Lest we forget...

Preparing to set off to the office this morning, I struggled, fingers and thumbs, as I tried so carefully to secure my poppy in situ for fear that the gusting winds and rain would cause this to become dislodged.

Today, of course, is Armistice Day. As I would expect of many, I could not envisage venturing out on this day without this most reverent symbol of respect for those that made the ultimate sacrifice in defence of the freedom that nowadays we seem to take for granted.

As I strode toward Highgate station it was to my sadness and surprise that I became aware of the number of people I passed absent of this traditional mark of remembrance.

Such was my astonishment that I took it upon myself to study my fellow passengers and see just how many were wearing a poppy and if indeed there was any consistency amongst those with poppy and those without.

Naturally, perhaps, I assumed that the more elderly folk would adhere to this tradition, but no, the first of my older generation, a well to do gent in dark overcoat and hat, was bereft of poppy and the first person I spotted with a poppy was a young girl of Asian background.

Scouring the commuters seated in my carriage and standing around me, a mixture of young and middle aged men and women of various ethnicities, not a poppy was to be seen. Then as a space appeared in my line of vision I finally spotted a man, maybe in his late 30’s, attired in suit and tie, with poppy pinned to his lapel.

After leaving the tube and taking the short walk to the office I failed to spot a single person with a poppy; passing an aged, archetypal city type in his luxurious camel coat, surely this man… but no…

Now maybe I am doing some of these people a disservice, maybe, like me, they were concerned that they would lose their poppy and instead had this hidden inside their briefcase or bag or had it pinned to their inner clothing, but surely the point of the poppy is to wear this on display.

As we approached 11.00GMT when a bugler from the Scots Guards was to mark the start of the two-minute silence by playing the Last Post, I wondered if London would indeed fall silent in remembrance. Will iPods be switched off? Will laptops be sent to sleep? Will the telephones in our office cease to ring? I recall a time some years ago when I sought to end a telephone call explaining that we were approaching 11:00 and the gruff response I received. Clearly for some business will always come first!

Perhaps it is different now that the threat is not as demonstrable as it was following the First and Second World Wars. Opinions have changed and questions are raised as to whether we should even be fighting the war in Afghanistan.

But at this time when it seems that almost every day news reports tell of another member of the armed forces lost in Afghanistan, surely the poignancy of this day cannot be lost on the nation?

As I stepped outside my office to observe the silence, the traffic continued to flow past, people went about their business and so I was simply left to stand silent in my own private contemplation.

Lest we forget… Sadly I fear many already have...

Kentish Canteen -Time out review

Time Out says - By Richard Ehrlich Posted: Oct 6 2010


Pret and Caffè Nero are both about to open branches on Kentish Town Road, but Kentish Canteen is what the area really needs: a classy local doing brunch, lunch and dinner all week.

The guiding principles are maximum flexibility and minimal expense. It's a great formula: no main course over £12, and smaller, 'larder' dishes costing around £3-5. Menus will change monthly and were still being tweaked
... More

Pret and Caffè Nero are both about to open branches on Kentish Town Road, but Kentish Canteen is what the area really needs: a classy local doing brunch, lunch and dinner all week.

The guiding principles are maximum flexibility and minimal expense. It's a great formula: no main course over £12, and smaller, 'larder' dishes costing around £3-5. Menus will change monthly and were still being tweaked on our visits.

Some of chef John Cook's food is sensationally good. Eggs Benedict on the brunch menu was exemplary.

On a separate visit, parmesan chicken - a breaded escalope - was tender and juicy within and crunchy without (no mean feat). A huge portion of wonderful vegetable soup featured a memorably flavourful broth. Accurately cooked steak came with addictively crisp, fluffy chips. Desserts and baking are fine, and nice touches - such as small pots of blue-chip Isigny butter - show careful attention to detail.

The space looks great, designed by a firm just around the corner and with one wall dominated by a Kentish Town photo mural. Wine list: short and imaginative, and starting at just £14.50.

Service is sweet and largely efficient. Expect great things of this new place, on the site that used to be RED

Epoc Latest project wins

A Food 'Court' and Hotel in Berlin,
A 'Boutique' sports store in London,
A 'bar' for a global fashion retailer...

The 'Hello' view of Life

It is a shame this level of reality was not a more prevalent view in modern life.

Then perhaps we would all take the view that we need to just get on with it...!

