Due to business growth, internal promotions and a strong forecast, we have some vacancies at BBD.

BBD has, in its 50 years, continually developed and adapted to the ever-changing marketing landscapes, and never more so than now.

Having been based on the south coast for most of our existence, we opened our Glasgow office last year in Merchant City. And in March this year we opened our London office at 18 Soho Square, W1.

A key question as we develop and grow is, of course, what are we and how do we define ourselves?

Are we a digital agency? Well yes, if you accept every channel is inherently digital now.

Are we an experiential agency? Again yes, if you accept people buy products as souvenirs of branded experiences.

Are we a CRM agency? If by relationships we mean making things more interesting for people, then yes. But for us, those things are usually some sort of branded experience, and usually mediated by technology.

And are we a DM agency? Yes if, like us, you believe data is best when it’s real-time. When it’s around the individual, when it’s contextual, relevant and useful. When it brings a brand to life in that moment.

All of these things lead us to our proposition which is to create entertaining and useful things and experiences that help brands become more interesting and connected to their customers.

In essence we want to make each client’s brand one of life’s essentials.

So, if you want to join a team of talented and driven people working on some great brands and you have experience in working in the above sectors, and with the appropriate skills, then do get in touch. It will be great to hear from you.

The vacancies we currently have are:

• Account Director
• Tech Director

These are in the vacancies section on this site.

We treat all CVs in the strictest of confidence.
BBD is an equal opportunities employer and IIP accredited.

After starting life at Bright Blue Day (BBD) as an account executive, I’m excited to say, I’ve landed one hell of an opportunity. You’re looking at BBD’s latest addition to the copy department. For someone with a true passion for writing, there’s not really a better starting point than this. But, when I tell people outside of the industry what I do, they often reply with ‘that’s legal work right?’

Well to put it simply – no.

After being asked this question, I thought it best to respond how any copywriter would – by writing about it.

For me (and I’m sure others) copywriting is the act of giving content a voice. A voice that distinguishes character. And crucially, it has to connect with the right people in the right way. Throw as many statistics and superlatives on a page as you like. If it doesn’t have that distinctive voice, it’s not unique. And in today’s world, unique is everything.

You like to listen to people like you

Think about it. With such little differentiation between products, why do we choose certain brands over others? It’s the relationship they build with us. Subconsciously part of the reason you go for one brand over another is your self-concept. Self-concept is who you perceive yourself to be, personified through your possessions. This could be exemplified through a number of things. Say you buy most of your products in black. It could be argued you like to keep some things a mystery, but at the same time you have undertone of rebelliousness about you. Or maybe you buy copious amounts of fake tan to accomplish that dream of becoming the world’s first ultraviolet human being. Who knows?

Aside from the obvious i.e. price, look and feel, we like to associate our favourite brands as friends. The person we can always rely on and the person that’s always going to make us happy. Brands do this through the way they speak to you.

One such brand – Dropbox. At BBD we love Dropbox! There are other online storage options, but for some reason the world favours Dropbox. Part of the reason I believe is their communication. Beautifully simple execution, with a colloquial and down to earth tone of voice.

‘477 files (0.2 KB/sec, a long time left. Grab a snickers)’.

You see! Speaking to you like this raises a smile. It gives Dropbox a personality and presents it as more than just a place to store a tonne of files. If it just said ‘477 files (0.2 KB/sec) 3 hours left’, you’d be all like ‘…sigh, computers’. Personality is fundamental to driving a successful brand.

‘I love to take common sayings, pervert them, mutate them a little’

As writers, we each have our own unique style. I work in a more unconventional way to most because it suits the way my mind works. But there’s one thing we all have one thing in common – our writing stems from what inspires us.

The quote above is from one of my heroes, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, lead singer of At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta. The reason it’s there? Well, for me personally, I’ve never come across anyone who can command words like him. ‘Gizzard soft as a mane of needles, his orifice icicle haemorrhaged’ (explore further here). The ability to craft words in a way like this that creates such a graphic, escapist and supernatural picture just enthrals me. And every time I write something, I want there to be that element of uniqueness. Something that makes both my personal writing and my copy true to its own identity. It’s this passion that drives me to craft the most compelling copy I possibly can.

