Many thanks to Helen Rosethorn for this week’s entry
Following my “feeling sorry for myself” e mail of last week, Mr. Hyatt suggested that I might want to channel my energies into being a guest contributor to the Friday e mail. My response is that I for one think Andy’s insights at the end of each week are superb and don’t see myself in any way substituting for those. But given a certain amount of time on my hands I thought it might be interesting to share one or two things I have come across.
Before I do that let me say that is was just great to visit the office this week and see so many colleagues. What you also notice when you haven’t been around for a couple of weeks is just how energised it all feels – everyone is clearly very busy and the early fruits of Barclays are starting to appear!
If there is a theme to my contribution this Friday (interestingly the day Times Newspapers announced that they were starting to charge users for accessing their web sites – something we need to think about in terms of impact on potential candidates!) then it is learning from what is going on in our group. I am obviously lucky that in my position I get linked in to various e mail distributions and invited along to all sorts of forums and seminars, not that I go to them all can I hasten to add. Both the MDH and BHG Leadership Teams touch the Omnicom network too. Just recently there have been one or two things I have spotted which I think offer ideas we could develop for our own clients and that’s what I want to share.
The first comes from OMD – which is part of OMG Omnicom Media Group. They send out a monthly digital newsletter which is just quite staggering. It is probably too much because you could easily spend a day linking through to all the various news pieces they include – but in terms of an impressive news round up I like it!
The second interesting thing to look at is a web site of a company called Mudra in India. For some time now Omnicom have been very focused on strengthening the presence and capabilities of the Group in AsiaPac. Recently they appointed a new “Omnicom ambassador” for the region – Tim Love – and I was invited along with a number of other CEOs to hear him speak a couple of weeks ago. He’s an ad man and somewhat focused on the “traditional opportunities” i.e. Western brands looking to exploit AsiaPac markets rather than the opportunity presented by the indigenous businesses that are really starting to flourish (the audience was a little critical of him about this). However I came away with a couple of useful insights – firstly that rather than using the traditional labels of AsiaPac and EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa), Omnicom are using a new definition APIMA – Asia Pacific India Middle East and Africa. In other words they are combining Middle East and Africa (which in a recent Business Week article was described as the new Asia because of its growth opportunities – particularly fuelled by South Africa) with Asia Pacific and singling out India because it is such a critical market now in its own right. This definition is going down very well indeed in terms of differentiating our perspective as a group. Secondly, to back up their Indian commitment Omnicom have strengthened their stake in an Indian business called Mudra – which I then dutifully went off to find out more about. It is probably the Abbot Mead Vickers of India – and I think it’s web site really reflects this. In fact I love the web site – and what I particularly like are two things that I don’t think I have really seen before – the great use of music/sound (move your mouse over the menu bars) and the layout of the navigation and content. I have already pointed Russ and Dixie to have a closer look – it’s worth it – simple and beautiful.
And now the indulgent bit! I thought I would finish off with things that I have enjoyed and/or found fascinating bobbing around the internet whilst marooned at home. What has really come home to me is that in the end if you really want to sell your story video is the thing! That’s what hooks people and that’s what people share. You only have to look at all the BA strike coverage to realise this – videos from Willie Walsh on the BA site with their side of the dispute and videos from BA cabin crew on the Unite site setting out their stall. So all of my little indulgences are videos.
The first and by far the best is the “Smithy Coach of the Year” sketch from Sports Relief last Friday night. One of the dangers in the early stages of hip replacement is dislocation. Ian and the family were quite concerned that I had done something drastic whilst I was watching this that evening – I have not laughed so much for weeks and it hurt!
Secondly the shocking incident of the car trapped on the front bumper of a truck travelling at 60mph plus in the fast lane of the A1M in West Yorkshire. Apparently the lady driver of the Renault Clio walked away unhurt! It was filmed by people in a car that it passed. Looking at some of the blogs that covered it commentators did raise the interesting question of why they didn’t try and alert the lorry rather than just filming the horror unfolding!
And finally thanks to my youngest daughter Jess for this one (we have re-engaged as mother and daughter given my forced confinement – have not seen so much of her for months!) . Like many of her generation she has discovered Michael Jackson big time as a result of his sudden death last year. I am old enough to remember him “first time round” particularly as when I was a freelance journalist working and living in LA (Orange County to be precise) he was really taking off and I can remember working out at my local gym (outside when the smog allowed – they don’t mention that in OC!) to his music. There is a great performance of a medley of his songs on YouTube performed by one single artist who has filmed himself several times over performing sections of the harmonies. The result is amazing!
So thanks for the opportunity Andy H and enjoy your weekends (See you next week!)