By Royal Invitation Only

As part of our campaign delivery for The Queen's Awards for Enterprise, our CEO Steve Grout was invited along with the campaign team and winners of the awards to meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace for a personal thank you.

Targetbase Claydon Heeley - We've got contacts.  Believe.

Google Goggles Part II

 Here's the exciting second installment of 'How Google Goggles sees TBCH'.  We still recommend abusing the technology for your own immature amusement.

Becky

Caroline

Chris Martin

Chris Myers

Claire

Merran

Muz

Ali

Amit

Tee hee hee.

The New Rock Stars?

Isn't it a disappointment when you imagine a brilliant picture of something really cool in your head, only for it to be rubbished in the cold light of reality?

Maybe it was just me, but I always had a slightly romantic view of internet hackers (not to be confused with those pesky phone hackers).

I had convinced myself that they were the modern day heroes intent on sticking it to the man (think Neo and Morpheus from The Matrix).  Either that or they were a sinister bunch of uber-villains out to cause havoc and mayhem.  What tied the two together was a delightful mixture of intelligence, charm, skill and mischief, not to mention a good dose of humour.  They were a secret society, the illuminati of the internet, who met up in their mysterious hideouts to plot, scheme and hack.

But the recent arrests of prominent members of hacker groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec has made me realise I was perhaps being a little flattering in my fantasy.  The dynamic internet elite were little more than teenagers, and pretty geeky ones at that.  But it did get me thinking...

Are these budding hackers the disaffected youths and rebels from yesteryear?  Both are seemingly drawn to the 'cool' and dangerous side of society.  Just as they were with punk and grunge, our generation of youngsters are being compelled by the same sense of rebellion and anarchy (and the counter-culture and politics that come with it).

Have they simply traded guitar rhythms for algorithms?

The main difference is that the internet has made it possible for anybody to become a 'rock star'.  The internet provides anonymity and intrigue.  Its reach allows anyone to gain kudos, respect and admiration (regardless of what they look like).

Herein lies the appeal for the downtrodden and outcast - a golden chance to be a part of something bigger.  More importantly, it's a chance to be something more than an awkward teenager who struggles to strive in an offline world.

Let's compare the old with the new.  Sure, both are rich and famous and evidently surrounded by a gaggle of groupies.  But if I'm completely honest, I'd sooner spend an evening with Keith Richards than Julian Assange - any day of the week.

Email or Admail?

Returning from my summer holiday this year, I was welcomed home by over 280 emails in my hotmail inbox.  I know we all complain about junk mail, but this number actually excludes those pesky little bits of communication.  So if you subtract all the messages I received suggesting all sorts of gadgets and pharmaceuticals for any problems I might (or might NOT) have, it would appear that I am pretty popular.

It was only when I started to sort through my inbox that I realised I didn't have ONE email that was sent from a friend, relative, colleague...or indeed, anybody I really know.  Most people knew that I was away, but this did strike me as pretty shocking (Or maybe you have no friends - Ed).

I sorted the messages into groups:

Interesting stuff I want to read:  0

Newsletters from sports clubs I've joined:  3

Offers from brands & products I'm a regular customer of:  21

Updates from LinkedIn/forums I've signed up to:  32

Random rubbish from companies I've had to give my email to in order to register interest/buy something once:  224+

Now, I'm no good with stats but that's a pretty small percentage of email that I actually have any interest in.

More importantly, there wasn't any personal email, so it seems (in my world at least) email isn't used this way anymore.  Has email become purely an advertising medium?  Perhaps email has now reached maturity as a personalised, targeted comms channel...

While I have 'opted in' to this stuff in some way, virtually none of it is truly personalised, relevant or interesting.  When I do take the time to 'open' rather than 'delete', the majority is just your bog-standard, boring email copy.  And the more I get of it, the less time I spend opening anything at all...

Email can be good, but it should be used sensibly.  Just because it's cheap, doesn't mean you should send it.  Just because you are pinging out lots of messages to your mailing list, don't kid yourself that you have an engaged audience at the other end.

Next time...'Freemiums'.