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The latest from Don’t Panic – putting the special into awards specialists!

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Dont Panic

We’re in full swing right now at Don’t Panic! We have a really exciting schedule of events booked in – and with typical Don’t Panic flair, we are delivering exceptional results.

Last week was a busy one – but that’s how we like it. The week kicked off with Thinking Digital. The North East’s beloved creative/digital mashup conference made its London debut! It couldn’t have been a better day, the chic Ham Yard Hotel played host to a who’s who of digital industry leaders, led by the fantastic Herb Kim.

With speakers including Digital Minister Ed Vaizey, comedian James Veitch and founder of Little Riot Joanna Montgomery, the event wasn’t just a hub for digital news and ideas, it was a really enjoyable day! One of our favourite lines of the day: “A flower is a weed with a marketing budget.”

Events to put in your diary

We followed up Thinking Digital with Tech North – from London to Leeds! The Tech North Talent Summit featured start ups and scale-ups, and was jam-packed with creative initiative! 75% of the digital companies driving the growth of the digital economy exist outside of the capital, so it’s wonderful to be involved in events celebrating digital in the north.

Not only was the conference filled with the best and brightest in tech, but the day was streamed live on Periscope – the future is here, and it’s all about the livestream!

We couldn’t be more proud of our event managers who delivered these fantastic conferences for us. It just gets bigger and better for Don’t Panic. So what’s next up in our events calendar? We’re celebrating the best of Education at the Educate North Awards and Conference. We’ll be helping to shine a light on the best practice and excellence across the Northern education sector.

As awards specialists within event management, we love a good awards ceremony – if you want to be kept updated with all of the latest news and events that we’re involved in, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

Thinking Digital Manchester

Posted on January 26, 2016December 8, 2021 by Dont Panic

Following 8 years of success in Newcastle, Founder Herb Kim brought the fantastic Thinking Digital conference to Manchester on Monday 2^nd and Tuesday 3^rd November. The first day involved numerous experiential workshops and the conference took place at the city’s impressive new arts centre ‘HOME’.

Schedule:

Eddie Obeng

Kicking things off, Eddie Obeng discussed his thoughts on “counterintuitive thinking in a digitally disrupted world”. A funny, energetic and thoroughly engaging speaker, Eddie managed to get us on our feet and take part in some fun but insightful exercises highlighting how we listen and concentrate. It caught everyone’s attention when Eddie revealed that we check our phones around 200 times a day- an average of every three minutes- and warned us; “We’re becoming digitally obese!” I found it really thought provoking and he certainly made me wonder if I need to remember to “switch off” from time to time to increase my productivity.

Conrad Wolfram

Next we were introduced to physicist, mathematician and technologist Conrad Wolfram, who is also CEO of the Wolfram Group and was involved in the knowledge engine behind Apple’s Siri. His talk covered many aspects of data- from how to make the best data decisions to showing us an impressive programme that identified objects and was developed in just one month by his company.

Julian Treasure

Audio Evangelist Julian Treasure gave us an insight into the importance of speech; he opened by telling us “We must learn to speak powerfully”. He emphasised the significance of the human voice as the world’s most powerful instrument and the huge implications that come with it; we can use it to start wars or say “I love you”. I took a lot of points away from Julian’s presentation, especially the Four Leeches of Speech (which I’m sure we’re all guilty of using) and will definitely be more conscious of the way I converse thanks to his communication masterclass.

Adrian Woolard

Adrian Woolard of the BBC’s Research and Development Team discussed the company’s move to Media City in Salford and the work they do throughout the UK, including their aim to get one million interactive Microbits to Year 7 students. He gave out secret buttons to some audience members to press throughout the day whenever they particularly enjoyed something and later presented us with a graph tracking these responses and levels of engagement.

