Paul Wright - My Top 3 Websites

The web space we're invading!
Just some sites that Idealogy people are visiting that tick their boxes.

Paul Wright - Operations Director

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather
The older I get the more obsessed I become with the weather for some reason, BBC site on the whole is very good, some great content.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
BBC again but this a great site for Harry, can keep him amused for at least 5 minutes which is good going, again some really good content.

http://www.play.com
Even though I'll be very upset when/if HMV go bust I still insist on ordering music and films from Play to save me getting off my a**.


Posted by Idealogy

Senior Innovator

Do you believe in new?



The south's most progressive brand consultancy is looking for a Senior Innovator to delight its growing client base. You will be driven by well-rationalised ideas, have an excellent understanding of most facets of customer experience, as well as an intimate knowledge of the media at your disposal. Great presentation and people skills are an absolute must-have, plus the ability to visualise your thoughts, either by hand or on a Mac.

You will also be required to manage your own projects from time-to-time.

Fill your blank sheet of paper with an idea that will tell us how you intend to delight new clients with your thinking and your personality and send it with your CV to paul.w@idealogyltd.com



Start with an idea. Succeed with an idealogy

Posted by Idealogy

Mettler Toledo Product Inspection. Getting up close and personal by using Microsites as the hub for Integrated Campaign communications.

Frequently Asked Question! What is a Microsite?

Wikipedia says “an individual web page or cluster of pages which are meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website. The microsite's main landing page most likely has its own domain name or subdomain. They are typically used to add a specialized group of information either editorial or commercial”. Nice!

Idealogy’s take on the ubiquitous microsite is that it provides a powerful but intimate communications hub for integrated communications campaigns and our client Mettler Toledo Product Inspection Division have chosen it as the tactical heart of each of their Technology, Product or Service based forays into B2B marketing.

Working effectively alongside Mettler Toledo’s PI SBU Marcomms teams with development schedules often in days and weeks rather than months, Idealogy have used compelling imagery and content to build a series of highly functional microsites that utilise animation, web-enabled information links, with publication downloads, product technical data and offer-based incentives for database refreshing. It’s a  combination that has been used successfully on a number of key Mettler Toledo marketing events;

Glass in Glass Inspection  http://www.glass-in-glass.com
Pharmaceutical http://www.mt-onecure.com
Harsh Environment http://www.mt-adapt2survive.com
and Ready Meals http://www.mt-dontspoilit.com

Each microsite provides a vivid shop window for Mettler Toledo’s broad technical offering, covering their X-ray systems, Metal Detection and Checkweighing capabilities, and linking disparate techniques in a seamless, totally integrated and multi-lingual way. Conventional campaign tools like PR, Direct Mail, Brochures, Advertising and E-mail releases are used to drive traffic to the microsite domains. And the concept is working. Visitor numbers and lead generation are significantly up on more conventional marketing routes and the microsite, as a cornerstone of Mettler Toledo Product Inspection’s communications strategy, looks like it is here to stay.

Posted by Paul Wright

“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.”

One of the blessings (or is it a curse?) of being the Operations Director for a Branding Consultancy like Idealogy, is that you never know what the day will throw at you.

But whatever it is, you'd better be ready!

Paul Wright has had 20 years of being ready, and the one constant is that, around his robust flexibilty, “…the times they are a changing!”.

20 years ago the marketing and communications landscape was one of brochures and trade shows and stationery and press advertising. Today, that landscape is full of terms like websites, experiential and ambient media, e-campaigns, social media, customer experience and the ‘B’ word.

So how does someone like Paul deal with that kind of far-reaching change? After all, it’s not as if he can just transfer the skills of one era and transplant them into the current milieu. For Paul, his greatest asset is his matter-of-fact approach to all things – ‘let’s not get excited here!’. And it’s a mindset that has served both him and the business well.

Whatever the question, whatever the challenge, his unruffled perspective keeps projects on the rails, long after many of us would have jumped off the train. His ability to combine a generation of traditional production skills with the competencies required to deliver complex multi-media projects is a lesson in sangfroid – he remains composed and self-assured under extreme pressure.

Which brings us neatly to our headline.

Paul’s attitude to his changing universe is one of crushing inevitability. Just don’t ask him difficult questions when he’s trying to get a can of drink out of a machine. It’s surprising how quickly that calm veneer crumbles. And the language isn’t far behind.

Pepsi anyone?

Posted by Idealogy

20 years old. So why do we have an Anniversary crisis to cope with?

Typical!

It didn’t escape our notice that, as we approached our 20th birthday in August, we had a few difficult decisions to take. Which I suppose, as adults, shouldn’t present too many problems but it has become symptomatic of a life spent in a shifting landscape, ducking and diving, trying to flesh out an approachable personality and identity.

And that’s hard for a small business, especially one that opened as Selling Ideas the very day the headline read “it’s official, we’re in a recession”. There’s a beguiling symmetry there don’t you think?

Back in 1989, we could have been accused of recklessness, and indeed, the early years were tough as we learned to balance the rigours of running the new Selling Ideas business, with the needs of a demanding client base. But we soldiered on and we grew, putting on weight and muscle in all the right areas, developing our vocabulary, learning how to walk confidently amongst our peers. The family album had lots of attractive portraits and group pictures as we gazed, clear eyed, beside our friends and colleagues, at the flashing bulb.

We were standing tall and learning how to work well and play with others. And we were becoming independent.

But, like all adolescents, we weren’t 100% sure of who we really were. Life was so much easier in the early days, when all anyone wanted to talk about was good ideas, and we had plenty of those to sell.

With maturity comes a fresh set of beliefs and intellectual fog. We weren’t afraid of the questions we were being asked or where those questions came from – and our world had clearly become a more consumerist and commercial place. What we were scared of was our ability to consistently come up with the right answers – because that meant we had become something else, something quite different from the persona we knew and had grown comfortable, arguably too comfortable, with. Idealogy had become a comprehensive vision.

So we changed, and in all honesty, we’ll continue to adapt as the world changes around us. Today’s incarnation as Idealogy may be quite different again in another 5 years, but that’s life and, as we all know, change is good!

Now, back to the crisis!

Is a 20th anniversary a China or a Platinum, because that will make a huge difference to the party theme? Are we going to drink tea from a saucer or are we all going to show up in blonde wigs? Decisions, decisions…….

Answers and comments please.

Posted by Idealogy

Is Dan Soutan an endangered species or simply a designer looking for a new environment ?

Idealogy have recently adopted a small hairy creature that, as part of a fully developed conservation programme, is leaving it’s regional habitat and being moved to the more temperate southern coastal plains. His keepers hope that this change of environment and climate stability may encourage a more positive breeding culture, and, therefore further increase the chances of the survival of the genus.

The approach of this wing of the Dan Soutan Foundation goes beyond that of purely protecting Dan. Critically it also includes a recognition that the habitat for the Soutan must be unique in its richness of culture, biodiversity and crucial for local communities, who are as dependent on the habitat as Dan. In the medium to long term this will mean an increase in the number of Curry establishments in the Lymington area, easy access to a number of local, mature golf courses, the construction of a man-made range of hills and climbs to take advantage of Dan’s strange but well developed cycling skills, and his own personal queuing line in the key food, clothing and convenience shops in the region.

Conservation is more than protecting a species. It is about saving nature which includes us, 'the fifth ape'. The efforts of all of us to prevent global warming will be seen as a defining moment in history, for humanity's sake and for the health of the whole planet. Tropical forests, mountain biking, and less TV Soaps can play a significant role in guarding against this change. Idealogy will discuss more about our approach to the environment in future blog entries.

The Soutan will continue to make progress under the watchful eye of his keepers, who will continually monitor his ability to colour in with confidence, understand advanced, paper-based and digital communications concepts, integrate into his new social group and, as he develops as a senior designer, be cured of his poor dietary habits, in particular a passion for ‘Pot Noodle’. For more information about this intriguing species simply respond to the issues raised in this blog or leave a donation and speak to any one of his keepers – Paul Wright, Simon Johnson or Darryl Akerman.

Posted by Idealogy