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.

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.

Marketing Zone's Robin celebrity spotting at the SB.TV Xmas Party.

The SB.TV Xmas Party was a great success last night. We spoke to many television and music celebrities, including British actor Adam Deacon, Eastenders star Devon Anderson, up and coming superstar Chanelle Williams, aka Lady Chann, and SB.TV founder Jamal Edwards.

It was also great to make a number of connections on behalf of our sunglasses client, and we’re busy following up the promotional leads and potential PR opportunities that arose at the event.

We could get used to the special treatment – VIP passes, goody bags, speaking to celebrities, it’s all in a days work at Marketing Zone!

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.

In this month’s Hertfordshire Business Independent, Marketing Zone’s Mark features in their Executive profile. Take a look at page 23 to hear from Mark about the importance of strategic insights, creativity and results in marketing.

Plus on page 31, Mark gives importance tips for businesses considering whether to outsource their marketing.

Working with a number of high profile fashion clients means we understand the importance of style and celebrity in today’s modern world. Attending the Pure London fashion event at London Olympia and Earls Court was a great opportunity to see the latest fashions on the catwalk, and to listen to celebrities, including Katie Price, discuss how fashion labels use today’s fast moving social media and digital marketing channels.

At the event, Katie Price was asked about her new fashion label Day 22 and its success, and how she uses Twitter to promote the brand. Katie said: “I have more people following me on Twitter than some magazines have.”

It just goes to show how powerful social media can be as many consumers perceive connecting with celebrity endorsed brands via Twitter as a direct link to the stars.

Katie also spoke about how immediate Twitter is; giving the example that when Paris Hilton was seen in a garment from Day 22, the buzz of excitement on Twitter meant it sold out in a flash.

We left Pure London full of inspiration.

Social media is all about creating and maintaining relationships. This video gives lots of useful facts and insights to show how social media can be used for business. It’s well worth a look.