An interesting article from the Guardian about today’s copywriting talent read ‘the most successful creative agencies are the ones with the most diverse set of weird people’. And it’s true. New starters at BBD are warmly greeted with ‘welcome to the mad house’. And that’s the thing – everyone here is unique in their own quirky little way.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is – your inspiration can come from anywhere. You just need to find a way to channel it into your work.

‘Write things that live beyond the reach of Clearcast and the ASA’ 

So to really answer the question ‘what is copywriting?’ I thought I’d use an example I love. In my opinion, the most recent brand to have taken traditional advertising, defecate on it and rewrite the rule book is K-Swiss.

Until recently, K-Swiss were pretty uninspiring. My dad played tennis in their trainers man…not cool. But those bright sparks at California-based ad agency 72 and Sunny, came up with a way to change this. Their idea – use fictitious ex-baseball star Kenny Powers (of Eastbound & Down fame) as the face of K-Swiss. Watch and learn to see why it became a viral sensation (*if easily offended please refrain from watching, this video contains a lot of gratifyingly excellent swearing). The result of this brand shift – K-Swiss popularity and sales have gone through the roof.

The whole idea of using this anti-hero to sell their brand I just dig. I mean come on! Everyone, and I mean everyone in the sports industry uses overpaid athletes that can seemingly do no wrong in their ads. How can we clearly differentiate brands without looking at the logo? Using a run-down, foul-mouthed, womanising, steroid-abusing, ex-baseball star is an utterly delicious concept. No one has done it! And I think the fact because he’s so flawed and has a personality means the core demographic of young adults can relate to him more. Because these days let’s face it, us young adults are all obnoxious little s***s anyway. So we enjoy the humour.

The tagline for K-Swiss Tube sneakers ‘Tubes. If you don’t like them. Then change your mind’ is just awesome. I love how overtly and unnecessarily aggressive it is. It’s not persuading you – it’s telling you. Tim Riley, Head of copy at AMV BBDO states ‘Kenny Powers: Motherf*****g CEO may not fit the traditional definition of fine copywriting, but fine copywriting it is. (And it shows that, for the right client, you can write things that live beyond the reach of Clearcast and the ASA)’. I think what K-Swiss has demonstrated perfectly is that if you communicate with your audience in a way that speaks to them on their terms, breaks through the clutter, and is just downright outrageous, you’re sure as hell onto a winner.

So for those who asked me, next time you think copywriter, don’t think ‘copyright’. Think word geeks playing in their utopia of beloved words.

Courtesy of my colleague Ollie, here’s an infographic that ‘splains’ a little more about what we do

http://www.abccopywriting.com/blog/2012/09/13/copywriting-infographic/

And if you got this far, then thanks for reading!

Joe Fletcher, Junior Copywriter

I then found myself thinking about protecting our offspring, and I remembered quickly a TV film a long while ago where a young lady was on a tube. A middle aged man was in the same carriage when a bunch of rowdy, drunk and aggressive men got on. They were looking for trouble. The girl looked at the middle aged man and they exchanged raised eye brows. The sting in the programme was that she wanted the guy to stay with her. He thought about missing his stop, but didn’t, and got off. They exchanged glances as the tube drew away. Cut the to the courtroom scenes. The men had beaten her up and raped her. The guy who got off the tube was found, and was in court willingly giving evidence about what he saw before he got off. It was a very hard watch. He wished he had done things very differently; his life was changed as well. Albeit nowhere near as much as the young lady’s.

A few years ago I was in a fast food restaurant which had a play zone. I was with one of my daughters. Some undereducated brainless idiots were running amok in it. Little kids were leaving and mums were embarrassed. A mature small female restaurant employee was sent up to sort things out. She was terrified, and way out of her depth. Regardless of the abuse they hurled at her, she did however ask them to leave. But they were giving her a very hard time and were incredibly threatening. I obviously saw what was going on and could not ignore the situation or, importantly, her. So I went over to where she was and stood next to her. She looked at me a little strangely at first until I said, “Looks like you could do with a little support.” She visibly relaxed, and I simply leant against the wall until they’d left. Probably trying to look chunky and mean, to be honest.

