The team behind Celebr8mk set to work last night plastering 30 city locations with it's logo. The innovative street art aims to promote  the parade on August 29, which has been billed as the city's answer to the Nottinghill Carnival. It's environmentally friendly and will create intrigue. That's how Graymatter create brand awareness!

So, yet more health and well being goodness in development by the team at Graymatter HQ.
This time developing a suite of NHS health centre web sites being setup by UnitedHealth.

Now pull yourself together.

NHS UnitedHealth GP Healthcare

When Chevrolet entered the British Touring Car Championship there was naturally a need to keep their fans up to date with the latest action and results. And the new BTCC site doesn't disappoint - Graymatter have created a site that reflects the excitement of the sport and through social media integration allows fans to keep in touch with the action as it happens! But don't take our word for it - with the first race under way on 4 April check out the site for yourself at chevroletbtcc.co.uk

We like the charity sector, it's one of those rare opportunities to do work that genuinely may help to make a difference.

World Vision do some amazing work across the world, and to help them communicate not only what they do, but how you can get involved and help, we produce a bi-annual publication for their supporters. Of course we're involved with other projects, but we're especially proud of this publication.

They loved what we did with the get free pants campaign.
So NHS Northampton got back in touch to ask what we would do for 2010 to help raise awareness of chlamydia.

Brand an event where you could win back the cost of your mini? Yes please.
Great client, great brief, and a great deal of fun. Sometimes life is good.

What a lovely view it is too!

Our clients always expect the best quality even against tight deadlines. When Graymatter were asked to fulfil an urgent request to email customers that had recently downloaded a special Chevrolet Spark pre-launch offer from their website we stepped up to the challenge. Response rates speak for themselves...25% click thru! 

After the various verifications to be approved, followed by the equally thorough process of application deployment with all processes to encrypt and certify the application the app finally launched!

On to the next one!

Do you :

A) Run back down the path you came - Turn to Page 52
B) Stand and fight the horrid monster - Turn to Page 68
C) Offer it a Twix and hope for the best - Turn to Page 72

Our latest DM design classic is based upon that nostalgic school boy past time of the Steve Jackson-esque adventure book. Obviously with a slightly more high-brow, tongue in cheek and naughty approach.  These days it's all about Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 (I'm level 60 btw) and World of Warcraft (level 80 - ahem), but sometimes the simplest pleasures are the most satisfying...

All in all it was a MINI adventure. How exciting.

Speak to Jus@graymatter.co.uk to learn more...

A lesson in grammar and typography, as defined by Design Week.

We love being featured in Design Week, all agencies do. It’s nice featuring alongside your peers for critical comparison and receiving the metaphorical pat on the back for work well done. We’ve had quite a lot of press coverage recently, which is all fab, and I know how the game works. You provide a story, they pull out the sticky nugget they are interested in, wrap it in flour and dip it in deep fried journalistic goo. I was fascinated to see another article just recently, in a local paper that had me quoting things I can’t ever remember saying. I’m not complaining, I sounded very intelligent – anyone who knows me would immediately guess a PR pro had to step in on my behalf.

Design Weeks odd refusal to spell our name correctly is extra-strange though. Apparently it is editorial house style to break up words into their different bits. So Graymatter became Gray Matter – and no they won’t change it, even if it is our name.

We still love you Design Week. We forgive you.

After numerous cups of coffee, internal meetings and discussions Graymatter have been successful in securing the New Chevrolet Advantage marketing programmes account. A big pat on the back to everyone involved :-)

Want to know more? Call Jay on 07834 271 258 or email: jason@graymatter.co.uk

Not that we are boasting. Much. In fact our client, the NHS is struggling to cope with demand following the launch of our Facebook led campaign.



So Facebook said that the average take up for a homepage ad is about 0.1%. We are hitting about 0.3% takeup - one of the most succesful homepage ad campaigns they’ve ever run.

We can’t pretend that we are not just a little excited by that nice little endorsement from Facebook, and our friends in the NHS. Oh, and be sure to check out local newspapers for press releases...

