What happened next? A look back on my travels to Thailand and Israel

As 2008 draws to a close, I hope you’ll allow me the small indulgence of reflecting on two of my personal highlights - travel writing assignments to places that have subsequently experienced significant world events.

As I flew into Bangkok's new international airport, Suvarnabhumi and marvelled at its unique architectural design, I never imagined that five months later, it would form the backdrop for anti-government protests that resulted in more than 300,000 travellers becoming stranded.

I went to Thailand to write a series of articles promoting it as both a C&I destination and luxury tourist destination. The Thai people are the friendliest and most hospitable I’ve ever met. The idyllic landscapes, turquoise waters and distinctive cuisine all add to the appeal whilst, my experience of river bathing an elephant at the Baan Kwan Chang camp up in the hills at Klong Son is one I shall never forget.

However, the eight-day airport shutdown that followed, battered the country’s tourist-friendly image amidst a political storm that appears to be worsening with the Thai parliament now under a new blockade.

In September, I found myself in Jerusalem, for Luxury Travel magazine, attempting to make sense of a country, which throughout history has been torn apart by religious and cultural differences.

My guide went to great lengths to show me that, today, Israelis and Palestinians live and work side-by-side in harmony. But, the scars of gunfire in the city walls and the underlying religious tension across a city that has such significance to so many, is a constant reminder of how quickly the melting pot can boil over.

On 11 November, brawling priests and Israeli paramilitary police careered through the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The fight erupted when a Greek Orthodox monk posted in Jesus’s tomb blocked the path of Armenian monks participating in a ceremony to mark the 4th-century discovery of the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

I had stood in that spot where the fists went flying and had remarked on the religious tension of a Roman Catholic church situated adjacent to a muslim mosque that was broadcasting prayer and drowning out the words of my Jewish guide.

At the time, the ceasefire between Israel and militants in Gaza had been in place since June. It lasted until November, when it began to break down with violations on both sides. Its recent collapse has resulted in the latest Israeli bombing campaign, which so far has killed in excess of 360 Palestinians.

Behind the scenes, Israel’s tourist industry is working hard to consign the country’s past to history and look to a future, which in 2009 includes Tel Aviv’s centenary celebrations. The hotels, guides and destination management companies face an uphill struggle. But it’s a fascinating country and whilst there, I acquired a wealth of knowledge that has broadened my world view. And for that, I’m grateful.

There have been many other memorable moments of 2008 as I’ve pursued freelance writing opportunities that have taken me in varied and diverse directions. I hope the blog posts along the way have been worth reading and I appreciate the support of everyone that’s followed me on this site throughout the year. I’m looking forward to the year ahead and I wish you all a prosperous and happy 2009.

Now that's what I call viral

Digital whizz-kid and mate Alex Tew is better known to internet historians as the Million Dollar Homepage creator. At the age of 21, he paid his way through university by selling one million pixels of internet ad space for $1 each.

Three years later, and following the shoe throwing antics of Iraqi journalist Muntadar Al-Zaidi, Alex is once again making headlines of his own, this time almost by accident.

Alex is the creative behind Sockandawe.com - an online game which allows users to recreate Al-Zaidi’s antics during last Sunday’s press conference by throwing shoes at US president George Bush.

Alex was quick off the mark. Sock and Awe was live by Monday 15 December. Within 24 hours, five million shoes had hit Bush in the face, thrown by 250,000 unique users.

By the end of 16 December, another 110,000 people had found the site. The next day, news agency Reuters ran a story about the game on its front page . The technical team at Alex’s four-man start-up (still in stealth mode) PopJam.com recruited much-needed help from the social network for gamers Playfire.com as they struggled to keep it online.

By the end of 17 December, over one million unique users had thrown more than 18 million shoes at a ducking and diving Bush in the cartoon game.

That evening, Alex put Sockandawe.com up for sale on eBay . Just 24 hours later, it was sold to entrepreneur Brendan McLoughlin for £5215. It had been live for just four days, it had attracted more than 2.7 million visitors and more than 21 million shoes had been thrown.

The cash from the eBay sale will go some way to funding the launch of Alex’s eagerly awaited comedy site PopJam.com . But the PR generated by a simple idea, executed quickly and effectively is priceless.

Footnote: Today, British journalists including the Guardian’s Nick Davies sent a letter to the US Embassy in London calling for the release of Muntadar Al-Zaidi. The Iraqi journalist has been charged with “aggression against a president” which many suspect is a law made up on the spot in the post-occupation mayhem of Iraq. As a fellow journalist, I join the calls for the US to guarantee Al-Zaidi’s safety and secure his release.

Behold! The all-new FHM.com

For the past month, I’ve been working with the digital team at FHM to relaunch the website of Britain’s best selling men’s magazine.

Following 244 cover girls, 407 free online time waster games, the world’s 100 sexiest women, the 100 best places to shop online and more than 200 interviews with everyone ranging from Keeley Hazell to Katy Perry, the new FHM.com is now live.

For me, the ride has uncovered both porn and Hollyoaks actresses I never knew existed (honest!). I’ve developed new-found respect for the writings of FHM's Lee Coan and columnist Grub Smith, and I’ve bagged enough HTML code to last me a virtual lifetime.

To help guide you through the FHM.com labyrinth, check out my links below. These are my top five contributions it was my duty to bring to the attention of the FHM adolescent. They are safe for work (just), they will waste your time and no, I won’t take the blame. Enjoy.

No. 5: Tangerine Panic
Tangerine Panic. Comedy stick man is caught in a downpour of tangerines. Avoid the fruit and stay alive.

No 4: Kylie’s ad for Agent Provocateur
This is a good few years old now. Meaning there’s a whole generation of guys that don’t know what they missed, until now. Still a classic.

No 3: Britney goes commando
The YouTube video is a great tribute to Britters and her bonkers phase.

