Turn Key Blog. Things we've done and the things we love.

As many marketeers and creatives will know, The Drum recently launched a Pussy Riot campaign in support of freeing the Russian punk band from jail. As part of its continual quest to promote freedom of speech, the publication called out for designers and creative professionals to invent a quirky piece of merchandise to support the appeal.

At Turn Key, we love a challenge and our Junior Designer, Carl , quickly got to work. He came up with the incredible app, Angry Bitches.

The app takes on the legacy of the popular Angry Birds, aimed at the ever-growing demand of the casual gamer. The objective of the game is to wreak havoc for your rights in the name of feminism, using the ’slinky shot’ (cleverly entitled by Emma from PR!) to fire band members and disrupt the opposition. As the game develops you gather more power as you race through levels unleashing accumulated ‘Pussy Power’ in the form of speed, strength and other abilities.

As soon as we submitted the artwork to The Drum, it was uploaded onto the website as their ‘Pick of the Day’ and needless to say Carl was grinning like a Cheshire Cat for the rest of the afternoon!

The winning piece of merchandise will be transformed into an actual product and sold with all proceeds going to the Pussy Riot appeal. Voting opened on The Drum’s website last week and closes this Friday (28 ^th September) so PLEASE support us and vote Turn Key. Tell your friends, tell your family and tweet it to anyone who will listen and let’s bring Angry Bitches to life!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Here at TK , we’re apps-olutely obsessed with apps. With enough iMacs, Macbooks, iPads, iPods and iPhones between us to create Leeds’ first Apple store, we’re always sharing ideas on the best ones, old and new.

Whether it’s a practical way of getting information fast – like - or something a bit silly ( anyone?) – the rise of the smartphone has meant everyone can carry a little bit more in their pocket than they used to. And, a whole culture has now emerged surrounding them – just think of the merchandising built up around the ever popular or the constant pop culture references to (of which our Head of Digital, Jude, is an undisputed champion by the way!).

Big brands have been aware of the power of apps for a while and the likes of Carling and Nike have made the most of the medium. However, more and more businesses are now getting a slice of the action too and smarter phones, faster connections and more nimble consumer fingers mean the only way is up for the new marketing kid on the block.

Here are some of our team’s favourite apps:

Kirsty Oliver , Business Support Executive

It has to be . Once you have purchased it, it’s all free! Instant texting, picture messaging and I love the fact you can have group conversations – my sister, my friends and I have some funny conversations!

Olivia Nicholson – Digital Junior Account Executive

My current favourite app is  . It explores new ways of social media by individuals expressing themselves through images. It offers a variety of different categories to suit everyone’s interests, whether that’s designing the packaging of a new product or looking out for the latest hair and beauty tips! I find it an inspirational site as you have the ability to ‘repin’ pictures onto your own personal boards, allowing you to develop a creative hub to refer to.

Nicole Levings, Account Director

, it brings me all the celebrity gossip I crave 24/7, I couldn’t live without it!

Samara Bott , PR Account Manager

I love . I’ve always been a big picture taker (I get it from my Dad), but the introduction of photograph enhancing apps such as Instgram have taken my obsession to the next level!

The app allows you to take a picture and then transform its look and feel by adding different filters. I love how it evokes emotion and what’s more, it’s easy it is to share with friends via social media.

Having used the app for a while, I’ve noticed that food looks particularly delicious when it’s, as Gina and I say – ‘Instagrammed’. We’ve used the app on a number of Chaophraya dishes to make them look even more appealing to our online fan base!

Jude Turner , Head of Digital

– Yes, it is infantile. No, it’s not clever. But the hours of fun I have had making weird face mashes of my friends and family (and my cats!) make it worth each and every one of the 69 pennies it costs to download!

Vikki Atherton , Business Manager

My personal favourite is – for foodies like me, this is a must have! It gives you a list of food types that are currently in season and easy-to-follow recipe guides – you can search by starter, main or dessert as well as season/month or specific ingredient!

Lauren Coles, PR Intern

, it’s a great example of how a high street fashion brand can stay above its competitors by creating an attractive, convenient and interactive app. Consumers can look, shop and actually buy a huge range of Topshop products. It’s by far the best shopping app I’ve downloaded, although probably not so healthy for my bank account!

Darren Jaques , Designer

, it works really well and has a huge amount of content to dive into when you’re on a long commute.

Leanne Bayston, PR Account Manager

– it may sound obvious but I absolutely love this handy app! I rarely check Facebook on a computer now and I’m constantly on my phone looking out for the latest updates.

Carl Holderness , Junior Designer

– you select your specific interests that you would like to search for (e.g. food, photography, vintage games etc.) Then the app searches the web for related sites. Hours of fun if you like to trawl the web and add a little bit of serendipity to your browsing.

Gina Reay , PR Senior Account Exec

My favourite app without a doubt is . I’m a bit of a music geek and whenever I hear a song I like, I always click onto it to find out the name and artist so I can download it from iTunes. It’s a genius app, I use it all the time to cull my curiosity!

Our Business Support Executive, Kirsty , is a keen fundraiser for Leeds Children’s Hospital. Following the TK charity run in July, her next project was to organise a charity Fun Day to accompany the Jarose Bowl Cup rugby match where her husband’s team, Bramley Phoenix , played West Leeds. Read all about it in Kirsty’s very first Turn Key blog post…

So today was the big day… Bramley Phoenix were hosting the Jarose Bowl cup against West Leeds to raise money for the Leeds Children’s Hospital Appeal , a charity that’s very close to our hearts. West Leeds won last year so Bramley were determined to bring it home this time! My hubby Adam and our friends all play for Bramley so we had plenty of volunteers helping to organise the event.

The first thing we did when we woke up was open the curtains to check the weather and, to our delight, it wasn’t raining! It was all hands on deck as we arrived at the clubhouse to set up for the day. Jacqui from the charity arrived soon after with banners, balloons and most importantly Mr Ted, the hospital’s mascot! My mum and step dad (our babysitters) touched down soon afterwards to take care of my daughter Lacey whilst I mucked in and Adam prepared for the game.

Mr Ted accompanied my sister Sarah and friend Kim on the gate and we were overwhelmed with the support and donations we received. I’m not sure whether this was down to Mr Ted posing for photos in return or the girls working their magic! Taxi drivers were even dropping people off at the gates and throwing notes into our buckets!

The stalls were all good to go, bouncy castle in position and cupcakes at the ready for when the gates opened at 1pm. The under 9s played first before the main game kicked off at 3pm. From then on, the raffle tickets were being bought in bundles and the alcohol was flowing. I didn’t get to see much of the game but a big crowd had gathered and I was very happy to see everyone enjoying it.  The outside BBQ and bottle stall went down a treat, especially now the sun was belting down. Bramley played really well but in the end just couldn’t beat West Leeds who won 32-24 and took the trophy home, again!

Straight after the game we had our main feature – the sponsored head shave. Four of the Bramley players, including Adam, had their heads shaved in the middle of the pitch in front of everyone. I had insisted on blade one so I’m sure you can imagine how mortified I was to see my hairdressing friend role the razor over his head with no blade giving him a very close shave!

Once the stalls were packed away, the lads had changed and the trophy presentation had been completed, the DJ arrived for us to party the night away and celebrate such a fantastic day of rugby and fundraising. The auction alone raised nearly £600 on four signed rugby shirts.

Overall it couldn’t have been a better day, the weather was perfect, we had such a big turn out and we raised over £2,350 for Leeds Children’s Hospital. OK, Bramley should have won… but there’s always next year!