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If you haven’t heard of The Betfair Front Room by now, you can’t call yourself a real football fan. Our highly acclaimed integrated campaign which puts Betfair, the world’s biggest betting community, at the heart of football fandom, is now in full swing with a whole host of tantalizing TV adverts and online content under our belts. (check it out here)

But we’re not stopping there.  With our 5 über-passionate (bordering on obsessive) football fans feeling very comfortable on their inflatable Chesterfields, we thought it was about time we mixed things up, and so last night’s shoot was just a little bit special.

Enter Andy Gray, former international footballer, seasoned commentator and world-renowned Sky Sports pundit.

Yes, you heard it here first – this is an exclusive. So be sure to check out the first airing of Andy Gray taking on the Front Room lads in style during the coverage of the Champions League second-leg game between Manchester United and AC Milan at Old Trafford on 10^th March.

Massive big-up to all involved, especially to our clients at Betfair, and of course to our director Theo Delaney and the crew at Hotspur & Argyle. Finally, here’s one for the scrap book – our own Neil Potter and Matt Roskill rubbing shoulders quite literally with the big man. Although Matt’s jumper has either shrunk in the wash, or he’s choking on Neil’s excessive use of perfumed hair spray. In the words of Andy Gray: ‘Right on the money’.

Yesterday we enjoyed our best Albion Society yet. We were filled to the rafters, with people having to stand at the back to fit everyone in. Those who couldn’t make it were following on Twitter, like @debkhan who tweeted “@albionsociety stellar panel -fed up to miss it-following up via Twitter love-in”. So massive thanks to all those in the audience who set the twittersphere alight with your quotes during the session. It’s not surprising that this was our most talked about Albion Society with a high calibre panel second to none.

Alan Rusbridger, Editor in Chief of the Guardian Media Group talked about a series of interesting binaries facing both journalism and politics now: Us Vs. Them; Open Vs Closed; and with direct  reference to Murdoch’s Paywalls, Pay Vs. Free.  ”If you are open that means you want to be part of the way the web works rather than simply on the web,” whereas, being authoritarian, top down and proprietorial, whether in politics and journalism, is ” just completely antithetical to the way everything is going”.

Justine Roberts, founder of the influential online community Mumsnet, hailed this as “ the first social media election. We have a  have a power in agenda setting, because all the journalists and therefore the politicians are all watching social media”. However she dismissed suggestions that this made communities such as Mumsnet the new block vote saying that if anyone tried to tell her members that they all had to do the same thing, they’d be more “like an octopus with PMT” all going their own direction.

Tess Alps, Thinkbox Chief Executive, praised the space for criticism provided by the  mediation of professional journalists: “I don’t want politicians and the public to always have a direct unmediated relationship because next time it will be Nick Griffin. I think Goebbels would have loved the internet for that reason!” She made an impassioned plea for us all to continue supporting professional journalism saying “Politicians without online communities would be worse, but online communities without journalism would be utterly meaningless.”

Dan Thain, Senior strategist at Bluestate talked about how digital campaigning doesn’t replace real world campaigning, rather it is a way of stimulating “real activism in the real world. The fundamentals haven’t changed. Peer to peer contact is still much more important and high value.” Digital campaigning however, enabled the two important elements to any successful political campaign “Money and Mobilisation” a strategy they’ve developed by “looking at participation, what matters, what gets results – seeing what works and focussing relentlessly on that”.

Read what the Telegraph and Brand Republic had to say.

Next time Albion Society gets together at Patisserie Valerie will be in June. Make sure we have your details if you want to be invited to come along.

Sometimes advertising delivers one of those Really Proud Moments.

Really Proud Moments usually include:
- Your mum seeing some of your work.
- Your mum seeing some of your work and understanding it.
- Your mum seeing some of your work, understanding it and actually liking it.

Well, we were really chuffed to make it onto Wired Magazine’s updated London silicon roundabout. Another Really Proud Moment. The original 2008 list compiled by Dopplr’s CTO included 15 tech start ups all based around Old Street. In the updated map we one of only a few creative agencies to be noted alongside some of our favorite tech brands: Tweetdeck, Moo and Last.fm. Oh, and we are at number 69 (cue childish chuckles – double proudness).

A few months ago it was realized that the walls here at Albion were a tad bare, so the management saw fit to get the team to design and paint a mural on the kitchen wall… It’s a bloody mess!

At approximately 5.41pm on Wednesday afternoon, we made history… Well, Albion history at least. We created our first trending topic on Twitter, from a single photograph taken on Shoreditch High Street, by one of our Account Directors Matt Roskill.

