The Night Walk is exactly what it says on the tin, a walk in the dead of night. Having been successfully run in London for the past 3 years, The Big Issue felt it was about time they took it out of the Big Smoke to give more people the opportunity to show their support for such a fantastic cause.

Taking place in April, The Night Walk is a 25KM sponsored walk where urban ramblers will be able to experience the city in a new light whilst in the safety of an organised group. The route will let walkers take in the astounding architecture of some of the city’s most distinctive buildings. There may even be a surprise or two along the way with a sneak peek into the buildings.

This is the first time The Night Walk has taken place outside of London and Big Cat is proud to be able to provide event management support to such a fantastic cause.

All money raised on the expedition will go straight towards supporting The Big Issue foundation and the work that it does to help the homeless.

Keep your eyes peeled on The Big Issue website to see how you can get involved in The Night Walk

Well today Phase 1 of the controversial project has been given the green light by the government. Whilst many people are shouting from the roof tops about how fantastic this is, what exactly does it mean for Joe Bloggs and the region? Does it just mean that that weekend away to London can start 30 mins earlier? Far from it, infact the benefits to the West Midlands are rather significant.

• Will boost the West Midland’ economy by £2.5 billion
• Up to 10,000 new construction jobs
• Up to 2,000 operational and maintenance jobs
• £35.3 billion in economic benefit to the West Midlands region
• Up to 60 – 70,000 local jobs by 2040 as a result of relocation of jobs from other areas in the UK
• Reduced carbon of up to a million tonnes a year by 2055

*Source http://www.go-hs2.com/News/NewsListings.aspx

As with any argument though there are said to be some downsides to the development.

• The new HS2 trains will use x3 more power than traditional trains
• Will increase carbon emissions
• Benefits will mainly go to London; more people travelling to London than to other regions
• Will prove detrimental to small towns and villages along rail route

*Source http://stophs2.org/facts

What are your thoughts though? Will HS2 help uplift the economy or will it destroy our countryside?

1- Give your video Title/Description/Tags a lot of thought

YouTube gives you a lot of power to control how your video is found. As YouTube can’t index your video based on the video content itself, you need to tell it where it belongs (and tell the truth too!)

2- Give yourself a head-start.

YouTube uses ‘view-count’ as a method of ranking – meaning popular content gains further popularity. A good way to start strong is to push your videos out across all of your social platforms and allow your current networks to help you hit the ground running. Get your most loyal customers to watch your videos too and certainly make sure you email it around the office.

3- Encourage inbound & outbound links to your videos/channel

YouTube finds links such as ‘video responses’ or ‘shares’ to be a very useful indication that the content is good. Start posting your videos on ‘friends’ channels and encourage them to do the same on yours.

4- Work on stimulating ‘likes’, ‘shares’, ‘subscribes’, ‘ratings’ & ‘comments’

Treat this element in a similar way to a facebook campaign. It is a good idea to ask questions & interact and, since good video ratings and engagement effect your YouTube rankings you might want to use ‘annotations’ throughout your video to encourage the viewer to rate etc.

5- Seek External links to your videos

External links work in the same way that they do for your website SEO strategy. Ensure your video is on your website as well as any social/blog pages you might have. Another strong method is to approach forums & discussion pages with your content as this will provide you with a large number of very relevant links. Remember to join in the discussion though; you might get your post removed if they are just plugging yourself.

Views can also be purchased, or you can purchase/ design a bot to formulate views for you, however this is not guaranteed to work and you could be penalised for taking these approaches. Another method that is very tempting to some is to open hundreds of windows yourself to boost views, but this method can also leave you in YouTube’s naughty books. In this case YouTube will (at the very least) pause your view-count if it recognises your IP address.

Being from primarily a print background myself, I found the software easy to get the hang of as it’s very similar to InDesign. Within an hour it was possible to create a simple site, and although not reinventing the wheel in terms of web possibilities, the outcome worked surprisingly well. There were however issues embedding a blog, although apparently this is being looked into by Adobe.

I don’t think the release of Muse spells the beginning of the end for Dreamweaver and the careers of programmers, Muse just makes it far easier for designers not familiar with code to create engaging, usable websites. Although the criticism it’s faced is probably a little harsh, it’s definitely worth a try, especially as it’s free until they release it next year!

