April 2008 Archives

Ten years after US confectionary giants Mars left legions of UK sugar addicts seriously bitter at its renaming of Opal Fruits to its global brand Starburst it’s set to bring back the moniker for a limited run.

ASDA will sell the sweets ‘made to make your mouth water’ from 11 May for 12 weeks, complete with the original flavours and packaging.

Much as we'd love to attribute credit to the noble organisation that is the Opal Fruit Liberation Front, it’s probably wiser to slip back on our natural cynicism and assume Mars has taken a look at Cadbury’s successful relaunch of Wispa, supposedly a decision taken in reaction to a 14,000-strong Facebook campaign (a claim doubted among chocolate conspiracy theorists).

Indeed, Mars’ marketing department are positively salivating over the prospect of wrecking all that expensive dental work of the 30-somethings who reluctantly moved on when Opal Fruits did.

“The brand is a classic. Everyone of a particular generation remembers the Opal Fruit catchphrase and we wanted to give our customers something back as a thank you for their support," a spokesman told thelondonpaper.

They’re too kind – but it’s an amazing example of the power of branding, especially to youth markets. So many experts talk about product being everything, but as Mars has proved twice (remember Marathon?), even a well-respected, established product can be damaged by the most superficial of changes.

If you’re thinking of rebranding, think twice.

The business vote was high on the agenda at the British Chambers of Commerce convention, which opened today in Liverpool. The reason? Because it’s no longer high on business owners’ agendas.

‘85% of entrereneurs don’t believe politicians understand business’, was the stat paraded in director general David Frost’s speech in a damning verdict of the current government’s administration.

Just 14% think business is a priority for a Labour government, Frost continued before warning only 22% thought it would be particularly important to those Conservatives lapping up the government-bashing.

None of this is of any great surprise, of course, and simply mirrors society’s political apathy. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of comment. Overlooking it merely perpetuates that apathy and ignores the fact business and politics are polarised at a time the economy needs them united.

For Frost there’s a lack of business experience at the top: “With many having very little practical experience working in business, it is unsurprising that MPs do not come across as sympathetic to the need of business.”

It's action not talk that BCC members want: asked what the most important issue the next government should prioritise, 34% said taxation, 29% red tape and 11% transport.

“If we are to remain competitive, then the government must cut taxes for both large and small firms and look at reducing other damaging taxes such as fuel duty.”

The message is clear and as Frost concluded: “The business vote is clearly up for grabs."

Given recent policy and a lack of promised tax cuts coming from the opposition, you have to wonder, is anybody listening?

We thought we’d save this for some Friday fun.

Internet animators Boleg Bros, who specialise in using LEGO, have brilliantly spoofed Sir Alan Sugar and The Apprentice.

Boleg’s ‘YOU’RE FIR4D’ vids are going down a storm on YouTube, again proving the power of viral marketing and social networks as business tools.

Boleg’s disclaimer is clear to distance the company from LEGO, the BBC, talkbackTHAMES and Sir Alan, but you get the feeling none of them will rush to bring this sort of free publicity to a halt. After all, they say being spoofed is a sign you've really made it.

And surely it’s only a matter of time before Boleg is inundated with big money offers from brands wanting their own Boleg creations?

Smarta.com is still in build mode but we’re getting rather excited about launching later this year – which makes us prime target for SEO experts offering to optimise our site.

There’s a whole industry at it. Each has its own understanding of Google’s complex algorithms and how best to trick them.

Expect any combination of keywords, meta tags, cramming core terms on every page while not exceeding 250 words and changing logical titles and headings to tenious ‘search-friendly phrases’.

What you end up with is barely recognisable or much use to visitors, but hey, that’s the price you're expected to pay for a top five placing.

Now we realise the power of search, and yes, we’ve heard of longtail – but we have to wonder if all this is going to come full circle.

If all sites become geared to simply catching searchers, will it be possible for anyone to actually find what they’re looking for? Most likely, Google will react by demanding deep targeted unique content and oppose SEO gobbledegook.

It’s reasonable to assume the online advertising world will soon also lose its obsession with quantity and demand quality of viewers? At the moment, what value is it getting from visitors who realise they’ve come to the wrong place and leave within seconds?

Few advertisers want anyone, so why do we? Retail stores spend millions on branding and presentation to pull in a carefully targetted demographic, not any Tom, Dick and Harry who'll have a mooch but won't buy.

