tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16871815972174255252011-07-29T09:52:30.363+01:00Welcome to my IWCYC Campaign Blog. I'm going to be posting throughout the next 4 weeks of the public vote to update how things are going at the campaign reaches its climax. Keep coming back to find out more, or feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed or follow me on Twitter.Mark Easbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00801053038830356342noreply@blogger.comBlogger41100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687181597217425525.post-44154123718555065322009-06-05T15:20:00.001+01:002009-06-05T15:21:06.995+01:00<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/80jWvz9B7tI&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/80jWvz9B7tI&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1687181597217425525-4415412371855506532?l=iwcycmarkeasby.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>'If we can, you can'http://www.blogger.com/profile/05009194355918780071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687181597217425525.post-37673389507252226092009-05-22T23:12:00.002+01:002009-05-27T14:01:31.728+01:00Well, its been a crazy week. Its now over a week since the finalists where announced and time has just flown by.<br /><br />Not only have we been hectic in the business working on a few proposals and the studio has been working all hours on client projects, we've also been trying to embrace the increased profile and new experiences that have come from being part of the IWCYC Campaign.<br /><br />After just getting used to being featured in the local paper, The Evening Gazette, a number of times over the past week I was also asked to do a interview on BBC Radio Tees early on Friday morning. Although this is very exciting, I must admit it was pretty nerve wracking. It is now available on listen again on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0033v5f/John_Foster_22_05_2009/">BBC iPlayer website</a> if your interested. I thought we both did a sterling job considering it was our radio debut!<br /><br />...and then came the conference...as mentioned in the other post (see below) this was an experience and a half! Photo shoots, interviews, drunken 'divas' as well as a number of people we didn't know congratulating us and wanting to speak to us. What an experience.<br /><br />So I am now wondering that the next few weeks will hold for us. No doubt we will continue with our day jobs and our work in the studio and look forward to some more new experiences to come. I'll keep you updated as and when they do...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1687181597217425525-3767338950725222609?l=iwcycmarkeasby.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mark Easbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00801053038830356342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687181597217425525.post-41185046269241320712009-05-22T23:10:00.003+01:002009-05-27T13:46:03.566+01:00What a day. I've been lucky enough to attend a few <a href="http://www.entrepreneursforum.net">Entrepreneurs Forum</a> events before, including one annual conference but none have been as inspiring or interesting as this one.<br /><br />The speakers were first class. As a young business, it was very interesting to listen to presentations from the likes of Matthew Riley (<a href="http://www.daisyplc.com/">Daisy Communications</a>), Martin Lightbody (<a href="http://www.finsburyfoods.co.uk/">Finsbury Foods</a>) and Richard Farleigh (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/">Dragon’s Den</a>) covering their experiences, both good and bad. It was inspiring to hear about the challenges, issues, and opportunities that have moulded them and their businesses while trying to apply the lessons learnt to our context.<br /><br />It was also really good to meet the other finalists for the first time. It certainly seems like a great bumch of people and we will certainly be maintaining contact with some of them once the campaign has reached its climax.<br /><br />Both the main conference, and the following dinner were great experience especially as there were a number of activities lined up for the finalists throughout the day (and night). These included photo shoots, audio comments and video interviews as well as being asked to stand up in front of the conference audience to be highlighted as the 'ones to watch in the North East', and ofcourse the <a href="http://www.betterbrandagency.com">Better</a> team got "punk'd" on the evening from <a href="http://incognitoartists.com/divas-incognito/">Diva's Incognito</a>....so thanks to the EF team for making us feel a little like pop stars (we even had our own custome badges!).<br /><br />Here's looking forward to next year...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1687181597217425525-4118504626924132071?l=iwcycmarkeasby.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mark Easbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00801053038830356342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687181597217425525.post-73818073887000537162009-05-15T15:01:00.000+01:002009-05-15T15:25:13.437+01:00I'm still a bit blown away to be honest...<br /><br />When i got the call from Stephen (EF) to let me know I had been shortlisted down the final six for the IWCYC Campaign I was over the moon, and from that moment on I could only really think about the next step, the 'dreaded' panel presentation.<br /><br />Once that was over (which i thought went pretty well) I spent some time looking at the profiles for the other shortlisted entries and thought to myself the judges have some difficult decisions to make!...then the phone rang in the office and it was Stephen again.Wow...I'd been shortlisted again to go into the final.<br /><br />I must admit its an absolute honour (really!), both for myself and for us as a business that I'd got that far and now here I am going 'heads up' to win the challenge. As I said in the campaign profile info, the most rewarding bit so far has been sitting across from some very successful, knowledgable and experience business leaders and listening to feedback from them about the business, the team and our visions, which was all positive and absolutely inspiring!<br /><br />So, here we go into 4 weeks of public voting...its gonna be pretty exciting, not to mention nerve-wracking but I'm certainly looking forward to how things go. Its already been an experience for me, and it will be interesting to see just what happens next...I'll certainly keep you updated as time ticks by...<br /><br />...oh....and if anyone else has voted for me already...THANKS!!! :-)<br /><br />M.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1687181597217425525-7381807388700053716?l=iwcycmarkeasby.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mark Easbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00801053038830356342noreply@blogger.com0