This month my agency the Hai Media Group heads to Manchester, along with other digital media creative entrepreneurs from throughout the UK, for the conference bTWEEN08, where our agency is a finalist in the Branding Talent competition.

HMG has teamed up with media partner Isabella Hu, a designer, to develop this seed idea for an integrated promotional campaign to support Littlewoods, a popular online shopping site for fashion and house wares. We’ve presented the judges with our Rare Fruits concept, that invites customers to visit Littlewoodsdirect.com, to pick rare fashion fruits from the branches of trees, growing on islands. The virtual world concept wraps around what we’ve already been told about Littlewoods new branding initiatives to build excitement with a television commercial involving a desert island, scheduled to be aired in the 2008 holiday season.

Among our mentors for this experience will be 4Talent (an innovation arm of the broadcaster Channel 4), Aegis Media, Just-b (the creators and designers of bTWEEN08) and Littlewoods.

bTWEEN08's Sponsors

We join other finalists to develop our seed ideas into a full proposal for the client, during a conference workshop, and find out Friday, 20th June 2008, if our Rare Fruits campaign is a winner. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work closely with our digital creative peers for bTWEEN08, and hope we have a good chance at winning the cash prize of £5K. You can see some screenshots of our Rare Fruits campaign concept below:

Check out our Rare Fruits entry here, which is up for public vote online, among other contenders:

http://www.just-b.com/btween/branding-tallent/rare-fruits

How do you vote? Please sign up to the bTWEEN08 online community, a helpful resource for digital entrepreneurs.

Creative Branding Inspiration

Hai Media Group hopes the judges will love our Rare Fruits campaign, a concept that aims to build website traffic by creating consumer excitement around exclusively available items from popular brands such as Miss Selfridges, Diesel, Love Island, Henleys, and other brands the retailer currently stocks. We've also suggested the possibility of offering prizes or products from the brand’s official spokeswomen Trinny & Susannah, who are leading fashion divas in the UK. We’ve been inspired by the successes High Street retailers have had in recent years by offering shoppers fashion lines from celebrities and designers, and see this new branding initiative as an opportunity for Littlewoods to capture the same excitement online.

Kate Moss, Madonna, Lilly Allen and others, have unveiled their collections at Top Shop, H&M and other retailers, but we think the best case study example is when Stella McCartney’s collection debuted at H&M in November 2005, which launched consumer fervour outside the Oxford Circus retail outlet on its launch day, with thousands of fans queuing for their chance to own an original piece of the collection. The store sold out within the first day, and remains a coup d'état moment among the fashion industry marketing types.

We hope to fuel similar excitement for Littlewoods, and offer busy women a new way to have a chance to own an original fashion item, that doesn’t require taking a day off from work, or raising kids, to queue for hours at a shop. In the run-up to our Rare Fruits campaign debut for Littlewoods, we’ve got integrated promotional strategies surrounding our campaign, to build buzz and excitement over an 8-week period in the run-up to the holidays, that we’ll be discussing further with the judges of this competition.

We are looking forward to working closely with other entrepreneurs, and media mentors to finalize our campaign ideas during the bTWEEN08 conference.

We join other finalists in a development workshop on Wednesday June 18^th June 2008, to develop our seed ideas into a full proposal for the client. We’ll find out Friday, 20^th June 2008, if our Rare Fruits campaign is an award-winner.

 

Hoping we've got a winner with the Littlewoods Rare Fruits campaign,

-Lisa

Who’s Lisa Devaney?

I head the Hai Media Group, a multimedia communications company based in London, offering client’s traditional public relations, combined with new technology marketing strategies. I also perform, creating original Cabaret-style comedy skits for festivals, theatre and parties. Find out more about me, and the talented entrepreneurs I collaborate with, by visiting: www.haimediagroup.com

Who’s Isabella Hu?

Hu is an artist and designer who works across the fields of interactive arts, motion graphics and new media. Her experience includes design consultantcy specializing in digital, film, and print media. She has screened her work internationally at various festivals throughout Europe, Canada, Asia, Australia and in the UK. Visit her portfolio here: Ecolocate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to a night learning about tantra, viewing adventures in India & partying with the real life

Tantric Tourists, for the World Premiere of this new British indie film: headlining London's East End Film Festival.
 
Tantric Tourists is a spiritual journey similar in style to the cult film classic Spinal Tap. The difference is that Tantric Tourists is a real travel adventure, about real people who seek the real India. This is the hotly anticipated

THE TANTRIC TOURISTS TOUR BUS IS COMING TO EAST LONDON TONIGHT:

*The film's star, Tantric Guru Laurie Handlers is also offering a 1-to-1 session, couple, or small group, opportunity for participation in a tantra course being held near London May 16-18, to welcome first time viewers of this new film.

Calling all human animals!

This weekend you'll get your chance to put these unappreciated skills to use while enjoying a wild night out in Dalston at The Human Zoo where your hidden talents will be welcome. *Find more details about this event here.

Go on, ask yourself:

What's Your Inner Beast?

Whether you are a monkey, an amphibious sort or a brightly feathered bird-like creature, Axel Rose would welcome you to this jungle, where cabaret acts, bands and DJs will be offering a mashup of rock, reggae and electro-fueled beats, to feed London’s savage beasts. The zoo-inspired fancy dress theme invites you to dig out you’re best fuzzy, fluffy, furry and furious wardrobe selections, and promises everything in-between on offer among the cast of colourful guests. Every zoo needs a keeper and there’s bound to be a lion tamer about to keep the wild crowd under control.

