Below is a guest blog post from our friend Vikki Ross who we created @AgencyQuotes with. But there's just one thing...we haven't ever met her in real life. So "Let's take things offline" #thingsyouhearinagencies
“That’s what the internet’s for”
It’s funny the things you hear in agencies isn’t it? That’s what I thought when I created the hashtag. It came from #thingsyouhearinmeetings, which I created client-side. Seriously, some business jargon needs a translator. Then during a quiet moment agency-side, I listened to conversations between the account team and the creatives, the planners and the studio managers, and I thought, “I’m tweeting that,” and that’s when I started the hashtag #thingsyouhearinagencies.
“It’s a good start”
The hashtag’s popularity grew fast and my followers joined in. We were all hearing the same things and sharing quotes that made us laugh, commiserate and celebrate our industry together. Little did I know, Nick Entwistle and James Clancy were doing a similar thing and they took the initiative to get in touch and suggest we push the idea further together. They’re the successful creative team behind @BOC_ATM and the hugely popular @OneMinuteBriefs, and their smart thinking and hungry ambition are probably two of the factors that got them shortlisted for Cannes Young Lions in 2013 and 2014.
“Make it pop”
Nick and James set up our @AgencyQuotes account – a place for everyone to tweet and retweet all the brilliant things we hear in agencies. As a freelance copywriter, I work in a number of agencies and it’s so exciting when I hear someone say something that a colleague responds to with “I’m tweeting that!”
“Do it in post production”
@AgencyQuotes started two years ago, and almost 15,000 tweets to over 4,000 followers around the world later, Nick, James and I have still never met. We’ve shared emails and Direct Messages on Twitter since our partnership began but never spoken and never met. How’s that for a successful remote relationship?
“It just works”
Twitter is a great way of communicating to people you may never meet in your day-to-day life. But that doesn't mean you can’t create something together. Connecting is easy and conversations are welcome. Online friendships and even collaborative partnerships are made – with successful results. With @AgencyQuotes, it took three people with a similar idea to work together and make it grow.
“Have fun with it”
With your support, @AgencyQuotes will keep growing. There’s always an iteration that fits. I tweeted the #thingsyouhearatNewBloodjudging while judging the D&AD New Blood Awards copywriting brief entries earlier this week, and now we’re introducing #thingsyouhearatNewBlood for people to use at the upcoming Festival and Awards Ceremony.
“Let’s take it offline”
Nick and James will be at the D&AD New Blood Festival from 1-3 July challenging visitors to respond to their One Minute Briefs. And I’ll be there on the last day. That’s right folks, on 3 July, the people behind @AgencyQuotes are finally going to meet in person! Join in online or come and meet us too. Nick and James will be talking about the importance of social media, and there’ll be live @OneMinuteBriefs for remote working and successful collaborations on the day. There’ll be prizes for some of the new @AgencyQuotes followers at the event, the best #thingsyouhearatNewBlood tweet and @OneMinuteBriefs entries.
Follow us on Twitter if you aren’t already:
@AgencyQuotes
@OneMinuteBriefs
@VikkiRossWrites
@BOC_ATM
D&AD
New Blood Festival 1-3 July 2014
Old Spitalfields Market
Homer Square
London
E1 6EW
dandad.org
@DandADNewBlood
@dandad
