http://www.metia.com/london/lizzie-donnachie Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:20:00 +0100 Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:20:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/04/“post-pc-world”-at-work-not-so-fast/#number-of-comments I’m a little skeptical about recent claims that we’re living in a “post-PC World”. One reason is I’m sitting here typing this post from a PC – a laptop plugged in to a second screen and a keyboard – and everyone around me in the office I work in is doing the same. We’re a digital marketing agency in the tech sector, so I think we’re pretty 'hip' and 'cutting edge' and all that. We all have multiple form factors that we use at home and around the office. Many of us check work email on our smartphones while in the office, and a few of us do some of our work on a tablet. However, I have yet to see anyone doing all their day-to-day work on a tablet or a smartphone. It’s true: Tablets make for friendlier devices for casual around-the-house browsing (I am loving checking out Windows 8 on my home laptop-come-tablet). And smartphones are great when you’re out and about and need information fast. But I’m still trying to imagine what the “post-PC” scenario would look like in the office. Are people really going to come in to the office, hunch over their tablet and type on glass to get their work done? Or give their thumbs a major workout as they type emails on their smartphones all day? Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying tablets and mobile devices don’t have a place in the office. They do have a place, just not as a replacement to a PC. Even the author of the blog “Tablets at Work” admits that “when I talk to tablet users, their main point of frustration is that their tablet hasn’t effectively replaced their laptop as a full-service content creation device. While they like the media consumption capabilities of their tablets and the ability to respond to emails on a limited basis, they still believe that they can only get “real work” done on their laptops.” That said, traditionally PC-focused Microsoft and its partners are definitely on board the tablet wagon.  Microsoft is releasing the afore mentioned touch-centric Windows 8 later this year.  Lenovo is rumored to be working on a Windows 8 consumer tablet – as are Nokia, Hewlett Packard and Asus. Dell has announced plans to release an enterprise tablet on the same day Windows 8 is launching. Ideas for hybrid tablet/laptops – like Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga - are afoot as well. But these companies certainly aren’t abandoning their PC/laptop models that have been the backbone of their successful partnerships, in many instances for two decades. It’s clear that things are changing, but the term “Post-PC” seems premature. We’re definitely moving into a world of more diverse options, but it seems likely that PCs will be one of those options for some time to come. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/04/“post-pc-world”-at-work-not-so-fast/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/04/“post-pc-world”-at-work-not-so-fast/ Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:20:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/03/windows-8-slates/#number-of-comments It has been a hectic few weeks and I have been hopeless at blogging of late (disappointing especially since I started the year with a bit of a run).  Note to self, must do better. The release of the customer preview of Windows 8 provided the perfect opportunity to introduce you to one of the more technical members of the team, Ross Barich. Here, Ross tells of his experience downloading the Windows 8 preview and looks at some of the tablets that are rumored to be released (later this year?) The day the Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released I got home, partitioned my hard drive, downloaded the install file, and set up a dual boot so I could run both Windows 7 and Windows 8 on my home PC.  First impressions of Windows 8:  It’s slick. It’s different.  It feels similar to my Windows Phone.  While keyboard and mouse inputs work just fine, I instinctively wanted to reach out and touch my monitor (which of course is not a touch screen). This brings me to what’s really on my mind Windows 8 tablets. Windows 8 is unique the Metro user interface provides a streamlined, intuitive experience across multiple form factors, optimized for touch as well as keyboard/mouse.  There are some big names planning to deliver some interesting Windows 8 tablets this year: Nokia The partnership between Nokia and Microsoft has been well publicized. Early returns on Nokia mobile devices running Windows Phone are promising (see Nokia Lumia 900 awards at CES).  Reports are surfacing that Nokia is indeed building a Windows 8 tablet, with a target release date of late this year.  The idea of a Nokia Windows 8 tablet is fascinating, as tablets are mobile devices in many ways closer in architecture to a modern smartphone than a PC.  Nokia, a long standing market leader in mobile devices, is set to take center stage in the tablet wars.  Rumors have the first Nokia tablet delivering a 10-inch screen and a dual-core ARM processor. In order to be successful the 10 inch form factor market, Nokia will need performance, usability, and that “wow factor.”  I must admit, some concepts posted here look amazing. Lenovo Not to be outdone, Lenovo plans to deliver a Windows 8 tablet this year, and promises to be the first Windows 8 tablet in market. The launch device may be a 13.3 inch model demoed at CES, which transforms into an ultrabook-style laptop.  Stepping outside the 7 or 10 inch mold can’t hurt, as there is no one-size-fits-all tablet each consumer has different needs, and many aren’t ready to move completely away from a more traditionally sized device.  Windows 8 will likely be released this October.  In addition to Nokia and Lenovo, other companies are looking to build on their partnerships with Microsoft by delivering Windows 8 tablets, including Dell, Samsung, HP, Acer, Toshiba and Asus.  Expect to see details on these tablets released in the next few months. How these devices will be received is anyone’s guess, but the wide range of form factors, coupled with the appealing, intuitive Windows 8 Metro UI will give consumers a lot to think about this fall. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/03/windows-8-slates/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/03/windows-8-slates/ Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:06:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/02/london's-tech-city/#number-of-comments In times of economic gloom, “London’s Tech City sends a message about the whole of the UK" according to David Cameron. The idea is that the area is a blueprint for attracting investment around the whole country. The Government’s vision for London’s Tech City has always been to build on the existing cluster of companies that are located in East London to create a world-leading innovation hub for start-ups. In 2008 there were only 15 high-tech companies in close proximity of the 'Silicon Roundabout', which forms the heart of the city. But late last year it was announced that over 600 creative, digital and technological giants now operate here including Google and Twitter. So, what lead to such growth? And what does it mean for London's (Britain's) tech industry and start-up scene? July 2010 saw the opening of Tech-hub – an area providing low-rent, low-commitment workspace for hundreds of entrepreneurs. Since then many large internationals continue to promise investment to compliment support from the government: Cisco plans five years' worth of investment BT have offered communication Intel has promised serious hardware for the area's smaller firms Google is set to open a seven floored London ‘Campus’ that will form a type of support center for start-ups (in the guise of the provision of office space for firms that otherwise could not afford a year-long lease). In late 2011, according to Eric Van Der Kleij, CEO of the Tech City Investment Organization the number of start-ups in the area spiked since the government's involvement. He noted that the amount has more than doubled in less than 8 months. And the growth is set to continue - the government is to invite 300 international start-ups, coinsiding with the Paralympic Games, to take part in the new ‘StartUp Games’ initiative. The event – which will be organised by the government’s trade and investment promotion industry, (UKTI) in cooperation with the Olympic Park Legacy Company – will see foreign start-ups compete to be recognised among the world’s highest potential start-ups. What has interested the government about East London and Stratford and why have they decided to get involved? The (now) Olympic area has been depressed and the hope is that by encouraging new businesses to move here it will kick start a badly needed reinvention. And it seems to be working, perhaps a little too well - rents have been criticized, as the price of locating to the area has increased since ‘trendy’ tech companies swarmed in. If this escalates too far startups will find it difficult to thrive. But not just the start-ups, even the more established companies are seeing the expense – Groupon decided to pull out of its move to Tech City in late November due to it being too expensive. It is not just the cost though, there is a concern that if the area becomes too commercial it will lose some of it's uniqueness such as the coffee houses it is also known for. Will it work? I think so. It's only a short distance to London’s finance center, there is apparently a super-fast broadband and WiFi connection, there is and will continue to be access to like-minded technology companies and a vibrant bar and social scene to top it off. What is not to like in London’s Tech City for new start-up and tech companies looking to innovate and grow. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/02/london's-tech-city/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/02/london's-tech-city/ Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:30:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/02/business-cards-that-people-actually-want-to-keep/#number-of-comments How do business cards relate to Facebook (other than including your Facebook URL)? Facebook and MOO have teamed up to take advantage of both their strengths and create awesome business cards that can actually make an impression on people. Even though Facebook Timeline recently launched, it is not just limited to Facebook anymore. MOO, a print company, has teamed up with the Facebook team to create business cards that that mirror the Facebook Timeline look and feel, taking your Timeline offline and putting it into your pocket, as well as that of others. MOO is a print company that is unlike most in its industry. For one, their motto is that they “love to print” which is already a pretty bold statement. But more importantly, they have created a line of products that makes you want to order hundreds of different business cards and other print items during a time when many people consider the print business obsolete. With email signatures and social networking sites, business cards are not as essential as they once were. MOO has really succeeded at taking business cards and giving them a new spin. Their most recent idea is a business card that leverages your Facebook profile. They partnered with the Facebook team to create business cards that look professional (as they should be) yet are highly personalized and leave an impression on whomever you bestow them upon (as they also should be, but often are not).   You can see some more fab examples of these cards on MOO's site. Working on the Partner and Developer team, we see partnerships form every day. Some are clear to us why they exist; it’s always great to partner with others on things that can obviously benefit both companies and the end-user. But we also see some that are surprising (in a good way).  