Bluhalo is pleased to announce the launch of SEN.com, the website of the Space Exploration Network.
SEN is a space television news network whose purpose is to gather and distribute news and information on space. The website provides a central location for current news, features, content and space-related resources.
The website, designed and built by Bluhalo aims to engage a diverse audience and features latest news, SEN TV video area, a wiki, forums and a photo gallery – with focus placed on user engagement and user contributions to the wealth of highly focused and original content. The website aims to achieve 1 million users within the next 2 years.
The vision of SEN is to promote interest in space; raise awareness of the reality of humankind and Earth in the universe and through raising awareness provide a different perspective to human conduct and the government of life on this planet; educate and encourage consideration of the physics, economics, laws and government of space and to create a community in which people can learn, debate and share information about space.
Charles Black, Founder of SEN commented “Bluhalo have done a fantastic job creating an innovative site that is very contemporary in terms of both design and technology. The site encompasses a range of leading technologies for video, pictures and user generated content. Bluhalo have also developed a highly effective Content Management System that enables SEN to manage the site content and subscriptions. I am already discussing future developments for the site for phase 2 of SEN's business plan which will include e-commerce capability for online subscriptions. We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with the Bluhalo team.”
Paul Windust, Project Manager at Bluhalo for the SEN project added “Charles Black has a passion and knowledge of space that is impressive and contagious. Working on this site has been a pleasure for the whole team and we’ll enjoy watching it grow and be proud that we had a hand in this exciting project.”
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @JocelynKirby
Friday, 5 February 2010
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Setting the Standard - RFI & production processes
I read an interesting article on Creativity Online recently about a project from US company B-Reel who are attempting to produce an industry standard for digital and integrated production.
http://www.stndrd.org
Their open source idea is based on a wiki, i.e. they are inviting agencies to define and develop the brief within the industry itself.
Given the disparity in the number of RFPs, as well as the lack of information supplied by some clients for digital production this can only be a good thing. Right?
While industry standards exist in many offline processes digital is playing catch-up. But can this realistically work in a industry that changes so rapidly. Or is that the genius of this idea? It's the best way to document a constantly moving goal-post.
I think it's a great idea that needs support from all the big players to make a realistic goal. (And so far the beta site doesn't have that kind of support). However, without clients buying into it I don't think it will ever get off the ground. Without their support, it will only ever become an internal document for agencies to flesh out as best they can from the information supplied.
If successful, I'd like to see this project take on another process that is in desperate need of some attention or standardisation, the RFI. However, there are two big reasons why this is a much harder nut to crack.
First of all it seems unrealistic for clients to believe they have the same requirements as another company. But at an RFI stage they often do, or they are at least similar enough to warrant at least a set of standard industry specific questions.
The second is that in many examples it is the procurement department that owns the tender process and sometimes they aren't the best placed people to be setting the questions. There is a degree of digital knowledge required to craft the more technical RFI questions, that if not applied, can lead to confusing or contradictory requests.
I wish B-Reel all the best and have forwarded details of the project to the relevant people here. Who knows where it could lead to.
I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this. Now back to this RFI ;-)
Barnaby Ellis
UK Head of Digital
http://www.stndrd.org
Their open source idea is based on a wiki, i.e. they are inviting agencies to define and develop the brief within the industry itself.
Given the disparity in the number of RFPs, as well as the lack of information supplied by some clients for digital production this can only be a good thing. Right?
While industry standards exist in many offline processes digital is playing catch-up. But can this realistically work in a industry that changes so rapidly. Or is that the genius of this idea? It's the best way to document a constantly moving goal-post.
I think it's a great idea that needs support from all the big players to make a realistic goal. (And so far the beta site doesn't have that kind of support). However, without clients buying into it I don't think it will ever get off the ground. Without their support, it will only ever become an internal document for agencies to flesh out as best they can from the information supplied.
If successful, I'd like to see this project take on another process that is in desperate need of some attention or standardisation, the RFI. However, there are two big reasons why this is a much harder nut to crack.
First of all it seems unrealistic for clients to believe they have the same requirements as another company. But at an RFI stage they often do, or they are at least similar enough to warrant at least a set of standard industry specific questions.
The second is that in many examples it is the procurement department that owns the tender process and sometimes they aren't the best placed people to be setting the questions. There is a degree of digital knowledge required to craft the more technical RFI questions, that if not applied, can lead to confusing or contradictory requests.
I wish B-Reel all the best and have forwarded details of the project to the relevant people here. Who knows where it could lead to.
I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this. Now back to this RFI ;-)
Barnaby Ellis
UK Head of Digital
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Bluhalo Selects DediPower Managed Hosting
PRESS RELEASE: Bluhalo Selects DediPower Managed Hosting to Create its Own Private Cloud
Reading, UK – 28 January, 2010: Bluhalo, one of the UK’s top 10 digital marketing agencies, has chosen DediPower’s managed hosting solution to create a private cloud, spanning USA to Europe, capable of delivering greater capacity, performance and availability at a lower cost; across its entire portfolio of high-profile websites including BlackBerry, Liverpool F.C., Sky, Sony and NFL UK.
The new solution will also help shape Bluhalo’s go to market strategy. According to Managing Director, Spencer Gallagher, “The private cloud strengthens our market position by making our services more agile, efficient and scaleable. This enables us to continue to target even higher-traffic clients with richer-featured sites at highly competitive costs, allowing us to expand our business into new strategic areas.”
Bluhalo specified DediPower’s leading edge virtualisation solution following an extensive review of its existing managed multi-server hosting system; which was proving increasingly inflexible and expensive to run. With its more powerful, responsive, and efficient platform, DediPower has already helped the company boost capacity and achieve significant cost savings.
Simon Green, Head of IT at Bluhalo comments, “DediPower not only provides access to the large scale, high performance servers required to deliver our private cloud but also the customer support and operational flexibility that is central to our requirement. DediPower’s response and delivery is excellent – they react quickly to requests and handle system changes without lengthy processes. Consequently, sites can go-live at very short notice, which is vital for many of our projects.”
He adds, “Scaleability is also crucial for our business. While all sites experience demand peaks and troughs traffic on our broadcast, consumer brand and sporting sites can go through the ceiling, particularly during specific promotions or events. In the past, we had to set-up additional server capacity to accommodate these fluctuations, which incurred even higher costs. With DediPower’s virtualisation solution, our sites use our private cloud to access dedicated capacity on demand, instantly - no matter how large their requirement is. This alone represents tremendous cost savings for our business.”
As the UK’s leading developer of sites for sporting organisations, Bluhalo builds digital presence around some of the country’s most popular sports events. Prime football sites have been among the first to feedback on DediPower’s improved hosting performance. Tottenham Hotspur, for example, can now handle four times as much traffic as it did before, while NFL UK, which, at times, struggled to cope with web demand during matches, can now accommodate peak traffic easily.
Craig Martin, CEO DediPower Managed Hosting states, “We are delighted to help Bluhalo reduce its operational costs and experience a better service for themselves and their customers. Bluhalo is perfect for virtualised managed hosting – they are unusually good at what they do and demonstrate exceptional technical as well as creative innovation. They run tidy and efficient applications that utilise cloud clusters to best effect; this has allowed our platform to deliver optimum performance at a fraction of the cost of their previous system.”
DediPower prides itself on delivering support with passion. It offers one of the best service level agreements in the industry today. This is crucial when it comes to implementing an entirely new hosting platform.
Green concludes, “With DediPower, the transition has been very smooth. They have pulled out all the stops to make it seamless for our clients who have effectively benefitted from a system upgrade at no extra cost. We look forward to exploring new opportunities – such as integrating other IT functions into the hosting platform - as our relationship continues to evolve. "
To find out more about DediPower, visit www.dedipower.com.
Reading, UK – 28 January, 2010: Bluhalo, one of the UK’s top 10 digital marketing agencies, has chosen DediPower’s managed hosting solution to create a private cloud, spanning USA to Europe, capable of delivering greater capacity, performance and availability at a lower cost; across its entire portfolio of high-profile websites including BlackBerry, Liverpool F.C., Sky, Sony and NFL UK.
The new solution will also help shape Bluhalo’s go to market strategy. According to Managing Director, Spencer Gallagher, “The private cloud strengthens our market position by making our services more agile, efficient and scaleable. This enables us to continue to target even higher-traffic clients with richer-featured sites at highly competitive costs, allowing us to expand our business into new strategic areas.”
Bluhalo specified DediPower’s leading edge virtualisation solution following an extensive review of its existing managed multi-server hosting system; which was proving increasingly inflexible and expensive to run. With its more powerful, responsive, and efficient platform, DediPower has already helped the company boost capacity and achieve significant cost savings.