No 2: Dave Grohl Quote/Unquote
Many of Lee Coan’s interviews made me laugh out loud. But this Q&A with the Foo Fighters frontman is hilarious. Just proves that quality interviewing is all about asking the right questions, such as ‘Ever been in a poo fight?’

No 1: Boomshine
The most addictive and yet tranquil game on the web. It was a good day when I found this.

Sir Michael Caine wins London's Favourite Londoner

The highlights of the 2008 Visit London tourism awards included being in the presence of greatness. Sir Michael Caine was voted London's Favourite Londoner. He was on hand to pick up the award. Check out his acceptance speech below.

The Royal Albert Hall looked amazing and really impressed as an awards ceremony venue. As did hosts Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon, who formed a great presenter double-act.

From my box at the ceremony, I was able to snap some photos,which today have been published by Conference & Incentive Travel magazine. To see the snaps of the venue, entertainment including Right Said Fred, plus the presenters and party Click Here

For a full-list of the winners, as published on the Visit London Website, Click Here

Euro event award winners

As promised back in October, I can now reveal the results of the European Best Event Awards. I headed back to Turin last week for the ceremony and to chair two sessions of the adjoining conference. After speaking to a mainly Italian audience on the impact the economic recession will have on the UK events industry and then discussing the options for European event associations to work together, it was time for the awards.

So, in third place: Portuguese agency Desafio Global Ativism claimed the bronze for reinventing the Cinderalla story in Lisbon's coach museum on behalf of Dior for the launch of its perfume Poison.

The runner-up: The Most Majestic Espresso Experience by Italian agency Promoconvention.

And the winner: Congratulations to German agency insglück Gesellschaft für Markeninszenierung for the opening ceremony of the 2008 CeBit exhibition in Hanover.

The Italian publishing company, ADC will shortly be uploading to its website, articles I wrote for them on the winning entries and the awards. So for more details, keep an eye on the Mike in the Media links on my blog homepage.

A Hard Days Night in Liverpool

A stay at the Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool guarantees three things - The Beatles immortalised on every wall, the sounds of John, Paul, George and Ringo always playing on the lobby's Yellow Submarine juke box and great guest service.

A hotel concierge working anywhere in the world with more than a five-year exemplary service record, can be recommended and then put through the rigors of a tough interview to join a little-known society called Les Clefs D'Or. This organisation, referred to as The Golden Keys, derives from the hotels of Paris in the 1920s.

Spotting a concierge today who has gained membership is easy - they wear golden keys, one on each lapel of their uniform jackets. The UK only has 280 members, many of whom work for London's Park Lane brands such as Hilton, Dorchester or Mariott. The independent boutique Hard Days Night Hotel, which opened in Liverpool's Cavern quarter in February 2008, has three Golden Keys concierges.

Our concierge gave me and my nosey party the full hotel tour, stole bathroom products off the housekeeping trolley for Charlee and fellow Aussie Trish to take back to Melbourne and even retrieved Ian's lost Liverpool FC season ticket - tracing it back to my bar entourage after it had fallen out of his pocket.

The hotel itself is housed within a Grade II listed building with a frontage of imposing marble columns, on top of which perch statues of the 'Fab Four'.

Inside, a spiral staircase provides gallery space for black and white Beatles photography whilst a glass elevator provides the viewing platform as it transports guests to five floors of chic designed rooms. Behind each door a painting of either John, Paul, George or Ringo dominates the room from above the bed (Mine was George Harrison).

Liverpool has changed dramatically since I lived there. Its status as the 2008 European Capital of Culture coincided with more than a £1billon of investment. Back-street warehouses and churches have been converted into bars and restaurants. The city centre now connects to the Albert Dock's galleries and boutiques via a new shopping mall, (it apparently held the title of the UK's largest until Westfield opened in West London earlier this month). A conference centre and arena have been added to the waterfront whilst a museum of Liverpool is under construction. And everywhere you look, buildings have been sand-blasted back to their original splendour.

Last Thursday's MTV Europe Music Awards capped 12 months of cultural, artistic and performance based events that have attracted acclaim from locals and outside observers alike. On Saturday, the finale of the city's year-long Homotopia festival saw the 'Liverpool is Burning' vogue ball held in the ballroom of the Aldephi hotel. Performing arts students shared the catwalk with drag queens as a bemused army of Eastern European boxers, staying at the hotel after their fight tournament and who'd wandered into the bar for a drink, could only look on aghast. Only in Liverpool! The city may change but it's good to be reminded that the Scouse craziness never will.

Glastonbury and The Ting Tings clean up at UK Festival Awards

On an evening, which coincided with AEG Live packing up and moving from Canary Wharf to new offices in London Bridge, the girls took time out from tipping the contents of their desks into crates to attend the UK Festival Awards.

A big thank you to Emma Reynolds for inviting me to join them for an awards ceremony, which saw Glastonbury and The Ting Tings scoop a hat-trick of accolades each.

The awards, organised by Virtual Festivals took place at AEG's Indigo2. Within the plush surroundings of a live music venue that, this year alone has hosted everyone from Gary Numan to the Brand New Heavies (with Shakin' Stevens and the Bootleg Beatles still to come before the year is through), the great, the good and the crusty of the festival scene gathered.

They drank jagermeister, ignored some unknown compère whose day-job is at BBC 6 Music, swapped stories of mud and chemical toilets and stood only to applaud Michael Eavis before booing his suggestion that Jay Z should return next year.