The Human Zoo may be one night of mayhem that sees The Naked Ape author Desmond Morris’s concept of urban

human animals fulfilled. This is what might happen when the cage of the city lets loose humanity’s apes, lions, tigers and bears to roam the streets of the East End for the night.

You could say that this crowd’s festival-style parties are back by popular demand, based on the adoration and following the organizers developed from their Nativity Hoedown in December. They are truly  growing their own stylish alternative to the usual boring clubbing night, and carving out a new little creative corner in Dalston, and we are all gratefully appreciative to the Passing Cloud Art Centre for the venue's ongoing support of these event organizing efforts.

• Join The Human Zoo Facebook Group
  

  Grrrrooooowwwl

• Connect with these animals through MySpace at myspace.com/handofglory7

• Email Miss Risk directly via her own blog on Vox.com here

It’s sure to be a roar of a good time!

And psssst…here’s a tip to bust ahead of the queue: show up in the best damn zoo-inspired outfit you can invent and you’re in the door!

 PS: Yes, I was part of the early stage planning on this, as the organizers have kindly annointed me as a resident artist with this new party scene, following the rocking hillbilly good time we all had at the Nativity Hoedown. Alas, some travel organizing has floundered my attendance at The Human Zoo, and unfortunately messed up my plans to debut a new lion tametress cabaret performance act I had in works for the night. I’m headed off this lovely British island this weekend for a trip I’m looking forward to, but will be growling it up in spirit with all my mates who are willingly putting themselves behind cage bars this weekend. Nonetheless, never mind worrying about whether I am going to be there (((who the ffff cares about that really unless you happen to be some sort of strange Lisa Devaney stalker))) the place will be packed with young, fun, beautiful creative people and plenty of great bands, DJs, and live performances from a circus-style cabaret group…and other surprises. Keep in mind:

You can only expect the unexpected at The Human Zoo.

 

Wishing I could be there,

but I do hope you give your inner beast

a good night out this Saturday

and have yourself a growl of a good time, 

-Lisa

Who’s Lisa Devaney?

I head the Hai Media Group, a multimedia communications company based in London, offering client’s traditional public relations, combined with new technology marketing strategies. I also perform, creating original Cabaret-style comedy skits for festivals, theatre and parties. Find out more about me, and the talented entrepreneurs I collaborate with, by visiting: www.haimediagroup.com

Joy, joy, joy! I’m sporting a new hairstyle now. My head is topped off with a retro-fabulous flashback look that reproduces the styles of the 1920s flappers who wore finger waves. You’ll find modern celebrities with similar coiffs, all inspired by the original Hollywood divas of days long gone by, like one of my favourites -- Mae West.

I put my mess of a curly mop of big volume, frizzy hair that tends to look more hippy than I’d prefer, into the skilled hands of a stylist in Soho. I expressed my love for old fashioned styles, so he suggested a more manageable, bob cut, and combined it with a bit of razzle dazzle for me by adding finger waves. To instruct the shampooist, he told her that he’d be “doing a Gwen Stefani.” This made me laugh, because clearly this new look for me is a fairly off-the-shelf cut that must be popular among many London ladies.

I absolutely marveled at the talent the stylist had for producing finger waves. He molded my hair with his fingers, sculpting it with a bit of hair gel, so that it formed gently rolling waves that remind me of being at the seaside, watching the waves lap against the shore. It isn’t something I can easily replicate, but my hair naturally waves on its own anyways. I found some basic instructions on how to do it, so if you want to experiment, here’s a quick reference guide another fan of the look suggests:

Get the Look! Finger Wave It

Step 1: On towel-dried hair, apply the correct styling product for your hair type from hair roots to ends.

Step 2: Pre-dry hair with a blow dryer.

Step 3: Set up hair with desired part. Dividing hair into 1-inch sections, work a curling iron through, section by section. Starting from close to the scalp, spiral hair unto the iron's barrel, hold briefly, then release. Work through hair until complete.

Step 4: After allowing hair to cool, test curl - if curl has not taken, take the curl and pin it up to the scalp with a pin, rolling as you go. If curl is firm, separate with fingers and finger comb to desired look.

Step 5: Take hair accessory and pin back hair on one side back, away from the face

The website She’s A Betty also has some good tips here.

I’m thrilled to now be finger waving it, along with the likes of Renée Zellweger,

who carried the look in the movie of the musical Chicago, and, the fabulous Gwen Stefani. I lilke to think that I just might be keeping the spirit of Betty Davis and her era of gorgeous glamour flapper babes alive with my hair. Or, at least I hope so.

I hold no illusion about being able to take centre stage with proper divas, and certainly can’t hold a candle to the silver screen stars I admire so, but I am pleased with my new look.

Lot’s of thanks to Ricky at basecuts in London’s Soho on Berwick Street, who I’ll definitely be returning to for help with my hair.

If you want to the look, ring up basecuts on 02072876807 and tell them that you want Ricky to finger wave you.

 I’m finger waving it,

Who’s Lisa Devaney?

I head the Hai Media Group, a multimedia communications company based in London, offering client’s traditional public relations, combined with new technology marketing strategies. I also perform, creating original Cabaret-style comedy skits for festivals, theatre and parties. Find out more about me, and the talented entrepreneurs I collaborate with, by visiting: www.haimediagroup.com