GREENblog

Bradford OpenCoffee: Next meet up

GREENblog — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:14:47 +0000

Following the success of bmedi@’s first two OpenCoffee events held in May and June, bmedi@ are running another event on Thursday 21st August 2008. Full disclosure: I am a non-executive director of bmedi@
The emphasis of OpenCoffee is very much on the internet and new media industries. The free events are informal and see a range of technology entrepreneurs, designers, bloggers, developers, geeks, investors and anyone else who’s interested in digital media and technology exchanging ideas and striking up relationships that would otherwise never have flourished.
The philosophy of OpenCoffee is very much of an Open House of ideas and people.
OpenCoffee Bradford(Shipley), is being sponsored by the YoYo Bar & Restaurant.
Bradford’s third OpenCoffee event will take place on Thursday 21st August at YoYo’s Bar & Restaurant (Shipley) from 10am to midday. Alas I am holiday so won’t make it.
The event is open to anyone who is interested in the region’s digital, creative and new media industries. You’re welcome to enjoy the coffee, the cakes and the good company. To book a place just e-mail steve@bmedia.org.uk or go to Upcoming and register. We look forward to networking with you.

Party Time: West vs China

Ian Green — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:00:36 +0000

Another Leeds BarCamp

Ian Green — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:06:18 +0000

It’s nine months days since Leeds’ first BarCamp back in November…but rather than wait a whole year, we wanted to catch the Summer Sun, so come join us at Old Broadcasting House again, this time for two days of geekery and (hopefully) great weather on the 16th and 17th of August 2008!

What is BarCamp Leeds?
BarCamp Leeds is the city’s second ‘unconference‘, a event where the folks that attend create the programme of sessions themselves. BarCamps are open, participatory, democratic, ‘workshop’ events; the organisers and sponsors simply provide wireless broadband, a venue, beverages and food! The attendees provide the content - and the buzz.

BarCamps are a great opportunity to network, lean and share…plus generally a lotta fun too. We’re hoping our stack of Nintendo Wiis will break the ice and we know Old Broadcasting House will be a fun and inspiring venue.

We’d love for you to come - if you’re a creative, an artist, a writer, blogger, technologist, or a developer, geek, entrepreneur, academic researcher, gamer or investor please join us. If you’re just curious and interested in digital culture or social media - we’d love to meet you too.

Come and demo, talk, share or just hang out!

Twitter: UK leads the way as early adopters

Ian Green — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:08:12 +0000

Just back from a stay with friends in North Yorkshire and slightly distracted by the number of “tweets” I have been getting from Number 10 – the PM, Gordon Brown’s Twitter account.
Also, the BBC Tech Team, The Guardian and other have been twittering too. I love Twitter – but I don’t know why. Admittedly it’s a great way of staying in touching and monitoring what other people are up to … so far so good.
But it looks like Twitter is finally going mainstream and it’s being led by the Brits according to recent stats by Hitwise. “Twitter is more popular with Brits than Americans. Last week the site’s share of UK Internet visits was 70% higher its share of visits in America,” writes Hitwise’s Robin Goad.

“UK Internet visits to www.twitter.com have increased by 631% over the last 12 months, with 485% of that growth coming this year.”
Down with the yoof, my son uses Twitter as do his friends and the general view on the interweb is that the UK will be the region that will prove the tipping point for the platform.
I’m not convinced as most people I speak to have never heard of it but then they have never heard of blogging, Facebook, MySpace…
Any thoughts people?

Dan returns to GREEN

Ian Green — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:37:15 +0000

Welcome back to Dan Phillips who has returned to GREEN Communications after a year out of the business while he experimented with working in a design agency.
Dan started at GREEN several years ago as an account executive, rising to account manager before he left us to join Fantastic.
He rejoined GREEN today as client services director where he will be responsible for delivering the highest standard of service to a broad range of GREEN clients
Dan tells us: “GREEN has consistently placed itself as one of the North’s most respected PR agencies and it’s an exciting time to return to the team. In the current economic uncertainty, more and more businesses are turning to both PR and social media as the most effective communications tools for reaching customers.”
Ian Green, Director of Media added: “Dan’s appointment reaffirms our commitment to clients of delivering results and value across the media spectrum. In what is widely accepted as a tough time for all business, GREEN has enjoyed substantial growth in 2008 in terms of our client portfolio and our growing account teams.”

Credit Crunch? Time to try PR

GREENblog — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:20:11 +0000

Given all the talk about the credit crunch – and we are now experts on this through our involvement with our client Leeds University Business School and the Credit Management Research Centre – it has been curious how busy we are now with new business enquiries.
The ones we can talk about include:

Prune Juice – building the profile of major US brand in the UK. We second that motion.
Wooden bicycles – eco-friendly for the middle classes.
Someone trying to sell their house via a raffle – need to sell 5000 tickets at £50 each. From a PR point of view this has been done before.
Food support organisation.
Major city centre £350m development.
Training programme for SMEs nationwide
Christmas illuminations company.
Legal commodities company (no – I don’t know what that means either).
Specialist in corporate recovery – good one for the credit crunch.
Equestrian supplies company.

