British advertisers are clearly missing a trick, as last week I read that in Germany you can sponsor weather fronts in a scheme that the meteorological institute has been running since 2002 called “Adopt a Vortex”.

Unfortunately, the problem with weather systems is that they can sometimes be slightly more temperamental than you initially anticipated – as BMW recently found out.  “Cold Front Cooper”, which advertising agency Sassenbach named after the open-air Mini Cooper (citing it as a “wind- and weather-proof idea”), has been blamed for hundreds of deaths throughout Europe – and shows no sign of letting up.

Perhaps if the Mini Cooper’s target market was geared slightly more towards gun-totting, bad-ass gangsters it would seem more appropriate – but I think it’s unlikely that they are going to be winning too much new business from people who are aspiring to be “The New Ronnie Kray” – or maybe even just Derek Branning from Eastenders.

However, it gave me a brainwave for other new untapped marketing opportunities:  why not sponsor disasters – both natural and manmade? The amount of media coverage generated by these can be phenomenal. Here are a few ideas for brands wanting to win new business in the face of human misery:

• Hurricane Topseal Roof Replacement
• Flood Wetline Eco Dinghy
• Drought Evian
• BAE Systems Gulf War

I’m off to the patents office to register my idea now. Next stop Dragon’s Den.

Turning disaster into new business…or not is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

The gist of it is that there is an increase in the number of smaller, more specialist breakaway PR agencies forming, coupled with the consolidation of some of the bigger firms. The good money is on these smaller specialist agencies taking business from larger PR firms, as more and more brands are starting to think they are over-paying their current mid-large size incumbents. Equally, the larger firms are all merging, thereby hoping to secure more global accounts from multinational brands.

What struck me most about the article is that we have been sending out mailers to agencies for several years with similar messages – certainly since the rumours about economic slowdown started circulating prior to the 2008 recession.

This practice of forming breakaway specialist agencies crosses many other marketing disciplines in times of recession, as the tide of accounts flowing between agencies doesn’t just stop – brands will always need to get their messages out there in one way or another.

If anyone reading this has formed a new agency and would like advice on how to maximise your potential to win new business, or similarly if you feel you are one of the agencies in danger of being left adrift then help is at hand, so give us a call.

New business opportunities for specialist agencies is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

A documentary into the dark heart of product placement, advertising and marketing in films and TV shows would be right up my street as you’ll see from some of my recent blogs.

However, does the fact that the BBC can’t have any product placement (except for Tom’s curved nail file in The Apprentice and all their senior reporters wearing Berghaus jackets) mean that it will never be able to screen it or will the fact that it’s a documentary mean the rules don’t apply?

Also, with a film like this, I’d imagine the brands that funded it wouldn’t be too distressed about people using torrent sites to download it for nothing as viewers are going to see the product placement either way. Not sure that the studios would be too chuffed though.

So, my plan to solve the issue of piracy (that the film industry constantly claim has virtually reduced it to poverty) is to have ALL future films funded by brands via product placement and advertising on a pay per click basis. As these brands would be paying for the films, they will probably want to influence the script too, so they will need to employ entire departments of screenwriters and editors to make sure the viewers are getting the right message in the right circumstances at the right time. The viewer can download it for free and then the film studio gets a fee from the brands for each download– a bit like a sponsored link on Google.

Everyone’s a winner – as long as you never want to see anything that’s actually any good.

New business salvation ideas for impoverished film industry is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

My previous blog had predicted a world something akin to Total Recall where brands would tap into everyone’s psyche with incredibly clever positioning of their products at perfectly timed moments resulting in a new business avalanche for the brand owners.

Even my colleague Dan managed to write something about product placement in his recent blog – thus implying he must have at least some level of excitement about it – and we never usually get excited about the same type of things (from his blog you’ll see he said he likes chick flicks and rom-coms or something).

I so hate being wrong about the next big thing in marketing.

Then I got to thinking three things:

1. It’s early days yet. Maybe all the brands are waiting for someone else to make the first move, rather than be the guinea pig themselves.

2. Maybe there aren’t enough agencies with a product placement offer (would make sense, seeing as it wasn’t allowed on TV until recently) so brands aren’t really being encouraged into it.

