The AdConnection Blog

The Sun rises on Sunday

2012-02-24T09:27:00.005-08:00

From the moment last Friday that Rupert Murdoch stood up at News International’s offices in Wapping and announced a launch of a new Sunday paper ‘very soon’, there has been speculation about what the new product would look like and when it would launch. Here we try to separate the fact from the rumour, and give our view on the biggest new launch in the newspaper market in decades.

On Monday the Sun, in typically bombastic style (and under a banner of ‘another Sun exclusive’ – another blow struck for investigative reporting) declared that ‘very soon’ meant this weekend. In advance of the launch, there are a few facts and a lot of speculation doing the rounds.

The title will simply be called the Sun, with an identical masthead to the daily, rather than being a separate Sunday title. It will not have its own editor, but will share staff with the daily with the with the exception of some ‘Sunday only’ writers. The title is expected to be a more family-oriented product than its predecessor the News of the World, and as with the Saturday edition will not feature topless models on page 3.

The title is expected to focus on some of the other, less controversial elements that contributed to the success of the NotW, namely sport and TV, with more features and a commitment by the editorial team to ‘ continue with investigative reporting’. The paper will contain 28 pages of football news and 16 pages of other sports.

In order to broaden the appeal of the paper to a more female audience The Sun have signed up Sven Goran Eriksson’s former girlfriend and 'Strictly Come Dancing' star Nancy Dell'Olio to write a weekly style column and TV chef James Martin to provide a recipe and cookery section.

The first edition will have a print run of c3m, and according to Rupert Murdoch’s twitter feed has ‘sold out’ of advertising space. Launch price is rumoured to be 50p, which may trigger a price war with other publishers.

Other publishers have already been bullish in response, even before pricing strategies are revealed. Richard Desmond has ramped up marketing spend to support the Sunday Express and Daily Star Sunday, albeit mainly on the (Northern & Shell owned) Channel 5. The Express is advertising that the Sunday Express is giving away a free gardening mat as well as its "action-packed" sports pullout and S magazine.

The Sunday Mirror is also taking to TV, whilst the main paper has carried editorial highlighting that there will be "four great sections in your great Sunday Mirror" which includes the main paper, the Carling Cup special sport pullout, a celebrity magazine and homes and holidays supplement.

The Mail on Sunday, which was the initial winner in the race to pick up the NotW readers has started running a TV campaign and is running ads about Mail on Sunday's "stunning free magazines" (Live, You and bi-annual fashion supplement You Inspire) which it says are "for him …and for her".

It is estimated that rivals could spend as much as £7m defending themselves from the Sun onslaught, which includes TV, radio and outdoor advertising.

We expect the Sun to sell strongly this weekend, and as the News of the World has proved in the past, there is space in the Sunday newspaper market to accommodate it. The NotW always had a surprisingly large element of upmarket adults reading, as it was often taken as a ‘sports supplement’ to broadsheet titles like the Sunday Times. Whilst there will be an element of the audience that will not buy in protest at News International’s role in the phone hacking scandals, we don’t expect this to affect sales to any great effect. Advertisers are back on board, and we expect the Sun to shine strongly on Sundays.

If you would like to discuss the impact the Sun’s Sunday launch will have on the newspaper market, or access the papers readership for your brands campaigns please get in touch, we’d love to help.

Latest Circulation Data for Home Interest Magazines Released

2012-02-24T07:03:00.004-08:00

The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) have just released Consumer figures for July-December 2011. Overall, the Home Interest market is up 5.2% on 2010, and 2.2% on the first half of 2011.

Despite this, a few titles have experienced significant losses in their circulation figures, most notably House Beautiful, which suffered a 19.5% decrease in circulation figures compared to the same period in 2010. 25 Beautiful Homes had a 7.2% drop in circulation figures and Country Living Magazine had a 6.9% fall.

However, on a brighter note, some brands did see a sales increase in the period, including Good Homes which experienced a 26% increase in circulation figures, and Country Homes & Interiors, which had a 7.8% rise.

The table below gives more detailed information for each publication.

Facebook Gets Mobile

2012-02-08T02:53:00.000-08:00

Facebook has been in the news a lot recently. The company announced plans on 1^st February for an IPO that values it at between $75 billion and $100 billion. This seems like a crazy price until it is noted that the social network is closing in on one billion users – that’s almost 15% of the entire world’s population.

Last year Facebook generated $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in net profits. This makes the price tag look expensive but not as wildly as at first glance. Other technology companies are also very highly valued - Google’s market capitalisation is $190 billion, Microsoft’s $250 billion and Apple’s $425 billion.

To please investors going forward, the company must solve the mobile conundrum. Mobile is hugely important to the business. According to recent figures just over half of the company’s monthly active users are mobile.

Nearly all of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising; virtually none of those ads are served to mobile users, either in Facebook apps or on the company’s mobile web site.

In addition the parts of the world where Facebook is still growing in total users (for example high population areas such as Brazil and India) are adopting mobile computers faster than they’ve adopted PCs.

However, the smaller space on a mobile screen and the relationship people have with their Facebook friends has meant that advertising in this space poses problems. How best to provide the undoubted reach that Facebook can offer without intruding on a space that has been ad free? How can marketeers harness the data that Facebook has on its members, without stoking existing fears around online privacy?

To try to answer some of these questions, Facebook has started discussing plans about introducing "featured stories" ads, based on the sponsored story format, into users' timelines on mobile devices from March. Earlier this year Facebook had paved the way for mobile advertising, by rolling out "featured stories" within users' news feeds for the first time.

Featured stories are perfectly tailored for display in mobile apps or browsers; no intrusive pop-ups, no annoying video, — just updates given premium space inside a user’s feed for a price. This is very similar to the Twitter’s advertising model with promoted tweets on its site and in its mobile and desktop apps.

Given the volume of user data Facebook hold, these ads have the potential to be more personalised and better targeted than any other mobile ad platform we’ve seen to date.

2012 Set Fair for Outdoor Media

2012-02-01T01:34:00.000-08:00

National networks of connected digital screens are growing. There is increasing experimentation with interactive technology, an increase in the use of smartphones and tablets and digitisation and synchronisation of all media.

The opportunity to combine new technologies with the visual impact posters have always delivered with interactivity is becoming a more established part of the OOH.

Opportunities are there to be exploited with perfect examples coming from Lynx "angels" augmented reality campaign which led the way for larger-scale use of interactive creative.

The strides made by linking campaigns with social media and location-based communications means that OOH has become a relevant and connected means of communication which has the ability to impact consumers on a personal level and on a daily basis.

Considering the above and the extra visitor numbers brought to the UK by the Olympics 2012, the signs are that 2012 will be a definitive year for out-of-home media in the UK.

TV becomes more Social

2012-01-16T03:40:00.000-08:00

Over the last few months we have been discussing social and TV together much more regularly with our clients and the industry at large. We believe that the opportunities presented by capitalising on TVs large reach and consumers desire to connect and interact make this the most fascinating area of media development currently taking place.

Our pick of the new services last year was Zeebox, which has now sold a 10% stake in the company, worth a reported $15m to BskyB, with plans to integrate the Zeebox technology into its own range of mobile apps including Sky+ and Sky Go.

US social TV startup GetGlue has just announced a $12m in new financing from new and existing investors. The service, which runs across both apps and website enable users to ‘check in’ to TV shows and other entertainment, while chatting to other people and getting recommendations.

Before this funding round GetGlue was growing strongly with over 2 million users, generating 100m check-ins during 2011.

Other technology companies have been quick to get in on the act. Yahoo acquired social TV startup IntoNow in April 2011, while another US startup – Miso – raised $4m of new funding in November 2011.

Mobile music service Shazam also diversified beyond its core features into TV in the US last year, while an increasing number of broadcasters are launching their own apps for channels or individual shows that include features optimised to provide a deeper experience while watching the shows.

Google launches Google Music

2011-11-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

Google have today announced the launch of a new service targeted at music lovers. Google music will operate on Android handsets users in the US, but is expected to launch in the UK soon once negotiations with record labels have been concluded.

The service hosts all major labels so far except Warner Music with whom Google claim negotiations continue. Song costs are between 69c, 99c & $1.29, the same as on Apple's iTunes.

This is seen as a major play by Google in ensuring that its Android based mobile offering can effectively compete with Apple.

Google claim that the service will host more than 13m tracks from Universal, Sony Music and EMI as well as a thousand independent labels. Users are able to buy individual songs or entire albums from computer or Android device and they will instantly added to your Google Music library, and accessible anywhere.

This comes in the same week that Apple has announced a new iTunes Match service, allowing consumers to download a copy of a song on one device and have it available on all their devices.

Both services have more to do with locking consumers into a particular operating system and device through a passion area – music – than it has with a desire to bring more music to the masses.

Social media and TV united with Zeebox

2011-11-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

Following on from last weeks post about how social media and TV work together, we have spotted a new app launched last week that brilliantly brings the two together. It is available here http://zeebox.com/

Zeebox is a free app for laptop or iPad, for use while watching TV. It takes advantage of the dual screen phenomenon. This was recently brought to life by a YouGov survey which showed 76% of viewers used the internet, a games console or listened to the radio while watching television - up from 58% in the previous year. It also suggested 43% of British adults commented on or discussed TV shows they were watching using Twitter, Facebook or other websites.

Zeebox gives you information about the show you are watching, what is trending, and even the ability to switch over friends internet enabled TV.

More excitingly are the potential advantages for advertisers. We can foresee a use whereby a company which advertises during a show can be tagged, allowing viewers to click through to a website and purchase products in a simple click, cutting out the need to use search engines or type URL’s.

Anything that cuts the customer journey from exposure to order is to be applauded.

The ability to measure real consumer action is also fascinating. Following a company’s ad, product placement or mention, direct consumer click-throughs can be measured.

The app is new, so exact uses and functionality is still to be developed, but as a first step towards formalising the connection between social media and TV it certainly is an intriguing start.

Using Social Media to Capitalise on TV

2011-11-01T04:33:00.000-07:00

Last week our Media Director Elliot Parkus wrote an article for MediaTel discussing his views on how best to harness the power of appointment to view TV shows with social media.

For those that missed it, the piece is available here;

http://mediatel.co.uk/newsline/2011/10/26/tv-is-alive-a-kicking-you-just-need-to-join-the-conversation/

Google announces YouTube Movies

2011-10-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

The future of TV continues to collide with new media in interesting and innovative ways. Google has today started its UK YouTube film rental service by announcing a number of deals with film giants including Warner Bros, Universal, Lionsgate and Sony Pictures.

