Beige London Blog

Beige helped Häagen-Dazs celebrate its 50 year anniversary by...

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 05:23:23 -0400

Beige helped Häagen-Dazs celebrate its 50 year anniversary by creating a nationwide search to find a new Taste Tester to exclusively create new flavours, sample the finest ingredients and travel throughout Europe. Headed by Chief Taste Tester Alison Gray, applications open today – via www.facebook.com/haagendazs and close on 24 November 2011. Get involved!

Häagen-Dazs team @ Beige

BETO, WYCLEF JEAN AND ZUMBA ® FITNESS TURN ALEXANDRA PALACE PINK FOR UK’S FIRST FITNESS CONCERT

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:25:23 -0400

After months of behind the scenes preparation, blood, sweat and tears, the Zumba® tour bus rolled into town for the UKs first Fitness Concert – a completely sold out event featuring an hour’s Zumba® class led by Zumba® creator Beto Perez, world music and a live performance by Grammy-winner Wyclef Jean.

An appearance on ITV’s flagship breakfast news programme Daybreak, as well as numerous other interviews and features, ensured that everyone was talking about the event and London was buzzing with excitement.

It’s not every day that you find yourself at a concert, surrounded by thousands of men and women dressed from head to toe in pink, where security staff actively encourage you to get up on your feet and dance, but that’s precisely what happened on Sunday when Beto took to the stage in front of 3,800 Zumba® enthusiasts for the UKs first Fitness Concert at London’s iconic Alexandra Palace.

When Beige first announced the Zumbathon event, no one quite knew what to expect. Anyone who is familiar with the Zumba® programme will tell you that it’s like one big party, but how does that translate into a concert setting? One thing was certain, as the excited queues started forming early on Sunday morning, it was going to be one almighty party where every attendee felt like the guest of honour.

Celebrity Zumba ® fans including Amy Childs, Rachel Stevens, Gail Porter, Charlie Brooks and Tameka Empson chatted happily with the assembled photographers, film crews and other media at a VIP reception before the event, all eagerly awaiting the arrival of Beto and Wyclef.

Once inside, everyone was treated to a visual and audio spectacle; amazing Zumba® dancers from around the world, a moving stage, Wyclef Jean and, of course, the main man himself, Beto Perez. The atmosphere was electric as Beto rose up from the stage and launched into the first routine, supported by live musicians and a DJ; the audience went wild, waving their arms in the air and screaming out his name.

After a fantastic hour of dancing, Beto was joined on stage by Wyclef, who treated the audience to a 40 minute set of all his best know hits including the soundtrack to the Party in Pink™ campaign, Historia (listen once and you’ll be singing it all day!).

The Zumabthon event, part of Zumba Fitness’ global Party in Pink™ campaign, raised an outstanding £130,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Cure Cancer @ UCLH and Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Global Promise Fund.

Everyone left the event smiling and the Beige team collapsed, exhausted but over the moon.

By Michael Hickson

True story terrysdiary

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:04:32 -0400

True story

terrysdiary

We worked with Virgin Media to create a fleet of specially...

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:30:19 -0400

We worked with Virgin Media to create a fleet of specially designed super vans to carry out Virgin Media: TiVo Service installs. Based on the UK’s most popular TV and film themed vans, the fleet will be rolling out across the UK.

Thoughts on perfection and the nature of choice. Based on...

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 06:16:20 -0400

Thoughts on perfection and the nature of choice.

Based on lessons learned from creating spaghetti sauce.

Still one of our favourite TED videos.

The death of AVE in the PR industry is to be celebrated but when it comes to understanding success, context is key

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 06:49:00 -0400

The recent news that more agencies are ditching AVE in favour of cost per thousand people reached (CPT) and other metrics is to be applauded.

Evaluation fit for digital

The great thing about CPT is that it acknowledges the established importance of digital; getting coverage on a specialist website might not be worth a lot as an advert but if it results in reaching lots of the right people few would argue that it is not a cause for celebration.

