Brand at MHP

The Schweppes team joined Hugo Burnand at The Royal Naval...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:01:23 -0400

The Schweppes team joined Hugo Burnand at The Royal Naval College for Daybreak’s Jubilee Jamboree this morning!

Cheers Ma’am!

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:07:47 -0400

Here at MHP Brand HQ we’re not just excited about the four day weekend but also about the Jubilee celebrations happening up and down the country! Here are our well-wishes to Her Majesty:

Girv: Congratulations on this historic milestone Your Majesty!
Pipage: Here’s to 60 years Ma’am! Hope you enjoy all the celebrations!
Hutch: Our Liz, one classy lady, here’s to another decade of your cool calm and collected self and all those wonderful matching hat/dress combos
Slates: While she reigns, we pour… lots of Pimms and lemonade! Looking forward to toasting you this weekend Ma’am – Congratulations!
Hitch: Congratulations on 60 years and thanks for the extra day off, cheers Ma’am!
Duffers: Congratulations on steering this country through 60 years and for giving us the perfect excuse for a celebration
Shania Twain: Congratulations Ma’am, here’s to many more! And let’s not forget, happy birthday Coronation chicken – we salute you
Alicat: Congratulations Ma’am, let’s all raise our glasses to a fantastic 60 years. And may there be many more to come!

And…if you’re in London this weekend, check out the nation’s messages to the Queen and the national anthem sing-a-long (midday on Sunday) displayed on the Coca-Cola sign at Piccadilly Circus, courtesy of Schweppes :-)

Red, white and blue bonanza!

Wed, 30 May 2012 09:12:23 -0400

With the Jubilee this weekend and the Olympics looming, it’s no surprise that, as with the Royal Wedding last year, brands everywhere are piggybacking on the sense of British pride with their own Jubilee or Union Jack themed products.

Here at MHP Brand HQ we have Union Jack tissues, loo roll, watches and Jubilee lemonade and mixers and that’s only four brands! Over the last few weeks I’ve seen Ma’amite, Union Jack dry shampoo, red white and blue false eyelashes “God save the Queen!” jam… the list is endless!

Will we tire of it? I don’t think so. Brits love an excuse to show how patriotic they are and this year we have two reasons to celebrate and don the red, white and blue! In my opinion the more the merrier, after all, these events don’t come around often. I will certainly be toasting the Queen with a gin and Schweppes limited edition Jubilee tonic in hand!

Style of the times

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:40:24 -0400

As the sun shone across London yesterday, some of the Brandies were enjoying the company of some seriously cool tastemakers at an exclusive fashion event showcasing the latest in Timex watch design (our super-duper new client).

What made it so special for me personally was that I physically saw an objective come to life: we set out wanting to change the perception of Timex - perhaps a bit dusty and old-fashioned - amongst some of the most influential fashion bloggers in the UK. In front of my very eyes, I saw these uber-glam and uber-lovely bloggers bewitched by the stylish Timex pieces.

Asked to pick a favourite (tricky for a few of them as they loved so many!), stylist, photographer and Timex ambassador Jackie Dixon took them out onto the streets of central London to snap some street style photography, the results of which just epitomise cool and will be appearing on tumblr.

And our blogger guests with all their social media know-how were quick to tell everyone on Twitter, Facebook, their blogs, Tumblr….

So the word is out, Timex does style, in style!

Andrex Eco - Absolutely Fabulous

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:04:52 -0400

Today the Andrex team were thrilled to recieve a wonderful letter from the rather fabulous Joanna Lumley in response to a tactical send out of a new loo roll!

The power of relevance, engaging the right people at the right time, with the right product has never been so true, engaging Joanna, an eco warrior with the launch of the new Andrex Eco sustainable toilet tissue ‘thrilled her to bits’.

She writes we are ‘clever and wonderful to know how much she approves of this sensational product’ and needless to say the team and client think it is ‘Absolutely fabulous’ to have Joanna’s support!

Tesco Mobile appoints Jam as social media agency with MHP appointed as PR lead

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:32:01 -0400

Tesco Mobile, one of the UK’s fastest growing mobile networks, has appointed Engine partners Jam as its social media and mobile agency and MHP as its PR agency.

