London Tech Summit 2010

Last week, after the madness that was Mobile World Congress, I slipped back into the country over night so I could dash off Friday morning to moderate a panel at the London Tech Summit hosted by the London Business School Technology Club.

The session, entitled: New models for Social Networking: Can Advertising Support Growth? kicked off in earnest around 11:30 with representatives from Goojet, Do The Green Thing, Advent Partners and Google all taking part.

Image via @brendanquinn

That’s me over there on the far right. This panel session, the first of the day, was briefed as follows:

What does it mean to engage an audience? How do you use social networking sites to advertise your business? The advent of social media has dramatically altered how people interact with each other. We will explore what this means to traditional business models, and how companies have responded to these developments to reach new audiences.

And so on.. The theme itself wasn’t a new to me having recently presented on the subject (or something similar) at New Media Age but then again, what I had to say wasn’t to be the focus.

The session was about the panellists:

Having never moderated a panel before it was quite exciting to be taking charge of such an esteemed bunch of industry leaders. I had definitely seen a fair few sessions like this in my time – so I knew exactly what not to do. Believe it or not, it really is a fair old challenge; trying to balance not talking too much yourself with not letting the panellists get too wrapped in in their own respective agendas… as well as trying to keep the audience as engaged as possible. It can get tricky.

However, to all intents and purposes it seems I didn’t do a bad job, but – as I said before – this is about the panellists.

When asked if social networking could indeed support growth in the advertising sector, the panel were unanimous in their disagreement:

“Not in the current model…” said Paul, “..advertisers need to change tact..” agreed Andy “New businesses are out doing it for themselves…” finished Guillaume, who also went onto explain that the model of advertising in France is so utterly painful when it came to anything TV based – “Months of planning for a slot that you might not even want in three months time!”

Here are some more key quotes –

“Purposeful communities will be where the money can be found” – “Remember, volume doesn’t change the human experience”

“Who wants to pay for content today?”

“Interactions speak louder than words”

“an pages (a la Facebook) is more like relationship marketing than traditional campaign based advertising”

“If you can’t interrupt people anymore, then you will have to rely on the quality of your content to get attention”

“The internet isn’t a network of computers – it’s a network of people who happen to use computers”

Pleasingly, the overall theme of the 30mins we had taking questions was that brands and advertisers need to be MORE HUMAN in their approach to engaging with EVER SMARTER consumers who won’t just lap up the first thing that’s put in front of them.

Whether you’re a new mobile startup like Goojet or one of the largest corporations in the world, like Google it would seem contextual and conversational engagements are at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

Hat tip to the smart guys and girls at the LBS Tech Club for organising. You can read all of the output from the day over on the LBS live tweet page.

In the meantime – how are you being human in the way you engage?
You know consumers are getting smarter, right?

😉

 

Entering Zimbabwe

Road to Zimbabwe

Moleskine entry: August 7th, 2009

We’re headed there now.

The name itself resonates in a certain way.
Say it, out loud…  Now.

Zimbabwe.

What does it do to you?

I’m ashamed to say it but at the time of writing, the very word strikes fear into my heart. The recent history of the country has been tumultuous at best and at worst, close to civil war.

“That’ll never happen.” says Ralph, owner and chief guide of Ichingo lodge, our place of rest the night before. “The Zimbabwe people are peaceful and intelligent. That’s one of the reasons this whole thing has happened; they’ve been taken for fools and their reluctance for confrontation has meant this [situation] can carry on.

If you would have told me ten years ago that this was going to happen, I would not have believed you. Mugabe is smart. He’s a cunning politician-cum-dictator who has played the system and now isn’t going anywhere…”

Having just turned 86, one has to think that Mugabe’s reign can’t go on much longer.

“The trouble is… the smart ones. They leave, they don’t want to be here. The money they send back is the only thing that’s keeping the country going right now. But with no smart ones, there’s no real chance of opposition.

The only good thing is, Mugabe has no pretender; no protégé to carry on when he’s gone. I think it’ll be interesting to see what happens when he goes.”

Ralph explains that the average time in power for Africa is something like 18yrs; “When they get there, they stay there” he says.

As we head into Zimbabwe the following morning for four nights at Victoria Falls, staying anywhere is the last thing on our minds.

Google Buzz: where’s the love?

Last night, as I was leaving the office to go play football, word was spilling out onto the interwebs about a brand new Google service.

“Social features!” some said, “Keep your friends updated”, whispered others but, it was only when I saw the sad, inevitable combination of words that make up the phrase “Twitter Killer” did I finally switch my Mac off and head on out. Buffoons.

90mins later, post footy, I left the pitch and decided to upgrade my Google Maps and – to my surprise – buzz was there, but at the same time – not there.

Continue reading “Google Buzz: where’s the love?”

Facing fears

I used to hate PowerPoint.

Hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it, HATE IT.

For years, I refused to take part. If I had to give a talk or a presentation of any kind, I used my words and speaking abilities only.

“I don’t need slides” I used to say…
(whilst slightly looking down upon everyone else that did)

That was until my employer asked me to travel to Germany to speak at the annual Voicedays event in Wiesbaden. A presentation was required and well, I didn’t have one.

Procrastinate, I did much.

That was up until my then boss casually mentioned in passing that the only reason I hadn’t started my deck yet was because I was afraid of it.

“You’re afraid of PowerPoint.”

“Am not.”

“Then do it then.”

“But…”

“If you’re not afraid of it, do it.”

He was right. I was. My fear? Where to start? What if I get it wrong?
I didn’t know what to do.

“Tell a story.” he said, “You like post-its, start with your key points on some post-its. See where it takes you.”

I grabbed some nearby post-its, a black marker and – a few mins later – I came up with this…

Genius? No.
The rantings of a serial killer? Maybe.
Cracking my fear of PowerPoint? Definitely.

I’d found my story, the notes were to be my kickers and this below, was the presentation I eventually gave to a room full of delegates at Voicedays ’08:

http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=voicedays08-1224085723596646-9&stripped_title=voicedays-08-presentation

.

That’s how I cracked my fear of PowerPoint; by telling a story using post-its. They became my kickers. I knew what story I wanted to tell and, by using the stickers as great big reminders/cheat sheets, I ensured I didn’t lose my way.

If you’re struggling with a deck yourself, get offline and start playing with paper & pens and just see where it takes you. You never know, you might start here and end up here.

Good hunting.

Africa: 789

Moleskine entry: August 7th, 2009

Thank the lord for the wonder that is the iTrip. The journey from Botswana to Zimbabwe just got a million times better thanks to the addition of some Kings of Leon.

Stan, our driver, is cool.

My passport is filling up, the amount of times we’ve crossed the border it just crazy.

SA, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia (strangely quite comforting to be back there), and back to Botswana again.

Now we’re en route to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

Bring. It. On.


1000heads: Disrupting the norm

There’s an ongoing debate here at 1000heads HQ at the moment about how we can continually ‘disrupt the norm’ in fun and interesting ways for the benefits of our clients.

This article ‘Why effective word of mouth disrupts schemas‘ is to blame. For the sake of brevity I’m only going to pull one quote from the piece (which really is worth a click and read by the way), as follows:

“Word-of-mouth on brands uses these same cognitive principles. Consumers talk about brands when we disrupt a schema. They talk when we give them a piece of surprise that does not fit inside their mental model.”

I spotted a good visual example of this over the weekend with the latest television advert from DIY specialists, Homebase.

Annoyingly, the only place you can view it online won’t let me actually embed the video – sigh – however from the image below you can get the idea.

Everyday essentials at low prices

The premise is simple, while decorating what looks like a London Underground escalator tunnel, the posters and tools used are priced and demo’d. The end result can be seen with the closing shot; a fantastically decorated public space, that not only looks amazing but also – if you saw it in real life – would certainly get you talking…

But that’s where we think that the whole Homebase campaign could do with some WOM. The London Underground effort isn’t the only space that they’ve disrupted, the other ads include decorating outdoor ads as well as public swimming pools.

Sticking to our We Want Work With principles, if we were working with Homebase then we’d have to push for making some of these above the line ideas and making them real.

Seeing your local underground station kitted out like this certainly doesn’t fit in with ‘the norm’ and – a few logistic issues aside – would certainly get people talking

Do something different.
Disrupt the norm.

Empty Underground

I love London.
More than that, I love London’s Underground.

This ancient subterranean transport system has been a part of my psyche from the first time my Mum brought me up to the big smoke to see the pigeons of Trafalgar Square – remember them?
Since then the colourful, maze-like map and simple iconography have been a clear and constant theme throughout my life.

Recently, after moving to London, travelling on the Tube (as it is more commonly known), has become a daily routine. Having spent a good couple of years working out of town, it really is good to be back.

Back on the underground.

Another pleasant by-product of enjoying my favourite form of public transport is the fantastic photography of it all.

Over the course of last year I caught myself snapping here and there more often than not, when there is an absence of occupance. This in turn led to the creation of a Flickr group -  Empty Underground.

A collection of photos taken of London’s underground rail system all in that rarest of moments; emptiness.

There’s a whole bunch of amazing images from many different photographers. If you have some time, go check it out – and if you have any of your own, why not add them to the group?

See you around… on the empty underground.

1000heads: The Social Media Week Digest

This week, believe it or not, is Social Media Week.

As the website says:

“Social Media Week conferences take place simultaneously in multiple cities around the world. The aim of each event is to advance the use and understanding of social media in the corporate, public and non-profit sectors.”