In these cases, we love to call them out because they show how even unlikely partnerships can create a real positive for the companies involved, and further enforce how we can continue to be innovative in a multitude of ways.   Talking of fun business cards, one of our team also found these creative examples yesterday. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/02/business-cards-that-people-actually-want-to-keep/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/02/business-cards-that-people-actually-want-to-keep/ Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/02/marketing-in-a-newer-social-age/#number-of-comments Historically, as marketers, we have spent a lot of our time trying to convey to our customers what is great about our product or service. Aside from occasional market research studies, we didn’t know what customers actually thought, or if our message even resonated with them. But now we can gauge customer responses without even asking for them. And the effect of our actions is far beyond our control. So how do you handle this new age of marketing? Brands need to keep in mind that every conversation is now two-way. We are no longer talking at customers, we are talking with them. We need to be where they are, and take part in their conversations. With the wide array of communication channels now available, customers will talk about whatever they like to whomever they like, and we need to be prepared to engage with them in a mindful manner, regardless of whether it is about our product or our internal policies. Additionally, for every impact we have on customers, they are more likely today than they were ever before to reach hundreds of people they know and don’t know with their message. This goes for positive and negative reactions; their word-of-mouth will reach their friends and family in person as it has traditionally, but now it is also reaching friends and strangers online in massive amounts. The average person worldwide has 130 Facebook friends. That means the effect of your impact has the potential to be multiplied 130 worldwide! If you handle a situation well: 130x! If you handle it poorly: 130x! If you don’t handle it at all: 130x! And this holds true regardless of the subject matter, so participate and do so thoughtfully. And as things are constantly changing, we need to be on the lookout for these changes and adapt to them as they happen. In two years, the number of communication channels may double, Facebook might lose popularity and a new channel may pop up. We need to be conscious of these changes and adapt to them so we can continue to listen and talk to our customers. It may be that people will soon only communicate via video, and if that is the case, we need to have the resources to respond as customers would like us to. So even though you may not be controlling the conversation anymore, remember that these conversations go much further than they ever did before, meaning your opportunity to reach your customers and prospects is much larger as well. Take part, and also note what changes are to come. Technology changes daily, and with that, so does marketing. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/02/marketing-in-a-newer-social-age/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/02/marketing-in-a-newer-social-age/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/diet-coke's-partnership-with-fashion-and-beauty/#number-of-comments Last year, Coca-Cola announced a three year strategy for the Diet Coke brand that will focus all of its marketing efforts within fashion and beauty.  I thought this was an interesting and slightly unexpected partnership, so one year on, let's see how it's going... Appealing to its large female audience, Diet Coke will use TV advertising, merchandising, packaging and a digital push to promote their, “a lighter approach to fashion” campaign.  Inaddition, Diet Coke’s existing fashionable partnerships such as their sponsorship of London Fashion Week and ASOS.com added weight to the backing of this campaign. Zoe Howorth, market activation director for Coca-Cola GB, aims to position Diet Coke as a fashion brand for “demanding fashionistas”. However, is this strategy enough to beat the competition? And how have Diet Coke expressed their newly acquired fashionable status so far? Kicking off the campaign, fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld produced three limited edition Diet Coke bottles and branded merchandise to accompany a fashion-led digital game that launched in June 2011. Diet Coke also launched their memorable TV ad series, starring the famous puppets thatfeatured in its last campaign, but using the new, “love it light” campaign. In the same year, Diet Coke partnered with Nails Inc. offering consumers a set of new nail polish colours that were named after the fashion capitals of the world – New York, London, Paris and Milan.  Moving into the digital sphere, Diet Coke launched its first ever digital fashion channel, in partnership with Yahoo!, which provides branded content and fashion advice for consumers. Diet Coke is now exploring social media tactics to refresh the ‘Love it Light’ campaign in 2012, with the recent launch of a Facebook app. The Get Glam app is designed to be the “perfect accompaniment for getting ready with the girls” and includes fashion and beauty tips, video tutorials, interactive features, as well as a video chat tool.  Personlly, I am a little unclear who they are targetting with this campaign - all the fashionistas/wannabe-fashionistas I know want less tips and more wine and music when getting ready with the girls! Partnering with cosmetics company – Benefit, the integrated campaign is bringing the famous puppets to life. ‘Love it Light’ characters Eleanor, Bernadette and Irene; have been individually styled to reflect their distinct Diet Coke puppet personalities.  The campaign demonstrates the brand’s humorous and light-hearted attitude, appealing to young, fun-loving women. To complement the new faces of Diet Coke, they are also launching three new pack designs to reflect the Diet Coke girls. Only a year into the campaign, Diet Coke has already used a variety of different collateral to execute their affiliation with fashion and beauty, as a result, it is obvious that they have earned their style icon status through various partnerships and by associating with the right brands. In particular, utilizing Facebook to launch their ‘Get Glam’ app and engage the ever more digital savvy audience. In terms of their partnerships, it seems that Diet Coke is in the position that benefits more from their fashionable connections rather than their partners gaining more of a fashionable edge from associating with Diet Coke, but perhaps targetting a more mainstream audience than they have previously. This suggests that despite their obvious fashionable ties, it is unsure/doubtful that Diet Coke is the drink of fashionistas, however, with two more years of this campaign to go and Diet Coke starting off with a big digital push; it is no doubt an exciting time to see what they can accomplish. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/diet-coke's-partnership-with-fashion-and-beauty/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/diet-coke's-partnership-with-fashion-and-beauty/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:45:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/digital-literacy-campaign/#number-of-comments Earlier this month saw Michael Gove, the UK’s Education Secretary propose new plans to scrap the existing ICT curriculum, allowing schools to design and tailor their own course. The Guardian helped spark reform throughout the week with its Digital Literacy Campaign. Supported by blue chip companies such as Google and Microsoft, the aim was to improve the teaching of computing science and ICT through raising awareness of the disparity between the skills of UK students’ learned from their current curriculum and what the industry expects suggest is required for the economy. The UK Culture Minister – Ed Vaizey – has now ranked computer skills alongside the arts and humanities, “we are all going to live a digital life… Just as we write well and read well… a basic understanding of computer coding will help you understand the structure of your digital life.” Not only do these digital skills contribute to the British economy, it has also become in vogue among the younger generation with an increase in apps and a self-taught attitude to coding with websites and forums offering step-by-step tutorials. Therefore, as the digital economy expands, why has the UK education system not caught up and raised the importance of digital literacy within our classrooms? There has been a dramatic decrease in the number of students opting to study ICT, what’s more, girls are especially disinterested with the traditional ‘geeky’ image surrounding the subject. There has also been increasing case studies where students are becoming frustrated with the lack of resources invested in the ICT curriculum and unchanging syllabus, highlighting a drastic need to shake up the system. Steve Beswick, Director of education for the UK at Microsoft agrees and states that, “we must introduce computer science concepts a lot earlier and this will help broaden the number of people that want to do this as a profession.” The UK ICT education system is falling behind other countries such as South Korea, Israel and even Scotland - who are considered to be pioneers of teaching ICT. In Scotland, children as young as six start learning about the basics of computer science and schools strive to incorporate computing into almost every subject on the curriculum. In Uruguay, their ‘one laptop per pupil’ program has proven successful and has helped to generate interest in the subject. So what happens now for the future of Digital Literacy in the UK? Since Gove’s new DIY style reform, there is still a lot of uncertainty within the teaching of computer science in school. However, it does give schools and teachers the opportunity to listen to students and experiment with their syllabus to meet their student’s and the economy’s ever changing needs. Some interesting areas which The Guardian campaign revealed that schools should consider when designing their new syllabus are: Reshaping the image perception of ICT for male and female students. To widen the students experience of computing to more than PC’s and Macs, but to experience other operating systems also. Take advantage of the vast amount of material online and encourage self-teaching. Relinquishing the control over teachers using Social Media within the classroom. Technological innovations that could revolutionise classroom learning for the more complex subjects such as Maths, Design, Art and Science, including: gamification, programming, motion capture and animation modelling. If nothing else this DIY style reform should at least allow more forward thinking, technically competent teachers to develop best practices that can then be rolled out on a wider basis. From a partner perspective it also opens up a number of potential opportunities for those channel players in the Education sector to work with schools and universities to provide them with the technology they need. For example, the Rent-a-PC scheme Stone announced at BETT (British Educational Training and Technology Show) earlier this month. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/digital-literacy-campaign/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/digital-literacy-campaign/ Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:15:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/ces-2012/#number-of-comments Every year the most cutting edge and forward thinking technology innovators can be seen in one place at CES International - the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow.  