Jam will develop a UK social media strategy for Tesco Mobile and manage the network’s online communities. The scope of work for Jam encompasses the Tesco Mobile network, the Tesco Phone Shop retailer and Tesco Direct online sales portal.

The Brand team at MHP, headed by Deputy Head Jo Slatem, will handle press office and consumer facing campaign activity for Tesco Mobile.

Jo Slatem, Deputy Head of Brand at MHP says, “This is an exciting opportunity for Tesco Mobile to bring PR and social media together to deliver more effective communication to consumers and drive engagement with the brand.”

Form an orderly line please...

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 05:03:00 -0400

Queuing. A British art form, a means to an end, and the oldest PR stunt in the book. There’s nothing like a queue (traffic jams aside) to conjure one single consumer outtake: ‘what’s going on in there?’ followed by ‘and why aren’t I invited?’

Queues signal exclusivity, inside knowledge and create intrigue and excitement. But most importantly, they get people talking. Hence queues, it would appear, are back in vogue - just ask the people at Meat Liqour, whose round the block queues on a Tuesday night have the remarkable effect of making it the ‘must visit’ restaurant this spring. And it’s not just restaurants. Recent queues, campers even, outside Nike Town and Apple stores have had a similar effect.

So in celebration of the great British queue, and its power as a conversation generator, I’ve asked some of the team to share their favourite queue stories:

“Desigual’s ‘arrive half naked, leave fully clothed’ stunt last summer. The lengths people will go to to win a bit of free clobber is brilliant! Love it that the British summer made for an even more amusing photo - people queuing in their smalls under umbrellas sheltering from the June rain. How could the media turn down a photo of that?!” - Sarah Sandland, Account Manager

“One that we did, but still one of my favourite ever queue stunts, was the Andrex Puppy auditions at Pineapple studios. Some brilliant photos and almost blanket national media coverage” - Anna Wicks, Director

“This one from the recent iPad launch is brilliant. There was loads of coverage of the dude at the front of the queue at the flagship store on Regent St, his name was Rohaid. But PC World saw a loop hole in Apple’s launch policy - they’d restricted sales to start on the 16th March, but didn’t say when. So the Apple stores all started selling new iPads at 8am on the 16th, but PC World started selling them at 12.01am. Which is why the CNet journo in the article managed to only queue for about an hour, and be the first in the UK to buy a new iPad” - Ian McKee, Account Manager

“I loved queue in swimwear outside Virgin Holidays first highstreet store last winter…..you didn’t get anything apart from contributing to world record for longest queue in swimwear and pre-registration for January sale” - Gemma Irvine, Associate Director

And one of my own: “Creating queues of wannabe ‘£10 Poms’ outside STA Travel stores across the country after a limited number of £10 tickets to Australia went on sale, caught the attention of media and consumers alike. You couldn’t help but admire those brave souls camped out on Buckingham Palace Road for several days!” - Deborah Hitchcock, Account Director

So, the queue: A British institution? Certainly. As a technique to get your brand talked about? In my opinion an oldy, but most definitely a goody. No jostling at the back please…

A basic formula for a successful PR grad interview

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:49:00 -0400

I’ve just been through a week of grad interviews and am now out the other side… feeling a mixture of pride, excitement and bewilderment.

You hear every day how hard it is for graduates to get jobs and you see it too when you’re interviewing… grads from three years ago, desperate to get off the paid internship schemes and get cracking with their careers.

So why are we still seeing intelligent young graduates come to an interview with a top ten PR agency totally unprepared (apart from well stocked supply of cockiness that they have a degree?)

As grad recruitment 2012 draws into its final stages, I though it may help to share some feedback from this round so future grads can learn from the mistakes and successes of others:

1. Sounds obvious but research the company you are interviewing at so you can intelligently answer the question ‘why do you want to work for us’? Listing three of their clients doesn’t count… you need to know more… what awards have they won, what news have they put out in the industry recently, what makes them different? We like to feel special too!

