I wasn’t sure what to title our latest blog, so why did I plump for the above? Well we all know how Carlsberg’s famous strapline goes, and as we at Madhouse hosted our first free best practice seminar earlier this month, it was a phrase that I couldn’t help bringing to mind.
Because while there wasn’t a beer in sight, there were loads of Danish pastries (and don’t the Danes just hate to see Carlsberg leave? OK, enough with the tenuous beer gags) along with 20-plus professional marketers eager to hear from our guest speakers. In short, it went rather well.
First up was Paul Fabretti, from social media strategists Gabba. Social media is a constantly evolving landscape, and Paul led a great session that helped the delegates understand why it is so important to have a strategy in place before you engage with your customers. Citing several relevant case studies involving major brands (the good, the bad and the ugly of social media) the potential became clear – with the right direction, social media can add value to almost anyone’s marketing mix.
One of the fundamental shifts in the way we communicate is driven by social media. No longer do we look for the news, but the news finds us – and this is a trend that is being repeated when it comes to the purchasing decisions we make online. Now, more than ever, brands need to truly understand their customers or risk losing them – as Paul illustrated via this short video.
Once Gabba had covered off the broader, strategic elements of the seminar, it was time for our second speaker. Bruce Thomas is Managing Director of Modern English who specialise in creating content, and driving results, through Facebook.
It was interesting to get some expert insight into Facebook, as on a personal level we are all aware of it, but what of its potential for brands? Bruce covered some excellent topics, not only demonstrating how something as simple as the right choice of ‘page’ (personal, fan, community or group) could be the difference between positive results and ending up with egg on your face, but also delving deeper into the site’s potential, and showing delegates how its flexibility on pricing is making it easier for brands to engage with its 400 million-plus users.
There are some really compelling reasons to embrace Facebook as part of your strategy, and Bruce punctuated this with a short film from Socionomics that demonstrates the incredible rise of the brand itself.
As you’d expect, there were questions aplenty at the end of the session – the most common one being ‘when is the next seminar?’. Well, as we were delighted with the attendance we will certainly be running another one. Especially given the positive feedback we received, with the seminar being described by one delegate as “really informative and an excellent initiative from Madhouse – I’m looking forward to other topics in the series.” We asked all the delegates what they wanted to hear about next, and that’s information we’re currently digesting before we start on our second seminar. Having read this piece, you might argue that it should be on the subject of blogging, but whatever we decide, if you don’t want to miss out then get on the mailing list for our Houseproud newsletter!
Details of the next seminar to follow…
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