Hello, I feel as this is my first blog that I had best introduce myself, I am Alan Foley, developer at Close to Water for the past 7 months.

Originally from Glasgow having moved to London in 1998. Prior to starting here, I was contracting in the Greater London area, In a wide variety of web development roles. Everything from PhP & Coldfusion to a little .Net, I have worked primarily with Financial Institutions(no names), Utilities (Gas, Electricity and Water) and in the Events & Exhibition industry.

Simple … Reach. Getting access to a qualified audience who are searching for specific products is the main reason why marketeers live in the digital universe. It’s also far more controllable and ultimately digital marketing is the only modern-day and affordable way of having a direct channel to market. Developing this direct distribution channel means you’re creating opportunities to own the customer from the outset. The consumers’ growing thirst for technology and the growth in mobile phone usage is taking digital marketing into a new era.

As we all know, over the last few years, companies across the UK and across the world have adopted a culture of cost savings particularly within their marketing budgets.   However, it is exactly at times like this, that companies should be maintaining or even be spending more on their marketing efforts. As a compromise, a [...]

People often ask us at Close to Water how we bill for our services. Understandable question – the answer depends on the client’s needs. As with most marketing and creative service firms, we use three common billing methods:

an hourly rate, for “quick fixes” to existing projects
a per project fee schedule for customers who require only a few projects every few months
a retainer-based plan for clients who “outsource” and consider us their external marketing and communications department

More and more companies now see the value of outsourcing their marketing and creative functions to talented professionals. As these companies see greater return on their investment (ROI) from an integrated marketing plan, retainer-based arrangements with marketing and creative firms are once again becoming popular.

INNOVATION EXTRAVAGANZA | There will never be a shortage of smart ventures, brands, goods and services that deliver on consumers’ wants and needs in surprising, new ways. In fact, with the entire world now engaged in creative destruction, INNOVATION EXTRAVAGANZA is upon us. So yes, the dozens of innovations we’ve rounded up for this Trend Briefing are just the tip of the iceberg. Invent, improve, copy… or perish.

£3000 is the target! We are up and running – well walking – up the hills in 8 days! We have 8 intrepid volunteers who are aiming to conquer the 3 peaks in 24 hours.

Is Ronald McDonald way past his expiration date?

That’s what the folks at Corporate Accountability International think. The group that “sent Joe Camel packing and gave the Marlboro Man the boot” wants to send the white-faced, flame-haired icon into early retirement. After all, the clown who always seems to be on a sugar high, is only 48. (He was born in 1963, modeled on the hugely popular, kid-friendly TV personality Bozo.)

“For nearly 50 years, Ronald has hooked our kids on unhealthy food,” said Deborah Lapidus, campaign director of Value [the] Meal, the advertising blitz to put the fast-food emissary out to pasture and put an end to “predatory marketing” of fatty food to children.

Back in the ’90s things were different, all right. The www was a pup, it was all new, search marketing and email marketing were in early infancy and websites were all the rage. We were as cliché ridden back then as we are now, of course, but at least we were allowed to talk about websites without being laughed off the streets. However, as the variety of online channels has continued to grow, we’ve somehow become less and less interested in focusing on websites, despite their foundational importance to everything we do online.

Do you want to build a loyal and engaged Twitter following (a tribe if you will)?
If so, this article is for you. It will show you how to find people and what to do to engage them.

Find the right people—build the right community

This is a tricky headline. As if there’s something like the “right” community waiting for you out there. Yet focusing firmly on the people you want to interact with will pay off greatly. Following those who show a real connection to your niche is key to getting the return out of your Twitter conversations.
A fundamental question when creating your own tribe is to ask yourself, “Whom can I help on Twitter?”

Mark Campanale is the marketing manager and new media trainer at Triumvirate Environmental, an environmental services company. Triumvirate attributes $1.2 million in revenue to search engine optimisation, blogs, and social media , Mark said.
How did they do it?