2. Be prepared to talk about why you picked your degree and what you have learned from it. If it’s not a PR qualification it’s not redundant… in fact there’s a high chance your interviewer didn’t do a PR degree either. Instead look at what we’re trying to learn about you when we ask the question…

‘Why did you pick that degree?’ can mean ‘what interests you / what makes you tick?’
‘What’s your dissertation on?’ can lead to questions about what your opinions on a certain subject are and test whether you can analyse research and form your own ideas from that
‘What skills have you learned that are transferable’ isn’t about the literal modules you have studied but are about teamwork, research & analysis,writing skills, communication skills and being a self-starter

3. Show why you want to work in PR… show a passion for it… help us believe that if we were to hire you that you would be dedicated to the career choice you have made and not change your mind in 6 months because ‘it’s not your thing’. No one wants to invest time and training on someone who’s not completely sure it’s the right career for them but wants to test it out.

4. Don’t be afraid to get conversational! We’re looking for natural communicators. The best interviews I can recall are the ones where it feels like you’ve had a good chat… maybe even veered away from standard interview questions… because that’s where we get to know the real you. See what you can do to encourage that to happen in your interviews and don’t rely on the interviewer to lead the conversation for the whole meeting.

5. Be different… be yourself. You need to stand out. Your interviewer has seen so many other CVs and people that he/she needs to differentiate you when short-listing. He was the one that talked about xx / that asked me xx / that surprised me by suggesting xx / that brought xx with them (no I’m not talking bribes, I mean examples of work!)

I’m not having a moan – interviewing is hard, scary and takes practice but hopefully these small steps will help bring out the best in you rather than make you fade into background.

I look forward to this time of year as there are always one or two people that surprise me and I get a look at the potential PR directors and clients of the future. Hopefully these steps will help your next interviewer think of you in those terms.

.. oh and have an intelligible answer to ‘what is PR?’. Please.

Image credit.

Our initial reactions to The Sun on Sunday

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 05:52:10 -0500

It’s not every weekend that a new national newspaper gets launched, so the Brand at MHP team all had a gander at the new Sun on Sunday. These were our thoughts:

Anna: With all the hype I was expecting something new, interesting or innovative, rather than the daily Sun and a few more (annoying) celebrity columnists.

Sarah: Very disappointing front page, think they could have done a bit better than that. I was half expecting it to be sold out at Newcastle train station when I arrived at 5pm last night, but I needn’t have worried – stacks of them left, the front page clearly hadn’t grabbed the attention of the masses. It felt like they were relying on the fact that they are the Sun and the paper would sell itself regardless of content, I’d be interested to see what the sales figures were like. Katie Price’s page is a complete waste of space and what was that random column from the Archbishop of York?! Perplexing. The only reason I’d buy the paper in future (if I didn’t need to keep on top of media for work) is for the same reason I used to buy NOTW – for Fabulous Magazine, it helped pass the four hour train journey back from Geordie shores.

Debs: I love the Sun, I genuinely think it’s a great paper with top notch editorial and real focus on consumer affairs. So yesterday’s Sun on Sunday was a big disappointment. I think the Amanda Holden exclusive was safe, the editorial lacked its usual punch and the columnists were, for me, not the best choice. The boy was delighted to have some decent Sunday sports coverage again, but for me, there is room for improvement. Better luck next weekend?

Ian (me!):Talk on twitter when the front page was released was that it must be fake because it was so unimpressive. It wasn’t fake. Perhaps that’s worrying for the Sun on Sunday, but perhaps it is a great way of challenging our expectations of the brand. Either way it needs to be more ‘in depth’ than just bland to build a circulation like the News of the World’s. Incidentally, I thought Polly Curtis’ response to Rupert Murdoch’s speculative claims about circulation was hilarious.

What can PRs learn from MailOnline’s approach to SEO?

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:57:38 -0500

We were fascinated to read The Drum’s insider story on the secrets behind MailOnline’s huge 100 million readership in January. The relevance to US audiences and that sidebar; that much we knew. It was the approach to SEO techniques that is really interesting.

