Archive for August, 2010
BBDO is the Most Awarded Network of the decade
Aug 31st
BBDO, the network which also owns creative shops including Clemenger, Proximity and AMV, has topped topped the YoungGuns Top 10 Most Awarded Networks of the past decade.
The award recognises BBDO’s position as the number one network in the world for emerging and young creatives.
The Top 10 Networks YoungGuns ranking identifies the global marketing groups that have produced the most awarded creative talent in the 10 years since the YoungGuns were founded.
BBDO has been consistently awarded over the nine years of YoungGuns, with 148 Bullets or finalist positions won.
Saatchi & Saatchi took second place in the ranking, followed by Leo Burnett, DDB and TBWA to round out the top five.
Over the next month, YoungGuns will release a number of other Top 10 rankings that celebrate young talent and the agencies that have nurtured them.
Last month, YoungGuns awarded the UK as the fourth most creatively rewarded country. third most creatively awarded country. The USA took away the top spot with New Zealand coming in second and Australia third.
The complete Top 10 Awarded Networks list is:
1 BBDO
2 Saatchi & Saatchi
3 Leo Burnett
4 DDB
5 TBWA
6 Ogilvy & Mather
7 Young & Rubicam
8 JWT
9 Publicis
10 Lowe
The UK’s digital Startup 100 champions
Aug 27th
This year’s Startups 100 list contains some of the UK’s most innovative companies, but its digital companies that have been the true heroes during a turbulent recession.
Startups 100 is the definitive countdown to the UK’s most innovative, inspiring and ground-breaking new companies.
The list is unashamedly unscientific in its methodology for this year’s Startups 100 – it represents the best, most exciting, promising, disruptive new businesses and entrepreneurs shaping the start-up market right now.
Top of the list is Huddle, one of the most successful tech companies to come
out of the UK in years.
Founded by Alastair Mitchell and Andy McLouglin, Huddle provides packages of project management and online collaboration software and, while there are many players in this market, has managed to gain a remarkable stronghold both in the UK and the US, securing some impressive blue-chip and public sector clients including Nokia, Panasonic, Kia Motors and the NHS.
Sara Rizk, editor of Startups.co.uk, said, “Huddle was an obvious choice to top this year’s Startups 100 list. In just a few years Alastair and Andy have created a market-leading brand with global reach. What these two entrepreneurs have achieved, supported by an enthusiastic, fast-growing team, is proof that world-beating technology companies are not the preserve of Silicon Valley. We’re incredibly proud to have them heading up our list.”
The list also contains other such digital champions including TweetDeck – a personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now, connecting users with their contacts across Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and more.
But most importantly, every single company on the 2010 list has felt the effects of launching during one of the most turbulent economic periods in modern history, says Rizk.
“For some it has presented unexpected challenges, while others have relished the opportunities the downturn has thrown up. The result is a list of companies and entrepreneurs to be proud of. The Startups 100 is made up of a truly eclectic group of businesses and entrepreneurs. On our list, global
brands sit alongside one-man bands in what we believe is an accurate reflection of the UK’s colourful, diverse and vibrant start-up community.”
To be eligible, businesses had to have started trading post January 2007 and demonstrate:
* Innovation, in concept or delivery
* Ability to disrupt existing market places
* Demonstratable growth potential
* Strong management, bright thinkers
* Evidence of existing or future revenues
Startups 100, selected by the startups.co.uk team, celebrates the 100 most exciting, promising, disruptive new businesses and entrepreneurs shaping the start-up market right now.
Here’s the full list: Read the rest of this entry »
Time’s top 50 websites champion the smaller players
Aug 26th
Time magazine has released its annual Top 50 websites feature and this year – unlike last year’s list – isn’t as predictable as you think.
In a sometimes strained bid to remove itself from the predictability of last year’s list – which included Google, YouTube, Facebook and Skype – Time magazine’s Top 50 Website’s of 2010 has opted to give some of the smaller hitters a boost in 2010.
By a boost we mean that the likes of Google, YouTube and Facebook didn’t even make the list.
YouTube rival Vimeo – a “respectful” community website of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos – made the number one spot -for being more intuitive than YouTube.
