8. April 2013
We’re in the throws of planning out next Working Breakfast which will take place at One Alfred Place on Thursday 25th April. If you would like to come along please email us; workingbreakfast@cmwlondon.com
Working Breakfast Theme: Youth of today
With reports of rising unemployment amongst 18-24 year olds and the misconception that they have little disposable income and are brand promiscuous, it’s no surprise that this age group tends to be overlooked by many leading brands as potential customers.
Yet, students alone (who account for one half of the UK youth population) contribute a staggering £20 billion annually to the UK economy.
So this time round we’ll be joined by youth experts, The Beans Group, who will draw on recent research into 18-24 year olds to reveal their shopping habits and some of the brands they love and hate.
We’ll also dispel any myths you might have about 18-24s
and share some ideas on how brands can reach this audience without upsetting
the mothership.
And should you have any unanswered questions, don’t worry as there’ll be a small group of young people to ask first-hand!
Event details
Thursday 25th April at One Alfred Place, WC1E 7EB
08:00-08:30: Breakfast and networking
08:30-09:15: The Beans Group
09:15-09:45: A chance to mingle
If you or your colleagues fancy coming along, you are more than welcome. Simply RSVP to workingbreakfast@cmwlondon.com so we can add your name to the guestlist for the club’s reception.
We hope to see you there!
4. December 2012
#PassionatePeople
Like all agencies, CMW is only as exciting and interesting as the people in it. There’s definitely no shortage here of those with different interests, talents and knowledge. However amongst our team are a few that possess a particular passion. And every once in a while we would like to draw on these people and share their story.
This week we are introducing Sara Cohen, who by day is our Strategy Planner for Peugeot. And who by night and weekends, is a fashion entrepreneur. Yes, she’s the one in the pic above, this is her website – http://www.sara-c.com and this is Sara’s story.
“Most fashion labels begin with a grand vision or a childhood dream. Mine started earlier this year in a campervan called Able Mabel. I spent 7 weeks travelling round England in the middle of winter, and was often the only person walking on the beach and hiking up hills. During this time I discovered another, untouched England; an empty, unique country where nature tells millions of tiny, perfect stories. I photographed and drew what I saw, and the result was my debut collection; Nature’s Edge.
Before I packed up and headed home, I’d decided it was time to follow my passion, combining my love of prints with nature. This is how my ethical print based fashion label Sara C was born. My designs are all hand-drawn or taken from my nature inspired photographs and then digitally printed onto 100% bamboo or peace silk. I design a range of clothing and accessories, all of which you can find here http://www.sara-c.com
I have worked in advertising for 15 years so I come with lots of marketing experience. However nothing enriches your experience more than becoming an entrepreneur and launching your own brand. I now find I wear many hats; designer, product development, production to fulfilment and marketing too. I have found that I now view our client’s challenges at CMW differently. I am able to have a deeper understanding of what’s on our client’s mind, and when approaching a brief I am able to bring another dimension of thinking as I consider all aspects of their business rather than simply the marketing side. Plus having designed my own site and developed and managed my own marketing and social media, I now have a smaller brands personal perspective to add to my experience of working on bigger brands.
It’s amazing what I’ve achieved in a year. 9 months of long days, late nights and weekend working has been absolutely worth it.
17. May 2012
CMW's mighty softball team started out the league with a killer win last night, beating the competition into submission within 5 innings. They're very happy with their final score of 28-9.
Anyone up for a good ol' game of softball...?
Pictured below (L-R):
Kim, Kristen, Leon, John, Anthony, Ally, Marnie; Wen, John, Tom
30. March 2012
New faces here at CMW, and one of them is Matt North, who we’ve just appointed as our Head of Digital Strategy.
Matt joins us from the digital shop VML London, where he was the planning director managing clients that include Microsoft, Vodafone, and Xbox. (He also established an in-house social media practice offering analytics, activation, and listening services for clients. Impressive!)
Here, he’ll be working on quite a few of our FMCG clients, like Kellogg, Allied Bakeries, and Cadbury.
