Brand Fuel Blog

IVCA LiveCom Awards

2012-01-31T18:27:00.003+01:00

Brand Fuel win the double at the IVCA LiveCom Awards to add to the tally of awards for the One Young World Summit 2011.

We were thrilled to scoop gold for International Award for Seminars and Conference & Special Event Award for Motivation and Inspiration.

BrandFuel has produced this premier global forum for young people for Euro RSCG since the inaugural summit in 2010.

One Young World will now be automatically nominated for the Best Event of the Year - LiveCom category for the forthcoming IVCA Awards in March.

For more information about the event visit the One Young World website: http://www.oneyoungworld.com/

See our blog spot:
http://brandfuelblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-young-world-2011.html

For a full list of winners visit the IVCA website:
http://www.ivca.org/award-schemes/ivca-livecom-awards/ivca-livecom-award-winners-2011.html

C&IT Awards

2011-11-11T18:47:00.003+01:00

We are proud to announce that we have won two industry awards in one week. The Award for C&I Business Solution for One Young World.

We were also nominated for two other categories for the same event. The Sustainable Event Solution and International Conference of the Year and were commended for both competing against some stiff competition.

One Young World is the premier global forum for young people of leadership calibre.

Founded in 2009 by David Jones of Havas and Kate Robertson of Euro RSCG its purpose is to connect and bring together the brightest young people from all over the world ensuring that their concerns, opinions and solutions are heard and taken into account by those in power, in government, business or any other sector. It has been described as the “Junior Davos.” This inaugural summit in London 2010 brought together for the first time 800 young leaders from 119 countries and from the outset it established itself as a high profile global initiative.

Marketing Design Awards

2011-11-11T18:32:00.004+01:00

We are proud to announce that we have won our second award, in partnership with Communication by Design. The Award for Best Brand Experience was for the design and build of the Android Booth at the Mobile World Congress 2011 for Google.

The Android themed playground, complete with giant green Androids and collectable pin badges, a themed Smoothie Bar and even a snaking slide, ensured it was one of the most popular booths at this year's Congress. In the first two days the stand received more than 14,000 visitors and attracted 35,000 electronic mentions; one quarter of which were specific to the stand.

http://www.marketingdesignawards.com/

EVENT - Best Exhibition Award Winners

2011-09-23T12:30:00.003+01:00

We are proud to announce that we have just won the Best Exhibition Stand, in partnership with Communication by Design. Brand Fuel were also shortlisted for "Best Creative Agency". The Award was for the design and build of the Android Booth at the Mobile World Congress 2011 for Google.

The Android themed playground, complete with giant green Androids and collectable pin badges, a themed Smoothie Bar and even a snaking slide, ensured it was one of the most popular booths at this year's Congress. In the first two days the stand received more than 14,000 visitors and attracted 35,000 electronic mentions; one quarter of which were specific to the stand.

One Young World - Zurich

2011-09-23T12:27:00.005+01:00

Brand Fuel have just delivered their most successful and well attended project to date.

One Young World was founded in 2009 by David Jones of Havas and Kate Robertson of Euro RSCG; its purpose is to connect and bring together the brightest young people from all over the world ensuring that their concerns, opinions and solutions are heard and taken into account by those in power, in government, business or any other sector. It has been described as the “Junior Davos.”

This second summit event in Zurich Switzerland in September brought together 1500 young leaders from 171 countries; a considerable 30%+ growth in both delegates and countries from the previous year.

BGC Charity Day 2011

2011-09-23T11:03:00.008+01:00

BGC’s annual Charity Day is fundraiser is in honour of the companies’ colleagues and employees lost in the events of 9/11, raising funds for children’s charities globally.

2011 marked the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 so was especially poignant and the event was a huge success. HRH Prince Harry took to the phones and smashed the World Record for the biggest forward foreign trade deal in history and celebrities including Boris Johnston, Kelly Brook, Jaimie and Harry Redknapp, Eva Hertzigova, Chris Evans and Cherie Blair, also got on the phones and made trades with existing BGC clients.

A reported 12 million dollars was raised by BGC on the day and continued the global success of the annual event. BrandFuel managed BGC’s ‘live’ broadcasts and celebrity interviews and transformed the 18th floor atrium into an ‘All the Fun of the Fair’ themed party for the charities and children attending… complete with spider monkeys and a llama.

One Young World 2011

2011-08-19T09:51:00.004+01:00

One Young World 2011 is fast approaching and with only 12 days left until the opening ceremony in Zurich, the BrandFuel offices are a buzz of excitement and anticipation. As a U.K. delegate for One Young World 2010 and now having been afforded the fantastic opportunity to see how the 2011 summit is being created, I can understand how mammoth a task there is ahead.

One Young World 2010 was an incredibly humbling and yet uplifting experience that is set to be amplified on every scale this year. With Archbishop Desmond Tutu coming out of retirement from public appearances to attend the event and Sir Bob Geldof returning as a counsellor, the summit promises to be spectacular. There are 1500 people attending, including delegates from 194 countries who, between them, have founded and supported projects all around the world. The One Young World summit is a fantastic platform for all of the delegates to inspire positive change in Global Health, the Environment, Leadership, the Media, Interfaith Dialogue and Global Business. One such project is that of Erin Schrode, whose Schoolbag initiative seeks to provide a bag filled with environmentally sustainable school supplies to 11,210 school children in Haiti for back-to-school 2011. This is just one of the many inspirational stories that help keep the BrandFuel team motivated in the face of logistical nightmares!

The incredible creativity and innovation BrandFuel have injected into the conception and evolution of this year’s summit will no doubt continue to foster global change for the better brought about by the young delegates.

As the summit nears, we will keep you posted on any new One Young World news. Until then my friends, live long and prosper.

New Office

2011-07-18T13:18:00.010+01:00

We are excited to announce the completion of our upgraded creative hub. Here at BrandFuel we believe people are the centre, and in the power that their ideas can hold. So with our newly renovated space we have implemented an open environment that best allows the inclusivity that breeds our creative

thinking.

Aside from the communal work space, our distinct blue and orange colours now accent the office to set the scene for this fun, inspirational space.

Our values of working hard and playing harder are rather evident with the addition of a conference room table that doubles as a surface for ping pong. No one ever said that work couldn’t be fun, and if they did we probably wouldn’t listen. Some of our new windows display a beach far away, just to provide that extra dose of imagination.

Valued mementos of past events now decorate the studio in displayed storage. Green robots, Guinness World Records, and a beating Kraken heart are just some of the fixtures you can see lining our walls as daily reminders of a job well done. It has taken time to get our updated facility up and running, but at BrandFuel we always enjoy the journey of taking something and making it better, especially when it’s something that can help us help you.

Imbibe

2011-07-18T12:57:00.007+01:00

Brand Fuel’s first partnership with Marblehead produced an innovative stand for their assortment of quality spirits at this year’s Imbibe Show in London. Imbibe Live is the leading drinks show, designed exclusively for those within the licensed on-trade business.

Brand Fuel’s exhibition was the talk of the show, as Kraken Black Spiced Rum, Hangar One Vodka, Zubrówka Bison Grass Vodka, and Maestro Dobel Tequila all delivered an experience unlike any other present.

The bravest of visitors were able to confront the mythical Kraken beast through an inventive walkthrough video display. The fun continued with talent from the Royal Shakespeare Company portraying a seasoned Kraken hunter, who proudly showcased his latest trophy of a beating heart extracted from the beast. While the mighty Kraken is certainly not for the faint of heart, the stand did warm the hearts of many. Kraken proved to be a monstrous hit, by this meaning the rum of course.

All of Marblehead’s participating brands provided generous samples for an enjoyable tasting. Hangar One Vodka wowed the competition with their fruitful flavours instilled through the unique taste infusion process.

The presentation of a stunning stand and playful environment cemented the exhibition as a hub of activity. Overall Imbibe Live was an enriching experience for all in attendance. Just another day at the office filled with creativity, fun, and innovation for the team here at BrandFuel.