Simon Green, Head of IT at Bluhalo comments, “DediPower not only provides access to the large scale, high performance servers required to deliver our private cloud but also the customer support and operational flexibility that is central to our requirement. DediPower’s response and delivery is excellent – they react quickly to requests and handle system changes without lengthy processes. Consequently, sites can go-live at very short notice, which is vital for many of our projects.”
He adds, “Scaleability is also crucial for our business. While all sites experience demand peaks and troughs traffic on our broadcast, consumer brand and sporting sites can go through the ceiling, particularly during specific promotions or events. In the past, we had to set-up additional server capacity to accommodate these fluctuations, which incurred even higher costs. With DediPower’s virtualisation solution, our sites use our private cloud to access dedicated capacity on demand, instantly - no matter how large their requirement is. This alone represents tremendous cost savings for our business.”
As the UK’s leading developer of sites for sporting organisations, Bluhalo builds digital presence around some of the country’s most popular sports events. Prime football sites have been among the first to feedback on DediPower’s improved hosting performance. Tottenham Hotspur, for example, can now handle four times as much traffic as it did before, while NFL UK, which, at times, struggled to cope with web demand during matches, can now accommodate peak traffic easily.
Craig Martin, CEO DediPower Managed Hosting states, “We are delighted to help Bluhalo reduce its operational costs and experience a better service for themselves and their customers. Bluhalo is perfect for virtualised managed hosting – they are unusually good at what they do and demonstrate exceptional technical as well as creative innovation. They run tidy and efficient applications that utilise cloud clusters to best effect; this has allowed our platform to deliver optimum performance at a fraction of the cost of their previous system.”
DediPower prides itself on delivering support with passion. It offers one of the best service level agreements in the industry today. This is crucial when it comes to implementing an entirely new hosting platform.
Green concludes, “With DediPower, the transition has been very smooth. They have pulled out all the stops to make it seamless for our clients who have effectively benefitted from a system upgrade at no extra cost. We look forward to exploring new opportunities – such as integrating other IT functions into the hosting platform - as our relationship continues to evolve. "
To find out more about DediPower, visit www.dedipower.com.
Monday, 25 January 2010
Meet Bluhalo's Twitterers
Ok, so Twitter's popularity continues to grow, with user numbers still growing at an impressive rate, and unlike much of the digital social landscape, not fuelled by the youth of the world.
A great source of information, news, research and a great way to network and keep in touch in your professional as well as personal life, Twitter certainly seems to have it all.
So would you like to meet a few of Bluhalo's Twitterers?
@Bluhalo
Had to have a mention really! Includes useful retweets and updates of the latest news, views and information from Bluhalo.
@spg4
Bluhalo's Founder and MD. Spencer tweets about everything digital, with great insight into the future of digital.
@vimal78
Bluhalo's Business Development Director. Vim tweets include a combination of the latest tech info, digital trends and the comings and goings of the agency.
@jocelynkirby
Bluhalo's Marketing Manager, Jocelyn's tweets cover the latest digital marketing news, views and research as well as the latest happenings from the Bluhalo team.
@kunji
One of Bluhalo's longest serving employees, Kunji tweets on the latest of the web. If you want to find out about the hottest new sites online, Kunji is the one to follow.
@pete_white
A member of Bluhalo's digital creative team, if something creative is worth seeing, Pete will be tweeting about it.
So there you have it, an intro to Bluhalo's dedicated twitterers. We are of course (almost) all on Twitter here at Bluhalo, but those mentioned above are the key contributors to Bluhalo's Twittering. Enjoy the show!
A great source of information, news, research and a great way to network and keep in touch in your professional as well as personal life, Twitter certainly seems to have it all.
So would you like to meet a few of Bluhalo's Twitterers?
@Bluhalo
Had to have a mention really! Includes useful retweets and updates of the latest news, views and information from Bluhalo.
@spg4
Bluhalo's Founder and MD. Spencer tweets about everything digital, with great insight into the future of digital.
@vimal78
Bluhalo's Business Development Director. Vim tweets include a combination of the latest tech info, digital trends and the comings and goings of the agency.
@jocelynkirby
Bluhalo's Marketing Manager, Jocelyn's tweets cover the latest digital marketing news, views and research as well as the latest happenings from the Bluhalo team.
@kunji
One of Bluhalo's longest serving employees, Kunji tweets on the latest of the web. If you want to find out about the hottest new sites online, Kunji is the one to follow.
@pete_white
A member of Bluhalo's digital creative team, if something creative is worth seeing, Pete will be tweeting about it.
So there you have it, an intro to Bluhalo's dedicated twitterers. We are of course (almost) all on Twitter here at Bluhalo, but those mentioned above are the key contributors to Bluhalo's Twittering. Enjoy the show!
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Twitter Gaming - valid marketing or ethical minefield?
Twitter gaming – one of the hottest topics of recent weeks and one that appears to have caused a divide of opinion in the digital world. As a sure-fire way of gaining large numbers of Twitter followers; and fast; is Twitter gaming just another valid marketing technique that gives brands a great way to reach their target markets with their latest message? Or in a digital world where consumer engagement is built around the ethics of authenticity, genuine interaction and the sharing of useful information, is there still room for the traditional ‘push’ marketing message?
A topic of much contention, and one that our very own Spencer Gallgher, will put to the Digital Loungers at this month's Digital Lounge event next week. If you fancy joining the debate, you can find out more and book online by visiting the Digital Lounge website.
To keep up to date with all things digital, you can follow Spencer on Twitter @spg4.
A topic of much contention, and one that our very own Spencer Gallgher, will put to the Digital Loungers at this month's Digital Lounge event next week. If you fancy joining the debate, you can find out more and book online by visiting the Digital Lounge website.
To keep up to date with all things digital, you can follow Spencer on Twitter @spg4.
Friday, 15 January 2010
Coca Cola Social Media Guidelines
This week one of the world's largest brands has released its social media policy. And how many pages do you think it takes to steer such a huge ship in the social media world? 20? 50? 100?
No. Only three.
So is social media really that simple? Maybe not. But a company's approach to it can be. Keeping your corporate social media guidelines simple, concise, clear and easy to understand makes it far easier to mobilise your organisation in the social media world.
Empowering your staff to embrace social media and engage your audience on behalf of your brand gives you greater reach, increased touch points and most importantly increased share of top of mind. Couple that with a social media strategy and you are on your way (at the very least) to tapping into the great potential that social media now offers us as a way of life and not just a communication channel.
If you don't believe Coca Cola can fit their social media policy into just three pages, take a look for yourself below...
Coca-Cola Company's Online Social Media Principles
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
No. Only three.
So is social media really that simple? Maybe not. But a company's approach to it can be. Keeping your corporate social media guidelines simple, concise, clear and easy to understand makes it far easier to mobilise your organisation in the social media world.
Empowering your staff to embrace social media and engage your audience on behalf of your brand gives you greater reach, increased touch points and most importantly increased share of top of mind. Couple that with a social media strategy and you are on your way (at the very least) to tapping into the great potential that social media now offers us as a way of life and not just a communication channel.
If you don't believe Coca Cola can fit their social media policy into just three pages, take a look for yourself below...
Coca-Cola Company's Online Social Media Principles
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Sudocrem 'Wonder Cream' Site Launches
Sudocrem has launched a great new version of its wonder cream... just for us grown-ups and Bluhalo is very excited to have recently built their new site. This great cream soothes and protects and it is suitable for a wider range of skin care problems. Check out the site to find out more!
http://www.sudocremtube.com/
Anya Gooch
Account Manager
http://www.sudocremtube.com/
Anya Gooch
Account Manager
Farnborough Office Closed Today - Wed 6th Jan
Due to heavy snowfall, Bluhalo's Farnborough office will be closed today, Wednesday 6th January.
All staff will continue working from home. If you are a client and need to contact someone at Bluhalo, your daily contacts will be available on either mobile or email and will respond to your enquiry as promptly as possible.
If you have an email/domain support query, please email helpdesk@bluhalo.com and we will respond as soon as we can.
For new business enquiries, please email jocelyn@bluhalo.com or vimal@bluhalo.com.
For all other enquiries, please email getintouch@bluhalo.com and we will respond to your query as soon as possible.
All staff will continue working from home. If you are a client and need to contact someone at Bluhalo, your daily contacts will be available on either mobile or email and will respond to your enquiry as promptly as possible.
If you have an email/domain support query, please email helpdesk@bluhalo.com and we will respond as soon as we can.
For new business enquiries, please email jocelyn@bluhalo.com or vimal@bluhalo.com.
For all other enquiries, please email getintouch@bluhalo.com and we will respond to your query as soon as possible.
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
What is WebGL?
