How to conquer your fears & write your first ever blog post in the process - Guest Blog Post by Louise Chorley

“Through our talks, workshops and One Minute Briefs platform, we like to encourage people to share their ideas, thoughts and fears and encourage others to help build their confidence and yours. This post by Louise Chorley shows how she defeats her fears & we hope it will inspire you to too.”

— Bank of Creativity

Shut up Elsie 

Mistakes. Been there, done that, analysed them, I’m over it. Most of my mistakes involve third parties - I wasn't in complete control, so it’s easy to let them go.

Missed opportunities due to the paralysing fear that I’ll make myself look like an idiot, well, they’re a different story altogether. It's with them that my biggest regrets lie. Those opportunities were missed solely by me, listening to me, when I told myself that I wasn’t good enough. I listened to fear and I let fear win. 

I am quite often on the receiving end of kind words, endorsements, and words of encouragement, and yet fear barely remembers any of them, but you can be sure that bitch can recite every single negative comment, criticism and put-down, word for word, dating back to my days of morning milk and knee high socks, with added venomous tone of voice for dramatic effect. It can be hard to ignore the voice of fear when she’s so bloody convincing.

As someone who works in the creative industry where stand out is the holy grail, and fortune most certainly favours the brave, I need to shut this voice up, or at least turn down her volume. So, in an attempt to disarm her I’ve named her Elsie, because for all intents and purposes she’s an inferior, lesser version of me (full marks if you get that link). I’ve visualised Elsie too; she wears a yellow velour tracksuit and blue Tesco trainers, with a high pony tail and far too much hairspray.

Confidence is Elsie's nemesis so I do whatever I can to keep my confidence up. I remember the good stuff, the compliments and good feedback. I make mental notes, write them down, screenshot them, I even share them on social media. I know it's in Elsie's interest for me to be humble, so I do the opposite - I celebrate the good stuff. I also challenge my creativity by entering One Minute Briefs every day. Some days, OMB acts as a warm-up, it greases the mind which helps the ideas come quicker for the day job. Other days, it's a much needed boost, a little reminder that whatever the challenge, I will find an answer and most of the time it'll be a good one.

Elsie has been pretty active today. Snide comments. "You are not a writer, why are you writing a blog post?" "What could you possibly have to say that anyone would want to read" "You are NOT a writer" "You are NOT A WRITER" "YOU. ARE. NOT. A. WRITER." She's been doing her best to get in my way, but I've succeeded in getting her to pipe down. I mean, she's a teenager with dreadful attire and the attitude to match - and I refuse to be beaten by an under-ripe, velvet banana wearing blue shoes.

So, Elsie, this one’s for you. My first ever blog post. I am a writer. 

Elsie? 

Elsie? 

Has anyone seen Elsie?

Follow Louise on Twitter.

One Minute Brief of the Day: Advertise the #YoungLifeWriters project with @YoungLifeWriter & @TeamHighSheriff

Today we’ve got a great brief with our friends at @YoungLifeWriter. They are launching their new project #YoungLifeWriters with an all-new Twitter feed. That’s why we have teamed up to spread the message to our talented creative audience and beyond. Please give them a follow too!!

Prize: £100 Cash Prize for the Winner!!

Tweet your posters to @OneMinuteBriefs, @YoungLifeWriter and @TeamHighSheriff with the hashtag #YoungLifeWriters

Please tag in people between 16-25 who would you think would like to feature/get involved in this great initiative. They can send their submissions to: entrieslifewriting@outlook.com

This is the perfect opportunity for young copywriters out there to have their work published for a great cause!!

About the Project:

Exciting opportunity for aspiring young authors!

The Haven Greenfield is launching the #YoungLifeWriters project and collaborating with Creative Locations Publishing based in Saddleworth and Sacred Stories Publishing based in USA to create a compilation book featuring the short stories and poetry of aspiring young life writers aged 16 to 25 from the Greater Manchester area and looking to expand this into other areas of the UK as the project expands.

Are you a young life writer with a story to tell?

Maybe you have something that you feel needs to be shared, discussed or could create positive change for your community? 

Could it inspire and unite people? Do you want to share your story of the challenges you have faced?

If your story is a reflection of a personal experience, we would love to hear from you. It can be in the form of a short story or poem.

Our vision for this project is to offer 16 to 25 year olds the opportunity to share their voices through writing. Sharing our stories is a powerful way to inspire and create positive change for ourselves and others. We hope to engage our audience of readers with messages and life experiences written from the hearts of our young people. 

We are now open for entries and the final closing date is midnight of 19th March 2019 

It is free to enter and all manuscripts will be read by a panel made up of representatives of The Haven Greenfield and Creative Locations Publishing and shortlisted before selections will be made and the authors offered the chance to feature in the compilation book to be published and marketed world-wide by Sacred Stories Publishing in paperback and e-book formats.

This project is being supported by the current High Sheriff of Greater Manchester, Dr Robina Shah and more information about her work can be found on the Team High Sheriff website.

