Archive for the ‘Events and Conferences’ Category

Our pick of the Cannes Lions, and World Cup finale

Friday, July 9th, 2010

The annual Cannes Lions awards celebrate the best worldwide PR, advertising and marketing creativity amid a frenzy of networking, partying and sunshine. This year, I wasn’t swanning along La Croisette but sunning myself in Cornwall when the winners were announced, so I’ve (slightly belatedly) picked out a few favourite campaigns for our regular end-of-the-week update – click on the links for short showreels. And of course, after weeks of footie fever, we can’t let the World Cup Final pass unremarked…

Facebook Showroom – Ikea Sweden

This smart campaign to drive awareness of a new store opening shows how Facebook’s ability to tell your friends what you’re doing can be harnessed for brands. It centred around a Facebook profile created for the store manager, Gordon Gustavsson where showrooms from the store were displayed . By becoming a friend of the manager, Facebook users could then tag any product they liked the look of, from sofas to crockery, and win it for themselves. Their own Facebook friends would be notified that when they’d won something which in turn drove them to Gordon’s profile to do the same. This showreel tells the full story of this campaign that went on to win a Gold Cyberlion for successfully taking the brand into social media in a compelling way.

Chalkbot – Nike Livestrong

A good example of an idea that had physical outputs based on digital input, in this case crowdsourcing via the social web. Writing messages on the road in chalk has long been part of the Tour de France so to promote the Livestrong foundation, Nike’s team created a Chalkbot – a giant robot that would leave messages sent in by its fans via Twitter, web banners or SMS, often from people living with cancer, or their loved ones. Here’s a video of the Chalkbot in action. This campaign picked up a Grand Prix in several categories.

Twelpforce – Best Buy

US gadget and tech retailer Best Buy prides itself on the knowledge of its sales team or “Blue Shirts”. While lots of brands have played with using Twitter as a customer service tool, Best Buy embraced it wholeheartedly by turning its 2,000-strong workforce into a 24/7 Twelpforce on hand to answer any questions from the public. The result was sales targets smashed during at the back-to-school buying time, a drop in customer complaints, positive consumer and corporate PR – and a well-deserved Titanium Grand Prix award.

Facebook footie buzz

And finally – Alex spottted this great World Cup visual tool from the New York Times that shows which players are getting most Facebook talkup by showing images of the players proportionate to the number of mentions they’ve had. Sadly if you click on June 12 you’ll see Robert Green dominates, while Ronaldo had lots of buzz yesterday – maybe for modestly calling his baby boy Cristiano?

Posted in Events and Conferences, PR and Marcomms, Social Networking, brands | No Comments »

5 outtakes from Social Media World Forum

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

I’ve spent part of the last couple of days at London’s Olympia attending Social Media World Forum. To be honest it was a mixed bag – a lot of familiar territory covered, interspersed with a few interesting insights. Here are a few outtakes and observations…

Brands who try social media want more: When asked ”How much do you pay your social media agency?” Talk Talk comms director Mark Schmid admitted: “Not enough”. The good news (for his agencies) is he’s planning to spend more as he’s seeing the value of what it brings to his business, from PR to customer comms. Mark said he had nine people working “in a bunker” answering questions on forums – a drop in the ocean compared to the 3,000 in Talk Talk call centres but he expects the balance to shift as people increasingly seek more online interactions.

Measurement is important and challenging: This was a much-discussed topic and one that doesn’t have a single simple solution. Some felt “return on engagement” was a better metric than ROI but I suspect that they’re both two sides of the same coin. Generally, people agreed that business goals define the objectives and therefore the KPIs – not rocket science, admittedly…

“Social” is a mindset not an end in itself: Headshift the enterprise-focused social agency who was one of the event sponsors, has long looked at how the ethos of social media can be applied to big companies to promote a more collaborative way of doing business. Other speakers talked about how “social is a feature not a destination”. On a smaller scale, Kerryn Dinsdale from Barclaycard said internal comms had improved as departments as diverse as legal, HR, comms and customer service came together in social media steering committee. (While attendees weren’t wild about the term “social media”, thinking it’s fast losing any meaning, it’s still the shorthand most people are using until something better comes along..)

Mobile is big and getting bigger: We’ve been excited for a while about the conversion of mobile devices, GPS and the web. According to Chris Tradgett of buy.at 40% of online retail in Japan is now done via mobiles…with app sales set to increase tenfold in three years according to Gartner, smartphones fast dominating the market, and Foursquare a bellweather for a compelling new style of social interaction, this is an area to watch.

