The Business of Digital

In the second of our Leeds Digital Festival posts we look back at The Business of Digital event presented by Marketing Leeds. The event brought together leading thinkers from various industries to debate questions put forward by the audience and through Twitter.

The event had a very different feel to the previous evening's TEDxLeeds event, but in the same way TED did, provided some excellent content and insight from the panelists. On the panel sat Dr Norman Lewis of Open-Knowledge, Amanda Brown of First Direct, Kieron Matthews of The Internet Advertising Bureau, Daniel Pollick of DLA Piper and Buddy Ye of Shune River Media, who we had talked to the previous day here. The discussion was chaired by David Parkin - Editor of The Business Desk.

The panel discussed a range of issues from the typical 'What is the next big trend' stuff to perhaps the more interesting subject of what digital means to young people, or indeed if the term "digital" even exists in conversations between young people. Some comments that really caught my attention were 

"If you call a digital camera a digital camera and not just a camera, you are probably not a digital native"

"Young people used MySpace as a way to connect with their friends without their parents supervision, it was the meeting place where young people could talk and build their own personality in the same way we used to dress like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones to show ours"

"I have a 27 year old employee who has never read a printed newspaper, only online content"

These types of statements really illustrate the point well that things have changed with the next generation of consumer. They do not think about online or digital as being different to traditional media because websites, blogs, apps are their traditional media! 

'Mobile' was a subject discussed at length and as Buddy and I had discussed the previous day: is the area that every major brand is thinking about. The stats are even more startling in China, but a global trend is emerging that people are consuming more and more 'media on the move' and devices such as the iPhone, iPad have really helped to speed up this trend in the west. The panel agreed that mobile technology is changing communications and the way consumers interact with media content.

There were certain points the panel disagreed on such as Facebook. Dr Norman Lewis said adults were behaving like children trying to 'win a popularity contest' on the social network. Kieron Matthews disagreed saying that the older generation are using the network to stay in touch with friends and share family photos. I think there is some truth in both of these points of view: Some people think it is a popularity contest but also lots of people use Facebook instead of email and the photo-sharing is a massive reason for being on the network. Of course the fact that a Facebook App is much easy to access then a lot of email systems for mobile has helped this trend also. 

I really enjoyed the evening and speaking with a couple of people after the event it seemed that this discussion could of really opened up some eyes in the city to the potential of using digital and social media to help their companies / brands internally and externally. Sometimes it takes an organisation like Marketing Leeds to create this type of event in order to attract some of the more 'traditional' business leaders who may not attend some of the other more technical or creative events that take place in the city.

A job well done to everyone.

Hebe Media Talks To: Buddy Ye

This week as part of Leeds Digital Festival, Marketing Leeds are presenting the fourth event in their ‘The business of’ series: The Business of Digital. This will be a question and answer style event on the impact of digital technology on businesses. One of the panelists will be Buddy Ye, and I spoke with Buddy yesterday about his thoughts on the digital landscape and his trip to Leeds.

Buddy Ye is the Founder, CEO and Producer of Shune River Media, a Shanghai-based independent production house that is quickly emerging as a bridge between the rapidly growing Chinese media market and the rest of the world.

Buddy studied for his MBA in the UK at the Said Business School in Oxford and explained some of the differences between the different education styles at the time “For my generation the learning environment in the UK was much more open. Students would be encouraged to ask questions and try new things. This was different to China at the time, although things are gradually changing now”

After returning to China, Buddy set up WangYou, one of China’s first major social media platforms. The site focuses mainly on music and a massive percentage of the user generated content is Karaoke. “Karaoke is very popular with young people all across Asia. We provide the technologies for people to upload, rate and interact on their own user-generated content” Behind the scenes work is taking place on the next steps for WangYou as Buddy explains “We are currently working on the transition from web to mobile based versions of WangYou”

As we talk further, Buddy and I begin talking about the future more generally and how things may move forward in the coming years “Over the coming 10-12 years there will be a high-speed development of digital technologies and I think over the next 3-5 years content will play a more important role” says Buddy.

