There was clearly some kind of counsel strike going on….Each day a fresh layer of black and blue bags piled up; resembling some kind of gruesome flower display. As it went on, I started to feel a bit offended by the sight and smell, and a bit sorry for the visiting tourists confronted by the mounds of ugly rubbish. Not what you really want to see on your holiday.

…you can call me stupid, but after a week and a half it suddenly dawned one me that the bin men weren’t the problem, we were. We’re the ones who produce all this rubbish, they just take it away and put it somewhere we can’t see it. The problem is society is obsessed with buying and consuming, but very little thought goes to where it all goes when we’re done. We make ourselves feel better with token gestures, putting our used papers in the recycling bin, our green bottles in the green bottles bin, using recycled paper… you get the idea.

So I woke up one morning with the thought in my head that maybe the rubbish strike was a great opportunity to make a point and get people thinking about what happens to our rubbish, so that they might spend a bit less time producing it.

I jumped out of bed (not a usual occurrence) and ran to the window hoping that the bin men hadn’t decided to “unstrike themselves” and went and did a little scouting to make sure the rest of the city was still covered in rubbish. It was.

Headed to work and had myself a 8:30 brainstorm with the team. Then a couple of hours later, props and camera in hand we found ourselves wandering through the red light district of the city looking for the most photogenic rubbish piles.

View the video here (YouTube Video)
Even being caught red handed in the middle of the red-light district stuffing a pair of purple tights with bubble wrap by the police didn’t stop us. Uttering the stock phrase, “student project” which sent them happily on their way, smiling and waving at us to carry on.

We set up our little stunt and stood back to see what happened. We got a lot of attention, with people stopping and asking questions and taking photos. We even got onto the Amsterdam news site. Did it make people think any more about the rubbish they produce, I’d like to hope so.

http://www.at5.nl/gespot/41051/it-s-big-and-it-stinks

By
Michelle Henley
Creative Director
GyroHSR Amsterdam

Contrary to popular belief, digital is central to b2b marketing. So much so that in GyroHSR’s B2B Marketing Insight Report, 44% of respondents felt that digital communications were the most effective method in B2B marketing, eclipsing that of more traditional tools, such as direct marketing.

It isn’t hard to see why digital is favoured over other channels. Direct response direct mail has produced a 0% response rate for almost half of the respondents in the research, compared with 27% for email marketing campaigns. Furthermore, the best response rates achieved were higher for email than any other communication channel.

But while the technologies being used in digital are at a similar level of development across business and consumer marketing, it is why they are used and what is deemed as sufficient return on investment which differs massively.  For B2B marketers, digital is treated as a tactical tool to help build a brand rather than a strategic platform for brand engagement and lead generation which consumer marketers have embraced.

So why does this disconnect between the application of digital exist? It can be because different digital tools available to marketers behave in different ways for the two disciplines.  Take Twitter, for example, which has a very different application in the B2B world than it does for consumer marketing. In B2B circles it is a highly targeted communication channel which allows individuals to network and share knowledge directly with each other. For consumer brands, Twitter is a broadcast medium which is effective in communicating to a mass market.

However, the main reason for the disparity between B2B and B2C is because B2B marketers are only measuring a fraction of what digital offers. Too many B2B marketers are still trying to convince themselves that digital works and as a result are failing to see the full potential of digital, which consumer marketers wised up to five years ago. This preoccupation with measurement of activity in place of measurement of return has led them to focus on short-term results, looking at the open and click through rates of email marketing as a barometer for brand engagement, rather than a consideration of the influence exerted after opening.

We know that B2B marketers are using digital channels to help with brand building, and that they are aware of the latest technologies available, with 78% stating in the report that they feel fairly or very well informed on digital developments.  But, crucially, they are failing to measure the impact of these efforts, with only 13% of respondents actively seeking to measure brand building as part of their overall marketing review, but instead focussing on website visits (82%) and e-mail open rates (66%) as benchmarks for success.

To combat this, marketers operating in the digital sphere need to adopt more sophisticated digital metrics for success and evolve from proving how it works to actually using it for lead and income generation.  B2C marketers have already shown this can work and B2B counterparts need to recognise this or risk falling behind the curve by not fully embracing the potential of digital.

By
Danny Turnbull
General Manager
GyroHSR in Manchester

And it’s simple and cheap right?  Just film a movie, stick it on YouTube and watch it spread all over the world, easy. Well not exactly…
YouTube has become so popular it’s often assumed that video = viral, but this is far from the case. These days ‘viral’ can be pretty much anything, form videos to twitter competitions to augmented reality to “20% of booze vouchers”.

…and because it can be anything that’s why an integrated approach is best.

These days the easiest way to pass any content on from one person to another, or preferably to many, is through digital channels, most notably by email. 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 jaded response to an average idea because we tend to have more exposure to these channels and therefore see more viral work than the rest of you. 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 a hundred 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 and and….). 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 indeed so often is the case that the best “virals” tend not to be. 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, it did push the boat out with the Cactus Kid. There was a website to vote on your preferred ending to the advertising series. It also had 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 voice overs. 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.

CONTENT
The general rules are 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 (Quicksilver)
• inquisitive (TFL)
• 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.

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 so 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 an 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
GyroHSR
UK Head of Digital

On a recent trip there I discovered the locals have their very own version of The Real Thing – Corsica Cola – and they haven’t been shy in using the Coke packaging as the inspiration for their own e.g. http://www.fractal-angel.org/photo/img/photo0829.jpg

At first I assumed that Coke must own or license the brand but I am reliably informed that the Pietra brewery on the island actually launched it in 2003.