Our belief:

We are doing this project because we feel that writing can be a powerful means of self-exploration which is often overlooked. It can be a way a young person can understand themselves, their lives and empower others to believe in themselves too.

Our aim is to really find out what young people have to say and for us to listen. The short stories and poems will be published in a book and promoted and distributed globally. Proceeds will go into a project of their choice. 

Send your submissions to: entrieslifewriting@outlook.com

Example poem: Written by Young Life Writer - Emma Sykes

I sit here in silence

With no thoughts in my head

Seeing a poem

Which only lays dead

Because of the fear,

The struggle, the pain,

To allow anyone

To even know my name.

And the persona I choose

Lies close to my heart

As a way to protect

The fire destined to start

The fire that burns

Every bridge in my soul Sealing the approval

Of my ultimate goal.

Freedom to ride

On the waves painted black

With choices so endless

You never look back

I see the elements

As they live within me

And the ‘Mother’ as she returns

And continues to be

My greatest teacher,

In times such as these

When life becomes

A little more than a breeze.

But to all my Mothers,

As we continue to grow

I ask for your guidance

In this world down below

To ignite the flames,

The passion, the power,

To rise within me,

The Great Purple Flower.

How I went from History & Politics student to writing films for Jaguar in just two years - Guest Blog Post by William Baxter

“We’re delighted to share this guest blog post by William Baxter. In just two years he has transformed his career path with the help of the Bank of Creativity community, but more importantly his own drive, determination and talent. Keep reading to see his inspirational story.”

— Bank of Creativity

How on earth do you advertise a company that specialises in hair restoration? Go on, take a minute to think about it…

This was the brief that started everything for me. It was January 2016 and I was a few months into a History & Politics degree at The University of Birmingham. I didn’t know a thing about advertising. All I knew was that the £100 prize would make excellent beer money.

So I entered. My first OMB was a rather hastily written bit of long-ish copy composed on my iPhone’s Notes app. It got a couple of likes over the afternoon before I more-or-less forgot about it and headed to the pub.  

I was rather surprised to see my entry announced in the shortlist on Saturday morning alongside a host of rather more qualified people than me. If that had been the end, I’d have been a happy man.

But it wasn’t the end. I won, and took the hundred quid prize. Along with it, I’d caught the OMB bug. For the next six months I entered as often as I could. I won a couple, but more importantly learnt an absolute ton from the Ombles, who embraced me as a member of the community very quickly.

Of course, so far I didn’t have any faces to go with the Twitter handles. All this changed at OMBLive3, my first chance to meet the Ombles.

It was here that I met Adam Britton, co-host of OMBLive. He took a chance on me and gave me my first placement at Big Brand Ideas, Macclesfield. This first taste of agency life cemented that this was what I wanted to do.

My next university reading week, in February 2017, wasn’t spent in the library. Instead, I headed up to Manchester to work for Nick Entwistle, the founder of the Bank of Creativity himself.

All through this time I was still entering OMB, and still improving every day. It’s true that nothing makes you better than practice.

Over Easter I spent two weeks in the Birmingham office of Spark44, the company I now work for full-time. Working on a variety of projects for their clients Jaguar and Land Rover, it certainly helped sharpen my skills.

I returned to Spark for three months in the Summer between my second and third years at Brum. To make my life even easier, I also took up the challenge of being Editor-in-Chief of Redbrick, the university’s newspaper, over the final year of my course.

By the Autumn of 2017 I certainly felt a bit more established as an Omble. I’d done four big placements, had won my fair share of OMBs and worked out what I wanted to do post-graduation.

And that was when Nick thought I was ready for my next big challenge – making a One Minute Talk to a rather big room full of rather important ad-people.

Armed with only my skint-student-spec handwritten business cards and a couple of fortifying cans of lager, I travelled down to London for OMBLive4. Somehow, the speech went down okay, and I had an absolute blast with the always-party-ready Ombles.

With my confidence high, I decided that Christmas to enter J.Walter Thompson’s YES Awards scheme. With a roughly mocked up OMB entry advertising Bin Bags, I didn’t have a great deal of hope about winning the placement.

Yet my OMB luck continued, and I managed to bag myself six weeks at one of London’s oldest and biggest agencies. Teaming up with fellow Omble Joe Clark, working at JWT was a cracking experience.

Not only did we get to work on big brands such as Kit Kat, we also got to watch the World Cup from the comfort of their Knightsbridge terrace. The agency’s summer party also coincided with my 21st birthday, culminating in me learning another valuable lesson about the industry; how to work with a ferocious hangover.

Then, in September last year I took the big decision to uproot my life and move over to Frankfurt, Germany, to work in the lead European office of Spark44. With about three quid in my bank account and not speaking a word of German, it was certainly a bold move.

Working on brands like Jaguar and Land Rover has been an amazing experience. The highlight for me has to be writing my first big TVC, promoting the new Jaguar F-PACE SVR. Seeing my ideas come to life is something I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of.

