Goldman Sachs ridiculed across social channels

This was a bad publicity week for Goldman Sachs following the publishing of a letter from a disgruntled employee.   

The content of this letter hit the news worldwide and soon became a social media talking point, at which point it took on a life of its own. From comic blog entries like this one called 'Oscar the Grouch Resigns' (from Sesame Street fame) to a plethora of entries across Pinterest.  

This is a classic case of how just one employee can quickly damage the reputation of a business and how social media spreads the message at an exponential rate. Whether the employee was right or wrong is not for us to judge, however it does demonstrate why businesses should have crisis planning in place to quickly limit the potential damage of such an action. Social Media adds to the potential risk and businesses should be actively monitoring channels to ensure that they are aware of what is being said about them by customers, employees and the general public. A forewarned business is a prepared business.  

It is frightening just how quickly the reputation of a business can be damaged through the posting of video content on social channels - remember the safety demonstration that turned out not to be so safe!



It is difficult to tell just how much this will damage the reputation of Goldman Sachs however in the short term it wiped $2bn off their market value - not a good day at the bank!

New sustainability initative from Formica at Ecobuild 2012

One of our clients, the Formica Group, is exhibiting at Ecobuild (20-22nd March), the world’s biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment and the UK’s largest construction event of any kind. We will be supporting them throughout the three-day event which takes place at the ExCeL exhibition and conference centre in London’s Docklands, and have set up press interviews, designed a special brochure for the event and look forward to making a special announcement at the show relating to a major sustainability initiative which underlines the company’s commitment to meet the challenges of tomorrow.  

Renee Hytry Derrington and Gavin Todd, Formica Group senior executives will be at the stand, offering a unique insight into the company’s product innovation and sustainability strategies.   After 99 years of defining the look and performance of modern interiors worldwide, the company goes all out (excuse the pun) with its innovative exterior facade panels VIVIX which will be showcased in the UK for the first time at Ecobuild. A perfect way to celebrating many decades of innovation!

See more about Formica and the Environment here.

Magnetic flooring offers flexibility

Karndean Designflooring have teamed up with IOBAC ltd, 3M and InterfaceFLOR to offer one of the most innovative flooring system to hit the market in recent times.

Time spent installing or changing flooring can mean losing valuable sales, so a system that allows you to do it quickly and cleanly has to be worth considering. 

The patented metallic resin is applied to the subfloor, left to dry for 60 minutes and covered with magnetised Karndean Designflooring products. You can lift and replace tiles at will to give the ultimate in flexible interior design. 

 See how it works here:

Gumdrop Bin wins Homes and Gardens Award

The Gumdrop Bin is the brainchild of Anna Bullus who noticed that not only was chewing gum a material that was being wasted but it was also polluting our environment.  

She set about solving the problem by creating a bin using recycled chewing gum and called it Gumdrop. It's manufactured from a new plastic polymer using chewing gum and then moulded into shape.  

Anna has just won The Homes & Gardens Eco Design Award 2012 so well done for this fantastic idea. Give gum a second life!  

Click here to find out more.

How 30 great ads were made

How 30 Great Ads Were Made: From Idea To Campaign, is a new book by Creative Review's Eliza Williams.

It takes readers behind the scenes of 30 of the last decade's most successful ad campaigns and features interviews with the key creatives, directors and clients for each campaign. The book offers an insight into how great ad campaigns get made, along with some surprising facts about some of the most popular ads of recent times: for example, did you know that the children's brows in the Cadbury's Eyebrows spot were manipulated by puppeteers rather than CGI?

Each campaign featured is illustrated with imagery showing the stages it went through in development – including sketches and early ideas that may have been abandoned, storyboards, animatics and photos from shoots, and shots of the final ads.

This is a great present for ad addicts. Find out more on Creative Review.

Get ready to cringe. Here comes 'Dads in Briefs'!

This is a very funny ad but also quite disturbing at the same time. Be prepared to cringe!

Here comes 'Dads in Briefs'.



For BHG Air Conditioners it gets its point across very well.

The Ordos Museum lands in the Gobi desert

The Ordos Art and City Museum in Mongolia is an amorphous building that seems to have just landed on this incredible landscape.

It was designed by MAD Archtiects and is surrounded be the dunes of the Gobi desert with stairways and belvederes that grow out of the earth.

Located in the new city center of Ordos, the space itself is deeply rooted in the local culture. To view on ArchDaily  click here or watch this atmospheric video.

The Gopher Hole celebrates its first year in Primary style

The Gopher Hole, an independent space for emerging architecture and design in London, has been in operation for just over a year.

To celebrate this and thank some of their participants, exhibitors and visitors they invited illustrator Shin-Hye Lee to commemorate 2011 with a new work.   

The illustration is the first of The Gopher Hole's annual commissions to an emerging designer. Shin-Hye has made 'Year One 2011' in the style of a primary school tea-towel, using different drawing techniques - sometimes using her left hand - to illustrate some of the figures who have contributed to The Gopher Hole during the year.

A fun way to celebrate a successful first year. See more here.