They write on their landing page:

“BrewDog is a post Punk apocalyptic motherfu*ker of a craft brewery.
“Say goodbye to the corporate beer whores crazy for power and world domination. Swear allegiance to the uncompromising revolution.
“Taste the hops, live the dream. Learn to speak beer, love fruit and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, movers and warriors – the outlaw elite. Ride toward anarchy and caramel craziness. Let the sharp bitter finish rip you straight to the tits.
“Save up for a Luger, and drill the bastards.”

BrewDog’s language is extreme. So are its beers. Its almost-no-alcohol beer, called Nanny State, is a bottle full of hops that actually tastes like a good beer, unlike most other light beers. At the other extreme, Tactical Nuclear Penguin, at 32%, was claimed to be the strongest beer in the world when released in 2009. It was topped by Sink the Bismark (41%) and The End of History (55%). Other brews include Trashy Blonde, Hardcore IPA and Hello My Name is Ingrid.

The language is provocative, antagonizing, and very deliberate. People will get angry, be offended. Many people, most of them actually, won’t buy the beer. And that is fine by BrewDog. They truly don’t want mass appeal. They use all their marketing material – their website, their bars, the labels and names of their beers – consistently to create a cachet, a nudge-nudge-wink-wink-we-know-better-than-them sense of exclusivity. This happens to fit perfectly with the elitist craze for craft beers in many countries, while massaging the egos of customers and telling them they are not just buying a product.

BrewDog also eschews traditional advertising, usually a magnet for brewers. Cofounder James Watt was quoted in Marketing Magazine as saying: ‘I would rather take my money and set fire to it. It’s the antithesis of everything we stand for and everything we believe in. It’s a medium that is shallow, it’s fake and we want nothing to do with it.”

Instead they use their own content. The same Marketing Magazine article spoke of a plan to launch a TV program in the US on craft brewing, in line with their belief that editorial exposure is “1000 times more worthwhile” than advertising. “Why pay for advertising when you can host a TV show about beer?” asked Watt.

This approach is completely consistent with the tone of voice and attitude that prevails in all BrewDog content. As they say on their website:

“Our approach has the same contempt of the mass beer market that the old-school punks had for pop culture. BrewDog is a modern day rebellion against faceless corporate bureaucracy and the bland, soulless beer they industrially produce.”

Portraying yourself as a rebel is nothing new. Virgin and Apple both played on their roles as the underdogs taking on the establishment, and they used the language of the oppressed. Take on the establishment. Think different. (But what happens when you are so successful that you become the establishment?)

It can be an effective tool, but it comes at a risk. You can alienate the mainstream. You can limit your customer base. You can offend people.

And you can make a name for yourself, becoming a brand that people love.

In its short history (it was launched only in 2007), BrewDog has built up a successful brand and a loyal following, largely thanks to consistent application of its tone of voice, and sticking closely to its strategy. It makes it stand out in a crowded marketplace full of craft beers.

I’d drink to that.

Content strategy is a term that has been widely publicized in recent years. It is often described using the definition given by Kristina Halvorson, founder and CEO of web content agency Brain Traffic. She says: “Content strategy plans for the creation, publication and governance of useful, usable content” (though this only applies to content on the internet). Essentially, it is about having a plan for all content that is produced for our own communications channels (including social media), and JG Communication has now launched the first LinkedIn group ever to communicate in Swedish on the subject of content strategy.

The group has been formed so people can discuss various issues relating to content strategy, share interesting and relevant links, and build a professional network for everyone who works with or is interested in content strategy in Sweden. Areas such as content marketing, search engine optimization, usability and information architecture are also relevant for the group – in the same way that web design and social media can be of interest – if they have a connection to content strategy.

Christian Sahlgren, MD of JG Communication, says: “LinkedIn groups provide a fantastic opportunity to take part in discussions and to learn more about interesting and relevant topics. We’ve been working with channel-independent content for many years, and it’s essential to have a strategy and a concept on which to base our work. As one of Sweden’s leading content agencies, JG Communication wants to contribute toward ensuring that the core of our work – content strategy – has its own LinkedIn group in Swedish. We’re therefore pleased to report that we’ve now started such a group.”

The group is open to anyone who is interested, and you can find it here. If you have any questions or thoughts about the group, please contact Pontus Staunstrup, who is in charge of the group, via e-mail: pontus.staunstrup(at)jgcommunication.se. Welcome onboard!

