Hit or Miss?

We have recently added a QR code to our email signatures and our business cards, linking through to the Pure Media website http://www.puremedia.co.uk/ ..... The problem is they appear to need a certain light to work, and therefore don't work every time.

So it's a bit hit & miss, but effective when it works.

Yet Another Win for Forex.com!

Just wanted to say a big Congratulations! to our fabulous Clients Forex.com for their recent win at the Money AM Awards. It's been a great 12 months for Forex.com, who have already picked up several accolades for best forex provider at the IC and Shares awards, amongst others. Now they have the Money AM 'Best online FX provider' to add to the trophy cabinet! Cheers to that!

Come See Me....

Link below for film created by our sister agency Fast Track for UKA, showing the power and might of some of the UK's finest athletes training for the Aviva Series.

Click here for the impressive video!

Only 2 of the summer events left to go now ... Birmingham Aviva UK Trials & Championships - 29-31 July and Aviva London Grand Prix - 5-6 August.

For tickets: Click here

Negotiate or loose out

On Brick Lane last night my American friends were astounded when I began negotiating with the doormen as to what special offers they were willing to offer in order to entice us into their Indian food establishment. 5 minutes work rewarded us with free drinks and a 30% discount off food – a saving of around £50 from the final bill.

Of course the restaurant owners were happy – they secured our business and presumably made a tidy profit on the meal / service which we did pay for. Having spent some time living in India, negotiating for products and services became second nature, and the practice is something which I would be keen to see made far more a part of UK culture (especially in lean economic times such as these). The lee-way to strike a bargain allows both parties a far greater opportunity to achieve a satisfactory result than our staid British ‘set- price’ system – where potential customers often come away empty-handed rather than risk offend a vendor (who is more often than not desperate to sell) by offering a lower price based on perceived value.

Within the media business, strong negotiation skills are an inherently essential tool in obtaining best value for our clients. Media buyers constantly face challenges from media owners who often refuse to offer discounts based on anything other than volume bookings, when there could quite likely be a deal to strike if they would only be open to taking a lesson from Indian culture where the emphasis lies far more on affordability than saving face, or other bureaucratic considerations.

Anyone for an ‘educational’ work trip to Mumbai?

Simple yet effective

Saw this sandwich board the other day on the Soutbank, prompting people to go and look through the telescopes the RSPB had set up as part of an educational experiential programme.

Simple, yet effective media and message.

The Challenge of the Dragon is Nigh

Since Jack Dorsey produced twitter back in 2006, it has enjoyed a meteoric rise to success, with fans now including such British luminaries as Lord Sugar and Stephen Fry – and with 52m accounts opened during the past 5 years, and 21m live accounts active each month, one might be forgiven for thinking that this phenomenon for micro-blogging was unprecedented.

Of course anyone familiar with the Chinese social media landscape would immediately refute that assumption with the mention of social media behemoth Weibo (which means microblogging). From its creation in 2007, Weibo has grown to boast a massive user base of 140m, translating to 50m monthly live accounts. They currently claim to be growing at an astonishing rate of 10m users per month – that is almost 1/6 of the current UK population.

The functionality of Weibo, whilst similar to twitter, does have some notable exceptions. For a start there is no character limitation on blogs (tweets are limited to 140 characters), and commentary is allowed. Weibo is also ahead of the game when it comes to monetisation – with more than 60,000 accounts being verified as belonging to major brands, celebrities and sports stars. Some people see Weibo as a kind of twitter – facebook hybrid, others argue that it is even better than either of them – it organises events based on cities and not just friends, and features the Google Hangout-like, multi-person video-conferencing tool.

The good news is that we Brits will soon be able to make our own minds up, as owner Sina Corp recently announced that they will be launching a Weibo English interface later this month. It will be very interesting to see how our old favourites facebook and twitter fare against newcomers Google+ and now Weibo.

Let the battle of the social-media super-brands commence!

Ad synergy we like

Perfect placement....ads promoting H2 on bikes parked in and around London commuter hot spots.

So what is H2? ... it's a gym for runners and cyclists providing a fitness and commuter solution.

They have a gym, spin studio and running club as well as luxury showers and changing facilities, bike parking as well as fixing.

Power of Public Perception

Last night I happened across the deneaumont of the hugely controversial Eastenders storyline which saw Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) snatch Kat Moon’s (Jesse Metcalf’s) baby following the tragic death of her own son. The Christmas storyline created unprecedented uproar amongst the British chattering classes, as the BBC were accused of sensationalising a truly terrible situation for the benefit of viewing ratings, and Samantha Womack’s career was left in jeopardy as she was victimised by the public for apparently willingly playing out the storyline.

What soon became apparent however was that the power of public perception was enough to shift carefully considered scripting, and even the legal implications of a presumably water-tight work contract. What is sure is that the hour-long special last night was not that originally drafted by BBC script-writers at conception of the plot.

In the same way then has public perception shifted against NOTW – apparently following the revelation that the answerphone of a young, murdered girl had been targeted in a phone – hacking incident. Never mind the fact that the same brand had been under serious police investigation for the same crime for more than several years (to the apparent oblivion of much of the UK).

It seems clear that once the swell of public perception has been stirred and turned, it is a most dangerous phenomenon. I for one certainly wouldn’t want to be the object of animosity crushed in its wake.

News of the Woes

The recent events in the News International stable has thrown the national newspaper market wide open. The ‘killing off’ of NOTW is a smoke screen for the further ambitions of Murdoch. The protection of the forthcoming Sky deal is seen to be paramount and as Parliament is looking very aggressively towards NI this decision makes some sense. NI has a chance to make a truly modern Sunday paper but will they bother? Or will they just rush out a Sun on Sunday. Reading papers has just got interesting again

Google+

There is a lot of interest in the new social networking platform from Google, called Google + . The beta version was launched recently and already it’s over subscribed and closed to new users. The big question is will it eclipse Facebook?
The potential is there. We have seen mass migrations in the past but not on this scale. It will need some pretty nifty footwork by Google to make Facebook users move over in force. The new functions developed by Google+, such as Circles, Hangouts, Sparks and Photos are all compelling apps but will they be enough to make people change their engrained Facebook habits?

I don’t believe we are seeing the whole package from Google+ yet. Google has been developing their wide range of applications and sites into a more united brand, simplifying and standardising their user interfaces. These applications will have increased centralised functionality if used through Google+ and when used by a highly active userbase (prevalent in social networking sites) we will see people getting more from their social networking. It’s similar to how mobile phones have increased functionality – it’s now the turn of social networking sites.

The acid test for Google+ and any other network is ‘take-up’. Are these functions worth moving for? My guess is that they probably are. Especially when viewed on the new tablets/touch screens. Facebook won’t sit back and watch this happen, already we are seeing new tie-ins with other sites such as Snapfish.

Google is looking to collect more information from their user base. They need this information to generate more income via increased targeted advertising. A social network is a perfect place to collect this data. This is going to be a fascinating battlefield.

Oh Comely...

...browsing the magazine racks in the airport newsagents last week, looking for something other than the usual celeb/fashion focused mag I came across this magazine, 'Oh Comely'. It's refreshing to find a magazine with editorial content that is a little out of the ordinary, intelligent and creative, alongside a combination of beautiful illustrations and cool photography.

I've been searching for a new mag for a while, something that breaks the mould a bit and think I've found it, check it out and see what you think:

http://www.ohcomely.co.uk/

GENIUS ALDI AD !

It's not often an ad makes us laugh out loud... but this one did.
Click link below
ALDI TV AD