Isn’t it nice just to be able to spend a bit of time with family and friends (and the neighbours) to mark the occasion?

The Queen at 86, has been a truly inspirational monarch. With a real focus on unity within the country’s increasingly diverse communities, and with a schedule just as busy as anyone of us.

Her great strength is of course her commitment to moving with the times. Being able to stay far enough away from politics, yet remain in touch with her people and the wider world. And surely this is the benchmark for any great agency too.

Brands have been said to be cashing in on the Diamond Jubilee. And understandably so. According to research from Mars, we’ll fork out an extra £334m on food and treats alone.

Let’s enjoy some of the best Jubilee ideas:

Kit Kat – Brit Kat

Marmite – Ma’amite

Mr Kipling – Great British Fancies

The spa based in Hanbury, is a family-run business surrounded by the open countryside in the heart of rural Worcestershire. Set in a beautifully converted oak barn.

The business has been building a great reputation as a day spa, providing the perfect retreat for those wishing to indulge, attracting vistors from all over the UK.

Launched with the campaign ‘Rewarding in every sense’ the site and associatied marketing material captures the high quality of the Chessgrove experience alluding to the senses eyes, ears, smell, taste and touch.

The site has a great range of features including an online shop, tour and stunning imagery that demonstrates the quality of the spa for customers to enjoy. It also includes the latest social media technology, including a brilliant ‘Send a hint’ feature that enables customers to share the experience with family and friends via email, Facebook and Twitter.

Chessgrove Day Spa – Homepage

Fourth Dunlop Art Car competition calls for entries from design students and car and racing fans to give its Ferrari F458 Italia a unique look.

Dunlop, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high and ultra high performance tyres, is calling for competition entries motorsport enthusiasts and design students to create the look of the Dunlop sponsored Ferrari at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year. This is the fourth year that a Dunlop car’s design has been created by competition winners – but this year there is a big difference – all entrants will have a much freer canvas for designing the Ferrari F458 Italia entered by JMW Motorsport.

This year’s competition will seek to expand the initiative into the artistic domain. The call for entries in 2012 is directed at car and racing fans as well as design students across all disciplines – from art to industrial, and fashion to architectural, each will have the chance to use the Ferrari’s livery as a canvas.

“This year we are taking the competition to a new level and bringing together the designs from thousands of racing enthusiasts, with those of design students,” says James Bailey, Director, European Motorsport Marketing and Communications. “We are confident that the mix will deliver a new level of racing car design that will deliver an impressive selection of race car design finalists.”

Art cars are not new to the iconic Le Mans race. The first to grace the French track was American artist Alexander Calder in 1975, and since then several artists’ works have flashed down the Mulsanne straight, including those of David Hockney and Andy Warhol.

This year’s competition is open to more people than ever before. The minimum entry age has been reduced to 16 yrs* and entrants are now invited from 12 countries across Europe. A dedicated website http://artcar.dunlop.eu/en has easy instructions for submitting designs – entrants simply apply their creation to a branded car template. Judges will be looking for imaginative and creative use of the automotive canvas that will be seen by over 200,000 spectators and millions of TV viewers worldwide.

Dunlop also needs budding art critics to judge the competition by visiting the http://artcar.dunlop.eu/en website, with no need to register and using Facebook ‘likes’ for their favourite design. The top two ‘liked’ entries along with two designs selected by a jury for each country all win prizes and go through to the European final; the most popular entry overall receives an automatic place in the final four.

The 48 finalists are then reduced to four international winners, three being selected by the EU jury, which includes the 2011 winner Mik Whiting who designed the ‘Feel The Road’ design that adorned the car last year (see image). The final place will be given to the most popular design. First prize includes seeing the art car unveiled at the pre-race test at Le Mans on June 2nd/3rd. The winner will also attend an awards dinner, see behind the scenes at the Le Mans test event, receive a pair of tickets to the Le Mans race itself and €1000. The three runners-up will each receive a canvas print of their design signed by the JMW race drivers.

