B2B Marketing Awards 2012

The B2B Marketing Awards are upon us with a fantastic night ahead. 

The Think Tank will be managing the awards tonight for the 5th year and we're looking forward to a successful event with quite a few surprises.

This year we also developed the creative and theme around the awards with a retro 'Airline' feel that will have everyone up in the aisles tonight.

The theme runs right across the event, so if you are coming along tonight get ready to take off but please avoid any bumpy landings (at the after-show party).

Good luck to all the shortlisted entrants and have a great night.

From all at 

The Think Tank Team.

Account Manager Role with The Think Tank

The Think Tank is a leading integrated marketing agency in Clerkenwell, London and we require a knowledgeable Account Manager to work on a variety of Business to Business clients.  

This Account Manager position will combine all aspects of marketing, both on and off-line, and the successful applicant will ensure the smooth running of accounts, including client liaison and managing timescales, budgeting and creative output.  

A background in a similar B2B marketing agency account management role or digital experience is preferred. Any candidate should be pro-active and self-starting with strong administrative, communication and organisational skills.  

The right candidate will manage a range of client accounts and should have the knowledge and experience to support a variety of marketing activities and will be rewarded with a competitive salary.  

This is an opportunity to make your mark within an established forward thinking business to business marketing agency that is growing and offering great prospects for development and career enhancement.  

To apply for this role please send your CV with a covering letter to Liam Bateman at liamb@thinktank.org.uk.  

Please note: this is not a PR Account Management position.

Developing a brand to Nurture growth

The Think Tank was recently briefed to create, from conception, a new brand and identity for a recently incorporated property asset management company and the subsequent launch of the business in the North West area of the UK.

We worked with the client on a selection of brand names and identities until Nurture was chosen for this fledgling company, complementing their ethos of asset growth through effective management.

Through a coordinated campaign of advertising, PR, direct mail, telesales and social media we launched the business to landlords and tenants across the North West, delivering enquiry and new contracts and raising the profile of the brand. The campaign focussed upon Nurture's Guaranteed Rent scheme and the offer of a Free Gas Safety Certification for new customers. Advertising and PR in the local property pages was supported by a direct mail campaign and telesales to local landlords. The brand profile was further raised through social media activity focussed upon Twitter and LinkedIn.

There has been a great response to the marketing so far and the campaign continues.

Goldman Sachs ridiculed across social channels

This was a bad publicity week for Goldman Sachs following the publishing of a letter from a disgruntled employee.   

The content of this letter hit the news worldwide and soon became a social media talking point, at which point it took on a life of its own. From comic blog entries like this one called 'Oscar the Grouch Resigns' (from Sesame Street fame) to a plethora of entries across Pinterest.  

This is a classic case of how just one employee can quickly damage the reputation of a business and how social media spreads the message at an exponential rate. Whether the employee was right or wrong is not for us to judge, however it does demonstrate why businesses should have crisis planning in place to quickly limit the potential damage of such an action. Social Media adds to the potential risk and businesses should be actively monitoring channels to ensure that they are aware of what is being said about them by customers, employees and the general public. A forewarned business is a prepared business.  

It is frightening just how quickly the reputation of a business can be damaged through the posting of video content on social channels - remember the safety demonstration that turned out not to be so safe!



It is difficult to tell just how much this will damage the reputation of Goldman Sachs however in the short term it wiped $2bn off their market value - not a good day at the bank!

Getting ready for a crisis

We recently ran a crisis preparedness workshop for one of our clients which sparked lots of interesting debate.

One outcome was the development of a ‘crisis manual’, one that is comprehensive but also succinct, avoiding the danger of becoming so ‘big’ that no one will read it when it should be a useful, easy reference tool.   

For multi-site locations, the development of a common core element of company best practice can easily be supplemented with pertinent local information, added into each site-specific manual. Any organisation operating internationally should also ensure that appropriate ‘early warning systems’ and international information networks are in place that operate across borders.  

Another key outcome was the importance of your organisation being the principal trusted source of information for your own affairs, i.e. ensuring ‘ownership’ of your stakeholders through provision of information. This is increasingly a challenge in today’s networked world, with social media and ‘citizen journalists’, meaning there is little time before an issue becomes live and spreads across networks, potentially out of control.  

Lots to consider, and thanks to Magnus Carter of Mentor Ltd for all his input into the day too.