Archive for the ‘Social’ Category
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You’re Having a Graph
28th February 13
Posted in Social
Author: Helen Lawrence, Social Strategist BBH London & BBH Labs
The ‘BBH Junk’ email group is a wonderful place. In a standard day people will share robots playing Motorhead, a tool for remixing pop songs and occasionally the embarrassing instance of “oh my god, this video of a sneezing baby panda is amazing”. Yup. Still.
But more often than not it’s a place for questions. Any recommendations for hotels in Barcelona? What is the best dentist in North London? Where should I eat in San Francisco?
And my all time favourite…
Personal recommendations are still hard to come by. It’s a fragmented ecosystem, collating results across Foursquare, Trip Advisor, Yelp and Google isn’t much fun and certainly not all that useful.
Facebook’s recent (ish) announcement – Graph Search – is hoping to change all that.
It’s been a month or so since the news broke, so we’ve had a little while to ponder its potential and to chuckle at some of the more ridiculous searches done so far.
Facebook are hailing it as ‘structured search’: the ability to see connections between people, photos, places and interests. It’s all about content, connections and Likes at the moment; so far status updates and Open Graph actions, such a listening to a song, won’t be included. The examples Facebook have given of example searches include: restaurants my friends have been to in London, photos of my friends in New York and people at my work who like skiing.
The implications for brands are huge, and while we don’t tend to recommend knee jerk reactions following news of any platform updates, here are a few predictions on what might change.
1. The land grab. The importance of fan numbers is going to hit us again. It’ll be interesting to see how Fan numbers creep up naturally as users begin to explore content in results. Wormholes of recommendations and mutual interests are always going to drive traffic, but it’s likely we’ll see an influx of brands pouring money into Fan numbers to ensure they appear in as many results as possible.
2. Importance of rich media engagement. Facebook is the biggest photo repository in the world, Graph Search is probably going to make it the most useful too. Nowhere else can you search photos of ‘friends from Bognor Regis before 1999’. It’s not clear yet how a brand’s photos will appear in Graph Search results, but doubtlessly we’ll see even more emphasis placed on rich media content rather than traditional text updates.
3. Getting content prepped for Graph Search. Get ready for the Like button plague. Brands should start thinking about how to get content appearing in Graph Search results and most likely, we’ll see lots of those pesky Like buttons being placed on sites and content.
4. New analysis and strategies needed between passive News Feed engagement and active Graph Search engagement. It’s no longer enough to know how to reach people and how to engage, it’s now about know when people search and how to appear in that search. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing the data Facebook can provide brands about how and when people are looking for your content and connections. Hopefully it’ll be better than the truly shoddy Facebook Insights offered at the moment.
5. Mobile. Because it’s forbidden to write a blog post about anything without saying that mobile will be an important part of it. Future of microwaves? Mobile. Future of fake tan? Mobile. But Graph Search is actually one of those times when mobile will actually be an important factor. Out & About is the obvious one – physical retailers and restaurants are going to have to find ways to get people to Check In and engage with content.
Whilst there are approximately 10.2 million blog posts already written about the ‘Death Of Google’ in light of Graph Search, the overlap in uses seems to be quite narrow. For example,
I’m not sure I’d go to Facebook to hunt down a plumber. That is definitely a job for Google, where recommendations outside my social graph are more important and useful. But for content discovery & organisation and lifestyle recommendations, Graph Search is going to be ace.
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Oversharers need not apply
20th August 12
Posted in Social
Authors, Scarlett Montanaro, Rhys Hillman and Sarah Chan, BBH Barn, Singapore
A world where 24% of people miss out on important moments in their lives because they are busy trying to document on social media sharing, is a world needing an intervention from BBH Barn, tasked each year to produce projects that ‘Do Good, Famously’. We call this intervention Social Rehab.
The first arm of the campaign was to create this set of social rules for people to abide by. This is a simple set of 6 rules that lays out what is acceptable, and what is not.