Some 55,000 people voted for the winners of these awards. The 2008 hall of fame is as follows:

Best Major - Glastonbury Festival
Best Medium - Lovebox Weekender
Best Small - Secret Garden Party
Best Dance Festival - Glade Festival
Best Line-up - T In The Park
Best New - Camp Bestival
Grass Roots - Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival
Family Festival - Larmer Tree Festival
The Greener Festival Award - Waveform Festival
Best Toilets - The Big Chill
Yourope Award for Best European Festival - Oxegen
Best Headline Act - Kings Of Leon
Festival Rock Act - Biffy Clyro
Festival Dance Act - The Prodigy
Festival Pop Act - The Ting Tings
Festival Feel-Good Act - The Mighty Boosh
Best Urban Act - Dizzee Rascal
Best Newcomer - The Ting Tings
Anthem Of The Summer - The Ting Tings – 'That's Not My Name'
Innovation Award - Standon Calling: Hosted the UK's first festival underwater dance arena in a swimming pool
Most Memorable Moment - Jay-Z mocks Noel Gallagher with a rendition of Oasis' 'Wonderwall' at Glastonbury
Outstanding Contribution To Festival Award - Michael Eavis

Visit London's award winning website

Congratulations to the Visit London digital and business tourism teams. The website I'm contributing editor for won Gold at last night's Meetings Industry Marketing Awards for Best website. For this and other event stories, check out the now award winning visitlondon.com/business or see below for details.

Visit London's business tourism website has scooped Gold at the 2008 Meetings Industry Marketing Awards.

Beating stiff competition from the Brewery, Henley Business School and Mango Event Management, visitlondon.com/business won the coveted MIMA at a ceremony, held last night at the five-star Landmark London hotel.

The website won the MIMA following its re-launch as the official event planner's digital portal for London in April 2008.

The site was re-designed to offer an advanced venues and services search, improved and enhanced supplier listings, a three-way proposal submitting process, a call-back request, an enhanced planning toolkit with downloadable resources, industry news and a London events calendar.

In the two months after its launch, the number of unique visits rose by 17% to 12,723 and the number of page views rose by 20% to 45,656.

Visit London Business Marketing Manager Severine Ougier said: "This is great recognition by the meetings and events industry for the hard work of the Visit London digital and business tourism teams. In re-launching the website back in April we wanted to ensure event planners had all the right information and tools to find out more about our city, and ultimately choose London.
"We surveyed hundreds of international and domestic event organisers, consulted key suppliers and industry partners, and benchmarked main competitor websites to really understand what a destination website should provide."

Europe's event offer & trouble in Turin

Last week I was invited to Turin to judge the European Best Event Awards. Organised by Italian publishing company ADC, this set of awards brings together agencies from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, England and Eastern Europe to compete for a string of event accolades.

There are very noticeable cultural differences in the way each country organises its events. Outside the UK, creative content and the spectacle of performance out-weighs the need for return on investment. The results are often spectacular and over-the-top but the European events arena is a hot-bed of creative ideas. UK agencies should take these awards seriously, for inspiration if nothing more.

I of course, can’t divulge who the winners are as yet but, come November this blog will be the only place to find out which European agencies should be tracked and which one country in particular UK agencies should be aware of for its rapidly growing and innovative events scene.

In the meantime, a quick story that occurred during the two-day judging. An Italian experiential agency sent fake Rolex watches to every member of the jury panel judging the Italian-only categories. Many of the judges sent the watches back not realising that instead of a bribe, it was in fact a promotional campaign. Some however accepted the fake watches, realising the nature of the activity (I can only assume).

On the first evening of the two-day judging session, two agency representatives turned up to the Hotel Principi di Piemonte and staged a demonstration outside. They announced via megaphone that the awards were fixed and that judges had taken bribes. Members of the ADC organising team franticly tried to defend the integrity of the awards and make the protestors stop. Fortunately, they eventually saw the funny-side when they realised what was really happening.

It reminded me of the campaign to promote the second series of Dexter on FX by Portuguese agency Torke. A team of street actors caused international outrage (especially from the UK tabloids) when they played dead on the sidewalks of Lisbon covered in blood with knives protruding from their backs. Irresponsible or a creative idea to die for?

2020 vision

The November issue of Stuff magazine is out now. It includes my 2020 article on the future of gadgets and technology in communication, the home, fitness, transport, lifestyle, computers, gaming and the rise of robots. Thanks guys for some cool layouts, illustrations and so much space on the flatplan (nine pages!).

My brief was to track down real possibilities as opposed to fantasy flying cars etc. It was a lot of fun to research and put me in touch with designers and inventors from Tokyo to San Francisco, offering ideas ranging from the obscure to the brilliant.

Karl Kempf, an Academy Award winner for his work with the special effects team that made Superman fly in the first three original movies, talked to me about the future of film. John Sosoka, head of tech innovation at the robotics company best known for the Pleo - a robot dinosaur capable of emotional response and life-like human interaction, answered my questions on the future of robotics.

Due to copyright restrictions, you'll need to duck into a local WH Smith's and pick up a copy in order to see my published predictions for what the world could look like in the year 2020. But my research went beyond what was required by the magazine. So here are three of the concepts that you won't find in this month's Stuff (my very own DVD Extras!):

The Origami DVD Player
The screen uses the paper folding technique to expand and collapse automatically as the device is opened and closed. The concept addresses the need for larger displays without sacrificing the small form factor.

Daylight Window
Philips’s bedroom window won’t wake you up with a cup of tea but it will filter daylight through your own personalised window display. It’s like a visual snooze button, waking you up gently as the patterned animation disperses, allowing more light into the room. The window’s alcove provides blue-light therapy to ease jet-lag so the concept is most likely to debut in hotel rooms.

Madeleine Time Machine
Designer Charles Blanca believes that the closest we'll get to travelling through time in the future will be via sensory experiences. His time machine, Madeleine offers to help us find the smells we have lost because of the evolution of our living environment. In other words it'll transport us back to the school dinner table, grandma's moth balled wardrobe or any number of other places we'd rather forget.

Iris Experience takes centre stage at Event Awards

Congratulations to Iris Experience, who walked away with the top prize at this year’s Event Awards.
The agency, whose clients include Sony Ericsson, Sony Electronics, PlayStation, Amnesty International and Unilever, was placed in four other categories at this year’s ceremony.

