Sorry – not available in your country

I thought the days of being the odd kid no one wanted to play with were over. But no, turns out that just living in England can keep you out of the metaphorical sandpit of tech start-ups popping up Stateside. Already this year, I had to suffer the indignity of asking an American what The Daily app interface was like. Ok, it was the guy that designed it, but still.



And today I find out that app-based payment service, Venmo, has added an incredibly exciting feature which, you guessed it, “isn’t available in my country”. Sometimes I wonder why my ancestors couldn’t have just stayed on the boat from Russia for another couple of stops across the Atlantic. Show me the apps Granny!

Anyways, enough whining. Until I get the call from MB SF, I must live vicariously through Mashable and Fast Company. And that new Venmo feature? Location-based payment publishing.



“The Venmo apps for iPhone and Android make it super simple to settle the bill evenly (to the penny, if you like), and given the number of people that are using Venmo to split the bill when they go out, we have integrated with Foursquare and Facebook places to allow you to attach a location to every payment you make.

Venmo Places also makes it really easy to see how often and how much you are spending with your friends at your favorite spots.”

The money shot? This: “Plus, when you publish a payment tagged with a place, it’s a fun way to share your experience with any of your Facebook, Twitter, or Venmo friends who might not have been there. We like to think of it as the “check-out” followup to a Foursquare or Facebook “check-in.””

VERY exciting. Watch this space.

New post now live on Eye Magazine blog. Click HERE.

Re-posted here...

The Self as Brand

I recently wrote a post on the Moving Brands blog about living in the era of the over-share, about how, with so many life-casting tools at our fingertips, we are able to share anything and everything as we go through our day. But just because we can, does it mean we do? Or do these platforms actually allow us to create a rich brand around who we really are by carefully curating and broadcasting a life that is, in fact, a slightly heightened version of the truth?



Most users probably don't think of themselves and their behaviours in terms of 'brand', but that is exactly what social media enables. Apart from those deviants and sociopaths, we've evolved from creating entirely new selves online - like the Barbie and Ken avatars on Second Life. Today, most of us have learned how to portray a pretty accurate interpretation of reality through who we follow, what we 'like', what links we share and the content we post.

As social networking platforms proliferate and the lines between our different selves (the work self, the friend self, the family self) blur and break, it is no wonder that we feel compelled to control how the online world sees us. We wouldn't go to a glamorous party in a pair of old pyjamas, so why would we project anything other than our best selves online?


http://www.howardgrey.com

Today I came across a blog with the mission statement 'This is a blog intended to trick strangers into thinking my life is more exciting than it actually is'. The blog may be called "Slutever…" but the author's frank admission is not so shocking. Who isn't guilty of de-tagging the odd Facebook photo to ensure we look cool, fun and attractive in every picture in our profile?

The location-based check-in services FourSquare and Facebook Places has added an interesting element to personal content curation. The privacy activists may well be concerned about broadcasting their exact location to strangers but, for the self publicist, there are bigger concerns at play, namely where to be "seen" online. The average Londoner could dutifully check in at their tube stop, their place of work and Pret a Manger day in day out, but what's aspirational or taste-making about that? Better, surely, only to check-in at the more exciting places. The places that tell your followers something about you and the kind of person you want to be seen as.



Furthermore, as we identify the self as 'brand' via our allegiances to brands, so companies are reflecting our choices back. More than ever, brands are listening and watching our moves online and rewarding their biggest advocates. From the people who start great Facebook fan pages, to those who become Mayor of their local Starbucks on Foursquare, brands are reaching out and giving them the tools to do the selling for them. As Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, said recently, - "What marketers have always been looking for is trying to get you to sell things to your friends".

From the Middle Eastern beads found in ancient burial sites in Suffolk, to the tribal people of Papua New Guinea using Pentel pens as nose decorations, to the young people of Berlin whose first goal, once the wall came down, was to eat a Big Mac, we have used trading, shopping and brands as a way to enlarge our sense of self. So, is this digital age turning us all into products? Or is it simply another platform on which to communicate a very basic human urge - self-expression? Are the selves that we can create and control online in fact more 'ourselves' than in real life?

Shoreditch Beat Poetry.

For those of you missing out on the feted Project 10 circulation list, here is my contribution.

And So This is Christmas, And What Have You Done?

This year I learned that a film which makes your CEO look like a ruthless jerk can only make people love you more. I learned that in an age where we're obsessed with privacy, we're actually sharing more than ever. I learned how being on a horse changed advertising forever. I learned that having over a billion hits on YouTube means you don't have to worry about being in the charts. I learned that touchscreen devices can be beautiful. I learned that augmented reality still has some way to go. I learned that a new logo can divide opinion and that crowdsourcing in a crisis makes you look desperate. I learned it all first on Twitter.

