The right team for the right client
A good friend, who has been a client several times during our relationship, pointed out to me one of the really big advantages from his perspective of *UP There, Everywhere.
He knows that if he takes his business to an agency he will end UP being given a team to work on his business that hopefully will be the best team for his business. However, he’s also realistic enough to know that the agency will first and foremost be looking to make the most of the limited resources they have available. Agencies have a tremendously high fixed overhead cost to cover – I know I’ve been there. In his words ‘they’ll give me a team that has spare capacity – but not always the best team for my business’.
He went on to point out that at UP* we are in the fortunate position of having a much wider resource base – more talent, more people to choose from, with no fixed overhead to cover – so there’s no pressure on forcing a team onto the client. We can even offer the client the choice of team and location that makes most sense for them.
Think about it. How many agencies can offer that.
Being Different
The word different has played a pretty important part in my life. At my old company, Dowell//Stubbs, our tagline was A Different Point of View. It spoke to one of the fundamental elements of branding– that of being different.
Today we are launching a new company. A company that takes that concept a huge step further.
*UP There, Everywhere is in itself new and very different. The business model is different. In fact there’s nothing quite like it anywhere. We have no fancy offices. We have no formal employees. But we do have a hugely talented and experienced pool of people who work together 24/7. So we are certainly different.
Helping our clients find difference is key to what we do as well of course. Helping them differentiate their brands and organisations. Helping their brands define themselves so their positioning makes them ‘different’ in their marketplaces. Helping them stand out from the crowd. Offering truly global integrated marketing and creative services, whether it’s in social media campaigns, advertising, public relations or on websites.
Our name is pretty different as well and many people ask where it came from. Well it began life in a small restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden. We’d been discussing the scope and business model of this new company and using the table cloth to scribble notes and ideas on (it was paper – luckily we don’t eat in fancy restaurants too often). But we needed the right name. We knew we were going to work in a completely different way – no offices, no employees. We knew we were going to be international from the moment we launched and we knew we were going to be using digital media and cloud based services. Like a cloud we knew that we would be literally ‘UP there.’ Like a cloud we knew that we would also pretty quickly be ‘Everywhere’.
UP* is born.
The original concept for *UP There, Everywhere was scribbled on a napkin over dinner.
I remember scribbling it on the napkin in marker-pen in bright colours. UP There, Everywhere. A colleague then leaned over and scribbled in an asterisk – our symbol. It was different. Over the course of the next couple of weeks we bounced it off friends and colleagues and realised pretty quickly it was a very special name. It was quirky and certainly not normal. It got people to ask questions. The word ‘UP’ in itself is an extremely positive word, a word we felt represented the new company and its energy. After a couple of weeks of digging and probing we knew we’d found a special name.
So welcome to *UP There, Everywhere. Are we different? From our name, to our people, to what we do and how we do it, you’ll find out that we are.
Are you UP* for it?
————————–
Julian
Member *UP There, Everywhere
Stockholm, Sweden
www.upthereeverywhere.com
Brand Books
Always had a bit of a thing for collecting corporate Brand Books and Identity Guides. Interesting to see how companies and brands attempt to keep a consistent approach to their identity.
And Identities and brands aren’t just restricted to commercial operations of course. In that respect just found a rather interesting one. I’ve just been given a digital copy of the NSDAP Brand Book from 1937. Six hundred pages of rules and regulations for running the Nazi brand basically.
Interesting section as regards ‘the exclusion zone’ and brings a whole new significance to the phrase ‘brand police.’
Wish You Were Here
Over the past few years I’ve been concentrating more and more on writing assignments and have really enjoyed that part of my work. Well the new year is now truly underway and I’m happy to say that this will be even more of my focus, and it fits very well with my branding work. All great brands are defined by their stories. Stories that set the brand in human terms, that people can relate to.
I’ve also just published a book on the branding of city destinations called Wish You Were Here, The Branding of Stockholm and Destinations. It covers the key elements in developing a successful destination branding programme and gives an
insight into the branding of Stockholm The Capital of Scandinavia. The book looks at examples from around the world, such as New York, Liverpool, Barcelona, The Ice Hotel, Hollywood and more, and examines the similarities with the branding of consumer products as well as the major differences and challenges.
The book is for anyone who enjoys cities, branding or both. It’s a journey through the branding of destinations written to be both informative and hopefully enjoyable.
The book will be available on Amazon shortly and in good bookstores.
UP*date
Wish You Were Here is already available in Sweden through an online bookstore called Firmaboken, details below. As of January 21st we’ve sold nearly 700 copies already, so we’ll be printing the second impression shortly.
http://www.firmaboken.se/art-1.asp?id=3169
Seasons Greetings & UP* date
Firstly, I would just like to wish you all the very best for the holidays and the coming new year.
For me personally the new year means the chance to get UP to some really exciting new things. After the sale of Dowell Stubbs in 2007, I’ve had three interesting years as head of Global Branding with GyroHSR, but the time is now right for me to move on to something new, very new, that launches in early 2011.
Please change your contact e-mail address for me to the following:
julian@upthereeverywhere.com
All the very best,
* julian
Seasons Greetings & UP* date
Firstly, I would just like to wish you all the very best for the holidays and the coming new year.
For me personally, the new year means some really exciting new things. After the sale of Dowell Stubbs in 2007, I’ve had three interesting years working as head of Global Branding with GyroHSR, but, having resigned in June, I leave at the end of this month. The time is right for me to leave and get involved with something new. Very new. In January I’ll be able to reveal more.
In the meantime I wish you all the very best.
* julian
Sigtuna
Very proud of Sigtuna. Our branding work was featured last week in CAP & DESIGN Magazine, alongside Amsterdam, New York and Manchester. Pretty good company!
Dubya on Facebook
George W. Bush appeared on Facebook last week for a live streaming interview with billionaire Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg. With Facebook Live is the opportunity for users around the world to react and post comments instantaneously, see an up-to-date viewer ticker, and the ability to ask questions. This is where TV and broadcast is headed. You tune in, watch, comment, respond, react, and learn. This is extremely powerful for both the featured guests and for users. In 2011, we’ll see more instances where Facebook Live will disrupt the current model of cable and broadcast networks and make it more competitive for reporters to break exclusive interviews.
“What’s to like”
A recent report released by ExactTarget and CoTweet found two primary reasons why consumers ‘like’ brands on Facebook: for discounts and as a ’social badge.’ Nearly 40% of Facebook users become fans to receive discounts and promotions, while 39% do so to demonstrate their support for a particular brand to their friends – this is in contrast to the 23% of respondents who follow brands on Twitter, and the 10% that subscribe to e-mail notifications for the same reasons.
Some other findings from the report include:
* 43% of the Facebook users surveyed said they Like at least one brand
* 34% of Facebook users say they Like brands in order to stay informed about company activities
* 33% say they Like brands to get updates on future products
* Among Facebook users who Like at least one brand, only 17% say they’re more likely to buy after Liking that brand on Facebook
We walked away with the observation that ‘like’ is not necessarily immediately attributable to ‘buy’ – it’s just that – liking, engaging, and wanting to associate yourself with a brand. ‘Like’ is not permission to bombard your fans with a monologue of self-serving communication, but an opportunity to give them more content and valuable reasons by which to further ’show off’ their affiliation. They’re already ‘liking’ you as a social badge – so give them additional reason to want to wear that badge by giving them content, information, utility or entertainment that they will in turn want to share and further associate themselves with.
