It’s almost the end of the year, so yes, we’re going to do a list. This one’s about all the exciting, engaging, innovative and fun projects that we’ve worked on this year at Protein. And looking back, there’s rather a lot. Here’s some highlights:
Journal
We improved our print offer in 2013 – upgrading from newsprint to magazine stock with a relaunched Protein Journal. The first issue of the new-look mag, available on all good newsstands, features a special report on the changing city landscape, as well as interviews with space travel-inspired artist Nelly Ben Hayoun and streetwear label Pigalle’s Stephane Ashpool. Grab the next issue in mid-January or order it online here.
TV
We also ramped up our visual media. Protein TV, initially launched as a RealPlayer (remember that?) online TV channel back in the late nineties, had its long-awaited 21st Century overhaul with a relaunch at SXSW. Its debut film was the viral smash-hit Chi-Raq, a short doc by London filmmaker Will Robson-Scott that paints a vivid picture of Chicago gang life. Bookmark the player and keep your eyes peeled for more original docs, as well as other curated content, in the new year.
Our media brand took to the small screen too. Channel 4 asked us to commission some of its on-going Random Act short-film series, with films by Aerosyn-Lex Mestrovic, Earnest Endeavours, Swallow Magazine, Alice Waese and many more.

Forums
Our Forum series of participatory talks continued with strength in 2013 – both in London and in our New York office. Highlights include a discussion on how the internet has disrupted retail, how news and journalism is changing in the Twitter age, plus a special collaboration with culture mag Dazed & Confused on the future of fashion, and a further two forums at the V&A during design week looking at design, technology and science. We’ll certainly have more thought-provoking, debate-stirring Forums next year too, starting in early January with the Future of Health forum. Buy tickets for it here and keep your eyes peeled to the feed for more info.
Briefings

We took our trend-packed Audience Briefing, our annual showcase of our in-depth insight report the Protein Audience Survey, on tour with stops at our London, Amsterdam and New York offices. Each featured presentations by our incredibly handsome insight team as well as interactive workshops that let guests physically experience the discussed trends.

Exhibitions
Many of you will know about, and are regular visitors to, our 18 Hewett Street gallery. It’s been both an eventful and diverse year for the space. YBA Nina Fowler showed her series of giant chalk drawings. Interactive artist Chris Shen built a sculpture made of over 600 repurposed remote controls. And we hosted a series of supper clubs for The Gourmand food magazine, where guests tucked into hearty plates by local chefs such as Rita's Dining and Nuno Mendes.

Parties

In the summer we took to the streets. Well, the street outside our office: Hewett Street. We once again transformed the quiet cul-de-sac, normally the reserve of a daily graffiti tour and several bike couriers, into a lively urban fête for the Hewett Street Block Party 2013. It was a roaring success with over 3,500 people coming down. Stalls sold out of craft products and raised thousands in cash for charity, DJs maintained the party vibes, while guests – once they’d patiently queued all the way from Great Eastern Street – were fed at stands manned by the best in local culinary talent. Have a look at the video for highlights of the event.

Creative Agency & Media Network

Finally, this year has been one of the best yet for our growing creative agency. We really have been busy. We’ve conducted global consumer insight reports for Nike, Gap and Red Bull. We’ve helped direct Beck’s latest Art Labels campaign, facilitating collaborations between the beer brand and artists such as Willis Earl Beal, The Date Farmers and Mark Ecko. We’ve produced an upcoming collaboration between Nokia and photography magazine Centerfold. And we installed an interactive 3D mapping installation for sports brand Adidas. Protein’s agency is set to relaunch in January, so keep your eyes peeled for more case studies, and find out how our in-house talent can help your brand reach audiences and stay relevant. Meanwhile our media network has gone from strength to strength and now we've made it even easier to get your message in front of the right audience with the launch of Protein Adbuyer.
That’s it for 2013. Once the festive period is over, next year looks set to be even bigger. For a start, we're moving office to an impressive new space in East London. Unfortunately this means parting ways with our in-house coffee shop DunneFrankowski, so we wish them all the best for the future. Once we're in our new home, we'll be working away on the launch of our new travel website Roam, and also bringing back well-renowned design magazine Grafik, and relaunching it as an online publication as part of the Protein Network.

We hope you have a fun, festive break, and wish you all the best in the New Year.