I've blogged, tweeted, updated and checked-in. I've Googled it, Bing-ed it, Yahoo!-ed it and gone back to Googling. I swiped, pinched, tapped and flicked. Booted up, started up, switched on, signed in, accepted, allowed, downloaded, friended, followed and liked. I forwarded it, I tagged it, I attached keywords and uploaded it. I was always-on, on Skpye, on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, online. I declined, ignored and turned off. I was offline and IRL (in real life).

I did 14 hour days, 10 hour flights, 8 hour jet lags, made four 2 minute films, and wrote seven brand strategy documents. Gave two talks, got 5,000 followers across 3 Twitter accounts and posted over 200 blog entries. I ate my 5 a day, topped up my Oyster, got my Nectar points, paid my council tax, my mortgage, my phone bill, my gas bill, my water bill, my car insurance, my MOT, my parking permit, and waited 2 months to get broadband. I did coffee and lunch and dinner and drinks and networking and schmoozing and catch-ups and crits and conference calls and feedback and sign offs.

I bought clothes and shoes and accessories and apps and magazines and chocolate bars and stuff for my house and ingredients to cook and take-out so I didn't have to cook. I loved Mad Men and X Factor and 30 Rock and Glee and celebrity gossip and mexican food. And hated the cold and the dark and the early mornings. I saw my old friends and made new friends and worked with the best and fancied the wrong people.

I have been energetic and excited and hyperactive and inspired and nervous and frustrated and absolutely exhausted… and so this is Christmas and what have I done? I've done my best and my hardest and with focus and with passion and I've tried and I've failed and I've tried again and I've succeeded. And I'm bloody glad it's Christmas because I intend only to do two things til January… Eat. And Sleep.

Checking into to Hauling

In this month's edition of UK Wired magazine, there is a fascinating article called "Commerce Gets Social - How Your Networks Are Driving What You Buy". The piece looks at different ways innovators and consumers are sharing their purchasing data. From Blippy - a site that lets you share your purchases and see what your friends are buying online, to Groupon - a location-orientated deal-of-the-day site, the race, according to Wired, "is on to monetise the social graph".

Furthermore, and in a move that made me feel like the Winklevoss twins to Wired's Zuckerberg, the piece went on to mention the phenomenon for "hauling". In low-fi YouTube videos, girls share their latest purchase, or hauls, with the world. Stars of hauling have earnt hundreds of thousands of views and lucrative promotional deals. Not so low-fi now.



History tells us that technological advancement and consumer behaviour will continue to evolve. So, can we hypothesise on a potential future based on the evidence around us? We are already hardened "We Live Like This" consumers - surrounding ourselves with the brands, products, services and content which seem best to convey who we are and what we like. This brand-orientated peacocking while pretty normal to us, is instinctive to the digital generation. The 'Like' button is testament to that. Combine this with the new behaviour of "checking in" and something interesting presents itself.

In 2010 alone we went from tentatively checking in to locations on Foursquare in January, to happily checking in to TV shows on Get Glue in December. The fast pace of technology is shortening the distance between the absurd and the mundane. So, what if we can start 'checking in' to products? What if "hauling" goes beyond bedroom videos and onto the highstreet? The scope is huge - from checking in to a new purchase to detailing entire outfit.

So, what data sets could we be sharing with our friends, our network and the brands themselves?
Our username
Our location (place and time)
Our context (captions and comments)
Our spending habits (how much we spent, what partner brands we are pairing alongside)
And the exact moment all the brand's marketing efforts translate into a purchase. That's kind of exciting.

Struggling within the confines of "You are not "creative" therefore you may not have In Design installed" as set by the MB IT department, I have attempted to visualise how this future might look. See below.



Maybe checking it to all this data will prove too much. Maybe registering our every move will render us stationary, but - as Wired states - "The new generation want to scream from the mountaintops what they've bought, and to the largest audience" this hypothesis may not be too far from the truth. Time will tell.

Gleeful

It's been tough, but I somehow struggled through the past few months since the close of Glee Season One. And now, just as January began to defeat me, Glee has triumphantly returned to our screens. And not a moment too soon.

But this post is not simply an excuse to get #Glee into the old keyword search (if I was in that game, I'd write about Justin Bieber's Facebook page). No, I want to write about their recent cast addition - Charice aka Sunshine.



