velvet loves…

Velvet’s Best of Twitter

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We don’t know about you, but we love a bit of Twitter. Allowing you to interact with people instantly across the globe, the social platform has not only become a new tool for keeping with breaking news, but also an enabler for brands to become innovative in a new field. But with over 302,000,000 active users, who is best to follow? Thankfully, the Velvet team is here to share its favourite Twitter accounts.

Fabian – Mine has to be @PopJustice for the simple reason that Peter Robinson, the editor and sole tweeter, is so critical of everything pop that I can’t help but laugh. His running commentary on the Tidal launch had me glued for hours – I kept up with his hypothetical scenarios around Jessie J turning up late dressed as a TUC cracker rather than the actual Tidal event.

Nastasha – @SkintLondon is a mix of amusing tweets, local news stories you wouldn’t normally catch, and some great, unmissable foody freebies and cultural deals!

Anil – Definitely The QI Elves (@qikipedia). An endless stream of odd factoids, entertaining quotes and other random nonsense. One of my favourite TV shows duplicated perfectly in 140-character form.

 

 

Velvet PR’s Desert Island Ads – booze

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In homage to Stephen Foster and his MAA Desert Islands Ads, Velvet’s done a list of our own all-time favourites. We ended up with so many – there is awesome creative out there – that we’ve had to narrow it by sector, starting with one worryingly close to our hearts: booze. There’s always AMV BBDO’s seminal ‘Sapeurs’ href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImG-eKdXicE” target=”_blank”> for Guinness, natch. But we discounted that as too easy a choice. So, from budgie smugglers to using beer as facial emollient, here are our top 10 – what are yours?

Southern Comfort ‘Whatever’s Comfortable’ – W&K

An older gentleman walking down a beach with a glass of Southern Comfort, a dog and budgie smugglers; everything but everything about this just screams cool. We challenge anyone next time they walk down the beach not to hum Odetta’s awesome accompanying track.

John Smith’s ‘Mum’ – TBWA

“Because I want to put a snooker table in your bedroom and the kids are frightened of your moustache!”. Nuff said. This is just a great ad series when it comes to guffaws.

Smirnoff ‘Purified’ – JWT

Great concept, stunningly done. A beautifully-shot ad that delivers Smirnoff’s triple-distilled brand truth yet again, but in fresh new clothes.

Stella Artois ‘Old Man’s Last Request’ – Lowe Howard-Spink

An endearing spin on the father/son relationship, with an amusing denouement involving a local parson. Who even thinks of these sorts of quirky story lines anymore?

Chambord ‘Muscleman’ – W&K

Completely random ad, but it plays to our lack of restraint when it comes to indulging a collective sweet tooth and penchant for pert derrieres. It’s almost a bonus that it also sums up everyone’s real reason for the odd tipple…

Carlsberg ‘Wrong Number’ – Saatchi

One of the many great Carlsberg adverts, this one shows why ‘the best lager in the world’ doesn’t need a complaints department.

Boddington’s ‘Crossing the Line’ – BBH

‘Do you want a flake with that?’ The ad that launched Mel Sykes. After sprinting through the desert Ken George must have been delighted to see Mel Sykes and a refreshing pint, even if it is a Boddie’s.

Boddington’s ‘Cream of Manchester’ – BBH

Another Boddington’s ad that screams ridiculousness but is very amusing and a nice play on women’s various beauty creams. Not much else needs to be said, although if you saw your partner doing the same you would probably ask questions.

Grey Goose Vodka ‘Fly Beyond’ – Ogilvy Paris

Mainly because we like vodka – on its own or with a mixer depending on our state of inebriation – but also because it’s based on a true story, complete with the real-life Grey Goose guy cast as our hero. Heart-warming… like vodka.

Heineken ‘Skyfall’ – W&K

Velvet went all Marmite with this one. Some love it because it’s awesomely shot with an engaging storyline and a play on our James Bond/Daniel Craig obsession circa 2012. And the haters, well they made a fair point: when did you last see Bond stoop to beer, let alone Heineken? You either love it or hate it.

