Social-media is the biggest thing since sliced bread in marketing circles. If the industry gurus are to be believed you need community managers and Facebook fans and you should be tweeting your every move.

However, these sites are great for large numbers, or for retail outlets facing the public, but when it comes to industry specific networks the benefits can seem less advantageous. Hence we’ve recently developed our second industry-specific networking site on behalf of our client, Project Leaders.

Two years ago we designed and built the HR Business Network – a successful site for top-level HR professionals to network and connect with their peers. The site offers detailed profiles, advice sections, discussions, events and of course, messaging. With over 2000 approved members, all senior figures within the HR industry, the site has been a huge success encouraging industry networking.

The project was deemed so good that Project Leaders asked us to replicate the project for the Finance Sector, and we’ve just rolled out the Finance Business Network.

Current social networks don’t fit all business models, so if social networking isn’t working for you, talk to us about creating a social tool that can get you connected to the right people. It’s often better to be the facilitator and align your business with the heart of the discussion than to join an ocean of ‘me-too’ companies.

We recently faced the same conundrum for Forward Swindon when they needed to exhibit at the OGC conference in London. How do we make the stand ‘stand out’ from the usual pop-ups?

Pop-up exhibitions, the standard choice for every exhibitor who needs a professional display. But there are limitations – it’s costly to replace the graphics and let’s be honest, they all start to look the same, creating ‘pop-up-blindness’ – you and your competitors blur into one…

We wanted the display to constantly keep attracting the attention of delegates in between speaker sessions, but we were limited to a conventional pop-up area.

We felt that in order to grab attention the stand had to change during the exhibition so that delegates never became blind to the visuals. Enter 100 displays in 1; our idea was to develop an innovative display created by a frame that fits around 12 individual boxes, each featuring a different image/message on each of their sides. The boxes are interchangeable and easily moved, allowing for the stand to be easily changed in the middle of an exhibition. One moment the whole thing can be green and, in minutes, it can display a different message in purple, or a whole set of messages! There are a huge number of combinations.

The stand we built was also double sided so it could be viewed from the front and back. Added to that the stand is totally eco-friendly and can be produced for a price similar to a standard pop-up plus it folds down and flat-packs away.

The solution provides a new and innovative way to keep your displays fresh, the whole system is sturdy and hard-wearing so it’s ideal for conferences, exhibitions and temporary retail window displays.

For more information contact Natasha or Miranda.

Left: 100-in-1 display: The Forward Swindon OGC stand with the surrounding frame. The frame provides constant branding whilst the message can change throughout the exhibition.

As if running a business and setting up the Revolution isn’t work enough, in the last year we’ve been working alongside the Swindon Strategic Economic Partnership. A group of organisations, from both the private and public sector, working towards a common goal – making Swindon better to do business in.

We work within the marketing group and also the Swindon Business Charter team to try and smooth the way for business in Swindon. If you’re interested in the work the group does visit their website.

Quietly, rather unassumingly, wow creative turned 10 years old on the 4th January.

With the run up to Christmas the wow team had other things to think about and as most of the corporate world didn’t return until the 5th January we hadn’t arranged anything to celebrate.

Over the Christmas break I had a few thoughts about the whole ’10 years old’ thing, what should do to celebrate, if anything, what does this year mean in the great scheme? My team all wanted to do something to announce the anniversary to our clients and prospects. To shout it from the roof tops. I can totally understand that point of view, lots of companies follow that route.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very proud that we made it to a large landmark. And perhaps a year ago I may have been thinking we should really shout about it, press ads, little 10 year badges, PR, the works… But then came Woolworths; 99 years old and it still went bust. I wonder how many of their marketing team were working on next years centenary celebrations?

You see, to me that’s the problem with a lot of marketing today. It’s about telling people things about your company, when surely we should be telling them what you can do for their business – i.e. helping them to be more successful. Being 10 years old doesn’t really help them.

I’m not saying that it isn’t nice to know that a company has some credibility and some experience, but you don’t need to have been doing the same thing for 10 years to be able to be good at delivering good creative and good service to a client.

10 years is no mean feat, and I have started to say thank you to my team who have helped get us here, along with some great suppliers. I will also say a big thank you to our clients for their support, but that’s as far as the 10 year anniversary will go I think. Instead, I’ll concentrate on helping the clients we have fulfill their plans for the future… that’s a much better plan for making sure there’s another 10 years in our tank rather than patting ourselves on the back wallowing in our own pride.

At the weekend, I’ll quietly raise a glass of champagne with my team to Mr Woolworth and the numerous other landmarks in business that have fallen by the wayside, you have been an inspiration along the way. Thank you for the years you gave us, but please excuse me for now I must ensure we focus on our clients.

Well, it’s our favourite time of year, we’ve rubbed heads together and finally come up with a good idea for the Christmas card. It’s been made, stuffed and sent and now we can relax and watch the clients participate!

This year we’re running a re-usable Christmas Card competition, a blank card we sent to you with stickers that you can decorate the card with and then you get to send them back to us! Saves money, saves hassle, saves trees AND the best design could bag an Ipod Nano!

We’re a week in and we’ve already had a 15% uptake, nice one! In fact, we’re getting worried about having to judge! The entries to date are visible on our website.

If you want to participate – we’ve run out of stickers but we can send you the base cards for you to decorate – you just need to add your own bit of sparkle!