It is with a great deal of pleasure (and a degree of relief!) that I can announce the opening of the BIMA Awards 2009.

The site is now up and open for entries so head on over to the awards site at: bimaawards.com to check out all the changes. Once you’ve done that get entering!

The observant among you will notice that we’re a few days behind schedule so the revised timeline will be as follows:

• Site up, open to entries: Now!
• Judges Announced: 17th July
• Entries close: 7th August
• Judging round one (internet): 24th August – 7th Sept
• Judging round 2: 24th Sept
• Shortlist announced: 1st Oct
• Event: 19th November

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing you all there!

Cheers

C

In the mean time I thought you might like to see the finalised list of categories:

Advertising - Integrated Campaign
Advertising - Display Advertising
Advertising - Email Marketing
Advertising - Interactive Advertising
Advertising - Microsite
Games - Advergames
Games - MMOG
Games - Mobile Game
Games - Online Game
Mobile - Cross Media
Mobile - Mobile Application
Mobile - Mobile Marketing
Mobile - Mobile Site
Offline - CD Rom, DVD or Interactive TV
Offline - Kiosk, Installation or On-Site Application
Online - Content
Online - Internet Application
Online - Intranet
Online - PR
Online - Video and Podcasts
Online - Website
Sector - Arts & Culture
Sector - B2B
Sector - B2C
Sector - Charity and Not For Profit
Sector - Entertainment
Sector - Informational
Social Media - Community Programme
Social Media - Outreach
Social Media - Social Application
Social Media - Viral and Word of Mouth

Plus we’ll have the following special awards for craft:

Visual Design
Motion Graphics
Sound Design
Accessibility and Usability
Viral Spread
Innovation
Return on Investment
Strategy
Best Student
Best Client
Grand Prix

And there this year there will also be a publicly voted category of Best Blog.

More news soon, good luck everyone!

As per my previous post we’re aiming to have the awards site up and open to entries by the end of next week subject to some final technical work. In the mean time, do please get your comments in on the categories, I’m particularly interested in further input on the social media group, our current working timetable is below:

• Site up, open to entries and judges announced: 5th July
• Entries close: 7th August
• Judging round one (internet): 24th August – 7th Sept
• Second round Judging Day: 24th Sept
• Shortlist announced: 1st Oct
• Event: 19th November

Cheers!

C

Well we’ve had a busy few weeks on the awards and I’m pleased to say it’s all starting to come together. We’re running a little bit behind schedule but it’s nothing that we can’t handle! Here’s a quick rundown of the progress thus far:

Categories
We now have what I consider to be a close to final list of categories as I’ve published tonight on the blog:

Sponsorship
The Awards Sponsorship Brochure is now complete; if you know someone who might like to sponsor the awards please do get in touch.

2009 Venue and Date
The venue for the 2009 BIMA awards has been selected, this year we’re going to partying in one of London’s coolest venues the KOKO in Camden, home of the biggest glitter-ball in Europe! This is a fantastic venue and provides us with lots of cool possibilities. The date of the Party is Thursday the 19th of November, put it in your diary now it’s going to be wicked!

Awards Site
The awards site has been built and is just waiting to be filled with content and for a couple of bits of technical wizardry to be done on the entry system. We’re running a little behind schedule on this bit but we’re hoping to have the site up and open for entries by the end of the first week in July.

Judges
Most of the judges have been selected. This year we’ve got some great people, a good mix of BIMA members, external experts and the press, I’m very proud to have them on board. The list of Judges will be announced with the site launch.

Partners
This year we’re hoping to have a number of partners for specific groups of categories, a full list will be announced shortly but in the mean time if you have any suggestions as to organisations that should get involved (other associations or groups) please do let me know.

Well that’s it for the time being, thanks for reading and please do keep checking back for more updates!

In addition to these primary categories all entries will be automatically considered for the following awards which will be decided by a committee of the foremen of each of the juries and the awards committee.

 I’d like to offer my thanks for all the help I’ve received with this from the BIMA Awards Committee and the Exec, particularly to Rob Corradi who stepped in at the last minute to help me with this structure, I do hope that everyone will find a place to enter the work they’re most proud of here, but please, if we’ve missed something please do make a comment here and let us know what we should include.

I look forward to hearing from you all. Look out for an awards update coming soon.

BIMA will be there today to listen and constribute to the response, and I’ll publish a summary of the report on this blog. Watch this space.

Either creating a Simpsons cereal for Kellogg’s (we wanted to call it Eat My Shorts and they went with Krusty-O’s), shooting Pro for Nike (tennis with Nadal, basketball with Nowitzki, and a kick around with Henri) or doing the online treasure hunt to launch Drake’s Fortune for PS3. We flew in developers from North America and worked through the night for a week or so to get it live.

