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MS Ireland have joined forces with McVitie's to organise a fantastic event to raise awareness and money for services used by people with Multiple Sclerosis and their families.

So, it was down to us here at Focus to come up with the campaign concept from the McVitie's brief. I've been lucky enough to get hands on with this wonderful project. As the newest member of the team it was particularly exciting for me to be involved with such a big project. Once everyone was happy with the logo, it was on to the site redesign. By this point I was carried away and had a real feel for the theme of the event so wasn't short of inspiration. McVitie's Tea Party is such a fun, bubbly and brilliant occasion that I thoroughly enjoyed reflecting this in the design. It was great fun putting all my energy in to this project and seeing it go live was a great achievement for me in my first six weeks in the job.   Not only am I getting the satisfaction of a job well done (even if I do say so myself) but I can also feel good in the knowledge that it's all for a great cause. Check out http://teaparty.ms-society.ie/tea-party if you fancy joining in on the fun and throwing a McVitie's Tea Party of your own!

It's that time of year again, back to school soon - and what better time to think about your reading list for the year?

We've just launched MS Ireland's Readathon 2011 site - this year it's alien themed and the idea is to 'Go Rockets for Reading!'

The idea is to get sponsored to read as much as you can, to raise money for MS Ireland and win prizes!

Unfortunately, it's only open in Ireland, but anyone can donate 

The campaign was really successful for MS Ireland last year, and as one of their most high profile fund raising activities throughout the year, we're thrilled to bits to be involved!

Check out the site here

The studio has been very busy recently wrapping up some new projects, one of which is Thinking Ahead - created on behalf of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland.

NAI is the national advocacy umbrella for neurological care in Ireland, made up of over thirty statutory organisations working with people who have neurological conditions. The new web site was published in time for Brain Awareness Week, running from the 7th March 2011.

The web site includes a facility which allows users to find their local TD and send them an email or letter - lobbying for their support towards the campaign - and already over one thousand people have signed up.




 

We've just launched the new web site for Ireland's annual ReadaThon - one of the country's largest charity campaigns in aid of raising funds for our clients, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland.

This is the third year we've been involved and the site has a slightly more 'adult' look about it as MSI wanted to get book club members involved more than ever. There's a new blog and behind the scenes, some whizziness allowing the charity to create their own online forms.

Discussion about the design took place over the Irish Sea through the power of Webinar! Meaning we didn't have to put up with Ryanair.....

We hope the campaign raises bundles of Euros for a very 'wordy' cause.

We have just finished working on creating a new microsite for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland's fundraising team - Take a Challenge

We were briefed to bring all their regular fundraising sporting activities together under one heading and one identity to promote the different sponsored events they have throughout the year.

I'm not into running or swimming myself, but I think I could manage a walk in cuba ...

Ireland are having their first Mud Run on Saturday 27th February 2009, sponsored by Persil, and to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland.

The challenge was to create an visual identity for the event, and a microsite accessible through MSI's main website, that would enable users to log in and monitor their own contributions to their account.

They've had a record number of sign ups, and hopefully the event will go off with a bang - it'll certainly be something worth taking a look at for next year!

Simon and I were back in Dublin last Wednesday for our first meeting with MS Ireland, since we found out that we had won the contract to develop their new website.

And what a lovely welcome we had, with a breakfast of Pan au Chocolat, hot cross buns and a cup of tea.

The meeting was very productive and we even had time to have some lunch and pop to the shops before catching our flight home.

So, as this entry has an Irish theme, I'd like to say a very happy Saint Patrick's Day to everybody.

A return visit is planned next month to Dublin, thanks to our bid being accepted by MS Ireland. You may remember it was my first trip to Ireland back in December, which I absolutely loved and am looking forward to visiting again. We're also pleased to be working with such an important charity and will keep readers up to date on this blog, by our newsletter and in the news section.

So yesterday, myself and Lisa spent a day in Dublin mixing business with a few pints of Guinness and a wander round one of my favourite cities.

We were invited over by one of Ireland's biggest charities to talk about a new web based project - which meant the joys of the Bristol to Dublin Ryanair route (which I have to admit was on time both ways) and over an hour spent in traffic getting into the city centre - Dublin has some serious traffic issues.

However Ireland's capital looked lovely decked out for Christmas with lights everywhere and it certainly has a different feel from most cities I've been to in the UK - it feels cleaner, safer and adds a bit of a 'European' feel into the mix. It was Lisa's first visit, and apart from the price of the beer (take plenty of Euro's if you're thinking of heading there for a few days) she seemed impressed.

Fingers crossed that we'll be making many more trips in the future - we'll let you know how we get on.