I had a great week last week trying to keep up with everything coming out of CES from afar.  It’s incredible to consider the technological advances over the past few years, especially since Bill Gate’s opening keynote at the show in 1995. After well over a decade, this year was the last year Microsoft held their speaking session at CES, and in light of this we decided to take a look at some of the best bits from the bright minds of the industry experts and 2,700 exhibitors who attended.  My personal favourite was the wearable computing that was on show in Microsoft's What Next section of the booth (see the The Printing Dress at 2012 CES video - scroll down).  For more highlights we asked the team to vote in the poll below too. Poll:  We asked the team: Which feature at CES International 2012 would you find most interesting?   Last Gadget Standing – This competition challenged contenders to present the product demo of their lives. At stake - the bragging rights of the product that is "most likely to change the face of technology” The competition looked for products that will pioneer the ways in which the digital world will change. Some of the contenders were: Swivl: Simple iPhone docks that can swivel to track your movements as one talks and walks. Cotton Candy: The judges called it Android on a stick. It has everything an Android tablet has at its core, but there are no outer-trappings (like a screen). Origami A baby stroller that folds with a single touch and there were many more. Developer University - Developer University at CES was the venue for OEMs/Platform-Vendors and Service-Providers to showcase their platforms, tools, API and SDKs to developers. The event covered TV apps, device APIs, third-party API, web apps, desktop apps, mobile apps and more. Social and Networking Opportunities – Some opportunities included The CES Tweetup, celebrating the Mashable award winners at ‘Mashable’ The Mark of Excellence Awards Reception and the TOA: The official CES closing party.’ Such events also brought with them a wealth of celebrity Athletes, musicians, TV stars, Hollywood celebrities – Dennis Rodman, Robert Horry, and John Sally to name a few. The Mobile Apps Showdown – App producers were allocated two minutes to demo their app on stage and an applause-o-meter measured audience enthusiasm to determine the winners. Judges selected 10 finalists and out of these there will be 2 winners. Last year’s mobile apps winners have gone on to become two of the most successful apps on the market today. Keynote Sessions – Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA, delivered a State of the CE Industry address on Tuesday morning. He projected that the U.S. consumer electronics industry will increase by 3.7% in 2012, exceeding $202 billion, and global spending on consumer technology devices will surpass $1 trillion in 2012. Shapiro cited innovation as the key to global industry and economic growth.  Other keynotes were delivered by leaders of Qualcomm, Mercedes and Intel and of course Microsoft. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, opened the show for the last time on Monday the 9th January delivering the revolutionary vision and upcoming launches across phones, TVs, tablets, PCs, and games console. To name a few, Ballmer considered Widows 8, Xbox and The Windows Phone - “The first phone to put people first” As tweets are distributed, news delivered, emails received, and a new generation of games developed, such devices power the use of coherent and up to date interfaces. In addition they provide mobility and familiarity for consumers to move between what they want to do and what they need to do. For example there are over 66 million Xbox users and 40 million Xbox live subscribers tuning in on a regular basis. The console has been tied together with Bing to respond to consumer voice command and offer a search and selection feature. The beneficial relationship between Microsoft and CES is on hold for now. As much as human inclination is to preserve the status quo, Microsoft and CES have “agreed to pause” Being “put on hold” does however beg the question as to whether this will In fact be the last ever year Microsoft will speak. We will have to wait and see… /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/ces-2012/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/ces-2012/ Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/microsoft's-return/#number-of-comments I read an article about 2012 being the year of Microsoft, when it 'shakes off its malaise and takes its place alongside Apple, Google & Amazon as one of the great technology innovators' and that this could be 'the year of Microsoft's return'. I really like the article and I thought it made a lot of sense, the opportunities for Microsoft in 2012 could be huge, and the barriers to them achieving the potential is, as the article states, likely tied to their dependencies on two things; the revenue from Windows & Office and their partners to build hardware that can live up to their software. However, a few things made me frown a little and I thought I'd look into them a further. First: Is Microsoft not already one of the great technology innovators?  Can we really say that the company that put a PC in every home or on every desk is not innovative?  What really makes an innovative company, or makes technology innovative... perhaps that's a larger question, is it creating something new, something clever, something beautiful, something different. (@somnesia actually does a great presentation on this subject if you get a chance to see it). Here's a couple of examples of innovative (in my opinion) things that have come out of Microsoft in recent years: Photosynth - turns your photos into 3D images so you can get a better feel for the subject matter. Kinect - you'll have seen the ads no doubt - you are the controller.  In fact, Microsoft set a new world record with Kinect sales. Surface - interactive multi-touch digital table.  They launched version 2 last year to some good reviews. Second: Are Microsoft really returning?  Have they really gone anywhere?  If you look at market share across the major technology spaces, they are not dominating the lot, but they aren't doing so badly either: Operating Systems - most reports have Microsoft (for versions from XP - Windows 7) having anywhere between 77 and 88% of the worldwide operating sytem market share.  Not too shaby. Browsers - Microsoft's Internet Explorer (all versions) browser currently stands at about 34% market share, with Firefox being it's closest rival at about 23%. A pretty rosy picture so far, ok so it's not as hot in the next few areas, but at least they are competing: Search - Microsoft's Bing search is certainly on the up, recently it was reported that Bing overtook Yahoo to be the number 2 search engine behind Google (which admittedly has about 80% market share). Security - Microsoft has also been on the up in this area - 2011 reports show them at #4, but it's tight at the top with just over one percent separating the top 4. Database - Microsoft have about a 13% share of the market (which is automatically limited for them to Windows), trailing to Oracle and IBM only.  It has been commented that the leaders Oracle are facing tough competition from both IBM and Microsoft. Mobile - Microsoft is running behind the competition at present with about a 2% market share for 2011.  Android, Apple, RIM and Symbian are all ahead.  There is lots of talk about the Nokia partnership being just the catalyst Microsoft needs to improve in this area though. I appreciate it's not comprehensive, but you get the point. So, if 2012 does turn out to be the year Microsoft returns, I don't think they've really gone too far!   * Disclaimer: I like Microsoft.  Probably partly because they are one of our clients and therefore I get to know more about their technology (voluntarily or involuntarily) than any other.  But, also because they make stuff that I like.  If you follow me on twitter you'll know I love my Lumia for example. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/microsoft's-return/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/microsoft's-return/ Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:45:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/use-content-marketing-to-stop-selling-and-start-educating-in-2012/#number-of-comments A member of the Partner & Developer team in our Kirkland office, Norman Bell, attended the Content Marketing World Conference last year, below are some of his thoughts and key take aways for content in 2012. I had the opportunity to attend the Content Marketing World 2011 Conference in Cleveland,Ohio last year. Since then, I’ve gradually started to get hooked in to the idea, as one conference speaker put it, that content isn’t just king, it’s the whole deck (of cards, that is). That’s right. In 2012, with the world buzzing about social media and the latest technological gadgets, it still comes back to the good old fashioned content. Why? Because whether we’re on Facebook or StumbleUpon, or using our iPad or Windows Phone, what we’re looking for, what we’re reading or watching, and what we’re sharing, is content. Another word for content is information. It’s why we go online. To get information. We do not go online to be sold. And that’s the gist of content marketing: Stop selling and start educating. Want more visitors to your site? Stop shouting at people about your products and do something revolutionary: Listen. Listen to what your customers’ pain points and challenges are. Do your keyword research and find out what questions they’re asking about topics you could help them find the answers to. Then what? As one speaker put it, become a “you-tility” – i.e. a company that focuses on you, the customer, instead of me, the company. Two examples – one small,one large: Taxi Mike is a taxi driver in Banff Canada who offers recommendations for restaurants, accommodations, etc. through his website. Nike+ is a Nike website that offers users ways to stay motivated about running programs. Both of these offer useful services and build trust with users. Now, when it’s time to buy running shoes or call a cab in Banff, who do you think their users are gonna call? (Hint: It’s not the Ghostbusters.) So let’s say you’ve decided to go big on content marketing. Now what? Well, now it’s time to pretend you’re the editor of the Daily Planet in the Superman movies and start thinking like a publisher. Get an editorial board and an editorial calendar together. Maybe do like Dell did and hire a team of professional journalists to write their stories. Whatever. The key here is to move fromproduct-centric to user-centric, from selling to educating, from “me, me, me”to “you-tility”. So this year, make a New Year’s resolution to stop shouting atyour customers and start giving what they’ve wanted all along: information theycan use. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/use-content-marketing-to-stop-selling-and-start-educating-in-2012/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/use-content-marketing-to-stop-selling-and-start-educating-in-2012/ Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:15:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/developers-are-you-focused-on-mobile/#number-of-comments At the end of last year (sounds so long ago when you say it like that!), Facebook made it clear they are focusing on mobile -and developers should, too. On November 30thFacebook's director of developer relations, Doug Purdy, spoke at the AppNation conference in San Francisco. His message to developers? Go mobile. Jonathan Carson of The Nielsen Company also spoke, telling the audience that 44 percent of U.S. consumers carry smartphones and 56 percent of mobile handsets sold are smartphones. Their basic point was the same: the mobile app or mobile web space presents a major opportunity for developers. Looking at mobile apps, this is true for a few reasons. For one, app rankings are extremely fluid. Apps frequently enter and leave Top 50 lists, giving new developers a good chance to get recognition. The level of interaction between users and their apps is unique, as well; it peaks in the late morning and stays high all through the evening - it's not a one-time deal. Users stay connected until - as Purdy put it-"your app goes from being something that people use to something that is a part of who they are." Facebook's latest major hire is set to make a difference in the arena as well. James Pearce was just brought on as mobile head of developer relations, emphasizing even more the potential that Facebook sees in mobile app development. When a company as large, growing, and influential as Facebook is making big moves in the mobile space, it sends a clear message: if you aren't already developing for mobile, now is the time to get on board. We certainly are! /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/developers-are-you-focused-on-mobile/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2012/01/developers-are-you-focused-on-mobile/ Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/11/communities-do-39-s-and-don-39-ts/#number-of-comments Last month, one of the Partner & Developer Marketing team, Editt Vartanian, based out in our Seattle office attend the Seattle Interactive Conference.  In her own words she picks up on one of the key themes from the conference: Communities... I attended the first annual Seattle Interactive Conference, where top digital marketers gathered to discuss marketing in a world so driven by technology. Sessions tinkled in many aspects of marketing, development and design, but one of the strongest themes was around community. A community is a group of people with a common interest or passion. Communities are all around us, especially in the partner and developer space, where members are very active and highly engaged, and all working toward a common goal, whether that be developing for latest mobile phone platform or connecting with customers in their industry. So what feeds a community? There were a number of sessions addressing community, but to combine all the takeaways, I have boiled it down to the following. (Note that I have used social media and community interchangeably in some places, because social media a great tool for fostering and building communities). Don't sell to them. 70% of people who like a brand say it does not imply permission to market to them. Interruption marketing has a place, but it is not in community and social media. Rather, we should use these platforms to provide a safe place for our members to interact and learn from us and other community members. Encourage and foster interaction. It's not social if it's one-way. Hiding member comments or deleting interactions does not lead to an open and engaging brand. Close the feedback loop, encourage advocates, and co-create (e.g. ask for feedback, and use it!). Members should be encouraged to interact however they feel fit. Even if they post something negative toward your brand, you should still reach out, express concern, and continue the conversation! 95% of companies do not respond to questions posted on Facebook. What is the point in having social media streams if you are not engaging with your community? Earn trust. Of course, you can't buy trust, but you can earn it. Adopting a mindset of transparency creates credibility. Think of communities as more of a loyalty platform than a sales avenue. Be helpful. Be authentic. Show respect, and extend trust. Post only content that is relevant to your audience. Remember, members have subscribed - that's a big deal! You don't want to give them a reason to turn away at this point. If what you are not doing is not working for your members, listen and learn; implement improvements and show them that their feedback is impactful. Be where your community is. Focusing on one social media channel because it's all you have time for, or because it's generally most popular is not a good reason to expend all your energy there. Social media should tie into everything you do, not be regarded as a separate entity. Be where your community is; in fact, be everywhere your community is. This gives you the opportunity to make a bigger impact, and gives them the opportunity to take your brand farther. Communities are all around us. It is our job to make sure we are earning our members' trust and loyalty. In a world where people are not as easily persuaded by traditional marketing, and instead rely on what others are saying, we need to learn and act on the fact that communities are defining our products, not the other way around.  So in the spirit of encouraging and fostering interaction, we would love to hear what you think!  Feel free to let us know in the comments. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/11/communities-do-39-s-and-don-39-ts/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/11/communities-do-39-s-and-don-39-ts/ Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:58:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/09/building-api-partnerships-through-competitions/#number-of-comments Partnerships can be formed in many ways, recently, there has been a surge in competitions which partners developers with companies who develop API platforms such as facebook and bit.ly. Here is a live case study which looks at the benefits and limitations of such partnerships. CloudFlare launched a competition that awards a $1,000 cash prize to the Hackathon hacker who creates the best CloudFlare App. The developers are provided with a CloudFlare API framework to create the apps as well a globally distributed infrastructure on which to launch them. A competition like this which creates partnerships has many pros and cons for all parties involved. The obvious benefactor, besides the lucky individual who will receive this actual cheque -   Are the organisers - CloudFlare, who aim to use this competition as a catalyst to discover talented developers and good apps to add to their CloudFlare App marketplace. The organisers are also getting an increase in downloads of their API framework from their target audience and generating more interest in their platforms. Competitions like this also provide an opportunity to create loyal and long lasting relationships as it is likely that developers will continue to use their framework for future projects if they find it to be helpful. This partnership could also be used to gain market insights as it is essentially crowd sourcing trends through an unobtrusive market research exercise. A limitation of this competition for CloudFlare is that they cannot control what types of apps will be developed. The developers will also benefit from this partnership competition as it helps them to get their work noticed and also provides the added benefit of additional marketing support to extend their reach within the market place. As CloudFlare provides the API framework, it could be assumed that they will also provide some level of troubleshooting. However, there are also some limitations to consider for the developers. Depending on the rules and restrictions, there may be a lack of ownership once the app has been developed. Since every app is different, competitions like this may be considered to be a waste of time and deter developers as there could be restrictions of the amount of resources that are available to use. Cloudflare are not the first nor will they be the last company to run this type of competition.  For example in 2009 Bit.ly asked developers to use their API and do something interesting, useful, and unique or that enables others to more easily use the bit.ly API. So, in short, competitions which generate partnerships are useful for both parties, with the benefits outweighing the limitations. It is often the case that the rules and regulations of the competition itself cause the majority of limitations in its restrictions.  So, an understanding of the space, your audience and the opportunities enables these types of competitions to create great, lasting partnerships that are a real benefit to both parties.   /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/09/building-api-partnerships-through-competitions/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/09/building-api-partnerships-through-competitions/ Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:22:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/09/diageo-to-partner-with-facebook-in-a-multimillion-dollar-advertising-deal/#number-of-comments In a multimillion-dollar advertising deal, drinks company Diageo have partnered with facebook to share skills and resources that includes inviting Diageo’s CMO to the social network’s client council consultation scheme. With members already including Wendy Clark, the VP of integrated marketing communication and capabilities at Coca-Cola, this collaboration will help Diageo see significant ROI from their social media capabilities.  The aims of this promotional related partnership significantly benefits Diageo, who will be utilising facebook services to drive customer engagement and boost the appeal of their brands, such as Guinness and Smirnoff. Diageo will also be using facebook to target emerging markets such as Brazil and Singapore, where Facebook have already established local teams.   As brands are increasingly allocating a higher percentage of their marketing budgets on social media investment, this suggests that marketing is evolving into a collaborative digital sphere. These types of partnerships highlight the power of social networking sites, their influence and reach to consumers in new or saturated markets. As a result, this could also have an adverse effect on the value of dotcom sites which are diminishing in popularity and use by modern brands. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/09/diageo-to-partner-with-facebook-in-a-multimillion-dollar-advertising-deal/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/09/diageo-to-partner-with-facebook-in-a-multimillion-dollar-advertising-deal/ Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:10:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/09/interesting-partnership-ford-and-spotify-s-first-integrated-in-car-entertainment-system/#number-of-comments I tweeted about this a few days ago and thought it warranted a little more than 140 characters allows... A recent hypothetical partnership saw Spotify integrated into Ford's in-car SYNC platform at San Francisco's Hackathon event. In the advent of smartphone app growth, this partnership concisely demonstrates the current opportunities for in-car app innovation; enabling users to safely use their apps while driving. In addition, showcasing Ford's innovative voice activated controls. Both parties obtain a mutual benefit from the collaboration; the strengths of the two systems are equally highlighted, which reinforces the competitive edge they have in their respective industries. Here, Spotify is shown to be versatile with the ability to be adapted in more and more applications. While Ford showcases their pioneering in-car app technology with voice-activated controls and illustrating it with a popular user centric example. Ford is continually searching for new partners through forming their SYNC developer community - Mobile Application Developer Network - that opens the platform for developers to create SYNC enabled applications. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/09/interesting-partnership-ford-and-spotify-s-first-integrated-in-car-entertainment-system/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/09/interesting-partnership-ford-and-spotify-s-first-integrated-in-car-entertainment-system/ Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:01:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/08/making-a-success-of-partnerships-part-2-of-4-raise-your-profile/#number-of-comments So you are deep in a partner program. Each party understands their partner's aims, resulting in the partner organisations seeing a healthy registration to their program and channel partners finding new business opportunities. Sales are on the up for all, so things are good. Now it's time to step it up from "good" to "great". And the way to do this is to speak up, ensuring you raise your profile. This blog is about taking your partner relationship further, enabling everyone to make the most from it. Raise your profile, from the channel's perspective.   While it isn't a dog eat dog environment, partner programs can be competitive places. They can include 100's of partners, with multiple verticals and regions. And while following the guidelines provides worthy benefits, it isn't the icing on the cake. To take your partnerships to the next level, you need to do things outside the norm, start making friends with other partners in the programs. Attend partner to partner networking events and make the most of connections the partner organisation points you towards.  Joint opportunities and marketing campaigns allow you to make the most of each other's USP and add variety to your offering. Raise your profile, from a partner organisation's perspective. By now, the channel is taking advantage of the connections you've given them. This is worth a round of applause in itself, but of course there are still some other ways to booster a partner program. First you need to allow your channel partners the opportunity to promote and share the experiences of your program. Enable your partners to make connections within the program and recommend partner to partner joint opportunities where you feel skills and personalities are complimentary. This could be done in a variety of ways.  NetApp uses a series of video blogs to outline the program and then keep their partners up to date on the latest technologies, trends and training.  YouTube Partner Program team update their partners with a quick 1minute video about new resources. Microsoft have a virtual event portal which encourages an online community to learn about different solutions, download information and use social media to contact industry peers. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/08/making-a-success-of-partnerships-part-2-of-4-raise-your-profile/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/08/making-a-success-of-partnerships-part-2-of-4-raise-your-profile/ Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:30:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/08/partnering-with-the-olympics-is-it-worth-it/#number-of-comments With Less than a year to go, the Olympics will soon be upon us. Although many polls suggest that the public are still cynical about the games, this has not deterred some of the world’s biggest brands from signing up to sponsor the ‘greatest show on earth’. The top tier sponsors for the games are referred to as ‘Official Partners’.  As the name suggests, this represents a more alliance type relationship than traditional sponsorship models.  Companies such as BT Samsung, BP and Visa have sacrificed significant amounts of their marketing budget to associate their brands with games.  The benefits of these partnerships to the games are relatively obvious: Not only does it receive a large amount of sponsorship revenue, but it also benefits from the companies’ expertise and products.  Not to mention the countless extra PR received from these companies efforts, keen to highlight their affiliation with the games.  With this in mind, it’s difficult to establish whether the balance is equal. What ROI can the Official Partners expect and does it leave a lasting effect on their competitiveness? The package benefits for them often includes exclusive marketing rights; which allows them to splash London 2012 branding across their marketing campaigns. London 2012 is operating as a ‘clean’ venue (no obvious branding to TV audiences) however, sponsors will have access to the Olympic park where they will have a number of branding opportunities. The games also offer companies the opportunity to showcase their technical capabilities and services. Panasonic, for example will provide audio, visual equipment, and technical support. Companies can also use their association with the games to alter consumer perceptions of their brand. We may find it strange that a fast food restaurant that is often blamed for increasing the nations’ waist-line is sponsoring a sports event, however Macdonald’s are using this strategy to support their wider social responsibility efforts for getting young people active. Olympic Partners may also have access to a number of event tickets which they could use for employee incentives, as part of a customer competition or for other partners they may have. Although these benefits are attractive, the ultimate goal for the partners is to increase profits. But does a company’s association with the games really affect our buying decisions? According to a recent poll on the 2010 Winter Olympics, it appears not.  The study found that 71% of people’s buying habits are indifferent for Olympic Partners. Having said that, 78% of the public believe that sponsorship is necessary for the games.  It’s unclear just how much a brand’s partnership with the Olympics is likely to affect our buying decisions. The Olympics has enjoyed additional revenue from sponsorships since 1984. The partnership between the Olympics and its sponsors is vital and there appears to be a mutually beneficial exchange on both sides that had stood the test of time.  I would love to see data on buying decisions and purchases made, or perhaps a poll on customer opinion for the Official Partners before and after the games. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/08/partnering-with-the-olympics-is-it-worth-it/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/08/partnering-with-the-olympics-is-it-worth-it/ Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:00:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/08/to-be-free-or-not-to-be-free-apis-and-their-charges/#number-of-comments Continuing on the theme of Metia folk blogging about APIs, here's my take: Building an application that uses data without an API might well be likened to building a house without a door. Such instructions provide a platform for accessing web tools and a means for exchanging information.  It is typically ‘given’ that APIs are published for mutual benefit. The question then surrounds whether access should be charged for or whether content should be shared between communities cost free. Recently API monetization has been a hot discussion topic, below we consider these options facing communities today. Amazon released its free API to create an open architecture and platform for their product information and e-commerce functionality. It allowed developers, web site publishers and others to leverage the features that Amazon uses to power its own business, and then potentially make money as an Amazon affiliate. For Amazon, not charging for its API access had a clear advantage here of creating a significant online presence in addition to improving brand image. At the same time it might be feasible to suggest that by giving developers a playground to leverage ideas brings additional innovation through an on-going stream of new concepts. Similarly to Amazon, the Google AdWords API program historically allowed developers to use applications that interact directly with its server free of charge. However things have changed and today $0.25 per 1000 API units consumed is charged. By incorporating this fee, Google benefit from an increased revenue stream as they have already covered the costs of running the associated API infrastructure, management, maintenance, support, communication and promotion. Such strategy caused an increasing backlash from developers who accused Google of greed; yet in their defense, incorporating a fee surrounded attempts to increase efficiency and restrict resources. The rationale behind this argument considers the fact that the more API used the more one will pay, enabling all parties, big or small the opportunity to use as little or as much API as required. This in turn ensures the availability of Google’s AdWords API platform. If it is decided upon to go free and open, the business metrics must be identified in addition to how it will fit into the business model and objectives. If monetization is a main goal it is important to note not only how the charges might be implemented or benefited from, but also how the community will view the charge. Offering a free service, then charging for it later, might have a negative community backlash- as witnessed by Google Adwords- despite its likely responsible intentions. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/08/to-be-free-or-not-to-be-free-apis-and-their-charges/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/08/to-be-free-or-not-to-be-free-apis-and-their-charges/ Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:22:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/07/making-a-success-of-partnerships-part-2-of-4-be-front-of-mind/#number-of-comments If your organisation or brand is front of mind, it will be prioritised in terms of focus, commitment and new business. When it comes to partner programs, each party has their own pressures and priorities, so being front of mind will ensure you are offered benefits and opportunities before your competitors. Be front of mind, from a partner’s perspective. To really make the most of a partner program, you need to do things outside the norm. By growing your reach within the partner, you’ll find different areas of resources such as technology support, marketing funds, PR initiatives, speaking opportunities, invitations to round tables. Each opportunity will increase your profile and allow you access to more senior and influential people within the partner organisation. These new relationships will give you an insight into new trends, products or services,  so befriend your Account Manager and get them to introduce you to other stakeholders. These internal teams can add a unique twist to your sales materials, and help reach out to a wider market. Other product divisions will add variety and upsell opportunities, while specific sector teams can help pin-point targeted messaging. At the same time, help your partner organisation to keep your priorities at the front of their mind. Include them on internal and external communications, including big wins, new starters, press releases. Some of the news may not match their specific focus, however will give them an understanding of the full value you offer your customers. Be front of mind, from a partner organisation’s perspective. Keep your eyes peeled for unconventional opportunities. With opportunities available in various departments, partner organisations need to engage with multiple stakeholders within their partners: Sales team: “We’ve got a new tender to respond to, who can support us quickly?” Marketing team: “Let’s start planning for the next quarter, whose products/services shall we promote?” R&D teams: “Our new technologies will excite the market. Which partner will be able to make it even more competitive?” Purchasing teams: “A big order has come in and we need stock quickly, who should we buy from?” Your partner may be certified in one area, so look towards the other areas for new opportunities. For example, your partner may be a certified reseller of desktop software but not server software. By demonstrating the value of your partner program within desktop software, you may be able to form relationships and extend the program into server software. There is a real opportunity to spread your partner organisation’s other marketing messages and sync more teams together. Keep the program fresh and exciting by helping your partners network together. Encourage joint marketing campaigns, which combines their USPs and add variety for you, your partners and their prospects. Overtime, your partners will understand the opportunities of the program and habitually include your marketing messages into their customer communications.  /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/07/making-a-success-of-partnerships-part-2-of-4-be-front-of-mind/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/07/making-a-success-of-partnerships-part-2-of-4-be-front-of-mind/ Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:32:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/06/what-we-do-from-an-account-exec-39-s-perspective/#number-of-comments With university degree results out last week, graduates will be looking for a role which allows them to put theory into practice and build on what they have learnt. To give you a taste of the Metia life, our Marketing Manager asked Karen Gordon to give her the low down from an Account Executive perspective. What is your name and role? Karen Gordon, Account Executive (AE) for the Partner & Developer team at Metia How long does it take you to get to work?  75 minutes, but it doesn’t feel that long as I start my commute by driving to the station. If you were describing your role to some graduates, what would you say you do? I help client’s ideas become a reality. With my team, I listen to what our client wants, and help them achieve it through a variety of communication methods. I work with a variety of teams and together offer our client advice and guidance based on our experience and expertise. How did you get into this role? I was always interested in marketing and I had a placement at Microsoft when at university, which really established my love. I wanted to see the other side of marketing, and thought that an agency role would be the best way to get into it. When I left university, my first job gave me the experience and insight into marketing, but I wanted to be part of the execution of marketing campaigns a bit more. Working for Metia has helped me move to where I want to be, and has given me the opportunity to learn about account management.  What is a typical day as an Account Executive at Metia? When we are pitching for new business, my colleagues all come together to brainstorm ideas. With my interest in communications, I keep an eye of the messaging so that it is in line with the brief. Once we have client approval, I learn everything I can about the client’s branding and messaging guidelines. My account manager and I will brief the other departments who will build and develop the client campaign, and then liaise with the project managers to ensure it is running on schedule. I have frequent conference calls with the client; keeping them in the loop on the status of their campaign and managing their expectations. As an AE, you need excellent planning skills, ability to manage multiple internal and external stakeholders and be prepared to manage clients from various sectors and regions. What new skills have you learnt as an AE at Metia? A great combination of skills including project management, developing my organisational skills (especially as my clients are based in Seattle!), eye for detail (especially for content and design). I’ve starting to learn HTML, which is great fun, and understanding how other teams work and how to work with them. The list goes on including new business skills, such as working with other cultures and mirroring the client’s behaviour, for example changing the format of dates for my American clients. These new skills have given me more responsibility, greater opportunity to work on different projects such as the Azure project and given me a well-rounded experience to marketing. How do you see your career developing at Metia? When I was checking out Metia on LinkedIn, it was obvious that people grow with the company. If you are wanting to start growing your career, Metia gives you the opportunities to move up (and across). And finally, one of the most important questions, where is the best place to go for a drink after work? The Salisbury pub because of its Victorian history, or The Verve because it has a 3 hour happy hour! To be part of the Metia team, check out a range of jobs available from Metia. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/06/what-we-do-from-an-account-exec-39-s-perspective/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/06/what-we-do-from-an-account-exec-39-s-perspective/ Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:44:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/05/making-a-success-from-partnerships-part-1-of-4-understand-your-partner-s-key-aims/#number-of-comments Building strong relationships keeps the world spinning. It can lead to the latest fashion collection being launched at a particular department store, a musical premiering in a distinct city and new technologies launching at annual industry events. These relationships give a competitive edge to both parties, a formalisation of this is seen in various partner programs.  Partner programs are designed to benefit both parties, beyond pure sales. The "partner-organisation" who offer these schemes want to extend the reach of their products and services, while the "channel" consists of participating organisations who want to expand their offering with a reputable brand. Both want to make more money. To make the most of any partner relationship, the first area of success lies with understanding your partner's key aims.    Understanding your partner's key aims, from the partner-organisation perspective:  Your partners are your channel. For technology companies, they consist of distributors, value added resellers (VAR), systems integrators (SI), original equipment manufacturers (OEM), independent software vendor (ISV) and more.  These partners have unique goals, needs and wants.  As a partner-organisation, your value is evident by identifying and offering support in a customised way.  For example, ISV's may have a brilliant grasp on technology but need additional marketing support to extend their reach within the market place. Whereas an OEM may desire insight into future technologies in order to plan and develop new hardware before their competitors.  With a variety of partners within a channel, understanding their unique needs can be challenging. Partner-organisations can help the channel to (amongst other things); understand new technologies through frequent road maps, create trial and usage through events, maintain consistent messaging and branding with marketing materials,  generate business through lead generation opportunities.   Understanding your partner's key aims, from the channel's perspective: Being rewarded for selling comes in many forms; praise, goodwill, marketing materials and funds, plus a greater discount on stock. Understanding your partner-organisation's goals gives focus for your sales team and often comes with useful customer-facing marketing materials too.  This is particularly important when your partner-organisation starts marketing a new product or service. Naturally, they'll want to get the biggest bang for the buck and will encourage the channel to be talking and selling it.  The key for the channel is to understand and align these roadmaps to their own business goals, ensuring maximising benefit for both parties. An example of this can be seen in channel partners of Dell and Microsoft, rolling out campaigns ensuring that the marketing emphasises both the channel's unique selling points and the partner-organisation's key offering.  Getting the most out of a partner programs starts by understanding each other's aims. Once this is in place, a strong relationship will continue to grow.     /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/05/making-a-success-from-partnerships-part-1-of-4-understand-your-partner-s-key-aims/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/05/making-a-success-from-partnerships-part-1-of-4-understand-your-partner-s-key-aims/ Tue, 31 May 2011 13:20:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/05/how-early-partnerships-created-a-feat-of-engineering-numerous-innovations-and-a-reduced-timeline/#number-of-comments Last month I took a trip to the US, that included visiting 3 states in as many days and a technology conference in Las Vegas (more on that in another post…) As part of this trip we took a fabulous Mustang convertible a fair distance, stopping at a variety of fascinating places along the way, including the Hoover Dam.   During a tour of the Power Plant I learnt a lot about the amazing engineering feats that took place for the Dam to be built and the innovative things that happen during the 5 years it took to build the Dam. Did you know hard hats were first given to protect workers building the Dam from falling rocks for example!? What does this have to do with Partnering I hear you ask, well a couple of things actually, let me explain… Seven States (California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming) fall within the Colorado River’s basin, and despite concerns that this would cause endless litigation, in 1922 they signed an interstate ‘Colorado River Compact’, this was the first time that more than two States had signed such an agreement.  Despite this agreement it still took a further 6 years for the President to authorise the building of the Dam – mostly due to feasibility and safety concerns. Once the type of the Dam had been decided (arch-gravity dam designed by John L. Savage) the bid documents were made available in January 1931 at $5 a copy.  This covered preparing the site and building the dam (the Government was to provide the materials).  Three bids were made for the project, the successful one (being the cheapest at just shy of $49M) was made by Six Companies Inc.   This was a joint venture made up of companies from neighbouring States, including one that employed the Nation’s leading Dam builder, Frank Crowe.  Six Companies Inc consisted of: Utah Construction Company, Morris-Knudsen, Pacific Bridge Company, Kaiser & Bechtel, MacDonald & Kahn Ltd and the J. F. Shea Company.  See below for who did what: Although they had 7 years to complete the dam at the Black Canyon site, it was completed two years ahead of schedule, now services all 7 States, and created a hub of activity, employment and hope, as well as creating a new community – Boulder City during the Great Depression.   So with the right partners and the right cooperation, great things can be achieved. So with the right partners and the right cooperation, great things can be achieved.     /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/05/how-early-partnerships-created-a-feat-of-engineering-numerous-innovations-and-a-reduced-timeline/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/05/how-early-partnerships-created-a-feat-of-engineering-numerous-innovations-and-a-reduced-timeline/ Tue, 10 May 2011 12:27:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/03/who-said-direct-marketing-is-dead/#number-of-comments I have read a few things in the press and various online marketing forums lately questioning the value of direct marketing.  We recently completed an integrated campaign that had a strong direct mail piece that got fab results, so I asked the project lead, Umesh Patel, to tell us a little about it in his own words: Fresh cupcakes, 3D glasses and a tour of London – not a normal day in the office, but then again, neither was the client brief. We were asked to come up with some fun and funky ways to help attract and engage the web agency industry to learn more about the latest cloud computing technologies available.   