So how have they managed to create something so similar to and seemingly ‘get away with it’? Of course I’m no lawyer so maybe there simply isn’t a case to answer but if there is then what could the story be?

Well what became very evident whilst travelling around was the fierce pride in being Corsican. Road signs are presented in both French and the local Corse language but the French version is almost always painted (or sometimes shot!) out. Advertising celebrates a ‘made in Corsica’ sentiment. And restaurants delight in serving up all manner of traditional and very local delights.

So one theory has to be that a judgement call has been made at Coke HQ that the newspaper headlines created by tackling Pietra in the courts would do the brand more harm than good on this very proud island.

Maybe. Maybe not. Either way one final question remains.

Does Corsica Cola taste like The Real Thing?

Simply, no! Though certain other brands sold by the Pietra brewery do come recommended.

Richard Mabbott
Group Head of Planning
GyroHSR

GyroHSR has been tasked with the next stage in the development of the Nuffield Health brand following its acquisition and integration of Cannons Health Clubs last year. Our work will support the ongoing implementation of Nuffield’s  innovative, integrated healthcare strategy.

Activity will focus on positioning the organisation as the leading destination for healthcare, fitness and wellbeing across its wide network of hospitals, health clinics and centres. The first phase of the campaign, which is set to launch in this September, will use online, direct marketing, guerrilla and above-the-line advertising to promote Nuffield Health’s unique offering and to attract people to one of the organisation’s 50 fitness and wellbeing centres.

Richard Perry, of  GyroHSR, said “We are delighted to have been appointed by Nuffield Health and excited by the opportunities this brief presents. We know that we have the integrated services and creative talent that will truly help deliver results and bring a different way of thinking to the healthcare sector.”

Mat Hart, Group Marketing Director, Nuffield Health, said “GyroHSR’s interpretation of our brief demonstrated its excellent understanding of our objectives and its superior creative thinking set it apart from the competition.”

“We have a car that is the most fuel-efficient on the market.” (fact)
“We have a car that is better for the environment than other cars, and it will save you lots of money too.” (benefit)

Many classic adverts from the 1950s take the benefit and dramatise it, i.e. shows it in an unexpected and interesting way. That’s still how a lot of advertising works, and has to work.

But even with a unique benefit, a focused campaign and well-crafted ads, the market could still ignore the message. The benefits of various products and services are getting more difficult to communicate. When confronted with paid-for communication, people tend to shut down their senses. Advertising becomes wallpaper.

Some have pointed toward social media as a potential solution to the problem of consumer indifference. But, as many have discovered, it’s not that simple. For people to engage with your product or service via social media, it has to provide something beyond the benefit. It has to provide a story.

Take Unilever’s margarine brand, Flora, for example. When they wanted South Africans to view their product as a healthier alternative to butter, what did they do? Did they publish ads with a packshot and a headline saying “The healthier alternative”? No.

Instead, they found a middle-aged man with a heart condition, caused by his lifestyle, and sponsored a documentary about him and his upcoming heart surgery. He went on talk shows to discuss healthy lifestyle change, and quickly became a public figure. The climactic moment of the campaign was, of course, the heart operation, which was shown live on TV, while well-wishers sent in tens of thousands of text messages from their mobiles. The Meet Wally’s Heart campaign was a triumph.

It brings to mind a think-tank report I read ten years ago. It claimed that, in tomorrow’s market, every company would have to become a media company in one way or the other. It seemed a bit far-fetched at the time, but, with margarine manufacturers creating TV documentaries, the prophecy certainly seems to be coming true.

This puts ad agencies in a very interesting position. If we want to do what’s right for our clients, we can’t content ourselves with turning facts into benefits and dramatise them. We must create a story about the benefit that is interesting enough to break through, and engaging enough for people to want to share it in social media.

Impossible in b-to-b marketing? Hardly. One of my former clients was an IT company that was well known for its sheer size, but hardly for its innovations. When I had a look at their product catalogue, I was stunned. The company had launched several completely ground-breaking solutions, whose stories were just screaming to be told.

Like, for example, the biometric eye-scanner that replaces passport checks at airports. If the company were to install a couple of those at the doors of the hippest nightclubs, where people (including those elusive C-level executives) were prepared to do anything to get in, you could create a story that would build the company’s reputation for years. The potential is always there.

So – what’s your story?

Ingemar Varp
Copywriter
GyroHSR London

The usual Microsoft bashers are already giving it a hard time, it’s even been dubbed “But It’s Not Google” but what’s it really like?

Doing the same search on Google and Bing is the only real way to compare like for like in terms of search results and there isn’t a lot of difference. The results are listed differently, with the video previews in particular pretty cool and the categorisation useful, but there’s drawbacks too. The ‘did you mean?’ feature of google is automatic on Bing, but that’s annoying if you didn’t mistype your original query.

And Google indexes much deeper, i.e. it shows more results, which whilst you wouldn’t go through all the pages, means that it is searching more sites. Bing will probably catch up but this is significant at least in the short term. But the short term is where this will battle is most significant.

The advertising is good but it’s probably quite telling that the YouTube versions of the ads far outstrip the features video that Bing has also posted. Do users really know the difference and why they should switch? I don’t think so.

Google has become part of our everyday life, whether it’s search (and it’s new search features), Gmail, iGoogle apps and the introduction of Wave (the new collaboration tool) coming soon. It’s even become part of our everyday parlance and gained an entry in our dictionaries.

But would you ever Bing something?

I don’t think your typical user will take the Pepsi challenge and do identical searches comparing like for like results and it’s for this reason I think they’ll struggle. But never underestimate Microsoft, oh, and a $100million advertising campaign!

Barnaby Ellis
Head of Digital
GyroHSR London