Water City is a Vision for the future for the regeneration of the East End of London. Imagine the river Lea as an epicentre of culture and flourishing communities with theatre and festivals. It’s about bringing back some of the former glory of life near the water back to the East End. Essentially Water City is part of  a 40 year plan (which started back in the 1980s) looking at how we regenerate and revive the East End of London.  It’s about recreating an East End of London using the  canals and waterways  once again as the focal point to connect it. A  place of choice for communities and brands to live, work and play together. An inspiring vision for smart brands to do good.

As Lord Mawson aptly reminded us it’s about understanding one shop in detail and then you can go step by step to build an Empire as result of a meeting he had with Paul Heston (McDonald’s pioneer in the UK). One has to ‘loiter with intent’ to real get to the heart of the matter and actively engage with communities individual by individual human to human.

As he witnessed religions moving out of churches and into charities Lord Mawson began to question how do we make something sustainable?  He then went onto share the story of Karen a professional dancer who wanted to use the church space in what has now become known as the Bromley By Bow Centre for her young people’s dance classes eventually leading her to set up a dance school on the Isle of Dogs.

A lesser known fact is that Hackney is home to some 12000 artists (the biggest creative community outside of NYC) this begs question how do we harness this creative potential for the local community, businesses and society as whole.  The Water City Festival is a starting point.

As Lord Mawson highlighted humans are fundamentally creative and given our creative natures opportunities will arise. Once you begin to foster local relationships enterprising cultures can’t help but emerge. An example of this is seen in the Barkantine Clinic on the Isle of Dogs. A multi purpose multi functional state of art health centre.

We were then introduced to the former Chairman of O2 and HM Customs and Revenues Sir David Varney. David reminded us there is no handbook for Corporate Success, especially when there’s been a breakdown in communications and trust.

Some of the most important relationships in our lives begin by giving trust in the beginning – so when trust is broken how do we go about rebuilding trust. First of all it’s important to acknowledge that we’ve done wrong and apologise. Then move onto realise what it is people expect of you.

David then shared with us the story of creating O2 from BT a brand more known to be opaque, untruthful and tired. From the onset O2 was instilled with values to be bold, open and clear the rest is history.

He outlined the importance of benchmarking and measuring impact even with charitable donations. This rigorous approach led to the creation of the BG foundation and  a £50,000 donation to set up the Community Action Network.

David’s career in Shell also highlighted that you should ‘never compete with a brand stronger than yours’ as demonstrated by Ayrton Senna at a F1 race pit stop, everyone remembered Senna doing the pit stop. No one recalled which petrol brand he filled up with.

WE were then introduced to Harry Gaskell from Ernst & Young. Harry indicated that there had been a  fundamental cultural shift in the firm to go from market leadership and corporate responsibility to ‘growing successfully and making the difference’. The making the difference would be aimed at their people, their  clients and society as whole. This has been seen in the example of working with an unnamed Hospital Trust who had taken on a PPP contract and was struggling to meet their obligations. After working with Ernst & Young  they were able to turn this around service their debts and exceed their objectives.

An example of making a difference to society – Ernst & Young  worked in partnership with a local Tower Hamlets school on their NEETS (Not in Education, Employment, and Training) programme and propelled this into Fast Forward . Fast Forward is a national voluntary organisation that exists to give young people the skills, education and support to live healthier lives. As part of this initiative Harry mentored a young man for a 5 week work experience  placement. Harry watched him grow from turning up to work on time to eventually choosing get a job and not follow in the footsteps of  his drug dealing family business.

Sometimes it’s good to remember the lustre and brand profile benefits to be gained when involved with initiatives that may not always have an immediate profitable return.  This may become evident in imminent launch of Ernst & Young ‘s Equalities Statement which is focussed on the benefits of equality and inclusion for smaller businesses in partnership with EDF, Google and others. It’s an accreditation body that will aim to drive standards of higher quality.

Harry also highlighted that Ernst & Young had  recognised the needs of their emerging talent who want something more than simply having  a career at Ernst & Young . As a result they are launching a programme where selected employees can choose to take a 50% salary cut and go and work with the local and growing businesses in the fast emerging economies Asia, Africa and South America. Whilst  providing their expertise and knowhow to smaller sized companies and increasing the diversity of their  client base.

Harry spotted that the biggest trend emerging right now is to start solving the world’s problems by getting involved. Following on from this we then had a panel discussion with two award winning Social Enterprises Apps for Good run by Iris Lapinski an award-winning programme where young people learn to create apps that change their world and Bikeworks co founded by Dave Miller. Bikeworks is an award winning social enterprise using bicycles and cycling as a tool to tackle social and environmental challenges at a community level.

