The other day, however, I was caught short. Being able to muster only £4.50 of the requisite £5.50, I was forced to concede and call the parking hotline. Imagine my surprise when I completed the entire registration and parking transaction in less than two minutes – entirely without defaulting to ‘operator assistance’. RingGo has the best voice recognition system and user experience I have ever encountered on a phone. I was so impressed, I did it again a few days later from a different station and I audibly squeaked with excitement when the automated voice recognised me, my car and my new location using geo-positioning on my mobile. I simply confirmed and was on my way, barely breaking stride.

I assumed that every mobile transaction would be as simple – or at least when I parked my car. Oh no. Why on earth would life be that simple? Having been lured into mobile voice transactions, I returned to my normal car park and decided I should embrace the change that mobile transactions could enable. But this was a different system. It didn’t have voice recognition, it wasn’t a seamless, intuitive process and it didn’t work. It wasn’t RingGo. I had to punch out every letter of my number plate, and my credit card, and my address. The menu system was appalling and just as I neared the end of the registration torture I was kicked out of the system. 12 times. Oh, how I laughed…

If there had been a mobile internet application, the whole transaction could have been so much easier. With a quick click and a couple of swipes the job would have been done. But of course, mobile internet ‘app culture’ has just arrived, or, more accurately, is just arriving. Which means there’s an opportunity, and a danger, for brands engaging in the mobile space.

The opportunity is to get it right. I didn’t just buy a ticket the first time I used my phone to pay for parking, I bought a mobile experience. It was one that worked initially, and then I discovered I had to be selective about the brands that I trusted for mobile engagement. If it says RingGo on the parking sign, I can trust it. RingGo is good, their competitors are shit. Had I tried the crap system first, I would have stuck to coins. The same is true of any other mobile experience. It will be important to make sure that the online brand experience we have created for our audiences actually works on mobile.

How, for example, does your glorious new corporate website perform and engage your audience on a three inch mobile phone screen? Mmmm. That part’s easily fixed, but beyond WAP enablement and iPhone apps, there’s a world of mobile that everyone’s using, except the B2B marketing community. As we increasingly migrate our business communications to mobile devices, it’s going to be important to distinguish between the brands that can migrate seamlessly, and those left standing around in the car park jiggling the loose change in their pockets. Let’s hope it’s loose change at least.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666

“This Summer I had to, you know, get away from everything and everyone and do some growing up. So I made a movie called ‘The Last Song,’ and it was so totally the best thing I’ve ever done. I hope you enjoy it,” she husked. I realised at that point that I’d just been branded.

Miley disappeared and we were all ‘treated’ to a trailer of her new movie on the giant screens. I wasn’t sure I approved. It was like being at a movie theatre instead of a gig. An expensive, noisy, 23,000 seater movie theatre. Nonetheless, we sat there and watched a trailer at a live concert. Everyone clapped and the screaming never actually stopped, but I still wasn’t sure.

Whilst the trailer played on the centre screen, the side screens displayed graphics of the movie logo and the website address – Lastsongmovie.com. Miley came back onstage, sang a song from the movie (presumably the last song) and the crowd went wild.

So what’s the problem? Well, I understand merchandising and promotion. I believe I still have a treasured Thin Lizzy t-shirt from the 1983 Thunder and Lightning Tour that I’ve saved for special. So that’s not the problem. The problem was the line. It felt like it had been crossed – ‘Good Lord! Promoting her movie in the middle of a concert? Outrageous! That’s not what I’m used to. Whatever next…etc.’

My reaction felt familiar and I needed to pinpoint it. I’m pleased to announce (without a trailer) that I’ve remembered where the unease came from. It’s how I felt some years ago when a pimply-nerdy-geek-type told me that traditional B2B communications were dead and that the future was digital. I guffawed, spluttered and muttered outrageousnesses then lay down in a darkened room to sniff some well earned printed collateral. But just because you don’t like it or are unfamiliar with the territory, doesn’t mean it isn’t so.

I’ve had to move at speed in the last couple of years of digital development just to keep up. There are some home truths about online brands that every B2B marketer needs to face, and at the moment, they’re not.

At the recent B2B Marketing Conference I proposed the debate, ‘This house believes that traditional B2B communications are dead. Brands must migrate to digital or face the same fate.’ Despite a compelling rationale, I was roundly thrashed in the voting. I surveyed the audience and, to my surprise, some of the faces looked pretty outraged. How very dare I even suggest that digital will replace the communications that they’ve relied on so stoically for the last decade or more? I had just crossed the line.

