Absolutely, Hungary was a great experience, seems like the distant past now, but there was a certain crispness that I enjoyed, Czech republic was all about sitting around campfires and guitar playing, very relaxed, fabulous country side, great atmosphere and then onto Berlin, already a week ago and tomorrow I film London the great city Crisis run for the homeless, so I hope to catch a few friendly faces on that little jog.
And of course, video video video. I have completely outgrown my systems, I cannot believe that I have over three terabytes of videos and have a personal collection of five european city backdrops London, London, London, Brussells and last week Berlin.
That is not to forget the fun I had speaking at the Fresh Business Thinking event soemwhere in the middle, still have more events to look forward too to. Tomorrows event promises to introduce me personally to Ken Livingstone, although not everyones favourite, nevertheless a character and I will get to witness a few personally held views in the process - its always great to proven right and even better to be proven wrong when the outcome does not matter...
So it looks like we are set to expand even more our video, seo and ppc business at last, ahving just taken on a new office and employed our first person for some time with an explicit European directive who lives on the turf. I see more video, ppc and seo.
We are also enoying number one positions for search engine marketing and pay per click at the moment too, so it is all working out rather well... Probably not for long, but I keep seeing familiar faces and that is the best thing!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Hungary gets optimisation
A big thanks to the Webma team in Hungary for inviting me to speak at their event promoting the benefits of search marketing in Hungary. It was especially difficult to speak in small soundbites to allow time for the translation of each part sentance.
Tomorrow the (Internet) World.
Next week - the Czech Republic.
Tomorrow the (Internet) World.
Next week - the Czech Republic.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
ethical optimisation wins through
This year promises to be quite a year from all I hear from the legal beagles, in the UK, European Parliament and from the US.
The first wave is about to start at last, and this should shut a few big mouths that have been promoting splog like tactics for some time. At last this starts to level the playing field once again as the The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations act 2008 starts to kick in from the 28th May 2008.
A section of the act states that “falsely representing oneself as a consumer” will be illegal. There have been some high profile exposés of companies blogging using false personas as unmasking has caused backlash from consumers as Sony and Wal-Mart have both found out in the States.
This is a shame of course, because where self policed, privately enforced ethics are not good enough, the law has to step in and the law has a habit of increasing or creating extra beuracracy and often making silly mistakes that can prove uncomfortably expensive for the industry.
To my personal knowledge, Weboptimiser has never indulged in this activity, although I have seen arguments on other search engine marketing companies blogs about splogging (spam blogging) which refers to the act of falsely representing oneself as a consumer in order to make comments, but also to gain link equity.
So, SEM companies that engage in this had better stop sharpish, as in just a few days, you could find yourselves breaking the law.
The first wave is about to start at last, and this should shut a few big mouths that have been promoting splog like tactics for some time. At last this starts to level the playing field once again as the The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations act 2008 starts to kick in from the 28th May 2008.
A section of the act states that “falsely representing oneself as a consumer” will be illegal. There have been some high profile exposés of companies blogging using false personas as unmasking has caused backlash from consumers as Sony and Wal-Mart have both found out in the States.
This is a shame of course, because where self policed, privately enforced ethics are not good enough, the law has to step in and the law has a habit of increasing or creating extra beuracracy and often making silly mistakes that can prove uncomfortably expensive for the industry.
To my personal knowledge, Weboptimiser has never indulged in this activity, although I have seen arguments on other search engine marketing companies blogs about splogging (spam blogging) which refers to the act of falsely representing oneself as a consumer in order to make comments, but also to gain link equity.
So, SEM companies that engage in this had better stop sharpish, as in just a few days, you could find yourselves breaking the law.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Federation of small business is quite big
It was a great pleasure and rather handy to discover that the AGM of the FSB was to be held in Hammersmith - a short walk from where I live - over the bridge in Barnes. It was made more delicious when it was just a few days after we had become members - so in many ways it was a real rush, as no sooner had we joined, there was an AGM, it was on my doorstep and then to sweeten things further the FSB leadership invited us to make a short video for them and so we did - and now it is number one on Youtube. Fabulous. Watch our first 'political' video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNVAn1yUI3o
I actually took the footage the day before - budget day - I was spotted by Helicopter and the policeman that stopped and searched me explained that I needed permission from black rod - so I explained I still had one more shot to take and his comment was "go on then son". So this video has extra poignancy as one of the key issues that affect small business is the way that the law operates to protect us.
I found another great video over at http://www.londoncitizens.org.uk/ - it looks like they had a little more time and employed the services of a freelance musician to produce an original score.
I also had the pleasure of recording a video with a couple of celebrities as well and you can see my David Bellamy interview on our London Mayoral Election page.
Enjoy.
I actually took the footage the day before - budget day - I was spotted by Helicopter and the policeman that stopped and searched me explained that I needed permission from black rod - so I explained I still had one more shot to take and his comment was "go on then son". So this video has extra poignancy as one of the key issues that affect small business is the way that the law operates to protect us.