The photo in question, a rather dubious scene of a hearse being towed, sparked serious rage amongst the Twitterverse with cries of ‘Have they no shame?’ and ‘No Way?!’. At least until our frenzied followers took a second look to spot a sound crew’s boom sneaking into the shot.

Within a couple of hours, we had hundreds of replies and ReTweets and thousands of views of our original photo, catapulting the phrase ‘Shoreditch High Street’ to the number 1 Trending Topic in the UK.  Rumour has it even Loraine Kelly and Chris Evans jumped aboard our band wagon.

The outcome of a sophisticated viral seeding strategy…maybe not. Proof that the unpredictable beast known as Twitter can grab hold of a photo, news story or piece of gossip and make it famous almost instantly…definitely. It even made the Dalston People.

For those of you who want to spoil the illusion that we set this up – click here.

What do Apps have to do with Affairs of State? When are Memes a Political Matter?

Whenever we plan our Albion Society events (where we provide the speakers and the big themes and the breakfast goods) we look for the most pertinent ideas in society and think about how they relate to what’s going on in our industry. And what could be more pertinent right now, than the looming election?

We started building a panel and have secured an amazingly diverse and relevant selection of heavyweights!

Politicians and Journalists have always been intimate (if sometimes antagonistic) bedfellows. Discussing that special relationship, how it’s been changing and the great paid vs. free content debate we have none other than Alan Rusbridger, Editor in Chief of The Guardian. We’re really excited to have him.

Something else we’d noticed to be a new theme in this election was the rise of coordinated blogging as a force with political sway. We were thinking that blogging seems to be the new lobbying and that online communities could be the new block votes (you know, like the Christian right is in the U.S.). To talk about this we know no one better than Justine Roberts. As the Founder of Mumsnet, she’s second to none when it comes to organising an online community and using their collective clout. Impressive.

Approaching the subject from the other end of the media spectrum is Tess Alps, Chief Executive of the television umbrella organisation, Thinkbox. We really wanted her involved because this will be the first election to have the televised debates that are traditional in the U.S. So among other things she’ll be talking to us about what our first TV election will mean. Interesting stuff.

This is all very “Post-Obama” and can be seen most in the way technology has enabled a different model of online electioneering. The expert in this is Dan Thain, from Blue State Digital. They’re the people who enabled the micro donations to Obama’s campaign, and Dan’s the man in the digital driving seat for numerous local and national campaigns including those for the Labour Party.

So that’s the plan. It couldn’t be more interesting than that. Now all that remains is to fill the very few seats we have left.

If you’re interested (of course you are) sign up here. But I warn you, we released places today and they’re nearly gone. So be QUICK!

I’m saving some seats for people who suggest the most interesting questions for our panel. All suggestions welcome, and if you’re really lucky, you might win a place to ask them in person.

Hope to see you there!

Digital Democracy, February 24th 8am (for 8.30 start) Patisserie Valerie, Spitalfields

Further information: http://www.albionlondon.com/society/
Follow us: @albionsociety

This Tuesday at the Marketing Society, Howard Schultz shared some of the marketing story behind the Starbucks brand, and as it’s a business we’re fascinated by, I went along to find out more, accompanied by Anne MacCaig, CEO of Cafedirect. Midway through a media tour publicising the company’s involvement in the Red project, and fresh from an encounter with the Today programme, Howard gave a polished performance, with a big emphasis on the company’s CSR efforts including a whopping $300 million investment in staff healthcare in the US. Coming from relatively humble origins in the Projects, he was keen to explain his personal motivation:”I wanted to create the kind of company my father never got the chance to work for.”

With this as his start-point, his focus has been on building the company, not building a brand. This year the Starbucks marketing drive during the economic downturn has been single-mindedly on reconnecting with the core customer and the brand is now number one on both Facebook and Twitter. And this energy and engagement has been sustained by social initiatives like giving away a free coffee on the day of the US presidential election to anyone who came into any branch of Starbucks and proved they’d voted.

Howard was keen to point out that CSR is not marketing for him; it’s part of the Starbucks ethos As you might expect, Anne asked a searching question about Starbucks’ relationship with the growers – one of Cafedirect’s greatest passions in life. It was an interesting discussion to open up – whilst Starbucks is one of the biggest buyers of Fairtrade coffee in the world, it’s still a tiny proportion of their whole product, but Howard’s justification was that the Starbucks product strategy is to put quality first above all else. Howard also pointed to a micro-lending scheme and a water programme. Anne’s view was that in reality a corporation of that size could be doing a great deal more to help growers achieve the right product quality with fairer trade, and that with their scale they could have a massive, immediate impact. Howard’s philosophy in business is about rising to the challenge; as he described it “you have to take the hill everyday” Now leading a business that has grown from 3 stores when he first joined to 16 000 worldwide with 180 000 employees, that’s one hell of a lot of hills he already has under his belt. Given Starbucks’ commitment to being a responsible employer, embracing the people who supply their product, as much as the people who serve it, seems the logical next step for the business. Maybe that’s Howard’s next hill…

Watch ‘An Audience with Howard Schultz’

I went along to the IPA’s 44 Club talk at the London College of Fashion on Tuesday night. It was a talk from three of the marketing industry’s top clients: Peter Buchanan (COI), Alex Lloyd Davies (P&G), and Ian Armstrong (Honda).

