Not the usual beast!

You know a trend has gone mainstream when someone dedicates a film or event to it – and Vintage at Goodwood (VAG), a new festival launched last week is one of these.   While vintage-themed events are nothing new to the Chichester site – Goodwood Revival, a celebration of classic cars has been running since 1998. VAG, curated by Wayne Hemingway of Red or Dead fame (apparently investing a 7 figure sum of his own money), has positioned itself as ‘a celebration of five decades British cool from the 1940s-1980s,’ incorporating everything from food, film, music, design and fashion.   The recession has certainly fuelled popularity for what used to be known as second hand clothing. You only have to look at the emergence of vintage-themed businesses and websites to see that this really is a way of life for some people – and a great money spinner. And we can’t underestimate the influence TV series like Mad Men have on us.   So with my hair backcombed within and inch of its life and donning the compulsory vintage dress and sunnies, my friends and I descended on Goodwood- and we loved every second of it.   This really is good old fashioned fun. We entered the site via a fairy lit forest, through a kitsch looking entrance and straight into the Vintage High Street which had the same attention to detail you would find on a film set, complete with vintage cars ‘parked up’ beside shops.   There was a beauty salon to help you complete your look and while we made our way down the clean, wood chipped lanes, a line of ladies dressed in vintage bathing costumes strutted past. To achieve glamour in the middle of a field could be a challenge, but everything came across with style. I didn’t see one piece of litter all day – perhaps punters had more respect for this well thought out environment and took on the manners of a bygone era. However, there was a rumour circulating that Hemingway employed a stealth team of collectors to keep everything looking pristine.   The format provided the perfect opportunity for brands to get involved. Retailers whose executions were most effective were those with a clear link to their heritage. Most impressive was John Lewis who recreated their 1950s haberdashery where you could learn to stitch and pick up a vintage dress pattern. Others included Dr Martens, IWC, Fortnum and Mason and Kenwood. Hemmingway predicts that the high street area with double in size next year as brands clamber to get involved and showcase their take on the vintage trend to consumers. With the hype following this year’s event I don’t doubt his predictions, particularly as many brands may have been a bit cautious to invest in a new festival this year.   The organiser’s online interaction with attendees was well thought out. A free app was available to download via their website featuring the full line-up and a lovely map so we didn’t miss a thing. The Facebook profile was also really well managed with regular updates and the community provided real supported, particularly when we wanted to know vital information such as whether to bring wellies or not.   Entertainment was also true to the theme - we had an absolute blast at the Tanqueray Torch Club. Manned by a maître d’ in a white tuxedo we were escorted to a table where we enjoyed gin cocktails as we watched the various tea dances, while Roller Disco and a top line-up including Motown legends Martha and the Vandellas completed the night.   This is my kind of festival and I can’t WAIT for next year!

Mobile network Three has chosen Brando as its retained agency to lead its social media presence and engagement strategy within the UK.   The agency, which will report into Three’s newly formed internal Social Media team, will be responsible for ongoing consultancy and campaign work.   They’ll work in conjunction with the Social Media team to manage Three’s social media presences, create new and engaging content, and build upon Three’s existing blogger relations programme.   Brando won the account following a five-way pitch and will start work immediately, replacing Three’s incumbent Word of Mouth agency, 1000heads.   Margaret Burke, Director of Brand & Integrated Comms said: “Social media has become much more of a focus for Three this year, something that’s been reflected in the creation of a four-strong internal team. The timing was right for us to re-focus our priorities for social media, and we took the opportunity to evaluate the external support that was available in the marketplace.   “Brando’s strategic thinking impressed us right from the creds meeting and we’re confident that they’ll give us the right level of direction to take us forward in leaps and bounds in the social media space.   “1000heads’ commitment and dedication to our account over the years has been hugely commendable, and we wish them all the best.”   Shelley Morrell, Brando Managing Partner who will be heading the account, said: “Three is a visionary brand with a real appetite to make a mark in social media.  We are thrilled to be appointed as their partner to help turn all these exciting plans into reality.”   Three is currently recruiting to fill two of its remaining internal social media vacancies. The team, which sits within Three’s Sales & Marketing department, is responsible for the management of, and strategy behind, Three’s social media presences to deliver a meaningful customer experience.   Brando will join Three’s existing rosta of marketing agencies, including 3 Monkeys Communications and Glue Isobar.

