Having studied Product Design at the University of Leeds and with experience working as a designer and artworker at a marketing agency and print wear company, Bob is bringing a wealth of knowledge to the agency.

Shaun Beaumont, Creative Director at Manifest Communications, said: "We are really pleased to welcome Bob to Manifest, and he is already proving to be a great asset, following a number of new business wins. 2012 is set to be a busy year for Manifest, and with Bob's knowledge of both design and artworking he is sure to become a real asset to the creative team."

Manifest London is also undertaking a comprehensive PR and social media launch strategy for the new venue and has already secured coverage in the top trade titles for the conference and events industry.

Alex's presence on the panel follows a string of appearances in various forums and events discussing social media and PR, and this event will allow an audience to hear first-hand how Manifest developed and executed a successful social media strategy for drinks client, craft beer brewery BrewDog. Alex will also be discussing how an integrated agency is best placed to manage social media activity for brands.

Click here to view details of the event, and purchase tickets here

In our efforts to inspire consumers to buy gifts that celebrate real relationships, Manifest has developed a three-pronged campaign. This will consist of a "10 things I hate" survey supported by psychologist comments and a protest photo shoot, a focus on celebrity couples and the gifts they might send one another and an innovative, integrated social media element taking place on Valentine's Day. Watch this space!

Having won the British International Freight Association Environment award in January 2011, Hellmann rounded off the year in style by winning both the Young Freight Forwarder of the Year and People Development IFW awards, which took place in December.

We couldn't have been prouder to see Hellmann win the awards, especially when IFW's Editor Kizzi Nkwocha commented that: "The sheer quality of entries for the 2011 Awards surpassed our expectations and made the judges task an unenviable one. In any other year, every runner-up in the 2011 awards would have been a clear-cut winner."

Of course we had a glass of fizz or two to toast Hellmann's success!

Nev Ridley, Managing Director at Manifest, commented:
"Jade's appointment comes as the PR department has won a number of new accounts including North Yorkshire Sport, La Tasca and Premier Global to name a few and we have no doubt that she'll be an asset to the team. 2012 is set to be another exciting year for Manifest and I fully expect our PR team to grow even further."

This is our fourth appointment in as many months and we are currently looking to expand the team further with the appointment of a creative account manager and an artworker.

See the full line up

Press and bloggers in London were invited to come along to one of 6 tasting events organised by the Manifest team to celebrate the launch and introduce the Scottish craft beer kings to the city's media. The bar was bursting at the seams with all of London's craft beer fans clamouring to sample some brand new beers, fresh out of the mash tun. Viva la Revolutión.

And if you've ever considered a new career in sport and leisure there's a chance you'd have come across our next client, Premier Global. We're managing the PR across three of its brands, Premier Training International; the leading health and fitness training provider, Active IQ; the ofqual approved leading qualification awarding organisation and Active IQ Academy; a new online learning resource for the active leisure sector.

More recently we've been working with affordable fitness brand Pure Gym to launch its brand new Coventry gym, delivering a strong regional PR programme to drive pre-launch sales.

And coming back to Yorkshire, we've been working with North Yorkshire Sport & the County Sport Partnership to support its strategy going into 2012 and showcasing the excellent job the organisation does to drive participation in sport and physical activity.

John, a life-long Manchester United supporter has worked with the likes of Blackberry, NHS, Pringles and Nike amongst others. Global advertising campaigns and digital media websites, such as YouTube, have popularized the sport / art in recent years. John started performing after enrolling on one of the Brazilian Soccer Schools in Manchester at the age of 14, and is now the holder of four Guinness World Records, appeared on several TV shows and won the World Football Freestyle Championship title in Holland in 2006.

Alex Myers, Director at Manifest London commented, We are very pleased to welcome another addition to the ever expanding Manifest London team. Ali brings a good mix of PR and Event management experience with her that will compliment our existing clients. It's great to have another bright, creative, young mind joining the team - as long as she leaves the white stilettos at home!

It has invested in larger premises due to its recent expansion and to firmly cement its position as a leading full-service agency in the North.