Iris won Creative Event of the Year for Sony Ericsson Night Tennis and Best Brand Activity at a Festival or Public Event for Ibiza Rocks with Sony Ericsson. It also achieved two finalist spots for Best Brand Experience Campaign and Agency of the Year.

The Event Awards 2008, organised by Haymarket Events and my former employer Event magazine took place on 26 September at London’s Hilton Hotel, Park Lane. Some 600 guests gathered to see trophies handed out in 24 categories ranging from venue awards to Caterer of the Year and Exhibition Organiser of the Year.

Winners included GSP for Agency of the Year, Brand Events for Exhibition Organiser of the Year, Zafferano for Caterer of the Year and Private Drama Events for Entertainment of the Year.
The Innocent Village Fete, which takes place annually in Regent’s Park won its agency Sledge the award for Best Brand Experience Campaign. The Metro Ski and Snowboard Show at Olympia won organiser DMG World Media an award for Most Improved Consumer Exhibition. And agency Sprout (pictured) won Best Use of a Blank Canvas Space for the launch of the Infiniti Europe luxury car brand during the 2008 Geneva Motor Show.

The venue awards went to The Brewery for Best Conference or Purpose Built Venue, Sony Colour Rooms for Unique Venue of the Year and the Sheepdrove Eco Conference Centre, which won the Green Award. London’s Royal Parks walked away with Venue In-house Events Team of the Year and Stage One won Supplier of the Year.

Tiger Beer's mash up of art & music

I’m sure RPM managing director Hugh Robertson would rather I was blindfolded and led through the backstreets surrounding Liverpool Street station to have reached the Tiger Translate party. As it was, I don’t think I could ever find again the underground car-park that RPM transformed into an asian fusion indoor mash up of art and music on behalf of Tiger beer.

Normally, I wouldn’t hesitate to reveal the whereabouts of RPM’s hidden venue gem and recommend this blank canvas concrete jungle as an event backdrop. But if I had to draw you a map? Well, we passed a giant sculpture of a voluptuous woman laying on her side outside a bank behind the mainline London station, found ourselves in a dead-end where the buses turn around, climbed over a fence, along a maze of passage ways and into an East End side street where every warehouse door most likely hid cartons of cigarettes, meat freezers and speakeasies.

We must have chosen the scenic route as more than 1,000 other people easily found the free party on 20 September. On a small budget, RPM created an artist’s workshop in the midst of a nightclub bunker. The crowds were treated to artists with names like Pure Evil, Monorex and Eine, hard at work adding paint to canvas. Whilst on stage, an asian rock band and a series of DJs had the car-park jumping long into the night.

Visitors engaged with Tiger beer brand values via the overall party theme - Voyage. The artists and acts had been asked to visualise the journey that each bottle of Tiger takes from its home in the Far East and to capture the vibrancy and intrigue of Tiger’s enchanting Far Eastern heritage.

Highlights included a hackney cab painted in Tiger brand colours (which now acts as a meeting room in RPM’s offices), an art wars competition between graffiti artists (check out my video below to see who won), headline DJ the Patchwork Pirates with the Nextmen tearing up the mic, and emerging beatbox talent Reeps 1 (also filmed for You Tube and posted below). All this washed down with plenty of Tiger beer.

The next big thing in corporate entertainment?

This week I've been in Birmingham for Event UK . The exhibition, formerly known as the National Venue Show hosted a two-day talent contest for unsigned corporate entertainment acts and I was asked to be one of four event industry judges.

Called the Next Big Thing, this X-Factor style competition gave new talent the chance to perform on stage during the show. Myself and my fellow judges, Izania Downie, Matt Storey and Adam Sternberg, each did our best Simon Cowell or Louis Walsh impression after each act and the gathered audience then voted with interactive keypads. The prize on offer was £1,000 and a contract with Sternberg Clark entertainment agency.

Congratulations to The Red Bullets who walked away with the lucrative contract after beating The Big Beat in the battle of the covers bands final.

The standard of unsigned talent who entered the contest was extremely high and even included singer songwriter Wesu Wallace who had made it into the last ten acts of Pop Idol 2.

For anyone in the business of hiring entertainment ranging from the silky footballing skills of Extreme Fooball Freestyle to the down-right bizarre masochistic behaviour of drag act Chrysalis, all the semi-finalists are listed and linked below:

Yildiz Hussein
Extreme Football Freestyle
Michael Douglas as Neil Diamond
Chrysalis
Hannah Dallas
Raven Dance Company

In search of Top Gear's tank

This morning (1 Sept), Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and Captain Slow, James May thundered across London's Tower Bridge in a tank to promote their upcoming world Top Gear Live tour, organised by Brand Events. The tour kicks off at Earls Court on 30 October before moving to Birmingham on 13 November. It then travels to Dublin and from there, takes in 10 cities around the world.

To help promote the tour, Event Solutions - a division of Visit London set up to help organisers with some of the logistical problems of staging events in the capital - worked its magic to close off Tower Bridge to traffic, presumably so Clarkson didn't try and crush anyone on the way over. I was there to capture it all on video and this is my debut video blog.

Bono's plans for the Clarence

As I write this, I'm on a whistle-stop tour of Ireland and awaiting room service during a one-night stay at Dublin's Clarence hotel. Rock royalty Bono and U2's guitarist The Edge bought and upgraded this place in 1992. The U2 boys are now set to embark on plans for a complete transformation that could see the Clarence become one of the most talked about hotels on the planet.

On 23 July, Ireland's planning authority ruled against objections from heritage campaigners, effectively giving the green light for an ambitious €150 million (£118.5 million) redevelopment plan. This 49-room boutique hideaway in the heart of the Temple Bar area is to be transformed into a futuristic 150-room five-star luxury landmark.

Bono has brought in Lord Norman Foster's crack squad of architects to do the designs and from what I'm told, they're best described as viking sci-fi.

