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Post by Vanessa Rossi, Account Executive, Ogilvy Action

BirdLife International is the world’s largest partnership of local Civil Society Organisations actively engaged in the conservation of birds, their habitats and global biodiversity. Herlinde Herpoel, a representative from the European Division, one of the six BirdLife regional offices, attended a session at the Idea Shop with the hope that we would, together, brainstorm some ideas for future campaigns.

Upon research into the organisation, we were surprised to discover the magnitude of the current project. But why was the organisation not more familiar with the mainstream audience? It quickly became apparent that one issue BirdLife was facing was a lack of strong branding. As BirdLife has grown through partnerships, such as the NSPCC in the UK, the brand gets lost amidst the partner company in each end market. We recommended that BirdLife act upon this and ensure there are rules around their brand that requests a larger presence on printed materials and events organised by both themselves and their partners.

To be successful and meet their objectives, they are keen to attract not only a bird savvy audience (which they already have strong links with) but also a more family friendly audience. With the International Year of the Forrest starting in 2011, BirdLife are keen to plan events and restructure their marketing campaign around this key year. This is a fantastic idea; using forests, that so many hold dear to them, to educate their audience on matters related to birds will assist in drawing in a wider audience.

We found that their website was quite ‘dated’ and rather technical, and that this in turn might discourage a wider audience from perusing the site.  In the interest of not losing an already wide audience, Herlinde recommended that a steer away from the technical on the website will distance their current members. As a result, we began to brainstorm ideas around blog themes and games that would attract and educate a wider audience.  A family audience will be attracted to fun and educational games about the wildlife that surrounds them.

BirdLife was keen to consider a long-term corporate partnership in order to help broaden their reach. This would have to be a ‘European’ brand to cover all the countries they have partners in. We recommended that they focus on brands that take care in the environment, that require more trees to continue with their business. Although we had a long list of proposals for the UK, finding an environmentally friendly international brand which did not currently sponsor a cause would take some further research. Herlinde however seemed quite content that we had steered her in the right direction.

Finally, BirdLife are keen to produce an annual fundraising event. They have a fantastic list of contacts from the European Parliament that are members of the organisation. It was clear that with such high profile interested parties, a fundraiser event based near the European Parliament would be great for attracting heads of companies and generating some PR. With such a list of potential invitees, Herlinde was keen to begin planning the event as soon as possible bearing in mind the busy diaries of her guests.

Much was covered in this short 90 minute meeting. With so many potential projects to consider our guest was seeking guidance as to what options were available. Although Herlinde had already had some great ideas and plans for their marketing strategy, she now said she felt much more confident with her future plans and felt she had more direction.

You can support BirdLife at www.birdlife.org/

Post by Anik Sumon, Senior SEO Manager, Neo@Ogilvy London

Scootech sell scooters. Their shop is just over the road from our shop on Roman Road. But it was their website that brought that to Idea Shop, more specifically, how to optimise it for search engines.

Scootech are modern, forward-looking organisation with a new, nicely designed website, Scootech.co.uk. The objective of their web presence is to reach an online customer base to compliment their offline sales.

Scootech know that it’s not easy to sale scooters online due to nature of the product. People usually want to try and test before they buy bikes. However Scootech know high visibility in search engines will drive more offline traffic and spread the brand name to the web searcher. Strong web presence also increases credibility. In addition to that, Sccotech want to drive traffic to their webshop where they sale scooter clothing and accessories. People tend to buy accessories or clothing products online. Thousands of people are searching for scooter accessories every month.  So there is a great opportunity for them to increase their sales by driving traffic from search engines

Lack of management time and lack of knowledge of search engine marketing encouraged David Rosenberg to come to Idea shop. He discussed the problems they are facing in getting maximum traffic from search engines.  Despite spending some money to optimise his website he was not getting high performance results due to lack of search marketing strategies.

We chatted about how to structure an SEO campaign by going through the step-by-step process required to build a good strategy. I also showed him how to target good keywords based on his business objectives so that his website gets not only high traffic but also relevant traffic.

Then I provided some general best practice guidelines on SEO to improve his website. We also discussed how to do competitor analysis and how write SEO copy.

