Dave's week in pictures

Ever wondered what do the Idealogy team get up to on a daily basis? Well here's 'the evidence' and a sneaky peek at the weekend too. Nothing too incriminating (yet!)

 

Monday - Snapping Neil on my way into work. Morning!
Tuesday - My film blog reaches 4000 hits. Whoop! - check out popcornorpants.blogspot.co.uk
Wednesday - A much needed beer after a long day in the studio. Aahh!
Thursday - Defining an icon. So how do you define a icon?
Friday - A long drive to Leeds. Are we there yet?
Saturday - Off to Betty's in Harrogate. Cream tea? Don't mind if I do
Sunday - Money grows on trees at Aira Force in the Lake District. Is that a pound coin?

The Idealogy Social Media Group

A long time ago in a company far, far away… ah, enough of that!

It was late in 2008 when I started thinking about how Idealogy could start ‘practicing what we preach’ in the field of social media. How could we kick-start our ECRM programme, engage on the growing number of social platforms and garner some interest from within the company? Not an easy task back then.

My first thought was “I’m not doing this one alone!”

Change is good! (Or a word to the unconverted…)

It’s a bad habit but, sometimes, the only way to make a big point on a big issue is through a big quotation.

So here are a few…

“Instead of making a lot of excuses, make a little progress. Instead of looking back with regret, step forward with conviction”

“You know you’re on the right track when you’re uninterested in looking back”

“Sometimes you just outgrow certain situations. Don't try to fix or repair it, just accept it and move on”

My personal favourite is “If you do not create change, change will create you.”

 

Productivity App of the Month - September: IFTTT (If This Then That)

Put simply, this month’s app builds relationships. Not between people, but between other Apps. IFTTT uses a simple statement – “if this then that” - to link the various functions your smartphone can offer you.

IOS 7.0 – the early adopters.

6pm was a busy time last night - Apple unleashed iOS 7 for it’s iPhone and iPad operating system. So were you one of the ‘early adopters? A few of the Idealogy team were. Brave or foolhardy, here are their comments…

Going, going, go Rhino!

This summer we were invaded. Not by holiday makers on their way to a variety of regattas and festivals on the Isle of Wight, and not by happy campers heading for the New Forest. But by Rhinos, lots of them! We found them brightening up a whole variety of locations around the city. 

Why ROI and ROE should be treated equally

Successful campaigns often address both short and long term goals…

A recent article on Marketing Week has suggested that many brands fail to budget for long-term innovation and relationship building. It’s the tired battle between return on investment (ROI) and return on engagement (ROE) that looks a little like this:

ROI: “ You can’t prove engagement. ROI provides a clear bottom line for marketers to
justify campaigns by.”

ROE: “You can’t have sales without engagement. Short-term campaigns are too narrow-minded, everything should have a long-term focus.” 

The Garden Guru

August has been a busy month in the garden - with most of the beans, courgettes and tomatoes needing constant picking, with enough overflow to also feed half the office.

Now with Autumn here, so are the spiders webs. This morning they were highlighted by the morning mist. This one is hanging in what's left of the plum tree.

Trying to "Be more dog", inspired by the O2 commercial (see http://bemoredog.o2.co.uk/watch & also play the game), I dug out the potatoes by hand, to make sure I don't damage any, they should see us through until Christmas.

Harvey 'the killer', is happily ignoring the above advice. We got him back in May from a rescue centre and he's proving to be an accomplished hunter. The current count: birds (13), voles (5) mice (3), rat (1) and moles (3). So, sadly, we’ve had no choice but to stop feeding the birds, which is a great shame. However we seem to have a few other visitors enjoying the garden spoils. The drunken wasps are busy eating all the pears in the garden leaving just a few fallers for one brave blackbird!

I'm also currently working on the out-building roof, which needed some running repairs, well, more of a rebuild after trees and the old wisteria had damaged one end.

Finally, a couple of surprising finds. Firstly the pumpkins, already turning orange and an interestingly shaped carrot… cough cough! That’s what’s so great about gardening – you never know what you might find.

The Garden Guru

All images found on Google. No offense or copyright infringement intended. Images can be removed if requested by originator.

12 things I’d change in the Lord of the Rings films

Every 4 to 6 weeks, members of the social media group write a blog. Sometimes it's easy to find a topic, other times not so much. This time round, I found myself struggling for a relevant topic with a looming deadline. A blog topic loosely tied into our business, or about a new venture or an interesting piece of business, and all written with some hidden depth. In the end I thought, ‘no, I’ll write about Lord of the Rings instead!’ (I've not had much off-topic stuff in my 4 years of writing so I’m giving myself licence this time to allow some project creep)

So was it all just a Flash in the pan?...

Idealogy has used Adobe's Flash for almost as long as it has existed…since it was a Macromedia product, not Adobe's! We've used it because for a long time it was the only way to deliver a richer experience in the browser. 

But no, we never advocated the 'click to skip animation' rubbish that was around in the late 90s, early 2000s.

Does your brand have a regeneration plan?

Are brands prepared for a change in leadership?

Unless you’ve been in a cave for the past month, you’ll have heard; Peter Capaldi has landed many actors’ dream job as the lead in Doctor Who. The regeneration game is soon to begin, which prompts the question: why aren’t more brands playing along?