LBi

Will it blend?

Posted by LBi December 1st, 2011

Remember the good old days when you weren’t forced to have fun at work? When you could sit untroubled in a colorless cube all day and growl at anyone who came too close?

Good times, good times.

But then along came the consultants and everything was ruined. Realizing that fun could add to the bottom line through increased employee productivity and creativity, a depressing vogue for jocularity swept across the nation. Managers read absurd books like ‘The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up” and soon we were all glued to colored beanbags, forced to write emails in crazy Comic Sans and dreading the Monday morning banana bread bake-off with our co-workers.

We exaggerate (for comic effect, see?) but the point is that fun became far less fun when it morphed into explicit corporate strategy. And herein lies an important lesson for making ‘blending’ work.

Yes, at LBi we firmly believe that skillfully blending different disciplines together leads to more creative, more effective work. And yes, we’re banging on about it here to get the wheels in motion and introduce our preferred way of working. But we also know that we can’t force people to blend, either within our agency or with our beloved clients. Indeed, forced blending is worse than no blending at all – a tiresome imposition on our already busy working days.

So what can we do?
First, realize that blending is a culture, not a process. You need people who are up for it, who make blending infectious and unstoppable.

And today, we’re happy to reveal that we’ve developed a fool-proof test to identify potential blenders, the alpha employees of the future, wherever they work:

Do you like this?

If yes, congratulations – you are human and therefore a blender!
If no, I’m sorry – you are clearly a robot.

Easy, right? Wanting to blend is simple human nature. We clever people-monkeys are actually programmed to be sociable, to collaborate and find joy in sharing ideas. Sadly, though, years of treating business like trench warfare has trained us to think in boxes, in straight lines and in fear.

Blending is not something we need to create. It’s something we need to rediscover by stripping away the stuff that gets in the way. Here are three things that we believe inhibit blending – and brilliant work – every day.

1. Job Titles
Yes, we need to know what people’s jobs are. And it helps to know where we fall in the decision making process. However, it always amazes us that businesses look for inspirational, well-rounded people and then slap a business title on their head that deprives them of 90% of their creative capacity. Let people contribute wherever they can add value – the best idea wins, no matter where it comes from.

2. Corporate Babble
One minute we were having fun thinking up some cool ideas to make people fall in love with your brand. The next we’re agonizing to describe a ‘Global Brand Acquisition Creative Development Strategy for AB1 Millenials’ in bullet points. Enough said.

3. Politeness
We like that you’re nice to us. But we’re better when you tell us what you think. If an idea isn’t working for you despite our best efforts, be honest. Our shared ambition is to create brilliant work and we’d rather be thinking up new gems than, as a wise and eloquent man once said, ‘polishing turds’.

There are many more things to add to the list of subtractions. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Ultimately, the thing about blending is that we all have to take personal responsibility for it. That seems somewhat ironic but it’s something that happens with you, not to you. The good news is that, for the most part, it involves doing less not more. So ask yourselves this – what can you cross off your ‘to do’ list tomorrow that will make the day blend a little better?

At LBi, we talk a lot about digital solutions that ‘add fun, value and interest to people’s lives’. Where better to start than with the way we work together?

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LBi Acquires Mr.Youth

Posted by LBi November 14th, 2011

PRESS RELEASE

LBi Acquires Social Media and Marketing Agency Mr Youth
Largest Independent Global Marketing and Technology Agency Taps Mr Youth to Strengthen Social Media, Experiential and Word of Mouth Marketing Offering.

Amsterdam / New York – 14 November 2011 – LBi International N.V. (NYSE Euronext: LBI), the largest independent global marketing and technology agency with operations in 16 countries, today announced that it has acquired leading social media and marketing agency Mr Youth in the US.

The acquisition perfectly fits LBi’s philosophy of blending marketing and technology services in-house. Mr Youth’s integration into LBi adds breadth and depth to the agency’s already significant social media offering, capabilities made more urgent through several significant client wins this year. Including a performance-contingent pay-out structure, the transaction is valued between $40-50 million and will immediately contribute positively to LBi’s earnings per share.

Founded in 2002 by Matt Britton, New York-based Mr Youth assists clients in driving engagement with the new generation of consumers and creating lasting brand advocacy through non-traditional channels including social media, experiential, and word of mouth marketing. The agency specializes in creating interactive brand experiences. It connects consumers through shared passions and interests, empowers them and encourages peer-to-peer recommendations with friends, families and others across the social graph.

Over the years, Mr Youth saw rapid expansion of its business and has consistently grown greater than 20 per cent year on year over the past three years, with 2011 annual sales expected to come in at approximately $25 million. The agency was recently ranked 7th among Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in Advertising and Marketing” in the world.

Luke Taylor, CEO of LBi said: “Globally, we are seeing revolutionary change in consumer buying behaviour. Our clients are therefore driving rapid growth of social media services within LBi, and the US leads the world market in this field. We believe Mr Youth is head and shoulders above its competitors due to both the quality of it people and the strength of its proprietary technology platforms. After conducting a thorough search for the right agency, we are very pleased to welcome Matt and his incredible team to LBi.”

LBi will incorporate Mr Youth’s proprietary technology platforms and distribution channels into their own intellectual property deployed across their top client relationships. The proprietary platforms Mr Youth bring to this deal include RepNation (www.repnation.com), a word of mouth marketing platform supported by over 125,000 influential brand advocate members, and CollegeFest (www.collegefest.com), the nation’s largest back to school festival and localized student marketing platform, an on-demand consumer participation platform that was spun-off as a standalone entity in August 2011.

“It was clear the moment we met with LBi that there was the potential to do something big. Their global footprint, creative excellence, and technical proficiency will be a powerful mix when combined with our intellectual property, social media marketing model, and deep domain expertise in marketing to millennials. We are incredibly excited about our future together,” said Matt Britton, CEO of Mr Youth.

Mr Youth has 140 full-time employees and expects net sales of approximately $25 million in 2011. Historical annual sales growth has consistently been high with historical EBITDA margins in line or somewhat above LBi group levels. The deal is financed from LBi’s available cash resources and existing credit facilities. Consolidation is expected to take place as of early November 2011.

Mr Youth will operate as a division of LBi. Matt Britton will remain CEO of Mr Youth and will report directly to LBi CEO, Luke Taylor.

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Reality Remade

Posted by LBi September 9th, 2011

Check out Sony Ericsson’s video project Xperia Studio, aimed at working with collaborators around the world to remake reality by pushing the limits of mobile technology.

From Xperia Studio:

“Xperia Studio invites people across the globe to test the limits of mobile technology. Not by making calls clearer or screens brighter, but by seeing how a phone can remake reality.

To that end, we partner with artists, intellectuals and boat-rockers from around the world. From collaborative artist collectives in Denmark to astrophysicists in New York— in each instance, we provide a phone and the means to document their work. They supply the result.”

Check out more videos from the Xperia Studio.

Tags: astronomy, interactive art, mobile, mobile technology, music, Sony Ericsson

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