Almost two weeks ago (sorry, I have been busy), news broke that the WebGL project had taken a significant step forward by releasing a draft specification. Yay; I don’t hear you cry!
What is WebGL? It is a plugin-free API project being developed by several companies within the Khronos group including Apple, Google, Mozilla and Opera. This attempt at a standard basically brings 3d to the browser by extending the HTML canvas element. It does this by allowing JavaScript access to OpenGL 2.0 calls – this allows hardware accelerated 3d graphics within a browser.
This is quite exciting; in my younger years I developed several 3d games using OpenGL (and c++), although to be fair the same is probably true of every programmer. The point I was trying to make is that I found OpenGL to be easy to use and a flexible and powerful way to draw to the screen.
This is a fairly natural progression given that browsers are now leaning toward hardware accelerated rendering anyway, and now that this spec (which can be found here: https://www.khronos.org/webgl/) is out, we should start to see some very impressive demos emerging (some examples can already be found here. Although be aware that you do need a WebGL enabled browser, which means a fairly recent build rather than the more mainstream ones).
So, all together now – yay! Merry Christmas all.
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
What is WebGL? It is a plugin-free API project being developed by several companies within the Khronos group including Apple, Google, Mozilla and Opera. This attempt at a standard basically brings 3d to the browser by extending the HTML canvas element. It does this by allowing JavaScript access to OpenGL 2.0 calls – this allows hardware accelerated 3d graphics within a browser.
This is quite exciting; in my younger years I developed several 3d games using OpenGL (and c++), although to be fair the same is probably true of every programmer. The point I was trying to make is that I found OpenGL to be easy to use and a flexible and powerful way to draw to the screen.
This is a fairly natural progression given that browsers are now leaning toward hardware accelerated rendering anyway, and now that this spec (which can be found here: https://www.khronos.org/webgl/) is out, we should start to see some very impressive demos emerging (some examples can already be found here. Although be aware that you do need a WebGL enabled browser, which means a fairly recent build rather than the more mainstream ones).
So, all together now – yay! Merry Christmas all.
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Visit Bluhalo; Augmented Reality Style!
For my own interest, a little while ago I began creating a simple internal Augmented Reality (AR) app, (this development wound up being the inspiration for my blog entry about Augmented Reality a couple of weeks ago). We often invite potential clients down to meet us and see where we work. With this in mind, it seemed appropriate to me to use a plan of the office and to pop it up on the blog.
While the ‘final product’ is very rough (tinkering during lunch breaks isn’t really conducive to terrific results!), it is a reasonable proof of concept and has left me in a substantially better position to approach this kind of work for client projects. More importantly, it means I have to write a lot less to supply a blog entry :-)
It goes without saying that you need a webcam for this to work (a reasonable quality one will give more reliable results too), and you will need flash installed as well. As with most AR apps doing the rounds online at the moment, you need to print out the pattern (http://www.bluhalo.com/swf/Data/marker.pdf) and show it to your webcam.
You will need to keep it flat, and if possible out of harsh light sources or the recognition suffers. Other than that, be aware that it might be slow to download on poorer connections and that performance of this rough version is very dependant on your computer.
So, welcome to Bluhalo's office! (If you don't have a web cam, you can get a sneak preview below!)
While the ‘final product’ is very rough (tinkering during lunch breaks isn’t really conducive to terrific results!), it is a reasonable proof of concept and has left me in a substantially better position to approach this kind of work for client projects. More importantly, it means I have to write a lot less to supply a blog entry :-)
It goes without saying that you need a webcam for this to work (a reasonable quality one will give more reliable results too), and you will need flash installed as well. As with most AR apps doing the rounds online at the moment, you need to print out the pattern (http://www.bluhalo.com/swf/Data/marker.pdf) and show it to your webcam.
You will need to keep it flat, and if possible out of harsh light sources or the recognition suffers. Other than that, be aware that it might be slow to download on poorer connections and that performance of this rough version is very dependant on your computer.
So, welcome to Bluhalo's office! (If you don't have a web cam, you can get a sneak preview below!)
Here's a screen shot of the AR app in action...
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
Lead Multimedia Developer
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
2009 Roundup and 2010 Predictions
The 2009 roundup and 2010 predictions from EConsultancy makes for great reading!
I particularly like the mentions of real-time and augmented reality, and will watch with great interest for advancements in the analysis and measurement tools out there. With budgets being more carefully spent and the demand for payment by results and quantifiable ROI on the increase, it will cetainly be interesting to see the progression made in this area in 2010.
You can view the full article by clicking here.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @jocelynkirby
I particularly like the mentions of real-time and augmented reality, and will watch with great interest for advancements in the analysis and measurement tools out there. With budgets being more carefully spent and the demand for payment by results and quantifiable ROI on the increase, it will cetainly be interesting to see the progression made in this area in 2010.
You can view the full article by clicking here.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @jocelynkirby
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Are You Green?
Bluhalo is part of the GyroHSR network and recently, GyroHSR surveyed 1,800 consumers to uncover their level of understanding and appetite for eco-friendly products and services.
In the second phase of their research, entitled “Minding the Eco-Gap”, they’d like to uncover what marketers currently think about the green consumer. The questionnaire comprises of nice short questions that should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.
You can complete the questionnaire by visiting green.gyrohsr.com.
For every completed questionnaire, GyroHSR will donate £1 to MacMillan Cancer Support.
Many thanks for your contribution!
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
In the second phase of their research, entitled “Minding the Eco-Gap”, they’d like to uncover what marketers currently think about the green consumer. The questionnaire comprises of nice short questions that should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.
You can complete the questionnaire by visiting green.gyrohsr.com.
For every completed questionnaire, GyroHSR will donate £1 to MacMillan Cancer Support.
Many thanks for your contribution!
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Social Shopping - the next generation
What can beat a day out shopping with friends, trying on clothes and generally having the chance to chat about what you do and don’t like about each other’s choices?
So far, you haven’t been able to have a similar experience online, as although the concept of social shopping has been around for quite a while; (Bluhalo covered it in a blog post in the summer of 2008). Historically, to enjoy the social shopping experience, you have always needed a browser plug-in to chat to friends whilst on shopping sites.
However, there’s a new kid on the block, Plurchase.com; who just might have found a solution that really will make it possible to shop till you drop, but with your friends in tow online, there to stop you making those disastrous shopping purchases and generally making it a whole lot more fun!
The way it works is simple. Visit Plurchase.com, choose where you want to shop and then email your friends a URL, which means they can join you real-time and see what you’re looking at before you go ahead and decide to buy. It also gives you the option to connect to Facebook and share your product choices with all your Facebook friends; there’s even a Twitter link.
The best bit is that you don’t need to register. They make their money from affiliate payments from the shopping sites they support, making it completely free to use. The downside at present is that they don’t have a huge portfolio of stores they are linked to – just www.Zappos.com, www.amazon.com and www.craigslist.org, but the potential is fantastic and I’m sure they are busy trying to persuade other sites to join in!
Plurchase loads as a sidebar on the site that you are visiting and shows which of your friends are online. The item you are looking at is displayed in the sidebar on your screen as well as on that of your online friend. They can then click on the link so they can see what you’re thinking of buying and can write comments in a box in the sidebar. And there you have your instant feedback.
It may not be quite as good as the real thing, but just think how useful it would be if you needed to buy a shared present for your parents for example. You could find the perfect present, send an email to your siblings and then get everyone to discuss and agree to it then and there. Even better, it could also be a brilliant way to make sure your other half buys the right present for you – no more excuses!
The traditional older established social shopping sites like www.kaboodle.com, www.thisnext.com, www.wists.com and www.wishpot.com are all still serving us well, but in theory, the Plurchase offering takes it one step further – they just need to make it work in practise by getting a decent number of sites to sign up so it makes it worth our while to use them whenever we can.
Jill Thater
Client Services Director
So far, you haven’t been able to have a similar experience online, as although the concept of social shopping has been around for quite a while; (Bluhalo covered it in a blog post in the summer of 2008). Historically, to enjoy the social shopping experience, you have always needed a browser plug-in to chat to friends whilst on shopping sites.
However, there’s a new kid on the block, Plurchase.com; who just might have found a solution that really will make it possible to shop till you drop, but with your friends in tow online, there to stop you making those disastrous shopping purchases and generally making it a whole lot more fun!
The way it works is simple. Visit Plurchase.com, choose where you want to shop and then email your friends a URL, which means they can join you real-time and see what you’re looking at before you go ahead and decide to buy. It also gives you the option to connect to Facebook and share your product choices with all your Facebook friends; there’s even a Twitter link.
