Corporate Eye

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Archives for May 2011

Balfour Beatty : Building for the Future | FTSE 100 Website Reviews

In these straitened times it is perhaps unsurprising that the construction sector is a little more down on its uppers than usual.  Because of this, Balfour Beatty aren’t actually in the FTSE100.  At present.  They’ve been in and out like a yoyo the last couple of years and are currently out.

However, for the purposes of this post, I’m going to pretend it’s 2009 all over again, and they’re in.

Balfour Beatty’s sustainability web offering falls into three bits: Sustainability on the main site, the current Sustainability report (2010), and the microsite for that report.

Taking the offerings in that order…

[Read more…] about Balfour Beatty : Building for the Future | FTSE 100 Website Reviews

Interview with Stuart Bartram: Catching The Digital Wave


Aviva have had one of the top corporate sites for many years with the team led by Stuart Bartram. He’s recently left Aviva, and we were delighted to have the chance to interview him.

He reflects on how he caught the digital wave, which corporate sites he rates, and offers some key lessons in getting into social media from a corporate perspective.

Do take time to listen. It is a long and discursive interview with some great tips, well worth listening to in its entirety.

I’ve broken the interview down into smaller pieces, so that you can quickly find particular points you’d like to hear about. I’ve also included the whole interview and a transcript.

Part 1: Looking back: junior reporter to digital leader

Key points:

  • Learning lessons from newspapers
    • targeting content for specific audiences
    • building content on a schedule
    • storytelling and simplicity
  • Taking advantage of technology shifts

    • text editing to desktop publishing
    • internal comms: print to intranet
    • external comms: product focus to strategic editorial management

Soundbite:
“We started with a site which was a niche product for PLC stakeholders, and what we have now is the company’s biggest storytelling machine… The majority of the audience now, which is quickly growing, is not your shareholders, or your analysts, or your fund managers, or your city journalists: it’s everyday customers who come into contact with Aviva and want to know more about us”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/stuart-bartram-interview-pt-1.mp3] Length: 10:34
Download: Stuart Bartram interview: part 1

Part 2: What characterises the best sites today?

Key points:

  • role of content in transparency and trust
  • releasing corporate content into the wild
  • connection of trust with social technologies
  • a content strategy that helps elevate the content

Soundbite:
“We did some user experience studio stuff with a fund manager. He was asked “How do you use corporate websites?” … He said “My team, that’s their job. I used to do it. We pore over sites like this because that’s where the information is. And we make judgements about how successful it is, and whether we can get the information, and things like that, which gives us a barometer on how healthy we think the company is”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/stuart-bartram-interview-pt-2.mp3] Length: 20:28
Download: Stuart Bartram interview: part 2

Part 3: The websites that stand out

Key points:

  • significance of the peer group – and eating each others lunch
  • comparison across industries, and in different countries
  • best big companies…
  • …and learning from the little ones

Soundbite:
“Major companies get stricken sometimes by this legacy. They’ve been around a long time…”This is the way we do it round here”… When you look at these new companies, they’re not often hamstrung by this… I am fascinated by the way they would tackle similar things, the agility of flexibility they’ve shown… Those are real rich pickings for learning, education, knowledge”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/stuart-bartram-interview-pt-3.mp3] Length: 7:10
Download: Stuart Bartram interview: part 3

Part 4: Social behaviour, and the need for future planning

Key points:

  • the internet in your hand
  • expectations of the future
  • significance of individual’s choice in communications

Soundbite:
“The real big ticket thing is actually planning about 3, 5, 7, 9 years time. Because my daughter, if she goes into further education, by the time her and her ilk come out into the big wide world of ugly work in their early twenties, say, they are going to be bringing a technological driven level of expectation that’s unbelievable. So they’re going to be saying:

  • “I want to be a customer of yours and I do things like this so what have you got? How can I do it?”
  • Or “I want to be part of the community so I’m interested in these things so how do I….?”
  • Or “I’m going to be working for you so what kind of tools have you got that can help me do my job for you better?”
  • Or finally “I might be a shareholder, so… I don’t want to turn up physically. I don’t ever want to walk in your office but I want to be part of your business and have a connection with you.
  • So what have you got? Oh you haven’t got that. Well perhaps I’ll go over there because they seem to have got it and that fits with me.”

