Pinterest enables you to upload pictures to a virtual board. So it’s a bit like Facebook without the drama. The site lets you store and share your favourite images on the web.

Sounds simple enough right? It is.

The stats from the U.S.A show Pinterest is the first network to get to 10 million unique visitors than any independent website ever. Even more interesting is that 97% of users are women, and 9 million of its 10.4 million users actually log in through Facebook.

In the UK, there are currently 200,000 users. Highlighted in the recent infographic from visual.ly

We’re loving the possibilities of Pinterest, both for the public and retailers. I don’t think it will be long until we see some stunning conversions from E-Commerce sites, enabling people to discover, share and even convert from this platform. It’s widely reported that Pinterest generates more referral traffic to brands than LinkedIn, Google Plus and YouTube combined.

If a picture says a thousand words, then Pinterest could develop in to something quite special.

Example of a Pinterest search: bikes

At a recent Chartered Institute of Marketing Travel Industry Group (Cimtig) meeting in London, Groupon was dismissed as “appalling” and a way to “trash your brand” by British Airways and Tui Travel.

BA UK and Ireland head of sales Richard Tams said: “The Groupon model is too much in favour of the voucher distributor. The evidence of repeat purchases through Groupon is appalling.”

Tui Travel specialist and activity sector managing director John Wimbleton agreed saying: “The danger with Groupon is that you allow someone to subsume and ultimately trash your brand.

“Every year there are 1,000 new ways for me to give away holidays. I want to raise my margin and increase my relations with my customers, so I’m just not interested.”

Tams added: “The voucher concept is an effective one. But at BA we use our own discount system. We issue a code that benefits a section of our customer database.”

Both were appearing on the panel at Cimtig Question Time, alongside Hugh Taylor, chief executive of hotel asset management company Michels & Taylor; Suki Rapel, marketing director of Cruise.co,uk; and Tom Jenkins, chief executive of the European Tour Operators Association.

Rapel admitted: “I love Groupon.” Taylor argued: “Groupon is about late bookings. Yield management is about advance purchase.”

The overall feedback won’t come as a shock to marketers.

Groupon is all about promotion, selling large volumes at negative margins which can provide big rewards such as PR, increasing traffic and shifting old stock. As far as building long term and profitable relationships with customers, we’re not confident this will work for the travel industry’s big names. It could help provide Pubs and B&B’s with increasing trade in a particuarly competitive market.

Travel promotion from Groupon Getaways

Canalys today released its full, detailed Q4 2011 country-level smart phone shipment estimates to clients, so completing the picture for the year. One notable result was that total annual global shipments of smart phones exceeded those of client PCs (including pads) for the first time.

Vendors shipped 158.5 million smart phones in Q4 2011, up 57% on the 101.2 million units shipped in Q4 2010.

This bumper quarter took total global shipments for the whole of 2011 to 487.7 million units, up 63% on the 299.7 million smart phones shipped throughout 2010. By comparison, the global client PC market grew 15% in 2011 to 414.6 million units, with 274% growth in pad shipments. Pads accounted for 15% of all client PC shipments in 2011.

“In 2011 we saw a fall in demand for netbooks, and slowing demand for notebooks and desktops as a direct result of rising interest in pads,” said Chris Jones, Canalys VP and Principal Analyst. “But pads have had negligible impact on smart phone volumes and markets across the globe have seen persistent and substantial growth through 2011.

Smart phone shipments overtaking those of client PCs should be seen as a significant milestone. In the space of a few years, smart phones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition.

The greater availability of smart phones at lower price points has helped tremendously, but there has been a driving trend of increasing consumer appetite for Internet browsing, content consumption and engaging with apps and services on mobile devices.”

However, Canalys expects to see smart phone market growth slow in 2012 as vendors exercise greater cost control and discipline, and put more focus on profitability.

Notably, even vendors who have focused on conquering the low-end of the market with aggressive pricing, such as Huawei, ZTE and LG, are now placing greater attention on the higher tiers. Flagship models aimed at raising selling prices and improving margins will feature more heavily this year.

Apple’s impressive end to the year resulted in it becoming the leading smart phone and client PC vendor in Q4 2011, with shipments of 37.0 million iPhones, 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs. It also smashed the record for the most smart phones shipped globally by any single vendor in one quarter, beating Nokia’s previous record of 28.3 million shipped in Q4 2010.

Moreover, Apple’s performance meant that it displaced Nokia, for the first time, as the leading smart phone vendor by annual shipments. Apple shipped 93.1 million iPhones in 2011, representing growth of 96% over 2010.