Looking back, it seems mad to think so much has happened in what feels like no time at all. If you’d asked me three years ago, I definitely wouldn’t have thought I’d end up working nearly 1000km away on two of the world’s most prestigious brands.

From writing ads on my Notes app, to writing ads for Jaguars, I think it just goes to show where the OMB and BOC community can take you.

Follow William on Twitter.

One Minute Brief of the Day: Create #Valentines cards to share the love of chicken with @KFC_UKI

Today we’ve got an amazing brief with a great brand and a brilliant prize. We’re looking for the OMBLES to share lots of ideas for this fun subject this Valentine’s Day.

Tweet entries to @OneMinuteBriefs and @KFC_UKI with the hashtags #Valentines and #ValentinesDay

Prize:

It’s Valentine’s Day, so what better way to celebrate with someone you love than over a month’s worth of free buckets of finger lickin’ chicken courtesy of the Colonel!! You could even have the chance to work with KFC on social activations in the future.

Brief:

We want you to help us share the love of chicken this Valentines day by creating a series of cards perfect for someone who loves southern fried chicken as much as we do.  

The winning design/s will encapsulate KFC’s tone of voice and distinctive style. We’re not about cheesy pick up lines or inappropes innuendos... But we could definitely be won over by some witty one liners.

Social Link:

@KFC_UKI - twitter.com/KFC_UKI

The hardest thing to advertise...

As we all know, the hardest thing to advertise for people in advertising to advertise is themselves. Luckily, we’ve got an incredible community of creatives to help us do that.

Today we ran a campaign to advertise the Bank of Creativity through our very own One Minute Briefs platform and our followers blew us away with so many amazing ideas which we have posted to our Facebook page and featured in the album below. It was also a great test of how the launch of our website is working to communicate with the creative industry and every single submission gave an great insight into the work we do through visual or copy.

We’ll be choosing a winner over the weekend who will win free tickets to our 6th annual One Minute Briefs event! Check out all of the entries below and if you want to run a One Minute Brief like this for your brand or agency and get social reach in the millions like we did today then please get in touch!!

One Minute Brief of the Day: Advertise the #BankOfCreativity @BOC_ATM

Some of you will already know that One Minute Briefs was recently incorporated into the Bank of Creativity. To coincide with the launch of the new website, we are looking for the OMBLES to submit ideas to advertise the Bank of Creativity and what it does.

Tweet your ads to @oneminutebriefs and @BOC_ATM with the hashtag #BankOfCreativity

Prize: 2 x free tickets to the #OMBLive6 event.

About:

We decided to do this to streamline all of our projects and services into one place and give OMB it’s own page. Take a look around the website and you will see our work, accounts, mission statement and the interest we’ve received around the world.

We create engaging campaigns that convert brand investment into big interest rates.

Our Statement:

The Bank of Creativity brings together the perfect balance of creative professionals to generate big interest rates for brands by capturing audiences with engaging campaigns.

By doing away with typical agency overheads, we can pass on savings to our clients and bring ideas to life quickly and effectively, whilst delivering a strong return on investment.

Flexible accounts mean we can work on a project-by-project basis or offer longer term content plans at a fixed rate to suit you.

Our speciality is in film and social media, however our extensive range of close contacts allows us to branch out into animation, design, events/PR, radio, print & more.

And, as a bonus, we have 50,000+ followers on our various social channels, which means we can maximise the reach & power of our work.

In addition to all of this, we host creative events, workshops, and deliver talks for agencies, universities and businesses such as the BBC, Lloyds Bank and SKY. We also have several books published and have featured in articles and won awards across the world.

One Minute Brief of the Day: Create posters for #LyttleMoments on #WorldCancerDay with @LyttleFight

I am very sad to be writing this on #WorldCancerDay but I saw a post from Isabella’s family at the weekend and felt that OMB could once again help Isabella. We had previously done a campaign that resulted in the video below starring the amazing Isabella herself.

Unfortunately, Isabella’s Neuroblastoma has spread and the family have been informed the following by doctors.

We were sat down and told the words we have most feared hearing since October 2010. We were told that we need to make some memories with Isabella. The scan results from Tuesday has shown significant progression in just three weeks and the neuroblastoma is showing up in new places.

That’s why today we want to create posters of positivity for Isabella and encourage donations to the #LyttleMoments cause to help her and her family make some amazing memories together.

Please enter and share the work of others via retweets as much as you can and share the following link in your tweets. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tony-mccormack-1

Remember to read all of the links to fully understand why we are running the brief to help the family and get involved.

Tweet entries to @OneMinuteBriefs @LyttleFight with the hashtags #LyttleMoments and #WorldCancerDay

Thank you.

One Minute Brief of the Day: Advertise #DECHOX with @TheBHF

One Minute Brief of the Day:

Advertise #DECHOX with @TheBHF

Following our brilliant previous briefs with the British Heart Foundation, we have got another one for their new cause. A subject that we just know the OMBLES will want to get their teeth into!!

About:

Dechox is our nationwide challenge to give up chocolate throughout February.

