A story that has been picked up in a number of the papers today sent a touch of a chill down my spine.  It wasn’t about politics, war or crime.  In fact, you could argue it wasn’t really newsworthy at all.  This was the story of David Cameron’s kids’ new nanny.

The reason it chilled me was how such a mundane tale had been turned into a scandal through the ghost of an old social media profile.  The Metro article quoted Myspace as the source, but it matters not what the source was as what’s important is that a few comments made almost certainly in a youthful and off-the-cuff manner several years ago has seen the lady in question primarily labelled as ‘a drinker, a smoker and a shoplifter’.

It was a character assassination of a most brutal and unfortunate of nature, and one that will live on long beyond today.  Given her relatively unusual name any time in the future a prospective employer, business associate or even new friend decides to search for her in Google, this story will appear.  (I haven’t named her in this article so to avoid the irony of this piece further contributing to the issue.)

It’s a startling reminder that no matter how ...

Info-graphics are all well and good, but we decided that there was only one way to bring the new Facebook timeline for brands layout to life – and that was AS a timeline. You can find it here.

One thing that struck us whilst putting this together was just how buggy the process is for launch.  Facebook might be on the verge of their IPO but they clearly still stick to their policy of pushing developments and features live at the earliest possible date.  It makes for a frustrating process at times (ask anyone who used the Insights tool in its early stages) but you can’t say they are resting on their laurels.

We’re in the process of monitoring how the new layout is affecting our client’s pages and when we have something we can share we will be sure to do so.  In the meantime, to see our work in action head on over to the Douwe Egberts page and have a click around.

As a Barclays customer, I was happy to see my bank dabbling in some digital innovation with the release of Pingit- their money transfer mobile app.

It has to be said that Pingit isn’t actually new as a concept, Mpesa in Africa has been doing a very similar job for the last 5 years, but it is the first of its kind within the major UK banks.  It promises to make life much easier by allowing you to transfer up to £300 to your contacts via your phone, without ever needing to exchange back details.  Quite frankly, I like things that make my life easier, so I was looking forward to installing it and getting started after finally trading in my venerable HTC for an iPhone.

First experiences were promising; it is a well thought out app with a step by step sign up process that uses a 5 digit pin and a verification system that gives you confidence in its security.  Once set up you can browse your contacts, choose your recipient, write a short message and then send your payment which is valid for 24hrs.  It really is very impressive.

However, neither of the two payments I’ve sent have completed.

The reason ...

Google+ is most definitely getting a few people excited at the moment, and so it should.  When one monster, free tool of the internet (Google) moves into the realm of another (Facebook) in an attempt to steal its social media crown you know it’s going to get interesting.  It’s potentially the digital Haye vs. Klitschko, except both parties are true heavyweights.

The biggest challenge to any new social network is, of course, the sheer size of Facebook’s user base.  A mind blowing 1 in 13 people on earth are now on Facebook.  Over half of the UK population has a user profile, and 50% of these are Liking or LOLing every day.

Despite the recent reports of decreasing users, the scale of Facebook’s reach gives it an enormous advantage over its competition.  The site is fast becoming the only tool consumers need online, and the only tool advertisers need to engage with their audience.  Effectively owning the communication channel between brand and consumer has placed Facebook in a very dominant position.

Of course, Google knows this all too well, as it managed to achieve exactly the same position in the search battle, much to the detriment of Yahoo and Microsoft.  Google’s pockets (and ...

As the business end of the season approaches and the regularity of games racks up, all eyes are on the Cubo Fantasy League table.  Simon Parry tops the table currently but hot on his heels are Andy Allen and Dave Ody.  The race is on for the coveted title…

Some days it’s nice to right a big, deep post on hugely important issues that are likely to shape our industry moving forward. On others it’s just nice to talk about biscuits. Today is the latter.

Step forward a creative called Kim Neill who has produced these rather fantastic Pantone cookies. They are the perfect bed fellow to a cuppa made in one of the now ubiquitous Pantone Mugs, but it seems they are now also a work of Art as Kim has been asked to supply 200 of them for the opening of an exhibition at the McNeill Art Gallery in NYC. How very cool.

As great as this is, it’s actually not the first design/tech and baking combination we’ve seen – check out the iPad cake that popped up last year. All this begs the question – are you really a hero brand to someone pays homage to you in flour eggs and butter? Thankfully, our friends at Seaworld have nothing to worry about.

This year, we’re giving the gift of giving.

Our resident elf has filled his sack with twelve pleasurable prezzies to bring some Yuletide cheer to the streets of W1, putting smiles on the faces of humbugs and revelers alike.

With a helping hand from his glamorous opera-singing sidekick, the people of London could hardly believe their luck…

Enjoy!