I’ve been working with the fine folk over at Tequila/ and TBWA to support the development and launch of a new Facebook application for National Express coaches.

The idea is simple: targeting students mainly (although essentially this promotion is open to anyone and everyone in the UK), National Express is offering 40,000 £1.00 coach seats (plus 50p booking fee, ahem) available for travel in the UK during October and November 2008.

The Facebook application (pictured) is being used to promote the idea of ‘you should have been there’ to encourage members of Facebook to add our app to their profile.  By doing so, they can share their crazy pictures of fun they’ve had, vote for other people’s crazy pictures, book tickets for travel and win festival tickets, free travel for a year and lots of goodies from Apple.

Their is above-the-line support, a micro-site and activity taking place in Student Union bars all over the country.  From a marketing perspective (as that’s what this blog focusses on), its a nice example of integrated activity, combining broadcast with a micro-site, whilst blending in targeted online display ads and social media (blogs, Facebook groups etc.).

Give me a week and I’ll post the results, but the campaign officially launches on Monday.  Keep your eyes out for the TV ads and the display ads online.

It’s refreshing when a new UK internet start-up comes on to the market.  All I ever seem to hear about is US-based VC-backed digital tech firms that are defining the next big thing in digital.  So, I was really pleased when a mate and colleague of mine just (today) told me about a new venture he is helping launch, fund and run called Favy.com.

Their proposition seems simple enough - take on the likes of del.icio.us and Stumbleupon at their own game.  Social bookmarking is growing, so I’m pleased to see a fresh UK-based approach to this.  For anyone in digital marketing, social bookmarking is an increasingly important part of the mix.  If you’ve seen or heard me speak at courses or conferences, you’ll hear me bang on about distribution strategy as much as destination marketing.  Social bookmarking forms part of distribution - it’s about getting your content out there and increasingly relevancy, as well as pagerank.

I’m excited for Glen & his team at Favy, as I see this part of the mix as really important.  So, sign-up (it’s in Beta, so invitation only, but you can register your interest) and see how Favy.com evolves.