Flying start for the new Honda Civic

Take a look at some of the press photos from Frankfurt and you'll see some cars that make the Batmobile look low-tech: it's pretty easy to make a car look interesting if it's a concept vehicle decades away from production - stick a jet pack on the back or use doors that open upwards and someone is bound to take an interest. Getting people interested in a 'real' car though, one that will be in showrooms in 2012 and actually has to work, is a different prospect.

However, round the corner from the main exhibition, Honda unveiled the latest addition to its range - the 2012 Civic - to a packed house. Somehow, the car was suspended from the ceiling, and a sheet was dramatically removed in a pretty special unveiling in front of the assembled great and good of the motor industry.

The open mouths (and coverage) say it all, and by all accounts the event was a huge success. Hats off to the guys at Honda – although impressive and necessary for the big occasion, the new Civic doesn’t really need the grand entrance. We’ve seen it first hand and it’s a cracker in its own right – it’ll certainly fly once more come 2012.

The World (except Brazil, of course) Turns to Rugby...

The seventh Rugby World Cup is upon us. Joy for rugby fans, not so much for everyone else... Being an Englishman (Sean) with only an interest in victory when it comes to anything other than football, I’ll pick it up at the semi-final stage. But we have some expert pundits amongst our client base so after discussions of car insurance, whisky and peer-to-peer lending, discussion turned to the sport I know little about. I fancy the Americans this year! But what did everyone else think? The reading is interesting...

Robin Reames, chief claims officer at AXA and swiftcover.com

• Winner: All Blacks (I think that’s New Zealand)
• Player to watch: Zac Guildford
• And the home nations: Scotland don’t make it past the pool. England and Ireland lose in the quarter finals. Wales surprise everyone and lose in the semis

Jade Trimbee, marketing manager at swiftcover.com

• Winner: South Africa (what a surprise, Ms South Africa...)
• Player to watch: Tendai Mtawarira (The Beast)
• And the home nations: Wales make it to the semis. Scotland and Ireland knocked out in the quarter finals. England lose in final to South Africa!

Elizabeth Obee, head of business marketing at Funding Circle

• Winner: Australia (one guess where you’re from…)
• Player to watch: Sekope Kepu
• And the home nations: Fairly well…close to Australia’s form but not enough to beat them!

Nigel Short, chairman at Penderyn

• Winner: Australia
• Player to watch: George North
• And the home nations: Not well, the Welsh and English being the biggest let downs

John Carter, captain of Oxford and ex Sale Sharks

• Winner: New Zealand
• Player to watch: Rory Lamont
• And the home nations: Ireland and England will do well...not sure about the rest!

Tim Stevens, general manager at Oxford University RFU

• Winner: Australia
• Player to watch: Will Genia
• And the home nations: All to qualify from their groups, but only one semi-finalist

Mark Davies, managing director at Scarlets

• Winner: All Blacks (New Zealand)
• Player to watch: Dan Carter
• And the home nations: England to semis, Wales to quarters

Joshua Van Raalte, managing director at Brazil

• Winner: New Zealand (with a wife from Timaru, NZ, he can't say anything contrary)
• Player to watch: Israel Dagg
• And the home nations: Not very well. Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England all out in the quarters

So, it looks like a New Zealand (or Oz) v Wales final! I’ve sure there would be a bottle or two of Penderyn drank in Wales if that was the case...

Now recruiting: Brazilians

We’re going from strength to strength here at Brazil with new business coming out of our ears so we’re looking for new Brazilians! There are three positions available at the moment: a junior exec, a consumer SAE or account manager as well as a B2B account manager.

Brazil has some fantastic clients, ranging from household names such as swiftcover.com and Honda, as well as Penderyn Whisky, Klick Fitness (part of Fitness First), ChangeGroup, Funding Circle and Equanet (part of Dixons) – plus many more.

It’s not just traditional PR either: we’re doing more and more social media activity so you’ve got to have an interest in developing those skills too. Not forgetting new business - there’s plenty coming in so be ready to get involved! It’s an exciting time so we’re looking for motivated and passionate PROs/communicators to join an experienced, hungry team.

If you’re (or you know someone who is) a keen PR looking for a new challenge or you want the freedom to develop your career with guidance then get in touch, as we’d be more than happy to hear from you.

Either pop in and see us, call us on 020 7785 7383 or drop an email to Sean or Joshua at jobs@agencybrazil.com.

