Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Really liked it, several unexpected twists and turns. Back to War & Peace....

My cat is a serial killer

Twice in two nights - George has brought in a bat - pipistrelle we think. So cute... Paul takes them outside so hopefully they have survived. These are added to the list - weasel, squirrel, rabbits, mice, shrews, voles, blue tit, great tit, bullfinch, song thrush, blackbird, pigeon, dove, wren... every night we are woken by the crunching of bones and every morning we have to look where we are putting our feet to avoid various entrails. And he looks as though butter wouldn't melt in his mouth...

Buy British - Liz Earle's Naturally Active Skincare

It's all very well to demand the provenance of our food, (there were apples from China in Morrisons the other day, I mean, really!) but it should stretch to other things too, such as skincare and clothes.

I've been a fan of Liz Earle's range Naturally Active Skincare for a few years now, and repeat order rather than come and go. They always wrap everything beautifully (recyclable packaging) and always pop in a present of a tester size of something or other. Bit jealous of the Isle of Wight shop on the beach location of her business too...

The best pub food I've had in yonks

FINALLY, hurrah, jig up and down on the spot. We've found a local (ish) lovely pub in a lovely village serving amazing food, the kind you dribble about and dream about. This place is definitely where we will be going to for any celebration, and as I have just won some new business, the next time the sun deigns to come out, this is where we will be heading.

Stand up and take a bow the Alford Arms, Frithesden, nr Berkhamstead. I had pork belly with scallops and mint pea puree (on diet, obviously) and Paul had Coq au Vin. We shared a plate of british cheese which, for once, was so worth it. We'll be back.

Best Ads on the Internet

Dynamic Logic

IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE…

THE BEST ONLINE BRAND CAMPAIGNS IN THE UK

London, July 16, 2007

Dynamic Logic measured the in-market performance of 111 online brand advertising campaigns within the U.K. and Europe across 2006. The top campaigns overall were determined by Dynamic Logic’s ad effectiveness research, conducted in 2006 to evaluate the in-market campaign performance, and were the most noticed, most persuasive and most favourable. Campaigns are listed in alphabetical order by brand:

Brand Advertised: Adrift
Parent Company: Pathé
Media Agency: BLM Quantum

Creative Agency: Yahoo!

Brand Advertised: Opodo
Parent Company: Marriott
Media Agency: MediaCom UK

Creative Agency: Wheel

Brand Advertised: Palmolive for Men
Parent Company: Colgate Palmolive
Media Agency: MEC Interaction
Creative Agency: Pro Creation

Brand Advertised: Philips Streamium Wireless Music Center
Parent Company: Philips
Media Agency: Carat Digital

Creative Agency: Tribal DDB

Brand Advertised: Sheila's Wheels

Parent Company: eSure

Media Agency: Carat Digital

Creative Agency: Pre-Loaded

Brand Advertised: The Sentinel

Parent Company: Twentieth Century Fox

Media & Creative Agency: Starcom UK

Brand Advertised: Tassimo

Parent Company: Kraft Foods

Media & Creative Agency: Starcom UK

Brand Advertised: Volkswagen Jetta

Parent Company: Volkswagen

Media & Creative Agency: Tribal DDB

Brand Advertised: Yahoo! Search

Parent Company: Yahoo!

Media & Creative Agency: Profero

Also amongst the top performers, but not shown here, was a campaign produced by Zed Media.

Note: The criteria for inclusion those with the highest Online Ad Awareness scores, which were characterised by statistically significant increases at 90% or above. Additionally, the top-ranked campaigns performed as either “above average” or “excellent” compared to other online campaigns within their industry category in either Brand Favourability or Purchase Intent, the two measured persuasion metrics.

Suzanne Moorey-Denham, managing director, Dynamic Logic Europe, said: “These campaigns represented a wide variety of brands and categories, including travel, FMCG, entertainment, and automotive. The most noticed ads tended to be very-well branded and did not try to convey too many messages. The research also showed that the results were not driven by baseline awareness levels. Not only did these campaigns break through the clutter to generate higher awareness for their brands, but they were also persuasive. Influencing consumers’ attitudes towards a brand and shifting intent to purchase are typically the most difficult metrics to move. These branding campaigns help to identify and illustrate some best practices in successful online brand advertising that other marketers may be able to learn from and apply.”

Dynamic Logic uploads hundreds of AdIndex^® studies, which measure online ad effectiveness, into MarketNorms^®, an online planning and benchmarking tool. Using this database, Dynamic Logic identified the most effective online campaigns in terms of online brand performance as compared to all measured European and UK studies last year. The top campaigns ran in the UK and were among the most noticed, with their Online Ad Awareness scores ranging from 8-20 percentage-point increases after exposure to online advertising. They were also highly persuasive.

Pathé Adrift: “The page take-over campaign was innovative and most of all eye-catching. We were delighted by its impact,” Alasdair Nicolson, marketing manager, Pathé Distribution Ltd.

“Not only were we able to talk to users in an interesting an engaging way; creatively, we were able to go some way in influencing their intent to see the film. This is critical to a successful opening weekend,” commented Nick Fisher, online media manager, BLM Quantum.

Tassimo: “The digital media strategy was to ‘inform and educate’ our audience through a combination of highly-targeted placements on female lifestyle sites and search-sponsored listings. The creative placements followed the key rules of online branding (logo on every page, clear call to action, product image, and limited frames) and allowed people to visit a website rich in product information and links to e-commerce partners,” commented Richard Hollidge, who was group account director, Starcom Digital, and worked on this campaign.

To see examples of the U.K. campaign creative executions or to view the best U.S. campaigns, please visit:

http://www.dynamiclogic.com/eu/research/2006top10.php

About Dynamic Logic:

Dynamic Logic (www.dynamiclogic.com) is a leading research company with expertise in measuring marketing effectiveness. Dynamic Logic’s research includes: AdIndex^® to test and analyse online advertising, CrossMedia Research^TM to evaluate multimedia campaigns, MarketNorms^®, a syndicated ad effectiveness planning and benchmarking database, and Link^TM for Digital, an online copy-testing solution developed jointly with Millward Brown. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in New York City with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Providence, San Francisco, London, and Tokyo. Clients include leading marketers, advertising agencies and media companies. Dynamic Logic is a Millward Brown company, which is part of The Kantar Group, the information and consultancy arm of WPP.

week in the Lake District intro

Paul has been pining for a proper hike in the Lakes, without me huffing behind and slowing the pace, so we planned to go for a week, he'd do his stuff and I'd check into a hotel for a couple of days to do pampering or whatever, then I'd meet him over at George IV at Eskdale,

stay the night in a four poster (booked out, only three rooms) and then head back to Windermere to spend a couple more nights at The Mortal Man, Troutbeck, for a bit of walking and fishing.

We'd decided to break the journey in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, at The Merlin, which looked quite funky from its website and was open all day for food.

As it turned out we should have headed straight to the Lakes, as it was under 4 hours driving back, and The Merlin was pretty rubbish. The staff were all spaced, even the manager left us hanging there after a protracted check-in and I had to chase her to ask her where our room was. The place which is also a pub/restaurant was busy being a Sunday, the food was OK, service was shit. Glasses piling up everywhere and I cleared our table after half an hour of sitting amongst the rubble. I'm like my Dad on that one.

Also, being a Sunday, you couldn't get food unless it was in the restaurant after 6pm. So we walked to a fabulous Thai, Chilli Banana, up the road.

The hotel I stayed in for two nights whilst Paul was off Iron Johnning, The Regent by The Lake on Windermere was pretty rubbish. Very depressing dining area so I ate out at a very good restaurant The Water's Edge I think it was called.

And then, to pick Paul up in Eskdale, I had to drive up Hard Knott Pass myself. Eikesarama!


The Mortal Man we liked very much, and it had fab food with a spectacular panoramic view from our room and the restaurant.

Speeding fine

This REALLY gets my goat. Opened a letter from Cumbria Constabulary, with news of a speeding fine and a 3 point endorsement. I wasn't driving the car at the time, it was Paul. Really cross, he was doing, apparently, 49 miles in a 40 zone, on an A road which was veering between 40 and 50 as a limit, at 8 in the morning with no sign of any other car on the road.

Meanwhile, in our sleepy village of Mentmore, Bucks, anyone can drive through at any speed they like - usually 60 or 70 miles an hour plus round the sharp corners. The roads are full of potholes and the bends are much sharper than drivers think so there are numerous accidents.

Make the speed limit uniform across the country so you know what you're doing. 30 mph in villages - and not just the ones with schools in please. End of story.