Peter Kerwood on the Event marketing challenge

Back to the future: The Post Office Tower restaurant 1966

Peter Kerwood — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:21:00 GMT

I thought the article BT Tower to host pop-up version of ACC Liverpool by David Quainton in yesterdays AM bulletin was very interesting. The ACC Liverpool, which includes the BT Convention Centre and Echo Arena, will create a pop up venue for one day only on the 8^th December within the revolving observation platform of the BT Tower. What an inspired idea and the perfect location for a pop-up venue.

I remember my parents telling me about the revolving restaurant at the top of what was then the Post Office Tower. Maybe it’s because the 188 metre tower has always been a part of how I see the London skyline but I often catch a glimpse of it and think how amazing it must have been to have dinner there on the 36^th floor with its 360 degree views.

The restaurant opened in 1966 as topothetower and was managed by Butlins (more famous for their holiday camps) which was then part of the Rank Organisation. It remained in operation until the Butlins lease expired in 1980.

I’ve come across a menu booklet from the late 1960’s. Some of the artwork, especially the cross section of the restaurant and kitchens is so retro it’s practically contemporary. It certainly offers a wonderful window into a world that at the time must have seemed like the future. I've added some of the pages from the booklet below or you can download a PDF of the full booklet here.

There are plans to open the restaurant again, read the article by Nick Henderson on the Conference & Incentive Travel web site about how the BT Tower is set to reopen revolving restaurant, and when it does I’ll be first in the queue. If anyone from ACC Liverpool wants to invite me to their event on the 8^th December I’ll clear my diary!

Also read Chantelle Thorleys article BT Tower lights up London in countdown to Olympics.

What the hell is social media?

Peter Kerwood — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:26:00 GMT

Last week Jeremy King and I discussed the untapped potential of social media at The Guide Live Winter 2009 seminar social media playtime is over it's time to get serious. During this seminar we showed a video created especially for The Guide Live.

Lasting just under 4 ½ minutes the video has been designed to be the ideal introduction to social media and pulls together some of the latest social media statistics presented in a compelling, clear and engaging way.

The video will be updated every few months with the latest statistics so that it remains as up to date as possible. All updates will be posted on eventmagazine.co.uk and on this dedicated YouTube channel

The script used for this video is listed in full below. If you would like a Word version of this script and a downloadable copy of the video please feel free to contact me.

WHAT THE HELL IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Social media is “an umbrella term that deﬁnes the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos, and audio.”

More simply it just describes the millions of conversations people are having with each other across the world 24/7

Why the HELL should I care? Here are 10 really, really good reasons why…

REASON #1
Because social media is now the number one online activity beating porn and personal email to the top spot.
(Nielsen Wire)

REASON #2
Because 2/3 of the global internet population visit social networks.
(Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places)

REASON #3
Because time spent on social networks is growing at 3x the overall internet rate, accounting for 10% of all internet time.
(Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places)

REASON #4
Because online including social media has become the most influential source in helping consumer make purchasing decisions.
(Weber Shandwick Inline Research)

REASON #5
Because social media is like word of mouth on steroids.

REASON #6
Because social media is democratizing communications. Big time.

“Technology is shifting the power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are in control.”
(Rupert Murdoch, Global Media Entrepreneur)

REASON #7
Because millions of people are creating content for the social web.
Your competitors are already there.
Your customers have been there for a long time.
If your business isn't putting itself out there it ought to be.
(Business Week, February 19, 2009)

REASON #8
The next 3 billion consumers will access the internet from a mobile device.
(Google)

Already 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices.
People update anytime, anywhere.
Imagine what that means for bad customer experiences!
(Mashable.com)

REASON #9
In almost all cases social media is free. All it will cost you is time.

REASON #10
Because social media is hell of a force to be reckoned with.

