Vikki Chowney

Vikki Chowney is head of community at creative communications agency TMW. She's a former journalist, most recently as news editor for Econsultancy.

Prior to that she was content editor for the JaguarFuture.com project, created by Jaguar to tell the stories behind the C-X16 concept car.

From 2009 - 2011 Vikki was editor of Reputation Online, a sister title to new media age at Centaur Media that presented both editorial and user-generated coverage of the digital PR landscape. During her time there she penned a weekly column for NMA on the same topic.

She helped to co-found The Really Mobile Project, contributing to the site regularly during its early life - and penned a monthly column for Communicate magazine throughout 2011.

She was part of the founding team of writers for BitchBuzz.com, an independent women’s lifestyle network with readers spread across the US & UK.

A G20Voice blogger for Oxfam at the London and Pittsburgh Summits in 2009, her work has featured in The Guardian, Mobile Industry Review, within Marketing Week and many others.

Vikki has also provided freelance consultancy to the likes of Vodafone, O2, Talk Talk and Big Yellow Self Storage.

In a previous life Vikki worked in PR, specialising in digital and social media for clients including Acceleration, ZYB, Skype and Vodafone.

LinkedIn changes Group Search to filter by conversation

LinkedIn has upgraded its Group Search functionality, shifting the focus to show what's actually being discussed within each group.

The changes mean that instead of relying a group’s title and description, which isn’t always the most accurate portrayal, you'll be shown the best results based on how well your search matches the conversations taking place.

by Vikki Chowney 04 April 2012 09:45am 0 comments

Nissan launches official eBay store

Nissan has partnered with Pentagon Interactive to launch an official merchandise and accessories shop on eBay.

Launched today, Nissan is the second car manufacturer to work with the e-commerce provider on an eBay-based marketplace – following the success of BMW Direct.

by Vikki Chowney 03 April 2012 13:04pm 1 comment

IAB stats suggest UK online adspend hit £4.8bn in 2011

Figures released today from the IAB show that UK online display advertising spend has surpassed £1bn for the first time, marking 13.4% growth for 2011.

This was included in the association’s bi-annual report, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) which also states that total internet adspend has grown 14.4% to £4.8bn in 2011, up £687m year on year.

by Vikki Chowney 03 April 2012 10:05am 0 comments

YouTube unveils new ad model for channel sponsorships

To correspond with a new focus on channels, YouTube has announced a new ad model that will see the site attempt to monetise partnerships with Reuters, Sony, Warner Brothers, Universal – and just this week, Disney UK.

The new channel sponsorships will include display, overlay and pre-roll ad options for 96 different channels, all providing original content to YouTube, with pricing varying according to sector and length of contract.

by Vikki Chowney 02 April 2012 12:50pm 1 comment

Wall Street marketers take responsibility for poor reputation

Communications and marketing executives at 150 US-based financial firms have admitted that the responsibility for poor reputation lies with them, according to the 2012 Makovsky Wall Street Reputation Study.

96% of the group said that they invite negative public perception by their actions or inactions, while negative public perception topped the list of challenges these firms must overcome in the next year.

by Vikki Chowney 02 April 2012 11:36am 3 comments

What we've been reading this week: UK edition

Here are the stories and links we’ve tweeted, posted, passed around the UK office and shaken our heads at.

Check back later to get the skinny on what our US team has been reading too.

by Vikki Chowney 30 March 2012 12:43pm 0 comments

UK job moves: BBC Worldwide, JCDecaux, Karmarama, Razorfish

Once again we compile the most senior, surprising and influential job moves in the UK.

This time we cover another loss for Nintendo, new blood at JCDecaux, a brand new agency from Karmarama and some fresh senior talent at Razorfish.

by Vikki Chowney 30 March 2012 10:39am 0 comments

20 key points about social media measurement and metrics

It’s been a week of social metrics and measurement for me.

On day one of this week’s Social Media World Forum, held at Olympia in London, I sat in no less than four different sessions on measuring the value of social.

Another discussion this morning, hosted by Waggener Edstrom on social advertising, took a similar line.

I thought it might be helpful to collate some of the quotes, learnings and case studies that were mentioned, to act as further reading or perhaps inspire new models for social media measurement.

by Vikki Chowney 29 March 2012 13:53pm 5 comments

Jetsetter and Norah Jones: an opportunity missed

Last week vacation specialist Jetsetter partnered with Norah Jones to preview her song Travelin’ On.

Tnooz reported that the site would be streaming the song from Jones’ upcoming album, Little Broken Hearts, via Soundcloud from March 20-25 ahead of its May 1st release date. Plus, Jetsetter would be a one-hour preview before it went anywhere else.

The brand created a ticket and hotel package for her August 7 concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl in California, which it said would be sold via its website, Facebook page and Twitter account “for several weeks”.

by Vikki Chowney 28 March 2012 12:58pm 1 comment

Kotex Israel uses Pinterest to send inspirational women personalised gifts

While copyright and monetisation issues don’t seem to be slowing down the popularity of Pinterest, brands are not only starting to create their own profiles – but also get more creative with campaigns based specifically around its functionality.

We wrote about 11 key ways brands could do this last month, and covered Peugeot’s efforts last week.

While airline bmi also recently created a 'Pinterest Lottery' that encouraging users to repin images of its travel destinations for the chance to win free flights.

Now feminine hygiene brand Kotex's efforts have come to light.

by Vikki Chowney 26 March 2012 11:22am 0 comments