A perfect encapsulation of why the channel should never be the idea.
For us the order of play is consumer, brand, insight, idea…then channel
Why we're about content then channel
Posted by Richard on May 4th, 2012
A perfect encapsulation of why the channel should never be the idea.
For us the order of play is consumer, brand, insight, idea…then channel
Why we're about content then channel
Posted by Richard on May 4th, 2012
Our approach to digital is content and user-led. Because if you can first understand your consumers’ online behaviour, and then unlock how they use and share, you can encourage your fans to do the heavy lifting for you, thus reducing your reliance on digital marketing spend. And who wouldn’t want to be more efficient when it comes to budgets?
We’re applying this thinking to yoomoo, a new brand of frozen yogurt which has recently hit the supermarket freezers. The brand has two distinct audiences; the main shopper – mums 37+ who are interested in consuming content, participating ocassionally in social media and to a much lesser degree, creating their own content. Then there’s the end consumer; 15-25 year-old women, and true digital natives who love to create and share visual content with their friends.
We took the brand’s central creative theme – how do you moo?, a simple call to action encouraging consumers to show how and where they consume the product, and encouraged the younger fan base to unleash their creative flair. This wave of content would widen awareness about the new product range, carried with the powerful endorsement of its new users.
To superdrive the viral nature, the website has been developed with Facebook Open Graph. It allows users to express how they interact with the brand and product range, through different actions, making the web experience much more shareable. So, if you’re an Angelmoo fan, then we make it easy to tell your world through Facebook.
In addition, visual-based social media channels, including Instagram and Pinterest, have been integrated into the site to fuel further content creation and sharing, all of which will drive further viral brand awareness and web traffic. And finally, a suite of fun digital apps and games have been developed which are rolling out over the course of the year, to keep the site live, and content fresh.
It’s early days yet, but since going live just two weeks ago, traffic has increased 150%, and engagement has doubled.
So, just one question remains, how do yoo moo?
Posted by James on April 5th, 2012
Today marks the final day of Put Pork on Your Fork’s national sampling tour which was part of Finn’s campaign to raise awareness of lower salt bacon for our client VION UK during Salt Awareness Week.
The ‘Best Thing in Sliced Bread’ branded bus has been in our home town of Leeds today and the free lower salt bacon butties have been going down an absolute storm.
Check it out
Posted by Janelle on March 29th, 2012
It seems that digital PR is becoming somewhat of a buzzword amongst web agencies these days with tweets, blog posts and info-vids coming out explaining how digital PR is the bold new horizon for gaining exposure in a crowded market. The problem, however, is these agencies are not really offering digital PR, it’s just a keyword land grab.
Simply, it’s the same as traditional PR, except it utilises the power of online delivery. Be it social media, natural search, blogger relations, viral, etc. it’s about content. Content that people want to engage with and spread.
The heart of this issue is a misunderstanding of audience. The “digital PR” being offered is actually marketing content to search engines, not people – it’s SEO dressed up in grandma’s clothes, all the better to rank you with.
With Google being the primary target you end up with boring content with stiff, technical writing. Sure you might get ranked number 1 for some obscure, long tail keyword, but there’s no big idea, no greater vision, no reason for people to be interested. Ask yourself when you last saw mass sharing of the latest, greatest SEO campaign?
Everyone is talking about maximising the social aspects of their marketing but agencies are selling their brands short by creating keyword rich, interest poor content. While the ranking effect of these campaigns, and the immediate benefits to site traffic, are undoubtedly successful, brands have got to keep one eye on their future – by rushing to claim these keywords are they protecting their reputation and image?
Digital agencies are too often restricted by their technical heritage. Understanding the medium and the technology is not enough here, the soft skills of understanding people, managing influencers and “selling in” stories are also essential. This is where traditional PR’s strengths lie.
Instead of thinking search first, brands should be thinking sentiment first. Get the Big Idea in place; an idea that is compelling and interesting, that offers something, that gives people a reason to talk about it!
Once you have the Big Idea the PR manages itself. If it’s interesting and powerful enough, the buzz online and offline will lift the sentiment around your brand and become a fantastic traffic driver in its own right.
At finn, we recognise that digital is a key piece in the puzzle that is helping our clients succeed. We also recognise that digital isn’t a solution in its own right but great content needs a solid foundation – it is turtles all the way down.
Our digital team know that a brand’s reputation is the key to a successful future so we never place short term gain ahead of long term success. Compelling content and a Big Idea are so much more worthwhile investments than a short-term keyword blitzkrieg.
We use design and development to provide the platforms for success, and we understand the surrounding traffic drivers such as PPC, affiliate marketing, e-crm and (yes) SEO but the point is we use them to support the idea – they aren’t the idea.