Entries can be submitted from now until the closing date for entries on 10th May. The four winners from each country will be announced on 14th May with the winner and runners-up being notified on 17th May. The winning design will be seen for the first time on June 2nd when it emerges from the pit-garage at Le Mans.

“We have had a great response to the last three competitions and the brief we set, but we decided that we would like to give more freedom for the design this year. By expanding our reach towards design and art academies we hope to attract even more interest around Europe. We’re looking forward to some really creative entries – there are no constraints”, said Bailey.

For more information on the contest go to http://artcar.dunlop.eu/en

Speaking with MTV News the president of AV Concepts Nick Smith, responsible for the 3D projection and staging said “We worked with Dr. Dre on this, and it was Dre’s vision to bring this back to life,” Smith said.

“It was his idea from the very beginning and we worked with him and his camp to utilize the technology to make it come to life. … You can take their likenesses and voice and … take people that haven’t done concerts before or perform music they haven’t sung and digitally re-create it.

The hologram apparently took months to plan for and the cost of the service wouldn’t be disclosed, although did mention that more showslike this would be likely due to the “affordability”of the project.

“I can say it’s affordable in the sense that if we had to bring entertainers around world and create concerts across the country, we could put [artists] in every venue in the country.”

Watch the video here (and with the sound off if you’re easily offended).

Which artists would you like to see back to life and why?

Rumours started to circulate about whether Nolan would be tempted to conclude the trilogy – something he’d previously played-down – in light of the deserved success of his Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight.

These whispers then moved onto who would return, and who would be introduced. Was there anyone who could follow-up the tragic Heath Ledger’s incredible portrayal of The Joker? One of the favourite ideas circulating the web was casting Johnny Depp as The Riddler.

As time went on, all kinds of stories were suggested, discussed and eventually confirmed. Nolan and his team had settled on an epic way to end his journey.

We found out that the likes of Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and of course Christian Bale were all set for another outing. There was also intriguing talk regarding Scarecrow Cillian Murphy, and even more intriguing was the possibility of Liam Neeson reprising his role as Ra’s Al Ghul.

Eyebrows were raised when casting was further revealed, and news that Anne Hathaway would be playing the role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman received mixed reviews. There was little surprise, however, and little complaint when names like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard were confirmed. A great actor and actress respectively, they worked under Nolan on his brilliant, mind-bending movie Inception.

Nolan also returned to this masterpiece to end the search for his new villain. Enter Bane. The task of bringing to life one of Batman’s toughest enemies was confidently handed to Tom Hardy.

So with July 20^th drawing ever-closer, with two posters and a couple of great trailers out there, the anticipation is higher than ever. Everybody has once again come down with Bat-fever!

As well as the many hundreds of fan-made movie posters/trailers around, there have been some fantastic takes on the movie. None more-so than this truly brilliant stop-motion effort from film and animation group Paranickfilmz using LEGO®.

Each scene from the second trailer that was released has been brilliantly recreated using LEGO® bricks and custom-made characters, as well as some additional effects.

During the double bill of the series, viewers were treated to some of the most iconic ads from the sixties including Tetley Tea, Kit Kat, Fairy Liquid and Cadbury’s Milk Tray.

American Airlines Steve Davis, marketing director, EMEA, said: “This initiative provides an opportunity to showcase our historical advertising, which is then a great segue into the present day with our Kevin Spacey/Individual campaign currently on air.”

For the opening night and the launch of the fifth series 14 adverts in total were showcased. The first two ad breaks were in black and white, and the third ad break in colour.

Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010.

The adverts were a great idea, and at LHM we all had our favourites. Enjoy some of the commercials that were featured below:

400 guests from around the UK and Ireland, as well as Belgium, Germany and Spain, filled the Park Lane Sheraton Ballroom.

The night featured a fantastic 3 course meal, a speedy awards session (so guests could just get on with enjoying themselves) and top class entertainment.

The whole night was a huge success for the organiser and BCA Executive Director Jennifer Brooke.

Centres across the UK were praised for their dedication, professionalism and flexibility in nurturing small businesses through tough economic times.