I found another great video over at http://www.londoncitizens.org.uk/ - it looks like they had a little more time and employed the services of a freelance musician to produce an original score.
I also had the pleasure of recording a video with a couple of celebrities as well and you can see my David Bellamy interview on our London Mayoral Election page.
Enjoy.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Happy New Year
Like most I did very little work over the Christmas period and like most other years I did have a quick squint at our traffic and found a lot of inappropriate clicks for Santa Claus. We have some news that we posted back in 2004 all about a new Santa Claus site... So, naturally I thought, lets put Adsense on the news section of our site and make some cash. Happy new year!
Monday, October 01, 2007
IAB / DMA SEARCH MARKETING CHARTER
It has been a great pleasure to work with the IAB and DMA teams and the Search Engine Marketing Council to create the SEARCH MARKETING CHARTER. You can read more about it here: http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/searchmarketingcharter.html
Why has the search marketing charter been created?
The search marketing industry has been growing exponentially over the last few years to become the largest medium for advertising spend online and a platform in its own right – but this doesn’t compensate for the fact it is still a very new medium. Advertisers new to search marketing have often expressed to members of the Search Council that they are overwhelmed by the choice of search engine marketing companies available and unsure of the quality of their services. Beginning with this launch phase, the charter will build criteria of best practice to promote SEMCo’s adhering to industry established guidelines and to help build advertiser and agency confidence in the medium.
Why now?
As trade body, the IAB became aware at the end of last year that a lot of companies were entering the search marketing field, and others were asking how to choose a supplier from them. IAB asked its members if they wanted the existing Search Council to set guidelines and standards for search marketing companies and they agreed. It’s taken six months to develop the charter with the key trade bodies and other stakeholders.
They are my answers and you cna find more here:
http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/searchmarketingcharterfaq.html
Why has the search marketing charter been created?
The search marketing industry has been growing exponentially over the last few years to become the largest medium for advertising spend online and a platform in its own right – but this doesn’t compensate for the fact it is still a very new medium. Advertisers new to search marketing have often expressed to members of the Search Council that they are overwhelmed by the choice of search engine marketing companies available and unsure of the quality of their services. Beginning with this launch phase, the charter will build criteria of best practice to promote SEMCo’s adhering to industry established guidelines and to help build advertiser and agency confidence in the medium.
Why now?
As trade body, the IAB became aware at the end of last year that a lot of companies were entering the search marketing field, and others were asking how to choose a supplier from them. IAB asked its members if they wanted the existing Search Council to set guidelines and standards for search marketing companies and they agreed. It’s taken six months to develop the charter with the key trade bodies and other stakeholders.
They are my answers and you cna find more here:
http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/searchmarketingcharterfaq.html
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Action packed IAB search task force meeting
We nearly had people standing at the back of the room at yesterdays IAB Search Taskforce meeting.
We kicked off with a good presentation from Google who introduced their mobile marketing plans and successes, very interesting and insightful, it turns out that Googles center for excellence for Mobile is London. Thanks guys.
Then we went over the final draft of the Search Marketing Charter, pleased to get that one out and with the support and help of the DMA and SEMPO.
We were also able to agree the first version of part two, a guide, as part of the Search Marketing Charter for affiliate marketing in search, real progress was made here and it was fun as always to hear the views of the Affiliate side of search.
Finally we were able to address the issues in advanced search marketing that I originally defined within Third generation search engine marketing(3GSEM.com) which is based on the firm belief and certain knowledge that in the early days of search we as an industry wanted to explain that search was simple to understand. I am not sure how successful we were in that mission, but certainly search is a mainstream activity nowadays, and this proves that search as a function is simple to use by the worlds populous. So now I think it is important that we identify the complexities that lie beneath in order to be able to explain that we can manage search as marketing tool and use it in a targeted fashion and xtreme marketing - the kind that pulls results - requires close co-ordination to real world scenarios and this is where geographic, behavioural, multivariate testing and the other activities that I have identified kick in.
It was great to see the take up on this subject by the other search marketing companies at the table enthusiastically opted in to supply content on each of the subjects, nothing new was added, so I guess 3GSEM nailed it straight off.
It must be said that the most memorable part of the meeting were the insights into mobile that Google provided - and hopefully you will see a VIP briefing on that very soon.
We kicked off with a good presentation from Google who introduced their mobile marketing plans and successes, very interesting and insightful, it turns out that Googles center for excellence for Mobile is London. Thanks guys.
Then we went over the final draft of the Search Marketing Charter, pleased to get that one out and with the support and help of the DMA and SEMPO.
We were also able to agree the first version of part two, a guide, as part of the Search Marketing Charter for affiliate marketing in search, real progress was made here and it was fun as always to hear the views of the Affiliate side of search.
Finally we were able to address the issues in advanced search marketing that I originally defined within Third generation search engine marketing(3GSEM.com) which is based on the firm belief and certain knowledge that in the early days of search we as an industry wanted to explain that search was simple to understand. I am not sure how successful we were in that mission, but certainly search is a mainstream activity nowadays, and this proves that search as a function is simple to use by the worlds populous. So now I think it is important that we identify the complexities that lie beneath in order to be able to explain that we can manage search as marketing tool and use it in a targeted fashion and xtreme marketing - the kind that pulls results - requires close co-ordination to real world scenarios and this is where geographic, behavioural, multivariate testing and the other activities that I have identified kick in.
