add value through content

Waterstone's the booksellers have just about got it spot on with this 'What's Your Story' campaign.

To celebrate the National UK Reading Year they are challenging budding writers to compose a short story and submit it to the Wys site.

The best entries are being published in an online gallery and in stores - alongside a collection of specially commisioned stories written by some top authors.

3 winning stories will be published in a postcard book alonside the 'real' authors including Doris Lessing, Michael Rosen, Nick Hornby, Sebastian Faulks, Lauren Child, Tom Stoppard and Irvine Welsh and of course...
JK Rowling, who has supplied an exclusive 800-word, hand-written prequel to the Harry Potter series.

Value, content, participation, community, partnership, branding.

I've been debating with a few twitter buddies whether the likes of Amazon have the same ability to generate that fuzzy feeling around their brand as the likes of Waterstones.

In the book market I will always prefer to shop with Waterstones if I can rather than Amazon. Why? Because of stuff like this. The cold aggregation of the likes of Amazon doesn't tickle me.
OK there's the long tail and the user reviews, the super fast service etc- but I find something more re-assuring about a brand that actually 'cares' about it's product.
Half of the staff are authors.
And actively working for good in the community - Neil Perkin talks about this here - kind of inspired this post.

Plus they are British...

The campaign and microsite was developed by Manchester digital agency Code Computerlove

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

quality check

Just spotted this in E1. The street art/graffiti fraternity self-organising to bring a bit of quality control to the streets? Or maybe it's part of Boris' new broom?

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

the product is the marketing - malmaison

On a recent jaunt to Edinburgh I stayed at the Malmaison by Leith docks.

First off, it's about 15 years since I've been round Leith, what a change.
Back in the day it was a bit of a no-go area but it's now been 'regenerated'- lots of nice bars and restaurants and half a million quid apartments etc.

A couple of things made my stay worth remarking upon.

All Malmaison hotels offer free, gratis broadband in the rooms. So what? I hear you say. Well try getting free web access in any other hotel chain. Unlikely.

In the bathroom theres a wee sign beside all the toiletries - posh body wash, moisturising pads, breath freshner, the lot - saying 'please take these away with you'.
Everyone nabs the bits from the bathroom in hotels anyway, but a nice touch to say 'go ahead'. Power showers too. Theres nothing worse than the dribbly weak showers you often encounter in hotels.

I ordered dinner in my room - posh burger and chips - the chips come in a tall cup thing wrapped in Malmaison greaseproof paper. A little design touch that tickled me.

I also loved the milk jugs at breakfast, it's a tall vase shaped white jug with 'cow' spots printed on it.

I could have stayed at the Holiday Inn accross the road and it would have been perfectly acceptable, but i would not have mentioned it to anyone after.
It's the micro-touches that make an experience worth talking about.

Good enough is no longer good enough, it needs to be better than that.

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

i am a muppet

Here's a tip for you.

Don't let your domain expire, as I have just done.
I received several reminder emails from my hosting service, the latest one last week warned me that it would expire within 25 days.
So today I find that its gone already! Thats well within the 25 days. They don't mess about.

I've paid up and the site will be back within 24 hours, however anyone who attemps to go there during these 24 hours is going to mark me down. Lesson learned.

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

baby badger...

Belated congratulations to Dan from the way of the web aka @badgergravling on the arrival of baby Oscar the other week. A new recruit for the twitter junior section?
Also I'm due him a link as his technorati rank has crashed since shifting his blog about.

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

ghp - spliced crispies

I rave about gohomeproductions all the time here. Maybe there's some sort of affinity as I'm a former Watford resident myself.

Despite recently announcing his retirement from the bootleg business to concentrate on 'proper' tracks he's done a new collection of 11 mash-ups 'Spliced Crispies'.
This time theres videos to go along with them.

My personal favourite is the Ce Ce Penniston/Sex Pistols fusion 'Finally Did you no wrong'. see below.

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

on positivity...a thought for the day

When I'm having those HEAD>BRICK WALL moments I'm always glad of this nugget from author and historian David Landes...

'In this world the optimists have it, not because they are always right but because they are always positive. Even when wrong, they are positive...and that is the way to achievement'

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

geekdinner social cookbook update

There been a bit of interest though the recipies are slow in coming through.
Perhaps this diagram in the style of Armano will help to clarify.



heres the link again geekdinner.blogspot.com

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

generation Y-ers? this is the way we we roll.

For all you Generation Y hopefuls. Take a tip from Sam. The bar has officially been RAISED. Want the money? the status? don't want to pay yer dues? You better be SMARTER than this then. Stuff of legends.

| View | Upload your own

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

geek dinner social cookbook

I was looking at my google stats for this blog the other day and noticed that the most read article was none of the advertising/marketing/pop stuff but a recipe for beef braciole (the result of a desperate posting of some content or other during a barren spell).

