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Lynx which is a well know MALE grooming brand is looking to give girls the ‘Lynx effect’ after it launched a women’s body spray in the UK on Monday. It will be the first time the brand has entered the women’s market.

Lynx which is owned by Unilever, is launching their new female range in conjunction with their new Attract range which is aimed at men, Attract for her will be part of the range and will be marketed as limited edition. The mens range however will be permanent and includes a body spray, antiperspirant and a shower gel.

According to Selina Sykes, Lynx marketing manager at Unilever, the Lynx brand is established enough to have the permission to launch a women’s fragrance. She said: “As a brand, Lynx has got to constantly find new ways to entertain guys with a new variant that tops the previous years. Lynx is about surprising and entertaining consumers to generate conversation around the brand. Lynx will not be marketing the women’s Attract fragrance directly to women. Sykes said Lynx already has a high “spontaneous awareness” of the brand within the female deodorant market, which means the brand “doesn’t need to market to girls. The women’s fragrance is being marketed as a limited edition product to encourage consumers to engage with the Attract variant, she said, emphasising “when it’s gone, it’s gone”.

Lynx is looking at different marketing options for their range across the globe last October Marc Mathieu announced their “more magic, less logic” marketing strategy. Selina Sykes spoke about this strategy and said: “Everything we do has that implied magic.” Plus Lynx has always been based on strong insight and the “magic”.

It has also been announced that the Lynx brand will also be launching the female fragrance in other markets under their Axe name, it will be called Axe Anarchy and will of course use the same advertising format that we see with Lynx and the same strapline; “Unleash the chaos”.

You can find more information about the new female fragrance on Facebook and the TV ad will be screened on 1 February and will be supported by digital, outdoor and PR activity. The new ad features a female American “cop” and a male “robber” running through the streets of a city, where they are undressing while in pursuit of each other. At the end of the ad the pair are gazing at each other, about to kiss.

Please see video below.

Next month the new BMW 3 Series for 2012 will go on sale, with a number of improvements from the last one. With so many updates you will find that the BMW 3 series value for money. So what do you get with this new model?

Standard equipment for the new 3 series includes:

 17-inch light alloy wheels
Automatic air-conditioning
Bluetooth
BMW Professional radio with 6.5-inch colour screen and iDrive
Keyless starting
USB,
Multi-function leather steering wheel
Cruise control and automatic boot opening

Prices start at £24,100 for the new BMW 3 Series, and you will also find new powertrains and additional Efficient Dynamics fuel saving and emission reducing technologies have been introduced together with an eight speed automatic gearbox across the range.

BMW haven’t really tinkered with the overall look of the BMW 3 Series, the headlight assemblies flow into the grilles although they are slightly narrower than the 2011 model, also the light clusters used are an improvement on the ones used in other BMW models.  Inside the aluminium trim in the Sport Line model is patterned and textured and the ActiveHybrid 3 features “open-pored” wood trim, which has raised grain as if it’s been rubbed down. Other areas where BMW have made changes include the boot which is 13.7 cubic feet, up from 12 in the previous generation.

Katy Perry

The hugely popular game franchise The Sims will see pop starlet Katy Perry joining their simish world, after she partnered with EA to develop and promote multiple Sims games with Perry-themed in-game content and virtual goods.

As well as featuring in the game Katy Perry will also be taking part in advertisement campaigns including TV adverts, which will start off with the launch of a collector’s editor for ‘The Sims 3 Showtime’.

The game is being released on the 9th March here in the UK and there will also be online communications and in store advertising for the game too.

EA have said that they will be working closely with Katy to create in-game accessories, clothing, hairstyles, furniture and props to as they say “celebrate the imagination that she brings to her performances, music videos and life”.

It isn’t the first time EA have collaborated with popstars for their Sims games for the original Sims game they worked with Christina Aguilera in the same vein which was hugely popular.

Last year Tesco announced their ‘Big Price Drop’ to much fanfare. However after being beaten by the likes of Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s over the Christmas period and having £5billion knocked off their market share the supermarket giant has decided to revert back to their voucher system.

It was clear to many that their price drop scheme would be a failure after many news publications printed at the time all Tesco had done in the weeks preceding the price drop was to increase prices, so that when they dropped prices customers weren’t really saving any money. A dirty tactic which backfired on the supermarket chain, when shoppers realised what had been done, they then left in droves, taking their customer to Tesco’s main rivals.