Brand Fuel Wins Innovation Award at the Conference Awards 2011

2011-06-17T12:10:00.002+01:00

We are proud to announce that we have just won the Innovation Award at the Conference Awards 2011 for One Young World.

Brand Fuel were shortlisted for “Best New Conference Launch” category and for the “Innovation Award”, both for One Young World - the premier global forum for young people of leadership calibre.

One Young World was founded in 2009 by David Jones of Havas and Kate Robertson of Euro RSCG its purpose is to connect and bring together the brightest young people from all over the world ensuring that their concerns, opinions and solutions are heard and taken into account by those in power, in government, business or any other sector. It has been described as the “Junior Davos.” This inaugural summit event in London January 2010 brought together for the first time 800 young leaders from 119 countries and from the outset it established itself as a high profile global initiative.

Zeitgeist 2011

2011-06-10T16:56:00.016+01:00

Now in its 6th consecutive year, the Google Zeitgeist conference was held at the Grove Hotel, Hertfordshire. A diverse group of global thought leaders attended the event, discussing the future of technology, culture, politics and the economy.

The team delivered a spectacular gala dinner and evening entertainment featuring the international dance group LXD and the YouTube Symphony Orchestra for the delegates.

It was an extremely inspirational and educational two days with 41 speakers, including Professor Hawking and George Osborne, broadening out perceptions with regards to the global future.

Britain's fittest director 2011 unveiled: BrandFuel founder David Ball

2011-04-26T11:18:00.003+01:00

Not every one can claim to work for Britain's fittest Director. However in 2011 David Ball has been confirmed as just that, so we can make that claim in this office.

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/8472290/Britains-fittest-director-2011-unveiled-BrandFuel-founder-David-Ball.html

Event Magazine

2011-04-11T14:43:00.005+01:00

Brand Fuel are still celebrating the success of the Android stand at the Mobile World Congress.

The event was featured on the cover and inside the April edition of Event Magazine. The article appears in the Exhibition Solutions Showcase as a double page spread.

David Ball was on hand to give an on the spot interview about the challenges and achievements.

We are delighted with the publicity that the booth attracted.

Networking Event - Espirito Santo Bank

2011-03-28T17:25:00.006+01:00

700 guests arrived at one of London's most prestigious venues to help celebrate Espirito Santo's new offices in London.

The event had three key note speakers and was decorated in the bank's branded colours and messaging.

Brand Fuel accented the networking and press event with Four Corners of the World themed canapes, champagne and Portuguese wine which helped make it a memorable night for everyone involved.

The Big Bang Fair - Google Switzerland

2011-03-11T13:28:00.000+01:00

This year's Big Bang Fair was held at London's Excel where young scientists and engineers from around the UK arrived to become inspired by and interact with various technologies.

We built and managed the 5m x 5m Google stand which included 3 demo areas designed to showcase different Google apps and introduce and educate the bright young things about applications such as Google Goggles, Google Earth and Google Body Browser.

Mobile World Congress - Google

2011-02-17T11:46:00.024+01:00

Brand Fuel worked with our partner Communication by Design to design and deliver the most talked-about stand at this year's Mobile World Congress for Google.

The Android - themed playground, complete with giant green robots, on-brand green sweets, collectable Android pin badges, a smoothie bar and even a slide ensured it was one of the most popular stands at the show as you can see from these pictures.

In the first two days the stand received more than 14,000 visitors and attracted 35,000 electronic mentions one ¼ of which were specific to the stand. Watch this space for more details post the close of the show.

Davos World Economic Forum - Google After Hours Party

2011-01-29T18:50:00.012+01:00

Brand Fuel returned to Davos,

Switzerland where we transformed the venue for an exclusive party for select delegates on the last evening of the World Economic Forum on behalf of Google.

The "Curiosity Lounge" where the party was held included a trompe l’oeil; created by 3D artists Joe and Adam and music from Younglee and Norman J.

As for the food; trays were out and interactive tablets, trees and mirage mirrors were in.

Macaroons hanging from lit up trees were served by morph suited waiters (looking suspiciously like members of the Brand Fuel Team) and other canapés were served off interactive touch screen tablets made to look like lily pads and volcanoes.

Travelodge Big Event 8

2011-01-27T11:44:00.002+01:00

This year's annual Travelodge Conference was held at London's ExCel Centre for the first time.

Approximately 600 employees from all over the UK attended the conferences during the day and the Gala Dinner and awards ceremony in the evening; all of which we Brand Fuelers produced and managed.

As usual the silly string was the star of the night; with guests wielding their ammunition at the winners during the awards ceremony.

BMI - Business Travel Market Show

2010-11-15T16:31:00.002+01:00

This was the second year that Brand Fuel were at London ExCel for the Business Travel Market Show on behalf of British Midlands International to recreate their VIP domestic lounge at Heathrow.

Google - Frankfurt Book Fair

2010-10-06T15:48:00.003+01:00

This October we returned to the Messe exhibition halls in Germany for the Frankfurt Book Fair.

We built and managed the 6osqm stand for Google aimed to promote their ebooks to publishers and consumers, which included demo stations, a meeting area and a small kitchenette.

Event Awards 2010

2010-09-25T13:13:00.003+01:00

Brand Fuel is proud to say that we won the Best Conference Award at this year's Event Awards. The project was the One Young World Summit which aimed to bring together more than 800 delegates of leadership calibre under the age of 25 from 119 countries. Founded by David Jones and Kate Robertson of Euro RSCG, the aim was to provide young people with a platform to discuss the issues facing their generation.

Brand Fuel was responsible for establishing this inaugural event as a high-profile global brand from the outset. This meant the agency was involved in everything from event strategy to gaining support and investment from organisations and individuals, including Bob Geldof and Desmond Tutu.

The event managed to attract 700 fully paid delegates from countries such as Burma, Senegal, Palestine, Korea and Sierra Leone. It was the fourth most-trended topic on Twitter in the UK and the second in Europe.

Google Atmosphere 2010

2010-09-20T15:58:00.018+01:00

For the second year Brand Fuel produced the 2 day conference hosted by Google that is Atmosphere. This year it was held in Paris at Chateau Les-Fontaines.

Google’s customers and partners arrived from all over Europe to hear the talks relating to cloud computing and the evolution of work.

The Gala dinner consisted of entertainment in the form of a rubix cube solving robot, world renowned street magician; Dynamo, and artwork from 3D Jo and Max, to name a few.

BGC Charity Day

2010-09-13T11:15:00.005+01:00

Each year BGC Brokers open their floors of the Barclays Tower in Canary Wharf to a whole host of celebrities.

To commemorate colleagues lost in the attack on the Twin Towers; BGC donates to a select number of charities by raising money from all the trades that go on that day.

Celebrities including Jonathan Ross, Boris Johnson, Lisa Snowdon and Ronnie Corbett took to the phones to help rush the trades through.

It was the second year that Brand Fuel was there to capture the day’s events around the building and play out the content on the internal video network.

Fuelling Talent

2010-08-25T11:29:00.009+01:00

Fuelling Brands and now racing drivers!

Brand Fuel is proud to be a sponsor of Alex Lynn, a 16 year old racing driver from Essex. He has recently taken another Graduate Cup victory in the latest round of the Formula Renault UK Championship, taking the class win and coming 10^th overall.

Alex’s passion started when he was just six years old when his dad bought him his first motocross bike. However, his love of four wheels led him to karting before his growth spurt (Alex is now 6ft 1) meant that cars would be the better option.

We will continue to support Alex as he progresses towards the Holy Grail for all ambitious drivers: Formula 1.

Travelodge 400th Hotel Opening

2010-07-02T15:19:00.013+01:00

This week we helped Travelodge celebrate its 400th Hotel opening in style!

The location was Waterloo and what a ball we had!

Beefeaters, Cup Cakes and Boris Johnson was definitely the highlight of the day. The event included confetti pyrotechnics and a giant key lock designed and constructed by Brand Fuel.

Go team!

2010-06-04T17:58:00.005+01:00

Brand Fuel are the proud sponsors of the Blackheath U15 rugby squad.