This year’s judges were immediate past BCA Chair Julie Grieve; Managing Director of Warwick Mill Business Centre, Carlisle, Simon Long; Tony Waldron, Managing Director of Executive Communication Centres and Dawn Grinham, Managing Director of Quadrant Business Centre, Coventry.

To view the stunning photos from the event go to the BCA facebook page.

The winners of the BCA Annual Industry Awards 2011 were:
BCA Business Centre of the Year – Group Category: Business Environment Wembley
Independent centre of the year: Garden Studios of Covent Garden
Workspace of the year: Basepoint Chatham
Broker representative of the year: Rebecca-Jane Strawford, officebroker.com
Trade supplier of the year: essensys

I like to think I’m a bit of a film buff with plenty of favourites, from the classic Sexy Beast to the beautifully brilliant Good Will Hunting. However, it’s quite something when a more current film absolutely blows your mind to the extent that Christopher Nolan’s Inception did mine. I can quite confidently say – and met by much disagreement – that it’s my favourite film so far. I cannot fault it – on any level (see what I did there?).

From the initial concept and just short of a decade of crafting and development, Inception has got it all. A gripping storyline, intensely amazing writing, a consistent wow-factor when it comes to art direction and an incredible cast which some of whom, for me, put in career-defining performances. I can also strongly recommend the since-released supporting book, Inception: The Shooting Script which serves as a perfect break-down. It includes the script in near entirety, some original artwork from Nolan’s storyboard and wonderful concept imagery.

If you’ve not experienced it, do. Or you might become, ahem, stuck in limbo “an old man, filled with regret”.

Next up, and rather more predictably, there are my beloved Blue Boys. As a season ticket holder at Birmingham City FC for 12 years now – and having enjoyed/endured them for many more years previous – there’s nothing quite like 3pm on a Saturday – especially these days thanks to television rights – putting the football world to right before proceeding to complain about it through 90 largely frustrating minutes.

There is of course the other side, in which everything is simply perfect. The team, the management, the tactics and overwhelmingly brilliant performances which result in comfortable victories. These slightly rarer days are my favourite way to spend a weekend without a doubt.

When I’m not scouring the match day programme for Club insight, I love to get my head into a book or two, my preferred reads being autobiographies. However, there is a lot to be said for losing yourself in creative brilliance. After all, why else do we do this job we love?

Some of my favourite publications are The Advertising Concept Book by Pete Barry, Mario Pricken’s Creative Advertising: Ideas and Techniques from the World’s best Campaigns and of course, the superb double-act from Paul Arden It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be and Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite.

Another set I really enjoy going back to regularly is the great compilation of Banksy’s works - Existencilism, Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall and Cut it Out. Of course if you’re into Banksy, you’ll love the content, but it’s equally the composition of the books that excites me. It’s a really well-condsidered collection.

Play.

From the eyes to the ears, like anyone I enjoy music. I’m a big fan of British artists and bands. To name but a few of my favourites, i will always recommend anything by Bat For Lashes, Miles Kane, Kasabian, Jehst, Dels, Roots Manuva, Roni Size and The Prodigy, from an endless list!

Pause.

So, hopefully that will give you a bit of an insight into me, if you’re at all interested. But now it’s time to get back into the conceptual world of layout pads, super-strong Pentel N60s and various Sharpie’s. And of course, the latest Apple software (thanks entirely to LHM!).

Cheers.
Rob

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were visiting The Summerfield Community Centre in the Winson Green area of the city, providing support to the families and our local community where three men were sadly killed during last week’s riots.

The ‘Machan Express’ café and convenience store owner (pictured in red) appeared thrilled that one of the world’s most famous couples had popped in for tea and cake.

His business had also been targeted during the tension and today would have been a welcome break in what has been a tough week for him and businesses in the heart of the city.

Whilst the crowds patiently waited their big shot, the LHM team were lucky enough to muscle in and get a few great snaps from the front.

Photos by Steve Lawrence (LHM) @stevelhm
Video by Ian Hughes (LHM) @ianhlhm