We will not all be famous.
We will not all stay young and slim.
We will not all be premiership foootballers or lottery winners.
We will not all be wealthy or feature in 'Hello' Magazine.

We all need to work at a level befitting our skills, knowledge and abilities.

Be proud of what you can realistically do, Live your life and enjoy each minute.

'Photoshop' is a mask, not a reality and too many, spend too long, in the Media led world of fame fantasy.

Thought for today R4

Chin Chin Laboratories

London has finally got its first nitro icecream bar. They designed the interior of the new Chin Chin Laboratories’s nitro icecream bar in Camden.

As a key idea behind their work they developed a mad scientists lab environment, where preparation area, display cabinet and lightning devices are all inter-connected with a lot of playfulness.
No wire on the floor; everything goes trough the pipes seems to be one of the main very practical feature. Details amongst others, that I really liked, the cords of the swing have been partially un-woven and re-woven on themselves – there’s no knot!


The confectionning and preparation areas, cabinet and display are all hold together by the tubular structure.

The light bulbs are directly plugged on the structure.
even the drinks had that mad scientists feeling (kir royal in a pipette)


** Andrew Haythornthwaite and Shai Akram began their collaboration shortly after graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2006 on the Design Products course headed by Ron Arad. Their projects have taken them to China, New Zealand and now, back to the UK.
They presented their Fruit Fishing for FoodMarketo in Milan 2010; which is based on the scientific fact that apples float and pears don’t.

* Chin Chin Laboratories are located in Camden – the address is 49 Camden Lock Place.

Kentish Canteen

This Monday, 7th September, saw the opening of the new “Kentish Canteen” restaurant at 300 Kentish Town Road NW5.











Now it would be all too easy to slide into food critic mode and rave about this being a great place to pop in for a quick meal and a glass of wine. We could enthuse about the Head Chef, late of Vinoteca and his able Sous Chef who was previously Head Chef at the Acornhouse Restaurant. Oh and not forgetting the owners, Owen and Wendy, who already operate PJ’s Bar & Grill in Covent Garden and their passion for food. Then there’s the wine list put together by a friend of Wendy's who's a master of wine with his own vineyard in the South of France….

At this stage you’d probably be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled upon one of those restaurant review websites or suspect that we have some ulterior motive for promoting the place.

Well the truth is we do!

From the initial brand concept through to the design and implementation Epoc were immersed in this project. We were even responsible for locating the site on behalf of the owners!

So should you ever find yourself in the area and in need of refreshment we would certainly recommend a visit to Kentish Canteen and whilst you’re enjoying your meal take in the design as well. Should you then feel predisposed to find out more of what we do here at Epoc, simply walk around the corner from the restaurant and you’ll find our studio here in Leverton Place!

Did you see?

For those of you who saw the last episode of "Mary Queen of Shops" on Monday, 15th July featuring Lightwater Home Care, but just happened to miss the credits at the end, we thought we should mention that yes, it was EPOC that put together the new design and graphics for the store.

A special mention should also go to Denise Tisdale at Sign Specialists Ltd who did a magnificent job of pulling together all the new signage for the unit.

It's all about attitude!

Whilst most of us were fixed on England’s crucial game against Slovenia, down in SW19 two relatively unknown tennis players were locked in a gladiatorial battle of wills in what became the longest tennis match in history.

Suffice to say the stamina, courage and sheer dogged determination of these two players namely John Isner and Nicolas Mahut belies belief. Although it was highly unlikely that either player would ultimately progress to win the tournament it is testament to their character that their refusal to concede defeat was founded solely on the will to win rather than the promise of a hefty pay cheque. In fact for his part in this 11 hour epic, Mahut received just £11,250 in prize money.

That though is of little consequence as he will forever be remembered for his participation in what has been described as the greatest match of all time as well as his indefatigable attitude and graciousness even in defeat.

In stark contrast his fellow countrymen representing “Les Bleus” at the World Cup have been vilified in the French press both for their failure to progress from the group stages but more particularly for the farcical events off the field. This has even escalated to the political hierarchy prompting one Socialist to comment

"The atmosphere that prevails in the French team is one that Nicolas Sarkozy exults -- it's all about individualism, egotism, everyone for themselves, and the only way to judge human success is the cheque you get at the end of the month,"

Not that the England team have exactly covered themselves in glory. After two uninspiring performances against the USA and Algeria and the stories of divisions within the squad, a victory against a Slovenia team ranked 25th in the world should not convince us that we have suddenly been transformed into potential World Cup winners. But at least the team finally showed a sense of spirit and desire previously lacking.

