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.

The biggest challenge presented by the campaign was having a very short lead time until the open day, and the Big Cat team worked really closely with the college to ensure that the campaign was time efficient from the planning stages, right through until delivery.

The outdoor budget was focussed heavily towards transport media such as train station platform panels and both interior/exterior panels on busses. We organised activity on local radio stations, with presenters taking part on the day, and captured parents of potential students by featuring details of the open day on all arterial routs into Kidderminster. Competitions were run to aid our social media fan acquisition efforts and our contextual / geo-targeted YouTube adverts also proved really successful.

The footfall achieved on the day was 200% greater than the target outlined in the initial brief.

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.

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.

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.

The real time adverts for Xbox’s ‘Gears of War 3’ will publicise the number of people playing the game online at the time of broadcast.

The interesting thing about this campaign is that it relies on the product already being used by the customer. The creators, of this highly anticipated game, have chosen to rely on brand loyalty and user generated hype rather than using television advertising during the run up to the release date; instead using real time engagement and aiming for immediate responses online to maintain excitement once the product is on sale.

Created by McCann Erickson, with media planning by UM London and digital campaign support from AKQA, the television campaign launches on 23^rd September. Although the technology is already being utilised by some online gambling companies to advertise their popularity, the large scale nature of the Gears of War 3 campaign, which includes targeted social and online media, will set the standard in using live data in television advertising as more truly integrated campaigns are developed.

The high impact visuals utilise the space on and around an escalator in one of Hong Kong’s busiest subway stations and despite being rolled out nearly 5 years ago, the viral nature of mobile videos has ensured the longevity of the advert as well as presenting it to an international audience.

The reason why this advert works so well is because it can be interpreted on many levels and, thanks to YouTube, be viewed by a mass audience. For example, we can all appreciate the playful message of the mini DHL vans rushing past the lines of queuing traffic as they travel alongside you on the handrail.

On a cultural level, Hong Kong was the perfect location for this campaign. It is widely reported that DHL couriers often use the subway system for their deliveries to ensure the quickest possible delivery time. Hong Kong’s subway system has the reputation of being the most efficient and affordable in the world, reflecting DHL’s express delivery service aims; speed, efficiency and affordability.

Positioning is key and with ambient media still growing in popularity the use of advertising on an escalator effectively makes your audience a sitting duck for communication. Advertising around escalators is nothing new but this stunt really communicates and interacts with the audience in a way that a static poster wouldn’t.

The red and yellow DHL branding is instantly recognisable and is used in and around the advert. For example, the vans are branded with the colours and logo, the images of the call centre and the yellow wall with the red stripe which runs the whole length of the escalator reinforces the brand message and focuses the audience’s attention.

Let us know if you have you seen any inspirational marketing stunts recently.

7. Channels – which are the most cost effective and efficient marketing channels to employ when promoting an event? This really is the million dollar question. I would suggest a blend of direct, sales promotion tactics such as email, telesales, social network updates, ads; reputational, brand and awareness building tactics such as PR, blogs, syndication through partner channels, and response based-social web marketing; passive marketing through websites and search engines; and “sticky marketing” tactics which employ a more problem-solving, relationship building activities that allow consumption on consumer’s terms such as tip sheets, blogs, presentations, guides, and white papers. The key thing to channel selection is constant evaluation and adaptation of tactics.

8. Incentives – discounts and offers are a great way of devaluing your brand and ensuring that no one will want to pay full price next time. I personally believe that if used correctly incentives can deliver word-of-mouth, red hot data, and early critical mass. Use only as an “early bird” incentive or in a very direct and time-limited way, never as a last ditch attempt to get numbers via general release through Ads, with no time limit.

9. Time – one of the most important elements of an event is giving you sufficient time to plan and promote your event. I would suggest a minimum of 3-4 months for even the smallest event such as a workshop and up to a year for a more complex event such as a conference or concert. For a large event I would suggest 4-5 months minimum of marketing time and for small event 8-10 weeks.

10. Context – in today’s world of abundance and connectedness customers have too much choice. There aren’t many needs that are not being serviced. With this in mind I would suggest being as niche and targeted as possible and ensure that all of your communications add value in some way. Context is as much about understanding when and how your target audience are buying as much as who they are.

The brand refresh is also the occasion of launching a new range of products: Singles. They are chocolate or fruit flavoured mousses packaged in individual pots which include a convenient plastic spoon, allowing it to be savoured anytime and anywhere. The objective is to popularise the indulgent dessert and make the consumer realise that a special occasion is not necessary to enjoy it. However, it keeps its premium positioning since the flavours proposed are inventive and the price quite high £1.19 for a pot.

