The Wow Factory Blog

Simon

This week came the ruling by a U.S court that the Winklevoss twins would not receive an increase in money from Mark Zuckerburg - Facebook's CEO.

The twins, claiming that Zuckerburg and his co-founders stole their idea for the social networking site, have tried a number of times to increase the amount they felt was owed to them since Facebook launched and became a worldwide phenomenon.

In 2008, the Winklevoss Twins received a $65 million settlement, after court proceedings, despite Mark Zuckerburg denying the allegations that he stole the twins' ideas for the site, and it was assumed that all grievances would end there.

However, in 2010, after deciding that the impressive initial settlement was not enough, the Winklevoss twins tried again to get more money from Zuckerburg, and were even prepared to do this at the risk of losing their complete fortune.

Unfortunately for the twins, the U.S appeals court ruled on Monday that they would not receive any further funds from Facebook, and were to end litigation with the company and its CEO.

Do you think that a $65 million settlement is enough for the twins or should they be entitled to more? Let us know.

19 October, 2010

The Wow Factory has strengthened its client offering by establishing a dedicated new media group which has captured several high profile national and regional clients.

The unit, which specialises in creating dynamic websites, search engine marketing and social media strategies, has won a series of pitches for clients including Specialist Golf, The Secret Gardens of Sandwich, Britelite and Regal Estates.

The team is headed by digital strategy specialist Adam Parsonage, who has eight years web development experience, and includes search engine optimisation and social media executive Heidi Robus, digital copywriter Jon Lane, and programmer Ricky Ellmore.

Says The Wow Factory managing director Simon Clubley: “Creativity, technical expertise and great copywriting is essential if clients are to maximise the impact of their online marketing.

“It’s the fastest-growing part of our business reflecting the national trend, as more and more clients appreciate that just having a website is not good enough – it has to work hard, and be properly integrated into their marketing plans.”

The Wow Factory was founded four years ago, and also provides advertising, publications and event management to clients including Premier Foods, Checkmate Group, Monarch Chemicals, IPC, Lansdown Place and the Reynolds Group.

Picture shows (left to right) Adam Parsonage, Ricky Ellmore, Jon Lane and Heidi Robus.

This article, written by The Wow Factory chairman Richard Harvey, appeared in the October, 2010 issue of ‘Kent Business’ magazine

Clap your hands over your ears and squeeze your eyes tight shut.

That’s the increasing temptation for many consumers, as they are assailed with a cacophony of advertising, online messaging, PR and promotions.

Kent Business readers understand that marketing which delivers sales is a bigger challenge than it’s ever been. The most prized goal of business owners and marketing managers is ‘cut through’, the ability for a sales message to be heard and seen clearly above those of competitors.

But with all that racket going on, how are you ever going to make your message visible, particularly when the f-d has put a vicelike grip on the marketing budget?

The answer is creativity.

You probably have your ad agency telling you to spend money in magazines and newspapers, your website guy urging you to splurge the budget on a new website, the PR people saying, no, that’s not the answer at all, what you need is editorial coverage.

The answer may well be a combination of all these, and more. Or, indeed, less. The real solution is distinctiveness – how you make your message stand out from the crowd.

Let’s take a small, off-the-wall example.

Earlier this year, a young man with an acute sense of humour and a shrewd appreciation that the way he framed his message was crucial put his customised Renault Clio up for sale on e-Bay.

Much of the text wasn’t, as they say in the more pompous broadsheets, suitable for a family audience, given that it made copious references to illegal and exotic substances, and was couched in the sort of ‘street’ patois adopted by some of south London’s criminally-inclined undesirables.

However, you couldn’t help reading it. Example: “Dig out your favourite, unwashed Umbro hoodie, and come cast your shifty little eyes on this. Enhance your street cred at the local drive-thru burger joint or council estate no end with this utterly tacky converted little Renault Clio…….not your gran’s idea of a lift to town, granted.

“You gonna need a baseball cap with this beauty, ideally one that comes with no fitting instructions. Heaven forbid that you should put it on the right way……” And so on, and so on.

Tasteless? Certainly. Funny? It depends on your sense of humour.

But effective? Unquestionably. Not only did the car sell in a matter of hours, it also cropped up as a Facebook topic, spread like wildfire through the ‘net, and resulted in the ad achieving more than 148,000 hits.

Clearly, this sales approach pushed the boundaries of acceptability. But it worked, because it was creative, different, challenging, and demanded attention.

Like the Shepherd Neame campaign for Spitfire, with its ‘don’t mention ze war’ theme which gently mocked the Germans and had the Guardianistas up in arms (which generated a whole load of free, spin-off PR).

Or, in a different way, the Cadbury’s drumming gorilla. What on earth is the connection between gorillas and chocolate? None, of course, but it became one of the most talked-about, Googled and You Tube’d ads of all time.

So next time you review your marketing spend, think about the most creative way your message can be delivered.

Don’t be lured into the ‘corporate wallpaper’ trap of same-again press ads, a ‘that’ll-do website’, a stating-the-obvious press release.

Dare to be creative. Dare to be different.

Kent entrepreneur and businessman Mark Pullinger has been appointed a non-executive director of The Wow Factory, the fast-growing Charing-based creative agency.

