Microsoft’s new email service Outlook.com looks good, modern, uncluttered and will no doubt confine sister-service Hotmail to the rubbish heap, where it belongs.
Hotmail, over 15 –years-old and left to rot for the last eight amidst a super-fast digital industry in which more nimble and contemporary looking emails such as Gmail trumped it, needed ditching and Microsoft knew it. Read more on Microsoft’s Outlook.com could be winner…
Speaking with the smart folks over at Alchemy Social (part of Experian) last week – specifically Will Ashton, Global Strategy Director, he hit upon some interesting research he’s been working on regarding a subject very close to my heart – value and ROI.
The research ties in with a trend I am hearing and observing throughout the industry – a desire to make Facebook work harder. Using Hitwise data to measure the worth of fans, Ashton and co have gone beyond ad-effectiveness and click-path analysis to see what the fan does after they have clicked ‘like’ – specifically purchasing goods and services. Read more on Sell to 100,000 or shout at a million? Cheap fans become mediocre customers……
The lowdown from your ringside civilian reporter…
It was like watching two heavyweights slug it out over an epic 15-round bout at this year’s Media360.
In the red corner, the champion fighter, Sugar Ray Emotion.
This is the established warrior of the marketing world, weaving stories into advertising campaigns that are wonderful enough to make grown men cry (see John Lewis) or make airlines pimp up their wings (hello, British Airways). Suger Ray was old school, preaching stories for brands that float from the gut of Creativity and sting with real Emotion.
As the great and the good gather for the ninth annual Media360 Conference today, joint research by PR consultancy Braben and business intelligence company Polecat using its virtual analyst software MeaningMine shows over 35,000 articles on marketing and advertising around the world have been published online so far in 2012.
That averages out to over 8,300 articles every month and nearly 300 every day. Such a large amount of discussion just goes to show how the media business is never far from the headlines on a minute by minute basis. The MeaningMine platform crunches through 1.5m online and social media postings every day to track this in real-time. Read more on Facebook dominates online global conversation about marketing and advertising…
If you were surpised by the fact that Facebook was willing to pay $1bn in cash and stock for Instagram then be warned: this is the just the start.
Despite everything that’s going on in the wider economy, all the indicators point to a digital economy klondike. This gold rush will be initiated and funded by the East and West Coast US, regions that appear to be effectively recession-proof for the foreseeable future. Read more on Instagram is just the start…
I conducted a piece of brand research a couple of years ago, which dared to raise a question few people in marketing ever ask; “are there any brands out there that you would refuse to buy, at any price?”
The answer, at the time, was an unqualified ‘yes’! It was remarkable how many markets and brands were deemed toxic by consumers, many of them in the services sector. These were spontaneous outpourings of rage – we just gave them time to get it out of their system. There were many numerous examples of poor, almost non-existent customer service, especially at those times when customers are most in need; when the technology goes wrong. Read more on The Opposite Of A Brand Advocate…
Internet Week is well and truly underway and I have to admit I’ve been impressed with the caliber of the line-up, range of sessions and turnout. Before I continue, make sure if you aren’t signed up already, to tweet when you do and you get £10 off a ticket.
I was asked to be part of a LinkedIn panel to talk about Paid, Owned and Earned media, technology and generally working with clients in the social space. Before we even shook hands with the other panel members we were given one of these… Read more on Social works best when technology, behaviour and data fuse…
Google Wave dies a slow death, and yet there are some people who really haven’t seen the benefit. For me, it was one of the most sophisticated & user-friendly platforms available for e-mail services. It had a level of maturity that elevated it to the realm of a communication platform, allowing more to have real-time conversations through a secure messaging interface. So, what went wrong? Read more on Time to Wave Goodbye…
The way in which we customers consume media is rapidly changing. This much vaunted message is nothing new and most businesses are well aware of the radical shifts in how and where those customers want to consume and share information.
However although there are some notable exceptions, why are most companies still getting it wrong? Why are they still struggling with the concept that new media is not simply another medium, but a whole new set of cultural assumptions which are fundamentally changing how we think about information exchange.
It is to an unlikely source that we look for a shining example of how to really get a new media strategy right…….please step forward Lady Gaga. Read more on Gaga media…
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