Carphone Warehouse pranks customers with competition

Carphone Warehouse has recently set up a competition in their Oxford Street store to promote the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4.

They set up a promotional display including Samsung's latest phone, encouraging customers to answer it when it rang to win an instant prize, claiming "Everyone Wins!".

The trick was that the phone calls are made by famous 'Fonejacker' comedian Kayvan Novak.

See what happended in gthe video below.

Whitepaper - PR in a changing media landscape

As part of The Think Tank's sponsorship of B2B Marketing's Knowledge Bank PR Channel, our PR Director Samantha Dawe has produced a Whitepaper titled 'PR in a changing media landscape'.

The whitepaper looks at the need for a new mindset in a changing media world. Many commentators have spoken about the basic model for media and marketing being broken. While media fragmentation is seen as a challenge, an expanding range of media options is also an opportunity.

The whitepaper is free to download either from the B2B Marketing web site or by clicking the link below:

PR in a changing media landscape.pdf (254 kb)

Target builds giant dolls house in station

In an experiential stunt of the grandest of scales, American retailer Target built a life-size dolls house in the middle of Grand Central Station in New York.

The installation, which was created by Deutsch Los Angeles, is a showcase of their Threshold home décor line and features between 3,500 and 4,000 products, with staff on hand for demonstrations and help.

The dolls house was built in just 54 hours by fitting together interlocking 4-by-8 panels creating a 1600-square-foot open-plan house, as well as a patio and lawn area.  This space allows Target to show-off their latest lines in their entirety, which would not be possible to do in stores, and will give some great exposure with over 500,000 people visiting the station every day.

You can find out more about the installation at Ad Age here.

The 26 most annoying things about working in an office

To almost brighten up your day, Buzzfeed UK has compiled a list of the 26 most annoying things about working in an office.

The list spoke to us at The Think Tank so much that we had to share it with you.

Buzzfeed built the list from this BBC article and this thread on Facebook.

Some of our 'favourite' points are:

• People leaving the kitchen in a mess
• Endless Birthday whip-rounds (and when it's your turn)
• Stupid Buzzwords

Take a look at the full list here, and let us know which speaks to you the most.

Ad turns magazines into WiFi hotspots

In a recent issue of Forbes magazine Microsoft ran an ad about their latest product, Office 365. In a limited number of magazines there was a  surprise for the reader, a WiFi hotspot, courtesy of T-Mobile.

The ad contained a wireless router that would provide 15 days of free WiFi, the router would last for two to three hours per battery charge.

The premise is that Office 365 is a use-anywhere version of Microsoft's Office software, allowing people to work on documents where-ever they are. 

A clever but costly stunt.

2013 Sony World Photography Awards

This year's Sony World Photography Award winners have been announced, and are currently on display at Somerset House, London.

The awards are organised by the World Photography Organisation, and have two main categories; open and professional. They are judged by an Honorary Judging Committee which is broken up in to groups for a selection of categories from Architecture to Sport.

The Professional winners from each of the 15 categories are being exhibited at Somerset House until 12th May 2013, including the overall winner, Andrea Gjestvang for her series, "One day in history," which intimately captures the young survivors of Utoeya, Norway July 2011 massacre.

Other winners include Fabrice Fouillet in the Architecture category and Christian Aslund for Campaigns.

Take a look at all the entries and winners here.

Buy tickets for the exhibition here.

The Chalk Room

Design studio JamesPlumb has followed up their refit of East London based store Hostem's shop floor with a new showroom in the basement of the same building.

A dimly lit room, decorated with some unique furniture, The Chalk Room is currently dedicated to Hostem's bespoke service, made-to-measure clothing and accessories, but shoppers can also order furniture from JamesPlumb including a chandelier made from clusters of antique lampshades and a chest of drawers built from stacks of suitcases.

To create the downstairs room the studio opened up the space, painted it dark and dimmed the lighting, creating a calmness by making the corners and edges of the walls disappear.

Some of the unique furniture they have provided for the space includes a Chesterfield sofa that has a table coming out of the centre and a wardrobe that appears to be falling over. 

Find out more about their work with Hostem at dezeen.

Photographs by Thomas Giddings.

Irn-Bru penguins invade Russia

In an attempt to increase their market share in Russia Irn-Bru has created a new campaign involving penguins.

The campaign for the soft drink, which was released in Russia back in 1998, currently comprises of two videos.

The videos show the penguins getting up to no good in a shopping centre and underground rail station. The campaign is similar to the 'Gets you through' campaign currently running in the UK.

Take a look at the wacky videos below.

Sponsorship of B2B Marketing Knowledge Bank

The Think Tank is proud to be the sponsor of the PR channel on the B2B Marketing Knowledge Bank, the UK’s premium resource for B2B marketing advice and best practice.

As part of our sponsorship we will be issuing a range of articles, white papers and web casts over the coming months, focussing on Public, Press and Media Relations.

To kick off this sponsorship we have issued the following ‘How To’ guides, case studies and white papers (click on the titles to view):

HOW TO: Survive a press interview

HOW TO: Manage your brand online

CASE STUDY: Permasense turn to The Think Tank to launch new company in risk-averse sector

Whitepaper: PR in a changing media landscape

We hope that you find these interesting and if you would like to discuss any of them in detail please contact Samantha Dawe, Director of PR, The Think Tank at samanthad@thinktank.org.uk or by calling 020 7831 2225.

A new name in Aluminium Building Systems

The Think Tank has been working with global aluminium building products group, AluK, to bring the brand to the UK following the purchase of Blyweert Beaufort.  

Through the development of the brand identity in the UK and an integrated marketing strategy the introduction of the new brand has been a great success.  

Over the past few months The Think Tank developed a range of collateral and marketing tools for AluK, ready for the launch in April 2013. This included a sophisticated web site that engages target audiences and provides them with the information they require to specify and purchase AluK products. This is already delivering results through lead generation.                                 

The Think Tank organised a launch event for customers and the press at the beginning of April and has introduced the brand through a combination of PR, Advertising, eDM and Social Media, building brand awareness and encouraging enquiry. This has seen immediate results for AluK and has started to develop a new positioning for the group that offers a complete range of aluminium windows, doors and curtain walling systems.  

We are continuing to develop the marketing strategy for the group and to raise awareness of the brand through a variety of marketing channels. This include engagement and support for existing customers as well as the launch of a wide range of new products over the coming months.  

View the new AluK web site here.