tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35369853340755506742024-02-21T01:40:38.020+00:00TeamspiritTeamspirit is a leading integrated marketing agency specialising in the world of financial services.Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.comBlogger188125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-22651998871611137422012-01-06T09:47:00.001+00:002012-01-06T09:52:45.181+00:00Will 2012 be the year of mobile?It's amusing to think that for a decade you'd consistently see the question 'Is next year the year of mobile?' pop up in every end of every year digital round up. Amusing mainly because we're quite definitely through that time and mobile should now be central to all brand's plans. With the penetration of <a href="http://moconews.net/article/419-infographic-smartphones-and-apps-in-europehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif/">smartphones now beyond 33%</a> in the UK and rising fast putting mobile first is not desirable, it's essential.<br /><br />So we thought we'd outline the 5 things we believe will be central to thinking next year.<br /><br />1. Less reliance on apps and more investment in mobile web. The diversity of smartphone device types means that building apps will start to become an expensive and far less scalable solution than building a high quality mobile web solution and we will start to see serious investment in holistic mobile web development.<br /><br />2. Development of APIs as a central tenet of mobile strategy - data as a centralised resource will become the oil in the company's mobile strategy, by developing centralised APIs companies will cut out the costs associated with developing multiple apps per business unit and work off a centralised data resource.<br /><br />3. <a href="http://www.wirelessweek.com/articles/2011/12/why-every-mobile-strategy-needs-api-quickly/">Dedicated mobile web development for campaigns.</a> Too many mobile campaigns are pointing to landing pages optimised for a PC experience. 2012 will see the power of HTML5 harnessed to deliver true mobile advertising innovation.<br /><br />4. Geo-location as an embedded function – as social media is transformed by the use through mobile devices understanding how to use location to build campaigning strategies will be essential. That could be through companies well versed in geo-fencing for campaigns such as <a href="http://www.o2more.co.uk/">O2 with its More product</a> or by analysis of brand mentions by geo-location so that a more flexible less campaign based approach can be taken.<br /><br />5. The explosion of contactless payments through smartphones – as manufacturers start to build smartphones with Near Field Communication (NFC) chips as standard, wallet functionality will start to be adopted quickly by consumers. <a href="http://www.visaeurope.com/en/newsroom/news/articles/2011/samsung_and_visa_enable_mobile.aspx">The Olympics will be the contactless game</a><a href="http://www.visaeurope.com/en/newsroom/news/articles/2011/samsung_and_visa_enable_mobile.aspx">s</a> and this will lead to increased adoption.Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-62606242708306426302011-01-11T13:53:00.002+00:002011-01-11T13:54:13.157+00:00Teamspirit Group appoints Group Digital Director<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_fY8t3vR1B4hT8-eCGDZ_EFlPtqRkMUnZAP0jkPYwnCYY3lyXbjaxlsZk8geZ9iqzILm3jltYw-AyxNKMwDq3PB_XVustZDnnDZE_5gRdFeH3l0ci6Oh4yzWMhnacOZTTKPOO0f8Lh8/s1600/david.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_fY8t3vR1B4hT8-eCGDZ_EFlPtqRkMUnZAP0jkPYwnCYY3lyXbjaxlsZk8geZ9iqzILm3jltYw-AyxNKMwDq3PB_XVustZDnnDZE_5gRdFeH3l0ci6Oh4yzWMhnacOZTTKPOO0f8Lh8/s400/david.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560880601875017090" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Chime owned-Teamspirit Group, the specialist integrated financial services agency, has appointed David Jones as Group Digital Director. He will be responsible for growing digital consultancy across the Group’s business including advertising and communications, public relations and professional services businesses.<br /><br />Jones is a veteran of the digital marketing and communications sector and brings with him a wealth of experience from cross-platform working. Previous experience includes 3 Monkeys, Lulu.com and Conde Nast as well as founding Galileo Digital Marketing in 2008. He will join the board of Teamspirit.<br /><br />Commenting on the hire, CEO of Teamspirit Group, Jo Parker, said: "Digital work already generates 28% of the agency’s revenue and we have been doing exciting work for clients from social media through to developing digital news channels. But with increasing demand for us to be the guardian of content in all forms of media for our clients, this is an important hire for us. David has fantastic experience which spans digital agency, public relations and publishing, which will help us to develop new exciting propositions that work across all media."<br /><br />David Jones commented: “I am delighted to join Teamspirit, a genuinely integrated business. As content continues to be King in 2011, I am excited about working with our clients and being part of a full service offering (hosted all under one roof) which is rare in this industry.”<br /><br />Teamspirit is part of Chime Communications Plc. In 2009, Chime filed record full-year results with a 14% rise in profits. Enjoying similar results, Teamspirit experienced a 17% growth last year making the agency 66 strong. The fully integrated agency offers services which include digital, project management, online marketing, brand and public relations.<br /><br />To find out more about the agency please call 020 7360 7878.Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-21123717838092935602010-10-15T11:52:00.012+01:002010-10-15T15:25:36.140+01:00Eeny, meany, miny, mo...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXMACIYFqtafpjelF3uBSQQL_m5toz7BgnlLu9F_bkBD64gkbnu_aPFqpNuh7F0O5AOEKHbWsLbUSe9ii7ozsPV4aj0j1MmK5UlfFRXyxxXlzHxkgowgIkx38QMksIA4CnEkcDszC_q8/s1600/balls+and+cup.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXMACIYFqtafpjelF3uBSQQL_m5toz7BgnlLu9F_bkBD64gkbnu_aPFqpNuh7F0O5AOEKHbWsLbUSe9ii7ozsPV4aj0j1MmK5UlfFRXyxxXlzHxkgowgIkx38QMksIA4CnEkcDszC_q8/s400/balls+and+cup.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528228694672060466" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Choosing digital channels has become increasingly complex in the past few years, with so many platforms to operate from and limited budget and resource brands are spending a huge amount of time calculating where best to reside. Earlier this week Brian Solis released Version 3 of the conversation prism which further underlines the sudden explosion of potential channels you as a brand could be using.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.theconversationprism.com/size1024/" width="600px" height="450px" /><br /><br />For those new to the market, undoubtedly the choice (whether correct or not) has been, whether to plump for Facebook or Twitter and this week two sets of figures emerged. The first from Visible Banking unveiled <a href="http://www.visible-banking.com/2010/10/top-10-most-liked-financial-institutions-on-facebook-in-october-2010-617-pages-groups-apps-in-67-cou.html">the most popular banks by Facebook fans</a>, revealing that in the UK Barclays and RBS were out front by a long way. Interestingly while their Facebook presence is solid, their Twitter activity is far less co-ordinated. Around the same time it was revealed that in the US <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/13/financial-firms-take-to-facebook-tweeting.html?from=rss">45% of asset management companies</a> had a social media presence, but it is evidenced that there is more engagement activity through Twitter and less so on Facebook.<br /><br />So what? Well a couple of interesting pieces emerged this week that pointed to the future value of <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/12/facebook-twitter-nike-followers-fans-social-media-marketing-zynga-cmo-network.html?feed=rss_home">Twitter versus Facebook as a sales channel</a>. Forrester research suggested that Twitter followers had a 37% propensity to purchase from the brands they followed as opposed to 21% on Facebook. This is a stark difference, but given the comparable numbers of users Facebook is still going to win out on sheer volume alone, in terms of its ability to drive leads. All of this has to be contextualied however, following a statement from Twitter's departing CEO, Ev Williams who stated, that the Twitter user base has the potential to <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/10/12/biz-stone-evan-williams-twitter/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29">reach 1 billion users</a>. That number puts a different veneer on the scale of opportunity for brands.<br /><br />Frankly, at the bottom of this social mountain we have begun to climb the message has to be - keep testing. See what works, invest more in that area and then keep on testing. There's nothing to say that either of these platforms will even be recognisable in 5 years time so there's little point in watching and waiting it’d be better to get involved and see where it takes you.<br /><br />Crispin Heath<br />Head of DigitalTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-26089356321124030792010-10-07T09:44:00.012+01:002010-10-07T18:00:25.364+01:00ASB New Zealand opens first Facebook bank branch in the world<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-9KoFRmFRcdU2HpEFc5qNUr-Y7tDobOdAnYm6Aki3ydiadXuDRFCc-RbabpcGZtP_pKEK22wOuwZ7QGZaWIWVBIsktHpFT2Hy9lxTCSXXajQuSPmCE5cjo-rmmCmd5dd63vBTMahQJk/s1600/ASB+Facebook+page.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-9KoFRmFRcdU2HpEFc5qNUr-Y7tDobOdAnYm6Aki3ydiadXuDRFCc-RbabpcGZtP_pKEK22wOuwZ7QGZaWIWVBIsktHpFT2Hy9lxTCSXXajQuSPmCE5cjo-rmmCmd5dd63vBTMahQJk/s400/ASB+Facebook+page.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525280097847291698" /></a><br /><br />Three weeks ago <a href="https://www.asb.co.nz/">ASB</a> in New Zealand opened the doors (or whatever you term the online equivalent, launched I guess) to Facebook's first online bank branch. <a href="http://teamspirit-financial.blogspot.com/2010/03/could-billion-people-break-existing.html">We blogged</a> some months back about the potential for Facebook to become a major player in banking services and what ASB have done is recognise that potential and faced it head on, moving their services on to the social network. It's a brave move but one that was inevitable.<br /><br />Last week we tried the branch out. It's a very simple service. At its heart it's an online chat interface built directly into Facebook. There are a selection of advisers to choose to talk to, all of whom are named and photographed individuals, to increase the person to person appeal that is the hallmark of social networking and you are able to choose from those available to chat.