Blog
News, insight and tips from the social web.
The Hoop blog covers the evolving digital landscape, social media, mobile communications, content marketing and also includes 5 top finds and Fish on Friday. Feel free to make comments.
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BFI at 75 »
The BFI celebrates 75 years of film and TV culture.
Back in September 1933 the BFI came into being. Its role then is much as it is today - to provide information on all aspects of film and to encourage public appreciation of film.
The BFI saw their 75th anniversary as a great opportunity to encourage people to get more involved in UK film and TV culture. Through September and October the celebrations include a birthday weekender at BFI Southbank, an interactive exhibition at Harrods, archive screening across the UK, plus a public vote for the film people would most like to show future generations - the top five of which will be screened in 2009.
We created the identity, BFI 75, for use in all anniversary communications. We presented the design in different media and on different materials so it could be easily rolled out by the BFI. You can view BFI 75 online while catching up with Alan Parker and Leslie Philips at the launch party.
For what its worth Hoop nominations for the top film include Breaking Away (1979 Dir. Peter Yates), Beauty and the Beast (1946, Dir. Jean Cocteau) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969, Dir. George Roy Hill ) and some films that don’t begin with a ‘B’.
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Open up, opens »
The weekend of 26/28 September offers open, behind the scenes access to cultural venues along London’s South Bank to mark the start of the Cultural Olympiad.
Busk with Billy
There’s film-making at the BFI, voice workshops at the National Theatre, dance at Siobhan Davies Dance Studios and a mass-busk with Billy Bragg outside the Southbank Centre. And that’s just what we’re doing.
Champions of culture
We worked with the South Bank Employers Group to promote what is set to be an wonderful weekend of cultural experiences. The listings leaflet we designed, helps people pick out their favoured events and map them out along the South Bank. If you’re in London that weekend we recommend you take your pick and take a peek behind the scenes.
Cultural Olympiad
The event ushers in the Cultural Olympiad, a four year celebration of culture and creativity leading up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The idea is to open up opportunities for people right across the UK, giving more people the chance to be creative and enrich the culture.
Explore more of our work with South Bank Employers Group.
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What the hell is UXB? »
User eXperience Branding (UXB) combines the insights from branding and online behaviour to powerfully enhance what organisations can achieve.
UXB is based on the idea that user experience and brand experience are the same thing. For example, the experience someone has when searching for a document on an organisation’s website is an experience that strongly influences what they think about that organisation. This relationship is strong because the experience is interactive not passive.
Online bond
What we think about brands and organisations is often formed by passive associations we make through things like news, advertising, events and sponsorship. In contrast, an online experience is a direct interaction and this makes it a powerful influence in building customer relationships and in the success of any organisation. The evidence is not just anecdotal, recent research by Rawnet showed that 78% of UK consumers were put off dealing with a company because of poor processes on its website.
Powerful experience
The idea of user experience and brand experience being one and the same is not new; web design expert Jared Spool talked about it in an article on Branding and Usability over 10 years ago. What has changed is that more and more people are online and they’re using it in all aspects of their lives. According to ComScore 65% of UK households are online and the level of internet use by individuals is the highest in Europe. The fast-moving conversations and fluctating opinions formed within this growing world-wide population are already deciding the value of brands and the reputations of organisations.
Right here, right now
What users think is the key to success, whatever sector you are in. So it’s vital that you know who they are, what goals they want to achieve through you and how best to make that happen so you get repeat visits and recommendations. User experience branding can help you find the answers.
Read more about Hoop’s approach or contact Sean to discuss how UXB could help your organisation.
sean@hoopassociates.co.uk
This article appeared in Moot 02, September 2008.
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Learning from experience »
How do corporates influence what people think about them?
There’s a huge conversation going on. Millions of people worldwide are exchanging views, voicing opinions, sharing their likes and dislikes, making friends. In the midst of this mass communication the reputations of organisations are being made and unmade.
So how does a large corporation influence what’s being said about it in this new arena?