It was great to see the take up on this subject by the other search marketing companies at the table enthusiastically opted in to supply content on each of the subjects, nothing new was added, so I guess 3GSEM nailed it straight off.
It must be said that the most memorable part of the meeting were the insights into mobile that Google provided - and hopefully you will see a VIP briefing on that very soon.
Monday, July 02, 2007
video with humour examples...
Following on the from the last post I was reminded again about video with humour, that no doubt underpins the success of youtube and a good number of brands that use humorous commercials...
Tony bows out and earlier on this station...
Great video from Microsoft
Tony bows out and earlier on this station...
Great video from Microsoft
Social Media Optimisation
As always it seems a new development in Internet marketing gets a bad rap! It is not just a negative attitude of the british either - it is across the world. It seems that a storm has grown over the term social media optimisation... MyBlogLog Brands All Social Media Optimizers As Schmoes.
I have two opinions on this, a) it is a bit late in coming and had been much discussed within hallowed halls for many years and b) what is all the fuss about, as it is inevitable that people do things in new areas - as true pioneers, incorrectly... it is a classic!
The fuss is basically about people who post comments, or who use robots to post comments on other peoples blogs with links back to thier sites in them. If it is valid and reasonable then fine, if not and you want a link from a given site, then sponsor the site, show your support, demonstrate that it is worth having and acknowledge that you will derive value from it and pay for it. It is not that difficult to create content on your site that is genuinely worth while linking to... it just takes some thought.
Although as Jaap Favier of Forrester Research said just a few days ago (see the link?) contact is king, not content - and he is right. We still need to learn to engage and the passive watching of a video does not do that. As a result of what Jaap said to me, and to you if you watch his video, you will be seeing a site design change over at Weboptimiser soon. But no need to throw video out with the wash water...
There is more to this debate than meets the eye and well done for bringing it up again, it is something we should consider, as the whole concept of social media optimisation needs consideration, it needs to be worked out, it needs to be understood and nurtured. If it should be employed commercially, it should be used honestly and ethically.
I have two opinions on this, a) it is a bit late in coming and had been much discussed within hallowed halls for many years and b) what is all the fuss about, as it is inevitable that people do things in new areas - as true pioneers, incorrectly... it is a classic!
The fuss is basically about people who post comments, or who use robots to post comments on other peoples blogs with links back to thier sites in them. If it is valid and reasonable then fine, if not and you want a link from a given site, then sponsor the site, show your support, demonstrate that it is worth having and acknowledge that you will derive value from it and pay for it. It is not that difficult to create content on your site that is genuinely worth while linking to... it just takes some thought.
Although as Jaap Favier of Forrester Research said just a few days ago (see the link?) contact is king, not content - and he is right. We still need to learn to engage and the passive watching of a video does not do that. As a result of what Jaap said to me, and to you if you watch his video, you will be seeing a site design change over at Weboptimiser soon. But no need to throw video out with the wash water...
There is more to this debate than meets the eye and well done for bringing it up again, it is something we should consider, as the whole concept of social media optimisation needs consideration, it needs to be worked out, it needs to be understood and nurtured. If it should be employed commercially, it should be used honestly and ethically.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
The EPIC that was Interact 2007 is over...
At last I have finished the last in the series of 4 videos that recorded the IAB Interact in Brussels this month, and made a showcase of my newly found video skills. As a result I am not alone in our video making and have been lucky enough to have created a small team of enthusiasts who are busy making even more videos as we sleep...
To see the all the IAB Interact in Brussels videos, visit our Interact IAB Europe page and after watching the first video, watch the next one. Less than half an hour of video took more than 180 hours to make. 60 in the filming and double that in the making and interestingly 20Gb of hard disk space, geeky, but it is nice to know when you have more planned - got to make sure we have what we need when we need it you know.
One of the things that was interesting was that I was able to put together a story, a beginning, middle and an end, and I did so simply by explaining to every person what I was looking for. Only when I downloaded the video was I able to work out how to make it work, it is safe to say that it fell together on editing... There were hours of video that we simply did not use and from each person, apart from the keynotes, Danny and Alain, we only used a few seconds of what was said in perhaps 5 minutes. It was an interesting discovery. Of course the end result is still not perfect, but it does capture some of the enthusiasm, the purpose, content and key messages that the industry wants to be heard and now is enshrined forever into these videos.
Perhaps I should have strived to craft each element in a similar way, for there to be some programatical or visual consistency. But I think that short vignettes each crafted in a different way, reflects the different interview scenarios and makes the point of each stand out.
My primary hope is that viewers find them interesting, informative and viewable. It will be interesting to see if they stand the test of time, and indeed later to compare how often this type of video is viewed and again later reviewed. Naturally we shall optimise each and shortly the videos will be posted around the World and through our analytics we shall know more about the traffic that we receive in the future weeks, months and years.