YouTube users in the UK can rent films with back catalogue titles available from £2.49 and new releases at £3.49

Similarly to the iTunes renal service, a user will have a 30-day period to watch it, and 48 hours once started to finish it. Google claim there will be over 1,000 films available from day one.

This continues the trend of screen convergence and self -scheduling that we have discussed a number of times in this blog, and envisage growing in its impact on traditional ‘linear’ TV viewing.

Sunday Service

2011-09-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

The August national newspaper ABCs are now out, so we are now able to see where the ‘lost readers’ of the News of the World turned to for their news fix on a Sunday.

Firstly, the bad news. Whilst widely expected to be one of the main winners from the demise of the NOTW, and after having experienced a short term gain in July after the closure of the tabloid, the Mail on Sunday actually managed to lose circulation month on month. It lost 150,000 in August. The mid market paper does remain the biggest-selling Sunday title after the closure of Murdoch's tabloid, but average circulation for the title fell 7%month-on-month in August to 2,098,244.

Other Sunday tabloids fared better in August. The Daily Star Sunday, which saw a 130% increase in sales in July, increased sales further by 6% month-on-month to 744,981.

The People, which almost doubled sales in the wake of the News of the World closure, performed the strongest among the Sunday tabloids in August with an 11% rise to 892,033.

The Sunday Mirror remained the top-selling Sunday red-top, with a 6% increase in August to 1,900,460.

The Future of TV?

2011-08-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion regarding what the future of TV would look like. One possible answer seems to be taking the form of content from Facebook, paid for by Facebook credits.

The BBC has this week announced a video-on-demand app for Facebook that will allow users of the website to rent a limited number of Top Gear episodes. There will three episodes available at a cost of 15 Facebook Credits each (around£1). Once rented, episodes will be available to view for 48 hours.

The Top Gear episodes will only be made available for users in Europe, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This builds on activity last month where BBC Worldwide announced a similar deal with Facebook to allow fans to watch classic episodes of Doctor Who.

The BBC is not alone in using Facebook to distribute content. This week Miramax unveiled a movie streaming service through Facebook at a cost of 30 Facebook Credits (around £2) each. FA Cup sponsor Budweiser have also done a deal with non-league teams Ascot United and Wembley FC to stream the opening game of the FA Cup live.

1 + 1 = 3

2011-08-19T04:13:00.000-07:00

At AdConnection, we have recently been running a number of campaigns for our clients where we have looked to use the ‘media multiplier’ effect to help our clients advertising spend work harder for them. Put simply, the media multiplier effect is the added benefit that is derived from including more than one media to an advertising plan.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. There have been numerous studies over the years, mainly carried out by trade bodies representing differing media channels, which prove that advertising recall is significantly increased by the use of multiple media.

It’s a bit like ordering a burger – on its own it’s good, but the addition of fries makes the meal!

What AdConnection have done recently is to use this knowledge around advertising recall and add in some insight regarding how consumers are now watching and crucially responding to advertising messages.

The latest Ofcom report into the communications market has shown that UK adults are now spending almost half of their waking hours consuming media. However, the tendency to consume some media simultaneously means that the actual time spent with media is less. For further proof of this just open up your laptop or smartphone and watch Twitter or Facebook when X Factor, Big Brother or a sporting event is on. This is multi-tasking in real time.

So consumers are online whilst watching TV. They listen to the radio whilst reading their favourite magazines. They are on their internet enabled smartphones whilst doing almost every and anything. How can we capitalise on this behaviour?

For a number of clients recently we have run TV advertising and online advertising (both Display and PPC) combined. This has had some dramatic effects, with CTRs being boosted by an average of 50%. In addition recently we have started including mobile activity, through our sister agency Fetch Media on out of home plans. This has had the effect of turning outdoor into a direct response media, and has dramatically increased calls and click-throughs to client websites from our outdoor advertising creative.

If you would like to know more about how we can make your advertising work harder through the addition of complementary media, or would simply like a burger and chips with us please get in contact.

Facebook Unveils New More Interactive Advertising Formats

2011-06-28T02:25:00.000-07:00

Following on from our post below about Twitter’s moves to introduce advertising, Facebook have also been looking at their advertising model. We believe that Facebook’s route is closer to the correct answer in this area, being involving and encouraging a dialogue with consumers rather than just viewing them as passive receivers of information.

Facebook’s new sponsored story ad unit is called ‘Comment’, closely reflecting the interface users are familiar with from the main Facebook page. It will consist of a display ad that poses a question beneath and invites users to give their opinion or participate in a conversation. If users leave a comment, it can become visible to their friends as both a Sponsored Story and as a news feed story.

The Comment Ad is the result of Facebook’s “Ad Expo” last year, which invited advertising agencies to submit ideas for advertising designs to engage consumers in new, interactive ways.

Twitter Risks User Backlash With Advertising

2011-06-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

Reports have started circulating that Twitter are considering adding 'promoted tweets' (thats advertising, to you and me) into user's tweet streams.

While this would answer one criticism leveled at the Twitter management (how do you monetise it?) it could adversely affect the user relationship and experience. Currently, a user only sees messages in their stream from users or companies they specifically choose to follow.

It seems a strangely old fashioned and intrusive way for a company to go about building an advertising platform in the new world of engagement and involvement. Many new media companies have used old fashioned advertising models when the opportunity was there to build something new. The VOD (Video on Demand) space is another example of this, where advertisers look to 'get in the way' of content a consumer really wants by shouting about themselves for 30 seconds.

We welcome the fact that Twitter are looking at ways for advertisers to reach their users, but simply believe there are better, less intrusive ways of doing it.

Microsoft Launch Interactive TV Ad platform

2011-06-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Microsoft have launched a new advertising platform for the Kinect called ‘NUads’, which it claims will transform TV advertising into an interactive experience by using the voice-and gesture-control of Kinect for the Xbox 360.

Ads placed on the Xbox will respond to various voice commands, such as “Xbox Tweet”, allowing the consumer the ability to share the brand information with friends and “Xbox More” to request additional information or money off coupons about a brand via email. "Xbox Near Me" will locate a retailer near you, and send a text message with the location.

Gesture control is also employed as a way of voting for preferences. By waving a hand, consumers can take part in real time voting for products or services.

Microsoft’s Mark Kroese, who heads up advertising for entertainment and devices at Microsoft said in a blog post prior to the launch today that Nuads will “change television as we know it – forever”.

That remains to be seen, but we do view this as a continuation of the trend for more involvement and interaction between advertisers and consumers.

The Museum of Me

2011-06-01T02:21:00.000-07:00

Intel have launched a great personalised use of social media that is creating a lot of buzz and talkability for the company. A short video about the 'Museum of Me' project is below;

It works by taking your facebook information, including friends, pictures and locations and turning it into a personalised art exhibition. Apart from a few grumbles online regarding the random nature of the images being juxtaposed, this is fast gathering positive reaction and being shared at an amazing rate.

If you want to create your own museum, the link is here

Twitter and TV

2011-05-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

We have observed in the past how 'muti-media tasking' - the practice of consumers surfing the internet on their laptops or mobiles whist watching TV - has become an increasingly important part of understanding how social media has become integrated within consumers lives.

Now twitter have posted the following video on their blog and YouTube to illustrate how TV has embraced twitter.

Snapple shows the way to do viral

2011-03-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

Not only do we love this new viral by those clever people at Snapple, but the fact that there is over 100 hidden embedded in the video drives continued views and further engagement.

Interesting use of AR technology

2011-03-18T05:38:00.000-07:00

Lynx brought angels down to earth last week in an augmented reality campaign for the Unilever owned brand.

Signs in Victoria railway station told travellers to look up to a giant video screen. On the screen, they saw an image of themselves plus the angels, who featured the online and TV commercials the brand was running. As this video shows, the reactions ranged from surprised to the, ahem, interesting.

US Trends – More people getting news from the Internet than newspapers

2011-03-15T01:23:00.000-07:00

According to a study published by The Poynter Institute, in 2010 more people got their news from the Internet than from newspapers — and more advertising spend went to online media owners than to newspapers.

34% of respondents said they read news online within the past 24 hours (as opposed to 31% who favoured newspapers); and 41% said they get most of their news online, 10% more than those who said they got most of their news from a newspaper.

This trend was more pronounced within the younger 18-30 year old group 65% of whom said the Internet was their main news source.

The report showed that the web was the second most popular source of news - television news is still the number one source for the majority of people.

This is especially interesting given News International’s move to start charging for online content – a move that has been criticised by many for attempting to put the genie of free content back in the bottle.

Quora taps into the 'wisdom of crowds'

2011-02-14T03:36:00.000-08:00

Quora is a recently launched social Q&A website that has been receiving more than its fair share of press lately.

It works on a straightforward idea; the user asks a question (either to the community or an individual) and you then wait for the answers. You can also follow questions, topics, or people and read all the updates related to them on your home page. It’s simple enough, but beyond that, some of Quora’s features are proving contentious.

One point of concern for example is the ability of users to edit others queries, potentially changing meanings and putting the whole notion of the ‘open source’ nature of the website into question.

In order to implement quality control on the answers people give, Quora employs a system of “upvoting” and “downvoting.” Upvoting a response displays it higher up in the queue of responses. With enough upvotes, an answer will appear first in the queue, implying that its content is of the highest quality because the community approved it.

We suggest that anyone interested in Quora signs up and give it a try. If you don’t like it, you’ll know right away. If you do like it, you can find yourself getting sucked into the site and jumping from question to question, checking out topics that you never even knew existed.

Catherine Becker, COO of AdConnection, attends the Westminster Media Parliamentary Forum at the House of Commons – Feb 2011

2011-02-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

Catherine Becker, our COO, attended the Westminster Media Parliamentary Forum yesterday at the House of Commons, bringing together MPs with leaders in broadcast, media and regulatory bodies such as BARB and Clearcast to discuss and debate the up-coming changes in the Communication Bill. Nigel Evans, MP, spoke of the need to evolve the communications legislation based on changes in technology and the growth in TV channels. Darren Childs, CEO of UKTV spoke about the need to have flexibility and protect the smaller broadcasters against the growth in power of the terrestrial channels and the pressure to maintain the status quo. He also discussed the challenge of migration of TV onto other formats such as online and even viewing on Xbox and Playstation 3 and the need for the industry to understand the implications of these changes and the need to legislate for them.

