After leaving the whole awards thing alone for the last few years, we’ve decided to, once again, stick our heads above the parapet and offer up some of our work to be judged by our peers.

And given the nominations that have come in over the last couple of weeks, we’re glad we did.

Last month we found out that we'd been nominated for a Roses Creative Award for our own ‘Turn your cards into trees’ Christmas card. Given it was the only thing we entered, we’re very pleased with that 100% hit rate.

UPDATE: We got a gold. Full story to follow.

We are also pleased to have received ‘Awards of Excellence’ in the Integrated Design category in the Institute of Internal Communications Awards for not one, but three(!) of our staff-focused projects for Barclaycard. We now go on to compete against ourselves to become class winners. 

If that wasn’t enough, it was announced yesterday that we’ve received three nominations in the creativity-for-creativity’s-sake Chip Shop Awards.

We’re in with a shout of a trophy for a Barclays ad in Best Work for a Brand you Have but Haven't a Hope of Running, an Audi retail display in Best Reject and a cheeky ad for the creative director’s boudoir photographer wife in Best Work for a Relative or Friend. And with our other two entries appearing in The Drum as shining examples of the calibre of entered work, we’re very pleased that we bothered pulling together all the submissions.

We’ll see how we get on at the various ceremonies in the coming months, but after such a time out of the awards spotlight, just being nominated is a bit of a buzz.

The first part of this year has seen a few of us trotting off around the globe for various clients and professional endeavours.

 In February, Phoebe and Fern took a trip to Nokia in Helsinki and braved temperatures of -15°C, while Jeremy met clients in an equally chilly and grey Prague.

 Though the real hero in our winter of tiresome travel assignments was Danny Bowles, who selflessly dragged himself to Barbados for a few days to speak at the global conference of a Caribbean brewer. Between the obligatory sampling of the product in the sunshine, he found the time to give a presentation on the UK beer market in advance of the launch of Banks Caribbean Lager in this country.

 Luckily he brought a few bottles back and people soon started talking to him again.

 You can see all the pics from our trips on Flickr.

The past month or so has seen the arrival of some key new people here at Vital, so what better excuse is there to take a pic of them looking like a 90s indie band and introduce them on our website?

We are particularly pleased to announce the arrival of Charlie Curson, who joins the company – and the board – as our Strategy Director. Having worked at The Foundation, Deloitte Consulting and Arthur Andersen, he’s been involved in top level strategic development for M&S, Audi, Visa, O2 and The Guardian and brings with him an incredible amount of insight, energy and proper hardcore commercial nouse. He’s here to work across all of our accounts and will ensure every drop of ink and every pixel that gets delivered is relevant to consumers and delivers results for our clients.

Speaking of pixels, we’re equally chuffed to have secured the full-time services of Nick Whitehouse as our new Head of Digital. His grounding in design and subsequent years as the technical director of Antika working for Haribo, the NHS, Vodafone and the Ministry of Sound have made him as versatile as he is talented.

Adding his considerable clout to the team is our new Deputy Creative Director, Danny Burchell. He was studying at St Martin’s at the same time Jarvis Cocker was trying to cop off with Greek girls and since then has worked with the great and the good of the design industry. His CV boasts stints at Saatchi Design, Springer and Jacoby in Germany, Bray Leino and latterly was the Creative Head at Dyson, so there aren’t many types of brief he’s not worked on and excelled in.

But why just have one Danny B, when you can have two?

Rounding off the PR team is Danny Bowles, a skilled writer with a background in editorial and event management for the likes of Siemens, McDonald’s and Danone. He’ll be playing a key role in bringing to life our client’s brands online, offline and out on the streets.

We’re proud to have attracted people of this calibre to Vital and are already starting to feel their positive impact across the business.

And it helps that they are all nice people.

(l-r Danny Bowles, Nick, Danny Burchell, Charlie)

We are looking for an AM/SAM to work across our portfolio. This is your chance to join a dynamic team of people who are able to cut through the clutter and deliver innovative communication solutions for clients across a range of disciplines including strategy, creative design, experiential and PR.

You must have Financial Services experience, 4 year’s or more within an agency and able to build strong client relationships.

We are looking for someone with enthusiasm and drive who isn’t afraid to get stuck in. If you’re interested please send your CV to phoebe@thevitalagency.co.uk

At this time of year our Creative Director, Craig, is usually gearing up for the start of a new term at Warwick University but the recent cuts in arts courses has brought about some drastic restructuring of his course leaving no place for his usual series of seminars.

He was first approached by the University way back in 2004 when he met Professor Johnathan Vickery who was creating a viable case for a new ‘MA in Internal Design and Communications Management’ by counseling opinion from industry professionals. After initially advising on course content, Craig was asked to take more of a hands-on role and lead workshops for the students.

As an Associate Fellow over the last 9 years, he honed a 10 week module in ‘Visualisation’ which – rather than intended to teach prospective Design Managers to be Creative Directors – aimed to equip them to hold their own with them.

Craig was occasionally aided and abetted by his studio colleagues with Leigh and Graeme both making guest appearances. His association with the course has given Vital great insights from young people from around the world, as well a steady stream of fabulous interns including Tina, Whitney. Chloé, Mustafa, Juls, Temi and Upasna – to name just a few.

Student Temi Williams-Davis was clearly impressed: ‘Craig's course is the only course, marked or not, that would have survived the Thursday night time slot.  We loved everything about it; it was fun, interesting and completely applicable to our chosen career field.’

Not that any of this means he’ll be hanging up his leather elbow patches just yet – far from it.

According to Professor Vickery, ‘Craig has made a massive contribution to the course here, and in all those years his seminars were one of the highlights for students. We will find a way of working with him again.’

As such he will continue to visit the new course on an ad-hoc basis, is holding a workshop at Warwick Business school next month and also will continue his Industry Advisor role alongside the staff on the HND in Visual Communication at Warwickshire College.

‘I love getting involved in this stuff’ says Craig ‘I was once sitting where the students are sat. I can remember the people who came in and inspired me, and those who didn’t. I try really hard to be one of the former.’

We are looking for a senior creative person with considerable strategic clout and executional flair.

Working for an array of household names such as Audi, Barclaycard and Nokia – and delivering well-thought-out Creative across a broad range of media – flexibility and a can-do attitude are essential.

The briefs will be rich and varied – though will certainly contain some retail, experiential, branding, digital and direct marketing projects.

We reckon you will be a seasoned pro who’s itching to move into a grown-up role where you can stretch your skills and have a hand in steering your future.

You will arrive on our doorstep with a thick skin, a head full of all the things you wanted to do (but never had the chance) and have the enthusiasm, energy and personality to work alongside a small talented team that covers a lot of ground.

You will certainly have your eye on the top job.

And that’s OK.

The role will be based in the lovely Spa town of Leamington and comes with a salary befitting someone of your stature.

Please take a look around the site and get in touch with your CV and other impressive things via phoebe@thevitalagency.co.uk

World peace is merely a download away, as today our Tea Round Roulette app has been approved and is live on Windows Marketplace.

Tea Round Roulette. A non-death-inducing solution to that every day conflict of who’s making the next brew. In every office, home and port-a-cabin this problem wreaks havoc, destroying even the strongest of friendships... especially when there’s a fresh pack of biccies waiting to be dunked into a steaming hot brew.  Simply enter the names in the round that your making, spin the tray of destiny and the rest is in the hands of the tea gods! So download Tea Round Roulette today. You never know... it may just save your life.

*Crap joke courtesy of Malc.

Last night saw Vital go wild in the country with a western themed ‘Fun Night at the OK Corral’ for our summer party

The corral turned out to be our Lucy’s family farm in deepest Warwickshire and came complete with a bucking bronco, shooting range and bouncy castle, as well as a seemingly never-ending supply of meat an’ moonshine.

Mosey on over to Flickr and check out the pics... Yeehaaa!

We've been super busy bees, working hard on some new windows based apps for Nokia. Obviously we can't show you anything as it's all top secret...but take our word for it, there'll be some cool stuff soon hitting Nokia devices.

So as not to leave you completely empty handed here's a little flavour of some of the life dependent apps we're creating, take a look at ‘Tea Round Roulette’.

A non-death-inducing solution to that every day conflict of who’s making the next brew. In every office, home and port-a-cabin this problem wreaks havoc, destroying even the strongest of friendships...especially when there’s a fresh pack of biccies waiting to be dunked into a steaming hot brew. Simply enter the names in the round that your making, spin the tray of destiny and the rest is in the hands of the tea gods!

So if you want us to help you get into the app world, or pop in for a non lethal brew, then just drop atul@thevitalagency.co.uk a quick note and we will be 'app'y (I know, sorry, I just couldn't resist one last pun...) to help.

When Emma and Tiffany needed some work experience we were there to give them some vital knowledge.

Emma said:

"I didn’t quite know what to expect of my week at Vital but I can safely say I was completely and utterly blown away. When I first walked in it was a great surprise to see a work experience booklet that Vital had written for me, lain out on my very own desk! It was packed with day to day plans and a diverse schedule ranging from graphics work in the studio to writing dummy press releases for Staples. During the week I got to know the lovely ‘Vitalies’ and learn what Vital does as a company… which is a lot. They do anything and everything to an exceptional level which has really inspired me to think big as I grow up and start my career."

Tiffany said:

"My week of work experience at Vital has given me experience of many different areas of marketing. Vital planned a full packed week that consisted of time in each department, from client services to studio work, offering a chance to work as part of the Vital team. A real client project was set, and this was the inspiration for studio work, where we designed a logo for our project idea. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my work experience and would recommend Vital to any student who wants to get experience in Marketing."

To see some more examples of work experience done at Vital, check out Jess's site, and Gabbi's site.

Thanks to some recent successes and our all-round busy-ness we are looking to grow our PR and Digital teams:

A dynamic, strategy-led PR Account Director

Versatile Web Developers and Digital Dudes
We're on the hunt for junior and experienced VB programmers and website developers. Whether Post Grad or Industry Guru, If you know your ASP from your elbow, we want to hear from you. Permanent or Freelance enquiries welcome.

To find out more about these exciting roles, or if you just want to send your CV anyway, please contact phoebe@thevitalagency.co.uk

Our refreshingly different brand work for Marston’s EPA got picked up in Design Week recently. At Vital towers we were chuffed to get this bit of recognition as we’re a generally shy and bashful bunch...honest, and it’s really lovely to see real ale marketing moving to new levels as they reach out to newer and younger audiences.

Hobgoblin beer helped a Leeds couple tie the knot on the same day as Kate and Wills - and in true Hobgoblin style, mischief was made as dwarfs, fire breathers and a magician all helped make the wedding an event to remember!

The Hobgoblin Alternative Wedding saw romantic couple Aileen Rippon and Richard Elsbury marry in Oxfordshire, where the pomp and ceremony of Westminster Abbey was replaced by a Woodland Temple and the Archbishop of Canterbury swapped for  a pagan high priestess.

And the Hobgoblin was also on hand as Master of Ceremonies, where he was able to offer his expertise and of course a great pint of Hobgoblin to guests, well it is the ‘unofficial beer of weddings’ after all.

...well almost. We’re merely acting, darling.

These are a couple of serious shots (and one not so serious) from our latest project with Warwickshire Police, highlighting the danger of alcohol related violence.

We're pretty chuffed with the result. Check out the final cut here.

When our tool hire client Brandon asked us to help mark their 40th anniversary, we created a little bit of birthday branding for them. Well, the line ‘Many happy returns to us’ seemed too good not to use.

They kicked off their celebrations at the Executive Hire show last month and it just so happened that the event must have coincided with a very popular guy called Brandon celebrating his 40th at the same time. All the main roads leading to the venue were festooned with some very home-made looking banners.

Nothing to do with us. Honest ;)

We're proud to have been asked to get involved with this years English Alpine Championships held in Bormio, Italy in association with Snowsport England. For this we produced a 40 page programme, posters, banners and apparel.

As an additional element we also produced this digital version of the programme.

The Chris Moyles show dropped in at the White Horse on Friday afternoon to have a few drinks and meet the fine people of Leamington!

The Vital team obviously got stuck in, but I'm not sure we fared so well in the pub quiz.... we're better at answering questions on things like design, beer and  branding!

After being so impressed with our launch of the A8 model across all 117 Centres, Audi asked us to roll out the project for the launch of the new Audi A7 Sportback.

We designed, built and installed VIP showcase areas to stage the stunning cars at selected Audi Centres across the UK, in just a couple of days.

Click here to see the results from a few of the dealerships.

There are a couple of new faces here at Vital, Nurinder Johal and Jaz Chambers, who have both joined the PR team, working for Marston’s, Warburtons and Staples.

Not only are they getting an understanding into the world of Vital and out great clients, but their tea making skills are being put to the test.

Not bad so far, but practice makes perfect, so we’ll need a few more brews made for us, just to make sure

Click here to see Nurinder and Jaz in their Vital ‘avatar’ form – their feet aren’t that big in real life....

Staples wanted to support ChildLine through its network of stores across the country in the run up to Christmas, in an effort to raise £100,000 for the free 24 hour helpline for children.

We came up with The Christmas Paper Chain campaign that allows customersto drop into one of Staples 139 stores and donate £1 to pay for a link in a paperchainthat then stretches around a store.

The campaign was launched with the help of ChildLine founder Esther Rantzen in London.

Barely halfway through the campaign and not only are we well on the way to reaching the £100K target, but most Staples stores are now covered in brightly coloured paper chains.

To find the nearest store to you and make a donation, visit www.staples.co.uk

If you’ve driven past one of Audi’s centres across the country in the past couple of weeks, you’ll have noticed huge red 3D logos.

Audi asked us to create a series of ‘landmarks’ to help support the launch of their A1 model.

We delivered and installed the logos (after painstakingly building several hundred of them) in under a week at all 127 showrooms, from Scotland to the Isle of Wight and everything in between.

The logos are made from 100 per cent recyclable material and will be collected, broken down and turned into something equally as cool once the launch is fully completed.

Click here to see how they were built and what they eventually looked like in Audi showrooms.

Shortly before our boys started to hammer the Australians on their own turf, we laid on a party for lucky cricket fans who won Marston’s Pedigree Ashes competition in conjunction with the Daily Telegraph. The prize? To be a guest at an exclusive event in the ‘Long Room’ at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Not only is it very long, it’s also one of the most sacred places in world cricket, even more sacred than WG Grace’s beard or Freddie Flintoff’s wayward Pedalo.

More than 100 guests were bowled over with both cricket expert and journalist Simon Hughes, who MC’d the night and former England and Surrey Test cricketer Mark Butcher, who was guest speaker.

Now all we need is for the England team to bring back the urn and for an even bigger party to kick off!

We’ve been helping Warburtons scour the Midlands and the East of England for the next generation of baking talent.

The competition is heating up faster than a bread oven as students from rival colleges create recipes for judges, which they hope will grab them a place in the national finals next month.

Watch this space for regional winners and their creations next week.

We’re raising a glass or two to our founding client, Marston’s, which has just been named Cask Ale Supplier of the year 2010.

The award was voted for by their customers – likely to be your local landlord and thousands like him across the country.

We’ve been busy creating some lovely looking adverts thanking their customers for voting them number one,  as well as letting local papers in the areas where they have their regional breweries know about this much sought after industry award.

There might even be a few free beers in it for us, purely for research, mind....

Click here to see the story about Marston’s Wychwood Brewery celebrating the award

Hobgoblin beer gave its projection on lager boys last night – they’ve got no taste. The ‘Unofficial Beer of Halloween hijacked the Stella Artois Draught Masters 2010 - a competition to see who can pull the best pint of lager. As the contestants battled it out inside pouring pint after pint, protestors had gathered outside in support of Hobgoblin’s stance against Lagerboys. Click to see what the Publican and Morning Advertiser had to say

Halloween is on its way and that means only one thing for us…Hobgoblin time. We will be touring key cities with the cheeky brand character himself, handing out samples of Hobgoblin ‘the unofficial beer of Halloween’ with his lovely wenches. Hopefully we’ll be able to convert a few lagerboys while we’re at it!

We’ve been living in Nokia’s world for the past few days... and never wanted to call home once. With 1.3 billion handsets in use across the globe and 260,000 smart phones bought daily, it felt great to be there to see an impressive range of new smartphones and a load of apps and global developer initiatives.

Our highlights include the  Nokia ‘Hackathon’ competition, where a number of developers from around the world competed to develop an app in just 36 hours, the winner is Facelock it uses facial recognition to lock and unlock your phone and it’s genius!

Aside from the opinion formers from the mobile sector, we loved listening to Kevin Thau from Twitter, John Evans from Nokia and of course internet God, Sir Tim Berners Lee, who spoke about new stuff that he and the Web Foundation are working on,such as everyone being able to access the raw data behind online charts as well as the importance of keeping the internet free.

We were inspired by Nokia’s PUSH project that is taking apps to a whole new level with kites and stakeboards, before partying with beat-boxer-heavyweight, Beardyman, angelic  Ellie Goulding and pulling some mad faces on an interactive wall.

Take a look at some of our snaps here or see more on Flickr.

We’ve got a new look, new website, new cool stuff in our office – all very exciting.

However, we’re still the same eclectic mix of people with the same great mix of clients [and a few new ones too]. We still go about things with the same honesty, curiosity and enthusiasm, it’s just we look slightly different and a bit cooler while we’re doing it.

Have a look around, make yourself at home and let us know what you think here.

Stuttgart, Barcelona and now, London’s East End, the locations are getting less exotic – but the amazing experience that is Nokia World gets better and better every year.

The best place to hear the sharpest analysis on all things mobile phone is on at the Excel Centre this week – we’ll be there as well, along with Mr WWW. himself, Sir Tim Berners Lee.

Audi were so impressed with our work on the launch of the A8 they’ve brought us in to help with the UK rollout of the new A1 model, towards the end of the year.

A huge honour to be working with one of the world’s best carmarkers, we’ll be installing some top secret stuff at 117 Audi centres soon.

Watch this space for more details...