From New York to Berlin, San Francisco to São Paulo and Toronto to London, across the globe people are coming together to ‘explore the profound impact that social media has on culture, business communications and society at large’.

Here in London, the home of 1000heads, there are events happening all week and – hashtag tracking aside – some might find it quite difficult to try and get to everything on the rather packed out event schedule. To aid those in their quest to consume as much knowledge as possible, 1000heads is hosting the official ‘Social Media Week Digest’, this Friday, from 10am at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts.

There are a couple of other events going on Friday morning, including Reputation Online’s ‘Crisis Management‘ session as well as a special Social Media Week Tuttle Club. However, having seen how quickly the tickets for these events have been snapped up, we think there might be scope for one more thing..

So if you’re free and fancy joining us – you’ll be made to feel very welcome indeed.

As our sign up page says:

The Social Media Week Digest does exactly what it says on the tin; by Friday morning at least some of you would have all had the chance to catch one of the aforementioned fantastic events and this end-of-the-week gathering is your opportunity to come together and share stories, anecdotes and generally catch up on some of the interesting things you’ve seen and done.

Come drink some coffee (on us) and have a chat about where we’re all headed next.

Tickets aren’t mandatory (get yours here), they just help us keep an eye on numbers etc…

See you Friday! 🙂

Thanks to ICA London for the super last minute providing of the venue, I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of the place very soon.

This is my iPad post

Last week I was approached to write a piece about the iPad. But if you read here regularly, you’ll understand that it’s not something I’d typically do. However, I’m not proclaiming to have uncovered something new or shocking about the product, I just fancied putting a few thoughts down about how I feel about it because someone asked me to.

The original piece I wrote is now up where it should be available here (after said someone changed their mind at the last minute), and is a reasonable assessment of my thoughts on the subject. However, the very idea of writing a piece about Apple (a company about which I have never had any interest in writing about), forced me to look at the brand in a whole new light.

I am, as you may guess, no Apple fan. I have never owned an iPod and I will never own an iPhone. Though the keys I’m currently tapping away at belong to a MacBook Pro, a lot of the posts here were first written in my moleskine (my true creative pallette) then transferred to this page at a later date.

A zealot I am not.

iPods enforce iTunes. iPhones enforce iPods. I don’t like the iProducts, because I like to do things my way. Mine. Not Apple’s.

I digress.

When I was eight years old, my father bought my sister and I the complete Encyclopedia Britannica; appendices, indexes – the lot. This was before the Internet, before the Web, before Wikipedia.

The Encyclopedia Britannica got me through school. I used to sit and read through the pages, sometimes just for fun. ‘Let’s see what I can learn today’ was my daily motto. It was a thing of wonder.

When I look at the iPad, that is what I see.

Not a great big iPhone, nor a simplified MacBook Pro. Just a small boy, spread out on the lounge floor. With his school books on one side and the iPad on the other, he’s laying there, doing his homework.

For that reason and for that reason alone, I think I might get one.

LG: what’s wrong with this picture?

Around London of late, LG has been rolling out some rather large adverts for its latest low-to-mid range device – the catchily-named LG GD510.

The first time I saw the ad, I chuckled, brushed it off and moved on. The second time I saw it, I was with company and asked out loud; “Look! What’s wrong with that picture? And that there – what does that even mean?!”

What am I talking about?
This:

Have you seen this poster?

The headline promises a ‘small phone, big experience’

Well yes, quite.

While I am still yet to experience any of the promised big experience that the GD510 keeps in its little pockets (the phone might be amazing, it probably isn’t), I really must take issue with a couple of things here.

Hands up, I’m a mobile geek. There are some things that such an affliction a gift can help with and some not. While it’s great being able to spot and name 90% of mobile phones from a standing start, said geek-brain can’t help itself when it looks at a poster like the one above.

My first thought is; where are the third party apps? There isn’t a single application shown on that handset that speaks to me as a consumer. Where’s Spotify? BBC iPlayer? ANYTHING that an everyday chap looking for a phone might want.

Sky TV maybe?
No. Nothing.

Look, LG. If you’re going to show off all the ‘apps’ (if we can call them that) on your new device, at least put some in there that we might recognise. I know what’s on show isn’t technically an app-based phone, but the way it’s pitched says otherwise.

“But James! Look at the poster again, can’t you see it says ‘Facebook’ on it?”

Yes, I know it does. And that brings me to my second point.

WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!

Seriously. Think about it.

Why is there what can only be described as a Facebook sticker just thrown on the end of that ad? Does it mean that the phone is presented in association with Facebook’? Or maybe… no, maybe what? There’s nothing it could mean!

Stupid, stupid, lazy advertising.

Dear LG,

Your Facebook reference is meaningless.
Do better.

Lots of love,

James.

Rant over.