The best bit is that you don’t need to register. They make their money from affiliate payments from the shopping sites they support, making it completely free to use. The downside at present is that they don’t have a huge portfolio of stores they are linked to – just www.Zappos.com, www.amazon.com and www.craigslist.org, but the potential is fantastic and I’m sure they are busy trying to persuade other sites to join in!
Plurchase loads as a sidebar on the site that you are visiting and shows which of your friends are online. The item you are looking at is displayed in the sidebar on your screen as well as on that of your online friend. They can then click on the link so they can see what you’re thinking of buying and can write comments in a box in the sidebar. And there you have your instant feedback.
It may not be quite as good as the real thing, but just think how useful it would be if you needed to buy a shared present for your parents for example. You could find the perfect present, send an email to your siblings and then get everyone to discuss and agree to it then and there. Even better, it could also be a brilliant way to make sure your other half buys the right present for you – no more excuses!
The traditional older established social shopping sites like www.kaboodle.com, www.thisnext.com, www.wists.com and www.wishpot.com are all still serving us well, but in theory, the Plurchase offering takes it one step further – they just need to make it work in practise by getting a decent number of sites to sign up so it makes it worth our while to use them whenever we can.
Jill Thater
Client Services Director
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Truly Global Domain Names - a long overdue revolution
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers have finally deemed it appropriate for Russian, Chinese, Arabic and other, non ASCII languages to use domain names represented by local language characters. To put it simply, Latin based characters will no longer be essential in making up domain names.
Currently, more than 50 percent of the current total of 1.6 billion Internet users speak languages that aren't Latin-based, according to widely used estimates.
I know that I would have been incredibly disgruntled had it been necessary for me to use Chinese language domain names whilst surfing the web for the years since it’s birth up until now, so I imagine that for these millions of users, this is an incredibly important and long overdue movement.
Tina Dam, ICANN’s Senior Director of Internationalized domain names, heralds the movement as “the biggest technical change to the Internet’s addressing system – the Domain Name System – in many years.”
Having undergone many revisions, the final proposed implementation plan for the Fast Tracking process has been published and is due to commence today ( November 16th ). The Fast Track process has been introduced as a mechanism to introduce a limited number of non-contentious internationalized country-code top level domain names. These sites would include sites such as governmental and territory administration sites.
I look forward to seeing how the implementation plans unfold!!
Anya Gooch
Account Director
Currently, more than 50 percent of the current total of 1.6 billion Internet users speak languages that aren't Latin-based, according to widely used estimates.
I know that I would have been incredibly disgruntled had it been necessary for me to use Chinese language domain names whilst surfing the web for the years since it’s birth up until now, so I imagine that for these millions of users, this is an incredibly important and long overdue movement.
Tina Dam, ICANN’s Senior Director of Internationalized domain names, heralds the movement as “the biggest technical change to the Internet’s addressing system – the Domain Name System – in many years.”
Having undergone many revisions, the final proposed implementation plan for the Fast Tracking process has been published and is due to commence today ( November 16th ). The Fast Track process has been introduced as a mechanism to introduce a limited number of non-contentious internationalized country-code top level domain names. These sites would include sites such as governmental and territory administration sites.
I look forward to seeing how the implementation plans unfold!!
Anya Gooch
Account Director
Monday, 16 November 2009
The Digital Cream Floats to the Top
I was lucky enough to be invited to judge some creative awards the other day – not just for digital, but for all channels – TV, radio, DM, SP, POS/instore and digital. Having worked in most of these at one time or another, it was good to see some other media than digital again. Good, but a little underwhelming.
Some of the work in other channels was good, most of it was ok, and some of it wasn’t so great. But it was in digital that the work really sang. All the judges agreed that digital was the most hotly contested category, by a long way.
I remember reading in one of the trade press magazines in 2006 that digital accounted for just 5% of most companies’ marketing spend. Judging by the production values of some of the entries, either marketing budgets must be massive these days or marketing directors have been persuaded to part with more cash in return for some truly excellent and engaging brand experiences.
Ewan Gee
Creative Director
Some of the work in other channels was good, most of it was ok, and some of it wasn’t so great. But it was in digital that the work really sang. All the judges agreed that digital was the most hotly contested category, by a long way.
I remember reading in one of the trade press magazines in 2006 that digital accounted for just 5% of most companies’ marketing spend. Judging by the production values of some of the entries, either marketing budgets must be massive these days or marketing directors have been persuaded to part with more cash in return for some truly excellent and engaging brand experiences.
Ewan Gee
Creative Director
Monday, 9 November 2009
Augmented Reality - a marketer's dream?
Augmented Reality! You can practically feel the air buzzing at the words! As a self confessed geek, I think it is pretty cool – it’s one of those things that seems to say “the future is almost here”.
As big an advocate of Augmented Reality (AR) as I am, would I call it a mature technology? Well, the answer to that very much depends on what exactly you want to achieve with it. We have seen the iphone apps, for example, in which someone is looking at a street with useful little notes indicating the location of things we cannot live without (mmm, McDonalds…) such as http://www.metroparisiphone.com/index_en.html.
However, in such a case, what exactly are we seeing? When people look at AR, they often think along the lines of “well, it’s recognising what it’s looking at. Obviously.” Unfortunately that isn’t always the case. In the case of the above app (as well as the majority of similar apps), this would not work on earlier models of the iPhone, since it uses the hardware to determine your location and the angle of the phone as opposed to actually 'recognising' the location based on visual features.
This is still an impressive achievement, and useful, since it does exactly what it says on the tin. However, it’s not doing it in the manner in which many people expect. This distinction is beginning to artificially raise expectations of what the technology is capable of; to unintentially misrepresent the current state of image recognition technology.
Image recognition basically works by using a database (dictating shapes and appearance from various angles etc) in conjunction with algorithms to isolate visual objects that correspond with the stored elements. This combination allows the application to recognise a “familiar” feature and determine its’ position, angle and distance; this is then used to determine matrix which can be applied to whatever virtual elements are to be added.
For this implementation of the technology, the quality of the recognition can be hampered as much by the breadth of the database as the algorithms themselves. The target also plays a large part. For example, if we wish to recognise an arm, we could suddenly find ourselves with positive matches on (relatively angled) lamp posts. Context would mitigate this (the need for an app to differentiate between lamp posts and arms is unsurprisingly quite low), and tweaks to the algorithms and database could overcome this.
The point I am trying to make is that to accurately pick out and track non specialised or relatively featureless objects is tough. There are ways to cheat this. In as much as the mapping applications make use of additional information to enhance their reliability, we can use markers or patterns in image recognition applications. This is becoming quite common already. For example, many of the proof of concept application that have been developed (most based on the same open source code) rely on a small square containing an arbitrary pattern.
These two approaches to augmented reality are quite different, and I have read of several people suggesting that different phrases / names be coined to differentiate between the different types of the technology in order to manage expectations (http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/09/resetting-expectations-some-augmented-reality-links.html discusses this and more). This is unlikely to happen; instead as the technology improves, it will likely get rebranded or tweaked (as with HD television).
It certainly doesn’t mean it can’t be successfully used now to great effect. A nice commercial example would be Lego, who recognise their packaging and use it to apply a rendered image of the built product (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGu0N3eL2D0). A similar example is the Bluray release of Transformers 2 – it includes an AR element using the disc packaging.
The key then is to carefully consider what you are trying to achieve, beyond simply looking cool (gimmick for the sake of it tends to create fairly short term buzz and appeal to a limited demographic). For best results, you need to determine a way to augment your Augmented Reality – as much as it may seem limiting, you risk doing more harm than good marketing an unreliable demonstration. Some projects will lend themselves to this more than others for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=628ruDBA6Jg&feature=player_embedded – facial features themselves can act as markers. This obviously won’t be appropriate everywhere (context again).
Other recognition based projects may necessitate markers (such as the card). But if the benefit is sufficient, the user will be more likely to accept the additional inconvenience. For example, on an ecommerce site it is common to include pictures of the products. We could perhaps supply a printable pattern which is then used to display high resolution 3D models of each item – this allows the user to examine the product from a much wider range of angles than the standard 3d “click-to-rotate” style wrap around. If done properly, the user can better gauge, for example whether the dress they are about to buy will make their bum look big. Hooray!
It would then be easy to suggest expanding on this – for example why not have it wrap the clothes on the person themselves? Here we start pushing the boundary of the image recognition / inconvenience trade-off. If a person has to wear certain colours while shopping online, and only in front of a certain colour wall-paper in order to use the feature reliably, they are likely to deem it too much hassle.
That’s not to say it is unworkable – some US shops have introduced “virtual mirrors” that allow just that – however it is in a “controlled” environment (the benefit of context again). This may get people into the store for novelty, but provides a tangible benefit that might induce sales (no waiting in line for changing rooms, etc).
