Context

The media want to increase their share of voice.

Increased viewers/listeners/readers equals increased advertising revenue.

Hence the media's drive to sensationalise, their incessant need to drive attention grabbing sound bites and headlines.

I get theses things, but now, right now, they are just not seeing the bigger picture. Sensationalising the economic situation does not do them any good in the long term. Their owners and sales teams need to get down in the editorial department and ask them to try to at least give some sort of balanced view. Stop spreading the gloom and panic. Actually try to make a positive supportive difference. Do it to protect your own revenue, do it to protect your own job.

So in an effort to prove a point I looked into the latest media frenzy around UNEMPLOYMENT. LONDON HIT'S X HUNDRED THOUSAND JOBLESS. JOB CRISIS. Please look at the below graph. It shows unemployment from 1980 - now.

We've just had it too good, and we love a good old moan. Unemployment is lower now than it has been for the whole of the 80's and 90's.

Don't believe the hype.

Now get back to work!

James

The Kooks are out of touch

As anyone who has listened to the Kooks latest album, Konk, will know these poor lads have not got laid for quite some time. Or at least their writers haven't. All they seem to sing about are the challenges they face with the ladies and love. If only this was true for the vast majority of today's young people. Getting sex, and consequently STI's, has in fact never been easier.

We're currently working on a number of pilot initiatives with the COI to address just this problem. We'll be posting more to the blog soon, however in short we are piloting 3 new initiatives. Each targeting a different demographic. The first goes live in about a month. We are aiming to have a genuine impact on teenage pregnancy, STI's and the use of condoms, so much more of a Street's style song.

Transpant costs or hidden costs...

...that's the question...

Especially when it comes to two industries:

• Retail Banking
• Low Cost Airlines

People often go on about Free Banking and this time last year people were worrying about whether there would ever be an "end of free banking" - but did this really exist in the first place? Banks may not charge to simply be an accuont holder, but with higher interest rates and charges for withdrawing cash, going into your overdraft etc. I personally think it's fair to say, nothing in this life is "free" - especially when it comes to banking.

On a lighter but yet more annoying note, low-cost airlines - especially certain Irish owned, micky taking airlines, which shall not be names, famous for 1p flights.

Now don't get me wrong. I completely understand the merits of advertising flights for an amazing 1p. What gets my billy is the hidden charges for thinkgs like having luggage, airport check-in, inhaling more than 6 times in a minue...that sort of thing.


I personally would much prefer to have all the charges up front when I'm booking a quick flight to Barcelona, rather than having to sit there with three airline websites up, who all charge different amounts for different things and having to create some kind of bumbling formula to discover which one will actually end up saving me money.

Something like:

(flight + tax) x (insurance/food to buy) = ACTUAL COST
________
stupid bits

Maths was never my favourite subjest at school, and I would much prefer to have it there in fron of me: £75 to Barcelona, all included. No problems, no hassle, no fuss!

Now that sounds like a deal to me.

Cheers,

Paul

New Look!!

After much anticipation 'New Look- Best Dressed' kicked off across the country two weeks ago.


The campaign aims to find the best dressed Uni. We have 12 Brand Ambassadors searching high and low around their universities to find the most fashionable students. Once they have found these fashion conscious individuals, their pics are uploaded onto Facebook. This is where anyone can go on and vote for who they think the most fashionable university is.

Vote now on the Facebook page: New Look Best Dressed University 2008

The winning University wins and alphabeat gig for the whole university (exciting stuff!!!!)

The story so far...

Glasgow are currently flying ahead with 50% of the overall votes, Liverpool are way behind but votes are shooting up everyday.

Our BA's are having fun taking pictures of some great dressed people

.... and some not so great dressed people.

They are doing such a good job, so keep up the good work BA's and we look forward to see thousands and thousands more votes.


Em x

Feeling crunched?

Now we're all well aware of the financial crisis that has been dominating our headlines, in fact, we're probably yearning to hear of something more uplifting however I fear this will be surrounding us for some time yet.

We are always looking at ways to keep costs down for our clients and how to think more creatively getting more bang for their buck but it's at times like this, it does make you stop and think about your own personal finances and where you can penny pinch....or indeed pound punch.

There are quite a few obvious ways in which one can be more frugal; cut out the luxuries, stay in one night at the weekend, cook at home instead of eating out, walk instead of tube/bus/cab but if these are things that make you smile after working hard all week then my advice is don't stop doing those things, find other more simple ways to save some cash and continue the things you love!