Which leads us on to discussing some of the reasons why he is visiting Leeds: “There is a high demand in China for international content. I am talking about animations, documentaries, films, what I would call professional digital content. I am here in Leeds to speak with digital professionals about some of the opportunities in the Chinese market and how we might work together in the future”

I look forward to meeting Buddy on Thursday at the Business of Digital event. It seems there are some potentially very interesting relationships and collaborations that could take place. The more international relationships we can build for the already exciting Leeds digital scene the better.

For more information about Leeds Digital Festival and to register for the event click here.

Leeds City Centre Vision Conference 2010

Last Friday I attended the City Centre Vision Conference at Clarence Dock, Leeds. I had immediate thoughts and ideas in my mind on Friday, but wanted to wait and think about what I wanted to post. Usually I will either post my immediate reaction or not post at all on these kind of events, so as to avoid debates about things I can not effect, but here goes...

The day featured key speakers from various sectors and backgrounds. Some of the speakers I found passionate and interesting but others seemed nervous with the upcoming spending review always in their thoughts. I personally think that although the current financial situation is going to hurt in the short term, it provides the perfect chance to 'rip up and start again' in certain areas. It also means that in my specialist area: international projects and collaborations, there will be smaller, more targeted campaigns and this is how we love to work anyway.

The Speakers

We heard interesting comments from the two most influential figures at the council: Tom Riordan and Keith Wakefield, the two seemed genuinely interested in improving the city and protecting frontline services under threat from the spending review. Sir Richard Needham spoke a lot about his time in Northern Ireland and Italy, and although sailing close to the edge with a couple of comments, seemed to entertain the crowd. I did not personally take much from the talk, perhaps because many of the stories were from before my time :s 

Gerald Jennings from Land Securities spoke about the new Trinity scheme currently under construction on Briggate (he also gave me a 'shout out' in his speech, which was nice!) I have spoken with Land Securities about Trinity on a number of occasions and retain my belief that the project has a long-term, strategic plan that is routed in deep research of Leeds and it's people.

Sally Anne Greenfield spoke about some of the work the Leeds Community Foundation undertakes and spoke with true passion.

Creative Cities

After lunch we heard from Evert Verhagen. I felt very much on the same wavelength as Evert. So much of what he said, I have been saying behind closed doors and during meetings in the past 12 months. It was interesting that, in my opinion, the most 'real' comments came from someone who has travelled and has an international perspective on things. 

Sometimes it takes some time away from a city to truly appreciate it. It allows you to get a real feel for it's international standing and reputation. By being away you miss things and remember things you did not appreciate while living there. Also you can see the comparison between your city and the others you live in. I certainly found this when living in Barcelona. Some things in Leeds are fantastic, others need work, but this is the same in any city, let us not kid ourselves that everywhere else is great and Leeds is bad. 

The thing that most interested me about the talk from Evert was when he spoke about the talent within a city and how that becomes your most valuable commodity. It must have hurt a few people in the room, when he suggested that the best creative people in Leeds may be thinking about the quickest way to get to London for the best opportunities. Of course there are exceptions, but this statement is certainly true for a lot of my peers.

Evert spoke a lot about how the world is now all about cities. We looked at various charts of the ‘best’ cities in the world, the obvious candidates were at the top: London, New York and Tokyo, but there were others on the list that really intrigued me. Copenhagen, Taipei and obviously Barcelona are cities that I know well and I think show what is possible by putting the talent at the forefront of a strategy and creating a culture and structure that facilitates innovation rather then stifles or modifies through outdated measurement tools and processes. 

From a personal point of view, I did notice the trend when graduating from the European Institute of Design only last year. Here was a class of around 150 fresh new creative talents who were looking to hit the world’s most interesting cities and begin/continue their careers. Some ended up in London and New York, but others chose other interesting cities: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, Sydney, Milan and others stayed in Barcelona. I would of loved to have suggested to some of these people that Leeds was a place to consider as a first stop after Barca, but unfortunately we do not have the right things in place to position ourselves on this list.

I made improving the city in this area and attracting the top talent and building that creative, innovative community my main priority after graduating. I graduated top of the class so could of gone to another city and easily done some of the projects I have had to fight tooth and nail to get off the ground in Leeds. I do it though, because I love this city and always find more reward in creating something new rather then joining something that is already underway and doing well. 

