Visitors to Skittles.comare invited to “Interweb the rainbow”, which basically means “see what’s going on in the world of Skittles all over the web”. You can see chatter on Twitter, photos and videos on Flickr and YouTube, and product information from Wikipedia. ”Isn’t this cool?” say social media people everywhere… well yes, it is. But why?

1. They don’t ask you to visit the factory
In Feb 2008, at  a Chinwag discussion on measuring social media, it became clear that deciding just what to measure was one of the biggest issues, and safe to say, that’s not changed. Danielle West, then at analytics firm Nedstat, highlighted the ability to track user engagement on a company’s homepage, whereas Will McInnes, one half of Nixon McInnes spoke much more about engagement, conversation and content.

Of course Nedstat is going to say that the aim of social media marketing is to drive traffic to your own website which you can analyse later, and it seems that every online campaign must have its own microsite these days. For brands selling to consumers, I find this a very strange mindset to have. From a sales point of view, a confectionery company shouldn’t care if you buy one of their products in a supermarket, a petrol station or in a vending machine, what matters is the purchase. It would be insane to suggest that you have to go to factory to buy the sweets. In a similar vein, Skittles is suggesting that they don’t care where you interact with the brand, they don’t care if you don’t visit Skittles.com – in fact, if you do, you won’t find much that you can’t find anywhere else on the web. What matters to them is that you engage with the brand somewhere.

The marketing goal of “driving traffic to our microsite” is equivalent to “getting people to the factory”. Which reminds me of the story of an elderly couple driving nearly 100 miles from Portsmouth to BBC Thames Valley Radio following an advert asking them to visit the BBC website. They thought it was an actual building. That’s a little off the point, but talks to a principle that Skittles is following: Don’t use social media to interrupt and usher people around the web. Brands engaging with internet users should bear in mind the fact that 99.9% of the time, we’re online to do something which isn’t look at your website. I think Skittles gets it and it’s this that makes its website a huge game changer for marketers who have seen website traffic as one of their key goals.

2. The decision has buy in from the top
This is more of a supposition than going off actual evidence, however, I think it’s safe to say that there’s no way that this would have got signed off without some serious muscle at Wrigley getting involved. There are a growing number of marketers who understand and embrace the fact that social media makes organisations pourous – with information being communicated to and from the entirety of the business, not just from a single, centrally controlled outlet. However, move closer to the centre of the business and that enthusiasm is generally not as prevalent.

The social web doesn’t just impact how organisations should communicate, it impacts how they do everything. HR - should know about and engage with employee Facebook groups, product development teams should be listening to demands and complaints from current users in all kinds of online forums, tech support should be monitoring twitter for any issues arising. Of course, some of these boxes are being ticked, but I can’t help but think that for the most part, this is a bottom up movement – driven by communications and customer service departments. While “Interweb the Rainbow” may have come from marketing, but there’s no doubt that sign-off came from the real business decision makers. It’s always been a marketers job to educate CEOs on why this is a good idea, and with Skittles being an example that would take most board members way outside of their comfort zones, this is a hard sell, but one that must be made.

3. They want you to listen to your peers
Sending visitors to other parts of the web is acknowleding the concept that “Your brand is what Google says about you.” It’s giving creedence to the fact that web users don’t just take your word as gospel. With millions of viewpoints and opinions just a simple search away, Skittles is bypassing that step by leading people straight to the opinion. Plenty of conversations and meetings this year have paid lip service to transparency, but surely this is the genuine article. There’s even a disclaimer on the front page which notes that there is external content available, over which, Skittles has no control. Gutsy, very gutsy, but a move that signifies a huge shift in direction and understanding for marketers everywhere.

…So after the hype and knee-jerk reactions have died down, Interweb the Rainbow is still running relatively smoothly. The site looks good and you get can navigate the pages in the same way that you’d navigate social media platforms normally. But it’s the principles behind the site that really make a difference and should have marketers sitting up in their seats, thinking about how it affects their brands.

LW: So tell me about Naked Wines…

RG: Naked Wines is an online farmer’s market. We believe that the most exciting wines in the world are made by the little guys, who don’t have the big marketing budgets to break into the UK. So we go direct to them. This saves them the money they would usually spend on selling so we can give our customers a better wine for a better price. And by bringing the winemaker and customer together through our website, where they can chat directly with each other, the customers know they are getting the genuine article, and the winemaker gets crucial feedback on their wines!

Why “Naked”?

We’re stripping away everything in a bottle of wine that you can’t drink, but that costs you money – the average bottle of wine sold in the UK today has just 30p of wine in it. And £1 of marketing, packaging and other stuff you can’t actually taste. Because you can talk to our winemakers and other customers direct you can see through the marketing, we have nothing to hide – we’re Naked!

What’s your best story involving nudity?

When we teamed up with Parcelforce who deliver our wine for us, they loved the Naked philosophy so much that when we returned to the office after the New Year’s festivities, we had photos from one of the guys there standing on the top of a snow covered mountain holding one of our wines in all his glory! Brrrr!