Years to reach 50 million users:
Radio – 38 years
TV – 13 years
Internet – 4 years
iPod – 3 years
Facebook added 175 million users between in less than 11 months

The phenomenal growth of Facebook:
January 2009: 150 million users
April 2009: 200 million users
July 2009: 250 million users
September 2009: 300 million users
Friday, November 6th, 2009: 325 million users
That’s half a million users every single day
(Mashable.com)

If Facebook were a country it would be bigger than the USA
and the 3^rd largest in the World

1.                         China
2.                         India
3.                         Facebook
4.                         United States
5.                         Indonesia
6.                         Brazil
7.                         Pakistan
8.                         Bangladesh
9.                         Russia
10.                      Nigeria

13 hours: the amount of video uploaded to YouTube every minute.

412.3 years: the length of time it would take to view every YouTube video.

1 billion: the number of YouTube videos viewed per day.

3.06 billion: The number of photos archived on Flickr.com as of June 2009.
That’s roughly 1 photo per every 2 people on the planet.

1382%: The year on year growth rate of Twitter users from February 2008 to February 2009.

3,000,000: the average number of Tweets sent per day on twitter.com

5.4 billion: The number of twitter messages sent since launch.

5 billion: The number of minutes spent on Facebook each day.

1 billion: The amount of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week on Facebook.

Social media is not another channel for broadcasting bullsh*t.

You see, it’s supposed to be a dialogue, not a monologue.

One way marketing has had its day!

Stop thinking “campaigns”. Start thinking “conversations”. Listening first, selling second

Unfortunately, most companies are still treating social media like just another marketing channel
when in fact, it’s so much more…

1: public relations
2: customer service
3: loyalty-building
4: collaboration
5: networking
6: thought-leadership And yes, customer acquisition, too.

If your product sucks, social media won’t fix it.
However, if your customer service sucks, social media can help.
If your repeat business sucks, social media can help.
If your company’s word of mouth sucks, social media can help.

Social media playtime is over – its time to get serious!

Never forget the basic rules...
Rule #1: listen - Google alerts and Tweetdeck (for starters)
Rule #2: engage
Rule #3: measure - audience, engagement , loyalty, inﬂuence (metrics should map to goals)

Now go out there and get social! Because this is only the beginning.

This video was inspired by the genius work of…

Marta Kagan author of WHAT THE F**K IS SOCIAL MEDIA
Managing Director of Espresso based in Boston
Read Martas excellent blog
Follow Marta on Twitter

Erik Qualman author of SOCIAL MEDIA REVOLUTION
Read Eriks blog
Buy Eriks brilliant book: Socialnomics
Follow Erik on Twitter

Using social publishing (blogging) to grow your business

Sarah Bell — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:19:00 GMT

According to an in-depth study of 900 marketers by social media marketing expert Michael A. Stelzner as explained in the blog post How marketers are using social media to grow their business the four top social media tools are : Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook in that order.

This post is all about blogging and has been written with the help of Lord Jason Scott whose prolific blogs for Event Magazine always make me laugh. Read his latest blog post here

Blogging drives traffic to your website
Blogging raises the profile, increases the visibility and builds the reputation of you and your company. Many people I have spoken to who use social networking tools for marketing tell me that blogs and twitter is driving more traffic to their business websites than Google. For me that’s enough of an incentive to get blogging.

Before you begin to blog read this
Blogging, whether it’s for you personally or for your business, is not something that should be undertaken without careful consideration. What you write says as much about your personal brand as it does for your businesses reputation and is going to be read by peers and potential clients most people forget that almost everything posted the internet has the potential to be online forever.

Getting started costs nothing but time
Creating a blog costs nothing but time. I’ve listed below three of the most popular social publishing sites. They are all simple to use and cost zilch.
Wordpress
Movable Type
Blogger

10 tips to help you write compelling and effective blog posts

1.) Usefulness and uniqueness
The two basic elements of good blog content are usefulness and uniqueness nothing else matters.