Of course Sunday’s match against Germany will prove to be a far sterner test of our resolve with history very much against us.

Whilst the England players should certainly require no greater motivation than the opportunity to achieve a victory against our old adversaries, if they require any form of paradigm for all that is expected of them when they take to the pitch on Sunday they would do well to reflect on the performance of Isner and Mahut.

St George's Day

....and following the theme of today....

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;... Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!"

23rd April -St Georges day

Our patron saints day but not a public holiday yet- The campaign goes on and we support it not just bacause the 23rd of April is Eddies birthday and having him out of the office is a holiday for us all! Saint George is perhaps most famous for slaying a dragon. This is obviously a fictitious story and very little is known about the real St. George. The little we do know is as follows:

· Born in Turkey (either Anatolia or Cappadocia)
· Lived in 3rd century AD
· His parents were Christian
· Later lived in Palestine
· Became a Roman soldier
· Protested against Rome's persecution of Christians
· Imprisoned and tortured, but stayed true to his faith
· Beheaded at Nicomedia in Palestine

St. George is probably England's most successful immigrant. Born in a foreign land, welcomed by the English and has worked hard for over 800 years in his adopted country. He has integrated so well that he has come to symbolise the very essence of 'Englishness'. The story of St. George and the Dragon dates back to the Middle Ages when the dragon was commonly used to represent evil, so it's an excellent tale of good triumphing over evil. Since then St. George has been popularly identified with English ideals of charity, chivalry and courage (now known as the 3 C's)

St. George's worldwide fame

He is not only patron saint of England but also of…

· Bulgaria · Canada · Croatia, Senj · Ethiopia · Georgia · Germany, Haldern · Germany, Freiburg · Germany, Heide · Germany, Limburg · Gozo · Greece · Israel, Lod · Italy, Ferrara · Italy, Genoa

· Italy, Modica · Italy, Nerola · Italy, Riano · Lebanon, Beirut · Lithuania · Malta · Netherlands, Amersfoort · Palestine · Portugal · Russia, Moscow · Slovenia, Ptuj · Spain, Aragon · Spain, Catalonia · Turkey, Istanbul

He's also patron saint of soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry, farmers and field workers, riders and saddlers, and he helps those suffering from leprosy and plague. In recent years he has been adopted as patron saint of Scouts.

Puma Box / Bag (credit -packaging world)

"It's hard to imagine something as simple as the shoebox being completely overhauled. But Puma and Fuseproject have done just that, in a design that will completely transform the brand's supply chain—saving millions in electricity, fuel, and water.

"Rethinking the shoebox is an incredibly complex problem, and the cost of cardboard and the printing waste are huge, given that 80M are shipped from China each year," Béhar tells FastCompany.com. "Cargo holds in the ships can reach temperatures of 110 degrees for weeks on end, so packaging becomes an enormous problem. This solution protects the shoes, and helps stores to stock them, while saving huge costs in materials."

After spending 21 months studying box fabrication and shipping, Fuseproject realized that any improvement to that already lean system would merely be incremental. So instead, the "clever little bag" combines the two packaging components of any shoe sale—the bag and the box—with high-tech ingenuity.

The bag tightly wraps an interior cardboard scaffolding—giving it shape and reducing cardboard use by 65%. Moreover, without that shiny box exterior, there's no laminated cardboard (which interferes with recycling). There's no tissue paper inside. And there's no throw-away plastic bag. The bag itself is made of recycled PET, and it's non-woven—woven fibers increase density and materials use—and stitched with heat, so that it's less manufacturing intensive.

The impact: Puma estimates that the bag will slash water, energy, and fuel consumption during manufacturing alone by 60%—in one year, that comes to a savings of 8,500 tons of paper, 20 million mega joules of electricity, 264,000 gallons of fuel, and 264 gallons of water. Ditching the plastic bags will save 275 tones of plastic, and the lighter shipping weight will save another 132,000 gallons of diesel.

The roll-out is planned for next year. After that? Hopefully, the design will become ubiquitous."

NUFC Premiership Memorial Plate

Recieved by Eddie from a disgruntled Middlesborough fan today this beautiful memorial plate of the amazing 09/10 season which saw NUFC win the Championship.

