La Lanterna has officially launched their new website.
Located in the heart of Glasgow city and serving food for exactly 40 years, La Lanterna is one of the cities most favourite Italian restaurant.
The restaurant appointed 360innovate the task of building a website where people can view the restaurant menus and make online table bookings. The final product is an information rich website that provides visitors with all the necessary information and tools to book a table; strong calls to action entice customers to navigate through the website which they can do with little effort.
So happy with the service provided La Lanterna have further employed 360innovate to develop an online marketing campaign for the restaurant.
Check the La Lanterna website out for yourself here.
If you didn’t already know Abbey Road studios, where the Beatles recorded many of their hits, is up for sale.
Being such an infamous and historical building, studio and shrine to one of the worlds greatest bands it is no surprise that there has been a national outcry.
Listening to Chris Evans talking with National Trust Director-General Dame Fiona Reynolds this morning it was revealed that the National Trust is very much interested in buying Abbey Road and preserving it for future generations to enjoy. But for this to happen, Dame Reynolds told Chris Evans that for any purchase of the studios to happen the National Trust must get the support of the public.
“We’re asking you to let us know whether you think the studios should be saved. No price has been put on the building in the affluent St John’s Wood district of North London, but there has been speculation that it could be worth between £10 million and £30 million. If there is enough momentum, we may launch a campaign to save the studios.”
Whether this is a genuine plea for pubic opinion or in fact the National Trust exploiting Abbey Roads popularity and unfortunate circumstances to kick-start a social media campaign is up to you. In my opinion, of course they are going to buy Abbey Road, why wouldn’t they? They already own and care for both Paul McCartney and John Lennons childhood homes (the latter gifted to the trust by Yoko Ono) done so without having to consult or seek the support of the public.
What the National Trust will gain from this ‘save Abbey Road’ campaign is a moment in the spot light and if the campaign goes global, which they are hoping it will, then it will do wonders to increase awareness of the brand around the world. Already a popular tourist attraction and with such early publicity and massive support across the Internet which they wouldn’t have got without the help of social media, the purchase of Abbey Road will be a wise investment that will no doubt pay for itself. So, really, who can blame them for utilising social media to take advantage of this opportunity?
There are already a handful of Facebook groups popping up hoping to contribute to saving Abbey Road but the National Trust have centred their official campaign around their own Facebook page, rightly so, and already hundreds of people have been posting comments of support. Similarly, the National Trust Twitter page has busy tweeting and retweeting trying to spread the word- with the help of a certain Chris Evans. Still in its initial stages of building momentum I predict that this social media campaign has legs that will not only contribute in turning Abbey Road turn into an even greater tourist attraction but will also play an influential role in changing the public perception of the National Trust and introducing it to new markets.
Viral marketing is most commonly associated with the production of media, such as a funny video, game or text message, which is passed on from one person to the next. You could say that it is the online equivalent of word of mouth; a successful viral campaign could take the form of a funny brand commercial which is passed around via email.
One example that always springs to mind whenever I discuss viral marketing has to be Agent Provocateur. The male readers of the blog will instantly know what I am talking about, yep, Kylie Minogue riding a velvet bucking bronco style bull whilst wearing Agent Provocateur underwear. As you can imagine as massive hit with men, and maybe a few ladies as well.
After being banned by cinemas, where it was originally intended for, the commercial became an online hit and since 2001 the video has clocked up a massive 350 million views on YouTube (source: utalkmarketing, fashionwindows) and has been dubbed the most successful viral video ever. The return on investment for this advert was no doubt epic.
Online games are another form of media with the potential of becoming a viral success and exposing a brand to hundreds (possibly thousands) of people. A recent example of a branded game going viral is Cravendale who aim to capitilise on the sharing format of Twitter and perhaps our obsession with health (or lack of), with a Twitter Health application as part of their Milk Matters campaign.
These are some rare cases of a marketing activity going viral but for every advertising campaign or online application that goes on to become an online success there a literally thousands that don’t.
It should be made clear to anyone wanting to create a viral video the majority of viral successes are not produced for that sole intention. They form part of a wider campaign and with any luck are picked up by online users because it is entertaining and/or relevant and it then goes on to become viral. After all the Kylie advert wasn’t produced to be an online viral success, it was produced as a promotional advert for the cinemas but given its content and the ability to view it online at YouTube it was turned it into a viral video.
This is perhaps one of the biggest factors with viral marketing, you cannot create a viral campaign in a design studio, sure you can go ahead and build fancy games for your website and film a commercial but the truth of it all is that it will not become a viral hit unless we, the public, decide it so.
Any brand looking for a viral success should focus on building a marketing campaign focused on developing the brand relationship with the target market, seeking out new channels of communications and fulfilling the needs of the market… and any viral success that stems from this campaign will be an added bonus.
As you will notice the 360innovate blog has had a bit of a makeover!
The past few months have been dedicated to the redesign of the 360innovate website and as part of this exercise we have also given the blog a bit of an image change.
The 360innovate website is due to go live very very shortly, but in the meantime we hope you have fun reading our new blog- feel free to let us know what you think!
We are delighted to announce that 360innovate has been officially recognised by the Recommended Agency Register for 2010.
