Recently we’ve been helping a number of our clients establish blogs.

Actually setting up a blog is pretty easy, jump on a good blogging platform, half an hour later you’re done and if you want it to be part of your existing website and look extra spiffy (which naturally you do); well that’s one of the things we’re here for.

But that’s not the whole story. Oh dear me no. Because once you’ve started a blog, you have created a virtual blank page that will leer at you afresh each morning and say “Write on me.� However this post isn’t about the feeding of blogs. That’s a whole other topic. Although the best way we’ve found round these parts to keep that content coming is to have a writing rota and a very scary Blog Master (Hi David).

Today I want to talk about the purpose and tone of corporate blogs. One of the first questions to ask yourself, when you’re contemplating setting up a company blog is, “Why do we as an organisation, want to start a blog?� The right answer is not, “Because everybody else is.�

To give our own reasons for blogging, as an example, TimeZoneOne started a blog because we wanted a place that we could easily share stuff that gets us excited. With our unusual business model; our Business team in Chicago, our Creative team in New Zealand and our clients all over the world, we also wanted a way for our people to talk a bit more about themselves and their ideas. Some of our clients never meet the New Zealand team face to face, but through this blog they know a bit more about us all.

One of the key over arching reasons corporate organisations start blogging is to become more valuable to their clients. The details of how they do that may vary, for example they may want to share their expertise, discuss technical features of a product, answer frequently asked questions, discuss the latest industry developments, provide useful advice and information, generate online discussion among their customers, elicit feedback etc. Some of the really good corporate blogs do all this and more besides.

Whatever your reason for blogging, if, each time you sit down to write a post you ask yourself, “Is this something of use and interest to my clients?� you can be sure you are adding value to your blog.

One of the questions we often get asked is, “What tone should we use to write our blog posts?�  The answer I always give is, “Your own voice.� Once people get beyond the front door of your company, they are doing business with you as a person, not with a corporate monolith.  The rest of your website is there to convey your brand vision and values and showcase your carefully crafted brand personality. Your sales material is there to sell your products and services. Your press releases are there to convey information to the media as efficiently as possible. Your blog is for you to talk with your customers in a more informal way. So be yourself, be warm, be open, be responsive and think of your client and what they would like to read. Then send me a link to your blog, because it’s going to be a good one.

Your incredibly authentic blog mistress for the week, Elizabeth

The TimeZoneOne team has been pretty busy over the last couple of years hatching brand new little Zoners, who are now teaching their loving parents that sleeping is for losers.

The other day I was hanging out the nappies (the unspeakable glamour) and making a to do list in my head. To do lists are my friend. Remember that no sleep bit? It plays havoc with your memory.

My list went a bit like this:

• Finish off website copy for Big Beverage
• Write first draft of brochure copy for Super Finance
• Review taglines for Funky Bar that I did on Friday
• For goodness sake finish that illustration already
• Buy milk
• Oooooh look, fluffy clouds over Quail Island…

Anyway, so I sat and I looked at my list as I was topping up my caffeine to blood ratio and it struck me that two years ago, before I  had my little ankle biter, my to do list would have been a lot more project management focused and less creative.

I wondered how this had happened. After all, my main role at TimeZoneOne is still project management and I love it. How did all this creative stuff get in the mix? And then I grabbed a pencil and wrote down the reasons that sprang to mind, because otherwise I’d forget them.

• The perspective I got from having a baby made me less frightened of failure. I’m way more open to challenges. I’m trying new stuff. And I’ve discovered when you are open to challenges, they start arriving thick and fast.

• I have less time, so I use the time that I have really hard. Also, I know that this sounds like the biggest cliché, but being a parent makes you realise your mortality and I realised that life’s too short not to do exciting work that gets me fired up.

• Flexible working hours lends itself to creative work. A lot of thinking is going on behind the scenes, so while I’m taking the sprog to pre-school, or weeding the garden, my latest project is bubbling away at the back of my mind and I’ll find that when  I sit down later to work, things that I didn’t even know I was thinking about have resolved themselves.

• I’ve realised that doing something good and getting it out there, is better than doing something perfect that may never see the light of day.

• I’m not afraid to ask how I can make something better.

• TimeZoneOne have been the best, most supportive employers that I could have wished for. They set me up so I can work from home, they let me work as flexibly as I wish, they supported me through the times when I wasn’t sure that I could string a sentence together, let alone run a project and they never let me say “I can’tâ€�. That’s an inspiration right there.

The general cultural assumption in the West seems to be that scone grabbers are the enemy of creativity, that they will chew up your mojo and you will never write (paint, dance, sing…)again.  But me, I reckon kids can also be a great catalyst to stop wasting time and just get on with it. I’m going to stop at one though. You don’t want to tempt fate with these things.

Domestic Bandit & Blog Mistress Elizabeth 

Check out the final day of TimeZoneOne on the map below.

View TZSUN 2010 Day4 in a larger map

Day 2 involved alot of eating, day 3 was all about burning those calories off. Read all about in the interactive map below.

View TZSUN 2010 Day3 in a larger map

View TZSUN 2010 Day2 in a larger map

Day 2 of TimeZoneSun started with a little creative inspiration at the World of Wearable Art Museum …

…which also has a car museum for some reason, which allowed the Zoners to live out a few movie fanatasies.

From there it was a windy coach ride to Havelock , The Mussel Capital of the World, where we consumed many a mussel at the Mussel Pot Restaurant before climbing aboard a Foxy Lady (which is boat).

We cruised Kenepuru Sound, kayaked, tried to catch fish, ate more mussels, played a TimeZoneOne themed game show and spend the night on board the Foxy Lady.

Each year the TimeZoneOne teams packs up our bags, shuts the door and heads off on TimeZoneSun. This is a week long creative libation where we recharge our batteries, breathe in fresh air and spend time getting to know each other better.