Thanks especially to all those who gave their time and expressed their views and helped make each of the videos come alive with the joy, prospects and excitement of the industry. I look forward to doing it all again at the next leadership council and at the next interact.
To see the all the IAB Interact in Brussels videos, visit our Interact IAB Europe page and after watching the first video, watch the next one. Less than half an hour of video took more than 180 hours to make. 60 in the filming and double that in the making and interestingly 20Gb of hard disk space, geeky, but it is nice to know when you have more planned - got to make sure we have what we need when we need it you know.
One of the things that was interesting was that I was able to put together a story, a beginning, middle and an end, and I did so simply by explaining to every person what I was looking for. Only when I downloaded the video was I able to work out how to make it work, it is safe to say that it fell together on editing... There were hours of video that we simply did not use and from each person, apart from the keynotes, Danny and Alain, we only used a few seconds of what was said in perhaps 5 minutes. It was an interesting discovery. Of course the end result is still not perfect, but it does capture some of the enthusiasm, the purpose, content and key messages that the industry wants to be heard and now is enshrined forever into these videos.
Perhaps I should have strived to craft each element in a similar way, for there to be some programatical or visual consistency. But I think that short vignettes each crafted in a different way, reflects the different interview scenarios and makes the point of each stand out.
My primary hope is that viewers find them interesting, informative and viewable. It will be interesting to see if they stand the test of time, and indeed later to compare how often this type of video is viewed and again later reviewed. Naturally we shall optimise each and shortly the videos will be posted around the World and through our analytics we shall know more about the traffic that we receive in the future weeks, months and years.
Thanks especially to all those who gave their time and expressed their views and helped make each of the videos come alive with the joy, prospects and excitement of the industry. I look forward to doing it all again at the next leadership council and at the next interact.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
New videos on the site - that makes 100
Loads of new content for the site... search engine marketing firm Weboptimiser
3 more VIP Interviews, a new line up on the front page and I have expanded the IAB sections so that we now have a placeholder for further info on IAB UK and IAB Europe.
The front page retains the Virgin video - I have replaced the middle one from Guy Phillipson announcing the Advertising Revenue Report to the first of three videos (although I have only produced two of them so far) from Interact at Brussels.
The end one is Penny Power of Ecademy - thanks Penny. If you click through to the VIP section
I have just added a great interview of Glen Drury of Yahoo! where he talks about social networking and I have added another video of Darran Snatchfold - making four! Yes I know that is a lot, but this one is kind of a summary of the other three - so watch this one to save you from sticking pins in your eyes on the first three - that is our editing - not his presentation!
Penny, Glen and the new Darran have all been done with the help of Sinem who has cut them down and made them more interesting to watch with cutaways etc. Thanks Sinem - credit where dredit is due and all that.
There are more to come on the VIP front, I have Graeme Foux in the can ready to go of woyano.com, I interviewed both Robert Stevens of Bunnyfoot and Val-Pierre Genton of Bright talk today - The 'B's have it. So more to come.
I have changed the IAB UK page. You can access the IAB Engage for Retail video.
You will now find the IAB Advertising Revenue Report delivered by Guy Phillipson.
I know you will be excited to know that I have changed the IAB Europe page too: Now you can access the IAB leadership council interviews and the latest Interact event held in Brussels, I have the third video to add soon...
3 more VIP Interviews, a new line up on the front page and I have expanded the IAB sections so that we now have a placeholder for further info on IAB UK and IAB Europe.
The front page retains the Virgin video - I have replaced the middle one from Guy Phillipson announcing the Advertising Revenue Report to the first of three videos (although I have only produced two of them so far) from Interact at Brussels.
The end one is Penny Power of Ecademy - thanks Penny. If you click through to the VIP section
I have just added a great interview of Glen Drury of Yahoo! where he talks about social networking and I have added another video of Darran Snatchfold - making four! Yes I know that is a lot, but this one is kind of a summary of the other three - so watch this one to save you from sticking pins in your eyes on the first three - that is our editing - not his presentation!
Penny, Glen and the new Darran have all been done with the help of Sinem who has cut them down and made them more interesting to watch with cutaways etc. Thanks Sinem - credit where dredit is due and all that.
There are more to come on the VIP front, I have Graeme Foux in the can ready to go of woyano.com, I interviewed both Robert Stevens of Bunnyfoot and Val-Pierre Genton of Bright talk today - The 'B's have it. So more to come.
I have changed the IAB UK page. You can access the IAB Engage for Retail video.
You will now find the IAB Advertising Revenue Report delivered by Guy Phillipson.
I know you will be excited to know that I have changed the IAB Europe page too: Now you can access the IAB leadership council interviews and the latest Interact event held in Brussels, I have the third video to add soon...
