Ian Green

Font of the Week: Ode

2012-01-09T19:52:00.000Z

Writing for I Love Typography about his font Ode, Martin Wenzel says: "When designing a typeface, I prefer to explore a construction principle rather than revive an existing typeface idea. These principles or writing models are based on the tools and techniques originally used. Understanding these workings are often a great source of inspiration for me." Read more here

2012-01-06T17:16:00.002Z

An ILT special edition: a magnificent A2 print designed by Swedish graphic & type designer Stefan Hattenbach. Screen-printed in Tokyo on beautiful red Plike paper with gold, white, and black inks. Size: A2 (594 × 420 mm / 23.4 × 16.5"). Text set in Tarocco Bold.

Social media doesn't come cheap

2012-01-06T17:13:00.001Z

We’ve worked on a number of social media campaigns now - many of them very successful. You might remember some of them - Beat Blue Monday is now an annual news feature and Wensleydale Creamery is doing very well too.
But whenever we mention social media to some prospective clients their faces light up as they think social media is free. Social media saves time they think. Social media will save our business thousands, if not millions.
And yes you can save on the equivalent costs from a traditional deadwood media marketing or advertising campaign and better still you can get instant results and measurement. But that level of service does not come cheap - it can if you do it yourself and chuck up a blog, set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account and maybe do something with YouTube.
But what’s your strategy? Do you know what people are saying about you - have you done an audit? What are your objectives? Which social media tools are you going to use?
Just answering those questions demands a lot of expensive time and your costs are already rising.
So let’s do the maths on hours and the development costs of creating blog/microsite, mobile apps, online video, podcasts and then the crucial stuff of social media monitoring and assessment.
So for our hypothetical 12-month campaign for ACME Company we would need: account director for 15 hours a week at £150 an hour, account manager for 30 hours at £85 an hour, account executive on say £65 for 30 hours. Then we chuck in a blog/microsite and some mobile apps and maybe a few widgets – lets say the lot for £20,000. Then there’s the ongoing monitoring, engagement and evaluation for a conservative £30,000. That adds up to £400,000 for the year.
Maybe that’s a bit ambitious but even if you scaled it back to something more palatable - lets cut it in half to £200,000. Still the client is looking a bit green around the gills. But this is probably the same client who thinks nothing of booking a £70,000 page advertisement in the Daily Mail.
We would love to hear about other people’s experiences.

Font of the week: Karbid

2012-01-02T17:29:00.001Z

The FF Karbid family has been augmented with two entirely new sub-families. The first one, the Text version, is intended for body copy in small sizes. The eccentric, serif-like swashes in select letters have been abandoned, while the friendly, lively forms of l, y, z and Z show the close relationship to the FF Karbid family. The other new sub-family is a Slab version. It has a sober, journalistic character, inspired by the typography in magazines of the 1920s (see Memphis, etc.). The strong serifs lend the typeface footing and an air of reliability. To improve legibility and balance the contrast was increased in comparison to the sans serif version. FontFont’s Christoph Koeberlin and Ivo Gabrowitsch recently had the opportunity to talk with Verena Gerlach about her diverse super family.

Font of the week: Gotham

2011-12-09T10:26:00.001Z

Gotham is a family of geometric sans-serif digital typefaces designed by American type designer Tobias Frere-Jones in 2000. Gotham's letterforms are inspired by a form of architectural signage that achieved popularity in the mid-twentieth century, and are especially popular throughout New York City.
Since creation, Gotham has been highly visible due to its appearance in many notable places, including a large amount of campaign material created for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, as well as the cornerstone of the One World Trade Center, the tower to be built on the site of the former World Trade Center in New York.The Gotham font was initially commissioned by GQ magazine, whose editors wanted to display a sans-serif with a "geometric structure" that would look "masculine, new, and fresh" for their magazine. Although the magazine was initially considering a series of fonts that either looked like techno CD covers or were more traditional like Futura, they agreed that they needed something "that was going to be very fresh and very established to have a sort of credible voice to it," according to Jonathan Hoefler.
Frere-Jones' inspiration for the typeface came from time spent walking block-by-block through Manhattan with a camera to find source material, and he based the font on the lettering seen in older buildings, especially the sign on the Eighth Avenue facade of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. "I suppose there's a hidden personal agenda in the design," Frere-Jones said, "to preserve those old pieces of New York that could be wiped out before they're appreciated. Having grown up here, I was always fond of the 'old' New York and its lettering."
The lettering that inspired this typeface originated from the style of 1920s era sans-serifs like Futura, where "Type, like architecture, like the organization of society itself, was to be reduced to its bare, efficient essentials, rid of undesirable, local or ethnic elements." This theme was found frequently in Depression-era type in both North America and Europe, particularly Germany.[4] This simplification of type is characterized by Frere-Jones as "not the kind of letter a type designer would make. It's the kind of letter an engineer would make. It was born outside the type design in some other world and has a very distinct flavor from that."
Reviews of Gotham focus on its identity as something both American and specific to New York City. According to David Dunlap of The New York Times, Gotham "deliberately evokes the blocky no-nonsense, unselfconscious architectural lettering that dominated the [New York] streetscape from the 1930's through the 1960's."Andrew Romano of Newsweek concurs. "Unlike other sans serif typefaces, it's not German, it's not French, it's not Swiss," he said. "It's very American."
According to Frere-Jones, Gotham wouldn't have happened without the GQ commission. "The humanist and the geometric ... had already been thoroughly staked out and developed by past designers. I didn't think anything new could have been found there, but luckily for me (and the client), I was mistaken."

Movember: Day 21

2011-11-21T19:50:00.001Z

I've been growing this thing for 21 days now - doesn't appear to have grown much since last week. And, drum roll, have decided to ditch the side burns. The itch like hell. What has surprised me is how much grooming a moustache needs - I always thought the whole point was that you just didn't shave.

To find our more read earlier posting here. Slight improvement on the previous week - see below:

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

2011-11-14T23:31:00.001Z

This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005. The reason I reproduce it here is because I went to my daughter's school prize giving where she won the trophies for French and English (she is a clever girl - and, no it dosen't come from me). However, they had a guest speaker at the event to inspire the kids as they entered adulthood and tell them what they should strive for.
It was disappointing! Basically, she just told everyone how fantastic she was - for no reason I could discern - and the entire speech sounded like a recital of every self-help book over the past 20 years. I asked my daugher if I was being too cynical and she said no. She thought the best speech she had heard to students was by Apple's Steve Jobs. I think I agree. It applies to undergraduates, graduates, you and me, and people at the end of the line. Here it is:

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.

Movember: Day 14

2011-11-14T19:51:00.001Z

To find our more read earlier posting here. Slight improvement on the previous week - see below:

Hirsute pursuits

2011-11-07T10:25:00.000Z

I’ve donated my face to Movember and for the rest of the month will be growing a luxuriant moustache for charity. I’m going for the full mutton chops too! I started on November 1.
Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for a number of male-related charities including the Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research.
During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in the UK and around the world. The aim of which is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health.On Movember 1st, guys register at Movember.com with a clean-shaven face and then for the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery.
Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.You can support me (who is pictured here on November 1 with his starter stubble) on my Movember web page here.
Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November and through their actions and words raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.The funds raised in the UK support the number one and two male specific cancers - prostate and testicular cancer.
The funds raised are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together, these channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programmes in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.
Here's me after 7 days:

Cheer up Mate!

Why infrographics work

2011-11-05T14:07:00.002Z

The Value of Data Visualization from Column Five on Vimeo.

Font of the Week: Mishka

2011-10-21T19:08:00.003Z

Time to get back on the Cluetrain

2011-10-21T18:55:00.000Z

It’s always good to step back and look at what you’re doing in your business. It’s so easy to get bogged down in the minutia - chasing new business, drafting proposals, billing chasing invoices... you know the rest.
So recently I have gone back to basics and revisited the Cluetrain Manifesto - which is now 12 years old.
For those of you who don’t know the Cluetrain Manifesto is a set of 95 theses for all businesses operating within the newly-connected marketplace that was the internet. The ideas put forward within the manifesto aim to examine the impact of the Internet on both markets (consumers) and organisations. In addition, as both consumers and organisations are able to use the Internet and Intranets to establish a previously unavailable level of communication both within and between these two groups, the manifesto suggests that changes will be required from organisations as they respond to the new marketplace environment.
The manifesto was written in 1999 by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger. A printed publication which elaborated on the manifesto was published in 2000 by Perseus Books under the same name.
The authors assert that the Internet is unlike the ordinary media used in mass marketing as it enables people to have "human to human" conversations, which have the potential to transform traditional business practices radically.
The book and website both challenge what the manifesto calls outmoded, 20th-century thinking about business in light of the emergence of the Web, clearly listing "95 theses", as a reference to Martin Luther's manifesto which heralded the start of the Protestant Reformation.
The term "cluetrain" stems from the following unattributed quote: "The clue train stopped there four times a day for ten years and they never took delivery."
So, offering some food for thought, here is the entire 95 thesis which form the basis of the Cluetrain Manifesto:

1.   Markets are conversations.
2.   Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
3.   Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.
4.   Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.
5.   People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice.
6.   The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.
7.   Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy.
8.   In both internetworked markets and among intranetworked employees, people are speaking to each other in a powerful new way.
9.   These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge.
10. As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. Participation in a networked market changes people fundamentally.
11.    People in networked markets have figured out that they get far better information and support from one another than from vendors. So much for corporate rhetoric about adding value to commoditized products.
12.    There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.
13.    What's happening to markets is also happening among employees. A metaphysical construct called "The Company" is the only thing standing between the two.
14.    Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman.
15.    In just a few more years, the current homogenized "voice" of business - the sound of mission statements and brochures - will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court.
16.    Already, companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the dog-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone.
17.    Companies that assume online markets are the same markets that used to watch their ads on television are kidding themselves.
18.    Companies that don't realize their markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity.
19.    Companies can now communicate with their markets directly. If they blow it, it could be their last chance.
20.    Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing. At them.
21.    Companies need to lighten up and take themselves less seriously. They need to get a sense of humor.
22.    Getting a sense of humor does not mean putting some jokes on the corporate web site. Rather, it requires big values, a little humility, straight talk, and a genuine point of view.
23.    Companies attempting to "position" themselves need to take a position. Optimally, it should relate to something their market actually cares about.
24.    Bombastic boasts: "We are positioned to become the preeminent provider of XYZ" - do not constitute a position.
25.    Companies need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships.
26.    Public Relations does not relate to the public. Companies are deeply afraid of their markets.
27.    By speaking in language that is distant, uninviting, arrogant, they build walls to keep markets at bay.
28.    Most marketing programs are based on the fear that the market might see what's really going on inside the company.
29.    Elvis said it best: "We can't go on together with suspicious minds."
30.    Brand loyalty is the corporate version of going steady, but the breakup is inevitable - and coming fast. Because they are networked, smart markets are able to renegotiate relationships with blinding speed.
31.    Networked markets can change suppliers overnight. Networked knowledge workers can change employers over lunch. Your own "downsizing initiatives" taught us to ask the question: "Loyalty? What's that?"
32.    Smart markets will find suppliers who speak their own language.
33.    Learning to speak with a human voice is not a parlor trick. It can't be "picked up" at some tony conference.
34.    To speak with a human voice, companies must share the concerns of their communities.
35.    But first, they must belong to a community.
36.    Companies must ask themselves where their corporate cultures end.
37.    If their cultures end before the community begins, they will have no market.
38.    Human communities are based on discourse - on human speech about human concerns.
39.    The community of discourse is the market.
40.    Companies that do not belong to a community of discourse will die.
41.    Companies make a religion of security, but this is largely a red herring. Most are protecting less against competitors than against their own market and workforce.
42.    As with networked markets, people are also talking to each other directly inside the company- and not just about rules and regulations, boardroom directives, bottom lines.
43.    Such conversations are taking place today on corporate intranets. But only when the conditions are right.
44.    Companies typically install intranets top-down to distribute HR policies and other corporate information that workers are doing their best to ignore.
45.    Intranets naturally tend to route around boredom. The best are built bottom-up by engaged individuals cooperating to construct something far more valuable: an intranetworked corporate conversation.
46.    A healthy intranet organizes workers in many meanings of the word. Its effect is more radical than the agenda of any union.
47.    While this scares companies witless, they also depend heavily on open intranets to generate and share critical knowledge. They need to resist the urge to "improve" or control these networked conversations.
48.    When corporate intranets are not constrained by fear and legalistic rules, the type of conversation they encourage sounds remarkably like the conversation of the networked marketplace.
49.    Org charts worked in an older economy where plans could be fully understood from atop steep management pyramids and detailed work orders could be handed down from on high.
50.    Today, the org chart is hyperlinked, not hierarchical. Respect for hands-on knowledge wins over respect for abstract authority.
51.    Command-and-control management styles both derive from and reinforce bureaucracy, power tripping and an overall culture of paranoia.
52.    Paranoia kills conversation. That's its point. But lack of open conversation kills companies.
53.    There are two conversations going on. One inside the company. One with the market.
54.    In most cases, neither conversation is going very well. Almost invariably, the cause of failure can be traced to obsolete notions of command and control.
55.    As policy, these notions are poisonous. As tools, they are broken. Command and control are met with hostility by intranetworked knowledge workers and generate distrust in internetworked markets.
56.    These two conversations want to talk to each other. They are speaking the same language. They recognize each other's voices.
57.    Smart companies will get out of the way and help the inevitable to happen sooner.
58.    If willingness to get out of the way is taken as a measure of IQ, then very few companies have yet wised up.
59.    However subliminally at the moment, millions of people now online perceive companies as little more than quaint legal fictions that are actively preventing these conversations from intersecting.
60.    This is suicidal. Markets want to talk to companies.
61.    Sadly, the part of the company a networked market wants to talk to is usually hidden behind a smokescreen of hucksterism, of language that rings false - and often is.
62.    Markets do not want to talk to flacks and hucksters. They want to participate in the conversations going on behind the corporate firewall.
63.    De-cloaking, getting personal: We are those markets. We want to talk to you.
64.    We want access to your corporate information, to your plans and strategies, your best thinking, your genuine knowledge. We will not settle for the 4-color brochure, for web sites chock-a-block with eye candy but lacking any substance.
65.    We're also the workers who make your companies go. We want to talk to customers directly in our own voices, not in platitudes written into a script.
66.    As markets, as workers, both of us are sick to death of getting our information by remote control. Why do we need faceless annual reports and third-hand market research studies to introduce us to each other?
67.    As markets, as workers, we wonder why you're not listening. You seem to be speaking a different language.
68.    The inflated self-important jargon you sling around - in the press, at your conferences - what's that got to do with us?
69.    Maybe you're impressing your investors. Maybe you're impressing Wall Street. You're not impressing us.
70.    If you don't impress us, your investors are going to take a bath. Don't they understand this? If they did, they wouldn't let you talk that way.
71.    Your tired notions of "the market" make our eyes glaze over. We don't recognize ourselves in your projections - perhaps because we know we're already elsewhere.
72.    We like this new marketplace much better. In fact, we are creating it.
73.    You're invited, but it's our world. Take your shoes off at the door. If you want to barter with us, get down off that camel!