Michael Masoliver

Michael Masoliver, a writer at JG Communication, found the work “revealing and engaging.” He worked with colleague and senior writer Karin Liljequist on the report titled Från Insidan – Barn och Ungdomar om Tillvaron i Arrest och Häkte (“From the Inside – Children and Young People on life under arrest and in custody”).

This is the second Ombudsman for Children annual report in a row that JG Communication has contributed to, providing content as well as editing services. In mid-March, it was submitted to decision-makers and representatives from Sweden’s Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Ministry of Justice, State Attorney, Committee on Justice, and the National Board of Health and Welfare, who will now take a stand on the Ombudsman for Children’s analyses and proposals for change.

“There’s been a very good response from them to our work and to our communication materials,” says Catherine Johnsson, Project Manager at the Ombudsman for Children.

In 1998, 41 children were detained; by 2011 that figure had risen to 122. The increase is remarkable given that the intention – both according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and in Swedish legislation – is for children to be detained only in exceptional cases, according to the Ombudsman for Children.

In the report, children and young people tell of their experiences, what happens to you and what thoughts you have when deprived of your freedom. The Ombudsman for Children has analyzed the situation of these children and young people, and has established that society is failing considerably, and in a systematic fashion, to live up to the CRC and other international guidelines and regulations.

Download the report here (in Swedish)

Content marketing and inbound marketing are all the rage right now, but with so many terms being bandied about in communication and marketing, some people won’t feel entirely sure of what they mean. If you are one of those, read on.

The short answer is that there is no major difference. Both terms have to do with creating valuable content for your channels so that your customers can find it. The antonym of these terms is usually referred to as outbound marketing, which covers the more traditional ways of reaching your customers (through advertising, direct marketing, radio and TV advertising, telemarketing, and so on). The main reason there are two terms is that Hubspot came up with inbound marketing, while the Content Marketing Institute is behind content marketing. To further complicate the matter, there is a third, similar term – permission marketing – which was coined by Seth Godin.

If you were to ask one of the parties or their supporters, they would naturally claim that the difference between them is huge. And if you’re interested, you can read a good summary of that debate here. But in my view, this discussion is of greater interest to those of us who work with the matter on a daily basis than to those who deal with marketing and communication for only one company or organization.

For those in the latter category, it is far more interesting to find out whether it works. Can I reach my customers through the use of content or inbound marketing? And I’d respond to this question with a resounding “yes.” Considering the way the impact of traditional marketing is diminishing continuously, content/inbound marketing represents a far better way to establish a good relationship with existing and potential customers and, above all else, enter into their purchasing processes early on.

A recent survey from Forrester underlines this trend:
Consumers in the US and in Europe were involved in the survey, and it shows clearly which type of digital interaction works best. It shows that above all, we think the least of push-content, such as text messaging and banners. The payoff from companies’ posts on social websites such as Facebook and Twitter is also poor (which I believe is more down to the quality of the posts than the quality of the channels). Organic or unsponsored search results (in other words, those that have not been paid for) score more highly in search engines and in website content. And we trust the recommendations of friends and family most of all.

In other words, this is exactly the kind of content that content/inbound marketing is based on – content that creates user value – that works best in digital marketing. It’s the type of content that comes up in unsponsored searches and makes future customers visit a company’s website. And it’s the kind of content that often forms the foundation for sharing and recommendations.

So whether we are talking about content marketing or inbound marketing, the conclusion is that this type of marketing brings results.

Do you think there’s a major difference between content marketing and inbound marketing? Share your comments here.

The new name embodies the group’s Nordic identity and presence in the region. Nordic Morning comprises 14 companies specializing in several areas of communications and serving customers in the Nordic region.

The new name also celebrates the successful transformation of the group from a Finnish print-related communications company into a Nordic communications group over the past seven years.

Today, Nordic Morning employs about 800 communications professionals who speak a total of 20 languages and who are based in six different countries. Over half of the group’s turnover is derived from the Swedish market, where it has had operations since 2001.

Timo Lepistö, CEO, says: “Our goal is to understand our customers’ communication challenges. We want to provide them with innovative solutions that help them prosper in this fast-changing world. We will be successful in doing this owing to our comprehensive service offering and the wide-ranging competence of our staff.”

The major acquisitions made to strengthen the group’s offerings include that of Swedish advertising and communications group Citat, in 2008, and Nordic digital marketing group Klikki, in 2012.

For further information, contact: Timo Lepistö, CEO, Nordic Morning: timo.lepisto [at] nordicmorning [dot] fi, tel. +358 40 860 2355.

