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November 8th, 2010 by Helen Beavis

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

So, when you undertake to create the biggest online conversation about beauty amongst the nation’s women you’ve got to be able to handle the response. And boy what a response we got when we undertook the task on behalf of Tesco Beauty.

Journalists, bloggers and women who just love beauty came along to our Tesco Your Beauty event last Thursday where we revealed what 30,000 women really want from their beauty regimes and products.  And herein lay the beast – taking over the last 2 weeks of our lives pulling all of the insights together into one comprehensive report and 5 weeks prior to that running the campaign.

Key highlights included the fact that dark circles and wrinkles round the eyes are women’s biggest issue, eyelash curlers are the number one beauty tool, legs, not bums, are the thing we’d most like to alter and the beauty products that don’t rid us of our beauty demons-even though they claim they can.

It’s been huge but breakthrough.  Not only has it opened up a dialogue for Tesco with women, it’s provided invaluable insight that has the potential to steer the development of the Tesco beauty offering in terms of new ranges, pricing and promotions.

The vision is to build on this year on year so that Tesco ensures it is continually striving to really deliver.  Essentially, a great intelligence tool that can provide long-term insight to create successful strategies and a very true reflection to its own promise of: ‘Every Little Helps’.

The work continues this week to seed highlights from the report so a big thank you to everyone who participated in the conversation.

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March 8th, 2010 by Chris McCrudden

Love is a four-letter word

According to Huey Lewis and the News, “The power of love is a curious thing, Makes one man weep, and another man sing”. But if he was writing that song now it’s more than likely there’d be a verse about the internet.

Because online dating is smoking hot. What once was a slightly shameful affair that allowed C++ programmers to find a Thai bride without ever leaving their terminal is resolutely mainstream. And it’s even a social event. As anyone who lives with a single female under 30 will know, there’s very little a group of hungover women like doing more on a Sunday than bitching through the profiles on  Mysinglefriend.com, Match.com and Guardian Soulmates while Hollyoaks plays in the background.

But what if you have more…specialised interests in the love department? Mainstream dating sites are great if your tastes in relaxation extend to a hot bath with aromatherapy oils, but this puts you in a difficult position if you’d rather fill the bath with wallpaper paste. And as an opening gambit on Match.com, there’s probably no better way of getting yourself blocked than being too specialist too early. For example: -

Hey,

How r u? Ur pretty and like Snow Patrol – the perfect combination! Fancy coming round to mine sometime and playing in a paddling pool full of custard?

Gary x

It’s therefore no surprise that along the more ‘vanilla’ dating sites has grown a more shadowy (and infinitely more interesting!) ecosystem of what we might term ‘niche interest dating platforms’. And here are some of our favourites.

The Speed Top Five sites for Specialist Dating

1. Paganpartners.co.uk

Ever wanted to date a Druid? Think Love is…sharing a cauldron? Well, look no further. The chances of getting a church wedding out of this site are nil, but white robes are a lot cheaper than a wedding dress.

2. Platonicpartners.co.uk

True love waits – forever according to this site. Ideal if you’re looking for spiritual repose with a soulmate: useless for a quickie, which brings us on to…

3. Illicit Encounters

Nothing can be said on this site that its ruthlessly opportunistic PR team hasn’t already press released and sold in to the Daily Telegraph. The sidecar for the bike (fnar!) that is married love, Illicit Encounters is ideal for those of you who always cheat at Patience and want to extend that idea into your marriage.

4. Latter Day Saints Mingle

Are you a Mormon whose too tired after a day of relentless good-natured smiling through people shutting doors in your face to meet your future spouse at a teetotal barndance?  In that case Latter Day Saints Mingle is for you. Disappointingly this site is not sponsored by an Osmond, nor does it have a ‘looking for more than one wife’ polygamy option.

5. Dwarf Date

It’s official: good things do come in small packages.

Thank you and goodnight.

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