Humbugs of distinction

HUMBUGS OF DISTINCTION

We’ve just started putting together the website for Captain Casement’s Manx Knobs. (Chuckle chuckle… grow up!! snicker snicker…)

If anybody hasn’t seen the range of Casement’s Knobs then it’s well worth checking out. It’s also great fun to work on (all puns aside!!). The site is in its very early stages of development at the moment but with Captain Casement’s tendency to wander and collect stories and the products impressive history there is a lot more still to come. Manx Travelling Knobs, Casement’s Flying Knobs and traditional Manx Knobs are all available at a select number of stores around the Isle of Man.

The traditional Isle of Man souvenir confectionery is a must for any visitor and a staple part of any locals diet.

Handy hint: Manx Knob’s pot doubles as a useful pencil pot!

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Image by Capture Queen ™ via Flickr

I have been reading a number of cool blogs, picking up a lot of great tweets thanks to Twollow and basically Stumbling around the web a lot recently and I have found some really interesting, useful and damm right amazing stuff so I thought I would take the time to share it with you.

So heres my selection:

Twollow Auto follow people on Twitter by choosing key words/subjects that you want to keep updated on, really cool, simple and a good way to monitor a a subject or brand you might want to know the Tweet low down on!

Sprint widget A fantastic interactive and ingenious page that gives you a real flavour of where your iGoogle or other personalised homepages could be going - good fun to play with as well!

animoto.com Cool site that allows you to upload images and music and then mix them into a presentation that you can send to friends, embed to websites or burn to DVD. Beats a plain old slide show!

Irish Stop Speeding Campaign Finishing on a rather serious note, but I really found this video to be very hard hitting and its being shown after 9pm due to the realness of it all! Apparently it is based on a real life events. Lets hope it really gets the message home and people kill their speed and not themselves!

Hope you like our selection and any comments as always will be greatly appreciated.

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This is a great example of fun Web 2.0 with a Christmas twist and Create just love it!

Might even get Jammy onboard and send these out to all the great people we have worked with since we started! Ho Ho Ho. Or I could dig out a picture of him and do it anyway, he he!

Isle of man Recruitment Agency

Well the day has finally arrived and we can announce the launch of a new Isle of Man Recruitment Agency, Mannin recruitment. We’ve been working with Graham to bring this to life and it’s great finally be able to announce it.

Mannin Recruitment is a new Isle of Man Recruitment Agency for over 50s and retired residents. It’s a new concept for the Isle of Man and I think a really exciting one. We have only just launched so there’ll be more to follow. We’ve pulled in some expert help from Bob at Satsu for the brand identity and leaflet design and Sherrilynne at Strive PR for the launch Public Relations, so a big thanks to Bob and Sherrilynne for all their help. 

For more information check out Mannin Recruitment’s website at www.manninrecruitment.com.

Self Catering at Glendown Farm

Went up to see Derek and Jane tonight to go through a few changes on the website for their self catering accommodation. It was great talking to hear that bookings for next year were already going really well and spent a few minutes trawling through the guest book from the self catering cottage. There was some really fantastic comments about the cottage which we are going to use on the website soon. There was also plenty of comments about how much people had enjoyed their holiday to the Isle of Man.

What surprised me most was that most people come and stay in the accommodation because it is close to Port Erin and Port St Mary in the south of the Isle of Man and not because it is on a farm. I really thought staying on a Manx farm would be a strong selling point for people in the UK looking for a great family holiday. Despite some fantastic walks (Have to say I’m biased on this point as all my favourite walks are around here) most of the comments suggested people were using it’s close proximity to the Island’s transport links like the Steam Train in Port Erin and not so much getting out for walks. I guess that gives them something to look forward to on their next visit though!

Been promised a nice bit of Manx lamb for working on the website which I’m looking forward to. Can’t beat a lamb sunday roast, especially when it’s raised on your doorstep.

Image by Rubin 110 via Flickr

When I think of all the tactics employed by marketers ‘viral marketing‘ really seems to rock my boat the most. I constantly ask myself why do I think this way and to be honest I am not sure of the answer myself. Without wanting to sound too corny and waffly, I think its because to me it sums up what marketing was, probably long before the phrase marketing existed. I guess it’s what the likes of Seth Godin think marketing is in its most basic and purest form.

The phrase viral seems to have come to the forefront over recent years largely due to the fact that the web, digital, mobile, email technology and accessablilty has allowed the viral mechanic to spread the message “virus” much quicker than of previous times.

I think it’s also a phrase that is often overused, misunderstood and shouldn’t be something to be afraid of!