Embrace the spirit of the age - openess
That doesn’t mean giving trade secrets away, its more a recognition of the environment in which business is being carried out. PepsiCo International recently joined the conversation by launching a website that is engaging to all visitors. Content is kept fresh and relevant by being updated and added by PepsiCo teams.
Understand what people need from you
A clear understanding of your users, who they are and what they want to achieve through you is the foundation of successful online communication. The ICI website gives users the opportunity to customise content, to receive relevant information according to the type of user they are and provides journalists with a toolkit.
Open channels of communication
Create new and interesting ways for your users to communicate with you, this can lead to insight and innovation. Thames Water offer their customers several different levels of online support and ways of getting in touch and influencing their content and service.
Create a total user experience
Every aspect of the online interaction - navigation, tone of voice, search etc should reflect the brand vision. Where messages, graphics and processes (that work elsewhere) are rigidly applied online, the result can weaken your brand. Google is rated No 1 in the BrandZ Top 100 most powerful brands in the world produced by Millward Brown, the user experience is their brand.
Don’t stand still
Internet users, that includes staff, are learning new things and adopting new behaviours all the time. Listen to what they’re saying and respond or they’ll leave you behind. J Sainsbury site includes webcasts for investors, information made available on mobiles and PDAs and an interactive in-store experience that explains their environmental vision.
This article appeared in Moot 02, September 2008.
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User experience and the future »
No amount of branding, ad spend or price shifting can match the power of user experience.
How many times have you ditched one website in favour of another to buy exactly the same thing at the same price? Why do you prefer one supermarket over another? Why do some airlines put you off booking with them ever again?
User overthrow
The common thread running through these questions and many others arising recently, is user experience. A new approach to it is set to overturn much of the established thinking behind business strategy, product development, marketing and customer relations, and transform advertising, most digital marketing and PR as we know it.
Power to the people
Why? Because the internet is changing everything. It is transferring power to the people. And people in the hooked up, social world of the web are increasingly resistant to promotional gimmicks, advertising trickery and corporate waffle. People want substance, relevance and a sense that their needs are being considered, even if they’re not always being met. They want a better way, now.
Bad experiences
Why do you have to write a letter to Woolwich Mortgages to get them to stop sending statements in the post? (true). Why do Southeastern trains only offer the £1 fair to Brighton if pre-booked over the phone? (true). How is it that Apple can collect, repair and return an iPhone in the same time as it takes O2 to send a password reminder? (yes, this really happened too).
Users know best
How do any of these examples of bad user experience benefit the customer? They don’t. What stories like this tell us is that these businesses (along with countless other organisations) organise services around their own needs. This may have been viable in the past when people had less choice and less immediate channels for complaint. Now, neglecting user needs makes no sense and shows a lack of respect that people will not forgive or forget.
Key driver
User experience will be the key value driver in the very near future. It will be the difference between success and failure - and it has such power because it is binary. Yes or no. Buy or leave. And if you have any doubt about this just think about your own habits. If not now, over the next day, week, month. Our guess is you’re behaving this way already.
Out of your hands
As power continues to shift to the customer you should start thinking about how you can get close to those you rely on. Your reputation is in their hands and no amount of ad spend, PR spin, price reduction or feature inflation is going to change their minds. Apply some user centred thinking and really listen to what people want. Whether they are your staff, your customers or your supply chain.
This article appeared in Moot 02, September 2008.
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Growing up big and strong »
The money markets are in free fall, the property market is contracting and the world economy is stalling, but one area continues to buck the trends - online activity.
There’s been a 10% increase in the number of internet users in the UK this year (1) and over 15% growth in online spending in July compared to the same month last year (2). The numbers and activities of internet users simply can’t be ignored.
In this issue of Moot we take a look into the future online and at how some businesses are applying user centred thinking now to address the needs of their customers, stakeholders and colleagues.
To find out how harnessing the power of user experience can help you, contact sean@hoopassociates.co.uk
(1) ComScore
(2) IMRG Capgemini e-retail sales index, July 2008
This article appeared in Moot 02, September 2008.
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