74.    We are immune to advertising. Just forget it.

75.    If you want us to talk to you, tell us something. Make it something interesting for a change.

76.    We've got some ideas for you too: some new tools we need, some better service. Stuff we'd be willing to pay for. Got a minute?
77.    You're too busy "doing business" to answer our email? Oh gosh, sorry, gee, we'll come back later. Maybe.
78.    You want us to pay? We want you to pay attention.
79.    We want you to drop your trip, come out of your neurotic self-involvement, join the party.
80.    Don't worry, you can still make money. That is, as long as it's not the only thing on your mind.
81.    Have you noticed that, in itself, money is kind of one-dimensional and boring? What else can we talk about?
82.    Your product broke. Why? We'd like to ask the guy who made it. Your corporate strategy makes no sense. We'd like to have a chat with your CEO. What do you mean she's not in?
83.    We want you to take 50 million of us as seriously as you take one reporter from The Wall Street Journal.
84.    We know some people from your company. They're pretty cool online. Do you have any more like that you're hiding? Can they come out and play?
85.    When we have questions we turn to each other for answers. If you didn't have such a tight rein on "your people" maybe they'd be among the people we'd turn to.
86.    When we're not busy being your "target market," many of us are your people. We'd rather be talking to friends online than watching the clock. That would get your name around better than your entire million dollar web site. But you tell us speaking to the market is Marketing's job.
87.    We'd like it if you got what's going on here. That'd be real nice. But it would be a big mistake to think we're holding our breath.
88.    We have better things to do than worry about whether you'll change in time to get our business. Business is only a part of our lives. It seems to be all of yours. Think about it: who needs whom?
89.    We have real power and we know it. If you don't quite see the light, some other outfit will come along that's more attentive, more interesting, more fun to play with.
90.    Even at its worst, our newfound conversation is more interesting than most trade shows, more entertaining than any TV sitcom, and certainly more true-to-life than the corporate web sites we've been seeing.
91.    Our allegiance is to ourselves—our friends, our new allies and acquaintances, even our sparring partners. Companies that have no part in this world, also have no future.
92.    Companies are spending billions of dollars on Y2K. Why can't they hear this market timebomb ticking? The stakes are even higher.
93.    We're both inside companies and outside them. The boundaries that separate our conversations look like the Berlin Wall today, but they're really just an annoyance. We know they're coming down. We're going to work from both sides to take them down.
94.    To traditional corporations, networked conversations may appear confused, may sound confusing. But we are organizing faster than they are. We have better tools, more new ideas, no rules to slow us down.
95.    We are waking up and linking to each other. We are watching. But we are not waiting.

Font of the week: Tundra

2011-10-15T20:30:00.000Z

What will your digital legacy be?

2011-10-15T18:21:00.001Z

Recently, a business acquaintance sadly passed away. He was as fit as a fiddle and, at 46, was a regular footballer and cyclist. A no-nonsense northerner - he will be sadly missed.
Meanwhile, a couple of years ago a friend of my son died in tragic circumstances in the River Wharf, just 19 years old.While this saddens me what also intrigues me is that they have both left a poignant legacy of their life on line. Indeed, the young man’s Facebook page became a touching tribute to his life as people left posts remembering him at his best and mourning his loss.
My business contact too, remains online through his Linkedin and Facebook profile - he even dabbled in Twitter.We all know that we will leave the world one day - it is inevitable. But do we know what will happen to our online lives when we spiral off this mortal coil? We will continue to exists somewhere in the digital work on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Flickr, Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo.
So what happens then? Will we leave a digital inheritance to our children - asking them to curate our former online existence? Or will be consigned to some digital limbo or Valhalla?It’s the same for companies - when a company dies (goes into receivership or is taken over) what happens to its digital legacy. Will it just sit a server somewhere until it finally goes for recycling?
However, some platforms are now offering to memorialise profiles. Facebook gives an option to memorialise a dead person’s profile, removing certain sensitive information and with privacy firewalls that only confirmed friends can see the profile.
A family member or friend has to fill out a brief form and provide proof of death of the user like an obituary.On Twitter, they close the account and help family members recover public Tweets from the account after they provide them with the following with key details such an email address and username.
However, you can plan for a digital afterlife through a number of websites such as World Without Me, which lets you create assets of all your digital information like login credentials and other sensitive documents in one safe and secure place.Another site is 1,000Memories, a web service that helps digitally honor the memory of a loved one, which recently announced that it had closed a $2.5m of funding.In the absence of meaningful state or federal regulation regarding post-mortem rights in cyberspace, a so-called digital death industry is booming.Sites like DataInherit, a "Swiss bank for data," have tens of thousands of users in 100-plus countries. MemoryOf, which allows survivors to build tribute pages, is approaching the 100,000-memorial mark.What do you think? Are you planning for your digital death?

Font of the Week: Vanilla Shake

2011-10-08T19:52:00.000Z

Font of the Week: Ardoise

2011-09-26T19:05:00.001Z

Lost dog on Facebook

2011-09-23T10:09:00.001Z

As a communications tool social networks never cease to surprise me. With Facebook recently announcing its major game change, which is covered in much better detail here by Neville Hobson, the possibilities for connecting are growing significantly.
Meanwhile, it’s the little things that inspire me and the ingenious ways people are now using it… like looking for a lost dog.
Poor Mr Wilson, a Jack Russell terrier, went missing on September 15, when his owner took him out for a walk. Like any worried dog owner she printed out posters and pinned them up around her village in Lincolnshire.
She also had the inspired idea of setting up a Facebook page for the errant Mr Wilson. The page has already generated many followers and was novel enough to grab the attention of local radio and media generating further coverage of the dog’s plight.
Sadly Mr Wilson has not been found BUT at least people are still talking about him and, as a result, still looking for him.

Font of the Week: Phaeton

2011-09-21T15:37:00.002Z

Google+ moves in on Facebook. Discuss

2011-09-21T15:36:00.002Z

Google and Facebook trotted out a variety of new social networking features in back-to-back announcements yesterday, underscoring their intensifying competition between the two.
Google integrated its flagship search engine into Google+ social network and expanded its "Hangouts" video-chat feature to allow mobile use and broadcasting.
The company said on its official blog its Hangouts feature - where up to nine people can link up and chat with a user on video - will be available on camera equipped smartphones powered by its own Android software.
And a user can now host an online broadcast with this feature -- recording a session and broadcasting it live for public access online. Black Eyed Peas front man will.i.am will host the first Hangout on Air on today.
Meanwhile, Facebook is introducing a new "ticker" on its users' home pages, providing real-time notifications of what friends are doing on the service. Facebook also revamped the service's main news feed to flag important items for Facebook users who have not logged on for a few days. It also changed the way photos are displayed on the site, increasing the size of pictures that appear in a users' news feed.
Google did not say how many people had signed up for Google+ so far, but confirmed the social network was now open to all, whereas previously it had been invitation-only. Analysts estimate upward of 25 million users have joined Google+ since its inception.
We’ve been playing with Google+ for a while but have struggled to see the benefits so far, largely because there are so few people playing around in it.
The jury’s still out on whether Google+ can seriously challenge Facebook but that could all change with extra Google juice.
Check out the video from LifeHacker.

Friday fun from Letterheady

2011-09-16T12:07:00.000Z

All courtesy of Letterheady

Great gigs you should have attended in Liverpool

2011-09-07T22:22:00.000Z

You forget what a great asset Eric's was to the Liverpool music scene....

Baskerville: Font of the week

2011-08-07T20:33:00.001Z

Baskerville, designed in 1754, is most known for its crisp edges, high contrast and generous proportions. The typeface was heavily influenced by the processes of the Birmingham-bred John Baskerville, a master type-founder and printer, who owed much of his career to his beginnings. As a servant in a clergyman’s house, it was his employer that discovered his penmanship talents and sent him to learn writing. Baskerville was illiterate but became very interested in calligraphy, and practised handwriting and inscription that was later echoed in strokes and embellishments in his printed typeface.

Know your coffee

2011-08-03T19:07:00.000Z

I love infographics and typefaces

2011-07-22T19:39:00.000Z

Given that this is the case I am going to do a regular review of the best typefaces and infographics on the web - so we start with just a brief periodic table of typefaces in... er... an info graphic. Enjoy! For the record my favourite typeface at the moment is Rockwell.

Twitter - the new graffiti

2011-06-22T11:58:00.002Z

From my mate Andy: With the ability to freely express ourselves, almost instantaneously, through social media, does this new facility undermine one of the oldest forms of offline social media – graffiti?
Also, is social media the ultimate form of defining your urbanity – in all senses of the word? Can we measure this repercussion of the impact of social media – is there less graffiti around?
In my creativity and innovation teachings I do see graffiti and Twitter as both forms of creative expression. If you think about why do people write graffiti? I suspect it is motivated by:A need to express a response, an idea to a situation

An outlet for rage, boredom or despondency
Adding to or responding to other graffiti
Marking out some territorial space for you or your allegiance
Demonstrating your allegiance as well as your wit, humour or insight – your urbanity
An expression, for some, of their artistic ability

I was inspired by the topic after coming across a piece of graffiti from ancient Pompeii, which read: Wall! I wonder that you haven’t fallen down in ruin, when you have to support all the boredom of your inscribers.
My experience of graffiti falls far short of the elegance, the urbanity, of the Pompeii piece. Perhaps, it was in higher education, the loos at the library in Swansea University – I had to make some use of the building’s facilities! – whose graffiti I most recall.
A Welsh nationalists call to hit the English with: Don’t flush the toilet - England needs the water and an answer from someone presumably from Albion with the rejoinder: Don’t flush the toilet – Wales needs the sh*t raised a smile. (In hindsight it is not particularly funny, but demonstrates the power of context and immediacy in giving cultural value to something – which doesn’t bode well for the longetivity of much social media content.)
And perhaps my all-time favourite of a plea from another student in 1980 facing the prospect of leaving the safe world of university life: But I don’t want to be an Asst. Area manager for Sainsbury’s to which another wag added: But what else is a BscEcon good for! - which you need to have been at Swansea for, to appreciate the significance.
Of course, no review of my life – and the graffiti it has witnessed – would not be complete without acknowledging the universal words scratched on the metal casing of all Durex machines in men’s bogs across the land: This chewing gum tastes awful. And next to the kite mark with its guarantee of quality, the words: So, was the Titanic!
The question remains, is there less graffiti about – whether it is the toilet cubicles of university libraries, or in everyday life?
My anecdotal evidence is yes. And we have not just witnessed a decline in volume but also, graffiti is reflecting underlying dynamics in changing trends.
It is now in two camps: premium, whether in its ultimate form is a work of art by Banksy or your neighbourhood street artist, or has become more basic and commoditised, with either just cheap or common statements of just a football team name.
The word ‘urbanity’ does not just mean being charming or considerate, but also of being of an urban area. Is graffiti and now social media an ultimate expression of ‘urbanity’- of living a life in an urban context?
What’s your view? Is there less graffiti about? And what has been the impact of social media?

Blogging for Business: Top Ten Tips

2011-06-04T12:13:00.000Z

We manage a number of blogs on behalf of many clients. Indeed, for some clients we manage all their social media communications from micro-sites, to blogs, to Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.
Too often though many companies fail to understand the purpose of a blog and how it is different from their corporate website. Many company blogs are just bland reproductions of the existing website. There is often no personality on display just a grey suit which uses and officious tone announcing the play-by-play updates of company news that invites no interaction with the reader, which is probably the customer or supplier.
With this in mind we’ve been thinking about what makes a good corporate blog. So, inevitably, here are our top ten tips for successful corporate blogs.

Set Your Guidelines
When creating a blog you must be able to define the value that it’s bringing to the reader. Your need to clearly define the focused theme that your team will follow. Choose a blog name and theme that fits well with your company’s expertise, but don’t be afraid to branch out into a larger space. Your blog should provide pertinent information for consumers interested in your area of business.
Once you’ve chosen an area to cover, create a set of editorial guidelines that your bloggers can follow. At GREEN we produce a number of guidelines on social media for a wide range of clients which clearly states the objectives of the blogs and the do’s and don’ts. This stops any abuse and helps the company avoid any potential controversy.
For instance at LINPAC Packaging they blog about, well, packaging and plastics. And not just about what they are doing internally on a new product release but offering some though leadership on the debate raging around packaging. The theme is specific enough for readers to understand what they may find, but it is such a broad topic, that almost limitless posts are possible.

Choose a Blogging Team
Not everyone can write - at least not in a manner that draws in the reader. More crucially, not everyone wants to write and many positively avoid it. So choose individuals that are knowledgeable and comfortable writing about the areas you would like to cover. Some companies prefer to elect an editor or group of editors to have a final look at all blog posts, while other companies allow their bloggers to publish directly. We prefer the later - if the guidelines are clear you should trust the people your working with.

Dress Down
If your website is the suited and booted face of your company, then your blog is your Dress Down Friday look. A blog is a place to let down your corporate hair and get to know your customers. Think of it as a conversation between people, not between a brand and one person. In order to have a conversation, you need two people - a blogger and a reader.
Give your corporate bloggers the freedom to be themselves. Encourage them to have their own personalities and writing styles. This type of diversity is more representative of your company than any monotonous tone that you could manufacture on your own.

Avoid PR and Marketing
Might seem like strange advice coming from a company that specialises in public relations and marketing but the insight, knowledge and expertise that a blog can impart is far more useful than any PR pitch that you could post. Stay away from trying to selling and marketing - you can do that on your website or in deadwood media publications.

Take it on the chin
Many organizations run scared off social media in the belief that some people (and their will be some people) will just use it as an opportunity to say bad things about you. But they would probably be mean about your anyway with its through social media or in a pub conversation.
Accept that you will have detractors but make a point of welcoming criticism and using it as an opportunity for providing feedback and improvement.