Some really simple ways of cutting back can be found all over the interweb and here's a few favouites;

• Try not to leave appliances on standby - up to 10% of the total electricity used in your home is due to appliances left on standby
• Turning the thermostat down by one degree C can cut more than 10% from the average central heating bill
• Never shop for food when you are hungry - it can increase your spend by an average of 20%!.
• To find the cheapest petrol in your area, sign up to www.petrolprices.com and get emailed weekly updates of pump prices
• You should buy an annual rail card for £18-£24. Find the discount card that suits you at www.railcard.co.uk, or at your local ticket office, and start getting a third off all off-peak travel
• If you have something in your fridge and struggling to know what to do with it, visit www.waitrose.com/recipes/search.aspx and enter your ingredient as a "keyword" for ideas
• Go food shopping just before the supermarket closes, they offer loads of discounts
• Look out for BOGOF deals, if you work in the media/pr/marketing world, you're bound to get the discount vouchers always flying around
• Sample sales - make sure your friends in fashion keep you posted with the dates, these are especially brilliant and pentiful in the lead up to dare I say it, Christmas!
  
• Check out http://www.uswitch.com/ - it's brilliant for finding the best deals on just about everything

And to leave you remembering the lighter side of life.......

I went to the ATM this morning and it said "insufficient funds".
I'm wondering is it them or me.

Micro-Blogging: The New Web Phenomenon?

What is happening in the ever-changing world of youth communication? Are ‘traditional’ mediums for online social communication becoming obsolete? Are the younger generations still reading the standard type pad style blogs? Are they media multi-tasking? These are some of the questions that posed themselves as The Lounge looked into the composite world of online communication.

Many young people don’t feel the need, have the time to attempt to read and digest a full blog due, in part to the constant diet of information snippets that they get fed from the established sites such as Facebook, Bebo, Myspace and Twitter as well as less established sites like Plurk, Fanfou, and to some extent Tumblr. The content on these sites goes a long way to satisfying their daily curiosity craving while fitting in with their hectic life-style. The aforementioned sites let users share information through short ‘micro’ posts, whilst eavesdropping on the upcoming activities, opinions, feeling and conversations of their peers through applications such as Facebook’s ‘news feed’. These ongoing streams of status-updates can be logged with ever-increasing ease; via the web, SMS or IM – in short, meaning that you will never be too far from a means through which you can let others know anything at all; how you are feeling, your plans for the evening, or what you ate for breakfast!

On top of this, young people are now getting more and more involved in micro-blogging through visual media sites such as Flickr & DailyMugshot, as well as using video (one to explore for brands that would like to attach a face/personality to their target audience insights). Micro-blogging with video has been coined as ‘live-streaming’ or ‘life-casting’. These terms originally referred to 24/7 streamers such as Justin TV, but now essentially refers to those who use video to stream their life online in any length. This process is becoming easier all the time, thanks mostly to the technological advancement of the mobile phone – meaning that there is now no longer any need to strap a camera to your head! Several popular services make it really simple to life-cast via mobile to the web, these include; Juicecaster, Kyte, Qiklife (launched in 2008 as the world's first life-casting ‘community’) and Next2Friends (where life-casting found it's way into Social Networking at Next2Friends with their introduction of live streamed video from mobile).

So do time-precious young people still engage in media multi-tasking? The answer is yes; all-in-one services are emerging, letting you micro-blog with multimedia, i.e. posting; photos, video, text, music, and other content. Twixtr mashes up Twitter with photos; Twiddeo merges it with video; Seesmic is its own video micro-blogging community; Utterz is an emerging mobile-driven platform that uses voice, video, text and images; Zannel is similar, but has developed a more professional presence using bands and studios. This sort of multimedia micro-blogging will simplify young people’s online lives. They will no longer have any need to visit multiple sites as these services will give them all that they need to stay in the social loop.

These developments could well be the beginnings of the next web phenomenon, one that will flourish in the hands the younger generation of internet user. Just think about what young people do on their phones (texting and taking pictures), then tie this to what they are doing online (social networking) and a marriage of the two makes perfect sense. It will maximize the potential of our new media and technology by using them in ways that are mutually beneficial to each other and most importantly, irresistible to the average young internet user. Pretty soon, everything will be viewable through the handset, bringing about a new unprecedented level of online connectivity among the next generation.

What is clear is that the ongoing evolution of social networking sites, coupled with the emergence of new micro-blogging sites is spawning a new online medium through which brands can attempt to engage and connect with the collective consciousness of a generation, while simultaneously supplying young people’s insatiable need for instant information…. Viva la evolution!

Silent Cinema – An Idividual, Group Experience

Following hot on the heels of this Summer’s festival sensation Silent Disco, comes a new vision in decibally-challenged entertainment... Silent Cinema.