<br /><br />We spoke to Elysse to find out how the launch was going? She was friendly, personable and very knowledgable and stated there had been considerable interest in the service. Although ASB are at present unable to offer services to those overseas, she said they had had considerable contact from New Zealand travellers who were able to sort out their issues quickly and easily through Facebook.<br /><br />We went on to have a brief Twitter chat with Anna Curzon the General Manager, Internet Banking for ASB who confirmed the interest <br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/Anna_Curzon/status/25927098549"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmLIeG3FPc1YOwlLMBkDPchcPypYlmEU3kJPrYjk9UHMw1_IFZAx16BDWoRlsfBHRP9r7LVwZGg4QOo5bOdFRzuU33d-J-m9XQ7hmA_Sk4ibVk6U8YeQEonFCc2lllsKBxN3zMjo1AhU/s1600/Tweet+1+Anna+Curzon.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmLIeG3FPc1YOwlLMBkDPchcPypYlmEU3kJPrYjk9UHMw1_IFZAx16BDWoRlsfBHRP9r7LVwZGg4QOo5bOdFRzuU33d-J-m9XQ7hmA_Sk4ibVk6U8YeQEonFCc2lllsKBxN3zMjo1AhU/s400/Tweet+1+Anna+Curzon.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525280181248066882" /></a></a><br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/Anna_Curzon/status/25928095483"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFaZ5dm66c8tSZ-DPJh6qlYe2wR9UAOBwb2jNmtIsGMZRLWuIcK0S8o8jy5Svf0beZhVB5nXsgYPRkGQkRVfHAPzzUjWsKCK5QihDC7hd4tN1_u1dL7MRK3ijBdOvnSxbE8-fvEjrNt6M/s1600/Tweet+2+Anna+Curzon.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 275px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFaZ5dm66c8tSZ-DPJh6qlYe2wR9UAOBwb2jNmtIsGMZRLWuIcK0S8o8jy5Svf0beZhVB5nXsgYPRkGQkRVfHAPzzUjWsKCK5QihDC7hd4tN1_u1dL7MRK3ijBdOvnSxbE8-fvEjrNt6M/s400/Tweet+2+Anna+Curzon.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525280518223406130" /></a></a><br />That second statement really underlines the point of introducing this branch concept in to Facebook. In a time impoverished and globalised environment brands need to be in the places their customers are. Financial services brands are definitely behind the curve in following that trend, but ASB has made a huge step forward.<br /><br />While the services through the ASB Facebook branch are currently limited the mere fact that they are there speaks volumes for their foresight and ambition. This is a bold first move and we’re sure it will be the first of many. We will keep an eye on whether ASB benefits from first mover advantage.<br /><br />Crispin Heath<br />Head of DigitalTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-55405399512362734252010-09-11T15:23:00.006+01:002010-09-11T16:19:04.546+01:00Geo-location is where it's at, but should financial services brands check-in?An interesting video was uploaded by a French developer this week. In a few hours he'd developed a product called <a href="http://vimeo.com/14712960">Track Dropper</a>. This allowed users to leave musical 'treasure' for passers-by in specific locations. Do what? In simple terms you choose a music track from your mobile device and attach it to your location. Users who then pass that place in the future and are using the same software would be able to pick that track up, upload it to their mobile device and listen. Why's that of any use? Well it could be used by brands that have music as a core element of their strategy. So for O2, at the O2, or maybe for Diesel in their retail outlets, this could provide fantastic brand value.<br /><br />Geo-location has been the building story of 2010. Since<a href="http://sxsw.com/"> SXSW</a> in March this year the fight has been on to win the geo-location battle. The main protagonists so far have been first<a href="http://foursquare.com/"> Foursquare </a>who has successfully built 2 million followers by tapping into the enthusiasm for gameplay. Users who 'check-in' are awarded points and badges while sharing their location with their friends. Second there's <a href="http://gowalla.com/">Gowalla</a> who allow users to attach pictures and videos to locations for other users to pick up when they next check-in. Then on the horizon is the big beast <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/08/19/facebook-places-guide/">Facebook with its Places</a> product, with 100 million users updating on their mobiles, the opportunity for Places is absolutely monumental as people start to share their location on a huge scale.<br /><br />But what are the implications for Financial Services brands. There's been plenty of chatter about location-based services, but that doesn't mean brands should really be worrying too much at the moment. There's a place for experimenting with some accounts as an individual, and/or setting up profiles for your organisation's locations, all these new services should be tested out to identify utility. But there's no pressing need to plough into it right now. There are some applications that we feel could work well for the insurance or mortgage lending space, but at present the services need to mature, add addtional richer layers of content and users need to start getting involved more deeply before location will have real impact. Already new services like <a href="http://www.scvngr.com/">SCVNGR</a> are beginning to show what the future could be, with both gaming and content elements wrapped into the same application, and by <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/09/09/scvngr-app-downloads/">linking with Facebook Places</a> they are already gaining enormous amounts of followers. We'll be watching the space with interest as it expands.Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-58255762513323554202010-06-24T23:43:00.005+01:002010-06-25T00:09:30.400+01:00FSA social media review reveals misunderstanding of the mediumLast week the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">FSA</span> <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Promo/pdf/new_media.pdf">produced a paper</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>on the use of social media by Financial Services companies. The paper was an analysis of 30 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Facebook</span> and Twitter accounts held by different organisations - both big and small - across the sector.<br /><br />The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">FSA</span> stated that when financial services firms do ‘make use of new media as a platform for advertising they must make sure that the information stays accurate and relevant’ and does not go beyond ‘image advertising’. It was also keen to point out that the guidance around promotion of product applied in new media in the same way they do to other mediums.<br /><br />However, reading the contents of the report is a little worrying. The paper has the feeling of a holding position for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">FSA</span>, while they get closer to and start to understand the medium and how best to approach its regulation.<br /><br />The focus on Twitter and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Facebook</span> is the first alarm bell. Considering the wealth of sites out there that can be considered social the task of assessment is going to be enormous. The second was the use of the word advertising. This suggests a misunderstanding of the social web as a conversational medium. The third and somewhat more worrying alarm bell was a statement that <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/15/fsa_social_media/">appeared on Outlaw.com</a>. OUT-LAW asked the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">FSA</span> 'if promotions on Twitter that provide a link to further details are likely to fall foul of its rules on stand-alone compliance. An <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">FSA</span> spokeswoman said 'the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">FSA</span> would not be prescriptive on that point''.<br /><br />There are similar vague responses to the specifics of how regulation would apply in the medium. Overall there is an overarching feeling that Providers and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">IFAs</span> are going to be left to interpret the regulations themselves. In an industry that has such stringent compliance procedures this <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">position could</span> very effectively dampen the growth of use of the medium for all but the most confident of companies. In a context where no regulation has been specified firms could take the view that it's simply too risky to enter the arena, or moreover social presences will become stiff broadcast mediums entirely unsuited to the new conversational online world.<br /><br />The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">FSA</span> needs to quickly get up to speed on this issue and offer much more specific guidance. This doesn't need to be a huge tome, in fact I'd suggest anything but, but it does need to provide examples of good and bad practice.<br /><br />Maybe radically it could convene a loose working group that could help shape its approach to regulation in the medium. I know <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Teamspirit</span> would certainly be keen to get involved in that. So how about it <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">FSA</span>? I'm having to ask you here because I couldn't find you on Twitter.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Crispin</span> Heath<br />Head of DigitalTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-38996781045241407442010-06-14T08:43:00.002+01:002010-06-14T09:02:06.543+01:00Is sharing purchasing behaviour a step too far?A new <a href="http://www.netbanker.com/2010/06/launches_swipely_is_a_yelptwitterbankcard_mash-up.html">invitation only Beta</a> was launched last week for <a href="http://beta.swipely.com/">Swipely</a>. From the introductory video it looks strikingly similar to <a href="http://blippy.com/">Blippy</a>. Both services are essentially set up to track our purchasing behaviour. As a user, you choose the vendors you wish to add to your profile - mostly online currently, think Amazon, EBay and iTunes - then each time you make a credit card purchase that information can be shared online with friends, selected associates or with the entire world if you wish.<br /><br />Along with location based applications such as <a href="http://foursquare.com/">Foursquare</a> and <a href="http://gowalla.com/">Gowalla</a> these online services are the latest attracting ‘why would you want to share that information?’ type attention, just as Facebook and Twitter have in the past. However, arguably, sharing purchase information or location information is more valuable to your friends and followers than updating your Twitter or Facebook profiles.<br /><br />Let’s face it, you’re either a person who shares or you’re not. Even if you’re a person that shares, it doesn’t mean you have to share everything and all these services allow you to select what you choose to share, or not. The point with Blippy and Swipely is that by sharing your purchasing behaviour you potentially reveal far more about who you are and what your preferences are, than if you share your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook. So, if you’re interested in building a personal brand, as a opposed to a public image, these services start to become essential.