Then we needed to develop something that could make abiding by these rules more achievable. We designed a toolkit that replicated people’s digital behaviour in the real-world. By creating other objects that replicate digital behaviour, such as Instagram glasses, Draw Something Doodle Pads and Like stickers, smartphone addicts might begin to realise that real life is more rewarding. We created a limited run of 100 packs which were available locally or could be requested online. We were chuffed when we ran out within a week and so directed outside interest towards a downloadable PDF of the kit for people to make at home.
After starting a discussion online, and creating the toolkit we wanted to test our audience’s resolve in as social an environment as we could find. We held a public social experiment at a popular Singapore nightspot which offered time-based discounts to whoever willingly locked up their phones. Participants received 10% off their orders which then increased by another 10% for every hour people could stand to be away from their phones, up to 40%.
The reaction was hugely positive and hundreds of people came to take part, demonstrating that people recognise the issue and are, when given the tools and incentives, willing to do something to change their smartphone etiquette, if only for one night.
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#KeepAaronCutting – A Year On
6th August 12
Author: Mareka Carter, Creative, BBH London
Today, Monday 6th August, is the one year anniversary of the London riots. With the eyes of the world turning to London once again, this time for our moment of Olympic glory, we have fantastic news to report.
All your generosities from all over the world at the time of the London riots raised so much money that we were not only able to refurbish Aaron’s barber shop, and bolster him a bit with his loss of earnings, but we had enough left over to help others in the Tottenham community as well. It was Aaron’s wish, (and our delight) that we support projects for young people, showing that youth are far from the enemy, but the future that needs nurturing.
We have worked with the fabulous Kay Horne of Business In The Community (BITC, and pictured below with Aaron) to find recipients for the money that were appropriate. Kay has been tirelessly supporting the regeneration of Tottenham since the riots, and her BITC role will take her through until March and hopefully longer. She’s a smiley face that the people of Tottenham have come to trust and love, and almost as much of a local celebrity as Aaron!
So it was with great pleasure recently that we met with Aaron at the shop, and hosted representatives from the projects we have chosen to benefit from the funds – sharing more than £10,000 in fact. They are:
The Highway Youth Club at Bruce Grove Youth Club – this is a Dinner Club that feeds disadvantaged kids in the area and keeps them off the streets with loads of forms of entertainment. It makes sure they are set up properly to embrace their futures. Aaron spent his entire childhood in a youth club called Oxford & St. George’s in the Jewish East End, that provided everything for needy families, and he has a strong belief in it giving him the best start in life and skills he needed to survive.
The Dandelion Project is a young citizens’ journalism project, which we chose because of the media connections to the Keep Aaron Cutting Project. We wanted to show that youth and social media could be used positively for good, and the Dandelion Project has the same aim. Their kids are going to come down and do a piece on Aaron.
The People’s World Youth Club is an organisation that helps kids focus their energies through creativity and self-expression & exploration of the world and its cultures. We were very attracted by a project that helps kids focus their talents around working together to create. People’s World are hard at work on their Carnival float right now, which will be creatively themed around the riots of last year.
Aaron also attended a lunch at a week-long event for young entrepreneurs that we supported, which was held at his beloved Spurs football club. It was run by NTYE, which is the Network for Teaching Young Entrepreneurs – the organisation gives young people business skills to work for themselves, as Aaron has done since he was 12 years old.
As you can see, Aaron was on great form when he met the youth club representatives, speaking Ghanian with Pastor Alex from Highway, and full of stories to relate to Fiona, the young journalist from Dandelion. And he was chuffed to visit Spurs.
As ever, the shop is open for business and social chatter from 6am-12:30pm Monday to Saturday, and business in Tottenham is still slow (you might have seen Aaron on BBC’s The One Show on 20th July, with other Tottenham traders and residents), so we’d encourage you to visit for a haircut. You’ll be very much welcomed, without a doubt.
Thank you once again to everyone who made this wonderful conclusion possible, we are very proud of London and the world for their efforts, and, equally so, the little corner of Tottenham.
A version of this post first appeared on Keep Aaron Cutting at the end of July.