Anything with cocoa in it is off limits - from the sprinkles on your cappuccino, to that 3pm chocolate bar. By stepping up and getting your friends, family and colleagues to sponsor you, you'll be raising money to fund our vital research.

We’re asking people to go chocolate-free for a month for both the challenge and the cause.

The satisfaction of completing Dechox is reward in itself - especially if you're competing with family and friends! Plus, every donation you raise, no matter the amount, helps to power our life saving research into heart and circulatory diseases.

Web link: bhf.org.uk/dechox

Twitter: @TheBHF

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bhfdechox/

Categories

• Bank of Creativity
• Events
• Guest Blog Posts
• One Minute Briefs

One Minute Brief of the Day: Create posters for any brand/product/service featuring @PiersMorgan

One Minute Brief of the Day:

Create posters for any brand/product/service featuring @PiersMorgan

Today we've got a fun brief to advertise ANYTHING. But there's one rule. It must feature Piers Morgan. Lately, we've seen brands looking to provoke Piers and he has even been ganged up on by brands. His responses have given these brands huge exposure and PR when he has shared his opinion, with a lot of people attacking him for sharing them. 

However, this brief isn't about an attack on Piers. We want to see some funny posters that aren't aggressive or derogatory in their approach. Who knows... you might even get a retweet off him yourself if he likes your ad.

Remember to put your twitter handle in the corner of your entries and tweet them to @OneMinuteBriefs and @PiersMorgan with the hashtag #PiersPressure

Prize:

Winner receives the OMB Book. (If you've got both you can pre-order the 3rd for free)

@JohnGeeMcCarthy from @TheDrum created this graphic below to show the type of marketing happening at the moment which inspired this brief, so you might just want to tweet them too with your posters!

One Minute Brief of the Day: Create #BereavedValentines Cards with @thortful

One Minute Brief of the Day:

Create #BereavedValentines Cards with @thortful

Brief:

In 

the anticipation

 of 

Valentine’s

 Day

thortful 

would like to ask OMBles to 

design a Valentine’s card for a friend or family member who has lost their partner.

The idea behind the brief is that some people who have lost loved ones might find Valentine’s day particularly hard.

S

ending a card shows someone you care and 

whilst acknowledging the difficult time 

they’re

going through

. 

A card could be bought 

for a friend 

or family member 

who had recently (or perhaps not-so-recently) been bereaved, and so wouldn’t have a person to send a card to or anyone to receive a card from. 

Tweet your ideas/

designs

 to @OneMinuteBriefs with the hashtags #

bereavedvalentines

Include 

@thortful 

in your tweets too. Feel free to tag in any celebs etc or do what you can to get these messages shared!!

Prizes:

The winner and three runners up will become part thortful’s growing community of

independent creators.

The top three winning designs will be produced into greeting cards and sold on 

thortful.com

 where creators are paid an industry-leading royalty rate for each sale of their design (30-50p) per card.

The overall winner also receives £50 prize and a year’s supply of cards from thortful.com

Good luck

, 

we hope you can help us spread a very important message with today's brief.

One Minute Brief of the Day: Advertise @CheesyFMUK

One Minute Brief of the Day: 

Advertise @CheesyFMUK

Today we've got a great brief with our friends at Cheesy FM that we're sure everyone's going to have a lot of fun with!! As well as some great prizes too.

Remember to tweet @oneminutebriefs and @cheesyfmuk with the hashtag #SpreadTheCheese Give them a follow too!!

Prize:

- £100 Amazon Vouchers

- 1 x Cheeseboard

- Personal Shout-out on Cheesy FM

- Posts to be shared on Cheesy FM.

- 1 slice of Cheesy FM for free (details TBC)
- Free radio ad campaign for you or your company

About Cheesy FM:

The team at Cheesy FM have created a new radio format for the UK.
They play your guilty pleasures and monster favourites! Boybands, girlbands, one-hit wonders, novelty hits and the best sing-along pop music from all decades!
Wedgy, their mouse and mascot often makes an appearance on air too!
And yes, they have some cheesy jingles! 

Cheesy FM has no long ad-breaks, making it a better all-round listen for everyone. Their advertising model will stir up the business side of the industry.

Their tagline, simple...Cheesy FM, guilty pleasures, and proud of it!

Back in 2014, The Big Cheese quietly created Cheesy FM as a web/app based radio station for his own entertainment. Little did he know where the journey would take him.
Fast forward to today, and Cheesy FM has won a start-up business competition for a new commercial radio business model and has attracted a huge and loyal audience. 
Cheesy FM is now on air as a new, fun format radio station for the UK. Test broadcasts are now live and they will soon be broadcasting on DAB with transmitter switch-ons planned for 2019. You can listen at cheesyfm.co.uk, via the mobile app, TuneIn and more.
Long commercial breaks are a no-no for their listeners – but for their advertisers, they have turned this into a new advertising model that will work harder for them.
The presenters will be amongst the very best in the industry and they'll play all the cheesy tunes that you know and love, but may not always admit to! Don't worry, you'll be among friends. 