Viral marketing is in effect the oldest and truest type of marketing as its based on ‘word of mouth’, referalls by friend, conversation, email forwards and its largely very difficult to measure, but (and there is one), if executed using imagination, good understanding of human behaviour and how we interact it can have a significant impact on your business, increase market share and should not be underestimated.

There are several vial campaigns that I especially like and would like to share with you.

Diet Coke (and of course Mentos)

This was defintately not a planned campaign by Coke or Mentos, but it sure got people viewing on YouTube. I can also remember Radio 1 presenters talking about it and even trying it out for themselves live on air!

Blendtec - Will it blend???

Blendtec make food blenders and quite simply the best food blenders. In one of the most well known viral campaigns on the web, Blendtec president Tom Dickson demonstrated the strength of his product with a series of You Tube videos in which the unamaginable was blended! This list included golf balls, iPods, marbles, bottles of beer to name but a few. The Blendtec channel on You Tube boasts over 2.5 million channel views! Great fun and well worth a watch!

Where the hell is Matt?

This was another unplanned example of the influence of viral.

During a period of 14 months, Matt visited 42 different countries in which he offered all the people he encountered the opportunity to dance with him in his peculiar style.The result was a great viral video with more than 6.5 million views on YouTube during the first 25 days… and these views keep on increasing as more people see it and pass on this very simple viral video. Some of Matts videos have resulted in over 12 million views! Awesome.

Red Bull.

Red Bull didn’t build a brand like other more conventioanl soft drinks. Red Bull was a new start in the UK and so you can imagine how saturated the industry was with the likes of Coca Cola, Pepsi and Lucozade all incredibly well established not even naming the many other soft drinks available. Red Bull chose the clever decision not to plough into the traditional marketing tactics such as press and TV advertising, instead it chose to be associated with the world of extreme sports through sponsorship of events and promotional placement. It then moved on to giveaways on the street and to the 18-25 year olds partying inner city nightclubs and bars. They even recruited brand ambassadors at University campeses and halls of resisdents to promote Red Bull by giving it away at student parties. Students and free kind of obvious dont you think?

So if your feeling inspired to try why not give it go, think of something original or different and get filming, set up channel on You Tube? Give it a go, you never know the exposure you or your business could get?

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Image via Wikipedia

Things are pretty quiet on the blog front in-between the Friday Link Love posts. The CREATE. Hamsters are running at full pace though at the minute to keep the machines going. Got loads of bits happening all at once, which always seems to be the way. Luckily for us though all the projects are leaving us fired up and buzzing with ideas. You’ve got to love the creative process! Finding inspiration in the weirdest of places at the minute. This week it’s been buses…

We’re working to a pretty tight deadline for Neil at the same time as pulling together the final pieces for an Isle of Man start-up company that we hope to help launch very soon. We’ve had Bob at Satsu involved in the creative process for that piece and absolutely made up with how that’s looking. Looking forward to getting the work out there too, it always feels wasted as a local version sat on the computer screen.

We’ve also got a couple of website projects waiting in the wings so looking forward to getting those started. We’ll try and give the hamsters a rest before we start these though!!

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In the mean time here’s a few of our favourite links from this week:

Somebody else’s phone - Clever marketing from Wieden + Kennedy for Nokia. Really like the idea and application of this idea.

Foreign Adverts - Always nice to get some inspiration from ads you’ve never seen before!

Building Authoity online - A clever little way to build authority online. Could also be applied to a number of other services/networks.

Advertising effectiveness - Interesting ad on the effectiveness of advertising and how to measure it. This is something we touched on in June 2007.

50 ideas for businesses to use twitter - A great article from Chris Brogan and well worth a read if you’re into Twitter or thinking of giving it a go.

Image by Adam "Slice" Kuban via Flickr

As I missed last Friday’s link love I thought I’d post a double dose this week. The below are some interesting blog posts and useful sites that I’ve come across in the last two weeks.

1. 48 design ideas - Just an inspirational thought provoking site. Always good to start a Monday morning with.
2. Myspace Vs Facebook - Another great post from Matt Dickman on the merits of the two social media sites.
3. Ad Classics - Another inspirational source of classic adverts from the past.
4. Online Business Conference - A packed agenda of speakers and topics to be enjoyed at your leisure.
5. Challenges and Opportunities in Local Advertising - Search Engine Land post on company use of the internet for local advertising.
6. SEOMoz launches Linkscape - Big story from Randfish at SEOMoz on their latest tool for webmasters and SEOs
7. Benefits of standing for something - Godin on standing for something and staying true to brand.
8. Pop up nightclub - Thinking outside the box in Singapore! How to stand out from the crowd.
9. Branding your social media profiles - Personal or corporate social media profile brand development.

