Brand in good Web 2.0 project SHOCK

Lovely picture taken by Michael Walter/Troika , my usual photo policy applies.

There's a lot of talk about Web 2.0, to the extent that companies ring up and say, "Hello, can we have some Web 2.0 please?". We get asked a lot for "X, Y and Z and can it have a social networking element?". All very strange.

For a brand to really understand Web 2.0 (and I apologise for using that term but you all know what I mean) what it takes is someone in the organisation who already understands Web 2.0. Someone who is already blogging, someone who has a Flickr account. Etc etc.

And I reckon that's what's happening at Eurostar.

Eurostar are blogging the big move from Waterloo to St Pancras. The blog is good, updated regularly and the writers respond to all comments. But it's the Flickr stuff that has impressed me.

They've set up a Flickr photostream and they're putting all sorts of (gorgeous) behind the scenes shots up there. But they've also collected a whole bunch of Eurostar pictures that have been taken by other people and saved them as their favourites; creating a instant Web 2.0, user generated, good looking, relevant, gem. So simple my friends, so simple.

Comments

[scot devine]

Like this - I think the use of pictures is superb. How comfortable were Eurostar to place pictures on Flickr? Did they take persuading to not host them on a branded site, or tempted to slap heaps more logos on Flickr? I'm trying to persuade a client to set up a Flickr photostream for a project, but the brand team doesn't like the lack of control.

[Ben]

I don't know Scot - I'll try and find out.

Tell your clients to "surrender control and gain influence". As said by someone very clever once.

[scot devine]

Ha! Clever indeed. I think that's the key. The trick is to convince the guys whose job is to scrutinise every pantone shade, text position, etc on piece of company material.

[Giacomo Cesana]

Ben, this post is a great discovery. I have been thinking that a lot of us (young – or relatively young – designers) are into web 2.0 (you know what I mean), and we are getting informations about brands mostly through blogs. It's like the "real" world is coming to us under a web 2.0 interface, creating a sort of discrepancy between the informations we reach and the ones we don't (read the ones not blogged). We all look at blogged brands, we all take inspiration by blogged images, we follow trends pinged by blogs. The most influent creative agencies (and the smallest too) now spread news via blog. It was time to discover a big company into the same mechanism of generating information and interest about their brand. Now we have to find other examples. Thank you.