I’m a great believer in choosing the right medium for a particular task. I started out in magazines, so don’t like to think of myself as a digital zealot, but some of the work I’m most proud of has been delivered through a web browser or email client. Here’s a short video showcase:
Digital Marketing
I have been digging through some microsite archives recently, but the 2009 University of Westminster Clearing campaign is a favourite. Design-wise it’s nothing special as it had to be created very quickly, but the chocolate animation was created by a former Pixar animator – plenty of “ooohs” when clicking!
Digital Comms and PR
University of Westminster website
The University of Westminster website was recently relaunched after a short, intensive three-month project. The site incorporates a much improved information architecture, upgraded software, a news and events portal, much greater use of multimedia elements and new tools to measure the impact of marketing campaigns. I led a strong team who delivered a great result in a demanding timescale.
Royal Society climate change portal
We did a lot of good digital work at the Royal Society, but I really like the climate change work. The Royal Society is a highly authoritative voice across various scientific disciplines, and during my time there the Press and PR office were highly active on the subject of climate change. The short clip of Lord May caused quite a few ripples – it was not the done thing to edit the speeches of Fellows. As an average speech was fifty minutes long, that sadly didn’t fit with the average video viewing time on YouTube.
Mumbai shootings
A party of University of Westminster employees was caught up in the deadly Mumbai shootings – one lecturer received multiple bullet wounds. Having set up a temporary comms base in the Vice-Chancellor’s office, I and other senior colleagues decided how much information to release, and how to release it. It was important the organisation’s head be seen at a time of distress to many staff, and along with rolling text news updates, our hastily written piece to camera was delivered (from autocue) within hours.
HR campaign
Last year the University regrettably found itself in dispute with one of the staff trade unions. In the circumstances I was pleased that the Google Sites powered campaign, supported by Google Docs hosted presentations and Vimeo hosted video interviews with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (filmed on a Flip Ultra) was able to react quickly to events, and provide staff with all of the information they needed to make an informed decision on a new contract offer.
Online communities
In 2002 I set up a web-based online community for Future Publishing – the transition from the older Usenet system was a painful one for the existing community, but many made the transition and the new forums took off. Today, that first forum has more than 44,000 members. After the success of the PC Plus forum, the system was deployed across the broad range of Future Publishing consumer titles.