Apps for Good started its life with a £300k fundraising donation from Dell and has already worked with around 1260 students whilst it trains teachers to deliver their programmes. Iris shared that you should punch above your weight.  She highlighted that smart brands who want to do good should ask if we were to set up a social enterprise what would it be? It was clear that companies should involve themselves in projects that strategically align with their vision, values, expertise  a sentiment echoed by Bikeworks co founder Dave Miller. Bikeworks have had a 120 people in their training programme and recently worked with Timpsons. It’s in talks with big players in the cycling industry to revolutionise the impact cycling could have and Lord Mawson then came onto introduce us to ‘Corporate Social Opportunity’ with Water City as a venture at the heart of it. It’s a vision for that began to take shape some 20 years ago with the success of Canary Wharf, LImehouse Basin and Three Mills what will the next 20 years unfold? Could Water City be the key piece in joining up some of the disparate dots emerging in the East End of London and create a community collaborative venture which works in the interests of both communities and brands?

James Watson from Qatari Diar Delancey went on to showcase that it could be. And he revealed some of the reality for the Water City vision. Having successfully bid and bought the Athlete’s village their vision is to create a neighbourhood and community that individuals and families want to be part of. There were even some similarities to showcasing this development to that of the housing surrounding Regents Park way back when.  Creating a place which people want to call home and have community participation is the key to its success.

Building on from the momentum of this event Water City is ripe for some big brands players to get involved and be part of something special, regenerating the East End of London and giving all Londoners a legacy to be proud of. Ultimately creating a place of choice for communities and brands to live, work and play together this is a unique opportunity for smart brands to do good.

Thalbir Shokar

NBT Associate

- Freedom of Speech

- The Right of Expression

- Institutionalised Censorship

- Political Correctness

- Human Rights

This highly original piece of performance art transcends the arts and hits at the heart of what British values, morality or sense of identity are left – if any at all. It made we wonder whether it is possible to say anything of any real substance any more for fear of offending someone or some group. Whether at work, in public or even in private – how free and entitled are we to really say what we think? And if we dare to – what are the consequences to our personal reputations, our legal position or even our personal safety or liberty? Citing examples like Salman Rushdie and Theo Van Gogh as victims of daring to exercise the right of free speech – DV8 have lifted the lid on our fear of saying what we mean and meaning what we say – and all this through dance! Unbelievable!

When increasingly brands are expected to increase their levels of transparency and openness – just how much can a corporation come clean without exposing itself. Naked Brands our forthcoming event would love to hit the highs of DV8 in terms of getting to heart of a few truths about what a public, a customer or an employee can or cannot say about their employer without reprisal.

Apparently in a shock development in Hollywood last night – a few of the cast of the Muppet Movie were sacked following allegations that they were rather derogatory about members of their audience – who they described as being ‘ a bunch of bankers’. Never… Surely?

Check out DV8 here - http://www.dv8.co.uk/projects/canwetalkaboutthis

Tim

—

I recently attended a breakfast meeting titled: Innovative India: Remarkable Lessons From India’s Social Entrepreneurs hosted by Richard Alderson,co-founder of Journeys for Change (a transformative learning experience  targeted at leaders from across the globe) and UnLtd India (an incubator for Social Entrepreneurs based in Mumbai). The event included a panel discussion with some previous participants of this Journey for Change experience which included a fund manager and UK based social entrepreneur.

I was intrigued to attend and find out more. It was a fun, interactive and inspiring experience meeting with like minded individuals who have a clear drive to do something good in the world and have an impact using Social Enterprise as the means to do so.

It also made me question who inspires me. Richard shared his experience by unveiling entrepreneurs who used their gifts to change society for the better. Here we learnt about a forefather of Social Enterprise  Dr Venkantaswamy (also known as Dr V) who at the age of 58 set up Aravind Eye Care back in the 1970s using the McDonalds franchise model as his starting point. Dr V had a dream to eradicate needless blindness and deliver a consistent and affordable approach to eye care. This video shares the story further http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=IN&hl=en-GB&v=3cjnNPua7Ag .  A truly awe inspiring example of compassionate business placing values before vision and having a huge social impact.

Richard continued to weave his anecdotes and highlighted 4 key factors successful social entrepreneurs had in common and we were given various examples of this in action as summarised below:

1.       Put unlikely things together see Mirakle Couriers an enterprise that employs deaf and mute men and women who would otherwise be unemployed.

2.       Look for a double impact see Vision Spring provides quality affordable eye glasses to individuals in the developing world.

3.       Do business as unusual see Jaipur Foot provides free artificial limbs to those who need them.

4.       Put Values before Vision see Kolakta Sanved works with trafficked women in India using the art of dance as therapy.

This Journey for Change was about a personal transformation that has implications in the wider world with your job, your aspirations, your ability to make an impact. Participants reflected on the fluidity of thought, new ideas and courage it gave them to make a change.

It got me thinking about Water City, the unique and innovative approach they are taking, jumping into the belly of the beast and inspiring change from within corporate organisations, questioning their values and culture and asking ‘how can smart brands really do good?’ AND have a positive influence on the Olympics legacy.

I really think there are remarkable lessons to learn from these remarkable people, especially in today’s headlined climate of corporate greed. Just imagine how simple ideas like values before vision might be just the type of upside down thinking needed to start us off on our own entrepreneurial ventures and shine the torch for others to follow.

Thalbir

NBT Associate.

Here is a tongue-in-cheek look at Londoners in all their Tribal glory – Where do you fit!?