Catherine Becker, COO of AdConnection, representing the needs of advertisers, challenged the need to look at potential for advertising on BBC to widen commercial impacts and create a fairer playing field. Nigel Evans replied that this would be unpopular with the large TV stations but there was a need to look at this as part of the on-going debate. Catherine has now been invited to take part in quarterly select committees to advise on changes and how they will affect advertisers to help shape the next bill.

Catherine, seen above with Darren Childs, CEO of UKTV and Ray Blaney, Head of Regulatory Affairs at UKTV, discussed the challenges of fragmentation, the impact of TV consolidation and the need to protect advertisers from unnecessary inflation. Catherine also raised the challenges of cross-media advertising results, discussing how advertising in online TV formats (pre- and post-roll ads, banners and other online formats during the programming) were still to prove their effectiveness, and the need to push product placement in online formats (ability to click on products within programming taking the viewer straight to the websites to purchase). This has been recently tested by Tesco, who as well as having their barcode app, are now looking at the ability to use the red-button during programming to download a product onto the app, providing true cross-media response.

Finally, Catherine discussed with Bjarne Thelin, CEO of BARB, the challenges of recording viewing data as these cross-platform technologies evolved. Bjarne cited the challenges of even +1 channels which were broadcast at different times to slightly different audiences as making measurement more complex as broadcasting evolved.

Facebook's No3 advertiser is Microsoft search hjacker

2011-01-21T03:47:00.000-08:00

Adage has detailed Facebook's growing advertising pool. Here's a chart of social networking's biggest ad sources..

Something that has caught the eye of many is Make-my-Baby.com, and well it might. Make-My-Baby.com is a spyware company that has gone from selling cell phone owners auto-recurring fees of $10-$20 each month, to peddling software that sets homepage and default search on browsers to Microsoft's Bing.

It is a site that allows you to put eyeglasses and mustaches on top of a funny looking baby's face. Hilarious. Well, that is what it seems to be….before you can do anything the site says you have to install "a browser plug-in to present an enhanced experience." If you do so, according to the fine print, your browser's default search and home page will be switched to Bing. Once you do so, the affiliate company behind the toolbar, called Zugo, will capture a slice of the revenue whenever you click on a search ad.

At best, Facebook is showing billions (literally) of spyware ads that trick users into installing browser-hijacking software.

Spooky Spokeo

2011-01-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

We're not entirely sure how you are meant to pronounce ‘spokeo’, but for many it will read as ‘spooky-o’ because it certainly is spooky to say the least. Not in a hiding under the sheets, ghost and goblin way, but in a frightening data-protection type of way….

Type in some personal information into spokeo.com, for example, an e-mail address, and it will return *everything* to do with that e-mail that can be found in the public domain all in one neat package – your social networks, photo’s, images uploaded onto forums, comments, pretty much everything that is linked to that e-mail on the web. Worried yet? Well this is nothing compared to if you live in America. Type in any American resident name that you may know of, and up pops their home location, value of their house, a Google street map view of the home, their family tree, relationship status and more.

Frightening, but don’t hide under the sheets just yet…because this is your own 'fault'. All of this information has not been gained by illegal methods, it is simply acting as an API hub, roaming the web for anything that has been made public by yourself. Parts of forums are public, social networks (that are not secured by you) are for public viewing, photos you have uploaded via flickr are public…you get the idea… its more the fact that all of this information is in one place, and some revealing details that you may of thought as ‘private’ have been made public, such as your house value.

Thankfully, if you want this ghost story to end, you can ‘opt-out’ of your data being available to spokeo.com, although if you make another ‘public’ entry online afterwards the data will reset itself and you will be found once more.

Facebook Creativity

2010-12-24T01:40:00.000-08:00

The new, updated Facebook gives the opportunity to get creative with pictures. It gives the option to create a clever presentation creating 'one' photo. Here are some examples;

All that's left now is to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at AdConnection. We look forward to seeing you in 2011.

2010-12-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

On a regular basis I have to explain to my father how to copy and paste, put a photo in an e-mail as an attachment, scan a document, etc etc… the list really does go on….and it normally ends with me doing it ALL for him. Now, it’s not that I mind helping out my Dad, after all I’d rather he was at least aware of the existence of ‘Spam mail’, rather than thinking someone in Nigeria really has left him a fortune, or that he really needs little blue pills for a happier life…*shudder*…but now, thanks to Google, all of this can now be avoided!

Google have recently launched ‘Teach Parents Tech’ http://www.teachparentstech.org/

In this simple but clever interface, the user can select who the recipient is intended to be (Mother or Father) and what information about computer-related tech would really help them, and ultimately, take the pressure off their sons or daughters who would have previously been bugged for!

It covers everything basic to the more advanced, in a mass video-information (via YouTube) e-mail to the recipient, after clicking through the personalised website.

An apparent selfless act from Google, it’s another example of how they are trying to be in the heads of those who would not normally be aware of them. Some of the videos of information that are selected have presenters wearing Google t-shirts, as well as instructions being displayed using Google-owned products.

All this doesn’t just create potential relief for sons and daughters everywhere, but is a clever brand awareness technique from Google (and YouTube), creating a positive and friendly image to an audience which needs help and advice online.

Facebook launches 'Gmail Killer'

2010-11-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

Facebook is preparing to launch a web-based email client that has been described as a “Gmail killer”. The rumours are that this will be launched on Monday alongside personal @facebook.com email addresses.

As reported here previously, Facebook have recently launched its 'places' product to capitalise on the success of location based services, and with their ability to understand who your friends are a launch into the email market will directly target Gmail and its recent priority inbox product.

Five + OK = the future of TV

2010-10-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

We saw a glimpse of the future of channel Five now that Richard Desmond, owner of OK! Magazine, has bought the channel.

Last night the ultimate in trash TV – Russell & Katie Get Married aired on Channel 5. It was even sneakily sponsored by OK! Magazine, an indication of the cross-marketing still to come.

The critics slated it, but actually it was surprisingly entertaining, un-challenging viewing. It was the equivalent of OK! on TV and was strangely watchable. With just under a million viewers, it reached almost critical mass. Expect more of this to come.

2010-10-07T04:56:00.000-07:00

Google Goggles is a cool piece of technology that allows user to search using pictures on their mobile phones instead of text. It is now available on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS as part of the Google iPhone app, having been available only on Android previously.

Google Preview

2010-10-07T03:13:00.000-07:00

Google has begun experimenting with a new layout that could change how users search the web - full page previews.

Users place their cursor over a search result and will see a preview of the entire website. It will highlight segments of the page that correspond with the conducted search in orange, making it easier to quickly scan websites for relevant information.

Google is also enabling the same site to appear a number of times. Previously, multiple entries would be indented and displayed beneath a company's first mention. Under the new system a single website can have more than one listing.

With single websites taking up multiple search slots, companies have even more reason to improve their search engine optimisation to ensure their positions are prime.

A screen grab of how the page previews look is available here.

Google Instant - An Instant Problem?

2010-09-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

Our twitter feed exploded last week with phrases such as ‘SEO is dead’ and ‘what’s going to happen to PPC?!’ when Google decided to launch ‘Google Instant’, their quicker and, as the name suggests, instant search results update. If you haven’t had the chance to try it out yet (it will soon be live for all the UK), basically any search results appear immediately as you begin to type. For example, type in ‘Big’ and before you can finish typing, search results and ads relevant to the keyword ‘big’ will appear instantly.

Now continue to type ‘blue’ and again, results appear instantly before you even finish writing the whole word, giving results for ‘Big Brother’ the TV series (now thankfully over), to ‘big blue filter’ ads when typing ‘big blue’.

Now im after a big blue sofa (who isnt?) so how has this affected my search? Have the new instant results helped my search? If I am trying to find a blue sofa, is an ad for blue filters really improving Google’s relevance?

To the user, this is only a small problem, as they can complete their full phrase search and find what they are looking for if the results beforehand don’t do the job. But for an advertiser, it could cause complications. Whilst searching for my big blue sofa with the words ‘big blue’, I stopped to look at the results and paused for about 4 seconds before continuing to type. In this 4 seconds, the ‘big blue filter’ ppc ad was shown, and according to Google, after a minimum of 3 seconds, an impression is recorded on the ad. I fail to see any results that would be of use to me and my search, therefore I continue typing the remainder of my search query. For the advertiser, this change will have a direct impact on impressions and CTR, but on the flip side, ‘predictive queries’ will inevitably expand reach and exposure to a larger audience than before.

On the evidence, it is vital that advertisers accept and adapt their strategies in line with Google Instant developments. A change in customer behaviour is inevitable for users searching online - knowingly searching with shorter keyword phrases because they have learnt that this is all they need to do from now on. In short, PPC is likely to be fine, it’s just a question of adapting after the initialperiod of ‘organised chaos’ which is inevitable whilst advertisers adapt and settle into the idea - changing the way we treat impression count and expanding keyword lists to focus on combinations of generic and long tail keywords to beat competiton.

As for SEO, all Instant has done has moved the goalposts. SEO strategies must now shift in-line with the implications of Instant:

- Use a greater combination of search phrases - generic, long tail and alternative keywords so you show up no matter what the variations a searcher may use

- Descriptions need to be all the more clear as users have less time than ever before to select their destination website

- When compiling SEO keywords and phrases, take into account Google’s suggestions to the user, as these will become more important and convenient to the user.

The main implication to SEO in my opinion is the need for more research, more detailed keyword analysis, and ultimately even more effort - Instant only ‘kills’ SEO if you’re not prepared to work for it.

In other news, Facebook have launched their Facebook Places in the UK today, allowing users to ‘check in’ with their exact locations, indentifying where you are in the world to your friends whether they want to know or not……I just hope some ‘friends’ don’t use this information to time a well executed robbery at your home, knowing exactly where you are…..and if they do, I just hope they don’t take my brand new big blue sofa.

The Wilderness Downtown

2010-09-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Showcasing the increasingly creative uses that are being applied to HTML5, Arcade Fire have teamed up with artist Chris Milk to develop an interactive video set to the band's track We Used to Wait.

Called The Wilderness Downtown, it is an online project using the Google tools Maps and Street View to incorporate images of the users hometown into the video.

