With plans being mooted for a world-class marina and floating village just outside the Hub and the announcement that Glasgow has secured the MOBOs again, it feels as though the sunshine has brought some new life to the city after a long hard winter.

Inside the Hub, it’s a similar story. Our tenants Shed Media Scotland recently finished filming Waterloo Road Reunited, which has just been broadcast online and on the BBC’s red button. The show has been really well received and you may have seen some very familiar faces around the Hub over the last few months, including ex-Corrie star Zaraah Abrahams and Waterloo Road bad boy and grime MC, Tachia Newall. (And yes, it soon became apparent that girls do indeed like a bad boy). There’s been a real buzz about the building and it hasn’t just come from the better weather.

We’ve also got some new faces at The Hub…Creative Born, Capital Vending, EFG and Acorn Property have all moved in recently. Welcome to The Hub and see you at the Cafe Bar soon!

On the subject of the Hub community, did you know that we’re on Facebook, Twitter and 38 Minutes?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Hub-Pacific-Quay/264188286406?v=info

http://twitter.com/thehubpq

http://38minutes.ning.com/profile/TheHubPacificQuay?xg_source=profiles_memberList

If you haven’t already, join us and we’ll keep you updated with Hub news and events. If there’s anything you’d like us to add to our social networking sites, just email lisa@skylarkpublicrelations.co.uk and we’ll happily give your news, event or request a mention! Why not use the Facebook page if you’re looking for a freelancer, or to share a resource with another company in the building?

And if you’re not already part of the Hub community in the ‘real’ world, why not come down for a look around? In the words of businessman/philanthropist Bo Bennett:

“As sure as the Spring will follow the Winter, prosperity and economic growth will follow recession.”

It’s spring, it’s time for a change.

Talking of goings-on… some of you may well have been at the Swish… and what an evening that was! Organised by the Scottish Huntington’s Association and our lovely tenant Pocapoc, there were clothes, there was swapping, there was elbowing, there were cupcakes, there was Champagne-a-plenty; dj-ing and even a very fabulous Burlesque dancer who was joined on stage by Radio Clyde’s George Bowie. It was a fantastic night that raised the charity’s profile and was also used to launch a new app for the Huntington’s Association, created by Pocapoc. Funnily enough our Special Agents Roddy, Tim, Alistair and Ross didn’t come along, although that was perhaps for the best given the mass-Burlesque dancing that went on. Great event, superbly organised and made the Hub Square really come to life.

If you’d like to hold an event in the Hub Square, let Rachel at reception know and she will check the diary and talk you through the logistics. Likewise, Rachel and Gordon are the people to have a chat to if you need any help with anything or have any questions as they’re the Hub’s very own Jim’ll Fix It and er… Rach’ll Fix It (without the medallions).*

*Unless it’s something like your hamster’s sick or your washing machine’s broken, they may not be able to help with that, although I wouldn’t be surprised.

So, a new website and some exciting new tenants coming soon (can’t tell you yet dear reader but will do). We’ll be at the Think Digital Event at the Science Centre on 9 November, come and visit us, we’ll be sharing a stand with our friends at Clyde Waterfront and we’d be happy to see you and tell you all about The Hub, the Digital Media Quarter, the Hub community, and whatever else you need to know. Unless you need to know about writing code in your head, or 3D imaging, or app-designing. Then we’ll need to phone our tenants for help. But then, that’s the whole point of the Hub!

Bye for now

Our interior re-brand is now finished and the Hub Square is looking fantastic with new leather sofas and lovely new lighting. The Hub’s all about collaborating and meeting up socially, and the new-look Hub Square has a relaxed and sophisticated atmosphere that will encourage people to do both.

We’ve got new internal signposting and graphics and, in short, the whole place looks great. Feedback from the tenants has been really positive and anyone coming in for a visit has been suitably impressed. There’s even been talk of Donny fronting a new interior design show with Kirstie and Phil (Donny’s Dream Designs anyone?) but at the moment that’s just unsubstantiated rumour…

And talking of Kirstie and Phil…. we’ve got some news! One of our newest tenants is Raise the Roof, which is the production team behind Location, Location, Location (Kirstie and Phil are directors of the company). According to The Hub’s resident star-spotter Rachel, Ms Allsopp was in the building recently and was indeed very lovely (Rachel having confessed that Kirstie Allsopp features very highly on her list of top 10 fabulous ladies).