Outline Your Comment Policy
Open up your blog for full feedback, you will get a variety of comments - postivie, complimentary, hateful, and spam. Be prepared for everything and create a comment policy that your team can follow. GREEN’s comment policy is set out below:
Commenting on Greenblog
It is our policy to review all comments before publishing them, partly to reduce the possibility of spam comments and partly to ensure comments are in line with our list of blogger ethics below:

We will tell the truth. We will acknowledge and correct any mistakes promptly.
We will not delete comments unless they are spam, off-topic, or defamatory.
We will reply to comments when appropriate as promptly as possible.
We will link to online references and original source materials directly.
We will disagree with other opinions respectfully.

Get Social
Use share tools, such as Facebook, Twitter and Digg. Share tools allow your users to pass along your content and that’s a great way of creating brand ambassadors. We use a simple addthis button to make sharing easier.
Also, integrate you blog into other social media platroms by creating profiles across social networks that your readers and customers are active on. Facebook and Twitter are a good start, and YouTube is a must for video-sharing. When you post on your blog, announce the new post on your social networks and ask for your readers’ opinions on the subject.

Promote Your Blog
Just as you would promote any other company initiative, get the word out about your blog. Share the URL on your website, social networks, business cards, e-mails, and advertisements.
Without promotion, building an audience can be difficult. Get behind the quality work that your team is putting into the blog and promote away.

Monitor and Feedback
One way to get a pulse on your blog and its effects on the community is to monitor mentions and feedback. Set up Google Alerts for your brand, blog name and any keywords that might be relevant.
At GREEN we use a number of programmes to monitor what our clients are saying online and what is being said about them.

Track Everything
Make sure your web analytics tools are switched on. We generally integrate Google Analytics into any blog we are managing. This tells us how much traffic the blog is receiving, where it’s coming from, where the referral websites are and which posts are being read the most.
Armed with this data we can then tweak future posts to ensure that we are getting the tone and content right.
Are missing anything? Leave a comment and let us know...

Eddie Stobart and stealth branding

2011-04-19T15:59:00.003Z

The death of Eddie Stobart highlighted one of the UK’s most idiosyncratic brands. A medium-sized haulage company essentially offering the same product as its competitors became a much-revered British institution. But how? And why?
So, why does its name and reputation shine brighter?
What lessons are there for your word of mouth, PR, marketing and brand communications from the story of Eddie Stobart?
1. Distinctive visibility. In an age of limited budgets the need for what I call ‘Self-vertising’ is paramount. What ways can you use your own channels, your own imprint on how you connect with the outside world?
Eddie Stobart ensured there was a consistent brand image for his vehicles. Yet, lots of other haulage companies have consistent brand livery.
Eddie however, was blessed with innate great branding. The very name Eddie Stobart is distinct, memorable, unusual, without being too far difficult to comprehend or label, or be categorized and discarded as ‘foreign’
It is not that people are xenophobic, but memorable names have to be instantly filed away in our minds. The ‘Eddie Stobart’ name had the right balance to ensure it would stick out, create what we call ‘dissonance’, without being too outlandish.
This quality is what I call ‘Distinctive Visibility’. I came across a psychological test where you were asked to count the number of people in a street scene. Curiously, your brain paradoxically does not count those workmen wearing high visibility clothing. In spite of their ‘visibility’ they failed to make a distinctive impression.
What ways can your brand be both visible and distinctive?

2. Likeability - one of the most potent factors in branding success and indeed, life itself is what I call the ‘Likeability Factor’; do people like you, particularly on first impression. What if Mr Stobart had called his firm ‘Edward Stobart’ would it have been so effective.
The inherent informality of ‘Eddie’ was reinforced by giving his trucks girls’ names, a variation on the tradition of naming steam engines. By naming them, it humanised the trucks. People saw them not as ugly vehicles but more like a character in a children’s story, a toy, a bit of fun.
While you cannot fake, long-term likeability, it is possible to cultivate and nurture likeable features and characteristics for your brand.

3. Connectivity - the root core of any successful communication is creating a bridge between you and your target audience. Everyone, especially small children, can relate to a truck with a girl’s name. You can then relate back from that shared experience to how you feel about the brand as a whole.
Connectivity was extended with developments such as the Eddie Spotters Club (with its 25,000 members). The club was created in response to consumer demand rather than as a result of a marketing master plan. Initial enquiries from would-be fans were initially just sent a duplicated list of names. Again, this offers compelling evidence of the sheer innate brand quality of the ‘Eddie Stobart’ name.

4. Vibrancy - it seems there are sufficient Eddie Stobart trucks to be seen on a regular basis, but not enough to make them a boring, ubiquitous sight. A healthy brand relationship needs to have a good level of inter-action: not too much, nor too little.

5. Short Step engagement - to be an Eddie Spotter all you had to do was see a truck on the road. It did not require elaborate procedures; it was an easy-to-do. A web site with a range of merchandise catered for the more dedicated aficionados.
Eddie Spotting became a way of enlivening an otherwise dull motorway journey. Te distraction is welcomed, you are not having to distract from a rival, competing interest. What quiet or dull moments could provide opportunities for your brand to engage with your fans?

6. Conversation value - spotting an Eddie Stobart truck gives you an opportunity to impress your fellow traveller by being the first to spot as well as the cue for a conversation about your shared ‘Eddie experiences’. What talking points do you offer your fans?

7. Brand mystery. Curiously, despite being one of the best known names in the country Eddie Stobart himself was uncharismatic, shy, and kept himself out of the public spotlight.

This ‘invisibility’ actually enhanced the ‘Eddie Stobart’ brand; if you knew more about him as a person there is the danger of then being able to pigeon-hole, categorize him, his class, regional accent – and, if you liked him or not.
Keeping Mr Stobart out of the equation let people create their own sum, their image of the persona they would like ‘Eddie Stobart’ to be; invariably, this will be a positive, likeable image.
In the same way that the formula for Coca Cola is allegedly a secret, what Brand Mystery do you tantalise your world with?
GREEN Communications can you help you maximise the impact of your brand. We can provide your business with the best brand story to support its success. Get in touch now for a free informal Brand audit.

Wakefield's first PechaKucha Night

2011-03-06T18:41:00.002Z

We had a fantastic evening at the first ever PechaKucha Night in Wakefield on Thursday.
For those who have not experienced a PechaKucha - it is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images.
The presentation format was devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham architecture. So, why this format ? Because architects talk too much! Give a microphone and some images to an architect - or most creative people for that matter - and they'll go on forever! Give powerpoint to anyone else and they have the same problem.
PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, holiday snaps - just about anything really, in the PechaKucha 20x20 format.
Most cities - not just Tokyo - have virtually no public spaces where people can show and share their work in relaxed way. If you have just graduated from college and finished your first project in the real world - where can you show it? It probably won't get into a magazine, you don't have enough photos for a gallery show or a lecture - but PechaKucha 20x20 is the perfect platform to show and share your work.
Wakefield’s first PechaKucha was held and hosted at The Art House and supported by GREEN Communications and The Hepworth Wakefield.
We had several great presentations from:
Jane Walton - on the definition of entrepreneurialism and social enterprise.
Brian Lewis - on creating a conversation through art. I spent a happy five minutes sat on the floor with Brian looking at his 'tarot cards' and creating a narrative on what I saw. Both Brian and I were a bit perplexed that a in a room full of creatives no one came over to find our what two middle aged men where doing sitting on the floor and talking about pictures!
Bob Clayden - great presentation on pin-hole cameras and a planned event next month on building your own pin-hole camera and creating works of art.
Paul Airy - this local artist did an excellent and thoughtful presentation on his forthcoming exhibition: One Word At A Time.
Victoria Lucas and Richard Wheater - two other Wakefield artists who work in light and glass did a great presentation on their latest project - Twelve Months of Neon Love which can be seen from the East Coast Mainline as you arrive at Wakefield Westgate station.
PechaKucha Night Wakefield was a great event - more updates later but be sure to attend as a presenter or as a member of the audience.

Journalism vs Churnalism

2011-02-25T11:34:00.003Z

A new website launched today which seeks to name and shame journalists and publications caught recycling press releases.
Now we are no strangers to cut and paste journalism and I was probably guilty of in the past if I am honest when, as a journalist, I came a worthy piece of news wrapped up in an elegantly written press release.
In truth, at GREEN we are manned by many former journalists so most of our press releases are written in the manner would expect the journalist to write them for their particular publication.
Churnalism.com has been launched by the Media Standards Trust and takes up the baton from Guardian journalist Nick Davies - who popularised the term Churnalism, for journalism which is little more than re-writing press releases, in his 2008 book Flat Earth News.
The site invites people to paste press releases into it, Churnalism.com then compares the press release with news stories published online to reveal how much is apparently cut and pasted by the journalist.
Examples this morning include a press release from Asda stating that families are now £8 a week better off than a year ago, which was apparently 89 per cent cut and pasted into a story appearing on Mail Online.
Media Standards Trust Director Martin Moore said: "News organisations can now be much more transparent about the sources of their articles, but most of them still aren’t. Hiding the connection between PR and news is not in the interests of the public. Hopefully churnalism.com will nudge them to be more open about their use of PR material.
"Even with press releases that are clearly in the public interest - medical breakthroughs, government announcements, school closures, and perhaps even this website launch - it is still better that articles are transparent about their sources.
"Maybe churnalism.com will also encourage more original journalism. Exposing unoriginal churn may help slow the steep decline in the amount of original reporting that we’ve seen in the last few years."
That’s all very good but I suppose you have to pose the question if the story is good enough in a press release then right-minded journalists will use. If they have any doubts the first rule is always go back to the source and challenge the content
Full disclosure: This story was based on a press release from the Media Standards Trust and other coverage on various websites.

Howard Carter on DEET

2011-02-18T09:57:00.000Z

Our friend Howard Carter at incognito offers some insight into the issues surrounding DEET insect repellent and how mosquitoes are becoming increasingly resistant to this toxin.

How social are you? Fancy a pint?

2011-02-18T09:54:00.002Z

Social media has transformed the internet in the past five years but many companies still struggle to embrace it. I was recently invited by iGaming Business Magazine to write an article offering a simple strategy for managing your digital profile. Here it is:

Let’s imagine you’re in the pub having a conversation with your best mate about your local football team’s dismal standing in the league table.
Someone else in the bar, a stranger, is eavesdropping. He is a fellow fan and commiserates with you about the teams failings - so he joins in your conversation about the team’s bad management. The landlady behind the bar chips in her views. And the old bloke sat at his usual table holds forth about the team’s poor defence. Everyone enjoys a conversation.
Now let’s imagine you’re online on your Facebook account having the same conversation with a bunch of people who have become friends with you because you’re all interested in the same football team. You’ve never met them in real life but you have a shared interest that you wish to talk about - and there are thousands of you.
As a definition of social media - such as websites like Facebook, Linkedin, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Plaxo, FourSquare and the emerging mobile applications - the term ‘conversation’ neatly sums up what social media is. It is an ongoing digital dialogue which is having a huge impact on people’s personal lives but also on businesses too.
Now imagine the conversation around your brand - whether you are a game developer, operator, distributor or manufacturer - and consider what people are saying about your company. Are you listening? Are you engaged? Are you adding to the conversation? No? I thought not. Most businesses don’t bother and they are missing a huge marketing opportunity.
Some people love your company and brand and are talking about it in glowing terms but you are not talking to them. Others really don’t like you and are telling others why they hate you but you are not talking to them. Are you?
If you’re not in the conversation, you’re not engaged. If you’re not engaged you’re not in game and your brand can be trashed. Meanwhile, in failing to engage with social media your company’s ranking on the search engines will be significantly curtailed as social media is now one of the main influencers in search engine optimisation.
Let’s look at the statistics. If Facebook was a country it would be the third most populated ahead of the United States - only China and India are bigger. More than 500 billion minutes are spent on Facebook every month and 25 million items of content - links, blogs, photos, videos, news - are posted there every month. One third of 18 to 34 years check their Facebook account after they wake up.
Twenty four hours of video content is uploaded on to YouTube every minute and two billion YouTube videos viewed every day - this is rising sequentially. Meanwhile, more than four billion images are hosted on Flickr. Elsewhere, 95 per cent of companies use Linkedin to identify and attract new staff and there are more than 27 million tweets per day on Twitter.
Are they talking about you? Possibly. Are your talking to them? Probably not.
Social media is not a revolution. It has evolved as people have adapted to the internet and moulded it into a media which suits their needs and desires but business has been slow to embrace the opportunities of social media. And curiously, the gaming sector - which should be the most digitally enabled - is failing miserably.
Major companies now recognise the importance of social media as a communications and marketing medium. Scores of business-to-consumer brands now how thousands and in some cases, millions of followers on their Facebook and Twitter sites and are happily talking with their customers, addressing criticism and accepting praise.
Any company considering this powerful new marketing tool must use it as part of the overall marketing strategy of the business. For instance, why bother with a blog or Twitter account if you do not have a link to them on your corporate website?
For any marketing manager in the games sector considering a social media footprint the most simple strategy is: Follow, Create and then Engage.
Follow: seek the online community which is talking about your company online. They might be customers, employees, suppliers and competitors. Understand what they are saying about your company - their likes and dislikes. There are simple tools on the web to seek out your community - either using Google or more specialist social media search sites like addictomatic.com
Create: Establish a personality and tone of voice for your brand and create an social media profile which might include a blog, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook page.
Engage: Join in the conversation through your blog and other social media websites. Follow people in your field, those who are talking about you and engage with them. You will quickly begin to establish a community who you will engage with.
Not everyone will be a fan. There will always be detractors but at least you are now part of the conversation and can address any issues as and when they arise.
As a marketing tool social media is the most potent tool in your possession and can significantly improve how you communicate with your customers - covering all areas from sales promotion to crisis management. Meanwhile, it will do wonders for your search engine optimisation significantly improving your company’s digital footprint.

It's Burn's Night Tonight!

2011-01-22T17:06:00.001Z

Ian, left, with best mate Andy Grant

Six lessons from The King's Speech

2011-01-22T16:16:00.000Z

The Oscar-tipped The King’s Speech is a great film but also highlights valuable lessons for communicators - with its story centred on the relationship between King George VI and his unorthodox speech therapist Lionel Logue and how together, they achieve extraordinary results.
Here are six lessons for communications consultants from The King’s Speech:
1 Work as a partnership of equals. The best results come from two sides, aligning themselves to their common interests to achieve their goal. At the very beginning of their relationship the consultant recognised that deference should not get in the way of addressing their common task, and insisted he should be called ‘Lionel’ rather than Mr Logue, and in turn, he should call the King by his affectionate pet name of ‘Bertie’. By working as equal partners it helps to create optimum synergies. If it were an equation it would read: 1+1= 3.
2 The consultant needs to insist the working relationship is on their professional terms. In addition to getting his client to use Christian names, the consultant was equally insistent that the training had to be done at his premises and on a daily, not weekly basis.
3 Be brave and be prepared to walk away. At the outset Logue took a high risk strategy of ‘take it or leave it’ in offering his services to the future King. He stood to lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Yet, he recognised how he might get over the first hurdle but ultimately would fail if he did not stand by his professional principles. How often do consultants fail to heed the early warning signs of potential problems with their clients and remain afraid to take the tough decision if necessary?
4 Look for causes rather than addressing the symptoms. Rather than address the evident manifestations of the King’s speech impediment Logue examined for deeper root causes to the King’s ailment. By doing this, in spite of initial client opposition, he could make a real difference. The client is not always right. Sometimes they may shy away from real causes of a problem.
5 Accept sometimes you have to say ‘sorry’ and on occasions you may need to make up. The film portrays the disagreements between the client and consultant and how they row and fall out. They could have easily stubbornly gone their separate ways. The recognition of the value each brought to the other overcome personal pride. Inevitably, in any dynamic client/consultant relationship there will be up’s and down’s. The best relationships are bigger than the disagreements which may sometimes upset them.
6 Be there for the critical times. When King George had to make his epic war-time speeches rallying the nation in its darkest hour, Logue was there at his side, ensuring in the most important times for his client he was at hand.
You too can enjoy the success of Lionel Logue. You may not have a King as a client, but they will hopefully respect you royally.

What really motivates us...

2011-01-15T17:05:00.007Z

The Power of Time

2011-01-15T16:42:00.005Z

Really good appraisal of where we are now with how we order our lives...

Ross is using his skills to find a job

2011-01-13T12:12:00.001Z

s it’s often said that if you can sell yourself you can sell anything, so we were delighted to see our chum Ross Brown taking up the challenge by - using the tools of his trade to find a new job.
For 10 years, Ross has been self-employed, working with clients and agencies to provide them both with expertise in digital marketing. From initial strategy and planning through to production and delivery, Ross’s work encompasses all aspects of digital marketing - from web sites to email campaigns, search engine optimisation to audio & video production.
Now he’s utilising this expertise to promote himself, using both traditional and digital marketing techniques, to find a new job.
And he’s offering a reward of £250 to whoever can help him find his dream role.
"I’m missing working with a team on a regular basis and the buzz you get in an office environment, he says. "For me, it’s the role that’s important, not the title on the business card. I want a job where I can make a real impression, perhaps helping a business to grow whilst delivering high-quality work."
As a former journalist and PR manager, Ross is well-placed to take advantage of the boom in social media, planning and delivering campaigns using marketing channels such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs to allow a company to communicate directly with its customers.
But he’s using this expertise to his own advantage for the first time.
Commenting on his campaign, Ross says: "Since the millennium, I’ve worked with clients and agencies large & small, combining my expertise in marketing, technology and business to deliver cost-effective and high-quality digital solutions.
I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent in self-employment but the time is right for me both professionally and personally to return to full-time employment - and using the marketing tools I specialise in seems like the best way to find the perfect job."
He adds: "Most people in my line of work either deal with clients, or deal with programming and development. Because of my experience in self-employment, not only can I speak to clients in a language they understand - explaining the business benefits of a digital strategy - but I can also speak to the development team and ensure that the finished product is both technically-proficient and meets the client’s requirements.”
Ross is using his blog at www.rossbrown.co.uk to record the progress of what he’s calling "Operation Job", using his social media marketing skills to promote himself through his business and personal networks.

Five day Twixtmas work out

2010-12-24T17:10:00.001Z

Over at GREEN we are celebrating Twixtmas. You can transform your personal happiness by doing a five-day work out during the Twixtmas break - the period between Christmas and New Year.
By following some easy-to-do ‘happiness workout’ tips you can make yourself happier, ready to step into 2011 with more optimism and energy.
The binge happiness five-day programme consists of completing what is called a ‘happy diary’ for each of the five days of Twixtmas, December 27-December 31, which focus on the happy, positives in your life.
Writing down positive thoughts and feelings has been proven to beat just talking about them. Scientists believe that writing encourages the creation of a structure and storyline which can help people make sense of what has happened in their past and also guide and direct them towards finding solutions. Just talking about problems can often be unstructured, disorganised, and even chaotic. As a result, it can add a sense of confusion to your emotional state.
Twixtmas campaigner and GREEN director Andy Green said: "Arm yourself with pen and paper and make some time during the Twixtmas break to give yourself a five-day happiness work-out. Expressing your appreciation and thinking about the positive aspects of your future, or even writing affectionate things, have been scientifically proven to work and make you feel better in yourself.”
The 5 day ‘binge happiness work-out’ consists of:
Day 1 Write down four things from the past week which have made you feel grateful. Then think about and write down how one of the best experiences in your life made you feel.
Day 2 Write about something good you have done for someone else.
Day 3 Write a short email or letter to someone who you like or care for. Why not tell them how good they are and why they are important to you?
Day 4 Make a list of your favourite places visited or places you would like to go. Think about why you liked them so much or what attracts you to want to go there.
Day 5 write about your future, where everything has gone as well as you have hoped. Also, think about the present and make a note of four things that went really well for you during the five days of Twixtmas.
"The five days of Twixtmas, between December 27 and December 31, are an ideal time to do your very own binge happiness work-out. Most people put things off or don’t get round to doing them because they say they don’t have time. There is no excuse for most of us over the Twixtmas break to enjoy some ‘binge happiness’," said Andy.
The Twixtmas campaign is a new idea to change what is seen as a dull, fallow holiday period into a massive opportunity to get people to do small acts of goodness to create significant social good for themselves and others.
Instead of binge shopping or binge drinking, the not-for-profit campaign is trying to encourage binge doing, thinking and ‘binge happiness’ to overcome the problem of ‘time poverty’ – where people perceive they do not have enough time to do things for themselves or others, or the planet.
The campaign was originally conceived by social enterprise the Flexible Thinking Forum.
The website www.twixtmas.com offers practical advice and inspiration to encourage everyone to make the most of this under-used opportunity. The site also provides a free facility for sending a Twixtmas e-greeting card, and you can also download a Twixtmas pledge form.
If just 0.1% of the UK population did five good things this would create 250,000 acts of goodness.

UK's Top Ten PR Blogs

2010-11-30T15:27:00.000Z

According to Cision’s latest list of the UK’s top 10 public relations blogs my modest little blog here has made the top ten:

1. NevilleHobson.com
2. Drew B’s take on tech PR
3. Wadds’ PR and Media blog
4. A PR Guy’s Musings – Stuart Bruce
5. PR STUDIES
6. PR Media Blog
7. The Red Rocket
8. Mediations
9. SimonWakeman
10. iangreen.com

Not sure whether this blog merits the mention but it’s interesting to read their methodology and how Cision have chosen iangreen.com. They have also created a great resource of the top ten blogs on a wide range of topics from tech to fashion.
Like Stuart Bruce it’s interesting to note that I have engaged with all the other bloggers listed here either through social media and eventually face to face.
The other interesting point to note is that Cision still regards blogs as having a key purpose in the media mix. About eight moths ago there was a big discussion about whether blogs were past their sell by date with the rise of Facebook and Twitter.
However, some blogs have such a devoted audience that many PR companies are pitching product and stories to them as they appreciate the influence they have.
The other aspect of course now corporates are now seeing the sense of have a dedicated blog alongside their “traditional” website and news feed. This is all great but I suspect the real reason is that corporates and other have finally realised how potent social media is as a means of enhancing a website’s search engine optimisation.
And I need to hold my hadn up here because at GREEN Communications we are advocating this approach for that very reason – especially when some SEO specialists are charging the less-media savvy clients over £5,000 a month to manage their SEO.

How to start a mass movement

2010-11-20T16:10:00.009Z

There is a brilliant presentation on how to start a mass movement in three minutes’ by Derek Sivers, an inspirational entrepreneur speaking at the TED conference
It features a crazy guy dancing by himself at a rock festival. Within three minutes his reality - and world - is transformed by a mass stampede of festival go-ers wanting to part of the new next must-do thing. Sivers brilliantly deconstructs and analyses the process:

First you need to lone nut.
The lone nut needs to a dance (or equivalent) that’s distinctive but easily copy-able.
Crucially, you need a #2 fan who is willing by themselves to join the lone nut.
With the support and encouragement of the lone nut, the #2 fan is nurtured into being able to do the dance.
#3 nut joins in. This is also crucial; there is no longer a lone nut, but a discernable group emerging.
Quickly, other early adopters join-in.
Next thing you know there is now a panic as people rush to join, anxious not to be left out.

Well, we at GREEN know how it feels to be a lone nut. We have put our head above the parapet and urged others to join in the crusade for Twixtmas.
You cannot underestimate how good it feels when you get a positive response. It is even more gratifying when people start to take massive action.
David Taylor, the famous motivational writer and author of the Naked Leader did not just smile, and politely think Twixtmas was a nice idea. He could have become the example of a #2 fan as he then circulated the Twixtmas message to the entire readership of his newsletter.
Thank you David for your courage, and positive action.
Could you now pluck up the courage to be a#3 or #4 or #5 or #6-fan?
Can you take action beyond acknowledgement? Can you make the world different through doing something now for Twixtmas?

Hope for Bhopal

2010-11-05T17:28:00.004Z

President Obama was elected on a mandate for HOPE.
He, quite rightly, held BP accountable for the recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and their liability is already estimated at $40billion.
The 1984 Bhopal disaster has NEVER been cleaned up. Toxic waste, from the factory that caused the disaster, has contaminated the drinking water of many tens of thousands of people. They are being poisoned TODAY.
An American company, Dow Chemical, are legally responsible for this contamination. President Obama has elected the CEO of Dow Chemical, Mr.Andrew Liveris, to his 'India-US CEO forum'. On Monday Obama will address the Indian Parliament and the people of Bhopal still HOPE for justice. Please circulate this image...

Happy Apple Day

2010-10-24T15:43:00.001Z

Recruiting again at GREEN

2010-10-21T18:58:00.002Z

GREEN Communications is recruiting again. This time we are looking for a talented Account Manager and Account Executive with a sound knowledge of the consumer and business sectors to join our highly motivated team.
You will need to hit the ground running and have a passion for creative media relations, a desire to deliver outstanding coverage for your clients, the ability to think on your feet and work as part of a large team.
The ideal candidate will need a broad spread of media contacts across consumer, lifestyle and business within the broadcast, national press, consumer press, online as well as freelancers. An interest in social media is also desired.
The work you will be required to undertake will have a broad business and consumer focus and will include working on high profile campaign activity.
Further information call Ian Green on 0845 4503210. Send CVs with covering letter to Ian at Green Communications, Wakefield Media Centre, 19 King Street, Wakefield, WF1 2SQ or email: ian@greencomms.com.

PR still doesn't get social media

2010-10-13T19:25:00.001Z

Nearly 60% of PR agencies and departments that monitor social media spend no more than two hours a week doing so, despite its perceived importance.
These findings form part of a research project carried out by Daryl Willcox Publishing into the social media habits of the PR industry. The publication of the research coincides with the launch of a new whitepaper examining tools to monitor social media.
Of 376 PR departments and agencies surveyed, 85% said they monitored social media, including blogs and forums, for coverage and conversations.
Thirty one per cent of these said they dedicated an hour or less each week monitoring social media, while 26% spent between one and two hours. More than a third (36%) spent between three and six hours monitoring with 7% putting aside at least a day each week.
Ninety per cent of departments and agencies monitoring social media said they did so because it was an important element of their media monitoring.
Sixty eight per cent of respondents said they used free online tools and search engines to monitor, while 42% said they visited each social platform individually.
“The consensus now in the PR industry is that social media is of real importance and our survey findings support that,” said Daryl Willcox, chairman and founder of Daryl Willcox Publishing. “Our research also suggests there could be room for greater emphasis on monitoring social media despite the many online tools, free and paid-for, now available to help PR professionals pick up online conversation.”
The research also discovered reluctance among PR professionals to join in with online conversations. Almost half (49%) of departments and agencies only joined in when people were getting things factually wrong while 17% did not get involved at all.
Twenty six per cent of respondents said they did engage and declared their PR role while 8% hid who they were representing in online conversations.
Of the 15% which did not monitor social media, 51% cited a lack of resource, 29% said a lack of knowledge stopped them and 11% felt there was no value in it.

Well all of this is from a DWP press release. But bloody hell! It’s not that difficult to monitor social media 24/7 given all the tools available to PR professionals.
At GREEN, I would hope that we know exactly what is being said about our clients all the time and that we engage with those people who are talking about the brands that matter to us most. The point is with social media it’s not just about listening and monitoring. It’s about getting involved and sharing views – whether they are good, bad or indifferent.

Good Dads and Truthiness

2010-09-30T19:15:00.009Z

From Andy: Just seen a great new film, The World’s Greatest Dad starring Robin Williams. I will not spoil your treat by giving away the plot, but just to say there is a twist half way through which turns the world upside down of the lead character played by Robin Willliams. (There is also a comic moment of great genius - you know these when the well behaved cinema audience responds with totally raucous laughter.)
The film’s other remarkable quality was its parody of how we choose to create our own reality of events, or own interpretation – and re-interpretation in the case of the film, of what we believe to be true – our ‘truthiness’.
Truthiness is an important concept for anyone being creative, generating creative ideas, and also in brand communications in getting your ideas accepted.
Sometimes you can get insight from someone outside the field of study, a non-expert in the domain.
A major philosophical concept, well at least a label, was not created by a philosopher - but by a comedian. During an episode of the political satire show The Colbert Report comedian Stephen Colbert coined the word ‘truthiness’. It means in essence: ‘the quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts.’
Our reality is that we all see the world through ‘truthiness glasses’. Perceptions, are just as valid as facts in our mental landscapes,
People erect barriers in their mental landscape preventing the recognition of ‘the truth’ of any new information with which they might feel uncomfortable.
They did not want the dissonance, the anxiety to upset their existing world view, which acts as a magnet for any negative information about things you dislike, and precludes contradictory data; otherwise your definition of truth would need to be re-evaluated.
So, it does not matter if a fact exists or not, in terms of being validated by data. You can have your own facts.
On the one hand truthiness is what some people want to exist.
On the other hand it is what some people don’t want to exist.
And that’s the truthiness of it. My truthiness is that The World’s Greatest Dad is a great film.

What the F**k is Social Media NOW?

2010-09-06T20:54:00.001Z

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

What the F**k is Social Media NOW?

View more presentations from Marta Kagan.

Echo & the Bunnymen - Cutter

2010-09-04T18:38:00.000Z

Bibliophile's delight in Addingham

2010-09-04T17:00:00.006Z

Just spent a delightful day in Addingham, in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire. Addingham is quiet near to us and we often go to The Fleece Inn for lunch during a walk to Bolton Abbey.
However, we have never really explored the village so after lunch we took a walk up the main street and discovered a real retail gem at the TP Children’s Bookshop where we met the delightful Lou Harrison.
The bookshop is a delight for bibliophiles – especially those who retain a fondness for the books they read as a children – and Lou is a fund of knowledge on the authors and the books themselves. She’s not just a collector, she’s a reader too.
And we spent a happy half hour in conversation whilst browsing the shelves collectible copies of Enid Blyton, Rosemary Sutcliff, BB, Captain WE Johns, Richmal Crompton... the list goes on.
My wife, Annie, was particularly charmed with the girls literature - of which I know nothing - and she and Lou had a long conversation about books I’ve never encountered. These included The Abbey Girls series, The Susan Books by Jane Shaw and Rosemary Sutcliff’s Queen Elizabeth.
I was particularly pleased to find a copy of BB’s Little Grey Men – a book which charmed me as a child - and which I bought on the spot. Suffering from mild dyslexia as a child I didn’t learn to read or write until was about nine and I think it was BB that got me started.
BB was a prolific and successful writer and illustrator of children's books, his crowning achievement being The Little Grey Men, the story of the adventures of the last four gnomes in England, which won the prestigious Carnegie Medal in 1942.
The seeds of the idea for The Little Grey Men were sown when, as a small child, BB saw 'a diminutive being. It had a round, very red, bearded face about the size of a small crab apple. It wasn't a dream I can still see the little red astonished face.'
In later years, as a child alone (he was sickly and educated at home) BB explored the countryside around his home and created a mind set of the adventures of the gnomes, Dodder, Baldmoney, Cloudberry and Sneezewort and their life along the Folly Brook.
In 1944, Brendon Chase, a stirring tale of three runaway schoolboys living in a forest, like Robin Hood and his merry men, confirmed BB as an established writer of children's fiction.
In 1946, Down the Bright Stream, the follow-up to The Little Grey Men appeared, and in the same year, BB's Fairy Book: Meeting Hill. This book relates the magical experiences of two children, Peter and Johanna, and contains extracts from classic fairy stories, It also includes 15 exquisite colour plates by BB's alter ego Denys Watkins-Pitchford.
Anyway, if you’re ever in Addingham check out the TP Children’s Bookshop and give our regards to Lou.

Daily Mail caught red handed nicking internet content

2010-09-02T10:44:00.002Z

This is a guest posting from former colleague Simon Collister:
A few weeks ago the Daily Mail caused a bit of a brouhaha by accusing brands that monitored social media to help identify and solve customer’s problems of “snooping” and “spying”.
I really can’t get anywhere near the level of hysteria generated by the article not even if I attempted a Brasseye-style spoof. Basically you should go and read it, although you actually shouldn’t as it’ll increase their site traffic.
Anyway, while there’s been enough discussion of this particular incident online I wanted to follow-up with another story of the Mail’s disgusting audacity and hypocrisy that happened to a friend.
Now, just imagine if a company was to trawl through the Internet – not unlike those companies that snoop on customers. But imagine if instead of helping people, this company used the Internet to steal things that belong to Members of the Great British Public.
Then imagine that when an aforementioned law-abiding citizen tells the company that it has broken the law and stolen something the company (or a representative of said company) was to deny it and attempt to cover up the crime by offering desultory sums of money to buy the victim off.
Just imagine if that company was none other than the Daily Mail itself!
Yes. That’s right. The sanctimonious Daily Mail was trawling the web on election night for pictures of voters across the UK reacting to polling stations being closed without all voters being able to cast their vote.
Friend and film-maker, Emily James, just happened to be in one of those polling stations and snapped away on her phone, uploading the images to Twitpic.
While other media outlets saw the images, requested permission to use, credited and paid Emily for her work the Mail simply lifted the images then claimed they were in the public domain which meant they could use them with impunity.
Emily, knowing her rights, asserted that Twitpic’s T&Cs copyright remained with the photographer and invoiced the Mail for a reasonable amount.
What followed was a series of exchanges with the Mail’s Pictures Online Picture Editor, Elliot Wagland, and the Mail’s Group Managing Director, Alex Bannister.
I’d urge you to go and read the full saga over at the Just Do It blog as it unfolds and savour in the sheer hypocrisy of the Daily Mail that on the one hand criticises companies for using the Internet to help its customers while on the other hand is happy to steal content from people. Part 1 is here and Part 2 here
Aside from the audacity of the Mail it’s also slightly worrying that its Online Pictures Editor fails to grasp the basics of copyright in relation to key social media platforms.
However, as Martyne Drake observes on his blog about this particular story, although the Mail’s Group Managing Editor claims this was a one-off
“given the number of times I’ve seen them [Daily Mail] attribute copyright wrongly and use pictures from Twitpic and other services (which retain the original copyright of the photographer), it’s not so much an incident that’s happened by accident or carelessness, but downright arrogance.”
Enjoy!

EDL, Bradford and Social Media

2010-08-28T16:04:00.002Z

Just spent a few hours reviewing the events in Bradford with the English Defence League. Obviously I wasn't with them I was just looking at what was going on with them in West Yorkshire's second city.
That the the EDL were allowed to protest in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country – Bradford has a huge Asian population - was travesty. However, reviewing the conversation on the web it’s heartening to see that the bulk of the social media platforms are being manned by people who clearly deplore what’s going on and are resorting to Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, blogs, podcasts etc to register their disgust.
A few EDL members are also using the same tools. I saw one Tweet by a bigot boasting how he had punched a paki! However, the bulk of the conversation appears to be lead by people who deplore the EDL.
What has been heartening for me is that the EDL-meme has been captured by social media. I say this because I have just pulled together a presentation entitled What Is Social Media Now? Which I hope to use for new business pitches but also at a few conferences and BarCamps I will be attending shortly.
My main point is that social media IS THE MEDIA. Today there has been little coverage of the events in Bradford on mainstream media – either on the nearest radio stations at BBC Leeds, Real Radio or others.
Most of the first-hand accounts I have picked up have been on Twitter (Twitterfall is particularly good for this), blogs, flickr and YouTube.
Social media works – and the EDL can f**k off.

Star Wars in the silent era

2010-08-25T18:45:00.003Z

Anachronisme
Uploaded by LesSingesHurlants. - Arts and animation videos.

Feel the HEAT

2010-08-19T14:25:00.001Z

Just back from my holidays and having cleared out the emails and other new business propositions we are working on I have finally alighted on this month’s edition of Insider which has devoted a whole feature to public relations companies in Yorkshire.
Of course a lot of the feature was given over to social media. However, the most sensible quote on this issue was: “No-one is an expert in social media… we’re all still learning as we go along. If anyone tells you they are a real expert don’t believe them.”
I broadly agree with that although there are some genuine experts out there and I can think of three operating in Yorkshire.
However, what heartened us most at GREEN was that we were among the top three PR agencies ranked by “heat”. HEAT was calculated by votes submitted by agencies for other agencies.
GREEN was ranked third behind Finn and Wolfstar _ two agencies which we genuinely like because of the work they have done and their innovative approach to the total communications mix. So it’s good to be in such exalted company.
It’s also encouraging that in such a competitive sector other agencies are willing to cast aside any gripes and vote for their peers - which must say something good about the regional business community.

Halewood Village Memories

2010-08-15T15:36:00.011Z

Some fascinating pictures from the town I grew up in - just outside of Liverpool - found at the Halewood Parish History Website.
My parents moved here in 1964 when Liverpool city council was shifting the white working class communities out of the city centre into the brave new world of New Towns like Huyton, Halewood and Kirkby with their sprawling council estates. We moved from Netherfield Road, just north of Liverpool city centre - a sprawling landscape of back-to-backs and Georgian and Victorian town houses which have now all been swept away.
In spite of perjortive associations of "council estate" we still regarded it as a village - we all knew each other, went to the same schools, worked in the same factories(14,500 of them in the Ford car plant) and drank in the same clubs and pubs. And, while the population of Halewood bulged from a couple of thousand to 20,309 in the Sixties - a village (the posh part) remained at it's heart. Here are some pictures from the "old" village much of it recognisable from my childhood still, much of it gone but lot's remaining.
Bailey's Lane - these cottages remain in place.

The Barracks - still there and still in disrepair.

Bridgefield - I used to play on the rubble, year's before it was demolished in the woods behind Bridgefield School. It was obviously surrounded by grand gardens with rhodedendrons, Japanese maple and azallias.

Brewery Lane, adjacent to the Eagle and Child Pub and, eventually the road down to the local comprehensive school.

The Eagle and Child Pub - when we first arrived my Dad remembers them serving beer from a jug from the cellar.

Leathers Cottage - presumably why the street on which we lived was called Leathers Lane.

Interesting that the map also shows the River Mersey to the west.

Ghost Tube Stations

2010-08-01T11:14:00.005Z

The Ghost Tube Stations of London - courtesy of penneydesign.com via How To Be A Retronaut

BarCamp returns to Barnsley

2010-07-27T15:02:00.000Z

In October GREEN is supporting BarCamp Barnsley which is being sponsored by Bmedia and is being supported by Enterprising Barnsley and the town’s Digital Media Centre.
The Barnsley gig is seeking to build on the success of the BarCamp we did in May in Bradford and other barcamps in Yorkshire which have been a great success in Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield.
If you have never been to a BarCamp - you’ve been missing out. BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.
If you’re a creative, digital freak, geek or entrepreneur you’ll love it.
Attendees arrive on the day armed with talks and decide which ones they want to go along to! The talks can be on anything, from android application development to learning the British Sign Language to new trends in Drupal.
We’d love for you to come - if you’re a creative, an artist, a writer, blogger, technologist, or a developer, geek, entrepreneur, academic researcher, gamer or investor please join us. If you were just curious and interested in digital culture - we’d love to meet you too. Come and demo, talk, share or just hang out! Follow us on @BarCampBarnsley for further updates.
If you want to come make sure you register here. To find out more visit BarCampBarnsley.

Green Communications: News Articles: Get a free PR audit

2010-07-15T18:58:00.000Z

Green Communications: News Articles: Get a free PR audit

2010-06-18T16:18:00.002Z

Blogging for Business Workshop

2010-06-17T11:04:00.003Z

Over at GREEN we are running a series of informal training event. It starts with an all-day workshop on Blogging for Business. At the end of this training session you will have a fully-functioning blog live on the web.

Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm
Where:The Art House, Drury Lane, Wakefield, WF1 2TE
Cost: £199.00 + VAT - Get a 20% Discount if you book before June 24

REGISTER HERE

The power of a good blog should never be underestimated - they're flexible and powerful. Get it right and they can open doors to new clients and recruits, grow your organisation and improve your Google search results. A blog should be at the centre of your social media strategy even if you do have a website.
The day will be led by men and colleague Thomas Atcheson. Between us we have many years experience in digital media having worked in the past with Venturedome.com, Fuelmyblog.com, Annanova, Insider and others.
We have also worked on strategies for the likes of the Children’s Workforce Development Council, Greens Health & Fitness, Soppa e Sotra, LINPAC, Blue Monday, Wensleydale and the Alchemist’s Foundation.
Includes lunch and refreshments!

Course Programme
Introduction

What are blogs?
Different types of blogs and platforms
Typical features and functionality of blogging platforms
How can they be used?

Strategy
The role of blogs in communications and business
Introducing the link economy and the role of
Blogs in search engine optimisation
How your blog can become the key element in your social media strategy
What else can blogs be used for - campaigns, websites, microsites, live events and more.

Developing a content strategy
Segmentation - identifying your readers and who you are communicating with
What to write? Identifying relevant topics and subject matter.
Considering blog post length
Resourcing and identifying writers
Case studies and examples

Blogging basics - Where you do the work
Setting up your blog
An introduction to templates and simple ways to make it look good
Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad - what suits you?
Adding authors
Comment moderation
Understanding posts and pages
Setting up a blog roll
Creating content

How to write a post
Tips on writing posts and how to optimise for best results
Adding links and images

Benefits
Following this training course, you will be able to:
Recognise the importance of blogs and their role
Create business objectives and manage expectations from your blog
Use a blog to connect with your audiences
Increase visitor numbers to your website and influence sales
Encourage interaction with your prospects as well as loyal customers
Manage your blog effectively
Create a strategy for your company blog

For further information email info@greencomms.com or call us on 0845 4503210.

World Cup: No-go zone for social media

2010-06-12T15:30:00.001Z

News just in from Mashable which I re-report here: During this year’s FIFA World Cup games in South Africa, players on several competing teams will be unable to tweet, poke, buzz, checkin, like or in any other way make their presence known on the social web.
It’s not uncommon for coaches to ban sex or alcohol during the World Cup, but increasingly, they’re also instituting ad hoc bans on social media sites, including Twitter.
So far, players on the teams from Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Holland, Germany, Argentina and England are forbidden to use social services such as Twitter. One coach, Marcelo Bielsa of Chile, banned all social networking and even put a curfew on regular or non-social Internet use during the evening.
In the U.S., similar bans have been enacted over the past year during the American football season and basketball season. Players in the NFL, for example, are prohibited from using social media during all games and for a 90-minute period prior to and following a game. Moreover, players are not allowed to have someone else post an update or tweet on their behalf.
As the World Cup-related hashtags trend on Twitter and millions of people around the world use the web to tune into and talk about these matches, do you think it’s a bit unfair that the players themselves aren’t allowed to participate in this conversation? Or are these strict coaches doing us all a favor by keeping their players focused? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Social Media Social Club

2010-06-12T15:01:00.002Z

We've set up the Social Media Social Club - North of England Chapter. Come a join us on Linkedin here.
The Social Media Social Club is open to anyone exploring new developments in social media and how it can impact on your business.
We are also interested in hearing from anyone using social media to improve their business performance, drive sales, recruit new staff - any fact anything.
RSS, virtual worlds, Typepad, Blogger, podcasts, wikis, Facebook, YouTube, Technorati, BlogLines, BuzzMetrics, BlogPulse,Twitter, Digg and del.icio.us. The flow of information across the huge array of new platforms and services that make up the social media sphere can seem uncontrollable.
As a result, social networks represent the biggest change facing the media in 50 years but how are they impacting on PR? How do you own a part of a conversation that is happening without you, where the consumers have begun to take an active role in changing public opinion about your brand?
Join the Social Media Social Club to keep up to date on new developments and get access to our special training and networking events.

I wish we could row like this...

2010-06-05T16:39:00.002Z

PC or Mac?

2010-06-05T15:17:00.009Z

I have a had a trusty Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop for more than five years now but it's starting to show it's age now - possibly because of the number of people using it.
My daughter has her iTunes on it and is constantly downloading video and other applications and for some reasons shuts down when it gets bored or just freaks out. I've always shied away from Macs until we started using one in the office a couple of years ago when we bought two of them for the designer - desktop and laptop.
Now I am considering replacing the old Inspiron either with a new one or a Mac.
Now I know Mac as a brand has some real evangelists who really get into everything that is Mac - from laptops, to iPhones (I have a Blackberry) and iPads. And up until recently, I have resisted joining the Mac cohort but may now join them.
Any thoughts people - should I abandon Dell for Mac?

Boys from the black stuff pub scene

2010-05-30T21:41:00.000Z

Two Ronnies - Four Candles

2010-05-26T20:33:00.000Z

Retrosocial media

2010-05-25T09:42:00.002Z

Barnsley did a Bar Camp

2010-05-22T14:37:00.008Z

We did a BarCamp. Today people from a wide range of professions and industries attended BarCampBarnsley which took place at the town’s Digital Media Centre.
A big thank you to everyone who attended and who presented and many thanks for our sponsors Northern Net, Bmedia, GREEN Communications (my company), and Screen Yorkshire and for the support of hosts the Digital Media Centre Barnsley and Enterprising Barnsley.
The NorthernNet project has been developed to benefit creative and digital industries across the North, helping to create a Northern hub of digital and creative companies which can compete at an international level.
People travelled to Bradford from across the north with delegates arriving from Lancaster, Scarborough, Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield and Halifax. There were many presentation throughout the day ranging from Social Media for SMEs, to coding for JQuery, to Java and iPhone apps.

Twitter for business - Do and Don't

2010-05-04T10:11:00.001Z

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Twitter for business - Do and Don't

View more presentations from Ian Green.

2010-04-30T16:38:00.002Z

Less is More

View more presentations from iangreen.

Come along to BarCamp Barnsley

2010-04-23T11:48:00.002Z

In May GREEN is supporting BarCamp Barnsley which is being sponsored by Northern Net, Bmedia and is being supported by Enterprising Barnsley and the town’s Digital Media Centre.
The Barnsley gig is seeking to build on the success of BarCampBradford and other barcamps in Yorkshire which have been a great success in Leeds and Sheffield.
If you have never been to a BarCamp - you’ve been missing out. BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.
If you’re a creative, digital freak, geek or entrepreneur you’ll love it.
Attendees arrive on the day armed with talks and decide which ones they want to go along to! The talks can be on anything, from android application development to learning the British Sign Language to new trends in Drupal.
We’d love for you to come - if you’re a creative, an artist, a writer, blogger, technologist, or a developer, geek, entrepreneur, academic researcher, gamer or investor please join us. If you were just curious and interested in digital culture - we’d love to meet you too. Come and demo, talk, share or just hang out! Follow us on @BarCampBarnsley for further updates.
If you want to come make sure you register here. To find out more visit BarCampBradford.
The main sponsor is NorthernNet project has been developed to benefit creative and digital industries across the North, helping to create a Northern hub of digital and creative companies which can compete at an international level.
The project includes a secure, high-speed digital network connecting Northwest, Yorkshire and North East digital and creative companies, offering transfer speeds of up to 1GB across its secure next generation fibre optic cables. SMEs and freelancers will particularly realise the benefits of the project, with a number of Media Access Bureaux (MABs) providing companies with flexible, Pay As You Go (PAYG) access to state-of-the-art editing suites and the superfast digital network.

Apparently this is how I will vote

2010-04-09T16:20:00.003Z

Vote for Policies

How influential is Twitter in an election?

2010-04-09T11:08:00.000Z

We love social media at GREEN and encourage our clients to use it as a means of engaging with customers and joining in the conversation about their brands.
So with more than 2.5 million UK users currently using Twitter and millions of daily Tweets, it’s hard to ignore the influence of social media site Twitter on conversation around Election 2010.
Already several social media websites including TweetMinster and Tweetlection built by Leeds-based digital agency Sense Internet are giving the odds on who might win the election based on the number of Tweets being made by and about each party.
This seems a bit presumptuous and begs the questions what influence will Twitter have on the election campaign?
The bods at Edelman have created TweetLevel. They say: "This tool is still in beta. Even though we believe that it goes a great way to understand and quantify the varying importance of different people's usage of Twitter, by no means whatsoever do we believe we have fully solved the 'influence' problem.
So while some candidates who we have been following have clearly embraced Twitter others have done so to a lesser degree. Take Shipley where the Tories Philip Davies - @PhilipDavies422 - is holding on to a tiny majority. His Tweets are all one-sided, old-style broadcasts nor is he particularly engaged. He has 165 followers but has only chosen to follow 21 - you would think he would want all the friends. He has done 49 updates.
By contrast the Labour candidate Susan Hinchcliffe - @SHinchcliffe - has 428 followers, is following 339 and has updates 2009. So she’s engaged and engaging and is dealing with the trolls too.
Now based on this one might be forgiven for thinking that on Tweets alone Hinchcliffe has got it in the bag. But the reality is that most of her Tweets are about her pounding the streets and knocking on doors. In one she complains of being bitten by a dog.
She clearly understands that social media will not swing this election it will be won on hard, traditional campaigning. However, Twitter just might influence the conversation and highlight what the electorate are really concerned about. Either way it’s a great tool for coordinating a campaign and brining people together.

Audi has gone awry

2010-03-17T21:00:00.009Z

I drive an Audi. I’ve been driving an Audi for years. My first Audi was an A3 – very good. With a young family I then moved on to the Audi A4 and later and Audi A4 Avanti estate which I loved but realising I didn’t need all the space went back to an Audi A4.
Big mistake – it now appears.
When I got the car it didn’t seem as responsive as the Avanti. It was sluggish, didn’t react the way the old car did and was basically pants. Eventually, I was told by a nice man from the Automobile Association, after it broke down, that the throttle flap was knackered after one year. Audi replaced it.
But hey – it’s just a car and I am not a petrol head.
However, a week ago the in-car computer told me it needed to go in for a service. And it was sounding a bit ropey. So in it went to the nice people at Audi Wakefield in Yorkshire.
So far so good. When you have an Audi serviced they are very good at updating you on progress and Audi Wakefield have excellent. Here is what followed:

Audi Wakefield: You need new front tyres. Me: Yes. I thought I would. Go ahead with the new tyres.
Audi Wakefield: The fly wheel isn’t working. We need to put a new one in. Me: Yes go ahead and sort it out. I need my car.
Audi Wakefield: We’ve replaced the flywheel but it still not sounding good. We need to look into it further. Me: So when will I get the car back?
Audi Wakefield: We don’t know. We need to look further. Me: Well can I have a courtesy car?
Audi Wakefield: No – we have nothing available for two weeks. Me: Right.

I should point out at this stage that Audi Wakefield have been brilliant throughout. Then…

Me: So what’s happening? Audi Wakefield: We’re stripping down the engine to see what the problem is.

This sound bad to me.

Me: So I won’t get the car back. Audi Wakefield: No. It’s a big job.

Tired of using public transport I am now using a hire car as I have to go to my parents to take my dad into respite care – those of you who follow me know what I am talking about. Anyway the conversation resumes today.

Me: So where are we? Audi Wakefield: [Long silence while service operative goes off to talk to engineer and returns to call three minutes later after me listening to tedious corporate messages from Audi]: The mechanic has found a sheered off bolt and a few other things wrong.
Me: Bloody Hell! What does that mean? Audi Wakefield: We need to look into it further but you might need a new engine.
Me: What? And how much is that going to cost – it’s still under warranty! Audi Wakefield: We don’t know. We’ll be in touch..

I don’t normally blog about personal stuff but this is just too much after being an Audi driver for 10 years. I’m told there is a manufacturing fault but in the meantime I have no car, am paying out for a hire car and have lots of travel to do.
Should I dump Audi in the future? Get a Toyota perhaps? What do you think?

Meet your rugby heroes in Dublin

2010-03-04T16:15:00.003Z

Welsh rugby fans visiting Dublin to watch Wales battle it out at Croke Park can meet with Jonathan Davies who is heading up a list of rugby legends at a free event at the Arlington Hotel, Dublin, ahead the game on March 13.
Welsh fans will get the chance to question Johathan Davies, Mick Galway and former Ireland captain Ciaran Fitzgerald about their experiences and predictions for the game at a free event held in the heart of Dublin before the RBS Six Nations fixture.
The Arlington Hotel on O’Connell Bridge will turn into the Welsh fans headquarters during the build up to the game at the event which will also include Irish and British Lions legends Mick Galway and Ciaran Fitzgerald.
As well as serious questions, the legends will join in with the banter and discuss some of their other memorable moments on the pitch.
The forum kick’s off from 11:00am on match day, allowing fans enough time to take part in the event well in advance of the kick off time.

The Panel
Jonathan Davies was an inspirational fly-half for Wales in an international career that spanned eleven years either side of his switch to rugby league. Now a BBC commentator, Davies is respected for his technical knowledge of both rugby codes.
Mick Galway was capped 41 times at lock for Ireland and featured amongst the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand – memorably scoring the winning try in Ireland’s 1993 victory over England.
Hooker Ciaran Fitzgerald captained Ireland to the Five Nations in 1983 and to two other triple crowns as well as featuring for the British Lions.

The Venue The Arlington Hotel is centrally located; a minute’s walk from the famous Temple Bar district where many Irish fans without tickets to the match will be watching the game.
The three star hotel offers traditional Irish hospitality to its guests and visitors to its bar and restaurant.

Full Disclosure: Arlington Hotel is a client of GREENs

2010-02-14T16:49:00.003Z

Vodafone beavers away to get Twitter right

2010-02-06T14:10:00.003Z

Never under-estimate social media and its power to raise and, crucially, diminish a brand’s reputation.
Vodafone is the latest to suffer – at the hands of one of its own employees. I noticed it yesterday when Vodafone suddenly started to trend on Twitter. Vodafone has been forced to issue a apology to its thousands of followers on Twitter after one of its customer service staff broadcast an obscene message on the micro-blogging service.
He/she sent out the tweet - "is fed up with dirty homo's and is going after beaver"
The message appeared on Vodafone's official Twitter account, which is used by the company to deal with customer complaints. Instead of the usual helpful hints on how to make the most of its range of handsets or direct responses to individual customer service queries, VodafoneUK's 8,824 followers were treated this afternoon to the message that fell well outside the remit of the micro-blog.
Within minutes of the message appearing hundreds of Vodafone customers had contacted the company through Twitter to ask whether its account had been hacked. Despite Vodafone deleting the message from its Twitterfeed, hawk-eyed users of the service saved a copy and were quickly sending it across the internet.
Vodafone was forced to release a stream of apologies, replying to each user individually to say "we weren't hacked. A severe breach of rules by staff in our building, dealing with that internally. We're very sorry". Throughout the day Vodafone sent out a stream of apologies to hundreds of followers.
Some commentators might conclude that Vodafone’s social media presence had been severally damaged by the homophobic remark. However, I think they managed the whole thing remarkably well:

The recognized they had a problem.
Followers clearly like the brand as they were advising VodafoneUK that they thought their account had been hacked.
Vodafone was honest enough to admit that it wasn’t a hack but a miscreant employee – they could have easily hidden behind the smokescreen of hack but they rightly chose not to.
The apologized immediately and gave a frank explanation.
Throughout the day they continued to engage directly with followers throughout the day.

So well done to the Vodafone comms team. What the incident does underscore is that organizations do need an enforceable social media policy in place.

Good social media doesn't come cheap

2010-01-22T17:41:00.003Z

We’ve worked on a number of social media campaigns now – many of them very successful. You might remember some of them – Beat Blue Monday is now an annual news feature and Wensleydale Creamery is doing very well too.
But whenever we mention social media to some prospective clients their faces light up as they think social media is free. Social media saves time they think. Social media will save our business thousands, if not millions.
And yes you can save on the equivalent costs from a traditional deadwood media marketing or advertising campaign and better still you can get instant results and measurement. But that level of service does not come cheap – it can if you do it yourself and chuck up a blog, set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account and maybe do something with YouTube.
But what’s your strategy? Do you know what people are saying about you – have you done an audit? What are your objectives? Which social media tools are you going to use?
Just answering those questions demands a lot of expensive time and your costs are already rising.
So let's do the maths on hours and the development costs of creating blog/microsite, mobile apps, online video, podcasts and then the crucial stuff of social media monitoring and assessment.
So for our hypothetical 12-month campaign for ACME Company we would need: account director for 15 hours a week at £150 an hour, account manager for 30 hours at £85 an hour, account executive on say £65 for 30 hours. Then we chuck in a blog/microsite and some mobile apps and maybe a few widgets – lets say the lot for £20,000. Then there’s the ongoing monitoring, engagement and evaluation for a conservative £30,000. That adds up to £400,000 for the year.
Maybe that’s a bit ambitious but even if you scaled it back to something more palatable – lets cut it in half to £200,000. Still the client is looking a bit green around the gills. But this is probably the same client who thinks nothing of booking a £70,000 page advertisement in the Daily Mail.
We would love to hear about other people’s experiences.

Andy's advice on brainstorming at The Times

2010-01-13T21:09:00.003Z

Offering valuable tips for successful brainstorming is GREEN Communications’ Andy Green, who provided expert advice on How to Brainstorm in a news article on Times Online. Here’s Andy's full advice

How to Brainstorm
1. Always define your question as tightly as possible. I define creativity as ‘flexible thinking around beautiful questions to add value’. Outstanding creativity is not coming up with 1001 different alternatives; it’s actually about asking the right question, the beautiful question. You can tell when you have a beautiful question your ideas ooze out. Conversely, if you are stuck, you can’t think of any ideas, go back to redefining your question.

2. Creative thinking uses an incremental dynamic once you have posed your question – like making a snowball. Treat every idea as a potential stepping stone. It’s best to work from small, asking yourself what little ideas can we think of, and equally accept crazy ideas, asking what ways can these be incrementally adapted to add value.

3. Brainstorming is a great consultation tool and can be a great tactic to overcome political opposition to new ideas. By involving someone who typically says ‘No’ to your new ideas, and get them become a member of the brainstorm group, by engaging with them with the process, they get ownership of the ideas created. It’s easier to get someone to say ‘Yes’ when you tell them ‘Isn’t this a great idea we came up with!’ Also, if you are doing a consultation exercise, rather than ask people, ‘What do you think?’, instead ask them, ‘What new future can we create?’

