It’s RANT Time!!!! Well It has been a while since my last…
My Dad drove SAAB’s, I drive a SAAB and god damn-it my Son will drive one too. I am that sure that SAAB can be saved. Help prove me right.
I am not sure why I picked up this strange allegience to a car brand. My Dad and me are very very different – be it outlook on life, automotive priorities, even risk assessment. And SAABs: they are not the prettiest. They are not the safest (any more). Or the fastest, most balanced or roomiest… but there is definately something about them that sets them apart. I love big Citroens for the same reason. They just make their own rules and they sort of make you feel good inside. And for that reason I love them (and Citroens and also many other quirky car companies come to think of it) and I guess that is why the creative industries (And for some strange reason, Dentists) bought into the brand. SAAB has always been design brand. A bit quirky , a little bit out there. I ask you all a favour if you care about great brands with value and true heritage (and for the people who work for them)
Its time for the design industry and its associated colleagues to SAVE SAAB.
So, I have been officially working at We Love for 2 months as of this week and I have been a bit slack on the blog front lately so I figure it’s time to fill you in on what I have been up to!
It has been an extremely busy 2 months, working on some pretty big and exciting projects, lots of late nights, lots of early mornings, lots of stress, lots of “anti-australian” sentiments, and a few “nightmares” but I have loved every minute of it!
Still no arguments with the developers yet, but I have been late to work once. I guess it’s fair to say everything is going pretty well.
I’m busy working on the new We Love website at the moment so better get back to it, in the meantime here is a sneak peek of a small part of the new website to get you wondering about what we have in store…
We in England (and perhaps some of the old Colonial counties) are extremely lucky to celebrate a man who in 1605 tried to blow up the House of Parliament in London. I am not 100% sure of why we celebrate this fact, my secondary school learnings were such a long time ago… hold on I will just google it… Oh. It turns out we celebrate the fact that he was caught… oh well… brilliant, or not so brilliant if you were in Guys’ gang.
I went along to the Museum of Kent this year with the family to see the fireworks and have a generally great night out. And I wasn’t disappointed, nor was my partner, Jen, or my 2 year son. It was a great night of eating junk food, fairground rides, crazy gyms, a (what can only be described as) HUGE AND BLOODY HOT fire, fire jugglers and a firework display to round off the night that put Sydney’s Millenium celebrations to shame.
Last Friday We Love were honored to have the esteemed Patrick Collister – ex-Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy and creator of some of the best known and loved advertising in our industry – visit our studio and spend a couple of hours to discuss what is making him tick in todays fast moving and forever changing Advertising landscape.
He gave us great insight as to how the industry has changed in the last 10-20 years. How Brands MUST re-establish and learn to love themselves again, deliver on their promises and live up to their values in a much more educated and savvy marketplace. How that if they do not accept change and rely on the old and tested methods of days gone by then they are doomed to fail, to become dinosaurs of the modern age. Just keeping up and treading the same path is not good enough. Best practise means what everyone else is doing – until someone does it better… so make sure you do it better.
He pointed out that within the last 6 months a number of major brands have died on their feet. They have ceased to exist, and yes there is a pattern to their failure. A pattern of apathy and resistance to risk, of reliance on the statistical data and marketing methodology of yesteryear, of not going with gut feeling, and not utilising the vast amount of data that we have available to us… and finally… to NOT have or BELIEVE IN, the IDEA!!
We are all inspired here at the We Love manor… so together let’s re-install the value of the brand to the consumer. Let’s not be happy with just a small % increase in market share or the status quo… let’s tread upon unknown territory, take the risks and prove that ROI actually stands for Return of Idea – not investment…
We live and work in a creative industry… It is not a science. Be prepared to do battle for the idea that you know is a winner. Battle for it within a marketplace, and with technology that many fail to understand, or where return of idea is near impossible to prove.
