Awakening brands to the power of social media
Jon Gunn, social brand editor, Gutenberg Networks
First written for and posted in ‘The Marketer‘ April 13th, 2012
Increasingly over recent years, brands large and small have awoken to the reality that they need to engage with the emerging environment of social media. Some have accepted this because they see others doing the same and don’t want to lose their competitive advantage. Others recognise the expansion of permission based marketing and the shift in consumer behaviour from one of passive involvement to active engagement.
Some brands that stepped into the social media space early on have gained the biggest advantage. Being an early adopter can always pose risks but also has the potential to help steal a march on the other latecomers to the game.
There is good news for those who are only just engaging. Like many situations in life, sometimes it pays to wait a little and watch before joining in. As the array of social media platforms has grown exponentially and many of these have evolved and developed the landscape is beginning to settle.
The beta models have been run and now we are witnessing a shift from early testing to one of focused commitment. User and consumer patterns are emerging and now we have a body of evidence to validate which tactics produce the most effective and efficient response. Social Media is reaching puberty.
Some brands who have jumped in early, for all their good intentions they have got it badly wrong. Exploring the potential of new media can be a risky business and with such a seismic shift in both the application of the media and a shift in consumer mentality there are lots of variables to deal with.
Above all though I’m glad to say finally, on the whole, they are beginning to understand that they have to take social marketing seriously and make it function properly. Many now realise it is not just about how many “likes” or “fans” that they have or as the support act for other activities. Social media is begging to drive large volumes of engagement and subsequent sales.
BVE Post event / Loudness Metering (LUFS)
Written by: Wade Ridgway, technical director, GNTV.
We wandered around London BVE at Earl’s Court last week looking, and listening, for all things going on around loudness. BVE once again out did itself, with lots of super-smart folks to answer questions around the “whats” and “whys” of the new audio standards. We are all figuring out how the industry is adapting itself to new ways of working in this area and it’s important we are getting it right, across our workflows.
So, is LUFS the new PPM? We’re in the market for adaptations and playing out dozens of commercials every day to global destinations has revealed anomalies and difficulties in the new loudness metering standards. It seems the traditional PPM method has fragmented with subtle variations across stations using the new LUFS system. Some stations still require PPM while others demand that their interpretation of the EBU R128 standard be met. Some stations are more aggressive than others in upholding the new standard.
So, although we’re all specced to measure LUFS and be sound (no pun intended) technically in the audio mix, it seems that different audio requirements across stations mean the old days of one master for multiple destinations has turned into one master per station in some cases.
As we look to drive value for clients we will be working hard to align broadcaster deliverables with our production schedules / rate cards / turn around times so as not to send audio mastering costs up, which isn’t always straight forward. Let’s hope the industry, or at least regions adopt common standards soon.
Note: We’re currently using Nugen LMB file based LUF metering and correction tool for our QC process. It gives us a clear graphic representation of the metering carried out, which we copy into our QC records, as well as keeping a log of all files processed. It even has an auto fix option too for the brave, but we like to keep the job of mastering in the audio suite.
Gary Whipps, Operations Director, Gutenberg Networks
Tesco Metro, Regent Street, London
This Tesco Metro branch is no doubt practical to workers for grocery essentials; however I found my visit to the supermarket giant’s convenience store anything but convenient. Tesco Metro is ideal for grabbing a low-cost lunch from its meal deal range, providing you’re willing to sift through the rubble of sandwiches and make sense of the garish labelling.
With an over-stocked freezer resembling a bargain bucket and beer crates obstructing aisle ends my visit was chaotic. Simpler point-of-sale would have made it easier to find what you need. Tesco Metro need to show its customers a clearer shopping experience.
The Co-operative Food, Berwick Street, Soho, London
The Co-Op boasts responsible retailing with its ethical fair-trade heritage and this is continued in the pleasant environment the store engenders. The stock was well supplied and organised, with clear pricing displays and offer stickers that didn’t poke your eye out trying to grab your attention.
Co-Op’s nationwide stores have recently undergone a stylish makeover, and are now well-lit and conveniently laid out. This retailer understands that picking up groceries shouldn’t be an ordeal. With a restricted product range perhaps you couldn’t get away with doing your weekly shop here, but the Co-Op delivers customer satisfaction where Tesco Metro failed.
Click for or more about Point-of-Sale and Gutenberg Networks
What does the Williams Lea Takeover of Tag mean for the age-old agency model debate?