<br /><br />From a business perspective, this type of purchasing information becomes invaluable. For years now the large food retailers have built huge levels of data about their customers’ buying habits, and with it they’ve built strong relationship-led businesses. Services such as Blippy and Swipely potentially offer the same level of personalisation to financial services companies. Certainly credit card companies will be hugely interested. However the opportunities for personal finance products are potentially huge and who knows, as the services mature more structured products could start to become contenders.<br /><br />Crispin Heath<br />Head of DigitalTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-19149871427988190632010-06-07T17:31:00.006+01:002010-06-07T17:47:12.325+01:00RDR: Simplified AdviceWith a mooted 30 million UK adults beyond the scope of full advice (consumers with less than £257 a month to save can’t be economically served by full advice) and only 18 months to go until final RDR implementation the industry got together to ask “ where on earth are we?”. After a spot of good old show and tell from the ABI, KPMG, the FSA and several providers, here’s the consensus…<br /><br /><div style="width:600px" id="__ss_4430464"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/TeamspiritFinancialAgency/simplified-advice-may-2010" title="RDR: Simplified Advice - May 2010">RDR: Simplified Advice - May 2010</a></strong><object id="__sse4430464" width="600" height="475"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=microsoftpowerpoint-simplifiedadvicemay2010-100607113748-phpapp01&stripped_title=simplified-advice-may-2010" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed name="__sse4430464" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=microsoftpowerpoint-simplifiedadvicemay2010-100607113748-phpapp01&stripped_title=simplified-advice-may-2010" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/TeamspiritFinancialAgency">Teamspirit</a>.</div></div>Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-13865598503683534912010-05-07T15:39:00.003+01:002010-05-07T15:43:02.072+01:00The price of politics on Financial Services<div class="posterous_autopost"><p> </p><div style="padding: 5px 5px 10px; margin-top: 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 16px;"> <div style="float: left; margin-right: 5px; overflow: visible;"><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/teamspirit/wZwsAfYJKDOhLSPbUVRYa15DSGxlxj1QBZnv5NYzWaRzqNaqIIaxlWCQxMq0/The_politics_of_Financial_Serv.pdf" style="color: rgb(188, 113, 52);"><img src="http://posterous.com/images/filetypes/pdf.png" style="border: medium none;" /></a></div> <div style="font-size: 10px; color: rgb(66, 64, 55); line-height: 16px;">Download now or <a href="http://teamspirit.posterous.com/the-price-of-politics-on-financial-services" style="color: rgb(188, 113, 52);">preview on posterous</a></div> <b><a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/teamspirit/wZwsAfYJKDOhLSPbUVRYa15DSGxlxj1QBZnv5NYzWaRzqNaqIIaxlWCQxMq0/The_politics_of_Financial_Serv.pdf" style="color: rgb(188, 113, 52);">The politics of Financial Services doc.pdf</a></b> <span style="color: rgb(66, 64, 55);font-size:10px;" >(209 KB)</span> </div> <p></p> <p> </p> <div> <p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:x-small;" ><span style="font-size:11pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:x-small;" ><span style="font-size:11pt;">While we’re in the grips of a hung parliament and the shape of the future government is still to be defined we thought it would be good to look at the policies of the three parties. In particular how they’ll affect the economy and the financial services industry in particular.</span></span></p> <p><br /></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:x-small;" ><span style="font-size:11pt;">Here’s a quick overview of the likely changes that the three main parties will attempt to bring in over the next parliament so long as any one party has a clear majority.</span></span></p> <p><br /></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:x-small;" ><span style="font-size:11pt;">David McCann</span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:x-small;" ><span style="font-size:11pt;">Planning Director</span></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:x-small;" ><span style="font-size:10pt;"> </span></span></p> </div> <p><span style="font-size:xx-small;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:xx-small;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:xx-small;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style=";font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:xx-small;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Times New Roman;" ><br /></span></span></span><a href="mailto:itsupport@chime.plc.uk"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:xx-small;" ><br /></span></a></p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com/">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://teamspirit.posterous.com/the-price-of-politics-on-financial-services">teamspirit's posterous</a> </p> </div>Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-56761126571682425902010-04-26T09:18:00.002+01:002010-04-26T09:22:31.444+01:00The North Sea Bubble?Interesting report from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2010/04/do_you_want_house_prices_to_ri.html">Mark Easton last week</a> on political parties views on property prices. No surprises that every single one of them sits on the fence, but all financial brands need to be thinking about this given the long shadow that home ownership casts. <br /><br />The Thatcherite Revolution did many things but perhaps the biggest was creating the Cult of Property. Unlike many of our neighbours, Britons believe that owning bricks and mortar is an inalienable right and will do almost anything to achieve this. Including, as is clear with mortgage fraud cases and repossessions soaring, lying and borrowing way beyond what is sensible. Of course with rents still high and public housing stock pitiful this isn’t going to change any time soon. But surely every financial business has a real interest in educating their customers as to how and why they need to control their finances? <br /><br />Organisations like the IFS School of Finance are attempting to do this, but until all companies that offer credit of any time take the issue seriously they are only scratching the surface.<br /><br />Jim Poulter<br />Client Services DirectorTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-25321155624962667912010-04-26T04:16:00.004+01:002010-04-26T04:24:28.775+01:00First Direct Live- 6 months on<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2B0dncUgw1TI1wmpHrW4zLWKoBsnyRITeVlGBRsbWuym4ZJ7qIYvn0z2hBEZrrrOx7CdW4vY6CBNShmy4PXxOWSNGrPt8vpMr5Qnop6cTNPnOs3sHKQlFEuak-OWilM_cNO26QdHOZQ/s1600/Picture1.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2B0dncUgw1TI1wmpHrW4zLWKoBsnyRITeVlGBRsbWuym4ZJ7qIYvn0z2hBEZrrrOx7CdW4vY6CBNShmy4PXxOWSNGrPt8vpMr5Qnop6cTNPnOs3sHKQlFEuak-OWilM_cNO26QdHOZQ/s400/Picture1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464281194962997922" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />It is coming up to 6 months since First Direct launched <a href="http://www.live.firstdirect.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">First Direct Live</span></a>. The site has been hailed as a triumph of the open and honest sharing of customer feedback in real time. First Direct is still really the only UK retail bank that has successfully engaged with its customers online. However, in reality the online experience isn’t ‘amazing’. The persistence in using white out of black in the design is still an accessibility minefield, however because it looks different it has been allowed to pass and while the First Direct 'Retail Experience' is so much better than other competitors it tends to be regarded as highly successful. However, if you place the offering next to some other large consumer brands it doesn’t stack up as successfully.<br /><br />Now this is not to say that First Direct is not a decent experience, but it could be better and it is against this backdrop that the questions around <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.live.firstdirect.com/">First Direct Live</a> come. There has been little critical evaluation of the site. It does seem to have snuck under the radar with little scrutiny, so 6 months on from launch there are 5 areas in which we feel the site could definitely be improved as a true reflection of customer sentiment.<br /><br />1. Ratings - The ratings widget is an automated sentiment scoring system at present. In reality there isn’t currently a sophisticated enough algorithm to replicate true human sentiment, so the scoring needs to be taken with a bit of a pinch of salt.<br /><br />2. Curation – the filtering of content appears to be moderated, or highly selective and you don’t seem to get a full view of all feedback. It would appear that not all comments are posted and you get no feel for the volume of comments received.<br /><br />3. Live words don’t really mean as much as they could and because you can’t click through to any of the content that the tag cloud is made up from it’s difficult to understand context. There is also a mismatch between the positive and negative scoring and the overall sentiment scoring and it hasn’t really been explained why. As an additional point, the words that make up the cloud and how they are rated negative and positive bring into question the overall sentiment algorithm again.<br /><br />4. The platform is still all about push and destination web thinking. There’s almost no interaction and the lack of a human face makes it feel quite corporate.<br /><br />5. The fact that the site’s been leveraged <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www1.banking.firstdirect.com/1/2/banking/1st-account/overview;jsessionid=0000G8JHNwfvj7F8GyeE_z3aKGE:11jkc751v#?WT.ac=FSDT_LP_BA0642">with a campaign</a> leaves a suspicion around the original motives for the site. The satisfaction proposition is indeed very strong, if a little unspecified, but again this feels suspicious.<br /><br />Now we have to say that what First Direct has done is laudable. It’s certainly much better thought out and executed than many brand forays <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://joannejacobs.net/?p=863">into social media</a> to date in any category. However, it’s more controlled than other attempts and that’s where the conflict exists – control is not what you’re looking for if true transparency is to be achieved. Now maybe we haven’t reached a point where true transparency can be achieved for a corporate company and in terms of First Direct taking things forward it’s brave and still unique within UK financial services. The digital community has unbelievably high expectations of what brands can currently achieve given the corporate structures that remain in place and until businesses are modelled around social we won’t see truly social businesses, so I guess where First Direct is, is good, however we do need to consider <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.live.firstdirect.com/">First Direct Live</a> with a more watchful eye.