If anyone asks you to write a blog or a speech these days, or even if you just need to check out the background on some obscure issue, you just jump on Wikipedia, right? Well that’s exactly what I did when I started writing this blog about Bang’s 10-year anniversary party. I thought a few references and anecdotes from 2001 might make the piece a little more interesting. And what did I find when I got there? Wikipedia was launched on January 15th 2001 – the year of our own birth.
Some of the people at our party wouldn’t even have remembered working life before Wikipedia (2001), the iPod (also 2001), Linkedin (2003) Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2006). And those who did, may well have preferred to forget, because as I remember it, work was a pretty dull place with little else to do during the day than, well, work really. So it’s these social media revolutions and innovations that have transformed the workplace into the socially-interactive and collaborative place we all now love. And it’s through these amazing times that Bang has been doing its thing, and helping our clients do it too.
So down to the Andrew Boy Charlton Pool bar and café we all descended with our Smartphones, iPads and digital cameras close at hand. We were ready to record and share with the connected world, anything and everything that happened with any business, social or good old fashioned gossip value.
To be honest, it was a great night. Lots to drink, lots to eat, lots to talk about and catch up on. But what struck me again and again through the night was just how close we are with some of our clients, and how long we’ve been working with them – Cisco since 2001 (all ten years!), Frontline since 2003, IBM since 2005. This is what it was all about for me, celebrating ten years of building really close, and personal relationships.
So, thanks to everyone that attended. It was great sharing our birthday with you.
By Simon Steele.