Gowalla was dubbed more fun than Foursquare and LinkedIn was rated as “informative without being intrusive, for opening the channels of communication without veering too casual or random, LinkedIn is the forum we still believe in,” according to the magazine.
WikiLeaks has made the top five News and Info list, but then again, so has The Onion.
The list is accompanied by the magazine’s own complementary piece, “The Five Most Overratted Websites”.
News Corp’s MySpace gets its regular pasting for not being innovative enough, while Craigslist is too boring, even for a classifieds listing.
The real interest is the vote against news aggregator slash social network Digg, criticised again for not keeping up with the likes of social networking heavyweight Facebook.
Here’s the full Top 50 list: Read the rest of this entry »
Google’s ‘streaming’ search engine – impressive but that’s about where it ends
Aug 25th
Google’s new streaming search engine will be well liked by users, but marketers are dubious of its benefits. Adam Bunn, head of SEO at Greenlight is one such marketer.
Google is supposedly testing a ‘streaming’ search engine which gives the searcher results even before they ask. Captured on video, the results pages can be seen to change according to the characters the enquirer types into the search box.
Google literally updates the results whilst the searcher is typing. According to Adam Bunn, Head of SEO at UK-based independent specialist search and social marketing agency Greenlight, although it is a very impressive demonstration of processing power, that’s about where it ends.
He said, “This is the second bizarre experiment we’ve seen Google try in the space of a few days, the first being the search engine results page (SERP) being dominated by one site. I’m dubious about the value it adds, and think if anything, people will be confused and turned off by it. Consequently, however Google is measuring success of this, the results probably won’t be positive enough to warrant rolling this out to all. In both cases I would be highly surprised if the experiment works.”
Adams notes the SERPS being dominated by one domain would obviously be big news if it happens, making brands searches that are dominated by one site all but pointless to target with SEO. However, he also stresses that the likelihood of Google rolling out either of these tests is low, and points out that Google does lots of tests all the time in its quest to improve the search experience.
“Given the number of tests Google conducts there are always going to be some that miss the mark,” he concludes.
See what campaigns have made the Social Media Hall of Fame
Aug 24th
From small companies to global organisations, social media campaigns are playing an increasingly important role in brand marketing. Now, social media agency Umpf has compiled a Social Media Campaign Hall of Fame.
The agency haslisted 54 of the world’s best social media campaigns, from iconic brands such as Coca-Cola, Ford, Nike and Nokia to lesser known names such as Ascendgence and DARPA.
Whether you’re one of the world’s superbrands or a small, local supplier, clever social media campaigns can help raise product awareness, increase sales, drive footfall, add fans, improve SEO and online visibility, or just make people think ‘cool, I like that company’, says Umpf.
The Social Media Campaign Hall of Fame is in no particular order and, as is the case with lists like this, there’ll be great campaigns you love that are not yet listed, says the Umpf blog.
This is not a list of the campaigns that have the most followers/biggest fan base/most views. It’s about doing creative, interesting campaigns. And, of course, that’s subjective.
Campaigns that made the list include Nike’s ‘Grid’ (below), Blendtec’s ‘Will it blend?’, Nokia’s ‘You are here’
Coca Cola’s ‘Happiness Machine’ and Ford Fiesta’s ‘The social media fast lane’. To see all the campaigns that made the list click here.
Adrian Johnson, Umpf owner, said: “Whether they’ve been created to raise product awareness, increase sales, drive footfall, add fans, improve SEO or enhance audience engagement, one simple thread links all these social media campaigns together, a clever concept.
“At the heart of any great marketing campaign, whether it’s a press ad, a piece of DM, sales promotion, PR, or in this case social media, you’ll typically find a brilliant idea – each of the campaigns in our Hall of Fame exhibits that trait helping generate brand buzz, conversations, interaction and engagement.”
Why Apple TV will change everything
Aug 23rd
Apple TV, a new set-top box from Apple running iOS, will not only be out in September but will “change everything.”
They are the stern words from Digg founder Kevin Rose who earlier this year was also dropping rumours about Google working on a new social network project called ‘Google Me’.