How are you using Twitter?

We’re still finding our feet with Twitter (@nakedwines). But the great thing about it is that it isn’t another sales channel, instead we see its as a great way to encourage new ideas and share things that have our attention. Whilst we will keep our followers up to date with what is going on at Naked HQ, we would much rather use twitter to pass on a great new wine blog we’ve found, or to see if anyone can source us a new Italian Pinot Grigio!

You’re involved with the Shoreditch Twit, tell us about that and why you’re being so generous?

As a group of people, we’re very ideas orientated and we see the Shoreditch Twit as a great way to share these ideas, and get feedback. We’re about to launch some exciting new social networking functionality on the website and it would be great if the ST community could get involved, in return for early Naked social status! As for our generosity, we just like to share the love!

How can we get involved with the site?

The new features on the website will allow you to go way beyond the usual “if you like this you’ll love that” functionality on other wine sites. Each customer can build their own profile, find people with similar tastes to get recommendations, share their reviews on Twitter, interact with the winemaker and they even have the chance to become an Arch Angel for a wine, which means they actually get involved in how we buy that wine.

Is drinking wine better without clothes on?

We think most things are better without clothes on, so yes!

Red or white?

Both! Depends on the situation, as an aperitif on a hot summers day a cool Sauvignon is a treat, but if I’m tucking into a bit of rare steak I’d usually crack open a big bold Aussie Shiraz.

Well cheers then!

To find out more, visit the Naked Wines website or have a chat with Rowan at Shoreditch Twit #6.

Well it’s 2009 and I’m feeling guilty about not posting for ages, so while I get all my other long-awaited posts finished, I thought I’d repost something I put together for Adam Lewis at Flawless Buzz. He’s been running a series of interviews of PR professionals to give his readers a window into what working in different aspects of PR is like. Adam writes a great blog for anyone studying or just getting into PR, asking questions like “How specialised should a gradute be going into PR?” The original post can be found here.

1. How is work at Shiny Red going?

It’s going very well – we’re busy, which is a great sign in the context of the press doom and gloom about the economy. It’s really encouraging to see that brands are looking to social media now more than ever, rather than seeing it as optional and as a bit of a risk – which is the standpoint that some brands have historically approached the internet from.

2. How does the atmosphere and work differ from your time at AxiCom PR?

The atmosphere is very different, AxiCom is well known for people that really get technology and can communicate really intricate things in a really compelling way. The Red Consultancy is the UK’s number one consumer agency so the emphasis is much more on people, brands, creativity and originality. At Shiny Red, our role is to apply that outlook to the world of social media, so my role here combines the two – it’s both about having a good understanding of the technology behind it all, and working with clients to help them engage as a brand online in the social web. The one other thing to point out is that while I was at AxiCom the male:female ratio was roughly 3:2 at Red it’s closer to 1:6 – which has an entirely different effect on the atmosphere.

3. What made you want to move?

My previous role involved working with clients that were both building blocks and disruptors of digital media, so companies like RealNetworks, The Slingbox and Brightcove – which runs the Guardian’s online video platform, so I was very aware of the latest developments in the online world. Everything in media has been going online since before I started working in PR 6 ½ years ago, and I’d heard of the Red/Shiny Media collaboration at launch. It was something that struck me as really forward thinking and something that I wanted to be involved with. Shiny Red was launched as a social media agency before Facebook got huge and before every agency under the sun offered to track online buzz. This stuff is in the company’s DNA, we’re not playing catch-up.

2. What is your role and what kind of things do you get up to during the average working day?

I’m a Digital Account Director – which I guess makes me a DAD. My role is to consult with clients on how best to conduct particular social and digital media activities in order to get to where they want to be in the minds of consumers or communities or bloggers. The second part of that role is enabling the team to deliver that back to the clients at the end of the day. As with most agencies, we’ve got a mixture of personalities and skill sets, so I guess I see myself as a conductor, trying to bring about that teamwork so that we’re all working to the best of our abilities and continually learning new stuff about social media and about brand interaction online. Finally, I’m very much involved in the new business side of the company. We’re constantly getting briefs both from Red’s clients and from external companies looking for ideas for social media engagement, which is a chance where we get to put those learnings into practice.

3. Would you ever consider in-house?

Yes, I think that having experience of both in-house and agency positions can provide an important perspective for any marketing professional. I think you develop different skill sets at an agency, in particular managing multiple clients at the same time.

4. What skills do you think are required to do what you do?

Awareness: of what’s going on in your team, at your clients’ businesses, in the industry, in the world in general… and an ability to think beyond the particular conversation or meeting you’re having, and into the wider context. Organisation: which is a tough one. Creativity, and the ability to communicate all kinds of social media goodness to those who are still a little reserved about the whole internet thing.

5. Did you know what you wanted to do after leaving University?

I knew I wanted to be in communications and media, since I’d done a little media psychology as part of my course at the LSE – I studied Social Psychology and Philosophy. Actually my dissertation was on engagement with online communities in the field of healthcare marketing, that was back in 2002. I don’t remember much of what I concluded, but looking back I feel slightly before my time! I started out after that with a two month work experience placement at Consolidated Communications, when that finished I was offered my position at AxiCom.

6. Do you plan to stay in this sector of PR?

For the foreseeable future yes – there’s so much going on in this sector, so I’m excited to see what’s next.

7. Dream job?

My grandfather used to be a pilot, with the RAF and then commercial flights. Every time we visit him, he always has a story to tell of his flying days. They’re very glamorous, and actually I think I’ve been blessed with his eyesight genes, so flying fighter planes would be pretty cool. In PR, I’d love the opportunity to work with a media company to help transform it from publishing 1.0 into a model that embraces the way that people communicate and share information online – a company like CondeNast for example, only has a window of about 18 months to 2 years to really up its game.

8. How did you end up getting your job at Shiny Red?

Actually through a recruitment agency, but as I said before, Shiny Red was a place I actively wanted to work at. I was freelancing for most of 2007, so when the call came in, I didn’t wait a second before going for the interview. We’re always on the lookout for bright people at all levels who are passionate about social media, so anyone interested can email hr@shinyred.co.uk

9. Best and worst parts of the job?

Best – seeing the joy people experience when they realise their brand is having a direct impact on people’s lives because of something we’ve done with them in social media. The worst part is coming up against people who don’t take bloggers seriously unless they have solid readership figures, that just shows a lack of understanding and being set in the old way of thinking.

10. Brand you most admire?

Nokia – I think they’re real innovators in the phones they make, but also in thinking about how they fit in as part of a wider lifestyle. The Comes With Music service is really disruptive, it makes the industry sit up and think, “how does that affect me?” and I like that.

11. Something anyone going into PR should know?

It’s not all parties, champagne and blonde girls with degrees in History of Art.

12. Tool that is the most useful for your work?

You didn’t say web-tool so I’m going to go with my phone. I use a Nokia N95 and I can get everything I need on there – all the web services like Twitter, RSS, IM (I use Fring), and email. Plus, occasionally in PR, you actually have to call people! If I’m out of the office, I like to check in with the team before and after meetings to make sure that everything is running smoothly at base camp.

13. Any advice to students applying to graduate entry-level jobs?

2009 will be hard – most agencies aren’t going to take on as many grads this year as they did last year. Look at agencies that have already seriously invested in digital, any spare money in ’09 is likely to go to an agency that can prove some return on investment, and social media is increasingly that measurement tool.

14. A reason why graduates should go into PR?

It beats being a lawyer.

15. A reason why they should choose Shiny Red?

Working at Shiny Red you get to work across public sector, healthcare, FMCG, tech, and even corporate accounts. We have high standards and want to do the best work possible so we want to keep innovating and staying creative. Anyone joining gets to work across a wide range of sectors, pick up lots of new skills, and be part of a team of committed people who want them to succeed.

Top three non-work websites

• Urban Path - There are more comprehensive reviews sites, but this one only scoops the best stuff off the top
• last.fm -it would have been Pandora until it got closed down in the UK, so I’m taking the site that replaced it in my life – oh, and it’s better.
• Uncrate – Ok, it’s an American site, but the internet is global right?

My little daydreams aside, now’s the time to mention that Brideshead Revisited is released to cinemas this weekend. Brideshead Revisited is based on the 1945 novel by Evelyn Waugh, set in the years leading up to the Second World War. It was first translated to the screen in the 1981 BBC adaptation starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews. So it’ll be interesting to see what the lastest version has in store – my prediction is that the costumes – at least – will be a visual feast for the eyes (start listening to this awesome podcast to get the reference).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Xql3fDM44]

Here’s a little something I’m working on. I’ve always been intruiged by dreams, where they come from, why we remember certain things, and how they can be encapsulated in an image. So I decided to see what dreams people talked about online. It’s a work in progress and certainly needs some work done on the design, but let me know what you think of the concept.

For the third year running, Aston Martin has been taken the honour of coming top in CoolBrand’s annual list of the coolest brands in the UK, published today. And while you could predict the inclusion of luxury companies and products such as Bang & Olufsen, Ferrari and Dom Perignon, social media giants Facebook, YouTube and the ubiquitious Google have also made the top 20 this year.

There’s no doubting these brands continue to be successful in their own right. But replacing the likes of Prada and Green & Black’s shows that while the expert panel (which includes designer Ben de Lisi as well as Future Laboratory partner Tom Savigar) continues to see the aspriation in “cool”, innovation and changing the way we communicate are making an impact on what brands need to be to gain that kind of mindshare.

As CoolBrands council chairman Stephen Cheliotis points out: “There is one unifying key to all of the brands – they’re all brands that have consistently innovated, refused to stand still and are at the top of their game.”

- First published at Shiny Red

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