The office move follows the appointments of Rachel Mayer as New Business Development Manager, Laura Coyne and Richard Hanney as PR Account Executives, Michael Garlick as Junior Developer, and Rebecca Douglas as PR Director.

The agency is looking for PR Account Executive, Creative Marketing Account Manager and an Art Worker - for more information please email: becca@manifestcomms.co.uk

Manifest Communications is now based at Canalside Buildings, Roundhouse Business Park, Graingers Way, Leeds, LS12 1AH.

For more information on the free PR and social media audits, please contact new PR Director, Rebecca Douglas, on 01132 429174 or becca@manifestcomms.co.uk

After studying History and Culture at Brighton University, Richard completed an English Literature MA at the University of Leeds. He brings with him excellent writing skills and experience of working with both national and regional consumer and B2B clients.

Her appointment is Manifest's fourth in three months and forms a big part of the agency's expansion plans

Providing strategic support across a number of accounts, Rebecca will be the PR and social media lead in the North and will also work closely with Manifest's London office.

Starting her career as an Account Executive for LPM, Rebecca has since worked as a PR Assistant for Midlands Co-Op, an in-house PR Officer at Leisure Connection and a Senior Account Manager at Poulters, prior to her position at MCG PR.

Rebecca also won the accolade of 'Young Communicator of the Year' at the CIPR PRide Awards in 2009.

"The agency has a 'can do' attitude. If an employee can't find what they're looking for, then they believe they should build it. The judges liked the 'product development' aspect of Manifest's offering."

The Digi Awards are in their second year, recognising not only specialist digital communications campaigns, but how they integrate with traditional PR techniques to genuinely push new boundaries and achieve outstanding results.

Alex Myers, Director at Manifest commented: "It's always a very proud moment to be recognised externally for the work you do - especially when judged by such a renowned group of peers and industry figures - but to win Best Agency with Integrated Digital Expertise is especially rewarding."

"At Manifest we don't believe in separating online and offline campaigns - but rather to develop ideas that have the capacity to span the entire media spectrum, from broadsheets to blogs. It's amazing to be recognised for this, and for our in-house innovation, and it will spur us on to continue developing new tools and methods for the benefit of our clients."

Manifest's Digital Newsroom and The Loop services were particular sources of praise from judges, with the latter launching in March to provide realtime social media monitoring in combination with offline monitoring and analysis and detailed weekly and monthly reporting and campaign evaluation.

'Manifest is a fully integrated agency,' said one judge. 'It has a good range of services and achieves good client results.'"

The awards, hosted by CorpComms magazine, are dubbed the Monster Digirati Party, with many of the industry's biggest names in attendance. Alex Myers, Martin Farrar-Smith and Sarah Warman collected the award on behalf of Manifest and it now sits proudly in the London office.

Alex added: "This is a real team award and the hard work of everyone here has contributed. We're very proud of everyone."

Based in the North, her new role at Manifest will involve identifying and developing new business opportunities across all service offerings, including PR and Social Media, design and digital, for both the Huddersfield and London offices.

Rachel Mayer, newly appointed Business Development Manager at Manifest, commented: "I'm thrilled to have joined the team at Manifest. After seeing the job advert, researching the company and industry, it ticked all the boxes. Manifest has an exceptional client portfolio, friendly and knowledgeable teams, it's great to be working in an agency environment with a rapidly expanding client base."

She continued: "I'm looking forward to challenges the role may present and becoming part of this successful company as well as assisting in the growth of the business!"

Nev Ridley, Joint Managing Director at Manifest, said of Rachel's appointment: "We're delighted to have Rachel on board here at Manifest. There's a lot in the pipeline throughout the second half of 2011, including expanding our workforce and client base, as well as re-locating to Leeds. Rachel's role will essentially support our business strategy to aid growth in both our Northern and London offices. We've weathered the storm well over the last few years by continually investing in exceptional staff and business development, and I'm pleased to say this strategy has ultimately paid off."

With a few appointments already booked, watch this space for the coverage...

The latest initiative follows a successful online campaign we managed earlier this year, which saw a series of banner and skyscraper ads produced to introduce the concept of high speed internet via satellite to consumers. Check out what we're up to at the moment at twitter.com/ToowayUK and facebook.com/ToowayUK.

