It’s time to reveal something we’ve kept a bit of a secret over the past few months.

For Powwownow, one of our clients, Base One created - and starred in - a series of viral movies aimed at creating a buzz around the Powwownow brand.

The videos were filmed as if they were real CCTV footage retrieved by Powwownow, depicting office workers using unique ways to ‘repurpose the meeting room.’

One video showed a clumsy secret golfer putting the end of his golf club through a wall, one starred some sneaky office workers playing table tennis on the meeting room table while another starred a couple having a romantic liaison under the meeting room table.

So far the videos have had thousands of downloads on video sharing sites such as YouTube, Daily Motion and Facebook - and view counts continue to grow, months after they were uploaded.

They’ve even sparked up a bit of debate on the comments section of YouTube and on Twitter. The more web savvy viewers weren’t fooled: they were quick to point out that videos were all viral marketing, not real CCTV footage. Others weren’t so sure. And whether they thought the clips were real footage or not, judging by many of the comments and the amount of views to date, the viewing public certainly found them amusing.

And that’s what they’re about, really: a bit of fun.

But as well as being great fun to make, the videos go to show that you don’t need a big budget and a host of stars to make waves online. Just a simple concept backed up by some well executed and edited video recording made this viral campaign such a success. People who hadn’t previously heard of Powwownow started talking about the brand and traffic to the Powwownow site steadily increased as the popularity of the videos grew.

So watch out, Hollywood! The time of the viral stars has come.

Watch the videos for yourself on Powwownow’s YouTube channel.

Download the latest Designers Block here

Why Designers Block?

Well, you've heard of writer's block? Well, designers get it, too - or something very similar. After all, although we may call ourselves 'creatives,' it doesn't mean we can be a conveyor belt of ideas for 365 days of the year. Sometimes it just won't happen, no matter how hard you force it.
 
I find the best way to overcome designer's block is to take a while to appreciate what has gone on before. Usually just enjoying someone else's work is enough to give me that 'lightbulb moment' of my own.
 
Which is why I started Designers Block, a collection of all the work that from one time or another has inspired me and opened my mind to brand new ways of working.
 
What can you expect to find in Designers Block?

Anything and everything, really: all different media, styles and brands. I'll look at print, online, mailers, business cards and guerrilla marketing, from right across the globe, in the realms of both B2B and B2C.
 
Want to feature in Designers Block?

If you have any design of your own that you would like me to feature in Designers Block, please email me.
 
Or maybe you've seen someone else's work which has inspired you? By all means, send that to me, too. I'm always looking to find out more about design and how others work.
 
It doesn't cost anything. It's just got to be good.

Download the Designers Block PDF
 

Now, I admit that I am a little behind in the world of mobile technology…being in the non-iPhone-owner minority - for which I am regularly sneered at, I might add. But I am up there in the world of Social media - I have a Facebook page, I’m on LinkedIn, I have a page on Twitter (which I’ll admit I don’t use) and I am a regular email and web user. However, I am wondering when and why the use of all of these combined became acceptable within meetings or formal situations?

It’s something that has been increasingly bugging me over the past few months. I realise, in this day and age where every second of business time is precious, that the use of mobile technology has enabled us to keep in touch with colleagues/clients whenever required - but how is it ok to continue this mobile communication within meetings? It used to be bad form to take your mobile phone into a meeting unless there was a specific, urgent requirement to have it there. It was certainly bad form not to have it on silent. But the iPhone seems to have made it ok for old fashioned etiquette to be thrown out of the window. It has become acceptable to respond to the beep of an email or text message in the middle of a meeting - it has become ok to pick up calls. At a recent conference (granted, the subject was the use of online communities within B2B marketing), delegates were ‘twittering’ throughout. Which was fine - they were interacting with people unable to attend. But I couldn’t understand how they could genuinely give the speakers their full attention - I also wondered how off-putting it was for speakers to be presenting to people glued to their phones. At this point, I might add that the delegate in front of me spent a large amount of time checking his emails throughout the conference.

Perhaps I need to move with the times - I realise that having everything - emails, phone, calendar in one handy device is convenient - I even think that the apps you can buy are cool, but I still don’t like the fact that the iPhone seems to be taking away manners. Unless it’s a matter of life or death, is it really a problem to leave it for an hour? After all, surely productivity levels and efficiency are being compromised because we’re trying to do too much, too often? Is there too much expectation to multi-multi task thanks to the technology available? I’d be really interested in your comments - do I just need to get with the times and accept that all forms of communication are acceptable at all times?

I went to SES London a couple of weeks ago and I realise it's been a while & I should have blogged about it earlier but I've resorted back to that saying ('Old news is Good news') that has prompted me to blog about a session that stood out for me: 'Digital Media Meets Party Politics.' The session was led by Rishi Saha representing the Conservatives, Mark Hanson  for the Labour Party and Mark Pack  for the Liberal Democrats who all offered an interesting mix of opinions on how all three parties are interacting and engaging in online communities.

The Labour party actively pursues Twitter for a more direct approach and a blogsphere as they have a large group of Labour-supporting bloggers that have donated advertising space to their ventures.
The Tories (Conservatives) to my surprise have become a lot more focused and social media savvy. Before I heard the talk all I could remember was Cameron's "Too many Twits might make a Twat" so I was pretty impressed to hear that they've come a long way since then and are embracing Facebook, Twitter and Youtube and are focusing on communicating with their existing supporters through email.
The Lib Dems have utilised the key fundamentals of social media which is 'listening and interacting in order  to build relationships' and it's great to see that they are doing just that by using the social giant: Facebook.

