Very clever stuff, even if it does need a bit of refinement.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Augemented Reality Gig
25
Aug
via youtube.com
Nice use of AR here – but is the technology mainstream enough yet? Still a little geeky perhaps
Building a Digital Brand
04
Aug
Below is an article I’ve written for the latest edition of Scotland’s Executive Magazine. I’m hosting a Weber Shandwick Digital Academy with Inverness Chamber of Commerce on 1st September — if you’d like to book a place then visit www.inverness-chamber.co.uk
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Over the past few years the concept of ‘digital’ has hit the business world with a vengeance. Marketers, communicators and brand managers have been inundated with information telling them they need to be busy on Facebook, Twitter and blogging in order to reach modern audiences. Trouble is these very same platforms are as much a part of the problem as they are the solution.
Many businesses are now actively involved in social media but their efforts are unfocused and inconsistent, with responsibilities split between departments or individuals. In some firms it’s the intern, ‘young trendy’ or simply the IT department who are charged with making digital a reality – despite the profound implications this might have. So when an organisation has worked hard to develop its business and marketing plans, surely it should be aligning these new digital channels with its existing communications strategy.
Increasingly, though, this is less of a social media problem and more of a wider brand challenge. When planning your communication you must work out how best to reach your audience. Be careful not to listen to the voices saying traditional media is dead.
Weber Shandwick surveyed over 1,000 UK adults as part of our INLINE Communications research into how people are truly influenced. We asked a representative sample of over 18s the question what the most influential factors were in helping them make a purchase decision.
The results challenge many of the myths surrounding media and influence. The first finding was that online advocacy – that’s to say user reviews and recommendations from strangers – was cited as being the most influential source of product/service information for UK consumers.
But while UK adults claimed that online channels were most influential on their purchase decisions, 43 percent also stated they often don’t believe what they read online until they have checked the facts in the traditional mainstream media. So, while ‘digital’ is clearly a critical channel for storytelling, you risk missing a huge opportunity unless you backup your online activities with traditional media coverage that validates your story.
Young consumers live on Facebook and don’t read traditional media, right? Wrong. Exactly half of UK consumers under the age of 35 believed magazines and newspapers to be influential. Of consumers over 45, only 29 percent made the same claim. In fact, young consumers are far more likely to find all sources of information influential. But the myth that the media isn’t the best way to reach young adults in the UK must be destroyed.
This research demonstrates that anyone seeking to influence consumers today can no longer afford to view online and offline separately, or just use online tools as a digital bolt-on to traditional communications campaigns. Businesses need to integrate all channels and communicate INLINE.
So, a Twitter account? A Facebook fan page? A “viral” video on YouTube? Creating all of this in isolation is not the answer to making sense of the digital world. You need to decide how best to reach your target audience and then take your brand, values and point of view out to it, using the most appropriate channels – some of which may be digital, some of which will likely not.
However large, however small, all businesses live or die based on successful communication and interaction with their customers. Social media means your business’s image and reputation can be defined by your audience. These days you need to build that image, build that reputation, with consistent messaging across a whole variety of touchpoints.
33 and a Third — Issue 5
15
Jun
We’ve just published the latest edition of our regular Weber Shandwick newsletter 33 and a Third, which you can read below:
One Day to Go: What Twitter’s Saying
05
May
Tweetminster has released its final prediction ahead of the big day – and its model forecasts a hung parliament with Labour the largest party but short of a majority.
Of the 433 constituencies now mentioned on Twitter, the Tweetminster model looks at mentions of candidates and puts:
Conservatives on 35%
Labour on 30%
Lib Dems on 27%
Plugging these figures into the BBC website it looks like Labour would be 41 seats short of a majority:
Does this this kind of forecasting work? We’ll find out on Friday…
The Cameron Girls
20
Apr
“We find DC extremely attractive, we used the net to go interactive.” ‘Cameron Girls’ Saskia and Hayley say they’ve created this video to help the Tory cause. Sure, it’s a talking point, but looks unlikely Simon Cowell is going to be on the phone to them any time soon.
As it starts to become something of a YouTube hit, Tory HQ apparently denies any involvement. So does it help the Cameron campaign or is it just excruciating? What do you think?Searching Times
19
Apr
Glad to be back in the office after a one day work trip turned into an epic four day journey across Europe. It has all been because of the other big story — the erupting volcano — so here’s an interesting trend to have a look at.
The chart here shows relative search volumes on Google, and sure enough there are around twice as many searches for the volcano right now in the UK than for the election. But while the fiery Icelandic monster continues to spew ash into Europe’s airspace, there’s another digital trend developing elsewhere: ever more people are searching online for “Liberal Democrats”, in fact the trend suggests that imminently Nick Clegg’s party will see a higher volume of searches than Labour currently do (see green and purple lines meeting).
Given that the majority of internet journeys begin at a search engine, this kind of analysis can indicate what’s on people’s minds. So when the ash finally clears it’ll be interesting to see how the LibDems emerge and whether search trends are an opinion poll in their own right. I’ll be checking this one again after the next TV debate.