Although SEO is a technical discipline David seemed keen to pick it up. Here’s the step-by-step process we went through so you can too:

SEO step by step process

1. Research keywords using Google’s keyword research tool (just Google “keyword tool” to find it)

2. Select your keywords based on search demand, relevancy and competition.

3. Map your keywords to the relevant pages of your site.

4. Do competitors analysis.

5. Conduct a page audit based on SEO best practice.

6. Build your social and link profile by utilising social media, press releases etc.

And here are those SEO copy tips:

How to write the best SEO copy

Create unique and meaningful page titles using the keywords you selected in your keyword research stage.

Try to write brief but meaningful descriptions of your pages. The title and description appear in the search result. So writing a good title and description can improve your click through rate

Try to include selected keywords in your website’s body copy but make sure it remains logical and readable. Over using of keywords or keyword stuffing can be dangerous.

Use ALT text for images so that search engine can read them

Create a good navigational architecture for your site so that users can easily browse around. Use mostly text for navigation and try to use breadcrumb navigation if your site has a large number of pages. Use your keywords in the navigational copy where possible.

Relevancy is the key, so make sure you have relevant content which is compelling and useful for the visitors.

We’re sure you’ll have no trouble finding Scootech’s site after all that, but just in case www.scootech.co.uk

Post by by Katriona Gordon, Copywriter OgilvyOne

Damien O’Brian is a magician. Not the old fashioned type of magician that pulls a rabbit out the hat, but a young, talented ‘street’ magician.

At just 25 years of age, Damien is already a huge success. He performs backstage at the UK’s biggest events, entertaining stars at the Brits, the NME awards and T4 events. He has almost 1,500 fans on Facebook and thousands of followers on Twitter. He’s also been praised by the Times, Ok!, the BBC and Sky, amongst others.

The challenge for his agent, Aaron Syvester, is to make Damien a household name, to make him really famous.

As we’ve said, Damien is already a fantastic, unique talent, but Aaron needs to target the right people to get him really noticed. Damien already has some great YouTube videos of him bewitching everyone from Jedward to NDubz and Alexandra Burke, so we advised him to make a really high quality show reel to send to TV channels. Obviously this can be expensive, so we thought it would be a good idea to contact final year students at communications and film schools to see if they’d be interested doing in doing it.

We also thought it would be a really good idea to have a series on YouTube and talked about an idea where Damien could go on a mission to outwit the best security in the country with his magic, and then show it on You Tube.

Aaron mentioned that Damien would be interested in using his magic as part of an advertising campaign. We suggested that Damien film an advert for a product himself, hopefully generating buzz and getting ad agencies to notice him. We also recommended that he contact big events companies to get Damien smaller corporate events around the country, thereby generating buzz by word of mouth.

Aaron also mentioned that Damien was keen to teach magic to kids, in remote or deprived parts of the country. We thought this was a smashing idea and suggested approaching the Arts Council, outreach projects as well as TV companies for backing.

We’re absolutely convinced that it is only a matter of time before Damien O’Brian becomes a household name. And once you see this: Damien O\’Brien – Street Magician, we’ll sure you’ll agree.

The Red Restaurant - A Screen Deep Production

Post by by Katriona Gordon, Copywriter OgilvyOne

Olivia Bellas is an Arts Producer working within film/video and cross arts events.

She founded the Canary Wharf Film Festival establishing it as a successful annual short film event in London.

She is also co-founder of Screen Deep, a set design and film experience agency. They create interactive, unique productions and fantastic event design. For example, Olivia directed The Red Restaurant  – an immersive art experience combining film, theatre, music and food. Audiences were invited to come and dine in the opulent restaurant complete with 1930s jazz band. The evening’s events unravelled both on and off screen.

In the spring she, and her business partner Jo, have secured the use of a Second World War bunker for another interactive art experience. Olivia came to Idea Shop for advice on the best way to promote this event.

Olivia already has a database of people from the Canary Wharf Film Festival who would potentially be interested in Screen Deep productions. So we thought it would be a good idea to mention Screen Deep events in the next email she sends out about the Canary Wharf Film Festival.

We also discussed using Facebook’s ‘I know this great little place in London’ as a way to promote Screen Deep, as well as setting up a page on Facebook to keep fans up-to-date with the events. Olivia is in the process of redesigning her website, so we gave her some tips on the best way to do this.

We all agreed that the world war theme of the production lends itself perfectly to a doing a bit of a teaser in the run up to the event. We talked about using old world war secret methods to promote the event, perhaps using map co-ordinates to direct people to the bunker. We also discussed using the style of war posters to advertise the event.

