June 2008 Archives

Sky falls in on EasyJet

By Mike Teasdale on June 18, 2008 4:16 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
We're continuing to monitor the situation on Google after the rules on bidding against registered trademarks were lifted last month.

The new rules allow anyone to bid against a trademarked term - but not to use that trademark in their ad copy.

I expected to see competitors and aggregators taking advantage of this - but I have to say I'm surprised to see the way Sky News are enjoying their new freedom.  Here's the search results page for EasyJet - where Sky News has placed an ad reading: Sky Breaking News.  Budget airline plane with 170 people on board went off the runway.

Not too helpful for EasyJet I would guess!

EasyJet serps page on Google


Firefox Download Day

By Mike Teasdale on June 17, 2008 10:22 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
Today is the launch day of Firefox 3 - which, confusingly for the UK, started at 6pm this evening to give the West Coast of the United States a chance to wake up.

To mark the day, Firefox is aiming to go into the Guinness Book of Records for the most software downloads in a day.  In fact, since the record doesn't currently exist, they shouldn't have too much problem in getting into the record books.
spread firefox

The Spread Firefox website - billed as the home of Firefox Community Marketing - is actually a fantastic example of social media in action.  The overall campaign is backed by links to blogs, events, an affiliate scheme, a photo stream, projects and discussion groups. 

A poll by the Marketing Society of leading UK marketers came out today, looking at attitudes to social media.  It's clear that most marketers in the survey have a pretty cautious, wait-and-see attitude to social media.  But it's also clear that most marketers associate social media mostly with blogging, either at an individual level or around corporate blogs aimed at journalists.

As Firefox shows, social media is much much more than that.  In fact social media is one powerful ingredient in a larger picture - social, or community marketing. 

Marketing Society Graph  

 

God is in the detail - even on error pages

By Mike Teasdale on June 17, 2008 3:15 PM | 1 Comment | 0 TrackBacks
There's an interesting post on David Hughes' blog about poor website error messages (The Million Pound Error Message?) which made me think of the opposite extreme - companies which have taken the trouble to produce beautifully-crafted error messages.

For instance, look for a page that doesn't exist on moo.com and you get this sweet little page.  It might not make them a million pounds, but the warm feeling it gives has to be worth something.

Moo 404
Dropsend has a good page, particularly the email address for customer problems quoted here: "happytohelp@dropsend.com". 
Dropsend error page
Innocent is another company which puts a lot of effort into the small, often unnoticed details - like the text on the bottom of their drinks bottles.  So it's quite a surprise to see their bog-standard, uncrafted 404 page not found page - shows that not everyone is perfect!

innocent bottom



Stork versus Gorilla...

By Mike Teasdale on June 16, 2008 2:07 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
Ah, it's the Cannes Lions this week, so to celebrate I've spent my lunchtime flicking through the ad slots mentioned as contenders for the Grand Prix in Ad Age's preview.

No doubt the Cadbury's Gorilla will do pretty well in the awards, although I'm pretty bored with this now. 

But I did like two commercials that I haven't seen before...

Ogilvy (Toronto)'s work for Shreddies has a great idea brilliantly executed - it's well worth taking the time to look at the other work in this campaign - all equally funny!



And I totally agree with AdAge that BBDO New York's work on Monster is just breathtaking - a really gorgeous piece of work that I'm sure worked brilliantly.  To be fair, Monster has been doing nice work for quite some time (back in 1999 they were running a commercial featuring a bunch of kids talking about their ambitions: "When I grow up, I want to file all day.  When I grow up, I want to climb all the way up into middle management.  I want to be replaced on a whim."

But this latest campaign really is the boss!  (Don't bet against the bloody gorilla though!) 

Glasnost at Google?

By Mike Teasdale on June 13, 2008 9:19 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
Google logo - Charles Rennie Mackintosh

What I love about Google is its capacity to surprise everyone by suddenly changing the rules and throwing a spanner into everyone's works.

Examples would be the decision to buy Urchin and then give the software away as Google Analytics.  In the UK agency scene, the forthcoming removal of agency commissions - sorry, "best practise funding" will similarly require a rethink of many well-established business practises.

In that spirit was a long blog entry a week or so ago from Udi Manber, an Engineering Vice President in Google's Search Quality team.  Udi Manber wrote one of the standard textbooks on algorithms (I can't honestly say that I've read it myself!) and before joining Google was the Chief Scientist at Yahoo! and then the Chief Algorithms Officer at Amazon.

It's an interesting post as he gives away a lot of detail about the processes Google goes to in terms of safeguarding search quality.  And he also promises that this is the start of a process of more openness in this area.

I think that this is an important step forward.  Given the importance of search results to many different parts of online marketing, it doesn't seem right that the entire process should be shrouded in mystery, or revealed only in the veilled mutterings of the high priests of natural search agencies.

Anyway, whilst I'm being nice about Google, I loved the logo they produced for Charles Rennie Mackintosh's birthday on the 7th June.  Since this was a Saturday, many people will have missed it, so here it is again - lovely work!

Goodbye Golden Square!

By Mike Teasdale on June 4, 2008 12:33 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
Today is Harvest Digital's last day in Golden Square - on Thursday we're moving offices once more.

We're not going too far - we're popping over to the other side of Soho to an office where we have space to squeeze in a few more people - up to fifty or sixty according to the plans.  And just to kick off this growth, we have four graduates starting in the media and search teams on Monday.

Still, it will be sad to leave Golden Square.

No more coffees in the gloomy Nordic Bakery...

No more pints in the Midas Touch.  In fact no more Midas Touch, as in spite of a campaign by Virgin Radio, it has turned itself into yet another trendy Soho bar...

And goodbye to the statue of George the Second - which, like many of the square's regulars, looks to have seen better days!

Golden Square images







Who can resist the lure of giant furniture?

By Mike Teasdale on June 3, 2008 1:47 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
Even on a (very) rainy day in London, there is a crowd of people trying out the giant green furniture outside the National Theatre on the South Bank.

Is this Alice-In-Wonderland-Syndrome - the desire to shrink down to child's size in a grown up world? Or perhaps everyone is just a bit worn out by the Banksy show round the corner?

green armchair national theatre

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