People first, technology second: Social media is not about bits and bytes, it’s about human interaction. The reason why giving gifts on Facebook is still huge is because it speaks to a basic human urge to be in contact with loved ones. Recommendations from friends and family via social networks make it easier to help you buy something or seek out a new piece of news or music - but they were already being made in a pre-web age. Some of the most interesting ideas for future social trends combine people power and technology: social commerce where people join together to buy cheaper, more use of crowdsourcing as an R+D tool, and social search.

Recommendations for SMWF 2011: cut the price, increase the opportunities for interaction, have more on mobile, and run two parallel sessions – one for newbies, one for existing practitioners.

Posted in Events and Conferences, Foursquare, PR and Marcomms, social media | 1 Comment »

Can CES bounce back? Or has Apple/Google stolen its thunder?

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Last year was not a good one for the world’s biggest gadgets show CES. Attendances were down because of the recession and the number of memorable launches was at an all time low? This one was one of a few to stand out.

So what about this year? There does seem seems to be more optimism about the US economy and CE in general and there is a record number of new exhibitors, but the goss is that the hotels are struggling to fill their rooms and the economy and the terrorist threat are keeping people away again.

CES is likely to be a huge industry jamboree with lots of deals done and products unveiled, but there is a sense that it may be past its late noughties peak and that the big stories are somewhere else. Everyone is talking about the Google Nexus One phone and the Apple iTablet/iSlate and not about what Sony has planned, whether Panasonic has cracked 3DTV and who will be first with a colour ereader.

The great thing about CES though is that is always delivers surprises. If you look through its recent history, the MP3 player, digital camera and many other major devices all debuted here and maybe we will see something of that magnitude this year.

For me much of the excitement will be away from the main halls where smaller Far East based companies will be parading their often extremely innovative wares. There’s also a prominent British presence courtesy of the UKTI.

The whole shows kicks off tonight with the CES Unveiled showcase, where a host of companies parade their hottest products. It will really provide a gauge of whether the mother if all gadget shows is still the only place to be for companies to be in early January or if the show might be heading for a Comdex type fall.

Tags: Apple Tablet, CES 2010, Google Nexus One, UKTI
Posted in Events and Conferences | No Comments »

Digital Focus at the CIPR

Monday, December 7th, 2009

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations held a conference today aimed at “demystifying the digital world” for 40 delegates from the across public and private sector.

I was very kindly invited to share a panel with Alice Ainsworth, e-communications officer at Southwark Council, who has kicked off the authority’s influencer work with South London communities, and Paul Armstrong, the upbeat and enthusiastic head of social media at Kindred, to share our thoughts on that always entertaining topic, The Future of Digital.

We started by challenging the futuregazing brief, instead restating that the evolution of digital in public relations is still at an incredibly early stage and so doing the basics well remains an essential entry point.

I also talked about the importance of viewing social media as part of overall comms strategy, a view supported by Alice’s experience of using Twitter to push advice and information following the recent Peckham fire out directly to hundreds of local people as well as issuing press releases.

While this might feel a bit “back to basics” for some readers, I was struck by how a fair few people in the room are still working out how to engage online, and have yet to take the first baby steps - so the ”future” for them is going to be very different for those organisations who are already connecting. The challenge to us in agency life is to adapt our offer to the needs of clients at different stages in their digital evolution.

Meanwhile back to the future: as is traditional on this blog in December we’ll be sharing a few thoughts on what the new year could hold for digital PR in the coming weeks. Stay tuned…

Tags: Alice Ainsworth, Chartered Institute of Public Relations, Kindred
Posted in Events and Conferences, PR and Marcomms | No Comments »

Shiny Red’s mummy blogging event

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Over the last few weeks we have been thinking a lot about mummy blogging. As an agency we have always keep a watchful eye on the mummy blogging phenomenon and even pitched a campaign to key mummy bloggers as far back as 2007.

Recently though with parenting media very much in the headlines at the moment, we decided to undertake some research into what makes British mummy bloggers tick. We asked 20 of the key UK mummy bloggers to fill a questionnaire asking them why they blogged, how they thought mummy blogging would evolve and how they wanted to engage with brands.

The research threw up some very interesting insights. It is clear that there is a strong, engaged and dynamic community emerging and that its members are becoming increasingly influential, not just in blogging but also on Facebook, Twitter and other areas of social media.

Today we presented that research to representatives from many high profile brands. We also listened as two of the top five UK mummy bloggers, Jo Beaufoix and the writer of Potty Diaries shared with us their thoughts on where mummy blogging had come from and how it was changing.

What is clear is that there are now two fairly distinctive types of mummy bloggers and that they have a very different approach to both producing content and engaging with brands.

We will stop being a tease later this week when we place the results of the research on the blog. So pop back the for some very interesting insights into what is fast becoming a key social media channel.