So my note is really for all the mothers, sisters and nans out there who read about things like the Edkins horror, and indeed other offspring-related nightmares. Don’t over worry, and do rest a little easier knowing that there are a lot of men; dads, uncles, brothers and cousins, who would not get off the tube. We would not look away and we would certainly not walk on by.

We see what’s going on. We look over our papers, we sip our coffees on trains, buses and tubes and we see these situations; we notice the uncomfortable.

Clearly we are not everywhere and there are many situations we can obviously do nothing about. But next time you read about one male idiot, remember that there are hundreds of thousands of men who are keeping an eye out for ‘our collective young ladies’. We will intervene, regardless of the risks.

Ladies, you may not always see us, but we are watching out for you.

Written by a Bright Blue Day man. 

So who’s it for?

Starter for 10 is aimed at aspiring creative businesses with no more than two years’ experience within the industry. They should have, or be developing, a product that will be market-ready for August 2013. For further details on eligibility, please visit http://www.starterfor10.biz/

Supporting creativity in the South West

At Bright Blue Day (BBD), we strongly believe in the power that Starter for 10 has to make a real difference within our industry. That’s why BBD CEO, David Ford, is looking forward to the role he has to play on this year’s judging panel. He states:

‘Starter for 10 is an amazing opportunity for start ups to get going. The experience of going through the heats will no doubt sharpen up business plans and propositions. The cash and coaching could also be the crucial difference between success and failure.

I’m delighted to be involved. Having built businesses and been involved in start ups over the years, it is exactly the catalyst that can help someone realise their ideas.’

Still looking to put your creative stamp on the world? Sign up today at http://www.starterfor10.biz/about-the-competition

UX thinking is increasingly seen as the means for creating meaningful brand experiences in today’s always-on, real-time environment.

It’s shifted beyond the functional task of creating digital assets and products, to defining the way we do business, serve customers and add value in people’s everyday lives.

Basically because digital is just the way live our lives.

As such, successful brands are looking to align UX thinking to business and communications strategy.

It’s marketing’s new best friend, and core to new product and service innovation.

The rise of lean

The convergence of a number of trends may explain this new alliance.

The impact of UX in product development  is demonstrated by the hype surrounding lean-startup,  MVPs and rapid prototyping.

Lean meets marketing with the realisation that messaging+media campaigns are increasingly out of step with the always-on, connected  consumer. Brands need to find the means to engage people in their everyday lives, with meaningful experiences and personalised interaction driven through content. A need, in short, for always-on, real-time marketing.

“Given the prevailing always on culture, the notion that brands and businesses can rely simply on planning our their campaign schedule in advance is fundamentally flawed.” Marketing week.

Both rely on continual iteration which fits pretty neatly with the idea of achieving business growth through ‘marginal gains’.

Innovation imperative

This may seem at odds with a renewed call for brands to innovate more and bigger. But it’t not. Lean owes more than a nod to Clayton Christensen’s disruptive, and Von Hippel’s democratised innovation models. Sir James Dyson’s defines innovation as  Creativity + Iterative Development.

This highlights that business success requires an environment for both rapid innovation and continuous iteration simultaneously.

And that’s why UX is the skill set and approach increasingly seen as the bridge that unites planning, creative, content and tech to deliver always-on, real-time brand experiences.

I realised the other day that I’ve been collecting these ads over the years, so I thought I would share some with you. I have my favourite, drop me a note and I’ll share, but meanwhile have a flick through my top 5.

Can I end a note like this without saying don’t drink and drive? Yes I can, I know very few idiots who would even consider it. And yes I realise that the last clip is for seatbelts, I just love it.

Enjoy.

Jonathan  @ClarkRemarks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyzTFdCEXWk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhKIWfbPNh0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfPnLxqUWJw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymiF-okrdMg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM

So what’s going on? There’s nothing new about wanting a simpler logo. It’s no coincidence that the most memorable logos are also the most simple in appearance. Identities should be instantly recognisable, acting as a memorable identifier for the company they represent. A consumer will normally just take a fleeting glimpse at a logo, and an overly complex mark will make that opportunity redundant.

