Mobile marketing moves toward brand future
A concordance of today's Digiday Mobile conference would show the most often used phrase as "not fully baked." But despite the business models and infrastructure issues that still need time to mature, mobile marketing is progressing toward a brand-driven future.
With a new major Dockers iPhone campaign breaking tomorrow, the conference provided some insight as to the profile of brands that are consistently engaged in mobile campaigns of some kind. Whether it's SMS text, WAP sites, banners, or proprietary apps, the brands involved are impressive. Adidas, Nike, Coke, Paramount, P&G, and most every other major brand were either involved in or planning a mobile campaign, according to the agencies assembled. Razorfish's emerging media VP Terri Walter told the conference that it handles more than 200 mobile clients and AdMob handles 200 a month.
Ford revs up social media solution
Ford's social media director Scott Monty might have thought he was off to a safe start with a little audience participation during a recent conference presentation. "How many people here," he asked, "have ever driven a Ford?" Most of the audience raised their hand. "Now how many of you would buy one?"
And the room froze like a rusted carburetor. "That's the problem," he said.
The solution? Part of it is in a social media program that Monty believes will restore some of Ford's lost "humanity" as a brand and continue to put some distance between Ford and the two other Detroit carmakers, Chrysler and GM. "Somewhere along the line," said the company's digital and multimedia content manager, "we lost our personality. We can gain it back with social media."
Nokia exec looks to emerging markets
From an American and continental perspective it's easy to think that "we are the world" when it comes to mobile phone usage and marketing. Jeremy Wright, Nokia's global director of brand solutions, looked to reset that misconception during a presentation at Digiday's mobile event on Thursday. Seems there's more to mobile than Facebook, iFarts and text messages for emerging markets.
With more than four billion mobile phones on the market, Nokia has also positioned itself as a content provider and mobile network infrastructure owner. Wright sees different attitudes developing among the global perception of devices and advertising.
Mars shuts down unofficial Snickers social media site
A week or so after Mars pulled back from the Skittles social media experiment, it has forced a digital agency to close down an unauthorised Snickers website.
Poke, the agency in question, was sent a cease and desist order, which demanded the suspension of www.snckrz.com. The website allowed users to customise the Snickers packaging, with their own logo.
Snckrz.com had attracted more than 80,000 users since Poke launched it, seemingly in response to the brand’s official ‘Snacklish’ campaign. Poke tried to do this anonymously, but it didn’t stay that way for long. And feathers were suitably ruffled as a result.
Online marketing and charity: a dangerous combination?
Charity is good, right? There are obviously lot of great causes that deserve our attention and our investment.
But can charity be abused? It's a question I've been asking myself lately.
E-commerce tips: 13 recommendations for multichannel integration
Web project management can be a challenge for the most experienced project managers, much less for relative newcomers, and when e-commerce is involved, the stakes are that much higher.
With this in mind we recently commissioned e-commerce expert Martin Newman to compile a best practice report to help steer you down the right path, called 'Delivering Successful E-commerce Projects'. It has more than 400 individual recommendations and is a terrific investment for anybody working in this area (as with all of our research, it is priced at just £150 / $215, or is free for Econsultancy subscribers).
The report focuses on client-side challenges, supplier challenges, and joint challenges. I thought I'd give you a taste of what's contained within the guide by publishing a few extracts. Here's the first one, which focuses on multichannel integration.
Facebook makes a major update
Facebook, which now has 190m users and continues its ascent as the world's largest social network, has rolled out a major update.
There are UI changes and new features alike and many are designed to put Facebook into the competition as talk of the 'real-time web' heats up.
Q&A: Dr Mike Baxter on applying the 80:20 rule to digital businesses
Econsultancy has a breakfast briefing next week which will advise digital companies how they can optimise their businesses by applying the 80:20 rule.
The speakers at the briefing are Dr Mike Baxter, who has authored a number of reports for Econsultancy, and Robert Colquhoun, who specialises in multichannel customer acquisition and retention strategies.
I've been talking to Dr Baxter about the 80:20 rule, and how online businesses can benefit from its application...
Google gives up on Google Checkout
The last 6 months have been sobering for Google. Once at the top of the world, Google has seen its share price plummet and the idea that it would be immune to recession has been proven a fallacy.
So Google is doing what any good company does: cutting out the fat. It has already shuttered a number of projects that weren't going anywhere and is refocusing its efforts on its core business.
Q&A David Maher Roberts on music recommendation service The Filter
Backed by Peter Gabriel, The Filter is a recommendation engine that provides users with suggestions for music, movies and videos.
I've been talking to CEO David Maher Roberts about how The Filter has progressed since it launched last year, its recommendation services, and its applications for other businesses...
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Graham Charlton
Online Advertising