The RAR works by asking clients of an agency to rate their supplier on a range of criteria, including Client Service, Creativity, Effectiveness, Professionalism, Strategic Thinking, and Value for Money. Only those agencies that reach a set standard across the board are accepted.

Our clients were so quick to rate us that the RAR had accepted us at 3:30, though they only sent out the emails to clients at 12:30 - I’m not sure if that’s a record!

We were delighted at the comments our clients posted about us.  I thought about filling this blog with them, but there were too many, so I’ve picked just one:

“I would highly recommend Fluid Creativity to anyone who was looking to hire a professional full service digital agency. From first hand experience of their ultra talented & hardworking development and creative staff, as well as a very strategically forward thinking management team, Fluid will provide you a beginning to end professional service, to time and budget.”

Thank you very much - we really appreciate all your kind words!

Fluid Creativity plans to grow, but in the right way - by continuing to provide excellent across-the-board service.  We are working hard to ensure our standards are always maintained at a very high level, so that our customers will always be happy to recommend us.

In addition some useful Safari properties allow us to link directly to a Google Map of our office and have the iPhone application load, making it easier for you all to find us! Visitors can also call us directly from the site without having to remember our telephone number.

The main website is built on top of the industry standard Zend Framework, so the iPhone detection was a simple as creating a custom front controller plugin. By examining the user agent of the device we can determine if the user is using an iPhone or iPod Touch and transparently redirect them to the iPhone version of the website.

Although the site has only just gone live we already have a huge list of ideas for the next version including full integration with our custom CMS. This will allow visitors to browse our new blog posts and portfolio items directly from the device with some fancy styling thrown in for good measure!

If you’re interested in an iPhone version of your website please get in touch to discuss your requirements.

It’s a bit like alcoholics anonymous, this:  my name’s James, I’m 27 and I quite like eating stuff like this, this and more than occasionally enjoy the odd snack from here (disclaimer:  I am in no way affiliated with this fine establishment, it just does amazingly tasty food - however if they wish to give me a free meal or two in return for this plug I’d happily accept).  I also inhale more tea and coffee than is perhaps medically reasonable.  That’s precisely how we roll at Fluid Creativity.  I’m therefore still scratching my head as to how I got roped into agreeing to take part in the Manchester 10k.

I’m not alone in my endeavours as the colleagues who I will be forcing to eat my dust include Jeff (one of our fine code monkeys), Michelle (our newly appointed digital tactician), Julie (our salesist and resident runner)  Lee (our glorious leader and fitness nut), Scott (top designer and motion graphicsist) and last but not least our ‘in house’ personal trainer, Richard.

My diet is something of a running (ha ha) joke in the office so after much cajoling and peer pressure I crumbled and signed up.  First and foremost it’s because we’re running for a wonderfully worthy charity, and secondly if old burger boy here puts in a better time than Lee it’d make my year.  It’s with all this in mind that I went about planning my training regime.  I’ve even gone as so far as buying some running shoes, joining a gym and not eating chips for lunch on Friday.  Those that know me will tell you what a heroic feat that is.  I started training 2 weeks ago with my first venture out running resulting in a horribly undignified sweaty mess after 40 minutes of what passes for jogging.

I clearly have a lot of work to do.  Anyway, not wishing to turn our smashing little blog into a pompous self improvement website I thought I’d try and cajole my workmates into posting regular updates here as to how we’re  getting on.  Don’t forget why we’re doing this and we’d appreciate it more than you know if you could sponsor our suffering.

I know you’ll agree that this months free downloadable desktop is out of this world!

You might be aware that recently we’ve revamped our website, well this is just one of the optical treats we have in store for you as we’re implementing more Cinema 4D substance into the site very soon.

To download click the image above or click HERE.

Meet Skinput, a technology that hopefully will soon be changing our lives… imagine this bad boy with implant technology, wireless and completely customisable…

What possibilities can you think up? Human Computers and bio linked chips, no more identity theft or online fraud? How far can we take it before people start shouting about ‘human rights’?