Available now from all good stockists

A Retail Designers approach to customer purchasing economics. By Vic Kass

Hand in Hand with retailers it is possible to build a more strategic approach to unlocking Profit by Design.“Three for two” offers and extended-payment layaway plans are widespread because they work! This is not simply because people prefer free incentives to an equivalent price discount or that people often behave irrationally when thinking about future consequences. Incentivised purchases build brand loyalty that transcends mere discount. This provides the perfect tool for increasing margin, the definition of hero products and the ability to trade up. However, few companies use this knowledge in a systematic way, ignoring the abilities for trading up for more pedestrian options of price comparison and marked down produce that, in isolation does little to build loyalty, but actively invites competition.

In considering this concept I’ve thrown out a few ideas on practical techniques that should be part of the strategic approach between retailer and designer.

Below are just 3 of the many favourite 'Profit by Design' Techniques.

1. Positioning of Margin products
The 3 “P’s” - Power Product Positioning explains why marketers often benefit from offering a few clearly inferior options. Even thought these may not sell, they can increase sales of the superior products that the store really wants to move. An excellent example is that of many of our client restaurateurs who frequently find that the second-most-expensive bottle of wine is very popular, as is the second-cheapest. This lies in the fact that customers who buy the former feel they are getting something special but not going over the top. Customers buying the latter feel they are getting a bargain whilst not being perceived as cheap. Another way in which to consider the consumer “offer” relates not only to the products a company has available to purchase, but to the way in which it displays them. Our research suggests, for instance, that ice cream shoppers in grocery stores look at the brand first, flavour second, and price last. Organizing supermarket aisles according to way consumers prefer to buy specific products will make customers more responsive and less likely to base their purchase decisions solely on price, allowing retailers to sell higher-priced, higher-margin products. This explains why shopping aisles are rarely organized by price. In contrast, for more basic purchases, customers generally start with price, then function, and finally brand. Clearly then, this is not a case of one layout fits all but emphasises the need to have regard to both customer thinking and the nature of the product when considering the merchandise layout.

2. Avoid information and product overload
Despite our love for choice, designers and retailers must be wary of generating visual “choice overload,” which makes consumers less likely to purchase. In a store experiment, some customers were offered the chance to taste a selection of 20 wines, whilst others were only offered a limited selection of 5 wines. Perhaps surprisingly, whilst the greater variety drew more customers to the sampling, it ultimately resulted in fewer purchases than the consumers that were restricted to the 5 wines on offer, resulting in the smaller group sales being five times higher. This suggests that huge choice means customers have to work harder to find what they seek. This is further perpetuated by a degree of heightened awareness generated by increased choice and the negative effect that results from having to compromise and pass up desirable features in other products. Consequently, reducing the number of options available makes people more likely to reach a decision and leads them to feel more satisfied with their choice. The key is therefore is to provide an optimum level of product availability and service whereby the customer will look to the retailer to advise them of the best suit for them, increasing trust and building loyalty. There are, of course, additional financial benefits to be had through enhanced stock management leading to lower costs and improved efficiency which will ensure availability meets fluctuations in demand so that customers will always remain satisfied as products will be available and avoid the dissatisfaction resulting from “stock-outs”. Overstocking also results in increased costs for the retailer for several reasons.
• Increases warehouse space needed
• Higher insurance costs needed
• Higher security costs required to prevent theft
• Stocks may be damaged, become obsolete or go out of date
• Cash tied-up on stock purchase could have been better spent elsewhere

3. Make a product’s purchase less painful

In almost every purchase, consumers have the option to walk away and save their money for another day. Consequently the retailer and designers task is not just to beat competitors but also to persuade shoppers to part with their money in the first instance. According to economic principle, the pain of payment is the same for every pound spent. In practice though, many factors influence the way consumers value a pound and how much pain they feel parting with their money. Understanding customer “mental accounting” affects product placement and customer decision making. Consumers use different mental accounts for money they obtain from different sources and the experience of the purchase. Windfall gains/pocket money or treat products are usually the easiest for consumers to spend and should lead retail hierarchy. Income is less easy to relinquish, but purchases the “essentials” food, fuels, etc. The erosion of savings is without doubt the most painful of all. These purchases tend to be breakdown and maintenance items and need to be acknowledged as a means to an end, clearly identified and set at the bottom of the retail chain.

Can you spot the logo

Our Interiors team now Eurosafe

Out key interiors team have just completed health and safety
accreditation and Del, Kate Phil and Paul are now the proud owners
of CSCS cards!