And it’s not just Raise the Roof that have joined us at The Hub in recent weeks - Editworks Scotland, Interactive Scotland, Dlab and ID.TV have also joined us. Great news for The Hub and for the wider Digital Media Quarter community. Scotland may be in the grip of recession but the fact that The Hub continues to fill up with iconic media names indicates that it’s not all doom and gloom out there and the creative sector plays a vital role in rebuilding the economy. Firms like Editworks and Shed Media launching their Scottish operations are testament to this and their importance to the Scottish economy shouldn’t be underestimated.

Other Hub news: We’ve got the next Hub tenants’ pub quiz on 26 August - time to test your general knowledge skills against Rachel ‘The Quiz’ Tough’s brain-busting questions. And Sacha at Pocapoc is planning a Swishing night in September too - watch this space for more details (for the men reading this, Swishing is where you get together to swap clothes by bringing along something you don’t wear often and leaving with some fabulous new gear that someone else has bought and never worn. Handbags and elbows at the ready.). The event will be in aid of charity, more details to follow.

So that’s it for now… hopefully by the next post we might actually have had some sunshine and the odd brave soul might have managed a cup of coffee on the cafe bar terrace. We can but hope…

Of course, this approach means that you need to look closely at the way you operate. I mean, writing a blog forces you to have an opinion, to stand for something and to be prepared to debate it with others. It takes time, but for modern day businesses it’s well worth the effort. And for those laggards you meet you might remind them that the web forces everything out into the open – eventually.

The point I am getting to is that every business can reap the benefits of working more openly and more collaboratively not only with their staff but with their customers, partners and friends too.

Take Caboodl… I don’t know if you are familiar with our ‘Me We’ philosophy but humour me. It’s based upon something Muhammad Ali once said (a man whom I admire for his amazing achievements). His off-the-cuff remark resonated so much with my values and my desire to create a business that I wanted to work for that I can’t help but tell the story. It goes something like this… whilst talking to a senior graduation class at Harvard University, Ali urged the graduates to use their privileged education to go out and change the world for the better. At the end of his speech, a student shouted through the applause: “Give us a poem!” and as the crowd quietened, Ali said “Me… We!”

It’s not only the shortest poem (in the English language) and Ali’s philosophy for life, it’s a poem that speaks of one and everyone. How an individual plays an important role within the context of a larger group but how it often takes a group to institute change. The idea that as individuals we’re great, but when we work together we can achieve incredible things.

As I mentioned, we’re about to launch Caboodl Enterprise, a toolset to help businesses work together better. We’re not creating this toolset in isolation we’re working with companies to make sure that we create a product that does more than it says on the tin. The collaborative approach we’re taking means everyone wins. Our customers will have a product that truly improves their business and we’ll have a great business developing a product that people want. Win, win!

Of course community tools do not create communities. They do not offer magical new ways to create something out of nothing. We can build the infrastructure to make people’s life easier, better. But, and I talk about this everyday… it’s a cultural shift too. It’s about looking at what you can offer your stakeholders to make their lives better, easier and engage them in the process.

Whilst I’ve been organising our Early Adopter Program I’ve been lucky enough to meet some inspiring organisations and they’re chomping at the bit to start working together with the people in and around their business. They understand that having an active community behind you can increase sales, reduce costs, build your brand, and enable word of mouth to spread like wildfire.

Here are some of my tips for setting up a successful community around your business:

1. Start small

Building a good community takes time and effort. Build individual, meaningful relationships between members rather than trying to do too much too soon. It’s better to do a few things well.

2. Be clear about your purpose

Why will people want to join and contribute to your network? Give people something to get involved in - don’t let them aimlessly wander or they’ll wander off. It might be comments around the product you’re selling or the content (via blogs, forums, etc) that you’re producing.

3. Identify key contributors

When you are looking to establish a wide network start by identifying key contributors. Who will be responsible for driving key content, or managing key groups that that you’ve set up?

4. Reach out to others

Don’t think your site will automatically do all the work for you. Just as in life, the rewards you receive from your networking reflect the effort you put in. Be sure to invite people and be clear why you’re asking them to engage with you.