Leaping back to location aware applications, there are a number of smart phones out there that would allow such applications. The iPhones “app store” allows for easy deployment, and tends to appeal to the same demographic that would be most impressed by such technologies, hence the proliferation of augmented maps and sky charts.
To leverage this technology then isn’t a massive departure from current marketing thinking – you just need to carefully consider who you are aiming your campaign at and exactly what requirements it will place on the target user, versus what gains you are hoping to achieve.
While the location aware aspect of the technology is definitely the more mature, with real world 'useful' applications already out there, the image recognition element definitely has much further to go. However, there is tremendous potential in the technology as a whole and it is only a question of time…
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
As big an advocate of Augmented Reality (AR) as I am, would I call it a mature technology? Well, the answer to that very much depends on what exactly you want to achieve with it. We have seen the iphone apps, for example, in which someone is looking at a street with useful little notes indicating the location of things we cannot live without (mmm, McDonalds…) such as http://www.metroparisiphone.com/index_en.html.
However, in such a case, what exactly are we seeing? When people look at AR, they often think along the lines of “well, it’s recognising what it’s looking at. Obviously.” Unfortunately that isn’t always the case. In the case of the above app (as well as the majority of similar apps), this would not work on earlier models of the iPhone, since it uses the hardware to determine your location and the angle of the phone as opposed to actually 'recognising' the location based on visual features.
This is still an impressive achievement, and useful, since it does exactly what it says on the tin. However, it’s not doing it in the manner in which many people expect. This distinction is beginning to artificially raise expectations of what the technology is capable of; to unintentially misrepresent the current state of image recognition technology.
Image recognition basically works by using a database (dictating shapes and appearance from various angles etc) in conjunction with algorithms to isolate visual objects that correspond with the stored elements. This combination allows the application to recognise a “familiar” feature and determine its’ position, angle and distance; this is then used to determine matrix which can be applied to whatever virtual elements are to be added.
For this implementation of the technology, the quality of the recognition can be hampered as much by the breadth of the database as the algorithms themselves. The target also plays a large part. For example, if we wish to recognise an arm, we could suddenly find ourselves with positive matches on (relatively angled) lamp posts. Context would mitigate this (the need for an app to differentiate between lamp posts and arms is unsurprisingly quite low), and tweaks to the algorithms and database could overcome this.
The point I am trying to make is that to accurately pick out and track non specialised or relatively featureless objects is tough. There are ways to cheat this. In as much as the mapping applications make use of additional information to enhance their reliability, we can use markers or patterns in image recognition applications. This is becoming quite common already. For example, many of the proof of concept application that have been developed (most based on the same open source code) rely on a small square containing an arbitrary pattern.
These two approaches to augmented reality are quite different, and I have read of several people suggesting that different phrases / names be coined to differentiate between the different types of the technology in order to manage expectations (http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/09/resetting-expectations-some-augmented-reality-links.html discusses this and more). This is unlikely to happen; instead as the technology improves, it will likely get rebranded or tweaked (as with HD television).
It certainly doesn’t mean it can’t be successfully used now to great effect. A nice commercial example would be Lego, who recognise their packaging and use it to apply a rendered image of the built product (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGu0N3eL2D0). A similar example is the Bluray release of Transformers 2 – it includes an AR element using the disc packaging.
The key then is to carefully consider what you are trying to achieve, beyond simply looking cool (gimmick for the sake of it tends to create fairly short term buzz and appeal to a limited demographic). For best results, you need to determine a way to augment your Augmented Reality – as much as it may seem limiting, you risk doing more harm than good marketing an unreliable demonstration. Some projects will lend themselves to this more than others for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=628ruDBA6Jg&feature=player_embedded – facial features themselves can act as markers. This obviously won’t be appropriate everywhere (context again).
Other recognition based projects may necessitate markers (such as the card). But if the benefit is sufficient, the user will be more likely to accept the additional inconvenience. For example, on an ecommerce site it is common to include pictures of the products. We could perhaps supply a printable pattern which is then used to display high resolution 3D models of each item – this allows the user to examine the product from a much wider range of angles than the standard 3d “click-to-rotate” style wrap around. If done properly, the user can better gauge, for example whether the dress they are about to buy will make their bum look big. Hooray!
It would then be easy to suggest expanding on this – for example why not have it wrap the clothes on the person themselves? Here we start pushing the boundary of the image recognition / inconvenience trade-off. If a person has to wear certain colours while shopping online, and only in front of a certain colour wall-paper in order to use the feature reliably, they are likely to deem it too much hassle.
That’s not to say it is unworkable – some US shops have introduced “virtual mirrors” that allow just that – however it is in a “controlled” environment (the benefit of context again). This may get people into the store for novelty, but provides a tangible benefit that might induce sales (no waiting in line for changing rooms, etc).
Leaping back to location aware applications, there are a number of smart phones out there that would allow such applications. The iPhones “app store” allows for easy deployment, and tends to appeal to the same demographic that would be most impressed by such technologies, hence the proliferation of augmented maps and sky charts.
To leverage this technology then isn’t a massive departure from current marketing thinking – you just need to carefully consider who you are aiming your campaign at and exactly what requirements it will place on the target user, versus what gains you are hoping to achieve.
While the location aware aspect of the technology is definitely the more mature, with real world 'useful' applications already out there, the image recognition element definitely has much further to go. However, there is tremendous potential in the technology as a whole and it is only a question of time…
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Marketing Magazine Top Digital Agency
Bluhalo/GyroHSR has featured strongly in this year's Marketing Magazine Digital Leagues, ranking 19th largest digital agency, showing 28% growth on the previous year's digital activity.
The ranking follows closely on from Bluhalo/GyroHSR's recent ranking in New Media Age's Top 100 report, highlighting the company's dominance as the largest digital agency in the South of England and 8th largest digital marketing agency in the UK.
The continual growth of the agency means that there is a continual need for top digital talent, which you can find out more about here.
The ranking follows closely on from Bluhalo/GyroHSR's recent ranking in New Media Age's Top 100 report, highlighting the company's dominance as the largest digital agency in the South of England and 8th largest digital marketing agency in the UK.
The continual growth of the agency means that there is a continual need for top digital talent, which you can find out more about here.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Crowdsourcing - genius from the masses
Crowdsourcing. The term is cropping up all over the place, but is it just a short-lived ‘buzz’ phrase or is it a genuinely useful business tool?
In a world where it is increasingly difficult to achieve cut-through – both from a marketing perspective and a product differentiation point of view, anything (within reason of course) which can set you apart from the crowd is a good thing. So how can crowdsourcing help?
Firstly, what is crowdsourcing?
Brought into the spotlight by Dell’s innovative use of the concept, crowdsourcing is a technique that empowers your audiences to help solve your business challenges, innovate in product development, evolve the business to meet consumer needs and much more. It draws upon the input of the ‘crowd’, posing questions, requests for ideas and general input. The crowd could be made up of a group of brand fans, subscribers or followers who have a level of interest in the improvement of a product, offering or service. By gaining input from the masses, the brand achieves a great number of viewpoints and inspirations in a short space of time and potentially covering a wider selection of viewpoints and abstract ideas.
So, we know what crowdsourcing is, but does it work?
Crowdsourcing does require investment for it to be of value. But this doesn’t necessarily have to be financial. You could begin with a simple approach to crowdsourcing and empower a member of your marketing team to create and then leverage a following, for example, via Twitter. Communication is real-time and you can generate a relatively large number of followers fairly quickly if you have a known brand.
Many brands are now investing in crowdsourcing for a variety of reasons, some of which are cited as examples above. And many are finding great successes from doing so. A recently publicised and unintentional crowdsourcing example comes from Air New Zealand, with its latest ad campaign inspiration being taken from a customer tweet – you can read more about it on Brand Republic – it’s a nice idea, and a different take on the usual airline ad messaging.
There are a host of other brands successfully using crowdsourcing for various benefits – check out the list below (courtesty of Open Innovators) for examples of real brands making embracing crowdsourcing:
- Dell IdeaStorm - external idea sourcing
- P&G Open Innovation Challenge - external idea sourcing in Britain
- Ideas4Unilever - corporate venturing
- BMW Customer Innovation Lab - in german
- Staples Invention Quest - idea contest - site no longer live but you can read more about it here
- Kraft - innovate with Kraft
- Vocalpoint - P&G’s network for women
- Betavine - Vodafone’s mobile app community
- My Startbucks Idea - shaping the future of Starbucks
- Nintendo Wiiware - nintendo embraces crowdsourcing
- LEGO Factory - LEGO co-creation tool
- Nespresso - design contest for coffee machines
- Muji - improving and suggesting new designs
- Fluevog - open shoe design
So is crowdsourcing for you?
