This summer, we have created some campaigns to support a series of give-away guides the Guardian has put together.  They include the guide to Secret Britain, British Walks and Summer Pubs.

In June, the Secret Britain guide came out.  It encompassed all the weird and wonderful things you can find in the UK, from haunted houses to underground caverns.  Our campaign aimed to capture the eccentricity and magic of the guide.

Then the 2-part guide to summer pubs came out: on the Saturday, a guide to urban pubs; on the Sunday, a guide to country pubs.  The content was diverse, ranging from the scenic to the more bizarre hostelries in the UK – our campaign aimed to excite people about trying out new places to have a drink.

And finally we worked on the seven part guide to British walks.  Unlike a typical walking guide, the walks were themed, so they were put in the context of art, literature, history, war, etc.  Our campaign aimed to inspire readers to consult the guide and get their walking boots on, whatever their interests.

Our Selfridges ‘Future A-Z 2109’ installation has been getting a great response
from both public and press and there’s still another month to go.

This
weekend we are proud to announce our IDEA X competition winner, where we are
asked the public to complete our A-Z, since the letter X was missing. The Judges
(Dr Frances Corner – London College of Fashion, Patrick Burgoyne – Editor of
Creative Review and Linda Hewson – Selfridges head of creative) were unanimous
in their decision…

X is for XTRA HOURS IN THE DAY CLOCK – Never be pushed
for time again. Simply pull the lever and this clock will double your time. An
hour of indulgence can last for two, and a week off will feel like a
fortnight.

It was designed by a lovely lady called Brenda Durham, 59,
who is retired and now living in France…

“I came up with the idea by
listing words beginning with ‘ex’ and when I came to ‘extra’ I expanded it by
thinking about what extra things people would like in the future and ‘extra
hours in the day’ came to mind.  That led on to a clock which could bend or
stretch time while staying within the same 24 hours and a spiral seemed to fit”.
 

The winning IDEA X will appear in the window on Orchard Street this weekend, along
with the other 25 letters, until the end of August. The winner deservingly
received a £500 Selfridges gift card so we hope she spends it wisely!

The standard of the entries was very high – the three runners-up came up with fantastic ideas:

Taline Temizian devised the Xeno-biotic-bot – a microscopic robot (nanobot) which is secreted in a capsule that is swallowed and can hunt and destroy polluting elements in the body.

Spike Spondike came up with the Xeromorphic Herb Garden.  Xeromorphic plants are created through morphological adaptions for survival in dry conditions.  They are independent from the availability of water.

And Amanda Scott came up with the Xenoglossy Chip.  Before a holiday, users can download the destination language directly into their brains for instant fluency.

Once again a special thanks to the team at ATOM for all their support
and exceptional model-making.