<br /><br />Crispin Heath<br />Head of DigitalTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-75894737977339472642010-03-23T07:43:00.004+00:002010-03-23T08:08:23.806+00:00Could a billion people break the existing banking model?In February <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://twitter.com/thomaspower">Thomas Power</a> the founder of eCademy wrote a blog entitled<a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=145288"> ‘What happens when Facebook becomes a bank?’</a>. It sparked a huge debate around the role of social media in banking something that was firmly on the agenda <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://blog.smartypig.com/read/smartypig-lending-club-mint-and-creditkarma-to-talk-banking-20-at-sxsw">at SXSWi</a> last week with Smartypig, CreditKarma, Mint and Lending Club sitting on the panel. We hope to report back on the outcomes from that panel next week, however while SXSWi was running Power followed his blog up with a clarification of his position on video.<br /><br /><object width="512" height="308"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XT6b_jXsN6M&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XT6b_jXsN6M&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />His argument runs that when subscription levels to Facebook hit a billion - as predicted by the end of 2012 - that it will hit a scale and organisational maturity that will not only facilitate the sales of simple products such as loans, insurance and savings, but will mean groups of individuals will be in a position to come together to execute group purchases and lending on a huge scale. It would be a simple task for Facebook to integrate a facility such as <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://uk.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/">Zopa</a> onto it’s platform and then users have access to all the tools they need.<br /><br />If we work on the basis that Facebook's <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/13-would-bank-through-facebook/">2008 poll</a> has some validity then 13% of users would be happy to use the platform as a bank. If we then assume an average £1,000 deposit with the bank of Facebook then at a billion users that's a £130 billion business, something financial institutions would have to sit up and take notice of.<br /><br />Mark Zuckerberg is an ambitious man. Scale is his goal. The product will develop itself and as Power says the person with the biggest number of names wins the game. Financial institutions need to take note.<br /><br />Crispin Heath<br />Head of DigitalTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-63078442701916298502010-03-09T17:10:00.004+00:002010-03-09T17:26:12.862+00:00Do Stella Artois know the true price of FREE banking?That nice man with the golden grey locks and the snazzy jumpers has gone and burst the free bubble. He’s talking about, people actually having to pay for financial services they use! In a recent release Virgin Money <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8554385.stm">has come out quite deliberately</a> on the side of demanding cash for the privilege of facilitating our balances.<br /><br />Now I‘<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ve</span> read quite a few of the economics manuals and they all state that the greater the competition the lower the price as everyone dives headlong towards owning market-share. Well FREE in my book seems to be a low price, however just to prove a point Halifax want to actually pay me £5 per month for my balance.<br /><br />So how and why then should we consider paying for a Virgin Money Current Account? Will it be so different that it warrants me paying for it? Well only time will tell, but for my part, modern banking is little more than online facilitation nowadays. Yes when it comes to loans or savings I pay or get rewarded for my business, but Banks don’t really service me. I, like millions of others, choose to bank online and in that environment I’m a self service customer, so just why would I pay?<br /><br />Added to that, there are a number of new and innovative money managers coming to market all available via the web, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mint.com/">Mint</a> or <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.wesabe.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Wesabe</span></a> from the states are some good examples. They actually help me manage and make the most of my money, which my bank <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">doesn</span>’t and again they’re FREE.<br /><br />Now the debate about FREE banking has raged in recent years. Ever since the introduction of packaged accounts and the OFT’s pronouncements on credit card charges. All of which reached a recent crescendo with the subsequent failure on the fairness of banking fees.<br /><br />So how and where does Virgin’s pronouncement fit? Well I think it makes the issue more confusing. Why can’t we just get the truth behind what it costs to run a current account? Naive I may be, but this has to be the holy-grail of modern banking. Once we have that, we the customer can decide whether we value plain vanilla or the bells and whistles of packaged accounts.<br /><br />So is Mr <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Branson</span> the White Knight of Banking and are the Virgin fees being brought about by actual competition or the desire for transparency? I’m not so sure it’s either. While I may desire the holy-grail, the reality of linking what a customer pays for a current account and what a bank charges is almost impossible to calculate. It depends on way too many variables; the type of financial institution; how many overheads the business carries; the cost of security; technology and the amount it pays its employees; the amount that shareholders or Venture Capitalists want as a return etc.<br /><br />What worries me is it could be nothing more than a marketing trick to ensure margins. One just like Stella <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Artois</span> used. They made us believe that paying a premium was worthwhile for the taste, when in fact all we got was good old fashioned Belgium cooking lager. ‘Reassuringly Expensive’ they called it!<br /><br />Well for me all this increased competition is nice, but more choice <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">doesn</span>’t equate to better and paying for the privilege certainly <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">doesn</span>’t either.<br /><br />David McCann<br />Planning Director<br /><br /><br /><o:p></o:p>Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-35379210386801365392010-02-02T18:54:00.003+00:002010-02-02T19:10:37.921+00:00Simplicity, Transparency, Fraternity!We’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ve</span> been reading a<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.trendwatching.com/briefing/">great <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">trendwatching</span> brief</a> this week called FUNCTION<span style="font-weight: bold;">ALL</span> which covers why simple, small and cheap appeals to <span style="font-weight: bold;">ALL</span>.<br /><br />They make the point that products and services developed for emerging markets also appeal in mature markets too. That’s because with these stripped down, focused offers, there is often a price advantage, they are easier to use and well-designed. Examples mentioned: <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.classmatepc.com/">The Classmate PC</a>, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://tatanano.inservices.tatamotors.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Tato</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Nano</span></a>, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.tunehotels.com/">Tune Hotels</a>, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.zeeboinc.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Zeebo</span></a>.<br /><br />It tied in with something I was mulling over in my head (which is always handy).<br /><br />In the financial services world we grapple daily with ways to simplify the complex, without misleading consumers. And actually we are on a new wave…<br /><br />· The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">aggregators</span> have simplified the way we buy insurance;<br /><br />· <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Barclaycard</span> are simplifying payments with innovative wave technology;<br /><br />· In 2010, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia/new-business/finance/nokia-money"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Nokia</span> Money</a> will allow consumers to send money to another person just by using the person’s mobile phone number, as well as pay for goods and services and utility bills;<br /><br />· With new free tools like <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.smartypig.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">smartypig</span></a> and <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mint.com/">mint.com</a> coming our way, we will be able to have one, simple view of our money if we want it;<br /><br />· In the pensions world, we are seeing a revival of the simpler Personal Pension rather than the more complex and costly <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">SIPP</span>. Auto-enrolment for NEST will help simplify pensions planning for many.<br /><br />But are we going far enough or are we in ‘choice paralysis’?<br /><br />Verdict consulting research shows that over the past 10 years consumers have shifted from wanting a wide range with lots of choice to wanting an edited range of what they want.<br /><br />So do we really need a range of over 100 fund links on pensions? Do we really need cover for all illnesses or all eventualities in our home? Do we really need to review all financial needs before giving advice and not just cutting to the chase and focusing on what the consumer wants to sort?<br /><br />Quite an opportunity for brand to be the new <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Tata</span> in financial services don’t you think?<br /><br />Jo Parker<br />CEOTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-87272823185279585182010-01-29T12:47:00.003+00:002010-01-29T12:51:51.844+00:00So what's the ROI of social media?It's a question we're being asked consistently, it's a question <a href="http://twitter.com/equalman">@equalman</a> has answered very succinctly.