5. Listen with an open mind and respond

Listening is a core social media principle. Listen well to what others have to say, whether it’s good or bad and make sure you respond.

6. Engage in conversation

Maintain an ongoing dialogue with your contacts. That means taking the time to comment on other people’s posts, status updates and photos. They’ll appreciate it and return the favour.

7. Speak from the heart

Always stay true to who you are and what you stand for. As I mentioned earlier, by writing blogs and starting groups you are creating and building a profile for yourself. Make sure you know when you’re right but admit when you’re wrong.

8. Keep it interesting

Try running weekly polls or a competition in your comments section – the more you get your members to ‘do’ something the more they feel connected and get involved.

9. It’s not all about you, give something back

Who are the most vocal and active people on your site? These people ARE your site. Ask them questions. Get feedback. Find out what they’re doing. You want to create a dynamic environment where members interact and drive conversation, participate in activity, and receive acknowledgment. Find ways to reward them for participating.

10. Use the public networks

People will have conversations where it’s most convenient for them so it’s smart to include Twitter, Facebook or other social network functionality, where appropriate, in your general strategy. These networks can bring people back to your network.

11. Update, update, update

It’s critical that you stay active and update your profile with news and valuable content as often as possible. It helps to build your profile by reminding your contacts that you exist and showing that you are an active person.

12. Measure it

Make sure you take a holistic view of your community site. Measurement tools can help you assess general use, identify key users and even spot trending topics (depending on the size of your network).

Happy community building!

Thanks for reading.

Mike

To mark the licence now being in place, we’re planning a Hub Pub Quiz for our lovely tenants on 20 May – you’ll all be invited to enter a team in due course! (and of course, you’ll be playing against some heavyweight quiz competition, including Marc ‘The Shark’ Gilligan and Tim ‘nice and most certainly not dim’ Jacobsen, not to mention Rachel ‘tough by name and tough by nature’ er…Tough.

So get quizzing. We will also have some new tenants by then…under wraps for now, but soon to be announced… so the competition may be even fiercer than you think…

So in honour of the new licence and our forthcoming quiz, we thought we’d ‘raise the bar’ by revealing the Top 10 worst ever quiz answers of all time…

Anne Robinson: “Which Italian city is overlooked by Vesuvius?”
Contestant: “Bombay”

Anne Robinson: “What insect is commonly found hovering above lakes?”
Contestant: “Crocodiles”.

Anne Robinson: “The Bible, the New Testament. The Four Gospels were written by
Matthew, Mark, Luke and…?”
Contestant: (long pause) “Joe?”

Robinson: “In Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy, the third and final book is called The Return Of The… what?”
Contestant: “Jedi”.

Family Fortunes: “Something a blind man might use?” “A sword”

Family Fortunes: “An item of clothing worn by the Three Musketeers?” “A horse”

Family Fortunes: “A song with the word Moon in the title?” “Blue Suede Moon”

From Steve Wright in the Afternoon (BBC Radio 2):
Wright: “Johnny Weissmuller died on this day. Which jungle-swinging character clad only in a loincloth did he play?”
Contestant: “Jesus”.

Steve Wright: “What is the Italian word for motorway?”
Contestant: “Espresso”.

From See Hear Saturday (BBC2):
Lara Crooks: “What is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere?”
Contestant: “Air”.

Shocking. In other Hub news… our fabulous tenants Pocapoc have just told us they are developing an iPhone app for the Scottish Huntington’s Association…go Pocapoc and as I now know how techie you are, I’ll be watching out for any secret Googling at the Hub Pub Quiz. You have been warned.

Finally, a heads up about an event happening at The Hub shortly that tenants can attend for free:

to book, just send an email to events@scotlandinbusiness.co.uk marking the subject as
‘attending - The Hub Residents’.

Pan European Networking Evening
Thursday 27 May 2010
@ The Hub, Pacific Quay, Glasgow

Scotland in Business, an exciting business network, presents its most
ambitious event to date:

An opportunity for Scottish entrepreneurs to link with businesses in Europe
through live video conferencing. If you are interested in expanding your
business, looking for guidance or to make key connections with European
entrepreneurs then this event is for you. A great opportunity to network
with Scottish businesses and share ideas, best practice to help your
business progress.