Said Phil, I have never been so taxed by an exam since I passed my driving
test in 1924

Sláinte!

Well I guess we just couldn’t let the day pass without wishing our Irish cousins Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!
Blessed with the name McAtominey and know to partake of a beverage or three… it’s not perhaps surprising that we are sometimes confused with our little leprechaun friends
However, that is where the similarity ends as legend tells us that leprechauns are always grumpy, untrustworthy and very tricky. Leprechauns are also believed to be little old men who make shoes for fairies and are usually about two feet tall!
So you’ll find us a lot less elusive, pretty chipper and straightforward and although we're not particularly renowned for our cobbling skills we’d like to
think that we could certainly do a decent job of taking the shoes to market.

Sláinte!

Good Gnome, Bad Gnome

Noticeable by their absence you may have been wondering what had become of our little gnomes…

Well worry not they are still alive and well and, it would seem, have been doing a bit of beer promotion over in Belgium…

Our research has found that in the Walloon dialect (a district of Belgium) the word Chouffe means Gnome and the Brasserie d'Achouffe have adopted the gnomes for the labels on their range of beers, a play on the town name Achouffe.

Clearly the image of the jolly little industrious gnome is viewed as a particularly positive and fun way in which to promote their beers. This has even generated a fan based web following usually involving strange looking folk with red hats. Nonetheless it continues to popularise the Chouffe brand and broaden its market.
Now this contrasts markedly with that particularly negative and somewhat disparaging description of the Swiss banking industry as “The gnomes of Zurich".
An expression coined originally by Labour politician George Brown in November in 1964 and more recently reported again in the media in light of the global financial crisis amidst the role of the bankers as the “inventors” of apparently miraculous new products like derivatives or sub-prime loan packages, they are viewed like those medieval gnomes conjuring gold.
These gnomes emerged from medieval fascination with the secrets of wealth, especially gold, buried underground and mined by mysterious beings
The literary types amongst us will, of course, recognize this from Goethe’s classic Faust the epic tale of ambiguous characters creating wealth which others, depending on their morals, use for good or evil….

Deputation of Gnomes – to Great Pan
When the treasure rich and shining,
Winds through clefts its thread-like way
And naught but the rod's divining
Can its labyrinths display,
Troglodytes in caverns spacious,
Under vaulted roofs we bide,
While in day's pure air thou, gracious,
All the treasures dost divide.
We discover here quite near us
Treasure rich, a fountain vein,
Aptly promising to bear us
More than one could hope to gain.
This thou mayst achieve at pleasure,
Take it, Sire, into thy care!
In thy hands doth every treasure
Yield the whole world blessings rare

So good gnome, bad gnome? It’s all down to marketing!

Vic Kass joins epoc

Another good looking chap has joined the epoc team.

Kracker Founder and former Met studio and Fitch director
Vic Kass has joined epoc as a director adding considerably to our
retail design and branding capabilities.

As well as bringing some further weight (literally) to the
board of Directors.

Scrambled Eds anyone

Scrambled Eds anyone..

So could this be the latest Toon army black and white dress code. Suspect somehow there will be a few choruses of 'Blaydon Races' later in the evening.

But good to see young Eddie had the sense to line his stomach before heading off to the Retail Award this evening! Just hope he doesn't end up with egg on his face!

PS Nice to see Lloyds Pharmacy win an award

The New New Geek

..Thanks to St Lukes


Geeks are not what they used to be.
They're COOL now! You have to thank
the Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lees,
Steve Jobs of this world for that.

They used to look like this:






Now, they look like this:

The new era has brought with it this new generation of cool geeks that have become a major driving
force for innovation in the world of design.

SORRY DEL!

PS can you have a look at my laptop dont seem to be able to get on the server!

PLEASE DEL - IT WAS ONLY A JOKE !
.

5'O Clock shadow boxers

Just a great image
and a great band name
for new style rap artists.


5'O clock Shadow boxers

Great new Parisian Patisserie

The Patisserie des Rives in Paris
has an unusual take on the display
of those yummy deli delights!

Bell jars lights on long suspension
cords -Looks great and practical what
with all those sniffling British
visitors!