2) Stay on topic
Opinions are generally accepted but the content of the items in the blog should all relate to a general theme. Unless you have an uncanny knack for wit, humor or cynicism, the majority of your readers will be interested in the content that relates to a specific defined theme or loosely defined area of interest. Define a topic and stick to it. This will ensure that you create a loyal following of interested readers.

3) Be informative but check your facts
If you are attempting to create the impression that you are knowledgeable about a specific industry, sector or specialist field, be sure that you stay current on news. If you are endorsing a product or voicing an opinion, be sure to check your facts; your reputation is at stake. If you are offering an opinion, be sure to qualify your post, making it clear that the content is intended as an editorial.

4) Old news is not news
While blogging every day is not necessary, it is important that the information presented when you do blog is current and accurate. Writing a post about something that happened 6 months ago will not be of interest to many and will make people question the value of your posts.

5) Adhere to a schedule
Create a schedule and stick to it. Realize that blogging requires time and effort, don't create unrealistic demands on yourself. An occasional lapse or holiday is generally understood but readers returning to find stale, out-dated content are going to find another blog with similar content. New blogs are popping up on a daily basis. If you have worked hard to develop an audience and a community you don't want to lose them due to lack of communication. Little and often is a good rule to follow.

6) Clarity and simplicity
Keep your posts and blog entries clear and easy to understand. Remember, the web is global and expressions, idioms and acronyms don't always translate. Sometimes a little explanation goes a long way.

7) Keyword-rich and don’t forget to tag
If the goal of your blog is to increase your visibility, include related keywords in the title of the blog. Use the title as a headline to attract interest. The title should be no longer than 10-12 words. Make sure you tag your blog post which will help people find it when searching.

8) Develop content and substance
In order to attract the attention of search engines; you will need to develop content and substance. A headline or simple sentence is not going to generate the interest of readers or help with search engine ranking. Be sure to archive old blog posts to develop a large portal of similarly-themed content.

9) Size doesn’t matter but make it visually compelling
Writing long blog posts is perfectly okay as long as it follows all the above rules but small and beautifully formed paragraph is just as good as a 1000 word essay. You must make it look good on screen so spend time formatting text and an adding images, illustrations and or video footage to make it look visually compelling.

10) Spell checking and proof-reading
It only takes a few extra moments and can save you lots of embarrassment. Remember that whatever you publish on the Internet can be found and archived. Think carefully about what you post before doing so. Remember it is as much about your personal brand as well as your businesses reputation.

Blogs I really like:

Event Magazine (this link takes you to the blog section)
Mike Fletcher (event industry comment)
Ian Irving (personal blog from the commercial director of Sledge)
Mashable (everything you could possibly want to know about social media)
Semantic web design (my favorite web designer)
Urban Junkies (music, food, drink and cool stuff)
Creative Review (design reference)
Wired Magazine UK (cool futuristic stuff)
Paul Carr and Milo Yiannopoulos (very witty digital journalists)

Julius Solaris (creator of eventmanagerblog.com and social media expert)

Web Strategy by Jeremiah (Jeremiah Owyang from Silicon Valley)

Event Secrects (event management hints, tips and ideas)

How marketers are using social media to grow their business

Sarah Bell — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:03:00 GMT

The blog post Joining the social media conversation - connect, communicate, co-operate and collaborate outlines the many different uses of social media to build mutually beneficial relationships, reach professional and personal goals and ACTUALLY do business.

I’ve spent many long hours researching how others use social media to grow their business. By far the most helpful report I have read on this subject is by social media marketing expert Michael A. Stelzner who has conducted an in-depth study of 900 US marketers and provides valuable ‘who, what, where, why and when’ insight from people who are generating exposure, opportunities and sales from social media marketing.

Below is just a snapshot of what is in this report you can download the complete 26 page white paper here

Key findings of the report

Marketers are mostly new to social media: A significant 88% of marketers surveyed are using social media to market their businesses, BUT a staggering 72% have only been doing so for a few months or less.

