Well there has been no slacking at codegent towers over the holiday season. Even on New Year's Eve half the office is still here finishing off bits and bobs for the various January campaign launches we are doing for our clients. Dedication to the cause!

2009 looks like an interesting and tough challenge for us all, but one we are relishing. We expect clients to be looking very hard at what they are getting for their money. It's something we've always believed is important but never more so than now. We're an ideas-led agency but we always make sure that they relate back to the client's commercial requirements. We call this process a "Return on Ideas" and it's something we're looking to refine over the next few months.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone
Mark, David and Luke

PS We couldn't sign off without giving you a little pressie now could we?

Feel free to play with Youth Music's Elf band and slap down your very own remix of Jingle Bells whilst you catch up on what Youth Music have been up to in 2008.
http://seasonsgreetings.youthmusic.org.uk/ »

And if you have experienced the embarrassment of a card turning up from someone who failed to make your own list all is not lost! We knocked this little app together in one day as a proof of concept for our latest gizmo, the "Snapper"... more on that one in January :)
http://lastminutexmascards.appspot.com/ »

Barcamp came to Thailand for the first time on Saturday. As codegent was one of the main sponsors (along with a couple of lesser knowns - Google & Microsoft) Matt and I felt it our duty to come out to Bangkok and join the fun.

Topics ranged from the seriously geeky (the virtues of streamlined ssh) to the seriously socialist (how Open Source can empower the common man) but in between we had some great discussions about RESTful web apps, PHP Frameworks and the most enthusiatic man on the planet eulogising about Twitter. There was even room to talk about online adult video.

The event was a huge success and undoubtedly Barcamp Bangkok II will follow next year. It's just cool to meet the people from around the globe who are as excited about this whole 'web thing' as we are.