Northern Powerhouse Panel chaired by Martin Bryant, featuring Claire Braithwaite of TechNorth, Andrew Thomson of boohoo.com, Tim Langley of CANDDi and Hugh Campbell of GP Bullhound

A wide breadth of key topics were covered and debated, some highlights were:

On the topic of TechNorth vs. TechCity in London, Claire Braithwaite said: “The purpose is to shine a beacon of light on the great stuff already happening in the North, not to replace”. She also touched on the main focuses of TechNorth, including the importance of making startups visible and the need for successful collaboration.

Claire also argued the point that despite all the tech talent in the North, at the moment we are communicating “a very fragmented message”, however the Tech North conversation connects us, opens up opportunities for collaboration and presents a chance for us to become big players in the global market.

Hugh Campbell brought up the fact that the UK is currently building more billion dollar tech companies than any other country, and many are here in the North. Around 80% of inward investment goes to London, but it was the general consensus of the panel that “it’s not always the right place for businesses to be.”

The future of the “Northern Powerhouse” looks very promising indeed.

LJ Rich

LJ Rich expanded our minds and engaged our senses with a unique performance involving screen projected meteor travel, a cinematic exploration through space and popping candy to create a fantastic multi-sensory experience.

Stephen Waddington

With a wealth of experience and knowledge spanning his career, Chief of Engagement at Ketchum Stephen Waddington asked us plainly; “Why are we filling the internet with rubbish?” He showed us examples of meaningless content but pointed out the ever-popular ‘LEGO’ among others as a brand that really values listening and good customer service. So if the Internet is a conversation, why are we bleating out pointless messages? Stephen gave us some words of wisdom: “We have to listen first. True conversation is rooted in listening, and engagement is rooted in context.”

James Girling

For those who aren’t familiar with James Girling, he is an incredibly gifted 20-year-old musical prodigy who treated us to a breath-taking live classical guitar performance. His roots are firmly rooted in rock, but his talent definitely crosses genre boundaries. I would highly recommend checking out his work as it was a pleasure to listen to.

Peter Gregson

Talented composer and cellist Peter Gregson gave us an interview style talk with Thinking Digital founder Herb Kim where he discussed composing the soundtrack to Alan Rickman’s new film ‘A Little Chaos’ and other films. My favourite part was hearing his excitement at seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger shoot at a helicopter in the new ‘Terminator’ film to the sound of his cello. He examined the difficulty of getting cinematic music to sound perfect and offered some sound words of advice; “Popularity is not the only measurement of success”.

Pam Warhurst

Inspirational, motivational and generally brilliant, Pam Warhurst’s talk on her journey creating ‘Incredible Edible’ in Todmorden really captivated me. Pam spends a lot of her time making edible community gardens out of unsightly run-down spaces and barren wasteland. It’s a simple but wonderful idea to bring people together, provide more food to eat, change our spaces and even generate tourism. Pam told us to; “Just get on with changing the world!” and finished with an uplifting declaration; “Believe in the power of small actions, because you really can change your history”.

Tom Chatfield

Tom’s talk on our rapidly evolving digital world provided some definite food for thought; one that stood out was “Your emails are a to-do list written by other people”. He warned us that we need to try to protect our time and other limited resources like our critical thinking, judgement, and willpower. He stressed the fact that; “Many digital models grossly undervalue our time and attention” and thus his book, ‘Live This Book’ is interactive and printed solely on paper. It is not available digitally to ensure we remain engaged.

Emma Foster & Kevin Moss

Creators of TellPlayer, Emma and Kevin are a strong partnership and very passionate about digital storytelling. They took us on a fascinating look at their startup journey from the very beginning to exciting new future projects. Their manifesto is simple; to create an open market place for all, share and tell your stories, grow and nurture your own audience, celebrate diversity of voice and encourage digital storytellers.

Lemn Sissay

Closing the conference, poet and recently appointed Chancellor of the University of Manchester Lemn Sissay- identity was a strong theme of his moving, funny and captivating talk. He also touched on his reasons for blogging, using it as a medium not to acquire likes, comments and shares but to share his experiences to leave an imprint on the digital world, to say ‘I was here. I am alive.’