The event will take place under the banner of European SME Week 2010 and
will be held on the evening of 27 May @ The Hub, Pacific Quay, Glasgow from
1800-2200hr simultaneously with our partners.

Programme for the evening:

1730-1820 - Registration
1815-1820 Introduction to the event
Donny McKinnon, The Hub - Sponsor
Presentation by each country

You will have an opportunity to have a one-on-one video conference with
international businesses after the event via our live chat rooms.

However, I thought that as a company who started in Glasgow developing durable finger protection for doors in response to a damning report on the problem of children trapping their fingers published by the head surgeon of A&E at the Royal Sick Children’s Hospital in Glasgow, that I would focus on the scale of the problem and the lack of action by those involved.

To give you some background, every year in the UK alone more than 30,000 children trap and seriously injure their fingers in doors and around 1,500 of these will require surgery (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents - ROSPA). These headline figures align with the findings from the children’s hospital report, in just six months the A&E found that 2% of their admissions were caused by finger trapping in doors and 16 children suffered amputation.

Safehinge is a company founded by two product design engineers who see problems all around them. And where there is a problem, there is a commercial opportunity. We started developing durable finger protection back in 2004 and established Safehinge Ltd in January 2007.

We have come a long way since those early days: we have raised over £500,000, spent numerous hours navigating our way through the rigorous fire, mechanical and acoustic testing required to sell a door in the UK, developed strong partnerships with the top distributors and now Safehinge is recognised as a new best practice by major local authorities (Manchester, Nottingham, Neath Port Talbot and Dundee) working on school, healthcare and other public realm projects.

One thing that always amazes me with the problem of finger trapping is how people blame the child for trapping their finger in the door. It is the child’s fault they trapped their finger – really? As a product designer, I would always blame the product, not the victim.

If we look at a recent event, the Maclaren buggy scandal where press reported that approximately 15 children in the states had trapped their finger in the buggy, with a similar number in the UK. There was huge uproar by concerned parents and the press on how a company could release a potentially dangerous product without sufficient warnings. In the US, buggies were recalled to have hinge covers fitted.

To highlight what was wrong with these past few paragraphs, lets compare the products:

* Door hinges (circa 500 year old design), with 30,000 accidents annually in the UK
* Maclaren buggy (circa 10 year old design), with 30 accidents over 10 years in the UK

Richard Langton, partner at Russell Jones & Walker Solicitors (company who is suing Maclaren on behalf of 15 families) said in a BBC interview:

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8403003.stm)

“the most disgraceful thing is the suggestion that the parent or child is blame, that’s absolute nonsense”

One point raised in the interview was for the manufacturer to provide clearer warnings about the potential danger. So I have to ask the question, should door hinge manufacturers apply legal warnings to all doors in the UK? Why are they not being sued for compensation when a child traps their finger?

The question that came in to my mind, as a product designer, is not whether we should use clearer warnings, but why are we still using a 500 year old, dangerous, mechanism to hang a door? Surely there must be a better way.

Thankfully, there is – Safehinge ALU: integrated finger protection. Rather than using retrofit hinge covers to conceal the problem, Safehinge ALU eliminates the dangerous gap altogether.

We have shown that by applying good design principles, problems all around us and the solutions created can be turned into major commercial opportunities. And maybe if Maclaren read this, they will be inspired to think about how they can eliminate the problem on their buggies, rather than simply providing a fabric cover?

For more information contact 0141 244 0085, email info@safehinge.com or visit the website at www.safehinge.com . Safehinge is a tenant of the Hub, Pacific Quay, Glasgow more information from www.thehub-pacificquay.com.

Win a bottle of bubbly:

The Hub is giving one lucky blog reader the chance to win a bottle of bubbly to brighten up their Easter! To win, just become a fan of The Hub on Facebook and answer the following question:
In the photo album ‘Life of Riley Rehearses at The Hub’, what colour of top is actress Caroline Quentin wearing?
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Glasgow-United-Kingdom/The-Hub-Pacific-Quay/264188286406?v=photos&ref=ts#!/pages/Glasgow-United-Kingdom/The-Hub-Pacific-Quay/264188286406?ref=ts
a) red
b) green
c) black
Answers to lisa@thehub-pacificquay.com by Friday 9 April 2010.