It turns out Charice and her mind-blowing vocals came to the show via internet viral stardom. According to her Wikipedia page, young Charice notched up an impressive 13 million YouTube hits in 2007, winning her spots on Ellen, Good Morning America and even Oprah (I'm really clocking up those keywords!)

So why Glee? And why my fascination? Well, Glee more or less paved the way for "consume what you see TV" - as the songs rolled out, their iPhone toting, click-happy tween fanbase could immediately jump on iTunes and get downloading. And that almost inaudible sound in the background? That is the sound of easy money. Glee's previously unknown cast became Triple Threat cash machines overnight.

And when it came to gearing up for Season Two, what lessons had they learned?
1. Tweens love Glee
2. Tweens love the Internet
3. Tweens have the attention deficit capability to love both at the same time

The solution? Book the biggest thing on the Internet pronto. Sadly Beiber, Double Rainbow Guy and David had been lost to pre-pubescent anarchy, Microsoft and the dentist respectively. Charice (and her millions-strong fan base) it had to be. Genius. With her at the helm, and guest appearances from Britney and Gwyneth Paltrow this season is going to be a whole world of good.

Now, did I mention Bieber enough to get him in the tweet out for this post?

Why?

Had a bit of a shifty around Westbourne Grove yesterday checking out the sales. And I was amused by the gratuitous and largely pointless use of iPads throughout the stores. In Aubin & Wills, I was smugly told that I could order those black velvet shorts "through the iPad" - wow! In Matches, a sales assistant seemed simply to be rocking the iPad as part of a carefully thought out S/S2011 outfit. And, in All Saints (below) the place was practically riddled with the little things. At every turn, Italian tourists were desperately trying to check Facebook, as elder shoppers looked on in awe. Fascinating.

New Year's Resolutions for 2011

If my bulging Google Reader list is anything to go by, then it seems 2011 cannot begin without a few goals and resolutions set down. One of Fast Company's bloggers already posted this, citing "Associating". "Observing", Experimenting", "Questioning and "Networking" amongst the key attributes for an innovative 2011. My past resolutions have ranged from the practical ("Get a job I love") to the absurd ("Be more slutty") to the conceptual ("Hedonistic Anarchy"), so what will I choose for 2011?



___

Staying ahead of the curve is certainly a priority. 2010 was the year when being a bit of a geek became mainstream. The most unlikely of my friends started using Twitter and my Mum got an iPad. Suddenly knowing a bit of basic HTML and talking about apps was not so unusual. In desperate bids to be bleeding edge, I found myself shunning YouTube videos older than a few days, I refused to go see Avatar, and practically passed out with excitement by getting the two minute screen grab of the Gap Logo Facebook announcement. As we approach the new year, I'm wondering how I can cure this digital paranoia. Well, fact is, innovation is a fast paced game - unless you are glued round the clock to various feeds, missing things is part of life. And, if you can't be there for the start of something special, I can at least strive to say something special about it.
Resolution 1: If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes.



Linked closely to my previous comment, 2011 needs also to be about unchaining myself from both my desk and my devices. Many of the serendipitous and inspirational moments in my life have taken place when out and about. Before my iPhone, I'd sit on the bus, the tube or in a pavement cafe and watch the world go by - seeing trends emerge, overhearing conversations and watching life unfold. The mobile phone has replaced the cigarette as our tool for being alone in public. And, while definitely better for our lungs, it is removing us from the present moment. Our digital lives are so filtered and personalised according to settings and preferences, we cannot possibly access this kind of circumstantial chaos via our phones, nor do I really want to.
Resolution 2: iPhone, therefore I am not in the moment.



Finally, and perhaps more personally, I would like to find strength in 2011. Having an opinion takes conviction, writing it down for the benefit of your peers, your clients and even the world takes strength. If I am to become the best at what I do - and that is the plan - I will need to discover the strength to really go for what I believe. To do this, I will need to continuously educate myself by asking questions, learn from the best and be open to everything. I'll need to stop hiding behind my laptop screen and get over the fact that I'm usually the youngest, only lady in the room at client meetings. On this front, I'm afraid daily aphorisms will not cut it. Killer heels, however, probably will.
Resolution 3: Dress to kill it.

2010 Round Up - The sites, ads, products, services and people that stood out from the noise this year.

Geek crushes

2010 was the year that made geeks hot - largely due to films like The Social Network, Tron and Inception. It was also the year where I spent 10 weeks in San Francisco - home of the nerds. They had me at "tech start-up". Swoon.


Dennis Crowley/ Foursquare


Mark Zuckerberg/ Facebook

Case study examples

Every digital strategy document I write is obviously tailored to the client, but these campaigns somehow kept sneaking in every time. Why? They pushed boundaries, made the most of the medium and enthralled audiences.


