Our Blog

Forget the tools, think about the conversation

Date:

28/05/2009

Phew, it’s getting crowded in here!…New ways of connecting people are coming hard and fast with a handful of cool APIs a day being launched to connect to big social media networks and mobile devices as well as pure bred micro blogging tools (Twitter, Pownce, Tumblr, Jaiku, My Say, Hictu) and the new rash of ‘Gauge your happiness tools’ (Moodmill, I Rate My Day and Emotionr). In fact tools are being developed to help us manage all our social media tools more efficiently! The buzz is tangible, in fact it’s overpowering.

I was at a social media master class a couple of weeks ago that was hosted by Stowe Boyd, the guy who coined the term ‘Social Tools’. It was a warm up session for attendees to the outstanding Thinking Digital Conference (Book for 2010 now!). As the session went on it was clear the focus in the room, with the exception of JP Rangaswami (Confused of Calcutta) who spoke passionately about people engaging with people, was on the relative merits of tools and new social media platforms being developed.

This left me pondering, ‘Are we too focused on tools?’… (more…)

The Entrepreneurs Forum Annual Conference Experience

Date:

22/05/2009

From Mark’s IfWeCanYouCan Blog.

What a day. I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few Entrepreneurs Forum events before, including one annual conference but none have been as inspiring or interesting as this one.

The speakers were first class. As a young business, it was very interesting to listen to presentations from the likes of Matthew Riley (Daisy Communications), Martin Lightbody (Finsbury Foods) and Richard Farleigh (Dragon’s Den) covering their experiences, both good and bad. It was inspiring to hear about the challenges, issues, and opportunities that have moulded them and their businesses while trying to apply the lessons learnt to our context.

It was also really good to meet the other finalists for the first time. It certainly seems like a great bumch of people and we will certainly be maintaining contact with some of them once the campaign has reached its climax.

Both the main conference, and the following dinner were great experience especially as there were a number of activities lined up for the finalists throughout the day (and night). These included photo shoots, audio comments and video interviews as well as being asked to stand up in front of the conference audience to be highlighted as the ‘ones to watch in the North East’, and ofcourse the Better team got “punk’d” on the evening from Diva’s Incognito….so thanks to the EF team for making us feel a little like pop stars (we even had our own custome badges!).

Here’s looking forward to next year…

The end of a crazy week

Date:

From Mark’s IfWeCanYouCan Blog.

Well, its been a crazy week. Its now over a week since the finalists where announced and time has just flown by.

Not only have we been hectic in the business working on a few proposals and the studio has been working all hours on client projects, we’ve also been trying to embrace the increased profile and new experiences that have come from being part of the IWCYC Campaign. (more…)

Is this the end of focus groups?

Date:

29/04/2009

I was talking yesterday with an account manager who during a discussion about market research said that social media metrics would never replace the value gained from facial expressions, body language and the tone of voice of people attending a live focus group.

I’ve planned a few focus group sessions in the past when I was part of the team that re-branded Frisp Crisps and I have to say I remember them as being interesting and generating some useful feedback, particularly that the crisps were considered as being quite ‘foody’ and filling, more than a snack. That fed into the decision that new ‘foody’ such as Buttered Jacket Potato & Mature Cheddar would fit with our customers’ perception of the crisp brand.

(more…)

University of Northumbria look for Better communication support

Date:

28/04/2009

UNSU Student Survey Campaign

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NEBusiness.co.uk – True Grit

Date:

08/04/2009

Apr 7 2009 by Jez Davison, Evening Gazette – view article online.

MARK Easby had to face his mum’s cancer and a confidence crisis before becoming Tees Valley’s king of communications. JEZ DAVISON discovers how the Big ‘C’ transformed his life

THE year is 2000 and a young Teessider is caught in a crisis. Former college drop-out Mark Easby had just scraped through university with a third class honours degree before being crushed by the death of his mother Gwyneth from leukaemia.

With confidence and motivation at rock bottom, he decided the only way was up and embarked on a post-graduate qualification “as much for my mum as for myself”. (more…)

North East Business News: Brand firm will stay local

Date:

04/04/2009

Featured in Evening Gazette on Apr 1 2009 – View article on www.nebusiness.co.uk.

A FLEDGLING digital agency in Stokesley has pledged to remain a local company for local people as it expands from its base in the Tees Valley.

Established last year, Better Brand Agency (BBA) is looking to hit £1m turnover in three years. Run by industry brand expert Declan Metcalfe and Teesside graduates Mark Easby and Peter Jones, the firm specialises in brand, marketing and social media campaigns and works with clients across the North-east and Yorkshire. (more…)

Better getting bigger as more digital experience comes on board

Date:

02/04/2009

We’ve looked long and hard for the right person to be the cornerstone on which we build our web development offer. Our criteria was pretty big. We wanted someone who had buckets of big agency experience, who had spent a considerable amount of time working through the product development cycle at the very highest level and who could shape how we offer web development to our clients.   (more…)

University of Teesside look to Better for social media consultancy

Date:

University of Teesside has selected Better to provide social media consultancy for the corporate communication team to help develop and deliver a social media strategy for the University and its departments.

Better has worked alongside the marketing, web, alumni and student recruitment teams at the University to help them understand how social media integrates with their communication strategy and bring their various audience groups closer to them on a daily basis, while supporting them in building and integrating and number of social media tools around their main corporate website.

The University of Teesside is a vibrant, innovative University dedicated to pursuing excellence and enabling individuals and organisations to achieve their potential through high quality learning, research and knowledge transfer. For more information please visit http://www.tees.ac.uk.

North East Digital Awards – A Better win!

Date:

31/03/2009

We we’re at the North East Digital Awards last week and picked up the award for Best Social Media Campaign – Growing your digital footprint. The event, held at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle, was attended by all of the shortlisted agencies and was a great evening with some fantastic digital innovation celebrated. (more…)