Viewers begin the experience by providing their childhood address. The video experience then unfolds in multiple windows, taking viewers on a tour of their hometown to the tune of the Arcade Fire track. Users can also write a note to their younger selves in a tree branch-inspired font that is incorporated into the video.

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

3 Departures, 2 Arrivals

2010-09-06T04:17:00.000-07:00

Voyages-SNCF - the French rail network have a customer proposition based around going further than imagined. To bring this to life they staged a variety of different performances at Paris Gare De L'Est

This is another great example of how engaging activity can drive PR, viral content, visititors to youtube etc which far outweigh the cost of the original idea.

Facebook Places

2010-08-20T02:53:00.000-07:00

Facebook yesterday finally launched its long awaited first steps into the location sharing market with the introduction of its Places feature. It is currently only available in the US, but the UK is expected to be brought online soon. Is this the death knell for the existing players, such as Foursquare and Gowalla? Time will tell. Those companies were present at the launch and are putting a positive spin on the news, gambling that Facebook will help bring location sharing into the mainstream.

New Cadbury Campaign - Spots vs Stripes

2010-08-16T05:42:00.000-07:00

Loving the new Cadbury Fish / Spots versus Stripes ad on so many levels

First the ad is beautifully shot, nothing to do with chocolate, but entertaining and funny none-the-less. Then the full gamut of social media attached to it makes it so much more of a campaign. The You Tube link even has spots and stripes as background wallpaper.

The website invites you to join in an interactive set of games, choosing whether you want to be on the Spots team or Stripes team.
http://www.spotsvstripes.com/homepage.aspx

They even have a separate facebook page for each (genius) as well as twitter and email updates. Finally, (and more debatably) they even have posters advertising the online game. Whether advertising to advertise advertising is appropriate is debatable, but this really is an integrated on and offline strategy that cuts through. The only critique is whether they'll sell any chocolate on the back of this. There certainly is no obvious link.

ABC Circulation Data Review – January-July 2010

2010-08-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Home Interest

The latest ABC release shows a stellar performance from magazines in the Home Interest sector, with all titles seeing an increase in circulation compared with this time last year.

The overall market, which seems to be the least affected by the recession, has seen a positive 4.3% year on year upturn.

NatMag's Good Housekeeping remains the most popular title in the category with a substantial lead on its nearest competitor, IPC's Ideal Home.

However, Hubert Burda Media UK, which has seen mixed results in other sectors, can boast the highest percentage increase this year. Your Home was up by almost 14% to more than 130,000 copies.

It was also an exceptionally good period for Elle Decoration, 25 Beautiful Homes, Country Homes & Interiors and Country Living.

TV Listings

It was a poor period for TV Listings magazines, with only two titles managing an increase in circulation.

TV Choice remains the most popular listings magazine among television viewers, with IPC's What's On TV as its closest competitor. However, both titles saw their circulations decline this year.

IPC Media's TV & Satellite Week and H Bauer's Total TV Guide were the only titles to boost their circulations this year.

However, these increases weren't enough to prevent an overall market decline of 4.3% year on year. Although, the closure of H Bauer's TV Quick may provide a small boost to other TV Listing titles in the next release.

Women’s Weekly

It was a mixed period for the Women's Weekly magazine sector. Like most other sectors, some titles did exceptionally well while others struggled to maintain their circulations in a post-recession market.

However, having said that, the overall market is up 3.8% on this time last year, which is hopefully an indication of a continued rise.

Take A Break has a clear lead on its rival titles at the top of the Women's Weekly sector, with an impressive total of more than 855,000 copies, despite seeing some of its readers drop off over the year.

The biggest story has to be Northern & Shell's performance. Owner Richard Desmond, who has diverted his attention to Channel 5 in recent weeks, will be pleased with New! and Star's results. The titles have seen a remarkable improvement on last year's figures, with year on year increases around the 40% mark.

In contrast, the media tycoon might not be so overjoyed with OK!'s performance. The weekly title, which is perhaps one of the most well-known celebrity magazines, suffered a significant drop this period.

Hubert Burda Media UK also had a mixed six months. The publisher's Full House magazine has enjoyed a substantial boost to its circulation compared with this time last year, however, the former News International title Love It! continues to see a significant drop.

Women’s Monthly

Condé Nast's Glamour still tops the Women's Monthly sector with a total circulation of more than 526,000 copies, despite seeing no change over the year.

The handbag-sized magazine's circulation remains similar to this time last year, however, its two closest competitors have lost readers, which will have helped it maintain its leading position.

Despite being the second and third most popular titles in this sector, ASOS.com and NatMag's Cosmopolitan have had a poor quarter, both suffering year on year declines. However, they aren't the only ones. A total of 13 titles in our Women's Monthly analysis saw their circulation figures drop this year.

Cosmo, Pyschologies, Candis and Spirit & Destiny posted the highest year on year percentage declines.

However, its not all doom and gloom in the Women's Monthly sector - a number of titles enjoyed a boost this period, including IPC Media's woman&home, Essentials and InStyle. NatMag's Prima, Harpers Bazaar and Zest also performed well, as did Hachette Filipacchi's Red.

Of the 25 titles in our Women's Monthly analysis, the total circulation is down 1.3% on last year.

Men’s Lifestyle

Shortlist remains in poll position after a small year on year increase, while fellow freebie Sport has held on to second place, despite posting an identical figure to this time last year.

NatMag's Esquire was one of the few paid-for titles to put in a good performance, up by more than 10% on last year. Bristol Magazine's BBC Focus also had a relatively good period.

However, many of the leading titles put in weak performances, which is reflected in the overall market result - down 3.7% on last year.

FHM, Nuts, Zoo and Loaded all posted significant declines between 18 and 27%. Men's Health also saw a small drop but has managed to retain its position as the most popular paid-for Men's Lifestyle magazine.

Google makes changes to its trademark policy

2010-08-10T08:05:00.001-07:00

Last week Google made the – not so surprising – announcement that they will be relaxing their UK trademark guidelines on September 14^th, allowing advertisers to use 3^rd party trademarks within ad copy even if they do not own the trademark. The full text of the announcement is available here: http://tiny.cc/3dfbm.

This move brings the UK in line with the current policy adopted in the USA.

Google have been quick to clarify that this change will only affect 3^rd parties: resellers, sellers of component parts, etc. This addition to the announcement should ensure a degree of protection against competitors; but will it?

Although Google’s clarification is clear, this policy shift inevitably opens the door for confusion, complications and ultimately price increases. We feel that changes will be small in the initial period following September 14^th and in fact the biggest change is likely to come about following the outcome of the Interflora Vs M & S trademark infringement battle, which is due to reach the European Court of Justice in 2011. (http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/867889/Interflora-takes-legal-action-against-M-S-Google-AdWord-bidding/)

We will be contacting all of our search clients individually with recommendations going forward, but if you would like to discuss how this may affect your business please drop us an email.

Live Every Litre: The Honda Documentary

2010-07-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

Following on from our recent themes about what makes interesting and involving advertising, this week sees the launch of a new campaign for Honda for their new sporty Hybrid car, the CR-Z.

The aim of the project is to create a pan-European crowd-sourced movie while offering real people the opportunity to fulfill the specific personal journeys they’ve always wanted to make.

The film will make its debut in unique simultaneous location and virtual premières at 20:00 (UK time) on 21 July.

People in several European countries have been encouraged to submit their dream journeys to www.liveeverylitre.com, where the general public could vote on them.

The best have been chosen to be fulfilled, and the crew have been on the road for a few weeks with the winners realising their dreams - whilst blogging, uploading videos to the Live Every Litre YouTube channel and using Facebook and Twitter on the road.

The selected journeys range from a burlesque artist “Agent Lynch” who brings Paris to a stand-still with the world’s first guerrilla burlesque routine in the streets of the capital to three lads from London who wanted to try and sail a bouncy castle across Lake Garda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_aE07D2-nI

2010-07-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

As discussed in the previous blog, one element of good advertising is involving and shareable content. Here are a couple of billboard ads with a difference – interactivity. This makes them really stand out, with fun and entertaining ideas bought to life in the outdoor arena allowing for all to see, and ultimately interact with the brand.

McDonald's Piccadilly Circus Sign

Located in one of London’s busiest and most photographed locations, McDonald's have recently launched a new interactive sign where passers-by can interact with images displayed on a giant LED screen. More can be seen here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjVYVQOOJA8

Nikon Interactive Billboard

Nikon mounted a huge interactive, light-box billboard at a busy Seoul subway station displaying life-like images of paparazzi. The “paps” huddle together competing for the best celebrity snap – the celebrities being passers-by who’s attention is grabbed by the flashing camera lights as they walk past the billboard. Walking down a red carpet the whole way out of the station, the accidental superstars end up inside a mall – directly into the store where they can purchase the new D700. Voila!

2010-06-22T01:08:00.000-07:00

The World Cup as always brings its colossal TV audiences. ITV for example boasting almost 20 million for England’s opening game with the USA. It’s no wonder that everyman and his dog (well those with the bottomless pockets to snap up such prime time commercial opportunities) creates an advert for such an occasion. Even if England's World Cup campaign may be proceeding according to a familiar narrative on the pitch – swinging between wild optimism and crushing disappointment.

We are often asked by our clients about the problems of ad avoidance – sky +, pop up blockers etc etc. However, these ads show that if involving, shareable and entertaining content is produced then consumers will actively seek out your advertising message. A few years ago as many people would see a good ad as a bad one. Now many, many more will see a good ad, and many will actively avoid the bad ones.

Below are 3 current ads that have started many discussions within the agency over the last week or so…

social media refresh

2010-05-10T01:19:00.001-07:00

brand utility - a useful guide

2010-05-05T09:21:00.001-07:00

A useful guide to the brand utility

View more presentations from Ingmar de Lange.

telling stories

2010-04-28T06:21:00.001-07:00

As much as I like this....

I can't help thinking it was influenced by this

we're hiring

2010-04-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

Guess what, we're on the lookout for an exceptional individual

Yes, that's right - we're growing quickly and therefore have a fantastically exciting opportunity for a graduate or media exec looking to shine at a leading London based media agency.

If you'd like to know more about the role please email jobs@adconnection.co.uk

the web wasn't built with ad breaks

2010-03-31T01:46:00.000-07:00

Heard a lot of good stuff about bud caddell and mike aruz's talk at SXSW. here it is in all it's glory.