PR agencies are now looking to go direct to the consumer, and so PR 2.0 was born. Although it may sound like some bizarre acronym, PR 2.0 is just the combination of traditional PR methods with social media and digital tools. The aim is still the same, to communicate with influencers and the consumer audience, it’s just the means that have changed.

The idea of PR 2.0 has been around for some years now, but following the recent boom in digital and social media technology, the PR industry has had to learn to evolve in order to stay ahead of the game, and inturn ensure clients are one step ahead of their competitors. More and more companies are using platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to interact with their markets, jumping traditional print formats completely. When articles are issued to papers now, all company names are hyperlinked and sometimes the releases contain video content. All of these tools enhance the user’s experience.

We’ve been utilising PR 2.0 at Big Cat Group for a number of years now. All of our press releases are supported by digital technology; it just depends on the nature of the client and their needs. We understand the importance of creativity. Just because something is text based doesn’t mean it can’t be engaging and be supported by additional content such as videos.

PR 2.0 isn’t a subject that is stationary. Every day a new website or social media platform is released and we make it our job to ensure our clients utilise them to their advantage. We do our research and we understand what works. Just because your competitor is on Myspace and Bebo doesn’t mean you have to be too. To stand out of the crowd you need to be different and that’s what we do best.

On Tuesday 15^th November my colleagues from Big Cat and I had the chance to participate in a featured event called ‘Business Collaboration Through Digital Innovation’, which was a part of the digital week.

Before the conference started, we had the opportunity to introduce ourselves and network whilst enjoying a bite or two of the refreshments offered. After a warm welcome from Chris Brown, our PR manager and chair of events at Birmingham Future, it was time for the first speaker to take the stage.

Keith Evans, Managing Director at Cida Co delivered an inspiring presentation on why and how the businesses should adapt to the current changes taking place. He stated that the Power of 3 (People, Ideas and Innovation) is more important than it ever was and that companies should not only encourage creativity but integrate it within corporate management and processes. However, Keith emphasised that despite the need to quickly adapt to the changing business environment a company must retain its values.

Whilst Keith Evans talked about digital innovation from a strategic point of view, Andy Lovatt from the White Room brought in a more tactical approach and introduced Enterprise 2.0 (or, as known in the West, a Social Business concept). He argued that companies should embed social platforms within the company rather than use them only for external marketing purposes. To strengthen his point, Andy provided case studies on how companies benefited from utilising social platforms internally. In response to common fears about network security, Andy said that ‘one must find a balance between risk and trust’. Trust in colleagues must be embedded within a company in order to secure continuous business growth.

After the two presentations, a panel comprised of Keith Evans, Andy Lovatt, Chris Brown and Rupert Bent from Pinsent Masons enthusiastically replied to questions (there were quite a few) from the audience with a great attention and detail.

In conclusion, the event offered plenty of information and ideas for both digitally-savvy companies and those only starting to embrace digital technologies.

Uptake to Google+ is estimated at 1 million members per week but so far there are not any solid stats on how many businesses are using it but from a first glance may companies have signed up for a site.

Some of the very early adopters to Google+ business have been; Burberry, Angry Birds, Cadbury and BBC News amongst others.

There are limitations with having a business account at the moment; such as not being able to offer money off vouchers or competitions, which might be a stumbling block for Google+ as Facebook do allow businesses to offer far more to potential page viewers. Whether or not this was a mistake made by Google in the rush to open Google+ for business due to high demand, we’ll never know but I could speculate that it’s something that they are thinking about doing.

Personally I now have a businesses circle with a few big brands in there and lots of news sites, but am already beginning to wonder what the true level of engagement with these brands will be. If vouchers can’t be offered are Cadbury going to start a hangout with chocolate lovers so that they can help them to create a new chocolate bar or stick to a static page?

One thing’s for certain, the landscape is changing and Google+ is the network to watch.

This isn’t the first time that companies have used AR to make their brands ‘live’.  Nivea’s campaign has revealed the potential of AR technology to the FMCG market and it is sure to be widely adopted as a marketing tool. This is definitely a bright moment for companies and customers alike,  however with AR technology  becoming more widely accessible  it makes it more difficult for luxury brands  to differentiate  themselves through advertising. In  a recent article on mashable.com it was suggested that digital innovation can make deluxe brands exclusive again, however here at Big Cat we feel that exclusivity is not something technology alone can achieve.  Companies must accept that in the end, all that matters is how  technological innovation is used to deliver lasting and meaningful campaigns.

