Seems we’re “an attractive agency option for brands”

Kind words in the annual Campaign school report today:

“The agency is as well-known now for its digital capabilities as it is for its direct marketing credentials, making it an attractive option for brands”.

“Effectiveness and CRM are the agency’s bread and butter”.

“EHS 4D should be applauded for its continued impressive new-business performance and, with a new leader in place, 2012 could be a year for further growth.

And they agreed with us, saying we’re worth 7 (out of 9).

But must and will try harder. Watch this space.

Google on the mobile web

Lovely ad in Campaignmag this week from Google on the mobile web and an invaluable guide to how it all works. Shame the URL in the ad is wrong and they forgot to buy the adwords to help people find the right site. Check it out here.

EHS 4D picks up MAA Awards Best Creative DM

MASSIVE props to our Volvo team who picked up BEST Creative Direct Marketing at last night’s MAA BEST Awards!

The Volvo Winter Tyres campaign has been a massive success, with the car giants actually running out of winter tyres at one point!

The MAA represents the best in joined up integrated thinking, great work AND results not just luvvy creative in isolation or clever use of digital widget thingys so it’s a real testament to the team to have picked it up!

Find out why the MAA judges voted it Best Creative Direct Marketing here.

Check out the campaign here

Data, but not as we knew it

A recent piece in Marketing magazine by our very own CEO, Tash Whitmey on the changing challenges and opportunities for marketers posed by data.

Yes, in response to popular demand, we’re bringing data out of the dark ages and the clutches of the IT department and into the hands of marketers by talking about how it can informal all aspects of marketing from deriving killer insights to creating custom user experiences in real time.

As well as a dedicated data consultancy in EHS 4D Discovery, we have unbeatable data skills, across both our London and Cirencester agencies. The main point Tash makes though is that it’s not just about doing data but using it to craft compelling strategy and creative, 1+ 1 = 3 if you like.

Not many people can say they do that.

Do a have a read and tell us what you think:
http://bit.ly/ehs4ddrmktg

Pinterest: sieving picture gold from an ocean of online images.

With bandwidth increasing for the average internet user in the UK, the complexity of content that is able to be quickly shared is going up, especially for image files, which are easier than ever to create and edit online with ubiquitous cameras on cellphones and near universal editing software access. Image files are now utterly trivial to share, and the increased ease of doing so means that more are being placed online.

But with such an impossibly huge influx of content (Facebook has over 48 hours of video content uploaded per minute – you can only imagine how many images are uploaded in the same period), how does the very best of the crop stand out from the undifferentiated ocean of duckface Facebook profile pics? Enter social image sharing sites to provide a peer-reviewed filter on what’s hot and what’s not in whichever category you’re interested in (which, let’s be honest, is probably funny pictures of cats).

One such site (currently in private beta) is Pinterest, which has aimed itself squarely at being to images what Twitter is to text (even to the extent of including a small PinIt! Button for potentially ‘shareable’ content and the ability to RePin other users’ content)!

Pinterest works like this: users upload pictures to ‘Boards’ which anyone can create. Boards are like an area of shared interest – you might have one dedicated to adorable animal photos, for example – where Pinners post pictures related to the theme. It’s also possible to create more private boards – the example given on the site is helping to plan a wedding by the bride and groom uploading pictures of potential elements like dresses, while the wedding guests comment on which ones they like best.

More popular (and newer) pictures move to the top of the page (it’s possible to ‘like’ pictures), so you’ll tend to see the cream of the crop on whichever topics you follow. Tagging images with additional data about what they contain is also encouraged on the site – like tagging a cool present with how much it costs and where you can purchase (with a URL link) it, so it’s possible to use the site to shop for the current ‘coolest’ items directly.

Notably, the site bucks the general trends of the internet by having a majority of female users, giving the site a fairly unique community with unique behaviours – users have discussed having ‘wedding’ boards (despite some being single women!), where they collect pictures of the best Dresses etc. for the Big DayTM itself. More universally, it’s common to have ‘wishlist’ boards of items that you’d like to eventually buy (or have bought for you as a gift).

In all, with an Alexa rank of 36 in the US, Pinterest seems to have gone from the ‘yet another startup with potential’ stage to being a credible contender in the addendum to the less specialized offerings from other social sites, and it’s certainly one with applications for marketing –it seems likely that it’s only a matter of time until a larger brand (perhaps one with particular appeal to women) dips its toes into a more pin-or-be-pinned world.

But for now, I’ve just seen a picture of a life-size edible stormtrooper cake, and I just HAVE to share it.

By Oliver Horner, Social Media Executive

Let’s make London the global centre of digital innovation

Call to arms by Daniel Ritterband, the GLA’s Director of Communications in this weeks’ Campaign: “So if London doesn’t already have a reputation as the global hub of innovative digital communication, 2012 is our chance to ensure we capture the crown” – read the article and watch this space: www.molpresents.com

EHS 4D Prototypes the Smart Window

You may have seen Samsung unveiling their brand new Smart Window over in Vegas at CES this week (the woman with the overly square jaw certainly seemed excited!).

While we wait for it to be released to the general public, we’ve been working on our own prototype, albeit with more modest raw materials!

In case you’re wondering, it’s the window that’s massive, not Nigel’s small hands!

The Summer Like No Other starts HERE!

Wow, now that’s what we call a firework display and soundtrack to keep the cool in Cool Brittania and nicely heralds an amazing line up of events that the Mayor Of London has lined up for the Summer Like No Other, with an online hub c/o your friends here at EHS 4D.

Watch this space… http://www.molpresents.com/


Baublebot goes viral!!

You may have read about our Baublebot in a previous article but now it seems to have gone viral with clients raving about their personalised baubles!

Whilst many clients and friends of the agency have been asking for their own since seeing one of their friends’ baubles, above is a picture taken by one of our clients this afternoon sent with a big thanks to everyone involved.

“Guys,

I LOVE MY BAUBLEBOT! I did wonder why nothing happened when I had completed my design, now I know. However, I wish I had put a bit more thought into it knowing I would get something so lovely”.

Fantastic news for everyone involved!

Google+: has Google done it again?

We’ve been doing some digging online and have found a fantastic article by Elliot Reuben from our Planning department from July 2011 questionning whether Google+ is destined to go the same way as the likes of Google Buzz and Wave before it:

A long time ago, in a company blog far, far away (don’t look for it, it isn’t there anymore*), I wrote about how Google had dropped the ball with Wave Buzz. Rushing to judgement on Google+ is not smart, but I’m seeing a lot of the same signs and I think Google have a very small window of opportunity in which to make things right before their adoption rates start to atrophy.

Read the rest of the article here.

Do you think it’s taken off or been more of a Google- so far?