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.