The BBC one of the last creative Greats of Britain

The Guardian Reports

The BBC seems determined to keep making the same mistake. After Value for Money and the axing of thousands of jobs, after Creative Futures and even more jobs, now we have the third great corporation declaration, Putting Quality First. What else have we ever done, other than in the atrocious fields of management and leadership, where we continue to be a great case of quantity over quality? Similarly the BBC Trust, ever eager to do the dirty work of the commercial sector and act at the behest of the BBC's enemies in restricting our services, follows its destruction of BBC Jam and BBC local video with Switch and Blast, two keenly rewarding innovations for young audiences and creative talents. The restrictions on the websites, local radio evening broadcasting, Radio 2's music (presumably the Trust cannot compute the thought of a truly popular BBC service, and leaving well alone) the Asian Network and 6 Music are truly devastating news for BBC staff and audiences. My members are right to ask questions about the competency and efficacy of an executive which is only interested in slashing jobs to kowtow to Tory politicians, while maintaining disgraceful levels of remuneration for the henchcrew; and of a system of governance which places the nakedly anti-BBC Trust at the head of a ridiculous structure. The sooner it's abolished and a proper board put in charge of the BBC, the better. While there's still a BBC to govern. Mark Scrimshaw

With the revenue from the TV licence delivering about £3.5bn a year to the BBC, with which it does such a lot of good TV, radio and internet stuff, why is BSkyB worried when it generates over £5bn a year? In contrast with the BBC's rich output, BSkyB's business is trivial: pay more to the footballers, run a crummy website and buy in US drama to pack the schedules. The BBC seems far more productive. Tim Brook

In the UK we seem to be hell bent in destroying everything we have that is successful (albeit subsidised and not without fault and waste like any large business).

The BBC is Globally acknowledged as a centre of creative excellence which has long fed the commercial and independent sectors with both talent and ideas.

The fact that certain presenters are paid beyond the means of the business, like premiership footballers will inevitably be resolved by market pressures.

Lets not let it go the way of so many other greats and be asset stripped and carved up for the sake of short term political and commercial gain!

Writing on the blog

"So can I have permission then,

To write on the blog, I mean

Go on!

Can I?

OK I promise!"

Angry Handbags

As we are currently working on a branding project for a major international handbag wholesaler... we know the anger this subject can instill.

These designs from a young Turkish creative Censu Cender take the personality of the product to new heights.

They would certainly stop me rummaging for a ringing phone without permission!

Epoc working with Optomen TV and Yellowdoor

The BBC filmed part of the third series of the popular 'Mary Queen of Shops' at the Totally shows on Monday. Presenter and retail guru Mary Portas was on hand to take staff from the latest featured retailer, Lightwater Homecare, through their paces. Lightwater Homecare owner Tony Leach and Jane Curtis, who works at the shop and had never visited a trade exhibition before, were given the chance to look around the shows and check out the new products on stand.

They were spotted with Mary in tow, looking at the latest offerings from Faithfull Tools. The pair was then thrown in at the deep end when it was announced that they would each give a product demo to a packed demonstration theatre at the show. Both had to give a 10-minute presentation on the Irwin Quick Grip - a product that Ms Curtis knew nothing about before the day. Luckily, Nigel Blow, product manager from Toolbank was available to run them through the clamp's features before they had to take to the stage.

The first series of Mary Queen of Shops saw Ms Portas help turn around struggling clothing stores on the high street. However, for the latest series of the programme, she is turning her attention away from fashion retailers and is now focusing upon the non-fashion independent retail sector, including hardware stores, DIY retailers, cookshops and garden centres.

DIY and general store Lightwater Homecare is based in Guildford Rd, Lightwater, Surrey. The show will be screened on BBC2 this summer.

The Designers Fashion Designer

Marithe and Francois Girbaud : This is a Crazy World Campaign

One of our favourite fashion design houses.

A husband and wife team who have been going strong since the sixties.

As usual a great collection and a fantastic attention grabbing piece of advertising

Name this tune?

Takes you back to the days of pre-reality telly. When fantasy was fantasy, the world was small and unhurried. Shame that wood, plastercine and papier mache have been supplanted as the main palette in terms of providing special effects these days.

Nice!

PS Untrue what about Wallace and Gromit? - ED

Good week bad week - Eddie

Monday - AM/PM Admin , Marketing, Finance meetings

Tuesday - AM Visit Mary Queen of shops store Surrey
PM Admin , Marketing, Finance meetings

Wednesday - Brief visualiser - German sportswear brand first store in LA?
Visit from Optomen TV production team for Mary QOS

Thursday -AM James Balston nice guy photographer will use once we can
Ongoing business programming meeting
PM Sometimes its worth reiterating we are a creative service business, Lest we forget the emphasis being on business!