The top social media tools: Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook were the top four social media tools used by marketers, in that order.

How much time do you need to invest: A significant 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week and 39% for 10 or more hours weekly. 9.6% spend more than 20 hours a week.

The top benefit of social media marketing: The number one advantage is generating exposure for the business, indicated 81% of all marketers, followed by increasing traffic and building new business partnerships

Social medial marketing does close business: 61.62% of marketers who have been using social media marketing for some time report it has helped them close business.

Social medial does generate qualified leads: After only a few months and with as few as 6 hours a week, more than 50% of marketers have generated qualified leads from social marketing.

The people most likely to use social marketing: marketers aged between 30-39 years old were most likely to use social media marketing (92.8%)

If nothing else convinces you to dabble in social media marketing this will!: In terms of reducing overall marketing spend, a significant percentage of participants strongly agree that marketing costs dropped when social media marketing was implemented. In almost all cases social media marketing tools are free.

As David Quainton says in his Trend Watch article on social networking Find your wings, or get left behind in this months edition of Event Magazine - The digital revolution is over, we already live in a digital age and there are plenty of ways to make sure you use it to your advantage.

Joining the social media conversation - connect, communicate, co-operate and collaborate

Sarah Bell — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:01:00 GMT

Trend watch in this months edition of Event Magazine on social networking Find your wings, or get left behind by David Quainton explains how many in the event industry are reaping the rewards by staying in close contact with peers and customers using online social networking tools.

Social media is all about THE CONVERSATION. By following the key principals of listening, learning and sharing you can build mutually beneficial relationships to reach professional and personal goals and ACTUALLY do business.

The Brewery’s managing director Maria Duddin uses Twitter to connect on a deep level with potential customers that she would never otherwise have met which frequently leads to face-to-face meetings and sales.

Sledge commercial director Ian Irving tells me Twitter and his personal blog is now driving more traffic to his company web site than Google and is generating serious business opportunities as a result.

Simon Burton managing director of Exposure Event Creations who launched niche business network EventCrowd says that many deals are done as a direct result of the site including two recently totalling £500K.

David’s article includes a list I put together that show the business benefits of social networking.  I’ve created a visual guide to accompany this list. Together I hope they demonstrate how social media can be used to connect, communicate, co-operate and collaborate.

Download this visual guide here
feel free to share this illustration but please link back to this page

Information
Got a question? It’s very likely someone somewhere has the answer
Share your ideas with others, see what they think and gain valuable feedback
Find what others are saying about a product or article you are interested in
Teach, learn and interact with likeminded people
Research information on a company or product
Brainstorm and collaborate (crowdsource)
Use Twitter as a tool to stay current on breaking news and events

Customer service
Use Twitter and Facebook to communicate events and special offers
Use Twitter to update customers and provide solutions or information in real time
Develop one-on-one relationships with customers
Use Twitter and Facebook to conduct polls and surveys to help you offer a better service
Use social networking to humanize your business

Traffic
Use social networking sites to send traffic between other social networking platforms that directs traffic to your website or blog
Interesting or helpful content can be easily passed on to others using social media which helps your content go viral
User driven content sites such as Digg, and StumbleUpon provide huge increases in traffic to your website or blog

Networking
Build personal relationships with customers as people are more likely to buy from someone they know and trust
Connect with peers and like minded people
Participate in conversations, help out others and become an active participant
By helping others you create ‘social currency’ which can be used to leverage your brand from one platform to another
Ning.com allows you to create your own social groups – there are 4.062 listed under events including EventCrowd
Professional networking sites include LinkedIn, Xing and Ziggs
Directories allow you to find and connect with people on social networking sites for events try eventweeps.com

Business Management
Utilize social networking sites as a tool to see who is talking about your business
Track positive and negative experiences to improve business performance
Utilise social networking sites to update or make announcements
Use sites such as Twitter and Facebook as an intranet system to remind colleagues of meetings and make announcements

How to use Twitter in 10 easy steps

Sarah Bell — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:45:00 GMT

Despite its simplicity Twitter seems to intimidate people. Its one of the things I hear most from people I talk to about Twitter.  With this in mind I’ve found a brilliant video on YouTube by the clever people at Howcast which shows, in under 4 minutes, how to get started on Twitter in 10 easy no nonsense steps.  I’ve added a few additional written notes to go with this video with some useful links. This is also handy if you don’t have sound on your computer!

