We've been a bit slack on the blog front. I knew this was too good to be true. I am so full of admiration for those individuals who tirelessly add to their e-space on a daily basis.

Anyway, the other night we had one of those One&Only nights - surrounded by the Glitterati at London's Grosvenor House Hotel. I stopped to wonder how Fortune smiles on you sometimes, when we swept up a bundle of awards for our client's work. It was a great night and beyond my wildest imagination that when we started AddingValue just over 18 months ago, we would celebrate such glories so soon. I was proud for our client, Vodafone who have been amazingly supportive of us from Day 1, proud for our supply partners and very proud for an amazing bunch of guys and girls, both on the project and elsewhere, who have collectively helped make AddingValue the success it is - quite so quickly.

But one of the best of the many great experiences that night and the heady days after, were the warm congratulations and best wishes, celebratory champagnes and stunning One&Only cheesecakes that rained down on myself and the team from our competitors and from our supply partners. It was a great feeling and a testament that even in this competitive world, the Industry is made up of many genuine, caring and decent people. Thank you to everyone for reminding me, if ever I needed it.

As we've recently filed our numbers at Companies House... an abridged view will tell you we delivered a £1.25m turnover and a PBT of £102k. Not bad for a first year that already seems so long ago (well, we're already almost half way through the next fiscal). Hopefully we'll do even better as we've doubled the number of clients...

Until next time, stay well.

Climate change aside, let’s face it, the world is changing fast…

Our client lexicon incorporates Web 2.0 stuff as a matter of necessity. But already words, expressions and thoughts like blogs, wikis, Feedburner - the RSS feed creator, Ajax driven websites, podcasts and vodcasts, the PingoMatic weblog ping tool, the WordPress blogging tool, Technorati’s blog monitoring tool and the LinkedIn social network plus Digg, Reddit, MySpace, Twitter, FaceBook and del.icio.us are.... so yesterday. Now we’re talking mico-blogging, Pownce, Netvibes and PageFlakes but by the time you read this, they will also be so passé.

As quickly as we assimilate and take advantage of new technologies, the challenge for us as professionals is that something else is roaring down the pipe-line in that nano second of a heart beat.

It’s the era of rapid prototyping and rapid change. Dip in, mess around, try a few things, get the guys all playing, learn quickly and move on.

This is not a time to be faint hearted.

Blinked and then thought, strewth, we've not added anything to the website for yonks. Classic website dilemma. Loadsa work and not enough time, cobblers shoes and all that. So, time for a quick update.

In the last 2 months we've had more eulogies from the beloved clients than we can shake a stick at! Thanks clients, we love it, Bring it on.

The year has come and gone in a blink. It's been Mont Blanc pens all round for the gang here at the ranch to mark the old birthday. It was a nice way to end it having won a big competitive pitch for another new client, HBOS (Halifax and Bank of Scotland rock) and produced a conference for The Scottish Executive and the Education Minister, only the week before.

Then it's been full steam ahead into our brand spanking new offices in Twickenham. We've never had it so good. Luxury. Starbucks and M&S within 50m - we'd better large it on the skinnies otherwise the waistlines will be feeling the strain. Hope to welcome you all here soon.

On the 1st July, we launch the dog's spheroids of a 10 week online promotion for BlackBerry Pearl and Vodafone, targeting SMEs and sophisticates, complete with a brilliant viral campaign and a not inconserable ATL spend through national press, key verticals, banner ads and email marketing. It can't be bad, the Tahiti Tourist Board asked if we could do some work for them on the strength of it. Mmmm, I suspect the boss will insist on personally taking that brief. Check it out if you can www.BlackBerryPearlExperience.co.uk. Let us know what you think please, good and bad.

Still keeping our hands in, the same week we launch a brand new product for March Solicitors - Fixed Cost Divorce, with a sizeable radio campaign, online ads, a further development of the website and a pretty hefty DIY online wizard. Professional services and law firms are us. :)) We even had the client on the phone saying the enquiry levels and appointments were going crazy. Almost thought it was a complaint. Phew.

That's all for now folks. Hope you're still awake. Stay safe 'til next time.

The Eventia ITM Awards 2007

2nd February 2007 – Grosvenor House

Beef cattle judging includes measurement criteria for "weight, ultrasound fat, eye muscle scans and frame score". Judges are specifically advised that "scrotal circumference should be measured in centimetres around the widest part when both testicles are firmly forced down".

Eyes watering it maybe but it emphasises that for the most uniform judging possible you need to provide an objective system. Awards require a clear statement of purpose, comprehensive entry criteria, judging assessment criteria and a system that is professional, objective, transparent and avoids unscrupulous practice. The ITM Awards are an iterative annual process of continuous review and refinement. I was delighted to have participated in the process which I found to be both robust and professional with thankfully, no requirement for "an assessment of firmness through palpitation".

My congratulations to the winners.

Randle Stonier, Lead Judge, The Eventia ITM Awards 2007

Extract from Conference & Incentive Travel magazine's Eventia ITM Awards supplement

Part 1 of our website finally goes live. Why are these things always a labour of love and squeezed in on the back of brief lulls from client work? I guess that explains why it's taken a year to get here. Talk about cobblers shoes. Of course if the boss has sat down at the beginning and said "here's the brief, the budget, the timeline and if you don't deliver yesterday, I'll pull the brief", then we would have had it delivered 366 days ago. Apologies for the tweaks in progress but it was time we popped our head above the parapet.

Hardly scintillating stuff for a first blog. Are we doing it for ego, because we feel we have to, to learn or to share things of value with Clients? Hopefully, the latter will win through. Less woffle. Got to run, we're property hunting this afternoon - we're outgrowing our premises. Nice problem to have I guess.

This is a test for blog story one. It is displayed OK. But don't get too excited - we couldn't get everything done in time for the new website going live! More to follow shortly.