ITV

The LEGO Movie: content marketing triumph or 100 minute advert?

You really don’t need me to tell you that there’s a LEGO movie out right now. It’s impossible to ignore.

Heck, even as I write this there’s a Culture Show special on BBC2 right now about how LEGO has influenced architecture. Funnily enough, when constructing our house, the builders ran out of red bricks halfway up and had to finish with yellows and greens.

Warner Bros. began the marketing push seven months ago in June 2013 with a rapturously received teaser trailer and continued with a solid social marketing strategy, which saw very close engagement on social channels that continues through to this week of release.

ITV even turned over an entire advert break during its Sunday night edition of Dancing on Ice to LEGO, during which adverts from BT, Confused.com and Premier Inn were remade with LEGO models.

board-members

What every digital leader needs to know about securing board buy-in

Are marketing and digital having a greater influence on coroprate strategy and its execution?

There can be little doubt that digital leaders within organisations are increasingly finding themselves charged with driving organisational transformation, growth and the development of capability, and are spending more time than ever working with the main boards of their businesses.

So what are the main barriers to securing the backing of senior staff for digital investment and initiatives, and what are the best practices for ensuring not only one-off approval but ongoing support from the C-Suite? 

The results of Econsultancy’s new research into Securing Board Buy-in reveal both some key challenges but also some smart strategies for success.

Great British Bake Off and the rise of social TV

The Great British Bake Off finale achieved 156,000 tweets during its 8pm-9pm broadcast last night.

The flagship BBC2 show has also seen a steep rise in audience figures over its 2013 season, achieving 9m viewers during its finale, up from 6.5m who watched the crowning of last year’s winner.

Although an assured move to BBC1 and a 32.6% audience share is a huge success, perhaps The Great British Bake Off’s greatest legacy is highlighting our changing viewing habits and how Twitter is transforming the way we watch TV.

Seven innovative new technologies set to revolutionise marketing

“There must be an easier way.” Lots of great ideas have been born from that simple phrase, and judging by the entries to The Digitals Innovative New Technology category, it’s not a trend that’s set to die down at any point soon.

From collecting multiple device data to search optimization, getting all your marketing ducks in a row is hard work. Here are seven new technologies set to make your life a little easier in future…

Digital transformation: what is it to ‘be digital’ and exactly who is?

digital transformation strategy

Just what exactly, in plain English, is digital transformation? Which companies have already undergone it, and which need to? Have some already missed the boat? 

Google ‘digital transformation’ and you’ll see companies providing services for the burgeoning market needing to quickly start thinking digital. 

Some of this content is great, and some is still not quite transparent. Whilst white papers detailing change and success in specific sectors are welcome, videos of consultants talking in generalities and marketing speak are less so.

The problem is, of course, that much of any organisation’s digital strategy is unique, and it’s difficult to define what excellence is, or how it can be reached, without first knowing who one is writing for.

This creates one of the challenges for organisations seeking to understand digital; starting the journey is often the hardest step. It’s difficult to know what needs to be looked at first, especially if you have the erroneous and sinking feeling that ‘everything’ needs to be changed.

You might also be trying to articulate to the board why change is needed, and to do this you need to be able to make clear points.

Over the next few months I’m going to look at how ‘digitally mature’ various sectors and organisations are and what the process entails, not least because Econsultancy is actively helping companies in this area (contact our digital transformation consultants if you need help).

12 great examples of publishers that use responsive design

ITV recently underwent a corporate rebrand that included a new logo and colour scheme, as well as a new responsive design website.

The broadcaster’s decision to turn to responsive design follows similar transitions by a number of other content sites in the past 12 months as they attempt to cater for a growing mobile audience.

We’ve previously highlighted 10 great examples of ecommerce sites that use responsive design, as well as looking at the problems with mobile ads and how they can be overcome.

And in light of ITV’s new site, here are 12 examples of publishers that have embraced responsive design…

ITV to launch Shazam-enabled ads

ITV will partner with music recognition service Shazam to provide interactive TV advertising for users of the app. 

Shazam users (there are 10m in the UK) will be able to use the app to interact with ads and enter competitions, get more info, view additional content or download free music.

ITV to Apple: don’t use ‘iTV’

Is Apple’s next big move the revolution of the small screen? Despite the company’s less-than-stellar past attempts at putting its imprint on the television, many believe 2012 is the year Apple will up its efforts to change the device with a big product launch.

If Apple does move forward with a smart television, there’s one obvious name that would be most fitting: iTV. After all, Apple has become synonymous with ‘i-‘ products, from the iPod to the iPad.

Sky’s sound social media advice hijacked by brand police

Last night the Guardian released details of an email sent to Sky News employees that outlined new social media guidelines.

Of course, the most sensational part of this – that staff now seem to be banned from retweeting rival “journalists or people on Twitter” – has been highlighted by many amid cries of ‘they just don’t get it’.

What do social media managers do? Part 3

itv2-logoIn the my previous post, I spoke about a single aspect of my work process, and in future installments I’ll be looking at other areas where I speak to different audiences. However, by now I’m fairly sure that you’re all getting slightly tired of me
shouting about how great I am , so this time round I thought we’d
take a break and begin looking at some leading social professionals from
other industries.

Social media tools and initiatives are increasingly
widespread, but their use can vary dramatically from company to company, and while Econsultancy has an interesting business model, it’s also fairly unique. By looking at other industries I’m hoping we can uncover how the core principles of social media (Listen. Consider. Respond. – you hadn’t forgotten had you?) can be applied to different situations. 

A good social media manager needs to be highly adaptable, applying these
tenets to differing business models for a variety of reasons.

To kick things off, I
recently spoke to Tom Webster, Social Media Producer at ITV Digital
Channels about how the broadcast media industry applies social media in
order to engage audiences and promote content on a variety of
platforms.

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