But even at a Miley Cyrus gig, the channel of communication was digital. The trailer directed me to www.lastsongmovie.com. I accessed the site using my iPhone and was pointed towards a Facebook page and encouraged to follow the movie on Twitter – all digital.

I mentioned the differences between traditional concerts and the multi-channel, multi-media digital experience of the Miley gig to my nine year old daughter. She shrugged in a completely passive, assumptive way and said simply, “Come on Dad, it’s 2009, what did you expect?” I can’t be sure, but I suspect my face looked very similar to those I saw in the crowd at the B2B Conference.

The line has moved. Expectations have changed. We will all ultimately become old farts and die. The question is how quickly you want to realise that fate. Personally, I left the gig a far hipper father than I went in. Digital, like, so totally rocks. Dude.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666

Some of that work from the last 12 months is shared within, but not as much as we’d like. You may wish to reflect on that in the comfort of your warm, mince pie scented, centrally heated, deep pile carpeted office while the rest of us fend off recession, disease and the very wrath of auld Scrooge himself as he shuffles past muttering, “Printing Bark? Again? Do they know how much these things cost? Merry Pluckin’ Christmas…”

• Download Bark 37

That’s it. You did nothing to save it, no money changed hands, there were no contracts signed. You probably didn’t even sign up for the online edition. Bark is over. Frankly, you only have yourself to blame, it is your fault.

Disapprobation aside, Bark is still out there. Register now at www.birddog.co.uk/contact to receive Birddog news, and if you Johnny-comelately’s manage to shake off the lethargy, you can vote for the ‘Return of Bark’ -www.birddog.co.uk/vote

• Download Bark 36

My wife has already banned me from holding it when I’m talking to her because, apparently, I’m more interested in the content on my phone. She actually hides it when we have visitors to the house because, “Sitting on the sofa with your phone and grunting occasionally does not count as joining the conversation…” Of course, I am actually fully engaged in the conversation, just not hers.

So, whilst clearly not first to the bar at the SmartPhone party, I find myself fully committed to the future of mobile internet delivery. It’s an area of the marketing mix that has been woefully underexploited in the business community, but it’s OK, you can relax, I’m going to fix that.

Having started to explore the opportunity, it came as no real surprise that users’ appetite for mobile content is far more advanced than brands’ understanding of the technology and capabilities, or limitations. Despite the Credit Crunch, over 40 million G3 Smartphone devices had been sold worldwide at the end of 2008 with some of the top manufacturers still posting sales growth of over 80% pa. Whilst the recession may be hurting large parts of the global economy, the mobile market is growing – at speed.

And yet businesses have failed to capitalise on the ability to deliver their digital content to this rapidly growing mobile audience in anything like a compelling way. If I want to access a website from my phone (and I do, all the time…) I can do it, but the experience sucks. On a 3×2” screen, I really don’t care about your flash animations and your searchable, keyword heavy content that appears in 0.05 point type with fifteen dropdown navigation tabs that I can’t read. I couldn’t be arsed to pinch and slide and zoom and scroll – I want and need better delivery of your content on my mobile device if I’m going to engage with your brand. And I’m not the only one. There are 39.99m others who would like a better experience too.

In the next couple of years, I predict an explosion in the development of website content for mobiles. It started with, “There’s an app for that…” where iPhone users could enjoy bespoke applications, easily accessed, with simple, intuitive functionality, but fell short when links from the app led straight back to standard web page content on the main brand website. That needs to change. We need to differentiate between static delivery of web content (large format screens), and mobile devices (SmartPhones, NetBooks, PDAs). The difference is obviously the size, but also the needs of the audience using the device and the environment in which they are using them. Speed, clarity and simplicity of content will reward the brands who move boldly into this space with the customer attention that they need to secure.

Options at the moment, however, are limited. But that’s the opportunity. Brands can use their own IT department to deliver mobile internet (the BBC has made a good job of it) but it takes time, costs are high and it may not work across all mobile platforms. Or they can tap into the expertise of others – Mobestar is my favourite. Mobestar’s mLite suite is, “…the first packaged product to automate mobile website production.” I liked it so much, I joined the company. Far from being a sheep and following the herd then, I believe I’m actually leading the pack. So flock ewe.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666

• Identify and articulate clear product value proposition

• Offer competitive differentiation to product messaging

• Develop and deliver Creative Platform to articulate message

• Ensure global relevance, understanding and adoption of new positioning

• Localise core tactical materials in 9 languages

Solution:

• Competitor Communications Research Analysis

• Internal Stakeholder Workshops – US/EMEA

• External Audience Research (Qualitative Interviews) – US/European locations

• Product Brand Strategy Development

• Creative Platform Development

• Key Opinion Leader Concept Testing – International

• Core Market Localisation

• International Materials Development & Delivery

Results:

• 1st successful product launch originated outside of US

• EMEA launch in 9 countries/languages

• Worldwide rollout thereafter

• Opening new sales channels

www.bostonscientific.com

Campaign Title:
Why Compromise?