Having worked with Yahoo! to launch omg! in the UK, we know all about using search trends in conjunction with online celeb news, and the latest Comscore figures showed omg! to be the second biggest celebrity news site in the UK, only behind the Mail. But the extent to which MailOnline keep on top of trends is intriguing, looking at traffic on an almost hourly basis and actually making publishing decisions based on what they see in the up to the minute search trends.

I’ve made my opinions on SEO and journalism fairly clear, but this takes it to another level. Of course you could argue that it makes complete sense, Paul Dacre’s mantra is always ‘we give the readers what they want’ and what better way of serving what your audience exactly what they want than publishing what you can see they’re searching for?

It also begs the question, should we be pitching stories on subjects we can see for ourselves are on the rise in order to increase the likelihood of publication? Next time we’ve got a celebrity interview to offer the MailOnline, we may just wait until we can see their search stats climbing.

It might be brass monkeys, but golden balls is here to warm us up

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:57:00 -0500

I would like to say a thank you to H&M for cheering me up on this most baltic of mornings with a fine display of eye candy in the form of golden balls himself adorning the entire frontage of their Oxford Circus store in his smalls.

It would usually be perceived as a risky move for a clothes retailer catering predominantly to a female audience to dress a shop front with male-only advertising, but Becks has a special talent of appealing to men and women alike, and there isn’t a female worth her weight in shopping bags that would be put off entering H&M by their current choice of model…or does it go even further than that? Maybe H&M aren’t trying to attract the boys at all and it’s all about luring in the girlfriends in the hope that they will transform their other half into a fantasy footballer at the slipping on of a pair of David Beckham Bodywears. Male blogs and fashion journalists seem to be divided, Joe.ie ‘It’s Man’s stuff’ is of the opinion that H&M are shamelessly attracting six pack loving women, whereas Luke Leitch at the Telegraph seems to rate them, saying ‘The pants look rather fine’.

Whether H&M’s tactic was male or female focused doesn’t really matter at the end of the day…either way I predict a sell out and the juggernaut that is the Beckham brand motors on.

BoxPark Shoreditch and the real brand experience

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:13:00 -0500

Opening at the beginning of December, BoxPark in the heart of Shoreditch has captured the attention of the media, retailers and architects alike.

Built entirely from 60 steel shipping containers, not only does this quirky new pop up mall make for a very interesting visit, but at Brand @ MHP we have been struck by what this type of innovation in the shopping experience could mean for new brands.

Up and coming edgy brands sit comfortably side by side large international fashion, sport and lifestyle labels such as Nike and Calvin Klein with an equal share in space and the shopper’s attention. The box shops are low cost, low risk and are a great opportunity for innovative entrepreneurs to have exposure that they may never have had previously. The size of the units means stock is limited, but you cannot help popping your head into the units to see what’s on display and what all the fuss is about.

Using such industrial design in a retail perspective really does put the creativity and fashion of a brand back on the street. The founders are clearly confident of its success as plans are already being put in place to open another BoxPark by next Christmas …watch this space! Take a trip and let us know what you think.

Jean-Paul Gautier pays tribute to Amy Winehouse

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:18:00 -0500

French designer paid homeage to the late, great Amy Winehouse with a couture show inspired by her, featuring models with her famous beehive, beauty spot and some even smoking.

The collection has got all the fashion pack talking some positive some negative but tongues are certainly wagging.

Is Twitter turning into a brand PR no go area?

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:40:00 -0500

It has not been a great couple of weeks for brands on Twitter.

McDonald’s in particular seems to have come in for a bashing. Last week’s golden arch themed outrage was over an article by Alex James in The Sun where he suggested the fast food chain was ‘in some ways, like a Michelin starred restaurant’ (the comparison wasn’t actually inaccurate, by the way). Now the McDonald’s vitriol has latched onto a hashtag - #McDStories - which the company used on their official Twitter account. Now reported as a Twitter campaign backfiring (I’m not sure I would call it a ‘campaign’, it was a couple of tweets asking for stories) by UK and US national media, what it consisted of was Twitter users posting negative stories about McDonalds using the hashtag they themselves had started.