Web Video Thunderdome: Branded vs Unbranded, You Decide – 2010 SXSW Interactive

View more presentations from Bud Caddell.

a life of gaming

2010-03-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

a nice idea but a couple of questions:

- is there a problem to solve in the first place?

- will this make the process more time consuming than it already is?

- Do people want to sign up to another social network? don't they want to simplify their digital socialising bringing it into one space?

- people will still leave the site to google locations if they haven't heard of them where they will be confronted with a mixture of aggretagated amateur reviews and foodie/journo reviews - how could the site get round this issue of inefficiency?

games and the real world

2010-03-08T00:48:00.001-08:00

A few blogposts/speeches have really grabbed my attention this week and got me thinking about the number of routes open to us given what we're now realising is possible through advances in digital technology. Thinking about the future is an amazingly provocative and exciting prospect to the point that it's easy to forget it's actually us that's building it, one TED conference, blogpost or moment of self conscious behaviour change at a time. I guess the thing is though, is that yes it's true that it's us who builds the future but I don't mean those folks who work in tech, product development or consumer insight alone but instead those people combined with the members of society who adopt new behaviours as a result of the opportunities put in front of them. Sometimes these opportunities are in the first place crowdsourced ideas that originate not from a brand or think tank but instead in someone's bedroom.

Jesse Schell is a man I've never heard of before yesterday but after a little digging when watching his extraordinary speech at Dice 2010 I found found out he was one of the worlds leading figures in computer game design. It's not hard to see why, his slightly awkward but amazingly engaging presentation style soon revealed he had been thinking hard about what the hell is going on in the world of gaming and what wider implications it could have for brands and behaviour change.

He put the success of such things like Penguin Club, Mafia Wars and Farmville down to a series of clever psychological insights that showed these, on the surface of it, quite simplistic games understood human needs within an increasingly digital world. Somewhere in there was a fundamental change, we weren't looking to games to escape from the mundanity of physical life to instead go and shoot people in a fictional world , we were using these games to increase the amount of real human interaction. That's the thing about these games, although in a digital space, they are offering a real world connection usually with our 'friends' or 'followers'- it's proved amazingly powerful: Farmville now has more users than there are twitter accounts (I almost fell off my chair when he said that).

So there is a real world connection and once you start thinking about this, you see it everywhere. People want authenticity, a story and something that connects them back to the real world. Spending an increasing amount of time within the digital sphere has started to feed into an insecurity that they're losing grip with the real world - the one with mountains and other stuff where you are expected to know how to change a tire, put up a tent in under 10 minutes and cook good crispy roast potatoes.

The more I think about it my consumption habits have become increasingly digital but at the same time follow this trend - I've gravitated towards brands who give me the story and philosophy behind the product I'm buying and make me feel part of something (recent trivial example: bought a pair of howies trousers only to realise that sewn into the inside of the waistline were the words - 'always make tea out of a pot'). Brands such as Howies and Rapha are so involved in their approach to their worlds that they run lectures, festivals, write magazines and ultimately give people like me the chance to feel more real. I love them for it and incidentally spend more time than ever on their site going through all the videos and articles.

Jesse Schell rightly thinks we're going to a world where gaming will become a social norm, cycling rather than driving will score you points with TFL and drinking Doctor Pepper five times a week will mean good old Dr Pepper will start offering you perks and discounts as you climb up the leaderboard ahead of your fellow fizzy drinking rivals.

So what will come out of this increasing need for connection back to the real physical world? hopefully there will be a few things - useful post digital stuff like the newspaper club, more brands and organisations using games to change behaviour and as Umair Haque stated in a great post a few weeks ago a transformation in a companies end game - instead of being great, they need to focus on being good and actually try and explain their purpose and how it fits into the real world.

Frank Chimero boils this very eloquently in a recent blog entry...

I want you to produce real, valuable, lasting objects and services that allow me to be social with the people I care about. Let me be loved by the people who love me, and let me love those that I love. Sell things that help me to express my identity and nourish my curiosity. Make things that utilize my propensity use tools and to play, my need for accomplishment and my delight in completion. Let me make something. Let me connect, let me excel, let me feel something and let me finish. Let me be a human being.

Might have to print out that quote and stick it on the wall at work.

social media check up

2010-03-02T01:23:00.001-08:00

Global Social Media Checkup

View more presentations from Burson-Marsteller.

facebook 6 years on

2010-03-01T07:45:00.001-08:00

shaun white + red bull = even better

2010-02-23T02:37:00.000-08:00

just amazing

Buzz reaction

2010-02-15T06:43:00.001-08:00

Expectations and excitement were always going to be at feverpitch levels when Google finally admitted that real time sharing was a big deal for them. Google Buzz was the result and far from wowing the masses, it has proved to be one of the most devisive tech launches in recent memory.

Here are three must read articles, all taking a different stance on the search giants strategic move towards territory owned primarily by Facebook and Twitter

Mashable investigate in detail how Buzz is going to change things (and tackle the privacy issue in the process

The Guardian decide that Google have stepped over the line going for lowest of all possible insults, a comparison with Microsoft

Molly Wood wonders how Google could not learn from the various privacy errors Facebook has made over the past few year

remixing

2010-02-15T01:21:00.000-08:00

Matt Sadler, author of the excellent blog infomagination recently made a point about the utilisation of content in relation to Pogos mash up/remix/notquitesurewhattocallit of the Pixars 'Up'. It's one of those pieces of content that simultaneously reminds you of the cleverness and emotiveness of the film whilst taking the 'up' brand in a new direction and potentially to a wider sub audience.

I completely agree with Matt that it's a neglected area within the wider sphere of brand communication and deserves more interrogation from the brand in question - whether they're an animation house, crisp brand or rather outdated male cologne. With regards to the latter, surely this ad is ripe for the you tube video response treatment? (Within my own little world, I have see three separate friends share this in the past 24 hours- all via different methods)

So why aren't more brands using these kind of strategies to trigger the emotional touchpoints previously reached with past work? well I think there are a couple of key points.

The new work assumption

A misguided assumption that new work must equal um...new work. Just look at Google did during the superbowl. They ran with a piece of emotive storytelling that had already been in the ether since November 19th 2009 (on another note, a very interesting way of using You Tube to gauge the reaction to a piece of content before using paid for media).

Does the brand have permission?

Just like with music or publishing, some brands don't have the permission from the public to do the greatest hits / look back thing (think about Rooney bring out an autobiography at 21 or a one hit wonder band doing a greatest hits) - to a certain sector of the crowd it may seem wrong - does this matter? I'm not sure...with regards to those two industries I've always thought an artist / person has to have enough of a story to tell before they can launch into this kind of thing.

Progress, not an abrupt halt

Any recap needs to avoid any insinuation from it's fans that the brand has run out of ideas and has instead decided to give itself a self congratulatory pat on the back (a kind of self regulated bonus - something we know doesn't go down too well). A recap therefore needs to be a slowing down rather than an abrupt halt, the important bit is that the brand is still adding value to the relationship with the viewer and displaying progression towards something better in terms of what they offer.

Loads more to think about on this but there are my thoughts so far, I'll leave you with my favourite recap / set of highlights which for my money has spawned an unlikely star and potential mini series. Introducing King Curtis...

and here are a few more interesting thoughts courtesy of Helge Tenno's tumblr...

data.gov.uk

2010-02-12T04:47:00.001-08:00

Big step in the right direction for the government and the liberation of all that data out there. Here is the best article I've found on the subject written by Tim Berners-Lee himself.

Thought this excerpt was particularly poignant as to the function of the web and the opportunities that lie therein...

It's re-use of data in new - and often unexpected - ways that creates both social value and opportunities for economic growth. It's not our job to say where data might be useful; it's our job to unleash it and allow businesses and independent developers to build innovative services which they can then deliver to users. That's the story of technology through the years - and the way the World Wide Web itself has grown over the last twenty years.

c/o of shawn allen

This all feels very relevant given that I had my bike nicked by some reprobate this week. Could we use the data that I then supply to insurance companies and the police in a genuinely beneficial way? I'm going to write a note to each person in my block telling them to watch out (or something like that - haven't quite worked out the editorial tone) but wouldn't it be cool if a letter or email was automatically generated once a month with the crime stats visualised in the area that could then be explored further on a hyperlocal website which linked into the bigger national picture. People would vcertainly feel a lot more connected to the community they lived in if they were given the tools to find out more and interact in a way that suited them.

The whole thing makes me want to get on the blower to these guys and start briefing them, just need to find a willing client...

bbc winter olympics

2010-01-25T06:10:00.001-08:00

great new idents from the beeb

data.gov.uk

2010-01-21T01:49:00.000-08:00

fourtet new album!

2010-01-19T06:55:00.001-08:00

we're always on the lookout for fresh ideas for the office stereo so you can imagine the delight when this cropped up...

There Is Love In You by Four Tet

courtesy of Ian Tait

You're a Brad Pitt fan I see...

2010-01-13T01:15:00.000-08:00

Came across this awesome infographic on the New York Times site courtesy of designer Stephen Gates today. Interesting on a number of levels,

Firstly it's my view that infographics are a great resource for the established content providors to differentiate themselves from the blogging masses, they're interactive, easy on the eye and work whether the reader is just browsing or looking to explore on a deeper level. Surely the introduction of the much gossiped about tablet will excel their importance in both the physical and digital spheres.

Secondly, Netflix deserve a pat on the pack for having the foresight to put together something like this - they could have quite easily (as so many brands do) sit on a whole pile of data and do nothing with it

Thirdly - given the level of insight this infographic offers us into New Yorks DVD rental habits there is so much potential for the next level of brand communication to play on the funner side of this or look to create bespoke communication based on each postcodes differing habits (e.g notice how Manhattan seemed to be obsessed with Mad Men but couldn't give a toss about anything Jack Black does). I can see the printing presses for the personalised (post digital moment - drum roll please) newspaper wurring into action as I type...

2010

2010-01-05T04:36:00.001-08:00

Things I'm looking forward to being part of / seeing happen / spectate from the sidelines

1) The general election and how the parties communicate with people

2) Hyperlocal - google goggles, streetview, GPS, QR codes - we've got the tools - how will brands and people use them

3) Digital paywalls - will they, won't they - a potential watershed moment in the history of the internet

4) Mobile - This is the year that Apples competitors finally arrived and it is on a ship named Android armed with smartphones.

4) Fires - lighting lots of them, seeing what works and resonates, tweaking, learning - reminding brands that they are always in beta

5) Google wave - someone will find a use for it beyond tweating 'who want's an invite?'

