Afternoon tea at the National Portrait Gallery. Client meetings at a “football” club stadium. Racing to catch black cabs in the rain in The City. In a mere five days, Version 2.0 took London by storm with a a series of strategy sessions, new business pitches and networking meetings that has us crisscrossing the town from Heathrow to Shoreditch.

With Microgen, who is based in The City (London’s financial district), we talked about the ongoing pressures that their clients, including financial services companies, face, and the regulatory changes in that part of the world that have prompted other countries’ oversight agencies to take a closer look at their own strategies. A session to discuss how Microgen’s technology is supporting its clients as they work to achieve competitive advantage through better management of data and business processes included participants from Speed Communications, Microgen’s UK agency.

Speed joined us again for a lively brainstorming session with The InvisibleHand, a unique shopping service that was launched as part of the Forward Internet Group’s portfolio of companies. We generated new pitch ideas that are now serving as the map for our outreach strategy over the next several weeks.

We also spent some time with VBrick, a US-based client that is looking to turn up the volume on its UK presence, and Exony, a former V2 client that is revisiting its approach to PR. The conversation with VBrick took us all the way out to Reading and the grounds of the Reading Football Club , which is British English for “soccer.” Avoiding traffic on the M4 on the way back into town, our driver raced through the back streets around the airport and into London, where we made it to our Exony meeting only a few minutes behind schedule — which was a minor miracle, according to our client!

Our packed schedule left little time for sightseeing, but we managed to see the inside of some excellent restaurants and bars when we met with a London-based journalist with the Telegraph, and a former client contact who is now helping the Royal Bank of Scotland with its communications strategy. Based on the headlines we watched last week about RBS’s challenges, we think she has her work cut out for her — and is doing a bang-up job, as they say in Old Blightly.

And since we knew you’d ask: we didn’t manage a glimpse of the Royal Family but we did mange drive-bys of Buckingham Palace that coincided with the procession of the Queen’s Guard — a magnificent procession of white and black horses and shiny carriages.

After five days of back-to-back meetings, we’re fully recovered from the jet lag and energized by all the great ideas and innovative companies we’ve had a chance to talk with. Suffice to say our love affair with London has only just begun…

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  March 3rd, 2010

Maybe it’s the elevation of the Canadian Rockies, but we’re still a little lightheaded after a whirlwind week supporting the launch of our client Pulse Energy’s Venue Energy Tracker. The tracker is a very cool dashboard that provides real-time readings of energy consumption at Winter Games venues, from the Richmond Olympic Oval to the Athletes’ Village to the legendary Canada Hockey Place (home to the Canucks during the NHL season).

So why is it important to track energy consumption at the Olympics? The technology showcases what Pulse does for its business and government customers everyday — enable a real-time assessment of energy consumption so that COOs, facilities managers and their teams can make smart decisions about reducing the amount of energy their buildings need. So far, leading media outlets like CNET and Fast Company are beating in time to Pulse’s message about using technology to quickly enable energy cost savings and a smaller carbon footprint. We predict this rhythm will only get catchier…

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  February 5th, 2010

‘Tis the season to start the frenetic search for the right gift at the right price.  And, if your office is likes ours, soon the UPS man will be making multiple trips with boxes of toys, consumer electronics and luxury items that office workers have purchased online.  But how do these frazzled gift givers know that they are getting the best deal when purchasing the hottest e-reader, mobile phone or games?  
 
Thanks to InvisibleHand, one of the newest companies in the Version 2.0 family of clients, shoppers can automatically get the best deals available online. InvisibleHand is a new Firefox plug-in that subtly lets shoppers know when an item they are viewing is available for less money on another site and provides a link so users can easily navigate to the cheaper product.  The plug-in features price comparisons between more than 30 e-tailers in the US and 25 in the UK, including Amazon, Best Buy, The Home Depot and Wal-Mart.
 
Give InvisibleHand a shot this holiday shopping season by downloading the plug-in here  at Mozilla’s list of top add-ons for Firefox.  And, stay tuned for lots of buzz for the company and their technology as our team kicks the media campaign into high gear!

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  November 18th, 2009

Just back from a jam-packed week on the West Coast. Great meetings with some old and new colleagues alike to discuss bringing the V2 brand to San Francisco, and a successful presentation on measuring the business value PR at the NVCA’s Strategic Communications meeting. We are looking forward to exciting new developments to report in the New Year so stay tuned. . .

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  November 16th, 2009

It wasn’t your typical lunch for Version 2.0 on Thursday.  We spent it with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the Commonwealth Institute’s event to promote Secretary Albright’s new book, “Read My Pins.”  The ballroom at the Park Plaza Hotel was overflowing with Boston’s movers and shakers, most of whom stayed until the middle of the afternoon to hear the incomparable Tom Oliphant (formerly of the Boston Globe) interview Secretary Albright about her sartorial choices, the symbolism and stories behind her many, many fabulous lapel pins and her opinion about her successor (she thinks Hilary is doing a great job) and the state of the world of today.  This was Secretary Albright’s fourth appearance in Boston as a guest of the Commonwealth Institute and she wore a dramatic, very large, diamond encrusted brooch shaped liked a fly (with moving wings), to demonstrate to her Boston audience that “I’m not a fly-by-night friend.”

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  October 1st, 2009

While we’re generally not boastful of the media coverage we secure for clients, the rockin’ feature we just landed in BusinessWeek for Symphony Services merits a toast.  I mean, who wouldn’t be thrilled with a headline that reads: “Symphony Services: Orchestrating Innovation?”