#SpreadTheCheese

One Minute Brief of the Day: Advertise @Wal_Logistics #WalthamLogistics

One Minute Brief of the Day:
Advertise @Wal_Logistics #WalthamLogistics



Today we've got a brief to create fun and funky adverts for what might not typically be the most exciting sector...but we're excited to see what the OMBLES come up with as we know they can make anything amazing and bring to life our great service!!! We've got some great prizes for the winner too!

Tweet your posters to @Wal_Logistics and @OneMinuteBriefs with the hashtag #WalthamLogistics

Prizes:

£100 of Amazon vouchers

PLUS…

A unique chocolate #OMB logo worth £75

Weighing in at 750g and made by Lincolnshire chocolate artisan, Fiona Sciolti, we are hoping this will be the incentive to fuel the creativity of all participating #OMBLES!!

Fiona is an artisan chocolatier who lives local to Waltham Logistics and whose portfolio is impressive; she creates chocolates for clients such as Christian Dior, Country Living Magazine, The Barbican, National & International Charities with Royal Patronage and Buckingham Palace. (https://www.scioltichocolates.com/about-fiona)

About:

Waltham Logistics is a warehouse and transport company that is run by a family that has served Grimsby’s food industry for over 50 years. Grimsby is known as ‘Europe’s Food Town’.

We are strategically based centrally on the east coast of the UK next to the Humber ports of Immingham, Hull and Grimsby and can reach a UK market of 40 million people within a four hour drive time.

The Humber is also known as the ‘Gateway to Europe’ and we are within a 24 hour reach of a European market of 170 million.

This means we are strategically located for the storage of goods being both imported and exported.

Find out more: www.walthamlogistics.co.uk

What makes us unique?

For our local customers…

1.     RAPID RESPONSE &QUICK DELIVERY OF GOODS. We are unique in that we respond very quickly to our clients when they require products from the warehouse. In this industry if you require something from a warehouse you usually have to give at least 24 hours’ notice – our normal delivery time is within 2-3 hours of request but we offer a rapid delivery service, from receiving a request to delivering into a local Grimsby factory can be made within the hour.

2.     VISIBILITY OF STOCK AT ALL TIMES. All of our customers are given a portal on our website where they can view in real-time, 24/7, all the stock they hold with us. They never lose ‘visibility’ of their stock.

3.     REDUCING COSTS. We never ask our customers to pay for warehouse space they do not use. They get charged only for the pallet spaces they use and are not contracted to pay a certain amount of pallets spaces. (In the industry you usually are contracted to pay for ‘x’ amount of pallet spaces for ‘x’ months - years whether you use them or not.)

For our clients in Europe and beyond…

4.     STRATEGICALLY SITUATED. We are placing their product at the centre of the UK – super important with Brexit looming.

5.     They have their own online portal access for monitoring their stock so despite being thousands of miles away, they never lose sight of their stock.

6.     #3 applies to them also.

All our customers can see their stock and access it quickly. This means that we act like a warehouse on their premises but they are not encumbered with the cost in time and finances in running their own warehouse that may not operate at capacity.

  

One Minute Brief of the Day: Advertise the return of #MerryCritmas with @Father_Critmas

One Minute Brief of the Day:
Advertise the return of #MerryCritmas with @Father_Critmas



He's back and critting harder than ever for the third year running.
Following last year's Oscar winning performance in CRIT Movie, he's decided to go even bigger with a music video as he performs 'Merry Critmas Everyone'.

Father Critmas is the biggest, baddest and best Creative Director out there but deep down he does a lot of good by matching junior creatives/students/grads with Creative Directors worldwide. Give him a follow at @Father_Critmas and, if you are reading this, make sure you sign up to give or receive the gift of a book crit at merrycritmas.com

And, as part of the film, he's looking for all of the OMBLES to have a cameo role in a montage.
All you have to do is take a selfie video in LANDSCAPE and shout "IT'S CRIIITTTMASSSS" in the style of Noddy Holder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMRBYpbAHpk 
The more the merrier so please get involved!! 
Send your clips to fathercritmas@merrycritmas.com 
If you'd like to feature in the film itself, we are filming it at MediaCity, Manchester on Tuesday 27th November. E-mail Father Critmas if interested.

Brief: 

For today's OMB brief we're looking for you to create posters using lyrics from any Christmas song.
Tweak them as you wish to communicate the #MerryCritmas initiative and Father Critmas' naughty but nice personality.

About the Campaign:

Merry Critmas is a campaign encouraging professional creatives in the advertising and marketing fields to give the gift of a festive portfolio review, or "book crit".

For undiscovered talent trying to break into advertising, it’s a foot in the door.

For established creatives, it’s a nice way of giving something back.

Just half an hour can make a real difference.

And you never know who you might discover...

How it works:

Whether you are an aspiring creative team, a hybrid solo, or a conceptual designer, Merry Critmas is for everyone. That means that regardless of whether you went to university or ad school, all are equally welcome to take part and get involved.

All you have to do is select a side on our homepage.