4. Brainstorming’s chief quality is actually outside the arena of creativity; it’s great for team building, staff development – where junior and senior people can work alongside each other – and for signalling the importance of an issue. Remember however, there are many more different creativity techniques, which can be better at generating ideas, particularly the most simplest of all, incubation, sleeping on a well defined problem.

How not to brainstorm
1. I created a word called ‘Ideapoo’ – you need to accept that most of your ideas will be rubbish, ‘poo’, but at the outset you have no idea of what are the good, or the not-so-good ideas. The danger is you can throw away potentially good seeds, or stepping stones, only seeing the poo and not the potential. Premature evaluation, being judgmental too soon is a major killer of potential brilliance.

2. Creative thinking uses what I call our Red Light Thinking, to analyse, follow logical lines of thought, and our Green Light Thinking, harnessing our imaginative, emotional, and lateral thoughts. You need to Red Light Thinking at the outset, to define the need for any added value, and crucially, define your questions. You can then engage your Green Light Thinking for new insights, and lastly re-engage your Red Light Thinking to evaluate ideas, and identify plans of action. Far too often, people engage in what can be called creative masturbation, generating ideas with no proper setting or follow through. Most people equate brainstorming with idea generating and expect a result at this stage, and often give up. It’s like leaving a football match or an opera at half time and complaining afterwards that there wasn’t an end result.

3. Always establish at the outset criteria for your ideas. When you come to evaluate any ideas generated, rather than responding with ‘I like this one’ instead, with a criteria in place you can judge ideas on more formal, objective grounds.

4. Check the attitude state of yourself and the participants. You can suffer from a victim mentality – where everything is seen in the negative, or hubris, where you can be too arrogant and not listen, or be alert to potentially good ideas (such as Ideapoo). I created a word, ‘hibris’ where you need to have an arrogant self belief about your ability to come up with ideas, tempered with a humility that you are willing to listen and pick up ideas from the unlikeliest of sources. Many a potentially good brainstorm session has been wrecked by an unsupportive, underlying attitude state.

Remember, the word ‘brainstorming’ is politically correct; there’s an urban myth going around that the word is not politically correct and it upsets people with epilepsy and you should instead, use ‘brain showering’. It’s absolute nonsense. No epilepsy group has any policy on the issue.

Also, note the word ‘brainstorm’ can either mean a specific creativity tool, or shorthand for doing, what I call ‘Green Light Thinking’ – using lateral leaps of imagination to arrive at new ideas, different ways of doing. Read the complete article here

Happy Christmas Everyone

2009-12-24T12:33:00.000Z

The card above is believed to be one of the first mass-produced Christmas cards - dating back more than 160 years - and can be found among the extensive special collections of Bridwell Library at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology.
The lithographed card caused a controversy in some quarters of Victorian English society when it was published in 1843 because it prominently features a child taking a sip from a glass of wine. Approximately 1,000 copies of the card were printed but only 10 have survived to modern times. Bridwell Library acquired its copy in 1982. The card was designed for Henry Cole by his friend, the English painter John Calcott Horsley (1808-1882). Cole wanted a ready-to-mail greeting card because he was too busy to engage in the normal custom of writing notes with Christmas and New Year's greetings to friends and family.
The card pre-dated color printing so it was hand-colored. The card is divided into three panels with the center panel depicting a family drinking wine at a celebration and the flanking panels illustrating charitable acts of feeding and clothing the poor.
Cole, who also wrote and published Christmas books, printed more cards than he needed so he sold the extra cards for one shilling each.
Widespread commercial printing of Christmas cards began in the 1860s, when a new process of color printing lowered the manufacturing cost and the price. Consequently, the custom of sending printed Christmas greetings spread throughout England.
Now we can just stick them on the internet… have a good Christmas.

The wonderful Watersons

2009-12-19T16:14:00.001Z

Last night I went to see Waterson Carthy at the Victoria Hall in Salt Aire singing Christmas songs. Norma Waterson is still hail and hearty and has lungs made of leather - but I just found this video of her - possibly before she had even met her husband Mart Carthy. Simply wonderful stuff. I'm a sucker for traditional English folk songs.

Another new client at GREEN

2009-12-17T14:22:00.004Z

Over at GREEN we have been appointed to launch techmesh a new business network for the region’s IT and Telecommunications sector backed by Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency.
Yorkshire & Humber has the fastest-growing digital sector in the UK outside of London, and is recognised as a leading centre of excellence in the digital and new media industries. With IT and Telecommunications set to make a major contribution to the Yorkshire and Humber economy the new business network, techmesh , will provide a business network for companies, organisations and individuals working in these sectors to meet, exchange information and share best practice.
As a business collaboration network techmesh - managed by Connect Yorkshire - will act as an umbrella organisation, bringing together existing networks in the region and will signpost businesses to other sources of funding information, market intelligence, emerging technologies and research and development opportunities.
Connect Yorkshire’s chief executive Nick Butler said: “techmesh enables members to share knowledge, exchange ideas, meet like-minded companies and ultimately win more business. The aim is to help create a commercial ecosystem where innovative, ambitious companies can thrive and give members a means of forming profitable relationships.”
“Our long-term aim, with the support of Yorkshire Forward, is to create a vibrant, active, supportive and self-funding network to help further the interests of IT and Telcommunications organisations and professionals in Yorkshire and Humberside.”
Jim Farmery, Assistant Director of Business at Yorkshire Forward, said: “techmesh will be an industry-led strategic organisation that will bring together all the fragmented strands of the IT and telecommunications sectors in our region and provide focus, leadership and direction.”
“It will help all the region’s digital sector to work comprehensively together on key sector issues over the next three years and beyond. Digital and new media has been identified as a priority sector in the region, due to the existing strength of the sector and potential for further growth. techmesh is another way Yorkshire Forward is supporting IT and telecomunications industries in the region.”
The key aims of techmesh are to grow the IT and Telecommunications industry within the Yorkshire and Humber region; increase the number of businesses participating in the network helping them to increase turnover, encourage innovation and market exploitation.
techmesh will run a series of events across the region over the next 12 months bringing members together at informal networking events as well as larger events bringing some major speakers from the leading IT and Telecommunications companies.

Stop drinking bottled water

2009-12-13T20:36:00.008Z

Presented by Online Education

Brand attrition...

2009-12-04T20:24:00.002Z

BarCamp Bradford video

2009-11-30T11:05:00.003Z

Razor sharp Twitter Wars

2009-11-20T16:43:00.005Z

I’m not shaving at the moment. Don’t ask? I’ve never liked shaving but when I grow a beard I end up looking like a member of Al Qaeda but some time it’s nice to give the face a rest.
However, you would think something as innocuous as shaving would never enter into a Twit War but I have just witnessed one. And it underscores the dangers of abusing the openness of Twitter.
Now I use Gillette and I user Azor by King of Shaves so I was somewhat surprised that following the Hand of Theirry Controversy, consumers focused on Gillette (a sponsor of Theirry) and threatened a boycott to punish the French captain’s handball. And this is where it gets interesting because Will King, founder of King of Shaves somehow found his company in the thick of it.
He takes up the story here on his blog Brand Royalty underlining the dangers of masquerading as a loyal Gillette customer when in fact you are the company’s public relations strategist. Will recounts how he received the following Tweets:

“Time for everyone to boycott gillette and go @kingofshaves #henrylecheat”

“Cannot bloody believe Gillette is standing by Henry. There goes my Mach3 in the bin”

“Wonder if #Gillette will drop #ThierryHenry now? Reputation management issue for brand, they are getting targeted for their association”

Now Will tells it in his own words…

Having (naturally!) re-tweeted tweet #1, I was then intrigued to read the following tweet from @charliedm: “A lot more people would switch to Azor if it wasn’t a cheap plastic piece of rubbish that leaves you looking all Sweeney Todd”.

Now, as I - a) I’ve shaved with our Azor for over two years now (and get the close, comfortable and cost efficient King of Shaves each morning), b) know that a lot of people are switching to our Azor - it was the #1 selling system razor handle last month, and c) know it isn’t a bit of ‘cheap plastic rubbish’ - rather, it embodies all that is great in consumer products, not all that is unnecessary - I was interested to see who @charliedm was…

Turns out he’s Creative Strategist for Porter Novelli London…Gillette’s PR agency. Ooh er. Someone’s rattled out there.

The following tweet exchange then ensues:

@kingofshaves Gillette stick with Henry. Many others not sticking with Gillette, but going to King of Shaves, Azor. Good!

@charliedm Well done for turning the misfortune and misery of as entire nation into a publicity drive. That’s not at all cheap”.

@kingofshaves “Don’t Porter Novelli look after Gillette’s PR…?”

@charliedm “It’s great for the kind of razor you might get in a Christmas cracker…

@kingofshaves “Um, you would say that given you handle Gillette’s PR. The King of Shaves Azor is a GREAT razor

@kingofshaves “Surprised that as chief strategist you make such a negative, public comment. wait until you see our october sales - bit worried?.

@charliedm “Does a lion find a dormouse worrying? Anyway, this isn’t work - this is jousting”

@kingofshaves “BA used to think that way. And learned the hard way. Joust away, my friend”.

@charliedm “Interesting. That’s just the kind of thing XL Airways used to say…”

Then, another enters the fray:
@shedmenshealth Playground bitching on twitter? :o/ Charlie, consumers can read! You should know better in PR. Will, stay strong fella!

Then another..
@peterdean1 “*enjoying* @kingofshaves tweet jousting with Gillette PR’s > @charliedm.

Then another…
@atterolognis “Interesting joust - Funny that he refers to the Azor as a bit of plastic when his is exactly that. Oh wait, it vibrates.

Then another..
Adam: Is @KingofShaves tweet jousting with Gillette PR’s > @charliedm going to turn into another great Tweet war? Hmm….

As in the real - stones and glass houses. A PR lesson for us all.

Porter Novelli have apologised here.

We did a BarCamp

2009-11-15T11:49:00.008Z

We did a BarCamp. Yesterday more than 100 people from a wide range of professions and industries attended and BarCampBradford which took place at the WOW Academy and the National Media Museum.

A big thank you to everyone who attended and who presented and many thanks for our sponsors Sponsors which included Screen Yorkshire, Yorkshire Forward, National Media Museum, Panoetic, Frogtrade, Shipley College , BMedia, GREEN Communications, University of Bradford and Challenge CLC.

People travelled to Bradford from across the north with delegates arriving from Lancaster, Chester, Scarborough, Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield and Halifax. There were more than 40 separate presentation throughout the day ranging from doing business in Second Life and launching and iPhone App (a good representation of the day’s talks can be seen in the picture above and in the tag cloud below).

However, a flavour of the talks is listed here.

Google's hidden gems by John McLear - Primary Technology and Welcome3's MD exposes some of googles hidden gems including Android, CSE, Analytics, SSO, Adwords & Adsense.
Twitter for Business - the dos and donts of Twitter and how it can make or damage a brand's reputation – Thomas Atcheson
How a small local team of individuals are trying to find new ways of bringing social history to life - and aiming to change attitudes to open data along the way. (Jon Eland
Rethinking the Presentation - how to not kill people with Powerpoint. - Ian Smith
iPhone Application Development - Things I've learned from making my Zombies game - Matt West
Setting up an ecommerce business & use of social media, blogs, Twitter, Facebook... - Chris Wildman
A Decade of WebDesign - Tracking trends in design - Monica Tailor
Retro Gaming - A session, round-table, discussion, demos of retro games and retro tech - Mohsin Ali & Pawel Dubiel
The 'Civic App Store' - Round-table around OpenCities, OpenData, Cities as Operating Systems, Streets as Platforms, Unique AR useage & Mobile apps for cities - Mohsin Ali
Version Control - An introduction to how we use it to develop large CMS projects - Panoetic
Legal Challenges of Web 2.0 - Will cover such issues as ownership of copyright and other intellectual property in user generated content, liability for user generated content, privacy, dispute resolution and much more - Jane Lambert
Internet marketing workshop - want more website visitors? Conversion/sales/downloads? Reputation? Round table IM problem solving with John Allsopp
Drupal For Good - presentation on how Gentlehost are using Drupal for Social Change, then it's over to you for discussing ways in which Drupal can be used for good - Alice Kærast
How to sell yourself better at interview - we've interviewed somewhere in the region of 50-60 developers this year, and only hired two. What we've learned in this process - Adam Hepton
User experience in .net magazine December 2009 - a response on a couple of articles in the latest issue: interview with Brian Kalma from Zappos, and article by Craig Grannell on 'Master user experience design' - Keith Doyle (Usability Analyst)
Making a Game! - A presentation on the process of game making and the various markets. (Simon Barratt - hoping he'll be able to get by just working from his bullet points!)
Get rich with Free Software - Free Software, what it is, how it works and how you can get fat rich with it. John Leach

Some other facts about the day:

More than 300 cakes were consumed at breakfast - baked by my daughter Mercedes
240 cups of tea and coffee were served
50 pizzas and countless chips were consumed at lunch
1,000 tweets were posted to Twitter at the last time of counting
200 bottles of water were drunk
59 bloggers wrote about the event before it happened and more are emerging as I write.
40 Twitpics were published and a Flickr account has also been set up
Beers where drunk at the end of the day but no-one kept count

Will we do it again? You bet yah!

Learning about social media from an old fart

2009-11-02T12:56:00.001Z

Now this story might appear a bit crude, but it really happened, and inadvertently provided a wonderful metaphor for understanding new developments in communications, particularly social media.
Picture the scene: my colleague Andy Green is in a busy Edinburgh pub, crowded with delegates from the CIPR Local Public Services Annual Conference, where he was a speaker.
At the end of the evening, Andy and some acquaintances were still talking shop at the bar, with one delegate airing his view that he ‘really didn’t see the significance of this social media thing.’
One senior delegate patiently sought to explain how social media was not just another channel for communication, but required a different mindset. And then, without announcement, surreptitiously, slipped away from the bar.
His new found friend at the conference, an Irish guy then declared in his Dublin brogue: "Someone has farted - and it’s not me!"
Andy reassured him that it genuinely wasn’t him either. The absent friend seemed prime suspect.
The episode instantly provided Andy with a metaphor: "This is how social media is different. You see, normal communications is telling the world what you want to say. Social media, is picking up conversations which may be about you, and may, in many instances not be instigated about you. So, you would not issue a press release for the equivalent of ‘You have just farted’. The fart, however, is a reality for those out there. And is more likely to be picked up as a conversation piece, regardless of your embarrassment.”
He added: "If you’re not out there listening, and appropriately responding you are in danger of living in an artificial, You-Centric world, and not being part of the real conversation. That’s the real difference with this social media thing.”
The metaphor seemed to work in making his new friend understand the different mindset of social media. It’s funny, how an ill-wind can bring new insight.

