Category Archives: Of interest

Design Internships – London Office

05/02/2013 – 17:43

The Dubs home @ Printing House Yard.

The Dubs is looking for design interns to join the creative team for three, four week (travel expenses paid) internships.

The dates we are looking to fill will be updated regularly and are currently as follows:

• 4th March  - 30th March 2013 (intern #1)
• 29th April –  24th May 2013 (intern #2)
• 28th May – 28th June 2013  (intern #3)

To be considered for an interview you will be:

• Fully skilled in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign skills
• In possession of a portfolio of DIGITAL design work
• Passionate about digital design (web, mobile, tablet, social)
• Genuinely interested in the power of digital as a medium
• Aware of the digital landscape and emerging technology, platforms and ‘new stuff’ making waves
• Brimming with enthusiasm and the ability to hit the ground running
• Happy being tasked with creative research and presentation design on an ad-hoc basis
• At graduate level / seeking Agency experience
• A UK resident and aged 18 or over

PLEASE NOTE: All applications will be read but only candidates invited for an interview will receive written feedback.

No walk-ins and no agencies at this time thanks.

Please send your CV and portfolio (link preferable), along with a brief cover note about yourself and include the internship date that you are interested in applying for:

RecruitmentUK@thedubs.com

 

By thedubsters | Also posted in News | Tagged , | Comments (1)

The Dubs’ proprietary CMS powers ITV’s Superstar…

05/07/2012 – 08:35

ITV Superstar Judges.

‘Superstar’ is a brand new nationwide talent search led by Andrew Lloyd Webber looking for a rock superstar to play the title role of Jesus.

The winner’s life-changing prize will be the leading role in the UK’s first ever arena tour of the legendary rock classic Jesus Christ Superstar that will open
at London’s O2 arena on 21 September.

The Dubs is delighted to be the group powering the website via it’s own proprietary Content Management System and wishes ITV the very best of luck with the show.

Superstar starts on Saturday July 7th 2012 on ITV1.

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The Dubs gets ready for #MWLive2012

13/06/2012 – 11:35

The Dubs is busy preparing for #MWLive2012 and looking forward to meeting some new faces at the event on June 27th and 28th.

As an official event partner, The Dubs has been helping the Marketing Week Live team plan their Social Media and blogging activity over the last few months – and knowing what we know – we can’t wait to see the buzz the show will generate!

We’re also taking part in the event’s reward scheme and planning a ‘reward’ which involves a spot of clay pigeon shooting (a Dubs tradition – whatever the weather!), bacon butties and a Social Media health check.

More on that soon…

So, if you fancy a chat about any of The Dubs services, which include:

- Strategy and Planning

- Web and Mobile Development

- Pure-play Digital Marketing

- CMS (our proprietary CMS powers The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent among other brands)

- Social Media

- Content Production and Creative Services

We’re sending our finest double-act: UK General Manager, Barnaby Hobbs and UK Creative Director, Siobhan Mulholland. 

You can catch Barnaby and Siobhan on stand A828, that’s bang in the middle of Social Media and CMS land (and just across from Taste Italia!) – we couldn’t have hoped for a better spot!

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Pitching process gets guidelines

27/09/2011 – 01:09

Pitching process gets guidelines

MARKETERS expect digital ad agencies to jump through hoops on nothing more than an elusive chance that they might land their account, according to some agencies attempting to change the pitching process.

They say some marketers offer a limited explanation of their business needs in the hope the agency will write the brief for them, and the clients’ lack of direction is frustrating as agency profits are eroded.

The advertising fraternity has long bemoaned problems with the pitch process but digital agencies say the situation has worsened in the past two years as marketers have placed increasing emphasis on digital accounts.

In response more than a dozen digital agencies have worked with The Communications Council to create a set of pitch guidelines.

The managing director of digital agency The Dubs, Josh Frith, said: ”Everyone in this game wants to win business and to do that you’re expected to show your wares. And you’re almost never told who else is pitching for the business, even when you ask nicely.”

The new guide covers defining pitch requirements, the pitch process, the brief, intellectual property, copyright and assessment criteria. It suggests marketers pay a pitch fee of up to $5000 to each digital agency invited to pitch.

But that fee is a drop in the ocean. Simon Morgan, a partner at Publicis Digital, said it was involved in eight to 10 pitches a year that each cost $10,000 to $100,000. ”There is a lot of frustration that the pitch process is being used to define the actual brief. It’s just not a fair process.”

Darren Woolley, of Trinity P3, said clients needed to be clear about what they need before calling a pitch, otherwise they are ”the ultimate tyre-kicker”.

Mr Woolley said an example of a poorly run pitch came from the airline industry, which had limited all communication with those pitching for its account. ”The airline is asking digital agencies to answer the brief and upload their pitch to a website, which is an extremely bad example of how to pitch your account.”

By thedubsters | Also posted in Industry insights | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

The importance of a sense of ‘social humour’…

23/09/2011 – 09:59

We love this video, created by the John St agency in Canada:

Whilst we produce and manage social media strategies, campaigns and content here at The Dubs, we also recognise that it’s crucial to have a sense of humour when it comes to social media and the associated rhetoric surrounding it.

As parodies go, ‘Pink Ponies’ is up there with Nathan Barley.

By thedubsters | Also posted in Opinion | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Putting the Social in Travel since Jan 2010

15/09/2011 – 07:52

By Andrew Frith, Social Media Director

All journeys start with a first step and Bjorn Troch’s was the first step on the 900km Camino de Santiago pilgrims trail in Spain. But why he was there is the interesting part of the story.

