The Barbour shop spruces up with a lick of paint

Despite the smog, I rocked up to work yesterday morning in my SLB (Summer Liddesdale Barbour) which is something that I bought just before every high street store decided to introduce them. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

But now fans are being given the chance to up their game by adding a spark of colour to their wardrobes, thanks to Barbour’s partnership with Pantone.

To celebrate its S/S 2014 collection, Barbour has created a film, with the help of four bloggers, to showcase the British brand’s love affair with colour.

And it’s giving fans a chance to win items from the colourful collection by taking part in a photo competition.

For a company that sticks out in our minds for (probably) using old men on wearing flat caps and wellington boots with a Labrador by their side promote its range, this approach is youthful, fashionable and fun without trying too hard.

The fashion and lifestyle bloggers – who have more than 158,000 followers combined – share what inspires them on an easy-to-use microsite – which gives users the option to browse the collection; enter a competition; and view the latest entries.

To open up a 120 year-old brand like Barbour to a new generation naturally – peer to peer marketing was key. The sophisticated bloggers are aspirational without being show-offs. These are ‘everyday’ creative people who can appreciate the quality of the brand and they’re encouraging others to do the same – and I believe them:

· Niran & Adam – Ying & Yang
· Steve Booker – Steve Booker
· Cat – Take Courage
· Carin Olsson – Paris In Four Months

I know I’m biased. I’ve already bought into the Barbour club. But, this campaign works on both levels. It validates my previous decision and prompts me to buy again.

The video launches on the site on Monday and it’ll be interesting to see how the competition takes off and how it transforms potential consumers into future customers.

But, it already has subtly on its side. The #BarbourPantone concept is shareable without being showy – down to the fact that Barbour’s felt secure enough to create a digital campaign around its brand without over-talking about its brand (Barbour appears just seven times on the microsite homepage and one of those is the hashtag).

Jolly good!

7 year old tells off Lego boss for making toys for boys

I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist but I do have strong opinions. Even tonight my Mum told me to calm down and not get so fired up by other people’s choices.

It was only over the weekend that I was discussing with a PR friend that Kinder Surprise‘s move to package its chocolate in blue and pink is a bit ridiculous. When I was young it wasn’t about the type of toy you got, whether it was a car or a doll, it was the experience I had when I was enjoying the chocolate and the toy – I knew I was winning.

Which is why I don’t think girls should be backed into a corner to opt for stereotypical pink accessories. That’s right – I’m with Charlotte Benjamin.

Who’s Charlotte I hear you ask? She’s a seven-year old with a kick-ass attitude to gender ideals. She makes me wish my mum and dad were handing me pieces of paper and a biro to jot down my thoughts at that age because I’m sure I had them.

She’s written a letter to Lego to point out that on a recent shopping trip she noticed the following things:

1) Where are the girls?
There were fewer Lego girls to choose from compared to Lego boys.

2) The girls stayed at home
While the Lego boys were able to have adventures and play the hero, the Lego girls were at home, at the beach or just pampering themselves.

This letter has now gone viral and been covered by national newspapers such as Metro, Daily Mail and The Independent. And Lego’s social media manager has been working around the clock to engage with its 113,000 Twitter followers to explain that it does listen to its customers’ views and, with over 450 products available each year, it’s hoping there’s something for everyone.

But, for once, I actually have more respect for this iconic brand (for now). There’s a golden PR opportunity to respond to Charlotte’s letter and address the theme of gender roles. And, if I was the boss, I’d use its upcoming Ghostbusters Lego launch to do just this and run a witty, tongue in cheek across Twitter, Facebook and Vine.

It may be too late to turnaround a reactive campaign, to complement its Lego Movie in cinemas on Friday, which is why Ghostbusters is one of the next best hooks.

This way, it can find a way to publicly acknowledge the letter, apologise for the inconvenience and promise to do better – the perfect formula to transform this viral storm into a positive PR stunt.

What do you think?

The world’s first tweeting badger

I’ve seen it all now and so will you after reading this blog post: Johannesburg Zoo has established the world’s first live tweeting badger.

I’ll explain. BG, a honey badger, has set up his own Twitter account (with a little help from the zookeepers at the South African zoo) to give visitors and badger fans exclusive previews of what he’s up to, day and night. And, if you didn’t think there was a gap in the market for a badger that knows his Pinterest from his Instagram, now you do. BG’s generated more than 4,500 followers in less than 50 tweets with winning updates such as ‘the African wild cat next door thinks he’s so cool because he has ears.’

But, moments after Johannesburg Zoo’s PR and social media stunt had got me wide eyed thinking ‘what a good idea this is’, I was disappointed to find out that all of BG’s tweets are pre-written – activated when he passes one of six sensors in his enclosure that alerts a server to issue the tweets. I’m a firm believer that if a stunt is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. I don’t want to know when BG tweets ‘pipe down little pigeon’ all this really means is that he’s strolled past the far end wall of the cage! It weakens the campaign’s credibility.

My second thought is why a badger? Maybe Britain’s badger problems have impacted me in a way that I never imagined, but I don’t know anyone that’s thought a badger is the most interesting animal at the zoo. Johannesburg – give me tigers, lions, elephants or rhinos. Animals with attitude would’ve generated more interest. After all, it’s not badgers that people adopt; it’s the show-stopping beasts of the animal kingdom.

Saying this, BG’s certainly caused a frenzy, generating coverage on MSN, PR Daily and Perez Hilton sites to name a few.

What do you make of BG’s online antics? Leave a comment here or chat to him directly at @zootweetslive or use #tweetingbadger.