*just a note that we all love Britney here at Fluid…

Creative Credits is the world’s first programme that helps small businesses to develop their ideas by teaming up with creative firms:

“We’re inviting Manchester-based SMEs from all sectors to apply for ‘Creative Credits’ worth £4,000. These can be used to purchase services from a local creative firm. All we ask is an investment of at least £1,000 and we’ll top it up with £4,000.”

Here at Fluid we think that it’s a great because businesses can search creative credits’ online gallery of some of Manchester’s brightest and most creative companies before deciding who they want to work with.

Creative credits have already been through the first wave of entries and the entries for the second wave need to in by 1st March 2010 so you need to get in there quick. Businesses have to meet a criteria to be eligible for creative credits

It’s a fantastic project to promote innovation and collaboration with businesses and creative agencies in the North West. Fancy working with Fluid Creativity?  Check us out in the gallery.

1)  PeterSage.com

If you’re looking to hire a really dynamic speaker then you may want to call on the services of Peter Sage:

This site has been my favourite for the past few months and I can’t decide on where to start in order to fully convey how wonderful it is.  The landing page asks whether you want to go to Peter’s new flash site (for which broadband is wisely recommended - each page takes about 20 seconds to load) or his html site (for which dial-up is for some reason recommended).  I implore you to begin with the flash site as each page contains a different blocky pixel flash video of the man Sage giving you a guided tour of the services described in a tone that seems to combine Alan Partridge and David Brent into one gloriously cheesy character.

There’s so much to explore and find on this site that through the tears of laughter you may forget that there’s still the html site to explore (don’t forget to unplug your cable modem and hook up your dial up modem first!).  On this site you will be able to find such treats as Peter’s words of wisdom (’Sageisms’) and even some songs that he has penned himself.  There are also of course any number of photos of him grinning inanely as all dynamic entrepreneurs do.

And that’s not all - if you can bear to navigate away from the site you helpfully get returned to Google…but wait - oh Peter, you are a scamp:

2)  Norcalis.com

If Geocities was still around and one of their websites got smacked round the head with a baseball bat made of flash, it would surely result in the triumph that is Norcal Internet Services.

According to the strapline not only will they make your website, but they will also make your website better!  Talk about an offer that’s too good to refuse.  The website looks wonderfully serene, what with that waterfall and everything but don’t get too relaxed.  Your eyes are about to take a shelling:

In a similar fashion to big Pete’s site, a blocky video Francis Rossi stumbles onto the screen and proceeds to take you through all the visually engaging and user friendly services that he can craft for your business -  whilst some ducks float past.  Surely the results speak for themselves and there’s no reason for any other element of persuasion so virtua-Rossi is pointless.  Unless he goes on to elaborate on how Status Quo’s career was so successful despite only knowing 3 chords.

3)  Ling’s Cars

If you aren’t already familiar with Ling’s cars then you are in for a treat.  This shot doesn’t do her site justice at all, but it will show you a small slice of the madness:

The site itself is a long list of ever increasingly insane images and content - it’s the sort of site they show terrorism suspects in order to drag a confession out of them.  Bizarrely, the business seems to be very successful and the whirlwind behind it, Ling has even managed to put an appearance on Dragon’s Den.  Any business that is awesome enough to advertise on the back of a rocket clearly deserves attention.  It would appear that we aren’t the first website to appreciate the eccentric nature of Ling’s cars and Ling herself appears to go out of her way to track down her dissenters and comment on their site.  We’re half hoping that she makes an appearance in the comments at the bottom of this post!

Fluid beat nearly 200 applicants to become one of 40 companies from across the North to have been selected.

The ultimate prize is for four companies who will share around £500,000 in commissioning projects for CBBC and Cbeebies.

The team at Fluid Creativity are really looking forward to getting stuck in at the workshop days and will hopefully make a great impression on the team of experts.

The @North project is intended to help encourage the development of a larger regional supply base of indies around the BBC to deliver multi platform content targeted at children.

Here’s the original:

And here’s the ‘copy’:

The scandal caused on Twitter must have done some damage to the reputation of Paperchase, so much so that by the end of the day the company had withdrawn products from Amazon that used the offending image and issued an apology on their website.  Perhaps with some serious crisis management from the right PR firm the business could still save face and @HiddenEloise will hopefully get the credit, recognition and money she deserves.