The iPhone 4S benefitted from pent-up demand resulting from the launch coming in October rather than June, but Apple’s overall volume was also buoyed by continued shipments of the now more aggressively priced iPhone 4 and 3GS models.

Samsung also finished 2011 with a flourish. It shipped 35.3 million smart phones in Q4 2011 under its own brand, bringing its total to 91.9 million for the year, compared to just 24.9 million in 2010.

This excludes shipments of rebranded products, such as the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, which Canalys counts under the Google brand. Samsung continued to spend big on marketing activities, and its strong product portfolio – particularly the Android-based Galaxy S II – performed well.

Despite a disappointing set of financial results, Nokia’s smart phone performance in the fourth quarter gave cause for optimism. It shipped 19.6 million smart phones, down 31% from the record high of a year earlier, but up 17% on Q3 2011.

The total was helped by 1.2 million and 0.6 million shipments of its Windows Phone and MeeGo-based products respectively, as well as improved Symbian Belle volumes from competitively priced devices such as the Nokia 500, 700 and 701. Its total smart phone shipments for the year came in at 77.3 million globally.

The agency, launched six years ago, has maintained its steady growth plan, and has just welcomed two new recruits; Rob Green and Dan Marsh.

Creative Director Steven Lawrence said: “We have steadily enhanced the agency over the past year, expanding both the creative and account handling teams, and further to a number of new contracts being awarded to us – most recently the Card Town project from CEWE Color – we’ve needed to develop the agency further.

“Rob joins us as an art director, having built up a great reputation working with creative agencies across the Midlands, while Dan has been welcomed on board as a senior account manager, bringing six years’ industry experience to the role after working with agencies including McCann Erickson and Cogent Elliot.

“Both Rob and Dan are dynamic, enthusiastic and highly-motivated, and will be great additions to the existing LHM team. We’re looking forward to introducing them to our clients and bringing their expertise into the mix,” he said.

LHM has an excellent reputation within the region, working with clients including The Carphone Warehouse, CEWE Color, The Chartered Institute of Marketing and Thomson Reuters, as well as operating its social enterprise business; the Social Media Partnership, which ring-fences fees from community-focused projects to plough back into the area.

Rob Green said: “I was attracted to the LHM role because of the business’s excellent reputation within the Midlands, its diverse client portfolio and its sense of social responsibility. I was impressed with the camaraderie that the team enjoys and the support network in place. It’s a fantastic place to work and I’m really looking forward to being a part of the company’s future.”

Dan said: “I really liked the idea of working at a fast-growing and emerging agency that was very different from the agencies I’ve previously worked with. Expanding my digital experience was a huge appeal, but also working with a much broader range of clients that I could have much more strategic involvement in. It’s exciting being somewhere where you feel you can really help to build something, both with client’s brands and the agency itself.”

Both Rob and Dan are huge Birmingham City FC fans, ensuring office harmony.

L-R Dan Marsh & Rob Green

The winning slogan was Beans Means Heinz. It was developed by Maurice Drake in a London pub in 1967, with a lunch of beer and sandwiches. Drake said: ‘I still find it incredible that over 40 years later, the seemingly timeless ‘Beanz Meanz Heinz’ slogan still continues to have relevance and brand power, still appealing to generations in an ever-changing world.’

The Top 20 slogans:

1. Beanz Meanz Heinz – Heinz [1967]
2. Just Do It – Nike [1987]
3. Does Exactly What It Says On the tin – Ronseal [1994]
4. Make Love Not War – various [1965]
5. Every Little Helps – Tesco [1993]
6. Have a Break. Have a Kit Kat – Kit Kat [1957]
7. Vorsprung Durch Technik – Audi [1982]
8. Think Different – Apple [1997]
9. It is. Are You? – The Independent [1986]
10. It’s Finger Lickin’ Good – KFC [1950s]
11. Say It With Flowers – FTD [1917]
12. Keep Calm and Carry On – HM Gov [1939]
13. It’s The Real Thing – Coca-Cola [1940]
14. You Either Love It Or Hate It – Marmite [1996]
15. Because I’m Worth It – L’Oreal [1971]
16. Snap! Crackle! Pop!- Kellogg’s [1932]
17. Never Knowingly Undersold – John Lewis [1925]
18. Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite – France [1789]
19. Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach – Heineken [1973]
20. No One Likes Us, We Don’t Care – Millwall FC [1970s]

B-Hive is open to all students who are currently in their 2nd, 3rd and final year of study at participating universities and colleges and offers the opportunity to win one of 30 paid placements within a marketing agency. The scheme is also open to 2011 graduates from these same institutions.

