Black Friday needs to have an effect in the UK

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The US Retail sector enthusiastically braces itself for a horde of bargain hunters

Today, Black Friday, so-called as it is the day when a vast swathe of the retail sector head out of the red and into the black, may make an economic turning point in the run up to Christmas. With half of the entire US population, some 152 million people, expected to hit the shops over the course of this weekend, up 10% on last year- the spike in trade could mean good news across the economy.

Black Friday usually sees shopping chains throw open their doors in the early hours. But this year that rush has crept into Thanksgiving Day itself. The effect isn’t limited to the US however, as Britain’s biggest and most well-known retailers have started “mega sales” early this year in an attempt to boost Christmas shopping amongst cash strapped shoppers. Amazon, in the run up to Black Friday is offering bargains for its ‘Black Friday Deals Week’ and Comet are offering a 5day Frenzy super sale. In effect this has turned black Friday into one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.

In the run up to Christmas consumers are expected to spend a whopping £7.75 billion on online shopping according to e-tailing trade association IMRG. An estimated £13 billion will be spent across all sectors online, however figures on the high street are expected to fall by 2.1 per cent in spite of so many sales starting early. It is clear that this year’s success stories will be told with a distinctly online lilt.

Kevin Flood, CEO of the leading social shopping website Shopow said, “Retailers that were desperately in need of a reversal of their fortunes have found that they now have an encouraging platform on which to build in the run up to Christmas. High street stores have had to pull out all the stops to make their shops attractive by reducing prices early and creating imaginative promotions to increase footfall and more activity at the tills. It is still far from plain sailing and there is still a lot of pressure on retailers and as long as business and consumer confidence remains low, the battle will continue to persuade shoppers to return in their droves.

“Online activity has emerged as a vital area that will only continue to grow in importance over Christmas. We are expecting a significant amount of Christmas activity online and those who have introduced innovative shopping tools that make shopping easier and more cost effective will take capitalise.”

For the past six years, a combination of increasingly early opening times and an array of discounts have helped make the day after Thanksgiving the biggest shopping day – and cement the term “black Friday.” It will be nonetheless difficult for chains that have struggled with sales declines lately, including the likes of Topshop, to see a benefit from thoroughly deep discounting. Many have opted instead to move into the social shopping environment in order to drive sales through peer to peer reviewing and sustainable discounting.

Social shopping has emerged as an exciting trend in online retailing as many of these high street stores look to engage consumers. It involves the use of social networking to share recommendations, share discounts, post reviews and ask for advice on products before purchase.

Mike Harty COO of Shopow (www.shopow.co.uk) said “Regular web shoppers are now empowered to talk about their purchases in an honest way. Social shopping enables shoppers to use their trusted networks to make informed decisions but also makes online shopping more interactive, enjoyable and indeed sustainable.”

Higher Online Fraud Risk at Christmas

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RESEARCH SHOWS THAT CHRISTMAS SHOPPERS FACE HIGHER ONLINE FRAUD RISK

– Xmas shoppers set to spend 14% more online this year¹

– Only 8% of women aged 26 to 35 update anti-virus software²

– Be Card Smart Online advice can help every Christmas shopper stay safe online

In the lead-up to Christmas, The UK Cards Association is running its successful Be Card Smart Online campaign again. The focus this year is on younger female shoppers, as research shows they are at greater risk of online fraud as many of them are failing to take simple steps to stay safe when they shop over the internet.

Banking industry initiatives coupled with cardholders being more aware of fraud prevention measures have resulted in a 40 per cent drop in card fraud losses in the past couple of years, down from £609.9 million in 2008 to £365.4 million last year.

However, research from the National Fraud Authority (NFA) has revealed that only 8 per cent of women aged 26-35 protect their computers with up-to-date anti-virus software. In response, the Be Card Smart Online campaign is urging young women in particular to follow the simple checklist below to reduce their chances of being a fraud victim this Christmas.

More than 35 million of us shopped online in the past year – 52 per cent up on the 23 million who shopped online just six years ago. And figures from the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) forecast that UK shoppers are set to spend £7.75 billion online between 28 November and 31 December, an increase of 14 per cent from the £6.8 billion spent online last Christmas.

As part of the campaign these top tips will be featured online at selected shopping websites until the end of December and also at www.becardsmart.org.uk:

1 Keep your PC protected by installing up-to-date anti-virus software. Ensure your browser is set at its highest level of security notification and monitoring – the safety options are not always activated by

default. Turn on ‘automatic updates’ when asked. This will allow you to decide when and how updates are installed.

2 Look for the padlock symbol – especially if you’re buying from a website for the first time. It’s a good indication that the online retailer is reputable.

3 Register your cards with Verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode or American Express SafeKey when prompted. It is quick and easy and makes shopping online even safer.

4 Always log out after shopping online and save the confirmation e-mail as a record of your order.

The UK’s banking and retail industries are fully supportive of the Be Card Smart Online campaign. Katy Worobec, Head of Fraud Control for The UK Cards Association, says:

“Christmas should be a time for taking things easy, but unfortunately fraudsters don’t stop targeting our cards over the festive period. This is why we are urging anyone who is planning to shop online this Christmas not to be complacent about security. You are your own best front-line of defence and following Be Card Smart Online’s simple steps can help prevent you becoming another fraud statistic.”

In addition, shoppers can make sure that gift buying online is stress-free by doing the following:

· Be sure you know who you are dealing with – always access the website you are planning to buy from by typing the address into your web browser.

· Ensure you are the only person that knows your PIN – never share it with anyone, either in person, over the telephone or in an email.

· Trust your instincts – if an offer looks too good to believe then there is usually a catch. Be suspicious of prices that are too good to be true.

· Keep records – keep details of your order and the retailer’s terms and conditions, returns policy, delivery conditions, postal address (not a post office box) and phone number (not a mobile number). Having this information will help if you subsequently encounter difficulties with your order. Keep your receipts and check these against your statement. If you spot a transaction you did not authorise tell your card company immediately.

· Section 75 protection – if you are buying something between £100 and £30,000 consider using a credit card, as you will then have extra protection through Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This covers you whether the online retailer is based in the UK or abroad. Section 75 states that should a problem subsequently arise, such as the company going out of business, you can claim your money back from your credit card company.

· Fraud protection – If you are an innocent victim of any type of card fraud you will not suffer any financial loss.

Anyone who is unfortunate enough to be the victim of card fraud should report the incident first to their card company and then to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.org.uk.

More information about shopping safely online is available at www.becardsmart.org.uk.

¹ source: Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index

² source: research commissioned by the National Fraud Authority (NFA)

This Is England '88

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Here’s a picture of festive fun to get the nation in the mood for Christmas. But if the protagonists themselves don’t look too happy (despite those supercool outfits – looking good, Milky!) the picture should give viewers cause to rejoice. The brilliant This Is England is back for its third incarnation, This Is England ’88.

As ever, the team delivers a heady mix of uproarious comedy and desolate, gritty drama.

At the beginning of last week’s BAFTA screening, Channel 4’s Head of Drama, Camilla Campbell said that Shane Meadows pitched This Is England ’88 as: “A truly British Christmas; an anti-climax. A bit nice, with some horrible shit mixed in.” Meadows himself described the three-part series as “kind of like a very brutal Nativity play, in a way.” He continued: “I just remember Christmas being shit…. I wanted to make a sort of broken nativity play, but there’s a real positive outcome, I hope.”

Certainly, the outcome will be positive for fans of quality, grown-up drama, who will be thrilled to see the return of most of the principal cast members from This Is England ’86, among them Bafta-winner Vicky McClure.

This is Christmas, This Is England style.

Third Season of Made In Chelsea Confirmed.

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C4 Entertainment Commissioning Editor David Williams has green-lit a ten-part, third series of hit reality drama Made In Chelsea from Monkey.

The announcement follows the news that E4 will also be screening a feature length 90 minute, Made in Chelsea Christmas Special, in December.

The show follows the lives of a glamorous group of globe-trotting young socialites and first aired on E4 in May, becoming the channel’s highest rated non-scripted debut.

Series 2 finishes Monday 21 November and is averaging 701k viewers to date, with the total average audience rising to over 1 million, when consolidated and VoD viewing is included. More than half of the audience is aged 16 to 34.

Made In Chelsea also remains one of Channel 4’s most talked about programmes, trending worldwide on Twitter and generating a total of 475k tweets to date.

Series 2 introduced a new online element with three 30 minute live video webchats in the form of ‘Live in Chelsea’. A first for E4.com, this online spin off consolidated 90K users who had the opportunity to watch cast members take questions from Twitter and Facebook and enjoy exclusive preview clips.

To further harness the show’s strong presence across social media, E4 is the only UK television network working with GetGlue; A new social network for entertainment that allows fans of the show to ‘check-in,’ earn virtual and physical stickers and share their activity with their friends on Facebook and Twitter.

To date, Made In Chelsea has recorded 45k ‘check-ins’ for series 2, generating a total online reach of more than 8m.

Commissioning Editor David Williams said: “With such a loyal audience tweeting, checking-in and following the lives of our new TV stars, it’s fantastic to be once again returning to the hallowed streets of the Royal Borough of Chelsea.”

Exec Producer, Sarah Dillistone from Monkey said: “We’re delighted by the connection so many people have made with the show, its cast and the incredible world they live in. We look forward to bringing new bed hopping, name dropping, champagne popping characters to series 3.”

Monkey is a division of NBCUniversal International Television Production.

Caprice & American InterContinental University celebrate Thanksgiving with Meals For Homeless

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U.S. supermodel Caprice and American InterContinental University celebrate Thanksgiving with a meal for the homeless for second year running

Supermodel Caprice, along with students from American InterContinental University London, celebrated their heritage and the American holiday of Thanksgiving yesterday, 23rd November by providing a meal for homeless women for the second year running.

Supermodel Caprice, who is renowned for being an ‘all-American’ girl joined in the festivities by helping to carve the giant turkey and serve out the dinner – waving American flags all the way. AIU London students were also on hand to serve out the traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato, stuffing, and gravy. American flags and pumpkins decorated the room as the women enjoyed the seasonal feast.

Caprice said: “I’m so delighted to be sharing the spirit of Thanksgiving with the women of the Marylebone Project and the students of AIU London for the second year in a row. An American Thanksgiving is all about bringing people together, so to be able to celebrate with these inspiring women is a real honour.”

The roast turkey meal was provided to more than 60 homeless women at the Marylebone Project, based on Cosway Street, in Marylebone London. The Marylebone Project works with vulnerable homeless women to help empower them towards independent living through making informed choices.

Dr. Randolf Cooper, Campus Director and VP of Academic Affairs at AIU London, which is also based in Marylebone, said: “Thanksgiving arrived in America with the Pilgrims in the autumn of 1621, when the 53 surviving Pilgrims celebrated their successful harvest, as was the English custom. Today Americans celebrate Thanksgiving without a religious connotation; the emphasis is on abundance and family. We are happy to share that spirit with the community and delighted that our students can be involved in supporting a local charity such as the Marylebone Project.”

Established in 1978, AIU London offers a wide range of U.S. associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Fashion, Visual Communication, Interior design and Business. AIU London design programs are validated by the University for the Creative Arts www.ucreative.ac.uk to award BA (Hons) degrees in Fashion Design, Fashion Marketing, Fashion Marketing and Design, Interior Design and Visual Communication. The AIU London business program is validated by Buckinghamshire New University www.bucks.ac.uk to award BA (Hons) degrees in Business Administration.”

AIU is accredited in the United States by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association, a regional accrediting body for U.S. degrees.

For more information, please visit http://www.aiuniv.edu/London

Daily Mail Accused of 'Intimidating' Hugh Grant After Leveson Testimony

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The Leveson Inquiry has been warned that actor and activist Hugh Grant has been “punished” for his decision to speak out about press intrusion on Monday.