We also thought it would be a good idea to contact journalists, telling them about the event and discussed when would be the best time to do this. Olivia was keen on the idea of having an opening night for VIPs and journalists, so we discussed the possibility of sending them a teaser in advance.

Overall Screen Deep is a really lovely concept and we’re sure the production will be great success, and we’ll definitely be booking tickets.

Find out more at Screen Deep

Post by by Katriona Gordon, Copywriter OgilvyOne

We were super-excited when we heard that a dog clothing company was popping in, and we weren’t disappointed.

Lily Shahravesh specialises in designer dog gear, handcrafting everything from trench coats for terriers, to tweed hats for the most fashion conscious pooch.

It all started when Lily wanted to get a gift for her sister’s dog, and couldn’t find anything in the way of doggy couture, so she made her own. LoveMyDog was born.

The business is now flourishing with Lily’s own dog, Rabbit, overseeing it all. Lily came to Idea Shop for advice on how she could further increase sales.

Lily brought along a selection of her products and we were amazed at the quality of the fabrics. She had everything from Harris Tweed hats to Liberty print leads. If there was a Vogue for dogs, her range would be a must-have.

So we started thinking that maybe Lily should be treating her collection the same way as top fashion designers treat theirs. She could have ‘dogwalks’ instead of ‘catwalks’ in London Parks, followed by doggy picnics, where dog owners could buy her products. We also thought a fashion blog for dogs would be a great idea. Just as ‘human’ fashion blogs, such as the Sartorialist feature photos of fashionable people spotted on the streets; she could do the same with dogs. Perhaps she could even send a picture of the best-dressed dog to a blog, like the Sartorialist, and see if she could get it featured as outfit of the day.

Rabbit, Lily’s dog, is central to the brand. He already tweets, so we suggested Lily builds on this by getting him to write part of the blog (he’s an exceptionally talented dog).

One of the problems that Lily has is finding enough content to fill her blog each week. So we suggested that, instead of just writing new products, she could write about dogs in general, reporting new trends, posting funny pictures and giving tips and advice.

Lily isn’t a big Facebook user, and because of this, is hesitant to use Facebook to promote her brand, so we suggested she should use it everyday herself to get her confidence up, before using it for LoveMyDog. This seems to be going well, as www.facebook.com/lovemydoguk is now brimming with content.

Love My Dog has already had great press, and Lily has even been on This Morning to discuss the range. We thought Lily could capitalise on this by sending out regular updates to journalists and we discussed the best practice for writing press releases: Attaching the press release rather than copying it into an email; ensuring the first paragraph encapsulates everything the press release says; offering images if the recipient wants them; sticking to the facts rather than piling in the adjectives; finding out the lead times for various publications and sending releases in a timely fashion. We also talking about developing a PR plan for the year so she has something new to talk to journalists about every month. With new products being added to the range, a new website launching soon and lots of ideas for events at her studio, Lily is already well on the way to enough news items to fill the calendar.

Lily has a studio in East London where she makes all her pieces and tailors for individual dogs. We thought it might be a good ideas to have a show room where people can bring there dogs to try on the outfits and perhaps have their photo taken, encouraging them to buy the outfit.

Lily already has a relationship with Liberty, and uses their fabric in some of her designs, so we encouraged her to contact Liberty to see if they would consider doing a LoveMyDog window display.

During the meeting, the subject of doggy dining came up. Lily said that very few restaurants let dogs in. Then we started thinking that perhaps that Lily could start a campaign to get the best-dressed dogs a seat at top London restaurants. Imagine the press that would get – ‘Rabbit gets a seat at the Ivy!’ It would also be a great topic for the blog.

We could have talked to Lily for hours, her product is fascinating and her passion in contagious. We loved her collection and with the right press we reckon it will become a huge success. As for Rabbit, well look out for him in the front row of London Fashion Week.

See Lily’s designs for yourself at www.lovemydog.biz

Follow @Rabbitlovemydog

Like www.facebook.com/lovemydoguk

Idea Shop East post by Stefanie Price, PA and Copywriter, OgilvyOne

Aurelie Harp and Jessica Boyd are actresses with a vision.  Their aim is to revive creativity within the industry through discourse and group-experimentation.

Aurelie and Jessica are in the process of setting up and launching an acting collective. They aim to create a forum where actors, writers, producers and directors can meet and workshop their creativity ideas, free from commercial constraints.

The ladies came to Idea Shop in order to pitch their project and get feedback. They wanted to see how communications experts would position the project, as well as find ideas on a name, clarify their USP and get ideas for a communication strategy.