In the meantime, we should just sit back and enjoy the free experiences we are offered.

October 2011 saw final preparations put into place for the grand launch of Bournville College’s new multi-million pound campus in Longbridge.

Encompassing services from across all departments, Big Cat Group were tasked with officially launching the new £66 million facility.

12 months in the planning, Big Cat were awarded the contract following a competitive pitch with a number of other agencies.

The launch event was to be held for 500 VIP guests from across the country ranging from local and national dignitaries, funding bodies and supporters of the new build. The aim was to showcase the stunning new facilities which provide educational facilities for 15,000 full and part time students.

The events team managed the complete set up of the evening which included a light show, flashmob, contemporary dance, ice sculpture and an exclusive keynote speech from TV personality Chris Tarrant. Capital FM presenters Dan & Katy were also brought in to compere the evening and DJ throughout. The evening concluded with a spectacular 5 minute firework display to music from Requiem for a Dream which could be seen from across the city.

The launch was fully branded with the words ‘AMAZING’ which had been designed by Big Cat’s design team who also created a 16-page memorial guide which was placed in gift bags for all 500 guests.

The PR team managed all regional press around the launch which included interviews on BBC WM and coverage in all local papers both before and after the launch.

To hail in the digital era within the new college, a Digital Time Capsule was also created, containing over 50 images, videos and sound bites starting as early as the 1800’s.

Pubs and mobile phones are  a good marketing fit because they are at the centre of consumers’ social life. Your phone is always with you and it extends a night out to the spaces between pubs and meet ups.

Just think about how you might use your phone yourself on a night out:

• You post a Facebook status: “TFI it’s Friday!”
• You play music from your phone while it charges in the dock by your bed
• You go to your VoucherCloud app to download a money off code for pizzas
• Your friend sends you a text: “change of plan, meet me at the Red Lion at 8pm”
• You check how to get there on Google Maps
• Your taxi sends you an automated text: “Silver Ford Mondeo now arriving”
• You Instagram your new shoes, updating Twitter and Facebook automatically
• You check in at the Red Lion and see that there are three other people you know in the pub
• Another of your friends, in the Queen’s Arms sees your check in and heads over to buy you a drink
• She’s got a promotional voucher for a free round of Guinness that was just emailed to her

People do people things, and phones help them do those things better – but there’s a clear opportunity here for brands, venues, and services who make themselves available in these spaces.

After months of grueling training in rain storms and heat waves and even signing up to a military fitness camp, the pair completed the course smashing their previous records.

The race wasn’t just about male ego though and seeing who could run the fastest. The pair pledged to raise money for The Prostate Cancer Charity, something which is close to both of their hearts.

Altogether they raised a total of £490.

A huge congratulations to Nick and Anthony for all their hard work. It must have paid off as we’ve seen them wearing suits which clearly haven’t been out of the wardrobe in sometime.

If you haven’t sponsored either of them yet, there’s still time. Just click the link below and enter your chosen amount

http://www.justgiving.com/anthonytattum

http://www.justgiving.com/nickbigcatmorgan

The whole country across all sectors has felt the pinch of the credit crunch. Many businesses have fallen at the wayside but others have come out fighting. After 11 years, Big Cat Group has seen one of its most successful years in 2011. Whereas many companies have had to unfortunately make staffing cuts, Big Cat has continued to grow, hiring new members of staff in its events, marketing and digital departments.

With more staff comes the possibility of a greater capacity for clients. All departments within Big Cat have seen a broad range of new clients come on board from a variety of sectors including hospitality, professional services, charity, government bodies and entertainment to name but a few. The clients themselves have again ranged vastly from the launch of Bournville College’s £66million campus, a Jamaican music festival, a Birmingham based auctioneer and a digital festival.

To coin the famous telecommunications tag line, the futures bright, the futures orange and here’s to another 11 truly fantastic years.

Happy Birthday Big Cat!!!!

What is your role at Big Cat Group?

Marketing and Communications Exec; basically I do a bit of marketing, a bit of PR and a bit of project management depending on the client and their needs.

How did you get into marketing and PR?