Retro rockers - Find them at Blitz vintage store
Modern London is rubbish, according to its vintage tribe. That’s why they prefer to live in sexier, more stylish eras, spending their spare time scouring eBay and the Blitz warehouse for bygone bargains. Rosie takes meticulous care to match the perfect 1940s tea dress with authentic nylons and headpiece. The devil is in the detail. Her look is a mesh of wondrous signifiers, treading a fine line between subservient girly-whirlishness (gingham dresses, cupcake stalls, pearls) and resilient 1950s biker-girl chic (armful of sailor tattoos, stiff quiff – thanks to regular appointments at The Painted Lady on Redchurch Street – and red Cupid-bow lips). By night she takes swing dance lessons and learns burlesque moves – which isn’t ‘just stripping’ as she’s wearing a vintage corset and Agent Provocateur nipple pasties. Dave looks to Kevin Rowland and Mark Kermode as his fashion gurus, plodding about record fairs searching for rare St Etienne vinyl and wondering how many tattoos that hot girl in the Monroe-esque evening dress has. Despite looking to the untrained eye like they’re constantly in fancy dress, Rosie, Dave and everyone else in their tribe find each other perilously attractive, as proven by the goings-on at the regular rockabilly weekends in a Camber Sands caravan park, which are fun very much of the old-school variety.

Lactivists - Find them on Church Street
Trinny first met Josie, Liza and Gretchen during a ‘Midwife-led unit or water birth?’ debate at a Stokey NCT group. The women – dressed head-to-toe in deconstructed organic cotton pieces from Hub on Church Street – bonded over a mutual loathing of Pru, who openly supported a full epidural, pethedine and an SMA Gold feeding regime. To this day, Pru is not invited to kite-flying days, visits to feed the pygmy goats or Baby Pilates, and her child is being scurrilously blamed for closing down JungleTumble after a random poo was found in the soft-ball pond. These women once worked in high-pressure jobs, an atmosphere they’ve transferred to their current role of stay-at-home mum. Hobbies include moaning about their doula, hot-housing their kids in Cantonese, campaigning against social change in Stoke Newington (‘We don’t like the Park Café, it’s too expensive!’ ‘We don’t like Nando’s, it’s too common!’), or haranguing the school because little Sting isn’t eating his playtime nuts. The Stokey mums are militant guerrilla breast-feeders but secretly they’re concerned about their friend Zilly who’s still feeding Luca, five, through the fence of the primary school twice daily, one nipple pushed through the wire mesh, but they won’t say anything, as they’re not ones to bitch.

Label lads - Find them hanging around XL studios in Ladbroke Grove
Sketchy, Riz and Casper: part of an industrious bunch of public school geeks made good, mostly male, 25-40, who control the output of British music, pinballing between Notting Hill and Dalston, underground ‘boiler house’ gigs in Bow basements streamed live on Ustream, studio sessions in Kensal Rise, after-show drinks in Soho where they ‘pop in to show face’ and lunches with Radio One in W1, in a bid to ‘keep Zane on-side’. Curiously label-conscious, the boys stride about in outfits that even Tinie Tempah would find a bit much, clinging to their iPhones as they wait for LA to wake up and return some stats on ticket sales, before they can pop by the Ray-Ban party at the V&A for some ‘facetime with Florence’ and a catch-up with Mark Ronson, who is their first child’s godfather. At some point Riz should ring his long-suffering girlfriend Karen, but she’ll only kick off about being left for ten days while he goes to Fuji Rock in Japan to chaperone hot new dubstep solo act ‘GNNNNNRG’, who Karen pointed out the first 137 times she heard his single, ‘sounds like a fork caught in a lawnmower’.

Hackney high-rollers - Find them on a bench in Hoxton Square
Jonty’s parents are horrified that he spent his inheritance on a flat in East London. What was the point in Granny squirrelling away those Liberian diamonds if the money was to be wasted on a terrifying property they can’t even visit (a basement flat in De Beauvoir Town, for crying out loud! It’s like the Bronx!). Jonty and his pal Hugo grew up in Dulwich and attended Alleyns independent school but have migrated East – they love the raw vibe, lock-ins at The Dolphin and nights at Lucky Chip eating burgers in a car park. Jonty, who mixes Beyond Retro vintage pieces with his Nike high tops, doesn’t have a job, although he did once act in a Punchdrunk production, and is now planning a ‘performance art immersion experience’ called Poke in the Fanny, where art lovers will be chased naked over Hackney Marshes at dawn while playing ‘Ride of The Valkyries’ on iPods. Tickets will be £28. Hugo, who was asked to leave Alleyns for cannabis smoking, now owns a house in London Fields, and used his latest inheritance windfall to open a café/slam poetry venue in Hackney Wick. He stops serving breakfast at 11am so he can start selling spatchcock guinea fowl, and closes for 38 days at Christmas to visit his parents in Juan-les-Pins.