At the heart of the project is a sculptural "sky catcher" which, apparently "embraces the main public spaces and pulls daylight deep into the base of the hotel." Shaped like a vertical viking longboat, this sky catcher will emerge at roof level to form a skyroom and viewing terrace.

All being well with the red tape, the redevelopment will begin next year and open in 2011. It just wouldn't be Bono if the plans didn't also include ambitions to be the most sustainable and environmentally friendly mixed-use hotel, spa and conference facility in Europe.

Only the quayside facades of the existing hotel and adjoining buildings - all of which are protected structures - will be retained, although the oak panelling from the Clarence's Octagon Bar is to be salvaged for re-use. Well, it was where Bono and The Edge spent most of their time before deciding to buy the place. And it was probably where they hatched this crazy plan to turn the spotlight on an under-invested area of Dublin. This is definitely one to watch.

Visit London Awards: Deadline 20 August

London’s tourism businesses have less than two weeks left to complete their entries, which close on 20 August. The awards, which are free to enter, have 14 categories to showcase innovation in marketing, new product development and excellence in customer care, or action taken to reduce carbon footprint.

The awards span a whole range of industry services including: accommodation providers, restaurants, events organisers and attractions. The deadline for the awards is 5pm on 20 August.

The Visit London Awards, are running in association with the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence and are the highlight of the tourism calendar which recognise and reward excellence in London tourism.

The 2008 awards include categories such as Best Business Venue and Best Business Event of the Year. There are also more tourism-related awards such as Best Budget Accommodation, Best Tourism Experience and the highly coveted Visitor Attraction of the Year award. Businesses can enter as many categories as they feel relevant.

A large panel of London experts have been invited to judge the awards (I was a judge last year - still waiting for the call!) with each entry having up to three awards per category: Gold, Silver or Bronze. A complete list of award categories and entry requirements can be found on Visit London's website.

The winners will be announced at an Awards Ceremony taking place on Thursday 27 November at one of London’s most iconic venues the Royal Albert Hall.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm the contributing editor for Visit London's new Event organisers website.

A Wacky festival of speed

Today was day one of the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed.The conversation in the Mercedes hospitality structure, hosted by the car marque's events agency Mobile Promotions, wasn't the Forest Rally times or saloon car legend John Cleland's 'off' in his Super Touring Vauxhall. It wasn't even Dougie Lampkin riding his motorcycle through Goodwood House (although it's pretty cool - check out the video below). Instead, all the talk centred on a guest appearance from the characters of Wacky Races - the timeless cartoon series from Hanna-Barbera, about a group of 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies, with each driver hoping to win the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer."

We all remembered Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine and Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat. And it's difficult to forget The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb led by Clyde. But when it came to naming the other competitors, we struggled.



So, thanks to the wonders of the internet, here they are:
- The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile
- The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe
- Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car
- Red Max in the Crimson Haybaile
- Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special
- Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug
- Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific
- Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon

Phew, that's another mystery solved. Right, for anyone wishing to head back down memory lane, check out the detailed Wacky Races entry on Wikipedia .

Otherwise, check out twelve-time international trials champion Dougie Lampkin promoting this year's festival by riding through Goodwood House.

Ibiza Rocks

As exclusively revealed in my I'm with the b(r)and article for Media Week, Sony Ericsson is bringing the Balearics back to the UK this summer with four Ibiza Rocks parties. Now, here's the detail:

Agency Iris Experience has developed what I believe to be a unique advocacy driven ambassador programme. A competition has been launched via online music community Xtaster to invite budding promoters to submit their ideas on how they would host the ultimate Ibiza Rocks party. The winners will receive full support to bring alive their very own random rock-fest. Sony Ericsson will also challenge each winning host to capture the action on Sony Ericsson handsets.

Highlights from the parties will be seeded through a network of more than one million youngsters via mobile and online social networking sites, where the best party and content will be voted on. The party hostess with the most-ess will be rewarded with a trip to the Ibiza Rocks closing party with five mates.

Also, starting on 21 July, Channel 4 and its digital offering 4music will run weekly half hour long shows broadcasting footage of the gigs, behind the scenes interviews and action from the island. Iris Experience has also created a social network style microsite off-shoot and online seeding programme as part of the campaign's digital strategy. A digital input has seen the four-year-old Ibiza Rocks event brand come of age.

Next generation Wireless Festival

The thing I rate about O2 Wireless is that it's a constantly evolving festival. On Saturday, I headed down to Hyde Park to see Fatboy Slim and to find out what has happened to the O2 Blueroom concept.

Previously, only O2 customers could gain access to this central VIP area. Over the years, customers have been rewarded with access to performances from unsigned bands, guitar tuition and even a hot tub one year. The Blueroom experience reinforced brand advocacy from those that were allowed into its inner sanctum and brand envy amongst non-O2 customers, who could only imagine what secrets the O2 bubble held.

This year however, there was no sign of the blue bubble tent in the middle of Hyde Park. In its place stood an extra stage, open to everyone and rammed with festival goers catching preview performances from artistes that would later play the main stages. Live Nation, O2 and its experiential agency Sledge had listened to feedback that suggested envy marketing gives off both wanted and unwanted brand perception. The resulting changes saw enriched festival content, accessible to everyone.

But what about the rewards for O2 customers? Following my last post, a group of friends registered for O2 Afternoons. They received a barcode which could then be swapped for food to the value of five pounds between 12pm and 4pm. This got people to arrive at the festival earlier thus improving the overall atmosphere of the day. It may also pave the way for cashless festival technology (a concept that was piloted in Hyde Park this year) to be rolled out in 2009.

Registered O2 customers were also invited to take part in Secret Sessions. At 5pm each day, invitees gathered by the side of the main stage, waiting to be taken back-stage to experience an acoustic gig, filmed live for MTV. The group I joined had no idea who they'd be watching. Looking around at the cross section of ages that crammed into a room behind the back-stage kitchens, I was beginning to wonder how many would still be non-the-wiser once the secret artiste had been announced.