Friday - AM Client Stage 2 branding workshop cancelled having arrived for meeting in west end
and sent presentation ahead in Taxi - This due to building works in client HQ.
Adjournment to Goodge St pub - discuss merits of brand / marketing approach to date.
PM At Office client de-brief on German Sportswear brand submitted last week
Write and send proposal to US fashion retailer for flagship store in London's West End.
Phone call - New identity required for UK Telecoms business locating to West End
Admin , Marketing, Finance meetings
Despite the invite to call still no joy with arranging UK supermarket meeting

An un 'noun' fact

Today, literary climate experts published a report on the world's native
vowel population. The report says that the common vowel is coming under
pressure as their natural habitat is being steadily eroded.

“All over the world vowels are becoming harder and harder to find,” explained
Professor J. Scott Billingsworth, one of the reports authors. “With the spread
of modern communications the vowel is coming under increasing pressure.
The vowel is quite a sensitive creature and depends on a sophisticated set of
conditions for it to flourish, unfortunately these conditions are the victims
of our faster paced lifestyles and commerce.”

Experts believe that if current trends are continued the vowel may well be
extinct as early as 2020. Globalisation is said to be driving force pushing the
vowel towards oblivion.

“As western culture becomes ubiquitous we are finding an increase in global
warming towards English, Industrialised English has decimated the vowel
population at home and abroad,” said Professor Chapman.

The US has come under fire as being the largest single contributor to the
destruction of the vowel, with American spellings leading to widespread
devastation of previously successful colonies. In addition the vowel is now
believed to be on the brink of extinction in instant messaging and SMS text
message environments.

Scientists say that the future of the vowel may be in captive breading
programmes and the successful release of new groups back into the environment.
Precipitous coastal escarpments are seeing a veritable vertiginous increase in
proclivity towards the water vowel,for example.

“A lot of good work has been done in Wales,” explained Billingsworth. “In fact it
has been so successful that there are far more vowels than necessary in any given
sentence in Welsh.”

In loving memory.....

Kraftbury

"This is a very sad day for UK manufacturing. A successful,
iconic, independent UK brand will now be owned by a giant
company with massive debt". Cadbury RIP

What's left... No British confectionery, No British manufacturing,
no British water, No British power.

The service industries that's what - Creative Britain expanding to fill the void!
It is estimated that between 2010 and 2013, the UK creative industries will grow 4 per cent – more than double the rate of the rest of the economy.

One small problem...We have never come across any design / media businesses
that employ more than a few hundred people and that was in the hay days!

Now.. If we can just find a way of selling off the ground we stand upon and the
air we breath... We might just pick up a nice piece of branding work!

'Cheesychoc' anyone?

Social media....

The writings has been on the wall since the 90's and out of it will come a
new set of services, products, companies, careers and job titles... A good
thing for us all...in the current climate .
As long as we can manage the exponential whilst keep social interaction and
a society in place

First Person Tetris

http://firstpersontetris.com/

Takes you back - Fantastic!

Reducing the ranks of the unemployed

We read with interest

....The Holiday Inn is employing human bed warmers in order to ensure that guests get a good night’s sleep.

Dressed in special all-in-one sleeper suits, the human electric blankets are sent to warm the beds of guests staying at the Holiday Inn before they get under the covers.
The five-minute free bed warming sessions are being tried out in London and Manchester later this month.

This should help reduce the ranks of the unemployed, being a good way of hiding those messy statistics in the evening.. Not sure how the three million will hide away during the hours of daylight though!

Assume they are all called Mr/Mrs Smith!

Back to Life

Back to reality
A funky place
for a loving
client base


You've lost the plot ED

London - Snow = Standstill

One inch - Late to work, leave at 1.00pm, just in case.
Two inches - Start off for work, never arrive.
Three inches - Stay at home, venture out once to stock up on emergency provisions.

Six inches - The economy in freefall, never mind, it's only January, plenty of time to make up lost ground.
Anyway most of our clients are using up their 2009 holiday entitlements or skiing.

PS Written from home

2010 Big fish - Small fish

Back one day and already rumbling fish - Those large ones - In this still water - Need all the support they can get - Its going to be an interesting year - and how dirty will it get - Visit the bowl again soon for an update!