Manifest has been working with BrewDog since June 2010 and in that time we have launched the world's most alcoholic and expensive beer (in squirrel roadkill), coordinated the world's smallest protest, changed 300 year-old weights and measures legislation, launched two amazing craft beer bars, organised a national crap beer amnesty and given anyone willing to get a BrewDog tattoo a lifetime discount at their bars. All of this has helped the business to grow by 250% in the last twelve months.

Alex Myers, Director at Manifest commented:
"BrewDog is an amazing brand to work with and it's fantastic that our campaign for them has been recognised and shortlisted by the Marketing Week judges. Our fingers are crossed for the big day in May."

For fans of BrewDog, keep your eyes peeled over the coming months for some of the most creative (and incendiary) ideas yet.

Alex Myers, Director at Manifest London commented: "The Digital Newsroom was already the most effective web-enabled news platform in the PR industry - but version 2.0 has advanced things even further to combine unrivalled functionality with a great user-experience for journalists and bloggers."

Conceived, designed and developed by Manifest, The Digital Newsroom provides a comprehensive and fully customisable web-based news archive. The key benefits for clients include: A personalised unique domain (e.g. digitalnewsroom.co.uk/SANYO). Enhanced user experience for journalists, bloggers and other media contacts. Search engine optimisation (SEO) engineering to attract relevant audiences through web searches. Hosting of large attachments, including high resolution images and video. Display of real-time twitter, YouTube and Flickr reactions to stories to offer additional context. Links to brands social media profiles to drive community growth. One-click social sharing via Twitter, Facebook, email and more. Comprehensive analytics detailing the volume and location of users, their on-site behaviour and more. Trackable short URL to monitor the reach of social sharing. Email distribution analytics to show which media contacts opened the news release email.

Electronics giant SANYO was one of the first brands to utilise the benefits of the Digital Newsroom, and since appointing Manifest to run the UK PR and social media campaign for its range of Xacti Dual Cameras, the newsroom has had nearly half a million unique users.

Dominic Jones, UK Marketing Manager at SANYO commented: "Manifest is unique in its combination of digital understanding and traditional PR expertise. The Digital Newsroom is an exceptional tool for brands to unlock the potential of the web in a way that supports PR activity both online and offline. The result has been heightened coverage and awareness online for SANYO Xacti, helping to inspire record sales for our latest range."

Live from 9.00am today, the Digital Newsroom version 2.0 incorporates an entirely new look and feel, alongside enhanced customisation, language and social media integration options.

Sarah commented: "Manifest is a vibrant, ambitious PR agency with a rare mix of talent, experience and enthusiasm. The collaborative and creative way the team works really complements my strengths and I'm looking forward to the challenges ahead. I can't wait to meet all of our amazing clients and get stuck in."

Sarah joins Manifest London during a period of sustained growth and following a number of PR and social media account wins that have kicked off 2011 with a bang.

Alex, director at Manifest said: "We are very pleased to welcome Sarah to Manifest London and I'm confident she'll make a really positive impact to our growing team - in fact she already is. Her combination of natural communication skills and familiarity with the latest digital media channels means she fits in very well with the way we work - although I'm not sure her music tastes will."

With your own login, you can see the statistics and details at any time of day - be it at 3 o'clock in the afternoon or midnight - as the information is updated daily and always available on your dashboard. When a campaign is live, you can see the impact it is having as it happens.

Alex Myers, Director at Manifest commented: "The Loop not only reflects our new social media monitoring tool, but our comprehensive transparent reporting processes across the board. We see reporting and evaluation as an integral component of any PR or social media work, and The Loop represents a landmark in our capacity to provide detailed information for clients on the success of campaigns."

"We were dissatisfied with the social media monitoring tools out there, so we developed our own structure to things around the specific needs of our clients. We are very proud to finally unveil The Loop - and watch this space for further enhancements to our unrivalled reporting processes."

The London based venues operator provides nine carefully engineered training and event spaces that provide convenience and accessibility coupled with bold and intelligent design. Carefully selected menus, audio-visual facilities and cutting-edge space management all add to a business proposition that has helped etc. venues stun the business world by expanding dramatically in the toughest of economic climates. etc.venues host 10 venues in the UK, 9 of which are in London.