So why is there an online propensity to sacrifice the identity of websites to get just anyone through the search door?

Smarta’s pleased to see BT has launched its ‘Essence of the Entrepreneur’ for 2008 – a small business competition/award that actually does something different.

Now in its third year, Essence of the Entrepreneur seeks out 20 emerging entrepreneurs who’ve used technology to make their mark and awards one overall winner with a £20,000 business grant.

Very noble, but hardly original. The angle we like is that BT sends out a top photographer, previously Perou and this year Rankin, to the entrepreneur’s workplace to capture their ‘essence’ and then holds an exhibition at a top London gallery for the world and his dog to see.

While Rankine needs no introducing, Perou has set the standard seriously high with some brilliantly creative snaps. Jenny Irvine of healthy, luxury readymade food service Pure Package can be seen above, but check out the others and find out how to enter at: www.bt.com/entrepreneur

No need to rush, you’ve got until August 31 before a panel including Dragon Peter Jones decides if you make the final cut. He certainly gets around our Peter, doesn’t he?

One of last year’s finalists Kerrie Keeling of female building firm A Woman’s Touch reckons she got plenty of publicity from it: “The exposure my company has received as a result of the award has been phenomenal and has snowballed into some really major opportunities." Artist and garden designer Alice Bowe was another to benefit ending up featuring in a national TV campaign for BT.

As free PR goes, that’s pretty impressive. Got to be worth a go, hasn’t it? Especially if you get to strut your stuff in front of Rankin!

Remember what it was like working for someone else? If you’re like most entrepreneurs, it simply doesn’t compare to the thrill of running a business and reverting from employer to employee isn’t an appealing proposition.

Hold that thought; then take a look at your staff. Are they happy, motivated and committed to your cause?

Regardless of what you see, four out of ten probably aren’t, according to a YouGov report released by Investors In People.

It claims the same percentage plan to quit in the next year blaming a lack of motivation, poor pay, unreasonable workloads and the absence of a clear career path. A quarter were unhappy with how they were managed, while half felt unsupported beyond initial induction guidance.

That’s not you, of course. You’re a great employer. You care. And we’re sure you do, but the thing is, are the structures in place to ensure your staff actually see and feel that?

Reflect once more: was your old boss blissfully unaware of the frustrations you had as an employee? Quite often it’s the case. Good intentions don’t go far when you're working late every night, and it’s simply naïve to assume your employees share your passion to stick to the task no matter what. It’s your baby, not theirs.

Sure it takes time and money, but it's little compared to the cost of recruitment and retraining. Remember one final thing: your people need you!

WebMission08 is go! The companies participating in the UK start-up trip to Silicon Valley first discussed here in February jetted out to San Francisco on Saturday for a week of frenzied card swapping with some of the US’ most influential internet names.

Judging by the some of the pics emerging on Facebook and Flickr, Team WebMission spent the opening 24 hours proving us Brits can certainly mix it with our revered friends across the pond… in terms of downing cocktails and partying, that is.

But hey, a bit of 'work hard, play hard' never hurt anyone and reports filtering back across the pond suggest it was certainly back to business first thing today.

Oracle were the group’s host this morning while, depending what time you’re reading this, around now they should be watching craigslist founder Jim Buckmaster interview Bebo’s Michael Birch at a Glasshouse San Francisco event.

Partying tonight isn’t advisable as the group will be making presentations to VCs and US press at Heller Erhman first thing the following morning.

We’ll update you later in the week on their progress and hopefully get a diary report from Peter Ward, co-founder and co-CEO of travel and lifestyle social network WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?), one of the 20 companies on the trip. We’ve also asked trip organiser and Smarta friend Oli Barrett up-to-date with everything as it happens.

In the mean time, check out the full agenda on the WebMission08 site and biogs of the 20 companies lucky enough to make the cut on a trip Oli tells us was very heavily over-subscribed.

While the leaders of two of the world’s greatest powers combined grey matter in a vain attempt to solve the credit crunch, hope actually came in the shape of an organisation suitably more powerful, intelligent and democratic.

That’s Google, as if you hadn’t guessed.

Amid the doom and gloom of an economic downturn there’d been suggestions even the almighty father of search might start to feel the pinch prompting a slight wobble in share price.

