Friday 29 January 2010

The first events industry TweetUp of 2010

The Lovely Mr Peter Kerwood of Merlin Events Group hosted the latest events industry TweetUp at Madame Tussauds earlier this week.

Here is a video of the event.

Thursday 28 January 2010

The power of Digital & Live


There are many advocates of the use of digital to enhance and amplify a consumer focused experiential campaign.

But just as experiential techniques can be used in a corporate environment to engage internal audiences, social media platforms should also be used to enhance internal events by engaging delegates pre and post event and on-site.

The use of social media can be used to create exposure and increase attendance pre event, engender engagement whilst on-site and then gather feedback and reinforce the event’s impact long after delegates return to the workplace.

Twitter is a good place to start – it is a very powerful tool in terms of pre event promotion and, as my team has proven in past experience with projects for clients such as Carphone Warehouse, Twitter is an incredible tool for engaging with audiences during event. It appears that using channels such as Twitter in the corporate event environment actually liberates people to speak out when they would normally shy away from asking questions or offering commentary at an event. After all – it is an effective communication tool - it enhances word of mouth and offers the opportunity to capture truthful commentary. In addition, it’s an easy way to share and gather information before the event, during the event and between attendees.

Social media has now become an accepted mechanic in the corporate communications arsenal. Portals such as Linkedin have opened up a whole new world of shared information and networking in the business world and its influence has now led to some incredible new forms of networking technology that allow corporate event organisers to engage their audiences like never before. I am very proud to say that my division RPM Corporate is about to sign a deal with a technology supplier that has built one of the most interesting and technically advanced registration and networking tools to hit our sector for some time.

‘RPM Connect’ will allow an incredible range of audience interaction and networking as well as profiling, feedback, delegate management, content sharing and microblogging. This is just another step in our division recognising the value of social and digital media to content share and network.

I have used social media on many occasions and to great effect with past clients such as innocent (around its village fete), but the use of social media to support consumer experiences is nothing new and all good agencies utilise the various platforms at every opportunity. However in the corporate space its use is a little less common and this offers up a debate in terms of how can you, and how should you, use social media in the corporate environment?

I spoke at a conference last year and an audience member challenged my suggestion that social media opens a new opportunity in internal communications and employee engagement. She even suggested that it was dangerous to allow freedom of speech and it could open up a can of worms, and heaven forbid - what if the commentary was negative?

Well, in my opinion you cannot make change and improve if you do not know all of the facts and you do not know how your people feel. But if you have the negatives you can turn them into positives. A client of RPM Corporate has embraced a proposition we made recently to resolve an internal communications issue. We opened a Twitter channel for internal communication, posed the question and thus opened the debate. Answers can only be a maximum of 140 characters so this ensured that employees think about what they say and how they say it. This mechanic also allows Direct Messaging for an immediate response and commentary is archived. The business has a massive network of out of office staff but they are all on blackberry so access to twitter is an easy communication and content sharing option.

Avoid the use of social media and the online community at your peril!

It is also clear from our experience that increasingly more and more brands are bringing digital techniques into the physical retail environment to add value to the shopping experience. I read recently about RFID Radio Frequency Identity being used on shopping trolleys so that location based advertising can be streamed to the screen on a trolley. This opens up a whole new world of marketing opportunity and it won’t be long before the event and exhibition industry will harness this technology.

Augmented reality in the corporate environment is also giving the challenge of engaging staff an interesting twist. I am currently proposing the use of augmented reality hotspots around the office of a major client, these unobtrusive hotspots will offer the opportunity for staff to engage with corporate message in dwell areas by simply pointing supplied interactive tablets or indeed their own mobile phones.

So all of the above proves that you cannot and should not ignore the opportunity to support live experiences with digital and interactive media.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

Those crazy guys at Bompas & Parr are at it again...


I was delighted to be invited to their Gin Mist experience in Carnaby Street last year and it looks like they've gone a huge step further with an amazingly immersive experience for Courvoisier.

The photography is reminiscent of a David Lachapelle shoot and is well worth a viewing. These guys really know how to a brands essence and product at the heart of a gathering, this time they have created what must be the worlds largest Punch Bowl and have flooded a building with enough punch to serve 25,000 people.

I really do love it but i'm not sure of the issues of hygiene and the fact that you could raft across the drink but I don't doubt that they had all the bases covered on this front.

I really like the remote control garnishes.

Monday 25 January 2010

Great car reveals...


I was talking to an automotive client earlier today and we were discussing launches and new and interesting ways to wow the audiences at dealer launches.

So i was having a trawl through the web and came across one of fords recent launches. Despite the speaker presentations the reveal is pretty darn slick.

Monday 18 January 2010

Metamorphosis - Building the education centres of the future


My team and I are currently immersed in a major brief for a UK broadcaster and education is at the heart of our thinking. In my research I have come across some outstanding initiatives that bring the end user into the planning and design and the outcome shows just how powerful this kind of end user collaboration can be.

This example especially resonated with me because I have a young child and education and choosing the right schools is currently high on my agenda.



This initiative also added further verification that my decision to include employee environment design into my divisions proposition is the right one. I believe that getting the working environment right can only help with employee retention, engagement and indeed productivity and what better way to engage than bring the employee into the planning... just another step in the right direction in terms of Fandom.

Also see Coolhunter for another perspective on the 'School of the future'.




Darth Vaders Shoes!


Those that know me and the name of my son will understand my attraction to the latest campaign by Adidas Love it and I hope they come in kids sizes for my J.E.D.I



La Maîtresse de la Tour Eiffel



I visit Paris at least once a year to immerse myself in the art and fine food and despite many visits I still do not tire of what surprises the city can bring, whether it be performance art, installations or graffiti there is always something new.


This is an installation by the artist Michel de Broin and is reputed to be the largest mirror ball ever made.

It gives a wonderful atmospheric experience in the incredible gardens in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

La Maîtresse de la Tour Eiffel | 2009 from Michel de Broin on Vimeo.



Monday 11 January 2010

The RPM Corporate Division is up and running and winning.

I am very proud to announce that RPM's new corporate division is now up and running and targeted to account for half of the agency's turnover within the next two years.

Already in the past 8 weeks the division has won two pieces of business and has secured the contract for at least one other client.

Since setting up RPM Corporate it has been my intention to recruit the best in class to drive the division forward and I am happy to announce the arrival of newly-appointed head of corporate Katie Kenny, formerly account director at Sledge. Katie is an extremely talented individual and brings with her many years of experience in the corporate communications and internal comms sector as well as extensive experience in the consumer and experiential markets.

Katie will progress her career and profile by leading an extensive team of producers, creative’s, planners and the “RPM intellectual Resource” she will also be the conduit to the board. Katie’s arrival along with other team members show’s how serious we are about the investment in this division and will give me the freedom to drive forward the divisions new business team as well as promoting the intellectual resource.

I am currently recruiting a number of experts in the field of internal communications, training and development for businesses, research evaluation and employee engagement to form the corporate division's Intellectual Resource team. Thus far the support from the existing in house resource has helped us to secure two project wins and a new long-term client so the integration into the RPM business has been flawless

The initial goal of RPM Corporate is to replicate in the B2B market what experiential can do for consumers. Essentially, our division mantra will be to turn “Employees into Fans."

We will do this by creating comprehensive engagement programs that will first educate brands on the value of “Fandom” and then put into practice engaging experiences that will turn the employees into better supporters and promoters of the business. As a team we have spent many years educating brands about the value of consumer advocacy and it is high time that brands started to match the commitment they give to customers to their own staff.