Velvet LOVES…

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Velvet loves imageWe’re an eclectic lot here at Velvet Towers – and noisy with it. We’re happy to share the stuff we learn with a yell across the office. Generally these snippets make us laugh, cringe and yes, even cry. Often they mess with our little grey cells. Nearly always, they bring something different to the day.

This week, we’re gearing up for the Hallmark holiday minefield that is Valentine’s Day. Here’s our list of what Velvet Loves…

Intern Amelia:

I love Buddhism – yes very hippy, but if you don’t want to base it upon religion or beliefs. I love writing and reading poetry; Oscar Wilde of course.

Felix:

I love loud socks, (look at my ankles) and bright knitwear as most people notice during the winter months. I love my golden iPad Air 2, lawn mowing (particularly the smell of a freshly mown lawn in summer, as well as the whole process, Forest Gump style), old school rackets sports that you’ve probably never heard of (real tennis and rackets) and of course my lovely lady.

Fab:

What do I love more than complaining and being as revolting as possible…

Grumpy Cat – what more do you need in the world than an image that can reflect every Brit’s favourite emotion – ‘joylessness’. Grumpy Cat is now worth millions, with his own range of products including a book (mum, if you’re reading this, birthday present please). Here’s my favourite Grumpy Cat OF ALL TIME…Fab love image

 

SoundCloud – the Norwegian streaming service opened a new door for artists to present their music to the world for free. After the death of MySpace (it is dead, no matter how hard they attempt to resurrect that hellish place), artists didn’t have global platform to push out through. Now used the world over by artists, bloggers and even news broadcasters, SoundCloud is essentially my favourite part of the internet (after Grumpy Cat memes).

Anil:

Two things I love, both food:

1. The best crisps in the world – with a real mustard burn in the aftertaste so it’s like eating napalm.

2. Alphonso mangoes – possibly the greatest foodstuff on earth. They were banned last year but it’s been lifted now, and I’ve never been so thankful. Only available for a month or so in the spring so they really are a rare treat:

I also, obviously, love listening to the faint whimpers of another helpless victim rising to a throaty scream as they’re winched out of the pit and they see for the first time what I have in store for them.

Jo:

I love the sweet potato fries in Jackson Rye – I can easily scoff 4 bowls of them before anyone else gets a look in

Also the rum and raisin truffles from Theobroma cacao on Turnham green terrace

Also loving Channel 4’s Cucumber – especially the scene in episode 3 where there are 2 straight boys acting gay and singing along to I kissed a girl! Absolutely classic.

Ange: Cape Town: for starters, it’s hot and sunny this time of year, has gorgeous beaches, a super sporty outdoor lifestyle with a little extreme sports thrown in for good measure, the food is delicious and the exchange rate is a big bonus too!

Kindness from a stranger on a cold wintery morning.

Watching dogs racing across the green in Greenwich park.

Channing Tatum: what’s not to love! Counting down till Magic Mike XXL comes out in the summer.

Online shopping!

Jorge:

Chilly Heatwave Doritos: Could live of it and Coca Cola zero for the rest of my life.

Pretty Little Liars: My biggest guilty pleasure. It’s so trashy yet so addictive. I will not be able to stop watching until I find out who “A” is!

Bhavna:

I love here – by far and away one of the most amazing, humbling – eerie – places I have ever my relaxation tool of choice!

Jack:

Hungover Sundays in a pub:

Sit down. Make yourself comfortable. Use our telly. Have some food. But don’t worry about cleaning up after yourselves. Where else can you get all of this, with added booze on tap and all the sports you could want on the TV, than down your local. Plus it’ll probably (always) lead into a boozy Sunday afternoon with all of your mates.

Board games:

I’m at the top of my board game right now. Whether it’s destroying my flat mates at a 5 hour game of Risk or bankrupting my girlfriends mum in Monopoly. Board games are the perfect tonic to while away those long winter evenings.

