Blisters, Lycra and Very Sore Legs.

2012 is undoubtedly a big year for sport in London.

With the Golden Jubilee sparking community spirit and the ever looming Olympics fast approaching, four of the finest athletes from TBCH were inspired to take to the track for this year's London Marathon.

Jules - The experienced one

Jules is a keen runner with three marathons under her belt already. She kept everyone in the TBCH team motivated enough to keep training!

Richie - The one with the best outfit

This was Richie's 8th marathon. As it's old hat for him now, he decided to reignite the spark by running as a Union Jack morph man. We were sure he'd get on telly looking like this, but sadly no:

Lou - The one who did it for a great reason

Lou trained very hard for this, her second marathon. She pulled out all the stops in her training and was even seen limbering up in Paris (while on holiday!) That's dedication for you.

Nic - The one with the gross blisters

And then there's me! This was my first marathon and my feet have told me never again! I've quite possibly spent more on equipment, medical supplies and doctor's appointments than I've actually raised for my charity...

 With charity being our main motivation to run the marathon, it made me reconsider the importance of such events and the eventual benefits.

Basically, how do you tackle to tricky subject of asking for money?

Thankfully, the days of carrying a dog-eared sponsorship form round the office and pleading for loose change have gone.

Just Giving pages have made it easier to help raise money. One simple politely worded email forwarded to the whole agency, building, family and friends can see your sponsorship total increase in a matter of minutes.

But how do the charities themselves tackle this problem in their everyday fundraising?

Just Giving pages can turn into a popularity contest with some people - highlighting who has the most 'generous' friends.

How do charities with a small donor base compete with larger well-known organizations (after all, you can't just bombard your current donors all the time)?

How do charities get more 'friends'?

Then you get the donors who only sponsor you because they want you to sponsor them (and they make this very clear when doing so!)

Do these people expect to get something in return if they donate to charities directly?

Do charities need to think about how to engage with this audience differently?

I don't have the answers for you right now.

(But you just get to thinking when you're running for four hours solid, that's all.)

We all need tight briefs.

On my birthday I slipped into a pair of bad client shoes when I gave a bad brief to my hairdresser. Unfortunately this meant that the result wasn't just some half-hearted scamps, but an unforgiving 'Jackie O' bob and a big dent in my wallet.

I thought I was being the dream client. Giving the 'creative' (in my case, an expensive hairdresser) the freedom to do whatever he wanted. I gave him no direction. I let him take the lead.

I sat in the reclining chair, staring at the lush velvet wallpaper feeling really smug, whilst a lovely girl washed my hair. I thought I was the answer to his prayers, the blank canvas he'd always dreamt of.

My hairdresser, looking back, did try to gain some direction from me. He asked leading questions and about how I felt about lengths and styles I'd had in the past. Unfortunately for me, I didn't register his intent at the time, and so my responses still gave him nothing to work with.

My experience reminded me of Damien O'Malley's analogy on the brief Michelangelo could have received when asked to paint the Sistine Chapel, and the importance of expressing a clear proposition in a way to inspire a creative, in the hope of propelling them towards a solution.

As Damien said "Words are little bombs. The right ones can explode inside us demanding an original and exciting solution, instead of a mediocre pedestrian one." 

With hindsight, the brief to my hairdresser would be something like this:

Please could you magically transform my hair into a delicious mix of sophistication, elegance and style.

And the result would be something like this:

And less like this:

Virtually You.

Have you seen the new Google+ ad?

I love it, for two reasons:

1.  Unlike many TV ads which rely on almost cinematic standard spectacles, this ad tells its story through the copy - whether that be from the voiceover or from the words that appear in the ad itself. Beautifully crafted words that form the heart of the story the ad is trying to tell. In many respects, what you're seeing plays second fiddle to what you're hearing.

2.  Perhaps more than this though, I love it because it raises such an interesting question:

What role will social media play in 20, 30, 40 or even 50 year's time?

We often talk about the growth of social media platforms. Google+ has seen its user base rise from 10 million in July 2011 to 62 million by the end of 2011.

But rarely have we discussed the role that these platforms will play in our lives in decades to come. Our lives are now almost entirely recorded (and for some, lived) within these virtual environments. Social media platforms have exploded into our lives so rapidly and each generation seems to have adopted them in the way most relevant to them. But what will happen in decades to come - as one generation becomes the next and our social roles fundamentally change: youngsters become parents, parents become grandparents and so on?