Abstractionists - Find them in a Seven Sisters studio
Priced out of Shoreditch, then Dalston, then Clapton, artist Frank C now makes his home in Seven Sisters, where the rent on a vast unheated warehouse space is still ‘reasonable’, even if he and his artist chums have to share the condemned building with crack addicts and rats. Frank is currently taking a decommissioned Sherman tank to pieces with a junior hacksaw, painting some bits teal and filming himself throwing others out the window. His parents aren’t sure whether this is ‘genius that could win the Turner’ or ‘actual mental illness’ but it’s comforting to know that Frank has a whole lot of friends exactly like him. Some have even produced art they can understand, even if it is sometimes daubed in bodily fluids. Frank and his girlfriend Pip (currently making Vladimir Putin’s face out of coathangers) sleep in the corner of his studio on a futon, and live on chicken tikka pitta pockets from the local newsagent and cans of guava Rubicon. Frank and his ilk claim not to care or covet money – until they earn masses of it, realise it’s bloody lovely and move to Spitalfields.

W11 Literati - Find them at The Tabernacle for 5×15
Charles and Emma are better read than you and me. In fact, they’re better read than everyone at ‘Wordgasm’, their monthly ‘party for the mind’, where the hottest names in literature give readings, sign books and chat up nubile groupies. Charles once wrote a book himself, The Destitute Forest, which sold exactly 675 copies but was reviewed in every broadsheet, thanks to knowing several editors from his Oxford days. He’s since become a regular on The Review Show, where he sits at the right hand of Kirsty Wark and pontificates about Jeremy Deller and the new John Lanchester, wearing the expression of ‘a man who knows’. Charles and Emma throw ferociously clever dinner parties/salons to discuss the ‘hot topics’ of the day that frequently end with hot political nerd boys in a punch-up over Israel or Catholicism, which all the girls find wildly erotic. They also arrange costly creative writing courses and ‘how to read better’ weekends for the public on obscure Greek islands where mobile reception is low and bed-hopping rife. Charles loves to send name-dropping tweets about Salman, Hanif, Jeanette, and the book prizes he’s judging. He is often to be found in the British Library waiting for the muse to strike and perving on students in the meantime.

Lifestyle lovelies - Find them on Chamberlayne Road
Party girl Esme and globetrotting DJ and producer Lars used to rule Queen’s Park, but once wed they were swiftly mortgaged to the hilt with a £1 million Kensal Rise townhouse. Esme quickly had it blasted out of all recognition, burrowed under, extended upwards and painted Farrow & Ball Wimborne White. She and her clique of media and music industry WAGS spend their days frittering their vast BBC and C4 retainers on granite kitchen surfaces, imported tiles and therapy. Esme frequently appears in dreamy lifestyle shoots for Living Etc and House Beautiful, sat whimsically beside a large bowl of plums, reading Proust in a Whistles dress while her children, Noah and Beer, play with Scandic wooden trains with expressions of rapt wonder. Esme has a trainer, Lars has a trainer, the children have a Taekwondo trainer. The beautiful Weimaraner, Marvin, is on a low-fat Iams diet. Once a year Esme has some girl-time in Ibiza with the other WAGS, which is invariably followed by a terrible cold and a bout of inexplicable depression.

TOWIE on tour - Find them sulking in Shoreditch
At weekends, Shoreditch’s edgy, wise and aloof run for cover as boisterous Essex-based fun-seekers arrive at Liverpool Street station for a night of preening, pulling and puking. Joe and Andy wear gonad-skimming drainpipe trousers, no socks and loose-fitting cardigans with their waxed chests, spray tans and homekit-bleached teeth. The women often arrive by white limo (what with it being Casey’s 30th/hen/divorce pity party), in Lipsy dresses, 120mm Louboutin heels, glistening body butter and false lashes. They all converge at Lounge Bohemia and McQueen to perform a mating ritual that typically ends with at least one woman weeping on Tabernacle Street, while three near-naked Epping Mini-Mes comfort her, conspiring openly about the higher standard of man in Marbella. The menfolk roam in large packs talking about ‘training’ and bonuses while bashing out the same ‘come and get it’ BBM to ten different girls. All nights for this tribe include a long argument with the doorstaff at Shoreditch House, and some bragging that they’re on the back-up list for the next series of TOWIE.

Nightshifters - Find them in your office at 6am
Silent, nocturnal and habitually unacknowledged, Florenta and the rest of the nightshifters arrive by bus in Trafalgar Square at 2am, dispersing into offices to lug binbags and push Henry vacuum cleaners. You’ve probably never seen her but she’s the lady who removes the bearded Müller Light from the shared fridge, tidies away the well-thumbed magazines from the toilet stalls and scrubs the cupcake icing off the meeting-room carpet.  She does this for £6-an-hour PAYE, while her husband looks after the babies. She dresses for comfort, practicality and night-travel drunken weirdo invisibility: fake Juicy Couture tracksuit, anorak, hair pulled back and an expression of stalwart determination. She is invariably snubbed by the early-bird workers she bumps into, who still think that the office is cleaned by magic pixies. Florenta tries not to fall asleep with her Egg McMuffin on the Central Line home to Leyton but frequently wakes up at Newbury Park. She misses Romania but somehow all this is still better than being at home.

