07.10.09
Jack Wills, Stateside
Jack Wills is off in the States this week, trying to crack America. Jealous much. But seeing as this is basically a marriage of two of my favourite things in the world, how cool is the image below that popped up on Facebook this morning?
Jack Wills in NYC = perfection.
06.18.09
Why we heart Jack Wills even more than before
I blog, Tweet and share on Facebook most of the cool stuff I come across on a daily basis. According to Rupert Murdoch, this makes me a ‘digital native’, but whatever label you want to apply, today it totally paid off.
As a long-term fan of the Jack Wills brand, my support of the British fashion label has, over the years, transcended both online and offline platforms – along with a lot of my closest friends. We shop with Jack, we party with Jack, and when we do, we tell people about it.
Take the annual Varsity Polo tournament at Windsor (JW’s sole, perfectly conceived sponsorship property): we’ll not only attend the event, but with a desire to soak up every last drop of JW goodness that can be squeezed from the day, we’ll also make sure we hit the renowned pre- and post- parties. Each of these supporting social events is a prime opportunities for JW product sampling, mobile shop units and giveaways – all wrapped up in a perfectly ‘fabulously British’ parcel of fun that completely encapsulates the brand’s personality.
But it doesn’t end there. Like us, each attendee (usually residing firmly within the 16-24 age bracket and thus 100% digitally native) will tweet, blog, share links, upload photos and update statuses continuously in the run up to and aftermath of each fully branded event – therefore spreading the word to their like-minded friends and colleagues, all of whom sit slap bang in the middle of the JW target demographic. They in turn will add Jack as a friend on Facebook, become a fan of the JW page and follow their every update on Twitter… and so it goes on.
However, little did I know until yesterday just how savvy the JW marketing team could be. Evidently all too aware of their mini ready-made army of (free) brand advocates online, they have decided to recognise and reward those who share the JW love.
Having over 2,000 followers on Twitter, they follow themselves only 21 (to date) – including, as of yesterday, me. This in itself (for an avid brand fan) is pretty cool in the Twitter-verse as it’s a stamp of approval from a brand you love – especially if you’re one of few. But, hey presto, at 8am this morning a special delivery package arrived at my door… a surprise thank you gift from the JW team no less. Complete with a handwritten note (-’Just to say thanks for being a fan! Keep the word up… Love Jack x’-), I had been sent a whole collection of JW goodies for doing no more than shouting about the things I love.
What is so clever about this smart move from them, is that not only I am now pretty much a fan for life (or at least, the foreseeable future), but they know that I will make sure everyone knows about it. For them, a minimal outlay has cemented the loyalty of one particularly vociferous fan, knowing that I would return the favour ten-fold in brand advocacy for them.
Naturally I did: by 9am I had updated my Facebook status and Twitter feed accordingly. By 10am I had three messages from other JW fans asking how I managed to get presents from Jack. And now I’ve posted this blog post as well. Offline, I’ve also told pretty much everyone I know.
For Jack Wills, engaging with their audience using the platforms that will give them the biggest share of voice is absolutely key. But what did surprise me is how they strive to show their fans how much they are valued - turning their online advocacy into currency for tangible, offline rewards. Cute, surprising recognition for those who love them best will, in the long run, grow their business exponentially.
No Jack, thank YOU.
03.29.09
Britney’s Trouble (For the Record)
Good old Facebook link sharing – not sure I’d have ever come across this had it not appeared in my mini feed this evening. A Britney track that I haven’t heard? A video I haven’t seen?! Surely not! But yes…
For her revealing documentary broadcast in the UK on Sky One earlier this year to much press attention, the track Trouble was recorded and a video montage of clips from the doc produced to boot. The track itself is awesome, great beat, infectious lyrics and a black and white video revealing just a little bit of everything that Britney is about – just as in the show.
Click on the screenshot above to view or here (damn WordPress for no longer allowing me to embed the full code directly into posts… what is up with that?). But enjoy.
We love you Brit.
03.09.09
The REAL top 100 books – how many have you read?
A little online meme currently doing the Facebook rounds is that, of the Top 100 books (as identified by the BBC in 2003), the BBC reckons that the average adult has only read 6.
This I felt was worthy of a blog for several reasons. Firstly, the list itself should be viewed by everyone, as all those who know me are aware of my enthusiasm for great works of English Literature (well, those and Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series).
But secondly, when I came to post ‘the list’ here, I learnt that the listcurrently being promulgated by numerous Twitterers and Facebook users is not in fact the list that the BBC published6 years ago. Nor, to any end that I can discern online, did the Beeb ever make the claim that only 6 titles have been read by the ’average adult’.
So here we have a classic example of an Internet meme- whereby content is spread instantly, virally and often inaccurately throughout the blogosphere, accelerated by the immediacy of the social media space. Thus, in the space of a week, the BBC’s actuallist has been replaced by the now prolific alternative version flooding Facebook walls and inboxes around the globe. A small-scale insight into how the blogosphere can re-write history faster than we can correct it, or remember it.
That said, both the amended list (duplications aside) and the original list (below) are both worth perusing to asses your own accomplishments. Certain Facebook buddies of mine have taken to marking those read with an X and forwarding their total to friends…
(OK, so I make it 42 from the list below – so far).
See how you fair…
1. [ ] – The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. [ ] – Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. [ ] – His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. [ ] – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. [ ] – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. [ ] – To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. [ ] – Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. [ ] – Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. [ ] – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. [ ] – Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. [ ] – Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. [ ] – Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. [ ] – Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. [ ] – Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. [ ] – The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. [ ] – The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. [ ] – Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. [ ] – Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. [ ] – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. [ ] – War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. [ ] – Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. [ ] – Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. [ ] – Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. [ ] – Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. [ ] – The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. [ ] – Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. [ ] – Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. [ ] – A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. [ ] – The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. [ ] – Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. [ ] – The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. [ ] – One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. [ ] – The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. [ ] – David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. [ ] – Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. [ ] – Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. [ ] – A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. [ ] – Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. [ ] – Dune, Frank Herbert
40. [ ] – Emma, Jane Austen
41. [ ] – Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. [ ] – Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. [ ] – The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. [ ] – The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. [ ] – Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. [ ] – Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. [ ] – A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. [ ] – Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. [ ] – Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. [ ] – The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. [ ] – The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. [ ] – Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. [ ] – The Stand, Stephen King
54. [ ] – Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. [ ] – A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. [ ] – The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. [ ] – Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. [ ] – Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. [ ] – Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. [ ] – Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. [ ] – Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. [ ] – Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. [ ] – A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. [ ] – The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. [ ] – Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. [ ] – The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. [ ] – The Magus, John Fowles
68. [ ] – Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. [ ] – Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. [ ] – Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. [ ] – Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. [ ] – The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. [ ] – Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. [ ] – Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. [ ] – Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. [ ] – The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. [ ] – The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. [ ] – Ulysses, James Joyce
79. [ ] – Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. [ ] – Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. [ ] – The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. [ ] – I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. [ ] – Holes, Louis Sachar
84. [ ] – Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. [ ] – The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. [ ] – Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. [ ] – Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. [ ] – Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. [ ] – Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. [ ] – On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. [ ] – The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. [ ] – The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. [ ] – The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. [ ] – The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. [ ] – Katherine, Anya Seton
96. [ ] – Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. [ ] – Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. [ ] – Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. [ ] – The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100.[ ] – Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