The odd thing I find about media reporting on a story like this is it is almost self-fulfilling prophecy, what starts as a few predictable negative tweets generally only reaches critical mass after an article or blog post stokes the flames. The reporting of a ‘social media crisis’ is often what creates the crisis.

McDonald’s is not the only brand on the receiving end of this week’s twitter outrage. On Sunday afternoon I noticed tweets from Katie Price being retweeted into my feed. This is not a regular occurrence so I checked them out, and it appeared to me as if her account had been hacked by activists with economic concerns. As it happened, it was in fact Snickers playing a joke on us all, as we discovered Katie had not relinquished her Twitter password to anti capitalists, she’d just not been herself due to lack of a recent chocolate/caramel/nougat/peanut injection. And she was not the only celebrity, as Rio Ferdinand and Cher Lloyd have also since got involved.

Leaving aside the merits of the campaign idea itself (Why dupe your audience? Why would being hungry make you economically aware? Why keep repeating the same joke with the significant expense of using several celebs?) it’s clearly upset a few Tweeps. Not only that, but Snickers are now under threat of being investigated by OFT. We get celebrities tweeting about brands and products all the time, but this stunt seems to have upset too many people and been too barefacedly promotional for OFT to ignore.

LA Fitness are another brand to have come under the cosh, as they were trending in the UK yesterday following an article on Guardian.co.uk that explained how a couple had been forced to continue their 24 month contract despite the husband being made redundant and the wife falling pregnant.

It seems that brands cannot get it right on Twitter anymore. Stopping short of simple news and offers feeds, or customer service (which is always appreciated when done well), brand activity on Twitter keeps going awry. We all love a good brand social media car crash, and at times it feels as if the thrill of the chase is what drives a lot of twitter users in their use of the service. There are so many people whinging, that complaining about your least favourite brand on Twitter is becoming almost as much of a cliché as tweeting about your breakfast.

I would never argue that PR should ignore Twitter; its power to disseminate news is unparalleled, and this week founder Jack Dorsey explained that it is more ‘news’ than ‘social’. But is it time that campaign led brand PR starts steering clear of the platform and focussing on more controllable platforms like Facebook, Google+ and Tumblr?

You keep thinking about that whilst I go craft my pitch to ITV for ‘Social Media Campaigns FROM HELL’.

Reasons to be happy on Blue Monday

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:00:00 -0500

So, the third Monday of January is upon us - the day that has been branded the most depressing of the year, earning itself the title ‘Blue Monday’. Sky Travel ‘calculated’ the most gloomy day of the year as part of a publicity campaign, incorporating factors such as weather conditions, debt level, time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions and low motivational levels.

Well, we in the Brand at MHP team laugh in the face of Blue Monday, we’ve got loads to feel jolly about, and here are a few reasons why we think today isn’t too shabby after all:

Ian McKee (aka Mickey): “Arsenal lost to Swansea yesterday!”

Sarah Sandland (aka Sanders): “Going to see the band we’re booking for our wedding tonight…only 6 months and 5 days to go! Woop!”

Amy Hutchings (aka Hutch): “How beautiful London is on a day like today, blue skies sunshine and fresh cold air” How poetic, Hutch!

Pippa Mass (aka Pip): “Only 9 days until payday!”

Jo Slatem (aka Slates): “I’m off to Marrakech on Saturday and it’s apparently 19 degrees there!”

Deborah Hitchcock (aka Debs / Hitch): “Duffers bought Milka back from skiing. Oh and did I mention this time in 3 weeks I’ll be up a mountain!”

Gemma Irvine (aka Girv): “We’re half way through January which means half way through detox month!”

Alice Harper (aka Alicat): “Thanks to January sales..I managed to get a coat on ASOS yesterday which was originally £120 for £35…!”

What's in an apostrophe?