Lesbifriends - Find them on Kingsland Road
Kaz, Rory and Matilda may look to anyone over 30 like the teenage Goths who used to hang around the village war memorial listening to ‘Fields of the Nephilim’, but they’re far from it. These girls are East London lesbian partiers, clad in stylish yet undeniably moody black, festooned in chains, following their crush Romy from The xx around Dalston Superstore hoping for a snog, to a backing track of 1990s Aaliyah and Missy Elliott. Kaz doesn’t try to look androgynous, she was simply born with this face and would appreciate the newsagent not calling her ‘son’. By night the ladies catapult around East London, to clubs with names such as Twat Boutique. They are forever falling out with each other, or in love with each other, swapping girlfriends until there are only straight girls left. Despite vowing never to return to The Joiners Arms in Shoreditch, they wash up there at 2am most Saturdays and spend Sunday examining the inevitable bruises. They do more in one weekend than we do all year.

Food blog brigade - Find them at the latest Russell Norman opening
Farewell to the days of the passionate foodie simply booking dinner, gobbling it down and retreating home with a belch in search of Rennies. Today, the ardent greedy guts has gone semi-professional, arriving within the first week of doors opening, haranguing the PR for priority booking, armed with a Pentax Q camera, a MacBook Air, a long-suffering wife and the intention to blog and live tweet their way through the courses. Months of buttering up Giles Coren can be swiftly demolished if Fergal, a corporate accountant on a power trip, with access to wordpress.com, finds your menu ‘pedestrian’, ‘poorly executed’, or simply goes home ‘poisoned’. Food blogging is the territory of the comfortably rich and naturally verbose and, annoyingly for the restaurants, Fergal does know his onions; Chef has been warned by the manager that sticking Fergal and his chums’ cameras where the sun don’t shine will not soften their blog opinions or aid his digestion.

Resting roués - Find them at The Phoenix Artist Club
Ex-thesps, West End eccentrics, struggling writers, film buffs, retired indie rockers and resting drag acts find their spiritual home at The Phoenix Artist Club on Charing Cross Road. The Phoenix crowd, hailing mostly from Kilburn, are united in their passion for artistic endeavour, albeit clouded by killer 3am gin hangovers. Menfolk wear black denim jeans with a suit jacket like a tramp at a court appearance. Women favour a long flapping skirt, an assortment of rings and a wild-eyed stare. Tribe members’ decision to ‘just pop in for a quick one’ typically turns into eight glasses of vin rouge, a dinner of 120 courses (all dry-roasted peanuts), some whisky liveners and talking into the small hours about the definitive cut of Bladerunner with a man with long fingernails and a fez, who claims to know Ridley Scott. The tribe may sit bang in the centre of London’s cultural hubbub but they remain defiantly untouched by any element of zeitgeist. Their long-term goal is to make it on to the bar’s wall of actors’ head shots – along with the other celebrities no one has ever, ever heard of.

Munch bunch - Find them at a BDSM dungeon
By weekday, Louise is a 35-year-old legal professional, but come the weekend Slave Louise likes to, um, let her hair – and her knickers – down, tied up in a BDSM dungeon dressed in a rubber mask, being smacked by a primary school teacher called Mistress Jane. You might be sitting beside Louise and Jane and their assorted rubber-loving buddies at an official pub ‘munch’ and you’d never know it. The pair first met when Louise popped along to said ‘munch’ for some scampi in a basket and a quick scoot around all the tops, bottoms, doms and subs (with no obligation to spank or be spanked by anyone). They got chatting over a glass of Sauvignon, shared tips on sadism and discipline along with their chips, and went home with their little black books bulging with the numbers of potential new masters and playmates. How terribly civilised. Jane also introduced her to Fetlife.com, which has made the whole London BDSM scene so much zippier again. For kinksters like Louise, it’s the networking (and matchmaking) tool de nos jours. She returns to her desk on Monday mornings ready to get on with her case work, a smile on her face and needing an extra cushion to sit on.

Mayfair old guard - Find them at their usual table at Aurelia
Juliana is one of the mega-moneyed, beautifully eccentric, ageing Europeans from the outer echelons of the aristocracy, who waft about Mayfair in kaftans, bluebottle sunglasses and lots of diamonds. She dines in the corner of Aurelia (she always moves table twice as she ‘has trouble with sunlight’). Her husband George is a portly man with a teak year-round tan, slightly raffish hair and a glorious belly from eating too much lobster linguini on his yacht. Her great-grandmother shared some intimate moments with Edward VII, until making a suitable marriage with a British viscount, and Juliana has always believed it should really be her brood at Buckingham Palace rather than the ‘Windsors’ (if that’s what they insist we call them). Her daughters occasionally join her for lunch, scowling in fur-trimmed gilets, accompanied by their young children who are clad like 65-year-old country squires. They’re all very upset about the congestion charge, which they claim is so expensive it will ruin their lives. ‘Nine pounds is a lot to some people,’ they sigh, ordering another bottle of Krug.