Workshops

Back to the conference and next up during the afternoon session was a series of ‘workshops’ where you could speak with fellow delegates about a certain subject. I had chosen ‘innovation’ before the event and found myself on a table with some interesting people. It seems innovation can mean different things to different people but overall I had the sense that we were all ‘kind of’ agreeing on what innovation was. We spoke about how in order to encourage or facilitate innovation the right conditions must be in place. I explained my ideas for creating a central hub or group where perhaps the seeds of a creative, trends-driven community could grow, but sitting in a room consisting mainly of council members and property developers my advice of ‘prepare to fail’ and ‘take risks’ did not seem to sit too easy. 

Final Thoughts

Overall I enjoyed the conference, it is always good to gain an insight into what other people in the city are thinking. Wether I agree or not with what was being said is not the most important thing, everyone in city has an ‘angle’ or area they are coming from so of course there are going to be disagreements. I know the area I am interested improving/creating in Leeds and have a really clear idea of how we can begin to do it, maybe by attending events like the one on Friday, I can get an even clearer understanding of what everyone else in the city wants and see if my vision fits into that or not.

Introducing: James Steward

Last week we went to see our friend James Steward, without doubt one of the very best fashion designers we have in Leeds. We talked about his latest collection, his upcoming trip to Vancouver Fashion Week and a perfectly placed star-sign column which provided a motto James lives and works by.

We worked with James earlier this year on a project called Leeds in Barcelona and since then we have spoken regularly about the Leeds fashion scene and his career to date but before talking about upcoming events, we should speak a little about James' past:

Background

Having moved to Rome in 1998, James received an apprenticeship at the internationally acclaimed, Gattinoni Couture, the fashion powerhouse with an enviable list of clients spanning its rich history. Audrey Hepburn, Eva Peron, Arabian royalty and even the Pope have all worn clothes by Gattioni, and it was here that James was exposed to dress design, pattern cutting and embroidery design, using the most luxurious fabrics and finest Swarovski crystals. Although the credit went to Gattioni, James’ designs were gracing the pages of Italian Vogue, photographed by the likes of Peter Lindbergh, Ellen Von Unwerth and Steven Meisel.

Upon his return to the UK and Leeds, James set up Aqua Couture with a friend and the brand had a big effect on the Leeds fashion scene. We still have fond memories of Aqua being one of the main reasons we would visit the Corn Exchange (which back then was quite different to what it is now!) During this time his designs could be seen on important fashion opinion leaders such as Victoria Beckham and Kylie Minogue.

Since going his own way and leaving Aqua, James has created ready-to-wear collections for ASOS and many independent boutiques.  His couture bridal range has been a huge success and resulted in James receiving numerous awards. He was also brought in to work with the costume department at ITV to create the dresses for the on-screen weddings on popular British soap opera: Coronation Street.

Challenges

It has not always been plain sailing however for James. In a world dominated by disposable fashion, to stick to your beliefs and retain a dedication to quality of craft is not easy. These beliefs and dedication were ingrained in James during his time in Milan and still run through every piece of work he produces today. There are times when the easy option would of been to 'sell out' or mass produce some of his designs but James did not want to compromise quality for quantity. 

We all have moments during our careers or even our lives when we question the path we are on and if the all the hard work is worth it, James was no different. One afternoon, during one particularly hard day James began to question whether he was doing the right thing by sticking to his principles. Just at that moment a random flick through a magazine provided him with the words he needed to hear at exactly the right time. When glancing a the star-signs page, one sentence on his sign's reading jumped out of the page and provided the kick that he needed - 

Focus on your true talents and be rewarded

It is a line James now has written across the top of his studio white board and it serves as a constant reminder to stay true to his beliefs. His dedication to quality and craft now looks like it is paying off. 

Vancouver Fashion Week

A sneaky peak at James' Vancouver collectionJames international profile is set to soar to greater heights with his showing at this year's Vancouver Fashion Week in November. With the help of his awesome PR: Sam Ward (more coming soon on Sam) and Marketing Leeds, James will showcase his Spring/Summer collection and in doing so become the first British designer to show at the Canadian event. Although the collection is being kept under wraps, we got a sneak peak at some of the designs and we are very excited to see the final show. James describes the collection as 

"a cross between greek mythology and science fiction!"

