Neoco’s blog – keep up to date with the best digital marketing agency in the world!


Taking it back to the old skool with Russell Athletic
October 30, 2009, 2:40 pm
Filed under: Brands & Marketing, Hot List Clients, News | Tags: , , ,


RUSSELL ATHLETIC TAKES CONSUMERS BACK TO THE 80s WITH NEW VIRAL

Legendary sportswear brand Russell Athletic celebrates its return to the UK with the launch of a fun viral experience that lets consumers be the star of their own retro movies – the‘80s-izer’. The site is now live at http://80s-izer.russellathletic.eu/

Created by Neoco and our friends at Frank PR the tongue in cheek site allows consumers to upload photos of themselves, friends, family or anyone else into the 80s-izer where they can star as a number of classic 80s characters in a series of short films. The site also allows users to Twitter and Facebook their films.

Starring a roller skater, muscle beach body builder, break dancer, American footballer and a trio of aerobics instructors, the Russell Athletic viral has been inspired by the return of the 80s in popular culture and its roots as a classic American college brand.

The viral is a celebration of an iconic decade – one synonymous with the rise of Russell Athletic and its legacy as one of America’s largest sports and athletic apparel producers. The site also showcases the Russell Athletic SS10 collection.

Founded in 1902, Russell Athletic is the original American sportswear brand. The Russell Athletic heritage began in Alabama, with just eight knitting and 12 sewing machines, plus a focus on developing quality fabric. From these humble origins, the brand has grown into one of America’s largest sports and athletics apparel producers. During its 107 year history, Russell Athletic has dressed American athletes across field, track and court – including stars of the Major League Baseball, the NBA and the AFL.
This is one of many numerous fashion/ sports related activity by Neoco for an impressive and growing client list. If you are looking to use innovative digital marketing to reach your audience, contact Benn at Neoco on benn @ neoco.com or 020 7025 6940.



Boots giving health advice
October 28, 2009, 1:54 pm
Filed under: Brands & Marketing, News | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Just got an email re new Boots website. How impartial will the advice be? “I’ve got a cough – buy some new Beechams (which is currently 2-4-1)”??

More importantly for the brand is the lack of any social integration. Absolutely crazy. There is a tiny ‘Email a friend’ option. Which let’s face it, how many friends emails can you remember off the top of your head? Probably about the same amount of friends mobile numbers – not many. There was/ is a real opportunity to integrate some great social features as being ill is now a social broadcast – how many Facebook status say “I’m home unwell :-( “? Boots could and can jump on this with some great integration.  As an employer I know I’d be happy to post a few remedies and links to an employees wall. I also have many friends who need encouragement to stop smoking – what about letting me share this content with them, or encouraging tweets, or even announcing I’m quitting (I don’t smoke BTW) via the Boots tools and getting loads of positive encouragement from my peers.  The list is nearly endless of the amount of ways this content can and should be socially integrated. Hopefully Boots or the agency behind it will wake up and small the social Lemsip.

Welcome to Boots WebMD

new Boots MD website

Our brand new website combines years of Boots expertise with comprehensive health information from WebMD; one of the leading online healthcare resources; plus NHS Choices and the British Medical Journal. With content reviewed by doctors and Boots healthcare professionals, you’ll find reliable information to help you look after your health, available 24 hours a day.



signed copy of BUZZ book by Emanuel Rosen

Hi, I was recently involved (via WOMUK) in bringing the great Emanuel Rosen to London to talk about his revision of the seminal classic The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited: Lessons in Word of Mouth Marketing. Read more about it here (including a slideshare).

Anyway, in all the excitement I totally forgot about the signed copy he gave me… which I thought would make a great treat for anyone who comments a good reason why they should receive it  :-D

trevor was always good at creating a scene through his stories



Latest WOMUK event – free to friends of Neoco
October 27, 2009, 7:49 pm
Filed under: Events, Social Networking/ Word Of Mouth | Tags: ,

Tomorrow the team will be at the latest WOMUK Espresso briefing.  Why not come down. Many of our client’s enjoy these events due to Benn Achilleas’ involvement on WOMUK council. The info is below and just let Ben know if you want a ticket.

