Looking forward to 2014 already

So another year has ended and a new one is beginning. 

2013 was certainly an interesting year - I remember starting out feeling unsure about my job, unsure what I was even doing with my life and generally, being a massive worrier! But slowly over the course of the year, things started to change.

People took a chance on me in my professional life and helped me to continue to grow from strength to strength. I made some awesome new friends who I've carried through into the new year. And I discovered Black Milk.

"A clothing brand?" I hear you say. "How can they change your life?"

Aside from the fact that the clothes are a dream for a geeky, sci-fi, fantasy obsessed girl like me, they helped me carve out something of an identity for myself - I became affectionately known as Crazy Leggings Girl at work - it also introduced me to a whole online community of equally obsessed but incredibly friendly girls (and we even all meet up during the year).

The Black Milk online community is global and it's what continues to drive the brand and it's success as the years roll by. But I'm getting off topic!

In 2013, I got to focus on working in Social Media which I fell in love with. Through my work, I met some fantastic people who went on to become friends in the "real world" - a special shout out goes to @SpamellaB. 

I also got the chance to attend some fantastic events such as Manchester networking event, Twitfaced and an all day event at the BBC in Media City called #SocialMediaWhatsTrending which brought together a series of panels and speakers that only the BBC could get together all in one building! 

Panelists included blogger Jayne Robinson @JaynesKitch (check out her amazing blog here: http://www.jayneskitschen.co.uk), Matt Cooke from Google, Luke Lewis from Buzzfeed & Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper.

So how can 2014 better this? It's already doing it

The infamous Kitten Camp (cat memes + social media + free beer) is heading up to North for the first time & alongside Pam & my other amazing friend, Fay @fayscho, we are bringing it to Manchester. Definitely need to try and get my hands on these for it!

Manchester Digital Marketing event Twitfaced returns on January 31st where the Digital, PR & Social Media community descends onto a bar and proceed to get....well you can guess!

I'm also going to try and stay on top of blogging a bit more! New sections coming in 2014 will include my thoughts on film, theatre, social media and travel. Watch this space!

It's already shaping up to be a good year!

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Something Wicked This Way Comes

Halloween has been all over social media for several weeks now, with over 4 million posts on social, according to The Drum.

leads to over 4m posts on social, with parties and promos top in UK and pumpkins and pets hot topics in the US
Read more at http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/10/30/halloween-leads-over-4m-posts-social-parties-and-promos-top-uk-and-pumpkins-and-pets#1k67FAC0eHjZxTct.99

leads to over 4m posts on social, with parties and promos top in UK and pumpkins and pets hot topics in the US
Read more at http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/10/30/halloween-leads-over-4m-posts-social-parties-and-promos-top-uk-and-pumpkins-and-pets#1k67FAC0eHjZxTct.99

leads to over 4m posts on social, with parties and promos top in UK and pumpkins and pets hot topics in the US
Read more at http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/10/30/halloween-leads-over-4m-posts-social-parties-and-promos-top-uk-and-pumpkins-and-pets#1k67FAC0eHjZxTct.99

Something that's really caught my eye over on Twitter, is several consumer product oriented brands using Vine to market their products over Halloween. I'm personally a huge fan of Vine and love how these brands are not only making excellent use of the platform but also giving their products that extra spooky twist with catchy, memorable hashtags such as #ScaredStainless and #marksandspectres.

Whilst engagement levels aren't particularly good - the number of retweets & favourites on each Vine is pretty poor, considering most of the accounts are pushing well over 100k - 200k followers & Target is nearly at 1 milllion - the videos themselves are slick, funny and certainly creative.

Check out my top 10 favourite brand Halloween Vines below.

Happy Halloween!

Original Rogue

Captain Manchester Launch & Losing my Solita Virginity

Not that long ago, I stumbled across an intriguing tweet from someone referencing a character known only as Captain Manchester.

An unemployed guy patrolling the streets of Manchester in a mask and cape, performing selfless acts and inspiring good will in others. He popped up at all the best known Manchester hotspots - All Star Lanes, Solita - and it seemed everyone in Manchester was getting snapped with the elusive caped crusader.

From paying for random parking tickets to handing out umbrellas in the rain, giving out scratch cards and persuading Australasia to give food to the homeless to decorating the the city centre with 200 balloons, just to perk everyone's day up, our local do-good er was taking over the city.

Captain Manchester quickly gained thousands of followers and piqued the attention of the national press, with the Mirror, the Metro and the Express all publishing articles on the mystery man.

However it was soon revealed that Captain Manchester was a guerrilla marketing campaign in aid of Manchester-based charity Forever Manchester and when I heard they were launching a comic, as a self confessed geek, I had to be there.

I popped on my best comic inspired dress and trotted off to the launch at NQ2022 with two friends. Upon arriving at the venue, I was chuffed to be able to grab a picture with the man himself before heading inside for drinks, live music and of course, the launch of the comic.

The Captain Manchester comic produced by Smudge Jones from Tunafish Media and illustrated by Chris Spain, only costs £4 and all proceeds go to the charity. You can find out all the details and grab a copy of the comic here.

