A couple of recessions ago I was at art college studying my graphic design and advertising course and as I prepared myself for the big wide world my tutor assured me that despite the economic situation of the past couple of years the future was bright. His argument was that companies don’t stop spending they simply postpone spending. Clients are a little more prudent, projects are put on hold but ultimately the work still needs to be done.

Steve Harrison, former European Creative Director of Ogilvy One Worldwide and Global Creative Director at Wunderman,  goes further and is positively enthusiastic  about downturns. In his book, How To Do Better Creative Work, he writes “Economic downturn? Marvellous. In hard times, clients can’t afford to throw money at a marketing problem and agencies can’t afford to do work that goes unnoticed. Those who never really knew what they were doing get found out.”

Indeed, as my barber Robert, who appears to be the fount of all knowledge, tells me “Recessions sort the wheat from the chaff!”

So back in 1994 I graduated from art college and entered the big wide world with my portfolio under my arm. And as the country was starting to recover from it’s economic woes, my immediate future did seem a little daunting and despite my tutor’s encouraging words, a little uncertain. But soon I started to see some positive signs. Some great work started to appear in the numerous marketing and creative journals I followed and by 1997, when I was now in my 2^nd job, it was as if the pressure that had been building up was suddenly released.  Agencies were producing some really bold and exciting work and more surprisingly they were taking the clients willingly with them.

It was in this year that the RAC re-launched itself with a very, very bold new brand. It shed the very regal crown from its logo and swapped its traditional colours of red, white and blue with fluorescent orange. The then marketing director set up a “virtual agency” comprised of hand picked creatives and planners from a variety of sources to create and implement a fully integrated rebrand and campaign that reached every level of the motoring organisation. This wasn’t evolution, this was revolution!

Also in this year, British Airways launched their redesign that included the highly controversial tail fins that were painted in ethnic logos and abstract world images related to the many routes they flew. This announced that British Airways was no longer just a British airline but a World airline. Although ultimately flawed, in the fact that it allowed Virgin Atlantic to adopt the Union Jack and announce themselves as “Britain’s national flag carrier” it was a bold move nonetheless and one that probably did wonders for it’s image Worldwide. And on the subject of bold and controversial who could forget French Connection’s cheeky acronym FCUK, also launched in 1997. These were exciting times for anyone involved in the industry yet 3 years earlier they were probably wallowing in the tears of self pity.

So what about today as once again the country gradually pulls itself out of recession? The future’s bright, some bold and exciting work is no doubt on its way.

The projected draconian cutbacks in UK Public Sector spending will have a dramatic impact on how the State and its operating partners will address the ongoing need for the regeneration of towns and cities throughout the land. Nowhere will the effects be more felt than the less well-off areas of the UK. And yet places in the North East and North West, Wales and Scotland are still trying to find a new identity born out of the deindustrialisation of the 1980’s and 90’s.

Even in times when there simply isn’t the money to rebuild and invest hard cash in a place, there are still ways to create a cohesive and meaningful Place Identity.

One of the great benefits of Branding and Communication is that they can be incredibly effective in adding intangible value to a place or product. In fact, in a society where we need to use less material resources, adding intangible value is the only sensible thing to do. Or put another way, change our perceptions of a place rather than its reality.

This means being creative and resourceful. Looking for, and bringing out the existing benefits and qualities of a Place – giving them a new relevance. Seeing a Place through new eyes. No matter how familiar we are with our home town, there are always things we never truly appreciate or even know about.

Place Identity Analysis is how we rediscover the places we know so well, having become blind to their assets, whether tangible or intangible – their fabric, location, or people.

Here is our starting point. As GK Chesterton put it: ‘We are perishing for the want of wonder, not for want of wonders’

In times when we cannot have what we want, we need to use our skills, imagination and insights to want what we already have.

Anyone who is familiar with the main railway line between Birmingham and Manchester will also be familiar with the black metals horse shapes that are positioned at various places along the track between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton. They were erected in 1987 at twelve locations by sculptor Kevin Atherton, and were titled ‘Iron Horse’ (a pun on the early title given to steam locomotives in the 19th century). They were commissioned by a joint group comprising of West Midlands Arts, British Rail and four local authorities, and the idea was to provide some interest on an otherwise very dull stretch of line.