By Simon Steel- Managing Director – Gutenberg Networks 
There’s an inevitability about Williams Lea buying Tag this summer and it should not have been a surprise to anyone watching the evolution of the production industry. The more eagle-eyed amongst us will notice a few changes occurring, which the Williams Lea takeover of Tag brought to the fore:
1) There are new entrants to the marketing services industry in the form of outsourcers from other sectors and locales (both on- and off-shore) who believe they too could provide outsourced marketing services.
2) On-going consolidation occurring: Tag and Williams Lea and the Hogarth – WPP alliance etc.
3) The big networks (Publicis, IPG and Omnicom etc) are trying to build and promote their own marketing services companies – Redworks’ former global CEO and Head of North America joining IPG.
What the Williams Lea takeover of Tag really illustrated is that scale is an issue (a global presence is truly required to provide the best solutions for clients) and links to a marketing agency is crucial to success. Hogarth had marketing clients but not the agency relationships, whereas Williams Lea bought Tag in part because it has both the marketing clients and the agency relationships. The question now is how they actually leverage them.
Williams Lea ought to be in a very strong position, with the investment backing of Deutsche Post. A non-agency aligned network, as some brands will be thinking that going down the independent production provider route is better. Then again, brand managers and procurement alike also understand that the large holding companies offer the global reach and stability they require.
Classically, the Williams Lea/Tag move may herald an age in which we see the erosion of any remaining middle ground, resulting in fewer medium-sized companies, leaving lots of niche specialists and a few very large, enterprise players. This ups the ante in our industry – it presents a different alternative for brands that may well start demanding more. It will be interesting to see whether the move by Williams Lea will challenge the large holding companies or focus their efforts further.
Once again, this raises the age old debate of the traditional agency model and what the longer term implications are – many production businesses will be asking themselves if there is a conflict if you’re part of a holding company or whether in reality enterprise scale production is the infrastructural element agencies and clients will need in the future?
My view is that whilst there is room for both, the holding company solution will be more persuasive because of the positive links to agency networks, an in-depth understanding of the nature of the business and the direct line into clients’ marketing teams. The challenge remains for clients though, how they will engage and work with a new strategic partner?
Gutenberg Networks‘ Simon Steel
First published on the 12-Jan-2011 in www.mmc.co.uk, by Simon Steel, Managing Director, Gutenberg Networks.
I hate most door drops. But there are exceptions. Some 99% of the time they simply are not relevant. Typically I bin the majority of them – it must be pretty special to avoid this fate. Even personalised items must work hard to get me to read them, never mind respond. Adding insult to injury in our online world, offline direct mail has a tough job to penetrate our screen obsessed, click-through sensibilities. So how do some of the last festive season’s received door drops measure up?
IKEA – Do boxing day before Christmas
A pleasant surprise: even the format of this piece is on message and plus there’s a charity kick-back to ease spending guilt. It is surprisingly well produced on reasonable quality paper stock, simply machine-glued and the square format plays cleverly on the ‘boxing day’ headline. A nicely thought through approach, eye-catching headline and clearly explained proposition: top marks.
The rest of this article….
http://www.mmc.co.uk/News/Doormat-Digest-Gutenberg-Networks-Simon-Steel/
Savvy marketers are recognising print as a powerful medium that can bring rich rewards. Marketers from ‘Google’ and ‘Which?’ joined leading industry experts including Gutenberg’s MD Simon Steel to thrash out how print works best. Read about what they discussed and watch the video as the round table participants explain their views….
Exerts from an article written by ‘Marketing’ and ‘PrintPower’ - first published in ‘Marketing’ – 12/7/2011
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/go/printcreativity
Simon Steel, managing director, Gutenberg Networks:
“As a global production company, we are seeing a shift in the way that people mix different media. There has been a dangerous commoditisation of print, rather than looking at where the value lies.”
Has print become less creative?
Simon Steel: “There are multi-faceted versions of print. At one end, it’s cheap as chips and still used for carpet bombing. At the other end, you can do highly-personalised pieces and still turn around 1.3m copies in 24 hours. Part of the difficulty is reasserting where print fits in the value chain, engaging early enough with the client. Brands can do more, better. It may feel that print has become less important, but there’s just more that you can do.”
“If you think about print as a mass medium, the dynamics just do not work. You can’t have a shallow relationship with a very large group of people. Which? is a classic success. It has 1.3m subscribers paying £10 a month for print and digital. What they have is an intimate knowledge of all of their subscribers.”