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Search standards at the IAB
At last my first standard has been ratified and approved by everyone at IAB UK, SEMPO and DMA - it has taken six month to agree three crucial points hoorah! OK, so now we are going to work out a joint press release and release the details of it in the first or second week of July. In the meantime we (hopefully) going to design a logo and a set of words aimed at search engine marketing companies, explaining how they can promote their compliance to the guidelines.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Great video from Microsoft
I have just finished the marathon video edit that is IAB Interact that I shot in Brussels. Well, I still have the sound to do, but I have assembled the bits and ordered into three parts... Whilst there are many interesting comments - and believe me, I have edited those right down, most are real gems. I am very pleased and it will be out any day now.
Marc Bresseel Regional Sales Director, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, refers to the latest video campaign developed by Microsoft and it is great:
It very validly states the problem, although not the solution. I dont really see anyone talking to Microsoft about this, I think it describes the overal realisation that companies must have in order to engage commercially with the web, it does not really promote Microsoft as the solution provider.
So, great job in highlighting the issue, it even links to a blog, although the blog itself seem to be more intent on the promotion rather than solving the problem raised. So at the moment, it appears that Microsoft are missing a trick. However, not sure that I know how to resolve the problem either, so I am in the same boat here...
Ok here goes... How about a call to out all those who abuse or ignore or do not employ best practice marketing? That would be controversial and that could help raise the awareness. Or, more positively, how about making case studies of Nike, Lego etc, those who have embraced these new technologies into something evangelical? I will try...
Marc Bresseel Regional Sales Director, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, refers to the latest video campaign developed by Microsoft and it is great:
It very validly states the problem, although not the solution. I dont really see anyone talking to Microsoft about this, I think it describes the overal realisation that companies must have in order to engage commercially with the web, it does not really promote Microsoft as the solution provider.
So, great job in highlighting the issue, it even links to a blog, although the blog itself seem to be more intent on the promotion rather than solving the problem raised. So at the moment, it appears that Microsoft are missing a trick. However, not sure that I know how to resolve the problem either, so I am in the same boat here...
Ok here goes... How about a call to out all those who abuse or ignore or do not employ best practice marketing? That would be controversial and that could help raise the awareness. Or, more positively, how about making case studies of Nike, Lego etc, those who have embraced these new technologies into something evangelical? I will try...
Thursday, June 07, 2007
video editor vacancy
I now have over 100 videos published since march this year, although I took my first video in January and I have about 40 videos not yet processed, I have never the less produced and published 100 videos. So that is 25 videos per month, or one for about every working day. It is a lot of video!
I have learnt a lot too. My first videos are not so good, then I started hiring equipment, then I bought some equipment, low cost, portable lighting and later invested in a semi pro camera, whilst gradully changing the angle of the camera, understanding more and more about lighting, making mistakes about sound and most recently understanding, or at least acknowledging(!) the need for cut aways and background footage.
So I enjoy and find useful interviewing people for video recording and I find publishing, embedding, sharing the end result, easy and fun to do. I can also quickly rough edit, so I am in a position where I can hand over slightly cooked video. I now need someone to stitch it together as I just do not have the time - can anyone tell me where to go? Are you a video editor, based in London, who has experience on Mac and wants to work with Final Cut Studio 2 - motion, color, soundtrack Pro, DVD studio?
All ideas welcome - I am spending so much time on this project now. I can see that Video is going to become a permanent part of the Weboptimiser expanding business. Video for Weboptimiser and its interviewees is starting to gain traction as a result of the prolific amount of interviews that I have achieved. People are being recognised through their interviews - so, TV meets the Web at last.
Are you a video editor? Would you like to access a small video recording studio in the heart of London? Are you able to access my server over broadband, download and process on a project by project basis - let me know.
I have learnt a lot too. My first videos are not so good, then I started hiring equipment, then I bought some equipment, low cost, portable lighting and later invested in a semi pro camera, whilst gradully changing the angle of the camera, understanding more and more about lighting, making mistakes about sound and most recently understanding, or at least acknowledging(!) the need for cut aways and background footage.
So I enjoy and find useful interviewing people for video recording and I find publishing, embedding, sharing the end result, easy and fun to do. I can also quickly rough edit, so I am in a position where I can hand over slightly cooked video. I now need someone to stitch it together as I just do not have the time - can anyone tell me where to go? Are you a video editor, based in London, who has experience on Mac and wants to work with Final Cut Studio 2 - motion, color, soundtrack Pro, DVD studio?
All ideas welcome - I am spending so much time on this project now. I can see that Video is going to become a permanent part of the Weboptimiser expanding business. Video for Weboptimiser and its interviewees is starting to gain traction as a result of the prolific amount of interviews that I have achieved. People are being recognised through their interviews - so, TV meets the Web at last.
Are you a video editor? Would you like to access a small video recording studio in the heart of London? Are you able to access my server over broadband, download and process on a project by project basis - let me know.
Eurostar baggage limits
There are none! On looking at their site, they are 'photographer' friendly - I think that marketing identified a niche - photographers - the inference being from a photographers perspective that you could take what you wanted on Eurostar.
Indeed, on checking in, and loading onto the train, staff even joked about the amount of kit I was taking - albeit between two of us, we had 6 bags going and 8 coming back. Coming back I did not have the energy to squeeze the extra light box into one of the big bags and took it separately - partly to see if Eurostar would figure I was over the limit. Although I also managed to pack three extra shiping bags full of chocolate... The office needs me!