We reckon our logo is bringing them good luck as they recently won a haul of silver at the end of the season - narrowly losing the Kent 15 Plate and the Kent Sevens Cup finals, they won the Pontyclun tournament against quality opposition from South Wales and Berkshire.

Two of the team play for the Saracens Academy, who recently won the National Premiership U15s Cup; eight play in the Kent County team or in the unbeaten Kent Metropolitan side.

BGC Rates Party

2010-05-21T17:36:00.003+01:00

After a busy week it was straight into the BGC Brokers Rates party held at Debut London, under the atmospheric arches of London Bridge.

This was a corporate party with a twist. Out of the bare space we created 6 different themed rooms with the emphasis on gaming to appeal to the competitive nature of the guests:

The bowling, tennis and boxing rooms where guests played without getting too physical on the Wii Sport.

The café del mar room where party goers could enjoy a back massage on their very own beach; complete with sand.

The combat room where they could try their luck at Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on the PS3. If they needed any assistance, hostesses and Marines were near by.

And last but not least a good old English pub including real beer on tap!

Farewell Gary!

2010-05-21T17:16:00.001+01:00

Sadly for us, Gary, who was with Brand Fuel from the beginning is off to pastures new. Fortunately for him he will be starting up his own adventure in a completely different industry.

He will be very sadly missed (although we know he will be back with us on many social events!)

Google Global Sales Leadership Conference

2010-05-19T16:31:00.004+01:00

We also produced the Google Global Sales Leadership Conference, which took place at the same location the day after Zeitgeist.

Delegates started off with a fireside chat with Eric Schmidt and Larry Page, followed by a fun competition to take them into the Mansion House area.

Here they were treated to a Best of British themed dinner along with traditional pub quizzes and games.

Entertainment followed in the form of a virtual graffiti wall and world famous street magician, Dynamo working the crowd whilst DJ Younglee hit the decks with singer LeaLea Jones.

The following day was a full day of conference before delegates departed without any of the potential flight headaches that we had experienced earlier in the week.

Zeitgeist 2010

2010-05-16T15:22:00.004+01:00

For the 5^th year in a row, we produced the 3 day conference hosted by Google that is Zeitgeist. High profile speakers included Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Boris Johnson as well as other business leaders and industry professionals attending to discuss the key issues facing businesses now and in the future.

At the Gala Dinner guests were treated to an evening of entertainment from Cirque du Soleil who choreographed three bespoke routines for the event.

The dramatic performance was reflected in the blacked out marquee and theatrical food.

Want to see more? Click here for the highlights video of the conference.

DoubleClick by Google

2010-02-24T13:16:00.005+01:00

Conor was off to Madrid to set up the stand that we built for Double Click by Google at the Online Marketing Expo for the Congress and Trade Show for digital marketing. We think the fret cut letters of the logo we made and lovingly put up one letter at a time look marvellous!

Google –The Android Developer Lab

2010-02-17T16:23:00.007+01:00

Brand Fuel were off to Barcelona to set up an exhibition area for Google Android Mobile at the Fira de Barcelona exhibition centre. The international show included the world’s leading mobile brands and networks. In the “Planet Apps” section of the show Google featured their products and the open source Android platform.

Our brief was to turn the space into an Android focused Auditorium and Foyer. This included Android branding, demo stations and a smoothie bar. We also took care of the security measures, which involved tokens, a ballot box and a UV pen. Well, as Google were giving away free Android phones to all the delegates, security measures had to be tight to ensure no one bagged two phones.

As you can imagine this made the sessions extremely popular, and we had to manage the flow in and out of the auditorium which saw over 1,800 people passing through it in one day. Not even the impressive efforts of one particularly over zealous delegate who climbed over a railing and slid down a wall to try and get into the already packed auditorium could get past our team.

One Young World

2010-02-08T18:32:00.001+01:00

The very first One Young World Summit was finally upon us. We were responsible for the production of the event and the logistics which encompassed getting the 600 25 yr old delegates from over 112 countries (even James from Haiti!) to London's Excel to share their ideas and opinions on issues facing the world today. Not only did this give them the opportunity to network with each other; but to get their voices heard by influential figures.

Speakers included Bob Geldof, Kofi Anan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu (who Brand Fuel reckon is 100% rock star!), Professor Yunus and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway to name but a few. The atmosphere at the event was electric and we can’t wait for next year’s one.

We have uploaded a few photos. We could have put hundreds up, there were so many great moments. Click on the link below to see some video footage highlights: http://bit.ly/aD7d7d

Google Davos Afterhours Party

2010-01-29T12:18:00.007+01:00

The sparkling lovelies of Brand Fuel have again been thrust into the wonderful event that is the World Economic Forum and have produced what I can categorically say is the best Google Davos party yet!

There were giant fish, huge ocean projections, scantily clad handsome men, phenomenal music and a kick ass bar! What more could you want?

If you were one of the lucky ones to be invited to the Google Ocean Lounge you would have seen these marvellous sights first hand but for those reading this blog, here are a couple of photos to show off the affaire. Roll on next year!

Travelodge Big Event 7

2010-01-28T12:06:00.000+01:00

This year’s annual Travelodge bash was extra special as it was their 25th Anniversary. Over 500 Travelodge employees gathered at the Brewery in London where we produced the conferences which happened throughout the day and then the Gala dinner in the evening including an awards ceremony.

The highlight of the night; as always was the one thousand cans of silly string that were unleashed during the awards ceremony; with most of it ending up on to the winners so that they resembled a silly string monster by the time they got to the stage.

Zoogle

2009-12-03T14:28:00.004+01:00

For the second year running Google were holding their agency day at Zenith Optimedia; a chance for them to show the ways in which they can use everything Google has to offer in their company.

We were asked to “Googlify” the ground floor reception area, conference room and the first floor. This consisted of some massive vinyl lettering, lava lamps and furniture among other things.

As well as providing the creative ideas for how the spaces should look; we provided all the sound for the conferences.

All the conferences went well and we look forward to repeating the event next year.

Enterprise Ice Bar

2009-12-02T13:25:00.002+01:00

When Google Enterprise wanted to throw a pre Christmas party, they chose the Ice Bar in London for an evening of drinks and snacks.

The evening’s highlight was a chance to spend 15 minutes in the actual ice bar where there were even huskies to add to the atmosphere. Of course even with the special clothing guests had to wear to enter, you wouldn’t want to spend too long in there.

We were briefed to add some Google winter accessories to the bar which consisted of Snowflake vinyls and a Google Christmas and registration logo as well as some jellyfish lights and light balls.

PAC Berlin

2009-11-23T14:32:00.002+01:00

Google’s most recent PAC (Publisher’s Advisory Council) was held in Berlin. Everyone on the council was invited to the one day conference.

Approximately 40 people arrived for the conference and a buffet lunch. We were on hand to provide signage and Google accessories such as the table centre and reception desk logo and coasters as well as helping out with the registration desk.

Searchworks

2009-11-19T14:38:00.002+01:00

On 19^th November Gary was off to Telford in Shropshire for a Google agency day at the supposedly haunted Madeley Court Hotel.

Agency days give Google the opportunity to present to the media agencies that they work with.

We provided white lighting for the presentations and breakout sessions, as well as atmospheric lighting to the bar and furniture and banners for the pop quiz.

It was all going smoothly until the Haunted Hotel lived up to its name. The lights suddenly blew for no apparent reason. However, unwilling to let a little thing like the bad tempered afterlife get in the way of the event, we quickly reworked the lights round the circuit and the pesky poltergeist interfered no more.

Atmosphere Cloud Summit

2009-10-22T18:11:00.000+01:00

This Cloud Computing conference was a first for both Google and Brand Fuel. We provided complete event production for the event where approximately 300 delegates descended on the Bloomsbury Street Hotel for a day of talks from Google employees and people within the industry.

For those who needed a bit more explanation on the subject or who were already in the know and wanted to ask more in depth questions, they had the chance to have a chat with experts on the subject in the cloud clinics.

