I attended a very inspirational event at the British Library in London recently. The latest in the organisation's series of "Internet Icons" sessions saw the likes of Lastminute.com founder Martha Lane Fox sharing with the sell-out audience how to achieve success in a web venture.
Among the panel was Seb Bishop, founder of pay-per-click advertising company Espotting. He outlined several key tips but one in particular stood out for me: Know your enemy. "It's incredible how much organisations become focused when they have one thing to target," Bishop said. "For us that was by creating an enemy."
Espotting's "enemy" was web advertising giant Overture and despite operating on a significantly lower budget, Bishop's company was able to carry out several stunts against Overture which brought great publicity. Among them were:
Martha Lane Fox, well known as the queen of free publicity gathering, admitted to the British Library audience that Lasminute.com did not spend a penny on advertising until 18 months after the company was set up. High levels of brand knowledge were simply built up through badgering journalists, speaking at conferences and carrying out stunts.
So come on entrepreneurs out there, get creative!
Among the panel was Seb Bishop, founder of pay-per-click advertising company Espotting. He outlined several key tips but one in particular stood out for me: Know your enemy. "It's incredible how much organisations become focused when they have one thing to target," Bishop said. "For us that was by creating an enemy."
Espotting's "enemy" was web advertising giant Overture and despite operating on a significantly lower budget, Bishop's company was able to carry out several stunts against Overture which brought great publicity. Among them were:
- Driving Espotting London taxis to an Overture event in Paris
- Delivering swizzelstick sweets emblazoned with the Espotting logo to an Overture party in a nightclub. The manager unwittingly gave them out to guests
- Placing an Espotting search box on the website www.overture.co.uk, owned by a hi-fi store in Newcastle, and taking out advertisements in the trade press saying "Overture.co.uk is now powered by Espotting."
Martha Lane Fox, well known as the queen of free publicity gathering, admitted to the British Library audience that Lasminute.com did not spend a penny on advertising until 18 months after the company was set up. High levels of brand knowledge were simply built up through badgering journalists, speaking at conferences and carrying out stunts.
So come on entrepreneurs out there, get creative!