Enki, depicted with the Tigris and Euphrates flowing from his shoulders. Picture: Wikimedia Commons

Many have heard of Uruk. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example, calls it the first city. It was the home of Gilgamesh, the first hero, whose story, The Epic of Gilgamesh, is often hailed as the first great work of literature. Recorded in cuneiform writing in clay, it tells of Uruk’s king from around 2700 BCE (Before Common Era) and his friendship with Enkidu, the wild man of the hills.

Parts of the epic, which includes the story of how Gilgamesh helped “tame” wild Enkidu, can be seen as parables about the advances in civilization which had taken place in the previous centuries, about how hunter-gatherer societies settled down to an urban lifestyle, with all the resulting trials and tribulations. They are the sort of story you would expect a powerful new player to tell, staking its claim as the leader in a dynamic region, the trailblazer, the pioneer.

But Uruk itself was a Johnny-come-lately, a copycat – or dare one say it, a thief. The Sumerian king list, records in clay of the earliest Sumerian rulers, tells of an older city, Eridu, as the city of the first kings.  Thought to date from around 5400 BCE (yes, more than 7000 years ago), Eridu – at the mouth of the Euphrates – was the place to which the essential characteristics of a city descended from heaven. These characteristics, collectively called “me” (pronounced meh), comprised more than 100 qualities, items, offices, beliefs and behaviours that were essential for this new phenomenon of civilization, city life. They were safeguarded by Enki, described as a god, worshipped at his temple in Eridu.

Me included kingship, with the royal insignia such as the throne, the sceptre and the crown; victory; truth; wisdom; sex; music; sorrow; metalwork; woodwork; writing; smithing, leatherworking and basket-weaving. Not all the me were positive – they included falsehood, lamentation, libel, floods, weariness and the troubled heart – but they were all required for civilization, for a city.

A classic piece of storytelling (warning, can be a bit graphic) relates how Uruk was the most prominent rival to Eridu. And Uruk had a queen, the goddess, Inanna, also known as Ishtar. The story goes that Inanna, dressed in her seductive best, travelled to Eridu, to Enki, the lord of wisdom. Enki plays the welcoming host and turns on the hospitality. And the booze. They party, they feast, they drink – a lot. And feeling merry, Enki makes a gift to Inanna, of some of the me.

“I shall present … Lordship, … godship, the tiara exalted and enduring, the throne of kingship… The exalted sceptre, staffs, the exalted shrine, shepherdship, kingship.”

Inanna, or Ishtar, proved too wily for Enki. Picture: Wikimedia Commons

Inanna said yes please, and took the me. Enki gave more, and Inanna took more… more than 100 gifts, all the foundations of civilization. When Enki woke up the next day, he didn’t realise what he had done. Once he sobered up, he tried to get the me back, but Inanna wasn’t in a giving mood. She took them home to Uruk, which soon surpassed Eridu and became the premier city of the region.

It could have been a story about a conquest, an armed campaign. A normal case of one city state attacking another, taking what it needed and assuming the role of regional top dog. Or it may have been a clever bit of espionage combined with diplomacy. (Of course, corporate raiding and asset stripping hadn’t been invented, even if raiding had.)

But to make it easier for people to understand and remember, the story was framed in human terms. Few of us have invaded a foreign city, or stolen precious artifacts and skills. But many of us have overindulged at a dinner. And all of us have done something we have regretted afterwards. By turning this episode of regional politics into a story of two people (or gods), the story becomes easier for us to understand and remember.

We look for patterns we can recognize, as a way of understanding the world around us. A complex business concept can be hard to explain or to understand. By expressing it as a story, of how a person used the concept to make life easier, for example, we can make it easier to grasp, and get our message through.

Storytelling goes back beyond Uruk, to creation myths, to parables, to hunting stories around a fire. Stories spread by word of mouth were the very first social media.  Storytelling
works because it appeals to us on the very level that makes us human. Storytelling helps us understand. And it makes us remember.

Within the Beatle’s super duo, McCartney was the organized one. He held the Beatles together after Brian Epstein’s death in 1967, structured their rehearsals and song-writing sessions and was obsessively productive. Lennon on the other hand was a classic, free-form creative. He was spontaneous and erratic and didn’t like to force anything. During the filming of the Let It Be sessions he chastised McCartney’s planning, saying, “you can’t make music at o’clock in the morning” (to McCartney’s defense, Lennon had a bad drug addiction at that point and probably had a hard time doing anything at 8 in the morning).

So who was the more creative of the two? Impossible to say. Lennon wrote classics like Strawberry Fields and Norwegian Wood while McCartney has Hey Jude and Eleanor Rigby under his belt. Perhaps the answer lies in somewhere in the middle. Perhaps the answer is George Harrison.

