check out www.apelsintojos.com

THE IMPOSSIBLE PITCH II - HELP THE INTERNS! check this out http://buzz.bazooka.se/


APELSIN TO JOS
A LEGENDARY ESTONIAN POP GROUP.
A FARAWAY NIGERIAN CITY.
AND A SEAT LEFT FOR YOU.


Back in March, Swedish advertising agency Volontaire put its philosophy* to task by getting three interns to blog the progress of their ideas for a pitch presentation for Adidas worldwide called The Impossible Pitch.

Now, three more interns have been set a new mission for the agency’s client Brämhults, a small Swedish juice company with a big dream: to take the legendary Estonian pop group Apelsin to the Nigerian city of Jos.

To understand why, here is a Swedish glossary:
Apelsin = Orange (you know, the fruit) Jos = Juice (freshly squeezed, of course)

By taking the Estonian band to the Nigerian city, Brämhults hopes to manifest their business idea in an entertaining way.

However, there is one problem: the Estonian band doesn’t know anything about this yet.

So in late November, the interns are going to Tallinn to try and persuade Apelsin to get on a bus and drive through Europe, over the Gibraltar Strait to Western Africa and the Nigerian city of Jos, where they will shake hands with the mayor, and play their brilliant tunes in front of hundreds of ecstatic people.They will probably say NO.

That’s why the interns have two weeks to whoop up a petition via a social media campaign on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and their daily blog of ideas, dreams, videos and suggestions: http://www.apelsintojos.com/. The more that sign up as fans on Facebook, the bigger the chance that Apelsin says YES.
So what’s in it for the audience? One lucky Facebook fan gets a seat on the bus to Nigeria with the band. The rest will follow the road trip as a mini series.
HELP THE INTERNS! JOIN THE FACEBOOK FAN PAGE!



Info: Amanda Harrison + 44 (0)1296 660 294 ah@amandaharrisonmedia.co.uk
Volontaire: Carl Unger CEO +46 (0)767 730 450 carl@volontaire.se

*Volontaire has five beliefs:

1. Companies no longer have the power to control their brands
2. Communicate with people, not target groups
3. It's neither about traditional nor new media
4. No one is waiting for your next advertising campaign
5. Great ideas come from everywhere

Emu Boots v Celtic Sheepskin Boots

I first fell in love with sheepskin boots about 9 years ago, when I bought my first pair of black long Celtic Sheepskin boots. Since then I've bought the dark brown long poppers and light brown short poppers, and I've blogged about them before. Living in the country and being hot on comfort, from every mid-October they're pretty much a permanent fixture on my feet, following a summer wearing pretty much only my Electra Gold sequinned Fitflops or last season's Pierre Hardy high-heeled ankle boots from The Gap.

What I've learned about sheepskin boots:

• don't wear them when you're in the kitchen. Suede and olive oil don't mix, and don't stack the dishwasher. Enough said.


• they're like wearing radiators, so great for the outdoors, not so great for causing hot flushes indoors when the heating's pumped up


• you can get annoying "jean stain" on the boots even wearing old jeans, so the dark colours are way more practical


• they do look best on models, with Cameron Diaz' length of leg, the same way most winter chic with all its bulk only suits the similarly blessed

Having been in favour of the Celtic Sheepskin company, a Cornish brand, I was never going to vere to the WAGtastic Ugg brand, being Oz.

But Sylvie at http://www.fuelmyblog.com/ selected me to review a pair of also-Oz Emu boots from Fitness Footwear, so my future brand loyalty is in question. So, Celts or Emus?

Celtic Sheepskin has a wide range of boots, from the trad Celts to poppers, bikers, buckles, bow, ribbon etc in a really wide variety of colours.

Turquoise suede boots anyone? I know the 80's are back but even then - as new romantic 13 year olds - it was black or burgundy all the way, and, for the record, in those days we called them "pixie boots".

Celts are certainly not cheap, with the knee boots (the ones I bought way back when) at £140, calf classics at £103 and regular at £97. Just about the right mid-range price given that they last for years and years. They are "100% sheepskin upper • Lightweight, flexible rubber sole• Built to last with double-stitched seams • Hand finished to the highest standards• Machine washable." Although I have washed my boots (and I forgot to mention I've got through two pairs of the moccasin slippers) they are never quite the same, which might be my failure to be a wonder at laundry.

Emu - on its own website - has a pretty wide range too, although without the colour pop of the Celts. Fitness Footwear's selection has mostly just the two types, Brontes and stingers. I get to choose which ones I'd like sent to me, so to try something different from my Celts, I went for the Bronte Charcoal.