After a busy few weeks working on this project, ‘The Pier’ is now live and bouncing… It showcases properties at Ingress Park (a new Housing Development by INplace), situated in the beautifully regenerated area of Greenhithe. The website has a pop-up, papercraft look and feel, combining the old with the new, highlighting some of the key features the development has to offer. With Ebbsfleet round the corner and bluewater on your doorstep, this development helps open doors and create opportunities for people from all walks of life – a key differentiator in an over saturated market
The launch party was a great success and although we couldn’t have bouncing space-hoppers scattered around London as part of the guerrilla marketing campaign (mainly for legal reasons…), we were able to sneak it in on the website! Already this campaign has generated plenty of interest and the properties are selling almost as quickly as the ones for Grand Ocean.
Further to my last post, I thought it would be worthwhile giving a bit of background information into the value of Social Media Marketing for those that have been living under a rock for the past few years.
Social Media Marketing, officially, is the creation of social interaction between a brand and the general public in a digital platform such as the internet.
So what does this actually mean to you?
Gone are the days of advertisers simply telling consumers their product is the best in the market, in the current climate consumers want to find out what products and brands are the best firsthand.
According to Forrester, nearly 45% of European internet users say that in the past three months they have researched a product online and then bought it in a shop (March 2009).
The time for creating an online presence and building your brand online is now. Many of the big brands are ‘having-a-go’ at Social Media Marketing, however very few are actually reaching their full potential.
A successful social media marketing campaign needs to utlilise a range of digital outlets, and effectively establish an online community for their consumers/potential consumers.
Setting up a Twitter account and hoping for the best is just not enough. The key to a successful campaign is establishing a connection between your Twitter account, Facebook account, your YouTube account and any other social networking sites.
Once a definitive network is created, it is important to initiate conversations, not campaigns, with your followers. You want to focus on 1:1 communication with consumers, and listen as well as speak.
Creating a solid relationship between your brand and your consumers gives you a captive audience who can be used for market research, consumer feedback, and ideally network building channels.
As important as Social Media Marketing is, it isn’t suited for every industry, so before you get caught up in the hype take a minute to assess whether or not it could benefit your business.
On a lighter note, and more an example of a viral video, the following is the latest Cadbury’s Ad… another stroke of creative brilliance, or have they just lost the plot this time? You decide!
With it being London Design Week I had to make the effort to go to an event. I would have loved to have gone to more, but prior committments said that I was allowed Tues Evening… bah humbug
I made my way to Show and Tell (organised by the kindly guys and girls at Creative Pool) where Creative Directors from all over the land were invited to review future talent folios. Some nice work and ideas out there! Well done.
Beers were consumed and natter happened. All us CD’s were bemoaning our lot until a rather invigorating talk by Patrick Collister gave us all reason to live again. Things ARE good. We ARE needed – We have work to do and a place to do it in. We will enjoy and love our industry again!!! oh yes indeedy… WE WILL MAKE BRANDS GREAT AND TRUE ONCE AGAIN!
So thanks to Creative Pool for organising Show and Tell. Heres to London Design Week. Shame I couldn’t make The Creative Social tonight
Fashionistas will be hitting the city from today as London Fashion Week celebrates its 25th anniversary. From 18th – 22nd September people from around the world will be celebrating all the best and latest trends that London has to offer.
Dublin-born designer, Paul Costelloe, will be kicking off the week with a selection of block colours and big prints. Costelloe’s pieces are quite tailored and wearable, but also bold and striking.
Taking place at London’s famous Somerset House. It’s a new venue that’s exciting because of it’s situation in the heart of the city.
Hi, it’s Nick here (The Aussie), I’m currently half way through my 7th day here at We Love and the time has come to make my first blog post! My first week has gone quite smoothly, the a..a…a….a…Ashes haven’t even been mentioned once, and I am still on the good side of the developers…. I think!
Last week while doing some pretty thorough research on Social Media Marketing I came across this video which presents some of the overwhelming statistics behind the importance of Social Media Marketing
It seems that the most important aspect of Social Media Marketing is creating conversations rather than targeted campaigns, which in turn establishes a better relationship between the Company and the Consumer.
The time to embrace and really make the most of Social Media Marketing is now, and those that master the art will most definitely reap the rewards!
As Avinash Kaushik, an Analytics Evangelist from Google stated, “Social Media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how…”
until a rather invigorating talk by 