After all, if it’s inevitable companies will pull back ad spend as times get tough, with an unholy percentage going through Google, it’s also inevitable Google will suffer, right?

Wrong. Well, wrong so far anyway. First quarter profits published from Google HQ yesterday showed profits actually rose to a very cool $1.31bn, up 30% on the same period last year.

"Our ongoing innovation in search, ads, and apps helped drive healthy growth globally across our product lines, yielding another strong quarter for Google," crowed Eric Schmidt, and frankly, who can blame him?

Envy put aside, it has to be a positive sign that not only is the online advertising market holding firm but also companies in general remain confident of riding the storm.

...Infosecurity Europe and Eskenzi PR, for yesterday’s unanimously mocked ‘Women four times more likely than men to give passwords for chocolate’.

In a seemingly desperate bid to grab any headline at any expense (well here you go), Infosecurity interviewed 576 office workers outside Liverpool St. Station and tempted 45% of women and 10% of men into giving up their passwords in exchange for a chocolate bar.

This bizarre experiment was apparently designed to highlight our lack of security awareness and the number of people using the same passwords for technology, banking, bills etc.

That’s assuming, of course, they weren’t really on some kind of misogynistic mission and simply plumbed the depths of acceptability in an attempt to make IT security sound vaguely sexy.

Whilst treated with derision the story’s actually been picked up by several nationals and hundreds of news sites and blogs, proving any combination of the following:

1) Journalists and bloggers relish the opportunity to expose such ludicrousness
2) The press still likes a giggle at stories that make women look silly
3) Screw ethics, all publicity is good publicity
4) PR’s full of easy money and over trusting clients

Yes, cleverclogs, we know the 'Here comes another bubble' vid was doing the rounds before Christmas, but, in a strange analogy of its content, it appears to be back for those that missed it the first time round.

Mainly because it's so damn good - but also because it's still just as relevant following Bebo's £417m sale - we've decided to flag it in case you haven't yet witnessed its brilliance!

All together:

Blog, blog, blog it all
Blog it if it's big or small,
Blog even if you're wrong
Won't you blog about this song?!

Just what is Lord Digby Jones of Birmingham up to?

The Trade Minister has been forced to release a statement after The Times claimed he had “no confidence” in Gordon Brown and had confessed he’d resign before the next election rather than publically admit he was backing the prime minister.

The statement claims Jones, former director general for the CBI, is indeed a “supporter” of Brown but notably stopped short of pledging his commitment beyond the next election and insisted he’d only ever intended to be a minister for a “for a short period of time”.

That, of course, isn’t something he cared to mention when appointed as one of the PM’s ‘goats’ – Government of all the Talents – unelected ministers and advisors last year.

Jones isn’t a member of the Labour Party despite taking the Labour whip in the House of Lords and his political allegiance has courted frequent debate.

He talked to Michael Howard about becoming a Tory MP under his administration and has admitted to meeting David Cameron about standing as the Conservative candidate for the London Mayoral elections. Cameron has since quipped about where Jones’ political heart lies.

In turn, Jones has exclaimed his pleasure at being a ‘goat’ focused on business first, politics second. In theory, and with 30 years’ business experience, that’s an interesting proposition, but with such constant speculation you have to question if, in reality, his position has any longeivity.

With the Tories biting at his heels and the prime minister looking for allies not enemies, chances are Jones’ flirtation with politics could be shorter than even he’d envisaged – unless he joins the Conservative Party, of course…

With profits of £2.8bn Tesco clearly knows its onions – and judging by its latest TV ad, its mushrooms as well.

If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look below. Sure it’s simple, but in terms of capturing the sentiments of your target audience is there a better ad campaign out there at the moment?

Just as families are beginning to feel the pinch, Tesco bucks the current trend to present supermarket ingredients as perfect mouth-watering celeb chef-endorsed cordon bleu essentials and instead ropes in good old Bob Hoskins to say it like it is:

“Value mushrooms at £1.47 they’re as cheap as you like but as ugly as sin, but who cares they’re going into a steak & kidney pie not a beauty contest...”

Genius. How can you disagree and so why pay more?

We all know the evils of the supermarket trade: squeezing farmers to the point of extinction; selling us loss leader bargains to tempt us through the doors; eating up the high streets at the expense of small traders etc.

