Cold nights, crisp mornings, hustle and bustle in all the shops. Yes it’s that time of year again, the time of year the whole agency gets into the Christmas spirit by racking their brains, putting on their festive thinking caps and coming up with some fabulous new ideas for the Red C Christmas card!

It can be a bit tricky coming up with totally new ideas each year for the agency Christmas card. Everyone wants to create an idea that’s witty, quirky and totally different from previous years. And with the incentive of 6 bottles of Champagne up for grabs, we all soon got cracking in our groups to produce some great ideas!

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I was watching Harry Hill’s TV Burp on Sunday afternoon and it was whilst he was refereeing a fight between a “commercially available instant noodle product and River Cottage’s immediate noodle pot based item” that a rather random thought occurred to me.

What would happen if online marketing was to have a fight with offline marketing? Which one would win? Which one is more effective? Well for me it’s easy. Though I love the more traditional offline forms of marketing I think there is only one winner… and it’s online all the way.

So what am I basing this view on?  Why do I think online marketing is the heavyweight powerhouse of the marketing mix?  Well, my view is very much dictated by four key factors.

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Last week Account Handling provided a shock to Creative by putting a halt to the winning streak we had strung together against the suits. This week saw the return of Red C’s Creative Director to the team and a return to winning ways… despite a very, very impressive display by Account Handling.

Now you only have to take one look at star Artworker, Keith Pleasant, to see how hard Creative had to work for this victory. His ‘drowned rat’ like appearance at the end of an hour of silky skills on astroturf clearly shows a man who had the desire, determination and the ‘right stuff’ to turn over Account Handling.

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There’s been a lot of talk recently about Spain’s sophisticated brand of ‘tip tappy’ football.  But, let’s be honest, it’s not proper football is it!  Last night’s game was all about just that; ‘proper football’.

Prior to the match Account Handling held their first ever tactical team chat where Adrian outlined his three point plan to defeat the ‘evil’ creative department.  Leigh and I actually thought this would consist of taking Lee, Stuart and Keithy P out of the game, but in actual fact they were rather sensible strategic suggestions.  I won’t give too much away but point 3 was asking Leigh not to “shoot at the goal”, but instead to pass the ball to the more “skilled” members of the team.   Classic!

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I’ll admit it to you all… I love Star Wars. And I’d love to have the powers of a Jedi. If I did, I’d use my Jedi mind-trick powers to stop unwanted ad clicks. Or better, I’d use my mind-tricks on an imperial storm trooper and get him to tell people to move along.

Ah well a man can dream… a man can dream.

Google does have a few tools, however, that we can use to help us direct our PPC ads at the people we want to see them and hopefully by-pass the ‘looky loo’s’, saving us money and improving our return on investment.

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What's not to love!

Monopolies are a bad thing, we all know that. It is a universal truth that greater consumer choice creates competitive pricing, innovative products and a fairer world for all. Giant corporations that merge, acquire, undercut and annihilate their way to total domination are looked upon with fear and distaste. I remember, as a student, reading ‘No Logo’  by Naomi Klein and being enraged by the plight of the independent coffee shops, delicatessen’s and family run enterprises that had been crushed by the giant corporations.

As a result I, like most people, have an instinctive predilection to root for the plucky underdog as a response to the dominance of a competitor. It is this basic human instinct that companies like Virgin, Apple and Airbus have used to their advantage to become the global corporate giants they are today. In all areas of my life I will always give the little guy my business, even if it takes more of my time and comes at a premium. All areas, that is, except for the search engine I use. When I’m looking for anything online I’ll always choose Google.

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It’s fair to say that here at Red C towers we’ve been a little bit miffed at England’s poor World Cup displays over the last few weeks. So miffed in fact that at one point the other day we actually turned the TV over to watch some tennis!

Luckily, we got word to Capello that we were having a bit of a bash at The Purple Pussycat in Manchester to watch the final group game and since some clients and suppliers were coming it may be good if England actually ‘turned up’, put some effort in and bagged us a win.

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I really like Andy Maslen. Next to Drayton Bird he’s probably the man whose books I’ve learnt most about copywriting from. I’d recommend his first, Write to Sell to anyone, and do quite frequently in fact.

He’s just released two new ones, the first of which I’ve just finished. It’s part of a series called 100 great ideas. Andy’s contribution is called 100 Great Copywriting Ideas.

It’s not a book you should read from start to finish. As the dust jacket says it’s “more tapas or dim-sum than three course meal. You can start anywhere you like and pick and choose whatever takes your fancy.”

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I was overjoyed when I was offered a placement at Red C. Determined to get the placement at that company; I researched it as thoroughly as I could, so that I stood a good chance of success. I am glad I did.

Initially I was overwhelmed by the amount of information that I would have to assimilate. However, I found the team I was working with to be informative, helpful and friendly. The amount of knowledge that I have gained working at Red C has far surpassed what I have learnt at university. I think the best way of learning about a job is to actually do it.

What I have learnt is to prioritise my work, use my initiative and play an active and cooperative role in the team. I have learnt that Red C is a dynamic company with an innovative approach to marketing.

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