2010 marks a new decade, fresh hope, positivity about the year ahead, as apparently the recession is over, or at least we are “through the worst”! However, budgets continue to be cut, so encouraging ‘creative’ thinking and fostering collaboration may prove to be key as to how we do business in 2010 if we are to survive. We need to change the shape of our business and change is always met with resistance. Businesses still want the same services from the creative industries, but they are looking to us to be more imaginative with our offerings, not to mention the cost.

Donny McKinnon of Downtown Space came across this quote written in 1890, it speaks volumes of where we are today:

“great are the advantages which people following the same skilled trade get from near neighbourhood to one another. The mysteries of the trade become no mysteries; but are as it were in the air… if one man starts a new idea, it is taken up by others and combined with suggestions of their own; and thus it becomes the source of further new ideas” (Alfred Marshall 1890)

I was astonished to see it was written in 1890, it rings so true in today’s business world. It’s what The Hub is all about, Pocapoc have been here for only 4 months and already we are doing business with our neighbours in the building, it’s like a huge soundboard to test your ideas, your day to day creative brain dumping! People are interested and interesting, we talk to each other, it’s not a corporate suits kind of place (although there are some, so no offence) we spend so much time here it has to feel like a home from home!

So, what’s in store for 2010, I have trawled the net and came across some little nuggets about brand trends, number 7 is my favourite, we can all have a piece of the pie! It pays to know what’s in store, where your business should be and what the expectations are, we have entered a new age of business like it or not!

1.) Value is the new black

Excessive spending will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This is trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low.

2.) Brands increasingly a surrogate for “value.”

What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what’s wrapped up in the brand and what it stands for.

3.) Brand differentiation is brand Value

The unique meaning of a brand will increase in importance as generic features continue to plague the brand landscape. Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for success -meaning sales and profitability.

4.) “Because I Said So” is so over

Brand values can be established as a brand identity, but they must believably exist in the mind of the consumer. A brand can’t just say it stands for something and make it so. The consumer will decide, making it more important than ever for a brand to have measures of authenticity that will aid in brand differentiation and consumer engagement.

5.) Consumer expectations are growing

Brands are barely keeping up with consumer expectations now. Every day consumers adopt and devour the latest technologies and innovations, and only hunger for more. Smarter marketers will identify and capitalise on unmet expectations. Those brands that understand where the strongest expectations exist will be the brands that survive – and prosper.

6.) Old tricks don’t work/won’t work

Consumers are on to brands trying to play their emotions for profit. In the wake of the financial debacle of 2009, people are more aware then ever of the hollowness of bank ads that claim “we’re all in this together” when those same banks have rescinded their credit and turned their retirement plan into case studies. The same is true for insincere celebrity pairings: think Seinfeld & Microsoft or Tiger Woods & Buick. Celebrity values and brand values need to be in concert. That’s authenticity.

7.) They won’t need to know you to love you

As the buying space becomes even more online-driven and international (and uncontrolled by brands and corporations), front-end awareness will become less important. A brand with the right street cred can go viral in days, with awareness following, not leading, the conversation.

8.) It’s not just buzz

Conversation and community is all: Ebay thrives based on consumer feedback. If consumers trust the community, they will extend trust to the brand. Not just word of mouth, but the right word of mouth within the community. This means the coming of a new era of customer care.

9.) They’re talking to each other before talking to the brand

Social Networking and exchange of information outside of the brand space will increase. Look for more websites using Facebook Connect to share information with the friends from those sites. More companies will become members of Linkedin. Twitter users will spend more money on the Internet than those who don’t tweet.

10.) Engagement is not a fad

It’s the way today’s consumers do business. Marketers will come to accept that there are four engagement methods including Platform (TV; online), Context (Program; webpage), Message (Ad or Communication), and Experience (Store/Event). But there is only one objective for the future: Brand Engagement. Marketers will continue realise that attaining real brand engagement is impossible using out-dated attitudinal models.

Accommodating these trends will require a paradigm change on the parts of some companies. But whether a brand does something about it or not, the future is where it’s going to spend the rest of its life. How long that life is, is up to the brand, determined by how it responds to today’s reality.

Contributed by: Robert Passikoff, President, Brand Keys

Sponsored By: The Brand Positioning Workshop