Bjorn is a smart, globally minded, young Belgian guy who’s been involved in digital media and worked as a social media consultant for 5 years now.  About a year ago he decided to do something pretty amazing.

Donning the moniker ‘The Social Traveller’, Bjorn decided to travel the world and expand his horizons but with a twist.

In his own words  -

‘I travel around the world without any guidebooks. I completely rely on what people from different race, standing, religion or culture tell me online or offline. People guide & invite me to their countries, friends, homes & lives. Basically exploring a hyper connected world. I also let people challenge me to do the most amazing things around the world. This way I learn a lot about myself, other cultures and countries.’

Serendipity and the whims of fate, all spurred on by Bjorn’s online social connections have led Bjorn to some pretty amazing places and experiences over the past year. Bjorn is seriously hooked up on social platforms like Google+, Facebook , YouTube and blogger and thru his social network people challenge him to do things such as hiking the 900km of the Camino de Santiago, crossing India on a Royal Enfield, Climbing Adam’s Peak, hitch-hiking around New Zealand and running the Sydney City to Surf, all things he has now done in the past year.

I met Bjorn through one of his interesting twists of connections actually. One of the first people he met when he started on his walk of the Camino de Santiago was an Australian girl named Hannah, who he got to hang out with. Fast forward nearly a year and Bjorn is in a crowd of about 100,000 waiting to run in the Sydney City to Surf and lo and behold there is Hannah again!

Debbi, one of our producers just happens to be good friends with Hannah and so she got to meet Bjorn and subsequently introduced him to me…

I was fascinated by what he was doing and invited him to come in and tell me more. As soon as he sparked up Google+ and I saw the breadth of what he was doing and the way he was documenting the journey through the integration of all the Google products into Google+ I was excited and frankly inspired.

I think there is a real possibility that a lot more people will be hearing about Bjorn Troch soon, so as Bjorn says ‘Be Social’, go check him out, friend him, challenge him even!

The best place to catch him is on Google+

By thedubsters | Also posted in Industry insights | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

The ultimate brand story?

09/09/2011 – 14:41

Back to The Future II.

They started life in a fictional narrative about the future and won the hearts’ and minds’ of a generation.

Approximately twenty two years later they have become a reality.

Remember Marty McFly’s sneaks from Back to The Future II when he travelled to 2015?

Well, you can now own an actual pair of Marty’s futuristic sneaks, because Nike has decided “it’s about time“.

Nike is releasing 1500 pairs of the shoes, all of which will be auctioned on eBay, with Net proceeds of the auction going toward fighting Parkinson’s disease.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation, will match all donations – up to $50 million.

To see how the 2015 sneaks from the 1989 movie look in the real world of 2011, you’ll need to visit Nike’s YouTube channel.

We think they’re “alriiiiight” indeed.

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Toby Sharpe appointed by The Dubs UK

05/09/2011 – 11:14

We’re pleased to announce the appointment of Toby Sharpe, who will head up Digital Brand Development in the UK.

Toby will be based at our London office in Shoreditch and will work closely with Richard Banham, his counterpart over in our Sydney office.

The positions held by Richard and Toby are new to The Dubs and have been created with a view to driving new business and to better educating brands about the opportunities available to them through the effective use of digital marketing and social media channels.

Toby joins us from Pearlfinders where he worked as a Business Development Manager responsible for driving new business sales for their IT decision-maker insight based subscription service.

As a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club and an avid Spurs fan, it goes without saying that Toby likes his sport… So it’s pretty much cricket in the Summer and football in the Winter with a few rounds of golf mixed in.

(Whilst it’s work first, we certainly look forward to taking advantage of those member privileges at Lords!)

By thedubsters | Also posted in News | Tagged | Comments (0)

The emergence of the celebrity Creative Director…

24/08/2011 – 12:11

Lady Gaga.

They come with their own loyal armies of fans – in the millions. Fans who will support their [creative] direction no matter what occurs and crush any ‘haters’ before you can say “Gaga ooh la la”.

Celebrities ARE brands as well as heroes and they are inextricably intertwined with popular culture, in fact – they ARE popular culture and consumerism rolled into one; a two headed beast you could say; programmed to dominate and win.

So, perhaps it is a no-brainer for brands to be looking to celebrities for inspiration, influence and ultimately creative direction?

Recently we’ve seen the following ‘new hires’ hit the industry headlines:

Lady Gaga, Creative Director – Polaroid

Victoria Beckham, Creative Director – Range Rover

Will.i.am, Director of Creative Innovation – Intel

Swizz Beatz, Creative Director – Reebok

And let’s be brutally honest here, we’re dying to know what it’s like in the meeting room when a celebrity Creative Director is present?

Are we to assume that a celebrity Creative Director is given a brief and tasked with coming up with ‘the big idea’? Or, is it more a case of the celebrity rocks up to a meeting and points at one of three already crafted propositions and contributes a much anticipated nugget such as ‘I like this one – but make it shiny’?

It’s a mystery that shall remain a client-side secret because let’s face it, agency-side, there is a distinct lack of celebrity Creative Directors working on pitches right now…

That said – if however, The Dubs were looking to employ a celebrity Creative Director, a quick straw poll in the London office reveals the fantasy list to be as follows:

The Dubs 'fantasy' celebrity Creative Director wishlist.

Yep. Analyse that.

I am however thinking there is a methodology brewing here somewhere and it isn’t too dissimilar to de Bono’s six hats.

What if we replaced said hats with our celebrities and their associated traits and see what happens creatively?

Hmm, ‘bad idea’  – oh, now there’s a phrase a celebrity Creative Director may never be told…

By thedubsters | Also posted in Industry insights, Opinion | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)
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