Having had on my new pair of Emus for a few hours, I notice that they have more sock room than the Celts, and are slightly less tight on the leg, which is great as shoving jeans into boots is never a pleasure. They are very comfy, in a new boot way, so it'll be interesting to see how the insoles wear. I'm not sure if they are as warm as the Celts, but I have been sitting still in a cold room.

The main difference to me is the feel of the suede, which although fine is less soft and luxurious than my Celts, but that's probably down to the price, since these come in on Fitness Footwear's website, with a current 10% reduction, at £69.95. I think I'd think they were a bit steep if I was buying them for myself.

The Emu branding on the boots is more obvious, and I imagine for UK consumers this is an Emu v Ugg battle, or at least a pitch to show that Emus are a much better quality and cheaper - but not so much as to be skanky - alternative to annual winter throwaways that stink and fall apart after a few wears.

Last word, though, from my husband, who thinks the Emu's are smarter. But that could be because the thinks grey is edgy...

Next day.... still have them on, wondering whether it's OK to drive in them? I did do yesterday, but husband seems to think that the sole is such that I shouldn't, any thoughts?

Jan 2010 - since then I still wear and like the boots, but I think the sizing is on the large size, my 39 size 6 feels way too big for me. Also, I'm standing on kitchen tiles a lot and the soles don't seem to keep the chill off. But I do like the pattern that the soles make on the snow!

Parks Candles' Sandalwood and Ylang Ylang Aromatherapy

I adore these candles, they smell divine. It's a pity Parks Candles' packaging is so shit - it makes the candles look cheap, which at about £18 is not reflective. Get a good design agency, sort out your website and pitch yourselves against Jo Malone!

www.charmsoflight.com

Truly charming jewellery by truly charming designer and reiki master Caryl Haxworth, http://www.charmsoflight.com/ offers some amazingly good value gemstone jewellery and stones. I've just bought a chakra bracelet, opalite guardian angel and best of all, Carly made for me some rose quartz drop earrings for my wedding which received great compliments. Such lovely presents too.

tumblr's the new twitter

Having a bit of a fiddle on the internet today - connecting all my online stuff at flickr, tumblr, twitter, facebook etc together. Tumblr's fast becoming my favourite for its ease and its fun.

Contemplating Webber's drive through penalty... Belgian Grand Prix 2009

Contemplating Webber's drive through penalty... Belgian Grand Prix 2009
Originally uploaded by Amanda Longhurst

Didn't spoil a fabulous weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix. What an amazing track and Spa Francorchamps is lovely. Bloody chilly camping though! We were at The Elephant camp site. Really nice three small fields, but only four loos and showers for whole campsite.... Clean though. Expensive, but it would be for 30 mins walking distance to the track!

Vodafone Cockpit Karaoke Competition To Win Tix for Monza

Pretty nifty idea by Vodafone Germany - they sent events people round the campsite we stayed at for the F1 Belgian Grand Prix, to video us impersonating a racing car. They uploaded them to the contest site on youtube and, I can't work out whether most views wins or most voted for (or how to vote) but anyway the winner gets VIP tix to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Check me out. How embarrassing, but worth a shot, eh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KODQxDuY28c

Project Kittens and Moonbeams

Right, enough of all the Dilbert-like process monkeys who micro-manage and drive me bonkers.

Project Kittens and Moonbeams for focus.

Hugo Boss email campaign

Really like the Hugo Boss email I got today. A rather lovely looking Lewis Hamilton promoting the formal suit range, plus a change to win a trip to the Singapore Grand Prix staying at the Mandarin Oriental. Now that's what I call good targeting....

Jensen Button

Jensen Button

Goodness me - an online advert that stopped me in my tracks!

Very impressed by this great online advert by Volkswagen South Africa. A snail pulling a poster trailer across the screen. Actually clicked through...

Love Love Love these Brian Atwood shoes

Problem is: a) they cost £405 at matchesfashion b)I'd never get the chance to wear them. I'd scare the locals in my village.

Serval

Serval
Originally uploaded by Amanda Harrison Longhurst

Tenikwa Wildlife Awareness - Plettenberg

Edwin, not the most attractive of birds

IMG_0534
Originally uploaded by Amanda Harrison Longhurst

Tenikwa Wildlife Awareness Centre, Plettenberg Bay

Jodhpur Clocktower market

Jodhpur Clocktower market
Originally uploaded by Amanda Harrison Longhurst

now that's a beard!

now that's a beard!
Originally uploaded by Amanda Harrison Longhurst

Smokin'

Gorgeous cheetah cub at Cango Wildlife Ranch, SA, born February 2009.