Natasha:

Tea. I just love tea. It starts and ends my day. Green for starters, decaf for afters and full-caffeine for the last hour of the day. It’s like a warm hug, it lifts every occasion and makes the perfect accompaniment to a plate (yes I mean a whole plate) of biscuits. To summarise how much I love tea, here are a few borrowed words from English writer Sydney Smith:

“Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea! How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.”

Think Like A Freak

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On Tuesday night I attended an FT Weekend Series interview with Freakonomics authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (L&D). The economist and journalist duo have recently published a new book – Think Like A Freak – in a bid to help people solve some of their own problems by looking at data, questioning the obvious and thinking like a child.

L&D said they wrote the new book as people have come to see them as problem solvers and with the answers to all sorts of questions from domestic to governmental and most things inbetween. While they welcome email queries (they get around 50-100 a day, out of which come fascinating case studies), they wanted to create a manual of their approach to problem-solving.

Both Levitt and Dubner are beautiful orators; fantastic storytellers. Levitt shared a brilliant anecdote about a prostitute who he was ‘soliciting’ for data, who in turn took his insight to reshape her own business model – at his expense, ultimately!

They discussed game theory – as practised by King Solomon and David Lee Roth, as well as approaches to giving up or quitting – based on empirical advice with the occasional toss of the coin thrown into the mix. They also talked about big issues such as climate change and the nervous reception their model of ‘experimentation’ to solve the problem received.

Experimentation plays a huge part in L&D’s thinking. They both advocate a ‘childlike’ approach, saying that a child’s innocence actually allows them to alight on better, more creative solutions.  The dumbest of questions can be relevant –and can in fact mean you ‘think smarter about almost anything’.

The power of Vodafone’s new campaign

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The web has the power to do a great deal of good. Increasingly brands are delivering real value to consumers and society more broadly so that they can be more relevant and useful to them in their daily lives.

Now I’m usually immune to the famously emotive campaigns that move most people, the likes of Dove Real Women or P&G’s Olympic Mums, but this week’s initiative from Vodafone to resurrect the dying indigenous Mexican language Ayapaneco really moved me.

For anyone who hasn’t seen the campaign it reunites the two remaining speakers of the language who had fallen out years ago. The tearful reunion between the two elderly men and the building of a language school so that local kids can keep the language alive are beautifully done but sort of what you’d expect to see. But for me the genius lies in the true effort Vodafone has put into making this happen and in the appropriateness of the cause it has chosen to champion.

Language is about so much more than a mode of communication. It’s a filter on the world, a world view that is shared by every speaker of that language. Once that language disappears, that unique world view and associated culture disappears with it. And to my mind that is an enormous loss, possibly more significant even than the loss of precious fauna, flora or a unique habitat. Vodafone seems to have grasped this instinctively. Once a language is dead, it has gone forever – there is no linguistic DNA equivalent to that of long-dead mammoths in frozen wastes, ready for science to work its resurrecting magic.

As Gregor Gründgens, the brand director of Vodafone Germany, quite rightly says: “Technology can enable some amazing things. In this case, helping to prevent a language from becoming extinct.”

The power of this campaign lies in its scalability – there are many, many indigenous language on the cusp of disappearance – in its authenticity and in its brilliant fit for a global company that is in the business of facilitating communication between people.

The full video can be viewed here

Liberty Loyalty

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I grew up in the country, but the exodus to London in the school holidays to see the dentist was always sweetened by a tour of the shops. Mum’s favourite destination was Liberty – nestled behind the glare of Oxford Circus, this curious and elegant department store, with its wooden stairwells and swathes of patterned fabrics – held a distinct fascination for me.

When I was old enough, there was the occasional special purchase – a Vivienne Westwood shirt and a Issey Miyake Pleats Please jacket – sparking my own love affair with the store. Over the last few years, full-time work and a more mature view of the world means I allow myself the occasional luxury purchase. With my first spend I was encouraged to sign up to the Liberty loyalty programme, which manifested itself in the form of a silver card.

