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Last night was Albion’s 8th Birthday party, which was celebrated with the “Demolition of Disco”: drinking, disco dancing and cavorting at the aptly named 26 Smithfield (26 Smithfield st, Smithfield).

Nick Darken was there dressed as a piece of disco hi-fi equipment whose exact significance was lost on anyone born after 1975, a costume which, in his words, was “testament to the power of a so-so idea executed with unblinking conviction and commitment” .

Andrew Edelston could have just wondered off the set of a Wes Anderson film set.

Jack Gallon was resplendent in a gold lame dress.

Even Matt Roskill was there.

The evening started with prizes.

Winner of the ” Award to the person who gets off their bum most in order to make verbal communication thereby avoiding sending another bloody email” was the very deserving Sasha.

Stevo scooped the ” Award to the person who has done most under their own initiative to make Albion a culturally richer, more inspiring, surprising and altogether less dull place to work”, and celebrated with a sailor’s jig to match his sailor’s outfit.

Petrina pocketed award for the “the person who goes above and beyond the call of duty in order to deliver team success with their happiness, their faithfullness and their gallantness as inscribed in neon on our right honourable reception wall”.

Duncan trousered – literally – ” The gutter trash award to the person most able to end up in a gutter or stranger/collegue’s bed through sheer irresponsibility and utter disregard to self or others thereby earning the term in general discussion of “disgrace”.”

After that a Frank Zappa-meets-David Bedford costumed Glyn showcased his enclycopaedic disco-inspired early 90s house music record collection which got the dancing going.

The shapes were illegal. Nick Darken’s costume, which was never the going to be the most practical of get-ups, was coming off so fast that there was some concern about whether he would stop taking off articles of clothing at all. At times the behaviour frankly scored a zero in terms of appropriateness.

And then Sonny took to the decks.

In his snazzy blazer, shirt and tie combo looking like a man with a PhD in Advanced Disco Studies, Sonny’s set tipped the leg-shaking over into an 11, and that’s out of 10.

The sheer quantity of Jose Cuervo Tradicional meant that memories thereafter are cloudy. There was a very funny drag artist. There was an even funnier moment when we made Nick Curnow think that the drag artist’s chair was a prop for him to use to perform. There were more Cuervos. There was just more. Much much more for some. To quote MJ “don’t stop till you get enough.”

Charles: Starting at a new school is always scary no matter what but changing industry slightly brings a whole new level of terror. The uniform is different. The culture is different. And you don’t speak the same language. So imagine my joy when on my first day Albion partnered me with a German foreign exchange student! w00t. And imagine my disappointment when on our first outing as the Coffee Twins she starts talking to me about Brand Molecule theory. This was no foreign exchange student but a small, precision engineered (it’s ok – I asked) planning mastermind.

We’ve reached a good balance now – essentially, as a Londoner, I show Corinna where the best lunch and coffee spots are.  Where to take your parents to dinner and the best way to cycle from Shoreditch to London Fields without having to go up Hackney Rd. In return she teaches me about the importance of PowerPoint, propositions and purpose ideas.

Corinna and I are not the only people starting at new schools. Dan Hon’s recent move to W&K and Jeremy Ettinghausen’s move to BBH perhaps show that advertising is really willing to play properly with the internet. Or perhaps these types of recruits will help ad agencies evolve into something new. Either way it’s pretty exciting times. And so I find myself, a community manager amongst the admen and women of Shoreditch. Alone. And cold. So cold. But seriously, one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Albion was the fact that they get digital and are naturally social and entrepreneurial. The other main pull was the promise of some good old fashioned intellectual rigor. As much as Albion is about doing stuff it’s just as much about great business ideas, and those, my friends do not grow on trees. They grow on the vines of mind grapes.

Corinna: Starting at a new school is always scary no matter what but changing countries slightly brings a whole new level of terror. The uniform is different. The culture is different. And you don’t speak the same language. So imagine my joy when on my first day Albion partnered me with an English bow tie wearing school teacher! w00t. And imagine my disappointment when on our first outing as the Coffee Twins he starts talking to me about sewing. This was no English bow tie wearing school teacher but a small dictionary full of interestingness and awesomeness.