Want to know more? Call Jus on 07510 304721 or email jus@graymatter.co.uk

…everything about Milton Keynes! If you live, work or socialise in Milton Keynes you’ll already know what the place has to offer. Celebr8mk is a brand that’s been designed by Graymatter for the community. There’s some very passionate people who want to tell their story and celebrate MK their way. The sense of civic pride is contagious and we’re really looking forward to seeing the brand grow and thrive over the coming year. There’s already some guerilla marketing and experiential branding planned – so look out! Celebr8mk has arrived and will be hard to ignore.

Visit: www.celebr8mk.co.uk

Watch out for the press release in tomorrow’s MK Citizen and the name drop on BBC3CR at 7.20 in the morning (for those early risers).

Every place needs ‘a sense of place’ – a focal point for people to gather, celebrate, commemorate, remember and share. TrustMK is the organisation that will make this happen. The first project will be a Cenotaph in Milton Keyes that will give the community a place to meet. Our approach to the brand was simple: embody the philosophy of bringing people and community together. To give depth to the brand we’ve created a ‘brand stencil’ that can be overlaid on iconic shots of Milton Keynes to reinforce ‘a sense of place’. See you there….

Meet the team! An eccentric and mildly mad professor. A militant chef. And a very fit fitness instructor. We get to work with all sorts here.

I get stereotypes. As in, I get the fact that often stereotypes can be there for a reason – hence them being stereotypes. Oooh – controversial. I guess the trick is to not judge a book by its cover, although we all do don’t we? Human nature. It can get extra tricky when delivering communications aimed at certain groups, take our BMW ad above. Placed in a magazine aimed at women, littered with references to girls, the colour pink with articles explaining the basics of looking after your car with useful acronyms like P.O.W.D.E.R. (can you guess what that stands for?).

Of course there is no right or wrong, we consume and purchase media we relate to, which reflects our personality. So how then to deliver BMW’s brand and message in this context? We think we got it bang on.

So Apple release their new creation to a fanfare of fashionable sneers from the blogging community. Ground Hog day – didn’t this happen with the iPhone? And that’s done rather well.
 
No it can’t run Microsoft Word. No it doesn’t have a camera. No it isn’t OLED or colour e-ink. But as the Lord Job’s said – it is designed to do certain tasks very well. It is not supposed to replace a PC or a phone. It’s new.
 
I have a sneaking suspicion that this really is a life changing moment in the evolution of personal computing.  And what all the bloggers, and anti-Applers don’t get or appreciate is the content and software model. Apple is essentially a software company, and now content provider – not a hardware company. This is why HP, Microsoft etc just can’t compete on such a solution (cue Ballmer at CES with the HP tablet demo - hmm) – because they ignore the software and content.
 
Well – other than Google of course… Apple do have a rightfully wary eye on them. Could Google be the reason why Apple and Microsoft become firm friends in the future?
 
This will change the way media, newspapers and books are consumed – it will take a few revisions and a few years, but it will happen.

All nighters. Macs groaning under pressure. Deadlines tighter than the pants you receive for taking the test. But it’s out there. Northants very own personalised chlamydia campaign. Job done. www.getfreepants.com

The one thing I love about this job is seeing your ideas and creations bought to life. I say ‘one thing’ like there is only one thing. Tsssk. So we needed three characters to bring something to life, help our client communicate stuff to Joe Public in a fun and engaging away.
 
We knew that we needed three types of people – one brainiac type intellectual, one firm ‘JFDI’ type and one softer, gentler person who would be more sympathetic.
 
Not quite there yet, it’s work in progress – we think our professor needs to be a bit more mental (think ‘Back to the Future’) and our Militant effing and jeffing Chef (who said Gordon Ramsay?) needs to be a little less… well Militant. Our seductive and sexy fitness instructor however is bang on brief…

It seems to me that the last year might just have made us all just that little bit more cynical. Bankers acting like bankers, governments bailing them out – to then carry on acting as bankers – and poor old you and me, the average everyday jo and joannes left picking up the pieces. This isn’t just another rant to add to the chorus of global rants – I have a relevant point to make.

Maybe we have all wised up, had things pulled sharply into focus – maybe we are concentrating on the basics. I’ve noticed a distinct trend in clients willing to be decidedly different, brave and bold in their approach this last few months.