As LT and I were heading back through the Northern Quarter, we came across the infamous Solita restaurant. It's harder to get into than Fort Knox but we decided to chance it. Lucky for us, they happened to have a table available. We were seated straight away and decided to indulge in a cocktail whilst we perused the menu. 

We both chose Cool as a Cucumber and The Twelve Dollar Shake.

 After lots of umming and aahhing, over a menu where I could have literally eaten everything on it, we opted to have the  Lucky 7 to start with. 

7 exquisite layers of guacamole, re-fried beans, sour cream, salsa, cheese, lettuce, olives, served with blue corn tortilla chips.

It was delicious and I could have quite happily polished off a portion three times the size!

LT had gone for the bacon double cheese with 4 ounces of Monterey Jack cheese, crispy bacon and toasted brioche bun, all held with a slice of bacon candy.

 And I had chosen deep fried mac ‘n’ cheese with pulled pork and beer battered onion rings. Just look at it....

Foodgasm was the only way to describe each bite of that meal. 


 

It was delicious, filthy, naughty food that tempts you from the moment you lay eyes on it. If you fancy indulging in a little food porn, check out their menu or follow them on Twitter.

They do get filled up out quite quickly and the venue isn't enormous (though I prefer the intimate feel of the place) so either head down early on a weeknight - we went around 8pm on a Wednesday -  or if you're a party of 6 or more, you can book a table.

Original Rogue

Black Milk are ready to bewitch you

The countdown is on.

After the phenomal success of their licensed clothing lines with Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, Black Milk finally were granted the rights to produce Harry Potter clothing. The fans (or Sharkies as they prefer to be know), have been clamouring the site with suggestions, ideas, criticisms and comments.

The fans are part of the reason the Black Milk Clothing brand has had such a rapid ascent and impact. I first discovered them due to their Lord of the Rings range - "what? I can actually WEAR my favourite film on my body?" 

Black Milk One Ring Swimsuit

Black Milk Witch King Leggings

Black Milk Middle Earth Map Legs

They have dominated in an ever increasing fanbase due to an excellent understanding of social media and truly listening to what the fans want (no mean feat when you have 500k + Likes on Facebook, 30,000 Twitter followers and 628k followers on Instagram). Their Facebook channel alone currently has 538,852 likes and 48,181 talking about this which equals an engagement rate of 11.20. Phenomenal in social media standards.

They also have a YouTube channel, a Tumblr account, Pinterest and Google+ account - name a social media platform and they are on it, but what really sets them apart is they listen (celebrities - take note!). Despite the vast number of Sharkies clamouring for their attention, their excellent customer service team takes the time to reply to almost every single enquiry that comes their way. Not only do they deal with the standard issues of late packages and missed orders, but they chat freely about the items they themselves would like, the items the fans say they would like to see (Long Torso swimwear is an excellent example of the fan influence), repost pictures of fans sporting their clothing to populate their channels and dub them all Hot Little Bosses.

They also tease the fans with sneak peeks on various platforms before finally releasing a Pintrest album a few days before the release goes live.

Another key move is Black Milk updates fans frequently with video podcasts, showcasing new ranges, ideas and model them with their very own team illustrating how the clothes look on all manner of shapes, sizes & genders (though use professional models on their actual website).

The Harry Potter range is sure to be a smashing success (though as I'm not an amazingly huge fan there's only one piece I've really got my eye on)

Daily Prophet High Waisted Matt Finish Leggings

More importantly for me, they've announced a Game of Thrones Collection coming in November 2013. Watch this space..............

Original Rogue

Cause we all love a bit of Jennifer Lawrence

I love Jennifer Lawrence. I think she's awesome, down to earth, happy in herself and not a stick insect like half of Hollywood. 

Mashable, it seems, agrees. Check out their awesome article with GIFs galore!

23 Ways to Be a Badass Like Jennifer Lawrence

Original Rogue

Getting up close and personal with Disney

Every now and then, an email pings into my inbox that really makes me sit up and go "Wow!". I've always been a Disney fan and some of their later offerings - Pirates of the Caribbean and the Pixar collaborations - have really been brilliant.

Last summer, I spent a while with Digital Cinema Media and first discovered about augmented reality there. A programme called Blippar allowed you transform your magazine into anythings - a moving picture, a shop so you could buy the very item you saw on the page or a game (in our case, a spaceship which we made blow everything up in the office).

Disney has taken it one step further. Observe! (I recommend you watch on a full screen)

The app is a precursor to the Disney  Infinity video game due out later this month. Fans can choose from 30 different animations and props such to create their very own Disney mini-movie. It will be launched on Apple’s iOS tomorrow, 15 August, followed by Android and Windows Phone platforms at a later date.

UPDATE

We downloaded the app in the office today and had great fun making Mr Incredible smash through things!

Every office needs a dog...

Seriously, they do. It's the perfect pick me up in the afternoon. 5 minutes spent running around after my colleagues delightful pug and everyone is exhausted, happy and back to work with a smile on their faces.

Nuff said! Or should that be "ruff" said?