6) Post Digital - utilising the power of digital to make stuff in the real physical world. Aka - newspaper club, blurb.com, Russell Davies

7) Magazines embracing digital - think tablets, apps, Paul Morley redifining journalism to include text, video, podcasts and more focus on story telling

where the Japanese lead, others follow

2010-01-05T04:34:00.001-08:00

For me, the Japanese are leading the way on web design right now. Minimalist, lots of flash, simple navigation, incredible animation or photography.

Here are a few of my faves

via workup and leanmeanfightingmachine

Free at all costs

2009-12-22T03:14:00.001-08:00

I'm still in utter amazement how slow Time Out have been on this, to compound my disappointment they've brought onboard Smirnoff to brand the whole thing. This might make it free to the end user for the first 6 months and therefore help build up a loyal following who can activiely market the app to their friends but this does also erode what I think is one of the key strengths of the Time Out brand, it's impartiality.

Now I appreciate the commercial pressures of a traditional media company, relying on declining revenue from two key sources:

a) subscription and newstand readership of physical magazine

and

b) display advertising revenues (on and offline)

...but jumping into bed with a brand for a limited period in order to create a free app shows a little too much desperation in my view. Whilst 'free' does obviously play a part in creating a successfull app and take up in the short term, it is ultimately the utility that the app provides that will seal it's position in the app store chart in the long term. Don't get me wromg, I appreciate Chris Anderson's opnions on the subject but do we always need to strive towards free at all costs?

If we are to look at The Guardian's recent foray into the world of apps, we see a different approach. The Guardian are dogmatic about free online content but understand that there are environments where a consumer, who has a relationship with the brand, will be happy to part with their cash if they can see the brand is doing more than transferring content from the paper or website and creating something genuinely cool and useful for the out of home or on the underground context. Their range of iphone features seperate this digital offering from the site in a number of ways to offer a totally new experience for the Guardian reader - increasing the value and amount of interaction with the reader. It's still early days but I'm confident that the average Guardian reader will identify that the brand understands what the user does and doesn't want.

What I value both the Guardian and Time Out brands is that I ultimately trust what they say, if I'm looking for restaurant reviews or films to go and see I treat these sites as bastions of quality, intellingent comment. Suddenly teaming up with a drinks brand brings into question (for some) this impartiality and independence which most readers see as the core value of these two publishers.

Free is good, but should never be a sole aim, sweeping all else aside (core brand values included), can't Timeout see why they're the no 1 things to do site? it's because we trust them - this trust is the one thing that differenitates them from the competition, lose this and they're back on a level playing field with a number of inferior, younger competitors.

tiger vs jay-z

2009-12-17T07:52:00.001-08:00

how will magazines adapt to life in a digital world?

2009-12-17T07:43:00.001-08:00

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

2000 - 2010: splintering scenes and technology

2009-12-09T07:39:00.001-08:00

Panda Bear - Person Pitch, the surprise choice in Pitchforks top 10 albums of the decade

Just reading this Guardian piece debating whether Pitchforks 200 albums of the decade is a significant list that we should take note of. The answer for me from both a music fan and cultural observer angle is yes definitely. Those guys went beyond the guitar based music with the odd exception mindset that the NME and Q had to one where any album, whether it was from a Norwegian disco producer or Brooklyn 4 piece was listened to and assessed on a level playing field.

I've got to be thankful to them for some of my musical highlights: Clipse, Portishead, Grizzly Bear, Hercules and Love Affair, Mark Pritchards incredible 'feel the spirit' folk comp. Their level of music geekery is both completely impartial and unrivalled. They are the guys who spent sunday afternoon making mixtapes with the kind of attention to detail an ipod user wouldn't ever understand.

More intriguing than the who is in/out/massively overrated is the effect technology has had on what we've listened to. There seems to have been a splintering of tastes towards the second half of the decade as the information via digital platforms becase more accessible. This was the decade that the music industry changed from tour to promote cd to recorded music to promote tour and artist as a brand. As it became easier to find out about music beyond mainstream media channels (remember MTV anyone?) people went onto the web and explored - they came across sites like myspace and pitchfork and never looked back. The long tail theory for music at least has most certainly happened. This article in the Economist makes the point much better than I ever could, we've all seen the Kings of Leon reach world domination and know that bands no longer need a deal to get themselves out there, it's now the ones in the middle that face the biggest challenge in a splintering world.

This quote sums it up...

So what was so intriguingly odd about their top 10 albums of the noughties? I was immediately struck by the fact that seven of the albums were from 2000 and 2001, with one other record from 2002 and another from 2004. The only album from after the mid-decade point was Panda Bear's Person Pitch. Now what significance can be derived from this dense clustering (eight of the ten) of "greatest albums" in the first three years of the decade? You could interpret it two ways: firstly, music deteriorated as the noughties went on, or secondly, it grew harder and harder for people to reach consensus about which groups mattered, what records were important. The first scenario seems unlikely, so I'd have to go with the second. It resonates with how the decade actually felt: diasporic, scenes splintering into sub-scenes, taste bunkers forming, the question "Have you heard X?" increasingly likely to meet a shake of the head or a look of incomprehension

So there will always be the big hit making stadium touring mega stars. There is a human need to be part of something with other people and not all of us are prepared to spend hours geeking out online to find that swedish skiffle band to then go and check out in Mile End. We want human interaction, an excuse to be social and something that gives us an identity but there is a limit to the time and effort that we're prepared to put into it.

The big stars deserve every penny they get for holding onto their audience in a time when technology has created a profound change beyond 'the hit' - there is now a massive part of the market made up of splintering sub cultures, niches and groups all of whom can survive with very little corporate involvement of any kind.

Not a great time to be an A&R man, an incredible time to be someone with a good idea and a nack of communicating well with people.

Google Goggles

2009-12-08T05:13:00.001-08:00

keep it simple

2009-12-08T04:58:00.000-08:00

courtesy of raxraxrax

public spaces, interactivity and post digital ramblings

2009-12-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

This use of redundant street space is great. Phone boxes are part of our heritage yet if you see someone in one now you're convinced they're either cheating on their wife, plotting a terrorist attack or looking for some shrapnel in the rejected coins hole. It's definitely time for brands / the powers that be to reclaim the street and show they understand how technology has changed the we way we use these public spaces.

So how can we bring these iconic structures back to life, create usefulness and genuine value? The opportunities seem endless given their ubiquity, cosyness and the public affection for them. The recent resurgence in pop up shops looks like one avenue that could be explored.

I think the lesson here is that interactivity isn't exclusively digital, it's potential lies everywhere. This is a medium that is at it's best when it's two way communication rather than dictatorial and one way. I guess the risk summed up in that question: what if no one interacts? the answer to this is simple. It's a field of communication where aside from thorough research and intuitive planning, it must be understood that putting an idea into the public sphere involves the 'r' word. A great example of a campaign that nailed it was CP&B's Shocking Barack.

Here was Alex Bogusky's take on why the idea flew:

That’s the thing about this that’s so fundamentally different than anything that has even a tiny media buy connected. With media you know you’ll get something but here, there is a very real chance that absolutely nothing happens. Yet we were also confident that what we were doing mattered and that, maybe when something matters, it has a chance to get noticed.

Mark Earls nails it when he talked about lighting fires, don't get obsessed with the one big sexy idea, try stuff out, see what resonates and what doesn't and learn from it. Following this appraoch allows for a greater understanding of people like about you and what they don't, more importantly, it frees you from the shackles of focus groups, one way mirrors and bad sandwiches.

charging up the digital world

2009-12-01T02:51:00.001-08:00

If the world becomes increasingly reliant on digital and the number of devices in the house increase then we'd better find a way of understanding how we're going to power charge our lives.

Maybe 10 years ago...

2009-11-25T06:46:00.001-08:00

Whilst there are a few useful snippets in here that really jump out when you place the behavioural charateristics associated with the channels side by side, this chart does seem to be look at things from circa 1998.

The worrying thing is that it isn't, it's just appeared on boingboing today.

One great example of the ambiguity of TV has to be Channel 4's very recent decision to place all 4OD content within the brand new 'shows' section of Youtube. A fantastic resource that understands that people want good content to come to them in the places they hang out.

It's making less and less sense to silo departments in an agency context as content starts to flow like water between channels.

statistically...things are getting better

2009-11-20T07:36:00.001-08:00

I mentioned the tripartite view back in september, the difference between perception and reality with regards to the state of 'things'

Colin Drummond picked out this very useful infographic from new scientist which puts data into the equation.

There are obviously numerous metrics for measuring this stuff but what rarely happens in the context of news reporting or conversation is the emphasis on data relative to x years ago. Instead the now is mentioned usually with emphasis on this period we're living through being the most dramatic and extreme time since...um, the last one.

it makes now feel important, looking back it usually wasn't, just another day slowly progressing towards better very gradually.

The thing is though, people rarely think in terms of statistics. They think in terms of personal experiences, emotions, connections, stories and the information they are exposed to. We need to frame brand communication within this context, if brands can make utility rather than vacuous messages then maybe people will start to believe that things are getting better.

Monday morning inspiration...

2009-11-16T03:53:00.001-08:00

nothing like an entertaining clip to start the engine on a monday morning

Challenging Definitions

2009-11-15T05:25:00.001-08:00

Live music is on the up, it's now practical and easy to share your experiences in real time, people will always want to share stuff that they think is cool. The Flaming Lips understand this, why should a gig just be a stage with people on it playing music to a crowd with pint in hand when there is the opportunity for so much more?

Their recent gig at the Troxy, London challenged this definition - it became a 'remarkable' event for the levels of interactivity an psychedelic madness on display. People who were there obviously connected with it, my facebook newsfeed has seen a steady stream of pics, bad videos and energised status updates all praising Wayne Coyne and his band of merry men. They were rewarded with conversation and attention, the digital currency.

Respect to the band for thinking big and challenging the parameters

the difference between trends and insights

2009-11-11T04:33:00.001-08:00

If nothing else, Twitter is the most effective way of following trends in real time. It's like watching a brook turn into a white water rapid as ideas, topics, arguments gather or lose momentum amongst the connected world.

Here is a really cool visualisation of the world saying 'good morning'

GoodMorning! First Render from blprnt on Vimeo.

The thing is though, there is a stark difference between identifying a trend and identifying an insight or an opportunity for a brand to add value. Trends are merely patterns of behaviour and have little relevance to a brand unless they can be utilised.