But there is more to this evaluation shake-up than CPT and to understand why, it’s important to explore the reasons for setting objectives and evaluating campaigns in the first place. Fundamentally it is to understand what is required/ desired so that we know the degree to which success has been achieved. There are two elements here:

What is required/ desired?
Have we have achieved success?

The role of marketing comms

If we take the first point, the problem with AVE is that it only makes sense if what is required/ desired is a cheaper way to buy advertising space. Whilst cheap ad space certainly has its appeal it is not the role of marketing comms which broadly speaking is:

Taking this definition, here are some of the metrics that allow us to evaluate whether comms are delivering:

This list is far from conclusive but starts to give a picture of the myriad of ways in which comms can be evaluated.

The case against AVE

So why no AVE? Surely it could be argued that AVE covers the ‘reasonable cost’ element?

The problem is that whilst AVE, when part of a range of evaluated metrics, should be relatively harmless it tends to dominate the focus of what matters.

Monetary ROI is important because PROs are hypersensitive to a perception that PR is somehow less commercially aware than other marketing disciplines. This means that they are also hyper-sensitive to making sure that monetary ROI KPIs are met. When the metric is AVE, this leads PROs to secure coverage that would have cost the most if bought as an ad. On the other hand, when the monetary ROI metric is CPT, PROs will focus on securing coverage that best reaches the audience. To paraphrase the old saying, ‘what is measured is managed.’

Within this context, we can see why so many agencies are ditching AVE entirely. We have been using CPT instead of AVE for years but have found the need for flexibility to ease some clients into the transition.

This is why even though the agency long ceased setting KPIs for AVE we still measure and report it if clients ask. The approach leaves us free to use CPT and focus on what is important but also give clients the AVE figure they sometimes need to provide internally (but with the caveat that not a great deal of store should be placed in it).

There is no doubt that the long-term future of evaluation is an AVE-free world but for the time-being at least it’s a compromise on the road to the Promised Land that many agencies find themselves making.

The importance of context

The second reason to set objectives and evaluate is ‘to determine if we have achieved success.’

In establishing which metrics to set we define ‘what is required/ desired,’ but to understand the degree to which we ‘have achieved success’ it’s important to understand why KPIs are set at the value decided and not just whether they have been hit.

For example, if Brand X desires the audience to believe that it is innovative, we might use Innovation Key Message Delivery as the metric and set 50% as the KPI. If 50% key message delivery is then achieved, how does anyone know whether that is good or bad? To someone without a PR background, only telling the audience that Brand X is positioned as innovative in half the coverage could be perceived as a poor result. However, if we add the why and reveal that the industry average shows anything above 40% key message delivery is ‘Excellent’* the results can be viewed in a clearer light. That isn’t to say that we shouldn’t always set our sights higher, just that it is equally important to understand what success looks like.

Context allows those without in-depth knowledge of a subject to have confidence in whether success has been achieved.

To illustrate this point, let’s take an example from a field we’re less familiar with. This is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC):

The LHC is a particle accelerator that is currently running at around half speed at a cost over £3bn and won’t reach full speed until 2014, over six years since it first began operating. Is that a good or bad result?

What if we consider that, even running at half speed, the LHC still set the world record for the highest-energy particle collisions ever made by man? Or that even at half speed the LHC helped make a new breakthrough that could lead us to understanding how the universe was created and why life exists? The context helps us to understand that reaching a 50% KPI is a phenomenal success and not an expensive failure.

So when we look at evaluation, the PR industry’s steps to focus on the right metrics are to be celebrated by all. But in order to understand whether the actual results are to be celebrated, let’s remember the importance of context and base KPIs on benchmarks that help everyone understand the degree to which success has been achieved.

Emeka Njodi

Beige London

*Beige works with independent evaluation agency Metrica, which sets benchmarks based on industry data and historical delivery.

Beige at TechCrunch Europe’s #CrunchUp

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:15:41 -0400

Here at Beige, those of us who used to work on the left coast of the US miss our daily dose of Silicon Valley entrepreneurial, boot-strapped spirit and enthusiasm. So we are thrilled that TechCrunch has an outpost here in London and that they decided, yesterday evening, to hold the first London CrunchUp meet-up since 2008. Long overdue, guys!