It quickly became evident that the priority and focus here lay with actors, writers and others who’re involved in performance arts, and NOT with the audience. The finished production is very far from the collective’s chief purpose.  As such the workshops, or “the lab”, is the project’s core offering. Furthermore, actors, writers and directors are the project’s core market. So communications should focus on the lab and be aimed at actors, writers and directors.

The ladies already have plenty of contacts within the industry. We advised that they activate these contracts and get them involved in spreading the word.

We helped them formulate a plan of action from the soft launch next month to the major launch in 3-4 months time.  They had a firm idea of their financial and time budgets, so we helped them develop a marketing strategy within their operating criteria. Social media and blogging is going to be invaluable to this collective, as it enables them to reach and involve their specific audience. Plus it’s a low-cost form of marketing.

We brainstormed some ideas for some lovely viral movies, something they are keen to develop further and use as a key promotional tool. One idea involved using social media to crowdsource a mini play. We talked about the children’s game “Consequences”, where a story is written by a group in turns, with each person only seeing the last line written by the person before. This same process could be used to shoot a film, with the author of each scene only seeing the final few frames of the scene before. This could be created by collective members only, or opened out to the public.

Moving forward Aurelie and Jessica plan to start up the lab with a core team. They plan to create a sharable film around it that they hope will have viral potential. They are also planning an industry event to launch their project. They plan to measure the success of this activity by the number of people getting involved in the labs and the number of people reading and participating in their blog.

We wish them the very best of luck.

Idea Shop East post by Joo Teoh, Business Director at Ogilgy & Mather Advertising

Spontaneous Expression came to Idea Shop East for ideas to launch the brand and the business. The business is a London-based gift service with a difference – you name the gift you want, and they will purchase it, wrap it and deliver it on the same day. Rabeela Aziz, the woman behind the idea and the brand, is dynamic, ambitious and enthusiastic, so the business is off to a great start in my opinion.

During  our session, the more we discussed her business, the more it appeared that there was a mismatch of her ambitions for her business, and our understanding of what was being offered. We thought this would be a great service for people who are too busy to buy gifts themselves for their loved ones. Rabeela’s ambition is for this to be a gift borne out of “a spontaneous expression moment” which would “strengthen ties and kinship… contributing to a happier and peaceful world.” A terrific ambition, but one which we feared may be mismatched with her consumers’ needs and market niche.

We encouraged her to research her market segment – Personal / Executive assistants, busy executives, hotel concierge services – which would give her an indication on the market size, preferences, and needs. We also encouraged her to look at her competition – the current e-commerce options available from most retailers – to find her unique positioning.

We recommended that she launch her brand through networking groups (like a special reception for personal / executive assistants in key locations like Canary Wharf or the square mile.) This would give her a chance to showcase her sense of style, her personality and her bespoke range of gifts.

The idea of a member’s club – or subscription to her services by membership only – was very well-received. For example, during the launch, give 5 free memberships to key lifestyle journalists. Thereafter, you can purchase membership for £85 for 5 purchases (excluding cost of gift). With this, you get 10 greeting cards to personalise for each purchase. It’s always nice to get a card that has been written by the giver. Rabeela would collect these greeting cards before delivering the gift, so the gift arrives with a handwritten note from the giver.

We expect her brand will grow with word of mouth rather than via mass marketing. She is a small operation for now (she intends to do most of this herself, with help from family members) so the logistics support will need to be in place before the service gets too large. If Spontaneous Expression could become known as “The busy/forgetful boy/girlfriend’s best kept secret” that would be a good start. Or maybe that should be “The spontaneous boy/girlfriend’s best kept secret”…?

And so the idea-athon that is Idea Shop shuts its doors after another 3 days of thinking up and sharing cool stuff.

Big thanks to all the volunteers and clients who came and made it what it was: A rip-roaring 3 days of free 1-to-1 sessions between 55 Ogilvy volunteers and 76 organisations.

Our clients included 21 charities, 32 SMBs, 10 artists and performers, 5 entrepreneurs and 8 social enterprises. Plus a few others who wondered in off the street.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be updating this blog with write-ups of all the sessions held so we can share all the ideas with you too.

For those who couldn’t make it to a one-to-one session, we held talks in the evening in the shop, in a packed, extremely warm room. Those talks will be posted here too, eventually.

