We just keep getting cooler and cooler! The other week we went to the SB.TV Xmas party, and then on Friday, Marketing Zone’s Robin attended comedy gig, Kojo Live N Kicking, at Hackney Empire.

It’s all part of our celebrity product placement service, that saw us rubbing shoulders with England footballer Carlton Cole, and British rapper Angel.

Live N Kicking was also attended by UK sports and entertainment stars, among them songstress Jamelia, and stars from Eastenders and the music world.

If you want to get your product seen with the stars, talk to us on 01763 274440.

As advocates of good copywriting, we couldn’t believe our ears when we heard that book chain Waterstone’s is denouncing the apostrophe in their company name. Giving the reason that ‘in a digital world of URLs and email addresses, a more versatile and practical spelling was required’; Waterstone’s will now be known as Waterstones.

We’re up on our high horses here! For a company that sells books and encourages reading, surely they can’t spell their own organisation name incorrectly. If McDonald’s and Sainsbury’s can cope, there is no problem.

We can understand that Waterstone’s is a brand name now, rather than traditionally known after its founder, Tim Waterstone. So we can see that for their website address, having an apostrophe isn’t essential, but nor have they ever been in urls. And apostrophes can create broken links on website headings as they are not picked up by the website’s coding system. But to alter the company name and spell it incorrectly within the copy on their website is just not on!

We’re very possessive about the apostrophe at Marketing Zone!

Celebrities live and breathe their brand. Whether it’s making a personal appearance or demanding six-figure sums for their size zero bodies to showcase the latest hot trend, celebrity is a powerful force. And it’s here to stay. We work with celebrity stylists and the fashion press every day for our clients, and its generating fantastic results.

Although not new, the power of celebrity is certainly evolving. You could hear the astonishment when The Only Way is Essex won a BAFTA this year! And when reality shows such as Strictly Come Dancing closely rival the viewing figures for this year’s Royal Wedding, you need to sit up and listen.

Many A-listers through to Z listers have extended their brand into fashion. I’m intrigued to see who does this, and more importantly, who does it well?

Whilst I’m less convinced by the Amy Childs Lipstick clothes collection, celebrities such as Victoria Beckham, Stella McCartney and Liam Gallagher have seen their designer labels flourish. Liam’s Pretty Green line scooped Best Breakthrough Brand at the WGSN Global Fashion Awards 2011, and Victoria Beckham has gone from strength to strength, winning Designer Brand of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in November.

Kate Moss’s collection for Topshop lasted 3 years, so in my book a success and Cheryl Cole’s Stylistpick shoes collection has just launched but makes a sassy style statement.

It goes to show that a famous name offering well-conceived, beautifully crafted products can deliver real brand authenticity.

Ever the multi-taskers, Marketing Zone has come up with a great way to raise money for charity at the same time as developing prize draw marketing promotions for our clients. From the heaving mailbags of competition entries that we receive into the office on behalf of our client’s, we give the stamps to the Wood Green Animal Charity, who use them to raise funds for their animal centre in Cambridgeshire.

Prize draw promotions can be a cost effective way of generating PR and getting your product published in magazines and websites. Or a good way to increase readership of eNewsletters by offering a prize that can generate extra interest, and increase open rates.

Marketing Zone has developed numerous promotions for our clients, including a professional institute, fashion brands and parenting clubs to name just a few. In a time when customers are looking out for great offers, we’ve seen an increase in the level of competition entries. It’s even a professional business for some!

We can source prizes, create the competition, liaise with the press for campaigns and handle the winner fulfilment. To find out more, just get in touch.

Are you in need of a little inspiration? If your brand’s crying out for a blast of fresh air, we might have just the ticket.

No matter what your budget allows, there’s always a way to inject new life into a marketing campaign. And as we head into 2012, how’s these for starters. Whether you’re looking to spend just £34 or if you have millions to spare, both of these demand attention, and make you ask ‘now who is that?’

Morph suits – the costume phenomenon
If you’re looking to take part in field marketing as part of your campaign, a morph suit is sure to make people stop and take notice. Dressed head to foot in breathable spandex, your marketing team would attract a lot of attention leafleting business parks with your promotional flyers. It’s a great way to create a stir!

