Last week saw Mark² and I celebrate our 1 year anniversary at Access. It’s a date that seems to have come round very quickly but I think that’s down to how busy we’ve been. Over the past 12 months both Mark and I have been involved in various campaigns covering the media of print, TV and the web for some of Access’s biggest clients. The multi-award-wining Mark has really made a name for himself by filling up the Access trophy cabinet with his gongs!

Later this month will also see the anniversaries of two more of the October 2007 intake, Mia and Simon©. I’d like to think that the four of us have made an impact on the work that we do here, for the better! Read the Access press release written when we started last year.

Speaking for myself, I’ve had a much enjoyed year working on some exciting projects with lovely people. I look forwards to plenty more years of this!

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been popping in and out of an award ceremony or two. Our BODYWORLDS ambient media idea has become quite the little superstar.

First was the Chip Shop Awards where – in addition to enjoying a grand night out - we came away with a Vinegar. To those of you who aren’t down with the Chip Shop lingo, that’s a silver medal/best runner up/second prize. Very nice.

Then came the FRESH awards. This year FRESH received almost 1000 entries from over 200 agencies, so the competition was fierce. In true Access style however, we weren’t phased and came away with a very respectable bronze.

In the words of Gunther Von Hagens, “Danke schön”.

Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry is saying its farewells to Body Worlds 4. As a final marketing push, the museum came to Access and asked for a closing message to be emblazoned across the side of an ad van.

With football fever in the air, it seemed only right that Gunther’s plastinated sportsmen should take centre stage.

The van will be driving around the entire Northwest region over the next week 

They think it’s all over… it is on the 17th of August.

If I had £333,333.34 for every nomination Access received at this year’s Chip Shop, I’d be a millionaire!

That’s right, we’re up for three awards.

Further to this statement on How Do

“Last week the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, also asked MOSI and Body Worlds 4 to donate money to an ad campaign countering any adverse effect the show might have on people who otherwise may have been tempted to become organ donors”

we decided to write our own ads promoting organ donation. Two executions of the resulting campaign are in the running for ‘Best Charity Ad’.

Staying with the Body Worlds theme, our third nomination is for an ambient idea we just weren’t allowed to run.

The award ceremony takes place on August 21st in Edinburgh.

Fingers crossed.

After months of hard work we’re all rather delighted with the launch of a new website for Hydratight - the world specialist in bolted joint integrity solutions and machining services. Ok, I’ll let the website explain what that means…

www.hydratight.com

The website is just one of our recent projects built using our favourite open-source CMS, Drupal. It’s fully content managed allowing Hydratight staff to update text, images, product video demonstrations and upload documentation and literature.

It always helps to get positive feedback, and we couldn’t have asked for a bigger slap on the back…

“You all should be very proud of this site. It really conveys the message that Hydratight is a $200m + business. Great stuff!”
Brian Kobylinski, Global Industrial Lead, Actuant plc

With that praise fresh in mind, the Digital team are now working hard on rolling out the site in other languages, and extending the functionality.