Students in Soho
What more wholesome environment could there be for young people trying to get a toehold in the communications industry than Lexington Street; just a stone’s throw from Raymond’s Revue Bar, and a host of strip joints, sex shops and massage parlours?
Students in Soho is a work experience scheme designed to give design graduates a true taste of our industry. Beginning with James Garbett, Doco will be welcoming a different student every two weeks from now right through summer. They’re mostly design and advertising graduates and come from as far afield as Brazil, Finland, Estonia, Norway and erm… Romford.
It’s not just for their benefit though. Having some young blood in the building is a great way to keep our own creative product lively. We’ll get as much inspiration from the students as they us.
And to prove that point, the first fruits of the scheme have already arrived in the form of the identity for Students in Soho, designed by our first intern James (Romford’s finest). It’s clever, a bit edgy and communicates exactly what we want to say. In my eyes, that makes it a very good piece of creative work.
Well done James, and here’s to a summer of inspiration, fresh ideas and new thinking in exciting, colourful and ever-so-slightly seedy Soho.
Cybher 2012
Cybher – the first all-inclusive female blogger event of its kind in the UK – took place last Saturday 12th May at 8 Northumberland Avenue in the heart of London. I was fortunate enough to be invited along as a speaker by organiser Sian To which meant I got to spend the day surrounded by my fellow bloggers, listening to a whole host of inspiring, educational and thought-provoking talks on subjects including competition best practise, blogging for good, how to thrift, WordPress workshops and sex!
The schedule was packed full of goodness but as I couldn’t’ be everywhere at once I’ve linked out to a round-up ‘linky’ of reviews from other bloggers at the end of this article.
After registering and getting my hands on what has to be THE coolest delegate bag ever, thanks to sponsors The Leather Satchel Company, I headed downstairs into the breakout/sponsors area for a cup of coffee and chat with my fellow bloggers. Sponsorship at Cybher was unobtrusive and very well targeted with the likes of Freya, Palmers, Disney and AVG appealing to the audience and themes of ‘chic’, ‘geek’ and ‘inspire’.
Things kicked off in the main ballroom with Zoe Margolis talking about the darker side of blogging. Zoe’s tale of being hounded out of her ‘anonymity’ by the tabloids and – more shockingly – broadsheets, via dirty tactics and emotional blackmail made for a sobering, fascinating start to the day.
The rest of the day was spent flitting between various talks and panels which resulted in me learning the finer details of competition best practise from Spark & Fuse, how to deal with internet ‘trolls’ with advice from Natalie Lue, saving money and thrifting on a budget with El Jones and the finer details of photography apps with 10 year old Biba To. I have to say that for me, the ultimate example of Cybher nailing their geek, chic and inspire theme was watching a room full of enraptured women being taught about photography apps by a beautiful 10 year old girl…
You can read more reviews of the talks/panels over at the Cybher linky HERE
My ’15 minutes’ came at the end of the day when I took part in a panel titled ‘Blogging, Ethics and You’ with some fellow bloggers and PR types. I really enjoyed debating blogger ethics with my co-panellists and even managed to sneak in my opinion on the controversial ‘follow/no follow’ rule which seems to be the number one topic of debate amongst parent bloggers at the moment. I won’t go into it in too much detail now (that’s another article) but you can read one bloggers reaction to my comments here.
Cybher was a fantastic day that inspired, provoked and entertained in the best possible way. Roll on next year!
Xbox’s Graeme Boyd on social media
Xbox EMEA Social Media Manager Graeme Boyd shares his thoughts with Marketing Magazine (2 May 2012) on the brand’s social focus and why he takes a ‘watch & wait’ approach to evolving social media platforms. Doco works closely with Graeme on social media strategy and measurement for Xbox across EMEA.
The Kindness of Virtual Strangers
Over the last few years charities have started to realise the potential of social media for distributing their message and reaching people beyond their donor lists. Even the smallest campaign, properly executed, can garner worldwide attention, and individuals in particular can harness the scope of social for relatively little or no cost.
Online fundraising platform JustGiving demonstrates the potential for raising money for charitable causes via social platforms. Since 2001, it has helped 13 million people raise over £930 million for more than 12,000 charities. Facebook is unsurprisingly the main driver, however all the big players help in prompting donations – Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and even LinkedIn. In September 2011, donations from Facebook accounted for a quarter of all those received – an increase of 130% from the previous year.
That number is only set to increase in the years ahead. Research shows that the increase of specially designed donation apps sitting within Facebook is increasing not just the amount of donations, but the amounts being donated. Those giving directly via an app donate on average 44% more compared to those who have to click through to an external website. With charity, the simpler the act of giving, the better. JustGiving estimates that by 2015, Facebook will be responsible for up to 50% of all the online donations to the site.
Nowhere is the reach of social for good causes more apparent than in the recent news surrounding the tragic death of London Marathon runner Claire Squires. Running for the Samaritans, Claire had raised £500 before the marathon on April 22nd – but as news of her death, just one mile from the finishing line, spread across various social media sites, donations began pouring in from around the globe. The link to Claire’s site has now been retweeted 13,000 times and recommended 55,000 times on Facebook. In just 4 days her total has risen to almost £750,000 from a massive 65,000 people.
