Well, what an incredibly disorientating, sad yet ultimately extremely exciting week we’ve just had.
If you’ve been following the trade press you might have caught wind of our old parent company i-level swiftly being placed into administration and then liquidation; all between Tuesday evening and Friday morning.
As fate might have it, Jam have been welcomed into the offices of Engine, just around the corner on Great Portland St .
We’re all still here. All 20-or-so of us. We’ve kept the team together, a 100% retention rate showing that we actually get along pretty well and enjoy doing what we’ve been doing.
A recent article in campaign sums up the core points of what’s gone on quite neatly:
LONDON – Engine has acquired Jam, the social media unit of i-level, the digital agency that was placed into administration yesterday.
Jam, which was the fastest growing part of I-Level, creates social media campaigns for clients including Renault, Comet, Orange and Next.
Alex Miller, the agency’s managing director will join Engine as part of the deal, along with head of strategy Jamie Kenny, director Richard Costa-d’sa and the 20-strong Jam team.
The Engine group spans a range of disciplines and includes ad agency WCRS, direct agency Partners Andrews Aldridge and digital agency Altogether Digital.
Miller said: “Engine is a business that puts social media at the heart of its integrated thinking. The swift transfer ensures that there is absolutely no gap in Jam’s delivery to our clients and, in fact, we are now able to offer them a stronger and broader service than ever before.”
Peter Scott, the chairman and joint chief executive of Engine, said: “Jam has created some of the best social media campaigns of recent years. Its client service will continue seamlessly now that the team are part of Engine.”
We’re all really excited about this new opportunity and the scope to continue to do great work for our existing clients and work with some new ones from across the wider Engine group.
In the meantime, bear with us as we set about revising spreadingjam.com and setting into our new office space next to WCRS – otherwise, it’s business; but bigger and better than usual.
Today the Social Media World Forum kicked off at the Olympia in London:
Consumers are fed up of seeing brands fan sites pop up all over the web, with little or no thought to the value they can offer that community. They’re tired of hanging out in their favourite virtual world only to be interrupted by companies who have nothing to say. Consumers are savvy and are not prepared to be marketed to in the traditional way any longer. Social Media has all the power of an adult but is behaving like a teenager.
Jam are returning to the Social Media World Forum to look at the increased value that Social Media can offer if only it would grow up.
You will find us at stand 16 so come down to have a chat! You should of course also follow our live tweets from the forum on twitter.com/spreadingjam.
You will also be able to listen to presentations from Alex, Head of Jam, and Oli, Head of Emerging Platforms at i-level, at the following times:
Monday 15th, 2.50: “Social Media is out of control” Alex Miller & Oli Newton
Tuesday 16th, 10.30: “Benchmarking Advertising on Social Networks”
Alex Miller
Consumers are fed up of seeing brands fan sites pop up all over the web, with little or no thought to the value they can offer that community. They’re tired of hanging out in their favourite virtual world only to be interrupted by companies who have nothing to say. Consumers are savvy and are not prepared to be marketed to in the traditional way any longer. Social Media has all the power of an adult but is behaving like a teenager.
Jam are returning to the Social Media World Forum to look at the value that Social Media can offer if only it would grow up.
Come and chat to us on stand 16, or see what Alex and Oli have to say at the conference.
Monday 15th, 2.50: “Social Media is out of control” Alex Miller & Oli Newton
Tuesday 16th, 10.30: “Benchmarking Advertising on Social Networks”
Alex Miller
You have never seen any posts made by me in this blog before, as I never had the opportunity. Arriving in London from Stockholm, Sweden and joining the Jam team three days ago I am the greenhorn of the gang. In a few days (weeks?) however, I will hopefully feel right as rain at the far end of the row of Social Media planning geniuses. If you want to know me a bit better, here is a Spotify playlist hastily put together. Its long, its weird…but its me.
There is a lot of change going on around me at the moment. First and foremost, I have once again left my hometown for a new city, a quite different one I might add (except for the weather, the weather in London is almost as bad as in Stockholm). But there are also massive changes going on in marketing industry, of which we are working in. In HP’s newest transformation video about how digital platforms are reshaping communication it is stated that by 2010, 70% of the online content will be created not by corporations but by individuals. This means that the corporations are losing their power and must start listening to their customers and start rethinking their communication. I do not think the old ways have to go completely, not all communication should go online. However, traditional messages has to be tweaked and delivered to where the audience wants to listen to it. I am still waiting for an amazing campaign where online and offline will go hand in hand in perfect synergy. The old must become integrated with the new:
