Websites crucial to CPG brands: report
Major CPG brands spend eye-popping sums of money every year across multiple channels trying to convince consumers to buy their products when they walk into the supermarket.
When it comes to how that money is spent, you're probably more likely to think about high-profile television campaigns than you are to, say, websites. After all, a funny television ad for a cereal probably seems more appealing than a cereal website.
RIP: The Priceline. com Negotiator
William Shatner is probably best known for playing two roles: James T. Kirk on Star Trek, and The Negotiator in Priceline.com commercials.
James T. Kirk will live forever in the minds of Star Trek fans, but The Negotiator is dead after plunging off a bridge in a bus in the process of saving a family.
DC Entertainment rebrands with interactive logo
Rebranding is never easy. A company's visual identity is extremely important, and established companies can risk a lot when they make changes, making change challenging.
Such a challenge was faced by DC Entertainment, which yesterday unveiled its new brand identity. The iconic comic publisher, whose fictional characters include universally-recognized figures like Superman and Batman, was founded nearly 80 years ago. But you wouldn't know that looking at its new logo.
Domains becoming less important: Ev Williams
With ICANN set to allow the expansion of the pool of gTLDs, you can be sure that many marketers will be hearing, and thinking a lot about, domain names in the near future.
But are domain names becoming less important? Ev Williams, who started Blogger and co-founded Twitter, thinks so.
How to use paid search as a branding tool
Paid search is typically perceived as a direct response channel. It is most frequently used by firms for sales and lead generation.
There are definite brand benefits to paid search, but most advertisers do not focus on the softer brand metrics when placing Adwords campaigns. Clickthrough and conversion rates are what matter the most, as far as most people are concerned.
As such it was rather interesting to spot a seemingly random paid search ad for Ann Summers, which was anchored to a keyword search on last year’s budget.
Craigslist's growing PR problem
Craigslist is an internet icon, and it's a unique one. Despite the rapid evolution of the internet over the past decade, Craigslist in 2010 still looks like Craigslist in 2000. The fact that Craigslist has managed to thrive largely its original form is a testament to the value it offers.
But Craigslist is under assault. And it's not competitors who are attacking. It's politicians and the media. The reason: adult service ads which many say are frequently used in the illegal trafficking of women and children. And which many argue Craigslist continues to allow because they're a lucrative source of revenue.
Twitter's link logging will be a boon for businesses
Twitter is getting into analytics. Finally. This week, the microblogging service announced that it will be updating its URL shortener t.co to help alleviate malware problems and track link sharing on its service.
By the end of the year, t.co links will be more secure, and provide more information to the people that share them. This is good news for marketers.
Acceptance is the missing ingredient for social media success
In a world where social networking is key, I was glad to be involved in the Engaging Times summit in Chicago last week.
According to Engage chairman Stan Rapp, 'today’s consumers are the most narcissistic in history. We’re all looking after brand I.', while Don Peppers, head of Peppers & Rogers thinks that companies should not 'waste money on social media until your organisation can competently handle a customer phone call or email.'
The event was thought-provoking for a number of different reasons but the stand-out message is summed up nicely in these two quotes.
25 brilliant examples of Facebook brand pages
I love to see brands generating innovative, engaging and creative advertising online. Yet, I’m always surprised at how little effort companies put into Facebook from a creative perspective, especially given the noise they make about using the platform and the levels of engagement often put in.
Arguably, Facebook does have a static format that needs changing, but it’s not that difficult – or expensive – to come up with some great landing page manipulation through Facebook Markup Language (FBML)... And some brands are taking advantage of this, to great effect.
Here are a few examples from our How to Create Amazing Facebook Pages guide...
Q&A: Antony Mayfield on managing online personal reputation
How often do you Google your own name? And how often do you Google the names of potential employees before opting to hire them? In these data-driven times, it is important to recognise that personal information is becoming much more accessible and can impact you both postively and negatively.
In his new book, iCrossing's Antony Mayfield addresses how to manage personal online reputation effectively. We recently caught up with Antony at the launch of Me and My Web Shadow to find out more.