Image by Frankie Roberto via Flickr

Here on the Isle of Man, advertising, particulary in newspapers and magazines seems to be one of the main tactics used by business’s large and small.

My experience of advertising in press and magazine publications is fairly mixed and especially so in todays environment when there are far more alternatives than ever before with digital media and the web also driving change and choice.

That doesn’t mean to to say it cant work for you. If done well there is no reason why this form of advertising can’t be effective for you as long as you follow these simple tips.

1. Planning - like every campaign you embark on you need to put the hard work in first, without proper planning it is highly likely that your advertising campaign will be doomed from the start. Make sure you know what your embarking on and that you have enough budget and resources to keep the campaign going. In my experience advertising in newspapers and magazine takes at least four to six weeks before it starts to gain momentum and generate real leads so unless you can commit a budget to this you have to ask a serious question ‘is this really right for me?’

2. Consistency - this helps to build trust with your products and brand, where possible you should try to have a presence every week or month depending on the publication and also try to get the same positioning within the publication each time you appear. Speaking of positioning….

3. Positioning - to get the best possible exposure don’t just settle for the placement the publication tells you that you will appear Where possible you should aim to run your adverts in the main news section of the newspaper and as near to the front as possible. Appearing on the front page if you are allowed can often be expensive but there is no harm in haggling and making sure you get the best possible position for your spend. The jury is out on the right hand left hand side positioning. Old school thinking was that right hand position was always best, but recent research would indicate that it doesn’t make any real difference. I would still aim to be as far forward as possible.

4. Design - this might sound obvious, but the design of any advert is crucial if it is to be a success. Believe it or not people look at adverts in very similar ways being humans and so building this in to your ad design is a critical element. First of all people will see a picture or visual first next any headings and then your name or logo. Research has shown that if you add a visual to your advert you will increase the response rate by around 30 percent! Yes 30 percent. Pictures of people work particulary well , however use these with caution, people are often turned off by ’staged’, ‘cheesy’ pictures so it’s important that you use the right image giving a natural feel especially if shows someone enjoying themsleves as a result of using or buying your product. It is worth paying to have a proper designer create the advert for you as it really will pay off in the long run.

5. Colour - whilst full colour ads are usually around three time the cost of a single colour ad the research shows that the response rates for colour adverts are more than double that of a single colour or mono ad. As the local newspapers and magazines on the Isle of Man print using four colour process it might be worth asking how much extra it would be to add just a single colour if budget is on the slim side?

6. Size - it isn’t always everything ( I think that’s how it goes anyway). The key to size is making sure that your advert has maximum impact on the page this can be achieved by going across the columns rather than down the columns. Newspapers and magazine tend to have columns running down the page so by breaking these up with your advert either by shape or size (see image above) can often be better sometimes than forking out for a full page advert, after all people are buying newspapers for the news not the adverts!

7. Tracking element - this is an essential in my mind, after all what’s the point in paying to have an advert designed and placed if you don’t know how effective it is. Traditionally coupon codes have been used and these still can useful, usually in the form of an abbreviation for the publication along with the date. This helps track what adverts in which publication and what date generated the most calls? Other alternatives could include a reference to quote when calling (very similar to a coupon) and other tracking mechanisms such as specific telephone numbers for specific adverts and TxtOrder services whereby people who are interested in finding out more can text a code to a listed number and receive an automated reponse almost immediately via email with the precise information that has been requested.

8. Call to action - time and time again I see adverts with either no call to action or with very poor call to actions incorporated in the design and it baffles me! What is the point of advertising if people don’t know how to call you, find you, visit your website or meet up with you? Make sure that phone numbers and web address are in prime position and as big as you can make them so that what ever you ask people to do they know how to do it!

9. Experiment - before embarking on any large advertising campaign it could well be worth running some experiments with different ads to gain a feel for which ones work best. You could use different designs with a focus group or even different friends and family to gain an understanding of what flicks there switch and grabs there attention?

10. Dont expect instant results - sometimes it might just happen that you strike gold with some great ad copy. Just remember how many messages we are bombarded with on a daily basis, sometimes its not easy to cut through all these but hopefully if you follw these tips you might just save yourself a lot of time effort and money!

I think I will do a piece shortly on the various Isle of Man publications on that are on offer and the target readerships they all have. Watch this space!

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