3. Maybe there are enough agencies that offer it, but they aren’t doing enough to win new business.

So, to anyone in any position to influence the points above I would say this to you:

On point 1 – “he who dares Rodders, he who dares”

On point 2 – “oh look – here’s a relatively untapped sector to expand your offer into. I see a gap in the market”

And as for anyone who falls into point 3….

Well, don’t worry – we can help you out with that one.

Product placement ponders new business disappointment is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

One of my favourite things about The Apprentice is that it’s on the BBC, so it’s uninterrupted by adverts every 15 minutes or so. I know – I really should love watching ads given the industry I work in, but some shows are just too good to interrupt (which is why I get so much use out of my Sky Plus box, as you’ll see from one of my previous blogs).

This year though, it seems that the BBC has broken the rules on product placement; firstly I didn’t see a “P” at the start and end of the show and secondly product placement is still banned on the BBC.

Yes… I’m talking about Tom Pellereau’s curved nail file.

Aside from the £250K investment reward for winning the show, Tom (and by extension Lord Sugar) have probably got in excess of 10 times that amount worth of free publicity, not to mention a pretty easy route to market with buyers.

I guarantee that as a result of this show (funded by license payers, I hasten to add), Tom will pick up an incredible number of new customers for his nail file – probably more than he could ever dream of.

Well done Tom – and what a way to win new business!

Let’s file this under product placement is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

One such article that caught my eye recently was on the Brand Republic site where he writes about recent acquisitions, how they are reported and how considered press statements are far more effective than the hyperbole used by some.

I won’t directly comment on his article but I will add my own take on this with reference to how we sell our clients over the phone.

 Although passion is an important element in selling effectively (particularly when you have a limited time to make an impact on the phone), hyperbole can have the opposite effect of putting prospects off, particularly if these outlandish statements cannot be backed up by results driven case studies.

 A considered phrase which has resonance with the prospect will be far more compelling and we spend a lot of time at Alchemis developing these soundbites which we know from our 23 years experience will have a maximum impact within minimum timescales.

My next blog will have a few examples of these, so keep reading…

Hyperbole in business development is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

The technology available for “gladvertising” (for that is the term being used) would take the definition of “interactive advertising” to a whole new level.

The gist of the article is that talking digital billboards containing cameras backed by advanced emotion recognition software will detect your mood and target you with an advert. Going one step further these billboards will link with your smart phone to access personal details such as body shape, anniversaries and favourite foods.

I can already imagine the scenario – I’m strolling down Charing Cross Road on a warm summer’s afternoon, when a talking 3D hologram poster says to me “Hey Rob, why not pop into the Royal George just across the street for a nice cool pint of Heineken? You deserve it after your hard day at the office and the mini-break you booked to Berlin is still over a month away. Go on, treat yourself!”

There would be no limit to the new business opportunities open to marketers of all disciplines with this sort of technology available. On top of this affiliate marketing could become more intelligent than ever and become totally personalised to truly suit the individual.

Then I pictured the flipside to this sort of marketing. Similar scenario, but this time the poster shouts “Hey Rob, you seem to have an itchy bottom – maybe it’s piles? Why not pop into Superdrug just across the road and treat yourself to some nice soothing Preparation H?”

It would be like walking the streets with the constant fear of bumping into a really embarrassing drunken mad friend who never knows when to shut up.

2015 and the creation of “gladvertising” is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

“Steve Jobs and other movers and shakers say it by phone”

What a breath of fresh air. When I joined Alchemis in July 2000, I feared that traditional telesales was on borrowed time. Earlier barriers such as voicemail were still there, but the internet was taking off as a marketing tool and everyone wanted to receive emails rather than actually talk. That fact still remains, but now we also contend with tweets and pokes and every article is pushing home the potential benefits of social media as a business tool (a fact that I find ironic since many companies banned Facebook due to decreased productivity at its inception). However, Alchemis has gone from strength to strength utilising the phone. The survival of our competitors and the rise of numerous start up new business agencies gives me real confidence that the phone based new business industry is a resilient one and that the phone, whilst maybe not having the potential quick reach of other mediums, is the most powerful and effective tool when selling your business, service or product.