Alex Myers, Director at Manifest commented: "etc.venues is a bold and innovative business that is carving its own unique position in the competitive training, conference and events sectors and we are very proud to have been chosen to work with them."

Our creative team, who designed the labels to go on the lids of the selected tubs, crafted the on pack promotion. Unique codes were printed on the underside of the lids where customers were directed to enter their digits into the Dunlop rugby microsite. The multimedia team created the microsite where customers would find out if they'd won, whilst providing secure data capture for Dunlop. Fully supported by a PR and Social Media campaign, the giveaway gained coverage in the trade press and on online.

With a huge response from tradesmen up and down the country, the lucky winner was Jonathan Swift of SwiftFixit who had a thoroughly enjoyable day out at Twickenham (although he did admit to having split loyalties, being half Irish!)

Manifest supported the competition from its conception through targeted PR and marketing; making sure schools were aware of the competition through email marketing, placing the sound recorders in secondary schools across the country, generating a buzz in the media, and managing enquiries.

To listen to the winning track by Bushey Meads School in Hertfordshire, with its Year 13's rendition of Beyonce's Halo, please visit http://www.xacti-fm.com/.

The panel of 'Dragons', Glenn Manoff Director of Communications for O2 UK, Emma Gilpin-Jacobs Global Director of Communications for the Financial Times and Asam Ahmad Head of Consumer Media Relations for Virgin Media, had to decide on the winning pitch, whilst the audience grilled the competing agencies on their ideas.

We are pleased to announce that Manifest was selected by the Dragons as the outright winner, stating that: "The combination of strategic thinking and inventive ideas, along with a fantastic presentation style meant we had to choose Alex."

Following that, it was the audience's turn to vote for their favourite agency pitch and, you guessed it, Manifest won again - with a whopping 78% of the vote. Twitter was awash with praise of all three contestants and following a huge round of applause, we left the conference with a smile on our face and a skip in our step.

Nominations for the list were submitted from all over the PR industry spectrum and the judging panel included some of its leading lights: Nick Hindle, vice-president comms UK and northern Europe, McDonald's; Anne Gregory, pro-vice-chancellor and director, Centre for Public Relations Studies, Leeds Metropolitan University; Sally Ward, partner and MD UK, Porter Novelli; and Daljit Bhurji, MD at Diffusion and former 29 under 29-er.

Nev Ridley, who nominated Alex, commented: "I have never met anyone with as much passion for PR and what it can achieve as Alex, and this has led him to develop a unique approach to public relations that is built on a foundation of transparent, honest strategic counsel. However, it's his knowledge of digital and the social media space that really makes him stand out - he is always ahead of the curve in terms of what can be achieved online."

"It's just a shame he doesn't make more brews in the office," He added.

Whether you have the skills of Spielberg or you can write like Rowling - brandish your talents and show us what you've got. Go go go!

Following a 2.5 year stint at 1000heads, Camilla gained experience working with clients ranging from STA Travel to 3Mobile. She is a keen foodie who writes her own blog and you can check out what she had for dinner via her twitter page (@girlterate).

Alex Myers, Director at Manifest London commented:
"Despite growing quickly we want to maintain our combined digital and PR expertise and Camilla fits the mould perfectly. She is already coming up with great ideas and making a positive impact on campaigns. And she has very cool hair, which is plus."

Shaun Beaumont, Joint Managing Director at Manifest, said of Stefan's appointment:
"Stefan is a welcome addition to the Manifest team. We've had an influx of new business wins recently so needed to grow the team on the web side to support the growth in PR and design. We're all really pleased to have him on board and see the Manifest team continue to grow."

It was a great day and resulted in lots of media attention, the highlight of which being a live interview with Ark founder Cameron Stewart by X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke as she guest-hosted Heart FM's breakfast show.

With product demonstrations, technical advice sessions, freebies galore, and, did we mention, great marketing collateral (?), it's no surprise the mornings went down a treat!