Gü consider interactivity with the consumer as a key factor of success. For the alimentary sector, the in-store sampling is a traditional weapon to invite the customer to taste the product and then to convince him to purchase it (it is always more than welcome to have a free sample of chocolate when you are in your supermarket, isn’t it?). But Gü wanted to go beyond in the interactive experience and make a big impression to people. In collaboration with JCDecaux, YouTube and Virgin Experience Days, DDB UK (in charge of Gü UK campaign) had the idea to install a drum on a 48 sheet poster in Tottenham Court Road, London. They invited passers-by to take delight in playing this big drum and organised a competition between the volunteers, filming the performances and uploading the videos on YouTube. The performer with the highest number of views has was awarded by a £200 Virgin Experience voucher.

The new bright slogan “Give in to Gü” encourages people to indulge themselves with little pleasures of life. On the new TV advert, that will run from May to July, we can observe scenarios of little temptations like inflated bubble wrap that is just waiting to be popped, a long line of dominoes that would just need a little nudge to start racing down, or an annoying label sticking out your friend’s cardigan. The message of Gü is quite simple: yield to these small everyday-life urges. As far I am concerned, I guess I will probably give in to the chocolate & raspberry pot after putting the final dot to this blog post. Yummy!

Give In To Gü advert

Brand identity – maybe a bit clichéd but a strong, clear brand is an important element of any event. The brand can either help build trust or else convey a confusing message. The brand can be supported by an event or programme title, which gives a more in depth description of the event.

Narrative – write compelling narrative that tells a story about the event. This could be about the background to the organisers, the history behind how the event came to be, how it will benefit the attendees. This will need to be combined with killer sales copy to quickly highlight the content and benefits, date, price, location, etc.

Here’s the takeaway: Ensure you have enough time to plan, especially promote your event. Write copy that sings. Link with as many relevant partners as you can. Test then evaluate every piece of marketing and get the ball rolling though early bird offers. Have a very clear message and identity and ask yourself this: would I pay for and attend this event before you start spending time and money.

Of course this principle has sparked off many positive and negative reactions. In my opinion I think it is a brilliant idea but it has to be very occasional and for a fairly exclusive brands (who wants a crisp or a washing powder brand tattooed on their legs, even for a little while?).

What I think is interesting as well is the way they can choose indirectly their models. Normally everybody with bare legs can be the “support” of the brand but people who wear short shorts and skirt are at 90 % young, rather slim and fashionable women. And they are modelling for free. Besides, choosing where they place the plates, they can also segment an area since the provisional tattoo lasts less than 30 minutes. In fact, it presents a big advantage more than the fact it is innovative: it is quite cheap.

It is an interesting and funny concept because we don’t get used seeing this kind of advertising and that’s why our attention is drawn to the message. On the long run, I think it would be doomed to failure, even if people -and particularly men- always look at the women’s legs they won’t pay attention to the message… and that is the point, paying attention to the message, right?

Reed Midem is one of the world’s largest marketing and event organisers, specialising in Television, Interactive Content, Music and International Property. They are heavily involved in projects such as MIPIM and MIPTV. We are lucky enough to be working along side Reed Midem assisting in strategic development, and the growth and exploration of new viable business sectors.

bloc is a chic, boutique hotel which opened in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter in April 2011. We love bloc because it’s a luxury- budget hotel inspired by futuristic Japanese design. Big Cat will be working alongside bloc on its direct marketing and social media campaigns.

Aston Business School are a prestigious and renowned elevated education school, specialising in higher development for post graduates and business professionals.

Big Cat will be working closely with Aston Business School to promote a series of new courses aimed at business professionals within the region.

Of course, it was to be expected that certain industries would pounce on this huge marketing opportunity. The tourism industry, for example, were able to cash in on not just the spectacle but also the four day weekend. The entertainment and leisure industries utilised new media technology creating apps, websites, networks and online games, allowing the wedding audience to connect with brands on both a news and entertainment level.

But it’s not just the obvious industries that are using the Royal Wedding to try and boost their brand. BMW’s recent April fool campaign took full advantage of the run up to the nuptials as they announced a royal edition of the M3. As well as successes there were bound to be some Royal related campaigns that missed the mark within the media bombardment, I’m sure you’ve seen them, the gimmicks, competitions and events which seem to plug the occasion just for the sake of it. The line seems to blur between topical and relevance and it raised the question; can companies maintain their brand values whilst cashing in on the historical British event?

