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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.