But there are business lessons to learn aplenty, and this is a great one in branding and marketing.

Adapt to the mood of your customer and show you understand their concerns; jump at the chance to differentiate yourself from competitors; reassert your brand values with a well-priced product meeting your customers’ expectations without sacrificing quality.

‘Tesco – every little helps’ resonates loud at the moment and this ad ticks all the right boxes. Our guess is it’ll shift a fair few mushrooms as well…

Hi, I'm Ben Keene, founder of Tribewanted.

The BBC documentary that followed my first year attempting to set up an online and pacific island community simultaneously was called Paradise or Bust.

The thinking behind the title, I assume, was that there was no middle ground with this grand experiment - Tribewanted would either work perfectly or go pear-shaped. The island dream would be realised or not. Simple.

Well, no not exactly. As the documentary showed the Tribewanted project is no game show, this is real life and for a few of us now, it is a way of life.

Two years since Tribewanted.com registered its first flurry of digital traffic, and 19 months after the 'first footers' landed on the beaches of Vorovoro island, and the experience has neither become a never-ending paradise nor gone bust.

What it is, is an idea that has survived its early challenges and is growing into a blossoming network of people (we call it a tribe because it shares a place and a purpose as well as a web space), ideas and shared cultures.

On Vorovoro is has begun to find its rhythm as it balances and fuses a traditional Fijian way life with the expectations and ideas of a 21st century tribe.

But it is far from perfect. Bugs bite, rain falls, storms brew (climatically and emotionally), communication flickers, and for me - now back in the UK - it is working out how to make the most of what we've got to get to where we want to try and go next. It's certainly not a question of sitting back and enjoying the desert island dream.

What I've come to realise then is this: that when you have an opportunity, and decide - wisely or not - to chase it, the stakes in your life will immediately be raised. And in this risk-taking comes the buzz caused by both the fear of failure and the anticipation of success.

But once you have got through that first stage, the first set of challenges, first year or two, then you will need to find time to pause; to reflect and then to look forward at what could come after. After all, if it had turned out to be paradise what would we do next?

Tax. Not a lot to say about it. So we won’t mess around. But just to let you know. HM Revenues & Customs has made a few changes to self-assessment forms.

Fewer questions; easier format; better design, it reckons.

If you’re sending it by post, your deadline is 31st Oct. Online, 31st Jan.

There you go, nice and simple.

Shame then that it took a TWO YEAR pilot to make it happen! What’s more, the most likely impact is people getting confused by the date changes.

Oh well, more here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk

Disruptive Social Innovation. What the bleep is it all about?

We headed to The Hub to find out. The Hub is a unique space created for social innovators to work, meet, learn, connect and realise progressive ideas. The energy and dynamism here is truly palpable. This is the place to make things happen, from growing ideas to launching projects to running businesses.

That’s where we met Nick and Menka, the founders of the Disruptive Social Innovators, or Disruptors for short. A team of avid rule breakers who are exploring ways to create and maintain systemic social change.

They’re doing this by organising a monthly open-to-all event in which a bunch of people get together and map out a social, environmental or consumer system, analyze it and invite people who have managed to find ‘disruption points’ within it to explain how they did it. Their aim is to collate, document and share these insights for everyone’s benefit: entrepreneurs, businesses, innovators, funders, policy makers...

The featured topics vary widely. The last two sessions focused on the childcare and packaging markets respectively. The third session (the one we’re bringing to you here) explored the film and distribution market and how a highly unlikely candidate (with zero marketing budget and no big names), managed to break into the mainstream market using radically different tools to become the third highest grossing documentary in US history.

These sessions are open to all and take place on the first Tuesday of every month. All you need to bring is an eager mind and a fiver for nibbles and wine. Pending a website, you’ll be able to join the disruptors on their facebook group.

We leave you with the video highlight of the session. See you at the next one!

Don’t believe the hype: size doesn’t matter. Nope, big swanky offices say more about your ability to waste money than make it.

London office space now costs a whopping £1,700 per square feet, having doubled 30% in the last year. And while not quite as pricey, less stock means rates are also spiralling outside the capital.

It’s no surprise then people are increasingly using the local coffee shop as an extension to office space. BT celebrated joining forces with Caffé Nero to provide its Openspace wireless broadband to a chunk of the UK’s coffeepreneurs this week by releasing research that showed over a quarter of us now work in a coffee shop at least once a week.