Brando launches the world's first Google street view Zombie game on behalf of Virgin Trains. Launch has received widespread online, print and broadcast coverage from The Sunday Times In Gear to Capital radio! Hosted at www.dontgozombie.com, the game celebrates Virgin Trains’ new ‘Don’t Go Zombie’ campaign that urges commuters ‘zombified’ by the monotony of motoring to swap their cars for the freedom of travel on a Virgin train. Brave zombie-rescuers will be catapulted onto any UK street, armed with nothing more than a Virgin Trains ticket machine. To prevent them ‘going zombie’, players can save mindless motorists wandering the streets by issuing them with train tickets. Successfully ‘ticketed’ targets are humanised, transported onto a Virgin train and rescued from wasted time behind the wheel. Each month, the highest scoring players will enter a draw to win First Class travel with Virgin Trains*. If caught, the player’s Facebook profile picture will be zombified creating a zombie avatar that’s launched into the game. The player then has the option to galvanise support from friends by posting a ‘rescue me’ message on their wall. And if that isn't enough frenzied fun, later this summer Sir Richard Branson himself will be appear in the game as a zombie. The public are invited to seek out the Virgin founder and transport him to the safety of a Virgin train using their expertise in targeted ticketing. Sir Richard Branson said: “At Virgin Trains, we aim to make your journey as quick and stress-free as possible. Anyone who has ever experienced the M6, knows very well that long motorway journeys can suck the life right out of us, turning us into zombies! So we are urging people to ditch their cars, and hop onboard. Over the years I’ve appeared in many fun guises but never as a zombie –at least I’ll know what I’ll look like if I ever come back as one of the undead!”

High street optical retailer Vision Express has appointed Brando to launch its eco-friendly eyewear range. The Modo Eco range claims to be the nation’s first range of affordable luxury eyewear with a green conscience available on the high street. Brando will work alongside sister agency MCBD, which looks after the above-the-line account. As part of the brief, Brando will run an integrated PR campaign including media relations, a launch event and partnership marketing with celebrity Eco stylist Jocelyn Whipple, who counts Alexa Chung and Laura Bailey as regular clients. For every pair of Modo Eco glasses sold, a tree is planted in developing communities and recycled frames are donated to Vision Aid Overseas to help people with poor vision in these countries. Brian Linnington, product and marketing director at Vision Express, said: ‘We know how environmentally aware our customers have become in recent years, so the new range launch is something we feel passionately about.’ Brando managing partner Mandy Sharp will head up the account.

Another day, another post about the Old Spice campaign. It would be amiss of any social media or indeed PR company to not take notice of something like this, not just to marvel at its genius but also to take a few pointers.   If you have been living under a rock for the last few months, here is a recap. Old Spice launched their new campaign in February of this year, staring ‘The man your man could smell like’ Isaiah Mustafa. The advert is funny, the content is funny and social media helped bring it to the masses; at the last count the first advert attracted 19 million views across all platforms.   With the advert being such a huge success, not only in the US but the UK and Europe too, they needed to do something bigger to keep the buzz going, and with that they created another advert and started communicating with the ever-growing fans. Not through DMs, @replies or an employee; Isaiah started responding directly to the YouTube comments, Tweets, Yahoo Answers and blog posts about him in over 180 videos hosted through the Old Spice YouTube channel and sent out via Twitter. Some of the videos were clearly created before the social media divulge but he was working quickly, with nearly all the videos being posted in a 3-day period.   What happened next is definitely something for the social media history books. The internet went mad with the buzz about the Old Spice videos, in the  3 day period, there were nearly 200,000 tweets relating to Old Spice. To guarantee maximum exposure, the brand had ensured that a predominant amount of the bespoke videos were directed at the big hitters on Twitter; Ashton Kutcher, Perez Hilton, Biz Stone, Ellen Degeneres and Gizmodo to name just a few. They even managed to create a suggested but non-direct response to ‘4chan’, the message board thankful for Lolcats and Rickrolling, and those guys hate everyone!   But, and this is important, they didn’t forget the little guy. They responded to comments from the average tweeter as well, making it accessible for all, including everyone in the joke and ensuring people become personally invested in the brand. This is often the crux of a successful campaign, whether it is considered social media or not, making everyone a part of it enables it to reach a wider audience, ensuring more people talk about it.   No-one could have expected such a phenomenal response, especially one that happened so quickly in real time. ReadWriteWeb acquired a direct quote from Iain Tait, of Wieden + Kennedy, the marketing agency behind the campaign.   "We're looking at who has written those comments, what their influence is and what comments have the most potential for helping us create new content. The social media guys and script writers are collaborating to make that call in real time. We have people shooting and we're editing it as it happens."   But one of the main reasons it worked so well was its infectious humour and element of fun.   And just as soon as it began, it was over. After 3 days and nearly 200 videos, Isaiah brought the sad news that the end had arrived with his goodbye video;   Without a shadow of a doubt, the Old Spice campaign was a landslide success; they got everyone talking about the brand (online and offline), they were able to promote their new-look branding, gain thousands of new followers on Twitter and sales of their products nearly doubled. But above all, they made people laugh with a couple of funny videos, and really isn’t that what social media should be all about? Providing users with something that you would want to share with your friends.   And for those of you thinking of creating your own viral video, I’ll leave you with this thought ‘Brands don’t make viral videos, users make videos viral’ – Dan Greenberg, Sharethought