Red C has created a new marketing campaign for a joint partnership between VisitEngland and cottages4you. The campaign, which will promote self-catering cottage holidays in England’s countryside and coastal locations, is set to launch on Boxing Day.

The TV advert, which cannot be revealed yet, will run through the key January to March booking period and is aimed at families, particularly focusing on cottages located in the countryside and on the coast. It will be supported by newspaper advertising, online advertising, direct marketing and radio.

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This year at Red C we have decided to take a different approach to our agency Christmas card… we’ve created six cards that we can pack up and sell in aid of the charity Mustard Tree. The cards we’ve created aren’t just a pretty picture of a winter scene like other Christmas cards… each of the six cards is an inspirational story for Christmas.

Everyone here at Red C has been heartened by the work that Mustard Tree do to provide life support for the homeless, marginalised and vulnerable across Greater Manchester… so this year the dreaded agency Christmas card brief had only one solution… create something to help this Charity at the time of year when it needs help the most… Christmas!

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So here we are, three months in to my placement at an advertising agency, and Red C has had me unleashed upon them without the safety net of my predecessor Anna Chan around to guide me. Though whilst I’m holding my breath and wishing myself luck, I think I’m going to be alright.

Here’s why:

1. The people I’m working with are ace. They are funny, clever and helpful

2. Holiday treats, birthday treats, leaving treats…there’s always some kind of sweet treat on offer, not to mention the decent coffee. Suddenly 7am starts don’t seem so bad

3. It’s a bit of a cliché but I can honestly say I’m learning something new thing every day

I remember when I first started searching for a placement last year and thinking that just getting one was what counted. Now I realise actually just how important getting the right one was. And I certainly found that at Red C.

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Pot Noodle... it's what students live off you know!

It’s been a month since I completed my placement at Red C, and I’m back studying at university. I’m back into student life, which, in case you’re wondering, doesn’t just mean sitting around eating beans on toast and watching Doctors on daytime TV. But it does feel  strange as the reality of returning to university as a final year student is a far cry from what I imagined it to be. Whilst I’m sat in a stuffy lecture hall struggling not to fall asleep from the lecturer’s monotonous voice, making notes about theory models, I can’t help but think back to my time at Red C and think how different it was.

I find myself missing the hectic bustle of the office, the ringing phones, even having to check through all the email links. It’s then I realise just how much Red C has changed me, motivated me and inspired me. When I look around at the other students who didn’t complete a placement, I can’t help but feel they’ve missed out. I feel my time at Red C was invaluable in helping me develop and for setting me on course to achieve my goals in advertising.

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When Stuart and I were developing the film competition for Jessops and The Mob Films that would eventually become The Shot we had three strong looks that we wanted to explore… top of our list of the three was a Saul Bass type feel that would really make this campaign stand apart from any other work Jessops had done before.

We’d also been inspired as well by seeing some quite retro interpretations of some modern film posters by such designers as Olly Moss who had created some minimalist posters for The Alamo Drafthouse. Luckily for us, we had a designer on board who really loved our initial thoughts and took them on and created some fantastic poster designs.

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Olympic Dreams Book Cover by James Dodd

Having realised that most of my ‘we like’ articles are about photography, I started work on a lovely little article about illustration. But that all came to a stop as soon as I saw ‘Olympic Dreams’ – a beautiful series of photographs by James Dodd – that I just had to write about. So it’s photography again!

When I first saw them, these beautiful black and white shots really stopped me in my tracks. I’m now kicking myself that I missed the exhibition in Sheffield late last year. Read more…

It was Punctuation Day on 24^th September which, I’m sure, was observed respectfully by you all.  No doubt you spent the day taking extra special care to ensure all your apostrophes’ were correctly placed… and tempered your use of ellipsis and exclamation marks!!!

This weekend also saw a surprise appearance from the interrobang on Q.I., and, believe it or not, I actually knew both the name and purpose of this peculiar punctuation mark – probably the first and last time I’ll ever know a Q.I. question outright. So after gaining my massive chufty badge, I began digging around the weird and wonderful world of obscure punctuation and uncovered some bizarre characters indeed.

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This summer, to me, was a summer of firsts. I visited Prague, which boasts the largest nightclub in Central Europe, attended my first Mexican themed party, finally finished reading American Psycho, and survived my first music festival. The Hurricane festival was held in Scheeßel, Germany. The festival itself also held many firsts, my first time camping, first time visiting Germany, and my first experience of port-a-loos. Eek!

Before I arrived in Germany I had some preconceptions of the festival experience. I knew I’d be battling the crowds to be at the front for the Foo Fighters, I knew it would be dirty and grimy, and I had already prepared myself for the shower and toilet facilities, as well as waterproofing my outfits for the inevitable downpour and muddy fields.

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We’ve covered Google Doodle’s off before on the Red C ‘We Like’ section, so it’s clear we’re a fan of the sheer brilliance of these little drawings. Today, though, the doodles have gone to another level and embraced the sheer showmanship of Freddie Mercury who would have been 65 today.

I’ll be honest with you, I’m not a massive Queen fan. Although I have to admit they do a mean Greatest Hits compilation… none of their albums that I have listened to have ever grabbed me. Regardless of that, even I can appreciate that one of the greatest front men ever to have graced a stage is Freddie Mercury and the stories of his hedonistic lifestyle are legendary.

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I’ve recently been tasked with giving a talk about ‘Creativity’ which has been a tougher gig than I first thought it would be… it’s a pretty broad subject to distill into a thirty minute talk.

The subject of the talk and what ‘creative angle’ I will take has sat in my head for a few weeks now and has basically led to the writing of this blog piece. Mainly because it has allowed me the chance to collect together some of my favourite stories about creativity… stories which a few people have encouraged me to share via the Red C blog.

So here are a few of them!

The Brian Eno and Back to the Future story!

Sometimes, to get to the right solution, you just need to start again.

Unfortunately in this business, starting again usually happens the night before a big pitch or presentation.. so it’s pretty tough to get everyone on-side and convince them that going back to the beginning will deliver a better end result!

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