Getting back to the nub of it, selling the proposition, concentrating on the main selling point (I refuse to use the USP acronym). And saying it how it is, being more direct, brave, honest and genuine. Not patronising our customers or colleagues.

Case in point. Vauxhall. We’ve just worked up a beautifully simple campaign with all the above in mind. See what you think…

How can you be an agency that thrives on creativity whilst adhering to process? It’s a no-brainer if you consider design in commercial terms  – we call it ‘talking business through design’. Demonstrating a real commitment to quality tells our clients we never compromise. The Quality Management System we have in place  conforms to the internationally recognised quality standard ISO 9001: 2008 (which means we have documented processes for every aspect of the business from project inception to delivery, and all key stages in between). We even go as far as asking clients to recommend the performance criteria they want us to benchmark ourselves against. Now there’s commitment!

You’ll be disappointed if you are expecting to see what the accreditation looks like – it’s really quite dull if the truth be told.  I’d rather show you a picture of the awards submission pack we produced for our client Pure Mobile (the pop-up card engineering results in angelic wings spreading out when you open the submission box). That’s quality.

Pure Mobile’s strategy is simple: to be the choice of small businesses for mobile and unified telecommunications. Having worked with Pure Mobile for some years we understand what makes them so special. It’s their sense of purpose: to be the absolute best at what they do. And it shows. Double-digit growth speaks volumes about their commercial success, but to me it’s the inherent pride in what Pure stands for that’s most impressive. Whether you’re an employee, supplier or client, you’re always left with a feeling that they really care, and you really matter – and the longer you stay with Pure the stronger that relationship becomes.

The growth of Pure has resulted in a number of acquisitions and the formation of the Pure Group. Graymatter’s brief was to deliver a brand strategy for the Group and all its associated businesses. The sense of ‘belonging’ is something we have embodied in the Group brand – being part of a family – the Pure family. All the Group’ brands share these same family values, with the added benefit of having their own personalities, drive and ambition.

We look forward to watching the Pure family continue to flourish and grow.

You know that famous poem they always read out at weddings, or is it christenings? Something about “being a grownup and leaving behind childish ways”?

Well that clearly hasn’t applied in the last week. The team has had to be all grownup and tackle [sic] the delicate issue of sexually transmitted infections. Chlamydia specifically. Worry not, we don’t have a disturbing outbreak amongst staff (at least I hope not), instead the NHS have commissioned us to get some very important messages out to our local ‘yoof’. Using everything at our disposal, from the backs of toilet doors in ‘Groove’ nightclub, to bus shelters, phone boxes to Facebook.

So, as grownup and professional as we are, and desperately trying not to smirk when your colleague accidentally drops another sex based faux-pas or double entendre we headed into the breach.

Graymatter have been selected to run a campaign for the Sci-Fi Channel in Holland. Targeted at subscribers interested in the new season 4 series, the email is fully tracked through our email platform giving the client real-time access to reports as the campaign is delivered...For sure!

I must admit that over the last few days I was one of the many men wondering why a large collection of women on my Facebook news feed had statuses which referenced various colours. After finding out is a method to create awareness for Breast Cancer I was really impressed by the whole idea.

The basic idea was a Facebook message was sent to various women and with a request to pass the message on to fellow female friends in a chain mail style. This alone is nothing more than e-mail spam we receive everyday however the message also had a social media spin to it, firstly woman were encouraged to write the colour of their bra as a Facebook status and only the colour, which tied into the second part which was keep the idea secret from men.

It's not that it's a massive life changing idea, but it is a clever way to get people involved with a campaign. It used social devices such as getting people involved with something and that something being a worthwhile charity and using the old battle of the sexes to help keep the idea alive. Combining that with social media where the idea can be adapted so quickly and people can disclose in real time what they are wearing right that second again showed the potential of social media.

It has yet been disclosed where the idea started from and if it had anything to do with people at the charity however it would be interesting to see statistics if web site traffic or donations increased this week for Breast Cancer causes.  Sadly I imagine all we will see is a few months of 'me-too' style statuses for every brand under the sun.