More information on Thinking Digital Manchester can be found here: http://tdcmcr.com

Digital Marketing Jobs

The Northern Marketing Awards 2015

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Dont Panic

On Wednesday night, the North’s best & brightest marketing experts gathered to celebrate exceptional campaigns, organisations, institutions and agencies in the industry. The Northern Marketing Awards, which are organised by Prolific North and Don’t Panic took place at the iconic Hilton Deansgate and was a complete sell-out with over 400 guests attending on the night.

There were a total of 18 prestigious awards handed out to phenomenal Northern talent, and the competition proved to be incredibly tough, with some categories even requiring an extra highly commended award because the judges felt the quality of entries was so high.

Kicking off the awards, AO.com founder John Roberts shared his industry expertise with an inspiring speech and Andy Crane and Emma Jesson kept the audience well entertained throughout the evening.

It was a fantastic night for Leeds-based PR & social media agency Umpf who picked up three awards for Best Small Agency, Best Tourism & Leisure Campaign and Best Social Media Campaign with the judges stating that they were “deserving winners, showing impressive and consistent growth over 5 years. They have developed a great reputation and a strong working relationship with clients.”

PHD also had multiple wins for their innovative Commonwealth Games campaign with AG Barr; they were awarded Best B2C Campaign and Best Sport Campaign. Search agency Epiphany received the final award of the night for Best Large Agency; the judges were impressed that they had “clearly demonstrated their growth and dedication to their sector”.

The full list of 2015 winners were as follows:

Best B2B Campaign- Avecto & MC2 (Patch Tuesday Campaign)

The judges said: “The judges were impressed at how this campaign produced such strong results in a notoriously difficult B2B market. The campaign penetrated the market to reach a core audience and the impressive results speak for themselves.”

Best B2C Campaign- PHD & AG Barr (Aye No Bad To That Irn-Bru Commonwealth Games 2014 by PHD the Leith Agency Blonde & Stripe)

The judges said: “This campaign showed an attention to detail through its creative focus and drive. It was an engaging campaign that communicated well with its target audience. Judges were impressed by the innovative use of media throughout the campaign.”

Best Food & Drink Campaign- Savvy Marketing & LowLow Kerry Foods (LowLow Driving Growth in Tesco)

The judges said: “This campaign offered a focussed and professional approach to marketing in a very competitive environment.”

Best Not-for-Profit Campaign- Smith & Smith PR and Manchester Dogs Home (Manchester Dogs Home Fire)

The judges said: “This extremely sensitive subject was handled with care and respect. By shaping the issue of the Manchester Dogs Home Fire into a story, the campaign managed to focus on the positives and create a strong emotional connection with its recipients.”

Best Professional & Financial Services Campaign- Moneysupermarket- PR Amplification- (EpicStrut)

The judges said: “We were extremely impressed by the impressive range of activity across so many different channels. It showed initiative in making great use of an existing asset. The campaign produced fantastic results due to fast thinking, spotting opportunities and making the most of them.”

Best Property & Construction Campaign- Redrow Homes (Very Redrow)

The judges said: “We admired this campaign for its simple yet effective creative concept. It showed fantastic results using a multi-platform approach in a personal manner.”

Best Retail (on & off line) Campaign- Summit & Argos (Synchronising Paid Search With TV Advertising Weather and Seasonality)

The judges said: “This campaign showed how the team got to grips with what was needed for the client to be successful in its endeavour. It showed an awareness of the social climate and demonstrated how to penetrate the market.”

Highly Commended Retail Campaign- Search Laboratory & Tiger Sheds (The World’s First Zombie Fortification Cabin)

The judges said: “This was a very strong campaign, and made a potentially dry topic exciting and entertaining. It was commended for being creative, impactful and well executed on a low budget.”

Best Sport Campaign- PHD & AG Barr (Aye No Bad To That Irn-Bru Commonwealth Games 2014 by PHD the Leith Agency Blonde & Stripe)

The judges said: “This entry was so successful as it was a fully integrated campaign with clear objectives, and created something extremely memorable. It created a great sense of community and inclusion, with a great emotional feel to it right at the very core.”

Best Tourism & Leisure Campaign- Umpf & Park Inn by Radisson (Park Inn by Radison E-scapes)

The judges said: “This was an extremely brave campaign, doing something that stood out from the crowd. It was a very clever idea that was perfectly executed in the form of a stunt that drummed up lots of attention.“

Best CSR Campaign- University of Central Lancashire (Lancashire Science Festival)

The judges said: “This was a well-targeted campaign with excellent results. It had a wide CSR impact and demonstrated a dedication to community engagement and widening participation. An interactive, focused and engaging campaign, with a good sense of pride behind it.”

Best Low Budget Campaign- Great Places Housing Group (Tribe Apartments, Branding the Three Towers)

The judges said: “This campaign delivered a substantial amount for the budget they were working to. It was a well-integrated campaign, that was very economic and showed great creativity.”

Best TV Commercial Campaign- Zuto, Karmarama & PHD (Rule the Dealership)

The judges said: “This campaign was carefully thought out in terms of having a particular job to do, and doing it successfully with its use of creativity. The campaign was consistently high quality throughout, and had phenomenal results.”

Best Outdoor Advertising Campaign- MediaCom North & Tsingtao (Tsingtao: the Eight Immortals)

The judges said: “This was a fantastic campaign. It showed innovation, attention to detail, and was, overall, a fun campaign.”

Best Social Media Campaign- Umpf & Canidae (The World’s First Dog Selfie Mirror)

The judges said: “This was an extremely clever campaign, as it achieved its objectives and cost nothing. The content of the campaign was created in such a way that it can be continuously reused on a social platform.

Best Use of Research or Insight- Summit & Argos (Synchronising Paid Search With TV Advertising Weather and Seasonality)

The judges said: “This campaign was sophisticated and creative in its use of analytics. It was felt that the campaign genuinely used research, data and insight in a truly impressive way, and is a very worthy winner.”

Best In-house Team- Zuto

The judges said: “This agency submitted a compelling and clear entry which conveyed how a small team had managed to face the odds and go through a complete rebrand, to go on to achieve great results. Despite facing a difficult task, the team pulled together and continued to create great work.”

Best Small Agency- Umpf

The judges said: “This agency were deserving winners, as they have shown impressive and consistent growth over 5 years. They have developed a great reputation and a strong working relationship with clients. They show versatility and diversity in all of their campaigns.”

Best Large Agency- Epiphany

The judges said: “Epiphany were an extremely worthy winner, and commented on how the agency had a fresh feel to it. The judges were impressed by their demonstration of effectiveness over a range of services. Their entry was enhanced by the inclusion of client testimonials, showing a strong working relationship between agency and client. Epiphany have clearly demonstrated their growth and dedication to their sector, and should be proud of their achievements.”

The Northern Marketing Awards were supported by headline sponsor Click Consult, category sponsors Pitch Consultants, Network Marketing, Better Placed, Orchard Recruitment, the E Word, CTI Digital, Mustard Research and MET Marketing. More information can be found here. Thanks to all who attended & we look forward to next year!

Don’t Panic Blog- September

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Dont Panic

It’s been an eventful month for the Don’t Panic team. We recently moved to new and much larger offices in Ramsbottom as well as delivering plenty of events which have kept us busy. Our lovely new signs are now on the building and it’s really starting to feel like home.

First the UK Agency Awards at the Emirates Stadium, which was a new event in partnership with The Art of New Business and the UK’s first awards recognising excellence in the way that agencies are run, marketed and grown. Among the winners were huge names and brands such as Saatchi & Saatchi, MediaCom and Stein IAS. The team worked hard to ensure it was a night to remember for all the exceptional agencies that were shortlisted. You can view the full winners list here. A couple of weeks after that we had the MCASS Ball at The Midland Hotel, Manchester- a celebration for the Manchester Chartered Accountants Student Society.

Finally, the team were at The Brewery in London managing the JustGiving Awards; a fantastic event recognising the determination, bravery and tireless fundraising of outstanding individuals, teams and charities. We heard many moving and inspiring stories and all of the nominees were winners in their own right. The event was a huge success and between the 30 finalists, a phenomenal £1.3 million in total has been raised for good causes.

On Wednesday this week we had the third US Search Awards, the biggest Stateside celebration of SEO, PPC, and digital marketing, which took place in Paris, Las Vegas. With 22 awards recognising outstanding talent in campaigns, innovation and best practice in search from some of the biggest US agencies and individuals in the industry, the competition was incredibly tough! Popular search industry veteran Larry Kim took home the ‘US Search Personality’ award and the coveted ‘Best Large Agency’ went to Elite SEM. You can view the full list of 2015’s wonderful winners here.

Today we have charity Hand on Heart’s event The UK Heart Safe Awards, the first nationwide awards competition to celebrate organisations and employers who invest in creating Heart Safe environments as well as the acts of individuals who have saved lives.

Success for the The Textiles Tea Shop

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Dont Panic

The first ever Textiles Tea Shop Roadshow took place at 6 different locations (Manchester, Tameside, Oldham, Bury, Bolton and Rochdale) across Greater Manchester throughout June and July. Supported by the European Social Fund and led by the Alliance Project based at New Economy, the aim of the pop up events was to bring attention to the resurgence of the Greater Manchester textiles industry.

The campaign was launched at the Manchester Arndale Market by brand ambassadors Coronation Street actresses and stars Jennie McAlpine and Sair Khan, who have both supported and been very vocal about the importance of the project.

The industry currently employs 11,300 people and generates £650 million for the local economy. Employers and learning providers estimate the creation of 400 new jobs each year over the next decade, amounting to 20,000 vacancies. The Textiles Tea shop invited anyone interested in joining the sector to pop in for a cup of tea, a cake and a chat about these new opportunities.

For those who once worked in the sector before much of the work and the garments and products themselves were sourced overseas, this seems to be something that is long overdue. With a huge consumer demand for quality goods that are sourced and made in the UK, there are a significant amount of jobs being created.

Also visiting were those interested in honing the skills they already possessed either from previously working in textiles or even practical sewing at home. The scheme also offered prospects for unemployed young people with a passion for textiles through varied apprenticeships so they could develop their skills whilst earning. These apprenticeships offer the ability of earning a wage at work whilst learning and developing the necessary abilities to forge a career in the textiles industry.

A wide variety of people attended the Textiles Tea Shop events, many with required skills that are high in demand, but were not aware that there were still career pathways available to them. These events definitely seem to have raised awareness of these new opportunities and the upcoming revival of the textiles industry in Manchester.

Celia Thornley of New Economy said: “The Textiles Tea Shop campaign was aimed at promoting research into the textiles sector in Greater Manchester- which it did successfully. After just one week of the last campaign date, twelve people had secured full time job roles in the sector and media interaction has hit the roof.”

For more information on the Textiles Tea Shop please visit: http://www.textilesteashops.co.uk

New Economy: http://neweconomymanchester.com

Thinking Digital Conference Expands to Manchester

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Dont Panic

After eight highly successful years in Newcastle, the Thinking Digital Conference is expanding into the North West and will launch Thinking Digital Manchester on 2nd & 3rd November 2015 with the help of Don’t Panic.

The conference will be held at HOME – the city’s newest arts venue which itself was created for ‘lovers of the dramatic, the digital and the deeply engaging’ and will make the perfect setting for Thinking Digital Manchester.

The event begins on 2nd November with a series of pre-conference workshops. Day two (3rd November) will be a day filled with inspiring keynote talks with topics ranging from digital technologies, tech startups, behavioural economics, innovation, mobile apps, science, digital arts and more. The conference, which has been held in Newcastle for the past eight years has proven to be hugely successful with international recognition amongst both delegates and speakers. Herb Kim, from Thinking Digital, said: “We’re extremely excited to be taking the conference to Manchester and reaching a wider community. We already produce the TEDxManchester and TEDxLiverpool events so Thinking Digital Manchester will be our newest conference in North West England.” The first speaker from an expected line up of approximately 20 speakers, has already been announced as Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Oglivy & Mather Group UK , an organisation which works across a wide range of marketing disciplines. He has worked on Amex, BT, Compaq, Microsoft, IBM, BUPA, easyJet, Unilever, winning awards along the way.

Tim Leberecht, a speaker at Thinking Digital Newcastle in May 2015, said: “Thinking Digital is an incredibly well curated conference that does the rare thing: presenting an eclectic and wide-ranging program while also managing to go deep. You feel that every speaker was hand-picked for a reason, and that the audience is committed to embracing the unexpected. It’s hard to find a conference on our digital society that is as personal, intellectually curious, and savvy as this one.”

To find out more and to book your tickets, please visit http://tdcmcr.com

For further information contact:

Sarah Hall, sarah@sarahhallconsulting.co.uk, 07702 162704 or

Gaynor Ellis, ellis.gaynor@gmail.com, 07833 775333

Previous speakers at Thinking Digital have included:

Joi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab
Ray Kurzweil, Director of Engineering, Google
Ralph Rivera, Director, BBC Digital
Holly Lloyd, Technical Director, Pixar
Russell Davies, Contributing Editor, WIRED
Greg Dyke, Chairman, The Football Association
Dan Pink, author of DRIVE
Johnny Chung Lee, R&D, Google
Sugata Mitra, TED Prize winner
Mikko Hypponen, Cybersecurity guru
Peter Gregson, Cellist & Composer
Andy Stanford-Clark, Master Inventor, IBM
Carl Ledbetter, Senior Designer, Xbox
Jemima Kiss, Guardian
Aza Raskin, VP Design, Jawbone
Maggie Philbin, Presenter, BBC One
Professor Hans Rosling, Karolinska Institute

TMRW 2015 – A Brief Interview With Professor Brian Cox

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Dont Panic

The TMRW Conference, brainchild of futurist Tom Cheesewright (Book of the Future) took place at Manchester Central as part of IP EXPO Manchester on Wednesday 20th May. Created as a way to bring the North’s disparate digital and tech communities together, TMRW was an amalgamation of thought-provoking panels, interactive workshops and phenomenal keynote speakers.

Kicking things off, Sir Richard Leese of TMRW Sponsor Manchester City Council and MC Tim Lovejoy were both in agreement: “Manchester is a city that is really going places!”

The first keynote was from world-renowned hacker, entrepreneur and whistle-blower Samy Kamkar, who opened the conference with an engaging and humorous talk discussing his early days as the inventor of the infamous MySpace SamyWorm (which culminated in the US authorities seizing his computers), to his current hacking project which enables him to hijack drones- thus highlighting the real issue of security in the digital age.

Throughout the day there were panels on topics including ‘Smart Cities’, where Nathan Cornish and Gavin J Elliott suggested banning cars for a more pleasant experience. ‘Personal Shopping’ and using personal data to create a thoroughly personalized experience, where Polly Barnfield OBE’s advice to retailers was “Be your shopper’s friend”.

Other panels included innovation in digital currencies and the rise of Bitcoin as well as 3D printing, where it was shown that a 3D printer was used at Gt Ormond St hospital to allow a surgeon to see a 3D model of a heart pre-op.

There was also a Live Lounge experiential space featuring 3D printing with Hobs Studio, bio-hacking E.coli to make it glow in the dark with MadLab and a virtual trip to Venice with VR company Gemalto Cinterion.

Finally, keynote speaker Professor Brian Cox delivered an extraordinary presentation on the universe from Manchester.

I was lucky enough to interview Brian about what he thinks the future holds for Manchester. Speaking on the topic of tech and digital bringing Manchester to the forefront of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’, Brian said we are definitely right to be optimistic:

“The future for Manchester is bright. We’ve had the foundations in place for a long time. Just look at the University, it’s one of the great world universities, and we are lucky to have that here. That provides the nucleus, if you look at any of the great intellectual powerhouses they are built around universities. We’ve also got this post-industrial heritage. We’re fortunate to have all these foundations, but now we’ve got this energy that is being invested in properly. I think we’re right to be optimistic about this city. Manchester was always an exciting place to be – arguably this post-industrial renaissance began in the times of Factory Records when you see this culture beginning to build, but now its not only about music, it’s about this high tech industry and the foundations and investments it has brought.”

TMRW’s official sponsors were Manchester City Council, Prolific North, The Business Desk, Manchester Digital, Heineken, IoD, MIDAS, KPMG, Hobs Studio, Digital Innovation, Manchester Metropolitan University and Centre for Enterprise.

TMRW will return in 2016, we look forward to seeing you all there.

Lydia Wagster

JustGiving Awards 2014

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Dont Panic

Last Thursday we managed the JustGiving Awards on behalf of our client JustGiving. It was the fourth year we’ve helped out with the awards which celebrate and congratulate outstanding fundraisers, teams and charities who’ve done incredible things for causes they care about.

As always it was an evening of high emotion and none more so than the posthumous recognition of nineteen year old Stephen Sutton for his outstanding commitment to fundraising for the Teenage Cancer Trust . Stephen raised almost £5 million for the charity and will always be remembered for his positivity and inspiration in the face of adversity. We’re proud to have been part of a celebration that recognised the efforts of Stephen and so many other incredible people.

Microsoft to host UK Search Conference

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Dont Panic

The UK Search Awards are now in their fourth year and attract hundreds of entries from the leading search and digital agencies from across the UK & Europe. Deadline for entries is Friday 12 September (with a late entry deadline of the 17th) and this year’s awards ceremony will take place at The Troxy, London on Thursday 6 November.

The awards will be followed by a UK Search Conference early next year which will feature keynotes, panel sessions and case studies from many of our 2014 winners and will be hosted by Microsoft at their London HQ.

Nicky Wake, MD of events agency Don’t Panic who launched the UK industry awards in 2011 followed by the European Search Awards in 2012 and the US Search Awards in 2013 said of the conference “The follow on conference to the UK Search Awards is an opportunity to share valuable case studies of winning work and without doubt this is good practice for the industry. It’s also one of the must attend events for those working in SEO, PPC and digital marketing and we’re extremely grateful to Microsoft for their support and use of their auditorium.”

More details will be announced on the evening of the UK Search Awards.

The Flanders Fields Post – Commemorating The Outbreak of World War One

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Dont Panic

Don’t Panic are proud to have played a part in remembering the outbreak and impact of World War One in Manchester. On Monday the 4th of August, one hundred years after Britain entered the war, we worked with Belgian PR agency Twice and their client Visit Flanders to remind commuters of the sacrifice made by all those involved in the conflict.

Paper boys in period clothing delivered free copies of The Flanders Fields Post to commuters in Manchester’s Piccadilly train station, Piccadilly Gardens and on the city’s Metrolink tram system. A special delivery was also made to the Imperial War Museum North.

Based on the Britsh front line publication The Wipers Times, the special edition newspaper is also being issued on key dates in cities around the world to commemorate the First World War.

Andrew Daines, Director of VISITFLANDERS UK, said: “The contribution and sacrifice made by the hundreds and thousands of men from across the UK and the impact it had and continues to have on society is almost beyond comprehension. Flanders Fields bore witness to some of the worst atrocities, as well as stories displaying immense humility. Through this newspaper, we invite people to visit, to reflect, to remember and to learn from this monumental period in history.”

Author: Dont Panic