We’re thrilled to have him on board – watch this space for updates and maybe an embarrassing picture or two.
See here for the Brand Republic article on Matt’s appointment: http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1124778/cmw-appoints-north-digital-strategy-chief/
10. January 2012
This morning we had our first working breakfast.
Mark Earls did what he does best – he made us think!
Here’s our 60 second whistle-stop tour of the wise and wonderful things he had to say.
His theme was that people follow patterns of behaviour. We can improve communication effectiveness by better understanding these patterns. It's for this reason that Mark's latest book is called "I'll Have What She's Having".
Mark started with a story – a story of Empire, adventure, map making and the Kong Mountains. (A quick visit to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountains_of_Kong explains all.)
It turns out that for nearly a 100 years we believed the Kong Mountains to be in West Africa. They were the source of the great Niger River. Maps pinpointed where they could be found. The truth is they've never existed! They're a myth!
How did this come to pass? Mark explained that social context and shared belief are the most significant elements in our decision making.
We are inherently social beings and so our decision making is necessarily shaped by the influence of others.
From the moment we are born we are homo mimicus – mimicking man. We are copying machines aping the behaviour of our parents from day one. We then progress and ape the behaviour of our peers, of our social milieu and of wider society. We do it through-out our lives. This is why ideas spread; it's why markets have long-tails. We are copying machines. Drinks for example are a social choice.
As much as we all want to believe we're rational and independent of thought, the truth is we our part of a herd and make social decisions.
The trick is to understand the pattern that people's decision making is conforming to. To see the dynamic behind the mimic. Only by doing this can we seek to influence behaviour.
That's it other than to say thanks Mark for a stimulating and insightful talk. Great way to start the working day.
Mark's latest book, "I'll Have What She's Having", the inspiration for much of this morning, can be bought by clicking here. Well worth a read.
4. January 2012
CMW's celebrated Bacon Club is back and better than ever for 2012, now better known as Working Breakfast.
Kicking things off on Tuesday January 10th at One Alfred Place, we are particularly excited to announce that our speaker is Mark Earls, one of the UK's most popular writers and speakers on brands, marketing and changing mass behaviour. He is the author of 'HERD' and the recently published 'I'll Have What She's Having'. He's been described as Malcolm Gladwell on speed, and always has an entertaining story and a great insight into how marketers really influence audience behaviour.This is a chance to genuinely find out what makes consumers tick, and an opportunity to mingle and enjoy some breakfast.
We still have a few places available, so if you are interested in coming along, please email daisy.batchen@cmwlondon.com for more information. And for those of you who are already on the guest list.....see you there!
21. October 2011
William Hill are offering odds of just 2/1 that the Stone Roses will split before the end of 2012. Pretty much a sure thing then.
20. October 2011
This top tune is one of CMW's faves. We are told that the chap on the guitar is not, we repeat not, Ben Rachel our Planning Director.
13. December 2010
Campaign published its 2010 Top Tens on Thursday. CMW had its best performance to date.
We were runner up DM agency of the year for the second year running, and with Camapign saying we could well go further next year.
Jamie Bell and Iain Hunter were number 5 in the top ten DM creatives.
Our work for Sure Start came in at number 9 in the Regional Press Ads.
Our Creme Egg iPhone app came in at number 5 in top apps.
And last, but by no means least, our 'Emergency Services' mailer for Peugeot came in at number 7 in the top ten direct campaigns.
We're absolutely chuffed at the recognition. It's been a very busy year and all of us at CMW twoers have thoroughly enjoyed it. We're looking forward to 2011 and doing even more, even better work for our clients.
21. September 2010
We all popped over to Bloomsbury last night for a spot of ten-pin bowling. Turns out most of us are absolutely rubbish at it, which made Jula (our Godess of HR) and Anthony (demon of data) stand out all the more for their almost perfect technique and ability to toss a ball at some sticks with surprising accuracy and subsequent high scoring.
Meanwhile in the Karioke lounge ...