norfolk and good

caption competition

Eliot kicks us off: Foxmurphy unveils its new smoking facilities.

DIY advertising

We've all seen YouTube. But we usually use it for watching stupid clips, something instructional or to find a music video we like. Now, people are flocking to video to flog stuff. From furniture salesmen to students wanting a few bob for something lying around the house, video is allowing people to take DIY advertising just one step further. There's an interesting little video from the BBC about it here.

Jon

Jon joins us today. He's a Senior Project Manager. Things to know about Jon: he was born 'a few years ago' in Bury St Edmunds, he started his working life as a print press minder and he plays guitar in a band (he apparantly has an 'unhealthy' interest in all things musical).

Wiiiiiiii!

Invitations on our desks this morning invited us to the unveiling of a foxmurphy, umm, 'social space'. In fact, it's so new, it doesn't have a name yet (suggestions?)!

It's somewhere we can go to socialise, work, or generally get away from our desks and take five. This afternoon has seen much standing around and drinking celebratory beers.

Pretty much anything goes in there so we'll keep you posted about how we make the space our own. But currently we're feeling rather smug that we are probably the only place in Norwich with a Wii in the office!

boys on film

Yesterday our creative team went out for the afternoon (gosh, how quiet the agency is without them!) They were invited to a studio to learn video production and editing techniques. The place is impressive, Bruizer is situated on an ex-RAF base, making it a rather surreal location.

Turns out our creatives made a little video, although no-one will reveal anything about it yet. This picture is the only teaser we're getting. Watch this space...

September's staff meeting

We had a staff meeting today. Lots of interesting stuff was unveiled (more on that later). And, as is tradition for foxmurphy, the meeting was followed by drinks at the pub. Which is, in fact, where half of our creatives still are...

free ice cream

For some reason, we've got an ice cream van parked up outside. And there's a free ice cream for everyone...well, everyone that works at foxmurphy that is. Apparantly all will be revealed...

eco-warriers

Yesterday, troopers Ian, Tracey, Jason and Natalie went to help out at Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve. They reed bashed, cleared and burned (thankfully foxmurphy is not responsible for starting any forest fires).

It wasn’t quite the opportunity to get out and enjoy the ‘fresh’ air (Jason: ‘It was bloody smokey’). But it was, we hear, ‘pretty nice to get out of the office and do something worthy’.

my brand new life

Being in advertising, we found this pretty interesting…

Self-confessed brand-addict, Neil Boorman, decided to give up all branded possessions for a year. That meant torching his designer wardrobe (in a very public bonfire) and not buying anything branded for a whole year. Instead, he reverted to shopping in charity shops and buying from market stalls.

His reasoning?

‘I suffered from a condition known as obsessive branding disorder - a combination of compulsive shopping and a reliance on status symbol brands for the maintenance of one's self esteem.’ He didn’t buy clothes, gadgets or even food for ‘the basic functions that they performed’. He ‘bought them for the way they made [him] feel’. Boorman thought that, by avoiding the high street, he would consume less for leisure and more for his own basic needs.

Apparently he managed to stay largely brand-free, save the odd emergency shop for Andrex toilet rolls. Read about his experience here.

food vs football

Pret opened their newest (and largest) UK store yesterday. It's in Southampton and so Will and Rachel organised for Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier to cut the ceremonial ribbon.

People came in their droves. (Obviously the food was as big a draw as Matt).