But, as Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip entered on cue, the majority gasped, applauded and, I suspect gave silent thanks for having chosen a mobile phone network that really knows how to engage the festival audience. How many other festivals give off the impression that the customer experience is an afterthought? Wireless, I salute you - my only grumble (and this applies to all festivals) is why put a band that everyone wants to see on in a tent that holds only a small minority? Underworld should have been on a stage. Fatboy Slim rocked!

I'm with the brand!

As the 2008 summer music festival season gets underway, here are a few of the rumours and recommended brand experiences to keep an eye out for:

Sony Ericsson Ibiza Rocks UK parties
Iris Experience will bring Ibiza Rocks to the UK this summer with four Sony Ericsson sponsored parties. These underground events will be promoted through relevant social networking sites and promise surprise guest bands including a Foo Fighters rumour. If you're heading to Ibiza this summer, check out the mayhem at Sony Ericsson's new Ibiza Rocks hotel. Personally I couldn't think of a worse place to book a room for a fortnight's R&R but the Manumission pool parties every Friday night look like they'll be fun.

O2's new improved Blueroom
The exclusive Blueroom for O2 customers only, at Hyde Park's Wireless festival will be open to all this July. O2 customers will still receive priority treatment, extra pampering and freebies but apparently you'll no longer have to leave your mates outside. Register for O2 Afternoons, turn up between 2-4pm (12-4 on the weekends) and O2 will buy you lunch. And if you're one of the first 1,000 through the gate, you'll get a SanDisk memory card loaded with songs by Wireless artistes.

Carling's Cold Beer Amnesty
Swap your warm beer for ice cold Carling at Rock Ness (7-8 June) and the V Festivals (16-17 August). Agency Cake will be roaming the campsites offering visitor's the chance to ditch their tinnies and trade them in for a cold pint.



Strongbow's Bowtime Bar
When you see the yellow roofs, head to Strongbow's new Bowtime Bar, appearing at this year's V Festivals. Agency RPM has kept the live acts and exclusive DJ sets of the former Cider House and added raised dance decks, chill-out seating, speed bars and a photo wall to capture that Bowtime moment of self-reward. Rumour has it they'll also be roaming the campsites offering campers total first pint refreshment for putting up their tents. If you're not a cider fan, you can always swap it in the Carling Cold Beer Amnesty.

innocent Village fete
Now in its second year, the innocent Village Fete will be returning to Regent's Park on 2-3 August. A retreat from the beer tents and the summer headliners and a chance to detox on smoothies. Artistes include The James Taylor Quartet, The Boy Least Likely To and The Ukulele Orchestra. Sledge, the agency behind the fete is planning a welly coconut shy, a huge farmer's market, arts and crafts, a vegetable tent and a cake tent hosted by the Women's Institute.

When there's no better feeling than dancing in a field in the sunshine, it's good to have a few brands around to enhance the experience.

iPhone: The second coming

There's only a few brands I would consider myself an advocate for. Apple is one of them. If Apple designed kitchens, mine would have Air work surfaces constructed from 0.76 inches of sleek, sturdy anodized aluminum. My oven door would have the Apple logo embossed at its centre. And even my kettle lead would be the classic white design of the iPod headphones.

It's for this reason, I've been avoiding calls from my Orange network dealer, informing me that my phone contract needs renewing. I've been waiting for the second coming. I know where my nearest O2 dealership is and i've even been following the online rumour mills that have speculated on design and possible features. I am, of course, talking about the second generation iPhone.

For anyone that missed the hype surrounding Steve Jobs' announcement this week, let me bring you up to speed - it's here (almost). And it's affordable (in the UK) - twice as fast at half the price. Available in 22 countries on July 11, these are the basic relevant features for your average user:


3G Network compatibility (speedy internet)
Extended battery life based on previous iPhone.
Now comes in black and white.
More memory. (8GB & 16GB)
Flush headphone jack (No more headphone adaptors)
Full GPS (never get lost again…ever.)
See you at the Apple store, Regent's Street, one month from today.

Getting excited about experiential

On 25 June, I'll be chairing a one-day conference on experiential marketing. The Excite conference takes place at the Exhibiting Show, Earls Court. Both the exhibition and seminar sessions are free but you do need to register as places are limited. This is the line-up:

Wednesday 25 Jun 2008
10:00 - 10:45
The Ten Commandments Of Experiential Marketing

10:45 - 11:30
The Best of Both Worlds: Harnessing The Power Of Online And Live Experience

12:00 - 12:45
Experiential Roadshows: The 10 Things You Need To Know Before You Hit The Road

12:45 - 13:30
Experiential Marketing In Fifth Gear: What Other Brands Can Learn From Bringing Car Marques To Life

14:30 - 15:15
Hitting All The Right Notes: Engaging Brand Advocates Through Music

15:15 - 16:00
Everything's Possible: How To Unlock London’s Secrets For Event Planners

16:00 - 16:45
Focusing On The Future: An Eventia Panel Discussion On Key Event Trends

After helping to bring together the speakers and programme, I was asked to do my bit for the promotion of the sessions. This resulted in myself and event director John Sanders being interviewed on camera by Events Review. I've only ever done a small number of pieces to camera and I confess, it's never something I've been comfortable with. After cringing all the way through the resulting footage, I can say it's an improvement on the ones I've attempted in the past. I guess practice does have its merits but I'll still always prefer to be the interviewer rather than the interviewee. The full video can be seen here. I start cringing around the 2 minute, 35 second mark.

Howards Way Walk

Last Friday, I joined key players from the events industry at the Riverbank Park Plaza Hotel to raise money to fund pancreatic cancer research. The evening's charity auction, gala dinner and entertainment was inspired by Howard Kerr, an events stalwart who is suffering from pancreatic cancer at the age of 47.