This raises an interesting question: given that we are told that the economy is in a downward spiral why are so many companies and organisations spending hard cash on PR to support their marketing plans?
It could be that traditional advertising is no longer cost effective or that organisations see PR as a cheaper option. We would argue that PR is just one chess piece in the bigger marketing mix and is potentially the most effective.
However, the world has changed with Web2.0 (most of the advertising spend is now going to the internet and social networks) and PR – if done properly – can play a role in that too. We will be pitching that idea to our potential new clients.
Having analysed our recent KPIs for clients it is surprising how far we exceed their expectations on what we can deliver and clearly justify the money they are spending with us. It’s bloody hard work – but GREEN colleagues continue to deliver.
In spite of recent news of the demise of Poulters : - ( and redundancies at Yorkshire’s largest PR agency we think the future looks quite bright for our industry.
And if we pull in just 50% of the potential new business we will be happy to deliver for our new clients.

Social Media: An idiot’s guide

Thomas Atcheson — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:27:24 +0000

We use social media a lot on our communications campaigns for clients - some really get it. Others are just confused. If you’re uncertain about what we mean when we talk about social media go watch this three minute video by those nice people at the Common Craft Show.

Internet is the most influential media

Liz Hirst — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:51:48 +0000

The internet is the most influential of all media channels, beating TV almost two-fold, according to a joint study by Harris Interactive and Fleishman-Hillard Research.
In the UK, the average response on how influential the internet is was 42%, followed by TV with 23%.
The two research firms analysed the media consumption patterns and internet behaviour of nearly 5,000 users across the three markets.
Despite the strong influence of the internet, consumers are concerned about internet safety. While less than half of online consumers in the UK (48%) believe that it’s very safe to sell and buy things online (compared to 34% in France and 29% in Germany), only 25% of UK users trust the information companies put on the web.
Meanwhile, according to a Reuters report the Internet will overtake television as the biggest advertising medium in Britain this year, with over 19 per cent of total ad spend.
The main engine for growth continues to be paid search on sites such as Google but research group Enders said it had also seen early signs that the popularity of online video is now making a small contribution to a shift in advertising from television to the Internet.
The report said Google would remain the biggest beneficiary of the growth in search advertising and predicted it would take 80 percent of UK spend on search advertising, up from 78 percent in 2007.

Enter the rebrand competition

GREENblog — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:38:03 +0000

Over at bmedi@, where Ian Green is a director, they are holding a Rebrand Competition.
How good are you with words and pictures? Enter the competition and you can bask in the glow of creating a new brand for bmedi@!
bmedi@ is eight years old. Since it was launched as a thriving network of media and digital-related companies and professionals, the company has evolved beyond its original Bradford remit.
Today it has members from across West Yorkshire and beyond and has emerged as a network operating across the North of England.
With this in mind, and to maintain bmedi@’s success to date, the company is seeking to re-brand with a new name that reflects its diverse member network and its vision for the region.
In the spirit of bmedi@’s collaborative remit with its members and, with the current interest in social networks, they are throwing open the re-naming and re-branding of the network to competition – the winner will receive prominent credits on the bmedi@ website and all promotional materials, including press coverage. They will even throw in a new iPhone.
Criteria for entries:

The new brand and name should reflect the collaborative nature of the bmedi@ network of creative and digital professionals.
Its remit for sharing ideas and best practice in the creative, digital and media sector.
The “northern” nature of the network.
Our values of community, co-operation, optimism and openness
Be web proof with an appropriate URL

To enter simply send us your new name and brand in the form of a graphic logo (as a jpeg, pdf, etc) and you could win a new iPhone. Those entries short listed by the judges will be published on the bmedi@ website and members and non-members will be invited to vote on the winning entry.
Send your entry to newbrand@bmedia.org.uk. Entries will close on July 31, 2008.

DISCLAIMER: The new logo and name will be secured under a Creative Commons Share-Alike License

Another OpenCoffee event

Ian Green — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:17:36 +0000

Following the success of our first OpenCoffee event held in May, bmedi@ are running another event on Thursday 19^th June 2008.
The emphasis of OpenCoffee is very much on the internet and new media industries. These free events are informal and see a range of technology entrepreneurs, designers, bloggers, developers, geeks, investors and anyone else who’s interested in digital media and technology exchanging ideas and striking up relationships that would otherwise never have flourished.
The philosophy of OpenCoffee is very much of an Open House of ideas and people.
OpenCoffee Bradford, is being sponsored by (WOW Hub) and the YoYo Bar & Restaurant.
Bradford’s second OpenCoffee event will take place on Thursday 19th June at YoYo’s Bar & Restaurant (Shipley) from 10am to midday.
The event is open to anyone who is interested in the region’s digital, creative and new media industries. You’re welcome to enjoy the coffee, the cakes and the company :- ) To book a place just e-mail steve@bmedia.org.uk. We look forward to networking with you. You can also register at upcoming