And I think every business should be thinking about this change that’s happening.”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/stuart-bartram-interview-pt-4.mp3] Length: 9:17
Download: Stuart Bartram interview: part 4

Part 5: How Aviva built up experience in using social media

Key points:

  • experimentation and courage
  • getting it right… and wrong
  • understanding the sense of connection and passion

Soundbite:
“We had the opportunity to support a round the world sailor called Dee Caffari … we used what was then called the Aviva Challenge as our laboratory… an opportunity to understand how this thing worked, why people find it interesting, why they engage with it and its implications for more corporate communications through your dot-com.

…The other thing I think is just being brave”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/stuart-bartram-interview-pt-5.mp3] Length: 6:26
Download: Stuart Bartram interview: part 5

Part 6: Communicating with shareholders

Key points:

  • the next step online for retail shareholders
  • webcasts and transparency
  • expanding the appeal of the corporate investor site

Soundbite:
“Retail shareholders are one of the areas that companies can really mine and I think they would like to take part in this as well…The Holy Grail is that someone recommends you to their friend or family. A shareholder might say “I really like this company because they keep me informed, the share price is good, the dividend is good…” – all these other things that are the decision maker – “But actually I really like the way I feel engaged in with the company, communicated to, part of it, opportunity to vote online for the AGM, see the workings of the meeting, do anything really.” And I think that’s a potential growth area”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/stuart-bartram-interview-pt-6.mp3] Length: 5:03
Download: Stuart Bartram interview: part 6

Part 7: Selling the social media strategy

Key points:

  • “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”
  • learning from companies outside the industry
  • increasing time on site…
  • …or making it easier for them to get what they need and leave

Soundbite:
“We started to think about Twitter and in 14 months we’re now just hitting through the 1,000 [followers] mark. And then you look at the make-up, who’s bothering about this? Why would we do it? Well because other people, whether it’s analysts or journalists, are electing to get their news like this. They might have RSS, they might have signed up to our email drop from dot-com. But their behaviours are perhaps changing.”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/stuart-bartram-interview-pt-7.mp3] Length: 9:28
Download: Stuart Bartram interview: part 7

Part 8: Getting into Facebook with a major brand campaign

Key points:

  • raising brand awareness
  • connecting with key influencers…
  • …but enabling everyone else to participate
  • connecting social networks and big business
  • interesting tools that may – or may not – be the next big thing.

Soundbite:
“For a company like Aviva and its 53.4 million customers around the world (quite a sizeable number in the UK), it’s not too much of a stretch to work out that many of them will be on Facebook. So thinking about “Right, are we ready to have, say, an e-commerce motor and household page?”, perhaps Aviva is not, and many insurers might not be ready for that, but thinking about “Well where we should be in three years with this?” If we’re seeing this growth and Facebook are pretty definite they want a billion subscribers within perhaps another two years and given their current rate of progress would you bet against it? No. ”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/stuart-bartram-interview-pt-8.mp3] Length: 11:45
Download: Stuart Bartram interview: part 8

Here’s the whole interview, in case you’d rather listen to it end-to-end; and the transcript, for those who prefer to read.

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/stuart-bartram-interview-full.mp3] Length: 1:20:25
Download: Stuart Bartram interview (whole interview)
Download: Transcript

Many thanks to Stuart for taking the time to talk to Paul.

Who were we speaking to?

Stuart BartramStuart Bartram led the development of Aviva’s online corporate estate for 11 years.

The global insurance company has been considered among the leaders in FTSE 100 digital corporate communications. Its online communications challenge is a complex one, balancing the demands and opportunities of a dynamic consumer brand and an extensive global portfolio of websites.

Over recent years Aviva has embraced social media, personalisation and specific content for mobile devices within its evolving digital strategy.

