Grapevine Consulting


What agencies are doing wrong
March 27, 2008, 11:27 am
Filed under: Advertising, PR | Tags: , , ,

It’s easy to take pot-shots at media agencies but this is one of the more sensible lists on how ad agencies should be working and applies to PR too. Some of the stuff I totally agree with, output without a strategy is a biggy, but media agencies always get told they aren’t creative enough and that clients are more willing to take risks - not so in my experience.

Some brands just aren’t ready, and may not have the corporate cultural, to really do something different. This particularly applies in the social media space where not every brand is ready to engage. The most important thing is to fit the strategy to the client’s need. Each campaign should be tailored.

And my top tip for clients? Treat your agency as an extension of your team – work with them in an open, positive and constructive way and they’ll go the extra mile.

[Via Shiny Red]



How to meet bloggers: The London Bloggers Meetup
March 27, 2008, 10:16 am
Filed under: Blogging, Events | Tags: , ,

On Tuesday night I attended my 2nd London Bloggers Meetup which I can’t talk about without first mentioning the event’s sponsor – Qype. Qype are currently adopting what I like to think will  be known as the  Stormhoek approach to marketing; bloggers + free booze = reviews. And why not, PRs have been expensing journalists for years. It seems to be working for them Qype is currently getting a lot of word-of-mouth buzz.

bloggers event

Lots of PRs are always wondering “how to meet bloggers” and this would be a good place to start. They should be rushing down their with their company credit cards to pick up the shortfall when the sponsor’s tab runs out and also looking at which clients they can get to sponsor the event.

The event was a good mix of people with a brief but interesting talk from a solicitor [I stupidly didn't note down names so hopefully Andy Bargery will fill in the details] to illuminate bloggers on some of the legal aspects of blogging. He had a really good understanding of the issues specific to the social media space. My main outtake was that the law still needs to catch up with the technology though.

All in all a good night and I have finally experienced the Coach and Horses which seems to be the meet-up venue of the moment.