<br /><br /><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ypmfs3z8esI&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ypmfs3z8esI&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="560"></embed></object>Crispin Heathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03281584363237478027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-69528380781760030022010-01-25T10:00:00.007+00:002010-01-25T10:45:04.000+00:00When two passions collide<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IFYMPEFoUJmqzkxgvJJybQptFOxn4-becuKCjZSJNaVub2ENoUqMigcfz6XvCVTvudKKyp6g9PiQnzDp2iRUtYXUxRlBZ0ebYgHUE993Xu7hxGbetteBMlO_Jt0O7g1wXe95R20g91c/s1600-h/money-ball.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 186px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IFYMPEFoUJmqzkxgvJJybQptFOxn4-becuKCjZSJNaVub2ENoUqMigcfz6XvCVTvudKKyp6g9PiQnzDp2iRUtYXUxRlBZ0ebYgHUE993Xu7hxGbetteBMlO_Jt0O7g1wXe95R20g91c/s400/money-ball.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430625176496224690" border="0" /></a>Two things happened last week that caught my attention the first was that Northern Rock agreed to continue its sponsorship of Newcastle United. The second was Billy Bragg's refusal to pay tax if RBS continued to pay bonuses totalling £1.4 billion.<br /><br />Both RBS and Northern Rock as I’m sure you’re aware are publicly owned and for all intent and purposes could be controlled by Government.<br /><br />And yet here we have two cases of very public non-interference by the controlling interest.<br /><br />Now I could start off on the rights and wrongs of a government sponsoring a privately owned football team or indeed funding the hyper-inflated salaries of Investment Bank fat cats, but that’s not my point. What did catch my train of thought was the similarity between these two disparate sectors, there are in fact a huge number of parallels between them.<br /><br />Both sectors rely on continual success whether on the pitch or share price to maintain their position in their respective leagues, and both have to pay heavily for the best talent available.<br /><br />While we may baulk at the thought of paying footballers £150,000 per week salaries the truth is that that’s what economists call market forces, the old supply and demand thing to you and me.<br /><br />In fact, teams that pay more are investing in their <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/fact-orfiction-form-in-football-954440.html">success</a>, no matter what Deloitte may say about <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.burnleyexpress.net/burnleyfc/Brendan-Flood-happy-with-Brian.5982731.jp">Brian Laws,</a> sorry another football finance link!<br /><br />Banking and finance like football is a fine balancing act and some get it wrong, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8439545.stm">Portsmouth</a> like RBS invested heavily, but relied upon short term funding which has left them in a precarious position. Others like Manchester United have had to restructure their debt, not dissimilar to Lloyds current rights issue and so it goes on an on.<br /><br />What of a resurgence amongst the mutuals? Well again you can look at the Real Madrid operating company, which is a supporter-owned, not-for-profit business. This has looked to grow through acquisition and merger borrowing heavily to buy the talent of the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka and Benezma<br /><br />Well back to the things that started me thinking, if we took Mr Bragg's advice and refused to pay the £1.4billion which is mostly paid to front line staff who earn on average less than £20,000 per annum, this I believe would have a knock on affect and ultimately hurt the performance and competitiveness of the business.<br /><br />The last analogy I’d like to make is that the premiership is seen by many as the best football league in the world and if we want to maintain that place then we need to reward and invest. It’s a hard fact that the Financial Services industry and the banking sector still account for about 15% of UK GDP. If we don’t invest we’ll relegate ourselves to the third division of banking, playing amongst the Accrington Stanley’s of Building Societies and not the Premier league of BoA, BNP Paribas or Santander.<br /><br />As for the sponsorship of Newcastle by Northern Rock I can’t believe that it has been allowed, I see it as a ludicrous and outlandish waste of taxpayers money, which financially supports the privately owned the rising stars of the Championship… Well what did you expect from a die hard Chelsea supporter ;)<br /><br />Extract from <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/fact-orfiction-form-in-football-954440.html">Myths and Facts About Football</a><br /><br />Fact: Player performance is strongly affected by relative income<br /><br />Or in other words, when a player's salary rises (or drops) relative to his team-mates' pay, his performance improves (or declines). German and Swiss economists demonstrated this by studying goals, assists and ball usage (and salaries) of players at 28 clubs in the German Bundesliga between 1995 and 2004. The "robust findings" show the relationship is not simply that "better players earn more" but that the "causality runs from pay to performance, not the other way round". Willingness to perform, as in many jobs, depends on relative pay.<br /><br />David McCann<br />Planning DirectorCrispin Heathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03281584363237478027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-5092390846962812452010-01-20T12:23:00.010+00:002010-01-21T07:47:03.533+00:00Would you move your Current Account to Tesco or Virgin Money?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7k6qUl7ZNN2sK6A2g9SSd4pT6G8PotztLHcY7aVnrfyw2kKFMRmR89uubwSqyBBoDPx0NpIvAp2rpDvNLkHfMtBuaEGjPDT_TaPS0EIlskp33PLQal91dxtqoMoYXcknmNBIdbv_leJA/s1600-h/TESCO+orig_logo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 204px; height: 90px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7k6qUl7ZNN2sK6A2g9SSd4pT6G8PotztLHcY7aVnrfyw2kKFMRmR89uubwSqyBBoDPx0NpIvAp2rpDvNLkHfMtBuaEGjPDT_TaPS0EIlskp33PLQal91dxtqoMoYXcknmNBIdbv_leJA/s400/TESCO+orig_logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428802631809539410" border="0" /></a>There was an interesting video from Brand Republic (see below) of some consumer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">vox</span> pops about what they thought of the new banks and whether they would move their current accounts.<br /><br /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1509319623" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=62407025001&playerId=1509319623&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swliveconnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" height="412" width="486"></embed><br /><br />Couple of things jumped out at me.<br /><br />That these brands are not seen as knowing about running a bank, so it feels like a stretch too far.<br /><br />That <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Tesco</span>’s is seen as taking over – a brand that is dominating our lives – and we do know that when it comes to money, people don’t like having all their eggs in one basket. We actually like privacy with money so we don’t want one brand knowing too much about us.<br /><br />The other thing that surprised me was there <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">wasn</span>’t more dissatisfaction with peoples’ existing banks – quite the opposite. And if good mortgage deals are only available to current account holders, especially with interest rate rises, then this is a huge barrier.<br /><br />Obviously these are the reactions from a few and it’s much, much too early to call. We don’t know what the offer is yet – what will be different or better about the experience with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Tesco</span> or Virgin.<br /><br />But fascinating times – can’t wait to see how it pans out.<br /><br />Jo Parker<br />CEOTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-83480828228288439132010-01-18T09:01:00.001+00:002010-01-18T10:18:58.022+00:00Financial Services is about to become much more fun<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2ZKmgYqS8hSYYY4eK4LANHKBX0H7-d-FXEiXr6j7oJqojoF3bx36W_oyybK0IowLIh3weQ_xW4-ClLUaFen2PgWGKmldjI154OW-mvY1INST5zabp6v7vsXHZ6q9f05Y92e6LU5GpSM/s1600-h/ifalife+logo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 109px; height: 72px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2ZKmgYqS8hSYYY4eK4LANHKBX0H7-d-FXEiXr6j7oJqojoF3bx36W_oyybK0IowLIh3weQ_xW4-ClLUaFen2PgWGKmldjI154OW-mvY1INST5zabp6v7vsXHZ6q9f05Y92e6LU5GpSM/s320/ifalife+logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428005417271706082" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Teamspirit</span> spent two days last week at the first <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.ifalife.com/articles.asp?AID=647">social media in financial services conference</a>. The brainchild of Phil Calvert at <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.ifalife.com/index.asp?PageID=1&LinkID=7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">IFAlife</span></a> - the specialist <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">IFA's</span> social network - it set out a bold vision for how <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">IFAs</span> should be approaching their online interaction in an era of online connectedness.<br /><br />In doing so it helped to set out a model for a more connected, more life planning focus, that would put building a relationship through online social means at the heart of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">IFA's</span> relationship with their customers. This was the New Model Adviser's conference, it wasn't about suggesting that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">IFAs</span> do a bit of blogging. This was about reaching out to new audiences, building networks through multiple channels and turning an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">IFA's</span> social graph into it's commercial graph. This was about transforming an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">IFA's</span> business plan and putting marketing at it's heart.<br /><br />With high quality best practice presentations from Google, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">LinkedIn</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">youTube</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">BTTradespace</span> and the BBC <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">IFAs</span> were exposed to the ways they could transform their organisation with the low cost social tools that are now available to all. This was backed up by the real life <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">executional</span> examples set out by <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://twitter.com/jaimesteele">Jaime Steele</a> at <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.northfinancial.com/">Northern Financial Services</a> who are using video in particular to transform their approach to market and <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://twitter.com/nickbamford">Nick <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Bamford</span></a> at<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.icl-ifa.co.uk/">Informed Choice</a> who outlined the company's new personal finance information, guidance and implementation site <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.brilliantwithmoney.co.uk/">Brilliant with Money</a>. These are two organisations already highly engaged in building significant online presence and unlike the past are keen to share the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">learnings</span> they have made with the rest of the industry.