This was not the case when I rang customer services. I rang because I suspected the bag limit and being told that we need to be there half an hour early I did not want to be held up and overcharged for too much baggage. I was told I could deliver extra baggage to the terminal 24 hours earlier and it would be available to me within 24 hours of my arrival. I wanted to start filming right away and I did not want to leave fragile, expensive, essential equipment with burly luggage handlers. The telephone support would not commit, I could turn up 24 hours later or I could take a risk and he would provide no guarantees as to what they would say at the terminal.
No wonder Eurostar have had difficulty in making money, they do not seem to be sure about what they are carrying. The staff are perhaps too timid to question luggage limits or too timid to shout about the amount you could take... Does anyone have any Eurostar nightmares? I read on the train that they are dumping Waterloo and will be rerouting trains to St Pancreas with faster travel across the UK - Yipee!
Indeed, on checking in, and loading onto the train, staff even joked about the amount of kit I was taking - albeit between two of us, we had 6 bags going and 8 coming back. Coming back I did not have the energy to squeeze the extra light box into one of the big bags and took it separately - partly to see if Eurostar would figure I was over the limit. Although I also managed to pack three extra shiping bags full of chocolate... The office needs me!
This was not the case when I rang customer services. I rang because I suspected the bag limit and being told that we need to be there half an hour early I did not want to be held up and overcharged for too much baggage. I was told I could deliver extra baggage to the terminal 24 hours earlier and it would be available to me within 24 hours of my arrival. I wanted to start filming right away and I did not want to leave fragile, expensive, essential equipment with burly luggage handlers. The telephone support would not commit, I could turn up 24 hours later or I could take a risk and he would provide no guarantees as to what they would say at the terminal.
No wonder Eurostar have had difficulty in making money, they do not seem to be sure about what they are carrying. The staff are perhaps too timid to question luggage limits or too timid to shout about the amount you could take... Does anyone have any Eurostar nightmares? I read on the train that they are dumping Waterloo and will be rerouting trains to St Pancreas with faster travel across the UK - Yipee!
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
The Video Problem...
I have a conundrum... As well as typing on a french keyboard... Here at IAB Europe, at Interact in Brussels I have have had the pleasure of taking a further 30 video interviews. The problem is that there a number of publishers who want to place them on their sites exclusively. So this is very complimentary, but how do I please all the people all the time - so I am hoping that someone reading this might help. I have one idea, auction them... So I allot each publisher 10 points... I provide access to eqch of the videos via a private site. They vote using their points, the highest bid wins and uses their points, those who are unsuccessful get their points back. I have five publishers, I produce 30 videos... Publishers want exclusivity for a period of one week. How many points... Is this the right method... Any better ideas...
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Engage for Retail, IAB Leadership Council and more VIPs!
My feet are not touching the ground at the moment, barely have time to process the videos I am taking... Somehow I have just squeezed out another 15, hah, no problem! So, well on track for 200 for the year now.
Thanks to everyone at IAB UK for setting it up and of course to all those lovely people who spoke, as usual nice to see familiar faces - including a good number who have never been on video before - well done! Great commentary too.
The IAB Leadership Council - what can I say, just more of the above plus, some really inciteful stuff and of course a big thank you to Alain who took the time to explain his plans for IAB Europe more of that on our search engine marketing site.
Then VIPs, are the VIPs, again these are a combination of clients, nice people and industry stars - the quality of content is getting better and better and our content wings are seriously spreading - it is such an exciting project, you will see more as it expands now, but I think we are getting close to the tipping point we are looking for...
So if you would like to appear on one of VIP briefings, let me know, it is just about to go big and your profile will very definately be raised... type in Roy Patel into Google... (Hi Roy! - you know already...).
Thanks to everyone at IAB UK for setting it up and of course to all those lovely people who spoke, as usual nice to see familiar faces - including a good number who have never been on video before - well done! Great commentary too.
The IAB Leadership Council - what can I say, just more of the above plus, some really inciteful stuff and of course a big thank you to Alain who took the time to explain his plans for IAB Europe more of that on our search engine marketing site.
Then VIPs, are the VIPs, again these are a combination of clients, nice people and industry stars - the quality of content is getting better and better and our content wings are seriously spreading - it is such an exciting project, you will see more as it expands now, but I think we are getting close to the tipping point we are looking for...
So if you would like to appear on one of VIP briefings, let me know, it is just about to go big and your profile will very definately be raised... type in Roy Patel into Google... (Hi Roy! - you know already...).
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Toasting laptops, podcasts and er.. video again.
I have turned my laptop to toast again - no it is not burnt out, just burning hot. I am simultaneously processing videos and producing dvds, the firewire port is truly ablaze, with equipment daisy chained out I need two four way adapters to keep the whole thing going!
Not only did I take four videos at the Internet World show, I also had another IAB Europe Leadership council event to attend, where I am meeting increasingly familiar and friendly faces. I managed a further 6 videos there and this time one from the President himself, Alain. So you will see it at a sited near me, soon!