Harrison was a solid backup guy, a powerful lead vocalist and a captivating song writer (he is credited with hits like, Here comes the sun, While my guitar gently weeps and Something). He was constantly tinkering and experimenting with his craft but more importantly, he put a lot of time into collaboration with a broad range of artists like Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison. It was his openness to new ideas and willingness to collaborate that was possibly the connective glue between Lennon and McCartney’s enormous creative energy. There is actually a scientific theory to back this up – claiming that creativity is in part dependent on the people who you surround yourself with.

But actually I don’t think the answer is Harrison alone. The Beatles were not one person but rather a sum of their parts. You need to have the freedom of Lennon to think in any direction but you also need the discipline and organization of McCartney to keep it all together. Finally, you need someone like Harrison who is open to outside influences and even Ringo’s happy-go-lucky personality to lighten things up.

I want to emphasize, I don’t believe there is a single formula for creativity. Creativity is not something you get out of a box, but there are tips and tricks for finding your muse. Collaboration with a diverse network fuels creative energy but so does freeing you mind from pre-programmed responses.

So which Beatle are you?

(Photo: courtesy of SixtiesGirl1964)

People are easily impressed by what Red Bull and Coca Cola are doing in terms of content marketing, but few have the budget to send people into space or establish entire editorial departments. So does this mean content marketing isn’t for the rest of us? No, on the contrary. The basic principal of content marketing is to produce and use content that offers your existing or potential customers added value. And any company can do that, regardless of its size or the industry it operates in, or whether it has a B2B or B2C marketing strategy.

I recently came across a very good example of how a small business became successful through the use of content marketing, and I’d like to share it with you (but do read the whole article – it’s very good):

Times were tough for River Pools and Spas in Virginia, the US. Orders for pools were declining – many had been cancelled – so the owner of the company, Marcus Sheridan, decided to cut down on traditional types of marketing (radio and TV advertisements and pay-per-click links on the internet). Instead, he started to think about how he would act whenever he was about to buy something, and realized that he almost always began with an internet search. This insight prompted Sheridan to radically change the way communication was carried out throughout his industry. He began answering all the questions people had regarding the types of pools his company specialized in.

The first question he chose to answer was the one he was often asked: how much does a pool cost? This is a difficult question to answer because there are so many options, and many companies presented with the question wait to respond until they have made direct contact with the customer. But Sheridan tackled it as best he could. And because nobody else had done this, the blog post he wrote gained the highest ranking in every subsequent search carried out for fiberglass pools and the prices associated with them. Sheridan claims his blog post has generated at least USD 1.7 million in income.

Other examples of content he created include a breakdown of the advantages and disadvantages of the type of pools he sells. He also put together a list of the best pool builders in his surrounding area excluding himself. In doing this, he gained two advantages: he gave the impression of being impartial; and his list appears as the first unsponsored result on Google when you search for each of his competitors.

So, what can we learn from Sheridan and his approach to content marketing?

1. Answer your customers’ questions. You and your colleagues know what is most important to your customers when they make their purchasing decisions. So begin by addressing their questions, but do so in a way that offers them added value. For example, list the various options available, advise and inspire them, make comparisons, and so on – but never by just singing the praises of your own product. You want to get involved in the early stages of your customers’ purchasing process, before they have begun evaluating different products and suppliers.
2. Don’t keep useful knowledge (about prices, for example) to yourself, or be afraid to take an industry viewpoint (such as speaking about other players in the market). If what you’re selling is good enough, you will be able to highlight enough value-creating information about your product to gain a prominent position in your customers’ consciousness. And the way you enter their consciousness to start with is by being the one to provide them with good content.
3. Spend time finding out how your customers carry out internet searches. One of the most important things we can learn from Sheridan is the way he has been working purposefully with his content to make it appear high up in Google’s unsponsored listings (in other words, search words that have not been paid for), both based on his content and as people searches for his competitors. Use metadata (words and phrases) and keywords in your content.
4. A blog is a good starting point. You can use it to: work with your content; mix formats; optimize it for search purposes; and initiate a sales process. In this post you can find 11 good reasons for starting to blog.

