http://www.totemagency.com Totem en-uk Sat 31 Jul 2010 02:05:22 GMT info@totemagency.com info@totemagency.com Mon 7 Jun 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2010-6#article2010-6-7 Alibaba.com is the world's largest business-to-business marketplace. Our latest work for them features a microsite that invites owners of small businesses to audition to appear in the new Alibaba.com TV commercial. alibaba-tv.com   Tue 18 May 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2010-5#article2010-5-18 So, advertising works - even when it doesn't look like advertising. That's one conclusion from two coinciding controversies for the tobacco industry this week; Ferrari furiously taking some rather odd barcodes off their Marlboro-sponsored (but otherwise unbranded) Ferrari F1 cars and the Australian government's decision to replace the branding on every cigarette packet sold there with graphic health warnings. Megabrands like Marlboro are hardwired into people's brains - a chosen cigarette brand becomes part of their self-image, part of their personality. Combine that with the addictive effects of nicotine and you can see why getting people to stop thinking about them is a huge behaviour change. A barcode may even be enough to trigger the advertising response - it's hard to see what the barcodes on the back of the Ferraris were for if not to remind people who is partly paying for the team to race. Taking all branding off cigarette packets, as the Australians are proposing, is an interesting and quite radical idea. Apart from making cigarettes harder to buy ('I'll have 20 of the, er, ones with the gangrenous foot on please') it may be a practical way of breaking the link between promotion and product. On the other hand, the association in people's minds is so strong that the unbranded packets may well become instant classics - the mystery of the contents conceivably adding to their cachet. (If that sounds far-fetched, remember what happened when the UK government put big health warnings with funereal black surrounds on the front of packs. Internet entrepreneurs immediately designed fake stickers with which smokers could change the warning from ‘Smoking Kills' to ‘Smoking is Cool'.) Smoking is undeniably bad for you, and anything that reduces smoking-related deaths should be welcomed. Ferrari (like McLaren/West, Renault/Mild Seven, Lotus/John Player) can probably survive without Marlboro's money but for both tobacco companies and regulators, the task of rewiring the brand associations in people's heads can't be underestimated. It will continue to take some smart thinking from agencies on both sides of the pit lane. Meanwhile of course, the solution for the tobacco companies in Australia is obvious; just make the barcode bigger. Tue 4 May 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2010-5#article2010-5-4 Totem had a great first year despite the toughest market conditions we've ever seen and as the agency continues to grow, Ursula Benson has joined as managing director. Her brief is to get Totem in shape for the next phase of development and her track record makes her perfect for the job. Ursula joins from Libertine, the merged RPM3 and Beechwood, where she was client service director leading a number of business, corporate and financial accounts. She previously ran her own direct agency and was a senior account director at business agency Tidalwave. You can email Ursula here Mon 19 Apr 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2010-4#article2010-4-19 An Engine team led by business agency Totem has been appointed by Alibaba.com, the world's largest online marketplace for small businesses, following a three-way creative pitch for above the line advertising. Media partner is Total Media. The Engine team will be led by Totem, Engine's agency specialising in business, financial and corporate communications.  Totem founder Ian Henderson said:  'Alibaba.com is taking small businesses global and this is a great project to demonstrate how technology can make the entrepreneur more competitive. The Engine model means we are able to bring together a superb group of experts to meet the creative challenge.' Maggie Choo, Director, International Business Development and Marketing for Alibaba.com in EMEA said, 'Our brand has been built on a passion for supporting small and medium-sized businesses and we were impressed to see that same energy and commitment reflected in the ideas from the Engine team. They developed an innovative above the line approach that reflects our unique brand and we look forward to a productive relationship.' Alibaba.com is a global trading website focused on serving the needs of small and medium-sized business. Alibaba.com makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online. Founded by entrepreneur Jack Ma, the company dominates the global online trading market. Alibaba.com's Hong Kong stock market flotation in November 2007 is the second biggest internet offering in history With more than 47 million registered users around the world, the site makes it possible for small businesses to operate on an even playing field with big businesses by offering fast and simple access to global suppliers and buyers, a user community and many other services that help small businesses take advantage of global trade more efficiently.   Wed 10 Feb 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2010-2#article2010-2-10 One of the most successful fund management houses to emerge from the recession is Neptune Investment Management (Neptune), set up in 2002 by Robin Geffen, Fund Manager and Managing Director. A new consumer and intermediary integrated campaign by Totem is to support the firm's next stage of growth. Totem created the campaign to express Neptune's more considered and rigorous investment approach using the line Invest in Depth, while introducing a broader visual language for the brand. Ian Henderson commented, 'Neptune sets itself apart from the kind of thinking that led to the credit crunch - a turn of events anticipated by their research. Totem is delighted to be working with a sector leader.'   Neptune's Marketing Director Georgina Pardoe said, 'Totem's market insight and fresh creative thinking gave us exactly what we need to take us to the next stage of growth.' The firm was recently crowned Specialist Group of the Year 2009 by both Investment Week and Funds Europe. www.neptunefunds.com Mon 8 Feb 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2010-2#article2010-2-8   Totem's association with the Financial Services Forum continues with supporting the Innovation award for 2009. This went to MGM Assurance, who in 2008 turned their business around. This wasn't just the launch of a new product. This was a new strategic direction resulting in a total re-brand of the company - inside and out. It meant innovative product design, a market leading service proposition, a new route to market, and an industry leading IT system to help customers do business with them. Within six months of launch, they had beaten their six month sales target, and 92% of annuity selling IFAs said they had used or would consider using MGM Advantage. Octopus Investments were commended for their new Octopus Academy, alongside Halifax and HSBC. Mon 11 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2010-1#article2010-1-11 Following a pitch win against VCCP and Publicis, Totem has launched an ad campaign for Coca-Cola Enterprises targeting legislators and opinion formers across Europe. The objective is to make clear that Coca-Cola Enterprises is a good neighbour in terms of employment as well as environmental and social responsibility across the region. Totem was supported by Engine PR firm Mandate in the pitch, and created full-page ads in broadsheet national press, business magazines and political media. Local posters and press around factory sites made sure employees became aware of the programme. The ads feature  real  local  workers from sites across Europe. As well as a strong shift in awareness among the target group, the campaign resulted in extensive media coverage especially at local level with workers being interviewed for national press and TV.   Wed 4 Nov 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-11#article2009-11-4 Totem would like to pay our respects to Claude Levi Strauss, who passed away on November 3rd aged 100.  Levi Strauss' career as a anthropologist was devoted to understanding the way in which people relate to the objects around them. This led him to develop the theory of totemism, from which we took our name.  Totemism describes our need to create physical representations of social concepts in order to simplify and unify our identity. Which means totems and brands are remarkably similar.   As good totemists (and brand creators), we try to find simple ideas for a complicated world. Ideas that make strong communications for business, corporate and financial brands. We'd like to think that in our own small way it's a tribute to the pioneering work of Claude Levi Strauss.   Thanks, Claude. Fri 16 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-10#article2009-10-16   Luxury hotel chain Corinthia has appointed Engine to launch their London flagship and to market the brand worldwide.   Engine and Carat have emerged winners from a four-way strategic, creative and media pitch. The comprehensive search and selection process was managed by The Observatory and led by specialist agency Totem.   Totem creative partner Ian Henderson who led the pitch for Engine commented, 'This was a tough pitch against top-flight agencies. Winning is a real endorsement of the Engine model which allows best in class experts from every communication discipline to work seamlessly together.'   The Engine team includes Robin Wight and is drawn from brand consultants Dave, Altogether Digital and WCRS together with media agency Carat and research consultants Antennae.   Corinthia's five-star hotel in Whitehall is expected to open later next year and will feature London's finest spa, speciality restaurants and ultra-luxury rooms with spectacular views across the city. Corinthia already has several hotels in Malta, Lisbon, Budapest, Triploli and St Petersburg with more planned. The advertising will target high-end business and HNW leisure audiences worldwide. Thu 23 Jul 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-7#article2009-7-23 Last week saw the launch of Engine Business.  It's a new community of experts within Engine, working together to build and grow corporate reputations. Totem offers brand consulting, advertising and design; Mandate brings PR, lobbying and CSR; Hogarth does financial PR; and Dave specialises in using creativity to solve business problems. Totem developed an integrated launch campaign using ads, digital, internal and PR around the line 'Things aren't as black as they look' - a positive message for businesses emerging from the downturn. Engine Business is a total business commmunications consultancy, the first to emerge post-crunch - created to help clients make the most of the new world order. Thu 2 Jul 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-7#article2009-7-2 Totem: a simple artefact that helps us make sense of our complicated world. From Wikipedia: In his essay Le Totemisme aujourdhui (Totemism Today), Claude Levi-Strauss argues that human cognition, which is based on analogical thought, is independent of social context. Totems are chosen arbitrarily for the sole purpose of making the physical world a comprehensive and coherent classificatory system.   Levi-Strauss argues that the use of physical analogies is not an indication of a more primitive mental capacity. It is rather, a more efficient way to cope with this particular mode of life in which abstractions are rare, and in which the physical environment is in direct friction with the society. Wikipedia defines a totem as any supposed entity that watches over or assists a group of people, such as a family, clan, or tribe (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary [1] and Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition). A brand, in other words ... tinyurl.com/hqusz Wed 1 Jul 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-7#article2009-7-1 The digital age is exerting inexorable downward pressure on the price of things 'made of ideas', says Wired editor Chris Anderson in his new book "Free: The Future of a Radical Price". As anyone who works in advertising knows, Free (along with New) is a very persuasive word. The argument is persuasive too, based on the explosion in bandwidth, storage and user generated content. But in a New Yorker review Malcolm Gladwell points out a few flaws in the argument. Not least, as we all know, that Free often equals Crap. Ultimately, free ideas mean no ideas. If there's no money in ideas, who's going to be able to afford to have them? The digital age, like any other, simply demands ideas so good that people are happy to pay for them. And as Anderson rightly points out, the new business models which make that possible. Which is an interesting challenge for ideas businesses - like advertising agencies. www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2009/07/06/090706crbo_books_gladwell www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free   Mon 8 Jun 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-6#article2009-6-8 Keynes (suddenly cool again for all sorts of reasons) was there first when he wrote about 'animal spirits'; driving consumer confidence and trust. Now the American economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller are reviving Keynes' perspective in a book called Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism. 'The idea that economic crises, like the current financial and housing crisis, are mainly caused by changing thought patterns goes against standard economic thinking. But the current crisis bears witness to the role of such changes in thinking. It was caused precisely by our changing confidence, temptations, envy, resentment, and illusions - and especially by changing stories about the nature of the economy.' Communications are how businesses and institutions connect with people, so for us it's encouraging that economists are becoming, well, more human in their outlook. Simple ideas open our minds to complexity. Now, with the rise of behavioural economics, the number crunchers are catching up to this basic insight from ad thinking; that emotions, attitudes, ideas influence how people behave economically. Totem takes a holistic view on all the messy, mixed-up, contradictory things that make people think, feel, and act, then we look for a simple trigger in the middle of all that. The introduction to Animal Spirits is online here   tinyurl.com/px6dnp Wed 13 May 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-5#article2009-5-13 The BBC's World Today programme interviews Ian Henderson on the changes in the advertising market in an economic downturn. Nude parties for people who have lost their shirts? Apparently it's all about staying in control ... Fri 8 May 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-5#article2009-5-8 On BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Totem MD Ian Henderson and Patrick Holden of the Soil Association discuss whether falling  sales of organic food  mean the end of altruism.  Ian Henderson says there's  a healthy alternative in this feature. tinyurl.com/qyc2nw Thu 9 Apr 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-4#article2009-4-9 Ian Henderson comments on this week's ads for Marketing magazine. tinyurl.com/m2gv4r Wed 8 Apr 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-4#article2009-4-8 We've been doing some thinking about alternative energy lately. NIMBY as many of us tend to be, there's something to be said for this take on the it from Design Observer: What is Beauty? Or, On the Aesthetics of Wind Farms tinyurl.com/nwg7qc Thu 26 Mar 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-3#article2009-3-26 Ian Henderson led a debate on the idea that 'Restoring trust between consumers and financial services providers is a lost cause' at the annual Financial Services Forum conference. Opposed by Capital One marketing director Juston Bassini, it was a tough one to win in a roomful of the UK's leading financial services marketers. Even so, Ian took the moral victory by persuading a substantial number of the audience that the current crisis is an opportunity to reinvent relationships and rebuild businesses for the new global economy, rather than returning to some imaginary golden age of twinkling bank managers and grateful, trusting customers. You can download Ian's speech below. Tue 24 Mar 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-3#article2009-3-24 Some interesting implications for what's now necessary (and possible) for internal communications. The recession has made everyone feel a lot less secure about their jobs - if they still have one. "Many people will be putting more into their jobs now...  Statistically, it's pretty well established that when unemployment starts to climb, absenteeism falls. There's a tendency towards ingratiating behaviour, too - grovelling, basically, in an attempt to make yourself indispensable." From The Guardian: The new work order.   tinyurl.com/ct7dur   Tue 17 Feb 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-2#article2009-2-17 The party's over: welcome to the City's new Puritanism.    Venetia Thompson, a former broker, says that the financial sector is adjusting painfully to the new puritanism: no more champagne, opera freebies and heli-skiing trips. But, with government at the helm, we may soon come to miss the days when greed was still good. From the Spectator:  tinyurl.com/nkdpnc   Mon 16 Feb 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-2#article2009-2-16 Winter just seems to be getting darker this year, and the 'end of the tunnel' more elusive. It';s hard to focus people on anything other than the crisis now, and many marketers are (perhaps understandably) going a bit quiet.  There's a school of thought that says this dark tunnel is in fact the new normal. Here's a great piece from the New Yorker on 'The Dystopians' and where they think we've ended up. Some of us here at Totem are more dystopian than others, but we agree that crisis deserves response, and a reshaping of brand to fit the new new reality. Once our comments are up and running, come back and tell us where you stand on the end of the world. Read the full article here.    tinyurl.com/b2pv52    Wed 28 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-1#article2009-1-28 In a feature for Marketing magazine Ian Henderson looks at the current economic crisis and whether it's time for a new approach, new ideas ... or even a new advertising agency. Tue 20 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-1#article2009-1-20 Thu 15 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.totemagency.com/index.php?action=archive&date=2009-1#article2009-1-15 Totem is  Engine group's newest agency, launched in January 2009. It offers simple ideas for a complicated world – high-level strategic and creative thinking for tangled markets, tricky value propositions and tough to reach audiences. That takes Totem into sectors like business, finance and corporate where the agency delivers effective brand positioning, advertising, digital and direct. As part of the Engine group, Totem can call on the capabilities of the fourteen agencies that make up Engine, including everything from data strategy to PR, events to sponsorship as well as its own in-house strategic and creative teams. Founders Ian Henderson and Peter Hansen define totems as 'artefacts that make sense of the world around us'.