Almost one in five admitted it was a lack of space back at the office that forced us in search of caffeine and calm, while half said they worked in coffee shops while on the move and 44% actually preferred the environment for more informal meetings – although we suspect it could also be the cakes…

In truth, it probably makes sense to keep office space small even if you’re growing.

Remote working; the availability of office space paid by the hour; virtual office services; new members’ clubs offering tax deductable business bases, such as One Alfred Place; and practices such as hotdesking provide ideal alternatives.

So don’t get blinded by the myth big is best. It’s not how much space (or money) you’ve got, it’s how you use it that counts.

Image:Flickr

The Smith family, owners of Evans Cycles for over 50 years, are believed to have beaten the weekend capital gains tax transfer deadline to sell a majoirty stake to Active Private Equity – and fair play to them if they did.

Mark Smith and fellow execs Mike Rice and Andy Terrington have overseen rapid expansion of the bike retailer, growing from 11 to 31 stores in the past three years and doubling turnover to £45m in the process.

“Cycling has never been more fashionable than it is now,” says MD Rice. “People are riding to work due to concerns over the environment, or in a bid to keep healthy and avoid road congestion.”

The value of the deal remains undisclosed but is thought to exceed last year’s reported £35m bid for the business from sports billionaire Mike Ashley. All three execs will remain on the board, alongside a representative from Active, and capital from the deal will be used to further roll-out the brand.

“It’s business as usual,” adds Rice. “Active are 100% behind the management team, our staff and the way we operate.”

Sounds like the perfect deal, then. And isn’t it great to see a traditional retail model that’s grown organically realise a partial exit for its owners and secure further growth finance?

Let’s hope those this side of the capital gains deadline find such deals so easy to come by.

Here’s a joke: Man walks into a pub, makes a saucy comment to a barmaid, barmaid resigns and takes the landlord to an employment tribunal where it’s ruled barmaid has been sexually harassed and orders the landlord to pay compensation and costs.

Actually, it’s not a joke: it’s the law as of yesterday.

Women and Equalities Minister Harriet Harman forced through the latest changes to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, without consultation, on 14 March.

Employers now have ‘vicarious liability for third-party harassment‘ if they fail to ‘take all reasonable steps to prevent staff from being subjected to forms of sexual discrimination’, such as lewd comments or sexist jokes.

Now how is this going to work? Don’t get us wrong, we’re clearly in favour of any law protecting employee rights and sexual harassment can never be justified, but surely it’s a bit much asking small businesses to be responsible for what comes out of others’ mouths?

Exactly what ‘reasonable steps’ is an employer expected to take? Should bosses start acting like the protective fathers of teenage daughters or secure signs reading ‘No sex please, we’re British’?

We’re being facetious about a serious issue of course, but the truth is, businesses don’t know what to do because a) they don’t even know about the new law; and b) there aren’t any guidelines.

Dan Martin, editor of Businesszone.co.uk, launched a campaign to get the laws delayed and did a great job in getting backing from the likes of the FSB and FPB. He hasn’t succeeded but the campaign at least sends the message future consultation is needed. Sign it here: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/delay-rules/

Like so much government legislation you fear the winners will be the legal eagles not those really in need of protection – while plenty of unsuspecting employers will feel the cost. Employment tribunals doubled between April 2006 and March 2007, while sex discrimination cases jumped from 14,250 to 28,153: expect the same again.

And worst of all, smutty misogynist toddles off to crack a mother-in-law gag none the wiser!

Hi there, here is a quick round up of some great networking events coming up in April and May. For many more go to Make Your Mark Connect - a free listings website run by the Make Your Mark campaign to promote and support local networking activity. Enjoy!