Finally, and most importantly: if you decide to start working with content marketing, you must first plan what you want to do. You need to have decided on your target audiences, your goals, and which channels are available or can be created. You need to have drawn up a content plan outlining what you are going to address, and so on. If you don’t do this and just start blogging instead, for example, there is a risk that you won’t be able to keep your activities up to the required level, evaluate them, and so on. So having a plan or a strategy is the No. 1 priority. If you’d like to know more about this, e-mail me at: pontus.staunstrup(at)jgcommunication.se

If you have any good examples of small businesses that have carried out successful content marketing activities, please share them here.

We collect and make use of huge volumes of data in our work. This can include statistics that are relevant to our industry, and collective knowledge about our customers that we store in customer relationship management systems, and so on. Often this knowledge is used in presentations – in pie or bar charts, for example; otherwise it is just left stored in various databases. But, if packaged in the right way, all this information can be turned into interesting and creative content. And this is just the kind of content that can make all the difference when we want to become involved in our customers’ purchasing processes at an early stage.

Here are some examples of how data has been packaged and presented in interesting ways:

1. Världens bästa CV (“The world’s best CV”) ”) is a website from Sweden’s organization for managers Ledarna, which gives you the opportunity to have your LinkedIn CV turned into a video. All the information used is taken from your LinkedIn profile, but it is put together and presented visually in an entirely new way. Besides having your own video made to share with others, the website allows you to look at your contacts’ videos too.

2. Truckapocalypse is an interactive infograph based on the following theme: “When trucks stop, America stops.” As well as being very well made from a technical point of view, it was also fairly topical at the time of its appearance late last year. That was when the world was due to come to an end, according to the Mayan calendar.

3. Annual reports are rarely creative, but Airbnb has changed all that. The company, which describes itself as a social marketplace for people looking for or offering accommodation all over the world, has produced a very attractive interactive annual report. It shows how the company has spread worldwide, how it has opened a growing number of offices, and enables customers to tell their stories. It’s very impressive.

4. Google has long been known for being good at visual communication. Just think about its Google doodles, where it highlights various people and phenomena. A few days before this was written, Google paid a special tribute to Douglas Adams, the man behind The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, on what would have been his 61st birthday.

Google also recently released a very educational and interesting interactive infograph, which shows how the web search works, and in particular, the way they think and work at Google to ensure they deliver relevant and useful search results. This is very useful information considering how important it is to make your content easy to find.

What all these examples have in common is that they are largely based on data or information that is already available. The new and creative part lies in the presentation; the way they promote their content in an exciting way that makes the user curious and awakens their interest. Another advantage is that videos or infographs help to create a good mix in the range of possible content formats available in an otherwise text-dominated domain.

I found the Truckapocalypse and Airbnb examples in an excellent blog post from iAquire. It’s is well worth reading and reflecting on.

Do you have any examples of data-based content? Share your comments here.

The latest figures show there are more than 200 million LinkedIn users globally (with just over 1 million in Sweden). And it is not only the number of users that is increasing; the level of activity on the site is too. For you to make the most of LinkedIn (for networking purposes and to outline everything you’re capable of), your profile should look good.

1. Make sure you include a photograph – Those you want to invite into the network and those who may want to send you an invitation want to see a face, not just that grey silhouette symbol. And use a picture that shows the real you. Since LinkedIn is primarily a professional network, you should look professional.

2. Update your personal information – You should at least include the correct information about where you work and your profession. It is even better if you make sure that all the information you include under the “Background” heading is up to date: the overview of your skills and expertise, your current role and place of work, previous experience, and so on.

3. Make use of your connections and recommendations – You can ask professional contacts and former/current colleagues to recommend you: in other words, to write a brief text about how they have worked with you and in which contexts, as well as the strengths they believe you have. You often end up exchanging recommendations with other registered users.

Endorsements are a relatively new feature on LinkedIn. In your profile, you can list a number of skills that you consider yourself to have mastered, and others can then go in and endorse these.

4. Make your invitations personal – If you want to invite someone into your network, write them a personal invitation. This is more pleasant and it also increases your chance of success. Using the standard “I would like to add you to my network here on LinkedIn” line is anything but inviting.

5. Be active – For many people, LinkedIn is just about gathering contacts, but they are missing out on the real value of the site. You can share interesting links, post comments and “like” other people’s links, as well as joining groups related to various specialist areas. You have the chance to learn more, to meet people who can give you new perspectives on things, and to share your opinions and insights. By being active, you also demonstrate your areas of competence, and what you have to offer.

I believe the importance and impact of LinkedIn will continue to grow, so giving your profile careful consideration is time well spent. And while you’re at it, why not take a look at JG Communication’s company profile on LinkedIn? We try to share knowledge and links that are of interest as often as possible.

What are your top tips for using LinkedIn?