I sort of fell into it; I studied Visual Communication at Uni and in an attempt to get my foot in the door of a design agency, I put myself forward as a digital marketing and PR intern at Fluid, got it and loved it! After a crash course in comm’s and having worked on some high profile accounts, I gained experience in events marketing and planning, working on both BASS and Flatpack festivals. I’ve always loved brands, communication and events and my strengths are strategy development and organisation so when I applied for an internship at Big Cat everything just sort of clicked into place.

What are you working on at the moment?

There’s too much to list but so far today I have worked on booking the national campaign for the international restaurant group San Carlo, the brand development and marketing strategy for a highly acclaimed auction house, a national PR campaign for a range of Lulu Guinness compact mirrors, research for two new business pitches, the internal marketing strategy and brand propositions for Big Cat and I’ve just been brought on board for Hello Culture; Birmingham’s biggest festival.

What is your favourite marketing campaign at the moment?

I actually really like what Skittles are doing at the moment. After having a couple of not-so-successful campaigns leading up to 2009, they now seem to have developed a solid, integrated brand strategy. By keeping the same themes and tone of voice throughout all their marketing and PR activity, regardless of campaign or media, the key messages and their tagline “taste the rainbow” are reinforced. The overall brand campaign is flexible and individual product launches fit seamlessly together underneath the skittles brand.

With audience engagement being at the top of their agenda, their slightly weird approach to content has enabled them to really think outside the box when it comes to interactivity and utilise a wide range of platforms including TV, facebook, twitter, YouTube and POS. The continued high quality activity ensures they maintain brand loyalty, leaving their audience wondering what weird and wonderful ideas they will come up with next.

What is your favourite thing about Birmingham?

I’m very much a country girl at heart but for some reason I never tire of Birmingham. There’s something to suit everyone and always something going on. It’s the little hidden gems that I love; we have some amazing architecture, festivals, events, typography, music and history. It’s often reported that Birmingham has a bad reputation but I like it, and I’ve always had a tendency to favour the underdog.

60 students were given the brief to develop a social media campaign which interacts with either tenants or landlords. The aim of the campaign was to raise brand awareness and in turn drive direct sales to Glide. The budget was £10,000 and it was to be used over a three month period.

The students were split into groups of 9 or 10 and then dismissed into various rooms throughout the University. The day was a fantastic experience for Big Cat who have been working with Glide for some time now. It was fascinating seeing outsiders who don’t know a company work to develop a campaign. As you can imagine there were a few arguments a long the way with stronger students trying to take hold of the groups, however some great ideas were generated.

Click image to see full photo gallery

After the 2 hour period, the students were then asked to come back to the main lecture theatre to present their campaign to a live audience. The judges, built up of University staff, Glide and Big Cat ranked each group on a number of categories; originality, sticking to budget, ROI and a wild card too.

In the end though there could only be one winner and that was Group 3 who utilised existing Smartphone geo-location technology to offer their chosen target audience of students competition prizes, giveaways and digital badges. One thing that this group did really well was plan for the future. Although they were making use of the tools around them, they also stated that once the campaign worked in the region of Birmingham, they’d roll it out nationally and develop their own app.

Well done Group 3!!! We hope you enjoy your winnings.

If you fancy checking out what the students put in the presentations click here.

Working alongside humanitarian charity, UNICEF, Dulex are offering people the chance to purchase a colour and donate money to charity. The average Smartphone can display 16.7 million colours, so if all of these colours were purchased for just £1, think of the difference this would make to the lives of those less fortunate.

Big Cat took up the challenge and purchased their highly symbolic shade of orange. When this blog was written, over £58,000 had already been donated since the launch of the campaign one week a go. What an amazing achievement this is for Dulex, not only for the lives they are helping to save, but also the running of a successful social media campaign.

There are so many companies launching campaigns at the moment which haven’t been thought through fully. The ‘Own a colour’ campaign is a perfect example how social media can not only raise brand awareness but also help the less fortunate.

Dulex is a household name in the UK. How many other paint suppliers can you think of off the top of your head? So surely this wasn’t just about raising brand awareness, there had to be a deeper meaning. By utilising their USP of the paint colour palette, Dulex have created a fantastic campaign which was spread like wildfire across Facebook and Twitter, every Digital Director’s dream. People can donate as little as a pound with every single penny helping.

Well done Dulex for this fantastic campaign.