Old Spice/ Real-time YouTube video responses to tweets. Hilarious and genius - W&K becomes the hottest agency on the block.


Square/ The new way to pay took the iPad from a big, beautiful iPhone to a functional piece of kit.


MySpace/ Coming hot on the heels of the Gap logo fiasco, the new MySpace logo gave control back to its users, accepting that people want things their way and becoming the visual manifestation of this personalisation trend.... If MySpace was on Facebook, I'd "like" it

Straight talking

Sometimes it's refreshing just to read something in plain English - no "cross-channel multiplatform social media communication plans" bullshit.


The Man Repeller/ Fashion blog about the clothes that repel men. Also introduced the concept of a 'lady boner' to the mainstream.


A Bajillion hits/ Jacking your strat, jacking my lady boner.


Noah Stokes/ This website is so old school it's epic. Who needs HTML5 when you've got it all laid out in primary colours and no bullshit.

Digital life

If, like me, you can't start your day without that surge of serotonin caused by the arrival of an email, then you'll be relying on a heady mix of tools and services to get you through the day.


Google Reader/ Is there a greater feeling for the digitally addicted than over 200 unread articles?



Cross-platform syncing/ Personally, I like living in a world where I can check in using Foursquare and know that the fact that i just walked into a pub will be published across all my social networking sites for my adoring and ever alert 'friends' to comment upon. #don'tbelieveyourownGoogleAlerts

And finally, some of the stuff to watch out for in 2011...


Whipping your hair becomes a cultural phenomenon. I'm doing right now, as I type.


Check-in culture will get out of control, as we start checking in to TV, films and books.

And, finally... cool ad man says, "What?"

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The Nell arrives

Yesterday a little bit of magic happened, which saw the completion of a project that had been in the pipe line for a little while. Guy Wolstenholme - one of the founders of Moving Brands - is also an incredibly talented furniture designer. He has made pieces for his home, as well as all the tables for the MB Zurich studio. Video below.

When I told Guy I was looking for a dining table for my new place, he very kindly offered to design it for me. This is the original render...



Then the designs were sent as a CAD file to CNC Workshop in London Fields... This is the single sheet the table was cut from.



And the parts were cut out using a 3 Axis CNC Router... Those are the legs


And that's Guy's logo...



We then drove through the snow to my place and sanded the sharp edges...




And, just two hours later, assembled it all. Guy designed it so no glue is required - the pieces slot together simply.

Presenting: The 'Nell' Dining Table...




Isn't she a beauty?

Christmas 2010 update

Following yesterday's post, two friends got in touch with these beauties.

First a jew-tastic LV menorah... oy vay!



And secondly, for the staunch Christmas jumper fanatics, I present this roll-neck, deep knit Ralph Lauren number. Amazing.



Thanks to @celialikesbooks and Bantin - still at the cutting edge of fashion even from Afghanistan!

Christmas 2010

With the Spotify Christmas tune list growing larger each day, it seems only appropriate to post my top three festively themed items spotted so far...

First up, I'm loving this Christmas jumper inspired tee. Perfect for avoiding the meat sweats after a large lunch.



Then, as a bacon-sarnie munching, Christmas loving, only-in-it-for-the-chicken-soup jewish princess, this tree feels so right, even when it's a little bit wrong.



And finally, as an accessory to my "countryside" fantasy where I'm striding through snow-flecked woods clad in silver Hunters and a black patent Barbour (one day the Country Alliance will catch up with fashion!), this Porsche sledge. Eat your heart out Rosebud!

Three things I'm loving… and it's only Monday!


1. The Evening Standard
Yes, this little Fame Whore got another slice of the action in tonight's Standard on the subject of snow in fashion. According to me, "snow lay flat on the ground in the Nineties". Don't understand? no, neither do I. Oh well.



2. PhotoSwap
Next time the chat dwindles in a group-outing scenario, whip this baby out. Take a picture, get one back. What could be more fun? Oh, I know… visually abusing people who send you penis photos, that's what. Fun times.

3. Krrb
The "commerce enabler". Are you an arty, hipster-type living in a pocket of urban cool? Why not connect with your neighbors by selling, swapping and giving away trinkets? Another lovely example of the online going offline.

Digital strategy explained

For anyone not quite clear on what it is I do everyday, here's a little insight.

digital ninja from moon stuff on Vimeo.

...time to re-train I think!