Symphony, a V2 client for about a year and a half, hired us because its previous agency did a fine job maintaining visibility among the outsourcing trade media, but they couldn’t elevate the story to the business press. And Symphony CEO Gordon Brooks made it clear he needed exposure to more CEOs, investors and the like to help achieve longer-term business goals.

A few months back we launched a series of smart, aggressive social and traditional media relations campaigns to support Symphony’s claim of “outcome certainty” — a phrase that’s been tossed around by other outsourcers but one that Symphony takes to heart with aggressive pricing tied to its ability to deliver for clients.

In addition to shaking the Twitter tree to secure time with industry analysts eager to hear Gordon’s perspective, we aggressively targeted story opportunities in the business press, tailoring the pitch to align with macro-economic and technology trends that journalists were covering. 

In the last six months we’ve arranged interviews for Gordon with Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and BusinessWeek.  We parlayed our initial BusinessWeek meeting into a series of follow-up interviews with other Symphony executives and Hyperion, a big-brand enterprise customer.  The work paid off with a glowing, standalone feature (made all the more rewarding given the lack of a strong news hook) that made us and the client very proud.

Tweet This Post          1 Comment »  |  August 14th, 2009

While we love taking to this blog to share perspectives on networking events and parties we attend – and offer insights into the shifting media landscape – it’s most exciting as a vehicle to share good news about the agency.  Today Version 2.0 Communications announces that two new clients have joined our growing roster: VBrick and VisualIQ.  VBrick, an established player in the enterprise IP video space, turned to us to crank up the creativity and execution of its communications program.  Our charter: create and launch smart, aggressive influencer relations and social media strategies that support the company’s mission to help enterprise customers build winning corporate video strategies. 

VisualIQ, meanwhile, is all about helping marketers learn which media channels they should use for the greatest ROI, and how they can find more customers.  VisualIQ is all about data: helping customers normalize and integrate syndicated data – along with data from marketing campaigns – to find out what’s working and what’s not.  A startup with big plans to revolutionize how marketers use data to increase sales, VisualIQ tapped V2 to create buzz-building creative campaigns to drive awareness among customers, analysts and media ahead of a major product launch this fall (more on THAT later…).

Welcome VBrick and VisualIQ!

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  August 3rd, 2009

“I’m working on a column I want to call ‘What do the banks owe us?’ What do you think?”

It was 8:30 a.m. at Brasserie 44 in New York’s Royalton Hotel. We hadn’t yet ordered coffee and had just barely made introductions to noted New York Times columnist Joe Nocera when he jumped right into an intense conversation with our client, Microgen’s David Sherriff.

Joe’s opening question wasn’t just a conversation starter. It was a test. Did Microgen have a point of view? And would that perspective matter to an influential journalist?

Our talk was one of several meetings during a two-day media tour in New York earlier this week. From Paul LaMonica of CNN Money to Emily Barrett of Dow Jones, everyone we met with wanted to discuss the issues. Microgen’s products were interesting, yes, but even more compelling was Microgen’s perspective on the challenges the company’s customers — which include large global financial services companies – face in the wake of the Wall Street collapse.

These meetings provided further proof of what we’ve always believed: in high-tech PR, a point of view is just as valuable as a new product. Organizations must be able to articulate not just what their technology does, but why it matters to the wider world. In Microgen’s case, we were able to talk about how the company’s software helps banks get a clearer view of risk exposure so they can make smarter decisions for long-term health.  This is a vital issue for financial services and many other firms struggling in the current operating environment.

As COO of a UK-based firm that works with global organizations, David offered insight into global differences in banks’ responses to regulatory change that has followed the market collapse. These insights, not technical specs, are what distinguish Microgen for journalists like Joe Nocera.

By the time the check came, Joe had given what we consider high praise: “This has been very enlightening,” he said.

And then he apologized: he had to catch a plane to D.C. to meet Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  July 31st, 2009

Version 2 staff took a break and had a great time at last night’s Best of Boston party, hosted by Boston Magazine, in the South End.  The open-air venue simulated a back yard, complete with grass (astroturf) and swings that hung from the ceiling with seats cleverly fashioned from wood and regular, old kitchen sponges.  Beer, barbecue and beautiful people – the perfect way to end a hard day at the office.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  July 29th, 2009

While we weren’t able to answer this important question, there was much discussion at last night’s intimate dinner hosted by Version 2.0 at ROCCA .  Our guest of honor was David Beard, editor of Boston.com,  who shared his perspective on the shifting media landscape and offered examples of how Boston.com has evolved into a community destination site that attracts viewers from around the world.  The evening brought together an eclectic mix of CEOs, CTOs and CMOs from large companies and emerging startups including Chris Olie from Plymouth Rock Assurance, Jim Psota from Panjiva, Denise Cautela from ClickFuel, Allen Carney from 170 Systems and Jean Manasian from Manasian Inc. 

While pop culture discussion revolved around the day’s breaking news — the demise of “the Rock of Boston” WBCN — more serious topics such as the evolving media landscape and how to leverage new communication vehicles such as Twitter and Facebook dominated the conversation.  Thanks to our special guest Dave Beard for sharing your perspective from the newsroom and to our clients and friends for joining the discussion.  Stay tuned to Blog 2.0 for more updates on V2 events, and please share your comments and ideas for future industry networking events.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  July 15th, 2009