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#London2012 – an early look at the ‘Social Games’
31st July 12
Author: Vicki Maggs (@maggsy), Digital Analyst, BBH London
As we’ve all heard repeatedly, London 2012 has been anticipated as “The most social Olympic Games yet”, and it’s easy to see why. Since the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Facebook users have grown 800%, Twitter users by over 8000% and Youtube videos are now generating 72 hours of video per minute. Not to mention the launch and growth of Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and Foursquare.
Friday night saw the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games with 26.9 million UK viewers tuned in. According to Twitter, this one night alone generated more tweets than the entire duration of the 2008 Beijing Games - 9.66 Million.
Using Sysomos, we found over 840,000 tweets tagged the #openingceremony with the peak of conversation occurring on Mr Bean’s entrance. Interestingly, he was also the most discussed topic of conversation (aside from mentions of Danny Boyle @DannyBoyleFilms) – being picked up all around the world as a successful nod to British culture and humour. Mr Bean gained a very positive response with 97% of conversation favourable. Read full post
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BBH London are looking to hire a Social Media Manager
27th February 12
Who we’re after
An experienced Social Media Manager. Someone who can help plan, directly implement and sustain brand relationships across various online social platforms for a range of BBH London clients. More often than not, you’ll be a integral member of an integrated, cross-functional team.What you’ll be like
Social Media managers at BBH are probably the definition of T-shaped people – *great* communicators who are extremely comfortable in strategic, creative and operational conversations internally at BBH, as well as with partners and clients – whilst very proud to be a respected specialist. You think with the community or user in mind, you’re confident making strategic recommendations and at complete ease planning, implementing and responding on behalf of a brand. You understand the qualitative difference and value of relationship “flings” (campaign-based social activity) versus longer term community management and are happy operating at both speeds. You have experience working in a social media, digital, or media agency, coupled ideally with knowledge of buying online advertising, particularly on YouTube and/or Facebook.Responsibilities:
- Be a true specialist and evangelist for brands and the social web at BBH; spreading your understanding and passion for existing and emerging digital platforms and technology throughout the agency
- Work independently and with Strategists to plan over-arching social media strategy, as well as plan and implement bespoke social media activity across a range of projects/clients, including planning and buying Facebook and YouTube ads
- Build and maintain relationships with like-minded, influential contacts in key communities, managing these important relationships in a long-term or on a campaigns basis, as required
- Launch and maintain brand presences on key social media platforms as and when required
- Co-develop bespoke ideas for social channels when required
- Monitor, analyse, manage and report on social media activity using different analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, Radian6, Sysomos and others. Work closely with BBH London’s Data department continuously to ensure best practice in this regard
- Be a strong project manager and team player
If this sounds like your kind of job, we look forward to hearing from you. Please send a cv/resume, details or link to socialmediamgr@bbh.co.uk.
BBH is a global creative advertising agency founded in 1982. The agency has creative hubs in 6 locations: London, New York, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Mumbai. For more information, please visit bartleboglehegarty.com.
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Facebook – The End Of The Beginning
24th June 11
Posted in Social
Network by Dominique K (via Flickr)
Author: Claire Coady (@claireinclapham), Community Manager, BBH Labs
Last week Inside Facebook confirmed what we all know: that there are some users who’re just not that into Facebook. It is tempting to read this statistic as the ‘Facebook saturation point’ or the impending demise of social networking, however Facebook losing a fraction of their users is not the real story. The real story is how the average Facebook user is expanding their social portfolio while anchoring their core communications to Facebook through both Open Graph and synchronising their communications with Facebook mobile apps. Social networking is not dying, or even napping. For Facebook, it is just the end of the beginning.
There’s been a lot of discussion over the type of user leaving and Facebook’s geographic growth making up for it, but we believe the real story in the user statistics is in the broader and deeper engagement of the average Facebook user, both within Facebook and outside of Facebook. It is in the incredible evolution of the typical Facebook user experience, from broadcaster to central communications hub. We all know email or telephone used to be the primary means by which we information transmitted between connections, whereas now we’re increasingly using social networks and instant messaging services.