Busy in the background sampling the products, the PR girls are already converts to the new skincare range... so watch this space for glowing reviews. With the web team busy in the midst of the site build, and the designers working their magic on giving the brand a re-fresh, it won't be long before you see the grand unveiling of the new site next month, and we're sure you'll love it as much as we do.

The End of History is the most alcoholic beer known to man and is infused with nettles and juniper berries. At £500 to £700 for just one bottle, the new beer was also the world's most expensive - although all 12 bottles sold out in under four hours. The bespoke bottles consisted of seven stoats, four squirrels and one hare and will be spread across the world to various beer collectors who snapped up their own piece of history.

The Manifest team was able to secure record coverage for the launch, with everyone from The Sun to the Himalayan Times covering the news. Television and radio also picked up the story and The End of History became an online sensation that generated more than 5000 tweets in one day and was at one point the most read story on both the BBC and Fox News websites.

BrewDog co-founder, James Watt commented:
"In true BrewDog fashion we've torn up convention, blurred distinctions and pushed brewing and beer packaging to its absolute limits. This is the beer to end all beers. It's an audacious blend of eccentricity, artistry and rebellion; changing the general perception of beer one stuffed animal at a time."

...Which, in case you hadn't guessed, is no ordinary range of floor levellers, but the ultimate range of floor levellers made by Dunlop Adhesives.

With a degree in Illustration and Animation James is quite the creative bod, and since graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University, he has worked as a freelance illustrator. Looking for a bit of an adrenaline rush, in his spare time, James has also pursued his hobby as a snowboarding instructor.

Commenting on his appointment at Manifest, James said:
"I was delighted to be offered the position at Manifest, it's great to be joining a company which has such ambitious plans for growth. The prospect of working in a creative studio within a team of experienced designers and with such a varied and prestigious client base will certainly help me develop my own skill sets. I'm looking forward to a long and successful future with the company."

Commenting on James' appointment Shaun Beaumont, Joint Managing Director, added:
"James is already proving a great asset to the creative department. He is both talented and flexible which, in a busy studio environment such as here at Manifest, is the perfect mix. James' design style means I am confident he will develop further and be a key member of our team."

Amy and Kate saw Bachy's latest project in progress, which involves helping clean up the River Ribble though specialist water treatment - it's Bachy's biggest job in the North this year. Dressing up in the required hard hats, big boots and XL hi vis vests, the trip to 3 sites around the city involved neither rain nor sunburn. Leaving with an extensive knowledge about piling and foundations, these girls sure can talk the talk!

BrewDog's popularity with craft beer enthusiasts has fuelled a 250% growth in sales in 2010 and while keeping its routes firmly in the craft beer fold, Manifest's brief is to connect with the conventional beer drinker and demonstrate there is an alternative to the dominant mass market brands.

Richard McLelland, Marketing Manager at BrewDog commented:
"Manifest share our passion for breaking the mould and we're confident that they will unleash the potential of BrewDog and help us to inspire a beer revolution. Right now, there is a culture of quantity rather than quality when it comes to beer drinking, and as a company with craft brewing at its heart, it's our responsibility to show people there is an alternative - there is another way."

Alex Myers, co-founder and Director of Manifest London concluded:
"BrewDog is a brand that is shaking the dust from the British beer industry, making them one of the most exciting food and drink businesses to be working with. We're trying to do something different at Manifest and that seemed to click with the guys at BrewDog - there are a lot of parallels between the businesses."

All marketing collateral was created from the literature to the direct mail, website visuals to stationary, and brand guidelines to vehicle livery - so keep your eyes peeled, we're sure it won't be long until you see a Northgate van on a road nearby.

Both campaigns performed well but the clear winner was the camels. A mix of Compare the Market and Ab Fab, conserving water 'darling' is the name of the game and the campaign is now getting into full swing for the summer. Social media outreach, advertising, direct mail and online promotion will all be employed to get the message across.

Joint Managing Director, Nev Ridley commented: "We are really pleased to have Amy on board here at Manifest. She has a real passion for PR and with her previous experience and knowledge I am confident she will be a real asset to the Manifest team."

Manifest's creative team is also developing a range of marketing collateral - from point-of-sale materials to direct mail - ensuring that music retailers have industry-leading marketing support for a truly groundbreaking product. We'll keep you posted on progress later in the year.