So next time you see digital PR touted, consider if the idea is enough to compell you to interact, and if it isn’t, it’s just an exercise in SEO.
Posted by Ian on March 27th, 2012
Delighted to announce we’ve been appointed by single malt whisky brand, Glenfiddich as its retained consumer PR agency for the UK following a four-way pitch.
Our remit will include consumer media and blogger relations, sponsorship maximisation, experiential events and content production.
Richard Rawlins, managing director at Finn PR, said: “This is a major win for us; we are delighted to be appointed. With such rich heritage and provenance, as well as a product range which oozes quality and craftsmanship, the Glenfiddich brand lends itself to wonderful story telling.”
Glenfiddich, which is celebrating its 125 year anniversary this year, is the world’s most awarded single malt Scotch whisky and remains family-owned by William Grant & Sons.
Annabelle Clarke, senior brand manager for Glenfiddich, said: “2012 is a big year for Glenfiddich, celebrating a key milestone for the brand. We needed an agency with robust, strategic thinking, commercial understanding and focussed, well thought out ideas. We’re confident our programme of activity will be a great success and are looking forward to developing our relationship with Finn.”
Posted by James on March 22nd, 2012
Following high profile new business wins for our Finn Digital team, including Fab ice lollies, Kelly’s of Cornwall, yoomoo and ghd, we’re hiring for a web designer in the £24 – £28k range (depending on experience).
We are looking for a web designer to join our digital team who will be responsible for helping to plan and deliver a range of digital projects, including ambitious social media applications and marketing websites. You will be part of a team practising a content first approach to digital with a view to creating talkable, shareable, remarkable work.
You will be working on full projects for brands and you won’t be spending time producing minor updates to long term accounts. The work will be full of life and opportunities to explore your own creative thinking as well as try new styles and techniques as appropriate.
We know that sometimes the best people don’t go to University so a related degree isn’t a requirement, however, a strong portfolio and an ability to talk freely and elegantly about your process and final designs is a must. Ideally, you will have worked as a professional web designer for at least two years and will be comfortable in a fast paced environment, but if you’re a rising star who’s short on work experience we still want to hear from you too.
You need to be flexible in your approach and interested in keeping your knowledge of web best practise right up to date, though we don’t necessarily expect you to be writing the next draft W3C specification.
As a web designer you will be comfortable to sketch, plan, wireframe, mockup and produce designs and interfaces for screens of varied resolutions and you will be thinking about the role that the browser, code and a style guide play in the design of modern websites.
You will design for emotion and will keep mobile devices in mind when creating the front-end elements for your designs, all the time able to plan graceful degradation for users with older browsers (and test with those browsers accordingly).
Details beguile you, deadlines don’t frighten you and your colleagues can trust, learn from and rely on you.
The following is a list of attributes we hope you have.
Must haves:
Some of the other things that we use that you might know a little bit about (but don’t worry if you don’t!)
Call Ian on 0113 3944528 or email digital@finncomms.com
Posted by Ian on March 21st, 2012
We’ve recently hired the truly brilliant Asha Stuttard.
Asha’s first engagement with the agency was inspired: she baked us a cake and dropped it by personally. Attached to the package was a note to Google her name. She’d set up and paid for her own PPC link to a Finn specific landing page with a perfectly tailored pitch explaining why we had to hire her. We called her in a day later and she started shortly after that.
My good friend and colleague Matt Button at DS.Emotion just sent me this link, which takes proactive job searching to the next level.
I hope these offer some inspiration to folks looking for a role or work experience. I get five spammy e-mails a day from students explaining that they ‘have to do work experience as part of your course’ (i.e. ‘it’s a ball ache, but I’ll pinch my nose and get it over and done with’) and explaining the Finn ’seems the ideal place for me to do it’ (i.e. ‘I haven’t bothered to check you out, but reply to my e-mail and I’ll decide if I want to work with you’).
A bit of time and effort go a long way.
Posted by Richard on March 8th, 2012
Posted by James on February 29th, 2012
Posted by James on
Goodness knows how much thinking goes into viral marketing. These pictures were shared by a couple of my Facebook friends today and no doubt by yours dear reader.
This is a great example of a company allowing its staff to be themselves in communicating directly with consumers. Goodness knows what the letter would have been like if it had been submitted to head office for approval.
Proof if ever it was needed that the modern brand needs to loosen up and let staff be expressive. You don’t need to provide guidelines and structures necessarily. Nor do you need to try and force a viral – just share stuff like this and hope it inspires your people to do the same.
Give your staff the freedom to be themselves
Posted by Richard on January 25th, 2012
