Marketing ourselves and our business

Top 10 Marketing Moments (Courtesy of Marketing Magazine)

Marketing Magazine, a great resource for marketers has listed their top 10 marketing moments on 2013. The short-list is as follows:

Netflix turns heads with House of Cards release

The return of AG Lafley

Death of the mobile brand

Andy Murray's Wimbledon victory

Coke gets personal

BT vs Sky

Tesco quits US as profits fall for first time in decades

Facebook and Twitter square up to sexism

Royal-baby mania

The Oreo Super Bowl tweet

The stand out one for me in Coca-Cola's personalised bottles. A lover of all things with a personal touch, I really enjoyed this marketing/PR stunt and as I have a fairly uncommon name, I could never find mine, which made me search twice as hard! It was amusing to go into supermarkets and finding the shelves in a huge mess as someone has had to choose the bottle at the back because it had their name on! A way to tell more bottles? Without a doubt!

Tips from the top

Another really interesting feature in the magazine is some top tips for building your career in business. These are as follows:

Be yourself

Be brave

Plan your ambition

Build relationships

Take positive action

Never stop learning

Personal resilience

This is great advice and we should always take these into consideration when it comes to work. Being proactive and positive will go a long way and teamed with the ambition to learn, you will go far!

empty13

On Tuesday, Bite held their third empty13 event at the IAB in London. It was my first event with the company and we did a lot of preparation for the day. It was all hands on deck, but we had a fantastic show of unity from Biters and the event was a great success. We had speakers from the Guardian, Telefonica Digital, Facebook and Mondelez, as well as a BAFTA award-winning playwright. Each one ran through their views on content and how brands and people can learn about bettering their content delivery. Tony Marchant was a stand out speaker. He showed us scenes from two of his TV dramas - The Mark of Cain and Garrow's Law. Each one aimed to show us the importance of character development and how "an audience needs to stay with you to go beyond the headline". He really had an effect on the audience and many commented on his talk being an eye opener. 

As it was my first event with Bite, I am extremely proud of the morning. Take a look at our website and Twitter feed for more information.

We have our Point of View that is being launched soon- To find out more, use the hashtag #stopthecontentpollution

Monkeys in space

I've almost been at Bite two months now, and this week has been all about event planning. We have an empty13 event next week, focussing on content. The preparation has slightly stressed me out, but I am looking forward to the day and seeing everything come together

The evolution of 3D printing

This weekend, I went to the Science Museum. I am quite fascinated with space, so their exhibition on planets, astronauts and the moon was my favourite part. We watched a simulation video of the Moon landing in a 4D cinema, so as well as wearing the glasses, there were effects on our chairs and bubbles blown into the air. There were a lot of children in the screening, so I guess it's more aimed at the younger generation, but I really enjoyed it!

There was also a wall of things made by 3D printing, and this phenomenon was unknown to me before i joined Bite, now the concept amazes me. Have a look at this article from Marketing Magazine all about the new crazes impact on Marketing
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1221964/does-evolution-3d-printing-mean-marketing

Animals!

On Thursday evening, I watched a programme on BBC called Animal Odd Couples. It was about different species of animals striking up unlikely friendships. It was so heart-warming and very funny. Two pairings that really struck me were a Great Dane and a Dear. The dog, having no litter of her own, took on the baby fawn and brought it up for six months, before it fled into the wild. However every year, the dear comes back to the garden where the dog lives, gives birth to it's fawns and plays and cuddles up to her doggy friend. It was amazing to see them playing with each other, and showing genuine affection. 

The other unusual friendship came in the form of an orang-outang and a dog. This part of the programme explored the unusual idea of animals having pets. The orang-outang fed the dog biscuits, and swam with her. It was just mind-boggling! This shows an amazing bond that animals have, and going against nature shows that there are exceptions to the rule. 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03jp47m/Animal_Odd_Couples_Episode_1/

Autumn finds winter

Remembrance 

On my way home on Sunday, I took a photo of a huge poppy at Kings Cross Station. The poppy is a big part of our heritage and a symbol that everyone recognises. I think that it was great to see this and shows that we will always remember those who have lost their lives in battle. 

Eerie tube time

James Cooke of The Kernal reviewed his experience of a tour around the abandoned Aldwych tube station. Some of the pictures were great as you really catch a glimpse of forgotten history, although there were a lot of tourists in the pictures, so you couldn't completely feel the sense of abandonment! It has been used in films such as Atonement, as well as the entrance to the station being hired out for parties and photo shoots. I love the fact that this eerie space has been left and forgotten, although the rest of the tube network is always brimming with people and noise. Although James felt the tour wasn't hugely insightful (he got most of his information from Google), it was interesting to see his little chunk of old London deep below our bustling streets. 

Read the full article here http://www.kernelmag.com/features/report/6737/we-went-to-a-haunted-tube-station/#

It's raining Cadburys

This is a new advert for the 'unwrap joy' campaign by Cadbury. Made by Fallon, that ad sees children unwrapping their houses and playing in the purple haze, and it looking like it is raining purple wrapping paper. Fun, on brand and just in time for Christmas 

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1220424/Cadbury-joins-Christmas-fray/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

The Christmas advert clash begins!

The Christmas adverts are back! Every year we anticipate (or not) these brilliant ads and each year the competition gets tougher. Here are some of the best I've seen this week

John Lewis

This video has a Winnie-the-Pooh vibe and will really attract the pester power of children. It's warming, cute and has a lovely story behind it. It's also different to their previous Christmas ads which is really refreshing.

Tesco

This ad has nostalgia written all over it. It takes the family aspect of Christmas, which resonates with us all and really gives a personal feel. 

Morrisons

This Christmas ad uses celebrity endorsement from household names Ant and Dec and although it is cheesy, it gets you into the Christmas spirit.

Having said that, Sainsbury's tops them all! The campaign, entitled ‘Christmas in a day’ is an hour length feature film for You-Tube, made up of home videos from over the Christmas period. Made my AMV and directed by Oscar award winning director Kevin MacDonald, the video uses 360 hours of footage sent in by Sainsbury’s consumers and the result is an amazing piece of film. The video has been shortened to a three minute feature for TV.

The video contains no product advertising, but aims to grab the viewer’s attention by showing that Sainsbury’s understands Christmas better than anyone else. It’s full of funny and quirky things that most can associate with at Christmas time, as well as some really emotional bits (I cried twice!). It’s a fantastic way of connecting with the audience by pulling on their heartstrings, and is incredibly engaging.