At the beginning of August I had the pleasure of judging the 23^rd SUN Awards (Shot Up North). Showcasing the best photographers north of London is now in it’s 23^rd year. The judging took place at Doug Curries studio in Leeds where I meet some great people all with different backgrounds:

Ed Horwich, photographer and organizer of the awards along with Doug. Seamus Ryan – Photographer, Rob Walker – Photographer, Vicky Munro from Brass, Clair Watkin from Comma Ca and Jon Cohen of Fuji Film (non-voting chair and adjudicator) oh and we couldn’t forget Woody the dog.

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50+ women would like to have fun with fashion again. That’s what JD Williams discovered when they conducted a research panel with prospects and customers of their That’s My Style brand. So when it came to creating the DRTV ad for the Spring/Summer 2011 collection, making customers feel confident with fashion again was something they were keen to push.

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After all the pigging out over the festive period, lots of us are worrying about our expanding waist belts, cursing the extra mince pies on our hips and making New Year’s resolutions to hit the gym and get our bodies back in shape in time for our Easter holiday. But looking around, maybe we don’t need to keep striving to achieve that washboard stomach. Maybe fat is the new thin?

It seems like curves are in fashion all of a sudden. We’re seeing a growing trend in the use of plus-size models on the runways, in magazines and as part of advertising campaigns. And according to Yildiz Blackstone, the president of Luca Luca, “fashion is cyclical, but this is a trend that is going to stay… it is healthy to have curves.”

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At Red C we were chuffed to bits when we were shortlisted for the NatMag 100 award, which is a new initiative that gives agencies and their clients the opportunity to win a multimedia ad campaign across the entire NatMag portfolio of 24 brands, including Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Men’s Health.

As part of the NatMag 100 Award, media and creative agencies were invited to devise the most innovative, creative ad campaign for an individual brand, utilising a combination of the brands in the NatMag portfolio and platforms to target women or men in the UK.

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This is a strange one for the we like section but I’m treating it as more of a celebration of the life and work of photographer, Corinne Day who sadly passed away recently after a long term illness.

Corinne’s unique style introduced us all to a new way of shooting fashion. It’s a more realistic, unposed & edgy feel known as ‘heroin chic’ which to some people was seen to “make heroin addiction seem glamorous and sexy and cool”. And although her style at times was shocking it has changed the way we all look at fashion photography. Helping us to try new styles and inject more personality.

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We’ve all got a cupboard or a drawer that we fill with random bits of junk or those items that you never throw away, just on the off chance that one day you might need them.  I was sifting through my very own cupboard of this type last weekend when I came across my old A-Level Media Studies ring binder amongst old toaster instructions and dead batteries.  The temptation was too great so I took a gander.  I was quite impressed.  I was quite the academic.

Anyway, whilst sifting through the binder I came across a project entitled “My favourite advertising campaign”.  The campaign I had chosen was the United Colours of Benetton.  Within the report I had showcased some on my favourite ads and to be honest with you, I was blown away all over again.

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Over the past few years we’ve all had to tighten our belts. People want more for less and supermarkets have reacted to this by focussing their marketing on pushing cheap, value products. In contrast to this being a ‘foodie’ has become more fashionable than ever. From our love of TV programs like Come Dine With Me to the adverts made sexy by that highly annoying M&S lady, everyone is wanting a piece of this pie.

Granted, there have always been fads but now food has a cultural significance of its own. We’d love to be known for being an amazing cook and throwing the best dinner parties around. We feel the need to buy organic products rather than bog-standard own brands and if like me when you get to the counter at the supermarket you probably find yourself checking out the neighbours trolley in a keeping up with the Jones’ style.

The brands that have picked up on this trend have done it with gusto. By making a stylish alliance with their brand they are appealing to women like me who love both fashion and food.

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If new products can come and go, why can’t the stores that display them do the same? Well they can, and this is known as ‘Pop-up retail’. Over the last year there has been a surge in the pop-up phenomenon. You may ask the question what exactly is pop-up retail? As I discovered, it can only be described as something that is a temporary venue — the space could be a sample sale one day then a host to a private cocktail party the next.

Pop-up retail is specifically an idea or mindset that allows a company to create a unique environment that engages their customers, as well as generates a feeling of relevance and interactivity. The main trend encompasses “popping-up” one day, and disappearing the next – creating a sense of being fresh and relevant – fantastic attributes for any brand. Read more…

Our recent farce of a general election, where the bottom half of the UK turned blue and the top half red and yellow with some orange dotted around in between, brought it home to me how different the UK is and how we have gone back more to being four separate countries more than any time in our recent past. This has implications for us as marketers I believe that we need to take into account more.

Having spent the run up to, and the actual election, in Scotland it proved a very interesting experience. Travelling up through the country from Cambridgeshire – true blue agricultural East Anglia – into Yorkshire, Cumbria and then most of the length of Scotland, the blue conservative banners disappeared and the yellow banners (not of the Lib Dems) but of the SNP, started to appear everywhere.  Talking to Scottish friends, they feel very nationalistic and have no interest at all about what goes on in Westminster, identifying very strongly with the SNP and indeed that was borne out in the actual election result.

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When we were tasked with giving High and Mighty a new look and feel we didn’t want it to just be pretty graphics and pictures with no substance behind it. We wanted to create something that explored High and Mighty’s passion for helping men look their best even though they need clothes in hard to find sizes. I mean, just because you are high and mighty it doesn’t mean you can’t look good!

We wanted to create a look and feel that also encapsulated the great people who work on the shop floors of High and Mighty. Unlike normal clothes stores, High and Mighty’s assistants are skilled at finding men clothes that not only look good, but fit perfectly too. So they are well educated in how to dress a man, no matter what height or width he may be.

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