To read the rest of the article go to:
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/go/printcreativity
Brands still on the paper trail
Glib statements that print marketing products have been superseded by digital developments ignore the phenomenal breakthroughs in print innovation and techniques, writes Melanie May
Print is no longer yesterday’s news. From stunning customer magazines to the growing number of campaigns that integrate print and digital communications with QR codes and augmented reality, the past 12 months have bought significant innovation. A growing number of brands are embracing new techniques and technologies to engage consumers.
While headlines may pit print and online platforms against each other, smart marketers realise the benefits of both. The trend is reflected by Google, which in March this year surprised many when it announced the launch of its own print B2B magazine, Think Quarterly.
‘Different paper stocks and finishes combine to make Boden’s magazine feel of value’
Toby Smeeton
Sunday
‘Brands are increasingly realising that although there are more ways to connect with customers, it’s becoming harder to get their attention, so it is very much about reaching people with the right message in the right place at the right time,’ says Keith Grainger, chief executive of customer communications agency Redwood. ‘Print is a strong part of the mix.’
Visual appeal plays a vital role in winning attention. ‘The idea that volume is important has gone,’ says Toby Smeeton, managing director at publishing agency Sunday. ‘It’s more about engagement, so what comes through the door in terms of content and how it looks and feels is important. Without creative standout, it doesn’t get a look in.’
Worth the trouble
Brands are pulling out the stops to grab consumer’s attention. In November last year, Volkswagen in Australia caused a stir with a direct mail piece printed onto leather to promote its Eos model. Its creation may have broken four printers, but the impact caused was worth it.
Other high-impact direct mail pieces have included bird seed on an RSPB mailer printed by Lateral Group, a metal envelope from Royal Mail to promote the launch of its Tracked service, and 3D mailings such as the one created by EMO late last year to promote the Alfa Romeo MiTo Turismo. The campaign for the MiTO was so successful that the car sold out a month after launch.
‘There are lots of innovative ways to get that necessary dominance and level of engagement with print,’ says Gavin Wheeler, chief executive of direct response specialist WDMP. A mailpack it created to promote the Philips Shine programme for dentists used ink that showed up only with a UV pen, while a die-cut mailer mailer for Sonicare last year looked like a simple postcard but pushed out to become a trophy, driving kids online to a viral game that received 9m plays as a result.
The recent move away from volume mail has also resulted in a willingness to spend more on communications, which in turn is boosting creativity.
‘We’re seeing an uplift in the type of paper and the finishes being used,’ says Andy Ruddle, sales and marketing director of digital print firm Real Digital International. ‘Now we see more efficient more clever formats, and a greater use of specialist finishes and papers to makes packs special.’
Peugeot – Emergency entrance
This visually arresting direct mail pack, created for Peugeot Professional by CMW, went out in November last year, targeting Peugeot’s customers in the UK’s emergency services. It promoted the fact that the National Policing Improvement Agency had just award Peugeot its preferred supplier status for vehicles and equipment.
‘All the materials used in our pack were authentic to those used by the emergency services themselves,’ says CMW creative director Jamie Bell. ‘Everything was real, familiar, tactile and engaging.’
The outer packaging used the same highly reflective material that is used in all emergency service high-visibility jackets and it also carried the same reflective strip.
Inside the pack was a brochure and a letter held together by a bellyband made from authentic police tape stock, with the letter designed to look exactly like a police station report.
Even the letter stock in the pack was made of TyVek, the waterproof material that is used to make police notepads.
The sectors embracing digital print are also changing. Where once they tended to be brands selling high-ticket items, such as cars and holiday, now those in almost every market are getting in on the act.
Lateral Group’s clients include the RSPB, Sky, Hillarys Blinds, and the government’s Change4Life campaign. The communications agency’s group sales director, Nick Barbeary, notes: ‘Companies are prepared to pay a bit more to get standout from a printed piece. The look and feel of it is a lot more important now, while digital print is enabling high personalisation and targeting.’
He adds that demand for specialist inks and finishes, including metallic inks, glitter and holograms, has increased.
Image recognition
Innovation is not restricted to direct mail. Insurer LV= ran an outdoor recruitment campaign in the second half of last year with posters that directed people online using image recognition technology.
A sensory POS campaign for Wrigley, meanwhile, by print management firm Paperhat and Gutenberg Networks, used a new metallic substrate.
Paperhat bought up Europe’s entire 12-month supply to stop competitors getting their hands on it. ‘It’s not just about reducing cost, but looking at what’s new out there that could have a real impact on sales,’ explains Paperhat chief executive Tim Peppiatt.
