I recently came across a fantastic not-for-profit scheme called Tickets for Troops which launched in August 2009. Under the scheme, military personnel including veterans who have been medically discharged since 2001 are able to enter a ballot for free entry to football matches, cricket, the Olympics, concerts and other events.

Although it’s only a year old, the scheme has already attracted a ‘Who’s who’ list of celebrity patrons including stars of sport, music, politics and TV, many having already donated thousands of tickets.

As the wife of a serving solider, who recently returned from a 6-month tour of Afghanistan, I’m delighted to learn of this initiative, which is specifically aimed at providing recognition and appreciation to our country’s serving troops. Particularly, as service charities such as ‘ABF The Soldier’s Charity’ will also benefit from the money raised through the £1 donation requested from ticket recipients.

This is a great way of supporting the courageous men and women who serve our country and I personally am looking forward to seeing how the scheme develops.

Jess Wilkie

Posted by Whitewater Team at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It was our summer party last week and, while it was hailed a great success by all, the video footage shows some of us might have had a little too much fun...

The Whitewater Ents Team (Maria, Stewart, Richard O, Elana and Nayyar)

"A beautiful day, we all had a great time" M. Roper

"Delightful!" I. Bielby

"Sunny sociable fun - with a wasp sting" N. Baker

Posted by Whitewater Team at 02:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With new digital business coming in virtually every week, we’ve been busily expanding our ever growing digital team. Justen Doherty joins us as a Senior Developer, specialising in open source development with particular expertise in Object Orientated PHP & Content Management Systems. Justen has worked on some pretty impressive websites including www.footballmanagerlive.com for Sega and www.gumtree.com for Galileo.

Also joining us – or rather rejoining us - is Adam Atkinson as Digital Designer. Adam is a talented designer with both online and offline experience working on integrated campaigns for the Brooke, amongst others. He joined Whitewater as an intern last year, went off to do a Masters degree in Web Advertising and Design, and has now returned cleverer than ever and armed with the latest digital advertising techniques with which to dazzle us.

Posted by Whitewater Team at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last Monday saw the inaugural Whitewater Oscars ceremony in The Formosa Dining Room at the Prince Alfred in Maida Vale. Twelve awards were distributed on the night, the champagne flowed and a cracking time was had by all, as you can see...

Posted by Whitewater Team at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After many months of planning, lots of lovely creative debates, a 3-day shoot and many digital conundrums, our new legacy campaign finally broke on Monday morning on GMTV. And we love it!

The key objective here was not to provoke a knee-jerk response, but to profoundly change hearts and minds. We want to get deeply into the consumer’s psyche, to plant the idea of leaving a legacy to protect children in a way that someone will remember in years to come, when they next need to change their will. This led us to an above-the-line solution.

According to Legacy Foresight, half of all adults have a will by the age of 45, and we know wills are changed often, at key life-stages. With this in mind, we’ve taken a long-term view of the opportunities to seed the legacy message and targeted a Baby Boomer audience (considerably younger than is typical for legacy marketing). And in order to reach those most likely to be touched by this cause, we have consciously appealed to people, particularly women, who have had children - the NSPCC’s supporter heartland.

Having learned through research that a legacy proposition needs to be bursting with hope for the future - joy & optimism are at the heart of this concept. The idea of inheritance is beautifully brought to life through the thought ‘What will you leave children?’ which creates a personal resonance by encouraging the viewer to think about children in their own life.

While the campaign is primarily about brand engagement, a microsite has been developed and signposted in the TV ad, so it is clear where to go for more information. We’re also giving people more opportunities to engage with the idea of leaving a small percentage to children in their will by inviting them to create a bubble with thoughts about what they would leave for children. There are some lovely thoughts posted up there already…

Then to cap it all off, John Cleese (a longtime NSPCC supporter) has done the voiceover for us!

View the ad
Visit the site and don't forget to leave your bubble

Harriet Elsom

Posted by Whitewater Team at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hasn’t it been a busy week? Isn’t it always?

We at Whitewater know how you feel! That’s why we grabbed the opportunity to take a ‘time out’ in support of the MS Society's Cake Break.

What a great idea… Take five minutes, grab a brew, sample some delicious baked goodies and have a chat with colleagues. All we needed to do was contribute our spare change in return. Simple.

As you can see we enjoyed the chance to down tools and get away from our desks.

And now it’s all over? We’ve raised a nice bit of cash in support of a great cause; we’ve rounded off MS Week in a sweet way and we’re all back at our desks raring to go, working away, just ever so slightly high on sugar.

The benefits of taking time out at work are well documented. So, how about a cake break every Friday…?

Elly Moore