Actually, I knew a lot about Charles before I even got to London. I knew he had quit alcohol in favour of tea. And I knew about the beard and the bowtie obsession (ask him about his pinnie trauma!). The interwebs in action. His passion for it in action. So now, when he asks me about supposedly smart planning stuff, I ask him why bus drivers never stop on me. When he asks me about how things work around agencies, I ask him for coffee places that might do unicorn milk foam figures for me.

I left Berlin with little luggage and arrived in London with great hope for two things: a new and interesting culture to explore. And to get to do awesome, interesting and useful work beyond what most people in Germany call advertising. So I am excited to have joined Albion as they are a bunch of smart thinkers and doers with a compelling vision and the passion to make stuff happen. Always thinking in solutions, not ads.
Let the fun begin.

Chorus: So despite our different backgrounds and the many miles we’ve travelled to get here we share a view which is perhaps why we’ve arrived at the same corner of Shoreditch High Street and Bethnal Green Road at the place in time. And that is a belief that, in this day and age it is the companies with the strongest notion of who they are, why they exist and what their purpose is, that are able to create the most exciting work.

We’ve just developed a brand identity for  ‘Bridge the world’ a  digital holiday brand from STA travel which specifically targets the +50 market. The identity will run across all business comms.

You can read more about the concepts and ideas behind this new brand here on Figaro Digital

Today (Monday 4th October) sees the launch of a campaign that we’re particularly excited about for our client Epson.

The campaign ‘Engineered for Speed’ launches the new Epson Stylus Office inkjet printer (BX625FWD) specifically targeting small businesses with its high quality printing and incredible speed – it can print up to 38 pages per minute.

We wanted to create a campaign that would engage a business audience on a rational and emotional level (not your normal B2B campaign). As  a result we created the ultimate product test and our team really got to have some fun with it as they set out to test the speed of the inkjet printer alongside one of the world’s fastest accelerating cars – an Ariel Atom which travels 0-60 mph in 2.7 seconds (super FAST).

The two products were combined for the challenge as engineers from Epson and Ariel worked together to form a unique partnership and then raced the printer against the car around Rockingham race track (in the UK) to see whether the Epson printer could print a map of the track faster than the car could drive it.

It’s a really exhilarating Pan European campaign that spans across several platforms. These include a film of the race (housed on the campaign microsite), online banners and EDMs  and it will also run across point of sale and PR.  It’s our first big campaign for Epson and we’re really proud of it.

Thanks to all the team involved – you know who you are.

Watch to see who wins here…..

Yesterday Thursday 23rd September the Albion Society breakfast brought together a panel to discuss Gen Y – shorthand for 16-25 year olds.

Untitled from Albion London on Vimeo.

First up was our Planning Director Sam Ashken, who presented a brief summary of a thinkpiece which can be downloaded here. The argument is that teenage and early adult years are for Gen Y not a time of rebellion but of personal aspiration.

Eliza Robeiro, the seventeen year old founder of the Lives not Knives project and campaigner with Battlefront comprehensively floored the room with her drive, activism, intelligence and precocious self-assurance.

Emi Gal, founder of online video advertising company Brainient, and a comparative oldie at 23, charmed the audience with three stories explaining his entrepreneurial drive.

Robin Klein VC of The Accelerator Group sagely analysed the differences between Gen Y and earlier generations of entrepreneurs.

Mike Butcher Editor of Techcrunch Europe showed that the Gen Y can-do spirit is a European as much as a British thing. A number of key themes emerged from the panellists. Gen Yers tend to be driven by personal mission, don’t sit around waiting for permission to do things and are unconcerned by the cynicism of older generations or the fear or failure.

Gen Y-ers’ innate drive, the panellists agreed, is accelerated by an environment in which it is easier than ever to get hold of tools and capital, and equally easy to make direct connections with contacts and partners all over the world.

All of which makes a Gen X-er wonder whether it’s possible to be a born again Gen Y-er…

The quote of the day was from Eliza who, when asked how much common ground there is between her community and young entrepreneurs like Emi responded in jest that, “A lot of the kids in Croydon are good at business, just the wrong kind of business!”.

Last week I spent another amazing few days helping out at Seedcamp, running one of the marketing panels and meeting/mentoring the finalists.