In a time before social media, the thousands worldwide who have had their hearts touched would never have heard of Claire’s story. It connects us all in a way never experienced before, and as Richard Godwin said in yesterday’s London Evening Standard, “It is encouraging to be reminded that digital technology can bring out people’s best sides, too.”
The Family Purchase Dynamic [Doco talk]
Families spend over $40 billion a year. Maurice Wheeler, Strategic Planning Director at Doco, explores The Family Purchase Dynamic and what it means for marketers.
(Having trouble viewing this video? Click here to go to YouTube.)
Flash, bang, wallop
It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Instagram users. First the photo-sharing social network launched on Android, shattering the ‘member’s club’ mentality of its iPhone only users, and then there was the announcement that it had been bought by Facebook. In a flurry of petulant reactions, die-hard fans swore to never colour-tint another image, convinced the dual forces of android users and the original social media giant would destroy their beloved app. But when we take a closer look at the situation, many interesting questions arise – not least, how does a 551 day old company, with only 13 employees, carry a price tag $1 billion?
Instagram launched back in October 2010 and through a mixture of engineering, timing and luck became the number one photo app on Apple’s App Store within hours. Built in just 8 weeks by creators Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, it reached 5 million users in six months and held around 30 million registered users at the start of this month.
On 3rd April came the day Android users had eagerly waited for, and iPhone users had dreaded – Instagram became multi-platform. With pre-registration attracting over 430,000 signups, it was no surprise when it captured 1 million new downloads in its first day alone. But it didn’t stop there – after 6 days the app had been downloaded 5 million times, making it one of the biggest Android app launches in history.
But then the really big news – Facebook was acquiring Instagram for a cool $1 billion, instantly valuing the 18 month old company above global giants such as the New York Times (116 years old – $967 million). While the business world reeled from the announcement, the online world went into overdrive. Instagram fans expressed outrage at the takeover on every social channel at their disposal – “Instagram just officially died today” / “I liked Instagram before they sold out” – although many failed to see the irony in using Facebook to voice their anger.
So why did Facebook want it?
Well, Instagram combines two of the biggest current trends in technology.
First is mobile internet – driven by the surge in smartphone sales and ever expanding wireless broadband connections, this is a huge growth market and Facebook knows it. They recently announced that over 400+ million users access Facebook via a mobile device, but the Facebook smartphone app has never won it any fans. Instagram on the other hand offers a sleek interface that makes uploading and sharing photos a breeze. The purchase gives Facebook both the talent and expertise to replicate this user experience within their app.
The second is sharing – people want to share everything they do, wherever they are. The growth of mobile only networks such as Foursquare, Path and Instagram itself, clearly demonstrate this and Facebook wants to tap into the market share.
Instagram also has users. Lots of them. Taking into account the first week of Android downloads it has around 40 million. This means Facebook paid around $25 per Instagram user, which according to industry experts actually matches Facebook’s purchase price with the valuation of many other social apps. Although many of these will undoubtedly already be Facebook users, each will provide Facebook with even more data and subsequently it will be better placed to target advertisements. Instagram’s CEO Kevin Systrom stated recently he believes the network will easily reach 100 million users in the next year, so Facebook could see their purchase as an investment towards this end.
Facebook also worries about the possibility of a newer, sexier start-up tempting away its customers. By acquiring Instagram it not only removes it as a potential rival, it also – perhaps more importantly – removes it from the grasp of competitors like Twitter and Google. In fact if recent rumours are to believed, Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey, who is also an Instagram investor, was in talks to purchase Instagram just weeks before the Facebook deal was announced. Plus Facebook’s early success was built on pictures; by adding the one billion photos held on Instagram’s servers to its collection, it reinforces Facebook’s position as the largest photo-sharing destination on the web.
Facebook isn’t the only winner in this scenario though, Instagram benefits too. Currently Instagram is free to download and carries no advertising, meaning it doesn’t have an obvious revenue stream. Running on investment capital, the app would need to recoup money at some point in the future and the buyout helps delay the inevitable monetisation of the brand – whether that be the introduction of ads or through promoted accounts and trends. Under Facebook’s wing Instagram will be allowed to develop further, free from such concerns for a time longer. In fact Facebook was quick to allay fears Instagram would be swallowed up like previous purchases such as Gowalla; rather it will continue to operate as a brand in its own right, similar to YouTube under Google.
It would be wise for Facebook to stick to this plan, or it runs the risk of alienating Instagram’s fervent followers. Instagram thrives because it is cool and sleek, with industry leaders predicting that with the right planning and development it could be to images what Twitter is to words. But with ever more beautiful photo based mobile sharing apps including Path snapping at its heels, the question is: will Facebook be the right company to guide Instagram to that end?
What do you think of the buyout? Let us know your comments.
