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There’s nowhere that I’d rather be – we complete 2 years today!
There’s nowhere that I’d rather be – we complete 2 years today!
2008 and has been a great year for us at Blogworks and 2009 promises to be an even better one.
When I wrote this piece last year, as we completed a year, I had mentioned that “Sometimes a seed doesn’t need more water to become a sapling, it needs more time!” One look around will tell you that social media has taken off, it’s mainstream. Our Scenario/ Blogworks seed too has now taken root, and is growing nicely. 2009 is our year of growth – more about this in a bit but first a look at how 2008 has been so far:
We were sitting around my desk day-before, for a discussion on the year ahead and one of the things we reviewed was our objectives, as I had first coined sometime in October 2006, sitting alone at Lodhi Gardens.
Objective- We aim to be the most respected name in Conversational Marketing in the country, offering strategic solutions and know-how to brands & corporates.
– Our consulting practice will deliver best-in-class, unique and measurable programmes by constantly innovating and combining this with a process oriented approach.
– We will operate a range of innovative Web 2.0 communities, forums and platforms. We are clearly focused on creating a set of focused properties that would engage stakeholders we understand, in ways that simplifies processes; adds value to each stakeholder and profits us too.
I am not a great believer in 1st mover advantage and have come to believe that it’s a comforting illusion that defocuses you from rigour and innovation that keep you ahead. Instead, we believe that “It is our culture of participation and constant innovation, combined with the focus on a disciplined approach that helps us deliver strategic solutions and measurable results for our clients.”
- It was evolution for us when, preparing for the next round of differentiation, we changed our promise to “Strategic Social Media Solutions” in March 2008. The needle had moved, marketers & corporates had begun to understand the need to engage stakeholders in conversations. As one of the first to enter the space, we too had contributed to this change in our small way, by sharing know-how and learnings. However, we believe, as social media gains mainstream adoption, strategic interventions are the only way brands, corporates and media companies – our key customer groups on the consulting side – could stand out and strategic solutions is our mainstay.
Our work with clients allowed us to learn every moment as we created touch points, engaged, listened, identified evangelists, co-created with customers, learned that conversational marketing is not about online, it’s about conversations.The journey continues & real work is our textbook. - Since our endeavor has always been to seed an institution, a natural step forward was to institutionalize the business. May 2008 we became Scenario Consulting Private Limited with Blogworks (and now Pitchh.com) as business divisions.
- We had plans to launch a couple of focused communities right from the time we started, but as would often happen with a self-funded business, you need to prioritize .
In July 2008 however, Pitchh.com, our first community initiative, was born out of a simple, but powerful, insight that both Brands and ‘Agencies’ could do with a platform that allows them to ‘make the right connect’ quickly and effectively.
The process today, as both sides know, is not just time consuming also cumbersome. Brands often struggle to find the ‘right’ partner – for their ‘specific’ need and fit. Similarly for Agencies, it’s quite a task to keep track of pitch requests doing rounds. Pitchh bridges that crucial gap.
We have used the last few months to run test cases, bring about changes based on feedback. New features and enhancements are on the way. On the other one hand, a slowdown in global economy has meant that fewer new pitches are being invited by clients, on the other hand though agencies are now more open to such platforms even more than they were. We are just about starting our outreach…watch out for more action around Pitchh. - With 422 started surveys & nearly 200 completed surveys as I write this post, the India Social Media Survey, Brands & Corporates, Edition 1 that Exchange4Media and Blogworks is clearly a nice-nice way to close the year. The insights that I have peeped into ;) are fantastic – this is the real stuff, this is what’s really happening on the ground.
Honestly, I can’t think of a better team to have put this together :)
Powered with a fantastic team, great clients, countless friends, powerful insights, a warm office, this is just the beginning and the year ahead promises more success and joy.
Agenda 2009‘- Expansion at Blogworks: We have the mind-space of stakeholders, credibility based on client work and referrals. This is our year to grow: offices in Bombay, Bangalore and a bigger team in Delhi, with office spaces to match.
- Grow the research offering at Blogworks: We only took this live last week, even though we have done a lot of work all through 2008.
- Blog the Talk goes live & real: Our widely read Blog the Talk Series goes live and becomes a ground event; the agenda of discussion remains pretty much the same.
- Pitchh.com: Global adoption is our mandate and this year we take our steps in that direction.
- Launch of another web 2.0 offering: This one is a content offering. We think we have found a cozy niche and would try and launch first quarter.
Any more and we’d have given too much away :).
Simply put:
Our Mission remains‘- To facilitate transparent communication and conversations between organizations and their stakeholders.
With congratulations pouring in on Twitter, Facebook, G Talk..there is no place I’d – team raises hands and says ‘We’d’ in synchrony :) – that we’d rather be.
All this wouldn’t be possible without each of yours support. Thanks MUCHOS!
Keep sending your good wishes.
Here is to success & joy. Amen.
UPDATE: 27 December 2008 @ 10.02 a.m.
Lots of wishes poured in on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere – here are the ones we were able to capture. A BIG THANK YOU from Team Blogworks to all well wishers.
Disclaimer: Views of authors are personal and do not represent the views of Blogworks, or any of its clients.
- We aim to be the most respected name in Conversational Marketing in the country, offering strategic solutions and know-how to brands & corporates.
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