Joint Managing Director of Manifest Communications, Nev Ridley concluded:
"It is always a pleasure to manage and successfully fulfill creative projects for Dunlop Adhesives, as each brief becomes such a team effort across the board. In this case there has been input from creative, marketing and PR to the multimedia team finally bringing the website and game to life online."

"We looked at working with a number of agencies and Manifest's bold and innovative ideas stood out from the crowd. They not only understand consumer technology, but they also boasts genuine experience and expertise across the entire media spectrum, from broadsheets to bloggers."

The first of the new Xacti cameras Manifest will promote were unveiled at the international Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this month, including the world's smallest, thinnest and lightest full HD camcorder, the SANYO Xacti VPC-CS1.

Alex Myers, Director at Manifest London commented: "It's fantastic to be working with a prestigious brand like SANYO, especially when it involves the launch of a genuinely ground breaking range of products like this."

Based on Grays Inn Road in central London, Manifest has a fast-growing stable of clients ranging from iconic photography brand ILFORD PHOTO to the first ever World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) held in Qatar last November, where Manifest's Digital Newsroom platform was used to disseminate news to online audiences.

Dominic Jones continued: "Manifest clearly demonstrated their ability to seamlessly combine media savvy, commercial awareness and pioneering online innovation in equal measure. We are already seeing the benefits of their creativity in our press materials and the digital newsroom they have built for us has enhanced our online communications dramatically."

Myers added, "We have a very strong idea about what PR should provide for brands in an age where the media is evolving so quickly. Far from simply reacting to the changing shape of the media, we intend to drive it - and our work with SANYO will be no different."

Manifest developed the brand identity for HARMANexpress.com, the brands' first online store, in 2009 and launched it in the photographic press. At Focus, we are helping to make the show a live launchpad for the site. A real-life version of the store will be on stand, and we have evolved the brand identity to develop artwork and promotional items consistent with the website's user experience.

Similarly, ILFORD PHOTO's unique ILFORD LAB DIRECT service will be a show-stopper at the NEC - and we have created bespoke display panels to both educate visitors about the service and drive future sales.

From a PR perspective, we'll be coordinating interviews and briefings with all of the key trade and photography enthusiast press.

So, if you're at the NEC this March, then make sure you stop by the HARMAN technology stand and see what all the fuss is about.

The WISE organisers were keen to tap into the potential of social media to bring the events at the conference to a wider audience, and Manifest's Digital Newsroom (DNR) provided the perfect platform. By synchronising the WISE newsroom with customised profiles on Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook - we were able to syndicate the news and multimedia across all platforms automatically via RSS, using the DNR as a central hub of information. The result far surpassed the pre-event expectations, with thousands of hits to www.digitalnewsroom.co.uk/wise09 and dozens of links from relevant and influential blogs using the DNR as their primary source.

The DNR provided embeddable video for bloggers to drop straight into their posts, alongside a live slideshow of images taken at the event and posted on Flickr by official sources and attendees alike. A live Twitterfeed following the official #WISE09 hash tag meant anyone visiting the DNR stories could see comments tweeted by attendees in real time. The benefits of this regular dynamic content to search engine optimisation also supported a huge amount of traffic (as high as 27%) from Google searches for the WISE event.

As well as driving online word-of-mouth (there were over 1000 mentions online during the three days of the conference) the DNR offered a hugely efficient resource for both the media attending WISE and journalists covering the news from afar. By hosting the images just moments after they had been taken, the DNR meant journalists had quick and easy access to official photography without receiving huge email attachments. Equally, broadcasters were able to view embedded video (both edited and b-roll) and make editorial judgements without having to download the large raw file from an FTP server first.

As well as delivering news in English, we were able to create Arabic versions of the DNR for the Middle East audiences at the same time as despatching the English language variations. It's safe to say that these were the first Arabic DNRs we've ever had to produce and the response from Arabic speaking journalists and bloggers alike was unanimously positive.

WISE concluded with a ten point declaration that will drive education forward across the globe for the next twelve months, with an evaluation of successes and learnings at WISE 2010 - where we hope to be delivering live news and multimedia once again.

