news and comments

So, Mr Hearn has asked for the confirmation of West Ham as the preferred tenant of the 2012 Olympic Stadium to be delayed as "Leyton Orient has been in existence for 130 years and by any stretch of the imagination we are the incumbent club.”

So, that’ll be the Leyton Orient who originally came from Clapton and moved to Leyton in 1937, only adopting the local name after the Second World War! Even then it only existed for about 20 years, as in 1966 they renamed themselves “Orient”. It wasn’t until 1987, and with pressure from the Leyton Orientear fanzine, that they reinstated the Leyton part of the club's name.

So, they’ve only actually been known as Leyton Orient for about 45 years out of the 130 years that our Barry refers to.

BTW: I do sympathise with Barry (as the gig should’ve gone to Tottenham Hotspur!)

By – Richard Brown

The recent Ashes triumph was just that, but are there lessons that we marketers can learn from the England team? As a brand, team England was in a sorry state the last time it toured Down Under. The 5-0 drubbing sparked calls for another bail to be burnt, but rather than roll over and die they took a good hard look at themselves and began planning for a brighter future. 

We’ve all had campaigns that haven’t gone to plan. Be it press, DM, digital, display ads or TV, failure is a constant threat, and while most aren’t as public as England’s in 2006-7 the ire rained down by the client can be just as painful. The trick is – to use an old cliché – to learn from the mistakes. England did. In the months that followed that disastrous tour they undertook a root and branch review of their strategy and set-up.  Nothing was sacred. No one was deemed indispensible. And through hard work, a revision of strategy, planning and passionate execution the result in 2010-11 was rather different.

Of course the temptation following a poor result is to chuck the whole thing away and move on. This is prevalent today in social media marketing.  Brands stick speculative toes in the social media pond and when, after a short time, they find either indifference or hostility they dismiss it out of hand and try something new or, more correctly, old. This sort of short-termism is the bane of many a new media.  Back in the 50’s when TV came along, brands scrambled to get onboard only to scurry back to radio and press when the results didn’t immediately match expectations. If only they’d taken the time to ask themselves whether it was the message rather than the media that was at fault. If so, many TV-killed brands across the world might still be with us.

Failure is hard and raking over the ashes of that failure can be harder still, but if England have taught us anything it’s that fortune does indeed favour the brave. So why don’t we as marketers make the collective resolution to be a bit braver in 2011? As Edison put it, “Failure is the first step on the road to success.”

This January balloon dog’s Pret extraordinaire Will is going to reach new levels trekking Mt. Kilimanjaro for the fantastic Railway Children charity!

The Railway Children charity is dedicated to helping children living on the streets in the UK. To raise money for this worthy cause, Will shall be digging out his walking boots and packing in those extra calories to reach the summit of the highest freestanding mountain as well as the 4th most prominent mountain in the world, rising 19,298 ft from the base!!!!

It really will be an astounding achievement for our young Will, and we at balloon dog want to get you all involved by asking you to sponsor him for this fantastic charity.

So winter has set in and the weather is getting blustery and cold, and if you want to get that extra feel good factor on these dismal days there is nothing better than the selfless act of a little sponsorship to get you there……..and what better than this fine cause. So come on, support our Will at;

http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/WillCole

To find out more about the chosen charity Railway Children go to; http://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/

A great time was had by the balloon dog board at the RAC- organised "Kili 4 Kids" charity ball last Saturday. With our own Will Cole part of the team planning to conquer Mount Kilimanjaro next January, the ball aimed to raise funds for the Railway Children charity which gives kids on the streets a chance to get into school and a better chance in life.

Pictured is our resident footie expert Greig, now the proud owner of a signed Norwich City shirt for our new Reception area. What Greig doesn't know about football isn't really worth knowing so it was nice to see him secure such an iconic item, even if it did involve a Scotsman parting with money!

More on Will and the team's intensive preperations (two Pret Love bars a day!) for the climb in due course…

Strategic Planner, Nick Backhouse, gives us his season synopsis for NCFC. True to Planner form, he even manages to get a 'statistical analysis' in there.

You know what they say guys, 'every cloud…'

Well it’s over at last. The Canaries’ season started pretty badly and basically didn’t get better. The truth is that we weren’t really good enough.

So let’s get the technical bits over first. Delivering 49 points with a goal difference of less than -20 in the past would have meant safety, but not this time. It shows how tight the lower and middle levels of the Championship were this year. But that isn’t an excuse, it’s just an observation. So where did the real problem lie?

Whether Gunn was, or will be, the right man isn’t the issue. The die had already been cast when he took over. The real problem was Roeder’s use of the loan system. Too many players coming in who weren’t match-fit. Once they had regained their touch and started to forge a relationship with the rest of the squad they were either recalled or got injured. But was this the manager’s fault?  Possibly not?  Perhaps the real issue lies with the structure of the game and how it affects teams who aspire to better things but don’t have the financial muscle to deliver.

This prevalent use of the loan system is just sticking plaster. Let’s hope next season City can deliver a squad of permanent players with a good blend of home-grown youth and experience willing to go that extra mile for the club’s fight for promotion.

Ok that’s  the technical bit done, which will have lost half the Agency ( primarily the female half I suspect). Now let’s have a look at how the Agency’s support  over the last nine months has gone.

I am surprised that as the leading communications business in the area whose major client is the Canaries’ sponsor, we haven’t been more positive.

Looking at those in the Agency who are interested in football, we seem to break down into discrete segments.

Firstly there’s a group  of lads who live, work and maybe were born in the area who support a north London team (which by the way around Christmas was not pulling up any trees and whose manager will walk off when the going gets tough next season ) . Yes guys, you know who I’m talking about!  Why not make Norwich your second team and get behind them next season instead of using the Premiership as a reason to bite the hand that feeds you?

Next.  There are some of us who follow the team but only really when they get free seats, usually unused season tickets. OK next season let’s be ‘aving you. Stump up and support for all the home games.  Fair-weather support won’t be good enough in Division 1.

Interesting group this next one.  It comes  out of the Dad’s Army school of  ‘we’re all doomed’. Well for next season that isn’t going to be good enough. If you are a supporter, stop whinging and be positive.  Despair can be as contagious as swine flu . The motto has got to be ‘ let’s look on the bright side’.

Now I come to the most disturbing, and possibly the most destructive, typology. Season ticket holders who go some of the time but rubbish the performances, win or lose, all of the time. Having completed a statistical analysis, there is actually a direct correlation, with high confidence  limits, between their attendance and home points dropped. Basically a negative Brand Payback situation! Again they know who they are and if this makes them see ‘red’, so be it.

Finally, here are some suggestions that the Board may want to take up to help support the team      (and indirectly, our major client’s sponsorship budget).

1. During the season, on Fridays and mid-week match days, everyone wear yellow and green
2. All senior management bonuses to be donated to the club's transfer funds
3. All client entertainment to be held at Delia's or Yellows
4. All work time conversations, or use of the internet, relating to North London or East Midlands football teams to be banned
5. All agency promotional material to be co-branded NCFC

'Join me through the keyhole…who works in an office like this?'

Bearded Canary.