After a hard day talking cloud; delegates were treated to a gala dinner held at the TUC centre. The highlight of the meal included a meringue containing nitrogen that when you bit in to it produced a cloud like substance that floated in the air.

As for entertainment; as well as a Chinese pole acrobat, Nathan flutebox lee hit the stage; this time bringing his beat boxing and flute playing skills together with a sitar player.

AdWords - SME Google Event, Sheffield

2009-10-09T12:09:00.000+01:00

So take one large multinational company, add a pinch of local business, a turn of Mr Plumber's spanner and voila, a string of successful small business relationships with Google! We're at it again, organising a mini road show for AdWords and taking it around the country. First off was Nottingham, then Sheffield, then we're off to Edinburgh and finishing up with Hillingdon! The events vary from 100-150 people and have been a bit of a hit, with the first two being well over- subscribed. We’ll see what the numbers are going to be for the next two. From big to small, Brand Fuel does it all.

Off to Ireland now..... 3500 people.... Gulp!.... Help! ;-)

Cheers Ru

BGC Charity Day

2009-09-11T14:56:00.002+01:00

Another day, another event as they say. This time the Brand Fuel team are sky high on the 18th, 19th and 20th floors of the Barclays Tower in Canary Wharf. When you need to run an event and and your own bespoke TV channel for the day who else would you call?

We were brought in to create a Comic Relief style event, broadcasting live around the building about the events that were happening on the trading floor.

What was happening on the trading floor I hear you cry? CELEBS GALORE! To commemorate their colleagues who were lost in the September 11th bombings, BGC turned their trading floor into a charity day, donating money created from all the trades that day. They invited charities and their celebrity representatives along to make the trades and to generate extra money for their charity. And we were there to make sure the event ran smoothly and broadcast what was happening around the building.

The event was a great success and BGC are reporting that they generated over 10million dollars.

Right, off to the next gig now!

'Cheery o' :)

Ru

BraveNewTalent.com and Real World student magazine

2009-07-16T15:07:00.004+01:00

Photo-shopping a multi coloured zebra? Just another day in the Brand Fuel office. Our studio designed this ad for the latest BraveNewTalent ad to hit the student magazine, Real World.

BraveNewTalent.com integrated into Social Networks

2009-07-16T14:59:00.001+01:00

Using the latest iplatform technology BraveNewTalent.com has now integrated into MySpace, Bebo and Facebook; allowing users to access BNT easily from their preferred social network.

City Academy:

2009-07-07T13:21:00.001+01:00

City Academy is a new London based performing arts school, specialising in beginner through to advanced courses in dance, acting and singing taught by top professionals from theatre, film, television and fashion.
To reflect this; we designed this rather beautiful new logo for them:

If the logo alone doesn’t persuade you join take a look at the courses on their website:

http://www.city-academy.com/

We can personally recommend the classes having been to a few ourselves.

We have also designed a cool and quirky flyer for them soon to be distributed in a café or bar near you; so keep an eye out.

Montreux Jazz Festival

2009-07-03T11:58:00.001+01:00

It's raining outside, no chance of sun, time so get out those wellies again it's festival time! And where better to go for Brand Fuel’s first festie of the season than Montreux’s famous Jazz Festival? But why, I hear you scream? Because we have to fight for climate justice once again! Yes the infamous Tck booths were out on another journey across Europe to collect more ‘Tck’s’ from the festival goers. Brand Fuel was on hand to transport and set up the Tck Booths, now sporting a lovely wooden canopy to protect it on its world wide travels. Check out http://www.timeforclimatejustice.org/ to see what's going on in the fight for climate justice.

Cheers

Publishers Advisory Council

2009-06-29T11:10:00.001+01:00

PAC (Publishers Advisory Council) was held in Paris at The Bel Ami Hotel and was a small intimate conference for 45 delegates. The conference lasted one day and took the form of a number of speaker sessions plus panels and Q & A sessions. The conference was very interactive, so the small venue worked well. The hotel was very helpful and we used most of their furniture and dressings. Brand Fuel provided a number of signs and branding including using Google Blurbs to give the room a more “Googley” feel, but in a very unobtrusive and subliminal way.

Cannes Lions YouTube

2009-06-24T12:53:00.002+01:00

It's tough I know, you just get back into being in the UK for a little while and then someone sends you off to the French Riviera for the week, with cars, clients and cough, ahem, and well somebody saw some well dressed and well to do ladies.

It's Cannes Lions week and the advertising agencies are out in style. Not to be outdone, YouTube approached us to build their presence into the festival. It was flip flops and smoothies galore when we rocked up with a full bar and kickass stand and a whole bunch of beach balls to throw out.

Great fun gig but it had a serious point - to show YouTube off as an advertising medium and not just a video distribution service.

We showed off the tools of YouTube all week and the event was a success!

Watch this space for next year, it could be something very special.

Cheers

Ru

TCK TCK TCK Geneva

2009-06-24T12:44:00.003+01:00

TCK TCK TCK

My my, it has been an awful long time since I posted… consider my knuckles well and truly wrapped! So what have we been up to? It's been a bit of a whirlwind last few months; new clients and jobs amongst our usual high paced workplace have been an extra exciting element. And the one I really want to talk to you about is the GHF, and the TCK TCK TCK campaign that we're working on.

So excited to be able to do this, as you may have heard Kofi Annan’s new gig is running the Global Humanitarian Forum and he is fighting for climate justice! The tck tck tck represents the clock ticking and time running out before KOP15 the Copenhagen climate conference where our governments will come together to try and sort out our climate crisis we are stumbling into. Anyhow we need YOU to upload your tck so we built 4 tck booths for the GHF so that they can go out and get people to sign up to the campaign.

Here’s the first one I did in Geneva. Since then they’ve been to Cannes and now they're going onto Montreux. By the time of the conference in December they will have gone world wide with dates lined up all around the world.

Cheers

Ru

SMV Agency Event

2009-06-24T10:43:00.000+01:00

SMV Agency day is a Google internal event between Starcom Media Vest and Google. This year the event took place in two venues: The Paramount in Tottenham Court Road and at the SMV offices in Goodge Street.

The day began at The Paramount (a lovely venue on the 31st floor with fantastic views of London) with a quick breakfast and an introduction from Google. Attendees then moved across to SMV where there were a number of breakouts and presentations such as Google & DoubleClick and FMCG Digital Workshops.The day was wrapped up with a final panel Q & A session after which attendees headed to the pub for a YouTube Pub Quiz.

Brand Fuel assisted with the overall set up (and derig) of the event, getting all the necessary Google items out of storage and on site, creating all the branding/signage, hiring the relevant furniture and liaising with the various venue contacts.

iGoogle Photography Prize

2009-06-23T11:45:00.001+01:00

Google launched The Google Photography Prize which is a global student competition for students to create themes for iGoogle. The goal was to find talented student photographers and give them unprecedented online and offline exposure. The competition was open to students around the world and the winner was chosen by public online voting.

The Photo Exhibition was a viewing of the six finalists' photographs submitted for the competition with an awards ceremony to announce the winner.

Brand Fuel assisted with some key branding as well as setting up the stage and various other “Googley” elements to make this night a great success.

BMI at the Business Travel Market Event, Excel

2009-06-07T09:58:00.001+01:00

We helped BMI to create a snapshot of the new airside international departures VIP lounge, which was launched the same week at London Heathrow. General feedback was that the BMI stand was by far the nicest one at the event. Although other stands were very impressive, BMI's stood out as with its lack of technology. The clients wanted guests to feel like they were walking into a comfy laid back environment and we believe we achieved just that.

Zeitgeist

2009-05-15T15:08:00.001+01:00

We have recently had European Zeitgeist 2009.

It was designed to be a paperless event; which is conveniently in keeping with our desire to comply with the new sustainability standard BS 8901; read more about this here:
http://www.bsigroup.co.uk/en/Assessment-and-Certification-services/Management-systems/Standards-and-Schemes/BS-8901/

We created a page turning pdf agenda that was displayed on lcd screens in order to minimise our print.

However, a small amount of print was necessary; so we had to find a way to make the paper as eco friendly as possible.

