Ideashop - Just another WordPress weblog

Okido is a beautifully designed, art and science magazine for children aged 2 to 7 filled with quirky cartoons, games, puzzles and even recipes. Established by scientist Sophie Dauvois and launched in 2007, it is now stocked in The Tate and Waterstones, has received funding from the Wellcome Trust, and has everyone from Timeout to The Telegraph singing its praises and has some of the country’s leading animators on its roster of contributors.

But Okido is a youngster set for even bigger things:

1) The long term objective is to integrate Okido into the curriculum and see it used in schools as a teaching tool.

2) To grow the number of people who subscribe to Okido and

3) Increase the number of outlets that stock it

To help Okido on its way to success we recommended:

Outreach to the Mum blogosphere, education trade press and design community:

Although Okido had seen tremendous coverage in traditional print media and the lifestyle press another important audience to target is the Mom blogosphere. We suggested engaging with some key bloggers perhaps by offering a free year’s subscription or running an art competition online through one of the blogs to drive subscription.

Raising Okido’s profile within the Education and Teaching press and gaining endorsements from these outlets and Teaching Unions would also be an important way to establish it as an educational product and raise its credibility in this sector.

Okido are also keen to receive stories and input from more graphic designers, animators and cartoonists and so we also felt that publications such as Creative Review should feature on their radar as a way of reaching out to other artists and raise its profile with potential buyers and contributors.

Post by Clair Whitefield

Brixton Cycles, is a one-off. A workers co-operative at the heart of SW9 that sells and fixes all kinds of bikes from commuter, to racing to mountain bikes.  If you are part of the biking fraternity its a destination in its own right and celebrated its 25th birthday a few years back.

The Problem:

There were several things BC wanted to do

1. Keep their much loved customers up to date with all they were doing

2. Grow their community, be part of their community and introduce more people to cycling

3. Make sure that they were selling, stocking and buying the right kind of kit and bike gear

What we suggested:

Crowd Sourcing

Brixton Cycles has an irreverent, slightly anarchic take on life which is instantly recognisable in their branded clothing. To grow their community and engage with them better, we recommended a bit of crowd sourcing- asking their customers what designs they would like to see fronting next season’s cycling gear. We also suggested that the Brixton Cycles staff wear the merchandise while working on the shop floor or fixing bikes to help identify them to customers, and make it easier for people to know who to ask for advice and help in store.
Know Your Customer

We also suggested that Brixton Cycles establishing a database of customers and create a facebook page in order to send out email/newsletter bulletins and also post status updates letting people know about promos, events, sales and anything else the Brixton Cycles is getting involved with.

Taking it To The People

We wanted people to register that Brixton Cycles is really part of their community and something that is unique.  So we suggested setting up a chalk A board outside and use it as a megaphone/ means of sharing and writing down the staff’s witty, irreverent and politically flavoured thinking.  This was a way of taking the shop’s attitude out on the street and also creating something of a local talking point for the neighbourhood as well as putting a smile on the face of all those commuters cycling past everyday. We also thought it might be nice to make what ever was on the board that day the shop’s facebook status to keep all the Brixton Cycles community- local and virtual- in the loop.

Keeping Track of Sales

With a secret sale coming up for their valued customers, we recommended that Brixton Cycles pay close attention to every item rung up on the till that day- which brands and labels were the most popular and what price points proved to be the most popular with the shops loyal fan base. Gaining this information would help them stock exactly what people wanted to buy and ensure faster through flow of goods and even happier customers.

www.brixtoncycles.co.uk





WorldEka is an example of how the digital world can make a really positive difference to the world. It is a social networking site with a difference – their aim is to provide a platform for charities and non-government organisations (NGO) to meet, network and share resources in synergy for the greater good of their individual causes. It is a platform that allows these small organisations to come together and pool their ever-precious resources.

WorldEka came to the Ogilvy Ideas Shop with the objectives of growth. They wanted to acquire more leads and organisations and increase customer engagement and dwell time. How were they to acquire these new leads was the challenge – would Twitter or other social sites be the key to gaining more awareness and drive for them?

The solution:

As a purely online company we suggested that they look the most important asset that they have – their existing customers. Very little profiling and analysis of their current users had been done, yet they could learn so much from these existing users:

Part 1:

-        Audit the current user base

-        Profile the trends of active users and highlight dormant accounts

Part 2:

-        Develop eCRM communications based on the above profiles to engage the users at different times to their lifecycle.

-        Develop a dialogue and become an enabler to making this network work.

Part 3:

-        Leverage this wonderful asset – They found that people willing to apply themselves to charity are very engaged. We suggested WorldEka to start using this to compile user generated content of video and imagery that can be shared throughout the site for other member organisations to use in their efforts to raise awareness of their plight. Making WorldEka a really useful resource for members to come back to again and again instead of being just an online lobby to meet people.

www.worldeka.com