Green Shoots: The Perfect Storm - GlassHouse events
Entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett, described by Time Magazine as, one of the key players in putting climate change on the world agenda, will join The Guardian’s Ashley Seager for a fireside chat. Hear Jeremy provide insights to his success as an entrepreneur and the challenges and trends in the sustainable economy. He will also discuss his current work in climate change and peak oil and the implications and opportunities this will have for entrepreneurs and investors.
8 April, London

Stride Out in the Workplace
Are you creative, enterprising and innovative in the workplace? Are you bursting with ideas on how your company could innovate it’s internal systems or external services? Do you know how to manage this energy and present ideas effectively to management, generate buy-in and successfully thrive within the workplace?This event is for professionals who desire to be entrepreneurial in the workplace and wish to know how to present and develop their ideas effectively to management.
9 April, London

“Come to The Diary Room”
Everyone’s got an opinion on Big Brother. What’s yours? At this breakfast briefing, James Bryson and Ross Taylor will show how Qmedia Research has been at the heart of the evolution of the Big Brother brand. They will run through the challenges and methodological advances that have kept the company at the forefront of researching the king of all reality TV shows. With the current series of Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack just finished and the new series of Big Brother 9 around the corner, how can research continue to influence decision making across all strands of the production process?
10 April, Leeds

Creative Juice
Creative companies and individuals based in London are being offered a unique opportunity to develop their business skills, gain a better understanding of how to put their creative skills to the best use of their businesses, and how to maximise the revenue derived from their talents. Dynamo London and Create KX have teamed up to bring an inspirational and practical day for London’s small creative and digital businesses.
15 April, London

Shine: The Unconference for Social Entrepreneurs 2008
Shine: The Unconference for Social Entrepreneurs 2008 will be an event to inform, inspire and connect people in social enterprise. An UnConference is about turning the plodding, predictable business gathering inside out. We are planning one for social entrepreneurs and want it to be made BY social entrepreneurs.
From 9 May, London

The Innovation Edge Conference
NESTA’s Innovation Edge conference is an unrivalled opportunity to get under the skin of innovation in the UK – and consider the impact it will have on our future. The conference brings together a powerful mix of experts from industry, culture, politics and academia. Bob Geldof, Lord Puttnam, Helen Alexander, Michael Birch and urban artist ‘Inkie’ are just a few of those who’ll be fuelling the discussion.
20 May, London

If you are organising an event that you think Make Your Mark Connect should know about then please let us know in the comments or go to www.makeyourmarkconnect.org and add the details there!

Aren’t we all so green, nowadays? We proudly parade our hessian shopping bags around the supermarkets, happy-flick our energy efficient lightbulbs and bemoan our council’s inability to keep up with our desire for recycling wheelybins.

Those of us not driving Chelsea tractors nodded approvingly at this year’s so called ‘Green Budget’. Green’s mainstream and you no longer face public exclusion as a soap dodging ‘swampy’ for daring to have ethics as a consumer.

Consumer demand has created a green economy and we’re lapping it up.

However, the green revolution has yet to tempt businesses into making environmental changes where the consumer doesn’t necessarily see them.

According to research by entrepreneur think tank, the Tenon Forum, 42% of UK SMEs have failed to implement any environmental measures to their business models to date and a fifth have no plans to do so in the future.

The report claims recycling and improving energy-efficiency simply aren't cost efficient, with over a quarter claiming the price of adopting green processes outweighs the business benefits.

Tellingly, 60% felt concessions in the Budget were more about capturing votes than a genuine attempt to incentivise businesses to go green.

It’s easy to dismiss the stats as short-sighted strategy and it’s undeniable green offers a new marketing opportunity, but it’s also hard to argue companies should sacrifice their bottom line for the environment.

Perhaps consumer ethics need to stretch beyond green fashion first?

Oh how we laughed as the Advertising Standards Authority threw out PepsiCo’s objection to a TV campaign by rivals Innocent Drinks.

The ASA rejected PepsiCo's accusation Innocent misled consumers by claiming its smoothies were ‘more nutritionally beneficial’ than fruit juice because they contain ‘the flesh, the fibre, more of the good stuff’. Turns out, they actually are.

Perhaps PepsiCo judged Innocent by its own Health and Wellness Philosophy, which promises ‘50% of our new products will be comprised of essentially healthy ingredients or offer improved health benefits’.

Hmm… what does ‘Essentially healthy’ and ‘improved health benefits’ actually mean? And what of the other 50%? Not that we’re questioning PepsiCo’s CSR credentials, of course. We’re sure they mean well.

That’s the point, though. Innocent stole its march on the drinks industry by walking the walk.

It’s now a £100m business employing more than 200 people, selling 2 million smoothies a week via 10,000 stockists. Yet its founders, Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright remain committed to making great tasting drinks from natural products while operating as ethically as possible.