But we didn’t limit ourselves to recycled paper - we ended up printing on paper made from sheep poo and from plant seeds. You can even bury the seed paper and watch it grow into meadow plants.

Global Enterprising Young Brit of 2009

2009-04-16T15:03:00.000+01:00

Everyone here at Brand Fuel would like to say huge congratulations to Lucian Tarnowski; the BraveNewTalent.com Founder and CEO, who recently won Global Enterprising Young Brit of 2009.

Sennheiser’s G3 Wireless microphone launch

2009-04-07T15:05:00.002+01:00

We are delighted to announce our most recent client win as Sennheiser UK.

We were chosen to launch their G3 series of Wireless microphones here in the UK.

After the official launch show at the Frankfurt Pro Light and Sound event at the beginning of April 2009, we worked with Sennheiser UK to produce an innovative direct marketing piece sent to Sennheiser UK dealers.

We delivered a personal G3 toolkit containing all the information needed to communicate and sell the new G3 series including a pocket product guide and a gold CD award providing additional assets and training.

Dealers also had the chance to win a Crystal Roc Sennheiser Evolution G3 Wireless microphone.

And for the press we delivered a ‘Sennheiser G3 lunch’ hamper delivered direct to their desk; containing German delicacies to be enjoyed whilst reading up about the new G3 Wireless microphone range; and hopefully writing all about it!

BraveNewTalent

2009-04-01T14:47:00.002+01:00

We are thrilled to announce that BraveNewTalent.com, the new recruitment social network, has launched its alpha website designed by our team at Brand Fuel.

We worked with BraveNewTalent to create designs for this revolutionary recruitment website. The new platform is designed to connect employees to employers of their choice online, as well as allowing employees to take control of their own career and join communities around the employers that interest them.

Sign up at to the revolution at www.BraveNewTalent.com

Make your Mark

2009-03-31T13:24:00.005+01:00

Make Your Mark is a government funded organisation, which works to give people in the UK the confidence, skills and ambition to be enterprising - to have ideas and make them happen. They ran a national competition called Ideas MashUp where students aged 16+ had to mash together two or more existing business ideas to come up with a new one. The competition had over 70 sixth forms/colleges involved and over 2500 students took part. The National Final was held on Tuesday 31st March.

Claire from Brand Fuel was asked to be a guest judge at the event. This involved presenting to the finalists and running a workshop where each group had to plan and explain in a creative way their own product launch event. In addition she was also a guest judge on a ‘Dragons Den’ panel where the students pitched their ideas to win £2000 to help take their idea forwards. A great way to see the entrepreneurs of the future!

To see photos from the event and learn more click here:

http://www.makeyourmark.org.uk/get_involved/ideas_mashup

Office Graffiti

2009-03-30T13:31:00.002+01:00

Along with Brand Fuel's recent office change around to become more efficient in the way we work, we've added a bit more artwork to our quirky office!

This bit of graffiti came from a gig we did almost a year ago and rather than box it up in storage for forever and a day, we thought we would release it for the viewing internet and clientele.

The Crew that made this piece are called Monorex, check them out here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/monorex

And this link shows them making this piece:
http://monorex.blogspot.com/search/label/Google

World Economic Forum 2009

2009-02-05T12:20:00.004+01:00

So it was beset upon the young Brand Fuel to collaborate with the elders of the advertising world to create what can only be described as the best YouTube Davos stand to date! Well we only started last year… but this one was better than the last one so that’s a great result! The purpose of the booth was to allow world leaders and CEOs to interact with the YouTube community. This year we added a new i-Wall showing off the talents of Google Earth with all the cool stuff that goes with it. On the stand we had, among others, Jet Li the world famous actor, Cherie Booth (AKA Cherie Blair), David Cameron, Kofi Annan, Amitabh Bachchan the incredible Bollywood king to name but a few!

It was a great gig and it went off well. The client was happy, we were happy and the YouTube community was happy to boot!

The France Show

2009-01-09T14:40:00.000+01:00

Earls Court 2 was the new home this year for The France Show. Aimed at both the property and leisure markets it’s a one stop shop whether you are considering just a holiday, moving across the water or simply just want to sample some typical French delicacies such as bread, cheese and patisserie plus of course wine!

ABTOF – Association of British Travel Organisers to France take a stand at the show and enable their members (who wouldn’t otherwise be able to exhibit) to have a presence at the show. This year the stand included computer terminals to encourage visitors to surf the "France yes you can" website and see the full range of holidays available.

The stand also gives ABTOF a presence and a chance for potential members to ask about the value and benefits of joining; enquiries this year included one from an English couple who’ve set up a base in France offering cycling & canoeing activity holidays and appropriately named ‘Bonkers Frog’.

The Queen's visit to Google

2008-10-16T11:15:00.001+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xDTZMYfa6g

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/d4g2008royal/D4G2008PhotosForWinners#

Frankfurt Bookfair

2008-10-15T12:54:00.001+01:00

Just about the largest bookfair in the world with all 10 of the Messe exhibition halls being used for this show. The show runs for 5 days – the Wednesday to Friday being very business focused, whilst the weekend is open to the general public. The booksearch team from Google were on hand for both pre-arranged and ad-hoc meetings to pursue Google’s aim of making the world of books and their contents searchable on the worldwide web.

Brand Fuel fitted out the 60 square metre booth with demo stations; the Google ‘G’; a private meeting room along with meeting tables on the open area as well. Coffees and snacks were provided from a small galley kitchen built-in to the design.

Enterprise Innovation Seminar

2008-10-02T13:53:00.002+01:00

This was set in the Paul Hamlyn room at the beautiful Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. This is basically a very large greenhouse which, whilst visually very appealing, provided a number of challenges with regards to the technical aspects of presenting a show i.e. ensuring that sufficient people could see the presentation and delivering quality of sound in an echo chamber!! All this within a very tight timeframe; basically between the regular business of the Opera House’s own production. Set up commenced at 11pm, working into the early hours to complete, then back on set for an 8am show start through to close after lunch at 1:30pm, then being clear of the venue by 3pm the same afternoon so that the Opera House can be prepared for their own show in time!

Brand Fuel produced and sent out the invitations prior to the event and such was the response that we had a full house to hear about the role of the Enterprise team and how they could tailor the Google suite of Applications to individual businesses. This was then supported and demonstrated by three different customers: British Airways, Standard Chartered Banking and the Telegraph Group. Prior to the presentations delegates were welcomed with coffee and croissants and the opportunity for a short relaxing chair massage. Post presentations a buffet lunch was served whilst delegates had the chance to workshop the products for themselves and talk one-to-one with Googlers to find out how the products could work for them. Leaving one last chance for a chair massage before departing.

Geotate Stand at Photokina

2008-09-23T14:41:00.002+01:00

September has been a bit of a whirlwind for me; gig to gig, airport to airport, country to country. All in all it's been a little hectic! And I've been lucky enough to finish off September with a great gig!

Geotate are a relatively new client for Brand Fuel and this is the first time we have built them a stand at an exhibition. And what a stand to build for them; with completely custom display, computer pod, floor and graphics we tried to ensure that Geotate can stand out from the rest of the crowd at a busy show!

As I write this the stand downstairs is packed full of people interested to get a look at Geotate!

Cheers

Rupert

Online Marketing - Dusseldorf

2008-09-17T11:22:00.004+01:00

This is the principal event of the year for the German Marketing Team – a show focused almost as much on pre-arranged one-to-one meetings as on attracting bystanders as they wander around the show. A team of 100 Googlers held almost 350 meetings over the two days of the show using the facilities provided by Brand Fuel i.e. a private meeting room for 8 people, 3 rooms for 4 persons plus a further 6 meeting tables on the booth and a casual area. All served coffees, soft drinks and snacks according to the time of day from the bar/kitchen area staffed by 4 hostesses. The booth was split into two parts covering 200 squares metres plus an aisle carpeted to form a bridge between the two areas. All visitors to the stand were encouraged to enter a daily draw, with the winners receiving a brand new MacBook Air!