"We all look so...young."

Is there a point at which we'll all commit 'social media suicide'? Will we switch platforms as we enter new life stages? Or will we continue to belong to those virtual worlds that we're so embedded in today?

Our entire lives recorded online - from birth to death - in one place.

Does this ad give us an indication that Google+ is positioning itself as the 'lifelong' social platform?

And if this is the long term strategy for Google+, then let me ask you this: how do you feel about having your very own virtual autobiography?

Only time will tell, I suppose.

The Perfect DR ad.

These days, the line between DR and BR ads seems to be a little fuzzy. With more and more brand response ads featuring direct response CTAs, do we really understand what the difference is?

Brand response aims to create, change or enhance the personality and positioning of the company, product or person being advertised.

Direct response is transactional, measured on how well it encourages an action and how much revenue it generates.

We hear all types of rules. You must vary paragraph length, that eight words per sentence will get the highest readership and that busy layouts will keep the reader interested. 

But to make DR ads 'work as hard as possible' is there a bigger checklist of rules we need to follow?

Can you identify the single specific market the ad is talking to?

Your target market should be able to identify with your ad and say "Yes, it's time to solve that particular problem!"

Is there a compelling offer driving them to respond?

The more compelling it is, the greater the value of the responses. Offer solutions to problems or worries.

Does the headline tell the complete story?

Headlines are 70% responsible for the success of your ad. It needs to be of value to your customer.

Does your ad standout on the page?

You need visual impact, white space, a distinctive border...or just something different to make an impact.

Are you solving a problem?

Conversational language in DR ads allows you to talk to prospects one-on-one, getting an immediate, positive response in your solution.

Does your prospect know what they have to do?

Your DR should never be confusing. You need to lead them to the benefit you're offering them.

So, does your DR ad answer all these questions?

Have you swiped your Clubcard?

Lou and Dom recently went to hear one of the inventors of the Tesco Clubcard, Creative Director Terry Hunt, give a presentation on customer loyalty. 

Here are 15 things he learnt from 15 years at Tesco:

1. Loyalty is about a reason to prefer - Loyalty is about winning a margin of preference in an undifferentiated market, not necessarily about completely changing opinions.

2. A loyalty programme is not an end, it's a means to an end - You need to fully understand what it is that you're trying to do. Because everyone else is, is not a reason.

3. What do you want your customer to be loyal to? - The brand? The product? The branch? The programme itself? Work it out and don't measure the wrong thing.

4. Make it make sense to the brand - You have to make sure that the programme is the natural child of the brand - even if it starts to define it.

5. Be honest - Be open and straightforward about what you're trying to get your customer to do. It's as much about you showing loyalty to your customers as it is them showing loyalty to you.

6. Reward good behaviour - Encourage the behaviour you want to see. Yes, I know, very Pavlovian!

7. Turn customers into members - Make your customers feel as though they are getting something that non-members aren't, otherwise what's the point?

8. Better to be a chosen than a given - You need to keep innovating and changing to keep fresh. Look at double points - it became the norm. Also, giving your customers active choice is incredibly important.

9. Simple works, complicated doesn't - Some of the best loyalty schemes are the most simple.

10. Loyalty, not monogamy - It's not about customers never going elsewhere, it's about them being rewarded for choosing you.

11. Easy to earn, quick to burn - Make it easy to both get the points and to use them.

12. Conditional vs Unconditional - There's a reason banks can't do loyalty programmes. They can't get their heads around unconditional giving. Invest in the base, be generous and it will come back around.

13. Keep it fresh - Programmes can get stale. Keep them moving!

14. Knowledge rich or knowledge light? - How much knowledge do you really need on your customers? Don't just collect it for the sake of it.

15. De-average your marketing - You've been given the green light to talk to your customers - but don't abuse it. You can convey to them all your DM/offers/promos/price-led stuff and free up ATL channels for brand focused stuff.

Run Richie, run!

This year our very own Richie Florey (Creative Services Manager Extraordinaire) has made the incredibly brave and wonderfully stupid decision to run the actually-really-quite-long-and-exhausting London Marathon as Geri Halliwell's dress from her infamous 1997 Brit Awards performance.

Good luck Richie.

We all think you're mental.

You can sponsor Richie here if you like:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Run_Morphman_Run