An ethical stance of ‘We sure aren't perfect, but we're trying to do the right thing’ might be wrapped in clever marketing but it provides a transparency consumers trust and can buy into.

And Innocent doesn’t abuse that. It recently switched to 100% recycled bottles that offered a 20% reduction in materials (they’re also lighter) and a 55% carbon reduction on the manufacturing process.

While the likes of PepsiCo remain so off mark the future continues to look healthy at Fruit Towers and that’s something we’ll drink to!

You can’t switch on the news at the moment without hearing that another bank or building society has cut or withdrawn its mortgage lending options.

Indeed you sense the full effect of an ‘economic downturn’ will only be felt when higher numbers face the problem of remortgaging – it’s traditionally the tipping point for a full blown recession.

Among all the doom and gloom, it’s even more pleasing then to hear business lending, at least up until the turn of the year, has actually increased.

Final quarter results published by the British Banking Association showed a 10% increase in lending to small businesses in 2007. A total £54.1bn was lent to companies with annual bank account turnover of under £1m, with £41.7m of that coming in the shape of termed loans. Overdraft lending dropped by just 1%.

The stats also showed a steady growth in lending throughout the year, presenting little evidence for a loss of appetite for investments.

David Dook, statistics director for BBA confirmed: “The main high street lenders continue to finance investment, while business liquidity has risen, suggesting that small businesses in general are in a good position to withstand pressures in the economy.”

If banks are still backing early stage businesses it’s a fair assumption the diagnosis is equally rosy for companies with track records and lower perceived risk seeking growth finance.

And why not? If you can survive in a downturn, you’ll flourish in a healthier climate. Skype founder Niklas Zennström, who also runs investment firm Atomico, told last month’s Second Chance Tuesday crowd: “I don’t look to make fewer investments in a downturn I just get a better deal for my money.”

Our advice? Ignore the headlines, concentrate on your bottom lines.

The highlights of the summit? too many! which testifies to its widespread success. Here’s an attempt at listing the most memorable, with a focus on the people. We’ll have to leave the incredible sights, smells, sounds and dives for another blog. Ok maybe a couple of pictures. 

The i-geniuses: Tommy Hutchinson, founder of i-Genius and the man with the 2-people team that made it all happen. Goes to show that you don’t need much to organise an incredible global event in a country far far away. Passion, determination and organisation go a long way to turning dreams into reality.

The KaosPilots: A concept born in Denmark and fast expanding through Scandinavia. KaosPilots is a school of Entrepreneurship with a twist. It focuses on new business design and social innovation. Running unusually creative workshops aside, these pilots are instigating considerable waves of change within the Education and Enterprise sector. You really have to see them in action to get a good feel for what they’re about (we had the pleasure of meeting 11 energetic Dutch KaosPilots). A visit to the UK might soon be due and when it is, be sure we’ll be the first to cover it.

The inspirational speakers:
Ben Keene with an excellent presentation on his Tribewanted project in Fijian Vorovoro island, and how he attracted the interest of the BBC (‘Paradise or Bust’ series) and a book deal before even starting his on&offline sustainable tourism community. Ben promised to blog for Smarta on his experiences so watch this space for more highlights (no pressure Ben!).
David McQueen, founder of Milestone Unlimited and Channel 4 presenter of Vocation Vocation Vocation. A spirited speaker with a genuine passion for helping marginalised Youth. We caught him earlier than most and you can watch his video interview on our very own Smarta microsite.

The brave contestants of the event’s own Dragon’s Den (without the spitting fire): Rizwan Tayabali of the Urban Survival Project, Lucian Tarnowski of Brave New Enterprises and Anna Fiorentini (winner of the competition). Rizwan’s idea of revolutionising the volunteering space by leveraging existing social networks wasn’t quite understood by the panel but was a resounding success within the wider audience, with an offer of an assessment for a grant from Cliff Prior, founder of Unltd Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs.

The microfinanciers: serial social entrepreneur Sheetal Mehta of Innovative Social Ventures and business partner Olly Donnelly who have recently founded Shivia, a new microfinance fund focusing on grass roots loans in India and Nepal.