I tucked it away amongst a growing collection of cards that includes Boots, Caffé Nero, Holland & Barrett, Nando’s and Mecca Bingo (I do not jest), and didn’t think much more of it. That is, until the direct marketing mails started dropping onto my doormat

At first I received mailers about special offers or weekend sales, but then I began to receive vouchers too. I remember around Christmas last year I received a generous £15 voucher – no strings attached. I bought myself a delicious Diptyque candle, half price. Every month something new comes in the mail and they are a delight to receive. Beautifully crafted, using designs from Liberty’s own archives of prints and patterns, these mailers come in different shapes and formats each time – sometimes fold-outs, occasionally postcards and often with tear-out vouchers.

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Retail may need to revisit tradition as it looks to the future

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Experience is the retail buzzword. The trend for showrooming has made the experience even more important.

Ironically though, the best retail experiences I’ve had in recent years have been the age-old ones of shopping in local markets.

I’ve just returned from Jerusalem where the sights and sounds of the local markets are some of the most fantastic I’ve ever experienced. Giant pomegranates piled up high and fresh juice hand-pressed on the spot. Colourful displays of celebratory donuts called sufganiyot that are traditional goodies during Hannukah. Mouth-watering figs and strawberries and the hugest aubergines I’ve ever seen. Massive slabs of halva in scores of different flavours being sampled throughout the day. Bakeries with their kitchens open to public viewing and hot goods being carried to the shelves constantly. Falafel wraps expertly assembled on the spot. I could go on and on. But you get my point. And no, this wasn’t a tourist market, it was locals shopping for fresh produce.

And then in the evening, the market in question in Jerusalem transformed itself into bars and open air restaurants – we’d have probably called them pop-ups – but this wasn’t about gimmicks. It was about great, simple food prepared using the best ingredients the local market had to offer and it was wonderful. What it comes down to is, ironically, about not trying too hard. It’s about being authentic and staying true to tradition with some clever reinvention thrown in. There’s a lot that British retail could learn from the markets of the Middle East.

 

Shaken and stirred: a beginner’s guide to UK casinos

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At Velvet we love a good staff outing. Festivals, afternoon tea, theme parks – you name it, we’ve done it. And we’re always looking to try something different, so when it was suggested we learn how to play poker, we jumped at the chance and booked in for a private texas hold ‘em lesson at the Sportsman casino, based in the rather swanky Mayfair area. Now, when it comes to visiting casinos, the Velveters have rather different levels of experience. I used to work for a casino chain in my hometown, the glamorous Swansea and as such have visited a fair few of them – and yes, admittedly there have been times where I’ve ended up chucking my last tenner onto the roulette wheel in a central London dive at the end of a night out. As such I knew what to expect, an ‘interesting’ clientele, a well lit room and slightly dodgy carpet. However, this was not the case across the board.

 

Image taken from the Sportsman casino website

 

As we walked through the deceptively shiny entrance area into the main casino, there was a sharp intake of breath from those kitted out in LBDs and heels… “this is NOTHING like Monte Carlo!”. It seems that if you’ve never visited a UK-based casino before, what you expect is rather like what you see in James Bond movies or adverts for luxury watches – glamorous women, tanned men with money clips, free flowing champers and a valet out the front to park the Ferrari. There was nothing wrong with the Sportsman, I hasten to add, and our instructor Wayne had the patience of a saint with a collection of the worlds’ least promising poker players, but it appears that the film and advertising industry is spoiling us with unrealistic images of glamour that very rarely exist – at least in the UK.

Once the initial shock had worn off and we settled into the quiet corner table and started to get the hang of the game we all agreed that it was a thoroughly good night out. There were even a few surprise successes on the night (must have been that lucky LBD, eh Jo). We even had to drag a certain associate director off the roulette wheel before she spun away all her winnings. We all came away with poker fever, and have even decided to play amongst ourselves  now and again (for stakes as high as cups of tea and washing up duties) so we can hone our skills ready to win some cash off unsuspecting poker fans. Sportsman – we’ll be back.  Look out Wayne, we’re coming to get you.

Channel 4’s meet the Superhumans ad is spot on.

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I  suspect I’m not alone in feeling total respect for Channel 4’s Paralympics, Meet the Superhumans ad.

