Fred Roed

Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid in your Social Media Strategy Posted in Digital Strategy, Social Media, Concocted by Fred Roed October 8, 2009 8 comments

1. Generalisation
Number one on the list, and possibly the most pervasive mistake of all. Too many companies out there have pointless blogs, boring Twitter streams or aimless Facebook pages. Try this rather: Have a point, and focus on one thing. For example, presentation and events gurus Missing Link, use their Twitter stream to educate followers on how to make better presentations.

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4 steps to building your company brand using Twitter Posted in Branding Online, Digital Strategy, Social Media, Twitter, Concocted by Fred Roed September 27, 2009

Twitter is becoming such a huge part of the communications environment (almost 20m Twitter users projected by the end of 2010) that The Heavy Chef Project’s mother company, World Wide Creative, is getting referrals now for a “Twitter strategy”. This is a big deal, since we’re seeing people use Twitter in ways that even the founders are surprised by. Here are some quick tips for you to get started on building your brand using Twitter:

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Heavy Chef October (Johannesburg): Raising Capital for New Media Start-ups Posted in Digital Strategy, Heavy Chef News, Concocted by Fred Roed September 24, 2009

October 5th sees a repeat of an earlier Session held in Cape Town featuring Vinny Lingham, CEO and Founder of Yola.com. The Session will be held at Deloitte’s offices in Woodmead, and will be restricted to 50 people. The Session starts at 6 for 6:30pm and will end at 8:30pm.

As usual the drinks will be provided by Perdeberg, Corona and Carlsberg. We are expecting a full house (there are only a handful of spare seats since the invitation was sent out yesterday), so get in quick if you’re interested in attending. Click here to reserve your place.

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New website design for World Wide Creative Posted in Digital Strategy, Heavy Chef News, Website Design, Website Usability, Concocted by Fred Roed September 8, 2009

The Heavy Chef Project, as many of you know, is an initiative by our parent company, World Wide Creative. This forum is an extension of all the stuff we learn working with our clients in Europe and Africa on digital marketing campaigns. So, we’re pretty excited about our new presence that began with the redesign of the Heavy Chef site a few weeks ago, and now continued with the launch of a fresh new look for the WWC site.

There were three reasons for the design:

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How I use Twitter for business Posted in Digital Strategy, Social Media, Twitter, Concocted by Fred Roed September 7, 2009 2 comments

Since registering my Twitter account around a year ago (I’m a casually late adopter), I’ve watched the steep rise of this humble little social networking tool with interest. At first I did not know what all the fuss was about, but then I quickly realised Twitter actually held some importance other than tweeting about a colleague who left only two squares of toilet roll or whether I think Daniel Craig makes a crap Bond or not. So, for the sake of crystallising my thinking on the matter, here are some reasons why I’m a fan for business usage of Twitter:

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Corporates increase spending in Social Media Posted in Branding Online, Digital Strategy, Social Media, Concocted by Fred Roed September 3, 2009

US research company, McKinsey released a report today revealing the results of a survey on social media adoption for corporate marketing strategy. It’s well worth a read, with some healthy support coming out in company’s marketing strategies for Web 2.0. adoption in the corporate environment.

This is one that the strategists and account managers will enjoy, with multiple sound bites to use in their client presentations.

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A thirst-quenching vitamin-rich success story: glaceau vitaminwater Posted in Digital Strategy, Concocted by Fred Roed August 21, 2009

Forgive us if this comes across as a little “advertisey”, but believe me this is a sincere story. Recently we’ve been sponsored by glacéau vitaminwater for the Heavy Chef Sessions we run each month. So, intrigued by this relatively new brand that’s now EVERYWHERE, I scratched below the surface for some tasty tidbits. A while back, Thurlow from thewinwingroup related to me the story of a guy called J. Darius Bikoff, who started a small bottled water company in 1996 after eating a vitamin C wafer on the way to a yoga class.

Amidst serious personal difficulties, Bikoff managed to get the company up and running, and within 5 years the company was the company’s drinks were sold in over 4,000 retail stores in the New York area.

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The first Heavy Chef Course ends today Posted in Heavy Chef News, Website Design, Website Usability, Concocted by Fred Roed August 14, 2009

Phew, what a week!

After months of planning leading to the last three days of exhilarating learning, we’re pretty pleased with the results. After stellar feedback on the various modules, we’re looking at a winner here.

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August 2009 Session: “Youth Marketing – Where Are We and What Has Worked Before” Posted in Digital Strategy, Heavy Chef News, Concocted by Fred Roed August 13, 2009

We’re particularly excited about this month’s Heavy Chef Session focusing on Youth Marketing.

The youth market has always been a tough nut to crack. Fickle. Trend conscious. Unpredictable. Notoriously outspoken. So, how can we reach ‘em?

We’ve asked some leaders in the field of Youth Marketing to come and share some insights with us.

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The first Heavy Chef “Creating Profitable Websites” Course starts Posted in Heavy Chef News, Website Design, Website Usability, Concocted by Fred Roed August 12, 2009 2 comments

Today is a big day for The Heavy Chef Project in that it marks the first day of the first ever digital marketing course run by the Heavy Chef’s in our digital kitchen. With a small gathering of 10 delegates, we began bright and breezy this morning with an ice-breaker. This entailed Mike giving the course attendants some ingredients (ingredients, heavy chef course… geddit?) that they needed to taste blind-folded and identify.

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Heavy Chef logo Posted in Heavy Chef News, Website Design, Concocted by Fred Roed August 1, 2009 1 comment

This is the official Heavy Chef logo.

