They approached eBrands to build them an online presence that would not only serve as their main website, but would also feature a blog, a secure e-commerce area and social media integration.

The brief was to create a clean, consistent and polished on-brand design that could be maintained throughout the site (including the blog and online store) while including a lot of small elements to enable the client to yield maximum functionality from the site. These included social media buttons and e-commerce labels. The site also had to be SEO-friendly, use a content management system and be easy to use for their target audience (mature women).

The client needed the flexibility to update content anytime, anywhere. The site was built so the client can use the CMS to add new products to online store, update all areas of the site content, and modify the meta information of the site for SEO.
We also worked with the client to develop their SEO strategy; using our strategic framework – Content Search Social – to guide them with their content generation, search engine optimisation and social media engagement.

Within two weeks of launching the site the client reported that their site was coming up on the first page of search engine results when using only their nominated key words.

I’ve included at 2 minute trailer of the presentation here. The presentation is available in full as a serialisation for online viewing; and we’ll be releasing it in three parts over the coming three weeks.

A big thank you to the staff at Allens Arthur Robinson, particularly Phoebe and Dan who made us very welcome.

You can view a short version of the end result below; but before you get there, I encourage you to read the following questions answered by Ed Shuttleworth – a founder of SeeBeyondBorders. Ed’s thoughts about Cambodia also resonate with our Creative Director Mark Aitken, who has twice visited Cambodia as part of charitable efforts (with another organisation). There are many ways to contribute and I hope that this blog post might inspire someone to become involved, which you can do by visiting the SeeBeyondBorders web site to find out more.

What is See Beyond Borders?

Founded in 2009 in Australia, SeeBeyondBorders is a not-for-profit social enterprise helping children in Cambodia by improving teaching and learning.  Our vision is to empower poor communities by improving the quality of education and access to schools.  We run three programmes – Teach the Teachers, Better Schools and Getting to School.

What issues drive the people involved in the organisation?

The underlying issue that drive us is the level of inequality so plainly in view which we cannot simply walk away from.  What to do about it is an extraordinarily difficult question, but one clear way to have an impact is through education, which is so manifestly woeful in Cambodia.  This of itself is complex and the choices we have are hard – we cannot solve everything and need to focus our efforts.  How to make our contribution most effectively and how to involve others are the immediate issues that most concern us.

What success have you achieved so far?

We have developed a teach the teacher programme that now runs in 50 schools with workshops and resources having now been provided to over 300 teachers.  We have had over 50 Australians, many of them teachers, come on programmes in Cambodia and another 30 are coming in the next 2 months.  We are registered as an accredited provider of professional development for Australian teachers through the NSW Institute of Teachers.  We have funded the construction of 2 new schools and 2 new school buildings, renovated 7 mini schools, built  toilet blocks and wells and supported 268 families in various aspects of getting their children to school.  We have two staff and have signed agreements with three partners in Cambodia.

How can people help?

We would particularly like people to come with us to see the situation in Cambodia and what can be done about it, for themselves, whether they be teachers or non-teachers.  However, we recognise that is not always possible and so there are many skills we lack and would welcome support with, in our office in Australia.  We would appreciate getting some of your time.  More than that, things don’t get done without money and while money goes a long way in Cambodia we need people to help raise it and to give it to our programmes.  So individuals can sponsor us through events like the City to Surf or develop new sponsorships and fundraisers.  Businesses can get behind what we are doing through their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.  Donations are essential and money enables us to run and include more people onto our programmes.

What are you hoping for with the production of the video?

We hope this video sparks a connection with people.  We want to send a simple message that Cambodia needs our support.  The problems are certainly quite complex, but a small amount of help makes a huge difference and forming a personal connection can be hugely rewarding.  We want to show that being able to do something meaningful is uplifting and empowering for all.

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On behalf of eBrands, I’d like to thank Ed and his team for the opportunity to do this, and for their work. Internally, well done Richard Pender-Brookes and Mark MacWhite. Please give the quick video a watch.

Also had a chance to look around the streets of Mackay. I did not realise that the area had so much beautiful old architecture.

To have a look a some of mackay’s old architecture you can download this pdf from Mackay Regional Council.

Mackay Heritage Walk Pdf

Ausfilm dedicates itself to communicating the potential of Australia to the international film making community. Promoting and running a schedule of offline events, exhibitions in a range of companies, and with a physical presence in Los Angeles, Ausfilm has broadened its communication capabilities by appointing eBrands as their digital agency. The brief is simple, ‘engaging the international film community’, and the strategy is being developed utilising eBrands digital communication practice, Content, Search, Social.

“We were very pleased to select eBrands as a partner for our digital engagement strategy” says Debra Richards (Ausfilm CEO). Our mission to keep the film industry informed about what Australia has to offer, means that we need to be prepared to engage our audience on their terms. By taking this step, we will have the tools to reach our stakeholders digitally through the web site, search engine optimisation and social media participation.”

eBrands Strategy Director Marc Iannacone, is excited about Ausfilm coming on board. “Ausfilm is the voice of the Australian film industry to the global film making community. The opportunity to work with a client like this unites my own teams’ passion for film with the privilege of being able to assist an industry which means so much to Australia’s global identity. It’s a great challenge and one we are proud to be a part of.”

Ausfilm will be developing a range of new content initiatives centred around the website www.ausfilm.com.au – designed to stimulate conversation and make stakeholders increasingly aware of the production resources Australia has to offer. The strategy includes extensive social media participation, and is already starting to garner great results.