<br /><br />The best practice was supported by a focus on how to help build and connect a small business from <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://twitter.com/thomaspower">Thomas Power</a> at <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.ecademy.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Ecademy</span></a><a href="http://www.ecademy.com/"> </a>and <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://twitter.com/MediaCoach">Alan Stevens</a> 'the <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mediacoach.co.uk/">Media Coach</a>.' Their straight talking common sense approaches to building trust with audiences went hand in hand with <a href="http://twitter.com/grahamjones"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Graham Jones'</span></a> explanations around understanding the psychology of modern communications online. These were all key to developing a new level of empowerment for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">IFA</span> businesses.<br /><br />The new advisers are coming (some would say they're already here). These are nimble, relationship led, content hungry <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">entrepeneurs</span>. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://twitter.com/mikelinskey">Mike <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Linskey</span></a> helped to outline what the future can look like for these businesses with excellent examples from the states such as <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mint.com/">mint.com</a>, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.smartypig.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Smartypig</span></a>, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.billshrink.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Billshrink</span></a> and <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.centscity.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Centscity</span></a>.<br /><br />This is what <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">IFAs</span> are going to look like from now on it's up to providers to provide the tools they need to execute and the content they can use to help them plan for their clients. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">IFAs</span> are no longer anywhere near as reliant on providers to ensure their businesses grow and make profits and providers need to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">understand</span> this before they get completely cut out of the loop.<br /><br />Notes from the conference:<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://strategiccoffee.chriscfox.com/2010/01/social-media-in-financial-services-or.html"><br />Chris Fox's overview</a><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://paraplanplus.posterous.com/social-media-and-finance">Richard Allum 'The Paraplanner's' thoughts </a><br /><br />Crispin Heath<br />Head of DigitalTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-42677206284874158992010-01-13T18:05:00.004+00:002010-01-13T18:10:56.955+00:00Have they cracked it with nest?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GG_Rrz5EYJDshmNECH1rcKluUFu-MTMrXARUPGyeWpr0TrEK-G9EOmBf0kZjBo9VaNE3YPA1OPfwZOuCafLdbBcddKCet6QUSP0ugL7uxw_nCKQTov76K-Hwztd63TPJF1Od06TxFUw/s1600-h/nest.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 163px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9GG_Rrz5EYJDshmNECH1rcKluUFu-MTMrXARUPGyeWpr0TrEK-G9EOmBf0kZjBo9VaNE3YPA1OPfwZOuCafLdbBcddKCet6QUSP0ugL7uxw_nCKQTov76K-Hwztd63TPJF1Od06TxFUw/s400/nest.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426287916651900994" /></a><br /><br />Well I’ve read the research on the PADA site (am I sad?) and <a href="http://www.padeliveryauthority.org.uk/nest-video.asp">seen the video</a> <br /><br />And 10 out of 10 for transparency and accountability for a branding project. It’s also been developed cost-effectively. You can see why PADA have gone with this route and it clearly has resonated with target audiences. So what do I think?<br /><br />Well to be honest I don’t thing a name and logo is that important, it just won’t be what will encourage workers to participate in the scheme. Sure it can’t be a complete turkey and as our Planning Director David said the other day, it sounds like many 90s brand names, like the Eggs and Cahoots of this world, which haven’t exactly been success stories have they? I also think calling it a Savings Trust misleads – this is for retirement isn’t it and as far as I know there are no plans to have 401k flexibility? But that aside, it’s simple and accessible which I really like.<br /><br />Powerful and successful brands are those that understand that it isn’t just what you say, but also what you do and what others say about you. And with an estimated 6 to 8 million people expected to save into nests and £8bn annual investment, the stakes are high.<br /><br />So what are they doing to make this a success and what are others saying about them?<br /><br />The most important change is auto-enrolment and this single decision will make the difference to how we save as a nation. Any watering down of auto-enrolment will just mean we have a new stakeholder by another name. Ensuring that employers know how to communicate this effectively to their employees will really be the key to success.<br /><br />Nests’ reputation will be badly tarnished if companies, who already have company pensions, cut their contributions down to the new levels of 1% - rising to 3% by 2017. The LibDems have estimated 40,000 companies may do that, the Assoc of Consulting Actuaries think a quarter of employers will reduce their scheme benefits and 15% may close existing schemes altogether and move to nest. That will mean that the very people the Government are trying to help will have even less in their nest egg for retirement. The issue of means tested benefits also needs addressing urgently too. <br /><br />There is a real opportunity for social change and to encourage saving for retirement in this country, so let’s hope that in the next 6 years the focus is on making sure that:<br />auto-enrolment stays and there is fantastic communications support for employers to employees that is simple and motivating;<br />that contribution levels go up; <br />and the underlying investment choices are robust so that the retirement nest egg will be much more than means-tested benefits. <br /><br />Then nest will be a cracking brand. At the moment it is just too early to say.<br /><br />JoTeamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-76324260372607047672010-01-11T08:56:00.004+00:002010-01-11T09:06:05.279+00:00Teamspirit appoints two Creative Directors for the New Year<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhba7IXDRTouIMaZUVkeJW-s8r4AOYn4YQ5wYn3kfkHTVNfLIWqnk3nR0j9PThN1WA-SiBfAMbsotW2VhjBfOYhXDNno0e_b3vI-9Kp9pPT1w4CamBelbW7qCL7NKIFKc_RAu7wHhbnw-Q/s1600-h/Press+Release+001.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 550px; height: 413px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhba7IXDRTouIMaZUVkeJW-s8r4AOYn4YQ5wYn3kfkHTVNfLIWqnk3nR0j9PThN1WA-SiBfAMbsotW2VhjBfOYhXDNno0e_b3vI-9Kp9pPT1w4CamBelbW7qCL7NKIFKc_RAu7wHhbnw-Q/s400/Press+Release+001.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425403973593571890" /></a><br />Teamspirit the financial services specialist integrated agency has promoted Tim Nicholson and James Maxwell to the roles of Creative Director for the New Year.<br /><br />Tim has been Head of Art at Teamspirit for the past 5 years. Tim studied Graphic Design at Maidstone College of Art, the year below Tracy Emin, graduating with a 2:1. He was Head of Art at DDM advertising eventually taking the role of Creative Director at Partners BDDH's integrated shop, Aviator. <br /><br />He joined Teamspirit 5 years ago after a 10 year stint freelancing for many above and below the line agencies such as Saatchi and Saatchi, TBWA/GGT Direct (Natwest village), WAVV (launching the More th>n brand), Joshua, Rapier (Film four and Barclays bank), Craik Jones (Prudential, Orange, Virgin Trains) and Proximity London (launching Alliance & Leicester's first ISA). <br /><br />James Maxwell has been a senior copywriter at Teamspirit for 4 years.<br />With a background in International Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, James did a post-graduate in Copywriting and Marketing Communications at the AAA school in Cape Town. <br /><br />He made a name for himself writing and producing ads at the 567 CapeTalk Radio Station, researching marketing strategy, writing websites and even had a small stint at Buckingham Palace. After time at Steel-London working with AOL and the Financial Times, he moved to Teamspirit. <br /><br />Commenting on these promotions, Kirsty Maxey Managing Director at Teamspirit said: “We are delighted to promote both Tim and James who are very talented and have been integral to the award winning work we have developed over the past few years. We continue to grow our multi-discipline creative team and we have exciting plans that they will help us to deliver.”Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-1316202308589359522010-01-08T12:31:00.002+00:002010-01-08T12:40:30.998+00:00Ten for 2010<div style="width:550px;text-align:left" id="__ss_2858816"><a style="font:14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:12px 0 3px 0;text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/TeamspiritFinancialAgency/ten-for-2010-2858816" title="Ten for 2010">Ten for 2010</a><object style="margin:0px" width="550" height="459"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=hostsharedfolderstosborndesktoptenfor2010-100108061101-phpapp02&stripped_title=ten-for-2010-2858816"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=hostsharedfolderstosborndesktoptenfor2010-100108061101-phpapp02&stripped_title=ten-for-2010-2858816" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="550" height="459"></embed></object><div style="font-size:11px;font-family:tahoma,arial;height:26px;padding-top:2px;">View more <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/">documents</a> from <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/TeamspiritFinancialAgency">Teamspirit</a>.</div></div><br />This is the week of predictions, whether it’s the year of the Tiger or the year of Tax the first week of January is awash with crystal balls and hopes of joy and worries of doom.