Creating Brand Marriages - Klick Fitness & Food Advisors

It is very easy for businesses to create a page on Facebook. However, all too often companies rush onto social media without thinking about how to generate content. It’s one thing to get users to like a page but quite another to get them to stay long enough to truly engage with what is on offer. Getting the right content transforms a page from a glorified advert to a forum for discussion, leading to a genuine dialogue between consumer and business. In the past couple of weeks we’ve developed content such as giveaways, polls, Q&As, news stories and caption competitions on various Facebook pages. What has been abundantly clear is that people want to be entertained, challenged and informed; they are just waiting for the right content to capture their imagination.

We’re particularly proud of our latest partnership: Food Advisers, a new online service which allows consumers to compare different foods’ nutritional values, needs to develop a customer base from scratch – specifically individuals and families with an interest in eating more healthily. Klick Fitness, a new gym chain, needs compelling content for its new Facebook page. So, we put our two clients together and Food Advisers is now providing guides to food and nutrition for the Klick Fitness Facebook page. It’s a perfect fit for both parties – Food Advisers get the word out about their service to keen gym users, and Klick Fitness benefits from free content used to grow its Facebook presence. Simple, but very useful, and it’s something we’re working on doing more and more.

This weather is messing with my PR schedule!

The good old days of PR when we waited for a cold-snap or a strong gust of wind are still with us, to an extent. But what’s the value in talking about burst pipes or how the snow has stopped us getting in to work – is it really worth all the effort? First off, so many companies will be fighting for that one piece in each national and there’ll no doubt be an ‘independent’ group or organisation who’ll be preferred by the media. And when you do get a one-line quote in one national, how much value does it really add to a brand? We’d be interested to know what you think.

It’s difficult to control, takes a lot of man-hours, can be swamped by the occasion and indeed other spokespeople but it does have a place for some. For instance, I grew up on a healthy diet of reactive work for uSwitch.com and it was great drafting a comment and speaking to all the nationals in the space of 20 minutes – loved it. And the results spoke for themselves but I do suspect that most of it was down to being ‘independent’. If you’re a brand selling fence insurance and this weekend’s hurricane is going to mean B&Q is to be inundated with stump requests, it’s a little harder. What do you say? How do you say it and most importantly, when?

It again comes back to the good old PR of having a solid strategy in place. What’s the goal – does the CEO want to be seen as an expert in fence development? The strategy has to reflect this and the tactics therefore follow. Reactive is important but that’s not to say you wait for a gust of wind before getting your kite out! Tactics come in to play and the good old ethos that relationships play a significant role when developing an individual’s or indeed a brand’s reactive capabilities. Relevant stories, exclusives, data sharing, insight and of course meetings throughout the year with key journalists will ensure that you’re in a good place when the wind picks up. It’s amazing how a mention in one major title will discreetly affect the way in which other publications see the individual or brand.

Let the wind blow!

Thanks

Sean Williams, Associate Director

Funding Circle makes Real Business’ Future 50

Great news from Funding Circle, which just won a place on Real Business magazine’s prestigious Future 50 list. The Future 50 celebrates the most innovative, creative and “disruptive” companies in Britain – a perfect description of Funding Circle, and a business which we have seen go from strength to strength since Brazil has been working with them.

Funding Circle is truly a fascinating and exciting company. The concept of savers investing in small businesses as an alternative to banks seems to be capturing the public’s imagination and is truly beginning to seem like the Future.

Even George Osborne seems to be on board. His ‘credit-easing’ speech at the Conservative Party Conference earlier this week revolved around the importance of investing in small businesses to get the economy back on its feet –exactly what Funding Circle does.

The Future 50 award is in recognition of Funding Circle’s position as one of the most innovative and exciting businesses in the country. Real Business is opening up the voting to everyone. We can’t think of anyone more deserving than Funding Circle.

To review the list and vote, please see:

http://realbusiness.co.uk/news/future-50-vote-for-your-favourite-firm

Flying start for the new Honda Civic

Take a look at some of the press photos from Frankfurt and you'll see some cars that make the Batmobile look low-tech: it's pretty easy to make a car look interesting if it's a concept vehicle decades away from production - stick a jet pack on the back or use doors that open upwards and someone is bound to take an interest. Getting people interested in a 'real' car though, one that will be in showrooms in 2012 and actually has to work, is a different prospect.

However, round the corner from the main exhibition, Honda unveiled the latest addition to its range - the 2012 Civic - to a packed house. Somehow, the car was suspended from the ceiling, and a sheet was dramatically removed in a pretty special unveiling in front of the assembled great and good of the motor industry.

The open mouths (and coverage) say it all, and by all accounts the event was a huge success. Hats off to the guys at Honda – although impressive and necessary for the big occasion, the new Civic doesn’t really need the grand entrance. We’ve seen it first hand and it’s a cracker in its own right – it’ll certainly fly once more come 2012.

The World (except Brazil, of course) Turns to Rugby...