Anyway, it got me thinking. Like novels, everyone has at least one recipe in them. A signature dish, lets call it. What I hope will happen with 'geek dinner'is that you, the reader of this and no doubt the author of your own blog, will send me the following:

1 - your recipe
2 - the story that goes with it
3 - a brief bio
4 - your linkage
5 - a pic of yourself in the kitchen

send all to geekdinnerblog at gmail dot com

Ive set up the blog over at geekdinner.blogspot.com.

Once we have a decent amount of content (I'm thinking 100-150 recipies) I'd like to do an actual book using lulu or something, sell them and be able to donate the proceeds to a hunger related charity, maybe? I'm open to suggestions from you.

Thanks in advance.
Ive tagged a few candidates

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

dastardly and motley

This caught my eye as an interesting nugget of distribution innovation.
Glam metal veterans Motley Crue have regrouped to release their new 'single' - via Xbox's Live platform and Playstation's store - through the game 'Rock Band', the big brother of Friday afternoon office fave 'Guitar Hero'.

According to MTVGames 'Rock Band went on sale last November and now has more than 80 tracks available for download in addition to the 58 tracks in the original game. MTV Games said players have bought more than 6 million downloadable songs for Rock Band.'

Reuters story here.

As well as highlighting the potential of video games as a get out of jail card for the ailing music industry, this is a good example of getting the product where the audience is at.

Apparently during the Crue's heyday in the mid-80s, they were once holed up in a Hollywood hotel on tour - lounging by the pool surrounded by semi-naked bimbos and generally having it large on the JD and narcotics. Word arrived that drug legend Ozzy Osborne had checked into the hotel - much to the excitement of apprentice hellraisers, the Crue.

Ozzy staggered out to the pool, bent down to where a glass of something had been spilled and proceeded to snort a 'line' of ants that had gathered around the spilled beverage.

Motley Crue split up shortly afterwards, no doubt realising they could never reach the dizzy heights of rock'n'roll excess as demonstrated by the true master.

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

when the product is the marketing pt 2

I'm liking these flip-over powder coated steel coathook/hanger things by Swiss designer Nicola Enrico Stäubli.
Another example of soft innovation turning a relatively oridinary product into something worth talking about.

I also love her product description:
'This new type of coat hanger sticks to a conventional towel rail and provides it with an additional task outside the bathroom. Once flipped over it turns into a coat hook. Source of inspiration for the design of this little aide for everyday life was the stick insect. The coloring is borrowed from the tropical flora, the habitat of this giant insect.'

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

when the product is the marketing...

As Seth Godin says:
'Remarkable marketing is the art of building things worth noticing right into your product or service'

The Auntie Bessies sausage and mash cone is not for everyone. If it was it would be a bit boring.

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

I'm on the pavement, tweeting with the government

The twit-osphere has been literally a-tweet with debate around the recent entry into the conversation, on Twitter, of the Prime Minister's office.

No.10 have a dedicated twitterstream, you can follow by adding @downingstreet to your 'following' list. Full marks to Downing Street for 'following back' most of their followers, and on occasion actually engaging fellow twitters on a one-to-one basis.

It would have been easy for No.10 to simply 'broadcast'.

Interestingly there seem to be a number of closet Tories creeping out of the woodwork on Twitter leading to some heckling and derision of @downingstreet- I have no truck with this and welcome the government dept of spin with open arms. I even put myself on the line defending their right to be present, however my requests for an honorary MBE - for services rendered - where politely declined...

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

it aint where you're from, it's where you're at?

In the absence of anything of my own - of any substance - to share, I'm going to occasionally cross post things I've read of interest.

Advergirl is in my google reader - always quality - and in a recent post she has has recommended Who's your City or How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life by Richard Florida - which I shall be checking out.

She summarises '(Florida's) aim is largely to defend the importance of a sense of place vs. the encroaching genericism of globalization. Where you live does matter and is part of who you are.'

This neatly articulates something Ive been mulling around for a while.

Here's an excerpt: 'Finding the right place is as important as - if not more important than - finding the right job or partner because it not only influences those choices but also determines how easy or hard it will be to correct mistakes made along the way. ...The place we choose to live affects every aspect of our being. It can determine the income we earn, the people we meet, the friends we make, the partners we choose, and the options available to our children and families. People are not equally happy everywhere...'

I get the feeling that the US has a number of 'centers' whereas in the UK there are fewer and we tend to be London-centric in regard to 'creative' industries.