Or if you're feeling brave, send your portfolio direct to Father Critmas.

Once we have your details, Father Critmas and his elves will start to match our fresh talent with superstar pros who have signed up to Merry Critmas 2018. 

This year we are already partnered with The Drum, NABS, Unity Radio, Trunk and GAS Music. Get in touch if you'd like to team up with us and help Father Critmas take over the world!

merrycritmas.com
@Father_Critmas

One Minute Brief of the Day: Create posters to encourage the public to #KnowYourStatus with the @BioSureUK #HIVSelfTest

One Minute Brief of the Day: 

Create posters to encourage the public to #KnowYourStatus with the @BioSureUK #HIVSelfTest

Today we've got a great brief for an amazing cause with a great prize to be won. Hoping to see lots of people involved!

Prize for winning idea: £100 Amazon vouchers
Tweet your entries to @OneMinuteBriefs @BioSureUK with the hashtags #KnowYourStatus #HIVselftest

Did you know ?

HIV is a treatable condition and someone on effective treatment lives a normal length life and most importantly can’t pass it on. We can end the epidemic.

But the first step is to #KnowYourStatus – because if you don’t test you cant treat

BioSure HIV Self Test lets you know your own status on your own terms in just 15 minutes

About:

BioSure (UK)  develop, manufacture, source and distribute rapid tests with the highest levels of accuracy, many rivalling those of standard laboratory tests. Our rapid diagnostic and detection tests are invaluable tools where immediate results are the primary consideration. The tests that we manufacture and supply are used worldwide for the management of human infectious disease.

BioSure (UK) specialise in the provision of rapid Point of Care (POC) and self testing solutions. We passionately believe that this technology through integration into healthcare settings and for use as self tests can revolutionise testing protocols, reduce late diagnoses, provide cost effective testing solutions for general population and engage hard to reach key populations. Ultimately budgets can be spread further through far lower delivery costs and immediate diagnosis.

Cost effective, straightforward, fast and accurate – it is our aim to bring this technology to the mainstream.

More info:

www.hivselftest.co.uk

@BioSUREUK

One Minute Brief of the Day: Campaign to promote #AdventAid to encourage people to donate advent calendars to food banks as a small addition to their weekly shop. @UnlovableSteve @JustinMoorhouse

One Minute Brief of the Day:
Campaign to promote #AdventAid to encourage people to donate advent calendars to food banks as a small addition to their weekly shop. @UnloveableSteve @JustinMoorhouse

Today we've got a brilliant brief for a great cause. Started by @JustinMoorhouse and @UnloveableSteve, the campaign began on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/justin.x.moorhouse/posts/10205013419917022 and is now on Twitter with it's own hashtag and website. And, we're hoping for the OMBLES to help spread the message and festive joy even further. 

Prize: Signed copy of one of Steve's books. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Berry/e/B00AWPQBYM/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1542632236&sr=8-1

About: Since 2014, inspired by a post on social media by comedian and broadcaster Justin Moorhouse, people have been buying advent calendars and donating them to local food banks.

The reasoning behind this is that, at a very expensive and stressful time of year, the last thing parents who have to go to food banks will be doing is buying treats for their kids.

Now, we don't care what your politics are but we're pretty certain everyone would agree that people who are using food banks would rather they weren't.

Most, if not all, would also agree that the children of adults who are using food banks aren't to blame for their parents' predicament.

Imagine being a kid this Christmas, knowing times are hard and money is tight at your house. It's hard for them and it's hard for mums and dads.

So please can you buy an extra advent calendar when you next do your weekly shop? If you can afford to buy in bulk, please do, but one is a start.

It's a little thing we can do to put a smile on a kid's face (and maybe mum's or dad's too).

Let's aim that every kid has an advent calendar this year.

If your local supermarket doesn't have a food bank collection box already, you can donate to the Trussell Trust.

Find your local one here: https://www.trusselltrust.org/

Website: http://adventaid.info

One Minute Brief of the Day: Advertise #TeamHighSheriff & their upcoming @TeamHighSheriff 500 Event

One Minute Brief of the Day:
Advertise #TeamHighSheriff & their upcoming @TeamHighSheriff 500 Event

Today we've got a great brief that's a personal one to me as I was recently announced as an ambassador to the High Sheriff of Manchester alongside the likes of Michael Carrick and Lawrence Jones. So I'm hoping the OMBLES can help me promote Team High Sheriff itself as well as our next event that I will also be speaking at.

Remember to include @OneMinuteBriefs @TeamHighSheriff with the hashtag #TeamHighSheriff and please include the link in tweets: eventbrite.co.uk/e/team-high-sheriff-500-tickets-50163904589

Prize:
The winner will receive a brilliant goody bag kindly donated by the team at @UKFast

About Team High Sheriff:

A new High Sheriff is appointed by the Queen each year. Officially, the High Sheriff is the Queens Judicial representative in the County, this means they uphold the royal family, judiciary, emergency services, local authorities and all organised faith groups in the County. The role can be traced back 1,000 years with High sheriffs being mentioned in the Magna Carta. 

“Our aim is to work in partnership with young people and have conversations about what matters to them: Such as looking after their physical health and mental well-being, concerns about employment, housing, social inclusion, crime reduction, community cohesion, opportunities to access education and vocational training.” 

- Robina Shah - High Sheriff of Manchester 


About the The Team High Sheriff Event:
Our event is focussed on health and well-being and reflects the Team High Sheriff principle that “young people matter”.

Our aim is to work in partnership with young people aged 16 -24 years old and have conversations about what matters to them: from looking after their physical health and mental well-being, to concerns about employment, housing, social inclusion, crime reduction and community cohesion, to opportunities to access education and vocational training.

Team High Sheriff Ambassadors will facilitate conversation forums and host talks to up-skill our young people in areas such as leadership, team building, communication and social skills. We will have a wealth of talent speaking at the event that includes Daniel Rimes, Nick Entwistle and Michael Carrick.

We are also inviting our ambassadors to attend to ensure that what young people learn in our conversation forums is translated in to meaningful practice through work-based placements, apprenticeship schemes or voluntary work experience.

Links:
https://twitter.com/teamhighsheriff

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/team-high-sheriff-500-tickets-50163904589

https://teamhighsheriff.com/

One Minute Brief of the Day: Create posters advertising your home town or city with @Bruntwood_UK #MyGreatCity

One Minute Brief of the Day: 
Create posters advertising your home town or city with @Bruntwood_UK #MyGreatCity

Today we've got a great brief with our friends at Bruntwood. With some great prizes to be won, we want you to show how proud you are of where you live. We want to know what makes you love the city you live in. OMBLES all around the UK (or world) welcome!

Maybe it’s the people, the nightlife or perhaps the museums. It could be the striking architecture or even just the memories it holds. We want to know what makes you proud to be where you’re from.

That's why we're asking you to create fun posters to advertise where you live in whatever way you want.

Remember to tweet your entries to @OneMinuteBriefs and @Bruntwood_UK with the hashtag #MyGreatCity

Prizes:
Winners will receive tickets for them or family/friends to attend theatres around the UK that Bruntwood work with including the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool and the Exchange Theatre in Manchester.


About Bruntwood:

At Bruntwood, we’re committed to making creating thriving cities. Our deep connection with the cities we work in sets us apart; and over more than forty years, everything we have achieved has been with this purpose in mind. But we’re about much more than bricks and mortar.

Helping people to thrive fuels our passion for supporting arts and culture, our programme of community volunteering, and our ambitious plans for future growth too. Every investment we make is really an investment in our colleagues, our customers and the communities we’re all part of, because when our cities thrive, so do we – proof that our purpose makes sound commercial sense too.

Led by our purpose, we create places that are healthier, better connected, more vibrant, sustainable, inclusive and economically empowered. Places people want to live, work and play in.

Links:
https://twitter.com/Bruntwood_UK
https://bruntwood.co.uk/

One Minute Brief of the Day: Create an ad to encourage local businesses, authorities and communities to support charity @AddingtonSG’s ambition to create an incredible outdoor Sensory Garden for Addington Special School's pupils.

One Minute Brief of the Day:
Create an ad to encourage local businesses, authorities and communities to support charity @AddingtonSG’s ambition to create an incredible outdoor Sensory Garden for Addington Special School's pupils.

Brief:

Today's brief is running in partnership with @AddingtonSG and @Gasp_4

Tweet your designs to @OneMinuteBriefs with the hashtag #SensoryGarden, @AddingtonSG and link to the JustGiving fundraising page: www.justgiving.com/campaign/addington. Feel free to base your idea on and tag any local businesses, press, authorities or communities to encourage them to participate and help the garden grow.

Prize:

@Gasp_4 has donated a prize of £100 for the winning ad, and £100 for the charity alongside a full day of agency resource as part of their Give Back Day. The winning ad will also be submitted to local press with accompanying press release to further drive awareness and participation. 

About Addington School and Addington Association:

Based in Woodley, Reading, the Addington School is an outstanding environment for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. All our pupils have a learning difficulty with almost half also having Autism.

The Addington School Association is a registered charity (registration number 1088765), and a very small group of dedicated parents and teaching staff who raise funds for much needed extra facilities at the school that are not provided by the Local Authority. Our latest ambitious plan is a Sensory Garden which we hope to have raised funds for the first phase by 2020. 

The garden will help us grow the physical, social and emotional skills of our pupils by transforming our outside space. Zones will create stimulating challenges that support learning guidelines and the National Curriculum by encouraging our pupils to develop physical, social and emotional skills through exploration and interaction.

In order to bring this to life, we're appealing to the immediate community, home to many of the world's big businesses to support us in any way they can, via donations, fund-raising events, sponsorship and/or volunteering.

Good luck and THANK YOU to everyone who participates and helps realise our dream of growing such an important Sensory Garden for the children and young people we care for so much.

