The brand has already taken the US by storm with it range of fitness trackers which sync to personal web pages that monitor, manage and motivate those looking to get fitter and healthier. The brand was recently listed as one of the top 30 iconic design leaders in the US by Fast Company magazine, adding to a list that includes Apple, Nike and Starbucks.

Gareth Jones, VP and European General Manager for Fitbit, said:

“Fitbit’s range is designed for today’s social generation, from twentysomethings to mums to empty nesters, we provide 24/7 support, motivation and in depth information that really works. Kaizo’s role will be to establish us as the brand of choice across these segments.”

“Our strategy will focus a great deal on word of mouth and recommendations that drive sales, an area we feel Kaizo really excels in. We were also impressed by their combined track record in the consumer electronics and the fitness and wellbeing markets.”

Fitbit’s personal online pages include a range of social feature to help motivate on the go and with friends including a mobile app, social messaging, and achievement badges fully synced with all social media platforms.

Rhodri Harries, MD of Kaizo, said;

“This is a new way for people to help monitor and maintain fitness and wellbeing, one which is very much in tune with today’s consumer. This is a brand that has the capacity to change attitudes to fitness– how we exercise, eat, and also rest.  Expect to see it, experience it and share it soon!”

Fitbit will be available in January from major etailers and retailers. The appointment follows a comprehensive UK pitch process.

The account will be led by Harries and Account Director Kate Howe, ex Head of Communications at the Fitness Industry Association. Kaizo’s experience includes Flip Video, Panasonic, Grid -10 and House of Marley on the consumer technology space and Flora/ Becel and Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee, in the health and wellbeing sector.

The lecture is held annually in memory of Tom Olsen, a former Sunday Telegraph journalist, with the aim of focusing on the themes of freedom and responsibility.

This year it features Bob Satchwell, Director of The Society of Editors.  The title of the lecture will be “Hacked off with the Media – an unholy alliance of Press, Police and Politicians?”

The event takes place tonight at 6.30 at St Bride’s Church off Fleet Street.

According to research carried out by the Food and Drink Federation [http://www.fdf.org.uk/news.aspx?article=5504], shoppers continue to be confused by the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ – both of which are set to stay. The former states when a perishable food is no longer fit for consumption; the latter gives information about the quality of non-perishable food products [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14926429].

Reducing unnecessary food wastage is a goal we should all share and DEFRA’s guidance is a bold step in this direction, by removing stock rotation information that is of little use to consumers.  However, it appears there is still a big job to be done to make food labels crystal clear and meaningful to the end customer. It’s a challenge we communicators should rise to and not simply leave to the regulators.

CCI utilises PR, advertising and promotional activities to communicate the positive attributes of U.S. cotton and cotton products to consumers, retailers and the textile trade, while also promoting the COTTON USA Mark as a sign of quality. For further information http://www.cottonusa.co.uk/.

Stephanie Thiers-Ratcliffe, CCI Marketing Manager, said:
“COTTON USA is an internationally licensed trademark for premium U.S. cotton-rich products. It inspires trust and embodies quality in all items made using U.S. grown cotton. Kaizo will be tasked with both promoting the Mark and helping us attract more UK retailers such as existing licensees Marks and Spencer and Christy Towels.”

Rhodri Harries, Managing Director of Kaizo said:
“Our strategy focuses on creatively highlighting moments where only the best and highest quality will do when it comes to home and fashion. Multi-layered, multi-media and integrating media, digital and experiential, our aim is to bring the cotton story to life for potential licensees as well as the target consumer demographics, including women 25 to 45.”

GetTaxi is GPS based taxi ordering and dispatch service today enabling businesses to order London Black Taxis online, through a personalised company web portal and via a mobile app at a fraction of the cost of the traditional taxi account charges. The service is signing up an average of 300 drivers per week, and is on track to exceed its target of 2000 drivers by the end of the year, offering a footprint of taxis in central London every bit as a widespread as the traditional taxi services.

For further information visit www.gettaxi.com

]]> http://www.kaizo.net/2011/08/11/gettaxi-hires-kaizo-for-uk-launch/feed/ 0 http://www.kaizo.net/2011/07/28/successful-mbo-marks-new-opportunities/ http://www.kaizo.net/2011/07/28/successful-mbo-marks-new-opportunities/#comments Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:41:43 +0000 Rhodri Harries http://www.kaizo.net/?p=2329 Delighted to announce that as of yesterday we are now wholly owned by our existing management team following a successful MBO.