This may well sound obvious, but it depends on your brand, product/service and objectives. Crowdsourcing brings a number of marketing benefits such as brand awareness, consumer engagement, the building of a community and potential press coverage. Alongside this, it also brings with it genius from the masses – it is effectively a giant brainstorm. If these benefits work for you, then you should probably consider investing in a crowdsourcing programme…
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @ JocelynKirby
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Unmissable Event - Gambit on B2B
Gambit is a special interest group for the gaming gambling industry worldwide.
It is destined to be intellectual playground for all those in the gaming, gambling and gamebling industries. Initiated by Cass Business School's Executive MBA alumni, Gareth Wong, founder of GamBond, Gambit's aim is to provide a space for networking, mental stimulation and exchange of views on an industry that’s highly innovative, always controversial yet gaining further legitimacy and respects everyday.
Gambit already attracts interest from around the globe and is passionate about creating an eclectic mix of business, legal and technology professions with an interest in debating industry trends and developments.
The Gambit on B2B is exactly that - looking at the B2B side of gaming and gambling. It's on 19th October and you can sign up at www.TheGambit.info/re/.
It is destined to be intellectual playground for all those in the gaming, gambling and gamebling industries. Initiated by Cass Business School's Executive MBA alumni, Gareth Wong, founder of GamBond, Gambit's aim is to provide a space for networking, mental stimulation and exchange of views on an industry that’s highly innovative, always controversial yet gaining further legitimacy and respects everyday.
Gambit already attracts interest from around the globe and is passionate about creating an eclectic mix of business, legal and technology professions with an interest in debating industry trends and developments.
The Gambit on B2B is exactly that - looking at the B2B side of gaming and gambling. It's on 19th October and you can sign up at www.TheGambit.info/re/.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Website Usability - more important than you may think
Now this may sound fairly obvious, but usability and the creation of an excellent website user experience really is very important. And probably more important than you may realise.
Most marketers will understand the value in ensuring their website is usable, particularly if they are the owner of an ecommerce website; it impacts basket abandonment / completion rates, conversion rates, brand perception, lead generation, etc., in fact, pretty much every aspect of the success of your business online is affected by the quality of user experience your website offers.
However, the impact of your user experience does not end there…
Recent research has revealed that the last 12 months has seen a significant increase in the number of consumers who will share a bad online transactional experience on social media sites (13% - up from 8% in 2008).
But is this really a big issue? The same applies to a poor offline experience – a consumer will tell people about it. Not ideal, but there’s little that can be done to eliminate this, right?
Wrong. It really is a potentially BIG issue and one that won’t go away, particularly not if what is shared has a viral element to it, such as the renowned Virgin / Richard Branson complaint letter. Although much debated as to its authenticity, the letter is undoubtedly a brilliant read and a clear example of how a customer complaint shared online can reach a large number of people in a very small space of time.
The potential for a dissatisfied customer’s online gripe to do damage to your business is far greater in the digital world; and given that, according to the same survey referenced above, 74% of online adults said negative comments read online have an influence on whether they will do business with a company; marketing and brand managers should be investing heavily in their consumers’ online experience.
Now let’s for a minute imagine that your brand has done everything it possibly can to ensure a problem-free, intuitive and satisfying user experience… what next? We can assume that the very unique individual characteristics of humans mean that you cannot please all of the people all of the time, therefore it would not be presumptuous to expect a number of dissatisfied consumers, regardless of the perfection achieved on your website.
The best way to check up on these consumers; because stats also show that they’re as likely to tell others about their complaint as they are to tell you; is to monitor brand buzz. Brand buzz monitoring allows you to tap into all of the online mediums a consumer may use to discuss your brand, giving you visibility of the general public feeling about your brand and providing you with the opportunity to respond to specific comments – potentially negating the impact of the complaint and even publicly gaining trust in your brand in the process – Carphone Warehouse is great at doing this!
So this post is ending on quite a different topic to where it began, but validly so. Your website’s user experience is more than just about the directly attributable numbers. It’s about ensuring the best possible user experience to achieve maximum customer satisfaction. And then engaging your target audience in real conversations.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @JocelynKirby
Most marketers will understand the value in ensuring their website is usable, particularly if they are the owner of an ecommerce website; it impacts basket abandonment / completion rates, conversion rates, brand perception, lead generation, etc., in fact, pretty much every aspect of the success of your business online is affected by the quality of user experience your website offers.
However, the impact of your user experience does not end there…
Recent research has revealed that the last 12 months has seen a significant increase in the number of consumers who will share a bad online transactional experience on social media sites (13% - up from 8% in 2008).
But is this really a big issue? The same applies to a poor offline experience – a consumer will tell people about it. Not ideal, but there’s little that can be done to eliminate this, right?
Wrong. It really is a potentially BIG issue and one that won’t go away, particularly not if what is shared has a viral element to it, such as the renowned Virgin / Richard Branson complaint letter. Although much debated as to its authenticity, the letter is undoubtedly a brilliant read and a clear example of how a customer complaint shared online can reach a large number of people in a very small space of time.
The potential for a dissatisfied customer’s online gripe to do damage to your business is far greater in the digital world; and given that, according to the same survey referenced above, 74% of online adults said negative comments read online have an influence on whether they will do business with a company; marketing and brand managers should be investing heavily in their consumers’ online experience.
Now let’s for a minute imagine that your brand has done everything it possibly can to ensure a problem-free, intuitive and satisfying user experience… what next? We can assume that the very unique individual characteristics of humans mean that you cannot please all of the people all of the time, therefore it would not be presumptuous to expect a number of dissatisfied consumers, regardless of the perfection achieved on your website.
The best way to check up on these consumers; because stats also show that they’re as likely to tell others about their complaint as they are to tell you; is to monitor brand buzz. Brand buzz monitoring allows you to tap into all of the online mediums a consumer may use to discuss your brand, giving you visibility of the general public feeling about your brand and providing you with the opportunity to respond to specific comments – potentially negating the impact of the complaint and even publicly gaining trust in your brand in the process – Carphone Warehouse is great at doing this!
So this post is ending on quite a different topic to where it began, but validly so. Your website’s user experience is more than just about the directly attributable numbers. It’s about ensuring the best possible user experience to achieve maximum customer satisfaction. And then engaging your target audience in real conversations.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @JocelynKirby
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Digital Agency - behind closed doors - part II
Rather incredibly, it has been almost a month since my last edition of Behind Closed Doors and what a month it has been!
We were ranked 8th largest digital marketing agency in the UK and 17th largest interactive agency, by the respected New Media Age Top 100 Interactive Agencies Report, also identifying us as the largest interactive agency in the South East.
We are now eagerly awaiting the results of Marketing’s Digital Leagues, which are due out towards the end of the month – we’re expecting great things!
Moving on from awards and we’ve had two really exciting new client wins this month; another case of ‘watch this space’ before we make the formal announcement, but both part of great new projects that will almost certainly become a part of your everyday lives in the not-too-distant future. Thanks to these new clients wins, we're also expanding our team - to find out more about our current vacancies, check out our careers page.
Moving on to the people behind the machine… Last month, I introduced you to Ewan, Creative Director and Bluhalo’s newest recruit. Rather aptly this month, I am going to introduce you to Kunjnita Udeshi, our longest running employee and Head of Production.
What Kunji doesn’t know about the web probably isn’t worth knowing, and with almost ten years behind her at Bluhalo, she’s definitely one of our long-termers! Having started her career at Bluhalo as a Web Developer, Kunji has filled a number of shoes in her time here, including Producer, Studio Manager, Director of Web Services… to name a few.
Interested to hear what Kunji has to say? I presented her with a few questions:
What have you been up to this month?
Lots! Travelling to Paris, working on an exciting project for a big global brand and building up to my annual leave next week!
What sites are you loving?
That’s a tough one - I’ve been so immersed in my current projects that I’ve done less of my usual web exploration! My most recent top find is dotspots, which is a universal annotation system for the web – capitalising on the wisdom of the crowds. Another site I’m currently loving is Vark.com - fancy joining my network?
What are you listening to?
Recently I’ve been listening to Akon, Dizzy Rascal, Kings of Leon and La Roux.
What’s the next big thing?
The next big thing – there’s so many things I could say! But for me it’s got to be the semantic web. We’ve started to see elements of it filtering through into everyday use, but it’s not yet hit the mainstream. When it does, we can expect to see a big change in the way we use the web.