Taking ebay as an example it’s easy to see how their logo took its journey. When the company was launched back in 1995, the only place the logo existed was on the ebay website. So, being in its own space, it was completely free to symbolise the company it represented. No delusions of greatness, just a new ‘auction’ idea neatly expressed. If you think about it, different letters, different sizes beautifully summed up the concept of buying and selling odds and sods online. But now that ebay has grown into a billion dollar business, whose primary method of transaction is ‘buy it now’, (just like a regular retailer) it’s time to be taken seriously. Very seriously. As serious as Apple.

Which brings us neatly to another reason logos are getting simpler. The world domination of The App. The average size of a smart phone app icon is 9mm square. If you’re a designer, just try filling that tiny space with colours, textures, patterns, shapes, borders, typography, gradients, outlines, and let me know how you get on. And it doesn’t stop there. In a massively oversaturated media environment that spreads all over the internet leaking down into the tiniest piece of communication, a viewer simply doesn’t have enough attention to spare for complicated logos. A bold and simple logo can cut through and be seen (and remembered), but a complex logo causes the viewer’s brain to simply ignore it.

Don’t get me wrong, ebay still kept a nod towards its heritage, the letters are still different colours. And slightly pushed together in a bid to suggest that there’s lots to buy and sell, like a crammed warehouse. Some would argue that when a logo ‘gets serious’ it means commercialism has taken over and the original charm and appeal is withering away. Take Youtube. You can hardly watch a kitten falling off a chair these days without first being force fed an advert about cheap flights. What began as a fun website for sharing fun videos has now mutated into a slick marketing machine. You just get the feeling that somebody somewhere is making cash, at your expense. In fact, isn’t it time YouTube itself had a new ‘sensible’ logo? Of course the great irony is that no matter how much they change their logo they’ll be stuck with the word ‘tube’. I wonder how many people realise that it comes from cathode ray tube – and you can’t get less modern than that.

Like most things in the digital world, project environments are changing to keep pace with the industry. Project environments are becoming increasingly complex, which means it’s essential for a manager to bring a new level of collaboration in order to meet the growing demands of the business.  New trends show that teams need to be adaptable, quick-thinking and willing to work together like never before. It’s the best way to bring about tangible project success.

Three key trends in digital project management

The Programme Manager

With the industry moving so quickly, it’s important to make the distinction between a programme and a project. A programme is more complex and it needs particular skill sets to succeed. 2013 will see the growth of The Programme Manager – someone who will nurture the programme from planning through to delivery.

Blending agile and waterfall methods

Where the waterfall method used to be the preferred method, it hasn’t got the necessary flexibility for a digital project. And while agile is a freer approach, some people see it as organised chaos. That’s why the most effective approach is transitioning from waterfall to agile with a hybrid approach of the two.

Using collaborative portals

Opening the project up on collaborative portals can keep the project running smoothly. Key stakeholders can use the portal to have input into the project, but it also gives them a platform to feedback on stages of development. Sharing access like this gives greater visibility to ongoing projects.

As these new trends become mainstays of digital project management, collaboration is going to be a key part of a project’s life-cycle. The increased customer involvement generates a sense of transparency and creates greater opportunities for customers to influence project outcomes.

For many the first encounter with a UX professional was during a web design project.  (They were the slightly difficult ones, that ask lots of questions and seem to challenge everything). In this context UX is often used a catch all to cover a number of disciplines such as user research, information architecture, usability, content planning, interaction and interface design. This makes any useful distinction on the role difficult. More often than not it is defined as a stage in the process or worse still by the deliverables, devaluing the perception of the UX professional to a ‘wireframe machine.’

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s largely our own fault. Our tendency to codify, a general air of mystery and endless musings about process, methodologies and our general importance in the mix has probably turned many off.

The worry is that this prevents marketers engaging in the ‘new’ experience design – just when it has the most to offer.

The ‘new’ Experience Design

UX is a digital construct, and as digital continues to dominate the communication landscape the argument is that UX thinking becomes more and more valuable. But is this true?