The article quite rightly points out that when your creditors want payments they don’t send emails, they use the phone. It goes on to say that as many “retreat behind the walls of electronic communication, the advantage only grows for those ready to make phone calls”. A statement I wholeheartedly agree with.

· The phone allows you to quickly react to a person’s mood or persona – something email does not

· Email content and tone is open to damaging misinterpretation by the recipient

· “The phone is the best medium to find out things you may not have anticipated”. Absolutely!! A good telesales person will find the issue and opportunity

· As more and more people use the phone as a secondary communication tool, the cards are stacked in favour of those who have the skills to use it effectively

· You can get your point over in one clear concise message, which is not fragmented by a traffic of related emails sent hours or days apart

I do appreciate the value of new communications tools and ways of working, but I firmly believe that the humble phone will continue to play a key role for a long time yet and should remain a part of any integrated sales/marketing strategy.

If the phone is good enough for Steve Jobs, it’s good enough for us – Reasons why the phone is king is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Just in case you’ve been living in a cave and hadn’t heard, Ofcom are allowing product placement within TV shows from the end of February. Technically, product placement has been going on for years on TV, but unless a brand specifically pays the programme to include its products then it doesn’t count as product placement.

However, this got me thinking about all shows that have been broadcast here but made overseas. I remember going on a Sopranos Tour about 6 years ago through New York and New Jersey and the tour guide spent several minutes telling us how brands such as Tropicana made damn sure that when Tony Soprano opened his fridge and poured himself a nice refreshing glass of orange juice there was no way it was going to say Del Monte on the carton. It wasn’t really the sort of information that most of the tourists were expecting to be told on a locations visit – they were itching to see the car park of the diner where Chris Moltisanti was shot by Matthew Bevilaqua – but I found it pretty interesting given my line of work in business development.

When these US shows are subsequently aired in the UK I presume (though somebody correct me if I’m wrong) that this means that any international brands have effectively been getting free product placement to a British audience. And with some of these shows that become massively successful (let’s not forget the DVD box sets that will be bought and lent to everyone in the office who hadn’t seen the show) that is a truly staggering amount of coverage. Nobody is going to skip past the storyline with the remote, so you have a truly captive audience and an opportunity to raise brand awareness and win ever increasing amounts of new business from what might be a fairly reasonable price.

Of course, the first trick for brands is to identify the shows that are going to take off. Again, I’m no expert in this but I presume that some programme makers must have a deal with brands who want product placement that will take into account future repeat screenings of the programmes, DVD sales, etc, etc. After all, you can’t delete those scenes featuring product placement if they contain essential dialogue or if they are central to the story, so once the brand is in, it’s in for good.

Product placement is not confined just to television. It’s being increasingly used in areas such as computer gaming too. This is another ever-increasing market that has worldwide reach and seemingly limitless possibilities for brand marketing.

So what does the future hold for brands hoping to win more new business from product placement?

My prediction is that psychology will become increasingly involved. Suitable shows and games will be scouted out as viable marketing vehicles when they are just a glint in the writer’s eye. Within these media, brands will want to subliminally target consumers by associating certain characters or events with certain emotive decisions that the viewer makes. There will be a lot of complex research involved and even a sub-industry that develops with specialist agencies that are retained by brands to influence scriptwriters and directors to work certain situations into a show in order to increase the association we feel towards a product in relation to these situations.

And the Sky Plus remote control won’t be able to save us now.

Product placement – the holy grail for marketing on TV? is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

This story caught my attention for a number of reasons:

Firstly, I had no idea that there was a seven minute cap until now. Disgraceful I know, considering I work in a new business agency and should therefore be an expert in all legislation across all marketing disciplines. I’ll be having a long hard think tonight about how I’ve let my colleagues down with my ignorance.

If this 7 minute cap does currently exist it seems to me to be like “London Underground minutes” – you know, where you look at the first train board on the Northern Line platform at Bank station and it says 1 minute but really you know it could be nearer 5.

Secondly I didn’t realise that films were treated differently to other types of programmes until I read that article. Personally it doesn’t make me any happier to have a show like The Wire interrupted more often or for longer than “Bridget Jones – The Edge of Reason” (which is no doubt being repeated tonight for the eighth time this month on ITV2) just because one is a film and one isn’t.

