Yahoo & Facebook move to appease advertisers

USA Today have reported that the new Facebook design isn’t proving a hit with users.
In fact, in a classic case of a community revolt (ironically amongst a community Facebook have created), there are groups of 1 Million + asking that it revert to the old version.
I had a look at the new version and it’s [...]

Read Full Post »

Do-it-yourself advertising

The end of agencies as we know it?? Not likely, but an interesting move from MySpace as they start a new do-it-yourself service for creating and placing ads on its site.
The service, called the Self-Serve Ad Service and still in beta, lets anyone capable of filling out a basic Web form promote a band or business on [...]

Read Full Post »

Making retail fun again

Here’s a great example of a clear idea, executed beautifully, in a space (retail) that is flooded with offerings.
This is a Japanese clothing retailer, who continually comes up with innovative ways to make selling fashion online interesting and engaging. Local retailers could learn from this approach, as their online representation doesn’t always match the in-store [...]

Read Full Post »

Opening your brand up to your customers…

In a previous post I discussed how brands need to be across the digital chatter (blogs, forums etc.) that concerns them & their category. This chatter is happening with or without you, and with blog tracking now easy & cheap it’s time to start planning how you handle this.
Yesterday I came across a good example [...]

Read Full Post »

Never get lost again

In an effort to make sure no-one ever gets lost ever again, Google has launched a version of its maps service for mobile devices.
The mobile service will allow people to access Google Maps and view photos of shop fronts, restaurants, retailers etc. from their mobiles. Pretty handy for when you’re not in front of the [...]

Read Full Post »

Integrating a brand into a sponsorship

Came across a nice example of a brand integrating a TV sponsorship through the line.
Carphone Warehouse in the UK have sponsored X-Factor, and are giving anyone brave enough to sing a Madonna song (amongst others) a chance to have their bad singing played during an ad break in the show.
You can record through your PC, or [...]

Read Full Post »

Is there such a thing as “engaging advertising”?

In an attempt to further monetise their space outside of the existing banner model, Facebook recently announced that they are launching a new product called “engagement advertisements”.
Aren’t all online ads meant to be engaging you ask? You would think so, but as we know some are more so than others.
These Facebook ads allow users to [...]

Read Full Post »

What is User Generated Content?

and how can you use it? Following on from my piece on social media I though it would be worthwhile expanding on the consumer content side, or User Generated Content (UGC). This is also referred to as Consumer Generated Media (CGM).
UGC is the fastest growing and most influential element of the modern media mix. Consumers want [...]

Read Full Post »

Free Mobile (as long as you don’t mind the advertising)

Australian MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) ComTel Corporation has launched Australia’s first ad-supported mobile phone service. The ‘SMSPup Mobile’ plan offers consumers “Aus$130 of monthly included call value for $10 per month.”
Core to the plan’s offering is the extra value generated through advertising offers and participation rewards. Customers who opt-in to the advertising component will [...]

Read Full Post »

Try getting “disambiguate” into your next conversation

A great new word has arisen from geek land – “disambiguate”. What does it mean? Run a search in Google using the word “finance”. Means a few things in different markets or conversations, but Google puts them all together in one lot of search results, so they’re a little ambiguous.
The next iteration of search (also [...]

Read Full Post »

The link between social media & growth

Came across an interesting piece of research* that shows how the 500 fastest growing companies in the US are engaging with social media. There’s obvious reasons for part of this, e.g. public companies are risk averse and larger companies can’t/won’t move as quick, but it’s a good point made. A note is that in the [...]

Read Full Post »

Pushing content to the consumer

Don’t want to leave your MySpace page to find out about that annoying hurricane approaching your house?
Don’t worry about it, you can keep track of the latest wind speed & still talk to your friends online. In a great example of a partnership that allows one enterprise to push content to a consumer, MySpace has partnered [...]

Read Full Post »

…and here we go!

The first post of my blog.
My intention is to try and digest the unlimited amount of noise in the digital space & try to sort through the rubbish. I’m a marketer, not a technical guy, so I’m looking at this from the angle of what will work, not which bit of new kit should a [...]

Read Full Post »