So much has been said about social media and the rise of social commerce as the new marketing frontier that we’re not going to (re)make the social case here. Instead, we’ll focus on how the influence of friends, fans, and followers on consumers’ purchasing decisions continues to become more sophisticated and thus more powerful. Let’s call it the F-FACTOR:

Twitter turned 5 years old on 21st March 2011. Since its first ever tweet by co-founder Jack Dorsey in 2006 (“Just setting up my twttr”) the micro-blogging website has grown to become one of the most important online marketing and communications tools of a generation – that many people would say is second only to Facebook.

It now hosts more than 1 billion tweets a week and is estimated to be worth around $10bn.

When it comes to business success stories, there are plenty. But there are also many business blunders that we are not so familiar with. Those who were around when these blunders actually happened may remember them making the news, but others will be surprised to learn about some of the massive business blunders that have taken place.

On 1 March, the ASA’s online remit was extended to cover marketing communications on organisations’ own websites and in other non-paid-for space under their control.

It will cover: UK advertisers’ own marketing messages on their own websites, regardless of sector, type of businesses or size of organisation AND Marketing communications in other non-paid-for space under the advertiser’s control, such as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Bentley’s design team is offering a rare glimpse inside the usually secret world of its studio and the development of a Bentley from the first sketch right through to the moment it sweeps through the factory gates.

The “An Unbroken Line” exhibition – now on at Bentley’s headquarters at Crewe, in Derbyshire – follows the compelling story of creativity and exacting technical precision behind the creation of the latest Bentleys.

Quora just poached Facebook product whiz Sandra Liu Huang, we’ve heard from three sources.
At Facebook, Sandra last worked on the Instant Personalization program – the product that sites like Pandora, Yelp, and TripAdvisor to integrate their visitors’ Facebook friends.

88% of marketers at large retailers and consumer brand manufacturers say they will use mobile marketing this year; what’s more, 75% of those already marketing to mobile consumers plan to increase their spending by an average of 59% compared with 2010, according to a new survey from the Association of National Advertisers and the Mobile Marketing Association.

The annually presented GOOD DESIGN Award for 2010 went to a full quartet of vehicles and concepts: the BMW 5 Series saloon, the MINI Countryman, the BMW S 1000 RR and the BMW Concept 6. This most prestigious of international honours yet again recognised the exceptional standard of BMW Group Design. The prizewinners’ products will be exhibited as part of the annual GOOD DESIGN SHOW to be held in June 2011 at the Chicago Athenaeum.

As this is all about trends, and as ‘trends’ still can mean everything from ‘Ageing populations in Central-Europe’ to ‘Spring 2012′s skirt lengths’, we need to clarify that:
We’re tracking consumer trends. Not macro trends. Well, actually, we do track those, but don’t publish them.
Obviously, trends don’t just ‘emerge’ on 1 January or end on 31 December. Professionals craving Top Eleven lists is something we gladly cater for, but all trends are constantly evolving, and all of the content below is one way or another already happening. Major consumer trends are more like currents than one-time killer waves.
We’re also not saying there are only 11 consumer trends to track in 2011; there are dozens of important consumer trends worth knowing about and applying at any given time of the year. We merely bring you a selection to get going.

Bmi has unveiled its new logo and visual identity, devised to help reinforce the airline’s British heritage and international reach.

The logo returns the full name of the airline, British Midland International, to use after its abbreviation to bmi for many years. The reintroduction of the name had already been signalled and the new visual will be used on all corporate communications and advertising.

The new visual also refreshes the airlines heritage blue colour. The identity warm worked on by the in-house team and Strategic Fusion.

Morrisons is considering legal action against FIFA over England’s failed bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

The supermarket, which sponsored the 2018 bid, is angry at the “unfair” decision-making process that led to FIFA awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia.

It has been suggested that some FIFA executives reneged on earlier promises to vote for England, while others had decided to vote for a developing country despite England’s being the strongest bid.

Monsoon has launched a PR and social media campaign to protect its brand from potentially damaging allegations of child labour in its supply chain.

The fashion retailer, which has built its business around being an ethical retailer, claims reports of the use of child labour among suppliers are “inaccurate and misleading”.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner just dropped some numbers on the LinkedIn social platform’s measurement of user engagement, revealing that the social network now boasts 85 million members and is adding a member each second. “That’s the fastest ever,” Weiner said revealing that it took the site 477 days to get the first million and 9 days for last million.