TimeZoneSun is a key part of what makes TimeZoneOne extraordinary. In our “fast turn around yet be very creative you only have two days� business it is invaluable in building the friendships between the Chicago Zoners and the New Zealand Zoners which can come under pressure when the heat is on.

In previous years we have swam with dolphins, surfed with whales, jumped of bridges, been sea-sick, flown in ski-planes and landed on mountain tops. We’ve rode motorbikes through rivers, composed poetry, marveled at the scenery, seen where hobbits live, caught sheep, eaten huhu grubs, climbed up glaciers, patted eels, paddled canoes, created interpretative dances and had a few drinks.

TimeZoneSun is an uplifting, exhausting, clear-the-mind and freshen-the-soul blast. Afterwards we feel energized about ourselves, each other, our work and our creativity.

The weather can be a little unpredictable on our beautiful little archipelago, so some years TimeZoneSun has not quite had as much sun as the name would suggest, however after extensive research into the sunniest spots in New Zealand, this year we slipped on our sunnies, slapped on our hats and slopped on some sunscreen and headed to the top of the South Island to the Nelson/Marlborough region.

The Map below outlines our activities for the first day of the trip, which began Sunday afternoon.

View TZSUN 2010 Day1 in a larger map

This week has seen the first photo shoot for the winter collection of TimeZoneOne’s new apparel brand Ranfurlyâ„¢ . On Wednesday designers, photographers and models headed for the hills of Porters Pass, Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand and got to work capturing images along the shores of Lake Lyndon.

The day went without a hitch and the team managed to get the images we needed for the winter collection, even though they were shooting on a sunny 26°C day! Little or no wind meant time it knitted hats and Merino wool layers was going to be a little uncomfortable but the models did a great job.

While shooting at Lake Lyndon the team shared the waters edge with a couple of old boys on a fishing trip. ‘We’ve been coming here for 20 years and have never seen anything like this! Can we get a photo?’.

Thanks to our models Penny and Ngahuia from 62 Models in Auckland, Emporium in Christchurch for lending us a sweet old-school bicycle and to TimeZoneOne’s Liz Bissland for her great work in orchestrating a seamless shoot. Catering was provided by our very own Raewyn Topp whose egg and bacon pie went down a storm!

The Ranfurlyâ„¢ brand currently focuses on women’s sweaters, tunics and cardigans featuring New Zealand’s beautiful Merino wool and fine workmanship. The line will launch in North America and be sold all over the USA and the west coast of Canada in fall 2011.

Matt

The St James School of Medicine, with campuses on the islands of Bonaire and Anguilla, offers an affordable medical education to students who wish to pursue their dream of a career in medicine.

TimeZoneOne is working with St James to help spread the word about the excellent medical training they offer.

On Wednesday we spent the afternoon running a workshop with the St James executive team helping them better understand their students and therefore how we might best communicate to them.

The workshop provided valuable information and insights and we were delighted to receive the following note from the St James Registrar…

“We were all very impressed by the workshop, just when we think we’ve seen everything you have to show us, you come and blow us all away again. Thanks for all the time, effort and creativity that you put into working with us.â€�

Thanks to St James for these kind words, we are very excited about the progress we can make for 2011.

Below are the links to the new websites for St James. Our work on these included design and SEO.

http://bonaire.sjsm.org/
http://anguilla.sjsm.org/

I am delighted to report that all our accounts are all going very well; we have excellent clients who are motivated that their brand, service or product should be loved, cared for and showcased to the world.

As such we are doing the traditional collection of brand, film and advertising projects.

However digital now leads most of our projects. It would seem the iPad was the tipping pad.

Whereas previously the website was the only digital de rigueur, now businesses and brands MUST HAVE:

• Social Media marketing
• Search Optimization (organic and paid)
• Websites that are built for smart phones
• Apps

The above list is no longer discretionary – if your business is not communicating with these tools then you falling behind as badly as those who chose wireless over TV, AM over FM and Beta over VHS.

Once you have the MUST HAVES, more active marketers can try…

• Twitter
• Banner ads
• Augmented Reality
• Location-based social networking
• SMS marketing / Short codes
• RSS feeds
• Blogs
• Shot codes

The digital communication revolution is close to our heart, because it has created a global marketplace; a world where different time zones can work seamlessly together.

Tatts

TimeZoneOne is a creative company.
We create things today that did not exist yesterday. We do this within the boundaries of deadlines, budgets, resources, ambition and ego. These are difficult chainsaws to juggle.

To add to this our team is spread around the world.

Many assume that for us to achieve consistent success that Process Be King. This is not the case.

Our culture, our creativity and our business is based on core Philosophies that aim our daily hammering; Process Be Damned.

We believe that processes bully and principles guide.

For curious minds, our principles are:

We choose to be Extraordinary
You have a choice.

Active Communication
Active Communication overcomes assumptions, inertia and geography. We use digital communication for reaching out and touching.

Fresh not Frozen
This is a promise that TimeZoneOne’s New World will provide fresh thinking and fresh action, rather the Old World’s frozen ideas and frigid people.

“How can I make this better?�
Make this invitation and you ensure collaboration, turn off tension and open your arms to possibility.

Parallel Thinking
I have the choice to either argue with your idea, or I can help you explore it.

30,000 feet / 20,000 feet / 1 foot
This is how we guide our creative work:

• The longer we spend at 30,000 feet the more rarified the idea and the more you have to fight the gravity of tactics and execution. They WILL pull you down.
•  At 20,000 feet ideas gain shape.
• At 1 foot it hits the ground running.

My thanks to all Zoners who subscribe to these philosophies, it is easy to let the daily grind mince then up, but trusting them keeps us Fresher, Faster and Fairer.

Tatts