Last year, like many brands and organisations, London Fashion Week flirted with Social Media by having event details, links to stories and comments posted on Twitter and Facebook… so far so very 2009!
This year, though, sees London Fashion Week take a great leap forward by embracing even more Social Media technologies and making London Fashion Week open to the masses rather than the privileged few… and they’ve done it in some predictable and also some surprising ways.
I know… I agree… it does seem strange having the words ‘fun’ and ‘insurance’ in one headline but have you noticed nearly all the leading insurance brands are attempting it? I know that Meerkat has just popped straight into your head but it’s not the only insurance brand to be using a ‘character’ to try and instil more fun (and consequently more brand recognition of course) into the fight for your insurance quote.
We all hate getting them… whether its quotes for home, car, pet, buildings, contents (the list goes on) and all we really want is the lowest price with of course the most comprehensive cover, so is this approach working for insurance brands and how are they achieving it?
Marketing is not a nostalgic business. With the constant emergence of new technologies, advertisers need to keep bang up to date to avoid being left behind. Just think back a year. At the beginning of 2009, Twitter was still a relatively niche social network, Spotify wasn’t yet available to the general public and search engine Bing didn’t even exist. One year on and all these technologies may be fundamental to creating a successful advertising campaign.
So what’s next? What will the ‘big thing’ of 2010 be? Well, I’m not going to try and predict that, but I will tell you what will make the next ‘big thing’ happen – and that’s the Ubiquitous Network. In fact, I’m confident it’ll change the future of advertising and marketing forever…
We’re extremely proud of our work on the Swinton Mystery Tipper, especially as it has garnered the agency an armful of awards from two DMA Awards to two ISP Awards and two IPA Effectiveness Awards. We’ve had quite a few people ask to see our winning entry form… so here it is!
CONTEXT AND MARKET BACKGROUND
The insurance sector is a complex and increasingly challenging marketplace. For most of us, insurance has always been a distress purchase – something we grudgingly concede we need to have, and resent the increasing premiums. Three key innovations in the last decade have had a significant impact on the broader market. The launch of Direct Line’s online insurance offer, in 1999, following the formula of its breakthrough approach to offering insurance by telephone a decade earlier, forced every insurer and broker to reassess their approach – here was a company that made buying insurance simple and fuss-free, cutting out the middle man and talking everyday language. This sparked an extended period of discounting in the sector that still has ramifications today.
Linkedin is often referred to as the business equivalent to Facebook but through the power of web 2.0 technology Linkedin makes it easier for users to do much more than just catch up with old colleagues! The power of this social networking site can often be underestimated. Linkedin has created an online network of more than 8.5 million experienced professionals from around the world representing 130 industries.
You may have seen the requests arrive in your outlook inbox, along the lines of “Bob Smith wants to add you to his network on LinkedIn” , you recognise Bob, you once worked with him and so you click “accept “and without realising it you have a profile space on Linkedin.
31, Single, loves playing on his Xbox and motorbikes, Swinton Steve is certainly developing his own fan base within our office… especially amongst the girls! So it’s a good job then that Swinton Steve has been created to introduce some personality to a series of monthly relationship building e-newsletters.
Once known as ‘the man with the big glasses’, he’s now been reborn as Swinton Steve. Coincidentally, Steve is also the name of the Account Director who works on Swinton at Red C. And if you’ve ever met Red C’s Steve… we’re sure you’ll agree the likeness between him and this animated character is uncanny!
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, how do I look in the Aqua Circle-Print Tube Dress? Oh it’s nice…but it’s not quite right…have you got it in red…and maybe one size up? Oh yes…that’s perfect. Now let me send this to my friends…girls look at me…what do you think? OMG they love it – I’ll take it…”
Coming soon to a high-street fitting room near you…welcome to the exciting world of Interactive Mirrors.
Interactive whatnow?
An Interactive Mirror is – as its name suggests – a mirror you can interact with. Basically, simply looking at your reflection is like so last year. Now you can actually manipulate it, using the mirror’s touch-screen surface to do everything from trying out new clothes and hairstyles, to giving yourself a tan.
On 28th May 2009, Google announced its grand vision for the future of internet communication. By harnessing the power of HTML 5 – the next major revision to the core language of the World Wide Web – Google is putting the final touches to a brand new “personal communication and collaboration tool” for a brand new era. It’s called Google Wave.
As a real-time communication platform, Google Wave combines email, instant messaging, web chat, wikis, social networking and project management (among other things) in one elegant, in-browser communication client. With a release scheduled in late 2009, it is already being hailed by some as the ‘next generation’ of email. Read more…
It’s staring at me on the arm of the sofa but I have promised that I won’t use it. I even turned it face down so I am not tempted to check my Facebook to see who has commented on my status in the last fifteen minutes, or to download the “Fish Tycoon” application I have heard my friend talking about. You can nurture and breed your own fish then sell them for virtual money. Truth is I hate fish, but the iPhone application looks fun…!!
An addiction?
Needless to say, my iPhone has become a worrying addiction – and the application store on iTunes is starting to cost me a lot of money! The store is what really makes the iPhone so unique and is the biggest advancement in mobile technology in recent years. It’s accessible via iTunes and holds over 25,000 applications ranging from the really useful to the completely pointless and bizarre. Read more…
I have to confess, I don’t get Twitter. I’ve signed up for it. Attached it to this Blog. I’ve even got it on my iPhone. Yet I still find myself completely at a loss at what I should do with it. Maybe if I led the life of Stephen Fry (whose Tweets make me smile on a regular basis), then maybe I’d get it… but I don’t.
Still, it doesn’t stop me from looking at this latest web-fad and seeing how it can be used to make brands money. So, if like me, you’re at a loss as to what this Twitter business is all about, and why lots of people are becoming Twits… read on!
Last year, like many brands and organisations, London Fashion Week flirted with Social Media by having event details, links to stories and comments posted on Twitter and Facebook… so far so very 2009!
Marketing is not a nostalgic business. With the constant emergence of new technologies, advertisers need to keep bang up to date to avoid being left behind. Just think back a year. At the beginning of 2009, 
We’re extremely proud of our work on the Swinton Mystery Tipper, especially as it has garnered the agency an armful of awards from two DMA Awards to two ISP Awards and two IPA Effectiveness Awards. We’ve had quite a few people ask to see our winning entry form… so here it is!
Linkedin is often referred to as the business equivalent to Facebook but through the power of web 2.0 technology Linkedin makes it easier for users to do much more than just catch up with old colleagues! The power of this social networking site can often be underestimated. Linkedin has created an online network of more than 8.5 million experienced professionals from around the world representing 130 industries.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, how do I look in the Aqua Circle-Print Tube Dress? Oh it’s nice…but it’s not quite right…have you got it in red…and maybe one size up? Oh yes…that’s perfect. Now let me send this to my friends…girls look at me…what do you think? OMG they love it – I’ll take it…”
It’s staring at me on the arm of the sofa but I have promised that I won’t use it. I even turned it face down so I am not tempted to check my Facebook to see who has commented on my status in the last fifteen minutes, or to download the “Fish Tycoon” application I have heard my friend talking about. You can nurture and breed your own fish then sell them for virtual money. Truth is I hate fish, but the iPhone application looks fun…!!
I have to confess, I don’t get Twitter. I’ve signed up for it. Attached it to this Blog. I’ve even got it on my iPhone. Yet I still find myself completely at a loss at what I should do with it. Maybe if I led the life of Stephen Fry (whose Tweets make me smile on a regular basis), then maybe I’d get it… but I don’t.