The creatives:
Barry Crisp, founder of cross-cultural exchange programme UK-Japan.net and the official filmmaker of the event.
Martin Orton and Greg Villalobos, founders of Bold Creative showcasing their BAFTA winning film productions focusing on the struggles of youth in socially difficult situations.
Sara Haq and Mark Chaplin our intrepid art entrepreneurs who made the journey to Thailand from the UK overland, delivering sensitive accounts of their journey through documentary film and photography.
Parag Shah, founder of ArtSwitch, a venture that aims to spread art appreciation and literacy.

The Gen Y’s: it was revitalising to see young(er) faces taking the driving seat of a global summit. Whilst the majority were forward thinking students, others like Ronald Cummings-John and Adam Elliott-Cooper were already university serial entrepreneurs with ventures such as Hear MySpace.

The Smartans: no we’re not going to blow our own trumpet, so this is just to say that it was great to be given a platform to share our vision and receive genuine acknowledgement, excitement, and several offers of support and partnerships going forward. Hopefully many of the above movers and shakers of the Social Enterprise world will become part of the Smarta community as it evolves. You can all start by joining our recently formed facebook group ;)

So by now we’re hoping you’re wishing you’d been there. Despair not, preparations for the next summit are already underway. It’ll be in 2010 (it’s not that far!) and you can start suggesting ideas as to what you’d like to see on the agenda by becoming a member of i-Genius or by simply tapping into its facebook group.

So until then, here’s to a very Social future!

The i-Genius WS08 for Social Entrepeneurs is without a doubt the most original summit Smarta has attended this year. The summit took place last week in Phuket, Thailand, in the incredibly designed and eco-friendly Indigo Pearl resort.

The summit featured some famous speakers, the likes of Chris Crammer, former president of CNN International, and Isabel Maxwell of Grameen US, but its main value came from the interaction of its 70 inspirational attendees. A mix of entrepreneurs (not all necessarily of the ‘social’ label), students, NGOs, media organisations, business investors that all shared one simple vision and passion: to actively make the world we live in a better place.

 

Given the variety of attendees, the question of ‘what is a social entrepreneur’ was inevitably raised and discussed in some length. The fact that it is still being hotly debated within the discussion threads of the facebook group that was promptly created after the event is testimony to the gray areas that arise from the meeting of the Social and Commercial realms of the Enterprise world.

There was thankfully a high level general consensus we could bring home. This revolved around two main considerations:

1. Intention: social entrepreneurs are people who set up a projects, initiatives or businesses for the main purpose of instigating positive social or environmental change (thereby distinguishing them from ethical businesses or businesses with a social conscience).
2. Methodology: using the tools, structures and business principles of a corporate enterprise (thereby distinguishing them from traditional charitable or non-profit ventures).

Making a profit, an uncomfortable issue for many social entrepreneurs, was also healthily discussed. Again it was generally agreed that making a profit should be a perfectly natural element of any cycle of a sustainable business, social or other. If social impact is your primary driver, there is no need to be ashamed of generating profit. This can only help you make a greater impact.

Smarta, a Social Enterprise with a big E, couldn’t agree more on this. The more we grow, the more we will re-invest into making what we’re building better for our community.

Part II to follow shortly on some of the highlights of the event. In the mean time, let us know your views on what makes a Social entrepreneur (and what doesn’t)..

Another UK social network launched yesterday. RecommendBox enables friends to recommend anything from pubs/bars, movies, services and people - and also request recommendations.

Unlike other review or recommendation sites, RecommendBox is a private social network, so users only send and receive recommendations to/from friends. That’s the USP according to the founders, Rob Loch and Scott Rutherford.

Rob explains: “Everyone is surrounded by friends with knowledge of amazing things but access to this knowledge is sporadic, inefficient and limited. Our goal is to change this and to become the place where people go for recommendations.”

According to Rob and Scott personal recommendations come with greater depth of thought and frankness than mere ‘opinions’ expressed on existing public review sites.

Like most social networks the business model for RecommendBox isn’t initially clear, although the site has integrated with Amazon and Google Local APIs so products appear as you recommend them. Rob also insists there are plans to expand the site far behind the basic launch model which simply “focuses on delivering our core functionality”.

Rob also runs London Web2 networking event Internet People and was previously co-founder of business social network Soflow Inc. Scott co-founded digital image management site Axomic and has recently worked for Cominded, run by Bebo co-founder Paul Birch.

They’ve got the track record and the contacts, but is RecommendBox just another company looking to jump on the social network bandwagon? What do you reckon?