Advergirl's synopsis boils it down to five key themes/questions.

1 How do you like the place you're living now?

2 Is it somewhere you really want to be?

3 Does it give you energy? When you walk out onto the street or the country lane, in the morning, does it fill you with inspiration, or stress?

4 Does it allow you to be the person you really want to be? Are you achieving your personal goals?

5 Is it a place you would recommend to your relatives and friends?

I live in the country but work in the city (the rationale was - best of both worlds)so not sure how best to answer, what do we reckon?

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

mediacamp 08

Date for your diaries - Saturday 17th May 2008.
Register here - start getting your presentation together now...

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

a couple thoughts on remix radiohead

Radiohead will be gaining more plaudits for innovation in the music biz for making thir new single/track/whatever available on in 5 component parts for fans to 'remix' themselves. Budding remixers are also encouraged to add their own parts to the soup, so i'll be hoping for some genre crossing ideas and mashups, a bit of c&w, polka or calypso might be fun.

Hip-hoppers, will be familiar with the, albeit unnofficial, jayz construction set from 04 - inspired by Dangermouse's 'Grey Album' (a mash up of JayZ's 'Black Album' and the Beatles 'White Album')

Even further back in time, in 91, Aberdeen' finest The Shamen issued a CD with all the parts of their hit 'Progen'- which was in the Top 10 at the time - for fans to remix.

Also, one of my first records for Bellboy Records - 'Bring it on Down' as the Turnbull AC's in 94, was constructed entirely from parts from a George Clinton sample cd plus a drum loop from The Emotions 'Best of my Love'.

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

will blog for food...

To the Coach and Horses in Soho yesterday for a bloggers brunch co-hosted by Chinwag and the Dept of Trade and Investment.
Uk Trade and investment is a government organisation that helps British businesses to develop in overseas markets through various resources and services.

This year they are looking at helping the 'creative' industries ie arts, music, film and the digital media industry.
Full info can be found at www.uktradeinvest.co.uk

By way of an introduction a number of bloggers, podcaster and digital media types were invited for a meet and greet. Presumably the assembled members of the chattering (or twittering) classes were selected as being likely to blab their findings.

No man blogs for free though, and the dti did their chances of a favourable review no harm whatsoever by the inclusion on the buffet menu of...

Fish Finger Sandwiches. Genius.

Thinking of unlikely sandwich combos, I'm reminded of back in the day (in what seems like a previous life) when I was a club dj, after my regular Sunday night gig I would head over to the taxi queue via the all-night baker where a sandwich of a scotch pie between 2 rowies (google it) would be devoured in the cab home. Health city.

Any good sandwich stories out there? (this is drivel - Editor's voice)

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

more on the future of advertising and marketing

Following that last post, in some sort of karmic alignment I stumbled across this excellent presentation - of some considerable panache - by a chap called Paul Isakson. On further digging he's got a pretty impressive blog too, which I will no doubt be dipping into for further nuggets.

| View | Upload your own

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit

Twittering at the back of the class…

I was caught twittering at the back of the class last week at Chinwag's ‘Tomorrow’s Ad Formats’ session.

I suppose I thought it was acceptable after following the entertaining commentary on the Ad Age digital advertising conference by David Armano and Steve Rubel last week.
For me, Twitter is starting to develop and find it’s place this year.
One of it’s interesting uses is as a back channel to events which enables other users to follow events remotely.

I did, however, find the bulk of the content at this particular Chinwag a bit flat and shared the odd tweet to that effect with a couple of other attendees.
I’d hoped to get the usual insight and inspiration that comes out of those sessions but the debate seemed centred around the various forms of interruption based traditional digital advertising - and the merits of this banner vs that pre-roll - rather than new ways for brands to actually engage and involve their customers.

By engage I guess I’m referring to the idea of collaborative marketing, conversation, dialogue, partnership etc rather shouting at people who are not interested.

Wikipedia says: ‘Rather than looking at consumers as passive receivers of messages, engagement marketers believe that consumers should be actively involved in the production and creation of marketing.”

I’m also often prone to wheeling out a slightly older nugget to illustrate this point

Confucious: ‘Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I might remember but involve me and I’ll understand’

Steven from our place, who was on the panel, fought a valiant battle
(I almost typed ‘shone like a Beacon’) to bring the conversation round to this notion of engagement being key however despite a few gratuitous cluetrain references from some of the others it didn’t fly.

I overheard this stat recently:
The number is flaky, I can’t exactly remember but it went something like…

‘…our research found 25% of users found pre-roll ads less annoying than mid-roll’

Yes he really did say, less annoying!

Tweet

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Technorati | Yahoo | reddit