Their new national print campaign offers customers a £5-off voucher when they spend more than £40 on a shop, features the strapline; “a helping hand from Tesco” and is backed up by the statement, “It’s just our way of saying ‘thanks’”.

It does seem like Tesco is tempting customers back with the vouchers, however what people really want is the truth from supermarkets. Chief executive Philip Clark admitted that the supermarket was wrong to switch its strategy away from voucher activity over the Christmas period.

Tesco’s rivals Sainsbury’s saw a record-breaking Christmas on the back of its Brand Match strategy, where customers saw prices matched of brands sold by Tesco and Asda via vouchers provided at the till.

The Tesco offer has been running this week, however there isn’t any indication on how long it will last for, but it is also available to customers shopping online as well.

This season is no time to be a shrinking violet all the catwalk shows for spring/summer 2012 were full of bold and bright neon colours. There were plenty of loud colours such as hot pink, lime green, bright orange and acid yellows which will add an injection into your wardrobe after the darkness of winter.

The neon trend was big on the catwalks and that has filtered down onto the highstreet with clothing from Vila showcasing a great selection of neon colours for their t-shirts, dresses and shorts. Designers such as Christopher Kane offered an acid rainbow of colour with his prints, and Michael Kors reworked ladylike glamour with a neon touch.

You don’t have to go for full on neon if you’re not sure keep an eye out for neon trims, accessories and shoes to at a touch. However if you want to fully embrace neon then why not try your hand at colour blocking? Clashing colours really make a statement mix and match neon trousers with a crisp white shirt then a boxy jacket in a different colour, then add miss matched shoes and bag. Acrylic accessories work really well, by adding an extra punch so keep an eye out for these.

Neon Fashion from Republic

Cancer Research new campaign: “Create the Change” will see the charity looking overseas for the first time for funding for the development of a new research institute in the UK. They hope that they can attract high-end donations from individuals, trusts and foundations around the world, especially from cash rich countries such as the Middle East and the US., This is so they can fund their it’s £160m contribution to The Francis Crick Institute.

The institute is a joint partnership with global organisations Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and University College London. This means that Cancer Research can look outside of the UK for funding, which it has not done before.

The Catalyst Club which was introduced by the charity in May 2011 as a major donation programme to attract 100 philanthropists each able to donate £100,000 over three years is being ramped up to attract more donations for other aspects as well.

An online advertising campaign for the Catalyst Club run by Cancer Research, features its patron, former Dragons’ Den star James Khan will target high net worth individuals. As well as an advertising campaign, Khan and the charity will also host a number of private dinners, which will include an event at Downing Street that is to be hosted by George and Frances Osborne, to attract future donors.

Russell Delew, director of major giving at Cancer Research UK said: “High value is a new area for us to focus on. We’ve grown as a result of mass giving and 90% of our donors give around £10, but we have to have an offer that appeals to the high end. If we are asking for major donations, these kinds of philanthropists want to see where that money is going. It’s a version of what galleries do with patrons and offering additional benefits for support.”

To raise money for research into “personalised medicine” which according to Cancer Research could revolutionise treatments, the charity set up The Catalyst Club. They hope that in the future they can develop a test that can identify which kind of treatment would be most successful for a cancer patient at the point of diagnosis. Their specific aim was to raise £10million for the research and once they have achieved this they move on and may launch a similar “club” initiative to raise funds for another specific cause.

Its hoped that research could lead to patients could be given the treatment that is most effective for their cancer, rather than going through long, traumatic and expensive radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatments only to find that they have not been effective.

They may look like normal posts, however you will be surprised to know that some of the posts on your news feed will now be paid adverts, with the only difference being that they will say ‘featured content’. For now Facebook will insert one advert per day however they haven’t ruled out that there may be more per day in the future. In the past adverts has come under ‘sponsored content’ however Facebook thought that they blended in too easily.

It’s possible that if you have ‘liked’ anything in the past you could now start advertising to your friends through news feeds. According to critics, you could unwittingly click on them thinking they are just a news feed from friends without realising. Facebook have assured users though that it will only display adverts for goods and services that somebody has already ‘liked’. The adverts will only be seen on full versions of Facebook and not on mobile sites.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has run adverts in the news feed the company ran them between 2006 and 2009, before Facebook reached the popularity it now has. However it’s thought it could be very lucrative now for the company to do so, because of the number of people now signed up to the social networking site.

It’s not yet clear how the adverts will go down with Facebook users as many don’t seem to like change. The recent changes made to the interface including the constantly-updated ticker and the Timeline feature has not gone down well with users. According to a poll by 86 per cent of users hated the update and an even higher number of teenagers, 91 per cent hated it.