New media mafia - Find them on Twitter
Grace is one of those Twitter-loving Londoncentric columnists, thesps, hacks, authors and assorted gobs. Twitter is the clique’s boisterous 24/7 online drop-in centre, a place to spew opinions, gossip and in-jokes. Meanwhile, furious editors wait for the actual work they’ve been paid to do. The clique all have follower counts of 100,000 or more, a wondrous web of media and political contacts and thrilling social lives. Well, apparently. A lot of this is cyber smoke and mirrors. Their avatars may be promo shots of them looking skinny, quizzical and over-styled, but in reality they’re usually sat home in Crouch End with only a dying MacBook Air and a sleeping cat for company, wearing a hoodie over a nightie, surrounded by coffee cups, expense receipts and dying plants. If they do leave the house, it’s for the matzo ball soup at Mishkin’s or gin at The Delaunay. Conversation revolves around who’s on what ‘top ten’ list, who’s not and is ‘totally fine about it’ (furious), eyebrow threading, the Daily Mail Online sidebar of shame, dealing with reader feedback abuse, backcombing-to-a-beehive methods, books they are writing, and TV they’ve watched (before you). They all have an opinion on everything, aside from anything dire one of their own has done, when an ominous Twitter silence descends and the clique retreats to Direct Message. ES

Full artistic gallery here

Mr Livingstone claimed a trip would be key to securing the legacy of the Olympics. As Mayor he came under fire for his spending on foreign tours — including £36,000 on a trip to Cuba, as well as visits to the foreign “embassies” he set up in India and the Far East. Mr Livingstone told LBC if he won the election one of his priorities should be ensuring the development of the East End.

He said: “When the Games is over the first job is going round the world saying to big firms the land south of the Olympic site to the Thames has room for 40,000 homes and 50,000 jobs. There’s no brownfield site as close to the heart of the City as that one.”

A spokesman for Boris Johnson’s re-election campaign said: “Londoners want a Mayor for London, not a Mayor for the world. Now Londoners can see what going back to Ken Livingstone would really mean. This is a man who ramped up Londoners’ council tax by £964 on average so he could blow £200,000 in just one year on foreign jollies for him and his cronies.”

Mr Livingstone also risked a fresh row with the US after he accused it of “sucking up” to David Cameron simply because he was prepared to send British troops to Afghanistan. He said it was “despicable” that the White House had laid on a spectacular itinerary for the Prime Minister so that he continued to support American foreign policy.

It is not the first time he has caused controversy with remarks about the US. Last year he claimed that the killing of Osama bin Laden made President Obama look like a “mobster”.”

Excerpt from Pippa Crerar, City Hall Editor from This Is London

Political back, front and side stabbing aside, it would make sense to draw on international cash to fuel a decent legacy from the Olympics.

There is so much cash available from foreign investors as London is seen as the safe haven, why not capture some of it and build something worthy? No?

We’re having an event on the 27th March in London to discuss such issues and position Water City as one of the initiatives to be considered to drive post Olympics growth in the area.

Sign up here for free - Water City Event Invite

At the end of 2007, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)* published its first report on the future of people management. They believed the growing talent crisis, demographic shifts, advances in technology and the rise of sustainability issues on the corporate agenda would dramatically change organisational models and the way in which companies manage their people.

We call this the Naked Brand.

On the 26th April in Glaziers Hall we will be discussing and debating the merits of being ‘Naked’ and what it means for ALL the stakeholders involved.

It will be a lively panel debate with a range of speakers, a few hours long and with the opportunity to network afterwards. We will make it an intimate affair of about 50 people who work in and support the the corporate arena.

If you’re a brand exploring this subject matter we’d love to facilitate this gathering in your honour.

Please put the 26th April in your diary and get in touch if you have an opinion to air, would like a speaker slot or to be part of the panel.

Book here – http://bethebrand2.eventbrite.co.uk/

… Let’s get naked!

Call Thalbir Shokar or Claudia Stensvik on 020 7803 0905 to find out more, or email hello@newbrandtribalism.com

Ok, so the Olympics hasn’t happened yet, but what will happen to East London when the Olympic gravy train departs?

Can brands play a part in creating sustainable environments for the community as well as sustainable profits?

This question and related topics were discussed last night at a round table dinner for 8 hosted by our Founder Tim Bleszynski and Lord Mawson at The Houses of Parliament. Other guests were Tim from Bright Ideas Trust, Malcolm from Ernst & Young, Giles from Zopa, Roger from Clifford Chance, Katharine from Delancey and William from Water City (Full profiles as below)

The dinner, which is part of a wider program of events, discussed post-Olympic legacy and the role of brands in generating Social Enterprise as an alternative to traditional sponsorship and CSR programmes.

It was held in a huge vaulted and decorative hall (Wish we could share pics but cameras and mobile devices all a no-no within the hallowed halls). However,the main fare of the evening was a discussion about Water City – the brainchild of Lord Mawson who is setting up a regeneration of the area of East London which was overshot by the Olympic Village and was the very community who have supposed to have benefited the most from having the Olympics on their doorsteps.

The guests got stuck into the debate around their businesses’ involvement in Social Enterprise and the Olympic legacy. All except Giles from Zopa who discovered muscles hidden in his fish main course which triggered a dangerous allergic reaction. Luckily Tim B goes everywhere armed with antihistamines and was able to administer a timely dose of relief to the suffering Giles.