The seventh Rugby World Cup is upon us. Joy for rugby fans, not so much for everyone else... Being an Englishman (Sean) with only an interest in victory when it comes to anything other than football, I’ll pick it up at the semi-final stage. But we have some expert pundits amongst our client base so after discussions of car insurance, whisky and peer-to-peer lending, discussion turned to the sport I know little about. I fancy the Americans this year! But what did everyone else think? The reading is interesting...

Robin Reames, chief claims officer at AXA and swiftcover.com

• Winner: All Blacks (I think that’s New Zealand)
• Player to watch: Zac Guildford
• And the home nations: Scotland don’t make it past the pool. England and Ireland lose in the quarter finals. Wales surprise everyone and lose in the semis

Jade Trimbee, marketing manager at swiftcover.com

• Winner: South Africa (what a surprise, Ms South Africa...)
• Player to watch: Tendai Mtawarira (The Beast)
• And the home nations: Wales make it to the semis. Scotland and Ireland knocked out in the quarter finals. England lose in final to South Africa!

Elizabeth Obee, head of business marketing at Funding Circle

• Winner: Australia (one guess where you’re from…)
• Player to watch: Sekope Kepu
• And the home nations: Fairly well…close to Australia’s form but not enough to beat them!

Nigel Short, chairman at Penderyn

• Winner: Australia
• Player to watch: George North
• And the home nations: Not well, the Welsh and English being the biggest let downs

John Carter, captain of Oxford and ex Sale Sharks

• Winner: New Zealand
• Player to watch: Rory Lamont
• And the home nations: Ireland and England will do well...not sure about the rest!

Tim Stevens, general manager at Oxford University RFU

• Winner: Australia
• Player to watch: Will Genia
• And the home nations: All to qualify from their groups, but only one semi-finalist

Mark Davies, managing director at Scarlets

• Winner: All Blacks (New Zealand)
• Player to watch: Dan Carter
• And the home nations: England to semis, Wales to quarters

Joshua Van Raalte, managing director at Brazil

• Winner: New Zealand (with a wife from Timaru, NZ, he can't say anything contrary)
• Player to watch: Israel Dagg
• And the home nations: Not very well. Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England all out in the quarters

So, it looks like a New Zealand (or Oz) v Wales final! I’ve sure there would be a bottle or two of Penderyn drank in Wales if that was the case...

Now recruiting: Brazilians

We’re going from strength to strength here at Brazil with new business coming out of our ears so we’re looking for new Brazilians! There are three positions available at the moment: a junior exec, a consumer SAE or account manager as well as a B2B account manager.

Brazil has some fantastic clients, ranging from household names such as swiftcover.com and Honda, as well as Penderyn Whisky, Klick Fitness (part of Fitness First), ChangeGroup, Funding Circle and Equanet (part of Dixons) – plus many more.

It’s not just traditional PR either: we’re doing more and more social media activity so you’ve got to have an interest in developing those skills too. Not forgetting new business - there’s plenty coming in so be ready to get involved! It’s an exciting time so we’re looking for motivated and passionate PROs/communicators to join an experienced, hungry team.

If you’re (or you know someone who is) a keen PR looking for a new challenge or you want the freedom to develop your career with guidance then get in touch, as we’d be more than happy to hear from you.

Either pop in and see us, call us on 020 7785 7383 or drop an email to Sean or Joshua at jobs@agencybrazil.com.

Standing out in a crowd

Earlier this year, we were appointed by Funding Circle to help them with very ambitious business plans. It’s an interesting businesses - the best place to find out about the company is on its website, but in a nutshell, the idea is that savers invest in individual businesses rather than saving through banks. Cutting out the middleman means that savers get higher returns and the good feelings that result from helping out small businesses, and businesses are able to borrow at a lower rate than they would if they were to take a loan from a bank. The idea has been extremely successful: in less than a year, Funding Circle has made more than £15 million available to small, creditworthy UK businesses, and paid out an average yield of 8.3% to savers.

However, this isn’t the only successful application of crowd funding, which, in recent years, has proved to be a credible alternative to conventional funding models in today’s tough markets. The idea has spread like wildfire, and a range of companies are now using this idea to link investors with good causes. Some of the most successful examples of this are in the arts world – a great way for artists involved to protect themselves from public sector cuts and maintain a relative degree of independence.

Two excellent examples of this are Africaunsigned.com and artsurge.org. Africa Unsigned is a website dedicated in profiling undiscovered African musicians around the world. Artists who make it through an initial judging stage are given support gain support to help them raise funds for the production, promotion and distribution of their music. US-based artsurge.org, set to launch soon, is based around the idea of “microphilanthropy”, and aims to link promising artists with donors in order to provide artists with the resources they need to bring their projects to life.

Crowd funding is clearly a powerful tool – as evidenced by the millions of pounds lent to small businesses by Funding Circle – so it’ll be interesting to see what happens when other sectors get in on the act too. Crowd-funded invention, anyone?