One of these horses is positioned on common land neighbouring a housing estate and it was on a recent train journey that I noticed that someone had taken a couple of cans of spray paint and branded this Iron Horse with the St George’s cross, no doubt in support of England in the forthcoming football World Cup Finals in South Africa. Now, whereas I see the petrol station bought England flags fixed to the door windows of boy racers, mini-cabs and white vans as tacky and, quite frankly, “chavvy”. This act of amateur graffiti artistry (and in the eyes of the law, vandalism) I see as opportunistic, a flash of inspiration and actually commendable.

There is no big idea in this piece of patriotic DIY branding itself, but rather in the context, the positioning, fixed for an 80mph captive audience several times an hour, perhaps bringing a smile to the face of hundreds of commuters as it did to me.

This reminded me of another perfectly placed piece of branding that will always remain in my memory. Nine years ago I spent some time travelling in India. I flew into Kolkata (Calcutta) at the start of my journey around the subcontinent and despite spending the previous month in Eastern Europe nothing could have quite prepared me for this East Indian City.

Although Kolkata has since undergone rapid economic rejuvenation, at the time it really was a world away from anything I had witnessed before. During the taxi ride from the airport into the city, I saw gutters being utilised for homes, very public toilets, the farming of chickens and the butchery and preparation of food. The roads themselves seemed to have less order than the Dodgems at a fairground. Like the UK they drive on the left hand side of the road but this didn’t appear to be obligatory. Overcrowded buses didn’t stop at bus stops, merely slowed down enough to allow passengers to hurl themselves on or off. Taxis made up the majority of the traffic and these yellow Morris Oxford replicas would jostle sometimes 3 abreast in single lanes in desperation to reach their destination as quickly as possible.

In an attempt to bring some order and ease to this melee, during rush hours the authorities would set up a contraflow system appropriate to the flow of traffic depending if it was morning or evening. On top of each of the traffic cones was a kind of paddle type flag that someone had seen the opportunity of branding as a form of advertising. And which brand had seen the opportunity to buy this space amongst this frenetic, completely chaotic, ex-colonial city? Kit Kat! Never had its famous copy-line seemed more appropriate.

I just had a look around the website from the Church of Sweden that seems to have found a way to combine new media with the challenge of maintaining relevance in a highly secularized society. The Church of Sweden has won an Epica d’Or for best web campaign for this website that invites people to post a prayer and makes sure that the prayer is sent on to a church where the congregation will include it in their prayers. Inspiring idea! What’s next? Facebook sermons?

Check it out: http://svenskakyrkan.se/be/?lang=eng

I am a sucker for interactive campaigns, and want to share a few that I really like:

A little while back I found this UN Voices campaign.

http://www.ourentries.com/2008/unvoices/campaign/

(Created by Saatchi and Saatchi and The Hyperfactory 2008)

Linking posters and mobile technology – the passerby takes an image on their mobile of the persons mouth on the poster, then text the picture to the given number, they then receive a phone call with the persons story. The cost of the phone call gets donated directly to the UN. This is a hard hitting campaign that really makes you listen.

Another is the collaboration between Nokia and Seeper http://vimeo.com/11188067 about sat navs being ‘glued to the dashboard’ the projection tracks movement and optical waves based on these movements.  This is a really well executed campaign, it creates awareness as well as having fun with the brand.

And a 3rd one for now… is the Peugeot digital campaign, where they have asked the consumer to make their own advert to win a car. http://www.itchoosesyou.co.uk/

You have to create an advert for a classic car to advertise yourself to enter the competition. There seems to be mixed views on this campaign but its quite fun and gets you thinking about their brand.

After a very interesting week in the UK, waiting for the results of the election, we now have a decision! So how influential was the Internet and social media in this years general election?

The answer to this question is that it was not as influential as the parties might have hoped. Although the Tories would obviously say it was, and some might be inclined to agree due to their clever tactics online. Their techniques included buying the main ad on the YouTube home page on election day, Google adwords campaigns, and social media to organize meetings across their whole campaign.

Overall it seems like Facebook and YouTube were the most useful tools to use for general campaigning and awareness of the election. The Electoral Commission used Facebook to promote voter registration,  in the form of a banner at the top of your facebook news feed, it was constantly updated every time a person clicked on it to say they had voted. This banner also saw the number of visits to the register to vote website soar after links were posted on profiles across Facebook. And on YouTube, digital debates were being held where the public could ask questions to the leaders and get responses via YouTube these were watched over 700 000 times.