Labour has a group of 4 people dedicated to campaigning online whilst the Tories have an impressive nine.  Lib Dems didn't specify but I would imagine that there were probably a couple of people dedicated to campaigning locally due to limited resources.

It's great to see that there is a lot more focus online as in the past all three political parties fought advertising wars. A great example that I want to remind you all about was Saatchi & Saatchi (1979)'Labour isn't working' campaign which ultimately propelled the conservatives campaign. Now the emphasis seems to be on building connections through a wider reach.

However, in today's world advertising appears to be dying out when compared to the digital/new media age.The digital hub is far more reactive and the nature of the online world means that this battle has become fast and furious. An example put forth by Kate Kaye from ClickZ News was the Mumsnet Ad where all three parties knew that their campaigns needed to be that much more targeted, reactive and persuasive having identified their key voters. This combined with a well-organised approach to other social media channels like Twitter and Facebook suggests that the battleground for the upcoming general election will not be the billboards, but the RSS Feeds, online communities and the blogs. It's all hotting up nicely.

In conclusion to a very resourceful session I am looking forward to the upcoming election as I would like to believe that the battle put forth by each political party will continue to be fought through social media techniques.  

You see these guys all the time in town [that's London, UK, for overseas readers]. I couldn't resist chatting to one the other day, to ask just what kind of ads I would get if I switched my Bluetooth on.

He took one look at my phone and shook his head. "Nahh mate. Doesn't work on iPhones."

So that's more than 50% of the market lost before they start. Nice idea, but without iPhone it's not really going anywhere, is it?

Everyone likes a good testimonial. Glowing comments straight from another customer give you confidence in the brand. If they enjoyed it, you'll enjoy it. A recommendation from a genuine customer is worth its weight in gold.

But we weren't born yesterday. User comments are exploited to the max by marketers. They are edited. They are quoted out of context. They are sometimes even made up.

This has raised the bar. It means that an average testimonial - while accurate - does nothing.A user comment has to be glowing in the extreme these days to make an impact.

Find the very best. Find the comments with 'wow' factor. Find comments that make a customer think "I'll have what he's having".

And don't do what they did outside the Revolution Bar in Richmond [see above and below].

Not long ago, we created our new Base One business cards. And they’ve already been causing quite a stir - both online and offline.

First, a little background…

Forming part of the Believe campaign, the Base One business cards feature the B-Boys - two B-shaped textured characters designed and given life by one of our talented graphic designers, Dan Osman.

For those who don’t know much about the Believe campaign, the aim was to get people talking. What about? Well, their beliefs, specifically: the things they wish they could achieve, no matter how far-fetched.

And this is exactly what the business cards aimed to do. As well as providing obvious standout value with their unique interactive design, they aimed to get people talking about what makes them tick. After all, you can often learn a lot about a person just by finding out about just one of their beliefs, no matter how personal or impersonal.

How did the business cards do this? Well, when you get given one for the first time, the design invites you to lift the B-Boy out of its perforated holding. Once removed, a belief specific to the Base One employee who gave it to you is revealed. It may be that person says they would like to believe that England are destined to win the World Cup. They might like to believe that good things come to those who wait. They may even believe that cheese won’t make them fat. Whatever the belief, it’s a belief held by them that they’d like to share. And, ultimately, it gives the two people something to talk about and a reason to get to know each other better.

But the cards haven’t just got the recipients talking. The web’s already buzzing with Base One business-card-related banter. The design has already featured on a variety of well-known advertising and creative websites and blogs, including Ads of the World, I’m Just Creative, That’s Nice Design, Advert Lover, Creative Boom and It Even Has A Watermark. Who knows where they could end up next?

Understandably, we’re pretty chuffed. Our mission was to get people talking and we’d like to think we’ve been successful.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the I Would Like To Believe site where you can see other people’s beliefs and even post your own.

Are you an honest marketer? Or would you say anything to promote your brand?

Personally, I think you don't have a choice these days.

The world of marketing is regarded as a fast-paced, dynamic and innovative profession, but I am often disheartened by the cynicism it is sometimes regarded with. To many people, we are clever tricksters looking to make a quick buck at any price. It's easy to see why our reputation has degenerated in this way over the past few decades, but things are changing....

About three weeks ago, following massive objections by working mothers, the Outdoor Advertising Association ordered the withdrawal of an outdoor campaign, the first creative of which read "Career women make bad mothers".

Naturally, as a career woman/working mother myself, you can imagine my initial reaction in seeing a billboard with such a slogan plastered all over London! But at this point I thought, 'NO, NO...I won't give in to this...it is clearly supposed to raise a storm and I won't give them (the 'creative' agency) the satisfaction of showing my anger...'

But then, a week ago, I went to a dinner party, and lo and behold, what was the subject that we debated and argued about for an entire hour and half? You guessed it. The time had come to speak out.

 

 

With the London Olympics on the horizon and the World Cup only a few months away, there are reams of evidence that we truly are a sports mad nation. Ever since I first worked on the Samsung brand, I came to realise just how sacred sports sponsorship can be to a company. The scrum for Chelsea tickets was a sight to see, and that's before their agencies got anywhere near them! This scene reverberated across many of my clients - Land Rover and English rugby, B & Q and sailing and Vodafone and cricket, the list goes on...