EU Cookie law update
The Deadline is looming for the EU Cookie Directive on 26 May.



In summary - UK law now requires website operators to ask for a website user’s permission when placing certain kinds of cookie on their devices for the first time.  Where consent is required, the law states that it should be “informed consent”.

 We have had some informal clarification concerning the code of conduct for using cookies from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Unfortunately the definative guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is not available yet. 

The ICC have broken cookie usage down into 4 different categories, based on their function. 

It is hoped that this will help website operators identify the types of cookies they use in order to select the appropriate method of obtaining informed consent. It should also help website users understand the types of cookies that are in use on the websites that they visit.

Category 1: Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies services you have asked for, like shopping baskets or e-billing, cannot be provided.

User consent is not required for the delivery of these cookies

Category 2: Performance cookies
These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages.

These cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works. This category does not include cookies used for behavioural/targeted advertising networks.

 Examples include: Web analytic, Ad response rates, Affiliate tracking, Testing design variations and Error management. Google Analytics falls into this category!

 User consent can be obtained in the terms and conditions of the website

Category 3: Functionality cookies
These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise.

User consent can be obtained in the terms and conditions of the website

Category 4: Targeting cookies or advertising cookies
These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign.

User consent in this instance would need to be explicit – you would need to obtain clear informed consent from the user before cookies are used.

Example Terms and Conditions
A good example of a terms and conditions that explains cookie use in their terms and conditions can be found at the St Helens Council website http://www.sthelens.gov.uk/pages/cookie-information/

Further Reading
ICC Guidance
http://www.international-chamber.co.uk/components/com_wordpress/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/icc_uk_cookie_guide.pdf
ICO guidance
http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx
General information about cookies
http://www.allaboutcookies.org

What’s that old adage about service? The one where a customer will tell an average of 5 people about a good experience and 10 people about a bad experience? In todays connected world, who knows how those figures have escalated. There’s no doubt that it’s more important than ever to look after our customers.

But it’s not just about customer service. We need to be looking at the bigger picture. Regardless of your business sector, creating a positive customer experience across every aspect of the business will significantly improve your chances of building strong customer relationships, recognition and loyalty. Not to mention creating a customer base of smiley, happy people who are only too pleased to tweet about how great you are.

In tough times, it’s no longer enough to simply give customers what they want. Market space is scarce and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out. Businesses need to consider more intelligent ways to make an emotional connection with customers through their brand.

The most successful companies will be those that recognise and invest in the whole brand experience. Those that go beyond the USP and venture deeper into the realms of differentiation to create a unique, distinctive and memorable customer experience that is a three-dimensional, multi-sensory representation of the brand proposition. Yes, it’s about adding value. But more importantly, it’s about making a connection - going that step further to create a compelling emotional response towards the brand.

So what is the key to creating a powerful and engaging brand experience? Well, unfortunately there’s no definitive answer. The right approach for one brand may be entirely wrong for another. But there are certain fundamental truths at the core of successful branding and they are: differentiation, honesty and clarity.

The critical first step must therefore be a clear understanding of your own brand. Where do you fit within your marketplace and what makes your brand truly special? Not just in terms of what you do, but how you do it. As obvious as it may sound, this can be quite a major barrier to break through. It’s not enough to simply claim “we are the best” – you need to take an honest look at exactly where your strengths and weaknesses lie so that you can identify the most appropriate market position for your brand. The process is sometimes painful, often fun but always revealing.

Once you’ve acquainted yourself with the essence of your brand, the next step is to determine how to communicate that to other people, so that your brand is perceived in the way you want it to be. What do you want people to say about your brand? How do you want people to connect with your brand? The most powerful brands are the ones which are designed to create a specific emotional response. Have you ever seriously thought about the emotional response you wish to elicit via your brand? Is it trust? Desire? Confidence? Happiness? Inspiration? Comfort? Defining how you want people to feel about your brand will help you create a more relevant and engaging brand experience. This is where the clarity comes in. Once you are clear about what you’re trying to say, the brand experience will become an altogether more friendly beast to tame.

Ultimately, we should all be thinking differently about the entire brand experience. As consumers and as businesses we are becoming more and more demanding because we are spoilt for choice. We want to be seduced, stimulated, entertained, indulged, cared for, respected and above all, understood. That’s not much to ask for is it?

Anna Lewis
anna@stills.co.uk
www.twitter.com/annameelewis

5 hours and 17 minutes is how long it took the first half of the Stills pack to complete the Taff Trail. The stragglers came in a whopping 2 hours later but we’re blaming our bikes. And the wrong turns.

Hundreds of fundraisers congregated outside Theatr Brycheiniog on Saturday morning to take part in the bike ride held in aid of St David’s Foundation. The four (wo)man strong Stills team consisting of Chris, Suzanne, Antony and Shelley started with gusto at 10.30.

Some beautiful scenery ensued and one seriously long hill as we headed into the Brecon Beacons. A wrong turn meant Chris and Suzanne carried their bikes over some rough terrain but once back on track they sailed through to the half way point at Merthyr.

Shelley and Antony took somewhat longer to get there; perhaps it was the paniers stocked full of sandwiches that slowed us down? No matter. On the way out of Merthyr a helpful local carrying a 20 ft ladder in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other encouragingly told us that we only had 23 miles to go!

With a final check point at Pontypridd crossed and more cereal bars and water handed out by the kindly volunteers from St David’s Foundation it was all downhill from there onwards. Or so we thought. Taffs Well threw in some nasty inclines at the last minute but we made it through and arrived into Cardiff in the sunshine.

Chris and Suzanne had enough time for a meal and drinks and looked thoroughly refreshed by the time Shelley and Antony wheeled into the Bay tired, happy and very relieved. But it was definitely the taking part that counted and you can still help us raise money for St David’s Foundation here.

See more photos on our Flickr page

What better way to celebrate our 30th anniversary than at Vintage, the festival run by Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway held at the Southbank Centre last month.

The festival is a celebration of music, fashion, film, art, design and culture from the 1920s to the 1980s and took the Stills team back in time with dance lessons and old school arts and crafts. Any excuse to dress up.

As partner of the British Triathlon, Tata is committed to the development of British sport. They run various community-based projects including the popular Tata Kids of Steel events, which have introduced triathlon to thousands of schoolchildren across the nation.

We created the illustrations for the Tata Kids of Steel campaign, the three figures depicting the three sports performed in the event. These figures have subsequently been applied throughout the competition from t shirts to banners to water bottles.

12 hours. 12 topics. 12 photos. This year was enjoyable thanks to the sunshine but it certainly wasn’t easy. ‘Element’ was one of the easier topics but Super Powers? I have a dream? Check out our Flickr stream for some of our ideas.

Chris had a great day looking at the future of the furniture industry as a judge at the MIxology student awards.

Chris and his fellow judges at the KI showrooms on the Strand. From left to right: Grant Gibson, Andrew Bartlett (Tilney Shane), Chris Carpenter, Nigel Coutts and Chairman Cherrill Scheer.

If you just want to look at office furniture go to NeoCon or Orgatec, if you want an exciting, inspirational experience which stimulates all your senses, then get yourself to Milan. I’m not talking about the main show ‘Saloni di mobile’ but I do mean the ‘temporary design museum’ and the rest of Via Tortona; where mainline corporates such as Poltrona Frau, Canon, Lammaults and Blackberry choose to rub shoulders with students, start-ups, artists and fashion houses.

Day one for us started in the main showhalls and to be fair the exhibition was excellent; in particular the domestic and lighting halls clearly demonstrated the Italian’s ability to be high design one moment and high kitsch the next. Although not nearly as busy as the main show (which was rammed) the office salon with the likes of Boss and Humanscale were clearly happy with the results. Overall, the show was noticeably busier this year, more international and less domestic.

We started our Via Tortona experience on day two in a rundown room staring in wonder at a tabletop full of flashing, dancing Anglepoise lamps appearing to have minds of their own. In fact their bobbing, weaving and bulbs were being controlled independently by the power of tweets. Who knows what we will be able to control with the power of positive or negative thoughts over the internet in the future. In an adjacent space a student from Germany had created a plant pot that walked slowly towards the light. A group of plants moving across the office in an apparent expression of free will may well raise eyebrows. In this environment they raised only smiles.

Is all this conceptual stuff relevant? Who knows what commercial application an interesting idea will spark. The beauty of some of the more conceptual ideas on display in Via Tortona is that they were not shackled by the need to make money. And yet the great thing about Milan is that some of the more enlightened manufacturers wanted to be associated with the excitement. Lammaults for instance had, after 10 years, moved into Via Tortona especially so that their brand could be seen as more inventive.

Further along Via Tortona, at the entrance to the ‘Temporary Museum for New Design’ in Superstudio PIU; above Karim Rashid’s outdoor furniture, we were greeted by a huge mobile of real minis suspended from a crane. Next was an otherworldly Japanese experience from Kanega in a series of blacked-out rooms lit only by thousands of flat LEDs. We were encouraged to drink freely from bottles of Saki as the colours changed, dimmed and brightened in a hypnotic and magical manner. A sensory delight to say the least.

Amongst many others of note were Foscarini; the lighting magicians with displays that forced you lie on your back and look up at their jellyfish-like creations.

We breezed through Tom Dixon’s, Blackberry sponsored building and then onto the DesignJunction exhibition; a loose collection of companies successfully flying the British design flag in Milan and supported by UK Trade International. This show was housed in the spectacular Zegna building and the exhibitors included Channels, Benchmark and Welsh weavers Melin Tregwynt. We ended day two as we started by talking about lamps and in particular, the new Type ‘C’ lamp from Anglepoise.

On the way home we couldn’t resist the Toshiba strobe-light rain show. In the street party that we got caught up in on our way back to the hotel, it was so busy with hoards of delirious design disciples that it took us half an hour to go 400 metres.

Day three, our last, saw us at the Triennale which houses the permanent Design Museum. Following a trip through a red tunnel, past soft cactus balls and into the mind of Mauritzio Galante; the rest of the visit was dominated by the Interface show, which was a triumph of brand building and positioning. For me, the mere fact that Interface commissioned an art installation in a Design Museum signaled to everyone the direction and ambition it has for its brand. The wit and intelligence of the designer Francesco Bandini, to display flooring so that it could only be viewed by looking at its reflection in the mirrored ceiling, was breathtakingly simply and amusing – literally turning your expectations on their head.

So, if you can, I urge you to visit Milan when the furniture and design show is on. Where else in the world can you pay 1 euro to jump on a 1930’s tram, jump off into a park and walk into a Design Museum where you see some office carpet reflected into a mirrored ceiling; then walk through a womblike tunnel to see a marble Poltrona Frau armchair. Nip outside to have a drink at the Campari bar followed by poached egg and asparagus cooked on a solar barbeque? Only one word sums up the experience: GENIUS!

The challenge for Clerkenwell Design week is not to try and be just like Milan; that would be like trying to make pasta with potatoes. You’d just end up with gnocchi and who really enjoys that?

Clerkenwell Design week has had the confidence to forge it’s own identity. It needs to continue to be inventive, inclusive and relevant. It is part of London, itself a fashion and design capital of the world and like Milan some of the creative stardust may well rub off on it. Importantly everyone should have high hopes of how it can grow and flourish. The seeds of inspiration should continue to be planted with enthusiasm. 

Check out all the amazing sights from this year’s festival on our Flickr page! 

Chris, Dave and Wayne Hemingway before his inspirational talk at the University of Wales, Newport. The event was held this morning in conjunction with Stills and the M4 Business Network.