The campaign consisted of a variety of online and offline marketing activities, with the latter still justifying its presence in the modern e-driven world.  We targeted Business and IT decision makers within web agencies with specific messaging to help push the commercial benefits of our clients cloud computing technology via an integrated Email, LinkedIn and Direct Mail campaign. All communication pushed recipients to a dedicated landing page to learn more about their cloud computing platform. Creative was based on a ‘come in were open’ 60’s US-Diner theme  – helping to further back up the high level of service they would receive from their cloud computing account.   The direct mail campaign consisted of a 3D poster, 3D glasses and a personalized letter explaining the benefits of Windows Azure.  This was sent out to a total of 1,500 agencies across the UK – generating 545 unique clicks to the landing page (35% CTR!) and a further 103 end actions once they arrived on our landing page.  A separate direct mail piece was hand delivered to the top 50 web agencies in London – these also contained the 3D poster, 3D glassed and personalized letter but also included freshly baked and branded cupcakes – hand delivered to their doorstep by one of our lovely metians to ensure the cupcakes arrived (1) uneaten (2) in pristine condition and (3) with a smile. London traffic and chirpy taxi drivers ensured we got all the cupcakes delivered to the participants on the same day – with some recipients tweeting their thanks within the hour! This level of personalization and high targeting provided great results – creating a total of 23 end actions after the web agencies visited our landing page.  All activities were later followed up with a telemarketing campaign to drive further sign-ups.  Overall, the campaign achieved over 1,000 end user actions once they visited the landing page – with 66 clicks to sign up for our clients cloud computing platform. The campaign helped to prove that in a world of websites, emails and social media – direct mail still has a place in a well-rounded campaign. Fresh cupcakes, 3D glasses and a tour of London – not a normal day in the office, but then again, neither was the client brief. We were asked to come up with some fun and funky ways to help attract and engage the web agency industry to learn more about the latest cloud computing technologies available.  The campaign consisted of a variety of online and offline marketing activities, with the latter still justifying its presence in the modern e-driven world.  /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/03/who-said-direct-marketing-is-dead/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/03/who-said-direct-marketing-is-dead/ Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:12:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-digital-media-campaign-drives-success-for-microsoft-s-bizspark-program/#number-of-comments By Ross Barich When Microsoft wanted to engage the US software startup community through its BizSpark program, it hired Metia to devise and implement an integrated digital media campaign. I quickly realized an effective campaign would include outreach via multiple avenues including social media channels, startup-focused websites, and in-person events.   As a former small business owner I embraced this opportunity as I understand and appreciate the needs of businesses in early stages of development.   We began by executing a marketing campaign on the professional networking website Linkedin, wherein we targeted US technology entrepreneurs whose companies matched the criteria for Bizspark membership. Through web banners and Linkedin InMail, we reached out to these contacts and drew new registrants to the program. On the social media news and web tips site Mashable, we hosted the ‘Spark of Genius’ series, which included a Bizspark landing page, and sponsored banners & daily news posts across the website. To further engage US entrepreneurs, we established a sponsorship presence within online startup communities Silicon Alley Insider, vator.tv, and thefunded.com, where we created Bizspark landing pages & web banners and sponsored articles & posts. We also sent emails to subscribers of thefunded.com inviting them to register into the program. The BizSpark team reached new audiences and generated more interest in the program by engaging potential members in-person with branded event sponsorships at the Web 2.0 conference and at music, film, & interactive festival South by Southwest. We supported this engagement by creating flyers and branded swag for the team at the BizSpark booth to distribute to attendees. This multifaceted campaign led BizSpark to achieve a total of 5,133 enrollments in the program’s first year, which was 112% of its goal. The success of this campaign established that the US entrepreneur community values Microsoft’s offerings and that BizSpark resources are vital to the needs of software startups.  /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-digital-media-campaign-drives-success-for-microsoft-s-bizspark-program/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-digital-media-campaign-drives-success-for-microsoft-s-bizspark-program/ Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:01:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-msdev-com/#number-of-comments By Chris Belmore There is a lot of debate about the role of agencies in social media: should they help set up the strategy, consult on a more regular basis, or manage and execute everything? Some commentators are pretty adamant that agencies shouldn’t handle the day-to-day social media stuff.  Sweeping statements like this strike me as overly simplistic. As we’re finding out, each case is different. For some clients we produce all of the content and manage the daily outlets.  For others, we help them set up an action plan, but don’t pretend that we know their audience or their content better than them. The trick is to work with a client to decide what strategy is best for them.  Some questions that spring to mind: Do they realistically have enough time to commit to manning the social media outlets? Do they have enough money to pay an agency to do a good enough job? Does the agency manage any/all other communications for this client? Does the agency have enough knowledge about the subject matter? And agencies shouldn’t fall into the trap of reeling off a list of ‘good ideas’ and expecting the client to pick the strategy, that’s not what your client is looking for. One project we’ve worked on for nearly 5 years is msdev.com, a site giving free training, resources, and support to anyone interested in developing on Microsoft products. Social media was such an obvious fit for this website, and although we were very familiar with the site and content given our years working on the project, we’re by no means the experts – they are the producers. We therefore recommended that the clients run the Twitter and Facebook accounts instead of outsourcing, and that they are very up front about the fact that several people manage them. We also helped set up a framework covering things such as the types of content, regularity of output, and deadlines for responses, to ensure consistency across all outputs. It’s going really well: two thirds of all msdev posts on Facebook provoke a response from one or more people. Suffice to say the client is chuffed with how it’s performing. Important to remember that they’re the ones doing the day-to-day work, and having great content is what matters. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-msdev-com/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-msdev-com/ Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:48:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-microsoft-and-novell-unlikely-alliances/#number-of-comments By Matthew Pritchard @MattLPritch Apart from promising to be less grumpy etc., the start of the New Year is time to reflect, I’ve been working with the Microsoft and Novell Interoperability Alliance for 3 years now.  Having been their go-to global vendor for 3 years managing numerous projects including over 75 events in 16 countries and counting, these events have allowed the Microsoft and Novell sales teams to build awareness and sell its numerous offerings to thousands of people. Working across EMEA has had its challenges which we have worked to but at the same time it has allowed me to tick off numerous countries from the list to visit so it is difficult to complain.  The alliance has grown over the past 3 years and we have continued to grow alongside it, from producing standalone events in “glamorous” hotel meeting rooms around Europe to now being major sponsors at EMEA wide events speaking to 100s of interested delegates. Along the way we ventured into other realms of the marketing world over the course of the 3 years, during this time we have created some really interesting demand generation campaigns representing the alliance’s key offerings and have shown some great results.  All in all the alliance has continued to grow worldwide and continues to do so focusing on offering support for cross-platform virtualization within heterogeneous server environments. We can’t wait to continue our budding relationship with the Microsoft and Novell Alliance for years to come as they continue to thrive @ www.moreinterop.com with the planning process still on-going we look forward to what 2011 will bring. /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-microsoft-and-novell-unlikely-alliances/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-microsoft-and-novell-unlikely-alliances/ Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:43:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-spotlight/#number-of-comments By Andrew Lane I’m always saying to my wife ‘I can’t remember everything you say to me, I wouldn’t have any room left in my brain’!  I’m sure everything I need to remember to do, pick up, drop off, fix etc. is in there but (like all men) I often miss that vital detail which would make my life much simpler…. For most businesses, the same is true of their customers – extensive, wide-ranging and almost certainly detailed feedback is coming in 24/7.  All collected in huge Excel docs (other spreadsheets are available) and stored away.  Thousands of lines of direct feedback on how customers and partners think the business can help them which is never fed into planning cycles for sales staff, marketing campaigns, or other customer touch points - too labour intensive to read line by line and analyse. Microsoft is no different to these businesses – they collect this ‘verbatim comment’ data from events, customer service lines, surveys and other channels 100’s of times a year…..then hide it in the dark when it could help make marketing spend much more effective.  Metia was approached to see if it could help alleviate this issue at a time when the customer and partner experience team were running numerous manual data mining exercises.  The workload was becoming unmanageable. ‘Spotlight’ was born, a Windows desktop application allowing any user to load verbatim comments and see the most frequent keywords, their connections to other keywords, search for specific keywords in the verbatim comments plus, produce reports visually representing the sentiment of the comments.  SQL Server analyses every word, removes ‘noise’ words (and, the, be etc.) and produces a list of the keywords in frequency order in a ready prepared Excel file.  Users can then use the SQL data mining add-in to create standard visual reports.  A simple tool allows the user to select keywords of importance to them and with one click create a custom report showing all those comments containing those keywords. The impact?  