Now he is saying that Apple TV will be renamed and that he expects an App Store for interactive TV apps that will eventually “destroy the TV side of the cable and satellite industry”.
He says your only requirement will be to access “on-demand stations” with an Internet connection. “Say goodbye to your monthly cable bill,” he proclaims. Apple’s product is rumoured to cost around $US99, which would be substantially less than Dish Network’s Google TV offering if a recent survey from the company is any indication.
At such a cheap price, everyone has the potential to afford iTV (another rumoured name).
“Sharing pictures/videos from your iPhone will happen with the push of a button. Imagine getting a notification of new family videos the next time you turn on your TV. My mom will love this feature,” says Rose. Who happens to have quite a lot of interest in the new up and coming product.
Rose also reckons the iPad will become one big remote.
It certainly looks like Google has its work cut out for it if it wants a chance of competing in this space. It’s already had trouble trying to get broadcasters and partners on board in time to launch a compelling offer.
However, users won’t have to give up the channels they like to use Google TV. They will get the best of both worlds – TV and internet/apps where as Apple is offering one or the other. Google TV will be integrated with Android, making a wide range of Android devices remote controls in a sense.
Furthermore, given that Android runs on so many devices, whereas iOS only runs on select Apple devices, the window for integration via TV would appear to be much greater for Google. The battle for the TV space lives on. But what do consumers want?
Just last week it was revealed that while the UK is a nation of ‘multitaskers’, Britons spend
almost one-fifth of their time watching TV – albeit accompanied by laptop or mobile activity.
To integrate the two seems to make sense, but as long as it is done properly. Advertisers and marketers will have to think carefully about how to integrate ads in a landscape where consumers are so used to skipping the ads. Lucky for broadcasters product placement is set to take off from next year. As for ads, they are about to change beyond recognition and I predict we’ll be seeing a lot more brands getting into sponsorships.
Can marketers benefit from being in the right Facebook Places?
Aug 20th
Facebook has been very publicly battered when it comes to privacy, so why launch a feature that tells users where you are at all times? It must be about money and ad dollars…
Facebook is finally turning into a business. It’s recognising where others have a monopoly in the market and then it is coming in all huffing and buffing and blowing those businesses down. In this case, it was Foursquare.
The launch of Facebook Places comes as a surprise to some but for many others, it seems the next logical step.
Here’s the sell by Facebook:
“If you’re like me, when you find a place you really like, you want to tell your friends you’re there. Maybe it’s a new restaurant, a beautiful hiking trail or an amazing live show.
Starting today, you can immediately tell people about that favourite spot with Facebook Places. You can share where you are and the friends you’re with in real time from your mobile device.”
Places might eventually open new financial opportunities for Facebook through partnerships with retailers and restaurants, and location-specific advertising. But what are the possibilities for marketers?
The feature primarily works as a iPhone application. So people have to be on the go to use it. It is proven that people are more willing to share information when they are already in a social environment. All marketers have to do is cash in on that.
I can see this Places feature working like text when it first became apparent to marketers as a medium.
Remember brands were always trying to get you to text a photo to this “number and you could win” or sign up for more details and various other things.
Now marketers can entice their consumers to direct their friends to sales, events, ‘places’, or even just get more people through the doors.
It’ll have to be done right though, and be seen as rewarding by the consumers spreading the word.
Taking an Augmented Reality check
Aug 19th
Bruce Townsend of ecommerce software specialist, Actinic.
While on holiday in Dorset recently, my family and I visited the Fleet Air Arm Museum and went round its ‘Aircraft Carrier Experience’. This uses tricks with sound, light, video and robotics to try to reproduce the feeling of being on an aircraft carrier, in what’s basically a large hangar. It was good fun and quite interesting – certainly worth the visit.
But was it actually anything like the real thing? I sincerely doubt it.
It reminded me somewhat of a sexy new medium that’s attracting a lot of attention at the moment – ‘Augmented Reality’. The term describes the use of technology to add digital information to a real-life experience. Perhaps the most familiar example is the heads-up display used in aircraft and some higher-end cars.