Associated Newspapers – publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday- hit out at Grant’s allegation that his phone had been hacked by the Mail on Sunday by claiming that he had lied under oath.

“Mr Grant’s allegations are mendacious smears driven by his hatred of the media,” the publisher said in a statement that also said that it “utterly refutes” Grant’s claims.

Barristers representing the Metropolitan Police and numerous hacking victims have said that the actor’s treatment after giving evidence would probably be “intimidating” to other witnesses.

The Daily Mail also “unequivocally denies” the paying of a hospital source to secure information about the birth of his first child.

Robert Sherborne, the legal counsel representing the hacking victims said the newspaper was using its power to bully the star.

“What was filed in the pages of the Daily Mail and the website was not a denial but a personal attack on Mr Grant as a witness…what they suggested is that he was deliberately lying.”

“There is a difference between a right of reply and a right of attack – if those you have been brave enough to come and give evidence receive this kind of treatment then witnesses will be unwilling to be that brave any longer,” Sherborne added.

Metropolitan Police QC Neil Garman was also concerned that Grant’s treatment could affect other witnesses

“Witnesses will be very cautious, we fear, if the likelihood is that they will face that kind of treatment the day after.

Other high profile witnesses who are expected to give evidence are Steve Coogan, Sienna Miller [one of the first people to sue News Corporation] and JK Rowling.

Jonathan Caplan QC, representing Associated Newspapers, said that the newspapers had made the statement “under pressure” in response to serious allegations of serious criminal misconduct, which it denied.

When asked about the attack on Grant, Caplan told Lord Justice Leveson:”I accept everything you say.”

Grant told the hearing he had tried to keep his ex-girlfriend Tinglan Hong’s pregnancy secret after the News of the World first speculated that she may be carrying his baby in April. Grant said: “my overwhelming motive throughout this whole episode was to protect the mother of my child”.

Grant said that Hong had been followed by paparazzi but the papers “seem not to have anything to print that could link her to me until I visited the hospital after the birth when again there seems to have been a leak from the hospital”

Grant said that he received a phone call the next day from the Daily Mail, and then the Daily Star. He said that he refused to comment, believing that to do so would give the paper confidence to publish.

He said that the Mail had adopted a “fishing technique and they didn’t want to print the story based solely on the hospital source because that might have been unethical or possibly illegal so they needed a comment from my side and that is why I said nothing”.

The Mail did not publish the item. The news was then published by US Weekly last month. The actor said the baby was the product of a “fleeting affair” and that Hong was “besieged” by photographers after the news was published and the actor was forced to take out an injunction to force them to go away.

When questioned by Robert Jay, QC to the Leveson inquiry, Grant said the only people who knew about he child were a female cousin, and Hong’s Chinese parents, “who spoke no English”.

The Mail issued a statement saying it “unequivocally denies Hugh Grant’s allegation that it secured information about the birth of his child from a source at the hospital” which instead came from “a source in his showbusiness circle more than two weeks after the birth”.

Grant said that he was sure the Mail had hacked his phone and referred to a report in the Mail on Sunday in February 2007, which said his relationship with his then girlfriend, Jemima Khan, was “on the rocks” because of “persistent late-night phone calls with a plummy-voiced executive from Warner Brothers” – a story he said was “completely untrue”. Jemima Khan also denied the story via her Twitter account.

Lord Justice Leveson also heard evidence from the parents of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl whose phone was appallingly hacked by the News of the World.

Bob and Sally Dowler spoke publicly for the first time about the moment they believed their daughter was picking up her voicemail messages, giving false hope that she was still alive.

Sally Dowler’s told the inquiry that after a period in which every time she rang her missing daughter’s mobile phone, it said the mailbox was full. She said: “It clicked through on to her voicemail so I heard her voice and [said]: ‘She’s picked up her voicemail Bob, she’s alive’.”

The couple also told the court that a private walk they took seven weeks after their daughter’s disappearance was pictured prominently in the News of the World. They claimed photographers were tipped off about the walk after the paper hacked their mobile phones.

