We’ve been installed in our lovely new offices in the heart of swanky Svanemøllen for two months now and the debates about the office layout are continuing at a furious pace!

I’m optimistically viewing the process as ‘organic’. By which I mean that we’ll eventually arrive at a consensus if only because people will lose the energy to object to each other’s ideas!

Realistically, though, I know the girls will have the final say. I’m just trying to put up a fight for as long as I can!

It would be interesting to hear your stories of office moves. What tips can you pass on that might make things a little easier for companies about to relocate?

My suggestion? Outsource the job to a good interior designer!

I was just trawling through some of my feeds (I use Google Reader to keep track of the dozens of interesting sites that make up the bulk of my online reading) and found an interesting piece about whether Google might be planning to buy Salesforce - the popular CRM software company.

We use Salesforce here at Eye for Image, and the point the author makes about Salesforce not having a complete email solution is valid. Imagine the time you could save if it had a fully integrated email client?!

Google helps me streamline my IT to the extent that, outside of work, I’m hardly using any paid-for software these days. I use GMail for email, Picasa for picture storage, and I’m now even beginning to use GoogleDocs instead of Word - and all in one browser!

The thought of transferring the usability and simplicity of these applications to my work IT environment is certainly an enticing one!

I’ve heard a lot of great expressions in meetings lately. Some from Danes, some from native English speakers.

As a copywriter, I’m fascinated by the new words and phrases that creep into the English language. It’s especially fun to monitor language-invention in the marketing field, where new terms come in and out of style faster than you can learn to say them.

Here are a few newbies I thought you’d enjoy:

“I don’t even want to crystal ball that.” Meaning: I can’t predict what will happen.

“It’s borderproof.” Meaning: It works well globally.

“Live the message.” Meaning: Don’t just say it, do it.

“Eval stage.” Meaning: The evaluation, pre-launch stage of product development.

Have you heard any marketing gems lately?

I’ve just read that Denmark has retained its position as the world’s fifth most competitive economy.

What do you think really makes this economy tick?

Flexibility? Educated workforce? We’d love to know your thoughts.

As copywriters working in everything from shipping to pharmaceuticals, we’re always on the look-out for ideas or advice that can give us an edge when it comes to formulating hard-hitting, captivating text.

A writer – irrespective of the genre – should never rest on their laurels. You can always improve. Earlier today I came across some great words of advice from an author I greatly admired – Kurt Vonnegut.

You can read the full text here, but the one tip I’d really endorse is number three on his list – Keep It Simple! Whenever I approach a new text, I always start by trying to distil the message into a single, clear sentence before building the rest of the document around that thought.

And if I was to distil that garbled sentence into a more concise message it would probably be: Do whatever Kurt says!

As you can probably imagine, communications is a pretty hot topic of conversation here in the Eye for Image office.  This morning, a colleague and I were discussing some of the most effective ways of convincing non-native English speakers that something they have written really isn’t very professional. 

It’s not as easy as it sounds. Sometimes, there may not be a sound grammatical or messaging argument you can use. The problem might be that it just doesn’t flow that well. Often, only a native speaker will be able to pick up on something like that. But convincing a Dane – especially one adamant that there is absolutely nothing wrong with their English – is a different matter! But when your company positions itself as the communications experts, you want to be ready with a range of arguments why that dogmatic Dane should take our word for it. 

In the end, we agreed that sometimes it really does come down to a matter of taste. And if our combined experience as English-language communicators in a range of industries is not a good enough reason to trust our judgement, then there’s not a lot more we can do! 

I’ve just come across this article about Spannerworks over at The Guardian’s Organ Grinder blog (a great source of information on all things relating to social media). I’d never heard of Spannerworks before but I’ve just spent the last half an hour engrossed in their site.

Here at Eye for Image, we think their tagline – Mapping the web for brands: Learn more about your brand’s presence in online social networks – is a masterpiece of simplicity (note to other companies, sometimes the most powerful statements are the most straightforward). 

The web, and how to utilize its vast communications power, is such a hot topic for companies at the moment. But it’s also a bewildering one. The Internet is a confusing place and there is a real scamble going on out there to make sense of it.

There’s a raft of tech companies developing mapping tools to help businesses plot a path to real value.  But Spannerworks look like they’re a few steps ahead of the competition with an array of tools to help companies find out who is talking about them and what they are saying. Armed with this information, “Spannerworks’ advanced social network analytics are then applied to help marketers build models of relationships and influence within their identified networks”. Sounds cool, doesn’t it?! 

Using crisp, clear language, Spannerworks outline who they are and what they do, touching on the issues that are so relevant to companies right now (search engine optimization, online brand-building) and generally doing a great job of subtly implanting the notion that you really need their services!

Their site is great as well, eschewing fancy Flash graphics in favor of functionality and form. Overall a big thumbs-up from us!