With amazing sunny weather on the terrace of the South Bank, lots of folks in polo shirts and khakis talking apps, start-ups, APIs and venture capital, we almost felt like we were back in Palo Alto for a minute. Still, the laid-back community vibe was there and we talked to many interesting and brilliant people, all working on the kind of inspiring projects that have put London’s Silicon Roundabout on the map.

Great conversation, an intelligent, inspiring crowd and microbrews on a roof terrace – what more can you ask for? If you missed this one, you can find out more here and hopefully we’ll see you at the next one.

Thanks to @mikebutcher for putting on a great community event and a big shout-out to the CrunchUp sponsors:

• NHS.info – @dawson, Founder of Cambridge Healthcare

• Viadeo.com – @viadeo thanks to @waynegibbins

• Peoplebrowsr.com @peoplebrowsr “social analytics with 1,000 days of tweets”

• Corkbin.com – @corkbin, “your pocket wine memory”

Sasha Szczepanski

Beige

Tri-hard: Beige PR and the Virgin Active London Triathlon

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:29:00 -0400

One year ago, Virgin Active Health Clubs announced that the world’s biggest triathlon – IMG’s London Triathlon was to turn from blue to red and become the Virgin Active London Triathlon.

Since January 2011 Beige commenced the mammoth task of securing participants for an event that involved, at the very least, a 400m swim in the River Thames, a 10km cycle and a 2.5km run – and that was just the Super Sprint category. Despite the gruelling nature of the event, over 14,000 people took part. The fact that they made it across the finish line is testament to their commitment and enthusiasm.

Leading up to the event, celebrities and journalists, shared banter, advice and training tips online, all helping to build the anticipation. This momentum peaked on the day when the event even trended on Twitter.

When the day finally arrived, spirits were amplified by the nervous energy of those about to take part. The Virgin Active VIP wave commenced at noon and as quickly as it had started, it was over. Celebrities gathered for a sweaty and emotional picture at the finish line. Our participants and spectators then headed back to the VIP area where the room was filled with a new energy of pride and relief.

Despite feeling like we had taken part in the triathlon ourselves from spending a day running around ExCel, it was nothing compared to the achievements of those that took part. We’re super proud of everyone that took part. It’s also great to see the coverage continue to roll in.

A mini case study will be added to the website soon.

Beige PR team for Virgin Active

Image taken as part of ‘Virtual Reality Photography’...

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 06:36:00 -0400

Image taken as part of ‘Virtual Reality Photography’ (VRP) project that uses videogames as a platform for everyday photography.

All the photographs here are basically screenshots from various games, composed just like “real world” photography.

Emeka Njodi

Beige

July PR quiz of the month

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 08:58:00 -0400

Earlier this week some of us at Beige got together for PR quiz of the month.

We had a great time and thought we’d share to questions so you. Do let us know how you get on.

And we’d love to see your Owling/Planking/Beyonce pictures too.

Team quiz July ROUND 1 - NEWS AND PR

1. What was the UK circulation of the last ever issue of the NOTW thought to be?

2. Which brand was reported as the first one to pull their advertising from News of the World?

3. A Thomas Cook survey revealed the two names that are most likely to win an Olympic Gold medal, what are these names?

4. Which former US president was recently made into a statue outside the US embassy in London

5. Who was recently appointed as the new editor of the Independent, and where was he before (point for each)?

6. Who won Wimbledon this year? 1 point for each name (male and female), 1 point for each correct spelling?

7. Name the art installation of the top of Selfridges? What is it?

8. Which international company was recently forced to drop all of its air-brished advertising?

9. Oxford University recently claimed that Northerners have bigger brains, but why?

10. What is on the reverse of the official OMEGA Olympic countdown clock?

ROUND 2 - CULTURE

1. What is the name of the new Harry Potter website that will feature all 7 books as eBooks, as well as making previously unpublished material available?

2. Put these summer festivals in order: Latitude, Field Day, Love Box, Secret Garden, WOMAD, Wireless

3. Name the shortlist for the Mercury Music prize. One point for each correct answer. Minus a point for each incorrect answer.