About Ausfilm

Ausfilm connects the international film community to Australia’s incentives, facilities and talent.

Ausfilm markets the Australia’s Screen Production Incentive Scheme which comprises the Location, PDV (post, digital and visual effects) and Producer Offsets. Ausfilm is a partnership organisation between private industry and government. It comprises Australia’s Federal, State and Territory Governments and 30 private-sector companies.

Ausfilm has offices in Los Angeles and Sydney.

If you are interested in filming your project in Australia, developing partnerships with Australian talent or completing post-production in Australia, Ausfilm should be your first port of call. The Ausfilm team can advise you on next steps or steer your enquiry as appropriate.

About eBrands

eBrands is a brand design and digital enablement agency, based at Fox Studios, Sydney, and in New York.

eBrands specialise in brand design and digital enablement; taking well designed brands through the digital journey to stakeholder engagement. eBrands has pioneered Content Search Social, a digital brand management process that allows the brand to be measured for performance and to track the value of a brand’s equity.

eBrands clients include GWF, Colgate-Palmolive, University of Sydney and Gloucester Coal. eBrands Director Marc Iannacone can be contacted for more comment at +61 2 9383 4524.

For everyone coming here for the first time, we’ve pulled together a video below to talk about the design approach we took with the web site. One of the key things you’ll notice as you look around, is that the site has been built predominantly as a blog. This gives visitors the ability to comment on over 90% of the material, to ask questions or to simply like content as you see fit.

We have further showcases of special projects available in our Portfolio section, and we’ll be sharing opinion and experimental work in the Discussion area.

Thanks for visiting!

Social media means many different things to many different people; people will take the opportunity to either point out good things that have happened in their lives, in the lives of their friends, or wise decisions that they have made…while others embrace it as an opportunity to have fun, which can range from pure escapism or the celebration of everyday mediocrity. The common denominator that keeps it all together, is that the only reward for doing this is that what they say or publish is noticed. We hope that our status updates, photographs, links and likes will be “read”. Nobody, however cool they might be, goes to the effort of publishing anything without the expectation of it being viewed.

Whatever we portray, we know it will be viewed, and we know it will influence how we will be perceived. In the same way that people create and live up to (or not) an image of themselves, there is an easy to understand metaphor for brands.

Our online reputation creates a set of credentials. Social media technology represents this in a couple of ways, and various companies have devised toolsets for managing credentials, typically called “online reputation management”. Yes organisations care about what people think about them, but it is the insight that these tools can generate that can actually help companies work to improve their brand and reputation. Managing company relevance is a vital component of social media engagement.

Unfortunately, we all have to do it; or at least have to think about it. Even the coolest of us may one day be subject to an “employment suitability screening”; which means how you manage your personal “social” brand is going to come under more scrutiny. It raises a lot of arguments about what is fair consideration; but ultimately, what we decide as users to make public; we cannot hope will be considered private by those who hire and fire us.

Online rating systems are now common place, with systems in play that rate everything from small business, eating experiences and movies through to company employment experiences. You can get ratings for practically everything…which is very scary and if you’re like me, makes me worry about being exposed for what I’m not good at. These days, a judging panel on wheels follows your every move – whether you’re an Olympic gymnast or a beer enthusiast.

For some web sites of interest, look at www.klout.com (online rating system for how good you are at Twitter), Wikipedia has recently launched a ‘rate this page’ function, while Glass Door is a new concept in rating companies.

You could also take in the 1979 movie “10″ staring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. If you choose to, but note – admitting to it might affect your online reputation.

The very basics of social media are something which are often skipped; often by agencies selling services to clients by igniting panic in marketing departments using the catch cry “you just have to be on it” while waving a dramatic fist full of statistics. Our approach (and we suggest yours) should be slightly more pragmatic; I’ve blogged previously about strategic goal setting – but before we set goals, lets find out what social media does. What are the basics?

Opinion is opinion. This is mine. This is also the crux of social media. Social media is really a set of technology platforms that have ‘branded’ and ‘re-engineered’ what the Internet could always do, which is allow people to share opinion. The differences with what we call social media now, is that technology has made everything easier, more accessible, and given users devices and interfaces which have now defined a common social media language. People could always like things before via a forum post; but now, facebook has made information more accessible, easier to share; and liking something has become as simple as clicking a thumbs-up button.

So now, opinion, digital advocacy and cultivating a digital following have become activities which everyone can easily become a part of. Marketing enters the mix when corporations and brands try to do the same. I could write longer and further about this, but it gets beyond the basics very quickly…so let’s refocus on the basics for now, and I will illustrate what we call at eBrands the pillars of social media.

Social relevance determines the online reputation of an individual or organisation. Open access, means carte blanche communication on products, brands and services, which can of course be good or awful.

Social media encompasses the ability for people to communicate more easily, sharing ideas, videos and other materials which might be from elsewhere or their own user-generated content.

Social networking connects people via interests, likes, common factors and opinions to form like-minded communities.

The above are the absolute basics. When it comes to a brand, or a client, or an individual, or an agency like mine; the first thing to establish with social media is how can the above characteristics of social media impact my business and its strategy. By applying the above concepts, you will quickly be able to identify a role for the competing platforms in social media, and importantly, begin to grasp what this new digital dialogue means.

In future posts, I will explore each of the three basic concepts illustrated above.

Clients featured in the showreel include Gloucester Coal, Kimberly-Clark, University of Sydney, Coca-Cola Amatil and TipTop.