FreshNetworks Blog

We like a challenge at FreshNetworks. We’re a competitive bunch. As, it appears, is most of London agencyland, be they a pure play social media agency or any marketing, advertising or PR agency with a passion for social media and for competition. So, following a weekend of Twitter banter we’ve decided to accept the ultimate challenge to find the fastest agency team in London, and also the one that can raise most for charity. We’re inviting you all to join us in the 2011 London Social Media Agency 5km Challenge in June 12th. The #social5km as we’re calling it.

About the #social5km challenge

We’re taking part in the 2011 Race for the Kids for Great Ormond Street Hospital. A 5km ‘fun run’ around Battersea park on 12 June. The plan is to enter in agency teams and compete for some serious and less serious awards. And most notably for pride.

What are we competiting for

Aside from pride, there are some serious categories of competition, and it’s not just about being the quickest to finish. Current proposed categories are:

• Fastest team (mean time for the whole team)
• Most money raised
• Most enthusiastic supporters
• Best dressed runner
• Most impressive hair

If you want to add more categories, add them in the comments below.

How to take part

Taking part is simple. You need to do two things:

1. Enter for the race as a team (one person needs to create the team first and then everybody else join it)
2. Leave a comment below telling us: your team name, your agency (and link) and the people in your team (with their Twitter names)

We’ll keep a list here of the agencies taking part and keep you updated in the next few months.

Oh and the friendly, competitive banter can take place on Twitter – hashtag #social5km

The agency teams

1) FreshNetworks

• Matt Rhodes (@mattrhodes)
• Helen Trim (@helentr)
• Greg Hollings (@greghollings)
• Dan Harris (@gecko84)
• Alex Truby
• Joy Taylor
• Nic Gutteridge

2) ‘The caners’ from Hurricane

• Jon Holloway (@socialvation)
• Paul Cash (@zagology)
• Lindsay Davies (@lindsaydavies)
• Jo Bromilow (@redheadfashion)
• Mauro Niewolski (@mauroniewolski)
• Matt Simpson (@mrmsimpson)

3) Team TAMBA

• Kay Hammond (@TAMBA_Internet)
• Jon Broomfield (@TAMBA_Jon)
• Adam Keene (@TAMBA_Adam)

4) Team Tempero

• Dom Sparkes (@domsparkes)
• Kelda Wallis (@kelda)
• Lucy McElhinney (@lucym)
• Frank Sheahan (@FrankusDTankus)
• Julia Wolter
• Esther Ivshin

5) Team eMod

• Tearin’ Tia Fisher (@emoderation)
• Blazin’ Blaise Grimes-Viort (@blaisegv)
• Dangerous Dani W
• Hurricane Helen S
• Jumpin’ Joanne W
• Revving Roger W
• Tearaway Tom M
• Fiona R
• Janice P

Sometimes on my way to the FreshNetworks office in Holborn my route takes me down a pleasant street called Lambs Conduit.

Recently I noticed a supermarket called simply “The People’s Supermarket”. So I did a little research and it turns out that  The People’s Supermarket is a social supermarket: “A supermarket for the people by the people”.

The People’s Supermarket stocks all natural food, much like the kind of thing you’d find at farmer’s markets. Obviously by shopping there you help support them but you can also become a member and pledge to work for a few hours each month to get a 10% discount at the till. This volunteer scheme helps to cut staff costs and the shop itself is fairly basic to reduce overheads further.

The People’s Supermarket is slightly different from your standard High Street multiple and their vision is being reported widely by the press and bloggers, including a four-part Channel 4 TV programme starting this Sunday.

What’s also interesting is how they are using social media to amplify their message.

When you arrive on The People’s Supermarket website you are immediately drawn in by a  blog about the shop volunteers, inculding photos of people taking part. It leads you to ask the question “why would I work for free at a supermarket?” You are engaged; you want to know more.

The social tools on the site  aren’t particularly radical – Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and their blog. What is interesting though is the authenticity of  the conversations on these social channels. The People’s Supermarket is real; it is not a concept dreamed up by an expensive PR agency. Social media is very good at reflecting this fact. This is an area where many apparently well thought out social media strategies derail: when planning a concept ignores existing organisational culture.

There’s no danger of this for The People’s Supermarket. A shout out on Twitter for some volunteers for a shift the next day and within an hour a couple of people have responded. Their Facebook page has real activity too – not 2 weeks ago but half an hour ago. When they had a party last week to celebrate their six month anniversairy they promoted it on Facebook and then put lots of pictures on Flickr after the event – a great use of online-offline promotion.

The People’s Supermarket is extending its social footprint all the time and if they can maintain current levels of interest I think it will be a big success.

Image courtesy of Webegirls

Let’s face it, some of the purchases we make are just not as exciting as others. There are some products we just have to buy each week and we don’t really think about them too much unless we run out. By virtue that they are so commonplace that in some cases they are true commodities.

So when it comes to these products, can social media be used as a differentiator? And if so how?

Take toilet paper as an example. Would anybody want to talk about toilet paper in social media? Well it turns out they would. Take Proctor & Gamble’s (P&G) toilet paper brand Charmin – a couple of years ago they sponsored an iPhone app called SitorSquat.

With the interesting strap line “Enjoy the Go”, the SitorSquat app allows you to find, rate, comment on or add in the location of a clean public toilet. First launched in the USA, the app is now available worldwide and over 100,000 toilets have been rated.

The app also allows users to filter the search by toilets with changing facilities, helping to target family-oriented shoppers that are often the key to success for everyday FMCG products.

What’s clever about this app is the way it encourages the spread of useful but otherwise mundane information through social media. Charmin has facilitated people to share with the primary intent of having a better bathroom experience (and with the secondary intent that you will recall Charmin toilet paper as you enter the toilet tissue aisle or order your weekly shopping online).

Charmin has also managed to integrate the online world with the offline world through their recent Christmas campaign Queen of the Charmin Go nation.

During the Christmas period Charmin rented out an office space to ensure that New Yorkers had clean, safe facilities to “enjoy the go”. They also hosted a competition, judged by Glee actress Jane Lynch, where the winner was crowned “Queen of the throne” and given a prize of $50,000.  Using a popular celebrity, offering a large prize and enabling the general public to avoid using the often horrendous public toilets in New York  is a great way of spreading positive word-of-mouth about a brand.

Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at some of the every day products we buy, and the brands behind them, in order to see how they are leveraging social media. Our feeling is that the number of brands regularly using social media, either as part of an integrated campaign or as an ongoing online engagement strategy will increase dramatically in 2011.