Less than six months ago I was a social networking ignoramus – I freely admit it, just so you know!

HOW TO USE TWITTER IN 10 EASY STEPS:


Step 1.    Create a Twitter account in less than two minutes
Go to www.twitter.com and click the green ‘get started’ button. Set up an account by simply adding your name and email address and by choosing a user name and password type in the encrypted code and hit ‘create my account’. That’s it, you’re in!

Step 2.    Decide what you want to say
Decide what you want to say. In general Twitter messages or ‘tweets’ answer the question ‘what are you doing right now’ But you can also post a link to a web site, express an opinion or reaction, pose a question or provide an answer. Twitter messages can only be 140 characters (including spaces) which helps to keep things simple.

Step 3.    How to send a tweet
On the home page type your message in the box at the top of the screen (the number of characters you have left out of 140 is displayed at the top right hand corner of the box) and hit the update button. Congratulations you have posted your first tweet. If your tweet is intended for one person in particular type the @ symbol followed by the users screen name. For example Event Magazines screen name is eventmagazine to send a message to them include @eventmagazine before the text of your message. Even if Event Magazine is not following you they will be able to see your message by clicking on the @profile name on the navigation bar on the right of their page.

Step 4.    How to find people
Twitter is a two way street. Now you have posted your first update you need to choose people you want to follow. To find people to follow on Twitter you can click on the ‘find people’ tab at the top of any Twitter page.  It is worth noting that people may be listed under a screen name that does not match their real name.

Twitter gives you 4 ways to find individuals and groups or businesses:
1. On the ‘find people’ page type a persons name or user name into the search box to find them.
2. Click on the ‘find people on other networks’ tab and search your existing email accounts (Gmail etc)
3. You can invite people via email by clicking on the next tab and entering a list of email addresses
4. You can also click on suggested users for a list of people suggested by Twitter.

To find event people on Twitter I suggest you see follow those following @eventmagazine to begin with You can also find people on the event Twitter directory supported by Event Magazine www.evertweeps.com

Step 5.    How to follow people
When you have found someone you are interested in click ‘follow’ and you will receive their updates automatically. People will usually, but not always, follow you back when you follow them.

Step 6.    Help people find you
To help people find you fill in your account information under settings and add the following:
1. A profile photo (only add a logo it you are setting up a business profile)

2. Your real name

3. Your location
4. A bio - you have 160 characters so think carefully about what you write
5. A web, or blog address so people can find out more about you

If you want to restrict your Twitter updates to only those you allow to follow you simply check the box marked ‘protect my updates’. You will maintain your privacy but you will limit your reach. To get the full Twitter experience I suggest you leave this unchecked.

Step 7.    Stay connected wherever you are
You don’t have to be at your computer to receive twitter updates. The video talks about using text SMS text messages to send and receive tweets wherever you are. Unfortunately in the UK this service is not fully available and currently you are only able to send tweets via text. To set up this service go to the ‘devices tab’ under ‘settings’ and follow the simple instructions.

Step 8.    Customise your profile
By clicking on design tabs you can customise your profile using photos and background designs. You can also change the colours of fonts, background, links and borders. Click on the colour boxes to make the colour wheel appear. Be careful to select colours that show up clearly on screen. Darker colours for fonts work best.

Step 9.    What are people saying
You can keep up to date with things that interest you by clicking on ‘search’ at the foot of any Twitter page or by going to http://www.search.twitter.com/ where you can type in a person name or topic.    You can also follow what’s generating the most buzz on Twitter by browsing through trending topics. You will find this below the search box, along side search results and on the right of any search page.

