We Are Team Rubber

The Bristol region is ranked in the top five in Europe for high tech and research businesses. (Wikipedia)

Nice piece about Bristol on TechCrunch UK: Silicon Avon - startups doing it ‘Bristol fashion’

Bristol Open Coffee ran again this week, with a nice number of people for free-ranging conversation. Things we kicked around included:

• eBay -> will it be there in ten years? What about vertical auction sites? Is everyone just using Amazon?
• Mobile applications -> how to get the location data at low cost.
• Vouchers -> Why does Orange Wednesdays work, and why do other mobile voucher schemes seem like too much hassle? Orange invested significantly in their scheme; they made redemption easy for retailers and customers; they supported it with well-funded advertising (we pitched on some).
• Twitter and viral voucher or referral schemes.

Next Bristol Open Coffee: September 9th 2008. Thanks to Starbucks, Park Street for hosting.

As we all count the days until the ribbon is cut on Cabot Circus, Harvey Nicols have unveiled an adorable series of print ads featuring the Aardman creations dressed in designer attire from the department store.

Though it won’t convince me to splash out on an Alexander McQueen dress or Christian Louboutin shoes as modelled by Lady Tottington, having the well-loved Bristolian duo Wallace & Gromit front the campaign for the upmarket chain is definitely going to prove popular with consumers and their children.

Ofcom is reporting that UK online ad spend (£2.8bn) is now ahead of mainstream TV ad spend (£2.4bn). Online spend is also six times larger than radio, and more than outdoor and magazine spend combined.

More Ofcom analysis at paidContent:UK

I’ve always been a big fan of human powered transport but I’ve recently switched my allegiances from my trusty skateboard to a shiny bike. I always used to think the skateboard ruled all as I carved down hills and smugly strolled up steep hills saving embarrassing sweaty arrivals at work and pubs.

Then I tried a mate’s bike and realised that:

1. I can get everywhere so much quicker (rain or shine) on a bike;
2. Bristol is great for cycling
3. you can get the Government to pay for some of your new bike.

Point 1 is clearly obvious as there are many restrictions on skateboarding, and walking is just slow and boring.

Point 2 is more currently relevant.  Bristol was voted the first cycling city in the UK recently by the all-knowing government, giving us some money to spend on making cycling better around the city and some essential feel good points.

But what can £100m buy you in the drive to improve cycling in a whole city?  Well maybe one of these cycle lifts would encourage some people to cycle, but they would probably stop soon after the lift or their bike broke down.  Instead, Bristol have asked the public what they think we should do.  A novel and inspired idea I feel and it looks like the growing consensus is “more cycle lanes” for all; another few debates there I think.

If anyone feels inspired to get a bike then point 3 is almost certainly relevant.  Already, three members of the Team Rubber family have used and (lawfully) abused the cyclescheme offering that the government has allowed.  It’s brilliant, you get a beautiful bike plus accessories at about 40% cheaper than in the shop, and you can pay it off monthly.  Just don’t fall off….

Got sent some links through from our arch-nemeses ‘Bristol Sifty’ with some pics of them on Flickr competing in the Bristol Media football tournament.

So I went in search on the Bristol Media Flickr pool of photos for some of our warriors.  Fortunately there were no professionally taken team photos for Kirk to ruin, but there were some others:

We posed.

We played.

We got supported.

…and we didn’t get through.  It was a big sack of fun though.

We’re doing a lot more community engagement for brands these days, so this was an interesting article: Do Startup Companies Need Community Managers? (Via ReadWriteWeb)

Behaving well in communities is important; for brands it demands diligence, sensitivity to community values, and a thick skin. Quiet confidence in the brand is essential - people always criticise brands, but online communities can expose brand managers to this in a very direct way which can be troubling when first encountered.

Resist the natural urge to duck and cover in these situations - you might learn something which is truly valuable for your product or service. Also don’t be defensive - and remember a golden rule: don’t feed the trolls.

Meanwhile don’t let risk-aversion dictate the course of every action: open-ness and honesty can work wonders, encouraging brand ambassadors, reinforcing positive brand values, and helping gather real market intelligence

We think the most compelling way for brands to engage online is for brand managers and marketing staff to do it themselves - but if you need it, we can help you get started.

Nick Sturge at Set Squared passed on this interesting blog post from David Manners about high-tech business in Bristol.

Going down to Bristol these days is to get a taste of what it must have been like to live in 19th century England when the railways were being built.

There’s a proliferation of new companies. Everyone in the West Country is talking about so-and-so’s new start-up, or what so-and-so might be planning for his next start-up.

That fits with my experience, and we’ve found Bristol’s a great place to build things like The Viral Ad Network. There are creative, inventive, hard-working people here, strong networks (iShed, Open Coffee, Bristol Media), and nice places to meet. It’s good to be part of something.

Charlie Cooper, a member of our multi-talented seeding squad also happens to be the UK Female Number 1 Rubiks Cube Solver extraordinaire.

Team Rubber Has Got Talent!

We employed a phone as a stopwatch to fend off speeding up/doctoring accusations!

Watch this and other quality video genius on our Rubber Republic Viral YouTube Channel