By a long shot, it was the highest standard of entrepreneurs to date and demonstrated the massive potential of creating the competition and fund. My guess is Seedcamp is going global. Its started its focus in Europe but has no reason to narrow its search in EMEA. Most of the finalists have fully functioning businesses with near proven business models and I was particularly excited by the next gen ecommerce businesses and fresh thinking on how to use customer data.

I also got together with my good friend Saul Klein, Seedcamp founder and we had a chance to look back at why we all got involved.

My main conclusion is about the opportunity to learn new stuff from some of the brightest business upstarts in Europe. For me, its all about looking for insights into how to create and build businesses and I get more out of a couple of days at Seedcamp than the more conventional business education I’ve done in the past.

We are pleased to announce that Mike Butcher, Editor of Techcrunch Europe will now be joining our Albion Society breakfast on the 23rd September.

The Albion Society brings together a panel of gen Y gamechangers – a group of very special 16-25 year olds; Eliza Robeiro a young campaigner and Emi Gal an entrepreneur. Both demonstrate that this generation understand how to take on big challenges, that they are opportunists, positive and hopeful for the future.

Robin Klein Venture Partner at Index Ventures and founding partner of The Accelerator Group and Mike Butcher, Editor of Techcrunch Europe both join to give their expert advice on Entrepreneurism and how Gen Y are shaping the future.

Sam Ashken, Albion’s Planning Director will host the event and introduce you to our panel with some fundamental research that we’ve been carrying out here at Albion. He’ll then hand you over to the panel and let you determine if this is the generation who are already making a big difference and whether these are the people that will shape ‘The Big Society’

There are still some tickets available for Gen Y – Activists & Entrepreneurs and the death of teen rebellion, a breakfast discussion by the Albion Society. Places are strictly limited and will run out fast.

Reserve yours by entering your details here

If you haven’t seen this week’s Campaign or today’s brand republic as yet then you won’t have read about our appointment by Adstream.

We’ve been selected to help develop their communication strategy which will be launched through an integrated communication campaign later this year for the Adstream 4.

Thanks to all those that worked on the pitch and helped us win this business – you know who you are.

Tickets are now available for Gen Y – Activists & Entrepreneurs and the death of teen rebellion, the next Albion Society breakfast taking place on the 23rd September 2010.

This Albion Society brings together a panel of gen Y gamechangers – a group of very special 16-25 year olds; Eliza Robeiro a young campaigner and Emi Gal an entrepreneur. Both demonstrate that this generation understand how to take on big challenges, that they are opportunists, positive and hopeful for the future.

Robin Klein Venture Partner at Index Ventures and founding partner of The Accelerator Group joins to give his expert advice on Entrepreneurism and how Gen Y are shaping the future. And Sam Ashken, Albion’s Planning Director will wrap up the event by presenting some fundamental research that determines that this generation are already making a big difference. These are the people that will shape ‘The Big Society’ and they are using every possible modern marketing technique to negotiate their ambition.

Places are strictly limited and will run out fast. Reserve yours by entering your details here

After the thrills and spills of a highly entertaining production, tomorrow sees the launch of our fantastic new ‘Middleman’ campaign for Betfair.

It’s Betfair’s biggest ever marketing campaign to date (see this article on Brand Republic)  and we’ve been really lucky to work with a cracking international client team in Hammersmith and Malta in our bid to position the brand as ‘The World’s Biggest Betting Community’ (yes, we’ve even got that claim through those lovely people at Clearcast).

The idea’s a simple one: on Betfair, you cut out the middleman which means you bet direct against 3 million other people. And that of course means better odds and much bigger wins (than all those traditional high street bookmakers).

As you’d expect for a brand like Betfair, it’s a fully integrated campaign with a massive online push that kicks off this weekend with the first ever YouTube takeover by a betting brand. A massive coup for all of us involved and a nice little cameo from Andy Gray of Sky Sports, so watch out for that from midnight on Saturday…

We’re also going to be on TV throughout the season’s live sport coverage (football, horse racing, golf, cricket, you name it…) with a couple of hilarious ads showing how middlemen (yes, it’s those traditional bookies again) get in the way of people trying to betting and add no value.

A big well done and a massive thank you to everyone involved at Betfair, all our partners and of course here at Albion (too many to mention in this post, but you know who you are).

Look out for it over the weekend.

Here’s a sneak preview for you: