Please click here to send us your details

After months of meticulous planning, debating and creating, we've recently launched a campaign to promote the first ever Women's Business Forum.

The Forum addresses the issue of the lack of senior business women present on boards currently in the UK – this is fast becoming a hot topic in government, industry and organisations, with countries such as Norway having already introduced legislation to tackle the problem. According to research, women can make a real difference to the profitability and effectiveness of organisations, so far from being a Spice Girls style 'Girl Power' exercise, its focused on the benefits to both women and the organisations they work for by providing the tools they need to get them to where they need to be.

So, excited by the premise of being involved in a project with the potential to instigate change, we began by creating the identity for the forum, followed by a suite of collateral. We then began the copy writing process, consulting various pieces of research along the way before designing and building the website. The website allows users to register for the event, provides a back end vetting system, and a secure log in area for successful applicants to purchase tickets Women's Business Forum.

The event takes place on 23rd September 2010 and we're now working on the finer detail around the campaign in the build up to the big day.

www.thewomensbusinessforum.co.uk

Being of an older generation than most of my colleagues, it gives a wider scope than most of you as there are things that I can recall from my childhood and teenage years, that some of you may have only read about.

For example, there is Topo Gigio, from children's TV in the 60s:

This character, along with Muffin the Mule (probably not allowed these days), the Wooden Tops and Pinky & Perky were my childhood TV influences, designed when there were no electronic influences to distract 5 year olds.  Great though these were, they are not in my top three fab stuff.

Neither is the BT Tower; an icon if it’s time and hailed as a great leaps forward in architecture, with it’s revolving restaurant.

Inevitably one design that did make it into my top three, is a car; but surprisingly it’s not

a 1962 Ferrari 250 Spyder (arguably the most beautiful car ever designed):

Nor is it the Austin Healy 3000 Mk11:

Or a Frog Eyed Sprite:

Or a Lancia Delta Integrale Evo:

But it is the humble Mini:

This car changed the way that we think about cars and became the symbol for not only the ‘swinging sixties’ but also for fun, youth, freedom and was the natural choice for any ‘Boy (or Girl)’ racer.  I learnt to drive in one and that in itself was a feat!  Massive grip and unsurpassed handling made up for a gear change that felt like stirring porridge, no heater, windscreen wipers that worked when they wanted to and spending all your money on tin foil to stuff behind the radiator, to protect the spark plugs from the elements....what absolute joy, and all wrapped up in a simple design that everyone instantly fell in love with – the motor car had developed a character and it was a cheeky little usurper with a determination that would never give up and always had the heart to get you home…..love it!

Staying on the car theme, one of the most recognisable Marques in automotive history is my second design choice.  It needs no explanation other than it is the symbol of the very heart of Italian motor manufacture and world motorsport.

Perhaps what is not so widely known is that the evocative symbol of Ferrari was actually originally from a World War 1 Italian air force ace who became a hero (not many around, I know) in the skies, but died young. He painted the black prancing horse on his planes and Enzo Ferrari met the young pilot’s Mother, after winning a race, and she asked that he use the emblem on his racing cars….and the rest is history.  The prancing horse, on a yellow background (the colour of Enzo’s home town of Modena) is recognisable over the world and makes my heart race whenever I see it, even after all these years.  Those that know me well, know that if you break me in half I have Ferrari written right through me and this symbol binds together millions of tifosi around the world…

And so to my third design – perhaps not so recognisable and not so widely known, but to me is representative of the era – pushing the boundaries; hints at more but not too explicit; rebellious; edgy; sexual but leaves a lot to the imagination – this was instantly recognisable, to those in the know, as belonging to a band of almost cult following; it is the album cover of Free, by Free and bearing in mind it was released in 1969, you can see why parents up and down the land were going nuts:

So there it is – a car, a Marque and an album cover.

Enjoy……

So I looked outside everyday consumer objects. I looked at experiences, environments and movements that have challenged those around them. At last I was on to something. I didn’t take much longer to hit upon my three.

First was an album. Screamadelica by Primal Scream. A seminal album that changed dance music in the UK. Everything about it is class. The production, the sleeve, even the lilting Bobby Gillespie vocals. This was more than an album it was a moment in time. It defined a post club generation and set the template that made the now tedious chillout genre possible.

Second was a gas sto

ve. More specifically the Primus Gavity. These are simple stoves designed for cooking in extreme conditions. They are robust, lightweight and run off any fuel. Most importantly they are reliable. Life and death reliable. If your primus gives out on the side of the Eiger you will die. End of. They don’t break, not ever. In addition they are really good looking things.

Lastly is a resent phenomenon. Someone with too much time on their hands discovered that Oyster cards melt in acetone (nail varnish remover to you and me) and reveal the chip and delicate antenna that the card houses.

The clever tykes then buried the liberated technology into a Harry Potter wand and delighted in opening the barriers on the London Underground with a flick of the wrist (and no doubt a magic word for effect). I love this idea. You could bury the technology into pretty much anything!

So there you have it. Three great things.

