World Cup an engagement opportunity?

CIPD has published this piece, mainly on HR-related issues:

“The 2010 World Cup is nearly upon us and the chances are that a large proportion of employees across the UK will be looking forward to it and starting to think about how and where they will be watching the key games. It is important to remember that the UK’s working population is incredibly diverse and there will be people with backgrounds from all over the world who will be hoping to watch their country in action when matches are screened.

Of course employers have no obligation to cater for their employees’ interest in the tournament, but evidence suggests that where employers demonstrate they care about their staff and their interests outside work, employees are more likely to go the extra mile for the organisation. Some employers may see the World Cup as an opportunity to rebuild employee morale hit hard by the recession.

There are a variety of approaches that employers can consider to ensure that employees can make the most of the World Cup without compromising the needs of the business in any way:”

Click to read more.

I’m sure there are even more positive possibilities with this. What plans do you have?

A new website for Landmarc Support Services

Landmarc Support Services Limited provide facilities management and support services to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Defence Training Estate (DTE). The contract, worth £600 million over ten years was one of the largest outsourcing contracts ever awarded by the UK’s Ministry of Defence.

We help Landmarc communicate with their shareholders, staff and  the local communities in which they work.

We’re pleased to announce that we have finished phase one of their new website, which can be seen at www.landmarcfm.com

Landmarc Web Screenshot

Hard graft

Sometimes, with all the best planning, implementation and resource scheduling in the world, a bolt of lighting comes out of nowhere, and leaves you with no option, but to graft, graft and graft some more.

“We never let our clients down”. It’s easy to say – now and again it’s great to have an opportunity to prove that we really do mean it.

Wedding Bells

Our lead designer Daniel Fastnedge is getting married this Saturday 24th April. Everyone at Intermedia would like to wish them both a very happy day and a wonderful future together.

Intermedia’s Brand Essence

Our own Brand Essence project is developing nicely. Take a look at where we are currently – http://www.flickr.com/photos/intermediasolutions/sets/72157623663531363/.

Brand Essence Thumbs

If you’d like to learn more about Brand Essence, click here.

A few interesting employee engagement facts

1. Engaged employees take an average of three sick days per year; disengaged take six.

2. Engaged employees generate 43% more revenue.

3. Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave an organisation.

4. 67% of engaged employees advocate their company or organisation compared with only 3% of the disengaged.

Running for charity: Sport Relief and Deafax

On the 21st of March, Ben our web geek did his part for Sport Relief and ran three miles in Southampton. Over 3,000 members of the public ran in Southampton alone, with an estimated 165,000 running nationwide. Sport relief in 2010 raised over £30 million, helping those in need in this country and abroad.

Later this year, three of the Intermedia team will be running for Deafax. This time we’ll be running six miles! If you’d like to donate to Deafax, and sponsor our run please contact us today.

Intermedia’s new look

Intermedia has a new look for 2010. Our stationery arrived on Friday, take a look below.

Stationary

Design and print showcase: B&Q and TradePoint

In February Intermedia was tasked with designing, copywriting and managing the print production on two exciting jobs for our clients B&Q and TradePoint. We turned both projects around in record time, and the clients were delighted. Below are some photographs of the finished items, hand modeled by our very own Lou.

Understanding your Profit and Loss account. A Simple Guide.
IMG_6372

IMG_6374

TradePoint Operational Basics.
IMG_6376

IMG_6378

The social Ben socialises at the Social Media World Forum

Intermedia was pleased to be able to attend the Social Media World Forum at the Olympia Conference Centre in London held on the 15th and 16th of March.

Highlighted was the importance of developing a strategy, setting out goals, objectives, risks and benefits. Is the purpose to create awareness around your brand, draw attention to specific aspects of your business or drive action? Then comes the question of choosing the right social media platform – and it may not necessarily be a free one.

Social media is about gaining trust, making recommendations, and engaging with those who carry influence. It is not about traffic driving to your website. To make social media work successfully for your brand, you need to follow trends, find ways to tell more stories, tap into passions, and think episodic not blockbuster.

For example, Sony have just over 1,000 followers, which is relatively small for such a large brand. However Sony don’t use Twitter to gain popularity, they use it to tap into the influential tech crowd, who in-turn have large popularity amongst their followers.

There were many social media video agencies exhibiting their platforms at the World Forum. Interestingly, Most applications still focused on one genre – meetings, conferencing, tv, social media etc. Intermedia is currently developing a video social media platform (InTouch) which provides solutions for video conferencing and video messaging, combined with the ability to blog and save your videos to a user profile. Check back for regular updates on InTouch or drop us an email if you’d like to be involved in free trial to put it to the test.