On 18 April, Howard Kerr and 12 colleagues from Gallowglass, Land Rover, RPM and Eventia completed an 87-mile walk across The Ridgeway, from Hertfordshire to Wiltshire in three days. The footage of the Howards Way Walk, filmed by Events Review was shown to the room on Friday. It brought into focus not only the scale of the endurance, which is traditionally walked in five days rather than three but also the compassion, enthusiasm and strength of will from an industry that always seems to pull together when it matters most.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the walk. I felt humble just being a part of the gala dinner. As it stands, the walk raised £35,126 and the dinner raised £40,899 which gives a total so far of £76,025. According to Matt Storey from Gallowglass (the lead company driving the initiative), there's a friendly London versus Henley fundraising cricket match at the end of the month which is likely to add to the total. If you'd like to help support a poorly recognised cancer in desperate need of research funds, please visit Howards Just Giving page.

Kimble faces flack as Clarion acquires defence shows

Within minutes of Clarion Events confirming it had acquired DSEi, ITEC and LAAD defence exhibitions from Reed Exhibitions today, managing director Simon Kimble got his first taste of the level of animosity towards the shows. A blogger calling himself Johnny Void posted a scathing attack on the largest independent exhibition organiser in the UK and urged people to write to 'laughing boy' Kimble to let him know how they feel about his latest acquisition.

Last summer, Reed chief executive, Crispin Davis, announced that Reed would sever ties with the arms industry by the end of 2007. The decision was in response to pressure from anti-arms-trade campaigners and writers at Reed Elsevier's scientific journals. "The sale of these three exhibitions to Clarion Events completes Reed Exhibitions' withdrawal from the defence-exhibitions sector announced in 2007," Reed said today in a statement.

It was always going to take a brave man to take on the ownership of DSEi, Europe's largest arms fair. In 2005, The Independent newspaper discovered that an exhibitor was offering cluster bombs for sale. Clarion Defence has acted swiftly to announce on the DSEi website its decision to ban from display, publication, offer or marketing in any form, all munitions and references to them, that can loosely be described as Cluster Munitions.

This move, however welcome, will do little to silence the Disarm DSEi movement. But it does indicate that Kimble is readying himself for the long diplomacy battle that lies ahead. I know Simon Kimble. He's an ambitious business savvy entrepreneur who is moving into waters deeper than he's ever swum before. Asked by the Guardian about ethical concerns over the acquisition, Kimble said today: "The events we have acquired are thriving with full government support, serving only the legitimate global defence-and-security industry. Exhibitors and visitors must adhere to the highest regulatory scrutiny, not just complying with but exceeding UK and international law. Defence and security is a legitimate business like any other and we will apply the same very high standards, rigour, experience and skill to organising events in this sector as we do in all of our others."

The next DSEi runs in September 2009 at Excel. Between now and then, Kimble will be forced to face some of the toughest personal and professional challenges of his career. That in itself will determine his diplomacy and bravery. I hope, along the way his passion for every event he manages will help tighten and regulate further an industry that could otherwise so easily spill blood on his hands.

Behind the headlines: Excel & Mask

Whilst I’ve been sitting in the editor’s chair at Revolution, my former editorial team on Event magazine has been chasing major breaking news. First, Excel London, the exhibition centre in Docklands was sold for £321million to a UK subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company.

This summer, the venue can finally begin phase two of its long-awaited development plans. The £150million second phase will take Excel London to around 100,000sqm of flexible flat floor exhibition and conference space. It will represent a major investment in providing event facilities of world scale in London, as well as supporting the capital’s ambition to host an increasing number of high profile domestic and international shows.

The sale has resulted in the departure of chief executive Jamie Buchan – replaced by former deputy CEO Kevin Murphy. Jamie joined Excel in February 2002, a year after I started on Event magazine. He wrote to tell me he was stepping down and to thank me for my ‘friendship and support’. Shortly after his appointment I criticised Excel for its cold appearance. On my next visit, Jamie had lined the venue atrium with palm trees. He was always ready to listen, had a real passion for the future success of the venue and would go out of his way to acknowledge everyone in a room. As the race now gets under way to complete Excel's development before Olympic year, I sincerely hope Jamie is able to retain his non-executive status on the Visit London board and I wish him well in his next venture.

Mask , a 20-year old party agency run by Arthur Somerset has sadly been less fortunate in securing its financial future as an independent agency. The Concerto Group was called to its rescue this month and has now added Mask to a portfolio that includes rival agencies the Ultimate Experience and Event Wise, as well as caterer Create, team building provider Business Pursuits and structure supplier Witney UK.

Mask’s principal contract to provide parties at the Truman Galleries in November and December remains unaffected and I understand Arthur has joined the Concerto Group as a consultant for the next two years. Arthur is one of the industry’s more colourful characters. During my seven years as editor of Event and RSVP magazines, his support and ‘Ask Arthur’ agony uncle advice was always appreciated whilst his maverick bad-boy behaviour and strong opinions set him apart from his rivals. I wish him well.

Ecocho: the green search alternative

Sticking with the subject of online search, the guys at experiential agency Sledge have discovered Ecocho. Powered by Yahoo!, Ecocho is a new search engine trying to make a difference for climate change.

For every 1000 searches users make on Echocho, the Australian-based company will offset a ton of greenhouse gases by sponsoring two trees. It's a free service, trees are grown via official Government-accredited projects and KPMG is auditing the scheme on a quarterly basis. Switching to ecocho.com doesn't alter or slow your search. Search results are displayed via Yahoo! technology and it's one of the easiest ways people can change their everyday behaviour to make a positive impact on the environment. For further information on Echocho click here

View from the editor's chair: Search wars

My first week in the editor’s chair at Revolution has been all about online search. As Yahoo! crawls from the wreckage of a failed $47.5bn merger with Microsoft, I was interested to find out how all the major search engines were faring. On the day I filed my copy, the Financial Times declared Google triumphant in the battle of the search wars. The FT article however, fails to speak to Microsoft or even Yahoo! for that matter, before declaring that war is over.

It’s true that by next year, half of the world’s online advertising – set to reach £28bn in total - is expected to flow through Google’s systems. And that Google has 87% of the UK’s search share compared with Yahoo’s 4% and MSN’s 3.7%. But for Microsoft, the fight is a long way from concluded. It now has a mulit-billion dollar war chest and new armies could be recruited from AOL or social networking tie-ups with Facebook.
Since the doomed merger treaty, MSN has already made huge improvements to Live Search including a really cool video search mechanic that plays the clips whenever you scroll over them.

A Yahoo! insider promised me that it’s search results will start to look completely different in the coming months. Digital agencies are split between fearing the writing may be on the wall for Yahoo! or predicting a return to the negotiating table.

Meanwhile, Chris Dobson, Microsoft acting general manager, Consumer and Online International UK told me that Microsoft has a history of playing the long game to win. Whilst Google has become the ‘search verb’, Microsoft has achieved verb status in Instant Messenger. I predict that the search battle lines will now be redrawn around chat and video.
“This is still an early dawn in the search world and the fight is by no means over,” says Dobson. I agree.
The full article appears in the June issue of Revolution

View from the editor's chair: Digital marketing

Digital marketing magazine Revolution is getting a new editor. Gareth Jones takes the hot seat on 2 June. Until then, I'm steering the good ship Revolution for one issue only. Last month I wrote about the digital landscape I've now inherited (as featured in Revolution's Digital Media Buyer's Guide).

The digital landscape is a complex and often confusing place. By its very nature it’s fast moving and therefore difficult to analyse. And yet there are a total of eight different research providers and studies, which all employ different methodologies and produce largely non-comparative data.

The need for information on site traffic, user trends and online advertising has never been more important. At the turn of the year, Group M, the combined media planning and buying operation owned by Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP group predicted that UK internet advertising spend will overtake TV, which has been the leading advertising medium for a half a century, in 2009.
By the end of 2008, according to Group M, the internet will account for 24.8% of UK media spend, just behind the 26% share held by the TV ad sector. UK internet revenue is likely to climb by 30.8% this year to £3.4bn compared with just 1% year-on-year growth in TV ad spend to around £3.56bn. It’s not hard to see what will happen if both internet and TV revenues continue to grow at this current rate. And it’s easy to appreciate why online data is rapidly becoming the holy grail of the media and marketing strategy.

So what do we know? In 2007 there were 29.8 million people online, which accounted for 63% of the total UK population. Now, there are 32 million people online – 67% of the total British adult population.

According to the BRMB Internet Monitor August 2007, more than 85% of UK internet users have been online for at least three years. And sites where people can buy products or services are still proving to be the most popular online destinations along with checking the weather forecasts.

The power of Google remains dominant. Marketing strategies that use the search engine’s advertising products can relax in the knowledge that in February this year, 27.3 million British users visited Google, which accounts for 84% of the active UK internet population, according to Nielsen Online.

The average internet-related time spent per person during February was 17 hours and 46 minutes. And according to the BRMB August report, the most popular online activity is still the use of email. But at 28.2 million users, three million more of us do it compared with the 25.2million email users in 2006.

More than 13.2 million households in the UK now have a broadband connection compared with 9.9 million in 2006 according to Continental Research. This accounts for 90% of all internet users, up from 84% the year before. According to a report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Broadband penetration is expected to continue rising and is predicted to be in 75% of all homes by 2010.

BRMB states that 58% of internet users are now going online every day and Nielsen Netratings’ report in September 2006 measured the average length of each user session to be 53 minutes.

Online advertising
UK online advertising spend increased by 38% last year to reach £2.8bn, according to research published by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Pricewaterhouse Coopers on 7 April. In just three years, online advertising spend has increased by £2bn and looks set to justify the predication by M Group at the start of 2008. The medium now has a market share of 15.3%, up from 11.4% in 2006 and is already larger than press classifieds and regional newspapers.

IAB chief executive Guy Phillipson says: “To grow 38% from £2bn to £2.8bn is a very powerful performance and with 15.3% market share of media spend, the UK is head and shoulders above all other major world markets. It’s clear, marketing directors now recognise the value of online to drive their business and more and more are using rich media and video to build their brands, just as they do on TV.”

Total internet display advertising spend saw a 31% year-on-year increase whilst the core formats – banners, skyscrapers and embedded rich media including video – grew by 45% to £592m. Furthermore, spend on embedded formats has doubled during the past two years to account for 79% of total display.

Paid-for search marketing is maturing as marketers become more sophisticated in their use of the medium. In 2007, search grew by 39% in line with overall growth to £1.6bn compared with £1.2bn in 2006. Its market share however remained largely the same at 57.6% compared with 57.8% in 2006.

There’s no doubt that brands are now using search more intelligently, getting a greater return on investment through key phrases and more accurate targeting that reflects consumer behaviour. According to the IAB findings, classified advertising saw a 54% year-on-year growth and was worth £585.3m in 2007 as consumers and marketers recognise online’s reach, flexibility and immediacy.

The breakdown of industry categories in the report reveals that the recruitment sector continues to lead with 25.7% market share, up 0.9 points on the second half of 2006. Second is automotive with 11.9% while technology at 10.4% has overtaken finance at 10% for the first time to take third spot.
Other sectors experiencing high online ad spend growth include retail, which increased by 1.7 points to 5% as a result of a buoyant e-commerce sector and consumer goods, which increased by 1% to account for 5.3% of spend. For the first time, the property sector broke into the top five with a market share of 7.9%.

The key driver for growth is obviously the increased UK online audience. But maybe more surprisingly, the over 50s make up 30% of internet users compared with 21% coming from the 25-34 age range. As the population continues to get older and stay older for longer, it’s this demographic that will fuel the next wave of online advertising spend.