The IT and Telecoms market is constantly changing, updating and expanding, and, therefore, if the companies within this sector wish to continue thriving they must too. Following on from a previous rebrand 5 years ago, hSo believed it was time to modif...
The IT and Telecoms market is constantly changing, updating and expanding, and, therefore, if the companies within this sector wish to continue thriving they must too. Following on from a previous rebrand 5 years ago, hSo believed it was time to modify their image and adapt the way they display their brand and service information to customers. As well as tweaking their logo, hSo wanted to refresh the look and feel of their collateral in order to make it more digestible for their target audience. However, in doing this, hSo did not want to diverge to far from current brand perceptions and thus make themselves unrecognisable within the market place.
What we then endeavoured to create was a fresher, unified look across hSo's marketing materials. An updated logo was created as well as adaptations for use across a number of different applications including business tools, service offerings and partner offerings. Brochures were modified to help tell a story instead of just list facts so as to help the audience understand hSo's service offering more readily. Diagrammatic representations were developed to illustrate service areas and were paired with new imagery and a modified colour scheme to bring new life to the brand. This design style was then used to develop a corporate presentation template and other corporate materials, therefore ensuring consistency of the brand.
A large number of hSo's services are 'cloud compatible' and, with cloud based services becoming more and more prominent in the market, this was an advantage which hSo wish to promote more heavily. Alongside the brand refresh, we looked to develop a 'mark' to highlight this compatibility – a stamp of assurance – which is can be used across relevant products and services and those of its partners to promote them as "cloud ready".
The services we provided here at Mabox have helped hSo progress forward with modern, fresh and effective marketing collateral. If you feel your brand needs a slight update or completely new look, please get in touch.
A Wednesday morning creative briefing conference call is much like any other conference call on any other day. Why then feel the need to write about it? Well, what if you found out that one of the people you speak to daily – a colleague nonetheless – ...
A Wednesday morning creative briefing conference call is much like any other conference call on any other day. Why then feel the need to write about it? Well, what if you found out that one of the people you speak to daily – a colleague nonetheless – had been hiding something from you and the rest of the team? Something that was about to rear its head on that fateful call.
There was a heavy breather in our midst.
Granted, it’s not an uncommon phenomenon, and maybe there has been a slight over-exaggeration in the way I have built this up. However, the way in which it can capture everyone’s attention so quickly and so completely can really interrupt a conference call. There is an immediate cure here of course – the mute button. But what if you don’t have one? And what other pitfalls do you need to watch out for the next time you join that conference? Here’s a few we’ve fallen foul to recently.
1) The mute button is not always your friend It should go down in ‘Conference Calling 101’ – if you’re not speaking, and not planning on speaking anytime soon, you should put yourself on mute. However, this should come with an asterisked caveat. Maybe you find yourself fully immersed in the call wishing to share your views. Or perhaps you get a question pop up out of the blue and just automatically rally into your award winning response. How award winning is it though if no one else hears it? That unnerving silence that fills everyone else’s earpieces can feel like an eternity. The fact is, it’s pretty easy to make the mistake of forgetting you’re on mute, even more so if your system doesn’t have a helpful flashing light to inform you. It may not be a deal breaker, but keeping your mute status in mind throughout can help ease the odd embarrassing or awkward situation.
2) Conference related contortion Before we had the (now mildly-maligned) mute function on our phone system, the office was awash with tilted heads, phones pointed towards the sky and a whole host of complicated body angles, as people tried to avoid joining the heavy breathers’ club. This was fine for a couple of minutes, maybe even 10, but not so much for an hour. The telltale signs of fidgeting and the uncomfortable grimaces strewn across faces arrived pretty much simultaneously. Not the perfect state of mind for that all important telephone pitch. In infrequent doses it may be a small price to pay – not ideal, but manageable. If, however, your life seems to be one big audio conference, it can feel like an endless battle of aches, pains and essentially imperfect meetings. The solution is simple – invest in a headset. Our previously uncontrollably fidgety MD swears by it!
3) “Can everyone hear me?” It’s not an uncommon start to any conference is it? It seems that people almost expect the technology to fail; that by moving from a standard two person phone call to a conference with three or four, the principles of the telephone are bound to cease working. Now there is an element of truth here and often the quality of a call does degenerate when multiple locations are added. But why does there always seem to be one person that is in a goldfish bowl with a loudspeaker and another whispering their way through? What we need is an iTunes-esque ‘sound checker’ that converts everyone’s input to the same volume – problem solved. Any developers that want to put their hand up?
4) “Can you see that yet?” In some ways web conferencing is perfect for demonstrating one of our technology systems to clients; in others…not so much. Being able to screen-share saves time, makes explanations easier and makes the whole process much more effective than just talking someone through it on the phone. Plus you can sit there with all your notes and ‘how-to’ guides and appear to be the font of all knowledge. So far, no problems in sight. The issue comes when the internet decides not to play ball. Whilst our connection is perfectly fast enough and strong enough 90% of the time, in important situations it can be described as ‘temperamental’ at best. Waiting for pages to load during a demo can cause the previously mentioned unnerving silence, or really test your ability to ‘fill’. Using this as ‘question time’ has, however, seemed to work rather well recently.
Tele and web conferences are increasingly essential in today’s world and offer a plethora of benefits. I’m not trying to paint a picture that suggests otherwise; just that, as with everything else, there are struggles to overcome.
The points above take a fairly light-hearted view on the whole situation – and are by no means exhaustive. Although I suppose my main issue with a conference call is that the each of the other participants can be anywhere – in a car with their latest all singing, all dancing (and utterly useless) hands-free kit, or doing something else at the same time (that report’s not going to write itself). It means you are always going to lose the personal touch of a face-to-face meeting. The rapport building that’s essential at the start of a relationship and the recognition of facial expressions and humour just don’t work as well remotely. Yes, these issues can still occur on a one-to-one call and yes, video conferencing does go some way to help this. But when multiple participants are required (especially at the start of a project) let’s just get everyone in a room.
So if you find yourself in London and fancy a proper chat, do pop in and say hello. Or just drop us a line and we’ll dial you in. Don’t worry – we’ll make sure Darth’s not involved.
Having successfully delivered channel-based marketing for clients such as Admiralty, Mabox joins forces with strategic consultancy Primesense to form a new company specifically aimed at helping businesses create and execute more effective channel prog...
Having successfully delivered channel-based marketing for clients such as Admiralty, Mabox joins forces with strategic consultancy Primesense to form a new company specifically aimed at helping businesses create and execute more effective channel programmes.
Combining top-notch go-to-market consulting skills with premier marketing talent and leading-edge technology platforms, The Channel Partnership is ready to tackle the challenges of the ever-changing channel landscape.
Mabox has added a new string to its marketing bow. CommsPower is a more economical and effective way of producing and delivering your marketing communications materials.
CommsPower really adds a new dimension to the way marketing communications are...
Mabox has added a new string to its marketing bow. CommsPower is a more economical and effective way of producing and delivering your marketing communications materials.
CommsPower really adds a new dimension to the way marketing communications are created. With three core applications, it allows automatic co-branding, bespoke marketing materials and the creation of local direct mail/email campaigns.
With the new technology, comes new power to the client - the ability to deliver high quality collateral is literally at your fingertips.
