Project Summary
Throughout my Production Lab module I have been working with Advantage West Midlands, developing the AWMist geographic directory of West Midlands businesses, focusing on the Environmental Technology cluster, and offering a social media production platform embedded within (sharing of commentable video).

The project team unified well, with positive motivation, all communication channels open and accessible to all. Regular emails, meetings and telephone calls took place as the pre-planned exhibition deadline drew closer, and all interested partners worked well towards a successful event.

Following regular meetings with all the technology providers, coding experts and platform designers, full AWMist integration approval was given by Advantage West Midlands, and plans for the integration of a video-based social media platform was then introduced into the plan. The ICT Cluster manager at AWM commissioned Teknofabrik to include an extra area on the website to allow for full integration with Buto TV, and this was unveiled at the Sustainability Live exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre in mid-April.

Project Issues:
The main issue, which was more frustrating than critical, was the length of time it took for project partners to respond to requests or carry out promised actions. Direct comparison and consideration to my own personal circumstances were taken into account, namely, I had more time available to concentrate on this Production Lab project than the project partners, all of whom had commercial concerns to focus on alongside the project. Based around commercial considerations, I completely understood this influencing factor, and was careful not to mention reflections based upon my own minor frustrations. To have done so would have proved to be detrimental to the project partner relationships, motivation and final outcomes.

Risk Management:
All of the risks previously mentioned in the PID and Project Reports were continually monitored throughout, which formed a significant influencing factor to project tracking and management, ensuring that self-set targets were maintained at all times.

The most significant and identified risk relating to the project was the lack of client knowledge and familiarity with social media platforms – this risk did not see any major progress in status since the initial PID was drawn up, and required careful management, training and explanation throughout the project. The sole cause of this lack of progress was the announcement of the General Election, which caused the entire organisation to enter the state of purdah. The effect of this was that I needed to spend more concentrated time with the clients than originally proposed, and if this were a financially critical project, I would have lost money – not a good practice. To rectify this, if such a project were run again in the future, I would spend more time investigating ‘start-up’ knowledge with more in-depth research, prior to submitting the initial proposal and costing budget. In this instance, perhaps PRINCE 2 or Microsoft Project software would also be useful, if the scale of the project warranted such financial investment. Also, I would avoid any social media focused project based around the timeframe coinciding with any political election.

Deliverables and Targets met
The project outcomes and subsequent exhibition proved to be a very successful event, with the majority of my social media teaching (surgery) engagement being completed on an ad-hoc basis. The target reach was exceeded, and the client reported very positive feedback throughout this element.

Future Plans & Exit Strategy
* Produce communications audits with five companies in the cluster with recommendations for utilising social media technologies.
* Hold a seminar/workshop to disseminate project activity.
* Produce a final report on the project for AWM.

That’ll be the ‘idea’ lightbulb going on then….

Surestop – a fine product, cheap, easy to fit, easy to use.

The issue- getting every plumber in the UK to carry one in their vans so to raise profile, sales and profit for the company.

Originally a Birmingham City University project, the product was designed, prototyped, patented and trade marked, and is now manufactured by Surestop Ltd. The product is distributed by many plumbing trade and retail outlets, and the company offer free training to plumbers, thus placing the brand name and emergency use capabilities of the product right at the heart of the industry where it needs to be.

So far so good, right?

Yes. But… the problem is that the product retails at such a low price (£35+VAT if I recall correctly), there needs to be mass market availability to ensure that the relatively low profit margins maintain the ongoing sales strategy for the company.

At the Sustainability Live exhibition, I spent some concentrated time with Noel ODonnell from Surestop, and we discussed how the deployment of social media strategies and platform use could possibly assist this issue, and the focus of the conversation turned to the way that plumbers communicate with each other, in what ways… is it digital, or ‘over the counter’ at the local suppliers or, dare I say, over a hearty English breakfast at the local cafe?

An open discussion took place, and some suggestions, alternative thinking and potential business and communication strategy plans came forward from us both, and they were:
1) Surestop to build a national database of registered plumbers, including telephone numbers, Twitter handles, online profiles and geographic area of operating. The opportunity for Surestop when this has been built would be to offer each member training on the Surestop product, and simultaneously, retain open communications with a vast network of plumbers;
2) for Surestop to host an online centralised chat forum, dedicated to plumbers, supported and possibly sponsored by national distributors of plumbing materials (typically the sort of outlet that plumbers go to to buy their materials);
3) membership for this to be available to registered and approved plumbers- no cowboys allowed. This will assist Surestop to maintain it’s professional reputation, share industry-related news in one place and continue with good industry practice;
4) for someone within the company to monitor the chatter on social media networks based around water leaks, burst pipes etc and cries for help when someone needs a plumber quickly;
5) then, based on these short bursts of information, for Surestop to reply directly to the potential customer, gaining information about the problem, and more importantly, the contact details of the person looking for help;
6) Surestop then consult their database of plumbers, and send an SMS message to plumbers in that location. The plumber then contacts the person in need directly, and from that point onwards, provides the service required and settles all financial matters;
7) built into that process, the plumber would have the opportunity to offer the Surestop product to the customer, thus generating an extra sales opportunity for both him/her, and for Surestop of course.

This discussion was well received by Noel, and plans are now starting to develop to enable Surestop to fund the above, possibly with some research and development funding from the RDA, local Business Link offices, and match-funded by the company themselves.

It will be interesting to see how this new idea takes shape. I look forward to watching the progress.

Whilst I have been busy running some social media surgeries with business representatives on the AWM exhibition stand at the Sustainability Live exhibition, my colleague Nat Higginbottom from Aquila TV has been collecting video material from some of the companies taking part.

Andrew from Cognitivemedia.co.uk from Mr Nat Higginbottom on Vimeo.

Hydrogen Car from Mr Nat Higginbottom on Vimeo.

Garden Ark from Mr Nat Higginbottom on Vimeo.

Part of the idea to make AWMist integrate with social media platforms, is to enable any company on the directory to host their own company video, to let visitors see a quick snapshot of what the company does, a little about their products, people and services.

Immediately before the Sustainability Live exhibition, I have been working with 5 local companies, and these are 4 of the videos produced that will be available via these companies individual AWMist profiles:

Geotech Ltd

Surestop Ltd

International Synergies Ltd

Aerosol Recycling Ltd

Stepping out from the warm confines of the creative industries sector can sometimes be a daunting experience, especially when these alternative sectors of industry appear to have a more ‘traditional’ approach to advertising, marketing and communications. If I were a salesman, it would be a daunting task ahead. Thankfully, this is not the case.

Recent polls and analytical reports have delivered contradicting summaries from their respective writers, with one report saying that social media is a time-wasting exercise with no real tangible benefits, and others highlighting significant return on investment for good case studies. That situation in itself presented me with a conundrum- who do I believe, what is the truth, and how do these relate to my local area? There was possibly one way to find out…

Yesterday, Digital Birmingham and Birmingham City University hosted the first of a sequence of events, as part of the Knowledge Transfer programme run by the Interactive Cultures department.

Treating my attendance at the event as a physical observing exercise, by embedding myself amongst business representatives which I had no prior knowledge of (with the exception of one attendee), I was keen to investigate what opinions the attendees had about social media usage for business purposes. Was social media perceived to be a waste of valuable time? Could the attendees see future benefits and figure out a route for returning the investment of their time and monetise their efforts? Were they likely to show consideration for experimentation, take risks and allow for potential failure to shape communication strategies? How many businesses were already engaging with social media, how were they using the practice, and were their efforts showing any customer relations or financial benefits?

During the event, we received two presentations, one from Jon Hickman (Lecturer, MA social media at BCU) and two representatives from Gas Street Works, one of whom was Leon Barrett. Both copies of presentation slides are below.

Following the presentations, the event moved into round table discussions, designed to investigate the current user techniques, platforms used, levels of engagement, success or failure achieved, and tips for colleagues.

During this section, the small group leader, a representative from a traditional marketing company, suggested that colleagues considered using a twin-account approach. He suggested that the main account was to be used for official company profile, with the other ‘bogus’ account used for collecting of information, and ‘spying’ on competitor communications. This was a revealing suggestion for me, and not one that I felt comfortable with- it raised issues around morality, open sharing of information and personal character traits. However, if this has been suggested, I should consider the possibility that this practice could be deployed by many people and companies; an area for further investigation and research for another time in the future.

Reassuringly, the interest and potential for businesses to take up experimentation and allow for communication strategy expansion appeared to be high. Future events in this series may present developments and progress that companies and their representatives may, or may not have made. I shall be interested in the staged outcomes of this progress, and shall relate this information towards future developments of the AWMist platform, linked to my Production Lab module.

Interestingly, in contrast to the perhaps radical approach suggested by certain representatives of the creative industries and online activist movements, not once were the phrases ‘pirate’ or ‘JFDI’ mentioned, suggesting a more planned and structured approach was in this case, perhaps more appropriate.