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:58:00 -0500

The grammar police have been up in arms this week about Waterstone’s (Or should I say Waterstones’) removal of the apostrophe from their name as part of their re-branding. The announcement has made national news headlines and was hotly debated on this morning’s BBC Breakfast, offering some much needed publicity for the troubled retailer lagging behind the online giants and suffering in the age of the kindle where e-book downloads are eclipsing printed book sales. So, was this a clever publicity stunt or an intended shuffle towards integrating into the digital world as MD James Daunt claims: “the amendment was a more versatile and practical spelling of the name for the digital world.” – but will it really make that much difference to web filtering? Sounds like a weak excuse to me.

If the move was a tactical one, then it has certainly had the desired effect; riling pedants up and down the country. Twitter has been awash with outraged grammar purists and concerned lobbyists against the country’s ‘dumbing down’, while others have seen it as comedy fodder: the Publishing Director at Scholastic tweeted: “Waterstone’s are dropping their apostrophe?! Great - the UK’s biggest book retailer decides to be editorially incorrect. Nice move” while Queen UK joked: “Dear Waterstone’s, please find attached an apostrophe. One understands you’ve misplaced one. Your ever loving Queen, EIIR”, and my personal favourite from CherylKerl: “Hei, itz a reet bad dee faw aall uz grammah pedant’s oot thor. Waterstone’s aw hoyin oot the apostrophe in thor lurgeur man!”. Even Waterstone’s themselves have been fuelling the Twitter fire with @WstonesOxfordSt’s ingenious personification of the humble, outcast apostrophe, tracking its demise; after finding the apostrophe on the street, cold and hungry, the store takes it in: “After a hot meal and some time to calm down it finally spoke. ‘Why?’ it said. ‘I’m one of the longest serving employees. Why fire me now?”.

If there’s one thing that gets us going as a nation, it’s the misuse of our language – you only need to look at Lynne Truss’s mega number one bestselling book Eats, Shoots and Leaves as testament; a book on punctuation one of the top 100 books of the DECADE?! Remarkable…and get this, we have an Apostrophe Society! I kid you not, and The Queen’s English Society is a registered charity …I wonder if they’ll see a rise in donations following this punctuation storm.

The pedants of the nation may view Waterstone’s actions as a failure for English grammar, but it is a magnificent PR victory. PR professionals take note – if your client is considering re-branding, propose tampering with their punctuation, it might just get you blanket national coverage.

Levis uses Instagram to recruit new campaign stars

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:01:14 -0500

I have never been one for designer label clothes. I have been resistant to Instagram as its retro filters offend my ‘real photographer’ purist sensibilities – it makes good photography too easy.

Yet I love this tie up between Levis and the hyper trendy photo sharing app du jour. Partly because Levis is one of the only clothing brands I can see the appeal of, a heritage of achingly cool ads are probably the cause. And partly as I’ve really warmed to Instagram lately as, well, it makes good photography easy (on a recent trip to NYC I found my Instagram snaps were often better than the serious DSLR ones).

Levi’s using Instagram to recruit their new ad campaign stars, prospective models just upload their pictures and tag them #IAMLEVIS. It just seems the perfect tie up between brand and platform – both have the cool with more than a hint of retro. I have no doubt that the resultant advert will be cooler than Steve McQueen on an iceberg.

Supermarkets offer some Christmas cheer with quality products at affordable prices

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:27:00 -0500

Asda last week announced record third quarter profits, thanks, they said, to a rise in sales of their low price own-label products in the ‘Chosen By You’ range. The supermarket is now growing at a quicker rate than Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s, trailing Morrison’s alone. Own brand labels are nothing new, but the key ingredient with ‘Chosen by You’ would appear to be a combination of consumer empowerment and engagement – the range has been subjected to customer taste tests; and the perception of improved quality through a complete package design overhaul, helping to position the products in the ‘mid tier’ category between its ‘Extra Special’ range and basics. Customers are demanding affordable luxury – they want to treat themselves in these gloomy times without breaking the bank.

Earlier this year Sainsbury’s launched their biggest ever own label revamp with By Sainsbury’s – a range of products claiming to be as good as, if not better than, the category leaders. Sitting in the ‘mid tier’ position between basics and Taste the Difference, By Sainsbury’s, just like Chosen By You, offers quality at affordable prices.