October Espresso Briefing: Global PR leaders Porter Novelli present their latest WOM case studies

Word of mouth is an industry awash in rhetoric. Everyone’s got their piece to say about why consumer buzz is the lifeblood of brands, their golden rules and their do’s and don’ts. But there are far fewer practical examples of good WOM campaigns: the thinking behind them, the execution, and the results. Our free monthly Espresso Briefings – work in progress updates from leading practitioners – aim to redress the balance.

On 8.30am, Wednesday 28th October, Matt Morrison, Global Head of Digital for Porter Novelli, will present on Social network anaylsis: approach and case studies.

matt

The presentation will be “work in progress” covering a brief background on social network analysis and how Porter Novelli have applied it to Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere to identify clusters & cliques, and spread WOM through influencers, spreaders, and hubs.

Matt will talk about some of their other clients’ case studies (the good the bad and the ugly!) – notably the phone-around they ran for HP TSG – and some of PN’s experiments like OPML and their resulting learnings. By looking at how UK politicians, US congressmen, and the PR industry use Twitter, Matt will drill down into what makes a successful microblogging campaign. And he’ll share the knowledge, processes, and tools  that they use for gathering and processing data, like Perl scripts and Yahoo! Pipes.

Join us for the presentation, along with breakfast and networking until 10am, at Porter Novelli, 31 St Petersburgh, Place, London W2 4LA



WOMUK thought leader event was a big success
October 9, 2009, 11:28 am
Filed under: Coffee Break, Events, Social Networking/ Word Of Mouth

Yesterday morning’s inaugural WOM UK Thought Leaders event kicked off with a bang (or should that be a buzz…) with Emanuel Rosen’s fantastic presentation The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited: Lessons in Word of Mouth Marketing. Benn Achilleas (part of the WOMUK leadership council) invited down several clients to join 100 WOM practitioners, marketing agencies, brands, academics and curious individuals packed into Ogilvy’s luxurious Canary Wharf pad armed with coffee, carbs and a free copy of Emanuel’s book, there was a great atmosphere and a high level of debate.

emmanuel

Emanuel’s presentation clearly outlined 7 key strategies for stimulating buzz, along with an overview of research, a cautionary note of common misconceptions, and a quick look at the future of the industry.

rosen

His use of inspiring and original case studies showed how the theories of WOM marketing are already being used across the globe with great success, and the exhortation running through the session – that brands find ways to use WOM for genuinely positive and socially beneficial purposes – brought a great sense of empowerment to the room. See his presentation below.

 



Special WOM invitation to Neoco clients

Rosen press cut

Rosen press cut

On 8.30am Wednesday 7th October, Emmanuel Rosen talks about ‘The Anatomy of Buzz (Revisited)’, the newly updated version of his WOM guide which topped the bestseller lists in 2001 and became an instant international classic. Drawing on his own experiences in high tech as well as hundreds of interviews with consumers, researchers and marketing executives, Emmanuel will discuss proven techniques for stimulating buzz. It’s another morning session lasting until 10.30am at Ogilvy.

We have a few guest seats available for Neoco clients so do get in touch if you’d like to come along for FREE! You’d have to sit with Benn Achilleas (elected member of the Word of Mouth UK council) though  heehee



Funky Diva!
October 1, 2009, 9:58 am
Filed under: Environment, New Technology, Our team | Tags: , , , , , ,
Funky Diva (woman not included)

Funky Diva (woman not included)

Being a director at a digital agency I feel I have to continually look for new ways to use and interact with digital. A chance appeared recently at my wedding reception. As I’m not a fan of wedding DJs (never met a good one and they all make me cringe) so I sourced a digital jukebox from a company called Funky Diva. On the night it work out brilliantly. Everyone had fun picking songs from the massive “iPhone like jukebox” and got people debating what song to play next. OK so I couldn’t find Dr DRE’s ‘187′ on the system, but that probably wouldn’t have gone down to well anyway!