Jer Thorp sums it up really nicely with the last line of his post on the project

"I’m guessing that in the hands of people with more than my rudimentary statistics skills, these kinds of data sets could tell us some interesting – and (heaven forbid) useful things."

So this is where the planner comes in, turning the noise into a fully functioning orchestra.

sort of revolution

2009-11-09T07:31:00.001-08:00

I think this clip (via mashable) illustrates the now quite famous Clay Shirky quote pretty well:

"A revolution doesn't happen when society adopts new tools. It happens when society adopts new behaviours"

doing vs saying (part 2)

2009-11-09T02:12:00.001-08:00

Think I'm pretty late on this but definitely worth mentioning as it ties in really nicely with the behaviour change ramble I posted last week where I talked about Katy and Rorys different takes on creating behavioural change for the better.

Volkswagen have created a platform for such thinking, a really refreshing find given the template that many car brands follow for shifting units (I once stayed in a hotel in the highlands where three seperate camera crews were filming car ads at the same time on pretty much the same winding roads)

I'm sure given the success of this, the brand will look to direct more of their thinking into this 'fun' realm.

Here is an example which would sure make me take the stairs...

hugh de winton

new office = a new place to scribble

2009-11-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to work out what the best thing about our new office is and I think I've finally come to a decision - it's the floor to ceiling white board space which dominates the board room. a great place to scribble it all down. here is our first attempt - somewhere in there is the makings of a great strategy.

doing vs saying

2009-11-03T01:56:00.000-08:00

Behaviour change is at the core of almost all brand communication briefs. The brand are trying to make something happen, simultaneously inspiring, differentiating and ultimately making a few quid.

I mentioned recently the need the need to do rather than simply say - suggesting that saying should be used to help people discover the doing. If there ain't much doing then the brand needs to go back to the drawing board and asks some big questions about who exactly the are.

On this topic two really interesting talks have broached on this subject from very different angles. On the one hand is Rory Sutherland, head honcho at the IPA who made a brilliantly entertaining talk at the recent TED conference in Oxford promoting the importance of perceived value as a behavioural change mechanism (the diamond Shreddies example feels like it came from deleted Nathan Barley episode).

Katy Lindemann of Naked Communications talked of the need for play at this years Playful event (really wish I could have gone - looked great), it is after all at the root of learning. This approach entails a need to put something out there, but places the thing that is out there as a product or idea in beta, not finished but ready to be improved by the people the brand is trying to connect with through collaboration . The play bit is the learning and the value, combine this with a sense of connection with other people and you hit two key human needs - fun and social interaction.

Make it easy for the idea to spread and the most vital connection between people will happen.

If big organisations did follow this mantra of Katy's we could all be having a lot more fun and reading a lot less 'research' or top down communication that ignores our need to smile and ultimately have fun. Feels so weird that we should forget sometimes what seems so obvious.

Playful 09 - Gamechanging & Change Through Play

View more presentations from Katy Lindemann.

hugh de winton

it happens when no one is watching...

2009-10-28T03:48:00.001-07:00

Great interactive outdoor from Amnesty International

speed, honesty and fairness, that's all we ask

2009-10-16T08:07:00.001-07:00

Fascinating day so far watching two stories unfold...

1. Jan Moir

Mail journalist has the audacity to speculate that Steven Gately's death was not the result of natural causes, blindly ingnoring the coroners verdict in a bid to push her homophobic agenda. Twitter erupts, facebook follows suit and now messrs Brooker and Greenslade are all onboard writing articles. The pressure is well and truly on all in a matter of hours.

2. TFL

Blogger notices elderly gentleman being manhandled by TFL staff. Blogs about it, gains traction - public appalled. Terrible timing given that Boris put the costs of London transport up yesterday. TFL respond within a matter of hours via You Tube and promise full response asap.

What has struck me has been the speed with which things have happened in both narratives. From initial snowballing to widespread public denunciation can be a matter of minutes given the technology available.

All eyes on the Mail to see what they will do. The last time I checked the Jan Moir hashtag, there was 1014 tweets in last 29 minutes. If this carries at the same speed for the rest of the day, The Mail will have achieved a quite respectable 10,000 negative comments from the public in one day. Even by the this papers standards this is good going.

hugh de winton

Jan Chipchase

2009-10-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Jan Chipchase is an intriguing man. On the one hand he's probably got one of the coolest jobs in the media / tech / strategy as head of research at Nokia design, obviously a very intelligent, intuitive bloke with a unique understanding of how we all operate. On the other hand he specialises in a particular line of stating the bleeding obvious, travelling around the world before uncovering news that phones are as important as keys and wallets. Here he is in 2007 at TED...

So until the other day, I wasn't particularly overwhelmed with his work. This all changed however when I took a good look at the speech he made at the PSFK organised good ideas salon, a meeting for some of todays more interesting thinkers.

Here are the ten key insights Jan shortlisted, look beyond point one (yes, I did indeed cringe) and there is some real goodness in there:

* Keys, money, and a cellphone are the three most important things that people will carry with them. This puts cellphones in the category or items required for survival.
* Universities don’t always turn out the best researchers. Chipchase always ensures that those traveling with him have the mental and emotional capacity to support their ‘book intelligence’ with ’street intelligence’.
* Global brands effect spaces in which those brands have not reached. An example of Afghanistan’s very own Kabul Friend Chicken was given, wherein the same logo and brand colors were used for a restaurant mimicking the fast-food chain.
* There will be a generation of people that will have their entire life translated into data. This data will be fed into services and products that attempt to guarantee their satisfaction and personalized relevancy.
* Limitations spawn innovation
* The cone of uncertainty is also the cone of opportunity
* Interesting does not mean relevant
* History is not absolute
* Everyone has a story to tell, but not always a space to tell it
* Human behavior changes slowly

For me, I think he's really touched on something with 'interesting does not mean relevant'. Ideas are central to good brand communication but it doesn't end here. There's plenty of interesting stuff, relevance in this context equals benefit and therefore value. I'll look to explore this territory over the coming weeks

over and out

Hugh de Winton

RG/A: Technology and Platforms

2009-10-12T09:47:00.001-07:00

Great stuff from Bob Greenberg (Chairman, CEO & Chief Creative Officer) & Barry Wacksman (EVP, Chief Growth Officer) of RG/A. It's a little long but well worth it if you've got a spare 37 minutes and 56 seconds.

Two points

1. Technology

Maybe it was just their smooth talking and powers of persuasion but I definitely took out of it that as the digital world develops and grows at the continually alarming pace, it is those agencies that are structured with technologists at the heart of it that will create the most succinct and in tune work.

On another note, it will definitely be easier for these agencies to (for example) move into TV spot advertising and steal work from traditional agencies than it will be for traditional agencies to restructure to develop and create digital platforms. Technology is now at the heart of what we do - agencies need to reflect this.

2. A Role For Campaigns

A second and to me central point to 'the future' is the role of the campaign (I wrote about it here). Their importance is definitely waning but perhaps here we have found an answer as to how they will work within the new continual beta context within which we are now entering. Simon Kemp and I discussed this briefly recently, whilst a platform/idea/or new brand strategy might be a irresistible and an automatic cue to start booking tables at every award ceremony going, the campaign is what pushes this platform and enhances discovery. Without this key step, the brand and agency fail to achieve the potential value. So, in conclusion, let's talk about campaigns as the key to discovery and stepping stones that go on top of the platform, not instead of.

hugh de winton

New Launch - Stylist

2009-10-07T03:15:00.000-07:00

Picked up the launch issue of THE STYLIST - the new weekly free magazine handed out on the tube in London from the publishers of SHORTLIST. It will be out every Wednesday complimenting the Shortlist on Thursday and Sport on Friday.

What did I think of it? As with Shortlist, very professional, some excellent in-depth journalism and complimented with stylish big name advertisers.

But there was a nagging doubt. Just as I find it patronising that Shortlist is only handed out to men and targets that audience, the stylist perpetuates the old fashion myths that women just want babies and only work to go shopping. It is a shame in this modern age where we should be defined by music, hobbies, interest not gender or race that a publishing vehicle exists to enhance these stereotypes further.

Granted, there are hundreds, thousands of female only magazines, but would like to think these have moved on from what to cook for your husband or how much time we spend putting our make up on.

So, good female audience for reaching the young, urban London Market, but a bit more inclusive editorial to show the advertisers in a good light.

Online overtakes TV as largest sector

2009-09-30T03:20:00.000-07:00

Picture courtesy of the guardian

The big news of today has to be the online overtaking television to become the biggest advertising sector in the UK market. Not only is this news evidence of the ferocious growth of the online industry but it also points to the UK's pioneering position on the worldwide map as the first major economy to see this shift in power happen.

The milestone marks a watershed for the embattled TV industry, the leading ad medium since the 1960's when it so famously became the channel of choice above press for many of the major brands of the day. The resulting years have produced iconic ads, characters and national institutions yet it's dominance has been eroded by the ongoing fragmentation of the media landscape and move into an increasingly mobile and digital world.

Should we really be as surprised as many of the media news sources seem to be? afterall, we've seen these macro trends for sometime now displaying TV viewing in the traditional, family in the living room setting, decline year after year. My feeling is that we shouldn't - it's a largely predictable news story when it's taken into account how many hours individuals spend on the two media channels. It would be wrong however to see this news as 'bad' news for the TV industry - afterall it is simply not the case that we can draw a clear line between what is TV and what is online. If you are to look at a popular TV show now - it will start on one of the two channels but converge across both to where that audience is. it will take in TV channels, interactive websites, twitter feeds, facebook pages, youtube channels, sky+ offerings and additional red button extras.

In this respect advertisers have never had so many options, surely that's not a bad thing, it's just rather daunting and therefore requires very careful planning and expert opinion to ensure marketing budgets reach the right audiences at the right times with the most relevant message.

visualising data

2009-09-28T08:54:00.001-07:00

there has been an explosion in the amount of data visualisations coming through at the moment, have to admit I've found almost all of them via people cleverer that me on twitter.

here are a few of my favourites. got me wondering when we're going to start see the cleaner end of these designs being used in the world of brand communication.

three interesting sites to check

flowing prints

geopanch

good.is

hugh de winton

(oh) dear lily

2009-09-28T04:20:00.001-07:00

Dan Bull's brilliant reposte to Lily's recent anti-piracy rants.