Current affairs

For all those of you who missed my shameless bragging across platforms (on and offline, I'll have you know), I was pleased as punch to be quoted in last night's Evening Standard.



Ok, so the piece was on the topic of designer raisins, but we've all got to start somewhere. News Night… I'm waiting for my call!

Molotov Jukebox launch their first single

My old friend Nat and her band Molotov Jukebox launched their first single at Cargo on Wednesday night and it is a goodie! Nat is one of those people who has been a star since she could first hold a microphone - and it's great to see her become a part of such a class act that is Molotov Jukebox. They absolutely kill it live and have just released their first official epic and sexalicious music video here...



Go! Please tweet it, blog it, buy it!!

Neglect

Oompht! How time does pass! As someone who is incredibly condescending of "Dead" blogs, I am ruthlessly negligent of tending to this one. I guess the unfortunate demise of various guinea-pigs, rabbits and hamsters in my youth are indicative of that.

Anyways, a little update and boast to say that I was asked to contribute to the latest edition of Eye Magazine in a piece they did on iPad apps. I was honoured to be asked and it is great to be in print as well as their blog - even if it does mean I can't link to it!! ...Seems odd writing a piece about iPad apps which you can't read on an iPad.



Speaking of which, I've been gathering a few iPad vids together this week and here's one great one and one awkward and weird one. Enjoy!

Help them, help you

What happens to brands when the sun never sets online? How can they possibly manage an audience that comes on and offline with the turn of the earth? The Gap Logo 'event' unfolded over four days, but with Brits, New Yorkers and West Coasters all waking up and weighing in every 6 hours, there could be no respite, no time for Gap to gather their thoughts and work out what to do. Exhausted and defeated, they wound up retracting and apologizing - letting more people down than if they'd come back fighting.



By the same token, Foursquare had an unfortunate outage which no doubt gave Facebook Places an unprecedented boost and marked the end of the era when we were happy just to show up someplace without broadcasting it.



Maybe, however, check-in services will be the salvation for brands. As people check into emotions and feelings as well as places, events, products and services, brands will be able to get a hold on what's really going on out there. People feeling angry after lunch in Manchester? Say something funny or wait till 6pm. Everyone jumped up in Austin - give them somewhere to let off some steam.

Powerful global brands of the future will be able to monitor their worldwide audience in real-time via a range of new techniques and advanced date visualization. Brands will discover a broad visibility which allows them to respond and react to their customers on a minute to minute, nation to nation, moving world basis. Big Brother really is watching you now.

The long journey

So, I'm back in San Francisco with Moving Brands. I'm here doing strategy work for our new US clients, as well as to attend the launch of a new brand we created the identity for. You can see their new website here.



This is my 7th week in SF for 2010 - it's great to have the opportunity to really get inside a city and lose the tourist feeling. The MB studio is based in SOMA - a Shoreditch type area downtown of the main city centre. From the studio you can see the Bay on one side and West SF on the other. The famous fog literally rolls in and out depending on the wind direction - either plunging the city into clouds, or revealing that crisp Californian sunshine.

Gertrude Stein apparently said that "Wherever you go, you meet yourself" and, though in many ways she is quite right, getting away from it all also gives you the space to come to terms with the big changes and mentally grow into the 'you' you have become.



When I was growing up my Dad spent many months away on location. To me, his trips only represented the tan and presents he returned home with. Now, I know what he experienced - the exhilaration of travel and working abroad but also the jet lag and the boring nights in with room service. I wouldn't change these experiences for anything and feel like I have worked hard to get these opportunities. My Dad had a family to get back to - but apart from friends, I am gloriously free to skip town and try something new for a while.

One of my friends from the London studio arrives tomorrow and I can't wait to show him around and have a pal to enjoy the city with. From the buzzy, hippy Mission district to posh shops on Fillmore, San Francisco is a fabulous, fabulous place to be. I just hope I can get back to Stokey by Christmas!!

She Decos

Well, work is nearly finished on the S&M Barbie Palace in Stoke Newington. The white goods have arrived, the paint colours have been chosen and the new floor is ready to go down. Time now, to start thinking about what's going to go IN it!

As a girl geek, I'm entranced by this QR code wallpaper. How cool to link to my latest thoughts, to-do notes and inspirations simply by holding up my iPhone!



Lighting-wise, the designers around me have been whipped up into a frenzy over the Plumen Bulb Loop - an aesthetically sensitive response to the energy-saving light bulb. Gorgeous.

Plumen Bulb Loop from Plumen on Vimeo.

Lastly, I must give a nod to the new Ikea viral which launched last week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one moggy crawled into my oven and is going to come live with me!