Tags: brands, Jo beaufoix, mommy blogging, mummy blogging, Potty diaries, shiny red
Posted in Events and Conferences | 1 Comment »

Get Social

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

The sun is shining and spring is definitely in the air in the Shiny Red offices. This brings a host of new get-togethers in and around London for all you networking types.

Facebook Developer Garage ““ This event returns on the 8^th of April with a variety of speakers to giving advice on structuring your Facebook apps to maximise monetisation. Free beer and pizza as per usual, as well as some great speakers and networking opportunities.

Location: Sun Microsystems, King William St, London

Cost: £5 early bird tickets

Aperitweat ““ The Aperitweat gang are back with a bang on April 15^th as they introduce an “˜aperitivo’ night which will revolve around Twitter with free Italian food and the chance to meet lots of new Tweeple.

Location: Al Volo, Hanbury Street, London

Cost: Free!

Shoreditch Twit ““ There’s the opportunity to go to two social networking events on the same night with the return of the Shoreditch Twit. Organised by Shiny Red’s very own Lewis Webb, this casual meet-up is for users of Twitter to meet up over a casual few drinks. If you’re fretting over which event to attend on April 15^th, don’t worry as you can begin the evening at Al Volo then head to The Big Chill bar.

Location: The Big Chill, Dray Walk, London

Cost: Free!

Open Soho 6 ““ This informal meet-up for “talented entrepreneurs working in the tech and media industries” returns on April 16^th. With a third of the tickets already sold more than a fortnight before the event, grab your tickets quick!

Location: Kettners, 29 Romilly St, London

Cost: £5.50

Social Media Camp ““ This event about, unsurprisingly, social media will be held on Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th April. With the next round of registration on 6^th April, make sure you get the tickets everyone is clamouring after!

Location: Wallacespace St Pancras, London

Cost: Free!

Tags: London, networking events, social media
Posted in Events and Conferences | No Comments »

Le Web Paris (Day 2): Shiny Red live blog

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

After waiting in the freezing streets of Paris for a post-Myspace party taxi last night, I’m not sure another day in the ex-morgue is what the doctor ordered. Here’s a warning for anyone with colleagues at Le Web, they’re likely to return with a rather nasty cold. Today’s programme has speakers from the French government, Creative Commons, and Publicis, as well as Web 2.0 stars Robert Scoble and Kara Swisher. I’ll also be checking out the “Deep Discussion” stage, where topics include social advertising and mobile social networks. Check back here for updates.

09.15am – Eric Besson, the French internet minister has brought his blueprint for the digital economy along to the event… on a USB stick – and printed out for the non-digitalised economy. France is at 95% access and the blueprint talks about fibre-optic roll-out to boost this towards 100% at super high speeds.

09.26am – Questions from the floor cover language barrier, tax infrastructure, online advertising. HIghest earners can reduce their tax by investing in start-ups.

09.39am – Right – this should be interesting. spokespeople from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, MySpace and OpenID all cram into a cosy panel on “getting along”.

10.07am – Nothing hugely surprising… Open Source is great for developers but essentially not mainstream enough or a complete solution; Google is good for open and open is (mostly) good for Google; Facebook is realising that it has to be seen to open up; MS is the newer, warm and cuddly company, and MySpace is all over the Open Stack – but realistically, it has to be given that Facebook is so dominant. It’s open vs quasi-open on the couches.

10.34am – Moved to the “Deep Discussion” stage for a couple of panels on social advertising. With 2009 set to be tough for these guys, we’re focusing on what makes money now rather than the “Love” theme.

10.46am – All panellists are finding search campaigns a struggle since it’s all done on the profile and the person rather than anything search based. Meebo spokesperson talks about not trying to force search into your offering in an unnatural way. Lots of chat about ads driving buzz or conversation from advertising, but there’s a risk that brands will slap metrics on that as well.

11.27am – Mobile Social Network panel. itsmy.com – a company without an online version of its social network – has 2.5million subscribers. Big with older demographic, also cabbies and truck drivers 46% of users haven’t used a social network before, and 60% 16% don’t have email addresses – also claims more ARPU than Facebook, one to watch I think.

11.36am – Ewan Spence from Wubud saying that it’s not about the number of friends you have or about trying to compete with existing social networks, it’s about full access to all features on your most personal device.

11.46am – Role of the operator being brought into question – pipe or portal? Mobile SN folk say they should be pipes and be happy!

12.07pm – Back to the main stage with Maurice Levy from Publicis which he calls “a start-up”. Also says that US has a natural advantage for start-ups due to language. Growing is difficult, and US giants pave the way… we shouldn’t be worried about it. Also gives out his own email address and invites people to pitch him their business plans.

13.06pm – WiFi connections have failed again, so few people could blog about Google’s Marissa Mayer or actually find out where anyone else is – Twitter and Skype are the tools of contact du jour.