The content, channel, tone and mash up choice are all the evidence you need as to why Lilly's arguments are so futile in todays environment. As Dan says, it's about readjusting your sails and letting the wind (read audience) take you.

if you google 'lily allen piracy' this video is second up on the organic listings, there you go the power of the web - if only lily understood this (but then again she surely does?)

Hugh de Winton

start with nothing

2009-09-24T02:38:00.000-07:00

i think this is a really interesting thread and could be a very positive step for the ad industry if adopted. i previously wrote about it here...and here

Context, Value & The New Marketing Economy

View more documents from Helge Tennø.

courtesy of helge tenno

A great starting point for any activity should be the notion that the communication / idea / campaign / product or service that the brand is trying to communicate is completely valueless until placed in the correct context. When this relevance is achieved, only then is value created.

the key bit here though is that it's no longer exclusively up to the brand to place the brand in the right context, it's a collaboration with the audience. If that initial idea isn't strong enough then ideas suddenly have to get shoehorned into channels and lose credibility

If we always started with this approach, I think we'd see a lot less intrusive or irritating brand communication. The very thing that serves no purpose to anyone and erodes trust in brands across the board.

hugh de winton

alex bogusky on planning

2009-09-23T03:10:00.001-07:00

5% - not such a bad stat?

2009-09-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

There have been quite a few misleading and confused headlines recently talking about how only 5% of those surveyed would pay for online news. This stat is automatically talked about as a paltry, minute percentage that won't even get near to saving the newspaper industry from the impending doom. My viewpoint is that the future is brighter than that being portrayed should these stats be correct.

3 points:

- It's as if there was an expectation that people would say they were happy to pay for something that they currently get for free. Of course that was never going to be the case. We shouldn't be surprised in the slightest by the stat.

- 5% is actually a reasonable amount and could potentially create a viable model if there is enough extra value / content behind the paywall. 5% of 2 million unique users is 100,000.

- The BBC will always be a player in this debate. It's presence has create a need for innovation from the newspapers, all we've got right now is aggression and bitterness mainly from the father and son combo over at Newscorp.

Hugh de Winton

87 cool things

2009-09-22T01:55:00.001-07:00

Paradox of choice

2009-09-21T03:59:00.000-07:00

An experience whilst shopping for jeans, inspired Barry Schwartz to explore the concept of 'choice' and it's effect on consumer satisfaction.

In brief, he concludes that consumers are less content with their purchases, and with life in general, due to the plethora of choices that they are forced to make. The implication being, that if you are not happy with your choice, as a consumer, you feel it is your fault. You could have done better - you should have made a better choice. Ironically though, society still lauds 'choice' as a positive thing. People go to stores because they have a large selection, or wide range.

The result of this disconnect, he reports, is that the likelihood of people to participate in / act on something is directly proportional to the number of decisions that they have to make in order to take part, whether it be buying a product or opting in to a service. The more choice, the less the response.

From an action point of view, does this mean that a product has to give the impression of giving consumer choice, but in actual fact, make the decision for them? If this is the case, then it suggests that branding is as important as ever. Also, any assistance in store is invaluable, supporting the strong role that BTL still has.

Although a consumer might think they appreciate the full range of sauces in the supermarket, they're only ever going to leave with Heinz Ketchup.

digital to physical

2009-09-08T08:39:00.001-07:00

You can probably tell by now that I'm a fan of blogs. I read a load of them, write my own and seem to find myself evangelising about them during times when I really should be doing other stuff. It's an online platform but my thoughts exist across every platform, there feels as if there is some of this stuff (well a few bits) that deserve ink and paper and a greater sense of permanance.

If twitter is a constant stream of babble, self promotion and the occasional nugget and the blog is the work in progress, inviting the wider audience to collaborate and improve, the book represents an invite into the physical finite world of stability and permanance. This move from the digital to physical creates value, it's the LP compared to the MP3. For aslong as we talk digital we need to remember the spark that can be created when these same ideas can be transported into the physical world.

As our world becomes increasingly digital, this is an area with ever increasing potential. As the cloud fills up and our shelves empty I think there will be a nostalgia for the days of piles of records, books and other stuff that seemed to define you.

Here are a few sites / stories / ideas on the subject

- Blurb.com - site allowing bloggers to transform their hard work into a beautiful looking book

- top blog it's nice that turns blog into mag

- Springwise spots a trend to create personalised magazines

Hugh de Winton

Nice try but it aint dying, it's changing

2009-09-08T02:42:00.001-07:00

I posted recently about all this apocolyptic chat going on amongst those willing on the death of 'advertising'.

It might make a good headline and fair enough who doesn't want to have a rant about the amount of bad advertising out there but announcing the imminent extinction of something like this is ridiculously far fetched.

Now I know this article from jeff Goodby is in Ad Age but take the time to read and digest it. We just all need to calm down a bit and work out what's important.

Goodby has written this as a response to Garfields 'Chaos Scenario' - well worth a read. In fact, Garfield reminds me of some of the characters featured in Jon Ronson's wonderful book 'them'

I guess the theme is adworld isn't dying, it's changing and most importantly this change has made advertising a very exciting place to be for the very large majority of people who work somewhere within it.

Hugh de Winton

Murdoch's plan doesn't come together

2009-08-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

Not long after Murdoch announced his intentions to charge for content, his evening freesheet, The London Paper, closes.

Despite maintaining a regular circulation of half a million, the afternoon free newspaper was making considerable losses of around £16million year after year and the decision to close was announced yesterday.

High operating costs and a competitive marketplace have made survival difficult for the London Paper and London Lite, and are quoted as the reason for the closure, although speculation is that this is first blood from Murdoch’s ambitious scheme to charge for all content across the News International portfolio.

Furthermore, it looks likely that Murdoch will be flexing his considerable media muscles to persuade other titles to follow suit, to fireproof his controversial move. The real stumbling block though, will be the BBC.

Whilst this does not signal the end of free media and content, it does illustrate the fact that content providers are going to have to work hard to invent more revenue channels, without ruining the reader’s experience.

Chris Anderson, author of ‘Free’ and editor in chief of Wired magazine, talks about this three-party system. In this he notes that ‘a third party pays to participate in a market created by a free exchange between the first two parties.’ In essence, the London Paper is not selling papers to readers, but readers to advertisers.

The issue is that they are not generating enough revenue through selling traditional advertising space. Rather than ditch the brand, they should be looking at other non-traditional ways to fund the enterprise.

ideas, campaigns and all that

2009-08-19T07:32:00.001-07:00

There is nothing wrong with the big idea, it gives brand communication clarity, coherence and if all goes well a consistent and unique brand identity. Mark Earls recently argued it's declining in importance as markets and brand communication moves more towards two way conversations, why take the risk on one key insight when we can create content and push numerous ideas and distribute them at a very low cost, he said. We'll soon see what people react to and what resonates - from this we can develop phase two developing a conversation based on the learnings, all the time building relationships.

My thoughts on the matter focus more on the concept of a campaign - the very word seems to indicate a start and end date, a wrap party and a board meeting where everyone is held to account and dealt with accordingly. This is not how the rest of the world operates. People have identities, they morph, get influenced and have idiosyncrasies which we can choose to love or hate. People now expect their brands to operate in much the same way, if a brand invites you to participate, it should not be from date x to date y but instead be seen as a connection that will developed and elevated.

The idea is the most important thing but for me, of almost equal importance is the approach the brand takes to world of individuals it is about to communicate with. Do not put an end date on it, be ready to redevelop that idea having listened to what they're saying, create varieties on it. Show that you've moved beyond 'campaigns' and understand they couldn't care less which campaign you're currently working on. Light fires but only do so if you're prepared to elongate the conversation and understand it's the start of something that might not have a foreseeable end date.

Hugh de Winton

strategy explained

2009-08-18T07:13:00.001-07:00

it's nice when you come to the end of a long day and you find a quote that just nails it...

"The Japanese don’t use the term “strategy” to describe a crisp business definition or competitive master plan. They think more in terms of “strategic accommodation,” or “adaptive persistence,” underscoring their belief that corporate direction evolves from an incremental adjustment to unfolding events. Rarely, in their view, does one leader (or a strategic planning group) produce a bold strategy that guides a firm unerringly. Far more frequently, the input is from below. It is this ability of an organisation to move information and ideas from the bottom to the top and back again in continuous dialogue that the Japanese value above all things. As this dialogue is pursued, what in hindsight may be “strategy” evolves. In sum, “strategy” is defined as “all the things necessary for the successful functioning of organisation as an adaptive mechanism."

.......Richard T. Pascale (1984). “Perspectives on Strategy: The Real Story Behind Honda’s Success," California Management Review

exteme sports society

2009-08-14T02:13:00.000-07:00

we're loving the new viral from microsoft, you really have to do a double take to realise it's the result of some very clever post production.

Megawoosh
by jeffdu74

Media Salesperson of the Quarter, Q2 2009 - Mind The Curb

2009-08-12T02:25:00.000-07:00

Anthony,Ry and Paul from Curb

Hugh from AdConnection presenting Anthony with his prize.

AdConnection says about Curb:
Curb have been great at all stages of the campaign. From initial planning to implementation, there has been transparency, speed and attention to detail. This was all massively important considering it was our first foray into the world of street stencils. Thanks to Anthony and all the team.

Curb says about AdConnection:
We were thrilled to be able to work with AdConnection and wagamama on their first ever clean advertising campaign. The flexibility and highly targeted nature of the media meant that we were able to directly target high footfall areas around the specific locations and as a direct result of the campaign we have planted 120 trees in the developing world."

RIP John Hughes

2009-08-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

Freeloading should be encouraged.

2009-08-10T06:46:00.001-07:00

'freeloading' is often used to describe someone getting and using something for free. When applied to media, brand communication or advertising in some form the definition is often skewed and misused - usually put in a negative, head shaking context at the lack of money being exchanged.

Going along to an event for free, sampling free music, spending 15 minutes freely viewing something is not 'freeloading'. That content creator is winning the battle in the attention economy, that is, as long as they can work out how to monetise this attention they earnt further down the line.

Participation is the first step, not the horrible vagueness of 'awareness'

'freeloading' is an archaic and outdated term for the days of top down, sales at all costs brand communication.

we're now in a time where we should be actively encouraging freeloading within the right parameters.

digital stuff

2009-08-06T10:13:00.001-07:00

new cohen brothers!!!!

2009-08-06T09:17:00.001-07:00