Brief:
Metratech has recently undertaken a review of its Brand Strategy and Corporate Positioning and has since recognised that the agreed strategy will require creative articulation for ongoing internal and external marketing communication.

Metratech planned to co-ordinate integrated marketing campaigns in 2008 that can be deployed across its geographic markets once the brand strategy and creative work has been completed. Achievement and delivery of those tactical campaigns will be the subject of future collaborative projects. In advance of tactical materials delivery however, creative articulation – a ‘Creative Platform’ is required.

Objectives:

• Articulate the brand and messaging derived from supplied brand strategy and corporate positioning in a visual manner.

• Provide an aesthetic platform through which the key messages provided can be communicated.

• Establish the look, feel and tone of the company and brand ensuring that Metratech is perceived as a serious business.

• Develop core corporate tactical materials and supporting communications pieces

Solution:

• Creative Platform Development – Why Compromise?

• Brand Guidelines development

• Corporate Document development

• Visual update of Corporate brand

• International Materials Development & Delivery

Results:

• Opening new sales channels

• Uniformity across company locations

• Closure of biggest client sale in company history

www.metratech.com

I liked my 330d so much, I’ve been driving it for the last 5 years. It’s covered 75 thousand almost trouble-free miles, but it was just time to change it. So I walked in to a BWM showroom a couple of months ago and tried to buy a new one. Easier said than done. Try as I might to part with several tens of thousands of pounds, I just couldn’t get the salesman to realise that I was ready to pay the cash equivalent of a small neighbourhood in certain parts of Manchester. He just wanted to make me have a test drive in something I had no need of testing. So I left.

That, in and of itself, is no big deal. I still had my trusty 330 and figured I would revisit the new BMW purchase when the opportunity or fancy took me, whichever came first. But then the ‘tapakata, pakata, pakata’ noise started. Tapakata was swiftly accompanied by black smoke, and blue smoke, and I believe there may also have been some green and yellow smoke although it was difficult to tell with the cabin full of multicoloured smoke and the increasingly distracting noise of metal grinding on metal which had the same jarring effect as the guy on Jaws scraping his fingernails down the blackboard in the ‘Let’s close the beach before everyone dies’ scene.

The car limped into the BMW Service Centre and let out a small and, to my ear, quite final squeak as I turned off the ignition and sat in the car park hissing and creaking and clicking gently. The car that is, not me.

The prognosis was a fault with the air intake manifold. I asked for an explanation in English and was advised that two metal flaps had broken off and fallen inside the engine. The ‘tapakata’ grinding was the metal being mashed by and mashing the pistons and cylinders. “That sounds bad,” I said in my cheeriest ‘oh well, cars eh?’ voice. “How much will it cost to fix?” There was a pause before the technician said, “Seven thousand pounds.” Well, I barely paused at all before saying, “SEVE… What the fffggggnnn… you are SHITTING me, right???” “Then there’s the labour…” he added quietly, “…plus tax. In round numbers, ten grand.”

“So what you’re telling me is it’s a write-off,” I said. “I thought BMW engines were bulletproof. I thought BMW diesel engines were simply invincible. This one’s less that five years old, BMW serviced from new and has only done seventy thousand miles. It’s barely run-in.”

“Mmmm.” He said. “I can submit a ‘goodwill claim’ to BMW for you.”
“You mean it shouldn’t have happened?”
“I can’t say that Sir, but I can submit a goodwill claim with no liability attached.”
“So you do mean it shouldn’t have happened.”
“All I can say, Sir, is that it is ‘unusual’ and we wouldn’t normally expect a BMW of this age, with this mileage, to experience this fault.”
“It shouldn’t have happened.”
“Mmmmm.”

At this point, I could make a reasonable case, that if the numpty salesman had listened to me the first time round, I would have been in a new car before this problem ever arose. But I’m not going to do that, because that’s not the thing.