Whilst we remain the same business in the same premises with the same teams, our new independence highlights key attributes we feel bring a fresh perspective to communications’ challenges targeting consumers and businesses.

We’re impartial, whether advising on media choice or brand direction; self-sufficient, so no sub teams and silos to add complexity and cost; free thinkers, so great ideas flow and are encouraged; and now importantly self-governing so we’re able to offer a flexible approach to your PR and earned media budgets.

We thank all our clients, including Truvia®, Flora/ Becel, Cisco, CA Technologies, Unilever, mxData, Johnson and Johnson, Serco, and Elsevier, for their continued support and look forward to a successful future together.

Whilst we remain the same business in the same premises with the same teams, our new independence highlights key attributes we feel bring a fresh perspective to communications’ challenges targeting consumers and businesses.

We’re impartial, whether advising on media choice or brand direction; self-sufficient, so no sub teams and silos to add complexity and cost; free thinkers, so great ideas flow and are encouraged; and now importantly self-governing so we’re able to offer a flexible approach to your PR and earned media budgets.

We thank all our clients, including Truvia®, Flora/ Becel, Cisco, CA Technologies, Unilever,mxData, Johnson and Johnson, Serco, and Elsevier, for their continued support and look forward to a successful future together.

The Sharing Hearts Minds and Moments campaign won over the judges with its integrated approach and undoubted focus on business success in terms of sales.

Certificates were also picked up for shortlisted campaigns in the Best Social Media, Best Broadcast and Best Media Relations categories.

For more details on these campaigns email rhodri.harries@kaizo.net.

The service, known as Covoiturage.fr in France, has been a phenomenal success amongst drivers and passengers alike who are frustrated at disruptions to air and rail transport and hard hit by increasing petrol prices and rising public transport costs. The site, founded in 2006, now has over one million drivers and passengers and is growing by over 50,000 users every month.

For drivers, BlablaCar offers the opportunity to reduce the cost of travel on journeys they would make in any case, whilst for passengers this offers an extremely cost effective alternative to any other form of transport on their chosen route. Drivers post details of their trip and a suggested price (typically a proportionate contribution). Potential passengers searching for a specific trip then choose whether or not this fits with what they want to pay.

BlablaCar, like its French counterpart, will have the feel of a combination of a travel site and a community site, with drivers and passengers posting details about themselves and rating each other on a range of criteria, from performance and reliability to how chatty they are. In fact, the name BlablaCar comes from this as on the French site a driver rates how talkative he or she as bla (not very chatty), blabla (likes a natter) and blablabla (won’t shut up). The community aspect ensures transparency, safety and that the market effectively and efficiently sets the price.

Nicolas Brusson, Co-founder of BlablaCar said:

“We are looking to replicate the success we have had in France here in the UK as rising petrol costs, issues and prices associated with peak time public transport, as well as environmental concerns are very similar. BlablaCar is revolutionising carpooling from the preserve of students and those concerned with the environment to a mainstream answer to rising costs and tighter purse strings.”

Rhodri Harries Managing Director of Kaizo said:

“This is a massively exciting challenge to reproduce the phenomenal word of mouth that has taken place in France around this brand. Our programme will build as we attract drivers to posts their trips, initially focusing on a few key routes such London to Manchester.”

By way of example of the popularity of the service, posted trips from Paris to London have risen by between 100 and 200 per cent in the last year.

Additionally BlablaCar offers a service for events, festival and concert organisers called the Agenda, which provides branded carpooling pages for each event. This service is also due to be launched in early June.

mxData delivers live information to a wide range of mobile, web and sat-nav devices through any operator onto any platform. Its highly successful range of apps include Tube Map, helping London’s travellers plan and navigate their journey underground and the award winning Traffic TV, providing drivers with live traffic data information from across the UK.

Rhodri Harries, managing director, Kaizo, said: “mxData has some amazing technology and fantastic apps which meet the demand for real-time information delivery to any device, whatever the location. We’ve come up with a really exciting series of consumer engagement strategies that will get people talking about the brand, both on and offline.”

David James, CEO, mxData, said: “Kaizo came to us with a fresh approach and showed outstanding social media counsel as well as true enthusiasm for our brand. We’re at a point where PR has the potential to impact the business significantly so we’re really looking forward to getting started.”

Activity kicks off this month with a campaign focusing on London commuters, which will integrate everyday conversations, issues hijacking, humour and sex… through guerilla, social media and traditional media relations.