The Huffington post finds itself once again at the heart of a Twitter storm of writers and bloggers. The aggregated content website launched in 2005 by Arianna Huffington and sold last year to AOL for a whopping $315 million US dollars is under attack from writing professionals about the way their content is generated and [...]

During 2011 blog page views across blur Group’s network more than doubled. We know that they’re a sought-out information source for those working in the creative industries, those using them and people looking for that different perspective on new startups, the latest art, marketing must-haves, design desires and a view on the latest trends. At the [...]

  We’ve already shared with you blur Group’s review of 2011 and our vision for creative services in 2012. But as it’s that time of year when we dust off the crystal balls, run riot with our runes, draw lines between planets, here’s our thoughts on what different areas of the business might see in [...]

In the immortal words of our founder and CEO Philip Letts, “We launched the Creative Services Exchange intending to stop the debate about the future of advertising and start delivering that future.” And this year we’ve done just that. Here’s what you need to know about blur in 2011. News in Briefs Our global reach [...]

In the five blogs of blur Group we write about what excites, dismays and interests us. As the year draws to a close, let’s take a look back at the most-read blog posts of 2011 – what do they say about you, dear reader? In the blur Group blog, you looked to us for amusement [...]

We hope you enjoyed our quiz! The suspense is over, here are the 15 questions with answers – and a bonus! 1)   You might not be as obsessed with Twitter as we are. But do you know which superstar has the most followers? Lady Gaga, with close to 17 million. 2)   Which bank won the [...]

Today, #blur is trending on Twitter. The 90’s band will receive the 2012 BRIT award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and the Twitter congratulations are pouring in. That means that our Tweets, which contain #blur as a matter of course, are read by more people than usual today. The hashtag overlap was a coincidence, but [...]

It’s nearly the end of the year but it seems that 200 of Europe’s largest companies have finally  reached the same conclusion that blur Group has postulated since the start of 2011 – marketing costs too much. It seems that there is one big area of the business which could benefit from efficiency savings – [...]

Today, we’re taking a look at the organizations using crowdsourcing to solve really knotty problems. Crowdsourcing has been disappointing when used for projects like My Starbucks Idea and Dell IdeaStorm. Customers were invited to submit their solutions to product problems, and vote for the best ideas. The companies implement the best ideas, hopefully saving time [...]

Human Media Fundamentals, the concepts which define the way to a new form of communication, one that represents the end of the Social era in its pure state of art. It’s time for everything to be placed on a map and coherently drawn – thank you Luis Calabuig. Human Media makes it possible for a company to offer [...]

This week the number of creatives on blur Group’s Creative Services Exchange will pass the 13,000 mark. These 13,000 are a mix of creative independents, many of them who’ve worked for the ‘big boys’, and those small to mid-sized agencies who recognize that there’s value in being part of a creative crowd. Yes, there is [...]

At blur, we’re obsessed with the nature of creativity. Recently we’ve been asking ourselves: Can you teach it? We’re talking about creative problem solving here, rather than uncontrollable artistic urges. Too many people think creativity is a kind of magic that you’re blessed with from birth. Actually, it’s not the whisper of a muse (see [...]

Some time ago we talked about those moments when a CMO is in a bit of a hole and needs to get out of it, preferably unscathed. The scenarios that we see every day on the Creative Services Exchange as our approach works so well when things need doing differently, quickly, cost-effectively, with a new [...]

For many businesses November is seen as the last full ‘sales’ month of the calendar (and sometimes fiscal) year. Recognizing that buyers move into holiday mode as soon as the first baubles are spotted, activity levels become frantic.  Marketing rushes to deliver campaigns, the sales teams hit the phones, customers see special promotions arrive in [...]

The world of social media is a scary place. Do you fear the crowds of shrieking fans, the cackling trolls and things that go bump in the blogosphere? Here’s our list of the top ten social media horrors. Read, beware and don’t go down to the basement to investigate that strange noise. Chapstick’s social media [...]

There’s been no shortage of interesting marketing stories that have caught our bloggers’ eyes this week. We wrote about the problematic nature of measuring influence on Twitter in the results of a new study. In the shifting world of social media, users place their trust in apparently ‘objective’ ratings of popularity and influence. Unfortunately, the [...]

Choosing your creative provider is a major decision. Whether it’s for a one-off project or for a longer term relationship the decision will have a major impact on your marketing and your business. Your creative drives your brand and the resulting engagement with your (potential) customers. So how do you go about making the right [...]

A new study suggests that widely accepted Twitter strategies may be misguided. The report, Measuring User Influence in Twitter: The Million Follower Fallacy, rejects what it calls the “modern view” flows according to interpersonal connections among ordinary users, and the general marketing willingness of a community to accept an innovation. Rather, it seems that information cascades down [...]

Who is the custodian of your brand? Who determines its direction? Who has created the strongest ties for customer acquisition and engagement? For many brand owners their advertising agency is as close to their brand as they are themselves. The relationship is predicated on the detailed understanding, knowledge and development that these creative providers will [...]

The media flurry following Steve Jobs’ passing universally recognized him as a great creative. He changed the way we interact with technology, and even Apple’s detractors recognized his influence. At blur Group we admired his freaky ability to know what we wanted even before we did. He had to come first in our list of [...]

According to a new report from think-tank Demos, “the lazy assumption that the creative industries are inherently risky is harming Britain’s path to growth.” They found that one third of investors perceived the creative industries as being too risky to merit investment, for two reasons. There’s a popular conception that the ‘creative genius’ is obsessed [...]

There’s little doubt that everything at blur Group revolves around innovation. Our entire business model has thrown away traditional conventions in the world of advertising, from the perspective of both the buyer and the provider. The Creative Services Exchange combines the best of digital, technology and creative to streamline the process of marketing delivery into [...]

We love deadlines at the Creative Services Exchange. One of the advantages of having over 12,000 creatives from around the world is that as one working day finishes, another starts. It’s 24*7 creative delivery. So if you really have an urgent deadline, then someone will be there wanting to respond to your brief. And ready [...]

In the beginning, social media connected friends with pictures, threads, newsfeeds and likes. The best social networks – like Facebook – make it easy to share content. Soon enough, those pesky marketers caught on and started connecting businesses with consumers. And most recently, businesses see that social media can foster collaboration between employees just as [...]

It’s Friday! Time to review what inspired, intrigued and excited us this week. The hot topic this week was was gamification, and Adena DeMonte helped us understand the implications for the b2b sphere. We also highlighted five innovators in the field. On our creative Exchange blog, we explore outsourcing. Companies in need of a website [...]