Here are Big Cat’s Top Five Royal Wedding related Marketing Campaigns that have stayed true to their brand:

5.  3M – Post-it Super Sticky Notes

Maybe slightly predictable, but Ogilvy Group’s tactical ad to advertise 3M’s Super Sticky Post-it notes, reading “Will and Kate, may you stick together forever. Congratulations” coupled with the strapline “holds stronger, longer” gives a simple but effective campaign with a rather sweet sentiment.

4. T-mobile – Royal Wedding

Whether you love or hate the recent stream of T-mobile adverts, they never fail to grab attention. Again working with Saatchi & Saatchi, they took inspiration from the growing popularity of wedding dance routines which have been appearing on YouTube over the last few years. The advert featured lookalikes of the Royal family dancing down the aisle as an extension of the “Life’s For Sharing” campaign.

3. Castle Rock Brewery – Kiss Me Kate Beer

The East Midlands based brewery decided to celebrate the Royal Wedding in the best way it knew how, by brewing a special edition, real ale! Although this marketing campaign started off small, with the brewery only planning on producing a small batch, over the weekend they were stocked in a major national pub chain and well known supermarket, as well as being internationally recognised in the press.

2. John Smith’s – Commemorative Wedding Plate

John Smith’s invited customers to “buy a pint and pick up a free royal wedding plate”. Keeping strongly on brand the No Nonsense commemorative paper plate gives a tongue in cheek nod to the Brit’s love of a souvenir plate as well as a “thumbs up” for that extra day off work.

1. Premiere Inn – Royal Bed-ding

Over the weekend Premiere Inn were on a mission to make you feel like a Prince or Princess. The limited edition duvet covers were printed with images of William and Kate from the neck down so just had to hop into bed and align your head with the printed body and transform yourself into the future King or Queen.  The, verging on the ridiculous, bedding shows that the budget hotel chain has kept it’s sense of humour and was available in their London branches on the Friday night.

Whether you had front row seats over the weekend or you were vomiting into your commemorative sick bag (yes they do exist) one thing is certain; for better or for worse, wedding fever managed to take over the world of marketing on a national and international level.

But that’s the great thing about it too. The breadth of ideas is astounding, even mind blowing.

2011 was SXSW’s 25^th anniversary but for once wasn’t about the next big thing this year. It was about using what we have, better. Many sessions were about the evolution of the user interface: from mouse and keyboard to touch and gesture technologies such as the iPad and Xbox Kinect.

There was a lot of focus on the convergence of technologies like television, mobile and computers. Mobile, video, apps and tablet PCs were tipped as the most exciting opportunities for innovation and investment.

The much vaunted Apple iPad 2 was launched during this year’s SXSW which is testament to the importance of the conference to the industry. Needless to say queues were around the block for several days until they finally ran out – I have to admit, even I, a self proclaimed PC succumbed to Mr Job’s charms.

The refreshing thing as a non-techie was that there was lots of humour around the conference. Amusing speakers who poked fun at the community, a witty collaborative 30-page pull out from the Guardian and the Austin Chronicle, and obviously, the parties.

The areas which most interested me were the leading edge social media marketing techniques, practitioners and technologies. I am already a big advocate and practitioner but South-by gave the opportunity to listen, learn and discuss. Gary Veynerchuck and Guy Kawasaki were notable in their advocacy of marketing using Social Media, with the big caveat that it is employed correctly.

The opportunities and benefits of good social media practice are many fold. Never before have organisations been able to build relationships with existing and potential customers in such a scalable way. Kawasaki’s angle was about superior customer service in his new book Enchantment. His very engaging talk detailed his 10 point plan to delighting your customers along with a generous smattering of anecdotes from his time working at Apple in the 80s.

Vaynerchuck’s contrasting style concurred with Kawasaki’s affirmation that competitive advantage can be gained by superior service. But his point of difference was about showing gratitude to your customers. His new book “The Thank You Economy” details how he created his $60 million business, The Wine Library.

Gary Veynerchuck pronounced that social media provides opportunities to businesses in the next ten years on the scale that the internet has in the last.

The concept of employing social media is still difficult to comprehend for many businesses because it requires listening to potential customers and building one-to-one relationships with them. It requires transparency, honesty and candour but I believe the differentiation and competitive advantage it will gain for the early adopters far outweighs the risk and investment costs.