If you wondered why the developers and creatives at Graymatter were turning up to work with bags of books and looking extremely casual then you would know they were hard at work creating the all new "Super College" site for South Staffordshire College. Well, we can now reveal that site is now live!

Well done to the Graymatter team, and thank you to everyone at SSC, not only for their dedication and partnership but also for their great feedback.

Have a look at their website.

As a child I grew up with the generation of children which just started to have mobile phones at school. And I remember the constant toil of every teacher requesting for the house brick sized mobile phones to "switched off" and "put away". However is technology making it so tomorrow's children will be unable to live without a mobile device to aid there studies.

An initiative by Abilene Christian University is just about to be conclude its first year, whereby a number of students were given a iPhone to see how mobile devices can contribute to aid learning. Which started me thinking about the classroom of the future?

Each child in the classroom could use their mobile device to contribute on activities within their lesson.  An application could be built whereby a teacher can display a collection of images, phases on a whiteboard which the children can scan through on their device. The child would then be able to respond, with the results cast on the devices then disabled real-time on the whiteboard. The application could also include accessibility features for children with visual, hearing or learning disabilities using zoom, audio descriptions or more description questions respectively making it even easier to have more inclusive learning.

On a basic level this would help engage the children, but on a higher level this could help how teachers teach much more. The data which would be returned when the child responded could show the teacher which child truly understands the topic and who is just randomly guessing and who has no idea, so these groups can be targeted specifically. Children with a greater understanding could be sent more demanding questions extending their abilities, whereas weaker children could be given less demanding, or differently worded questions to make a much richer differentiated learning experience.

Taking this idea a step further, by integrating voice recognition services, the device could also be used to validate the response to a more description question. Picking up keywords which would result in a correct response to given question, so the child doesn't even need to directly interface with the device. There is also a whole world of big brother capabilities, location based services which could be implemented to work out if when Joe and Billy sit next to each other if their output really does lower.

Outside of the classroom an application could be built which lists all the homework tasks set for that individual for that day, which could also be shared with a parent on their mobile device. The application could then allow the child to communicate on their homework within a closed community of their peers allowing them to share ideas and knowledge. Presentations and responses which were recorded in the day's lesson relating to the topic could also be recalled to the device.

Having watched Tomorrows World as child and still awaiting the call which automatically drives at the legal limited, 5 yards behind the next automatic car I am very aware that things like take a long while to happen, however how cool would be if they did...

If you ever wondered how powerful social media can be then the proof may be in the (Christmas) pudding if Rage against the Machine can make it to the UK Christmas number one spot on Sunday.

It was reported that the X-Factor final was watched by 19 million people last weekend, with the eventual winner Joe McElderry taking 60% of the 10 million public votes cast. So with such a massive following how is a Facebook group with 750,000 members giving him and his song 'The Climb' such a challenge for the Christmas Number One?

The major factor which social media and X Factor share is the need of people to be parts of something, to be able contribute. Last weekend people could show the support of X Factor by picking up the phone and voting for their favourite performer. However that was last week, proven further by the fact that by the midweek chart update Joe had only sold 110,000 copies of his winners song, a far cry from the 6 million people votes he received which was in fact 50p more expensive that buying his single on iTunes.

Social media opens up a whole new audience who you can also communicate - in this case 750,000 people on the Facebook group. So now Mr Average in the street can start advertising a topic on social media which can attract people and they can be a part of it.

Furthermore to this, social media like X Factor can attract large media interest to snow ball public interest. So far the Facebook group owner has been on TV, Radio, Newspaper and online. Whilst Joe McElderry has to go down the old press trail of turning up to chat shows to promote his track, social media is helping itself; Twitter is generating tweets from various walks of life across the county, keeping the topic alive. Just Giving website has a charity donation page which has already generated over £40,000 for the Shelter homeless charity (I imagine it is no surprise that the charity which was selected is often closely related with caring at Christmas) is attempting to make it feel like a less commercial activity and now people are creating their own spoof videos on youTube. Everything people are doing is simple to setup, have large audience potential and keep the ball rolling on the subject. Whenever before was this power at your finger tips, without selling your sole to a red top newspaper?

This is my view everyday...