<br /><br />Well, I don’t want to break with tradition so I won’t here’s some of ours, I’m not promising anything revolutionary or indeed any accuracy, I predicted the market to close on 4750 and it closed at 5400 so that’ll give you an idea of expected acceptable predictive tolerances.<br /><br />Obvious things to watch out for will be changing political leadership, changing taxation, a bumbling economy and lots of change in the banking sector.<br /><br />Just on the banking sector my question is whether the arrival of new banks will really bring about any change and increase competition or will it be just more of the same?<br /><br />And the winning numbers this weekend will be…<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3A9EX7CYTjug3gegNkT1whqN58ICj-1nrhFJAwkvLEcI8CqLrZoUF4UJLV5iWzg9aynxs7H_eYommEEbJ5rEI4FE_cA4EDqPD9TEbuyGFE5WWF8N8kzZjyvXf8aUIkXzEbnDH1Zj3Inc/s1600-h/lotto.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3A9EX7CYTjug3gegNkT1whqN58ICj-1nrhFJAwkvLEcI8CqLrZoUF4UJLV5iWzg9aynxs7H_eYommEEbJ5rEI4FE_cA4EDqPD9TEbuyGFE5WWF8N8kzZjyvXf8aUIkXzEbnDH1Zj3Inc/s400/lotto.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424346627194419698" /></a>Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-59170434871121706252009-12-22T13:10:00.000+00:002009-12-22T13:34:22.281+00:00The highs and lows of 2009 and the potential for 2010If one thing is certain it is that recovery is far from certain… we’re not out of the woods yet!<br /><br />With house prices on the up, Quantitative Easing measures seemingly working and consumer confidence in their ability to accrue savings climbing for the third consecutive month in November there are reasons to be cheerful.<br /><br />But, given the irrepressible march of RDR and impact on adviser/provider business; ongoing uncertainty about the impact of personal accounts and continuing brittleness of investor sentiment (as evidenced in the immediate aftermath of the Dubai revelations)… 2010 could well have some interesting twists and turns in store!<br /><br /><div style="width: 425px; text-align: left;" id="__ss_2764847"><a style="margin: 12px 0pt 3px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; display: block; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/TeamspiritFinancialAgency/highs-and-lows-of-2009" title="Highs and Lows Of 2009">Highs and Lows Of 2009</a><object style="margin: 0px;" height="459" width="550"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=highsandlowsof2009-091222072313-phpapp02&stripped_title=highs-and-lows-of-2009"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=highsandlowsof2009-091222072313-phpapp02&stripped_title=highs-and-lows-of-2009" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="459" width="550"></embed></object><div style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,arial; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;">View more <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/TeamspiritFinancialAgency">Teamspirit</a>.</div></div>Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-20879881068112348732009-12-21T15:37:00.018+00:002009-12-21T16:39:50.841+00:00The Year in DigitalIt's that time of the year when we're forced to face the fact that the year's whizzed by and we can't actually remember what on earth happened. So at Teamspirit we thought we'd take you back through the year's biggest digital events. It's undoubtedly been the year that social media/communications/ideas/interactions or whatever you prefer to call them have been on the tip of everyone's tongue. Facebook <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/12/02/facebook-350-million-users/">passed 350 million users</a>, there are now 20 hours of video uploaded to <a href="http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/05/zoinks-20-hours-of-video-uploaded-every_20.html">YouTube</a> every minute, and of course Twitter has been this year's biggest story, a fact verified when it was officially confirmed as <a href="http://www.languagemonitor.com/news/top-words-of-2009">'Top word of the Year'</a>.<br /><br />However there were plenty of other stories breaking. There have been huge moves in the search arena with Microsoft launching Bing, Yahoo! seemingly giving up and jumping in with Bing and Google trying to take over the world and all the while real-time search partnerships being announced by pretty much everyone along the way. It still wasn't quite the year of mobile despite the fact that HTC's, iPhone's, N97's and Palm Pre's all faced off against each other.<br /><br />It wasn’t all good news either. Geocities finally closed down, Microsoft lost a ton of staff, Myspace had to completely reinvent itself and E-bay's profits fell hugely as the recession bit. And all of this against a backdrop of the Digital Britain report in which the government attempted to encapsulate Britain's approach to Digital over the coming years.<br /><br />So all in all a real rollercoaster and here it all is, in links<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">January 2009</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7JtHtv55mJLGeBFthWWpmKwtL_k30rcn-YYHAtHbhEWT8OzUh_-D5ID4EkbTwbujTWh6b_K30uUExcPkO85c82C3fzx4eVcsr4BswUen5aI4gUZ68et9piS-YEyXnvBP-nW7wlug8Zgw/s1600-h/globe.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7JtHtv55mJLGeBFthWWpmKwtL_k30rcn-YYHAtHbhEWT8OzUh_-D5ID4EkbTwbujTWh6b_K30uUExcPkO85c82C3fzx4eVcsr4BswUen5aI4gUZ68et9piS-YEyXnvBP-nW7wlug8Zgw/s400/globe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417714981195678354" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts20090124_internet_population_1_billion_still_afraid/"><br /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts20090124_internet_population_1_billion_still_afraid/">One billion unique users on the Internet</a><br /><br />February 2009<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInAZf3xAUfTtu10L1DVLHvqcSCHt7No9Vg4CeemlWt9f5yt-hU7wUDxrXM67X8ItR9XGyCIVaA3un0iCDcAV_GkunCDNsVIvwDxBrhz6rFRBnJkXLtMVpb1byLSM-mhN0VyhL3g6NU-k/s1600-h/facebook.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 74px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInAZf3xAUfTtu10L1DVLHvqcSCHt7No9Vg4CeemlWt9f5yt-hU7wUDxrXM67X8ItR9XGyCIVaA3un0iCDcAV_GkunCDNsVIvwDxBrhz6rFRBnJkXLtMVpb1byLSM-mhN0VyhL3g6NU-k/s400/facebook.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417715151325528962" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-terms-of-service-change-rapidly-turns-into-a-pr-nightmare/">Facebook changes terms of service creating big frustration with user community </a><br /><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/10/twitter-to-start-charging-companies-for-having-an-account/">Speculation about Twitter charging brands for commercial use</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">March</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOvwRFefC-NbDPa_lQKQnrZcqbxRDGtj-cDM7zewnyN4lVpOo8MGlTow-VADYJ9euFLu21kk_tkc90iKPYAilTBeLyDJPob6BnN-n6uZnMm-F8D4ptBoLgXq8Q4AvckW3bj_lu0oTJag/s1600-h/e_mail.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOvwRFefC-NbDPa_lQKQnrZcqbxRDGtj-cDM7zewnyN4lVpOo8MGlTow-VADYJ9euFLu21kk_tkc90iKPYAilTBeLyDJPob6BnN-n6uZnMm-F8D4ptBoLgXq8Q4AvckW3bj_lu0oTJag/s400/e_mail.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417716049178270962" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 2009<br /><br /><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090313/FREE/903139989/1078/">Many e-mail campaigns alienate customers</a><br /><a href="http://www.dmnews.com/facebook-beats-google-in-steering-niche-traffic/article/128807/">Facebook beats Google in steering niche traffic</a><br /><a href="http://www.dmnews.com/google-releases-behavioral-advertising/article/128633/">Google Releases Behavioural Advertising</a><br /><a href="http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/nielsen-news/social-networking-new-global-footprint/">Social Networks Pass Email in Usage</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">April 2009<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj67x5fhkLYtCrHYHsOv3ByD0p1I1BI9l8pno8ybUYI1M1MyJxPcBkMx260QOnIZTOq-flTZ0bpTuIwtzCgbfP7RcRRlkxIgfjPz5i0xJjl6rHqOeKCv5rBoaHTvrX35k-wuRaEQHMUi2g/s1600-h/twitter.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj67x5fhkLYtCrHYHsOv3ByD0p1I1BI9l8pno8ybUYI1M1MyJxPcBkMx260QOnIZTOq-flTZ0bpTuIwtzCgbfP7RcRRlkxIgfjPz5i0xJjl6rHqOeKCv5rBoaHTvrX35k-wuRaEQHMUi2g/s400/twitter.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417722108681353938" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i0dac803b1646d6affcdd07d9949c0272">Over 60 percent of people who sign up for Twitter do not return to using it the following month</a><br /><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007050">Brand Mentions Preferred over Ads</a><br /><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/now_you_can_change_what_google_says_about_you.php">Google releases Google Me</a><br /><a href="http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090406/FREE/304069973/1156/ISSUENETMARKETING">Internet surveys combined with traditional research methods are becoming the norm</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">May 2009</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-SXQwDbFm4kAzb4CxYJxRiNX4aO3ze86ivOuNsoHBiJxm09Nrgr4QU6Ll6QnJxYo6vahVc_kqZlJZ3gDK2cpStMMKNqXIk2e6-QmiIBoUqV6-CxAPWz6cLLOrpPaRJUr2N9SZdeJEHA/s1600-h/bing.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-SXQwDbFm4kAzb4CxYJxRiNX4aO3ze86ivOuNsoHBiJxm09Nrgr4QU6Ll6QnJxYo6vahVc_kqZlJZ3gDK2cpStMMKNqXIk2e6-QmiIBoUqV6-CxAPWz6cLLOrpPaRJUr2N9SZdeJEHA/s400/bing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417723106671947282" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/34885-microsoft-officially-announces-bingcom.html">Microsoft announces Bing.com</a><br /><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/went-walkabout-brought-back-google-wave.html">Google reannounces Google Wave</a><br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/05/20/online-video-growth/">Online Video Usage Up 53 Percent in ’09</a><br /><a href="http://www.searchengineguide.com/sage-lewis/forrester-predicts-huge-growth-for-socia.php">Forrester Predicts Huge Growth for Social Media Marketing</a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">June 2009</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimeQcP0t7uehaKuLfsMyrjjE83Ehp_eFyCALO09b9U5sy5JEWIhMcSKkrzmD3y7n486X3qFPBOk85yz8GO2fbczRYh7nk8bu7mADTLc36xZVWPKUPTpOWrGG0cHCPphHbPD87iUAhA2qQ/s1600-h/digital_britain.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimeQcP0t7uehaKuLfsMyrjjE83Ehp_eFyCALO09b9U5sy5JEWIhMcSKkrzmD3y7n486X3qFPBOk85yz8GO2fbczRYh7nk8bu7mADTLc36xZVWPKUPTpOWrGG0cHCPphHbPD87iUAhA2qQ/s400/digital_britain.