In the UK there are over a 140 different dating sites, the number of single people who are registered on dating sites in the UK stands at around 15 million, one in five people in the UK have dated someone they met online, whether it be a dating website or through social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace and 17% of UK couples who have recently married, met online.

As it stands the world dating market in worth more than $4billion annually, this does go to explain why there are so many different dating sites out there. One of those is Parship. Different to some dating websites out there Parship looks to offer their clients long term partnerships through their services. For some dating sites offer the chance to find people to ‘hook up’ with rather than form lasting relationships and this is what Parship looks to avoid.

The Parship dating site was founded in 2000 and went online on 14th February 2001 (Valentine’s Day) in Germany. The company since then has expanded from Germany and it is now active in another 13 countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, UK, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, and Mexico.

Like some other dating sites, Parship uses a compatibility test and compatibility matching to help you find the right partner, these tests was developed by Parship co-founder Psychologist Professor Hugo Schmale. This has been developed after thirty years of scientific research into couples and their relationships.

As well as offering its services to heterosexual couples, Parship also offers dating services for homosexual couples, so everyone can find the person for them.

Popular coffee chain Starbucks has launched a new reward programme for their customers called My Rewards, which will offer additional benefits to customers who become “Gold Level members” after 50 visits. This new reward scheme will replace the company’s current prepay members cards, those existing customers who already have the prepay cards will be automatically upgraded to gold members.

In the future this scheme could potentially be extended to offer bespoke offers to members and additional levels, according to Brian Waring, the newly promoted vice president of marketing for the EMEA region.

As well as launching the new reward scheme, Starbucks are also introducing a transactional iPhone app which will allow transactional iPhone app and later on in the year an Android app will also be launched.

The new rewards scheme works by rewarding customers with a ‘star’ per purchase, you will receive a free drink for every fifteen stars collected. The company believe that this loyalty scheme “feels personal, and is easy to understand”.

The scheme has already started running in the US and Canada and has proven to be popular with customers. Starbucks have also made a number of other efforts to improve the experience of its customers by adding free Wi-Fi and downloads, as they put it to “add further value and give customers more reasons to choose Starbucks”.

Ian Cranna, the new vice president of marketing for Starbucks UK, says: “We’ve listened carefully and we know that now, more than ever, customers are looking for extra value. This scheme also allows us to be more personal, rewarding the most frequent customers with extra benefits. We also know that fewer customers want to use cash, so putting My Starbucks Reward on mobiles offers a faster, easier way to pay.”

Starbucks logo

Sitting through TV adverts you can’t not miss the adverts for solicitors, whether it’s for personal injury claims or for an employment case they’re there so if you find yourself in a bit of legal trouble where do you turn?

There are a number of different legal problems you can find yourself in and for those different legal problems you will find solicitors in Birmingham who are specialised in that legal area. If you’re stuck on where to turn, below you will find a basic list of types of solicitors which most people come across. The list would probably be never ending if I covered all the areas solicitors specialised in!

Divorce/Family

When a marriage comes to an end, it is advisable to hire a divorce solicitor, help you through the process. They have specialised knowledge on family law and can advise you the best possible route to take to make sure you get a fair settlement. It is especially important to use one where children are involved to make sure custody agreements are not only fair but good for the child(ren)

Criminal

If you are charged with a crime you will need a criminal solicitor, if you are contesting the charge then the criminal solicitor will gather evidence to prove you innocence. They have expert knowledge in the criminal justice field which will enable them to as such ‘fight your corner’. They are also there to make sure you get a fair trial and that if innocent, not wrongly convicted. Criminal solicitors in Bristol also work as negotiators for those who admit guilt to make sure your sentence is not harsh.

Property

Buying a property is a long, drawn out and often complicated process which costs time and money and although solicitors can be expensive they are a necessity when it comes to buying property. They are there to make sure that your purchase is legal, that the correct stamp duty is paid and they work on your behalf to get things moving with the other people you deal with during the process. 

Wills and Probate

In this day and age, many people are urged to make a will, especially if you have property, money or valuable possessions you wish to leave to a relative or loved one, especially if you have family. Wills and Probate solicitors can be consulted when drawing up a will, to make sure it is legally binding and can be honoured when you die. After death they are also there to make sure the contents of the will are executed as per the writer wishes. You may also use a Wills and Probate solicitor if you wish to contest a will.