The evening turned into a lively and opinionated debate around who really should be responsible for delivering a tangible legacy for the Olympics: the many lead sponsors who have already shelled out squillions of pounds to bring the games to London in the first place and deserve to bask in the reflected glory of it all? Or what about the oodles of other brands who couldn’t afford a ticket on the gravy train – but could now step in after the Olympic circus leaves town?

Everyone agreed there are great opportunities for many in being part of Water City the biggest Social Enterprise project seen in the UK. The key question the party wanted to know was: what does Social Enterprise Community Engagement actually look like?

Other topics raised were: what could a post-Olympic legacy look like? What is Water City – the biggest Social Enterprise project seen in the UK? How could my brand benefit from getting involved in a Social Enterprise approach to Brand Engagement? And what’s the difference between Social Enterprise and Corporate Social Responsibility?

We’d love to share our thoughts and get your feedback at an event we’re running on the 27th March – Details here

Attendees Profiles:

1.  Malcolm Bairstow – Ernst & Young, Head of Infrastructure and adviser to the Olympics

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. They aim to have a positive impact on businesses and markets, as well as on society as a whole. They are also a partner to the Social Business Trust. Ernst & Young consulting have been the auditors and quality project managers for most of the building of the Olympics Village.

2.  Tim Campbell - Bright Ideas Trust, CEO/Founder

After winning BBC’s The Apprentice, Tim spent two years working under the mentorship of the Amstrad’s Chairman and CEO, Sir Alan Sugar. He is now leveraging his experience and public profile to promote and lead Bright Ideas Trust. Bright Ideas Trust  is a charity set up to help young people (16-30) turn an idea into a business. They provide funding and support to aid the business start up.

3.  Giles Andrews – Zopa, CEO, Co-Founder

Zopa is an online marketplace that matches people with money to invest with borrowers who need a personal loan. By cutting out the middleman Zopa claims it can offer competitive rates to both parties. Giles is a huge advocate of social enterprise and Zopa is driven by the same principles.

4.  Roger Leese – Clifford Chance, Partner

Clifford Chance is one of the world’s leading law firms. They pride themselves on combining the highest global standards with local expertise. They are also a partner to the Social Business Trust.

5.  Katharine Walsh – Delancey, Director of Communications

Delancey is an environmentally responsible real estate investment and advisory company. They are also the managing partner in a joint venture between Qatari Diar Real Estate Development Company developing amongst other complexes The East Village, London E20, the first leading legacy neighbourhood for London situated on the doorstep of The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

6. Lord Mawson – Andrew Mawson Partnerships, Social Entrepreneur

Lord Mawson is one of the foremost social entrepreneurs in the UK. For over 30 years, as a visionary Social Entrepreneur, Lord Mawson has been developing the art and science of Social Enterprise as seen in the pioneering Bromley by Bow Centre and St Paul’s Way Transformation Project

7. William Chamberlain – Water City CIC, Dir.

Water City CIC is the UK’s Largest Social Enterprise Venture  situated in the heart of Lower Lea Valley, East London in the heart of the Olympic neighbourhood. It encompasses a profound business strategy approach that stretches beyond CSR, Charity or Sponsorship. It’s about bringing prosperity to a community by building a platform for partnership and collaboration

8. Tim Bleszynski – New Brand Tribalism (NBT), Founder

Founded in 2009, New Brand Tribalism is a consultancy and knowledge community dedicated to helping brands build and sustain successful relationships amongst all their stakeholders.  The Alternative create and execute campaigns, events and experiences for brands seeking to engage people with their cause.

A personal perspective of last night’s gathering from Tim

” The whole experience was a huge buzz” said Tim B “as well as a tour with Lord Mawson acting as our personal guide – we got to sit in on a reading of the Scottish Devolution Bill in the House. Surprisingly we even had a drink in the Lords Guest Bar and no head-butting or brawling was to to be witnessed. Disappointing…”

Athens Olympic Stadium as seen today. Highlighting a $9bn legacy failure.

Please get involved and help us support a positive legacy for London

Book here

Is your CSR budget working for you AND the communities you serve?
Post Olympics – How do we create a legacy to be proud of?
Is your business tuned into social enterprise?

We will be discussing Water City as an example, and the broader role of brands in making communities more enterprising for mutual benefit.

At the end of our session Water Chariots will take us on a tour of the Water City area by boat (20-30 mins) for those who are interested.

Confirmed Speakers and Panel (To date):

Lord Mawson – Andrew Mawson Partnerships - Andrew is a serial entrepreneur, best known for his pioneering work at the Bromley-by-Bow Centre in East London. He also co-founded Community Action Network (CAN). Recently he co-founded One Church 100 Uses CIC and launched Water City Group to create and implement a vision for East London revitalised by the opportunities of the 21st Century and the 2012 Olympic Games.

Sir David Varney – Wiki profile – ex chairman of HM Revenue & Customs 2004-6, Advisor to PM on Public Service Transformation 2007-9, Chairman Business in the Community, President Chartered Management Institute, Vice Chair Council Surrey University and member Curry Commission on future Food and Farming. Currently member of independent Commission on youth crime and antisocial behaviour.