Thanks to Gareth Jones, editor of Marketing magazine, who cut the ribbon to open Idea Shop East on Thursday evening.

And thanks to all our wonderful Roman Road neighbours who made us feel really welcome in our temporary home.

Idea Shop wouldn’t be possible without the volunteers, so here’s a big big-up to everyone who came and lent their time and expertise to the venture. (Apologies to anyone I’ve missed out it’s not because you’re not awesome and appreciated. It’s because I’m a bit rubbish sometimes.)

The volunteers (applause please):

Richard O’Brien – OgilvyOne

Kevin Whitlock – Ogilvy Group UK

Scott Leonard – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Dave Birss – OgilvyOne

Scott Seaborn – Ogilvy Group UK

Mark Edington – Ogilvy Action

Katherine Phan – Ogilvy Healthworld

Hugo Bennett – Ogilvy Group UK

Vanessa Rossi – Ogilvy Action

Johnny Winn – OgilvyOne

Will Hawkins – OgilvyOne

Stefanie Price – OgilvyOne

Ange Luke – Coley Porter Bell

Alison Keepe – Ogilvy Action

Donna Brown – OgilvyOne

Rosie Robbins – Ogilvy PR

Katriona Gordon – OgilvyOne

Claire Whitfield – Ogilvy PR

Christine Dunn – Ogilvy Group UK

Joo Teoh – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Nicole Yershon – Ogilvy & Mather London

Rebecca Murdock – Blue Hive

Nick Bennett – OgilvyOne

Kristal Knight – OgilvyOne

Stuart Johnstone – Neo

Matt Pye – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Tracy Brown – OgilvyOne

Kevin Fitzsimmons – Ogilvy PR

Owen Nanlohy – Ogilvy PR

Anne Fuel – Blue Hive

Phil Webster – OgilvyOne

Alistair Gillan Ogilvy Group UK

Ella Tomlin Kedge – OgilvyOne

Yewande Sokan – OgilvyOne

Blanche Carballo – Neo

Anik Sumon – Neo

Tara Austin – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Gemma Batterby – Ogilvy Group UK

Ben Jeffrey – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Ben Lee – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Guglielmo Rossi – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Sophie Smith – Ogilvy PR

Keiran Bradshaw – OgilvyOne

Sarah Jupp – Ogilvy Group UK

Hollie Alexander – OgilvyOne

Michelle Taylor – OgilvyAction

Sunshine Estigoy – Ogilvy Group UK

Madeleine Lees – Coley Porter Bell

Robin Patterson – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Jaimes Leggett – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Craig Mason – OgilvyOne

Daphne Tann –Idea Shop intern

Charlotte Franek – Intern

Emeka Fredrick – Intern

More pics coming soon too.

Here’s the final (for now at least) line up for speakers. These talks are free, open to anyone and there’s no need to book. Address is Idea Shop East, 430 Roman Road, London E3 5LU.

Thursday 8^th July

6.30pm – Matteo Rossetti – Search Engine Optimisation 101

7.00pm – Jaimes Leggett – Getting the most out of digital and the web

7.30pm – Kevin Whitlock – Everything you ever wanted to know about PR but were too afraid to ask.

8.00pm – Dave Birss – Jolting yourself out of the rut – handy tips for creative thinking.

Friday 9^th July

6.30pm – Rosie Robbins – Making PR work for you

7.00pm – Scott Seaborne & Alistair Gillian – How to make mobile work for you for not much money at all

7.30pm – Hamish Priest – Social media for small businesses & a few important dos and don’ts

8.00pm – Dave Birss – Ideas n stuff

Finally Thursday’s evening of talks are confirmed. Yippee. No need to book. Just turn up. Oh and do spread the word. Ta.

Talks for Thursday 8^th July

6.30pm – Sophie Collins on Search Engine Optimisation and increasing traffic to your website.

7.00pm – Jaimes Leggett on all things, or at least some things, digital.

7.30pm – Kevin Whitlock on everything you ever wanted to know about PR but were too afraid to ask.

8.00pm – Dave Birss something special that’s tbc. ‘Citing.

You’ll find us at Idea Shop East, 430 Roman Road, London, E3 5LU.

Oh and if you happen to be a purveyor of booze or pop and would like to donate some drinks to Idea Shop, do get in touch. We’d be ever so grateful.

Friday’s talks will be announced soon. And Saturday’s talks? We’ve decided to go to the pub instead. You’re all very welcome to join us.