As part of the launch, Sainsbury’s has teamed up with Yahoo! Lifestyle to bring the range to life online and offer a handy digital recipe resource to demonstrate how the products can be used to create delicious and affordable meals for any occasion. To support the partnership, Brand at MHP secured guest blogger Thomasina Miers, Masterchef winner and co-founder of Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca, to create exclusive content for the Yahoo! By Sainsbury’s site. Each week for seven weeks, in the lead up to New Year’s Eve, readers of the blog will find Thomasina’s creative re-interpretations of traditional Christmas dishes, quick and easy meals to feed the descending hordes and a great recipe for using up the leftovers. All the recipes are aimed to relieve some of the stress of Christmas entertaining – her devilishly good boozy Christmas cake, for example, doesn’t require weeks of feeding with brandy, it is whizzed up in one bowl and whacked in the oven for 40 minutes. This partnership is another example of the ongoing trend for brands to blur the lines of traditional advertising through content creation partnerships that allow for greater integration between the marketing communications disciplines that ultimately create greater consumer engagement.

I was lucky enough to sample Thomasina’s culinary creations at last week’s photo shoot for the blog, and you can take my word for it that they are all mouthwateringly moreish. I for one will be logging on in the lead up to Christmas to bring some affordable luxury into my Christmas feasting, and I have a feeling that a Tupperware container of her divine mince pies are going to make me very popular in the office.

What's kept us wagging this week?

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:38:00 -0400

At MHP Brand this week, a campaign that’s really caught our attention is the 2011 execution of the Pedigree Adoption Drive.

Firstly, from a creative perspective, it’s a very innovative yet simple idea; take a dog for a virtual walk and Pedigree will donate money to a worthy cause. If you like dogs, you can’t help but engage and take the gorgeous Ripley for a walk. And if you have a dog, Pedigree is what you should be feeding it right? Perfectly targeted.

Secondly, the key to the success of a great creative is in its execution and this idea has been brilliantly executed. The concept of talking Ripley for a walk is great and she is a ‘real’ abandoned dog with a ‘real’ personality.

However, the surprise and clever element is that you’re walking her through relevant dog walking sites such as the National Park, who are also campaign partners. Ripley also plays, catches a ball and looks like she’s genuinely having a lovely time. You fall in love with her and the more sites you visit, the more is donated so your engagement time is naturally longer.

We’ve all taken Ripley for a walk and think you should too. She’s very cute!

Fish and Chips, But Not As You Know It

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:43:00 -0400

The brand team were treated to fish and chips with a twist last week when Vivek Singh, founder of the Cinnamon Club and Kitchen, gave us an Indian cookery masterclass at his restaurant. Vivek was demonstrating the dish he cooked at American Express BritDish – an event at the London Restaurant Festival where some of the Capital’s most renowned chefs turned the concept of a traditional British Sunday lunch on its head and skilfully reinvented some classic dishes from good old Blighty.

Vivek talked us through the inspirations for his cooking, conjuring up colourful images of an Indian childhood where feasting like kings was part of every family celebration. He also reminisced on his travels through India which taught him the subtle differences in cuisine through the regions and showed him the incredible array of spices and ingredients available to flavour his culinary creations.

Then it was time to get down to the hard work as Vivek led a team of food bloggers step by step though his recipe of Amritsar spiced halibut with mustard mushy peas, caper kachumbar (Indian salsa) and tandoori potato wedges…hardly your run of the mill battered cod and fries! Vivek ingeniously incorporated the mushy peas by creating a sausage out of the puree mixture, freezing it and inserting it into the spiced halibut to melt and infuse into the fish as it cooked. The chips, also, were no ordinary chips. Vivek hollowed out potato cylinders before stuffing them and cooking them in the tandoor… and don’t get me on to the alternative to tomato ketchup.

After sampling Vivek’s truly scrumptious fish and chips with an Indian twist I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with vinegar drenched, newspaper wrapped fish and chips again…I think I might have to stock up my spice rack.

To see Vivek in action and for his BritDish recipe visit amexbeinspired.co.uk …you might even feel compelled to share what inspires you about food while you’re there.