What’s more interesting is the recent introduction of more down-to-earth uses. When you see adverts overlaid on a pitch during a soccer match broadcast, for example, that’s Augmented Reality. Other uses are beginning to appear on mobile phones. For example, install the Layar app and point your phone camera at a location or venue, and the image will be overlaid with information about it. Or install Shazam and point your phone at any music broadcast, and the software will tell you what track is playing and who it’s by.
It all sounds very promising from a marketing point of view, but maybe we need an Augmented Reality Check here. The technology is still quite limited, and the user experience on everyday hardware is pretty poor. Do you really want to view the world through a 4” mobile screen?
The camera app is a clever gimmick, but it doesn’t really offer any advantage over Google Maps in terms of the information it provides. The level of adoption is dramatically lower, and likely to remain so.
Five years ago, the prediction was that every business would be able to advertise on the red button within five years. That great hope hasn’t materialised yet. So we probably shouldn’t get too excited about this new one, either. Marketing efforts are best targeted towards widely used media, without being distracted into new avenues that may turn out to be blind alleys.
Why ask the Doctor, when you can just ask your phone?
Aug 18th
Got the sniffles? Feeling under the weather? Never fear, there’s a new Doctor in the house.
With more smartphones in use, it’s hardly surprising that people are turning to mobile applications for actionable health-related information.
Seventy eight per cent of Stateside consumers have expressed an interest in using their their phones to diagnose and find cures for their ailments.
The new age of comms us seeing smartphone owners interacting with physicians via mobile and wireless monitoring for a variety of medical conditions.
Want even more proof? The mobile app for the iPhone from leading healthcare site WebMD had 1.6 million downloads in its first three months.
All in all it signals a new era, opening the door for health IT companies and healthcare providers.
But how should marketers in the health sector best approach mobile?
A new report, Mobile Health 2010 aims to provide some answers and advice on the topic. It’s been developed by Dr. Mary Cronin and provided as a resource by Renu Mobile. Best of all it’s free to download.
Highlights of best practice include:
Best Practice: Smartphone Health Apps
• Clarify the intended use and target user of the application to provide integration with relevant mobile heath resources and options to extend the value of the app.
• Design apps with a keen eye toward user safety and health care data security.
• Example: Healthagen’s iTriage App allows access to prescription information and a history of previous care for keeping track of multiple prescriptions and care providers for their family members.
Best Practice: Mobile Web Design
• Make it easy for mobile web users with smaller screens to navigate for site information and services by limiting large graphics and animations.
• Provide a prominent search box and provide search results in a quick review with clear descriptions of each link.
• Example: The Mayo Clinic is targeting all mobile consumers by developing mobile browser compatible web sites that highlight most-used resources.
So maybe the next time you reach for the Kleenex, maybe it should be for the phone instead…
Can the UK handle the ‘US style of marketing’?
Aug 17th
Product placement will be allowed in the UK in 2011, and with many new rules and regulations around the medium, marketers may be reluctant to take advantage of this “US style of marketing”.
The Wall Street Journal calls product placement the “US style of marketing”. It also points out that product placement was born in Europe back in the 1890s when films were financed by brands. Somewhere down the line the form of advertising was banned, but now the European Union has relaxed the rules and we’re set for explosion of advertising – some of us may not even be able to tell.
The EU has changed the laws and now editorial and advertising are allowed to be mixed. The catch is, the two must be distinct from one another and programmes must disclose whether or not they are ‘advertising’ anything.
While keen to allow commercial broadcasters access to a new source of revenue, the EU authorities want to ensure viewers know when they are being sold to.
Of course, the rules also forbid tobacco advertising within shows and ban product placement of any kind in children’s programs, documentaries and news programs.
Last month, broadcasting regulator Ofcom published a set of proposed rules banning the placement of alcohol, junk food and gambling services.
While the new revenue will aid some broadcasters, (adding an estimated extra £30 million a year to the bottom line) many have remained cautious about product placement because of its vast restrictions and viewer unpopularity.
Product placement won’t start being used in the UK until next year, but Spanish and French broadcasters have already started implementing this ‘US style marketing’.
But why now? Read the rest of this entry »
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