Back at Kia....well for one week.

This week I'm back at Kia for my work placement week.  Fresh from four weeks on the course I'm ready to start putting into practice the leanings and outcomes.

Many people have asked me what Google Squared actually is.  I can only describe it as a driving force for personal development focusing on requiring leadership skills to become more effective within the workplace. The course offers the the best exposure to marketing and digital experts  possible and  has taught me to train my brain to be always inspired, innovative and think of the consumer at the heart of all I do.

Above all it's a driver for embracing change.

I'm back at Squared next week for the final week of the course.  Look out for the next update.

Kleur Tint Launch

No sooner has project one finished and we're onto project two. 

Working for cosmetics brand Kleur our task was to present a 10 minute brief for the launch campaign of 'Kleur Tint'.



Still buzzing from project one we knuckled down to start to start the project. The format of each project isn’t about providing absolute truths, it's about everyone being responsible for their own learning, and for using the tasks to help form our own opinions about what works or what doesn’t in the digital world we live in.

With this in mind and the opinions and recommendations of six team members this was a task not just for digital learning but one focusing heavily on team dynamics and  leadership skills.

Some key speakers and insights to help us on our way to completing project two came in the form of panel discussions on 'Agency relationships' and 'Cross channel integration'.   

Friday morning and it's time for the presentation.  All groups really raised the standard for project two including some really innovate product suggestions and a great sketch.

Time for project three.  But first.... lets eat cake.

Round up of the guest speakers.

I wanted to take this opportunity to provide an update on a couple of the guest speakers we've had over the past week. Some really insightful, thought proving and knowledgeable speakers including:

•  Tim Sparke (Digital Consultant) @sparkey

Tim offered some good insight into the world of digital  applications at the moment and how they are meeting consumers ever changing needs.   I love it when speakers provide their 'top tips' and in true presenter style Tim did:

5 Virtues for the post digital age:
1) Resilience
2) Empathy - The bravest trip is to go into the mind of another.
3) Hope - we all need this.
4) Confidence - confidence isn't arrogance, it's based on a constant awareness of how little we use risk.
5) Curiosity - There is no point in ignoring what's going on.  I though this point sounded so obvious but it's astounding how many companies are watching the digital era pass their business by.

All great presentations should end with a quote:

" Be the change you want to see in the word"  Gandhi

• Nathan Guerra, Google

Nathan told us about all the insightful ways you can engage your audience with a YouTube video.  Some of the best examples include:

- YouTube audiences.  YouTube has many audiences that engage with a particular content creator to learn about things from how to apply make up to shopping hauls and cooking recipes.

VW teamed up with a make-up artist on YouTube with nearly 300,000 follower to provide a message to a new audience group.  A very impactful video take a look:



- The Longest YouTube ad ever. Yes this ad really is over 3 hours long but the way this ads to the strong product message is great, take a look (you don't have to watch for the full 3 hours).

You know it makes Sense

Project 1 - Identify and conceptualise a new business in the digital landscape and pitch your idea to a panel of 'investors'...

My first thought here was 'where on earth do we start'.  All the ideas I had were either:

- Never going to work
- Would never make any money
- Had already been thought of

A few brainstorms and amazing inspirational talks from @nicoperez (founder of Mixcloud) and
@Ajaz (Founder of AKQA) later and our team had a few 'Maybe Babies' and quite a few 'no way babies'. Looking at the emerging trend for wearable tech and the new devices on the market (Nike FuelBand, Jawbone Up and Fitbit) we saw a gap in the market to launch 'Sense'



Quite some presentation practice later and we've done it! Right time for the pub.

Squared update

Its been a little while since I last posted so wanted to fill you all in on the first (very hectic) foundation week at Squared:

Day 1 - All fresh faced and ready for the challenge we're given a brief into to the first couple of days with the objective to guide all Squared participants to collaboratively build a common platform to maximize learning, work more effectively and build relationships.   Split into teams we are provided with our first brief.  To help BOST assess their marketing communications activity and provide feedback and recommendations on what they should do to improve communications for a wide range of stakeholders.

A mad rush across London 30 minutes later and we're at BOSTs HQ ready to start the task in hand.  Our group visited the Waterloo Millennium Green undertaking research questionnaires and interviewing BOSTs employees and Trustees.  Later that day back at Squared all five groups had to collaborate to submit one report, some task as everyone had different opinions and recommendations that has to be reviewed and added to the report. 

Day 2/3 - After day one I'd quickly learnt a couple of key principles:

- Expect the unexpected
- Remember to eat lunch (something many of us failed to do on day one)
- Wear comfortable footwear

So with lunch in my bag ready we were put into new teams and given a brief for task two.  Working with the Shakespeare Schools Festival we were to teach a group of Year 3 students at a local school for an afternoon.  My role in this brief was to play the 'camera' in the group, observing the team dynamics and not saying a word.  At first I found this very difficult but in time I learnt as much about the team as I did myself. 

Overall the foundation days did just that.  They gave me a good set of foundation skills on leadership, team dynamics while constantly pushing me out of all comfort zones to achieve.

Raring to go and excited about the first digital based project. I wonder what's next?

My first ever blog post!

Hi, I'm +Kim Wiggins and I work at Kia Motors as their Digital Marketing Manager. I've always had a passion for digital marketing and my role at Kia helps me to realise this in every way from the digital integration on a new car launch to the latest digital consumer trends in the car buying process.


When the opportunity to participate in Google Squared came along I jumped at the chance.  My first thought was 'wow, eating in the Google restaurant every day, I'll need to get to the gym!'  As it turned out the Squared offices are separate from Google giving us Squares a space to call our own away from Google HQ.  And the food?  We'll we've all been given plenty of food vouchers so I'm sure I'll never go hungry :)

After meeting everyone on Friday I can't wait to start the first task and get stuck into creating a new on line business.

Follow my journey on this blog as I become 'Squared'.