It will be great to see Leeds' talent showcased to an international audience and James is obviously excited by the opportunities 'Leeds in Vancouver' creates

"It’s always an honour to be involved in these projects. Leeds in Barcelona worked by generating a huge amount of interest in the James Steward brand, and in Leeds as a city both through individuals and the media. Next stop is Leeds in Vancouver, an amazing project which sees Lisa Jayne Dann and I show our S/S11 collections at Vancouver Fashion Week. The opportunity here is incredible; with international media and buyers attending the event, it’s the perfect way of showcasing the wealth of design talent here in the city – we couldn’t have done it without the support of Marketing Leeds"

Our View

Vancouver presents a great opportunity for one of our city's best talents to showcase his work. This is a designer who has learned his trade and worked very hard to forge a successful career. His beliefs and ethics are admirable in a society seemingly obsessed with Primark and £1.50 T-Shirts. James deserves all the success he gets moving forward and hopefully the Vancouver project provides another stepping stone towards an even brighter future and career for one of Leeds' most talented creatives.

There are lots of really interesting projects and collaborations taking place in Leeds' fashion and music scenes at the moment and we can not wait to make some announcements of our own in the next few weeks. On another personal note it is great to see this project being supported by Marketing Leeds: this is exactly the type of project that has both international and local appeal, with James being the first British designer to showcase in Vancouver. We hope more and more projects like this get the green light and support in the city. The days of big budget advertising campaigns are gone, lets create more targeted projects that showcase the talent Leeds has to offer.

UK Observing Diary

Last week you may have seen a post on the Guardian Leeds website about the UK Observing Diary. Here we will give a little more information on the project, it's background, future and how it is helping to raise awareness of Leeds in the Far East.

Background

Last year our very own Shang Ting Peng arrived in England after studying in Barcelona for three years. During her early days here in the UK she began to photograph and document interesting places, products or projects. This led to her creating the Facebook Page: England Observing Diary. Since then, a friend in London also contributes to the page giving a unique insight into both the North and South of England. The page now focuses on two cities: Leeds and London.

Having studied Fashion Communication at the European Institute of Design in Barcelona, Shang Ting already had a considerable amount of experience in blogging, cool-hunting and trend research. She already had a blog that attracted 1000s of monthly visitors, but this project had a different setting:

"I arrived in England an year ago from Barcelona, and I never been to this country before. I thought it’ll be interesting to document the stage of what I feel about being in a total new country. So I ask my friend in London which she lives there for quite a few years to observe England’s life with me, and putting on facebook fanpage. We always trying to make it relaxing, fun, visual, and most important, we try to keep a heart of a tourist, to be curious about every little thing in England, I think with all these elements, the readers can relate to the content."

The Page

The page has gone from strength to strength and now has more then 6000 members. Every week there are hundreds of comments and interactions with people in the far east asking questions and giving their response to the content created, Shang Ting expands further: 

"Our fans are mostly from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. At the moment we have daily pictures, of things we find interesting that day. We also have cool-hunting, interviews, local knowledge guides and event reports. Me and my partner’s backgrounds are both in fashion, so we love to post fashion related things. Because of The Guardian’s post and other attention, we have started to have more English fans, so now we try have both Chinese and English language posts. I guess it’s interesting for English people to see what foreigners think of their country too"

The Future

There are exciting developments happening behind the scenes at the page at the moment and discussions with international news agencies are taking place. Shang Ting has a clear aim of what she wants to achieve with page:

"I think it’s important to establish Leeds as a city outside of Europe. I’m not saying I know what Leeds represents yet, but while I observe the city’s life style, fashion, and culture, I invite England Observing Diary’s fans to get to know Leeds with me"

We will keep you up to date with developments on this project and Shang Ting's work on this blog. There are really interesting potential projects and collaborations talks taking place at the moment and we are sure that this is just the start for Shang Ting and England Observing Diary.