Due for it’s red carpet premiere on October 31st this year at London’s Andaz Hotel, “Silent Cinema will be a world first” claims it’s creator Damian Barr – journalist for The Times and playwright for BBC Radio 4. Damian came up with the idea through the realisation of a personal conundrum – while he knew that he was passionate about movies, he often found himself irritated by what he descibes as the “extra soundtrack.”

The premise is fantastically simple; you love films on the big screen but can’t stand the noise from your neighbours? Then Silent Cinema may be the answer. Take classic films, add big fat wireless headphones, minus the noise pollution; the scrunching of wrappers, crunching of popcorn, slurping of drinks, the people behind you whispering, chatting, coughing, shhhhhhh!... and you have Silent Cinema.

Initial feedback on the idea has been overwhelmingly positive and now that the concept’s grand unveiling is imminent, Damian claims that “People are gagging for it to launch!” It could well be a coming of age for the cinematic experience, and it’s all about quality films (you are unlikely to catch the latest Scary Movie at a Silent Cinema screening). The very first film to be shown, fittingly on October 31st (Halloween) will be Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, one for the more discerning movie-goer.

By May next year, Silent Cinema will have travelled south for a series of public screenings in Brighton’s Jubilee Square to coincide with the advent of the Brighton Festival (the 2nd biggest arts festival in Europe – after Edinburgh) and whilst this is currently a leftfield venture, Damian believes that a move into the mainstream is a definate possibility for the future as he points out that “Most things that start off edgy, move toward the centre at some point,” so fingers crossed that a silent cinema will be popping-up in a public space near you soon.

• Silent Cinema uses a combination of tried and tested technology from cinema and Silent Disco.



• Just put on your wireless headphones, sit back and relax.



• Because there is no noise pollution, the cinema-sized screen can be projected on to a wall anywhere.



• If you need to run to the toilet, you can do so with your headphones on so you won’t miss any of the action.

Silent Cinema, Andaz Hotel, 40 Liverpool Street, London EC2 (020-7618 5061; http://www.ticketweb.com/). Programme: The Shining, Oct 31; Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving and The Ice Storm, Nov 23; It’s a Wonderful Life plus an unseasonal horror, Dec 14 2008

FM and BE Awards

The Lounge was a finalist in the recent Field Marketing & Brand Experience Awards at the quite nice Marriott hotel, Grosvenor Square it's got Maze in it. You know the one.

We didn't win, we were a little upset. Sara shed a tear, but I think this could have being down to the unwanted attentions of a slightly inebriated older gentleman.

I think that Frank, the man behind this up and coming award bash, did a good job. He is filling a niche. The only thing that did annoy me is that the night does not seem to be about the campaigns. The dinner bit could definitely be curtailed from 2 hours, we'd be happy with 60mins. Plus people do actually want to know what the winning campaign actually was, why did it win, what did they do. Knowing just the name of the agency, client and seeing this group gather on stage with 4 Puffs and a Piano is not really that useful.Surely there was something that made that campaign win, what was it? For these awards to become even more credible Frank needs to add this important element. Tell us why Frank, tell us why and I am sure we will all sit rapt awe as we marvel at the ingenuity of our peers and the braveness of their clients.

Also so many old guys and young girls... is this ever a good idea?

Inspired Choices and Great Opporunities

What an amazing day! Once again twenty-one young people prepared themselves for a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet one of their heroes. This time, the impressively talented and completely lovely Ryan Giggs.

They winners of the Alliance & Leicester's Premier 21 Current Account Master Class made their ways to Manchester Piccadilly this weekend where they were picked up and taken to Carrington Training Ground - the official training ground for Manchester United. This was the first time that anyone could remember anything like this ever taking place at the sacred pitches, where so much magic happens on a daily basis.

After settling in they met Ryan, who told them about his life and how he got to where he is today. They got to ask their questions and get them answered by the legend himself - all this before Giggsy put them through their paces.

Now I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest football fan, but even I got excited about walking around the ground and realised how honoured I was to be able to meet these great people and see everything first hand.

After a warm-up and a spot of lunch they were off for some proper training and, of course, a kick about.

There was a great mix of people; some athletes, some pro youth footballers, some sports lovers and some who were just excited to be there - all of them had a great time and got some great advice.

They all walked away feeling that they'd been given a great opportunity - in fact one of them was later approached by Manchester United and may even be up for an assessment - who know's, maybe The Lounge Group could have introduced the next Ryan Giggs to Man U.

Good Luck to him - hopefully he'll remember us when he's rich and famous - or at least remember the tips he got on how to shoot to success.

Cheers,

Paul