Standing out in a crowd

Earlier this year, we were appointed by Funding Circle to help them with very ambitious business plans. It’s an interesting businesses - the best place to find out about the company is on its website, but in a nutshell, the idea is that savers invest in individual businesses rather than saving through banks. Cutting out the middleman means that savers get higher returns and the good feelings that result from helping out small businesses, and businesses are able to borrow at a lower rate than they would if they were to take a loan from a bank. The idea has been extremely successful: in less than a year, Funding Circle has made more than £15 million available to small, creditworthy UK businesses, and paid out an average yield of 8.3% to savers.

However, this isn’t the only successful application of crowd funding, which, in recent years, has proved to be a credible alternative to conventional funding models in today’s tough markets. The idea has spread like wildfire, and a range of companies are now using this idea to link investors with good causes. Some of the most successful examples of this are in the arts world – a great way for artists involved to protect themselves from public sector cuts and maintain a relative degree of independence.

Two excellent examples of this are Africaunsigned.com and artsurge.org. Africa Unsigned is a website dedicated in profiling undiscovered African musicians around the world. Artists who make it through an initial judging stage are given support gain support to help them raise funds for the production, promotion and distribution of their music. US-based artsurge.org, set to launch soon, is based around the idea of “microphilanthropy”, and aims to link promising artists with donors in order to provide artists with the resources they need to bring their projects to life.

Crowd funding is clearly a powerful tool – as evidenced by the millions of pounds lent to small businesses by Funding Circle – so it’ll be interesting to see what happens when other sectors get in on the act too. Crowd-funded invention, anyone?

Funding Circle heads to Brazil

A quick new business update: We’re excited to reveal that we’ve just started working with Funding Circle, the online marketplace where savers and investors directly lend to small businesses in the UK.

Founded by three entrepreneurs in 2010, the company is unlike any other, and we’ll be working closely with them to increase traffic and position Funding Circle as a true alternative to a bank for savers, investors and small businesses. We’ve already kicked it off with some great online coverage in April (in the Telegraph, the Independent and on This is Money) and May (on the BBC, in City A.M. and on MSN UK), and the team, led by Brazil associate director Sean Williams, will be working hard to keep it up throughout the year to ensure that Funding Circle meets its ambitious growth targets.

You can find out more about Funding Circle at its website, and if you’re a journalist, email fundingcircle@agencybrazil.com for further information or comment.

Made in Britain

What does the Honda CR-V have in common with Brompton bikes and Aga cookers? The answer, as you’ve probably guessed from the title, is that all three are built in British factories. Since 1985, Honda has produced more than two million cars in its 370 acre factory in Swindon. These British-built cars go on to be driven around the world. Step into a Civic Type R in Japan and you may well find that you’re sat in a British-built car. British drivers are incredibly supportive of their local industries, and many motorists actively look to ‘buy British’ when they buy their new cars. The trouble for Honda is that, being a Japanese company, not everyone realises that Honda produces cars in Britain. Honda wanted a campaign that would highlight Honda’s British credentials to consumers, and together with digital agency Collective, we put together the Made in Britain campaign. The campaign encourages British ‘makers’ to submit their creations, and centres around a Facebook page. The very best entrants, British makers who are trying their best to turn their hobbies into a business, will each win a £1,000 development grant from Honda. Where does Brazil come in? Working with Honda and Collective, Brazil has put together a campaign to spread the word about the competition, and make sure that it reaches as many people as possible. The campaign only kicked off recently, so the really exciting stuff is still to come, but already we’ve lined up star judges from Shortlist, Stylist and New Design Magazine, as well as a fantastic competition with links to the campaign on the Sun’s website. So, if you want to see the best British makers out there – or better still, if you want to showcase your work – head over to www.facebook.com/hondamadeinbritain and take a look at what’s going on.

Warner Bros shows its face on social media

This month Facebook announced that Warner Bros will be using www.facebook.com to allow its customers to rent and stream films.

Launching with The Dark Knight, users will pay $3 (roughly £1.85) per to rent a film for two days. Crucially, if Facebook decides to use personal data to decide which films to suggest to you, the outcome will be scarily targeted, and the move into this sector makes Facebook a serious challenger to iTunes and Spotify.

However, the ability to pause, fast forward and rewind films will have a big effect on the current user experience. This may prove something of a challenge for Facebook, as users are accustomed to rapid browsing and not staying on a single screen for more than a few seconds.

Working as a Facebook app, another issue may be content management. Facebook currently has no facility on the site to track your apps or list them in order of preference, and with more apps available than we can count, it is likely that items such as this may get lost in the games, shop and other retailers all fighting for the space on your Facebook homepage.

Stores such as ASOS already allow products to be bought directly from the Facebook page, and at this rate, it won’t be long before Facebook controls your entire web experience. It’ll be interesting to see what rivals can come up with to even the scales.