Further information

Addington School: http://addington.schooljotter2.com

Addington Association: https://twitter.com/addingtonsg

Sensory Garden Project JustGiving: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/addington

One Minute Brief of the Day: Campaign to promote @Art_Brut_'s new album: Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out! with @ILoveAlcopop #WhamBangPow

One Minute Brief of the Day:

Campaign to promote @Art_Brut_'s new album: Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out!

with @ILoveAlcopop #WhamBangPow

Today we've got a very different brief with some brilliant prizes. Really looking forward to seeing the results of this one!

It's been a while, but Art Brut are back with a blazing new album, Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out! - and Alcopop! Records are keen to see what OMB can do to build some fun, creative content to be used at the invite-only pre-album launch at Signature Brew's new Taproom on 8th November, which will be packed with music and media people. 

Brief: We want you to listen to the album's opening single (of the same name) and create posters inspired by the record. We've added some info below to help too.

Track: https://alcopop.bandcamp.com/album/wham-bang-pow-lets-rock-out

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERM18EUeXqM

Please tweet to @ilovealcopop @art_brut_ and @OneMinuteBriefs with the hashtag #WhamBangPow

Prizes:

We'll give a copy of the album (on CD or vinyl) to every piece of art we like and use, and a £50 Alcopop! Records voucher + £50 cash for the band's favourite.

Social links: 

https://www.facebook.com/ArtBrutOfficial/

https://twitter.com/art_brut_

More info:

Alcopop! Records are pleased to announce they have signed Berlin-based post-punk art rock band Art Brut, who will play a special return headline show on 7th November in London at Boston Music Room.

Here to remind us of our insatiable, adolescent appetite for music, Art Brut are back together. What started as a break-up album and turned into an ‘in-love record’, Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out! is a collection of post-punk, poppy bangers that recall the distinctive sound that burst out of the Berlin-based band back in 2005. It’s been seven years since the group’s last LP and sees Argos’ self-referential, sincere narrative shape into poignant reflections of encompassing a youthful heart in a world that perpetually forces us to grow up.

Argos was careful to “live a life” before attempting a new album. “I moved to Berlin, I nearly died with Peritonitis. I was in hospital for a bit. I had a son, I had a relationship that broke up. I wrote a comic, a memoir, a musical and had a one man show,” he says. “I don't want to be that band who writes the sort of songs like "I don't like touring, touring is really boring". I think we needed a rest so some stuff could happen to me, to fill me up.”

Produced by award-winning folk musician Jim Moray, Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out! is Art Brut at their pop band best. Argos recorded his vocals in one or two takes, channeling the sporadic nature of his live performances while hand claps and ad-libbed jokes and howls produce a raw and authentic work. Morphing almost any mundane experience into a hilariously candid anecdote – whether it’s watching hipsters eat falafel on ‘Good Morning Berlin’, planning a better diet after a health scare on ‘Hospital!’ or dodging a train ticket inspector on ‘Schwarzfahrer’– Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out! is testament to the frontman’s unconventional approach to finding inspiration in just about anything.

“It’s not a game over, I got an extra life, I was born again, in a pure white light,” Argos trills on album opener, ‘Hooray!’, sparking an exuberant return to an industry where, if we’re honest, Art Brut never really fit in. On Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out!, Art Brut are creating anthems for outcasts.

With the departure of Jasper Future and Mikey Breyer, Art Brut are now made up of founding members Argos, Ian Catskilkin and Freddy Feedback while Toby Macfarlaine joins on guitar and Charlie Layton joins on drums. “I've known Charlie forever,” Argos explains. “He's also the drummer for The Wedding Present but we always wanted to be in a band together since we were kids. Now it's been about 25 years of knowing each other, he's finally in our group. Toby plays bass for Graham Coxon normally, he's in the band cos he’s an amazing guitar player and  I love him. Ian found him and I looked at his twitter feed to see what he was about and he had posted 'A Day in the Life of Vivian Stanshall" from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band. I was like "yeah perfect! he's in!’’

Argos describes Art Brut as a democracy, with the new line-up adding new ideas to the pot. “Toby and Charlie both rock the fuck out which is what I like,” he adds. “Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out! is a bit more back to basics Art Brut. It's sort of the record I was trying to make after the first record and we didn't quite succeed. I think I'm more confident now and I know what I want. Not being mean about our other records but it's a poppy punk record which is what I wanted to do. I think speaking is a more honest way of getting what I want across. And I can't sing too.”

While he wrestles with the realisation that Art Brut are now, as he describes, a “heritage band”, Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out! sees the band producing their most accomplished and innovative work to date. “I think it's because we love it,” Argos says of the band’s longevity in the face of an ever-changing scene. “I've always been quite gregarious about being in a band. I thought it would fix everything. I can't imagine ever leaving Art Brut. It's quite addicting really, we're a fun band when we play live. There's a nice mix of that and heart, we're not ironic or anything. I think it's fun to be in Art Brut. Maybe that's why we can't stop?”

Here's the album sleeve by Jim Avignon and single sleeve by @rhirhilee84 for inspiration