Bob Dowler said: “The thing to remember is the walk was nothing to do with Milly’s phone.” His wife added: “That was our own home phone or own mobile phones.”

News International has paid £2m in compensation to the Dowler family, and the company said it had nothing further to add following their testimony.

Life of a Super Sports Blogger

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—Independent bloggers drive sports industry—Fortune 500 companies engage with the citizen journalists —

It’s the ultimate dream for many a football fan. Swapping the nine to five for a career spent posting on a blog about the sport you adore. No editorial limits, no suit, no boss. For Alan Spurgeon and his blog Footy-Boots.com, that dream is reality.

What started as a series of niche articles in 2006, Alan’s blog which focuses primarily on reviews of football apparel now reaches four million people worldwide, three hundred thousand of whom read his words on average every other day. It’s the sort of platform any of the major football brands would pay serious sums to control, but Footy-Boots.com remains independent, relying upon a small team of mostly volunteer staff and freely available publishing technology to engage the fans.

In a year which has seen every major sports brand jump on the social media bandwagon, Alan’s seen a shift in attitude when it comes to dealing with the marketing departments representing the kit he reviews—

“Our job is to review everything we can get hold of and when a product comes with an already established online fan-base that can explain the benefits in our terms, an invitation to meet the people who produce the product and a willingness to engage in feedback, there’s an obvious advantage. For years we struggled away ordering products as soon as we could get hold of them, crawling through the maze of PR departments to get comment or information and then taking the stuff to the field to run it through the paces before posting our opinion online. These days it’s a little different. Whilst we’re still just a couple of lads operating from their laptop, it’s not unusual for us to be invited to meet the people who produce the kit or to go down to the pitch to chat to the premiership players who are wearing it. The biggest names in the world like Nike, adidas and Puma have got used to the fact that if you want to sell your boots to a digital generation, it’s not just the print media and broadcasters you need to engage with celebrity endorsement, it’s the little guys like us. We need data and it’s in their interests to make sure we have it.”

Whilst the manufacturers are falling over themselves to accommodate the ‘super-bloggers’, some team brands have been better than others at adjusting to the social media era. Manchester United and Arsenal rule Facebook with 20million and 7million fans respectively. Arsenal in particular have embraced the digital revolution, recently hosting web chats for up to 2.5million international fans at a time. The players themselves are thrust into this world, somewhat dazed, to play their part. In May this year Rio Ferdinand posted on Twitter “Yesterday I’m signing a few autographs + a guy pulls out his phone + says ‘can you follow me’! A follow is the new autograph!”.

So what does it feel like being taken from your backroom office to the glorious highs of sports stardom? According to Alan, whose site is successful enough to “pay the bills”, some things will never change. “We are now considered de facto I guess in our niche, particularly for the Football Boot Awards we run every year where the public come to us to vote for the product of the year. That’s great and it’s astonishing of course to get to meet your heroes through your work as we have done when premiership players are lined up to take part in things like the awards sessions, but other things remain the same. We’ve not yet been able to get to some of the international product launches, not because of the cost, but because we’re a simple set up, a couple of guys and a few computers, we just wouldn’t be able to take the time for a long flight which would mean being offline for 9 or 12 or 24 hours. We miss out on that sort of stuff. We’re still geeks attached to our umbilical tech.” When asked if they would accept a private flight sponsored by a major sports brand, their reaction is typical of the new generation of citizen journalists— “No way, the fans of the blog would slaughter us. Our greatest asset is being unbiased. You can’t buy our opinion.”

Nobody at Footy-Boots.com has made a dot com million, but the site owners need an income. The key to success might be seen in the addition of sponsors and affiliates on the boy’s website which help to bring in stable financial support whilst they focus on reviewing kit and steering conversation in the forums. “We’re not salesmen, we never have been, never could be. We’re not good at going out there to find sponsors. I’m sure there are plenty of ways the site could make more money, but it’s never been about the money for us so we’re happy to just let a couple of sports shops link through the site as long as we get positive feedback about them. It’s a happy compromise between running a basic blog and being a commercial website.”

As someone who has tested every major boot released since 2006, Alan has a few pointers for those wanting to be on the Christmas list this year and next. “The best boot in the world is only good for one man. Reading our forums (especially the “ask geeks” channel), you know every player has their own strength, speed, accuracy, strength, ability and confidence to take risks on the pitch. No one cleat is going to fit them all. Just like social media has opened up a million different varieties of opinion, the manufacturers of the product are going to have to follow too. Bespoke might be the way to go. I’m sure the technology will exist to let players pick every aspect of their kit through an app very soon.” Which raises an interesting question- what will be the value of celebrity if and when every boot is customised not to the famous foot, but to every man or women on the pitch? There will be bigwigs in PR breathing a sigh of relief in some cases— we all know Football and Twitter don’t always a happy marriage make. Alan has a list of social media disasters on his site to tell that story.

So where next for Alan and his happy team of sports bloggers? “2011 was a great year, we saw some astonishing products hit the pitch and through our relationships with the brands, we felt like we were pretty much front row. We’ll continue to offer a space where your opinion matters and we’ll be bringing that to a climax with this year’s awards which launch online December 5th and we’re expecting tens of thousands of votes again.”

The one difference between this year and last for Footy-Boots.com, a 1765% rise in the number of visits originating from mobile phones. Let’s hope that Nike and co have their iPhone apps in order when voting kicks in.

Violence and Claymation at Camden Arts Centre

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Clay animation, or claymation as it is commonly referred to, for me instinctively conjures images of Wallace and Gromit. Cuddly, quirky characters whose comedic traits are enhanced by the clunky childlike style inherent to the medium they work in. It is probably rather ignorant going straight for such a mainstream example, but I doubt I’m the only one.

I was nevertheless equally ignorant as I was lured towards the Camden Arts Centre by the mesmerising images from Nathalie Djubery’s exhibition A World Of Glass. For starters I assumed it would be in Camden. It is not and I still don’t know why it has given its self such a misleading title. It is actually a little unassuming building plonked by Finchley road tube station. Secondly, there was much more to the exhibition than the misshapen glass like objects that I found so pretty.

After poking around the gift shop on the way in-it’s so nice when museums do that, so you don’t feel less cultured for wanting to look around the gift shop first; not that I’d need to, I’d already overcome the intelligence hurdle of finding a museum pretending to be somewhere it wasn’t- I ventured toward the first exhibition room.

A soundscape of tinkling glass and percussion filled the room and encouraged a pensive, quiet atmosphere. This was not an exhibition where you chatted about what you though of the work whilst you were there and tried to sound pretentious, you experienced it. You also experienced it standing up, so after a few moments I began to wander.

The promotion pictures really did do the exhibit justice. In a darkened room, tables of illuminated glass like objects looked surreal and made me feel less silly for wanting to see them simply for their strangely beautiful aesthetic. It quickly transpired that they were part of the set taken from the claymation films that were playing at either end of the studio; designed to make the whole exhibition feel modestly immersive.

At first glance Natalie Djurbery’s short clay animated films seem to portray the inherent playfulness I imagined (the first image I saw was of a bull tottering around a shop full of glass), but you don’t have to watch for long before realising that the artist is merely playing upon our natural assumptions about the medium to convey her real message.

As the museum suggests, Djurbery’s films resemble folk or fairytales, but without any moral judgement. They do, however, use this genre to explore dark and crude themes of suffering, depression and violence using humans and animals. The content of each of the stories was shocking and, at times, bizarre enough; but their combination with the tranquil dim environment transformed any gut reaction into something more pensive. The effect was strangely jarring and definitely uncomfortable, as though I was somehow complicit in the twisted taboos shown on the screen.

The work I feel was important to see. It broke and built barriers between person, screen, self, other, human and animal. It showed the possibilities of claymation as a serious artform; its crudeness effectively conveyed the animalistic forces that drove the characters and its childlike nature added a level of philosophical thought to Djurberg’s portrayal of the human condition.

To summarise, I did not completely enjoy it, I’m glad I didn’t and I don’t think I was supposed to.