It’s powerful, gritty and not afraid to show disability up close. There’s nothing sentimental or mawkish about it, unlike that very different Olympics ad I blogged about recently, P&G’s Proud Sponsor of Mums. Nor is it apologetic, squeamish or voyeuristic. Its honest story-telling approach works brilliantly.

Image from the official Channel 4 Paralympic site.

I also love the way it takes the viewer down one route – sporting prowess – then suddenly takes a side swerve showing us how injuries were incurred.

Hopefully the Paralympics and ads like this will have a lasting legacy as to how society views disability.

With the CIO no longer with us, ads like this are doing a great job in picking up the public information baton. Well done to Channel 4’s in-house creative team for producing something so iconic.

Oh and yes, the music, Public Enemy’s Harder Than You Think is a brilliant choice too.

Pakistan and customer service lessons for the UK

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I’ve just got back from ten days in Pakistan (some work, lots of play.)

Admittedly it’s not your standard tourist destination but Lahore and the surrounding area had plenty to offer. Massive natural beauty, amazing architecture, great food and some of the best shopping I’ve ever experienced. Of course the country has problems aplenty; this is not the place to enter a debate on the crushing poverty, the dubious politics and the place of women.

Without wanting to trivialise these bigger issues, it occurred to me that when it comes to retail service, the country could teach the West a lesson or two. Of course in Pakistan, labour is cheaper and more plentiful and of course, as a rare Western visitor, you might claim that I enjoyed preferential service. Except I’m not sure that I did. I saw the same attentive service offered to those shopping around me.

My first stop was to pick up some locally made shoes. In a bustling family store there was a vast array of exotic design to choose from. There were banks of seats to sit on and mirrors aplenty (M&S, you could learn a lesson here). On a hot day (34 degrees C), our party of three was immediately offered a soft drink each. Bear in mind there were probably around 20 people in the small store, so it wasn’t a case of business being slow. There were plenty of staff on hand and they were responsive and knowledgeable.

Another lesson in efficiency came when buying petrol. In a busy forecourt, there were plenty of roving attendants ready with mobile card payment units and queues were not an issue.

Lawn fabric in use by Deepak Perwani 2012

Pakistan is famous for its textile industry – it has a “lawn season” at the start of each spring when stores large and small launch lightweight cotton designs from leading brands for the hot months ahead. My visit coincided with the season. Silks are also a tempting buy and anyone in the market for a proper Pashmina (100% fine cashmere) will be spoilt for choice.

I visited leading fabric emporium Saleem Fabrics which has, over 4 or more floors, the best range of materials I have ever witnessed. The salesmen, and they were all men, were happy to spread out as many bolts of fabric as we wanted to see. Nothing was too much trouble. Chairs were brought up – fabric buying is a serious business in a country where a huge amount of clothing is still made at home or by dressmakers. We were offered tea while we made our purchases. There was no pressure to buy and despite their broken English and our non-existent Urdu, they managed to communicate the qualities and uses of each material we were shown. Delighted with our selections, we were shown to the busy cash desk and the total cost was totted up – prices were clearly explained and calculators were whipped out to convert rupees into pounds without us even asking.

By this time we realised that superb service was par for the course. Soft furnishings is another area where Pakistan excels. We amassed gorgeous cushion covers and top quality, hand embroidered bedspreads. Laden down with purchases, the staff in Khaadi and others like it carried out bags from the shop and placed them in our car parked close by. Wow, I thought that only happened to oil barons and their chauffeurs outside Harrods!

Coming back to the UK was a shock to the system in so many ways. Despite the massive structural and cultural differences between the two countries, there really is much that the UK can learn from Pakistani customer service. Every day we read about another failing high street retailer. Last week it was Game. This week, somewhat ironically, Debenhams announced it is shutting down its Taunton-based customer service centre in favour of outsourcing. We read about the role of technology in both saving and destroying traditional retail. We read about promotional activity and shopper experience. Let’s not forget that almost every one of us has walked out of a store faced with a huge queue or surly service. But despite this, good old customer service as a way of building and preserving business seems to have been forgotten. Surely we’re missing a trick here?

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