Is it a limo, is it a yacht?
You can be unmissable, in a private exclusive kind of way. If money is no object, we can all dream can’t we, for those with a spare £132 million, how about a yacht shaped like a limo? Take a look!

I recently attended the Marketing and the 2012 Games Conference, hosted by one of our clients, The Chartered Institute of Marketing. The top line up of speakers included David Magliano MBE, Former Director of Marketing, London 2012 who presented the inspiring film which helped London win next year’s Games.

The Olympic name is very powerful and needs a lot of funding. So it’s vital that guidelines have been put in place to protect the brand, but to also encourage emotional interest in what we’re sure will be a fantastic occasion.

The Conference gave the dos and don’ts about how careful companies who are not official sponsors on the Games have to be when discussing the Olympics. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is responsible for preparing and staging the 2012 Games, and are keeping a close eye looking out for companies taking on ‘ambush marketing’, and trying getting credit for their implied association to the Games.

5 top tips
The official Olympic website can advise you further, but Nick Johnson from Osborn Clark gave a few pointers:

1. Ensure you check which symbols, logos and phrases are under copyright – the interlinking circles and the term ‘2012’ has been registered
2. Promoting competitions to win tickets for the Games is not allowed unless you are an official sponsor
3.  Unauthorised advertising in the vicinity of the Olympic Park and various other places has strict regulations you’ll need to be aware of
4. Managers and Directors of a company can be personally held accountable for not adhering to the advertising rules, even if the actions were from an agency or employee
5. Posting consumer insights or videos on a company blog could imply association with the event.

So visit the Olympic website, and contact a lawyer for professional advice if you’re unsure.

With an avid interest in all things sport and all things marketing, this event was right up my street. I’m taking my family to see the Games next year. We’re watching the handball, not our first choice I hasten to add but it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity with the Olympics being held in London so we didn’t want to miss out.

I’ve been writing for The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s London blog. My latest thought piece takes a look at John Lewis, who has just launched a ‘Made in UK’ label as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programme.

What do we associated ‘Made in UK’ with? Quality, traditionalism and design perhaps. Many products associated with various countries give customers a certain perspective. For example, Switzerland is synonymous with fine timepieces, Germany comes top for precision machinery, and Italy is known for elegant jewellery. So potentially the John Lewis range will see customers making purchases due to the fine heritage of British clothing.

It’s an exciting development for the store. Take a look at the Institute’s blog for the full story.

It’s been announced that Marketing Zone has been short-listed for an award, for the transformational marketing work we have done for Polaroid Eyewear in 2011.

The entry showcases the marketing campaign we created for Polaroid Eyewear’s heritage sunglasses collection, Best Under the Sun. Marketing Zone has helped to move this brand to the next level through PR, blogging, partnerships and more. The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s national Marketing Excellence Awards are highly regarded within the industry, and level of entries they’ve received this year has been phenomenal.

As a short-lister in the Retail Category, we’re competing with PepsiCo, Unilever, Marks and Spencer and Britvic. We’ve worked with Polaroid Eyewear for over 5 years, when we re-launched their sunglass brand in the UK. It’s great to see them recognised amongst other household names. 

It just goes to show what you can achieve when you work well together and apply creativity to everything you do. The winners will be announced in February at the ceremony at The Grosvenor Hotel in London.

It must be nearly Christmas as the much anticipated John Lewis Christmas advert campaign launched today, with its debut on Facebook and YouTube today before hitting our TV screens tomorrow during the X Factor.

It’s another beautifully crafted ad to stir the emotions with the ‘80s band The Smiths track ‘Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want’ sung by Slow Moving Millie.

It’s the perfect start to the festive season and its already creating a buzz online.

I recently attended a Social Media Bootcamp arranged by The Chartered Institute of Marketing, where it was good to meet with other experts in the industry. The key insight that came from the event was that customers are engaging with social media more and more, and that they expect businesses to do the same.

Millions of us use social media. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, its part of many people’s daily lives. So it’s not surprising that search engines highlighting social media mentions in their search results.

You can read my full article on the Institute’s blog, but it’s worth noting that with 25% of tweets on Twitter including URLs, this can be a valuable way to create unpaid links to your website which could boost your web ranking. We can develop a Twitter account for your business, call Mark on 01763 274440 for more information.