Students are provided with a marketing brief, pick a category that’s most appropriate to them and pitch. The best entrants in each discipline are invited to present to the panel of industry experts including LHM, Cogent Elliot and McCann Erickson during a three day event in March 2012.

The chosen students will gain an insight and some key work experience they will need to progress their careers in a design agency.

This support for young creative talent is essential to the future of Birmingham’s booming creative industry. Our Social Enteprise and sister company The Social Media Partnership has been working on providing these kinds of opportunities since 2009, succeeding in over 65 full time employment opportunities to talented young people from backgrounds in organisations across the UK.

For more about the B-Hive initiative, go here: bhive-creative.com

Process has always been one of the most important factors of projects for LHM and its account management team, led by Account Director Liz Hemes.

The new software enables the agency to manage projects from anywhere on the planet with an internet connection. It also adds sophistication to the level of data the team can view, whilst being simple and flexible with scheduling.

The improvements offered through Traffic Live are vast, and include updated to its existing scheduling, planning, file storage and calendar syncing.

Ian Hughes said “The move to Traffic Live coincides with an increase in clients and staff numbers, providing us with the very latest in project management software to manage our workflow. And the ability to access the system from anywhere made this the right choice for the next phase of the agency.

We had employed the original Traffic Sohnar for the past 4 years, but the web had moved on and so had we. We checked out the competition, and chose Traffic Live based on its redesign, service improvements and specification.

Due to the complex nature of web projects, a detailed overview monitoring all the elements with total flexibility gave this system the edge”.

Traffic Live Screenshot

We have absolutely astounding clients working with leading global brands including The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Thomson Reuters and Cewe Color.

You’ll find us an agency with great morale, a talented team of people who take great pride in the work we do.

We are looking for a Social Media Executive to join our social media arm of the agency. Helping to develop and carry out social campaigns, you’ll be working with proposals, idea generation and execution of the ideas.

These may include social media listening projects, content development, viral seeding and conversation management and analytics! You’ll also have to be able to think about social as part of a wider digital or integrated media plan.

The ideal candidate for this role will have some great social media experience from a team focused atmosphere, the ability to support the management teams with numerous projects.

You’d need to really understand social media and how it fits into the digital and integrated environment, and have a real passion for it!

For more information, contact hello@lhmmedia.com

Confidentiality guaranteed

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools your marketing strategy can adopt, and it all comes down to your happy and successful customers championing the service they receive. If you get it right, your pipeline of customers gets larger, your online visibility increases and your sales go through the roof.

Many businesses fall in to the trap of spending all of their efforts in marketing to new customers, whilst forgetting the actual people who drive the business. And this is usually the element of the business that requires the most work.

How can you increase loyalty in your business from current customers? Firstly it doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does require some thought.

A marketing strategy that focuses on loyalty will provide a natural focus on better service, helping to increase satisfaction and remind all teams from the IT department through to the sales department that a plan is in place.

A buy in from all company employees involved in your loyalty campaign is crucial, and you’ll find everyone will up there game, especially if a form of motivation is in place.

It is very easy for companies to launch services without full training being given to staff meaning that the overall effect is watered down and filters out.

You can adopt print based or email newsletters that are personalised to your client base, that keep them informed about your business and potential opportunities for them to save, attend events or even simply share your content.

Content is a great way of enticing new customers to your brand, especially through Social Media networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter. It enables you to reuse quality content in bite size chunks, and provide good value and visibility to both your business and the customer.

Sometimes a simple get together and a coffee goes along way, but in a time of austerity companies are looking to stay in the office more. This surely offers those that get in front of clients, to seek feedback and build the relationships an even bigger chance of success? I certainly think so.

Furthermore, always try to gain your customers opinion of your service. How it can be improved, what they would like for the future and what would make them refer you to their suppliers and customers. This adds even more confidence in your business, but only if the customers actually see a response to their business needs.

The Aldi ad ‘Gin Loving Pensioner’ was very brave for the Aldi brand and agency to run with, but it worked and connected with the public even though questions were asked about the use of alcohol in the piece. We thought it would be great to bring them all together and enjoy in the LHM blog. We think you’ll enjoy them just as much as we did.

1. Aldi Tea: McCann Manchester

2. Nokia Lumia 800: Buzzman

3. Yeo Valley: BBH

4. Müller: TBWA\London

5. WKD: Big Communications

6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: McCann Worldgroup New York