“We have begun to establish critical mass, especially on a global basis,” said Weiner. Indeed, half of new membership now comes from overseas. The site is also close to hitting 60 million monthly uniques according to Comscore which means that a good proportion of its members return visit.

Nottingham based interior architects Macailay Sinclair have designed a new space in Inamo in London and is set to open in December. The space integrates stylish dinning as well as incorporating the latest digital technology with touch screen table menus and ordering system. The interior is inspired by natural forms and cellular structures.

The London Bus, one of the many traditions associated with the ever-developing city that never sleeps. The large, red transporters can be seen from close-up and afar and is easy to recognise wherever you are in the city. They are instantly distinguishable, so when designers decided to change the look of the bus, it was never going to be an easy task, this popular transport is used by hundreds day in and day out so changing the design completely would throw the public, the strong red colour is how the commuters recognise this brand therefore changing this brand too much could end up being very unsuccessful.

There are many different reasons why a company may want to rebrand, but to rebrand should mean you consider more than just updating your logo and stationery with a new colour. It should be seen as an opportunity to assess and take into account not only how your company or brand visually looks but to review how it is perceived.

Your client explains to you that when at school they were the best at painting by numbers and vary rarely went outside the lines, they are superb at dot to dot and their partners nephew is studying finger painting at nursery so all in all they have a pretty good grasp on this whole ‘design’ thing.

I’m going to stand back for a moment from purely technological issues to write something different – I decided to answer the question why it’s worth to be in the relationship with a geek, and how to do it. So, are you interested in why your colleague from the IT department is a good marriage [...]

Why is a logo so important to your business? Does it really matter what people think of your brand? Your logo design will speak volumes about your business, your logo is the first impression you give to your client, giving that client the reassurance that you are reliable and that they can trust you, of course it’s the services you offer and how good you are that matters, but the way in which you present your company will win them as a client. What makes a logo design so important is the image it creates, this image is unique to your business and gets your company recognised automatically.

For years CSS, HTML and javascript has been encroaching on the traditional space of Flash, offering tantalising glimpses of the interactive web we’ve all hear so much about but rarely experienced.

Comedy has always played an important role within advertising as no one can forget the bud-wei-ser advert and with many ads recently aiming to communicate their brand or product through a fun and comedic way makes it recongnisable and an instant talking point.

Often the subject of the advert may have little connection to do with the product but by thinking outside of the box with the brand it can create an instant impact

There was an outbreak recently when US clothes retailer decided against their new brand identity just one week after its introduction, you can see from the design they have tried an attempt to look modern and cool but unfortunately the new creation wasn’t to everyone’s taste and created a very negative response, you can understand that after 20 years of the same brand they may want to freshen the brand up but unfortunately this logo was looking very basic.

They say that you form an opinion about someone or something in the first five seconds of meeting/or seeing something. The same can be said about a website and just like fashion, website design has also had many different trends.

Have you every had an idea to improve the user interface of your browser? At the moment however, I’m beginning to feel unrest once again. The happy smile I used to wear at other peoples Internet Explorer problems, has started to wain. The reason for this wavering of faith, bloat. Each time I start Firefox there seems to be an update that, despite all indications to the contrary, makes it less stable rather than the traditionally expected, more stable.

It was outside my underground station that I stumbled across my first Legible London way finding sign. This is a series of information posts that have been designed to help people walk around the Capital. Bold simple graphics and vibrant colour, along with a number of nicely illustrated snippets of useful information, make the signs a pleasure to look at and read. Living in a time where the world is at your finger tips and it is all too easy to rely on your mobile device for directions I find the new signs a breath of fresh air.

During yesterday’s conference Apple presented a revamped MacBook Air and some changes to their operating system. The previous version did not make a good impression on me – Each time I held it in my hands I had a feeling that something was about to break or bend permanently. The refreshed line is primarily a new smaller 11″ and a more classic 13″ screen MacBook AIR. The technical details of the new equipment can be found in here.

Blackberry are taking on their rivals ipad by launching the tablet style computer ‘Playbook’! At this moment in time there is no other real challenge for the Apples ipad but this all looks set to change, this product is cutting edge and innovative being one of the first business-centric devices in the tablet market.

