T- Shaped on Twitter, and in Life

#UsBlogs week 3 theme: “How to Build Your Offline Klout?” Online, the klout score is measured through a combination of different variables to measure reach, amplification and network score – when we take these offline we start to see how T-shaped people are a clear winner to building clout. True Reach: Driving reach offline is…… Continue reading T- Shaped on Twitter, and in Life

Synchronisation and Convergence

I wrote a while ago about the use of that ugly word integration within the marcomms community, for too long we have bandied this word around to basically plaster the same key visual across a multitude of different media channels. With the massive growth of the web, digital and social we are still experiencing the…… Continue reading Synchronisation and Convergence

Everyone needs skunkworks

In this day and age everyone, every company, every organization that believes in ideas needs skunkworks – not only agencies, but above all agencies since their whole business models relies on the creation of ideas. I have long been in awe of BBH Labs (@bbhlabs) founded by Mel Exon (@melex) and Ben Malbon (@malbonnington) in 2008;…… Continue reading Everyone needs skunkworks

Agency Future – The Results

For those that follow both my blog and Twitter feed (@LexBZ), you will know that one of my favourite topics is the evolution of the agency model and how this is developing in different places around the world. Aaron Bateman (@Aaron78) has spent a year travelling, interviewing and journalling many of these new models on…… Continue reading Agency Future – The Results

Best Social Media Campaign of the Year

I was asked to choose my favourite social media campaign of the year for this week’s ‘Communiquestion’ in Communicate Magazine: The Ikea Facebook campaign (not because of my Swedish heritage) because of its ingenuity and simplicity. Instead of building an app, they used the existing functionality of the platform to connect people, the brand, and…… Continue reading Best Social Media Campaign of the Year

Can agencies really play nicely together?

I’ve had a few conversations recently about the changing remit of the advertising agency and the growing inter-relationships between different agencies, be they pure event/activation groups, web development or even media agencies. The question that always comes up (on both sides of the table) is whether the agencies will be able to get along. The…… Continue reading Can agencies really play nicely together?

Social Dynamics 102: Klout & Quora

As we enter 2011, there are two new brands on the social scene who are starting to have major impact – these are Klout and Quora. The first of these is a measure of our social influence, there are many such sites out there who have developed their own proprietary algorithm to monitor your presence and…… Continue reading Social Dynamics 102: Klout & Quora

The end of ATL/BTL, the birth of Paid, Owned, Earned

For the better part of 2010 and as both agency structures and the work we are doing becomes less TV and press centric and more about humans and ideas, we have been searching for the right terminology to break down the different parts of our work. The traditional ATL/BTL terminology is still very much prevalent…… Continue reading The end of ATL/BTL, the birth of Paid, Owned, Earned

The contradiction of agency recruitment

There is a growing contradiction in recruitment for the agency business, one that is potentially driving us faster into the chasm that I described last week rather than across it to the safety of the other side. The advertising industry through the 80s and 90s (and even early 2000) was seen as a very glamorous…… Continue reading The contradiction of agency recruitment