The great specialist vs. network agency debate
Every three years or so, advertisers decide to put all their media and marketing into a single agency network. Three years later, once they’ve seen their performance in the different marketing channels eroded, they head once more for the specialists.
It has been going on since the 80s, and it would be nice to see the cycle broken...
Is Nielsen overhyping Facebook?
An interesting post by Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch details how
Nielsen has been "gushing" about Facebook since it partnered with the
giant social network on a service called BrandLift, which is designed to help advertisers measure the effectiveness of their ad campaigns on the site.
One report Nielsen issued after it teamed up with Facebook highlights just how much time consumers are spending on social networks, and Facebook in particular. Another provided data showing that affluent consumers are more likely to be using it than MySpace. The obvious question: is Nielsen presenting objective data to advertisers or is it overhyping its newest partner?
10 free tools to help you create online presentations
Many Econsultancy members are in the business of regularly pitching for new business, or trying to grow existing accounts. Travelling and meeting people is part and parcel of winning work, but there are also various ways of using the internet to help you pitch to existing and prospective clients.
As such, I thought it would be a good idea to show you a bunch of tools that can be used to create and coordinate online presentations. They can be used for individual client work, or more publicly, to share your presentations with the wider world to increase exposure.
I believe that all of these tools are free, with the option to ‘upgrade to Pro’. There are others, but these are standout apps, and they're all worth checking out if you're not yet using them.
I hope they help you to win more business!
Is your PPC agency under-performing? Some warning signs
Has your relationship with your paid search agency soured? Are you in denial about bad service and performance, hoping that things will suddenly change for the better?
To mark the release of Econsultancy’s new Paid Search Agencies Buyer’s Guide, here are some warning signs that it might be time to take your paid search accounts to a more deserving agency.
10 hella sucky Flash / agency websites (#agencyfail)
Before we begin, let’s start with the Flash apologists. Whenever I say “Flash sucks” somebody points out that it doesn’t, but that some Flash developers truly suck and don’t know how to use it properly.
It is a fair point, however agencies / developers that build websites for their clients must understand the limitations of Flash, and build primarily for the needs of their client’s visitors, and business needs, rather than for their own egos.
But what happens when these agencies build Flash websites for themselves? Badness happens, that’s what. At least in my opinion. I’m sure I’ll hear otherwise, but from my perspective I can rarely see the point of using Flash as the basis for a website. And while I'm all for rich media, and immersive user experiences, I think agencies should know better...
What support for the Microhoo deal says about Google
Not everyone is sure that the deal between Yahoo and Microsoft will work out the way Yahoo and Microsoft hope but by in large, advertisers and search marketers are excited about the deal.
While Google will still hold a dominant lead in the search market, Microhoo becomes a strong number two, something that should create more competition. As David Kenny of Publicis' VivaKi told AdAge, "Anything that creates a credible platform and more innovation in search is going to be good for consumers and, therefore, good for advertisers".
Google cozies up to agencies in AgencyLand
Google's relationship with agencies has always been a little bit tenuous. Sir Martin Sorrell, chief of WPP, once described Google as a "frenemy". He's not the only one who has clearly felt that Google was a necessary evil.
But perhaps the recession has made Google more humble, or the search giant is simply maturing. This week, it was announced that Google had launched a beta of AgencyLand, an online portal for select agencies.
OpenX launches online ad market
OpenX, the London-based startup that offers the open-source ad server by the same name, is moving into the sales side of the advertising business with the launch of a new online ad market.
OpenX Market enables advertisers to bid for impressions on participating websites using an auction format.
Twitter Partners looks like a fail whale of an agency
In this age of specialization, it's no surprise that we've seen specialization on the agency side.
And that means it's no surprise that somebody has decided to start an agency for the hottest social media service on the internet right now: Twitter.
Digital agencies on Twitter (or are they?)
You might imagine that many of the top digital agencies will be fearsome Twitter users, not least because many agency staffers regularly use the platform to communicate.
So have the majority of agencies claimed Twitter accounts for their brand names? Are they tweeting about their innovative campaigns and web projects, to spread the word and gain kudos?
I was perplexed to discover that many agencies haven’t yet bothered, and I’m not sure what message that sends out to the client-side.
Websites vs Facebook Pages: which URL should you promote? 
Food for thought: driving demand and innovation through Twitter
Google
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