I do know, however, that most channels I watch already synchronise their ad-breaks with each other so that if anyone dares to channel surf during a break they will be subjected to a commercial from someone or other, whether they like it or not. I also know that commercials tend to be broadcast at a higher volume than the programmes – a bit like shouting for our attention just in case it lapses when the break starts.

 So the other reason this story had me interested is from the point of view of cost, competition and coverage.

Does the increase mean that brands will put their TV advertising budgets up to spend more money marketing to us during the extra allowed time? Or will it be the case that more availability actually leads to the overall cost of buying ad slots decreasing simply due to the laws of supply and demand – maybe leading to smaller brands that would not have previously had the budget available to look at advertising on more mainstream TV channels as a viable option?

As more and more channels launch, coupled with the fact that people can now watch films and programmes via the internet, audience share is becoming increasingly fragmented. To a certain extent this has been good news for some brands because it allows them to target their audience with much better accuracy. For example, you can guarantee that any new film by Nick Love about football hooligans will be advertised between 9 and 10pm on Bravo as the demographics are a very snug fit.

It’s a far cry from the pre-digital/Sky days where only the biggest brands of all could afford a similar slot on ITV and even then the ad may be wasted on a significant proportion of the audience.

In order for advertisers to win new business from viewers they may have to work harder to keep the audience interested. After all, if people know they have longer during a commercial break, they are more likely to leave the room to do things like make a cup of tea. One option would be for shorter breaks but more frequently, although the annoyance factor of having a film or programme interrupted too often would be pretty high.

My final thought was how all this is pretty irrelevant to me as a viewer anyway. Why? Because since mankind’s second most important invention after the wheel – i.e the Sky Plus box – I’ve watched less ads than ever before. I simply record everything I’m going to watch and then start viewing it about 15-20 minutes after it starts, skipping through every ad break and still finishing the show at the same time it finishes it real time.

How ironic that the company who reaps such a huge revenue from selling ad space to brands also provides such an effective means of allowing us to avoid watching them.

Will new legislation lead to more new business for TV advertisers? is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Alchemis has successfully served numerous healthcare agencies over the years. These have been in the traditional PR, communications and advertising space, but more recently the digital sector.

Healthcare and pharmaceutical work is something in which we have thrived and one of the few areas where we have worked for both UK and overseas clients. The nature of the business is interesting and diverse and a break from the more mainstream sectors in which we operate.

One key difficulty in this arena for new business prospecting is that of data and contacts and this is a key reason why these specialist agencies turn to Alchemis. We have spent a long time building data in this sector and this helps us get around the no name policies, which provide the biggest barrier to success.

As the article highlights, political reform and a change in consumer behaviour and access to information is opening up new avenues for agencies. With the power moving away from the NHS trusts, doctors’ surgeries will take charge of buying medicine. This change brings big opportunities for communications experts.

The article goes on to suggest that global demand for medicine will increase as developing countries such as India and China increase their expenditure.

However, it is the digital world that has really put the cat among the pigeons. Even in my days on the phone for several healthcare agencies in the early noughties, “Direct to Consumer” communications (or DTC) was the buzz phrase. With the internet and the growing influence and power of social media, there is huge potential for well positioned agencies.

Digital communication is also a great tool to help work around the ever increasing time constraints of the healthcare professional.

Due to our experience of the sector, Alchemis is set up to help healthcare focused agencies really benefit from all these changes. We enjoy the challenge the industry brings and would welcome the chance to deploy our skills in this area further.

Agencies get high on pharmaceutical new business opportunities is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Graeme is understandably somewhat irked by his perception of an increasing trend over the last year of brand owners expecting free consulting from agencies, which as he sees it is not just an evaluation of the brand as part of their conversations about potentially working together, but wanting all of the work for free.

We’re living in pretty tough times at the moment – thousands of people are losing their jobs (including vast numbers in marketing departments up and down the country). EVERYONE is trying to keep costs down to the absolute minimum and everyone wants their suppliers to go the extra mile to secure their business.

I totally sympathise with the situation that Graeme finds himself in; realistically there is likely to be another agency that will put in extra work for nothing for the chance of ultimately winning that big brand account.