Paul - Noordhoek Beach, SA

Paul - Noordhoek Beach, SA
Originally uploaded by Amanda Harrison Longhurst

Himster

Himster
Originally uploaded by Amanda Harrison Longhurst

George Porge Furry Trousers Haribo Longhurst

George Porge Furry Trousers Haribo Longhurst
Originally uploaded by Amanda Harrison Longhurst

how handsome can a cat get?

late lunch Paternoster

later lunch Paternoster
Originally uploaded by Amanda Harrison Longhurst

Late lunch sunshine in glorious Western Cape. Back in 2005

God's helicopters

God's helicopters
Originally uploaded by Amanda Harrison Longhurst

It was like a searchlight was roving the sea. Camps Bay 2005

Taken back in October 2005, just shows what happens when the clouds come down suddenly on Table Mountain. Stunning but scary.

Rambagh Palace Hotel, Jaipur

Rambagh Palace Hotel, Jaipur
Originally uploaded by Amanda Longhurst

There was some sort of ceremony going on as we arrived at the hotel, it was getting dusky but just enough light to appreciate the spectacular colours of classic Rajasthan images. Wow.

Beacon Isle Hotel, Plettenberg Bay, Easter 2009

View from Moby Dick's beach restaurant of the

Beacon Isle Hotel, Plettenberg Bay, Easter 2009
Originally uploaded by Amanda Longhurst

infamous Beacon Isle Hotel. Stayed there a couple of years back and it was a bit tacky to say the least... went there for a drink at Easter and it's been vamped up a bit which is great, although very family-oriented and therefore a bit loud... I also went to its great spa with wonderful lymphatic massage....

Rajasthan Jan 2009

Picasa is pretty cool, has a collage option....

Business Superbrands

Thanks to Heidi at Superbrands for namechecking me in their email newsletter.

"Business Superbrands LaunchFebruary saw the launch of the 2009 Business Superbrands programme with the UK’s top 500 B2B brands revealed in the national press and re-designed book. 200 members and their guests attended the launch event for this year’s Business Superbrands programme. The event was held in a lavish setting at the Institute of Directors and guests were treated to entertainment, great food and drink and the chance to network with senior marketers from the Superbrands, Business Superbrands and CoolBrands® programmes.

The PR campaign was led by Amanda Harrison Media and news items were successfully carried in The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC TV News and LBC Radio as well as hundreds of other national, regional and trade titles."

The Impossible Pitch - GO INTERNS!

How genius is this. Is a pitch via Twitter a Twitch?

THE IMPOSSIBLE PITCH - HELP THE INTERNS!

The elevator pitch is dead. Enter the twitter pitch.

Swedish advertising agency Volontaire has five beliefs:

Companies no longer have the power to control their brands
Communicate with people, not target groups
It's neither about traditional nor new media
No one is waiting for your next advertising campaign
Great ideas come from everywhere

It is putting its philosophy to task by getting three interns to blog the progress of their ideas for a pitch presentation for Adidas worldwide.

All first year students at Berghs School of Communication, Malin Berg, 22, Elisabet Fischer, 24 and Henrik Bohman, 23 were given a mission:

1. Pitch on Adidas worldwide
2. Win the account
3. Within three weeks

Why? Because according to Adidas, impossible is nothing.

The Volontaire interns have been posting images, video clips, their thoughts and ideas on http://www.theimpossiblepitch.com/, twitter, tumblr and youtube ahead of the big reveal on the website of their full blown presentation on Friday this week, in the hope that Adidas bosses take notice and give Volontaire the adidas.tv account – rendering the impossible pitch possible.

People from all walks of life from all around the world have been posting their suggestions, ideas and support:

Love your attitude and your approach! Keep going! Here are some brilliant sport moments that always inspired me: Dieter Baumann won the 5k olympic race (1992) Holyfield came back in one of the greatest rounds in history (1992?) Derek Redmond didn't won, but he finished! (1992) /Florian About http://www.theimpossiblepitch.com/

GO INTERNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dior-lust

How cute is this Dior ring. Sigh.

Sponsoring Clare's Triathlon for Cancer Research UK

Clare Longhurst is in the Mazda 2009 London Triathlon on August 1st for Cancer Research UK. Any sponsorship gratefully received.

Product trial - Aveeno Skincare Solutions

I've been asked to review Aveeno Skincare products and a week in, I'm giving a thumbs up.

The blurb from the PR company says: Aveeno® is a range of skincare solutions containing naturally active ingredients, designed specifically for all types of dry skin – from mild to extremely dry. The makers of Aveeno have uniquely captured the benefits of naturally active ingredients such as colloidal oatmeal,and shea butter, to give you beautiful, soft and healthy-looking skin.

Out of the three products I'm testing, the weirdest one is the bath powder, the smell (presumably from the collodial oatmeal!) meant that it was like taking a bath in porridge. I wouldn't use it again, I'm more of a Lush bath bomb kind of girl.

The best thing about the lotion is that it is absorbed really well, really quickly. I might be a strange girl but I usually find this a real problem (similarly my skin takes just AGES to dry. Love baths, hate the aftermath). The cream is obviously thicker and great on elbows.

So, I did like the Aveeno range, and as I do have dry skin I should continue to buy for myself once my trial products have run out. But, I just don't happen to feel that I'm pampering myself - with the lotion and cream being fragrance free, it feels a bit of a chore to rub in. I like to feel that when moisturising the aroma is helping me relax and I am a fragrance fan.

I would have liked to have tried the oil though. Perhaps I could have added a few drops of perfume to it...

Another Jaeger delight - but sizes are a mystery

Lucky me, I managed to get my hands on a gorgeous summer (dreaming on) "Starburst" dress from Jaeger's Outlet section of its website (that's sale to you and me). My usual size was sold out, so I got the size below and the size above just in the hope one of them fitted. Happily to say the size below fitted me, how cool is that?

I know Jaeger is generous when it comes to sizing, but in my wardrobe I have Jaeger clothes size 8,10,12 and 14. All of which fit me perfectly.

Rajasthan elephant at Rambagh Palace Hotel, Jaipur

Toast By Post

Lusting after Toast By Post's paraffin lantern for all those balmy summer evenings in the garden.

Why has Daily Mail's Liz Jones Got It In For Frankie Van Heel?

What vitriol! Why has Liz Jones attacked Andy Burnham MP's wife Frankie Van Heel in the Daily Mail so viciously? Standing out from all the, frankly, Frankie, dreadful outfits (you and you Eugenie and Beatrice) she looks just fab.

Sarah and Gordon Brown look like the lumps they are.

The Queen Mother would have offered Frankie a nip of her dubonnet/gin/vodka/drambuie/pernod/chartreuse chaser stash if she'd been there.

Love the whole outfit. Good for her.

So back to Liz Jones. I do read her work when I come across it, it's hard not to when she wears her heart on her sleeve - car crash writing. She can't be that bad if she loves her animals so much. But really, why Frankie Van Heel? She brings some cheer into what is supposed to be a cheery do, not a grim affair.

Liz, don't rip into other women, it's just not becoming.

bio-chart

I know I only ever look at it when I'm feeling out of kilter, but www.bio-chart.com seems to be pretty accurate. Whenever I am feeling low it tells me that, yup buddy, so I should be.

Float On

Finally got round to having another float - two years down the line at The Belmore Centre near Stoke Mandeville Hospital. I didn't enjoy this as much, for a number of reasons.

Mainly, my introduction was a bit haphazard, and I wasn't sure how you knew when to get out, as I'd been told it was when the music stopped. Which it didn't. And, with your ears being underwater, you can't hear whether the music has stopped or not. So that worried me for a bit. Also, it wasn't in a pod in pitch black, it was in a big bath-shower like room and you could see the light coming in. I think I fell asleep for a bit. I worried more about when to get out. I got out, and it was about the right time - 45 minutes-ish. Then I wasn't sure what to do next as I was due a back massage. I left my therapy room open and a lady came. I didn't have any spa slippers so there was a palaver trying to find those. Then I had to gather all my clothes and take them upstairs to another treatment room to have the back massage.

So I was a bit cross, which doesn't bode well with a float. The back massage was OK. Hot stones were involved, but not once did I feel any pressure, any "Oooh yes just there please." But overall it was a pretty nice way to spend an hour or so. Then I got seduced by some Clarins products I needed. (Well, will need when my others have run out...).

My friend Jacquie has booked us in for some treatments at the Mandarin Oriental as a wedding present - how amazing is that! SO looking forward to that. I was going to have some treatments in Rajasthan but there never seemed any time.

P&P Taj Mahal compressed

P&P Taj Mahal compressed
Originally uploaded by Amanda Longhurst

How many people in the world have had their picture taken on this bench?

The ultimate cliche, but the Taj Mahal is so awesome, it has to be done.

Bollymoon, Jan 2009

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.