Step 10. Posting updates
You can post updates from the web from the update box using a computer, a mobile phone via text message as described in step 7, by mobile phone web browser via mtwitter.com which will take you to a special mobile phone version of Twitter on a Blackberry or iPhone using one of many of the free applications available. For Blackberry I recommend TwitterBerry and for the iphone I use Twitterfon. There are lots of different applications designed to make Twitter easy to use some of the best are recommended here www.twitter.com/downloads although more will be recommended on this blog. Remember - send frequent updates, keep them interesting and people will follow you.

If you are a Twitter expert and you think I've missed anything please add a comment and I'll amend this blog entry throughout the week.

If you are new to Twitter and need any additional help I suggest you get onto Twitter using these instructions, follow everyone who is following @eventmagazine and then ask your questions on Twitter. You will find people on Twitter are very helpful.

More advanced tutorials and useful information will be posted over the next two weeks and will include:
Useful Twitter etiquette
Finding the right tone of voice
How to retweet and why
How to use hash (#) tags
How to send a direct message (DM)
How to upload images
How to create short URL’s
Practical uses for Twitter
Cool Twitter applications
How to find more people and get them to follow you
TweetUps
Advanced Twitter tools

Event industry Twitter directory launched at inaugural TweetUp

Sarah Bell — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:32:00 GMT

At the end of January I explained how the micro-blogging site Twitter is revolutionizing the way we communicate with our clients. It seemed back then just a handful of event industry professionals were actually using Twitter. That’s all changed now. Less than 3 months later 100 specially invited guests attended the inaugural TweetUp at the new SEA LIFE London Aquarium hosted by Mike Fletcher and myself for an evening of networking which offered face-to-face contact with those already communicating with each other on Twitter.

Invitations for the event were sent out using an online system specially designed to work with the Twitter web site so only guests who have a Twitter profile were able to attend what Mike and I believe will be the first of many such events.Several other venues have asked to host the next TweetUp based on the success of the first one which is very encouraging.

The event was used to launch an online Twitter directory on the new portal for Event Industry Twitterers that has been developed by Mike and I to make it easier for other professionals in the event industry using Twitter to connect and network. The directory went live yesterday and over 60 people have joined up already. The portal will be developed over the next few weeks to include twitter information and updates we think the industry would find useful and details of upcoming TweetUp’s.

I think this is just the beginning. I will continue to evangelise the benefits of Twitter to anyone who will listen. If you see me walking towards you I suggest you run!

See photos from the inaugural TweetUp here

Google Street View offers a fresh new perspective

Sarah Bell — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:56:00 GMT

Yesterday (19th March 2009) Google launch Street View for 25 cities in the UK, allowing users to view and navigate 360 degree street-level imagery in 25 UK cities including Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, and Manchester with 22,369 miles of road currently covered in UK Street View.

Street View was first launched in 2007 and is hugely popular worldwide with imagery available in the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain, Italy. It is also available in Google Earth and on Google Maps for Mobile.
In areas where Street View is available, you can access street-level imagery by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps, or by dragging the orange "Pegman" icon on the left-hand side of the map onto a blue highlighted street.

As well as consumers, UK businesses can also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site for free, helping them to promote a chain of hotels or increase awareness of a venue or restaurant.

I’ve used it to show the Street View of all 20 of the current Event Magazine top 20 venues:
If the links below do not take you direct to ‘Street View’ click on the Street View link within the pop up

1 195 Piccadilly

2 SEA LIFE London Aquarium
3 Congress Centre

4 Magic Circle (closest I could get was Euston Road)

9 Battersea Evolution (entrance to reach Battersea Evolution)

10 Old Library at The Custard Factory

11 Vinopolis

12 Science Museum

13 The Bloomsbury Club

14 Warwick Castle (not yet on Street View)

15 Earls Court

16 Natural History Museum

17 Business Design Centre

18 NEC Birmingham

19 The o2

20 Old Billingsgate

UK partners include The London Mayor and Visit Britain who are using the new technology to showcase some of the UK's best tourist attractions and locations to the world, I suppose you could all this virtual tourism.

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said "London's unique beauty, splendour and energy is truly illuminated in cyberspace with this superb new tool. Famous London Landmarks from the Mayor of London

Mike Bedingfield, Director of Britain Marketing, VisitBritain, said "Google Street View is a real opportunity for Britain to showcase its destinations to millions of internet users around the world”. Top attractions in the UK from Visit Britain

Plastic fantastic - Barbie megastore opens in Shanghai

Sarah Bell — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:36:00 GMT

If experiential marketing is defined as creating an experience where the result is an emotional connection to a person, brand, product or idea then the new 3,500sqm six-story £20 million pink Barbie concept store in Shanghai is experiential genius.

The launch last weekend coincided with the dolls 50th birthday and is the first Barbie megastore in the world. The store includes a real fashion runway, spa, doll design center, over 1,600 Barbie products, including apparel, jewelry, skin-care products, toys, electronic products, cosmetics and games. There is also a café, ice cream parlour.

The top floor includes a restaurant run by Australian-born celebrity chef David Laris and a Barbie bar that stays open until 2am which Mattel executives hope might become a centre for Shanghai nightlife and is available for evening events!

"In the retail experience you have an aisle, your whole experience is whatever that retailer makes it. We have to rely on our product to speak for itself, and here you're living and breathing the brand.'' said Richard Dickson, who is in charge of the Barbie brand for US toy maker Mattel.

China currently only accounts for 2.5% of global sales but in a strategic move by makers Mattel, who have seen worldwide sales drop by 21% in the last quarter, it is believed that within 5-10 years time China will be the dolls number one market.

http://www.barbieshanghai.com/

Traffic sign hacking in the UK - its only a matter of time!

Sarah Bell — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:47:00 GMT

I’ve just read about a craze in the US where people are hacking into electronic roadside message boards leaving ‘electronic graffiti’ messages that must be giving weary commuters a giggle.

Some UK motorway signs are used to remind people to be considerate drivers, keep their distance, not to fall asleep etc but I think it would be much more fun to get brands to sponsor messages that are a little more fun.

This clever fella in Holland has managed to find a way of uploading a photo of himself to motorway signs so uploading a logo instead would be more than possible! Just think of the endless creative possibilities!

The LED tagging movement has not quite hit the UK but as the article I’ve just read says, if you see any signs warning of impending apocalypse, it’s probably nothing. Probably!

If you have read this make sure you read Jamie Simon’s excellent blog

CONFEX 2009

Sarah Bell — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:03:00 GMT

I hadn’t been to the show for a couple of years but inspired by the ‘let your imagination flow’ advertising campaign featuring images that included a coach being drawn by flamingoes and Mary Poppin’s on a flying bike (which I thought was brilliant) I went along yesterday. It was great to see how much the show has developed over the years. That Duncan Reid is a clever fella!

There was a great mix of new features including Around the World in 80 seconds (venue speed dating), the tranquility chill out space, the very cleverly designed ISES ideas Clinic, the cool London Bar & Lounge designed by the hugely talented Partridge Events for Visit London which incorporated eco sculptures by Steve Yeates. But the coup of Confex 2009 was the association with the ‘Events 2012 & Beyond’ Olympic Conference on the first day of the show which created a phenomenal buzz including an excellent bit of twittering from Mike Fletcher live from the conference!

As I went around the show I did wonder if the size really does matter - the small but beautiful Blenheim Palace stand was just as busy the colossal Ireland stand. From a design point of view the stand that won the best in show, and deservedly so, was Above Line Exhibitions but some of the top end hotels had stands that were beautiful and must have cost a fortune to design.

