Start by watching – I defy you not to smile…

Great eh? Needs a stronger call to action in my view but hey – why start now?

According to BMB, the business challenge was to differentiate Thomson Holidays from Thomas Cook using the ‘restorative’ powers of its holidays – see here http://www.bmbagency.com/projects/simon-the-ogre – I’m not really sure if it does that, but there is time yet. The fist challenge is to ensure we all remember it was Thomson Holidays… Not sure here either.

A couple of years ago I wrote about this type of high profile holiday TV advertising being a great market builder for just about any holiday company – this great work hasn’t changed my mind. It definitely compels people to think ‘I need a holiday” – But will their first port of call be Thomson Holidays?

The campaign is backed up however,  by a pretty strong Social Media campaign, with #MeAgain working well across Twitter and Facebook – But, move over to the Google+ page and there is no carry through whatsoever? Did they just forget about Google+?

Above all, surely the off brief challenge has to be to get people to book a Thomson Holiday? Did it? You make the call….

The post Thomson Holidays Introduce Simon The Ogre To Differentiate The Brand appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.

The screen is 14-inch (Clue – Chromebook 14) with 1366 x 768 resolution and has a diagonal high-definition (HD) display delivering really vivid colours. It comes to the UK with WiFi and 3G, we’re a little puzzled why the US gets a 4G version? There are three color options to choose from – Snow White, Ocean Turquoise and Coral Peach. Running the Google Chrome OS, the Chromebook 14 comes with 4 GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD.

The HP Chromebook14 offers the usual Google Chrome apps like Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive and Google+ Hangouts. Automatic software updates keep the browsing experience fast, while there are the HDMI, 1 x USB 2.0 and 2 x USB 3.0 ports plus a combination headphone/microphone jack, customers can easily and quickly connect to displays and other devices. Weighing just 4 lbs, we think that the Chromebook 14 is really light and portable. What’s more, you get 100 GB of free storage on Google Drive for two years. In addition, users can visit the Chrome Web Store to customize their HP Chromebook14 by installing applications, the choice is getting better every day.

Pricing and availability on the HP Chromebook 14 is looking like this, the new Chromebook is available online and select retailers in the United States, starting at $299.99 and enters the UK in November, starting at £250.

The post New Chromebooks To Hit The UK With 4th Generation Haswell Proceessor appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.

But by now, pretty much every business acknowledges they need a Facebook business page, most of the smart businesses out there recognise the need for Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ too – but the UK is still very slow in coming to a market sector already flourishing, and has been for quite some time across the pond – I’m going to be posting at least every couple of days on this for the foreseeable future, in the hope that more and more of you will start to maximise this relatively untapped marketplace. Not just on the big screen any more either, mobile advertising is starting to rocket and is forecast to continue to do so.

Facebook accounts for 15% of all mobile advertising, and is likely to further encroach on Google’s 53% share, according to figures from eMarketer. This underscores the importance of mobile advertising, and with that in mind, here are a few tips worth remembering:

1 Keep it real – advertising on social media, whether it is paid or unpaid, is a real chance to bring out the character in your brand, and a great opportunity to engage with your customers in the same way great customer service can in the high street.

2 But not too real – if you’re running any business, you’ll only alienate customers by harping on about politics, football teams, even current affairs can be ‘no go’ – unless they are relevant to your business.

3 Follow the right people – Relevancy is key here – by all means follow friends and family or your favourite band, TV stars etc- but the main focus should be following people or companies in your sphere of activity – and their followers. 

4 Engage – if a fan says you’re great, say thanks and re tweet it. If they say you’re rubbish, just adopt a simple customer service ethos and politely ask for more details.

5 Take it offline – sometimes it is a good tactic to take things offline and ask a customer to email you if you want a little more privacy – in fact in many ways it is often dealt with more quickly this way.

6 Use multimedia – pictures, audio and even video are all almost effortless thanks to the smartphone. If you operate from a particularly interesting venue, or a customer doesn’t mind you using them as a case study, get cracking.

7 Never compromise on quality – ever – a poorly produced video or a grainy and blurred ‘photo is just as damaging as a misspelt blog post.

8 Stay current and often – nothing is worse than a site that hasn’t been updated in weeks, especially on Facebook or Twitter. These are living, breathing places, not simply shop fronts.

9 Make it a serious facet of your business – frequency and recency is key here, there is nothing worse than seeing a Twitter profile or Facebook page that hasn’t been updated for days, so think of updating Twitter or Facebook at least six times per day and more if you can. It’s a tool for retaining and recruiting customers, after all. I hear the phrase ‘give social media to the intern’ so often and I cringe – the intern may well be the appropriate bod to do this, but not without some very clear strategic direction.

The post How To Use Social Media – You and Your Business appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.

I thought I caught a glimpse of one of an IWC Big Pilot during the after race interview with Lewis Hamilton in Canada – And I did, Lewis Hamilton And Nico Rosberg were announced as ambassadors on 28 May 2013, said announcement passed me by I must admit.

Good to see one of my favourite watch brands in a good place, AMG, Mercedes and IWC Schaffhausen have a brand synergy – Lewis is in good company and the association is befitting as he matures – Tag Heuer – who Lewis had a prior association with – is a great brand too but not in the same league as IWC Schaffhausen. Founded in 1868 by American Florentine Ariosto Jones, the iconic brand is notable for being the only major Swiss watch factory located in eastern Switzerland, as the majority of the well-known Swiss watch manufacturers are located in western Switzerland – perhaps it’s proximity to Germany was one of the catalysts in this partnership, perhaps it is also the reason IWC has always had a name for solidity and engineering?