4. Which UK rapper is to release a single for the Olympic games?

5. What was unusual about the show produced by theatre company, Duckie, at the Barbican and what was it called? Point for each

6. What is unusual about Jake and Dino Chapman’s new exhibition?

7. Who stepped in as the lead singer for the Faces reunion in the absence of Rod Stewart?

8. What is the name of the MIA demo single she posted and dedicated to Amy Winehouse

9. Which musical has been translated to Mandarin for the Chinese market?

10. Go outside and take a picture of someone Planking and someone Owling. One point for knowing what each of those things is. Three points for the best set of pictures

ROUND 3 - TECH RELATED

1. What is the name of the hacking group that has targeted Sony and the CIA among others? Additional point if you can name the Essex teen that also hacked them

2. Google+ launched earlier this month. What is it Google’s answer to? Bonus point for describing these key features; Circles, Sparks, Huddle, Stream

3. Which pop star bought MySpace? Bonus 2 points for knowing how much it was sold for in dollars

4. What is the name of the FarmVille and Cityville developer looking to float for around $1bn?

5. Microsoft has signed a deal with Baidu. What is it? Bonus point for naming each of the three record labels Baidu has signed with. Minus a point for each wrong answer.

6. How many pieces of original content has the BBC commissioned following Wimbledon?

7. What is this the logo for?

8. What were the last quarter profits of Apple and Microsoft to the nearest billion dollars?

9. Which electrical retailer is to open up shop in Harrods?

10. What is graphene?

ROUND 4 - CELEBRITY RELATED

1. Which UK comedian turned US TV star launched his first solo album this year and also recently became the face of a leading cosmetics brand?

2. Draw the outfit that Beyonce wore on stage at Glastonbury, including hairstyle – one point for each correct item including detailing the colour

3. Jo Whiley made a mistake when she was reporting on Beyonce playing Glastonbury, but what was the incorrect statement she made live on air?

4. Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy finally tied the knot but what did Abbey insist Peter give up in order to get married after his infidelities?

5. Which supermodel is set to become the world’s first billionaire supermodel?

6. Mick Jagger has created a Super (heavy fusion) group. Name the other four members (1 point for each)?

7. Gwyneth Paltrow feels so strongly about ‘cheese in a can’ that she said she’d rather do what than eat it?

8. There has been a spate of celebrity weddings and also a rise in interest in famous sisters, which supermodel’s sister was the latest sibling to cause a stir, and what is her name (1 point for each)?

9. Who has been confirmed as the new presenters of Big Brother?

10. Lady Gaga recently revealed the person she learned her raunchy behaviour from. Who was this?

Emeka Njodi and Jessica Turner

Beige

L.A. Noire: The convergence of film and video game design

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:25:11 -0400

When you think L.A. Noire, do you think video game, film, or a bit of both? There’s certainly been a fair amount of talk in the past few years about how AAA titles are increasingly emulating films in their immersive design, compelling storylines and, increasingly, marketing and PR.

The ‘film vs. game’ topic is one that we at Beige have been following for a while so when we found out via Urban Junkies that L.A. Noire’s production designer, Simon Wood, was giving a talk at the Design Museum, we headed over to Tower Bridge to hear his take on the issue and how 1940s Los Angeles was brought to life.

Wood, obsessed with sketching as a child and studied industrial design, absorbing as much as he could about set, graphic, and production design. He described with humour his role as production designer as someone who looks after, “a galaxy far, far away…built on a soundstage.”

Afterworking on The Phantom Menace, as well as several James Bond films, Wood began to realise that the convergence of motion pictures and videogames was the future. This led him to work on The Getaway before signing on to L.A. Noire where he re-created a post-WWII Los Angeles from a time before freeways; when tough men and women lived in a noir-inspired underworld.

Wood’s attention to detail is meticulous and he and his team sourced over 3,000 props, 180,000 costumes, created 640 individual shop windows and made use of 16,000 historical newspaper photographs as well as old spy photos of LA. It was an integral part of making L.A. Noire that every scene featured in the game was a replica of a street, building or place that existed in Los Angeles during the 1930s or 40s. The team mapped everything out, shot everything on film, and only then started building digitally.