The stand that ticked all the boxes for me was for Exhibition Services Ltd, a company that hires display boards. Simply by putting a passport style photo booth on their stand (from Booth Nation apparently) ensured that their stand was packed even though they were tucked away at the back of the show. Brilliant!

The weather outside is frightful

Sarah Bell — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:58:00 GMT

What a week! Business groups have estimated that the disruption caused by some of the worst snowfall the UK has seen in 18 years, that stopped 6.4 million people or 20% of the UK's working population from getting to work on Monday alone, could cost the country over £3.5bn.

Aside from the doom and gloom snow can be a great marketing tool! Curb's snow tagging campaign for Extreme reported by Lorraine Francisco in Tuesdays Event news bulletin wins the most creative use of snow award for me. I thought I could be really clever and take snow tagging one step further. I tried by stencilling Banksy style using food colouring in a spray bottle but there is something fundamentally wrong about adding colour to snow. I’ll just accept that Curb activity was a perfect, simple and original idea that won lots of coverage for their client.

Snow seems to inspire creativity. I remember one summer a few years ago when 13 one ton snowballs, made by Andy Goldsworthy and supported by Greenpeace, formed a street instillation in the City of London. One of the giant snowballs was right outside my office and melted over a period of days to reveal different materials packed into them including sheep's wool and barbed wire.

Other artists use snow to create amazing temporary works of art. The 2009 International Snow Sculpture Championship sponsored by Budweiser took place in Colorado last weekend and the sculptures are astounding. However the largest snow sculpture ever created was 115ft high and 656ft long and was the centrepiece of the 2008 Ice And Snow Festival, held in China.

I think I’ll stick to something much more achievable and just build a snowman. See some brilliant snowmen photos here or for examples from the ultimate masters of the snowman genre, I’ll leave you with the genius of Calvin and Hobbes.

Twitter is revolutionising the way we communicate with our clients…

Sarah Bell — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:14:00 GMT

Joining the social messaging site Twitter was on my list of things to do in 2009 so prompted by Lorraine Francisco’s article in yesterday’s Event news bulletin about Twestival, the festivals that Twitter is launching across the world, I joined up and sent my first ‘tweet’. I then spent a couple of hours late last night getting VERY excited about the Twitter concept and how it could work as a marketing tool for the projects I’m involved with.

For anyone like me who thought Twitter was reserved for the IT elite and 14 year old computer geeks, you need to know how big this thing is getting. The New York Times says “Twitter is one of the fastest growing phenomena on the internet”. Barack Obama used it extensively in his presidential campaign and the BBC alone has over 100 different Twitter feeds. Some unconfirmed reports state that the number of people joining Twitter is doubling every 6 months. Not bad for such a young brand. The company was officially launched in San Francisco less than 2 years ago and the hugely popular Japanese version went live less than a year ago.

It’s not hard to see why this simple concept is so successful. Users post 140 character ‘tweets’ (a bit like a text message) about what they are doing, or provide information such as breaking news. Interested people subscribe or choose to ‘follow’ the tweeter. All this happens in real-time either via web page, email or mobile phone. For many people, Twitter is replacing more traditional methods for issuing and receiving information.

There are plenty of companies using Twitter as a marketing tool. But be warned, those tweeting self-serving links and marketing speak don’t have many followers. There are a few brands experimenting with great success including Ford and Starbucks and these brands really do understand the essence of the micro-blogging platform. Twitter is not to be used for hard sell but is about staying connected with customers and clients and building relationships.

Amazingly, for such a social industry as ours, we seem to be embracing this technology far too slowly. I’ve searched Twitter for others in the industry and I can only find the Marriott hotel chain. There must be more than 2 of us! If there are more of you let me know by posting a reply below or by ‘tweeting’ me at www.twitter.com/pkerwood.

Social networking sites like Twitter are going to revolutionise the way we work and this is only the start!

To really understand Twitter and how it works spend a couple of minutes watching this podcast