A few days later, I received a call from the technician…
“Good news Mr. McKee. We’ve heard from BMW and they’re prepared to make a goodwill repair contribution of £8,500.00. You would just have to pay the balance of £1,500.00.”
“So it shouldn’t have happened then.”
“It’s a goodwill gesture Mr. McKee, that’s all I can tell you.”
“Ok Mike, I’m a reasonable guy and it sounds like BMW is being reasonable so ‘Ok’, in principal, that’s acceptable. However…”

And I went on to explain that it would be a pointless waste of everyone’s time and money to spend the £8,500.00 on the repair when I didn’t actually want the car back. What I wanted was a new car. A new BMW. I explained that I’d been trying to buy one from them for a while but was a little confused by their seemingly mandatory test-drive policy. I was ‘happy’ to pay for my new car – anything up to the equivalent of a small neighbourhood in certain parts of Manchester – and all I needed now was for BMW to turn the £8,500.00 repair offer into a virtual part exchange. Basically and very simply (in my mind…) they could keep the old car (that shouldn’t have broken). I would accept their £8,500.00 car token and immediately and conditionally more than quadruple the value by adding cash to buy a new BMW from their showroom.

It all seemed so easy to me. I was the customer being inconvenienced, I knew what I wanted, I wasn’t going to make a fuss about the car that shouldn’t have broken and I was very reasonably going to reinvest the money they were offering me and add to the pot by giving them more. From BMW’s perspective, I figured they’d be happy to satisfy the customer, even better, the customer was going to spend even more money and even, even, betterer, the customer was going to continue driving a BMW, continue spending money on BMW servicing for the lifecycle of the car and would doubtless tell anyone who would listen about his experience with the BMW brand. Well, I was right about the last point.

BMW said, “No.” Not, ‘No and here’s the thinking behind our decision because we’d still like to retain you as a customer.’ Just, “No.”

Which brings me on to the thing. This story is a bit about money, it’s a bit about customer service, but that’s not the thing. The thing is about Brand Reputation. I expected more from the BMW brand. I must have spent in the region of quarter of a million pounds with BMW as a driver and, up until the point where my perceptions of the brand changed, I would doubtless have continued spending. I remember reading a BMW case study in college where the point was made that BMW didn’t try to sell customers a car, they wanted to secure customer loyalty to the brand so that they had ‘BMW drivers for life’. An admirable quest, but clearly complete bollocks.

I won’t be buying another BMW. Not now, not ever. I don’t imagine for a second that BMW will notice the difference but I will nonetheless exercise my right as a customer to take my money elsewhere. My perceptions of the brand have changed – for the worse. I’m going to be telling other people of my experience too, you’re reading this for example, and who knows, maybe that will influence the perceptions of others. One car buyer walking away (twice) from BMW is barely troubling, but if this experience is typical of the brand’s values, I don’t imagine it will be long before we’re all walking away. If I was the person responsible for maintaining the BMW brand reputation I’d be more than a little concerned.

The ‘Ultimate Driving Machine.’ Really? I don’t think so.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666

“Well my title has the word ‘Digital’ in it.  A decade ago, it would have probably included the term ‘New-Media’ – the term given to anything associated with the web. Back then it all was relatively ‘new’ to most people.  Five or so years ago, it was ‘E-Marketing‘ something, but I’ve never really been comfortable with a title that gives people the impression that I marketed ‘E’s’…

Today, it’s ‘Digital’.  Why? Because the Internet is no longer merely something you find on your desktop computer.  In the developed world, the Internet is now integrated into many aspects of our lives, from technology such as our mobile phones, our televisions, even our white goods, through to our lifestyle habits such as shopping, entertainment and socialising.

I’ve worked with the Internet for over a decade. I’ve seen the Dot-Com boom and bust, and today, I’m seeing some of the original potential of web technology come to fruition. Actually, I’m helping to make that happen.

My role at Birddog is to help clients to effectively understand and use digital channels as an integrated part of both tactical campaign delivery and within their long-term marketing strategy. This might be something as simple as putting together an email marketing campaign, or something more complex such as helping an established brand to effectively use some of the many social media channels available in new and unique ways.

I’m working to build the digital discipline within Birddog and to establish Birddog as a major player in the digital arena. I’d be happy to help anyone with their current and future digital challenges and opportunities. Call me directly on +44 (0)207 7060 or email me oliver@birddog.co.uk

Amongst other digital initiatives, the time had come to introduce dynamic content, SEO and blogging. Birddog’s back-end planning was augmented with front-end creativity most visibly a bespoke photoshoot for the new website. All of Nickleby’s competitors use generic stock imagery and the contrast with Nickleby imagery shot on location at their offices using their staff as the models helps to differentiate the brand and communicate its personality online. Supporting Nickleby’s proposition of ‘real people for a change’ we used real people. Genius. The website is currently in the final development stages and is due to go live in the next few weeks.