The result of all of this cinematic design and attention to detail was not only that the LA Noire is, to date, the fastest-selling game in the UK ever, but that it was also invited to the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, a first for both the film and video game industries.

We’d like to close on some choice words from Simon that we believe everyone should aim to live by, “I choose to do things because they are hard, never give in and aim super high.”

Sasha Szczepanski and Trine Hansen

Beige London

Beige celebrates inaugural thereel.net short film showcase

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:04:00 -0400

Originally posted Tuesday 19 July 2011

The Reel.net has always been a great supporter of the Virgin Media Shorts competition, so when the website announced it would be hosting an exciting new event, we jumped at the chance to attend and not only because of the promise to buy our first drink.

The evening marked the first of monthly events which look to screen some of the snazziest short films that The Reel.net experts have seen.

Representing the Beige PR team, Dexter Void, media monitoring aficionado from the Sony team, and I, Virgin Media enthusiast, bumbled down Brick Lane to Cafe 1001 in the evening sun, looking forward to the night ahead of us.

The evening kicked off with Oscar Sharp’s Virgin Media Shorts 2010 winning film, Sign Language; an absolute treat.

Within the selection of short films was a particularly heart-warming offering named, ‘Pole of Inaccessibility,’ commissioned by Corona. It was certainly one of the most memorable and moving pieces of the evening which did leave me with a rather large lump in my throat by the end of it, even if the branded shots did make me squirm a little.

The animated offerings (such as Seedling), the majority of which were from unrepresented film makers, were stunning and had us wondering ‘how on EARTH did they do that?!”

We were also treated to the mysteriously named, ‘Nexus vs Nexus’ showdown. The audience looked on as thought-provoking questions including, “what are the problems with traditional film making,” were projected onto the wall.

Hellicar & Lewis, who have collaborated with Maroon 5 in the past, and Johnny Kelly, who showcased his animation made for Adobe (which despite its grandeur had the client asking ‘where in this did you use the blob brush? You could have done all of this in CS3’), took to the stage to give us insight into their creative genius.

The guys told us how they, “improvise like a turtle”, we were reprimanded for not, “keeping it simple, stupid,” and they also shattered the buoyancy of Pixar magic by telling us that, “animation is the least spontaneous thing on the earth.” Oh, and most importantly, we were informed that, “FYI, Adam Levine is a tit.”

The evening ended with a delicious Cafe 1001 cheese and bacon burger - it was a splendid event full of beautifully told stories squeezed into timely, bite-size treasures of films. Both Dexter Void and I left more culturally enriched (and slightly drunker) than we’d arrived, and we hugely recommend attending the next event on 1 August, again at Cafe 1001. We’ll see you there.

Nicola Lamb and Thomas Rice

Beige London

Inside the mind of Dexter Void

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:02:00 -0400

Originally posted Thursday 30 June 2011

What better way to celebrate getting half way through the year than by taking a look inside the mind of one our favourite staff members?

Dexter Void, Thom Rice to us, is the creator of fanzine, Dextor Void; a brutal and beautiful low-fi visual trip through whatever the hell he feels like.

When not creating this annual slice of crazy, Thom regularly kicks ass as a media monitoring and research assistant at Beige London.

And because he’s way too modest to ever big himself up about anything, we’ll do it for him. Here are four of our favourite pages from this year’s effort.

If you love them as much as we do, drop him a line and he’ll send you a copy. You can also check out his previous work here.

Emeka Njodi

Beige London

Adult

Unaware, my ignorance disvows the code of chivalry.

Susumu Yokota

All entrails seep freely

Kwannon

As I still admire you

Untitled

The Only Way is TiVo

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:50:00 -0400

Originally posted Monday 4 April 2011

“Not only was that the best launch party I’ve ever been to but it was also one of the best nights out I’ve ever had!”

It may be just one journalist’s quote, but also typical of the general feedback we received on the launch of Virgin Media’s new TiVo service.

