Digital Marketing Blog

Five things you didn’t know the internet could do

Opinion piece by Simon Carbery and Nicholine Hayward.

If you have the right tools and you know where to look, the internet is a mine of useful information about your market, your customers, your reputation and your future. From search engines to social media, there’s a wealth of intelligence out there.

Now, at last, the internet and the priceless data it provides is being put to work to deliver meaningful and measurable performance improvements across a wide range of business activities...

by Guest Author 12 February 2007 13:21pm 0 comments

Fake product reviewers to face court?

Posting phoney reviews on sites such as Amazon and Tripadvisor could soon land you in court, according to this article in The Times over the weekend.

The paper says firms could be ‘named and shamed’ or even prosecuted when a European directive banning them from "falsely representing oneself as a consumer" comes into force in the UK at the end of this year.

by Richard Maven 12 February 2007 12:01pm 2 comments

Yahoo! launches mobile ad platform globally

Yahoo! has extended its mobile display advertising system to 18 countries outside the US, as well as announcing a number of deals with advertisers to target mobile web users.

The company said brands including Hilton's Embassy Suites, Intel, Nissan, Pepsi and Singapore Airlines had committed to buying ads on its mobile internet service.

by Richard Maven 12 February 2007 11:33am 0 comments

US digital agency iCrossing buys Spannerworks

Spannerworks, a leading UK search marketing agency, has been acquired by the US digital agency iCrossing in a deal worth “well in excess” of £10 million, the Spannerworks CEO has told E-consultancy in his first interview about the deal.

by Linus Gregoriadis 12 February 2007 08:00am 0 comments

Labels may be split on DRM in wake of Jobs memo

Music industry representatives have thumbed their noses at Apple CEO Steve Jobs' call this week for DRM to be dropped from digital downloads.

Referring to Jobs' suggestion of licensing Apple's FairPlay DRM technology far and wide, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) CEO Mitch Bainwol tol the AP: "We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen."

by Robert Andrews 09 February 2007 12:37pm 0 comments

Truphone aims to up VoIP ante

Kent-based mobile VoIP provider Truphone hopes to make its software compatible with 25 mobile handsets this year.

James Tagg, CEO of the company which routes calls from regular mobiles over WiFi internet, told GigaOm Truphone will shortly work on Symbian S60 and UIQ (largely Nokia and Sony Ericsson) as well as Windows Mobile.

by Robert Andrews 09 February 2007 12:24pm 0 comments

Search market jumps 62% in North America

Spending by North American advertisers on search rose 62% to $9.4bn last year, according to new figures from the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organisation (SEMPO) .

The group estimates that SEM spending – including paid placement, paid inclusion, SEO and the purchase of technology platforms - will double by 2011, at an aggregate spending total of $18.6bn.

by Richard Maven 09 February 2007 09:31am 0 comments

Property search engine nets funding

Property search engine Zoomf has landed a second round of financing from web investment fund Howzat Media .

The move will see Hugo Burge, Howzat’s co-founder and vice chairman of price comparison site Cheapflights, joining Zoomf’s board.

by Richard Maven 08 February 2007 18:10pm 0 comments

SMS use up, marketing adoption gains

Americans are finally beginning to use SMS mobile text messaging, according to new research.

The Mobile Marketing Association's (MMA) latest annual survey found the proportion of customers who engage in texting daily rose from 41% in 2005 to 44% last year; 69% use the feature generally.

It is thought the American Idol pop talent show was a major driving force behind the upward trend - 64.5m SMS votes to the programme set a new texting record in the country last year.

by Robert Andrews 08 February 2007 18:00pm 0 comments