BIMA DinnersViral: Quality or Quantity?
It's time for viral to come of age.
It’s time for viral to come of age. At this Dialogue we attempt to address the key questions that challenge the industry and cut-through some of the hyperbole in search of some clarity.
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The Moderator:
Chris Kempt
Founder, Kempt
Chris has spent way too much time in front of a computer. After graduating in Fine Art in ’98 he decided he wasn’t suited to fast food work and chose to pursue his love of the internet professionally, a decision which he has never regretted to this day. Chris has worked in a range of roles around the industry including as Creative Director - New Media for Redhouse Lane Communications and Production Manager of the world’s biggest dance music website MinistryofSound.com, Chris founded Kempt in early 2003.
Kempt are a digital marketing and production company who specialise in building and promoting flash games for a range of clients including Sony Europe, King of Shaves, the United Nations, NBC Universal and MTV. Their games receive many millions of visits every month.
In addition to production work Kempt run a casual online game portal, Killerviral.com and viral tracking system memecounter.com which is fast becoming the de facto standard for tracking viral in the UK.
Panel
Jim McNiven
Managing Director, Kerb
Jim has been building online content since the mid-eighties when he produced Commodore 64 demo's along with other geeks back in the mid-80's on something known as “Compunet” a bit like a UK version of the Internet only a lot, lot slower. He “lost” nearly a decade of his life working for investment companies including Citibank, where he quit his job in the marketing department to return to his first love by doing a BA in Electronic Media design at Wolverhampton.
He started Kerb in 1996 and has been evangelical about interactive viral marketing since 2001. Kerb works regularly for many household brands including Playstation, Disney and Easygroup. Their success stories include; a viral campaign that was played by over 60 million unique visitors, a viral campaign that increased a clients sales by 127% in its first month and a viral campaign that has been accepted as the fasted growing campaign ever tracked by two of the UK's leading viral charts.
Caroline McGuckian
Media Director, LBi
As Media Director at LBi, Caroline leads a team of 16 media strategists, planners and buyers at the agency, who cover everything from placements to maximize brand awareness, to search engine marketing and affiliate management. With more than 10 years digital experience, Caroline has been instrumental in growing LBi’s online media practice, and is responsible for clients including Mothercare, Starbucks, Starwood Hotels and Marks & Spencer.
Prior to LBi Caroline ran her own agency, Oscar Media, which she set up in 2001. We were so impressed we made Oscar an offer they couldn’t refuse and Caroline and her team became part of LBi in early 2004.
Jez Jowett
Managing Partner, Agency.com
Managing Partner, leading the British Airways, IKEA, Armani Hotels and Sainsbury’s Bank accounts. He joined from Cake where he was head of Digital for 7 years. Jez has been pioneering interactive and engagement campaigns across all digital channels with a strong track record in viral, mobile, gaming, web and ambient activity. Prior to joining Cake Jez worked at KLP Euro RSCG and HHCL.
Facts:
Jez has 12 years agency experience above, below and through the line, 8 years specialising in interactive.
He has been responsible for launching over 200 digital campaigns for clients including Evian, Nintendo, Bacardi, Lynx, Impulse, Carling, Budweiser, Cointreau, Tango, Martini, Jaguar, Warner Music, Sky, ITV Digital, Motorola, Orange, Universal Music and Agent Provocateur.
It’s highly likely that if you’ve been forwarded a piece of branded entertainment by one of your peers, Jez has been responsible for the content creation or the seeding at some point in its digital amplification.
A regular speaker at industry conferences on subjects such as viral, emerging channels, advertiser funded programming (AFP) and a passionate practitioner who believes in leading by example.
Jez is a passionate blogger and distributor of content and co-founder of Eatmail.TV, one of the UK’s most respected viral communities delivering online content directly to early adopters on a weekly basis.
Mantra: Think twice, speak once.
Passion: Trying to invent the next must have gadget.
Guilty Pleasure: Classic cars.
