xmas to remember

December 5, 2012 Darren Caveney

This Christmas, an innovative digital campaign aiming to raise awareness of dementia has been launched. It's deliberately timed to remind us to remember, to help and to spot the early signs of dementia in our loved ones.

By Gillian Hudson

I don't approve of hashtags on Facebook. So imagine my disdain when an American woman announced the name of her newborn – Hashtag – via Facebook update. Twitter went wild at the news.

i ♥ infographics

August 20, 2012 Darren Caveney

I've always loved infographics. But are we missing a trick in not using them more often?

by Darren Caveney

The first recorded infographics were early cave drawings.

And infographics have been a constant, creative and brilliantly simple medium guiding, helping and directing us ever since.

They take so many forms, from weather maps to motorway signs.

If you have been abroad this summer then you probably got around just that little bit easier because of infographics. They are universal, they are 'easy-read', they cross boundaries and language.

What's not to like.

So why don't we use them more often in our communications roles?

Yes, I know we all use use them on some level, even if it's something as simple as a graph to show an increase or a decrease in something we're measuring.

in defence of fun

April 4, 2012 Darren Caveney

By Gillian Hudson

Like me, you probably spend 99% of your job communicating about really serious issues. Thinking back over the last week or so, I’ve worked on a projects on dementia, fostering and youth unemployment. But sometimes, just sometimes, I work on projects that are a bit lighter. You might even call them ‘fun’.

A case in point is the first anniversary of our Downing Street cat, Larry, arriving here to catch mice.

Now if I’ve learned anything during my communications career, it’s that celebs and pets go down well. You’ve only got to look at the popularity of Pop Bitch to know that. So I worked on a little digital communications plan for Larry’s first birthday here. There were pictures taken by a colleague, a couple of tweets and best of all, a Storify of his time with us so far.