It’s the season for celebration! Find out how H+K London got involved with the Prince’s Trust, yet more awards and National Christmas Jumper Day.

Last week, H+K helped launch the #IdeasMeanBusiness coffee shop as part of a new initiative by Innovate UK in partnership with The Prince’s Trust. Young people from across the country were invited to the coffee shop in Angel, London  to voice their business ideas in exchange for a free coffee and a side of expert advice. In attendance was Dragons Dens’ Deborah Meaden alongside the 19-year-old millionaire entrepreneur Ben Towers, who dished out their own advice and personal success stories.

[Photo credit: Jeff Spicer/PA Wire] The #IdeasMeanBusiness campaign follows a YouGov report, commissioned by Innovate UK, that found young and disadvantaged young people lack confidence when it came to their business ideas and were confused about where to go for advice. The event, as followed by a regional coffee van tour, saw a variety of business ideas from a mental health awareness comic to an edible chocolate wrapper. The young innovators will be enrolled onto the programme early next year, so watch this space: 2018 may be the year of the young innovator!

To reward a year of hard work, H+K London’s CEO Richard Millar wrapped up the end of year company meeting with the Xcellence Awards, the agency’s internal awards ceremony that rewards client teams, support teams and individuals for their contributions to H+K’s 2017 successes. Congratulations to everyone!

As part of our Tech Speculators series, Candace Kuss, Director of Social Media at H+K gave us a rundown of Eurobest‘s award-winning entries. Winners that stood out included TV2 Denmark’s All That We Share campaign that attempted to show that while we may all outwardly have our own differences, we have interests, experiences or beliefs that connect us with others. The most successful campaigns tied their advertising and PR objectives with a service or product, such as French insurance company Groupama’s navigation app that helps drivers find the safest route home to loved ones. Another app that cleverly uses AI is Yournalist, a new media platform that uses IBM Watson to show readers the most wide-ranging sources and points of view possible on one news story.

The H+K London office celebrated National Christmas Jumper Day on Friday, with each of us taking part also donating to Save the Children.