There’s a reason why ownership is nine tenths of the law and plagiarism is just plain theft. Plagiarism is something that happens every day to companies big and small and often the process of getting justice is just far too expensive.

We often spot examples of shameless plagiarism here at Fluid Creativity. They usually raise a laugh, so we thought we’d share a few of our favourite spots with our fine readers.

Check out Made By White’s gorgeous broach designs:

And Topshop’s identical copies.

The word autotrace was mentioned on their blog:

Its not just the big boys taking advantage - sometimes it works the other way around.

In this day and age every design is inspired by something else but to down right copy can be embarrassing for all parties involved. Take North Face - they are currently taking legal action against The South Butt.

Of course, in this case the plagiarism is obvious, a parody to emphasise that The South Butt’s aesthetics and values are the polar opposite of The North Face. However, it could still be argued that they’re using the familiar branding of a much more succesful company to market their products, just like those “Arribas” and “Nyke” trainers you’ll see down at your local market.

It’s not just illustrations and images, there are loads of copied videos around: Remember these fun finger-puppetry videos that went viral in 2006?

How about the Hula Hoop ads that popped up a couple of years later?

We’re saying nothing!

In September last year new students at UQAM in Quebec Canada had a viral hit on their hands with their excellent lipdub of the Black Eye’d Peas “I’ve Got a Feeling”, involving 172 students as the camera travels throughout the college in one continuous shot. This video has been incredibly popular, with over 4 million views and counting.

Incredibly, leading London marketing agency Publicis ended up with a Twitter Turkey (should that be Twurkey?) when they decided to do a somewhat similar thing for their 2009 “Christmas Card”. This video was roundly slated in virtually every corner of the internet - just take a look at the comments at Youtube!

This hot topic has been discussed previously by Fluid. Check out Phil’s blog post “How Todd Picquelle stole graphic design and didn’t get away with it”

You can make your mind up but we’re sure these examples say enough. Hopefully this post will raise this issue that plagiarism is not accepted and shame those copy cats thinking about ripping off their next design to be more original.

Do you have any examples of people you want outed? Go crazy with the comments below.

On Twitter I know numerous people that un-follow anyone who auto DM’s (Direct Messages) asking to look at this site or these products. I do it too. I use twitter to keep up-to-date with what’s going on within the digital industry; I follow people who inspire me, whose tweets are interesting and informative. I don’t want to read posts about products I don’t want to purchase or special offers not relevant to me.

Personally I use Facebook as a Social Networking site the key word here is Social, I don’t want to be sold to while I am just having a catch up with a friend or laughing over Saturday nights pictures. I can’t count the amount of times I have ignored requests to join the “I love Mc Donald’s” or “Cokes better than Pepsi” groups.

Because of this I just want to set up my own social network where I won’t be bothered by spam and I can discuss topics me and my followers, connections or friends are interested in. I don’t think I am alone.

Brands will be shut out if consumers keep getting targeted in an aggressive way. There are already a number of ways to block out any unwanted spam, but are people looking for a more permanent solution?

Social Media Cliques. Small exclusive groups formed to converse online without the fear of being sold to and targeted by the “amazing lose a stone in a week diet pills” scams. With the help of sites like Ning we simply start our own Social Network. We can get a group of high end fashionistas or BMW fanatics or dare I say it, Digital Geeks together in one place to discuss common interests, rate and slate latest trends, get advice on companies worth purchasing from and those not. Places to get sound advice without an ulterior motive, where you don’t have to use a spam filter or disconnect with sales folk.

I have no doubt that these secret communities are out there and some maybe so exclusive they are invitation only, how many exist already that you’re missing out on?

Best advice for those companies looking to engage with customers before it’s too late and they disappear into social networks you won’t have access to. Hire a good Social Media Strategist one who understands your target market, who is not going to offend their intelligence with spam but who will engage with them on an interesting and entertaining level. An alternative is to set up your own social network and create captivating content that showcases the brand in a really positive way so people want to be part of it.