Creative Agency Secrets

THe good just got really great.

sending unsolicited and inappropriate marketing messages has always been close to what we now call spam.  

In the blogosphere, this direct approach without first establishing an online relationship and credentials / rights is considered more invasive and inappropriate than in the offline or email-only world.

Bloggers are very good at negative publicity.  And at campaigning / lobbying.

This wiki suggests that people blog these PR companies' URLs.  I.e. get no email at all from them (and probably report them to spamcop and get the domain blocked at server level). And heres a list of individual email addresses blocked by the author of "The Long Tail" and editor of Wired Magazine.

How damaging will that be to your business?  Imagine, no emails getting through certain servers and to some key journalist/blogger individuals - and all because a colleague made a mistake… 

ACTION - check your PR company is not on that list and your individual PR representative isn't either.  Your brand is doomed online.  Move your business elsewhere. 

Companies that I know who are on the list include [note I am not linking this text] Edelman, Bigmouth, Bite, FourtyThree, Global Results, Lewis, Ogilvy, Porter Novelli, 

Wise up. 

I have written before about ways and means of doing this for yourself.

the simplest method is a Google Alert for your brand name (and any obvious mis-spellings).

But have a look at these alternatives

Bloppy
Co.mments

Bloppy juust tracks web posts and comments

Tired of losing track of the comments you wrote on blogs you like? Missing comments from other users? So was I! But fear no more. Now you can receive notifications on your email of new comments on your favorite blog posts! 

Co.mments also tracks posts but calls them 'conversations'

co.mments helps you stay on top of the conversation by keeping you updated of new comments. Just bookmark, track and follow.  

I am hosting my third breakfast event.  "Should Brands be Broadcasters?" on Wednesday 18th June, 2008 at One Alfred Place 

I run these breakfasts in order to showcase new ideas and innovative marketing thinking.  Past speakers include Adriana Lukas on Social Media and Mark McGuinnes s on the Enneagram. 

Three speakers will give their unique points of view on this issue:

Charlie Robertson, Red Spider speaking on extending brand strategy to the online world

Sign up here to come along!

PS if anyone is willing to blog the gig for me, please get in touch! 

Working today with a new client we discussed some basic stuff to do with knowing how you are represented online (particularly in places where you do not control the content).

1. Set up a Google Alert to search weekly on a 'comprehensive' basis for your name.  Set this up in quotes so that it searches for your names concatenated.
2. Google your own name. 
3. Google obvious mis-spellings of your name [Rebekah Carrow]
4. Check out Zoom Info for your name and click the button to say 'this is me' and edit the information to reflect your current contact details.

That's for starters.  Go for it!

Media Futures Conference 2008
20/06/2008

The Media Futures Conference is a one day exploration of the dynamics and trends shaping the future of media. As well as an opportunity for lively debate, the conference will feature presentations showcasing innovative projects. Presenters and chairs include Dr Brian Winston, University of Lincoln; Charlie Beckett, POLIS; Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur; Robert Cailliau; Dr Norman Lewis, Wireless Grids Corporation; Sean Phelan, Multimap; Peter Day, BBC; Bill Thompson; and Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC. This is a BBC event, programmed and produced by Nico Macdonald.

There is no cost to attend.

Venue: Alexandra Palace, London

I am going…. please circulate!

I have decided to make it easier to buy my services for those on a budget.

Normally, my clients pay me a 'day rate' in order to work with me and I visit their offices and we work together on projects.  Following the beginning of a project with a new client, Afia , I have decided to offer a new way of working using remote technologies.

If you have a biz dev project that can be briefed remotely, discussed using email and Skype, then this service may be of interest to you.

Ben Afia runs a "tone of voice" consultancy and has started working with me on this remote basis.  

• He briefed me with a document detailing the particular circumstances of his business and his vision for building it into something larger.
• I read the brief and we had a Skype conversation to discuss the issues and questions raised and to decide on a plan of action.
• Ben is now activating most of the work himself - but has benefitted from introductions I make to other organisations who may help him achieve his biz dev goals
• And he will come back for more advice when he has run out of things to do or encounters an issue or problem.

For this type of work, I require you to buy one half day (4 hours) of my time in advance.  And the 'day rate' is substantially reduced to reflect remote access and the fact that you will be doing most of the activation work.

Ben has agreed to act as a reference for Rebecca Caroe remote services.

Do you have a service that can be offered remotely?  Could this method work for you in order to widen the range of possible customers for your business?  I am hoping that this will both bring my service into the price range of more organisations and also enable work with people not in my time zone.

Let me know what you think! 

I just found an interesting website which may be helpful for those times when you think you've done a fabulous piece of work and would like others to appreciate it as well.

It is called Dynamo London and it is a site promoted (and presumably funded) by the lovely NMK, London Development Agency and a couple of notable quangos and private businesses. 

it has three major areas: Projects , Discussions and Events .  Self-explanatory and handily colour co-ordinated for the hard of hearing. It claims to be "your online interactive media showcase".

Here's what Malcolm Garrett the Creative Director says in his welcome email

This is a site for its members, and for sharing knowledge, so I sincerely hope you'll participate and offer your comments and opinions. We'd like to hear about anything that you see on the site, that you like, or don't like, or have an opinion about.

It's very easy to upload more projects, or to post your own discussion topics. Project texts remain editable so this can be done quickly, and you can come back and add more detail at any time. You can also add extra information to other projects that are already uploaded.
 

in fact it prompted me to sign up for the Beers and Innovation party on 27 May… maybe see you there? 

Afterthought… if you want to get in touch with a particular agency or individual, the list of members is a pretty powerful grouping with people from Foster + Partners, Burston Marstellar, AIG

Steve Moore has launched a new breakfast event, called One Morning, the launch was yesterday at the glamorous One Alfred Place business club.