I have a great fondness for this brand, I have owned a few – to me it stands for solid watchmaking, world class engineering that by default made it look good – but not flash. Even the gold Ingenieur bracelet model – which I first saw some 25 years ago – was able to give out solid dependability brand signals, it said quality to me in an instance but not because it was made out of gold.

I really hope this new association works to the benefit of both brands – Lewis and IWC – something tells me Lewis is getting more than just financial gain here, the connection will broaden his appeal and it will be seen as a smart move.

The post Lewis Hamilton And Nico Rosberg Are New Ambassadors Of IWC Schaffhausen appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.

Perhaps someone somewhere – either in the Agency or at Nationwide – will put forward the argument that this is the strategic branding part of a fully integrated campaign, and that the tactical elements of said campaign will compel potential customers to search out telephone numbers and email addresses – I’m not buying it – the production/airtime costs alone would want me to maximise feedback and new account signups. Apart from that, look at the Second Screen Marketing opportunities they have missed out on?

One of the most important questions in a creative brief is “What do you want the target group to do when they see the Ad?” I think they must have missed the line out!

There is a great line at the end “Want a great bank account but don’t want the bank – talk to us today” – Replace the “talk to us today” line with “Call us today on 0800….” and you have an ad.

The post Nice Treatment In The New Nationwide TV Ad – But Don’t They Need A CTA? appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.

Take a look and let us know what you think?

We are going to miss the dog, the sand, the shoes and the left shoulder dip though

The post Southern Comfort DID Go And Make Another TV Commercial….. appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.

Its happening over there – and some!

The post Its Happening Over There – Google Glass – Application In Action appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.

The directors cut – watch it at least twice!?

The post Now Is A Good Time For A Great New TV Treatment For Magners appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.

Leather shoes on the beach may well catch on – no more burned feet!

The post Southern Comfort Don’t Need To Make Another Ad….. appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.

By: Allison Davis – Marketmesuite
Follow Allison @Allison51090

Everyone is talking about Pinterest! You may be wondering if a social network like Pinterest can benefit your business. Well, it can! Here are some benefits of using Pinterest for your small business and how we use them here at MarketMeSuite.

While social networks like Facebook and Twitter say look at “me,” Pinterest says look at “this.” Whether displaying a product, an idea, a design, a blog post, or a “how to,” Pinterest makes it easy for users to find informative and useful content, and quick images for almost any interest category!

Visitors=engagement.
You may be thinking, “my customers aren’t using Pinterest…” But how can you be sure when there are 104.4 million people who are? We’d be willing to bet that some of them are your prospects or customers. Pinterest isn’t a replacement for other social networks, rather it is another way to reach your target audience, to be found, to stay top of mind and, yes, to convert prospects into customers. By posting content such as products, promotions, events, blog posts, how-to’s, infographics and more, your small business can get its content displayed on Pinterest and into the hands of your audience as fast as you can upload it. Here at MarketMeSuite, we use Pinterest to promote our blog posts, share helpful how-to’s and repin other content that we feel could benefit our small business audience.

“2.1 Billion minutes spent on Pinterest in 2012?.
There are 525,949 minutes in one year and, according to the infographic above, users spent 2.1 billion minutes on Pinterest in 2012 alone. That’s a lot of minutes that they’re not on Facebook, and not on Twitter. And a lot of time they could be checking out your pins and boards and getting to know you on Pinterest! Think of the type of product, service or solution you promote. What are your users interested in? What do they need?  How can you help?  Now start with one of those categories, create a new board with an appropriate title and start pinning specifically based on that category. MarketMeSuite is a social media platform for small and mid-sized businesses, so we’ve created specific boards titled “Small Business” and “Small Business/Social Media” to provide helpful information to our audience.

“The new queen of referential traffic.“
Traffic on your daily commute to work? No thanks! Online traffic all pointing to you? Now you’re talking!  Pinterest was launched in March of 2010 and, traffic-wise, in less than three years it has managed to skyrocket right past popular sites like YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn, and Reddit. This kind of traffic brings a lot of engagement. You may think your pins would be like needles in a haystack, but just like your recent tweet that was retweeted, good pins travel fast to other pages, companies, social media and other major websites. Then, the traffic comes back to you! By creating our own pins or repinning information, MarketMeSuite generates repins from other users, “followers” and other “looky-loos” as they travel from board to board.

 Try this!

Follow and Pin: Instead of just posting once and forgetting about all of your boards, make it a part of your day.  Pin regularly, follow others, repin and watch your board and following grow.

Don’t forget the etiquette!

Re- pinning/sharing is part of what Pinterest is all about, but when you find a great infographic or other content you want to share with your audience, you’ve got to give credit where credit is due. We regularly seek out and re-pin other people’s stuff to our boards and each graphic we use includes the link to the original image.

When is the best time to Pin? The answer is the same one for posting, tweeting or blogging: know your customers and know when they are online and active on a given network. The only way to know when that is, is to test it. Lucky for us, some smart folks have already done some testing and found that Saturday mornings and 2-4pm on weekday are prime time for Pinterest.

A few more quick tips to help you get started!

Now, it’s your turn!  If you have some Pinterest tips of your own to share, please comment!  Happy Pinning!

Questions? We’re happy to help.
Contact us @MarketMeHelp or tweet us @MarketMeSuite!

Allison Davis, Social Media Marketing Specialist for MarketMeSuite is a recent graduate of Stetson University and a current Grad student studying Communication Management at Emerson College in Boston, MA.  Allison is passionate about social media, public relations and communication.  Her expertise in social media comes from her previous work with organizations including Florida Emergency Management Departments where she developed and executed social media campaigns that impacted multiple counties. Connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter @Allison51090.

The post Pinterest for Your Small Business? Nice Blog From Allison Davis At Marketmesuite appeared first on Pexhill Marketing.