On the evening of the first show day, attendees helped Google to celebrate their 10th Birthday with a mini party on the booth. All in all a very successful if somewhat hectic trade show.

Global Developer Day, Wembley Stadium

2008-09-16T14:53:00.004+01:00

On the 16th of September much is happening in the world of UK developers. Google hosted the Annual Global Developer Day and with the help of Brand Fuel put on a great day for all to have! Having worked with Google on the previous Developer day at the Brewery in London we understood the concept and what was to be achieved at this great event. However this one had a big stadium sized twist! Being held at Wembley Stadium posed quite a feat for the Brand Fuel crew, not that we were afraid of anywhere but this is a BIG venue, and my legs and feet definitely told me this on the days following the event!

So what happened I hear you cry? To cut a long story short, Google invited programmers and coders from all over the UK to the event and they all sat down to learn about Google's new products and hopefully write some code for their own projects involving some of Googles great toolset. Brand Fuel facilitated this by building them sets to talk on and handled logistics throughout the day.
The event was a triumph and has paved the way to an even better GDD next year.

Cheers
Ru

Google Sales Conference 2008

2008-09-05T13:09:00.000+01:00

Brand Fuel were in Rhodes in the first week of September with Google for their annual sales conference. Matthew d’Ancona of the Spectator found himself part of a bid to break the world record for Zorba dancing — and to relive one of the greatest scenes in cinema. Read his article for yourself:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/i//the-magazine/features/2075051/how-i-became-a-world-record-holder.thtml

Festinho Festival Kentwell Hall, Nr Sudbury UK

2008-08-29T14:49:00.003+01:00

Festinho - a delightful weekend in the country.

The Festinho festival is a new little aside that I've brought to the eyes of Brand Fuel. As if our workload here wasn't enough already I thought I'd make things even more difficult and this one is a bit of a raucous beast! Festinho is a 100% charity festival with all the proceeds going to help street children in Brazil. Its roots are tied to the ABC Trust charity which I worked for many moons before Brand Fuel and still try to help out when I can.

Brand Fuel's main role in the event was to put up with me in the weeks coming up to the event, as it happens to sit at a very stressful time for all concerned in the office, with lots of enormous events on all at the same time.

Myself and Matt Devall went onsite to Kentwell Hall and had an absolute ball of a time! Matt ran the main stage management whilst I ran the productions for the whole site. Who would have thought making money for charity would be so much fun!
Cheers

Rupert

Google Retail Summit

2008-07-29T11:53:00.004+01:00

A hot summer day in the exquisite surroundings of the Royal Opera House. As you make your way through the lanes of memorabilia and enter the Amphitheatre Bar, the familiar primary colours and décor that reflect Google sit comfortably in the newly refurbished surroundings.

An intimate affair that caters for about 200 guests, including speakers, The Google Retail Summit is an excellent networking tool for some of the most influential retailers in the market to listen to key speakers in the market and see the latest things Google has to offer.

Followed by lunch and a surprise performance by the rising star “Beardyman” a success story discovered through the YouTube website. Regardless of musical tastes, everyone is deemed speechless when they hear this young man who will undoubtedly become a beatbox legend.

Less is more and once again Google with their simple and yet to the point way make another conference anything but just another conference.

Zurich Global Bollywood Summer Party

2008-07-07T12:36:00.010+01:00

After a winning pitch back in February and plenty of hard work from the design, events and marketing teams we finally put on Zurich Global’s Bollywood themed summer party in Zurich this weekend.

The event was named ‘A Taste of Bollywood’ and 180 staff and special guests from Zurich’s head office in Switzerland attended. The event was held at a restaurant and nightclub called Aqua on the shore of Zurichsee (that’s Lake Zurich for non German speakers). It seems a long time ago that we were first designing and sending out the html email invitations and developing the theme of the evening. Since then we have been in liaison with the client and the venue to arrange every detail of the event from communications and entertainment to food and themeing. Our work in promoting the event through posters, emails and even a Bollywood dance class had obviously done its job, as by Friday afternoon the Zurich office was buzzing with anticipation.

After a hard day of setting up the venue to ensure the perfect Bollywood atmosphere, our guests started to arrive. They were greeted by 2 Indian elephants and gifts of scarves and bindis which thrust them straight into the spirit of the evening. Food was provided on site by one of the finest Indian restaurants in the city with mango lasse offering cooling refreshment on a sunny evening.

After dinner it was time for entertainment provided by one of the most popular comedians in Switzerland; we had no idea what he was on about but the Swiss seemed to love it. Then we introduced the 5 dhol drummers we had flown over from the UK to the stage. They made a massive impact with their fast paced modern take on Indian music. A range of Indian desserts was served on the roof terrace and then everyone put on their dancing shoes and headed downstairs to throw some shapes to tunes provided by our London-based Indian DJ.

The last guests left at around 3am and that just left us to take all of our kit out and return the venue to a usable state for breakfast the next morning. So there we were at 6am sat outside the venue with a full truck ready to return to London when, all of sudden, David said:

“I know, let’s go for a swim in the lake”…

A really enjoyable event finished off in a really unusual way. Zurich was great, the people were fantastic and we can’t wait to go back.

Click here to see what the clients had to say and for more pictures: pressrelease.pdf

Tech Event

2008-07-03T12:01:00.003+01:00

Another 'vertical market' event, this time held at Wembley Stadium in the Pitchview West restaurant for the main seminar. Demonstration pods and a breakout session were in the Pitchview East restaurant - a mere half kilometre walk around the perimeter of the stadium (and back again). After the morning sessions delegates enjoyed lunch and then a guided tour round the stadium before finishing.

CIO

2008-07-02T13:12:00.001+01:00

We helped Google out with an event called CIO which was held at the Science Museum on 2nd of July.

It was about using Google in your enterprise and encouraging people to use Google Docs and Search engine products. We supplied a Google G, several demo pods and a bunch of seating to give it a great Googley feel and add some colour to the day.

The event was a great success and we’ve had great feedback from it.

Travelodge

2008-07-02T12:25:00.003+01:00

Summer Directory

Travelodge is the fastest growing hotel company in the UK. With a proposed 40 new hotels year on year it is essential that their hotel directory is kept up to date. We proposed a quarterly directory to ensure consumers are kept informed of new hotel openings as well as existing hotels and Travelodge products and services.

Continuing to successfully promote all Travelodge hotels for the summer season, the print run has now been increased from 200,000 to 250,000 due to the popularity of the directories with consumers.

Bacardi Tent Cards

Travelodge posed us with the problem of excess stock of Bacardi Breezer in their hotels. We devised a tent card to be displayed in the bar and reception area promoting the drink at £2.50 per bottle. At a great promotional price, displayed in key positions within the hotel, this can’t fail to be a winning promotion.

Healthy Living Summit

2008-06-26T11:58:00.002+01:00

Held at the very trendy St Martin's Lane Hotel in the heart of theatreland, this business breakfast was for Google customers in this vertical market. As well as breakfast, the chance to network and of course presentations from industry/Google specialists - nutrition experts were on-hand to give advice. If nothing else delegates came away knowing what they should be doing nutritionally!!

Online Marketing & Media 24-25 June

2008-06-24T11:39:00.003+01:00

This was held over two days at the Business Design Centre, Islington. The show comprised of an exhibition area featuring companies such as Yell.com, Double Click and of course Google. We installed a 22.5 square metre stand with 6 computer demonstration points. This was so that Google could really focus on their AdWords program and the opportunity of one to one sessions with 'Googlers' to see how customers accounts could be optimised.

In support was a 'University' program - 3 sessions each day on AdWords basics, a masterclass and then analytics to show how to get the best info back from customers ad programs. We catered for 180 people on each session (most of which were over subscribed), with queues of hopeful people hoping to take the place of any no-shows!

Las Vegas - InfoComm08 - 18-20 June

2008-06-21T14:40:00.002+01:00

Hi All,

Rupert here, King of Sketch up (so I have been told).

So I'm a new whippersnapper at this game, but the big man told me to go to Las Vegas... Oh well if I have to! So I went to Nevada to check out a show called InfoComm08.