So on catching up on my emails - here I am at gone 12 Satarday night, Sunday morning now and I have recieved an email from Andy White - no relation! I met Andy at the Corporate Podcasting event where after a brief conversation within the venue he was keen to interview me, he did so over lunch in the restaurant and you can hear it all here: http://www.summitsolutions.co.uk/blog/#post-73 the interestings things to me were a) I did well, although that could have been his fine editing skills - but I dont think so, there are a couple of things I repeat, although I realised how easy that is to do from my own experience and 2) how clear the recording is. I remember he pointed a strange looking hand sized recorder at me with a soft grey fuzzy short lead microphone on top and that was it. I have since checked the equipment out and I am surprised to find that this kit is veyr expensive which it has to be said really put me off. It put me off because given the choice of spending that kind of money I would prefer to go down the video route. But, and this is a big but, the sound and the production quality of Andys podcast - even though he has mixed me with a competitor (and that is a good thing) is brilliant. So a big thanks to you, for showing me the way and sharing that experience with me and putting out on your site: http://www.summitsolutions.co.uk/blog/#post-73
And Now, Ladies and gentlemen, back to Internet World... Ah yes, before we get back there - today I did something which I am sure is totally illegal - I superimposed a mates head onto a clip of Casino Royal - the sea scene where he spots the lady on horseback from the sea.
And Now, Ladies and gentlemen, back to Internet World... Aha it was great to be congratulated by some of our competitors for having such a strong presence there - it was nice to see people that we know and love of old and it is always funny to see people (competitors) we know ignore us - one day they too will join a trade body and start to put more in, share information realise that there is more to what we do than money and competition! I often wonder if these people understand what open licencing means and if they have considered the alternative business models and how we can really use these new technologies for themselves - I am musing on how long it will be before it becomes apparent that they are following another trend and not creating one of their own.
As ever and in this vein, I had another interesting yet obvious conversation - to me this is the epitomy of a brilliant idea - the obvious nature, its simplicity and its ease to understand - and perhaps even - to implement as well. Well, we may not be as close as I would like to ease of implementation apart from the old - nothing that £50k would not fix for you! But here it is: multi variant testing the new buzz phrase from the world of web analytics... So, there are hundreds or even thousands of types of people, but, imagine that there are only two - the logical and the emotional. The logical are those that need data to prove that a supposition is right, the emotional - they need to see and be certain that loads of others have done the thing. Each type needs data, each type would follow a different route according to thier needs before getting to the close. Fixing this route, through multivariate testing is a very strong opportunity put in these terms and definately qualifies under one of my concepts - that of third generation search engine marketing - advanced search engine marketing. Of course my example is limited to just two strands of people - the logical and the emotional, multi-variate testing platforms should be able to create unique paths that are suitable to a wider variety of people - please, dear God, may they be implement in a search engine friendly way!
Quick update, at a recent IAB meeting on the subject of advanced search engine marketing, it was concluded that we would refer to multivariate testing as good old fashioned dynamic pages, Hoorah for simplicity!
Not only did I take four videos at the Internet World show, I also had another IAB Europe Leadership council event to attend, where I am meeting increasingly familiar and friendly faces. I managed a further 6 videos there and this time one from the President himself, Alain. So you will see it at a sited near me, soon!
So on catching up on my emails - here I am at gone 12 Satarday night, Sunday morning now and I have recieved an email from Andy White - no relation! I met Andy at the Corporate Podcasting event where after a brief conversation within the venue he was keen to interview me, he did so over lunch in the restaurant and you can hear it all here: http://www.summitsolutions.co.uk/blog/#post-73 the interestings things to me were a) I did well, although that could have been his fine editing skills - but I dont think so, there are a couple of things I repeat, although I realised how easy that is to do from my own experience and 2) how clear the recording is. I remember he pointed a strange looking hand sized recorder at me with a soft grey fuzzy short lead microphone on top and that was it. I have since checked the equipment out and I am surprised to find that this kit is veyr expensive which it has to be said really put me off. It put me off because given the choice of spending that kind of money I would prefer to go down the video route. But, and this is a big but, the sound and the production quality of Andys podcast - even though he has mixed me with a competitor (and that is a good thing) is brilliant. So a big thanks to you, for showing me the way and sharing that experience with me and putting out on your site: http://www.summitsolutions.co.uk/blog/#post-73
And Now, Ladies and gentlemen, back to Internet World... Ah yes, before we get back there - today I did something which I am sure is totally illegal - I superimposed a mates head onto a clip of Casino Royal - the sea scene where he spots the lady on horseback from the sea.
And Now, Ladies and gentlemen, back to Internet World... Aha it was great to be congratulated by some of our competitors for having such a strong presence there - it was nice to see people that we know and love of old and it is always funny to see people (competitors) we know ignore us - one day they too will join a trade body and start to put more in, share information realise that there is more to what we do than money and competition! I often wonder if these people understand what open licencing means and if they have considered the alternative business models and how we can really use these new technologies for themselves - I am musing on how long it will be before it becomes apparent that they are following another trend and not creating one of their own.
As ever and in this vein, I had another interesting yet obvious conversation - to me this is the epitomy of a brilliant idea - the obvious nature, its simplicity and its ease to understand - and perhaps even - to implement as well. Well, we may not be as close as I would like to ease of implementation apart from the old - nothing that £50k would not fix for you! But here it is: multi variant testing the new buzz phrase from the world of web analytics... So, there are hundreds or even thousands of types of people, but, imagine that there are only two - the logical and the emotional. The logical are those that need data to prove that a supposition is right, the emotional - they need to see and be certain that loads of others have done the thing. Each type needs data, each type would follow a different route according to thier needs before getting to the close. Fixing this route, through multivariate testing is a very strong opportunity put in these terms and definately qualifies under one of my concepts - that of third generation search engine marketing - advanced search engine marketing. Of course my example is limited to just two strands of people - the logical and the emotional, multi-variate testing platforms should be able to create unique paths that are suitable to a wider variety of people - please, dear God, may they be implement in a search engine friendly way!
Quick update, at a recent IAB meeting on the subject of advanced search engine marketing, it was concluded that we would refer to multivariate testing as good old fashioned dynamic pages, Hoorah for simplicity!
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Day 1 at Internet World 2007
Again! Another Video - front page of Internetworld.co.uk manner from heaven - thank you Lord - two video coups - one day!
's funny! Both videos were filmed, uploaded, converted and then edited within the VIP lounge, all with my very own hands - so fast I forgot to add colour correction to the first - its the real thing folks - met Mr Coca Cola shortly afterwards too. Really! Head of, Danny set it up - thanks man.
I told you about my presentation... I did not cover it in the video, because although I billed it as the end of the day I filmed it before my presentation as I realised I did not want to have a video up there saying that I had a presentation at three - that was only day one, not two or three. So I had no choice I had to make another video. Even more ad hoc than the first one - the only people around then were staff - now we were live- truly live - clients and visitors...
Can't wait to see how the presentation worked out...
's funny! Both videos were filmed, uploaded, converted and then edited within the VIP lounge, all with my very own hands - so fast I forgot to add colour correction to the first - its the real thing folks - met Mr Coca Cola shortly afterwards too. Really! Head of, Danny set it up - thanks man.
I told you about my presentation... I did not cover it in the video, because although I billed it as the end of the day I filmed it before my presentation as I realised I did not want to have a video up there saying that I had a presentation at three - that was only day one, not two or three. So I had no choice I had to make another video. Even more ad hoc than the first one - the only people around then were staff - now we were live- truly live - clients and visitors...
Can't wait to see how the presentation worked out...
Day 1 at Internet World 2007
Whew - what a busy day - taxis delivering children, a mad rush with all sorts of equipment and bags to the event - you can imagine - first to arrive - waited, waited, waited... for the organisers for their video interview - they were overwhelmed - the biggest IW show in years, so I had to step in and do the interview myself, I figured I was doing a backup - turned out to be the show - here it is:
So at 11am there it was, online on the front page of Internetworld.co.uk a true video coup!
As explained, my presentation was at three - it started with a few seated residents - par for the course! Where is everyone - within minutes the seats filled and colleagues could not find a space - ensuring that there would be a number of people rubber necking - whats going on! Sound worked, presentation played, mac connected like a dream - for this presentation I even prepared video - sound from machine did not work - no worries I spoke over the soundtrack (that was not playing) and filled in the gaps - by the time I got to my third video - expecting total disaster and seeing in the gleeful eyes of the audience that they could not wait for another failure technical had stepped in and connected me up - hoorah! (was that guy smokin somthin?). The funniest thing was spotting Davina Lines in the audience just at the moment her audio was not working- I offered her the mike - she could at least lip sink - she would remember what she said - wouldnt she?
You can see it all later - I recorded the whole lot -failure and success to camera - downloading now - so in a few hours guess what I will be able to show you all - I have not seen it myself yet - so maybe not... Laters!
So at 11am there it was, online on the front page of Internetworld.co.uk a true video coup!
As explained, my presentation was at three - it started with a few seated residents - par for the course! Where is everyone - within minutes the seats filled and colleagues could not find a space - ensuring that there would be a number of people rubber necking - whats going on! Sound worked, presentation played, mac connected like a dream - for this presentation I even prepared video - sound from machine did not work - no worries I spoke over the soundtrack (that was not playing) and filled in the gaps - by the time I got to my third video - expecting total disaster and seeing in the gleeful eyes of the audience that they could not wait for another failure technical had stepped in and connected me up - hoorah! (was that guy smokin somthin?). The funniest thing was spotting Davina Lines in the audience just at the moment her audio was not working- I offered her the mike - she could at least lip sink - she would remember what she said - wouldnt she?
You can see it all later - I recorded the whole lot -failure and success to camera - downloading now - so in a few hours guess what I will be able to show you all - I have not seen it myself yet - so maybe not... Laters!
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