Archive for February, 2010
Written on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 by James and stored in digital/online, web
Today I downloaded the latest version of Firefox on my Mac, spurred on by some security concerns. Everything installed nicely and at the end of the process I was taken to Firefox’s home page where I was instantly dazzled by a new feature – personas. (more…)
We all like a bit of cheese, don’t we?. From the late night foray into the dark kitchen, stepping over the dog to the fridge to sneak a nibble of Cheddar’s finest yellow stuff, to the appallingly cheap yet annoyingly watchable weekly TV game shows that demonstrate how proud we all are of making fools of ourselves in front of millions. (more…)
Written on Friday, February 12th, 2010 by Marcus and stored in featured work
Noyce Livett, one of the UKs ‘top 100′ commercial insurance brokers engaged Purple Frog for a complete brand overhaul nearing three years ago. Since the launch of the central concept “The broker you can trust…(to give safety in numbers)” and the new corporate style, the business has looked to develop further its reputation as the forward thinking broker delivering tailored and reliable solutions across diverse industries to more than 90 countries worldwide. (more…)
I’m back! Away within a client business, snow and Christmas (was it really 8 weeks ago) have kept me out of Purple Frog during daylight hours for much of the last 4 months.
In that time I’ve obviously become comfortable with the pace of activity, peace and quiet in my temporary working environment because the vibrancy, speed of thought and action and sheer desire to do more that is the Purple Frog way, has been something of a shock to my returning system.
It’s not that my ‘home’ for the last 4 months has been slow or dull. Far from it. It’s just that the complexities of inter-dependent teams, workstreams, logs, programme meetings, ‘brown paper’ meetings and meetings about meetings all seem to conspire against any dynamic forward motion. Sure things get done. In some cases there have even been real ‘outcomes’ but everything runs at a pace that erodes the ability for keen minds to resolve, create, plan and deliver in a diligent, inspiring and efficient way – barriers are built not removed.
Now I’ve worked within corporate client businesses before – sometimes for 12 months or more – so I should have got used to this modus operandi. The trouble is, when you work in an agency like Purple Frog, it’s easy to be hood winked into believing that our working environment is the norm.
Some businesses have tried to address the inevitable inertia that gets created within cultural and operational systems that are essentially bureaucratic. Meetings without chairs, brainstorm/blue sky sessions etc. Others create brand values designed to motivate lean thinking and action but the real answer is to create environments where the people that want to speak up, move forward, create and inspire – even if this means rubbing the status quo up the wrong way – can flourish rather than becoming suppressed.
Somebody said to me recently that the trick in meetings is to avoid asking questions that require debate and answers. Better to keep quiet, let the agenda run its course and then everyone can leave on time and go about their business. This is the priority over defining purposeful direction and action or resolving issues.
As my Dad (who was a world beating business maverick) once said, “This is no way to run a railroad”.
Written on Monday, February 8th, 2010 by David and stored in digital/online, web
Many marketing departments are currently looking at ways to improve their search engine rankings but often treat paid search such as Google Adwords as a completely separate function than Search Engine Optimisation and in many cases budgets for both functions are separated. This however is the correct way to look at these, adwords may be an advert but SEO when done properly is also an advert it is just targeted using free listings not paid for ones. (more…)
Written on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 by James and stored in digital/online, marketing
Nowadays its common for retailers and manufacturers to offer internet exclusives. As I discovered to my frustration (and extra expense) at Christmas. My other half wanted a digital camera. Her only criteria was that it should be pink. (more…)
Written on Monday, February 1st, 2010 by David and stored in advertising
A recent article in the 30th January Issue of the New Scientist (pp 40-43) looked into the reasons people laugh. It concluded that people find different types of jokes funny, and, in particular, men and women seem to process jokes differently. In fact, women take “significantly longer” to decide whether something is funny or not. (more…)
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