This is the second website in our history (well, we’ve been busy since ‘06) and therefore the second time that we’ve had to sit in a room and discuss (read: argue) about the good old about us page.  Rather like the apocryphal difficult second album, describing all over again what we are (and aren’t) makes this a toughie.  You might say we prefer talking about what we do for our clients (true), but also in our defence we’re different things to different people, and our own clients might well describe as a PR / Online PR practice, Online marketing experts; social recruiting specialists; engagement practitioners; social media and search engine marketing consultants, online reputation managers,  digital strategy developers -  possibly even in the same breath.

The truth we don’t like being labelled and bracketed. We’d feel weighed down carrying any of those tags on our shoulders.  And besides the very way our business is organised -  a nucleus of consultants, tools and values,  supported by on-demand experts on a project by project basis - just doesn’t sit comfortably with the whole XYZ agency thing.

So what’s the reason we get out of bed most mornings? And why  do organisations like yours hire us?

Well, whether your organisation is seeking to understand and use corporate social networking to attract new customers, attract new employees or better engage your existing ones, to launch a new product,  to hire the brightest graduates, or to manage your online reputation, what we bring to the table is a deep understanding of communities and web 2.0 and the new rules of marketing and PR.  We’ll deliver new ideas and new ways of thinking and doing and then we’ll up-skill your teams enabling you to bring our expertise in house. And ultimately - whether you’re measuring cost per acquisition, cost per hire or brand engagement, we’ll make a tangible difference.

From twitter and blogs to brands and jobs, we deliver great strategies +  brilliant implementation.  And we think we’re great fun to work with (full disclosure: there is no empirical evidence to support this). What’s not to like?

How We Work provides an overview of, er, how we work. On our projects page you can get a feel for the some of the work we’ve been doing,  you can connect with us via a number of channels or just drop us a line.

The team

Kate Halls (PA to Paul Harrison)

An avid Facebook user (apart from the page dedicated to her, ahem, cookery skills) Kate is worryingly fond of seeing any Google Ads she’s created appear at the top of a search page.

Kate is PA to Paul and leans towards applications such as Basecamp that allow her to organise him and the team.

Kate would quite like to see an App developed which would allow her to track Paul to ensure he’s on time for meetings (but not a tagging device, obviously).  Or something along the lines of the Time Turner from Harry Potter which would allow her to create more hours in the day…

Adelaide Harrison (Operations Director)

Productivity took a hit when Adelaide realised she had a timeshare on her iphone with her two year old twin girls. Luckily, as true representatives of Generation Z, they are proving particularly talented at showing her new functionalities and apps she never suspected existed. When she can get her hands on the device, Adelaide likes musing on Foursquare, and is now the proud Mayor of her local butcher’s shop.

In her spare time, Adelaide is in charge of operations at Carve, which perfectly suits her natural ability to tell people what to do. Her main goal is to make sure that Carve’s external image is at least as good as the social networking strategies the rest of the team develops for clients.

Paul Harrison (Managing Partner)

The recent launch of the iPad has challenged Paul’s historic antipathy to mac users (on account of their “insufferable smugness” ), and his purchase of said item on launch day turned him from a Steve Jobs cult-accuser to iBore overnight.   Famously never without a newspaper tucked under one arm, Paul is a current affairs junkie who prays that the iPad and similar new devices will save his beloved Guardian from oblivion. [Full disclosure: the Guardian did not sponsor this insertion; however Paul is allegedly open to offers].

Worried that his 15 minutes of fame has already been used up in an inauspicious YouTube clip showing him explaining Bullshit Bingo to non-plussed American conference delegates, Paul is a highly visible face of Carve through regular speaking engagements around the social web and corporate social networking. Paul is ultimately the architect of Carve’s vision and strategy.

George Lumbers (Twintern)

Apart from his obsession with drinking water, George spends most his spare time working on dancefloor fillers, funky beats and hip hop streaks. A real social media convert, his new religion is hootsuite and netvibes, where he is watching, monitoring and listening to your every move (especially if you live in South London).

From developing and researching strategies, to maintaining our social networks or setting up social media events, George works in a plethora of different and intriguing fields. Consequently, the DJ career plan is on hold.

Christophe Mallet (Consultant)

Chris always wished he was English. But he’s desperately French and hence supporting an average French football team (Paris Saint Germain) and struggling to write an audible song on his guitar…

Now a beginner DJ on week-ends, Chris loves spending his weeks at Carve blending ideas, matching tactics and tools to create the grooviest strategies to bring innovations, individuals and companies together. Addicted to Hootsuite and rather optimistic about future Web developments, Chris he’s confident that the web 4.0 will actually arise when people will be able to directly download pizzas and beers.

Sarah Thomas (Owner / Managing partner, Carve Australia )

Multitasking took on a new meaning when Sarah decided to launch Carve Consulting in Australia when her youngest was still in nappies.

Not quite sure how she survived until she discovered the multitude of productivity apps on her iphone, Sarah has now perfected the art of cooking a mean white sauce while tweeting and catching up on the latest news.

Sarah loves helping our clients in one of the world’s most remote countries embrace social networking strategies to bridge the geographic gaps between them and their customers.

Want to partner with us? Maybe you’re  a PR agency who needs to bolster your  understanding of web 2.0, or an ad agency who needs some pitch support or you want to launch a buzz / social campaign.  We’re huge believers in shared risk / reward and collaboration, we use cool web tools to help make projects fly and, well, we do a great job.  Get in contact if you’d like to hook up.

Community

Carve is an ethical, partner-owned business. We care about the work we do, our community, the environment in which we live and work, and the impact of the choices we make.

We’re involved in a number of initiatives  - from being a signatory to the 1010 initaitve, to the pro-bono consulting work we’re involved with for Fairtrade. This includes their new community-led Fairtrade London website (working with the likes of Cafe Direct, Divine Chocolate and the Co-operative), and helping Fairtrade to use social tools to get their message across.  Contact us at CSR@carveconsulting.com

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