Check back soon for the Design Sponge orientated "sneak peek" shots. Work with me here, Grace!

Fashion Night Out 2010

Last night my friends and I struck a pose and catwalked it over to Vogue's Fashion Night Out. Conduit and Bond Street were packed to the shearling gills with uber-fashionistas rocking every look imaginable.




We tottered down Conduit street, passing an over-crowded Kurt Geiger, to check out the crowds outside Armani. Skinny celebs kept turning up to a flash of paparazzi camera's making for an interesting scene of cool-looking passers-by watching well-dressed paps and bloggers watching fashioned-out D listers. Such is the hierarchy of the fashion world.



Mulberry was by far the most fun place of the night - with cocktails for everyone, a prize draw and loud, loud pop music. Everyone was happy, the staff were jolly to everyone and the bags were gorgeous. Over at Matthew Williamson, the man was welcoming - clearly enjoying the assembled masses swoon over his new, tribal inspired line. Even Vogue Editor, Alex Shulman, cracked a smile!

It was great to see a usually calm and collected area let its hair down for the night. Despite the price-tags, there was no one to stop you pausing to stroke the odd furry accessory (although I did have a Westwood coat prised from my hand at one point). Most of the stores had made a proper effort and it felt buzzy, cool and exactly what London fashion should be about.



Finally, to end the night, we felt it only appropriate to inhale a tiny, overpriced sandwich at Sketch. By 10pm, the place was teeming with anorexic, trustafarian teenagers in couture and Doc Martens. Feeling very much like my Bedalian school days were a too distant memory, it was time to head home and dream of Vivienne Westwood coats.

Fail whale

Much has been written on the transformational power of social media and its groundbreaking successes. We often read of the massive boost to followers, friends and, ultimately, sales, that mark a truly engaging campaign that crosses and merges platforms. Even social media fluffs can make headline news and still manage to reach a huge audience. What we rarely hear of, however, are the ones left behind - the stragglers who never seem to get off the ground in this new digital world.

A great social media campaign can't spring to life simply because you have signed up to Twitter and uploaded a YouTube video. It is easy to think that social networks, because they are free to join and use, require little material or financial investment. Far from it. Unlike traditional advertising, which is placed before the viewer, social media relies on the 'viewer' to take a far more active role. You are looking for conversation, engagement and buzz. Here are my Top 5 elements which can make or break a social media campaign.



1/ Brand. No matter whether you are an individual, a small company or a global brand, it is vital that you are "joined up" across platforms. From Flickr to Facebook, the way you look, speak and communicate needs to be recognisable, so that no matter where people 'meet' you, they know it's you.

2/ Investment. Creating a Facebook page for your company may be free but ensuring it is well-managed and regularly updated takes carefully dedicated resource. Finding social media professionals who know what they're doing and can authentically become the voice of the brand is key. That's why there's little point in spending thousands on a super-hot, ultra-branded website and then leaving your intern to look after Twitter.



3/ Content pt1. Engagement is built on relationships. Like any friendship, you start out finding out what you have in common. Think about who you are trying to connect with and work out what will draw them in. Become a "go-to" place for the latest updates in your industry, or a unique voice on the state of the sector. Be selective about what keywords you are using to ensure you are search-tastic, and start a dialogue with those already doing it well in your area.

4/ Content pt2. Be appropriate. No, I don't mean laying off the curse words, although that's also recommended. Be conscious of what content you generate for each platform. Social Media users are like shoals of fish, you just need to guide them in the right direction. On Twitter it's about persuading someone to click a link in 140 characters. On Facebook it's about being liked. And on YouTube it's about being too good to keep to yourself. Copywriters, producers, editors... they're your new best friends!

5/ Holism. Nothing and noone exists in isolation. At least, noone with a decent internet connection. Striding into a room saying 'we need to be on Foursquare' will make you sound important, but it won't necessarily make you rich. Stride in saying 'My restaurant is choc full of people on dates, how can we make the most of this?', however, and it's time to start paying more tax. Suddenly you're inviting singles on Twitter to check-in via Foursquare and connect with other singles in your restaurant. Next thing you know you're sorting out a Facebook page dedicated to your hub of hook ups. And before you can say "poke me" you've got a YouTube channel full of love stories. Make each platform work for your audience and they'll work for you.




...Contrary to popular belief, it's not easy. Social media takes time and hard work but, if your product is good and you know your audience, there's really no reason why it can't be an integral part of your business.