It’s been a few years now since I last read of an attempt to create social searches (or at least paid any attention when I did) and longer still since I though that it may cause a shift in the way we use the web. So when the above quote caught my eye and discovered it was attached to an article about the integration of Facebook and Microsoft’s Bing I thought it may be time to revisit the subject.

With the latest release of “The Social Network” showing at a cinema near you, facebook is definitely going to have a few new friends adding to its already growing 500 million worldwide users. Recently valued at an estimated $33 billion, networking people in over 207 countries and in 70 different languages, it’s not just people using the site to add to their “face book friends”, many companies are also taking advantage of the social media.

0208 269 4350

That’s the new contact number for the newest, dynamic Design, Web & Marketing Agency to hit Greenwich. Close to Water moved from Crayford at the beginning of October and is now settled at their new studio near to the O2.

College marketing is hotter than ever, as brands vie to be Big Brand on Campus this fall. Peer-to-peer student reps, hyperlocal promotions, and relevance to student lifestyles are now Marketing 101 for brands going to college.

Just ask Matt Britton. The CEO and founder of Mr. Youth is considered an expert in marketing to millennials, those socially savvy young consumers who typically eschew traditional media in favor of all things digital.

Close to Water has taken up residence in a new Studio close to the O2.

In business, everything begins and ends with consumers. Which means knowing, understanding, and applying consumer trends and insights will forever be a holy grail to business and marketing professionals.

In fact, with consumer behavior and preferences changing ever faster, and on a truly global scale, consumer insights (and resulting innovations) are higher on the corporate agenda than ever before.

Tracking consumer trends, then, is a crucial way to gain relevant inspiration, helping you dream up profitable new goods, services and experiences for (and with) your customers. In short, trend watching should ultimately lead to profitable innovation.

Consumers confirm strong interest in using their mobile phone as wallet according to a recent market poll sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent. These findings were uncovered as part of a youth market study exploring the appeal of a mobile wallet service.

This week, it’s Twitter again who is re-launching a new design of its social network.
On Twitter’s blog, they boast about their ability for its users to communicate and share information.

“Twitter has always been about getting a lot in a little,” wrote Twitter CEO Evan Williams. “The constraint of 140 characters drives conciseness and lets you quickly discover and share what’s happening. Yet, we’ve learned something since starting Twitter-life doesn’t always fit into 140 characters or less.”

Twitter is introducing a new, re-engineered Twitter.com that provides more features to the experience, including embedded videos and pictures.

Martin Mitchell (Head of Business Development) celebrates his birthday today – the number of candles on his cake is a closely guarded secret. To make his day special, the Close to Water team arranged for his present to be delivered whilst he was out on a Client visit. Imagine the surprise when he returned to find a 48kg parcel, 3ft x 3ft x 3ft sitting next to his desk.

Consumer spending in the run up to Christmas is expected to drop by £2.3bn, according to a study, as the public face up to the effects of the Government’s planned spending cuts.

The research from Moneysupermarket.com, which comes as the 100-day count down to Christmas begins, also shows that consumers plan to spend less on gifts this year than in previous years.

British consumers are expected to spend £9.3bn on gifts this year compared with £11.6bn in 2009.

Most major companies realise that having a social media presence is a crucial component of their business success, but is it really enough to sign up for Facebook or Twitter and call it a day?

A little iPhone 5 love to go with your Sunday morning coffee, anyone? If you answered yes… read on!

Concept designs and rumors are something that go hand-in-hand with upcoming generations of anticipated gadgetry…. especially when it comes to our beloved mobile devices. Case-in-point this morning, a new iPhone 5 design concept I stumbled across. Yes, it’s September 2010, and I’ve already spotted a next-gen concept. Have mercy.

Twitter, the micro-blogging social network service has released a new Twitter for iPad App which is available for free. The app has been released by Twitter to take on third party apps like TweetDeck and the much hyped Flipboard App for iPad. Meant for the 9.7-inch Apple iPad, the Twitter for iPad app makes the best of the iOS platform and brings several features like panes to view contents and enjoy embedded content.