Just as women championed personal email use ten year ago, it is women’s use of Facebook that we might look to now to indicate the long term prospects of the platform. In 2000, women were 10% more likely than men to believe that communicating with friends and family over email enhanced their lives. Today, women typically spend more time using Facebook and are more likely than men to say their relationships are better because of Facebook. If the early female championing of email is anything to go by, their devotion can only mean good things for the future of Facebook.
Alongside the shift in typical Facebook use from broadcast channel to personal communications hub, we know there’s an ongoing explosion in the number and type of social networking platforms. Like television, which first expanded from three to five channels over a period of nearly thirty years before exploding to hundreds of channels offering every kind of content imaginable, the social networking landscape has shifted from a few competing generalist social networks to a plethora of different kinds of social networks catering to a variety of interests. And versus TV, it’s all happening at warp speed. Twenty years ago, accessible satellite television filled a need not only for specialist content we knew we wanted such as music videos, premiership football and cartoons, but also desires we probably did not know we had, such as an entire channels devoted to crime drama and the option of watching the world curling championships at 2 am. Similarly, the most interesting of the new social networks, such as Tumblr, Instagram and Foursquare, are the ones that develop user communities around specialist interests and activities, but also easily connect their users back to their core social support network, i.e. Facebook, Twitter.
It is both the expansion of the social network landscape and the deepening user experience that best illustrate the future potential of Facebook. To get the real story in the statistics, look not at the fraction who leave, but at the behaviour of those who stay.
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Boxing, Branding and Social Enterprise: LUTA
31st May 11
Posted in business models, Social
Author: Anika Saigal (@anikasaigal), BBH Labs Intern
We love businesses that turn our expectations positively on their head. Luke Dowdney, the founder of the charity Fight For Peace, did exactly that when he came in to see us about the launch of a new clothing brand, LUTA (@lutaclothing). Check out the trailer above, directed by Seb Edwards at Academy Films, for a powerful introduction.
Founded with the support of private investment, LUTA is a “collection of fightwear, trainingwear and streetwear that brings together real fight performance, favela style and a genuine social mission”. We’ve been working with Luke behind the scenes and so went along to hear him tell the story behind the brand at its launch last week, which was held at Fight For Peace’s East London academy. LUTA aims to be a brand built on favela spirit – “Real Strength” is its motto – quality performance clothing to compete with established brands and also on the basis of a 50% profit share scheme. That’s to say that LUTA pays as much of its profits to Fight For Peace as it pays its shareholders. ‘Even if the brand doesn’t pay its shareholders a profit in any given year, it will still pay FFP a minimum of £10,000 for that year, ensuring that its support is stable and ongoing.’
Brazilian national boxing champion and LUTA ambassador: Roberto Custódio (left) began his boxing career through training with Fight For Peace. Photos courtesy of LUTA, via Flickr
The model here is social entrepreneurship which we’re seeing more and more of – from Rockcorps channelling the power of music and celebrity to make volunteering a part of youth lifestyle, to TOMS matching each pair of shoes purchased with a pair given to a child in need. We’re seeing, too, more and more mainstream brands seeking to put their mission statements into action on the ground, often through social and CR initiatives.
What’s interesting with LUTA, however, is the reversal of that model: the ‘philanthrocapitalism’ of this potentially lucrative, profit-driven brand.
Idris Elba, star of HBO’s The Wire, supporting the launch of LUTA clothing
What could marketers – non-profits or otherwise – learn from the approach Luke is taking?
It strikes us that charities often go about securing donations by capitalising on either our compassion or on our resolve to remove the awkward guilt that ensues when we turn away from a good cause. We need to know the story behind the charity first though, in order to feel moved enough to do something about it. And it follows that, to get people to listen, conventional charities need to be opportunists in their approach to securing donations. The flow of income may be unpredictable, making it difficult to plan projects. What’s more, a ‘landmark’ Harvard Business Review article, published two decades ago, describes the flaws in charitable foundations. These include the finding that little effort is devoted to measuring results, and that these foundations have unjustifiably high admin costs. That article has been repeatedly cited, years later, to bring home the fact that even though the flaws are widely acknowledged, not much has changed.
In the conventional charity model, endorsing the perception of their beneficiaries as victims may be necessary in order to incite charitable motivation. But this also, however unwittingly, can further remove potential supporters from the reality of their plight, so that those who could/do donate feel more like outsiders watching from afar.
