Well today was a big day for our China office, we moved to a bigger office space (but in the same building complex, Jian Wai SOHO, in the Chaoyang District Beijing). A city within the city, Jian Wai SOHO combines highrise residential buildings, commercial space, shops, parking, and landscaped courtyards to create a sophisticated, mixed-use complex near the Tonghui River. Tokyo architect Riken Yamamoto was hired to design the master plan and the apartment towers. Yamamoto brought in two young Japanese firms—C+A to design the “villas” (midrise office structures set between the towers), and Mikan to design the retail space on the lower floors of the apartment buildings and along the perimeter of the complex.

Plus Factory was originally in building 10, Office 1004. But now we are in building 14, on the 22nd floor, with great views of Beijing and the CBD (Central Business District). And our new office number is 1901. We look forward to working in our new, larger office spaces.

At Plus Factory nothing gets us going like new and better digital technology. Whether we create it or somebody else, we live to stay sharp. We also know that this constant flux can be baffling. Last week with the launch of our new monthly newsletter “The Secret Sauce” we cooked up a new way to stay up to date with digital. In the “Emergence Edition” we share our recipe for success, cool new projects and industry secrets. Each issue features a showcase of our cool, new projects along with bite size nuggets of industry facts and news. Facts picked especially to help everybody get and stay smart about digital. Stick with us and stay sharp. Take a taste of our Secret Sauce.

If you are interested in getting our Secret Sauce, please email your name and email address to info@plusfactory.com.

We are proud to present a recent website we help launch. It’s the National Guard’s Humvee School Program Website (that was a mouthful). Basically the National Guard offers community service programs that showcase the latest and greatest technologies. And in this case, the National Guard brings the biggest, baddest, toughest 4×4 vehicle in the world to high school shop classes to teach students about preventive maintenance.

Rock Creek Strategic Marketing was the agency behind this school program and its interactive website, and they commissioned Plus Factory to help build the Flash modules. Through a great collaborative partnership, Plus Factory was able to bring their creative ideas to life through Flash. If you go to the sections “Humvees in Action” or “Careers Behind the Wheel”, you will see some exciting videos, photos, stories, 360 interactive Humvees and more.

And what is more interesting is what’s behind the Flash. In this case its fully 508 Compliant Adobe Flash files, meaning that people with screen readers and other disability web tools can still engage with the website, even though its built in Flash. And all the data (photos, videos, etc), are being pulled via XML from a back-end CMS (content management systems for those in the know). All in all, a great project. We thank Rock Creek for getting us involved.

Click here view the site

These are the faces of SMT (Social Media Terrorists). With a video camera, some free time and some moxie, they brought negative news and press to a billion dollar company. This is a true story and a story that all major brands, corporations and companies need to know about the positives and the negatives of social media.

Two Domino’s employees, Kristy Hammonds and Michael Setzer , at an Conover N.C. branch decided to have some fun with the Domino’s kitchen and their video camera. They decided to de-grade the sandwiches they were making at the time, film it and then post it on YouTube for all to see. In a short time, the video ‘blew-up’ and Domino was caught in a shit-storm of bad P.R.

To get the full story, read this NY Times article on it.

“We got blindsided by two idiots with a video camera and an awful idea,” said a Domino’s spokesman, Tim McIntyre, who added that the company was preparing a civil lawsuit. “Even people who’ve been with us as loyal customers for 10, 15, 20 years, people are second-guessing their relationship with Domino’s, and that’s not fair.”

Needless to say, like most large corporations, Domino’s was ill-prepared or even knowing of the problem that this video was causing to their brand until it was tool late. And without a game plan to fight SMT (Social Media Terrorism), Domino is now playing catch up, fixing their brand as its hit in the tune of unknown millions (how will Domino’s know if people cancelled their orders after hearing about this story?).

The main take away for brands/companies is this:

1. Have a SMT plan. When bad stuff comes from the social media sphere, you need a plan that you can execute quickly and efficiency to first stop and then manage the damage.

2. Be observant. Be aware of what’s going on with your brand in the digital world. The CEO of Domino’s only learned about it from friends days after the video went viral. Product managers in the region should have known about it ASAP.

3. Owe up. Take a page from Tylenol back in the 80′s. Man up to the issue, and tell your customers what you are doing right now to fix it and keep their trust.