In May, mail-order and online clothes retailer Boden launched volume one of its A Thousand Little Things magazine, designed to stand out from the traditional customer title and give something of value to Boden’s top customers as a reward for their loyalty.
Royal Mail’s ground-breaking B2B title Contact has included glow-in-the-dark ink on the cover, scented images, and tear-out postcards to personalise with stickers.
‘With all the noise we get today, something you can tear out, touch, sniff, and hold is brilliant and appeals to the senses like nothing else,’ says Mark Thomson, Royal Mail’s media director.
The consensus among marketers, however, is that the real innovation lies in the integration of print media and online, where the use of data and technology can better personalise campaigns and increase engagement.
Immersing experience
Land Rover’s Onelife print magazine, published by Redwood, now includes QR codes throughout, while last summer VW ran a campaign to promote its Golf Match model that fused augmentated reality and direct mail. It comprised a card that transformed via a webcam into a road with an augmented reality car travelling on it. The recipient could tilt the road to make the car move faster or slower, immersing them in the experience.
So where to next? All the indications are that print is a growth area. Digital watermarking, launched in May by Royal Mail, provides another tool in the marketer’s arsenal. Embedded into pictures on leaflets and mailings, the watermarks enable marketers to integrate print and online material without using barcodes or QR codes. Simply holding a 3G phone over the image gives the recipient instant access to digital content.
Printer technology has also moved on significantly in the past 18 months. Personalised digital print is nothing new, but the ability to combine speed, full-colour personalisation and high image quality is, and this could lead to even more brands embracing print as a key part of the marketing mix.
‘Previously, high-speed printing with low quality was possible, whiles doing fancy direct mail pieces digitally was relatively costly,’ says Erwin Busselot, marketing director of digital printing for Kodak EAMER.
Howard Hunt recently became the first printers in the UK to test Kodak’s 5000XL printer. According to assistant managing director Lucy Edwards, it affords a break-through for direct mail. ‘It makes direct mail as targeted as possible, and as real-time as possible too,’ she says. ‘With other machines, you get the speed but not the colour personalisation, or vice versa.’
New finishes and techniques are also being produced that could result in even more creative print. Heidelberg recently announced a tactile gloss finish, the ‘Crystalline Effect’, which changes appearance depending on the angle from which it is viewed and can be used on a range of substrates.
It is just the latest of an array of innovations rolling off the presses. There is little doubt that rumours of the death of print have been greatly exaggerated.
‘Previously, doing fancy direct mail pieces digitally was relatively costly’
Erwin Busselot
Kodak
Boden – Expression of gratitude
Boden wanted to surprise its most loyal customers with ‘a lovely thing meant purely as a thank you,’ says the clothing retailer’s marketing manager Emma McCappin. So the company created a magazine, A thousand Little Things.
Published by Sunday and designed to stand apart from the typical customer title, it was sent in May to 100,000 Boden customers. The publication links in with Boden’s community site, with much of the content also online. ‘We made a deliberate effort to divorce it from our clothing range, to give people something they could dip in and out of, rather than act on and discard,’ says McCappin.
The magazine uses various print and paper technologies including die-cut, bullet holes, transparent paper, overlays and mirror stock.
‘Different paper stocks and finishes convey different messages,’ explains Sunday managing director Toby Smeeton. ‘All combine to make it feel of value, to encourage people to engage, and to deepen their relationship with Boden.’
Volkswagen – Illustrative style
Instead of a focus on the traditional car shots, all the communications in this three-part contact strategy, which targeted people during the car-purchasing process, used the same illustrative style, with striking typography and imagery.
Proximity London created mailers for all 18 models in VW’s range for customers and prospects.
The direct mail used a soft paper stock, and plenty of black to illustrate quality, while the variable fold-out format of the first mailer in the series took people through their own thought process, opening out to answer possible questions as the recipients travelling through.
‘It was important to create a piece that could be personalised but didn’t feel templated,’ says Andrew Waddell, board account director at Proximity London. ‘It’s all done in a soft-tone, Q&A format and in this a very illustrative style to match how people in the purchase start off thinking very emotionally before becoming more rational.’
Gutenberg-Networks are one of the only Production Specialists who possess a dedicated team of online experts managing global digital campaigns.
Whether it is online advertising, building microsites, or e-CRM activity, our production frameworks ensure consistency, quality and value for money.
Services & Solutions: Direct-to-studio
Gutenberg-networks have a package of services that allows clients to take appropriate work directly into production without the need for creative agency involvement.
This provides real, significant time and cost efficiencies at both a local and international level.