Thursday 11th October. Dear Diary, I’m feeling like Chuck Bass in the back of this cab en route to Harrods at 8am. All about this life, having barely slept last night, another 5:30am wake up to edit photographs – means I’m struggling to keep my eyes open. The lovely folk at Mulberry have invited us down to the launch of their new digital platform that celebrates the very best of Britain. Perfect timing as many of us start reflecting on the past 12 months soon and what a year it has been for us; Arsenal winning the Champion’s League, London 2012 Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee amongst other things. Continues on the reverse.

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Brilliant Britain – Website

Mulberry, who’s heritage is deeply rooted in British tradition from the very start in rural countryside to its continued dedication to the country’s craft and manufacture, felt it was time to take this across onto a digital platform using the Brilliant Britain project. With British-ness at an all time courtesy of the Olympics, inspired by the Government’s GREAT campaign to promote the nation on a global scale. Instead of going down the narcissistic route of joining the GREAT campaign and talking about themselves, Mulberry decided to create an interactive platform to celebrate authentic Britishness – the unsung heroes, creators, undiscovered places, people and talent. Using a platform than just joining the other campaign, one that focuses more on consumer generated content and hopefully create a legacy for years to come.

For me, it feels like a Mulberry stylized Pinterest that focuses primarily on British site. According to Mulberry Brand Director, Georgia Fendley  – ‘It’s very simple, very low-tech, kind of works like a WordPress format that we’re all familiar with. It’s not about the slick design, it’s about making it easy to use and I think everyone has become very used to Pinterest – we didn’t want it to be complex.’ I definitely see that, really looking forward to see what the user-generated content will bring. It’s all down to the marketing now.

The Brilliant Britain booklet.

Annabel raised a brilliant question about why Mulberry, a bag-maker to go make a website/booklet about Brilliant Britain seems a bit random. Georgia responded with ‘I don’t think it’s that random because Mulberry is a craft-based brand. We’re the last English luxury brand that has a factory in England and it’s growing – not just showcase. It’s a full of young apprentices, a thriving hub of craft knowledge. We’re a big business and making a lot of bags there, so for us that made this feel like a natural thing. It isn’t a commercial project for us, it’s not just about us or Mulberry customers. Ideally if it’s a success, we’d hand the project over to somebody next year. It’s our baby but we’re prepared to hand it over so it’ll continue.

So head on over to Brilliant Britain site now to see the thing in action – click here. Brilliant Britain booklets (pictured above) will also be available at selected Mulberry stores in the UK and Europe from October, and will launch in Mulberry stores in Asia and the United States in future months. It will also be available in the stores of many of the booklet’s featured brands. Great way of reaching out to some of the older target audience, as Mulberry is such a respected brand throughout the generations.

They’ll be live-knitting scarves at the Harrods store for the next 30 days. Bless the granny!

Annabel. She may kill me for this shot, oh well. I like it.

Juice. I opted for Champagne at 8am.