Harry Gaskell - Advisory Managing Partner, Ernst & Young, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. His career has been spent advising large organisations on major changes or transformations. His clients have included Axa, The Pru, JP Morgan, Boots and EDF in the private sector and DWP, HMRC, BIS and the British Museum in the public sector. He is a member of EY UK’s leadership team and of it’s European Advisory Board, also EY’s UK Leader for Diversity and Inclusion.

Iris Lapinski - CDI Europe and Apps for Good – An award-winning programme where young people learn to create apps that change their world. She has a background in commercial digital media & telecoms consulting working for Ovum and Farncombe Technology. During that time Iris managed a range of due diligence, business planning and strategy projects especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Dave Miller - Director Bikeworks – Dave has over ten years professional experience in the commercial and social enterprise sectors.  During this time Dave has established three social enterprises from scratch including Simplyworks a web services company employing recovering drug users and is a co-founder of Bikeworks a cycling based social enterprise which won the award for best new social enterprise in the UK 2009.

Tim Bleszynzki - Our very own Tim B will talk from his own experience working with the worlds leading brands in this arena, as well as acting as Master of Ceremonies.

]]> http://www.newbrandtribalism.com/2012/02/28/event-invite-how-can-smart-brands-help-make-communities-enterprising/feed/ 0 http://www.newbrandtribalism.com/2012/02/22/uk%e2%80%99s-largest-social-enterprise-venture-in-the-east-end-of-london/ http://www.newbrandtribalism.com/2012/02/22/uk%e2%80%99s-largest-social-enterprise-venture-in-the-east-end-of-london/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:33:33 +0000 Dan http://www.newbrandtribalism.com/?p=474

Watch this video on YouTube.

After eight years of preparation, the curtain hasn’t even been raised before we’re ready to examine the legacy that will or won’t remain long after the last athlete packs up their medals, big business packs up their billboards and we dare to dream of glory in Rio.

The big name brands are already out in force – after all it wouldn’t be the Games without the fizzy drinks and fa(s)t food sponsorship. Or would it? Does anyone really care about the splattered logos to the extent that it increases your loyalty or affinity with those big brands? Corporate grandese or a valuable partner? What does your tribe really think of the flamboyant flashing of cash on a global stage? Money well spent or an exercise in excess, vanity and one-upmanship?

Might a better viewpoint to see past the Olympic frenzy and remember that it was sold to us (the world) as an opportunity to put a much neglected part of London back on the map both in 2012 and well into the future? Brands with a focus on their tribal needs and wants might be wiser to think about putting their energies, expertise and focus into the community in the area to develops skills, opportunities and ‘good profits’ – rather than logo visibility. Is that too much to ask?

Water City is just such a project. Aimed at creating a unique, first of its kind, Social Enterprise (SE) zone in the heart of the Olympic neighbourhood it is the brainchild and vision of Social Enterprise peer Lord Andrew Mawson. The vision is to undertake a development of partnerships and collaborations among brands and their stakeholders that is a profoundly different antithesis to current models of cash over substance demonstrated by the big bucks Olympic sponsors.

Rather than tearing down the ‘big top’ and following the circus out of town, perhaps it should be more about lifting community through a lasting Social Enterprise contribution? Now is the time for mutual respect. Brands that take pride and nurture their tribes see business as a human transaction – and for most of us it’s human nature to want to flourish. What is your brand saying and how are you represented in your community? Charity, patronage, philanthropy or enterprise?

But you have to get it right. Turning up, splashing some cash then leaving in a wake of PR brandwash  won’t do you many favours. Your consumers and employees are smarter than that – they can spot a publicity stunt when they see one. How do brands find the balance in generating good profit and getting involved amongst the communities that provide them with customers, employees and suppliers?

You might be familiar with SE companies like Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen or The Big Issue; but bigger brands whose plan always prioritised ‘good business’ over ‘doing good’ are now getting more actively involved – often by supporting the smaller social enterprises. Santander for example, offers awards of up to £5k plus invaluable mentoring, support and networking opportunities from the bank and their SE partners. O2 also recently released a statement recognising their role in society and how they intend to meet community needs.

There’s clearly never going to be one-size-fits-all answer, but I prefer to hitch my bandwagon to Lord Mawson and his long-term commitment to Lea Valley as a progressive example of how to approach these opportunities. The smart brands are recognising the challenge and identifying ways to leverage this type of Social Enterprise to fuel sustainable growth, brand loyalty and prosperity for all their tribes from the boardroom out into the community. Does that sound too idealistic?

At our event next month http://watercitycic.eventbrite.co.uk, we’re going to be exploring how some socially-active brands are already engaging in exciting new ways and reaping benefits for all concerned from community to employees alike. Lord Mawson will be sharing stories of communities that are seeing real value, growth and increased brand loyalty from their social enterprise. We’ll also hear from those brands that are starting to truly deliver progressively on their socially responsible values and exploring these opportunities. So, we guess you’ll be interested in wondering: – How can your brand play a role in this?

If you’d like to find out more, or perhaps feel your brand is a shining example of how to embrace this emerging role of business – we still have some tickets available, please contact Thalbir Shokar/ Claudia Stensvik on 0207 803 0905 to book or for more information.

Tim