What I was tasked with was looking at a stand that our hopefully future client had already got, to see what it was like and then to work on ideas and designs for making it better for the sister show in Europe ISE 09. Now, it's a long way to go just for that and so I was also out there doing business progression for Brand Fuel. This bit I love! I'm an incessant talker, you just can't shut me up and meeting new potential clients is good fun.

Anyhow I'm quite happy with the job I managed to do over at InfoComm.
I think I did a good job at getting the Brand Fuel name out there. The hopefully future client seemed happy that I came and I think we gained a real insight into their company and future products. The other companies that I spoke to hadn't looked at working the way that we do, which was refreshing, and good to know that we're a little bit ahead of the game!

All in all, a good trip out to Las Vegas in terms of client relationship building and new client finding.

Ahhh, now DB did I tell you about that show in Japan I REALLY need to go to! ;)

Cheers

Rupert

Dublin Pride

2008-06-13T13:39:00.003+01:00

13th-22nd of June

We went over to support YouTube and to get the people at Dublin Pride to upload the answer to the question "What does pride mean to you?"
The event was a great success and encouraged people in the gay comunity of Dublin to upload and share their thoughts on Dublin Pride and other gay and lesbian issues.

http://www.blogger.com/www.dublinpride.org
http://uk.youtube.com/dublinpride

Zeitgeist 08, May 18-20

2008-05-21T10:43:00.003+01:00

Take a look for yourself. They say a picture tells a thousand words - what about a moving picture?

Internet World, Earls Court, London 29th April-1st May

2008-04-30T14:55:00.002+01:00

The show is designed to educate business decision makers on the latest developments in the market and to introduce them to the suppliers who can help them implement their online strategies.

Brand Fuel made a stand for Google and arranged for goodie bags to be given out to the delegates that came to the Google university keynote sessions.

Gulltaggen, Oslo, Norway 23rd-25th April

2008-04-30T14:44:00.003+01:00

Gulltaggen (The Golden Tag) is Scandinavia’s most important event for digital marketing, and was founded to stimulate and reward the new heroes of digital creativity. During the last 10 years, Gulltaggen has become an important event for anyone who is interested in keeping track with the fast changing times of digital marketing, providing media, marketing and bureau professionals with inspiration, and the tools and techniques they need to succeed in a changing digital world.

Google was supporting the event and Brand Fuel created a stand to give a local Google presence.
The event consisted of a conference with many influential Norwegian industry speakers; a gala dinner with a stage showcasing Norwegian bands; a networking evening for delegates.

ABTOF Conference

2008-04-25T13:55:00.000+01:00

We went to Marseille where we put on a 2 day conference for ABTOF (The Association of British Tour Operators to France). Every year their annual conference takes place in a different French destination and they invite all of their members to join them. At the event there are presentations and informative discussions involving thought leaders and experts from within the travel industry. Delegates had the opportunity to quiz them on topics ranging from green travel to effective PR; Internet marketing to consumer research.

But we didn’t spend all of our time locked in a conference centre; the delegates went on various outings around Provence and got to see some of the beautiful countryside that the region is famous for. Evening entertainment was also welcomed with great enthusiasm (some were too enthusiastic for their own good). The whole event was rounded off with a gala dinner at the incredibly impressive Palais de la Bourse. We sat in the grand hall surrounded by amazingly carved stonework. Inevitably everybody moved from the dinner to the ‘official ABTOF’ bar, The Trolleybus, where a full size pitanque court in the basement kept us entertained until the small hours of the morning.

When we arrived at the airport for our flight home it became immediately obvious who had taken advantage of The Trolleybus more than others (of course we were amongst those who had remained completely sober throughout). We can’t wait for next year’s conference in Reims where the Champagne region is looking forward to showing us all they have to offer and we’re looking forward to a glass or two.

Google Earth Outreach Programme

2008-04-15T11:54:00.001+01:00

We started working on a road show for Google, showcasing the Google Earth Outreach programme. The programme is designed to give Google Earth Pro and Sketch-up Pro to NGOs providing them with the skills and resources via Google Earth and Maps to show their work and highlight their cause to a mass audience. They can create layers and publish these on GoogleEarth, showing the areas that they work in - often war torn or poverty stricken countries.

The road show visited Amsterdam on the 31st of March, working at the NEMO Science Centre with Unicef; Hamburg on the 3rd of April at the Google offices with Greenpeace; Geneva ( as shown above) on the 8th of April at the UNHCR with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; London on the 10th of April at Google offices in Victoria, with Sir David Attenborough who launched WaterAid's and Arkive's layer (which features over 100 threatened species).

Web links:

To view the ARKive, WaterAid and Greenpeace layers go to the Global Awareness Folder in the layers panel of:

http://earth.google.com/outreach/

www.unhcr.org/googleearth

YouTube Camper Van...

2008-04-11T12:40:00.003+01:00

YouTube has launched a London Mayor Election Channel to encourage members of the public to submit a video question for the London Mayor 08 candidates. The channel has been launched in conjunction with BBC London who will choose a set of highly rated videos to play on BBC London primetime news interviews with each of the three main candidates.

As part of this Brand Fuel have branded a VW camper van and we are visting a number of London Boroughs to encourage video submissions....so far we have been to Ealing, Hackney & Chelsea....

Click here to see the submissions in Ealing and Hackney.

Next stops on the Camper Van route are Goodge Street (11.04) and Kingston Town Centre (12.04). Come back to check out more!

Search Engine Strategies 2008

2008-02-20T13:05:00.001+01:00

An island style booth that we had designed and produced for Google at the Search Engines Strategies Event '08, at the Business Design Centre. A combination of creativity and functionality was needed to display all the Google products and maintain that clean white empty space and innovative Google look. This 360 degree booth attracted a lot of attention - whereby attendees were having their pictures taken next to the Google Factoid Blobs!

Mobile World Congress

2008-02-11T12:19:00.005+01:00

We arranged 2 meeting rooms and a staff work room at the conference for Google staff to use whilst holding meetings with various partner companies. They were demonstrating their new software Android, a brand new operating system, and all the stuff you can do on Google using your standard phone. We also helped with a party for the Open Handset Alliance.

Links:
http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/
http://code.google.com/android/
http://www.google.com/mobile/
http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/homepage

Digital Hverdag Bergen

2008-01-29T11:22:00.001+01:00

The second running of this event in beautiful Bergen, except it’s the middle of winter! So our lorry leaves in plenty of time but encounters - surprise, surprise – winter conditions. Heavy snow closes the mountain pass, but not before our vehicle has started the ascent and even with snow chains the driver loses control of the trailer, which skids across the road and is only stopped by a tiny 1m high stone wall. Only on alighting from the cab does the driver realise that the small wall has saved the truck, the load and himself from a nasty fall of about a 1000m!!

So, eventually the truck arrives about a day late. Everybody is geared up to regain the lost time. Load in to the venue starts at 6am and after two hard days the booth is ready bang on schedule. Well you would expect nothing less would you?

The clients were absolutely amazed by the finished booth and quickly got down to business. At the weekend, with general consumers in attendance, they ran a Doodle for Google competition which saw the booth inundated with kids and the results of their efforts pinned up on all the walls.

Roll on next year, snow and all!!

YouTube in Germany

2008-01-20T14:55:00.003+01:00

Google and YouTube wanted to increase the presence of YouTube at the Digital, Life, Design Conference in Munich. BrandFuel put together the idea of having a ‘YouTube reporter’, so there was a press wall, reporter, camera and upload crew simultaneously filming, editing and uploading in a ten minute turnaround.

Amongst those interviewed were Paulo Coelho, Martha Stewart, David Silvermanhref.
http://www.youtube.com/dldconference

The France Show

2008-01-18T11:46:00.001+01:00

It wasn’t all Champagne and dancing girls at the France Show there was some cheese as well. But we were there because it’s the largest French lifestyle and tourism exhibition in the UK and what better place for our client, ABTOF (The Association of British Tour Operators to France), to show off the new website we designed for them.