Mr Pullinger, 40, began his career in retail management with the Safeway group, before training as an independent financial adviser, establishing his own practice aged just 27.

Since then, he has been instrumental in creating, or working with, some of Kent’s most successful companies, including the Michelin-starred Thackeray’s restaurant in Tunbridge Wells, the Regal group of companies which includes estate agents and independent financial advisory practices, as well as in fashion retail and property development.

Says Simon Clubley, managing director of The Wow Factory: “Mark’s experience of growing diverse businesses will be enormously valuable to us, following a year in which have more than doubled turnover and investment and trebled profits.”

The Wow Factory was set up in 2007, and delivers new media, design, advertising, publication and marketing programmes for clients including IPC, The London Bridge Experience, Britelite Windows, The Secret Gardens of Sandwich, The Pentland Group and The Emma Reynolds Group.

For further information, please contact:

Simon Clubley, tel: 01233 713946 or 07809 672939 or

Richard Harvey, tel: 01580 763605 or 07780 607209

The ongoing feud between Google and Facebook has recently ramped up a notch with the news that Facebook is soon to work with Bing.

This partnership is a big step forward within social networking, as it will allow search to become social. The idea behind this concept is that Facebook search will be powered by Bing, and that users will be more inclined to click on links their friends have 'liked'. This is partially true, as I know myself that if one of my friends has used a link that they have found interesting and useful, then I would also be more likely to check it out.

I also think though that maybe this partnership has partly happened to annoy the bosses at Google. Google's market share has slowed in recent years, with the introduction of Facebook and other such social networking sites, where users have the opportunity to ask friends or look on the Facebook pages of companies rather than just 'Googling it'. And as Facebook increase its market share, and deny Google any shares within the company, I almost feel that this is Mark Zuckerburg's way of holding up a couple of fingers.

This is also a very clever move by Bing (formally MSN and Windows Live Search). Bing is far smaller than Google, and even their rebrand from Live Search to Bing in 2009 did nothing of any sustenance which enabled them to take on the Google giants; its market share is a mere 2.98% in the UK in comparison to Google's 90%.
So, why not team up with the biggest social networking site currently in existence - smart move Steve Ballmer. Bravo.

I think that it is safe to say that only in time will we see if this increases the market share of Bing, makes Facebook your one stop shop, and leaves Google crying. In the meantime though, Google should not be worrying themselves too much, after all, no-one 'Bings it'.

The latest Bellwether survey published this week (13th July 2009) has found that for the second quarter in a row the rate of decline in marketing spend has eased, linked to an improvement in business confidence; with companies surveyed reporting that their financial prospects have improved for the first time since the first quarter of last year. Although the rate of decline remained severe for Q2, raising the risk of marketing spend falling in 2009 even more than in 2008, one-in-three companies reported that their financial prospects had improved compared to one-in-four reporting a deterioration.

Rory Sutherland, IPA President said "To anyone optimistically inclined, the April Bellwether seemed to signal the bottom of the market, and the new report suggests that the worst is over. Budget cutting for all marketing communications categories seems to be slowing and, while the economy is still tough, the balance of executives reporting improved prospects moved into positive territory for the first time since Q1 2008."

Spend was reduced for all categories of marketing in Q2, but at a slower rate of decline. Budgets for main media advertising and ‘all other’ (includes PR, event sponsorship and market research) were again hardest hit amongst those companies surveyed.

Jim Marshall, Chairman, Starcom stated: "The media world is still expecting and braced for a very tough six months but the indication that business and financial confidence is at last returning suggests there is certainly an argument for optimism, and that the prospects for 2010 look more positive."

Matt Simpson, Head of OMD Group Digital and Chairman of IPA Digital Media Group also commented stating: “The 'internet' and 'internet search' continue to gain a larger share of advertisers budget, despite overall budget levels decreasing. This is likely to be a reflection of increased confidence in the tracking and accountability of the channel.”
The Kent media economy continues to reflect this trend with digital marketing growing ever more relevant, this doesn’t mean that traditional routes are redundant though- the marketing mix is still as important as ever it was. Having a web presence on its own is no panacea, funnily enough people do still go to the shops, they do still have 1-2-1 relationships with suppliers both B2b and B2C and a well planned sales pitch still works!

Undoubtedly the world wide web has moved marketing communications forward for the better, but ignoring other routes to market is frankly daft. Through the line communications incorporating digital, text, advertising, data all tied in to a creative message enables the 1-2-1 relationship to be fostered and developed and are absolutely vital to long term marketing success.

Take the example of Britelite Windows the Maidstone based home improvement company, with an annual seven figure marketing spend this client has grown its revenue during the last 18 months by some 12% as a result of maintaining the budget, but by employing ever more creative routes to market, essentially Simon Bourn the marketing director at Britelite includes press, direct marketing, telesales, a well trained sales force, outdoor, exhibitions, point of sale in addition to a thought through search engine optimisation and pay per click campaign for his website. Simon says “we continue to use traditional routes to market in essence to drive traffic to our price engine within the web site. This has led to significant leads which we work hard to convert into actual sales”.

Simon Clubley is director of The Wow Factory the Kent based through the line full service agency, whose clients include Premier Foods, IPC trading systems and more than forty Kent based clients.
http://www.thewowfactory.co.uk 01233 713852