The SPA Way

I'm currently working at a media-focussed PR agency called The SPA Way, where my role is to set up their digital offering.

One of my favourite co-workers so far is Nelly, the agency dog, shown here pooching out by my desk.



Here's an excerpt from the website bio:

As Director of Security, she is responsible for the safety of the staff. She has an intuitive grasp of where danger lies and is swift to deal with any difficult situation. Very early on she identified that the greatest threat came from the large post bags used for collecting the mail. In the last two years she has destroyed countless numbers of these insurgents.

gourmet san, bethnal green road

I have been here a few times now since it opened, and it's definitely the most authentically Chinese experience around East London. It serves Chinese, as in mainland China food, as opposed to the more Hong Kong kind of stuff that we're more used to around Chinatown. About 98% of the crowd are Mandarin speaking, and there is often a big queue of people outside, jabbering and jostling in a very un-English way. It's situated about 5 minutes walk down (away from Shoreditch) Bethnal Green Road, and the food is brilliant. It's oily, salty, sometimes too hot and very very tasty.

The staff speak hardly any English and don't really do service, and the English menu is not very descriptive, so unless you know the dishes, it's a bit of a lottery. Prices without booze, about 10 quid a head. Highly recommended.



Gourmet San, 261 Bethnal Green Road, E2

Lounge Lizard

Yes Way, originally uploaded by manmadepants.

I've been busy recently, and really enjoying the stuff I've been working on. I just had to quickly post this that I saw on Reddit today. Here's the text from Flickr:

"I swear on my life this is 100% real. I was walking down the street looking for stuff to photograph and this guy is just sitting outside a coffee shop with this 80 year old woman and he is taking these little sofa things out of a bag. Then he opens another compartment in the bag and there are about five lizards like this guy. Then he would pose them and they would just sit there like this. Don't really know why."

hollering at all planners (job opportunity)

I've just been working at this place Holler, and really enjoyed it. They're a talented bunch of people with a good set up, and some clients which will let them do some interesting work.

The nature of planning work I did there was quite broad - they don't use creative teams in the sense that ad-agencies do, so planners need to be unafraid to be a bit creative sometimes.

My highlight was planning and selling in educational content for teens, by wrapping it up in a big transmedia, ARG-esque story, but with less emphasis on puzzle solving, and more emphasis on interactive ways of telling a really good story. Hopefully I'll be able to tell you more about it soon.

Anyway they're on the look out for good planners - people with a good grasp of the traditional account planning skillset, but who are capable of using new media in a creative way too.

If you're interested, get in touch with James at holler co uk. Or you can email me for more info if you like.

my next bit of work: Oh Baby London

I'm currently working for this brilliant independent baby clothing label on Brick Lane (halfway down, opposite Rokit Vintage), called Oh Baby London.

They've just launched a brand new website, and they need someone to plan and implement all their online marketing - initially to drive short term sales, and then also to do more of an organic online brand-building job. After a day there, I'm really excited - it's totally hands-on and I genuinely think the product's great. My favourites are the baby hoodies.

Hannah, the label's founder also has a blog here. On a personal, slightly silly note, I really enjoy working above a shop - it reminds of when I was little and my dad had a video rental store. Drop in and say hi!

jellyfish costume

Edit: 12 Sept 2007 - I got featured on the today's front page of Instructables.com! Neat!



Last year at Bestival, I built a big fortune telling machine costume to wear. I only just found this picture and blog post just now of what ended up happening to it after I left it at Bestival.

This year, I thought I'd get a bit more high-tech and try using some electronics in a costume. So, inspired by this book I bought, The Deep, I tried to replicate a deep sea bioluminscent jellyfish.



It's made from:
1 x washing up tub - £2.99, pound store
22 x kids LED light up necklaces @ £1 each - Internet wholesalers
1 x cheap sports helmet - £9.99, Decathlon
Hot glue gun
cable ties - any hardware store
battery pack, wires, switch and box - Maplin Electronics

Here it is, by day:

view from underneath - your head goes in the helmet bit

and here it is, at night:


and a video:

Direct link to YouTube

It was definitely the most fun I've ever had building anything - the materials were my favourite blend of ordinary objects, technology and loads of glue and cable ties. I spent about 8 hours over 2 days building it, and if I could somehow do this all the time for a living, I would.

The visual impact at night was amazing - from far away it really did look unearthly - but it wasn't as fun to be in as last year's Zoltar outfit. Mainly because it only works at night, by which time everyone is too far gone to really make the most of it. People's reactions are limited to staring, getting all their mates and dancing around you, having a fit, or asking very slow unintelligent questions about it. Best quote of the night:

"Jelly head man, in the rave tent you were freaking me out big time."

I plan to use it at bonfires and firework shows this winter to entice children towards me, where I will try sell them the leftover LED rope necklaces (I had to buy a wholesale batch of 72, so have 50 left). If you would like to buy or borrow this jellyfish head suit, let me know.

If you are interested in the technical details of how to build it, you can go to Flickr, or there is a full Instructable here.

bestival 2007 planning

We're camping here - top left hand corner of Green Campsite no 3:


and I'm going to deploy this flag, up a 5 meter flagpole, to mark our camp:


On Saturday, we're going to dress as bees and meet at 2:45 at the big top, to swarm somewhere. The more bees, the better. The rest of the time, I'll be dressed as an illuminated jellyfish, so please come say hi.

Afterthought - are there any other communications planners/marketing strategists going to this festival? There's already Faris, Asi and I'm also going in a car with 2 other planners...