Digital is no longer just comms –  it’s the way we do business, period. The digital experience is a source of competitive advantage, the path to new products and services and the means of building lasting and valued relationships with the market. Against this backdrop a focus on delivering the optimal user experience delivers real and tangible business benefits.

Digital is not the web, or mobile, or social.  It’s ALL of them, all at the same time. Increasingly the UX job is in designing and adapting the experience between and across multiple channels.

Which brings us to Experience Design. This is NOT a digital construct, but in our digital obsessed world, it relies on the skills, knowledge and experience of the UX professional. Experience Design takes us beyond the digital domain to help shape the experience a user (read customer) has with the brand, product or service at all touch points. Yes, even those in the real-world! And as such it isn’t really anything new.

10 Observations

I’d like to side swerve the semantic definition debate and offer up some of my observations and thoughts about UX and Experience Design and let you make up your own mind.

1. You can’t design the user experience
It’s well quoted but true. There is no such thing as THE user experience; every one and every context is different. But we can design for user experience.

2. The experience is defined by the user, not the designer
Enough said.

3. User Experience is not an optional extra
Your product, service or interface will have one whether you like it or not. The choice is whether it’s good or not.

4. Experience is not defined by the deliverables…
Just because the site map, flow and wireframes are done, doesn’t mean the experience design is done.

5. …or the process
Waterfall, agile, lean…each have their merits – and pitfalls. Some projects will suit one, others another.

6. Experience design isn’t just about designing things
Like a website, an app or social platform but the experiences that join them up.

7. Can’t do it in isolation
Experience design cannot simply be a stage in the process. We (agencies) can’t optimise the experience without detailed input and collaboration from the client. There’s also little to be gained from throwing designs and documents over the metaphorical wall to be built or implemented. Collaboration with product, tech and customer service teams is vital to realising the vision.

8. It is about the type of person
Stephen P Anderson makes a potent argument that User Experience is best described by the types and behaviours of people that are good at it.

9. It is all about the end-results
It’s a passion for creating the right product – no matter what. The right experience for the user. People like and interact with things that work – not just look beautiful.

10. Experience Design starts and stops with people.
Our job is to understand people; their attitudes and motivations towards a category, brand or product in context. Building an understanding of what influences our behaviour and decision making means we can apply all the disciplines to design experiences that work.

So, the ‘new’ Experience Design is all about mapping and shaping the experience consumers, customers and influencers have with a brand or product. We are just as likely to be designing a new purchase model,  sign-up process, customer service channel, or integrated content campaign as a website or app or social interface.  As such experience design really does deliver real and tangible business benefits, and extends its influence beyond marketing and tech to be at the heart of modern businesses.

In turn, whether in an agency or client-side, the ‘new’ experience design professional is part planner, part UX designer, part product marketer, part entrepreneur.

On the 6th November 2012 our site won the Excellence in Learning and Development category at the awards for its user-friendly, innovative approach, which uses new technology and social media to open up a whole new spectrum of work to a new generation of hospitality employees.

UKSP.co.uk provides a one stop shop for career advice in the HLTT industries, giving individuals access to career maps, training, and job vacancies with employers that are committed to training and developing their staff.
Joanne Parker, UKSP project manager, said that she was thrilled with the award as a lot of work had been done to develop the site to make sure it appealed to the next generation of HLTT professionals.
“We have done a lot of work on the site in the last year or so to ensure that we’re really meeting our audiences’ needs and showing the fantastic range of opportunities that are available through UKSP. Careers advisors and teachers in a range of colleges and schools across the UK use the site to promote the great opportunities available in hospitality, and we’re really developing a great reputation with training providers as well.”
This is the second award that UKSP has won in the past 12 months. In 2011 the Bright Blue Day site won two categories at the 2011 Caterer and Hotelkeeper Web Awards; Services Provider Website and the overall Website of the Year.
For those of you with a technical interest we coded the site in .net on the Kentico platform with some HTML and jQuery.
UKSP now has more than 52,000 registered users and almost 400 Good Employers signed up to the site.

Other recent Bright Blue Day Award wins include:

• ‘Top Prize‘ at the Caterer and Hotelkeeper Web Awards for UKSP, Website
• ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative of the Year’ at the British Insurance Awards for Zurich, My Community Starter