“Move on up!” – Idealogy’s own musical chairs

When the music stops…make sure you know where your seat is!

When you spend many months on internal analysis and refocusing the business, it’s funny to see it all come to an almost inevitable, yet frantic, conclusion on Friday 29th January. The relocation of key teams and workstreams within Idealogy at 11 Portland Street, Southampton is a major step in the business change process.

But this is no random piece of natural selection! It’s the logical next evolutionary phase after another challenging Appraisal round, the business undertaking it’s own BrandPrint, an escalation in the emphasis on digital and new media routes to market, and some key appointments at the close of 2009 - it’s safe to say that the clues were there for us all to see.

So. what is the actual outcome?

A new working structure with strong linkage to building complimentary skilled teams, aligned with a much stronger client-facing contribution in each team. What that all means to many of the Idealogy team is relocation to new, more prolific, more relevant seats, almost inevitably on a new floor in the building.

So, from 29th, Digital – that’s web, e-mail, moving pictures – are all together in one place. For Creative, Business Development and Client Services, it’s the same principal. Putting designers, visualisers, programmers, planners and strategic all in one place to strengthen the client-facing product and manage the work flows more efficiently. Despite some of the sad faces!

When the music starts early on that Friday, everyone will know where they’re going. Not everyone will know if there will be a chair in place when they try to sit down.

Let the games begin……….

Posted by Idealogy

The experience of a Lifetime – and don’t it feel good!

It’s great when you re-kindle a long-standing and successful client relationship from within the Idealogy network, carry out an innovative and fruitful BrandPrint™ analysis, then develop an evolved logo, proposition and new brand guidelines that demand a major leap of faith for all involved.

So, experience tells us that it’s all pointing to a fresh and innovative new web experience for Lifetime and it’s customers. As the UK’s No.1 training provider in the active leisure sector, Lifetime trains and qualifies more people than any other provider. And the new site had to reflect just that – layers of experience delivered through the offer, the environment and the information.

Working alongside technical partners and full service digital agency Solid State Group, Idealogy have designed a web experience that clearly represents Lifetime and it’s values, the new branding, the new visual language and the unique benefits delivered to their diverse targets. Audiences ranging from learner level 16 - 18 year olds looking for funded training, self-funded individuals from 16 – 60, Managing and Operations Directors to General Managers running active leisure establishments.

The very latest CMS technology allows easy and topical management of the restructured site and provides logical information delivery, with illustrated training/results journeys. The new site is an altogether more comprehensive, informative and rewarding user experience, while still retaining it’s user simplicity. And for good measure, the site also incorporates data capture with information and analysis feeding directly into Lifetime.

The site will have a phased roll out - Phase 1 structures information into 3 logical and distinct audience areas - FOR YOU (Learners), FOR BUSINESS (Potential Partners), ABOUT US (Lifetime Corporate). Next steps in the initial phase include new venue information, newsletter templates and a Press Centre.

Then onto Phase 2, which will see the site move into the world of E-commerce and the capability to book and pay for courses on-line.

It’s a major step for Lifetime as the active leisure sector gears up for serious growth in the next decade. The site has been designed and developed with the future of the industry clearly in mind – and doesn’t it look good!

Posted by Simon Johnson & Anna Ecuyer

It’s all on Flickr...

...a taste of what Idealogy have been busy creating lately. There’s the wide range of quality stuff that you’ve come to expect from us; everything from Pop-up Stands, Microsites, Logo creation and Video Sales Tools.

Come on. Sneak a peek!


Posted by Idealogy

Sucking up Digital Data for all it’s worth!

The Beige Information Leech.

The past 4 years have seen a massive transformation in Idealogy’s business mix. Today, digital media represents a staggering 45% of all revenue and the business has had to adapt to that new model, as digital touchpoints have become an increasingly powerful and challenging piece of integration.

Sitting at the head of that revolution has been Simon Johnson – for well over 10 years, Idealogy’s very own Beige Information Leech - building valuable network partnerships and absorbing the torrent of material, protocols and web measurement disciplines that his ill-defined and constantly changing world pours out into the ether. In an amazingly short period, Simon J. has gone from being an IT warrior, to web-site project manager, all the way to Digital Director, heading up the fastest growing revenue stream in Idealogy’s portfolio.

Today, he has total responsibility for websites of all sizes and complexity, and for both B2B and B2C clients. As part of that role, he manages site architecture, design, campaign support, programming and content, e-mail traffic and data harvesting. Add to that his partnership management – key relationships that drive the engines for all Idealogy web and digital services – and his role within the business is pivotal.

And his appetite for this voraciously data hungry environment is legendary. His love of Social media and it’s opinion forming impact is a constant reminder to the business that we need to communicate with as many people as possible, all of the time, as we manage our own and our customers’ reputations and personalities through the forums of Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, MySpace and YouTube. He pushes the business relentlessly – the results are impressive, and progressive.

So, there we have it. Simon Johnson. A man partial to his grapes. His chiropractor. Leeds United, his football team. Online gaming (whatever that is!) And the colour Taupe. Which is supposed to be soothing, but most would call it neutral. So it’s an odd choice for a man so committed to his craft and the assimilation of stuff.

Simon Johnson - Beige by name. Information parasite by nature!

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

Wing UK. Onwards, upwards, online, out there!

Wing UK is a nationwide service provider for the Care Industry, and a brand totally committed to offering its Customers a first class experience. As a division of Millbrook Industries’ Ultimate Care Group, Wing works alongside the NHS, Social Services, Mobility Retailers, Internet Retailers, Direct Sales Companies and High Street Retailers by providing Direct Delivery, Repairs, Servicing, Decontamination and PAT and Loler Training from it’s 4 UK locations in Southampton, Barnsley, Ayr and Cookstown in Northern Ireland.

In the early Summer of 2009, Idealogy were asked to provide a new brand name and logo for this important Nationwide Care Service provider, which in turn has developed into vehicle livery, product and care labelling, commercial stationery, collateral, and now a contemporary, CMS based online presence which speaks directly to Wing’s 3 key UK customer groups – Care Customers, Network Engineers and Care Retailers.

The site itself – www.winguk.com - is a bright and optimistic web environment, designed to communicate quality, confidence and reassurance to all site visitors. Supported by the strapline ‘Onwards and Upwards’ and some eye-catching visual themes, Wing UK is all set to become the largest direct delivery and service provider for the UK Care Industry.

For more information about the website contact Simon Johnson at Idealogy, Southampton, 02380211642

Posted by Simon Johnson

“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