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Fresh new design for The Heavy Chef Project website Posted in Heavy Chef News, Website Design, Website Usability, Concocted by Fred Roed July 27, 2009 4 comments

As most of you know, The Heavy Chef Project has revolved around the monthly sessions we hold. These sessions have gradually picked up steam, with the amount of people registering for our newsletter increasing week on week. All this interest has called for a rethink of our web design, with our creative team working overtime on creating this fresh new look that you see before you. Read Further
Viral meme for KFC: featuring many, many bones… Posted in Branding Online, Online Advertising, Concocted by Fred Roed July 22, 2009 2 comments

This has gone viral in seconds.

Not sure whether it’s intentional, but I’d love to know the official stance from KFC. These pics are being sent via email, with the subject ‘When you’re feeling bored at KFC’ to just about everybody today, and it’s going round the world at a brisk pace. Read Further
Sheer class design: ‘Lochness’ logo. Posted in Branding Online, Online Advertising, Concocted by Fred Roed July 20, 2009

lochness-logo

This is just too cool. I saw this on Logo Faves (one of my favourite RSS feeds) and was gobsmacked by how spot on this design is. It’s always the simple stuff that kills. Love your work Mr Designer. Read Further
The Apple Website in 1983 Posted in Website Design, Concocted by Fred Roed July 20, 2009

apple

The sales team at World Wide Creative have probably used the Apple website in a few of our client pitches as an inspiration piece for a combination of great design and usability. Nice, squeeky clean and conversion-focused. So, check out this classic piece of reinvention from a guy called Dave Lawrence that’s doing the interweb rounds right about now… Read Further
5 Gold Lions in Cannes Posted in Digital Strategy, Online Advertising, Concocted by Fred Roed July 20, 2009

This viral video is a nice take on the marketing industry’s preoccupation with awards. Created by European Digital Agency Boondoggle, it’s doing the rounds with a simple, yet cutting concept. Nice work. Read Further
The Heavy Chef “Creating Profitable Websites” Course running in August Posted in Heavy Chef News, Website Design, Website Usability, Concocted by Fred Roed July 14, 2009

heavy chef

The World Wide Creative studio is buzzing with a trifecta of announcements. The first, and most significant, being the inaugural Heavy Chef “Creating Profitable Websites” Course running from the 12 – 14 August in Cape Town. We are also finalising a Johannesburg Course, which will be announced in an upcoming Heavy Chef newsletter. Read Further
New faces, new clients, new taste experiences. Posted in Heavy Chef News, Concocted by Fred Roed July 8, 2009

The guys in the studio got a welcome surprise this morning when I came through to the studio to announce the arrival of a new client, The Hall Collection. Debbie Hall, founder of this uber-luxury linen, custom beds and bedding importer, has a skill for baking the most unbelievably tasty cakes.

Debbie sent a tray of the cakes back with me to feed the masses in the studio, and this was the result on the balcony upstairs… Read Further
The Fabulous Great Amazing 2010 Soccer Hooligan Show Posted in Digital Strategy, Online Advertising, Concocted by Fred Roed July 7, 2009

…or something like that. I take licence with the name since these palookas have not come up with their own yet. Jason Bagley, founder of Bean Bag Media (and part consultant for World Wide Creative) and our very own MD Mike Perk, have collaborated for a weekly online soccer show. Read Further
Heavy Chef Session: FoxP2 brings the house down Posted in Heavy Chef News, Online Advertising, Videos, Concocted by Fred Roed July 2, 2009 1 comment

Last night, Justin Gomes, Creative Director and co-founder of Cape Town advertising agency FoxP2 presented a talk entitled “Why Wookies Don’t Wear Pants: A Study Of Creativity And Its Power To Transform Business“.

Justin took the audience through the case study of George Lucas and Star Wars, and how hard it was to convince the movie execs to approve a concept that was well and truly off the charts creatively. Read Further
The best banner advert ever… Posted in Branding Online, Online Advertising, Concocted by Fred Roed June 30, 2009

Shaun (World Wide Creative’s Lead Programmer) sent this banner advert to me (it’s a banner ad for Pringles). It’s a great example of how to do banner advertising right, and has won some nice awards for its effort. Nice and simple, with a strong idea behind it. No flashy animation, no irritating pop-ups – just an engaging dialogue to get you clicking. Read Further
Heavy Chef Session: Advertising agency FoxP2 presents a talk on Creativity And Its Power To Transform Business Posted in Heavy Chef News, Concocted by Fred Roed June 25, 2009 4 comments

“Why Wookiees Don’t Wear Pants”

- A Study Of Creativity And Its Power To Transform Business

In 2005 a new kid arrived on the South African advertising block. Read Further
Business Plans – do they matter? Posted in Digital Strategy, Concocted by Fred Roed June 8, 2009

I wrote a post on our sister blog, Ideate, over lunch with a 7 point list to ‘create your perfect business plan‘.

This is particularly relevant, I think, to online start ups, since most are started without much fore-thought or planning. This can sometimes be an advantage, especially if you read Richard Branson, but in most cases, is not such a good idea. Read Further
Yoga Australia logo Posted in Branding Online, Online Advertising, Concocted by Fred Roed June 3, 2009 2 comments

ozlogo

Genius.
Reflecting on work Posted in Heavy Chef News, Concocted by Fred Roed June 1, 2009 3 comments

This is Rudolf, a junior designer at World Wide Creative. Read Further