We often refer to “the benefit of the back door” or “getting under the radar” – both being descriptions of effective ways of securing decent sized new business accounts from small initial projects. Impress the brand enough and they will use you for work as and when it does come up. However, you have to make sure you have an effective new business strategy in place to nurture this relationship to fruition. We have come across many agencies in a similar situation to Graeme and our New Business Managers have built and maintained excellent ongoing contact strategies that have ultimately resulted in winning new business. I won’t deny it’s hard work – although it’s also our day job, so you won’t find many people in a better position to help you.

In his final paragraph, Graeme says that nobody who applies for a job would work for free for the first three months, so why would agencies do so for brands. Well, I remember leaving college way back in 1993 and looking for a job in the marketing communications industry. Several agencies offered to take me on for unpaid work placements for 3-6 months – the logic being that if you impressed them enough there might be a paid job afterwards but tough luck if there wasn’t and at least you’d have some agency experience under your belt. Even as recently as a few months back I read about a guy who offered to refund his salary to any employer who took him on and wasn’t pleased with his work. On top of this, the number of students doing ‘internships’ (a fancy American name for unpaid work) has risen dramatically in the past few years.

I suspect that these practices have been going on in one form or another for a long time and will continue to do so. In times of economic hardship where competition is fierce for every scrap of business the scale of the problem is magnified as the buyers hold all the cards. The ultimate goal for the agency who wants the business is to convince the buyer that appointing them will yield the greatest possible return on investment for their brand.

Working for nothing is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

He raises the question about whether a start up agency needs creatives as well as planners on board; I can see the need for both myself but from my perspective of running a business development agency, I would add that one of the most critical elements in setting up a new agency is ensuring you have a well thought through new business strategy and plan.

Yes, most start ups bring a number of clients based on long standing relationships and yes, you’ll be able to work that network of old client relationships for a few months to help secure those initial accounts, but our experience shows that the little black book and the incoming calls will dry up sooner rather than later and you need to instigate a decent business development program in order to build your business successfully. New business wins from a standing start can take up to 12 months plus to convert and you need to start building the pipeline a long time in advance.

Why a new business strategy is important for a start-up agency is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

The piece comments on the benefits of real time feedback through digital technologies and social media, enabling real engagement with consumers and allowing brands to react to feedback and messages immediately. The example cited is that of Gap and the feedback the company received when they announced a new brand logo. The company binned the logo almost immediately based on the Facebook postings.

Clearly, the capacity for big brands to focus their efforts in the digital world and use social media to gather quick feedback enables them to adapt campaigns in real time. Indeed, research agencies such as You Gov are developing specific products and services to cover this responsive research channel. It has fantastic potential for large brands in terms of consumer involvement and engagement as well as campaign management.

Social media is the new medium for achieving that end result, but actually speaking to consumers or potential consumers for your brand/proposition has been a successful and often underrated and/or under utilised tool for years. The phone is not just about slick sales people chalking numbers on a white board. It is about using each and every call and conversation to learn more about your market and how your offer is perceived.

Alchemis has been doing this successfully for the past 23 years. OK, the brands we represent are marketing agencies and not large consumer brands, but what we are able to do through actually speaking to people is gather a true response to a proposition on behalf of our clients. Based on the feedback we provide, we are able to work with our clients to adapt or focus on part of their offer as well as test new propositions.

We collect some valuable quantitative data through our bespoke software, and this, combined with the qualitative insights gathered by their New Business Manager is the added value our clients buy into when choosing Alchemis to deliver an effective business development campaign on their behalf.

Real time feedback – we’ve been doing it for 23 years! is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

A recent survey from a digital recruitment agency which analyzed data from around one thousand vacancies concluded that the average Account Director salary within the social media discipline grew by a whopping 19% in the first half of 2010 compared to the second half of last year. The average rise in digital industry salaries as a whole was a more modest 3.4% since the second half of 2009.

This follows the creation of more social media roles by big brands such as Sky, Starbucks and O2 and an ever increasing amount of new business within this field.

I should point out that average salaries in social media are still below equivalents elsewhere in the industry, but with this growth rate the balance of power within the marketing mix is certainly shifting in favour of the geek and this is being reflected more and more in the type of services offered by our client base. Watch this space…

The geek shall inherit the earth is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog