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LBi Acquires Social Media and Marketing Agency Mr Youth

Posted by Calvin Lau November 15th, 2011

Largest Independent Global Marketing and Technology Agency Taps Mr Youth to Strengthen Social Media, Experiential and Word of Mouth Marketing Offering

Amsterdam / New York: LBi International N.V. (NYSE Euronext: LBI), thelargest independent global marketing and technology agency with operations in 16 countries, today announced that it has acquired leading social media and marketing agency Mr Youth in the US. The acquisition perfectly fits LBi’s philosophy of blending marketing and technology services in-house.

Mr Youth’s integration into LBi adds breadth and depth to the agency’s already significant social media offering, capabilities made more urgent through several significant client wins this year. Including a performance-contingent pay-out structure, the transaction is valued between $40-50 million and will immediately contribute positively to LBi’s earnings per share.

Founded in 2002 by Matt Britton, New York-based Mr Youth assists clients in driving engagement with the new generation of consumers and creating lasting brand advocacy through non-traditional channels including social media, experiential, and word of mouth marketing. The agency specializes increating interactive brand experiences. It connects consumers through shared passions and interests, empowers them and encourages peer-to-peer recommendations with friends, families and others across the social graph.

Over the years, Mr Youth saw rapid expansion of its business and has consistently grown greater than 20 per cent year on year over the past three years, with 2011 annual sales expected to come in at approximately $25 million. The agency was recently ranked 7th among Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in Advertising and Marketing” in the world.

Contacts
Luke Taylor, CEO, LBi International N.V.
+44 20 7063 6465, luke.taylor@LBi.com

Huub Wezenberg, CFO, LBi International N.V.
+31 20 460 4500, huub.wezenberg@LBi.com

Christine O’Donnell, Director of Communications, LBi US
+1 212 274 0470, christine.odonnell@LBi.com

Download the complete press release here: LBi acquires Mr Youth

Tags: aquisition, brand advocacy, experiential, mr youth, Social Media, word of mouth, youth marketing

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Polar Bears and Dual Screening

Posted by Ed Beard October 28th, 2011

On 9pm Wednesday night David Attenborough was back on our screens telling us about the frozen parts of our planet.

I didn’t watch it but when I hopped onto twitter on thursday morning there was still plenty of chat aligned to #frozenplanet.

Except it didn’t really look like chat.

It looked like a bunch of statements.  Now this could be because of the nature of Frozen Planet.  It could be because of the nature of its audience.  Or it could just be the way things are.  To get a fuller picture one would obviously need to look at a much wider range of programme types.  It’s a reasonable guess to expect things may be different for X Factor.

Anyway, speculation only gets you so far.  So we delved into the data to see what actually happens around Frozen Planet. In particular I wanted to know if the ‘shape’ of conversations changed in the build up to the show, during it and after.

Or put another way does our social-ness differ when there is a live event to dual screen to when there isn’t.

And sure enough it does.



Volume of course changes -and the rate of posting is of course highest during the show itself.  Again – for X Factor you’d expect much higher volumes.

But would you expect different shapes?  Only more research can tell us that.

In the case of Frozen Planet the shape does before, during and after the show.

BEFORE – the excitement of anticipation is worth conversing about.

The run up to the show is when people are at their most conversational. And it’s also when they retweet the most. Consequently, or causally, it’s when people are least likely to make original statements.

DURING -I’m enjoying this and I simply want to tell people about it.

People are at their least ‘social’ during the show. People are then truly in broadcast mode. The fact that retweets are at their lowest during this period may also suggest people aren’t looking that much at end what others are saying.

AFTER -in your own words, I was there.

And then after. I would have guessed that this is when conversations were at their highest. But it’s when they are at their lowest. And it’s also when retweets are at their highest. Post event it appears that many simply want to affirm they were part of the experience and they are happy to use other peoples content to do so.

As I’ve already mentioned this data refers to just one programme, and one specific type of programme at that.  We’re only just beginning to look into this.  With time we’ll be able to tell what is common to dual screening in terms of social-ness and how different genres and audiences interact around ‘social objects’.

And insight how the before, during and after nature of ‘social-ness’ differs.  Because that way we really will be able to be part of the conversation.  Or statement.  Or retweet.

Because face it. There is more to life than simply providing a hashtag.

Thanks to Jennifer Clapton, Darcie Tanner and Sinead Doyle for their help.

Tags: Data, dual screen, dual screening, Frozen Planet, live events, Retweet, Social Media, twitter

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LBi sweeps board at Digital Impact Awards and is named Agency of the Year 2011

Posted by Calvin Lau October 21st, 2011

London: LBi, the global marketing and technology agency, last night picked up six awards including the inaugural Agency of The Year Award, as the industry turned out in force at the Digital Impact Awards ceremony, held at the The Grange St Pauls Hotel, London.

Judged by a panel of leading digital experts and brand marketers, the Digital Impact Awards, in conjunction with Communicate Magazine, recognise, benchmark and celebrate excellence in digital stakeholder communications LBi’s winning awards include gold for ‘Best use of digital – utilities’ for the energy giant E.on, Silver for ‘Best community development’  for Hendrick’s Gin and ‘Best Intranet’  for National Grid.

LBi also took bronze in the ‘Best use of existing social media platforms/sites’ category for its Brawling Billboard charity campaign, while media arm bigmouthmedia claimed the gold for ‘Best SEO for corporate communications’, for its successful campaign with luxury resort and hotel operator Jumierah.

Anil Pillai, CEO of LBi UK said: “It’s always fantastic to see the great digital work our industry produces recognised at the highest level. For LBi to win awards across the board is testament to the passion, dedication and creativity of our staff, in delivering outstanding work that builds value for our clients”

Lyndsay Menzies, CMO, LBi added: “It is a fantastic achievement demonstrating the hard work that goes on behind the scenes by all involved in the company. We are constantly striving to be the best in this industry and will continue to work hard in creating the most innovative, effective and creative campaigns for our clients in order to stay ahead of the curve.”

Tags: award-winning work, Awards, corporate communications, digital impact awards, digital stakeholder communications, Social Media

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Weekly Social Media Update

Posted by Jamie Pither October 4th, 2011

Own a Colour

UNICEF have recently partnered with Dulux to create a brilliant worldwide initiative called Own a Colour. The idea is simple, choose a colour from a palette of 16.7 million, name your colour giving a reason why the colour is special to you and donate £1 or more in the process. The campaign aims to raise at least £16.7 million (the number of colours the average smartphone, computer or tablet can display) with the money going directly to help transform children’s lives. It’s creating a lot of conversation on social networks and has celebrity backing from the likes of Roger Moore. Check out the Twitter account and the hashtag #ownacolour.

New Facebook Insight metrics

After a bombardment of changes two weeks ago at its f8 conference Facebook have added an update to Facebook Insights – the analytics dashboard used for Fan Pages. The update includes new metrics ‘Friends of Fans’, which shows how many people can be reached through a post, and ‘People Talking About This’, which allows you to see any conversions about your brand beyond your immediate fans.

The new feature is being slowly rolled out across the world, so keep an eye on your Insights page. The added metrics will help page growth for brands as it will allow them to optimise their content for targeting an audience outside their current fan base – a welcome addition for pages of all sizes.

Pinterest

If you’re looking to try out the latest sharing sensation then head on over to Pinterest – a virtual pinboard that allows you to organise and share all the visual things you find on the web. Pinterest is an easy way for users to visually bookmark items they come across online and share their findings with people who have similar interests. By installing the “Pin It” button in your browser you are able to grab an image from any website and add it to one of your pinboards.

The site itself has a user-friendly interface and sharing to your social networks is straight forward too. Unfortunately at the moment it’s an invite only affair so there’s a waiting list, but we’re confident that they’ll make it open to all very soon.

Tags: Dulux, Facebook, Insights, Own a Colour, Pinterest, Social Media, UNICEF

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