All proceeds from the sales of the calendar go directly to Take Heart India, a fantastic charity helping underprivileged communities in India through the delivery of IT training and learning facilities.

The calendar has certainly had an impact, with the national print media picking up the story first, before Sky News, BBC Brazil (yes, Brazil), Le Monde and a myriad of other international titles picked it up. We even made it onto the home page of the Huffington Post - the world's most influential and well-read blog - before that sparked a flurry of coverage stateside including the San Francisco Chronicle.

Alex Myers, Director at Manifest London commented:
"It's fantastic to see London Nude Tech get so much media attention - it should really help to drive sales."

"I think when people first heard about the project they thought it would be just another a twee charity project. However, the photography and design have been carefully crafted to make this a calendar people actually want to buy, which has made a difference."

"The media attention probably derives from the fact that it's funny to talk about a calendar of naked geeks, but then there's a twist when they see the images are fantastic shots of confident, successful entrepreneurs that certainly don't fit the stereotype of a technology nerd."

The calendar continues to spark debate and conversation online - you can follow the tweets using #LDNnudetech - and you can take a sneak peek at the front cover on Manifest's Flickr photo stream.

In November, their Digital Newsroom went live - a resource we hope will help Excellent Development to promote their activities with added effect in 2010 and beyond.

We also conducted a social media audit for the charity, helping them to understand the social media landscape and make the most of the opportunities that exist online to promote their cause.

Alexandra Oatham, Fundraising Development Manager at Excellent Development commented:
"Manifest has been a great help to us. Their understanding of social media and new digital communications tactics has already helped us to advance what we're doing and evolve our strategy for the coming year."

The guys at Excellent Development are in celebration mode at the moment, after being selected by The Daily Telegraph to be part of their Christmas appeal - a campaign that will hopefully raise awareness about this charity's fantastic philosophy when it comes to supporting those in need of clean water.

If you want to find out more, visit their website at www.excellent-development.org or follow them on Twitter via @ThisisExcellent

Manifest has developed considerably over the last 10 years with the most recent development being the launch of our London office to service our growing client base in the south.

Nev Ridley concludes:
"We are entering another exciting period with the recent opening of our London office and continued growth in the north. This is a fantastic achievement which of course could not have happened without the hard work of all our staff and support from our clients."

Our PR Account Manager, Fiona Shackleton said:
"The family run business started out by supplying independent retailers and wholesalers in the northwest region. As such, UK POS wanted to thank its loyal customers - after all they helped UK POS get to where it is today - but also highlight that its family values still remain key to its everyday business practice."

For that reason Manifest created a campaign that would focus on local press and independent retail trade titles. We launched competitions, an Independent Retail Starter Pack and also drew on UK POS' 20 years working relationship with fellow family-owned business, Gee Tee's.

Debra Jamieson is Sales and Marketing Director of UK POS and explained:
"As a family run business these milestones are very dear to us and it was fantastic to do something which has been well-received by our valued customer base. Manifest has really delivered, not only on this campaign, but over the past 12 months and we look forward to continuing this into 2010. Now its time to celebrate!"

Commenting on his appointment at Manifest, Stewart said:
"I was delighted to have been given the opportunity to work for a company which offers such variety and that was ultimately what I was looking for when it came to moving on from Mitre. The prospect of being part of a creative studio with such talented and experienced designers and working on a variety of briefs and clients was a real draw."

More recently, Kate Burn joined Manifest after completing a degree in Public Relations and Advertising at the University of Lincoln. Prior to joining Manifest, Kate worked as a Marketing Assistant at Leeds based manufacturing and engineering parts supplier WDS Component Parts Ltd.

Commenting on joining Manifest, Kate said:
"I was thrilled to have been offered the position at Manifest as I was very impressed with its fresh approach to PR. I look forward to developing my skills as a young public relations professional within such a progressive company."

Manifest designed the platform, which makes the submission process quick and easy for users, whilst providing secure data capture for Dunlop Adhesives.

On pack promotion of the competition has also been crafted by our creative team and the 'Professor BRAINBOX' artwork s used across all promotional items - from the on pack leaflets to runners-up prizes.