The craic that is social media

2009-10-08T10:40:00.002Z

Usually we have to drag clients and potential clients kicking and screaming to the table of social media.

We believe that social media offers a veritable smorgasbord of opportunities for business and how they communicate with their customers and world at large – particularly in these straightened times when social media provides such a low cost entry to market.

However, in companies where the boards are dominated by middle-aged men convincing them of the merits of social media – whether it be a Twitter account or a blog or even a Flickr account – is seen as tantamount to inviting them to take up skateboarding.

So we are delighted to be working with Fitzgerald Group, one of Ireland’s leading leisure companies, which has completely embraced what social media can do for them.

They have just launched a new website which takes in Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook. It’s also rich in user generated content written by happy customers who have stayed at its hotels in - The Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, Arlington Hotel and Arlington Temple Bar Hotel.

Stephen Williams, Group E-Commerce Manager at Fitzgerald Group has been an early adopter of social media and uses Web2.0 tools to engage with its hotel guests and customers of its pubs which include The Quays, Temple Bar, The Stag’s Head and Ireland’s Bar of the Year Grand Central on O’Connell Street.

It is now working with LouderVoice where guests can now review their experiences directly on the site and provide valuable feedback and opinion. Those looking for reviews of the hotels no longer have to trawl the web trying to find random information, but can read genuine reviews by real guests on the hotel sites themselves.

Recent research has shown that more than a third of internet users rate peer opinions and User Generated Content (UGC) as the most trusted and credible.

Reviews don't just appear on the hotel sites, they are also aggregated to the LouderVoice reviews website, its mobile phone applications and the use of Facebook and Twitter logins means that guests can recommend the hotels to their friends on their favourite social networks.
Conor O'Neill, Chief Executive of LouderVoice says: "The businesses that will survive and thrive in the current economic climate are those that listen and react to their customers' needs. The Fitzgerald Group embraces this and understands that customer reviews are a key part of that strategy."

So well done Stephen. Well done Fitzgerald Group. Others should look and learn because since we started working with them their UK internet traffic has risen by more than 25 per cent as a result of good old deadwood PR and online PR activities.

New recruit at GREEN

2009-09-27T20:48:00.000Z

Here at GREEN Communications we are delighted to welcome Emma Franklin on board as account executive following a spate of new account wins.
Emma joins GREEN with the agency celebrating a clutch of recent account wins including Ireland hotel chain The Fitzgerald Group, Graduates Yorkshire and international communication network euNetworks.
Having worked for Chronicle Publications for three years as a reporter and news editor, writing for four publications across Yorkshire, Emma will work across a broad range of GREEN clientds including Warburtons, The Chartered Institute of Marketing and Yorkshire Housing.
Emma said: “I am extremely pleased to say I work for GREEN, a company that has proved it self to be one of the North’s most respected PR agencies. In the current economic climate it is important for PR agencies to be at the top of their game, delivering high quality communications services to ensure that businesses convey the right message to their customers.”
Client Services Director Dan Phillips said: “Emma’s background in press journalism brings further depth to the GREEN team and further strengthens our reputation for good solid media relations alongside our growing social media service.”

Come to the BarCamp Bradford

2009-08-26T17:40:00.001Z

This year, we plan to host a BarCamp in Bradford on Saturday, November 14 and we’re expecting 130 attendees from Yorkshire and across the country with live linkups with BarCamps in the US, Canada and India. We are also seeking to link in with the Bradford Animation Festival 2009 which finishes on November 14. With this in mind we will be encouraging those presenting to look at new developments in film, animation and digital media and offer a Superstar Speaker supported by an appropriate sponsor such as Google.

With that in mind we would also love to hear from anyone who is currently working on an Android app.

We'd love for you to come - if you're a creative, an artist, a writer, blogger, technologist, or a developer, geek, entrepreneur, academic researcher, gamer or investor please join us. If you were just curious and interested in digital culture - we'd love to meet you too. Come and demo, talk, share or just hang out! Follow us on TWITTER for further updates.

If you want to come make sure you register here. To find out more visit BarCampBradford.

Green Communications: News Articles: Graduates Yorkshire appoints GREEN

2009-08-13T22:09:00.001Z

Green Communications: News Articles: Graduates Yorkshire appoints GREEN

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Interns - what's the problem?

2009-08-02T18:21:00.002Z

First this weekend the Guardian did a big piece about how employers are exploiting graduate internships. In it Polly Curtis, Guardian Education Editor, highlighted how companies are exploiting graduates by offering the work for free with little prospect of a job at the end.
Moreover, this seems to be the mind set for British employers – whether they are in the public or private sector. The assumption is that there are so many graduates in the marketplace why would an employer offer to pay for their services when so many are willing to do it for free.
But “free” comes at a price for the graduates – especially if mummy and daddy can afford to support your career ambitions in the media, PR, marketing. Please note, these are the most oversubscribed professions and as a result they are the most exploited.
This point was underscored by Tyler Brule in his Fast Lane column in the FT (Inert interns need not apply) where he decried the high expectations of trustafarian wannabes who wanted to work on photoshoots but wouldn’t demean themselves with photocopying.
Between both articles the truth is that the UK doesn’t really get internships (an American word if we are honest).
At GREEN we do a lot of work experience placements, usually with high school sixth formers or undergraduates, for which we do not pay. We hope, and believe, we enrich these young people’s experience of what the workplace is like and generally we aim to give them genuine business projects to work on.
However, we are now doing our first internship (for the right candidate) for a 12-month stint in our business during which they will earn significantly more than the minimum wage and learn a hell of a lot about what it is like to work in a communications business.
Interestingly, this coincides with our work with Graduates Yorkshire which has just launched a programme of paid internships in Yorkshire whereby it is seeking to place up to 80 graduates with companies in the region in the next six month up to March 2010.
Polly, at The Guardian, is right that not enough is being done to legitimize and monetize intern’s input into the economy and Tyler is correct in that not enough is being done to match graduate expectations with the reality of the workplace.
However, initiatives like Graduates Yorkshire will close the gap. Watch this space.

GREEN client celebrates Yorkshire Day

2009-07-31T11:19:00.000Z

http://www.greenblog.co.uk/2009/07/31/our-client-celebrates-yorkshire-day/

2009-07-26T14:40:00.002Z

According to this chart I was a web developer, IT journalists and professional blogger when I joined Twitter. I am/was none of these things.

We are hiring again at GREEN

2009-07-26T14:16:00.001Z

re you financial whizz? Are you AAT qualified with an excellent understanding of SAGE and a keen eye for managing cashflow?

If so, we would like to talk to you as GREEN Communications, based in Wakefield, is currently seeking a capable financial administrator to provide full range of financial administration and book-keeping duties.

This position provides for a flexible working environment equivalent to three days a week. Salary £14,000 - £17,000 pro rata.

Send your CV to Ian Green, GREEN Communications, Wakefield Media Centre, 19, King Street, Wakefield WF1 2SQ

El: ian@greencomms.com

T: 0845 4503210

F: 0845 4503211

Closing date for applications August 7^th. No agencies please

Public Relations: The next stage

2009-07-18T15:03:00.004Z

I was at an event last week and a delegate I got chatting with said I should be worried about my business because public relations didn’t have a future – what with Web2.0 and all that.
The same thing was said to me in 2005 at LeWeb3.0 in Paris – I’m still around and doing PR and still thriving. The point is Web2.0 will not kill PR but make it stronger as a communications tool.
PR expertise is now paramount. SEO, social network marketing, Web 2.0 applications and the like have all served to increase - not decrease - the value and demand for high-quality public relations. The reason? PR has always been about the conversation and Web2.0 is all about the conversation.
In fact, thinking about it, is the concept of Web2.0 even relevant anymore? With PR, the problem is all about perception – most people think we just send out press releases and now that print media is in decline, they say PR is on it’s way out as well. They never understood that press releases and published articles are just means to an end. The core of PR has always been about communication skills and strategies - the ability to evaluate the competitive landscape, identify the right messages and effectively and honestly communicate those messages to the right audience – in deadwood media as well as any other media.
The slaggers argue that SEO is a dark art - add a meta tag descriptor here, create a load of keywords and move up the Google ranking. Bollocks! It’s all about content. And who manages the content? PR. And who influences user-generated content? PR.
Meanwhile, the press release remains as important as ever. Even with deadwood media the average 50-year-old hack working on a regional newspaper, or, indeed, a national newspaper, would be completely flummoxed if he received a social media press release with all the bells and whistles of podcasts, videos, links, images and third-party sources.
Remember newspapers, magazines, journals and their online companions have not gone away. They’re online, along with a host of bloggers, freelancers and forum writers that are also writing about you and your company.
This means that PR isn’t going away either. It has just become more complex and more important to a strategic communications plan than ever before. And that’s exciting!

Taking OpenCoffee to Barnsley

2009-07-18T14:29:00.001Z

Following the success of the OpenCoffee networking events we have held in Bradford and Sheffield, bmedi@ are running another event on Thursday 23rd July 2009 in Barnsley.
The emphasis of OpenCoffee is very much on the internet and new media industries etc. These free events are informal and see a range of technology entrepreneurs, designers, bloggers, developers, geeks, investors and anyone else who’s interested in digital media and technology exchanging ideas and striking up relationships that would otherwise never have flourished.
The philosophy of OpenCoffee is very much of an Open House of ideas and people.
OpenCoffee Barnsley is being sponsored by bmedi@.
The event will take place on Thursday 23rd July 2009 between 10 and 12 midday at the Barnsley Digital Media Centre, County Way, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2JW.
Please click here directions.
The event is open to anyone who is interested in the region’s digital, creative and new media industries. You’re welcome to enjoy the coffee, bacon butties, the cakes and the company. We do however need to have an idea of numbers for catering, so please book your place by contacting Dev Dulai either by e-mail dev@bmedia.org.uk or ring 01274 747407.
We look forward to networking with you.

Working with Fitzgerald Group

2009-06-24T16:31:00.000Z

Shameless plug! - We’ve just come back from a very enjoyable day in Dublin with Stephen Williams, Group E-Commerce and Marketing Manager at the Fitzgerald Group
For those of you who don’t know the Fitzgerald Group – it is one of Irelands leading leisure groups with more than 20 pubs on the Emerald Isle and owner of three of Dublin’s most successful hotels.
They are the Arlington Hotels – at Temple Bar and O’Connell Bridge – the eponymous Louis Fitzgerald Hotel after the company’s entrepreneurial founder who continues to drive the business forward with his unerring eye for detail and his ability to drive pubs and hotels forward where others fail.
Anyway GREEN Communications has been appointed to raise the profile of the three hotels in the UK and send more visitors across the Irish Sea to enjoy the Celtic pleasures on offer at the three hotels. Two of them - Temple Bar and O’Connell Bridge – offer fantastic value for money with great accommodation and nightly entertainment from traditional Irish musicians and dancers.
We – Thomas Atcheson and Kathy Burke – where at the O’Connell Bridge last night and where blown away by the whole experience and we have all vowed to go back independently with our friends and family.
Keep an eye out for further news as we will be managing a range of promotional competitions, special offers and events over the next 12 months to ensure the hotel’s get the reputation they deserve among UK holidaymakers.

Jet2com Tweet to perfection

2009-06-12T14:34:00.001Z

I have to tip my hat to who ever it is that is managing Jet2’s presence on Twitter.
If the campaign is being run in-house the team at Jet2 should be congratulated for embedding themselves in the conversation that is Twitter at a time when many established brands remain coy about all things social media.
Jet2, which flies out of Leeds-Bradford Airport, in Yorkshire, UK has always been quite bold in its marketing and has now created a real buzz around its brand with a recent competition held on Twitter.
It should be noted that Jet2 has only been on Twitter for a short while – about a week ago it only has about 180 followers. However, since it launched its competition (hashtag = #freeflightsfromjet2), followers have grown three-fold and are continuing to rise as follows re-tweet comments.
The competition is simplicity itself – on the hour today Jet2 is tweeting questions about destinations it flies to and the first follower to send the right answer with the correct hashtag wins a free flight.
A great way to create a buzz around your brand, develop your online personality and brighten up people’s Friday.

This is what I think...

2009-06-10T21:04:00.004Z

Life's a pitch - stop doing it

2009-06-10T20:55:00.000Z

I’ve been some what surprised at the number of pitches we are getting to our blog at GREEN from so-called blog engagement companies.
I have been approached in the past on this blog and have actively engaged with some companies as they have been thoughtful enought to have read my blog and understand what interests me. Then they started a conversation with me and eventually asked me to comment on one of their products which I was happy to do.
However, the vast majority of the “social media” companies get it so wrong - take this for instance which I received last week and was aimed at GREENblog.

I am contacting you from NAME DELETED an online video seeding company. We think your site would be an appropriate place to feature the new environmental campaign sponsored by NAME DELETED.

The NAME DELETED campaign is part of an ongoing project to reduce the energy consumption of NAME DELETED desktops an (sic) notebook PC’s by 25% by 2010 (a goal they have already reached a year and a half ahead of schedule). Please go to their site for more information about this great campaign.

To reach this goal they are launching video campaigns in order to create buzz, excitement and awareness online. These two pieces of video content encourage users to save energy by turning off idle PC’s, a small change to your routine that can make a big difference.

If you are interested in embedding either of these videos on your site, please do get in touch as we would love to have you on board.

The point is they have not read our blog. They have just seen the name GREEN and thought we are some sort of environmental blog - and have effectly spammed us damaging their reputation and that of their client.

Getting ready for Google's next wave

2009-06-01T20:00:00.006Z

Have been very busy all day – and was planning an early night - but was really impressed with the latest Google project which sets out to rewire the online communications with a new product called Wave.
Wave is a web-based application that marries multiple forms of communication and collaboration, including chat, mail and wikis, into a unified interface. Everything inside Wave happens in real time.
It blows MSN out of the water as you can see a comment being made as the person is typing it, character-by-character.
Wave, which was demonstrated last week at the Google I/O developer conference and has been thrown open as an open-source project which people can play with and mash-up.
The thing I love about it is that it pushes over the old email order by allowing people to chat, share information and collaborate with one another in a whole new way. In the old email meme messages can become twisted and fragmented into side conversations and becomes more and more confusing. Sure, there are more structured tools like IM, chat rooms, wikis, group blogs or web apps built for threaded communications, such as FriendFeed.
But Google Wave is aiming to replace all of these with a rolling threaded conversation, real-time chat, nested comments, media sharing, link sharing and wiki-style collaboration into a familiar interface, complete with folders for keeping things organized.
I’ve signed up for the Beta – check it out here…