Steve asked me to help out by chairing the three fabulous presentations - each one answering the question "What Happens Next?" for TV, book publishing and newspaper publishing.  I love doing this stuff… and being in the front row for three articulate and very persuasive presenters was a blast. 

I will summarise their arguments below - but for the New Biz Development readers of this blog, here are some short sharp actions

1 - Have you got any clients in publishing or broadcasting… send them here to read about what key organisations think will be happening in the future

2 - Do you ever put out campaigns on TV, newspaper or book publishing?  Send your account teams and planners here to think about what you will do in the future when those campaign methods no longer work. 

3 - come to the next event.  They are due monthly.  The sign up for this one is here … presume it will be updated.

Jeremy Ettinghausen is Head of
Digital Publishing at Penguin

The publishing world is polarising, books online and videos are leading the charge for technology versus traditional methods.  The scientific/technical/academic press is further along than consumer fiction. 

E-books started in 2001 and they still haven't really taken off 7 years later… but it may happen this year that they join the mainstream.

Books in print are not redundant yet.  But paid for digital content is increasing - the question is how much people will pay.  What is clear is that if your content is entertaining, valuable and drives a good user experience, there is an audience who will pay for it. 

However, reading habits are changing and how we view web pages affects our reading habits.  This is a non-linear process.

Looking forward, what is a publisher? Are they book makers and marketers and book distributors?  No more they are disseminators of entertainment and ideas.

A quote from Chris Heuer of the Conversation Group (at SXSW) "the Best stories will win". 

The vision is for the "integrated" book delivering image, sound, vision in multiple media.  I read, I get into my car and continue the story in audio….

Kevin Anderson is the Blogs Editor
at The Guardian

We are taking the tools that are disrupting our business model and applying them to our business.

New media does not support the traditional business model for newspapers because the young do not read newspapers.  We are not replacing old readers.

A news company needs a new vision and positioning and new audiences - not just for newspapers.

Industries need to identify their core market and focus on new markets in order to survive,  Open source tools enable editorial experimentation.  This is really important because at present it takes us 6 - 12 months for new product development.  We need to lower the cost and time of innovation. 

The business model is eroding advertising and uses outdated distribution and delivery methods.  WE need to innovate frequently and fast and 'fail forward' when the innovation cost is £0. 

Delivering into a community with connection is possible future for newspapers.

Matt Locke is a Commissioning Editor at Channel 4 

Befreo the mobile phone device we had more divisions between our public and private spaces.  Compare a phone box (private) with a mobile phone conversation (private or public?).

ATMs are the ultimate - a private transaction within a public space.  We develop body language to communicate our intention to be private while outside at an ATM.

The personal and social have replaced the private and public.  These are more fluid and the gestures and etiquette is different.  We need to understand this in broadcasting.,

What young teens find hard to understand about the world in 1990 is not the paucity of channel choice, it is the fact that in order to speak out publicly in 1990 you needed permission.  This is not needed today.  Talking in public is easy now.  

Key issues:

Data - being misused or mis-released.

Playfulness - find how technology can help your life and find play within it

Vernacular - what is the new language of who our relationships are with?

The goal for technologies that allow us to make the shift to personal and social.  And do it simply.l 

If you are interested or curious about what the Current Big Thing called Social Media is, who does it and what they are working on / talking about.  There are a wide range of great groups mainly based inLondon (sorry outatowners) that happen most weeks / months.

If you ahve a reason to come to town.  Try and drop into one or other of these.

Listen, Learn, Talk….

Chinwag event  NMK’s Beers & Innovation, Minibar, London Geek Dinners, MoMo London, Social Media Club, Creative Geeks, She Says, Swedish Beers, Open Coffee, Tuttle Club / Social Media Cafe, Girl Geek Dinners, Wiki Wednesdays, Next Wednesdays 

 And of course the BIMA events

Thanks to Dierdre of Chinwag for the summary list. 

What will it be like when consumers control their own data and become the driver of relationships with vendors?

Went to another VRM Lonodn meeting last week organised by Adriana Lukas.

Richard Marr has written a good synopsis of his undestanding with some very handy 'use cases" illustrating what VRM might be used for in the future 

Insurance

Bob is looking for some home insurance. He inputs data about all the belongings in his house that he wants covered, his postcode (zip code if you’re merkin), and then sends a message through the VRM host to insurance companies giving them one-off access and asking them for a quote. The insurance companies respond. He then selects the quote he wants, and provides them with his identity and whatever other personal data is required to establish a relationship. The chosen insurance company can then be given persistent access to Bob’s private house contents data so that he can quickly re-insure when he buys something to avoid being underinsured.

The insurance company wins because they can cut out the brokers. Bob wins because he gets cheaper insurance and can reduce the hassle of re-insuring. He doesn’t want to be underinsured if something goes wrong.

Neat, does it for me, particularly as the average fee paid to brokers for their service is £50 which would be a nice cost reduction on MY home insurance. 

While writing, Adriana has uploaded a slideshow of her vision of the user experience for VRM here 

I particularly like her summary of recent online applications that have created a movement behind the initial software.  Blogging is the killer app for conversations; Social networks are the killer app for relationships.  Could VRM be the platform for killer apps for transactions [slide 7].

She gives a travel example in slides 10 - 15 showing all the different places online she puts her travel information - from flights to photos and suggests these should come together into a single central place, personal to her. 

The working title for the online place where you put all your data is "Mine!" - double entendre intended. 

At the end is the link to the London VRM Hub wiki - come and join a meeting if you are curious.  They happen monthly.