2. What was your first job?

I was President of The Leeds University Union from 1991 to 1992. It was a salaried position and Leeds was the biggest, richest Union in the UK. As Head of Staff, RAG, and Entertainments, I learnt a lot of stuff that still helps me now. I also got to meet Bjork, Princess Michael of Kent, and Lemmy from Motorhead.

3. What book are you currently reading?

James Scudamore’s new novel, Heliapolis, and Watchmen in the original comic version.

4. What is your favourite website?

Today, http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/.

5. If I turned on your iPod, which song would start playing?

Today, Tindersticks, followed by Elbow, Killers and The Wedding Present.

6. Which brand do you most admire in the interactive space?

Today, Snickers.

7. Who would you most like to sit next to on a plane journey?

Mae West, Ebaddis, or any of the Guinea Pigs.

8. Who has been your most inspiring person to work with?

I’ve been lucky enough to work with some great people, but it’s the Creatives that stand out. They have the hardest job, and without them the rest of us are just Management Consultants. To pick just three - Indra Sinha, Paul Shearer and Nick Bell.

9. If you could change the industry in one way, what would it be?

I would love to see what would happen if the industry got together and presented a united front for six months. It’ll never happen, but there is a reason why lawyers and accountants are able to charge the fees they do, and it’s not to do with them cutting each other off at the knees given the opportunity.

10. Where is your favourite place to have breakfast?

I know a place in Manchester called Mick’s that does a Full English for £8.95. It’s good, but if Mick likes you, or you can convince him you’re from over the water, you can order a Full Irish for an extra pound. It’s twice the size and includes white pudding, potato farls and soda bread. No beans though. That would be wrong.

The great thing about the ‘H100′ is that it is people from the creative industries that get to have a say; a chance to vote for unsung heroes, interesting people to watch or people who are really shaking up the status quo rather than the same old, same old. No egos just the people who are making it happen and getting things done.

Last year, the response was overwhelming and for the first time they had a truly interesting list of establishment figures and the most influential young and emerging talent.

This year The Hopsital is trying to cast the voting net as wide as possible, so if you could forward this post on to anyone who you think might have a point of view, and even better, have a go at voting yourself that would be awesome.

You’ve got til June 12th and you’ll find the form here.

BIMA will also publish thie shortlist on our website week commencing June 22nd and the final list will be published in the Independent newspaper and our website on July 6th.

Jakob Nielsen at the BIMA dinner London May 2009

Mobile Usability
Whilst at the dinner, Nielson revealed that amongst other things, he is currently concerned by the usability of UK websites on mobile devices. We also discussed the best mobile user interfaces and he mentioned that in his view, the iPhone is the most user friendly device, followed closely by Google’s Android platform.

Nielson interestingly commented that the UK is lagging behind the US in terms of ‘mobile user friendly websites’. Whilst many UK websites have been poor in this respect in Nielson’s opinion, he did cite BBC’s mobile website as an example of a mobile website interface done right.

So why are so many UK websites getting it wrong when it comes to mobile? The main reason, according to Nielson is that UK firms are struggling to strike a balance between having an interface that isn’t too complicated to be usable and an interface that hasn’t been too ‘dumbed-down’ and simplified for mobile delivery.

From Desktop To Mobile
Whilst still on the subject of mobile web, Nielson was asked if he could see the role of the traditional desktop and mouse diminishing as a result of mobile devices. He stated that the world has seen 20 years of WIMP interfaces and that wasn’t going to change overnight. For the most part people will continue to use mobile for times when they are on the move, meaning more people will use the web at times and places where traditionally they would not have (such as doing product/price comparisons when walking around a shopping mall).

Also, as the trend of desktop screen sizes and Internet speeds increasing continues, so will the trend for web interfaces to utilise more space, and have more rich content that would have been thought impossible 10 years ago.

However, as gesture-based user interfaces such as Nintendo Wii and iPhones continue to grow in popularity, traditional WIMP interfaces could be under threat, although realistically this won’t happen anytime soon.

Googability…
We jumped from the topic of mobile to that of Google and their near-omnipresent role online in accessing and finding information. The term ‘Googlability’ was mentioned, roughly meaning how likely a search is to bring up relevant or credible results. Generally, most users will click one of the first 3 links in the SERPs, regardless of credibility. This means that many users could be duped into believing a source or website is trustworthy or credible, when it isn’t.

The only solution to this, said Nielson, is for such user’s to become more educated in Googlability and how to use search engines more effectively and how to determine whether a content provider is to be trusted. That, or for Google to improve their algorithm to judge a website’s credibility.

Has Usability Improved In The Last 10 Years?
Nielson was asked “How are today’s websites comparing to those of 10 years ago?” According to the usability guru, the easiest way is to compare conversion rates. 10 years ago, the average conversion rate of an eCommerce website was just 1%, whereas now the average is over 2%. This he said, is a result of a shift in focus towards satisfying customer needs as companies have learnt more and more about online consumer behaviour.

Digital Britain Unconference Submission

Over the past few weeks I’ve been involved in a response to the Digital Britain Interim Report. BERR ( The Government Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) have been listening and are now reading the final report submission we put in with interest. Read the report at the link above, and consider putting your name to it. I said at the Executive Election (ps thanks for voting me on to the exec) that it’s important for BIMA members to have representation in these discussions. It’s also a good idea to have an understanding of the issues policyholders have to grapple with. Now’s your chance! I intend to act as a link between the membership and government. Talk to me, DM me, email me with anything you feel is important and should be part of our manifesto for a successful Digital Britain.
@AlastairDuncan or AlastairDuncan [at] bima.co.uk

This year the BIMAs are changing for the better. We know it’s a tough environment out there at the moment and that any investment in an event such as this needs to be clearly justifiable. Therefore this year we have set ourselves three simple tasks: To make the event more:

• Inclusive
• Transparent and Impartial
• Affordable and Fun!

We propose to achieve this as follows:

Making Them Inclusive
We feel strongly that BIMA represents and supports the whole of the interactive community therefore this year the awards will be firmly focussed on interactive media and there will be more categories representing the entire spectrum of the Industry.

The current list of categories will be published next week for the BIMA community to comment on.

Making Them Transparent and Impartial
This year we are changing the judging a little to make it more transparent and thereby enable BIMA to use the awards as a vehicle to achieve part of their remit to provide insight, knowledge and fundamentally support the industry by helping it to learn.

As per last year there will be two rounds of judging, one offline and one in person but other than that there will be a few changes:

• The judging guidelines will be improved to ensure greater consistency of scoring.
• Scores will be monitored for inconsistancy and addressed.
• Judges will be required to justify their score in 120 chars.
• These justifications and scores will be fed back to the entrants after the awards, thereby providing useful feedback and simultaneously encouraging responsible, impartial scoring.

The Judges will also be announced next week.

Making Them Affordable and Fun!
This year we have completely revamped the event. The focus will be on creating a fun and entertaining networking event which people will want to attend rather than just feel that they have to. It will be much, much cheaper to attend. There won’t be a sit-down dinner, anyone in black-tie will be turned away (well maybe not… but certainly laughed at!), the show will feature a comedian, a band and DJs ’til late, oh, and a new and improved awards show, details of which will be released shortly. It’s gonna be great, looking forward to seeing you there!

The event will be in mid November, we hope to announce the exact date in the next couple of weeks.

Working Event Timetable

Preliminary categories announced:  Next week
Judges announced: Beginning of the week following
Site up and open to entries: 22nd June
Entries close: 31st July
Judging round one (internet): 24th August – 7th Sept
Second round Judging Day: 24th Sept
Shortlist announced: 1st Oct
Event: Mid November (Probably the 19th)

I should ‘fess up before I start and let you know that I am a digital planner, but these are actually questions I’ve been grappling with myself. In the ad agency world it’s pretty clear what a digital planner is and does, how they relate to the rest of the team, where their responsibilities start and stop. In an agency like Imagination, where I work, the boundaries are more blurred and that is the space I suspect the majority of BIMA members inhabit.

First off, here’s what I think a digital planner is - that person who does the research and thinking that  synthesises data with experience to contribute to a creative process and deliver a digital project.

Or - the person who keeps the team on the right track so that you deliver great ideas for client and audience that will actually work.

That role could be fulfilled by a number of people or one, or it could be split between more than one person, particularly when your creatives have a lot of experience of delivering digital work.  But if you are working with advertising agencies or clients that use them there is definitely an advantage in having a defined role , it will just make them feel more secure. Equally if you are rushed off your feet in all other departments who is taking care of the customer? The digital planner.

So the question then becomes, Who? I think it is important here  to look for a  combination of experience and research. If you have research without experience the danger is that you deliver a rip off of someone else’s ideas,  something that worked well in a casual environment such as YouTube but which you will be villified for copying.

If you have experience without research you run the risk of developing apps and experiences that are so cutting edge they speak to the minority and get you great kudos with an irrelevant audience without delivering breadth or worse, sink beneath the waves.

Pulling the two together not only delivers you a new justification and rigour to your deliveries (statistics and insight) but can deliver you a new creative string to your bow. One of the biggest mistakes agencies make is to restrict “creativity” to graphic designers and copywriters, when if we think about it we know that technologists, producers, finance people etc are all creative and the best can ideas come from wierd places. But only if they have the right direction behind them.

And I think that answers the Why? The right digital planner is also a digital creative, they can help  your whole organisation look at things from a different angle not only in terms of consumer insights but the wider field and if they are experienced (not necessarily in planning maybe in development or design, editorial or production)  they can bring with them knowledge of what works and what doesn’t.

Now, having justified my existence I am off for a cup of tea and a bit of research.

The BIMA tent card. Now available in red.

There’s nothing more useful than practical advice in our business. And BIMA needs to be a place to get it. Requests do come in from careers advisory people from all over the place, and it’s a positive step to be able to respond. As a voluntary body, it’s hard for BIMA to get the commitment from experienced folks to offer advice at a more general level tailored to suit the way the Education system seeks it out. Sometimes, all it takes is a little time, and to have a go.
Applying our vast experience to helping GCSE and A level students with advice on following a career in interactive media sounds like a doddle. So on a hot sunny day I set off for Coloma Convent School in deepest suburbia, with friend and colleague Richard Oliver, sometime Understanding Hypermedia author, lecturer and expert in interactive media college courses, in tow.  The first hurdle was finding the school. Google Maps indicated that it actually isn’t in Croydon at all, but is luckily situated next to a pub called The Surprise’ which proved to be useful when we arrived early.

An educational establishment of sorts

Compared to the combined professional recruitment weight of Accenture, The Bank of England and the NHS, the BIMA stand frankly had limited material. We had two tent cards, a short film about the making of an interactive film on the laptop and a portfolio of some websites I’d been involved with to talk about. We also picked up a fistful of SkillSet leaflets (a proper training body) to distribute to the genuinely interested, as students can at least download some job detailed descriptions for creative roles from their website.

They say teenagers are the toughest clients. I’d say teenagers’ parents actually are.  (Rather like my own brood) they haven’t a clue what you do, or what Interactive Media is. They just use it, and want to feel it’s a ‘good’ career choice if the teenager in question expresses passion for it. Sample conversation: “What is interactive media?” “You know MSN Messenger?” “Yes.” “Well we design things like that.” “Cool.” (Note to self: 14 year olds haven’t made the branding leap to Windows Live Messenger.)

We absolutely needed our summary ‘What is BIMA?” off pat and have answers tailored to the specific questions of which subjects the students should do at A level and which course we would recommend. All in all, it went very well. I was delighted at the amount of interest generated, and my colleague Richard, who does a lot more of these things than I do, commented “I was expecting this to be pretty dry, but it’s a great reminder that we do actually do interesting stuff.” Mind you, to the right of us was Croydon Council. Speaking personally, we were leaning rather more to the left, in the direction of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Somehow we felt like architects of the virtual world.
BIMA needs volunteers for this type of event. We recognise that that it’s a lot to ask our membership to respond to every career request, but I do recommend structuring work placement programmes and graduate recruitment strategies. We need more bright people in our sector, and building the future does start with this sort of effort.  My experience of doing this? It was a great opportunity to get to grips with how we should talk to the future.  The age of mentoring starts now.

The Shortlist:

1. Baxter College:
Submission: ‘BaxterVision’. An independent online television/information station.

2. Hautlieu School:
Submission: Digital archive of downloadable podcasts covering the years of the German occupation of Jersey, presented as a stand-alone website linked to the Jersey Museum and as a video wall in the War tunnels museum.

3. Our Lady and Saint Bede RC School:
Submission: A short film around the theme of ’shell shock’. They were incredibly moved by the stories of officers who suffered as a result of their experiences in the trenches and wanted to explore this further.

4. Hillcrest School and Community College
Submission: Hillcrest Learning Pod (HL Pod) and also a Hillcrest Learning Workstation (HL Workstation). These would be devices that pupils will use on a daily basis to enhance pupils learning and academic success.

5. Homewood School and Sixth Form Centre
Submission: To construct a highly interactive and user-friendly VLE to extend learner participation beyond the ‘traditional’ temporal and spatial confines of the school day.

6. Uplands Community College
Submission: A video and podcast available to be downloaded on portable multimedia players in French, Spanish and English. The video cast will allow the wider community to gain more knowledge about the place in which they live, work, attend school or visit.

7. Hampstead School
Submission: To provide Somalian mothers with IT activities in Somali that would help them to better support their children’s’ learning in secondary school thereby ensuring that they can play a fuller part in their children’s’ education.

We’re really proud to be pioneering this type of initiative; it’s a fantastic way to encourage our future innovators to think about new ways to use digital technology with real benefits for themselves and their communities, in the meantime, we have the hard task of deciding our overall winner and we’re really looking forward to announcing the winners next month.

David is a true visionary so if you or your special clients aren’t already going I’d highly recommend that you do. David somehow managed to get hundreds of different public bodies to grant him permission to build the Eye opposite the home of democracy – that is no mean feat - although it did take years, blood, sweat and tears.

David believes that nothing is impossible and we need more people like this in the UK.

He is doing some amazing technical and eco stuff all over the world so come along on Wednesday. Click here to book.

Established in 1985, the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) is the association representing the diverse interests of the UK interactive industry and we are proud to believe we have something very special.

An opportunity for a driven professional who wants to have a greater say in how we help shape the future of the digital media industry and further develop an already successful world class economy.

At BIMA, we represent our industry and promote their interests, we are looking for exceptionally talented people to join our team to help us deliver on our mission.

We hope that you will be interested in joining us and playing a key role in helping BIMA to succeed but more importantly in helping our industries to succeed.

Below please find the nomination Form For Election to the BIMA Executive. Voting will take place at the Annual General Meeting, held at Kettners Restaurant in Soho London at 6:30 pm Tuesday, 19th of May

Indicating willingness to act in the above capacity (This form is valid only if the nominee approval is obtained).

Nominees and those nominating must not be from the same company, but they must be members of BIMA, who are duly qualified to attend and vote at the Annual General Meeting.

Who can apply

Nominees for election to the Executive must be from companies which are Full Commercial, Associate Commercial or Institutional members of BIMA. Freelance members are not eligible. If you’re not a member, you can join now.

Please note: Nominees must attend the AGM in person as they will be asked to introduce themselves to the meeting and give a short outline on why they wish to join the Executive Committee and what expertise they can bring to BIMA’s governing body.

Nominations must be submitted by 17:00 ON 13th of May. 2009

For more information please email sharlenegerus@bima.co.uk or call the office on 020 7734 2509

I could swear that Gordon Brown saw my tweet about there being a few places left for Tuesday’s BIMA dinner with James Bromley the MD of MailOnline talking about the future of digital publishing before delivering his killer speech today. Yes things are tough in digital but that said and putting politics aside for a second - who could disagree with Mr Brown’s statement that the digital revolution “lies at the heart” of Britain’s economic recovery?

Do a find and replace on “Britain” with “Publishing” and you’ve surely got what every Publisher worth his or her salt is thinking right now. There are so many other parallels I could go on for hours but I’ll leave that for Tuesday.

So I’ll finish where I started. There are still a few places left for dinner with James Bromley the MailOnline’s Managing Director next Tuesday evening. So if you want to engage in one of the most fascinating discussions around media shift with some of the biggest players in digital publishing click here.

Spencer is Founder and Managing Director of Bluhalo - a leading bespoke website design and build agency that is part of the Gyro Network.

1. What’s the best campaign that you’ve worked on in terms of your own enjoyment?

AVG Anti-Virus, that we recently built a range of social engagement tools for. It was a real old school digital approach to solving a client’s marketing challenges.

2. What was your first job?

I had a holiday job running a Kebab Shop, but my first proper job was selling jeans for a high street retailer.

3. What book are you currently reading?

I’m in digital, I don’t read books?! However, last holiday by the pool (with no internet connection) I read “Getting Real” by 37 signals, “Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell, and the “Victorian Internet” by Tom Standage.

4. What is your favourite website?

Ping.fm

5. If I turned on your iPod, which song would start playing?

Silverchair - Israel’s Son

6. Which brand do you most admire in the interactive space?

Amazon, regardless of what people think about the ecommerce site, I still love Alexa, and AWS rocks!

7. Who would you most like to sit next to on a plane journey?

The person flying it? Failing that, Tim Berners-Lee (I love to chat about all things Semantic Web)

8. Who has been your most inspiring person to work with?

I was involved in a workshop recently to advise a client on future internet strategies with Michael and Xochi Birch. Although it was only for a couple of hours, I thought their insight and approach was technically brilliant.

9. If you could change the industry in one way, what would it be?

Encourage more females on the technical side (such as programming)

10. Where is your favourite place to have breakfast?

The Wolseley, Piccadilly

Now then, there are many great initiatives out there (I sit on the steering group for some of them) and I don’t claim that we have all the answers but when we get responses from those involved on what this ‘Challenge’ has meant to them, then I know we are heading in the right direction…I just hope the much anticipated Digital Britain report from Lord Stephen Carter takes an in-depth look at how future talent are engaged and nurtured, like I said, there are many bodies and initiatives out there….all worthy but I do feel there needs to be a coherent strategy that is co-ordinated to gain the best outcome possible. This is where I strongly feel that BIMA can play a major part in the development of future talent and encouraging great ideas for our very talented creative industries.

Mirage.

The basic principle is that there are a number of rules for relating to the party you want to end up in a permanent relationship with and if you follow them you will snag your man.

Well, that got me thinking about the rules for social media.  I thought about it this way and that but in the end it boils down to some very simple principles that you ignore at your peril but - as always with these things - are largely common sense.

The clue is in the title Social Media. These spaces are intimate, informal and permission based. No one has to interact with anyone else in the social media space even if you blog you aren’t obliged to respond to any comments. It’s like any other relationship and there are good relationships and bad relationships.

Bad relationships:-

• Not about listening
• Being dictatorial
• Short term and all about me
• Rushing in and then disappearing
• Patronising
• All take and no give

Good relationships:-

• Listening, responding
• Discussing, conversing
• Long term and about both of us
• Maintaining a relationship
• Respectful
• About affinity and based on mutual interest and/or goals

And that’s it.

Think about the person with the best social skills you know, their talents, the way they make you feel and now think about how that action translates to social media and you have everything you need to do.

I wish you long and happy relationships.

In brief, I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve been taken completely by surprise by just how much needs to be done up front. For example, who’d have thought that you need to book venues six months in advance, isn’t there a lastminute500seatervenuehire.com or something?!

But… we’re making progress I think.

I met the Digital Arts team last week, they’re a fantastic bunch and I’m really looking forward to working with them, Mus’s advice has been inspirational, god knows what I’d have done without Laura’s project plan and assistance and I’m looking forward to seeing the sponsorship dollars roll in from Selen. I also met with Paul (Walsh) to discuss my initial ideas and again without his support I’d have been scuppered to say the least. Thanks mate.

So… we now have a first draft proposal for the event as a whole and an initial timeline, I’m hoping that we can continue the progress that Clare made last year and introduce a few new things. I’m looking forward to letting you know what we have in store for you, I’m sure you’ll love it, and for those of you that might be interested in being a sponsor, we’re going to have some really good packages available.

The Committee are all-but sorted out, we should be able to announce them early next week, and those that are on board now have already been massively helpful. It’s a shame I can’t name names yet but I’m extremely grateful for the support I’ve received for this mammoth task particularly with the event which looks like being the lion’s share of the work.

Finally, please do leave a comment or get in touch (chris at kempt dot co dot uk) with any suggestions you have for categories or things you’d like to see in the awards this year. I can’t promise they’ll all make it in but you know how these things go: if you don’t ask…

Cheerio!

CX

I’ve heard Lord Carter say that Britain is the best in the world in the advertising business. Maybe twenty years ago, but in the meantime all the major advertising conglomerates operating in the UK, with the exception of WPP, are a) American or French owned, delivering profits elsewhere, and/or b) not generating as much award winning advertising as perhaps we imagine, and/or c) continue to struggle with the impact of digital on their businesses and on consumers.

The British digital creative community [that's you], however, continues to grow in strength and quality, developing web content, brand utilities, applications that are recognised globally. And is far more in tune with the social impact of digital technologies. I’m not sure we’ve been consulted at all.

There’s an enormous amount of areas to consider - the games industry, for example, isn’t mentioned at all, despite the amount of game play entertainment consumed daily. Another point is that we maintain our dialogue on the products of California’s silicon valley brains trust and entrepreneurial community [bebo notwithstanding]. A Digital Britain should compete, not copy. Mark Earls @herdmeister posted elsewhere about human connections being forgotten in the process of creating this report. He’s got a point. Pipes and tubes are one thing. But defining what goes down those pipes and tubes only by 20th century standards is a missed opportunity. We need to have more focus on creating businesses that will provide inspiration for the world, not just provide 2mb lines that won’t be enough anyway.  @AlastairDuncan

In the last 2 days there has been much chatter about the fact that Skittles made the mainpage of their  site a Twitter feed. The idea presumably being that it would pick up conversations about the sweets going on “out-there” in inter-web land.  And “be where the conversation is” in the most literal sense of the phrase.

But there is little actual chatter about Skittles out there and that was proved by the conversational activity this feed actually picked up on. Rather than great chat about the amazing colours (or playing skittles in english country pubs) the feed has picked up conversations about whether what Skittles were doing was actually going to bring value to the brand - that and some slightly malicious activity that was designed to publish complete rubbish on the Skittles homepage through tagging tweets with the skittles tag which had nothing to do with the brand or Twitter. So now everything has descended into a bizarre self-referential confusion of brand consideration, social media discussion and randomness.

What did they expect? The problem is that if you start a really bad conversation offline people will change the subject but online they will want to know why you started that bad discussion and they will rip it apart, because they don’t have to see you face to face - whether you are a brand or a person.

It was a brave action to take and no doubt has garnered the brand lots of publicity but only if you believe no publicity is bad publicity. When we recommend social media to our clients we have to think very carefully about the type of conversation that will ensue and how whether it’s actually relevant to our market. And be sure that we aren’t just jumping on the bandwagon.

I’m immensely proud that BIMA have asked me to do this; massive thanks to Paul, all at BIMA HQ and of course our wonderful partners at Digital Arts. I’m aware that I’m stepping into some massive shoes - I don’t mean to say that Clare has big feet by the way - but as a judge last year I was full of admiration for Clare’s endeavours to overhaul the awards and I’m determined that this year the pimping shall continue!

For those of you that don’t know me (if not where have you been?!) I’m the MD and Founder of Kempt, a digital marketing agency based in St Albans (where the middle classes go to breed) who specialise in the conception, production and promotion of Advergames. 

I feel very passionately that the thing that makes this industry so special is the persistent, pervasive spirit of innovation which drives it relentlessly forward. I’ve been lucky enough to work in digital for over a decade now, and feel privileged to have observed the industry mushroom into the richly diverse ecosystem which exists today. Digital is a land of pioneers and mavericks, it’s therefore important that the BIMA awards reflect and support this pioneering spirit in all its diverse forms.

P.S. Offers of help will be particularly gratefully received!

We start with Alastair Duncan; founder of adc4 & Zentropy Partners, and former Chief Executive of MRM Worldwide. Alastair is an active contributor to the BIMA blog, with over 18 plus years experience in creating and building interactive marketing & advertising businesses. This ranges from developing early interactive television and gaming systems, to starting up new media firms both inside and outside of advertising agencies. Alastair has consistently remained at the cutting edge of marketing technology, growing his businesses both in scale and profitability year on year.

1. What’s the best (in terms of your own enjoyment) campaign that you’ve worked on?

Too many to single one out. I loved doing the first Mini website and the global website for Intel. Last year I was involved with a programme targeting the music-making community which became the number 1 website for unsigned bands in the UK within a few months. That was pretty enjoyable.

2. What was your first job?

I set up a theatre company after university before going into advertising. My first serious job was writing press ads for Budgens, but it didn’t take too long to realise that running companies would be more fun. I started in the early interactive TV world in the early nineties, and did my first online ad in 1994. I recommend treating every job as a first job - one should never stop learning.

3. What book are you currently reading?

A collection of Norwegian short stories. Well, you did ask! Plus I read Little Miss Somersault aloud most nights.

4. What is your favourite website?

Twitter right now. And www.participationmarketing.co.uk of course.

5. If I turned on your iPod, which song would start playing?

Something random by Polly Harvey

6. Which brand do you most admire in the interactive space?

The big ones; Microsoft, Google, Facebook et al have all built massive properties. I also love some of the work being done by Nike and Nokia. And the BIMA blog for doggedness. [Come on people - post comments, please.] What’s interesting right now is that the interactive space is broadening to include digital outdoor and digital TV. The canvas for creativity continues to expand.

7. Who would you most like to sit next to on a plane journey?

Mrs Duncan

8. Who has been your most inspiring person to work with?

I’ve been lucky to know many. I would say Brian Hayes, who taught me about interactive television in 1990, and more recently the people working with me in my new venture.

9. If you could change the industry in one way, what would it be?

Belief in itself. Digital media is the future of everything media.

10. Where is your favourite place to have breakfast?

Stoke Newington has a vast array of excellent breakfast haunts. I love them all especially Hussein’s Petit Coin. Blooms on Lexington is a favourite escape when I’m in New York and in London, the Wolseley never ceases to please.

Throughout 2008, the formation of ‘working groups’ focussed our efforts across education, training and creativity within the industry. Importantly, the BIMA network is represented evenly within these groups, as they consist of both executive and non-executive members. The groups are a great way for any of you to help mould the future of BIMA and have your say on how things are done. The groups are always open to new members, so please get in touch if you’d like to take part.