So what, you might say. Well, here’s my challenge. Have a go. Submit your own 3Faves to the BrandNew blog. No clichés (anyone who submits Helvetica will have their mouse hand removed), no showing off and include a nice explanation of what makes your things great.

The findings, from Retail Decisions (an IMRG member) ReD), revealed that a massive £1.4 million was spent at 13:43 making today the busiest online shopping minute ever.

Go back a few years and full beards were the preserve of real ale drinkers, ramblers, Morris dancers and Open University presenters.

Sure there was designer stubble, skaters with goatees, and Goths sporting whispy chin fluff. But there weren’t many blokes under 55 carrying a good honest face full of hair.

I’m a beard wearer. The full set. Hairy faced and proud. But I don’t drink warm pints of Old Bishops Nipple or whatever they call it. Nor do I ramble.

I don’t generally wear bells on my ankles at weekends or lab coats and corduroy blazers during the week.

My face-warmer has been in place since I spent a couple months in a jungle – no honest. It wasn’t practical to shave and, truth be told, I was quite flattered when people told me it suited me. My now wife liked it, and I may well have returned to the realms of the smoothenfaced had she not given the emotional support that the newly bearded need.

But I’m not alone. Far from it. Indeed the full faced beard has made quite a comeback in the last few years.

If the Logistik Group is a microcosm of society then some 25% of the male workforce in modern Britain have eschewed their Octoblade-Smoothglide XL Max in favour of a set of clippers. Given that we are ‘agency types’, then the fluff-to-smooth ratio might be higher than the national average. But even so that’s a lot of beards.

By far the best and most established beards are in BrandNew. Indeed the rest of the group companies would have to join forces to mach our fuzzy faced prowess.

In fact we’re considering making them compulsory – like timesheets. For let there be no doubt; having a beard to stroke sparks more creative ideas than groping a baby smooth chin. Indeed there is no facial hair at all in some parts of the group. Coincidence?

History doesn’t lie either. DaVinci, Henry VIII, Hemmingway, Che Guevara, Castro, Einstein, Freud, WG Grace, Best, Botham, Blessed: Legends the lot. If we airbrush out Edmonds, DLT and one or two BeeGees then the full face beard has pretty much been at the centre of human advancement.

Take ZZ top; the best beards in rock. Ironically the band member who shaves is the drummer Frank Beard. But does anyone remember him? Nope, drummers are expendable. The rock comes from the beards at the front of the band.

If you don’t believe me visit www.beardcare.com and they’ll put you right: ‘Real men wear beards’ they say.

And who am I to argue?

Anyway, after we'd gorged ourselves stupid we set forth in actually creating the brand of Sesame, Purveyors of good stuff. It took several workshops working closely with Louise and Richard in order to really get to the bottom of the noodle pot.

Then we had a second lunch. We told the boss that it was important to feed our imaginations for the design of the Sesame menus and website. It is safe to say that our creatively enhanced belly has paid off handsomely as the website has been showcased on CSS Mania and has won a Site of the Day award at the CSS Awards.

Sadly, though all this research has taken its toll and we're all now on the Atkins diet. Just don't mention the Halitosis.

Download the menu here

Visit the website here

The use of big imagery and rotating photography was used on the new site to create high visual impact and showcase the experiences found at Harewood. The site was designed to be aesthetically appealing to the visitor whilst functionally easy to use, with a hide and show content system. To create the online booking facility, we worked with TCS Gold to integrate their booking system into the new website and link this to the new content management system.

Within the website we developed a ‘My Harewood’ section, which is an area of the site that visitors can personalise to suit their own tastes and interest. Viewers can choose from a list of preferences to select relevant news feeds and events that they would like to hear more about. This section includes an automated ‘Pie Chart’ which enables a Harewood visitor to visually see at a glance what experiences they have enjoyed at Harewood and what there is still to do at the stately home.

The ‘My Harewood’ section also provides a data capture opportunity which is used to segment the diverse range of users. Harewood now use this information to target each individual with sophisticated email campaigns, this again has helped enormously to improve the commerciality of the site.

The new website, which launched in September 2009 was a great success and has received a lot of positive feedback from venue staff and visitors.

Please visit the website here www.harewood.org

We entered the NHS Calendar Hero
website (www.calendarnhshero.com)
into the Best Public Sector Website
or Campaign category and have now
been selected as one of the five
finalists.

Our digital team, designed a website
for the Calendar NHS Health and
Social Care Hero Award to act as a
destination site and annual home for
the awards, where users could
nominate and vote for their chosen
hero, plus view previous winners.

In comparison to last year the votes
were up 50%, because the
opportunity to vote was made much
easier for the user.

For further award details and to see
the other finalists please visit
www.dadiawards.com.

We are looking for Account Directors, Account Managers and Business Development Executives.

If you think you've got what it takes then please send your CV and a cover letter to simon.kendrew@thisisbrandnew.com

We plan to keep working closely with NHS Leeds to develop the website further to keep up with the daily developments and increasing severity of our situation here in Yorkshire and the UK. Hopefully we can provide key info and help, in some way, to stem the spread of the virus.

To view the site please visit http://www.swinefluinfo.leeds.nhs.uk

We have also just launched http://www.thetwopercentclub.com