Reporting to Aviva’s global brand development director, Stuart was at the heart of this strategy with his team also playing a key role in developing the digital presence for Aviva’s first global brand campaign: You Are The Big Picture.

Before joining Aviva Stuart spent 10 years as a journalist.

Married with two daughters, he lives in Norfolk and is a governor at Norwich University College of the Arts.

Stuart is on LinkedIn and Twitter.

WANTED: Environmental management for SMEs

It’s like some kind of spoof yet serious Wild West movie…  The Man With No Name walks into a bar, tips his hat, but it’s not Clint Eastwood but Gene Wilder.  Bizarre, but true.

For many a year, down at the old drinking saloon in Sustainability City the small business community have got together and complained about how there’s no real standard for them to follow.  I mean, sure there’s GRI and AA1000 but you need real resources to be able to do these heavyweight things.

And so they chew the cud and slurp their orange juices, mumbling to one another about the injustice of it all.  Then, one day, the silence is broken by a loud p-touwng of tobacco juice hitting the bottom of a spittoon and a grizzled old chap at the end of the bar stands up and offers his help.

You, ask the assembled SMEs .. and just who are you?

I, he replies thumping his chest proudly, am EMAS .. the Eco Management and Audit Scheme.  I’ve been around since before you lot were born (1995 to be precise) and I can truly help you.  Listen…

And he draws up a chair, orders orange juices all round and explains just what he’s all about.

[Read more…] about WANTED: Environmental management for SMEs

Advertising: Viral Buzz or Brand Identity?

Today’s guest post is from Alan Grainger, discussing the appeal of the viral buzz over the stable brand identity.

Will Marketers Continue To Choose Viral Over Brand Identity?

The spread of viral marketing from simply being an online phenomenon to an accepted form of television advertising seems to have gathered pace this year, with some of the biggest brands choosing to ditch their time honoured identities in favour of spoof adverts.

Both Pizza Hut and Gillette have jumped on the “Compare The Meerkat” bandwagon by breaking with tradition and releasing humorous adverts with the intention of grabbing online interest too.

Both of these companies have some of the most ingrained brand images through their adverts and have created a strong and consistent message through their television presence. This is probably all the more reason for changing their direction so dramatically with these new spoof adverts and it is sure to awaken viewers who normally glaze over the standard generic adverts that they have seen for years.

It seems that whatever new product is being sold by either company, the advert is still the same, and this has been the bedrock of establishing a strong brand message for many years.

Pizza Hut & Gillette

We all know what to expect from a good old Pizza Hut advert. A family is bored and they don’t know what to do, they go to Pizza Hut, cut to a shot of the new product (invariably the same old pizza with a new way of shoving more cheese onto it), cue a shot of the cheese going all stringy and end with the family looking smug.

It’s the same with Gillette who have also been running almost the same advert for years. Enter a ridiculously good looking man (celebrity or otherwise) who doesn’t really look like he even needs a shave, strip him off (obviously), get a shot of him shaving and then cut to an animation of some blades cutting a hair. You then finish with a shot of him looking smug with an impossibly beautiful woman stroking his face.

The continuity of this brand message has certainly been successful for both of these companies for many years, but with every company currently looking to create a new way of standing out from their peers it seems that now is a good time to ditch the time honoured brand message ad and focus on something that will create a buzz.

Viral Buzz

In the case of these two companies it stands a good chance of working too. With such a predictable history of adverts, coming up with something radically new is likely to snap viewers out of their daze and force them to take notice of the ad. It is likely to create a buzz around the company and prompt people online to find out what all the fuss is about if they have missed the ad on TV. In this way it provides a good avenue for online exposure and may even have the effect of turning the campaign “viral”, being passed around, shared and consumed by online viewers.

Long Term Success

While this is likely to achieve a great deal of short term success, don’t bank on it being a long term solution. These companies have worked incredibly hard over the years to establish the right brand image, so you can prepare yourself for more of the same smug face stroking and stringy cheese in the future. Coming up with something funny and quirky is a great way of scoring short term success, but establishing a strong and trustworthy brand is a timely process that takes more than just a few novelty adverts.