Any business, within any country (a number of other languages are supported) can now dust off those verbatim comment files, run a report and instantly see where they should effectively spend marketing funds, allocate resources or change processes.  If only I could get my wife to write everything she says in an Excel file... /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-spotlight/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-spotlight/ Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:37:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-partying-with-developers-at-the-professional-developers-conference-pdc/#number-of-comments By Umesh Patel What happens when you add a load of developers, partners, geeks and the latest Microsoft technologies under one roof? You get to see the future of Developer Technology. Metia worked closely with the msdev.com team to help them interact with Solution and Developer Partners during PDC10 – throughout the conference and via online channels. We helped the team to engage with their core audience by having a msdev.com sponsored booth (introducing a new modern and polished Gumby for 2010!) To help drive booth attendees, we created an online interactive game driven by Twitter, U-Steam and Qik asking partners to perform a number of tasks before, during and after the event to win loads of cool prize giveaways. People who couldn’t attend the event could view the booth via online streaming and constant updates across numerous social media channels. As part of the prizes and giveaways, we also handed out Interactive T-Shirts encouraging developers to read out their “missing blanks” and upload footage to Qik. We even sponsored a Slushie machine to help keep everyone cool and buzzed for the PDC After Party attended by the LA Laker Girls! Party-goers got the chance to get their very own msdev.com tribal tattoo to help remember the night the next morning! All in all, the event was a great success and the msdev.com team got to meet, chill and party with a whole bunch of Solution and Developer Partners exchanging ideas and learning how both groups can work together to produce some amazing pieces of work! See pictures of all the fun! /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-partying-with-developers-at-the-professional-developers-conference-pdc/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-partying-with-developers-at-the-professional-developers-conference-pdc/ Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:28:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-greenlight/#number-of-comments By Chris Belmore I’m sure you’ve heard about the boatloads of marketing dollars companies chuck at the launch of new operating systems. It’s equally important to get the support of the application development community. If their applications don’t work on your shiny new OS, it doesn’t matter how many gag-inducing marketing ploys you churn out: your end-users won’t be upgrading. As Microsoft prepared to launch Windows 7 after the Vista episode, they needed plenty of working apps already in the market to support the new OS. To help devs get their apps compatible ahead of launch, Microsoft worked with Metia to pilot a new app compatibility program, codenamed ‘Greenlight’. Amazing how tough it is to come up with a catchy program name that translates well the world over. The program went live in June 2009, giving developers free tech and marketing support to help get their apps to market. The aim was to get 2,000 companies with at least one compatible app by June 2010. The program website was launch in Global English, and within two months foreign-language websites were being rolled out through the website’s custom-built CMS. By May 2010, 25 localised sites in 14 languages were up and running. A multi-touch, multi-lingual, targeted marketing campaign drove users to their local website. The campaign ran throughout the year, and consisted of targeted emails, web banner placements, magazine ads, and event support and collateral. A custom-built transactional email system pointed registrants to relevant support depending on their development stage. All in all, the program was a big success: by June 2010, Windows 7 targets had long been exceeded, and several new products had been added to the mix. The program was given a makeover in July, and is currently live at www.microsoftplatformready.com.  /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-greenlight/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/project-overview-greenlight/ Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:23:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/interesting-christmas-viewing-no-3-fab-ads/#number-of-comments Just a few of the ads that have caught mine (and some fellow Metian’s) attention over the Christmas period: 1. Nice Christmas ones with feel good music: John Lewis ‘Your Song’ – Feel good Christmas ad. Argos ‘White Chritmas’ – Argos keeping it real! Stella Artois ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ – French twist on a British classic. 2. Interesting use of celebs: M&S Christmas ad – Mark & Spencers moving away from the tradition of solely using models in their ads and included Peter Kay in their Christmas ad.  Trying to appeal to a wider audience perhaps. EA Active for Xbox Kinect – If it’s good enough for David Beckham it must be good enough for anyone trying to get/keep fit! 3. Makes You Smile: T-Mobile Welcome Back – filming of a live event at Heathrow T5 turned into an ad, makes you smile every time. Thinkbox – the power of tv advertising with an ad for Harvey, the dog every home needs!  Attention grabbing and amusing. 4. Brand Values: Virgin Atlantic – Virgin keeping up the string of recent fab ads (loved the 50’s one too, could be my love of Mad Men that influenced that) with one that glamourises their staff and then ensures we know they are real people.     /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/interesting-christmas-viewing-no-3-fab-ads/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/interesting-christmas-viewing-no-3-fab-ads/ Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:11:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/interesting-christmas-viewing-no-2-the-ashes/#number-of-comments I have been loving the late nights listening to Test Match Special over the Christmas period, also helped that we were doing rather well :-)  On Boxing Day I actually settled down to watch us (England) up our first innings total and noticed the Jaguar sponsorship of the Sky Sports coverage.  It reminded me of something I learnt at University – Rugby World Cup ad breaks were one of the most expensive TV ads you could buy because not only is it watched by a lot of people, it’s also watched by a lot of people who are notoriously hard to target with tv ads (middle class, slightly older males).  I wondered if the Ashes sponsorship had a similar appeal.. the Jaguar sponsorship seemed to fit that.  Would be interested to know how much that set them back and how they justified the spend in the current economic climate. Patricia Muckle, marketing director at Jaguar, said: "Jaguar, like English cricket, has been transformed in recent times, so the timing and fit is perfect. We are confident that Jaguar’s involvement will give Sky viewers an insight into Jaguar’s new range." * Details of the deal, brokered by WPP agency Mindshare: It’s wider than just the ashes and is a 3 year deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board, covering Test matches, One-Day Internationals and Twenty-20 games It's the first time Jaguar have been involved in sports advertising of this size It ties in with the other things Jaguar are doing: official vehicle supplier to the England cricket team  official website supplier of the England Cricket team Jaguar Academy of Sport  I also noticed an announcement that Npower had sponsored the ITV coverage… hmm, not entirely backing my theory. I assume this additional sponsorship was organised by a different brand as the ITV viewers are considered less hard-core than those who are viewing the Sky coverage. * Taken from http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1019170/Jaguar-sponsor-England-cricket-Sky-Sports/     /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/interesting-christmas-viewing-no-2-the-ashes/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/interesting-christmas-viewing-no-2-the-ashes/ Sun, 02 Jan 2011 18:51:00 +0100 Lizzie Donnachie /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/interesting-christmas-viewing-no-1-clever-advertising-from-windows-phone-7-and-bing/#number-of-comments   Windows Phone 7 and Bing did a takeover of a series of ad breaks on channel 4 before Christmas.  I read about this before it happened and thought it was an interesting thing to try, the description didn't really do it justice though and comments around the office wondered what people would think - is it too much etc.  To be honest I didn't remember to watch it specifically, I just happened to be checking out how Gordon Ramsay made the perfect Christmas dinner and noticed the ads!   It’s quite a clever idea – tell the story of having to sort a number of things ready for Christmas, start the ad break with a Windows Phone 7 ad, cut to each new ad by showing someone typing the brand/product name into a Bing search screen on a WP7 and then play the standard ad.  I liked it.  I thought it was nicely done and the WP7 piece was frequent and prominent without being repetitive or annoying. Paul Davies, Director of Marketing Communications at Microsoft said: “This break innovation is a unique platform to help us to communicate to our audience in a way that will cut through during the busy Christmas period.  We developed the concept by showing two of our most cutting edge products — Bing and Windows Phone — working seamlessly in tandem, within a story-telling construct that hasn't been done before.” Wonder if anyone else will do anything similar. * Taken from http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1047234/Microsoft-C4-partner-TV-ad-break-innovation/   Windows Phone 7 and Bing did a takeover of a series of ad breaks on channel 4 before Christmas.  I read about this before it happened and thought it was an interesting thing to try, the description didn't really do it justice though and comments around the office wondered what people would think - is it too much etc.  To be honest I didn't remember to watch it specifically, I just happened to be checking out how Gordon Ramsay made the perfect Christmas dinner and noticed the ads!   It’s quite a clever idea – tell the story of having to sort a number of things ready for Christmas, start the ad break with a Windows Phone 7 ad, cut to each new ad by showing someone typing the brand/product name into a Bing search screen on a WP7 and then play the standard ad.  I liked it.  I thought it was nicely done and the WP7 piece was frequent and prominent without being repetitive or annoying. Paul Davies, Director of Marketing Communications at Microsoft said: “This break innovation is a unique platform to help us to communicate to our audience in a way that will cut through during the busy Christmas period.  We developed the concept by showing two of our most cutting edge products — Bing and Windows Phone — working seamlessly in tandem, within a story-telling construct that hasn't been done before.” * Wonder if anyone else will do anything similar. * Taken from http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1047234/Microsoft-C4-partner-TV-ad-break-innovation/     /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/interesting-christmas-viewing-no-1-clever-advertising-from-windows-phone-7-and-bing/ /london/lizzie-donnachie/2011/01/interesting-christmas-viewing-no-1-clever-advertising-from-windows-phone-7-and-bing/ Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:47:00 +0100