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417723748060383202" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/06/facebook-beats-myspace-in-the-us.html">Facebook beats Myspace traffic in the US</a><br /><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/166021/time_spent_on_social_networks_doubles_in_a_year.html">Time spent on social networks doubles in a year</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=91106469821">Facebook user names for user profiles and Facebook pages</a><br /><a href="http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/broadcasting/6216.aspx">The government releases the Digital Britain Report</a><br /><a href="http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2009/06/18/video-iphone-3g-s-against-nokia-n97-comparison/">iPhone release the 3GS against the Nokia N97</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">July 2009</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcqEUiAJfDXcqIH6F1im-ZcZTolqsz00sGQ8puy4U0VjcK1Iv-WdQPMFwupvfljbZ4IfGgu0Zsax9QhkBj0PukSgtyckgxnh5Og-iJ2oXKRuRVEUkzaQx4-cai6cxs0awJ2odKcNJZpj0/s1600-h/google_chrome.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcqEUiAJfDXcqIH6F1im-ZcZTolqsz00sGQ8puy4U0VjcK1Iv-WdQPMFwupvfljbZ4IfGgu0Zsax9QhkBj0PukSgtyckgxnh5Og-iJ2oXKRuRVEUkzaQx4-cai6cxs0awJ2odKcNJZpj0/s400/google_chrome.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417724491445708226" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090720/FREE/307159994/1445/FREE#seenit">Social media use soars among b-to-b marketers</a><br /><a href="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/090729-074504">Microsoft now powers Yahoo! search</a><br /><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html">Google announces their own operating system: Google Chrome OS</a><br /><a href="http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=98499677130">Facebook gives users more control over their status updates</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">August 2009</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJceZB3HMpHTZMw_oZX4owG6iDStmTtXTl_1qysW0MV1P3HJaVjLoHWV3ALAg9zmhNsBqKig1bXOWVOGwDTlS1kEdfQSmuDQLM0nXSea-xAIMMjOdUdlbs3qklD0QkI2Z6_dCfHrUfsww/s1600-h/facebook_FF.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJceZB3HMpHTZMw_oZX4owG6iDStmTtXTl_1qysW0MV1P3HJaVjLoHWV3ALAg9zmhNsBqKig1bXOWVOGwDTlS1kEdfQSmuDQLM0nXSea-xAIMMjOdUdlbs3qklD0QkI2Z6_dCfHrUfsww/s400/facebook_FF.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417724986237406178" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://searchengineland.com/caffeine-googles-new-search-index-23823">Google Caffeine: Google’s New Search Engine Index is unveiled</a><br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/facebook-launches-realtime-search/">Facebook announces real-time search</a><br /><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/13/twitter-announces-a-retweeting-api/">Twitter announces an API to help control, standardise and mainstream retweeting</a><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8194508.stm">Facebook up their challenge to Google with the purchase of Friendfeed</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 2009</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFIxIDKrnKt4T5sRW4gTznJ0Zlji0OMFPOxcvIqC1M1mTgMHWbwrflzaCp9JUBFA2H5T7SMMB44Yq7fEZF4kZPZSQl07Xb12z8pSqhZ9WoCMkEXM1psKrTCFCdjxC7B6_HAY577tpJ96k/s1600-h/google_sidewiki.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFIxIDKrnKt4T5sRW4gTznJ0Zlji0OMFPOxcvIqC1M1mTgMHWbwrflzaCp9JUBFA2H5T7SMMB44Yq7fEZF4kZPZSQl07Xb12z8pSqhZ9WoCMkEXM1psKrTCFCdjxC7B6_HAY577tpJ96k/s400/google_sidewiki.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417725557072049650" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/09/23/oneforty/">Twitter gets an (unofficial) app store</a><br /><a href="http://paidcontent.org/article/419-1-out-of-5-tweets-mention-brands-products/">Brands become mainstream on Twitter- mentioned in 1 in 5 Tweets</a><br /><a href="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Business_Technology/BT_Strategy/How_companies_are_benefiting_from_Web_20_McKinsey_Global_Survey_Results_2432?pagenum=3">Companies increasing spend in web 2.0 technologies</a><br /><a href="http://econsultancy.com/blog/4677-google-sidewiki-brands-under-attack">Google releases Sidewiki</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">October 2009</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8PfT-PF2Gf1nf6_GvNBGblgAi2ddm7pSZGjexhiJwxqciZd18fsB4mF2oj1IFfasQuNijLF69UveTTtCOXVxl6kqvpxDJSx7jKLHSm-D5ELN6lxXtiweRYLngFbgVMw2JcfjaSRdf6Mg/s1600-h/geo_cities.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8PfT-PF2Gf1nf6_GvNBGblgAi2ddm7pSZGjexhiJwxqciZd18fsB4mF2oj1IFfasQuNijLF69UveTTtCOXVxl6kqvpxDJSx7jKLHSm-D5ELN6lxXtiweRYLngFbgVMw2JcfjaSRdf6Mg/s400/geo_cities.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417726087685644546" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/10/25/geocities-closes-2/">Geocities goes out of business</a><br /><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/search/archive/2009/10/21/bing-is-bringing-twitter-search-to-you.aspx">Bing announces Tweets to appear in search results</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/blogging/feature/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009/">Technorati release their State of the blogosphere</a><br /><a href="http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/10/y000000000utube.html">YouTube is routinely serving more than a billion video views per day</a><br /><a href="http://searchengineland.com/yahoo-search-no-longer-uses-meta-keywords-tag-27303">Yahoo stops using meta keywords for search</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">November 2009</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLVlBBqjOM48GjDwcZhvM8ckb6i0grBPA_yiJZJyVQiInHFMCH23X4ukBpFav3T27qqx-m15lEd-J1WOeOGAkcV9aAvkdBJTRSJY5gHO6QskUG33bn_uuN21hIGi4BkH6pULIMa5kr5w/s1600-h/twitter_peanut.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLVlBBqjOM48GjDwcZhvM8ckb6i0grBPA_yiJZJyVQiInHFMCH23X4ukBpFav3T27qqx-m15lEd-J1WOeOGAkcV9aAvkdBJTRSJY5gHO6QskUG33bn_uuN21hIGi4BkH6pULIMa5kr5w/s400/twitter_peanut.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417726617899907826" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/11/09/allen-blue-twitter-and-linkedin-go-together-like-peanut-butter-and-chocolate/">Linkedin and Twitter integrate</a><br /><a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2009/10/theres-list-for-that.html">Twitter creates Twitter Lists</a><br /><a href="http://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/press-releases/2009/11/091118.jsp">Salesforce.com announces Chatter, social computing for enterprise companies</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">December 2009</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQT2tFamp7KaCsxaims8ZWRHRWtVVdQUNdVsiVK0vUYp489z_WDfU3i1eE3CWjotfyf9HbJQAuRVVqR_YwI-hJTyxTf6XBx88pbGHEhVaVXHAZulFDyyu0t3ClH85tIleD4mj7_1OmS2U/s1600-h/iphone.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQT2tFamp7KaCsxaims8ZWRHRWtVVdQUNdVsiVK0vUYp489z_WDfU3i1eE3CWjotfyf9HbJQAuRVVqR_YwI-hJTyxTf6XBx88pbGHEhVaVXHAZulFDyyu0t3ClH85tIleD4mj7_1OmS2U/s400/iphone.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417727021165853618" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/12/14/contributors-twitter-business-features/">Twitter Starts Testing Features for Businesses</a><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6760518/MySpace-and-Facebook-sign-real-time-search-deals-with-Google.html">MySpace and Facebook sign real-time search deals with Google</a><br /><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_pushes_people_to_go_public.php">Facebook Pushes People to Go Public</a><br /><a href="http://www.briansolis.com/2009/12/is-facebook-losing-its-coveted-demographic/">Time spent on Facebook by 18-24 year olds declines</a><br /><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/12/google-announces-new-offerings-in-rea-time-mobile-and-social-search.html">Google Announces New Offerings in Real-Time, Mobile and Social Search</a><br /><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/morgan_stanley_mobile_internet_market.php">Morgan Stanley state 'Mobile Internet Market Will Be Twice The Size of Desktop Internet'</a>Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-80233582564434188402009-12-09T16:04:00.003+00:002009-12-09T16:10:58.110+00:00Happy Christmas from all at Teamspirit<a href="http://www.teamspirit.uk.com/sparkling_festive_season/"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3WHGCGZ5CUsAloUYhWaxlMAOMRSjJOqY2NUZFoYtR5rZB12F_pMomZnmTEET1JF73RMgsYCBZdg6YuPbNUSIsB12wFabiQU5-DK5_v-6oivg54gAoQcpa4u5lFK7VY5-D4dCPrTIp-nM/s1600-h/Xmas+card.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 550px; height: 316px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3WHGCGZ5CUsAloUYhWaxlMAOMRSjJOqY2NUZFoYtR5rZB12F_pMomZnmTEET1JF73RMgsYCBZdg6YuPbNUSIsB12wFabiQU5-DK5_v-6oivg54gAoQcpa4u5lFK7VY5-D4dCPrTIp-nM/s400/Xmas+card.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413269165025072258" /></a></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.teamspirit.uk.com/sparkling_festive_season/">Click here for Teamspirit's Christmas message.</a>Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3536985334075550674.post-2229379990231063782009-12-03T16:17:00.006+00:002009-12-03T17:16:33.631+00:00Teamspirit hires new digital team<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5c0R9jZXxX-OdeQ9SxuwzrRHHNIMWOtudDQj-t9gitbt2gxw3I8VoBk8WYbjSaHPVs6WbXgmBlxMZo62VGsZsbyApfbMQMAVJJVok_Ip9XgczXHGKxIungmwughK4qk4NY99XwoK33SU/s1600-h/newdigiteam.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5c0R9jZXxX-OdeQ9SxuwzrRHHNIMWOtudDQj-t9gitbt2gxw3I8VoBk8WYbjSaHPVs6WbXgmBlxMZo62VGsZsbyApfbMQMAVJJVok_Ip9XgczXHGKxIungmwughK4qk4NY99XwoK33SU/s400/newdigiteam.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411045641636432402" /></a><br />Teamspirit has hired a 5-strong digital team to join its existing digital team and strengthen its offer to clients. The new team comes from Peterborough-based Lightstone who announced they were closing last week. <br /><br />The team headed by David Simpson have worked together on brands such as Alliance & Leicester, BGL, Ascentric, Yorkshire Building Society, Nestlé and the BBC over the last 6 years. David joins as Digital Director to work alongside Teamspirit’s Crispin Heath. All of the team will be based in Teamspirit’s office in Farringdon, London.<br /><br />Commenting on the news, Jo Parker CEO of Teamspirit said “The digital work we do for clients has nearly doubled in the last 2 years and we see that growth continuing next year. What we really loved about David and his team is not only their experience in developing great websites both b2b and for consumers, but also their passion for integrating what they do with the offline world so that the customer experience of the brand is seamless. This is an exciting addition for us at the end of a successful year.”<br /><br />David added “Financial services has been our focus for many years, so joining Teamspirit is a perfect match and an exciting new opportunity for all of us. We’re looking forward to working with the rest of the team to deliver great, results for clients across a wider range of channels.”<br /><br />For enquiries please call:<br />Jo Parker, Crispin Heath or David Simpson on 020 7360 7878Teamspirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09107968126995819690noreply@blogger.com0