Blog

Cybher 2012

By Spark and Fuse on March 30, 2012

Cybher 2012

We’re delighted to announce that both Spark and Fuse will be speaking at Cybher 2012 – the first female blogger event of its kind in the UK. This one-day event will bring together the most influential bloggers and speakers from all corners of the blogosphere to network, inspire, share and learn. It’s taking place on 12th May 2012 at 8 Northumberland Avenue in the heart of London. The line-up of speakers is seriously impressive with some heavyweight bloggers taking to the stage. We’ll be there to share our expertise, wisdom and experience on how to conduct online prize promotions properly. We’re looking forward to advising everyone how to get the details right on their blogs, twitter and Facebook. And we’re really excited about meeting all the great bloggers we’ve met on Twitter in person. Do come and say hello if you’re there!

Read more here …

You can see a full list of Cybher 2012 speakers here and book your place here.

Cheating in Facebook & Twitter competitions

By Spark and Fuse on March 26, 2012

We watch prize promotions on both Twitter and Facebook with great interest. While our primary goal is to educate companies that prize promotions have to be run to ASA/CAP code,  we’ve actually witnessed some very interesting events unfold. We’ve seen how some people are able to cheat and equally how easy it is to be exposed as a cheat. Di Coke, has been entering and winning competitions for 14 years, and has posted a very interesting blog on this subject which we think is definitely worth sharing.

Cheating in Facebook & Twitter competitions

I blog about competitions because I enjoy it. I’ve seen how comping can change people’s lives and I want to encourage more people to get involved with this amazing hobby. I want my blog readers and Facebook friends to experience the challenge of entering, the nervous anticipation, and the huge excitement if you’re a winner. I want to show promoters what a joy it is to host a creative promotion and what great interaction you can have with the fans. I try to stay upbeat about my hobby, but recently that’s been getting more and more difficult. I didn’t want to waste my time blogging about cheating, but I know that hundreds – possibly thousands – of you will read this blog post, so I should take advantage of this captive audience to warn you about what’s going on.

This post has been in progress for some time, but the sheer volume of cheating on Facebook and Twitter recently has regrettably made it more urgent for me to put this information where people can access and share it. Cheats using multiple profiles, and those who pass off others’ work as their own, are ruining our hobby and giving compers a bad name – and it’s up to us to try and stop it. Before I begin, I must stress that not EVERY voting, referral or photo competition is won by a cheat – but there ARE an awful lot of dishonest folk out there who will stoop very low to try and bag a prize.

Compers need to be on guard and not be afraid to Report/Block if we find someone cheating. We also need to warn promoters about what’s going on! When you see that dreaded status update ”We thought it would be fun for our Facebook fans to choose the winner by voting….” then it’s time to act. Many agencies and promoters are still very naive and believe that their super-duper fun new Facebook competition will be won by someone who plays fair, when unfortunately that isn’t always the case! Promoters – scroll down to the bottom of this post for advice on running a fair competition that won’t be targeted by cheats.

So what’s the truth? There are thousands of people out there tricking us, many of them sitting happily on our friends list, clicking on all the competition links we share, then going on to win prizes by deception… read more here

Tesco Mum of the Year 2012

By Spark and Fuse on March 14, 2012

Pixie Lott, Lee Ryan, Dionne Bromfield

It was our intention to blog throughout Tesco Mum of the Year. What on earth were we thinking? There was barely time to eat and sleep over the weekend, let alone write detailed accounts about exactly what we were doing. For anyone who missed the extensive press coverage, Tesco Mum of the Year took place on Sunday at the Waldorf Hilton in central London. It represented a year’s worth of work and by heck it was good, even if we do say so ourselves.

Our team arrived at the hotel on Saturday to meet the winning mums and their families and help get them prepared for the big day. We already knew the mums’ stories and there were moments when we genuinely struggled to hold back tears knowing what a few of these women had been through.

We worked throughout the day to finalise the finer details for Sunday and facilitate late celebrity requests, juggle room allocation and ensure our plans for the big day were precise.

When Sunday arrived we were beyond excitement – all our work was about to fall into place and everything would finally come together. It was full on from the minute we got out of bed and started zipping our way through the schedule – styling, hair and make-up, security, more rehearsals, gossiping with Fiona Phillips, photo shoots, sound checks, taxis, checking riders and table plans. And as soon as we saw the sheer volume of paparazzi waiting outside on the red carpet we knew it had all been worth it. TOWIE’s Amy Childs attended as did Pixie Lott with her mum and boyfriend Oliver Cheshire. Sinitta brought her mum (they are both absolutely gorgeous) and the legend that is Arlene Phillips came with her daughter. Denise Lewis and Cherry Healey were totally charming and think what you like about Lee Ryan, the kids loved him!

Highlights of the event included meeting the winning celebrity mum, Gabby Logan, who was just so lovely, seeing both Estelle and Dionne Bromfield perform live, and accidentally catching a celebrity’s dad in his pants (don’t ask). But ultimately, it was an absolute honour to meet women who have made such a big difference to the lives of others and to create a wonderful moment in which their achievements were recognised. Ladies, we salute you.

Tesco Mum of the Year is here!

By Spark and Fuse on March 10, 2012

This weekend we see a year’s worth of planning come to life. It’s the Tesco Mum of the Year awards, where 8 extraordinary mums are celebrated for remarkable achievements and for which we are the event organisers. The last few weeks have been totally bonkers for us as we pull together the final pieces of what will be the biggest event of its kind. We’re stationed at the hotel already, and we’ve met the winning mums and now we’re getting ready for tonight’s rehearsals. Production is in the middle of building the most spectacular custom-made set for the event tomorrow. We’ve juggling rooms, checking deliveries and facilitating last minute requests from a very impressive celebrity guest list. And we’re checking that everything is in place for the performers – Mary Byrne (Tesco Mary!), Estelle and Dionne Broomfield. We simply cannot wait. Follow us on twitter @sparkandfuse for more updates – we’ll have behind the scene chat and pics – and well before the paps.

  • Tags:

Tesco Mum of the Year is here!

By Spark and Fuse on

This weekend we see a year worth’s of planning come to life. It’s the Tesco Mum of the Year awards, where 8 extraordinary mums are celebrated for remarkable achievements and for which we are the event organisers. The last few weeks have been totally bonkers for us as we pull together the final pieces of what will be the biggest event of its kind. We’re stationed at the hotel already waiting for the winning mums – who we can’t wait to meet – and getting ready for tonight’s rehearsals. Production is in the middle of building the most spectacular custom-made set for the event tomorrow. We’ve juggling rooms, checking deliveries and facilitating last minute requests from a very impressive celebratory guest list. And we’re checking that everything is in place for the performers – Mary Byrne (Tesco Mary!), Estelle and Dionne Broomfield. We simply cannot wait. Follow us on twitter @sparkandfuse for more updates – we’ll have behind the scene chat and pics – and well before the paps.