The innovative promotion also gave us a chance to use our unique new Digital Newsroom facility to distribute the news to online audiences and journalists alike. There will be more information on our DNR on the website shortly and the platform makes news easier to find for interested parties, easier to share, and eradicates many of the issues journalists have with traditional press releases.

The competition has already seen an influx of entries and as the PR campaign gains momentum, we're sure to see may more inventive builders have a crack at winning the laptop.

As part of Manifest's new PR strategy for ILFORD PHOTO, we designed and established the Twitter account for ILFORD PHOTO in early September. Importantly we had already established an outreach strategy that would make the platform a success for the brand from day one. We conducted a social media audit for ILFORD PHOTO that highlighted the online influencers in the photography community, enabling us to engage with Twitter users that would find our content relevant and compelling from day one.

Twitter.com/ILFORDPHOTO leapt to 345 followers in less than a week and coupled with a Facebook following of 850 fans, this provides ILFORD PHOTO with the capacity to engage with well over 1000 advocates directly online.

"By preparing our content and approach carefully, we have really hit the ground running with ILFORD PHOTO's online presence," Comments Alex Myers, Director at Manifest, "However, this is only the beginning, as we are preparing a bold and groundbreaking online campaign for 2010 that will really unlock the sales potential of social media audiences for ILFORD PHOTO."]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.manifestcomms.co.uk/news/2009/09/let-us-be-your Manifest's social media team is at the forefront of social media communications and with Manifest's Social Media Training (SMT) programmes we can help your organisation to understand the opportunities and risks that exist online for your brand.

"More people use Facebook every day than the cumulative circulation of every national newspaper in the UK. But it's not just the scale and influence of social media that makes it so important - it's the capacity to interact and engage directly with audiences,"
Says Alex Myers, Director at Manifest.

"Our SMT services aim to shed light on the possibilities for organisations, while providing them with the tools to begin benefitting from online communications."

SMT programmes are adapted to the specific objectives and knowledge levels of delegates - ensuring optimum value and insight is gained.

Half day introductory seminars are complimented with full day workshops that combine the seminar structure with one-to-one training.

"There are a lot of people providing social media training," Alex added, "But too often they are not tailored to the specific objectives of an organisation, have a very generic scope or do not provide a stepping stone to getting started. We aim to change all that."

To find out more about Manifest's Social Media Training programmes, or to book a session for your organisation, contact us.

"Initially the southern office will focus on its PR and pioneering Social Media work, with all creative design work conducted in Huddersfield. This coexistence means we are increasing our scope and scale, while continuing to drive work through our founding office in Huddersfield. There are obvious benefits for customers in London and the north."

"Despite the gloomy outlook, we have had a really positive 2009 so far, so it makes sense to invest in something in which we are experts and we know works," explained Nev.

Manifest's London office is based in Kings Cross, providing a great central London location with the added benefit of seamless travel from the North when teams collaborate.

As well as ads, Sandtoft required additional promotional collateral to catch the imagination of new and existing customers based in the south.

The first of the ads can be found in the trade press, with collateral ready to be rolled out.

Elaine Liversidge, Marketing Manager for Sandtoft Roof Tiles commented:
"The brief highlighted several potential routes which the design team explored and this led to three very different options being presented to us. However one concept really stood out and we are extremely pleased with the overall result."

If Facebook was a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world - and there would be a tiny hamlet called Manifest Communications. Please join us so we can become a metropolis.

Some of the guys in studio also think of themselves as music visionaries, so if you want to know what we're listening to then why not connect with us on Last.fm. Yes, we do use Spotify, but last.fm is just a bit more sociable (blog post on that is to come!).

All joking aside - we live and breathe social media here and we understand how it can help your organisation to get its message across. If you're one of the many people wondering what social media can do for you, then the best way is to jump right in and see for yourself.

The site is designed for the Web 2.0 world, providing sharable and downloadable information, coupled with links to all of Manifest's various social media identities - from Facebook to Last.fm.

Thanks to its careful design structure, the site also looks great across a multitude of different browsers and platforms - even smartphones such as the iPhone or Blackerry.