The general consensus is that the TV debates made more of an impact rather than the use of the Internet and social media. The role of the Internet in this General Election was more about raising awareness and increasing the number of people engaging with the parties rather than actually influencing voters.

For the past two years on a fortnightly basis I receive a personalised  targeted DM piece from a very well known broadband and TV provider and on a monthly basis I receive a DM piece from one of their competitors. Both of them are providing well thought out personalised communication offering great value offers.

The two companies both provided me with enough compelling information I did what ever advertiser dreams their target audience do, I acted. I read both communications put them down and instantly went onto the internet and searched their website as well as blogs to find out which company had the best products and services.

Once I was happy with my choice I contacted the company of my choice to activate the service only to find out after several conversations and a member of the installation team coming out to the house that the service was not available. Disappointed I contacted the competitor to find out that they could not provide me the service they had been writing to me and selling me.

That was a year ago. I am still receiving DM through my letter box on a fortnightly and monthly basis selling me both services that I can not receive.  Due to this in the future I wont consider either company.

The lesson here is very simple if you are going to implement a CRM strategy communicating with potential customers please invest the time in getting the relevant data, as well as updating and manage the information.

There is so much I could talk about on the topic of social media use in this years General Election campaigns, but as there has been so much coverage on this topic online and offline I am keeping this entry short and sweet.

2010 is the first year that social media has been used in a General Election in the UK, we all saw how effective it was in 2008/2009 for Obama’s campaign in the States, but will it be such a valuable tool in the UK with our leaders?

The main parties are all using social media and are doing so in similar ways to brands; building relationships, influencing voters and dare I say it… listening!? It is interesting to see  ‘real’ numbers on Facebook and Twitter to see how many people are actually following each party, where as in the past I have always read about numbers of voters or followers of particular parties but was never really convinced.

In no particular order, here are some examples of how each of the main parties are using different forms of social media in their campaigns.

labseravative viral from the Liberal Democrats:

Labour have a You Tube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/theuklabourparty

Conservative:

http://cash-gordon.com/

They all have their own facebook pages, twitter etc where the number of fans/followers caught my eye will this be reflected in next weeks votes?

http://www.facebook.com/libdems – 72,741

http://www.facebook.com/conservatives - 72, 671

http://www.facebook.com/labourparty#!/labourparty?v=wall – 32, 200

I will be blogging again next week to see how influential the social media campaigns were.

… and one link for fun at end of the week http://www.slapometer.com/

The Icelandic ash cloud provoked many creative reactions – for example, I had a good laugh when I stumbled upon the facebook group named “Don’t mess with Iceland, they’ll shut your airports down”.

But without a doubt Lonely Planet fostered the best idea in response to the cloud that I have come across. They decided to offer iPhone users free downloads of city guides to affected cities around Europe for a limited period. This quickly proved highly popular and the people at Lonely Planet can now sit back and enjoy how one single gesture earned them success in a number of ways.

In one stroke they have achieved positive PR, effective word-of-mouth marketing, increased awareness of their brand and products, and a very positive effect on their brand image. Through a simple, but good idea Lonely Planet has shown both social responsibility, forward-thinking, and that they are able and willing to act quickly in an unforeseen situation. Pretty good!

But won’t they cannibalize their own market then? Chances are that many people besides the ones stranded in foreign airports took advantage of the chance to download a number of city guides for future use. Yet, if we users like the product, we will come back for more next time we need a guide. In my view the positive effects will far outweigh the investment made.

And it’s well-deserved.

I first came across augmented reality last year at digitalks in Cheltenham, it is a really fun tool to use and adds another dimension to a campaign. After doing a bit of research I found that Alex Smith from Funkadelic advertising on blogspot.com had already created a top 10 list of Augmented Reality Advertising Campaigns and I thought I would share this with you:

http://funkadelicadvertising.blogspot.com/2009/06/top-10-augmented-reality-adveritising.html

I also really enjoyed watching Florence and the Machine on Grazia magazine latest 3D issue, (http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/3D) which uses augmented reality to watch performances and 360 degree of latest trends. This then carried onto an iPhone app to unlock other special features.