Our biggest event of the year – the BIMA awards – was a roaring success, with Clare MacDonald at the helm. A big thanks to her and the rest of the Awards team for their hard work on a more refined structure and format for the night. As always, it was a chance to celebrate some of the fantastic work within the interactive space – and plans are already afoot for 2009. Clare will Chair the Awards again this year and will continue to improve the format based on everyone’s feedback. Cutting down the number of categories worked out well, but still needs a little polish – please leave a comment if you’d like to provide feedback on what you thought of the process and the night itself.

To support this, we’ve also decided to make a concerted effort to talk about what BIMA stands for, and its place within the industry. As such, we have laid the foundations of an enhanced communications plan by appointing Six Degrees to handle our PR. Talking to trade publications on a regular basis, and partnerships with both Revolution & Contagious magazine will help us to raise the profiles of some of members individually, as well as the association as a whole. Please write to Victoria if you’re a BIMA member and would like to write an opinion piece for either Revolution or Contagious - Vikki.Chowney at sixdegreespr.com

For the past year, the blog has been a big part of the way BIMA communicates, but we need to make this more of a focus. Another of the changes currently underway is the complete re-design of our website. The blog will be taking centre stage, as we hope that it will remain a place for thought-leaders to share best practice, as well as members to voice their opinions and interact with each other.

As for the coming year – you’ll see a focus on launching our ‘Inspiring Future Talent’ initiative with the introduction of ‘The BIMA Schools Digital Challenge’. This has been created to bridge the gap between schools and the digital media industry, and is the first of an annual competition & awards programme for students aged 13-18. Please email Mirage if you’d like to get involved in this initiative mi.mirage at googlemail.com

We’ll also be talking to you more regularly, with the introduction of a monthly newsletter. Starting from the end of January, it will contain an overview of what’s been happening, provide details of upcoming events and activities, as well as shine the spotlight on a different BIMA member each month. We’ll also be starting to ask you for your opinion on various industry trends and topics via this channel. Again, email Victoria if you’d like to contribute.

All in all, it’s been a great year – but the best is yet to come.

Wishing you all a happy and successful New Year.

If you’re on Twitter and wish to get BIMA updates even more quickly than you would by subscribing to this blog, why not subscribe to my Twitter stream.

However, I’m not entirely sure the direction of this ambition to define what gets taught and how is the whole story, and I think it might be worth putting up for discussion, even outright rejection, a slightly different way of looking at this issue. After all, this is about encouraging people to want to join in and excel to become a new generation of innovators.

As an outside observer (and a long-time critic) of BIMA I must say I do think its ambitions to represent our industry (in terms of helping guide education of those who will become our industry’s future) are laudable. However, this must in my view be done in such a way that it inspires. This means not just setting standards, or circumscribing the arts that go into interactive. Nor, importantly, should it be about describing the needs, somehow, of the future industry by endless discussion in committees of worthies - some of whom will be trying to look at the outside view of the game from the middle ranks of companies that have a vested interest in guiding the directions the business takes, and can afford to donate their time in order to do so. Providing an educational hub for the British industry must not, must not become just another expression of the needs of the vested interests.

Instead, I believe we must simply provide inspiration. D&AD always did this extraordinarily successfully, providing inspiration through access to established talent, providing an open door rather than a long corridor. This inspiration-not-proscription approach should open company doors to students from the earliest possible vocational stages of the curriculum, so they can see what’s possible today and dream of what’s possible tomorrow. BIMA should organise, perhaps even use its subscription fees to pay for, exposure to the very best interactive work that’s being done now, nationally. Workshops, educational days and open access to production studios, museums and galleries, media companies and so on would actually showcase our industry and demonstrate our commitment to its future. Even at the most basic level, providing a variety of sub-sector student awards (at all grades of education) gets kids and undergraduates thinking aspirationally. It might even drive a raised game at the grown-up BIMA awards, still languishing in unfocused and under-committed limbo.

It is imperative that when BIMA does finally achieve its ambitions to become the facilitator of our next generation, it does so simply by providing access to the best of today, to give students something to build on, not be constrained by. And I think that if this were genuinely the policy, and if BIMA were really to champion such an approach, the doors would open. Many of us have been inviting students from our old schools and colleges to see what we do for years, because it gives something back and the very best students keep in touch. I cannot think of a single agency or interactive media organisation that would not welcome the chance to show off the best of its work and the best efforts of its people and provide inspiration for the next generation.

For the first time since its launch, Google has sent me a snail mail. As you can see from the picture above, it’s using below the line advertising to promote its AdWords. Is this a first for Google? Is Google feeling the pinch like everyone else? If so, I’m sure the British Government won’t mind providing a ‘bailout plan’