To give them some real presence at the show we created a ‘France Gallery’ where visitors could peruse some fantastic photography of France and get some ideas for their next French holiday. We also invited visitors to submit their own images of France to the website for the chance to win some French travel prizes from a week in a Chateaux to free ferry crossings. Check it out in the ‘My France’ section at http://www.franceyesyoucan.co.uk/.

Over the course of the weekend the France Show broke all records for visitor numbers with 30,000 people coming through the doors. A large number of them seemed to come and speak to ABTOF for advice, when I was there it was a struggle to say more than 2 words to the client without being interrupted by an eager holiday maker.

So it’s onwards and upwards with ABTOF. We’re off to Marseille with them in April for their annual conference, so keep an eye out for a full report on that later in the year.

FranceYesYouCan.co.uk goes live

2008-01-12T12:29:00.002+01:00

Our brand new website offers a fresh approach to all you can do in France. We’ve collected information from all parts of the country to provide a variety of activities ranging from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

You can search by activity in any one of the 21 regions in any month of the year. You can also find your perfect place to sleep whether you wish to camp or stay in a 5 star hotel.

Working with ABTOF has been a pleasure from day one, amazing people, with an amazing array of holiday services. This accompanied by our design and branding work all make this site truly unique.

France really can offer you more than you can imagine and franceyesyoucan.co.uk offers you all the information you need to plan your next trip.

The experience of creating the site was a real eye-opener for us all. We never realised the sheer number of activities that France has to offer. So we’ll all be off to do a bit of surfing in Aquitaine a bit later in the year…watch this space for the coverage of that little adventure.

UK Politics: Have your Say....

2007-12-12T16:58:00.002+01:00

After the success of a video produced for the US politics channel on YouTube we were asked to produce a UK version to drive users to post videos on issues they care about. Through the use of relevant screenshots, topical phrases and a hard hitting soundtrack, this brought to life the issues that are affecting all of us today. To have look at this click here

A 5ft Google Maps Pin!

2007-11-20T18:13:00.002+01:00

Google wanted to increase awareness and promote the use of Google Maps on mobile phones at the Pleasance Festival in Edinburgh via a Bluetooth broadcasted WAP link – www.google.co.uk/gmm/festival so the basis of the stand we designed was formed around a great big 5ft size, freestanding Google Maps pin!

Needless to say it garnered a few looks and quite a few downloads

Doodle For Google: My Future

2007-11-19T18:47:00.002+01:00

For this year's Doodle 4 Google competition, Britain's schoolchildren were asked to design a Google Doodle around the theme of 'My Future'. Over 65,000 children entered the competition and from this 48 finalists were chosen to come to London and attend an award ceremony in the Google offices. The day started with a visit to the Tate Modern and then they were whisked to the Google offices to be met by entertainers and attend a workshop with the Doodle Master, Dennis Hwang. Next, it was time for the award ceremony! The finalists were kept in suspense until the winner was finally revealed…14-year old Claire Rammelkamp, whose doodle was placed on the Google UK homepage for a day to be seen by around 20 million people.

As part of this Brand Fuel organised mail outs and communications to all the regional winners and finalists. This was then followed up by the management, production, logistics and filming of the final event. We interviewed each winner to see what they thought about the theme of ‘My Future’ – hear what they had to say by clicking here to view an interactive map.

Google Maps Videos

2007-08-15T17:41:00.005+01:00

We were asked to create two videos to show new and current users of Google Maps how to use this tool more effectively. Ever wanted to create your own personalised map complete with photos, videos and comments on your favourite places? Or add some of the unique tools created by others to improve the look of your own map? These videos show you the step by step process to do just that. The success of the videos is clear as in just five days they got 16K in playbacks.

This was a fun project to work on and we now know a lot more about the unique things you can do with Google Maps. Planning holidays and nights out has not been the same since!

You can watch the videos by clicking on the links below:

Video One: Create a Map
Video Two: Add Content

Zeitgeist Partner Conference

2007-05-25T15:51:00.000+01:00

From May 20th-22nd, over 300 of Europe’s most influential thought leaders assembled at the Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire to debate the trends that define the spirit of our times. Over the two day conference we heard from speakers such as Hans Rosling, Sir Martin Sorrell and James Murdoch, with a key note opening from David Miliband.

The main forum consisted of six sessions - Branding, Serial Entrepreneurship, Digital Youth, Let Me Entertain Me, The Other Half of the World and Green Technology. Each session was prefaced by a 2 minute video, produced by Brand Fuel highlighting facts and using real people to convey key messages about the coming session.

The forum offered a number of networking opportunities including a Welcome Reception, an Innovation lab showcasing ground breaking technology that may shape our futures, and an exclusive Gala Dinner with world dance entertainment provided by the renowned dance company Saddlers Wells.

Brand Fuel provided overall event design, programme management, all technical production and full event management services. By working in partnership with Google, BrandFuel also designed and managed a web-based delegate management system, and provided the opportunity for Googlers around the globe to experience the conference online within 24hrs by posting the videos of conference sessions on ‘You Tube’.

Sidekick Brand Video

2007-05-15T16:01:00.000+01:00

Brand Fuel filmed and edited a 60 second video for Danger Inc to portray the Sidekick mobile phone and its target audience. The Sidekick brand is fashionable, vibrant and perfectly adapted to any socialite. The concept of the video was to depict the hectic day of a Sidekick phone user – Coffee with friends, trendy shops on London’s Carnaby Street, funky Shoreditch bars and many more bustling social haunts. Filming took us all over London and, when complimented by a cool modern soundtrack and statistics cleverly placed in the urban environment, the final video definitely had the edge the Danger clients were looking for.

ABTOF Conference

2007-03-05T16:03:00.000+01:00

The 15th ABTOF Conference was held at Futuroscope in Poitiers, France. The focus of the conference was the current debate about marketing France in the UK as a travel destination as well as exploring the implications of the environmental debate and the latest Internet developments. Top industry speakers revealed how they saw the future of France and a key note speech from the ebullient Boris Johnson ended the conference on a high.

Brand Fuel provided overall event design, event production and onsite delivery for this three day event. We created and produced speaker support content, designed sessions with audience interaction and ensured an engaging atmosphere with games and delegate voting. We worked with Studio 7 to deliver the technical solutions for the event.

Doodle for Google Finale Event, 6th & 7th November 2006

2007-02-06T18:20:00.000+01:00

Doodle 4 Google is a national art competition where young people in schools across Britain compete to create the best ‘doodle’. This years theme was ‘My Britain’ and those involved had to draw a representation of what they think it means to be British.

As part of this BrandFuel organised mail outs and communications to all schools in the UK. Followed up by a finale event held at the Science Museum with over 1000 children from all over Britain in attendance, they enjoyed a fun filled day of interactive shows, IMAX 3D films, a workshop with the doodle webmaster Dennis Hwang and the unveiling of the winning doodle!

Davos Google After Hours Party

2007-01-28T17:13:00.000+01:00

The Google After Hours Party was the party to be at this year during the World Economic Forum in Davos. Kicking off at 10pm, the party quickly became packed with guests enjoying drinks, canapés, live entertainment and lots of dancing!

Brand Fuel provided everything from the management of the email invitation blast, printed invitation to the onsite design, production of the event.

The success of the event was clear by praise in the media such as ‘There is no more coveted party than the Google Party in Davos’ and the great lengths people were prepared to go to try and obtain an invite (as we in the office know very well!) For more click here

Travelodge Directory is launched

2007-01-25T18:18:00.000+01:00

We were really pleased to launch the 'new look' directory this month. The brief was completely open so we decided to make a move away from the old 'photography' style directory, to a new, clean and crisp illustrative route. Look out for it in Travelodge hotels nationwide!

Travelodge Sales Conference

2007-01-20T16:21:00.000+01:00

Cinderella, Snow-White and even Aladdin made this event! With this years theme being pantomime, it definitely was not going to be your average sales conference. The event was a fantastic way of presenting this years sales figures– we just had to get past all the corsets, suspenders and heels strewn all over the place!