Method’s Marketing
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I mentioned Tom Fishburne in a previous post, but I’ve just had the chance to properly read his Q&A over on Church of the Customer - it is well worth reading. Some very interesting insight into Method’s marketing.
Having a group of people who are your raving fans, evangelists, or whatever you want to call them works VERY well in our world right now. Any form of communication (good and bad) is amplified x1000 with the power of the web.
Oh pants
Looks like I might get wet next week 
Web 2.0 US Elections
This is a very slick site keeping you up to date on the US elections. It show live tweets and blog posts as they happen as well as the News mentions, and polls. Very impressive.
UPDATE : Just twittered about the site and it showed up straight away - see below: very cool.
Better and Better
So, The Do Lectures are coming closer (next week) and my list of essentials is pretty much ticked off. I felt VERY out of my depth purchasing a sleeping bag as requested by howies, but it seems like a good one and is very comfortable with some great features (funny that, techy features).
It gets better and better though - one of the blogs I read is Church of the Customer - all about customer evangelism, and the latest post featured Tom Fishburne, who draws some superb, marketing-orientated cartoons, and is also Senior Marketing Director Europe for Method Cleaning Products.
As some of you may know, I have a thing for cleaning 
and have used Method Products for many years, initially getting friends in the US to send them over, or bring them when they visited.(I even have them on the stuff we love page here).
Well, after looking at Tom’s blog today, he is going to be at The Do Lectures, so another great person to meet and chat with. All from a very hurriedly posted application post card - super smashing great
Talking of blogs, Dan Germain, who is Head of Creative at Innocent, has a great blog here, and Innocent’s own blog is looking good too. Subscribed to both. Dan attended The Little Big Voice Lectures by howies last year. On a brand note, Innocent have recently launched their own Orange Juice, which makes sense really. They put OJ in their smoothies, so why not sell it on their own to the hordes of raving fans? Nicely branded too.
Metrotwin
UGC (User Generated Content) is a big deal right now. Companies who do it right stand to make significant inroads in customer engagement and brand recognition.
BA are in the process of launching Metrotwin at the moment -it is looking to generate UGC for the 2 cities of NY and London which BA fly between. It is currently on private invite and the email you get back from them once registered says to look at the blog.
Which takes you back to the start page and no blog. Come on BA, get with it! At least you can follow Metrotwin on twitter here.
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite
Baacode
Stand out. Do something different. Be remarkable. Make your customers smile
Icebreaker, one of my fave clothing brands, just did this with their new baacode system.
Your unique Baacode will let you see the living conditions of the high country sheep that produced the merino fibre in your Icebreaker garment, meet the farmers who are custodians of this astonishing landscape, and follow every step of the supply chain. We’re sure you’ll find the experience as inspiring as we do. Enjoy your journey back to the source.
What a great story - completely immersive, UNIQUE, fun, yet with a very serious message. All you do, is look for your baacode on your item of clothing, and tap it in on the site:
Now, we’ve got a few items of Icebreaker Merino clothes and it’s true, they are the best out there (along with howies merino stuff). Unfortunately, none have baacodes, but you can click for a demo, and you should - it tells a wonderful story about the people farming the sheep, the location and the history.
This is a perfect example of doing some original and well-executed marketing. If your reading this Icebreaker, a big well done. Made me smile
A Simple Equation
So, for businesses, large or small, I have a simple equation for you:
Good management + Good working environment = Happy employees and more productivity
It is not hard is it? Yet some businesses (read most) get it so, so wrong. A manager has a HUGE responsibility to the people he or she manage. They should be supportive, listen, attentive, encouraging and respectful.
Bad managers are impatient, intimidating, bullying, short-tempered and uncaring. Ok, they often have a load of other things they should be doing, and in most instances the company / organisation give them far too many other tasks to do, with no thought about how much time they should be spending with their reports and team.
This is where the wheels fall off the wagon and it all goes pear-shaped. Why?
Because their people, their team is their most vital and important asset.
Neglect them, bully them, ignore them, make them fearful of your reaction, then you are failing badly. If you make your team, your people your fans, then your job will be easier, you will be more successful.
You must give your team time and support. You don’t need to be their best mate, but treat them well, and you will thrive and be respected back.
If you have a manager who has no time for you, then tell them - make it VERY clear to them that they are failing you.
People should never feel unhappy and nervous at work - if they do, then something is VERY wrong. Bullying and unprofessional behaviour in the work environment should never, ever be tolerated. Don’t let these people get away with it. They often do because people don’t speak up. Make sure you do.
proofHQ
Basecamp from 37signals is a web-based project management application which quite a few people know about (I’ve spoken about them a number of times before). Ok, nothing new here then you might say.
Well, hold your horses - there is, and it is pretty darn good.
proofHQ is a webapp I heard of a few months ago and didn’t actually think much of it. However, having had a good look at it and the fact it integrates with Basecamp, means that I am now very interested.
ProofHQ is a smarter, easier way to manage review and approval of designs, artwork and documents. It is an online collaboration, proofing and approval tool built specifically for brands, agencies, designers, print and production.
I’ve been looking at a way of proofing materials with clients, and this looks like an impressive solution. Check out the video below:
Pretty nifty eh? I’m going to sign up and have a look, but if you are already using it, I would welcome your thoughts and experiences so far. Thanks!
UPDATE: I’ve just signed up for the free account to test it out, and I am VERY impressed. Simple sign up process and a simple set up. Some other highlights:
- Simple, simple simple to link to my Basecamp account - this then gives an option to post proof to any of my Basecamp projects - brilliant
- Great instructional videos - clear and well produced
- The UI for proofing is slicktastic - very easy to understand
One thing I think they could add is a big, visible link to go back to the dashboard from the proofing page. Apart from that, I’m going to start using this immediately and may upgrade to a paid account. Well done guys on a top job!
Ubiquity for Firefox - impressive
If you watch one thing today, watch the video below. Mozilla labs have just released the alpha of Ubiquity for Firefox. It looks like a major advance in web browsing / web interface. It is almost like a short cut app on steriods but has the potential to really take off - it is that impressive.
It reminds me a little of Quicksilver - an application which is loved by some and not quite understood by others (I’m in the latter camp). Anyway, check the video out below…v cool
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Dexter Series 3
Dexter is one of my all time favourite series on TV. I don’t watch much TV to be honest - most of it is total rubbish. Dexter stands out - great storyline, characters and really well produced.
It’s going to be appearing on US TV at the end of Sept, but soon appears online for download if you know where to look Here’s the trailer!
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BBC News- You may like to read this...
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