They were brought together to explain to a room full of account handlers exactly what it is that clients want. Having worked for a period of time in both camps (ie. client and agency side), I was particularly interested to see whether my impressions of what makes a happy client, based on my personal experience, aligned with the opinions of these industry experts.

The presentations that ensued were varied and extremely insightful. Peter (COI) launched the event with a detailed look at how public sector advertising differs from the commercial sector. This was followed by Alex’s (P&G) top tips on how to create the perfect client-agency partnership, based on her experience of having worked with a host of different creative agencies. To complete the session Ian (Honda) approached the question from a more personal perspective, outlining the Honda company ethos, and illustrating how all his colleagues (both agency and internally) belive in the same fundamental set of values.

I’ve pasted by notes of the main points from each speaker below to share my newfound knowledge. In resonse to my personal quest – to discover whether there were similarities between what I felt clients were looking for, and what the clients who worked in vastly different industries had articulated – I found that the overwhelming desire was to be treated as partners – regardless of the industry.

Peter Buchanan (COI) – important factors to consider when working on a public sector account:

• You will often be dealing with unconventional audiences
• Insight into the attitudes and behaviour of the target audience is very important (and often difficult to get hold of)
• Bear in mind the different factors that might influence the message reception (ie. try and look at the ad through the eyes of a journalist, as the political context may mean that the ad has a political message that can be spun out of it…)
• UK offline can be as valuable as online marketing in the public sector (people still expect traditional response mechanisms) as well as a large proportion of the population still don’t have access to a computer

Alex Lloyd Davies (P&G) – top 11 tips

• Show how the creative/strategy work will make the client’s business grow
• Show why the work is clever – what is it that makes it quicker/cheaper
• Work with the client like they are a partner – use inclusive vocabulary when addressing them – talk about ‘our brand’ etc
• In a large business, ask up front who you should talk to if you have a particular idea or some interesting data you have received
• Ahead of a meeting, call the client up and give them a brief heads up on the idea and running order of the meeting
• Try and weave the idea in to an initiative/strategy that is already planned (as marketing budgets are so tight at the moment the only work that will run is one that is aligned with the core objective of the brand)
• Show how the work is measurable (and be honest if it isn’t) – do not be afraid that work will be rejected on this basis alone
• Proposals should be short and sweet
• Show the client what the consumer will actually see (ie. show the work in situ – whether banners on a website or POS material)
• Think whether you would spend the money if it were your own? Do you think you are giving your client good value?
• Value the small jobs as much as the large ones (as small jobs done well can instil confidence in your agencies competency which can lead to larger jobs)

Ian Armstrong (Honda) – top 10 tips

• Clients want good, creative work
• Show an understanding of the client’s strategy
• Demonstrate that you have the emotional intelligence to work with others (you need to be able to work well with people from all over the world from a diverse range of backgrounds)
• Honda works with people whose attitudes and values are aligned with theirs – their colleagues have strong behaviours (the visible manifestation of attitudes and values) that get the job done
• Their agency must be passionate and embrace challenge
• Agencies must be consistent in their delivery
• People must be open minded and receptive to new ideas
• Operate in a state of ‘mild agitation’ – have a sense of urgency to the work to get the job done
• “We can all be doers” encapsulates the attitude of Honda

This week it was exciting to see Contagious magazine reprise their September coverage of the giffgaff launch with another great article on their website.

This time it was focused on the great user generated content that is coming out of the Tool Hire campaign.

giffgaff even made it onto the prestigious “If you only read one article…” spot on the Contagious homepage.

But proof positive that giffgaff is not just the reserve of trendy marketing types came when GMTV picked it out as the best example of a new brand catering for a generation of web savvy savers who are want to develop an active and mutually beneficial relationship with the brands and products they use.

Exciting times indeed for giffgaff, and we are really excited to be involved.

Interesting commentary in the FT today on crowd sourcing – it was good to see giffgaff being covered alongside some other success stories like Dell and Walkers.