and I used to organise my teenage social life from there. It would ring out and either be picked up by me at a pre-arranged time or by a local kid playing out. If it was the latter there would be a knock at the door of number 7, where I lived or a shout up at my bedroom window, “Helen, someone’s rung for you, it’s Louise.” I would put my shoes on and run down to the phone and spend hours racking up Louise’s Dad’s telephone bill.

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Last year, like many brands and organisations, London Fashion Week flirted with Social Media by having event details, links to stories and comments posted on Twitter and Facebook… so far so very 2009!

This year, though, sees London Fashion Week take a great leap forward by embracing even more Social Media technologies and making London Fashion Week open to the masses rather than the privileged few… and they’ve done it in some predictable and also some surprising ways.

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We’re extremely proud of our work on the Swinton Mystery Tipper, especially as it has garnered the agency an armful of awards from two DMA Awards to two ISP Awards and two IPA Effectiveness Awards. We’ve had quite a few people ask to see our winning entry form… so here it is!

CONTEXT AND MARKET BACKGROUND

The insurance sector is a complex and increasingly challenging marketplace. For most of us, insurance has always been a distress purchase – something we grudgingly concede we need to have, and resent the increasing premiums. Three key innovations in the last decade have had a significant impact on the broader market. The launch of Direct Line’s online insurance offer, in 1999, following the formula of its breakthrough approach to offering insurance by telephone a decade earlier, forced every insurer and broker to reassess their approach – here was a company that made buying insurance simple and fuss-free, cutting out the middle man and talking everyday language. This sparked an extended period of discounting in the sector that still has ramifications today.

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Linkedin is often referred to as the business equivalent to Facebook but through the power of web 2.0 technology Linkedin makes it easier for users to do much more than just catch up with old colleagues! The power of this social networking site can often be underestimated.  Linkedin has created an online network of more than 8.5 million experienced professionals from around the world representing 130 industries.

You may have seen the requests arrive in your outlook inbox, along the lines of “Bob Smith wants to add you to his network on LinkedIn” , you recognise Bob, you once worked with him and so you click “accept “and without realising it you have a profile space on Linkedin.

So now what…

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Meet Swinton Steve

31, Single, loves playing on his Xbox and motorbikes, Swinton Steve is certainly developing his own fan base within our office… especially amongst the girls! So it’s a good job then that Swinton Steve has been created to introduce some personality to a series of monthly relationship building  e-newsletters.

Once known as ‘the man with the big glasses’, he’s now been reborn as Swinton Steve. Coincidentally, Steve is also the name of the Account Director who works on Swinton at Red C. And if you’ve ever met Red C’s Steve… we’re sure you’ll agree the likeness between him and this animated character is uncanny!

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Believe it or not, Mahatma Gandhi is a bit of a hero of mine. I forget how many times I’ve said to people “Be the change you want to see in the world”… which I always confess is stolen from the great man himself.

One of the lovely things about Social Networking is how it has galvanised people into creating interest groups with the aim of creating change in the world. A quick search on Facebook under Darfur reveals one kind fellow promising to give $1 to every 1,0000 people who join his Facebook group.

Although such campaigns have the best intentions, you never really get to see whether they have worked or not, mainly because these groups have such lofty ambitions. There are, however, Social Networking sites out there that have a better plan… a plan that involves changing the world one small piece at a time.

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“Mirror, mirror on the wall, how do I look in the Aqua Circle-Print Tube Dress? Oh it’s nice…but it’s not quite right…have you got it in red…and maybe one size up? Oh yes…that’s perfect. Now let me send this to my friends…girls look at me…what do you think? OMG they love it – I’ll take it…”

Coming soon to a high-street fitting room near you…welcome to the exciting world of Interactive Mirrors.

Interactive whatnow?

An Interactive Mirror is – as its name suggests – a mirror you can interact with. Basically, simply looking at your reflection is like so last year. Now you can actually manipulate it, using the mirror’s touch-screen surface to do everything from trying out new clothes and hairstyles, to giving yourself a tan.

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