On a night that celebrated the UK’s highly personal and idiosyncratic TV tastes, it seemed fitting that the launch featured such an eclectic selection of talent. From Plan B, Danny Wallace and Blake Harrison in the Lads Lounge; to ‘Bet Lynch’ and Britain’s Got Talent’s Bar Wizards behind the bar; to The Only Way is Essex girls in the Strictly Big Fat Essex room (complete with vajazzled TiVo box of course).

Oh and playing Play Your Cards Right with Les Denise and Keith Chegwin has to be one of the most surreal highlights of my career.

The launch took place Our House, Virgin Media’s members club in the heart of Soho. More than members club; we created Our House to act as a living embodiment of why Virgin Media’s services create a more exciting place to live.

After all the ridiculously kitsch TV themed entertainment our guests joined us on the Guilty Pleasures dance floor – mirrored of course (legs together ladies!). Just as it felt like the party might start finally winding down we were greeted by the wonderfully camp One Poof and a Piano belting out cheesy tunes as half the venue sang along in unison.

It may have sounded strange on paper but it really was a fabulous and a fitting way to kick off Our House as well as launch TiVo. With regular gigs in the chapel, an exhibition of V Festival photography kicking off today, the launch of Shorts, and lots more to come, it’s going to be quite a month.

Finally, I’ll leave you with my favourite picture of the night – our very own Beige PR legend, Corinna, pictured here with Julie Goodyear. Two blonde bombshells and Julie’s not letting go!

Jess Turner

Beige London

Think Quarterly: Three of the best

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:45:00 -0400

Originally posted Sunday 3 April 2011.

This week Beige London, we’ve been enjoying Google’s Think Quarterly Data Issue.

Think Quarterly is a limited-edition print publication for Google’s business network and in a freely available online to everyone.

We love it.

Here are three favourite articles…

3. Free Your Pockets: Feature on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology coming to mobile phones. NFC is the wireless payment system that’s in Oyster Cards and it could be a big deal with low value, convenience purchases such as take away coffee, magazines and public transport. I’d like to be able to pay for taxis and parking with it.

2. The Knowledge: Simon Rogers picks the 10 best places to see ‘sexy’ data online. Features a personal favourite; Information is Beautiful.

1. Fully Viral: Every minute, 35 hours of footage is uploaded to YouTube globally. That’s just insane. The article discusses what it takes to succeed in such a crowded environment, with case studies for Tipp-Ex’s ‘Shoot the Bear’ and French Connection’s ‘YouTique.’

One of the key features of both campaigns is interactive narrative, something we’ve been quietly banging on about for some time now.

Emeka Njodi

Beige London

Shooting from the hip: Getting creative with Hipstamatic

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:09:00 -0400

Orginally posted Friday 28 January 2011.

With the arrival of the iPhone4, the way was clear for great things – at last, Apple had served up a spectacular camera with their phones.

And then came the revolutionary, award-winning Hipstamatic app, which takes your photos and turns them into old-fashioned camera snaps of the sort your parents took in 1978. Completely beautiful and now wildly popular.

It didn’t take long, given that popularity, for the UK’s first Hipstamatic photography exhibition to appear, featuring photos taken by the fans that love and use the app rather than trained professionals. A few of us on the Sony team were intrigued, so headed down on Saturday to check it out.

The exhibition at the Orange Dot Gallery shows 157 photographs, all of which tell exude the curious fascination of modern times as seen through old eyes. These analogue looking images were submitted to one fan site - hipstamatics.com. If you’re gutted that you didn’t submit yours, then don’t worry – you’re in good company, because neither did we. Boo/ hiss.

As we moved around the room it become clear just how easily a phone and a simple-but-effective app can create a whole new way of looking at the world. The exhibition offered a wide variety of themes and subjects – wild life, architecture, landscapes and portraits all received a Hipstamatic makeover.

It was very nice to see the photographer’s name and location under every picture, too - it became swiftly obvious that this is an international phenomenon.

We now understand why amateur photographers call the app ‘the next big thing.’ We’ve really enjoyed using the app since visiting the exhibition and have included some of our own images below.

Trine ‘Trinny’ Hansen

Beige London