​We are very proud to announce that our Australian client Software Optimisation Services (SOS) were awarded the Microsoft Partner of the Year award at the Worldwide Partner Summit in Montreal this week.
We are so pleased. Not only is this the first time that SOS has won this award, it is the first time any company in the Asia Pacific has taken it home.

No spin necessary
We had some fun building the award entry around the theme of SOS being the SWAT team that companies bring in to handle challenging licensing events, but we didn’t do the hard work here; SOS did. We may have been the ones that put pen to paper, but we had brilliant material to work with.

The award is a testament to the quality of the consultancy that SOS provides to its clients in the competitive world of Software Asset Management (SAM). We couldn’t be more proud of the accomplishments of our client.

Well done Filipa and all at SOS!



SOS has been a client of Spartan PR for a number of years. We help them in many ways, from media relations to blogging, social media, writing award entries and client presentations and even building their new website.
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If you would like help with any of these areas of your business, please get in touch.

Last week I attended the Service Desk and IT Support Show in London, which is co-located with the much bigger and well known event, Infosec (Infosecurity Europe).

I attend these sorts of trade shows fairly often as it's a good way to make new contacts and stay up-to-date on the industry.

They are also a great case study in marketing and design. Every exhibitor faces the same challenge - how do I stand out? In a sea of (mainly blue) logos, big banners and the occasional "Booth Babe," (yes to my horror they're still a thing at IT trade shows, but they are fast becoming obsolete) standing out is easier said than done.

But one stand really did STAND OUT to me in the Infosec hall, and that was Bob's Business.

Bob's Business provides information security training courses. From what I could gather, their pitch is that ultimately all the security software in the world counts for nothing if your staff aren't security-aware. I've read countless studies which cite employee error as being responsible for the vast majority of security breaches to date, so this pitch resonated with me.

So what made Bob's Business stand out? It was their unique brand.

Instead of the generic, clean and friendly designs spread throughout the show, Bob's Business stood out because it's stand was BLACK for starters, but it was also daubed with a fantastic cartoon over every inch of it. The entire stand was a Where's Wally picture, with "Bob" at the top of a castle and his various employees dotted about the picture. Your job was to find all of his employees in order to win a prize. This was genius. It was not only entertaining to do but it meant you were locked to their stand talking to their sales team while you hunted out the employees. A great way to keep the conversation going. This meant there were always people at the stand, which naturally attracted more people to see what all the fuss was about.

I love how Bob's Business have embraced their brand in every aspect. It is holistic and consistent. It starts from the company name and builds out from there. Everything is about Bob's Business (i.e. the customer's business and their perspective). When most businesses talk about themselves before addressing the customer, the very name of Bob's Business IS the customer. The theme is continued throughout their website.

It will be interesting to see what Bob's Business do to top this next year. Even if they stick with the Where's Wally theme, they can produce a new cartoon every year. Finding Bob and his employees can become an annual tradition at Infosec. I'll certainly be seeking them out next year.