That’s it from Behind Closed Doors today, I hope you’ve found it interesting - we’ll be back soon with more insight into the daily workings of digital agency Bluhalo. In the meantime, if you need a bit of digital magic working for your brand, give us a shout – we love a new challenge and have a few tricks up our sleeve to put you one step ahead of your competitors.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @JocelynKirby
We were ranked 8th largest digital marketing agency in the UK and 17th largest interactive agency, by the respected New Media Age Top 100 Interactive Agencies Report, also identifying us as the largest interactive agency in the South East.
We are now eagerly awaiting the results of Marketing’s Digital Leagues, which are due out towards the end of the month – we’re expecting great things!
Moving on from awards and we’ve had two really exciting new client wins this month; another case of ‘watch this space’ before we make the formal announcement, but both part of great new projects that will almost certainly become a part of your everyday lives in the not-too-distant future. Thanks to these new clients wins, we're also expanding our team - to find out more about our current vacancies, check out our careers page.
Moving on to the people behind the machine… Last month, I introduced you to Ewan, Creative Director and Bluhalo’s newest recruit. Rather aptly this month, I am going to introduce you to Kunjnita Udeshi, our longest running employee and Head of Production.
What Kunji doesn’t know about the web probably isn’t worth knowing, and with almost ten years behind her at Bluhalo, she’s definitely one of our long-termers! Having started her career at Bluhalo as a Web Developer, Kunji has filled a number of shoes in her time here, including Producer, Studio Manager, Director of Web Services… to name a few.
Interested to hear what Kunji has to say? I presented her with a few questions:
What have you been up to this month?
Lots! Travelling to Paris, working on an exciting project for a big global brand and building up to my annual leave next week!
What sites are you loving?
That’s a tough one - I’ve been so immersed in my current projects that I’ve done less of my usual web exploration! My most recent top find is dotspots, which is a universal annotation system for the web – capitalising on the wisdom of the crowds. Another site I’m currently loving is Vark.com - fancy joining my network?
What are you listening to?
Recently I’ve been listening to Akon, Dizzy Rascal, Kings of Leon and La Roux.
What’s the next big thing?
The next big thing – there’s so many things I could say! But for me it’s got to be the semantic web. We’ve started to see elements of it filtering through into everyday use, but it’s not yet hit the mainstream. When it does, we can expect to see a big change in the way we use the web.
That’s it from Behind Closed Doors today, I hope you’ve found it interesting - we’ll be back soon with more insight into the daily workings of digital agency Bluhalo. In the meantime, if you need a bit of digital magic working for your brand, give us a shout – we love a new challenge and have a few tricks up our sleeve to put you one step ahead of your competitors.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @JocelynKirby
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Digital Jobs - Bluhalo is expanding
Thanks to several exciting new clients wins, Bluhalo is currently expanding its team. If you like the idea of developing your portfolio, working on some of the world's top brands, whilst being part of a fun and dynamic team, read on...
We currently have the following roles available for immediate start:
We currently have the following roles available for immediate start:
- Head of Design
- Middleweight Developer
- Heavyweight Developer
We are also on the lookout for top digital talent currently working in the following job roles:
- Digital Sales Specialists
- User Experience / HCI Consultants
- Information Architects
- Accessibility & Usability Specialists
- Digital Planners
- Social Media Strategists
- Senior Digital Creative
- Digital Experiential (CRI) Specialist
- Technical Director
- Search Marketers
- Affiliate Marketers
- Digital Media Planners
- Digital Data Specialists
- Film Director / Videographer
If you are interested in any of the roles above, please email your CV, along with a summary of what you feel you will bring to the Bluhalo team, to jobs@bluhalo.com or find out more on our careers page.
Please note - if you are a recruitment agency, do not call us!
Monday, 5 October 2009
Ensuring Clarity in Digital Communications
As a company, you are a complicated and sometimes confusing entity to get to grips with, especially for someone looking in from the outside. You have clients, distributors and many products, or maybe just one product and many distributors, many products and one distributor...you get the idea.
So you want a new digital strategy, an inspiring online campaign and maybe a shiny new website too; you come to us (hopefully) and we do our thing – more about that in a moment. One of the first and most important questions we need to ask is; “Who do you want to visit your website?”
A good agency will take the time to understand your brand, its positioning, your target market, your competitors and much more, before even beginning to advise you on a recommended strategy and approach. At risk of sounding like I am stating the obvious, these are all areas of your business that you ought to already have a good understanding of, and if not, it’s definitely worth spending some time on this before you engage a digital agency.
It can be a delicate balancing act condensing such disparate information into a coherent online presence. You can be too business focused; too client based or caught up in including the latest ‘must-haves’, with little idea of how they will deliver a return. It is all too easy to lose sight of the real purpose of your digital presence, the client relationship and what you need to do to service the needs of all your stakeholders online. Without a comprehensive understanding of the bigger picture, it is almost impossible to ensure you get your digital strategy and online presence right – unless you just happen to get lucky. Personally, we prefer not to leave things to chance!
Our work for NFL UK is a great example of putting this into practice. The NFL UK website objective was to strengthen the brand’s UK presence, without alienating new or current brand ‘fans’. We chose to present the information in a very user-friendly way, with a strong focus on the Information Architecture and User Experience of the website. We didn’t want an NFL-newbie to be bombarded with information, but we still wanted to be able to provide the dedicated fan with everything they could possibly desire and more.
Another example is our work for Hi-Tec. We were tasked with creating a digital channel to support the global launch of Hi-Tec’s new ion-mask footwear range. We created the microsite WetisDry.com and focused heavily on the communication of information at a variety of levels, giving the basic footwear consumer simple enough information to get an understanding of the product and its benefits, whilst also providing the more technically-minded visitors with enough depth of information to demonstrate the science behind the product.
So to sum up the message I’m trying to get across here (this is the clarity of message part!) – whether a website, like the two projects above, a campaign or a global digital strategy; any digital project requires a significant investment in planning and research before pen is even put to paper in the creative department. It is this step change that will see the delivery of increasingly impressive ROI from digital. Digital IS marketing and much like above the line communications, it’s the messaging that is key. Fail to carry out sufficient research and planning and you will end up with the same results as a poorly prepared offline campaign!
Paul Windust
Digital Project Manager
So you want a new digital strategy, an inspiring online campaign and maybe a shiny new website too; you come to us (hopefully) and we do our thing – more about that in a moment. One of the first and most important questions we need to ask is; “Who do you want to visit your website?”
A good agency will take the time to understand your brand, its positioning, your target market, your competitors and much more, before even beginning to advise you on a recommended strategy and approach. At risk of sounding like I am stating the obvious, these are all areas of your business that you ought to already have a good understanding of, and if not, it’s definitely worth spending some time on this before you engage a digital agency.
It can be a delicate balancing act condensing such disparate information into a coherent online presence. You can be too business focused; too client based or caught up in including the latest ‘must-haves’, with little idea of how they will deliver a return. It is all too easy to lose sight of the real purpose of your digital presence, the client relationship and what you need to do to service the needs of all your stakeholders online. Without a comprehensive understanding of the bigger picture, it is almost impossible to ensure you get your digital strategy and online presence right – unless you just happen to get lucky. Personally, we prefer not to leave things to chance!
Our work for NFL UK is a great example of putting this into practice. The NFL UK website objective was to strengthen the brand’s UK presence, without alienating new or current brand ‘fans’. We chose to present the information in a very user-friendly way, with a strong focus on the Information Architecture and User Experience of the website. We didn’t want an NFL-newbie to be bombarded with information, but we still wanted to be able to provide the dedicated fan with everything they could possibly desire and more.
Another example is our work for Hi-Tec. We were tasked with creating a digital channel to support the global launch of Hi-Tec’s new ion-mask footwear range. We created the microsite WetisDry.com and focused heavily on the communication of information at a variety of levels, giving the basic footwear consumer simple enough information to get an understanding of the product and its benefits, whilst also providing the more technically-minded visitors with enough depth of information to demonstrate the science behind the product.
So to sum up the message I’m trying to get across here (this is the clarity of message part!) – whether a website, like the two projects above, a campaign or a global digital strategy; any digital project requires a significant investment in planning and research before pen is even put to paper in the creative department. It is this step change that will see the delivery of increasingly impressive ROI from digital. Digital IS marketing and much like above the line communications, it’s the messaging that is key. Fail to carry out sufficient research and planning and you will end up with the same results as a poorly prepared offline campaign!
Paul Windust
Digital Project Manager
Thursday, 1 October 2009
NMA Top 100 Interactive Agency
It was the 10th year of the New Media Age Top 100 Interactive Agencies Awards last night, and Bluhalo/GyroHSR performed exceptionally well, ranking top interactive agency in the South East, 8th in the marketing agencies league table and 17th in the overall interactive agencies list.
The leagues are calculated based on fee income and are considered the ‘who’s who’ of the digital world.