The Recommended Agency Register is an independent organisation that undertakes extensive research to identify the most reliable and respected agencies across a broad spectrum of marketing services.
Having the ability to display the RAR logo on our website is a real achievement. It is the mark of hard work, dedication and passion and we are delighted that our efforts have been recognised by such a renowned organisation.
According to statistics published by eMarketer one in five companies have a social media policy in place restricting what employees can and cannot do on external networking sites; with the majority of respondents citing loss of productivity and reputation management being a primary reason for such enforcements.
As previous posts have shown we are all for employees at every level contributing to the company social media efforts and we are certainly not fans of any sort of workplace ban on social media. Social media offers many long term benefits and there is a place for it to be implemented in every marketing plan; if you can get a broad range of employees involved then even better. However, despite being big supporters of social media activity in the workplace it is difficult not to ignore the potential threats many companies could potentially encounter if employees were left to their own devices.
Loss of productivity is one of the most glaringly obvious threats to any company and despite the benefits of contributing to social networks, commenting on blogs and participating in online discussion there is the potential for employees to stray from the corporate path and start catching up on their personal affairs. The simple solution? Kindly ask employees not too, encourage employees to contribute to the company online activities but keep personal socialising to their lunch break.
Control of the corporate reputation is another cause for concern for many companies. Allowing employees to use social media during work hours opens them up to being liable for employees opinions and mistakes; something that could quite easily happen offline or from the employees personal computer. It is in this scenario that a social media policy really becomes invaluable, it is your best friend to managing and guiding employees and how they use company social media. If you choose to leave them with little or no advice as to how they should use or interact online when acting on behalf of the company then you really are leaving yourself open for disaster.
Putting together your social media guidelines
Before introducing any guidelines ensure that employees know what social media is, how it contributes to the marketing of the company and let them know what company social media activities are currently in place. The guidelines should do as the title suggests – guide! Provide guidance on how employees should interact with stakeholders online and put in place a process for responding to anything negative.
Similarly, Mashable provide a ‘must-haves’ list for your social media policy which includes a very valuable point which should be expressed to all employees. This is ‘remember to protect confidential and proprietary information’, although with the use of social media we encourage a certain level of transparency there is such a thing as giving too much information away. Ensure that employees understand what they can and cannot talk about so that there is no possibility of a misunderstanding which could lead to the disclosure of sensitive information to the detriment of the company or client.
No matter what your social media guideline says make sure you encourage employees to get involved and to have fun with it. Social media is there to share and connection and should be a hindrance. To see actual social media guidelines and policies currently being used by a variety of businesses visit Social Media Governance where there is a database holding over 100 social media policies from BBC to Yahoo!.
Well done to the Ardanaiseig Hotel who have just been nominated for Website of the Year at the Scottish Hotel Awards 2010.
Ardanaiseig was built in the Scottish Baronial manner for Colonel Archibald Campbell of Clan Campbell in 1834. It was designed by William Burn and is listed for its architectural importance. It is a truly beautiful hotel and we hope the website does it justice, with such stunning imagery how could it fail to impress?!
Good luck to the hotel, we will have our fingers and toes crossed for you!
Following on from our previous post about the recession being “over” it is timely to report that in 2009 UK shoppers spent the most online than any other country in Europe.
Bucking the idea that consumers have stopped spending UK shoppers spent a massive £38 billion online last year, which despite being the last country out of the recession, makes Britain the largest online market in Europe.
There are of course many factors influencing this outcome, namely the fact that here in the UK we have greater access to PC and higher levels of internet activity, but above all we are a nation of bargain hunters and with many online retailers offering savings of up to 20% compared to the high street it is logical that online is where we would shop. Not surprising is the fact that online sales accounted for 10% of all retail purchases last year.
Experts forecast that countries such as Poland, France and Spain will be the fastest growing online markets in 2010 with Britain slowing down in growth but still remaining the largest market in Europe.
So how can online retailers continue strong in 2010?
Hit the consumer with your marketing message at every angle with an integrated marketing campaign that utilises online and offline techniques.
Offer value for money; whether it is loyalty schemes, free gifts or money off discounts. Searches for discount vouchers went up 47% in 2009 because people are looking online to save a little money or get more for their money.
Reinforce that you are a reliable and safe retailer.
Offer the full customer experience with an excellent easy to use website, quality products and top notch after sales service.
We started the year off saying we were going to beat the recession and no sooner had the words left our lips (or fingertips I suppose) than it was declared that the UK was officially out of the recession.
Yep, after months and months of griping about the ‘economic downturn’, big name retailers folding, being skint, not being able to get a mortgage, alcohol prices going up (or was that just me?!) and high unemployment rates the nation woke up this morning to suddenly be told that we no longer in the recession. The nation has finally seen slight growth, a measly 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2009.
And I guess many people will now be asking what do we do now? Go on as well did before, we certainly aren’t out of the dark but there is a small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel which we must work towards. Continue giving your customers and clients added value for their money, give them good reason to spend their money with your company and, above all, begin working on promoting and building your brand. Because when the nation is completely clear of this recession and the economy is growing at a little more than a 0.1% you want to make sure your company is overshadowing the competition.
