Everyone knows that food is hugely conversational. Especially if you’re on Twitter. Barely a second goes past without a new update on someone’s breakfast choice, the temperature of their lunch, or what they’re planning for dinner; from my obsession with gingerbread lattes to the office hunt for#eatw1, social media just reflects an age-old truth: that [...]
What’s the definition of luxury? Well, according to Times style columnist Edwina Ings-Chambers, for Christmas 2009 it’s all about providing something bespoke. Bag designer Anya Hindmarch thinks that “you can definitely say that something is luxury when it’s completely personalised” and Ings-Chambers cites a number of high-end brands which are still raking in big-spending and [...]
To misquote Paula Cole (great tune that) – where have all the hitchhikers gone? Though you still see the odd incongruously well-dressed middle aged man (with a mysterious red number-plate) standing on the hard shoulder of the M3, the hitchhiker is largely an anachronism on the British roads. My dear mother recently told me her [...]
When 7 million or so people hear a positive review of your restaurant from one of the UK’s best loved comedians, you can expect interest to pick up. Even if that review is done very much tongue in cheek. It’s that old adage you see, ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity‘. So when Harry [...]
I know, I know. A post involving the ‘c-word’ already. But for brands wanting to maximise recession-hit holiday retail, it’s already high on the agenda – and many are realising that word of mouth could be the key to their success. The American digital marketers at OneUpWeb have just released their 2009 Holiday Report, and [...]
What is ‘a trusted source of information’ for you nowadays? If you’re in the majority, it’s a close friend or family member – someone in your social network who you can rely on to filter facts through an intelligent viewpoint and root out the interesting and relevant stuff. That’s the principle behind Google’s Social Search, [...]
There’s a nice piece in the Chicago Tribune this week about a new business trend emerging: reverse mentoring, where social media savvy young employees induct their older superiors into the landscape and language of the connected world. It’s an example of using conversation as an internal change agent, something I touched on last week, and [...]
This is a post about Pheidippides or, more accurately, what he got up to one afternoon in 490BC. It was the day of the Greek victory over the Persians at The Battle of Marathon, and since status updates were a fair way off, ole Phei’ was charged with relaying news of the win to Athens. [...]
Conversation happens in a whole host of places. On the bus, in the pub, at the water cooler and – of course – online. One thing to always be aware of therefore, is that where you hear a conversation can impact hugely on what you will learn from it. Let’s take Nick Griffin’s appearance on [...]
From most commentary you see on the web, you’d be forgiven for thinking that word of mouth was invented by the US and UK, and that all social media is rooted in western psychology and the English language. However, as a global agency, we’re keenly aware of the opportunities and challenges of working with WOM [...]
