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When [...]]]> Mike Mathieson, Cake’s CEO, was recently profiled by Celina Maguire from Gorkana. Get the scoop on Cake’s thoughts on harnessing social media and being authentic marketing “twats.” [See what we mean below ; ) ]

You can also view the full article on Gorkana here, but be forewarned you’ll be prompted to log-in prior to viewing.

When I meet Mike Mathieson, CEO of brand entertainment agency Cake, he is still buzzing from a major set-piece stunt his team has implemented that morning for Confused.com to promote car insurance renewals.

After finding the most accident-prone street in the UK, Cake set about enveloping the entire contents of the street in bubble wrap. The whole event was filmed by a crew equipped with a time lapse camera and the sell in spanned traditional media alongside a full social media campaign.

While many agencies are still getting their social media strategy in order, Cake (named after an episode of spoof news comedy Brass Eye) has been doing it in one form or another since the agency was founded 10 years ago. Originally known for its big stunts, the agency now prides itself on both the strategy and creative running through all its work. It boasts clients including Ben & Jerry’s, Sainsbury’s, Unilever, Motorola, Sky and Ikea.

A self-confessed technophile, Mike has always embraced technology and understood the importance of influencer marketing.  And he was using a very early form of social media long before the advent of the internet, YouTube or Facebook.

Social media pioneers

Mike’s background as a music PR, along with his co-founder Mark Whelan, who worked in advertising, and another early Cake-er Jez Jowett, who ran nightclubs, meant that between them they had three contact books bulging with details of influential media and celebrity types. Pooling together their considerable and influential contacts they created the Early Adopter Top (EAT) 500, a network of movers and shakers they contacted by post and fax.

“We’d send them stuff, products like Rizla papers and tea bags, that sort of thing along with a tongue-in-cheek questionnaire and ask them to fax it back. It was partly to get products into consumers hands and partly to guage their reaction. When the internet came around we thought it was great because we could then push the content online.”

But it was when they won Budweiser as a client in 2002 that they really got stuck into an early type of social media. Budweiser had just made the classic Whassup?! advertisements.

“That’s when we started experimenting with virals and seeding. We had this great piece of collateral and we could push it out to video sharing sites and really got our heads around understanding it.

“Then record companies started approaching us because they had these enormous databases of fans but wanted help with conversations online. We thought we’d have a crack at it and the first thing we worked on was for the band Travis who had recorded a live DVD in Boston.

“I remember it very well because we discussed how we were going to target the various communities and fan sites and we just thought we’d dive in so we did. And we were saying things like ‘hi I love Travis aren’t they great and I’ve heard they’re bringing out a DVD’. And the response we got was ‘Fuck off you marketing twat’.

“After a swift cup of coffee we changed tack and began our outreach with the line ‘marketing twat here, just thought you might like to know…’ This time the response was ‘thanks for the info’. So I guess it was an early lesson in transparency and tone of voice!”

The art of conversation

Fastforward to 2010 and Mike says there’s a social media “car crash” going on between digital agencies, marketing agencies and PR agencies over who owns the social media space.

“What we did last year was spend the whole of November and December training our staff in the art of social media so that it becomes offline PR and online PR and social media.” Jez Jowett, one of the original Cake team, conducted the extensive training regime and rejoined the agency full-time in January.

Mike explains that Cake has dissolved its digital department because it wants social media to be at the heart of the agency – “we want all our consultants to have those skills”. While there are still digital experts, every Cake PR is equipped with social media knowledge.

“What I wanted to avoid was a client coming in and saying that sounds really interesting and us having to say ‘you’ll need to speak to one of our digital guys’.”

Mike thinks the PR industry is perfectly poised to make the most of social media, and in fact has an advantage over other marketing disciplines.

“The thing I always say is that it’s great being in PR because it’s about the art of conversation and we understand that. Having a dialogue and understanding that dialogue is more important than ever. Everyone has their tanks on the lawn about social media…do I think PR is at the forefront of it all?

“Yes I do because I think it’s a bit like when I was plugging records and it’s like an inverted pyramid. The sharp end of social media is what do you say to people and how do you say it, how do engage with people and keep them entertained?”

But one of the challenges for PR agencies is having proper social media evaluation metrics in place “because clearly some clients take convincing about the relevance of social media over a piece of print coverage”.

“We’re on this cusp where some clients still want to see a piece of coverage in The Daily Telegraph but the reality is it’s much better to have something online because it’s there forever, it helps with your search ranking and helps to build conversation around your brand otherwise it’s tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapping.”

He estimates half of Cake’s clients get the importance of social media and half still prefer traditional print coverage.

“We still have clients questioning the value of thousands of followers on Twitter and what we say to them is ‘think of them as your fan base’ or a ‘giant focus group’. A good example is Motorola [Cake is the agency of record globally] who have gone from zero online conversation to being one of the top 40 most talked about brands on Twitter.”

The other big challenge for the PR industry is creating social media content – “having that delivery mechanic is crucial for PR agencies, you need to cover all those angles”.

Mike gives an example of a campaign Cake implemented late last year to promote a Pink Floyd programme going out on Sky.

“We recreated the cover of Dark Side of the Moon on Primrose Hill and filmed the making of it. That was retweeted 25,000 times to a few million people and you think ‘this is really starting to stack up’ – you can really track where those images are going and control it.”

Social media evaluation is very much on the agenda. Working with US-based Sysomos, the agency is developing its own client-facing dashboard incorporating an evaluation model from digital agency Euro RSCG 4D, part of the Havas group.

Growing up

Having a “global network of support” to call on is one of the advantages of being part of Havas, the company which bought Cake nearly two years ago. Cake’s founders, including Mike, agreed a five-year earn out deal but there are no plans to move on and do something different come 2012.

“I think we’ve proved to be a small, but very useful, partner to Havas. We’re very fortunate in that we’re owned by two bits of Havas – we’re half owned by Havas Media and half by Euro RSCG. We have the benefits of these two networks.”

But before Havas came along there were the usual growing pains of being an independent and it was when the company hadn’t grown past a certain point that Mike brought in a non-exec to help mentor him and shape the business proposition.

“I really wanted someone to come in and kick my arse because it needed doing – Cake is a brilliant secret in the wider spectrum of marketing…if you’re looking to groom your business you need to start thinking about profitability, the bottom line and overheads. It wasn’t seismic changes.”

Cake opened a New York office in May last year with a focus on social media and experiential – “we’ve purposely taken it really slowly”-  and things are looking positive for the year ahead both in London and New York.

“Last year was a disappointing year. We didn’t lose a client though and had a very good pitch rate – we pitched to 16 and won 13 but most had a lot less budget than usual. This year it has really picked up – the pipeline is very busy.”

“I’m very excited about this year and particularly excited about the role of social media in PR. We’ve talked about it for so long and now it feels like our train has finally arrived. We can finally create relationships and interact directly with consumers through engaging content and compelling dialogue.”

Mike was speaking to Celina Maguire, Gorkana Consumer Director. Follow Mike on Twitter @mikemath.

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For more Cake Twittering, follow @CakeGroupNY and @CakeGroup or check out what Cake’s employees are saying on this Twitter list.