LUNCH BREAK

13.46 – I’m out of here in just over two hours, so the rest of the content will be written up in proper posts later on this week. Thanks for watching/reading.

Posted in Events and Conferences | 1 Comment »

Le Web Paris (Day 1): Shiny Red live blog

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Today marks the start of one of Europe’s largest internet and social media conferences: Le Web Paris. I’ll be attending the main sessions and reporting back on what’s being said by some of the industry’s big names. Check back here later today to get soundbites and headlines from the day’s discussions.

7.45am – It’s a big morning to get through, with spokespeople from Microsoft, Google, Harvard University and Myspace all before 10.30!

9.00am – Found a seat and the wi-fi, wondering how long before the multitude of connections cause it to fall over.

9.10am – The Le Meurs take the stage to the sound of “All you need is love” – 1700 people registered this year. explaining the venue and the programme.

9.22am – Steve Gillmor interviewing Dan’l Lewin from Microsoft about BizSpark – its new initiative for sub 3-year start-ups. The approach is to support open source for interoperability, but Lewin says that BizSpark is a partnership and a choice that you make… “we provide more help”. Also in line for Azure stuff announced earlier this year.

9.43am – Loic Le Meur talking to Nikesh Arora at Google. “There is a lower appetite for risk in certain businesses in Europe than there is in the US”. Arora says that the next big internet sensation is “two guys in a garage”. 10 years ago, no-one was scared of Google. The guys in the garage are the ones to watch. However, European cultural differences, especially languages can have a negative impact.

10.26 – WiFi is shaky throughout the conference, but Harvard Uni’s David Weinberger produces the session of the morning so far on leadership. “The only way to reduce the scarcity of leadership is to embrace abundance of connections so that leadership becomes a property of the network.”

10.28 – Michael Arrington of TechCrunch interviewing Amit Kapur, COO MySpace – mostly about MySpace Music. Kapur has announced the launch of a MySpace toolbar. Unsure if it’ll be much use to people using FireFox extensions or Flock. Music in the toolbar? Now there’s a thought.

10.45 – Ok coffee break.

11.56 – After a far from rousing version of Frere Jacques led by Itay Talgam, DNA tracking start-up 23AndMe founder Linda Avey sits down for a chat with Cedric Ingrand of LCI-TV. Personalised DNA reports just from spitting into a tube. Not sure where the “Love” theme comes in.

12.21 – Helen Fisher, anthropologist responsible for bits of Match.com is on stage talking about the work of the brain and chemicals in falling in love. Apparently a tendancy for adultery is evolved – not sure that works as a valid defense.

12.36 – It’s snowing, and very cold inside. According to my client at Pfizer, the venue used to be a morgue.

12.43 – More from Dr Fisher… personality types very similar to the colour tests we use at Red’s HR – nice to know that human resources can be applied to love.

13.07 – Dr Fisher’s talk produces the most questions so far… the “colours” thing is fascinating to all. Something we can expect a bunch of blog posts about – since bloggers are “mostly red and yellow”.

LUNCH

Posted in Events and Conferences | No Comments »

Beers & burgers oil the online music conversation

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Working with We7 and new start-up PureSolo gives us here at Shiny Red a number of opportunities to engage with the digital music scene.
Since even before Napster (in its then shady incarnation) rocked the boat in 1999, labels, management and ““ less so ““ artists have been scratching their heads and discussing how to make the marriage of music and the internet a happy one.

While content owners are still often accused of being protectionist and unwilling to take risks with emerging media, one place where the conversation focuses on exciting things people are doing with the “music” part of the “music business” is OpenMusicMedia. Last week, around 25 people from well known and less famous start-ups and music media professionals met upstairs in a pub not far from Old St tube station.

Previous OMM events have had speakers and agendas, on this occasion, the organisers, Dave and Jonas used the meetup as an opportunity for networking on an informal basis, where conversation flowed as well as the continental lagers.

At this time of year, there are social and new media events to be at every night of the week, and since it’s impossible to be at all of them, we’d give OMM a big thumbs up and certainly recommend making it one to watch in 2009.

Posted in Events and Conferences, Music | No Comments »

Shiny Red @ Silicon Stilettos

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Shiny Red hit the inaugural Silicon Stilettos event this week, designed to bring together women working in London’s buzzing digital and tech scene, tackling the typical 80/20 ratio of men to women at most tech gatherings.

The event was certainly a great success, attracting many of the inspiring, up-and-coming and established women in this arena, attendees ranged from entrepreneurs, web developers, journalists, bloggers and PAs to PRs. Big congrats, to organiser Zuzanna, read my full review over on one of our favourite blogs, Londonist and sign up here for the next one - the Shiny Red ladies will definitely be in attendance!