Companies spend millions every year in using brand consistent advertising and promotional products to establish their brand identity, so it seems that while viral hits may produce some short term gains, building a strong brand identity is still key to long term success.

Thanks Alan!

Alan Grainger is an in-house B2B web marketer for The Corporate Gifts Company, a leading UK specialist in the business gifts sector. He writes articles exploring the issues faced by the B2B web marketer, giving an ‘in the trenches’ view from an in-house SEO department.

Corporate Eye Summary May 21, 2011

  • How Gender Affects Color Marketing and Branding
    Earlier this week, I wrote a post about an infographic that visually displays a great deal of information about how color affects purchase decisions.  Today, I want to share another infographic, which was created by the same company, KissMetrics. This infographic visually displays color preferences by gender and how the color and gender relationship affects […]


  • How Colors Affect Consumer Purchases – Get the Stats
    I’ve written about color marketing theory and how color affects brands and purchase decisions before on the Corporate Eye blog. It’s a topic that I find fascinating. This week, I stumbled across a great infographic created by KissMetrics last year that puts color marketing theory into perspective based on real world statistics. Everyone loves infographics, […]


  • Corporate Eye Summary May 14, 2011
    The Numbers Behind Social Checkins and Location-Based Mobile Apps Creating branded mobile apps is the hot topic for companies of all sizes, and incorporating social aspects into mobile marketing campaigns is just as hot. It seems like every brand is trying to find out how to engage with consumers who are on the move using […]


  • QR Code Scanning Skyrockets up 4549 Percent in Q1 2011
    Are you using QR codes in your marketing programs yet (see the explanation at the end of this post if you’re not familiar with QR codes)? If new research from Mobio Identity Systems is accurate, then you can probably assume that your customers are scanning QR codes already. The Mobio study reports that QR code […]


What Do Consumers Want When They Scan QR Codes?

Last week, I wrote a post on the Corporate Eye blog about the skyrocketing growth of QR code scanning, and this week, I want to share some more statistics that reveal what consumers want to get when the scan QR codes.

In a survey of smartphone users conducted earlier this year by MGH, 32% of respondents claimed that they have scanned QR codes — a much higher number than previous studies revealed. Furthermore, respondents cited the following reasons why they scan QR codes (via eMarketer):

  1. To get a coupon, discount or deal = 53%
  2. To get additional information = 52%
  3. To enter a sweepstakes = 33%
  4. To sign up to receive more information = 26%
  5. To access a video = 24%
  6. To make a purchase = 23%
  7. To interact with social media properties = 23%
  8. Other = 11%
  9. Don’t know = 2%

But what’s even more interesting in the MGH study is the finding related to what respondents plan to do in the future related to QR codes. 70% of respondents stated that they plan to use a QR code (either again or for the first time) in the future. In terms of future use, respondents cited the following reasons for wanting to scan QR codes in the future:

  1. To secure a coupon, discount, or deal = 87%
  2. To enter a sweepstakes = 64%
  3. To access additional information = 63%
  4. To make a purchase = 60%
  5. To sign up to receive more information = 53%

There is no doubt that QR code usage is growing quickly and brands that offer QR code experiences that add value to consumers’ lives are performing best. Today, offering coupons, discounts, contest entries, and deals through QR codes is a viable marketing option that can deliver positive short-term results. In the future, the desire to make purchases through QR codes will undoubtedly grow.

Your business needs to be looking ahead when it comes to QR codes, because this opportunity will evolve very quickly. Start testing now, so you’re not left behind tomorrow. For inspiration, check out the QR code to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico shown below, which was created by ScanLife and added to the Reuters billboard in New York City’s Times Square last summer following the BP oil spill.

And don’t look at QR codes with blinders on. According to the MGH study, 72% of smartphone user respondents stated that they would be likely to recall an ad with a QR code in it. In other words, QR codes can also positively effect advertising recall. Not bad for a little 2-D barcode.

What do you think? Are you using QR codes to market your brand yet? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.