Brostitutes, Icing and Getting Stoked

So we live in our techy geeky little worlds, smugly feeling that, because we own iPads, read Mashable and have over 3,000 followers on Twitter, we have somehow transcended from being the dorky, unpopular kids we once were. Yes we have probably acquired some semblance of social skills and, by moving only within Shoreditch, managed to make our retarded approach to getting dressed seem like a "look" but that does not mean we are not above poking some geeky fun at the kind of people who once made our lives miserable.

First up is this hilarious mockumentary from Funny or Die, which looks at the dark underbelly of Brostitutes. Urban Dictionary describes "bro's" as such... 'An alpha male idiot. This is the derogatory sense of the word (common usage in the western US): white, 16-25 years old, inarticulate, belligerent, talks about nothing but chicks and beer, drives a jacked up truck that’s plastered with stickers, has rich dad that owns a dealership or construction business and constantly tells this to chicks at parties, is into extreme sports that might be fun to do but are uncool to claim (wakeboarding, dirt biking, lacrosse), identifies excessively with brand names, spends a female amount of money on clothes and obsesses over his appearance to a degree that is not socially acceptable for a heterosexual male.'

Brostitute with Tim Roth from Tim Roth

Recently, bro's had a moment in the digital limelight over 'Icing' - a drinking game that requires the person who has been 'iced' to drop to one knee and chug a bottle of Smirnoff Ice. In a reverse application of a trend - 'Icing' spread from being a predominantly bro recreational pastime, to be adopted by hipsters. I'm assuming purely in a post-modern ironic sense, of course. In this next video you can see some bro's experiencing some h-core icing in the city of sin.



In the final installment of bro's experiencing a rare nod of acknowledgment from their hipster counterparts, we have this piece from The Onion...


Report: Most College Males Admit To Regularly Getting Stoked

Now available for weddings and bar mitzvahs

SXSW is a Music, Film and Interactive festival held every March in Austin Texas. Austin's history as a hub for musicians has long made it the mecca for bands and artists around the world. They say that 6th Street - Austin's downtown area - is the live music capital of the world and where you can see a different artist perform every night of the week. SXSW started as a music festival, to encourage new audiences to visit the southern state. The website explains how "In 1994 as the entertainment business adjusted to issues of future growth and development, SXSW added conferences and festivals for the film industry (SXSW Film) as well as for the blossoming interactive media (SXSW Interactive Festival). Now three industry events converge in Austin during a Texas-sized week, mirroring the ever increasing convergence of entertainment/media outlets."



Five years since I was a "study abroad' student at UT, I find it hard to believe that my name is on the SXSW Panel Picker list. Five years since my American friends introduced me to this new thing called "Facebook" and I got my first Wi-fi card, it's incredible that I'm planning to talk about Digital Instinctives - the babies seizing our iPads and approaching technology without reservation.



Please click HERE to check out the talk and vote for the entry! Thank you.

A whole new world of consumption.

On Wednesday I get the keys to my first flat. It's pretty damn scary. Not because of the huge, great mortgage. Or because I've never lived on my own. Or because Stoke Newington is choc full of yummy mummies and doesn't have a tube station. No, my real cause for concern is that most of my shopping experience lies in clothes, shoes, bags and food. Kitchen work surfaces, wood flooring and sofas, however, I have no experience in at all. Re-enforced by the fact that recent trips to Habitat, Heals and Ikea have all lead to unsightly sweating and panic attacks.

Nevertheless, if I can get through jeggings, I can get through re-decorating a flat. Here's my inspiration... thoughts?





Or maybe this?



Thanks to Design Sponge and The Kitchn

I knew the new cycling scheme would come in useful!

All I wanna do is invest my monaaay

Having just bought my first flat in Stoke Newington aka Clapham-of-the-North, this new vid from Funny or Die perfectly sums up the trouble I'm having reconciling my Shoreditch lifestyle with my new-found fascination with Ikea kitchens. Boo ya.

MIA -- Paper Planes Brentwood Redux - watch more funny videos

What's going on in there?

I just found myself watching a skype-skype interview on mobile apps online while simultaneously watching Gok's Fashion Fix on mute on the TV. Yesterday I found myself reading two newspapers at the breakfast table. What is going on in my brain?

Am I so conditioned to multi-tab browsing? So used to reading emails as I talk on the phone? When did tweeting, facebooking and watching television become second nature?

I'm fascinated because if that's me - and at 26 I'm old in digital terms - what is going on with "the kids"? My boss recently found his two year old son - who, I hasten to add, cannot yet talk - watching iPhone videos of himself in one hand while playing on the iPad with his toes. And it really makes me realise - his approach to learning, multitasking and problem solving is going to be unrecognisable to his elders, to the people trying to teach him when he hits school.



This week I was lucky enough to be part of a panel on "How to... Be part of the next cool thing" as part of LCC's Futurising festival. After the panel Martin Raymond (The Future Laboratory), Jaana Jatyri (Trendstop), Maggie Norden (LCF) and I went for a coffee. We were all gobsmacked by the seeming lack of curiosity from the assembled graduate audience. How could they even consider a career in trend forecasting if they were not brimming with questions for the panel? Maggie, a lecturer, voiced her concerns at the total and utter lack of investigative nous amongst her students. While Martin said interns that limit their research to page one of the Google results don't stick around long at FL.

But I'm concerned we're looking at it from the wrong point of view. Our way of thinking, our way of finding stuff out, is not the future. The extinction signs are there and we should be warned - we already don't remember telephone numbers anymore or since when did you turn to an encyclopedia? My boss's two year old will one day need to be taught by someone who understands that his brain is going to be wired in a totally different way. He is going to have skills and abilities that were once rare, just as he will have blank spots where his father is an expert.



I'm looking forward to spending the next few months figuring out what this is going to mean for brands wanting to make products and services that will thrive in the hands of these "Digital Instinctives". But until then I'm off back to my work iPhone, my personal Nokia, my 7 open tabs on Firefox, my Spotify playlist, the rest of that vid and the last 10 minutes of Gok. Wild times.

Camillastore goes Stateside.
"who were burned alive in their innocent flannel suits on Madison Avenue
amid blasts of leaden verse & the tanked-up clatter of the iron regi-
ments of fashion & the nitroglycerine shrieks of the fairies of advertis-
ing & the mustard gas of sinister intelligent editors, or were run down
by the drunken taxicabs of Absolute Reality"


It is my second day in the uber-cool San Francisco and, now I'm over the jet lag (For me, it's Tylenol Nighttime every time!), am able to finally string two lines together. Further evidence of my being bombed on the time difference emerged last night when I returned from a wander round the shops still wearing some unpaid for merchandise. A felony within 24 hours of landing. Awesome.

Anyway, today I am more coherent and with the weekend free to explore this great city. First up I headed over to the Ferry Building. A local foodie's heaven. a visiting, hotel-bound foodie's nightmare. Photos will follow, but picture row upon row of incredible produce set against the backdrop of San Francisco bay. Just spectacular. I also popped into Miette bakery. I first heard of Miette and got to know the owner, Meg, back when I worked for Rococo Chocolates. Meg wasn't around, but the Rococo was in prime position and the carrot cake cupcakes pretty special.



Next I sauntered - well, admittedly, heaved - my way up one of the infamous San Fran hills to make a pilgrimage to City Lights Bookshop. Though I may have sold my soul to branding and be more about power plates than Lucky Strikes these days, the Beat poets and writers still hold a very special place in my heart. I have always been fascinated by their courage and commitment to forging new forms of literature, of thinking even, in a time when America was vigilant against "non-conformist" behaviour. To finally set foot where founder Ferlinghetti hung out with Ginsberg, Kerouak and Cassidy realised a long-held dream of mine.

And now I'm back in my hotel room which overlooks the hot tub in a very Don Draper-esque manner and wondering whether a second burrito in as many days is pushing it slightly.

May the road come up to meet you

I know now is probably a rare opportunity to discuss the Party leaders' journey to the election, assessing brand strength, fashion choices and social networking capabilities. But two things launched this week to draw my eye from BBC News 24.

First up TopShop launched a MAKE UP RANGE! Put that in your pipe Gordon Brown! The dreamy, indie packaging makes great use of the TopShop spots, while the hand drawn element gives it an accessible-yet-aspirational feel. As someone who was beginning to feel that M.A.C's seat was in jeapardy, TopShop's range might just be the vote for change my makeup bag was looking for. And, yes, that metaphor just happened!



Secondly, and much more interestingly, Aubin and Wills are opening a CINEMA and gallery space in Shoreditch. This is lifestyle branding gone nuts. I'll happily buy a cute top and imagine myself into the A&W world vision. I'll even consider a bit of A&W homeware, because it's post-modern ironic. But is an events programme a step to far?

Thinking about it, little brother Jack Wills manages to get away with a yearly Polo fixture. But that's Jack Wills - ostentacious Sloanies love that shit. Aubin & Wills are meant to be cool, demure, subtle. People who wear A&W generally pick at their new cashmere jogging pants and say "oh this old thing!" between mouthfuls of organic porridge.



But have no fear Camillastore readers, I'll hit up the launch on 20th May and get back to you.