Idris and the Fight For Peace Youth Council
In the case of LUTA, it’s a very different story.
LUTA focuses on the quality of its clothing in order to make it a credible competitor to existing brands. The fact that half the profits go to a good cause simply adds incentive to a purchase that would, regardless, have still been considered. This seems to make more sense in terms of behavioural economics. We instinctively avoid guilt and chase inspiration. So, instead of encouraging people to give, literally, for pity’s sake, it’d be more effective instead to stir action-provoking emotion through an aspirational brand that embraces themes of determination and hope.
Are there other learnings we’ve missed or other great examples? We’d love to hear about them if so. In the meantime, enjoy Academy Films’ powerful film made to promote LUTA:
A little about Luke:
Luke Dowdney MBE is a social anthropologist and former amateur boxer from East London, he’s spent the past decade establishing and running the Fight For Peace boxing and education academy in the Complexo da Maré, one of the biggest agglomerations of drug gang-controlled favelas in Rio de Janeiro.
Luke speaking at the LUTA launch
Fight for Peace offers youths in favelas an alternative to becoming involved in organized armed violence. It offers the opportunity for them to gain strength and self-respect through the discipline of martial arts, as well as providing them with supplementary education and preparation for the job market. He’s since opened another FFP academy – this time in East London – with the aim of continuing to grow internationally.
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The Birds That Sing At Night
27th May 11
'Blackbird singing in the dead of night' (image by Dia, via Flickr)
Author: Jim Carroll, Chairman, BBH London
Sometimes recently I’ve woken up in the middle of the night and there have been birds singing in the street outside. Two or three o’clock in the morning, well before sunrise and they’re chirping away, casually, confidently.
I’m no ornithologist, but shouldn’t they be saving it for the dawn chorus?
Inevitably one is troubled by the abnormal. My initial concern was that their singing portended some dark event, an omen of impending doom.
But the world didn’t implode.
I wondered was I witnessing some form of ecological fallout? Was the nocturnal bird song an unnatural response to an unnatural environment?
The bird authorities’ website reassured me that our feathered friends sing primarily ‘to attract a mate and defend territory’ and that some species are just happy to do these things at night.
I prefer to imagine that the birds outside my window are adapting to the modern world. Working, socialising, eating and courting on a more fluid, 24 hour, ‘always on’ basis.
Perhaps the collective unconscious of London sparrows has connected with humanity’s accelerating metabolism. Perhaps they’re embracing deconstructed social norms, flexible working, speed dating.
Maybe this also explains the migrant foxes that have long since given up the tedium and conservatism of rural life for the bright lights and diversity of the metropolis.
I have always liked the idea that change is a social, collective thing. That we like to change together, that we are reassured by community even when that community is evolving in different directions.
I have sadly found it frustrating to entertain philosophies to which my Clients do not yet subscribe.
As a student I was taught that a society in some respects behaves like an orchestra. It assigns ‘in tune-ness’ to behaviours that are consistent with everyone else and it rejects abnormal behaviour as ‘out of tune’.
This of course has its downsides. But it’s reassuring to consider that, as we run at the future, we may be taking the the wildlife with us…
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BBH London are looking to hire a Community Manager
2nd March 11
Who we’re after
An experienced Community Manager. Someone who can help plan, directly implement and sustain brand relationships across different online social platforms for a range of BBH London clients. More often than not, you’ll be a lead member of an integrated, cross-functional team (see the Labs post “Super Bowl, Super Social: The Story of Yeo Valley” for a recent example of BBH integrated output).What you’ll be like
Community managers at BBH are probably the definition of T-shaped people – *great* communicators who are extremely comfortable in strategic, creative and operational conversations internally at BBH, as well as with partners and clients - whilst proud to be a respected specialist. You think with the community or user in mind, you’re confident making strategic recommendations and at complete ease implementing and responding on behalf of the brand. You understand the qualitative difference and value of relationship “flings” (campaign-based social activity) versus longer term community management and are happy operating at both speeds.Kindle
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