Bluhalo/GyroHSR’s impressive climb falls in line with its current offering as a global digital agency, with 200 digital staff worldwide, working out of 17 offices in 9 countries.
With a fully integrated on and offline offering, as part of the GyroHSR network, Bluhalo provides its clients with a global service at a local level, as one of the few digital agencies with offices in key EMEA and US locations.
The leagues are calculated based on fee income and are considered the ‘who’s who’ of the digital world.
Bluhalo/GyroHSR’s impressive climb falls in line with its current offering as a global digital agency, with 200 digital staff worldwide, working out of 17 offices in 9 countries.
With a fully integrated on and offline offering, as part of the GyroHSR network, Bluhalo provides its clients with a global service at a local level, as one of the few digital agencies with offices in key EMEA and US locations.
Monday, 28 September 2009
Viral Marketing - what is it?
We're often asked to include considering 'viral' as one part of our integrated campaigns. But viral isn't a channel, it's an effect. It's just easier to refer to it in that way.
And it's simple and cheap right? Just film a movie, stick it on YouTube and watch it spread all over the world. Easy!
Wrong.
Due to the popularity of YouTube it's often assumed that viral=video but this is far from the case. These days 'viral' can be pretty much anything, from videos and Twitter competitions to augmented reality and 20% off booze vouchers.
And because it can be anything that's why an integrated approach is often best.
These days the easiest way to pass any content on from one person to another, or preferably to many, is using digital channels. But that doesn't mean that digital folk are necessarily the best people to come up with the original idea. In fact, you're probably going to get a more cynical response to an average idea because we tend to have more exposure to these channels and therefore more viral campagins than the average person. It's just the way we are.
Take the T-Mobile dancing in the station. Your average digital person would probably have said they'd seen flash mobs 100 times before. Been there, done that. I think it originated in New York and the first was in a carpet shop much to the displeasure of bemused sales assistants. It was nothing to do with a brand or product, just a bunch of pranksters having a laugh. Then there were the singers in the airport advertising the theatre. And so on....
However, with the backing of a TV campaign, the Liverpool Street dance has achieved nearly 14m views on YouTube. Now that's impressive!
But it's not a digital idea and sometimes the best virals aren't. In fact nearly every successful video viral is a good piece of film-making rather than a great piece of digital. The power of viral is usually in the digital method by which it's passed on.
As with any campaign a mix of channels works best. While I'm no fan of the advertising, Oasis pushed the boat out with the Cactus Kid. There was a website to vote on your preferred ending to the advertising series, Facebook and MySpace pages for the characters, behind the scenes making of content, even a fake find the kid campaign site. It wasn't my cup of tea, but then again I'm not the target audience. But I'm not sure they got it either.
It's not always about video. Websites can be viral too. Swedish Armed Forces is a spin off the traditional game route, presenting intriguing tests in such a creative and cool way that you want to send it on, well I did anyway.
And SAS Globe of Fortune is a clever hook up with your friends on social networks to win a free flight.
When you start to mix video content with creative digital technologies that's when things can really hot up.
Amongst the first to start customising video content online and sending it on were Audi (with their DNA campaign) and Mini with this viral classic produced by Glue.
Now this has spread to include video content and even voiceovers. Have a look at this from the Know the Signs Campaign from Heineken.
or this from ICO...
So what makes a successful viral? It really comes down to two key things, content and exposure.
1. Content
The general rules are that your viral needs to be;
- interactive (challenge your friend game)
- shocking (VW Polo suicide bomber or Diesel safe for work porn)
- sexy (Kylie for Agent Provocateur)
- funny (Old Spice)
- cool (Quiksilver)
- inquisitive (TFL or Samsung)
- or the latest trend, to have a feel good factor (Evian)
Sounds easy, but it's harder than it seems. It's difficult getting one of these that works hard in a way that your client's brand will be happy with. And it's always easier with B2C. It's got to have standout. So if you're going for comedy then make sure it's funny.
2. Exposure
If you are Nike then you're likely to have a database of customers and the traffic to your website to get your viral passed on. Nike didn't even need to release their Kobe LeBron adverts online, their fans did it for them, and then they parodied the ads, gaining even more exposure. Then again a good script, two megastars and a few Henson creations go a long way.
If you're a lesser known brand and are looking for impact, then you have to seed your content. And it's definitely worth working with seeding specialists rather than trying to join in the conversation cold. Your target blog will see right through any impostors and the damage you inflict could go more viral than your intended content.
Remember you can't control viral. It might spread around the world to audiences you never expected. With both positive and negative effects!
To sum up, always ask yourself, would you forward it to a friend or colleague? Would your target audience? If the answer's no then it's not going to go viral. Easy :-)
This last example ticks a number of boxes. It's a topical, clever, shocking, interactive video from the Metropolitan Police. Brilliant. If you're only going to click on one link in this post make it this one.
Barnaby Ellis
Head of Digital
And it's simple and cheap right? Just film a movie, stick it on YouTube and watch it spread all over the world. Easy!
Wrong.
Due to the popularity of YouTube it's often assumed that viral=video but this is far from the case. These days 'viral' can be pretty much anything, from videos and Twitter competitions to augmented reality and 20% off booze vouchers.
And because it can be anything that's why an integrated approach is often best.
These days the easiest way to pass any content on from one person to another, or preferably to many, is using digital channels. But that doesn't mean that digital folk are necessarily the best people to come up with the original idea. In fact, you're probably going to get a more cynical response to an average idea because we tend to have more exposure to these channels and therefore more viral campagins than the average person. It's just the way we are.
Take the T-Mobile dancing in the station. Your average digital person would probably have said they'd seen flash mobs 100 times before. Been there, done that. I think it originated in New York and the first was in a carpet shop much to the displeasure of bemused sales assistants. It was nothing to do with a brand or product, just a bunch of pranksters having a laugh. Then there were the singers in the airport advertising the theatre. And so on....
However, with the backing of a TV campaign, the Liverpool Street dance has achieved nearly 14m views on YouTube. Now that's impressive!
But it's not a digital idea and sometimes the best virals aren't. In fact nearly every successful video viral is a good piece of film-making rather than a great piece of digital. The power of viral is usually in the digital method by which it's passed on.
As with any campaign a mix of channels works best. While I'm no fan of the advertising, Oasis pushed the boat out with the Cactus Kid. There was a website to vote on your preferred ending to the advertising series, Facebook and MySpace pages for the characters, behind the scenes making of content, even a fake find the kid campaign site. It wasn't my cup of tea, but then again I'm not the target audience. But I'm not sure they got it either.
It's not always about video. Websites can be viral too. Swedish Armed Forces is a spin off the traditional game route, presenting intriguing tests in such a creative and cool way that you want to send it on, well I did anyway.
And SAS Globe of Fortune is a clever hook up with your friends on social networks to win a free flight.
When you start to mix video content with creative digital technologies that's when things can really hot up.
Amongst the first to start customising video content online and sending it on were Audi (with their DNA campaign) and Mini with this viral classic produced by Glue.
Now this has spread to include video content and even voiceovers. Have a look at this from the Know the Signs Campaign from Heineken.
or this from ICO...
So what makes a successful viral? It really comes down to two key things, content and exposure.
1. Content
The general rules are that your viral needs to be;
- interactive (challenge your friend game)
- shocking (VW Polo suicide bomber or Diesel safe for work porn)
- sexy (Kylie for Agent Provocateur)
- funny (Old Spice)
- cool (Quiksilver)
- inquisitive (TFL or Samsung)
- or the latest trend, to have a feel good factor (Evian)
Sounds easy, but it's harder than it seems. It's difficult getting one of these that works hard in a way that your client's brand will be happy with. And it's always easier with B2C. It's got to have standout. So if you're going for comedy then make sure it's funny.
2. Exposure
If you are Nike then you're likely to have a database of customers and the traffic to your website to get your viral passed on. Nike didn't even need to release their Kobe LeBron adverts online, their fans did it for them, and then they parodied the ads, gaining even more exposure. Then again a good script, two megastars and a few Henson creations go a long way.
If you're a lesser known brand and are looking for impact, then you have to seed your content. And it's definitely worth working with seeding specialists rather than trying to join in the conversation cold. Your target blog will see right through any impostors and the damage you inflict could go more viral than your intended content.
Remember you can't control viral. It might spread around the world to audiences you never expected. With both positive and negative effects!
To sum up, always ask yourself, would you forward it to a friend or colleague? Would your target audience? If the answer's no then it's not going to go viral. Easy :-)
This last example ticks a number of boxes. It's a topical, clever, shocking, interactive video from the Metropolitan Police. Brilliant. If you're only going to click on one link in this post make it this one.
Barnaby Ellis
Head of Digital
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