Whatever apathy, excitement, rage or despair you might feel about the main candidates for Mayor of London, there’s no doubting that the vote on May 5th was a big deal.
The winner will enjoy the third-biggest direct personal mandate of any politician in Europe. That’s a lot of people power.
So how did the main candidates use people power in the run up to the election?
The UK’s Competition and Market Authority has issued a stern warning to businesses who fake reviews – but is it more toothless than ruthless?
In June of last year, the UK’s Competition and Market Authority launched the findings of a ‘call for information’ it put out the previous February.
A couple of weeks ago, Amazon sued over 1,000 people for posting fake reviews on its site. The defendants in question had offered their services on fiverr.com.
But is Amazon addressing the symptoms, not the cause?
A few years ago, business would have scoffed at the idea of learning anything from government.
Today, in some areas, government leads the way and private enterprise should be taking notes.
This week Amazon sued four fake review companies. But does it just pretend to care?
Is honesty the boldest action in marketing?
Here, I’ll look at First Direct’s Live campaign, which invited users to be part of its marketing by providing live comments, and ask why companies aren’t more transparent with their advertising.
One of the boldest actions in marketing this century has come from a reinvigorated player in a traditionally conservative sector. First Direct’s ‘Live’ campaign invited users to be part of its marketing by providing live comments about the retail bank.
There’s not much you can’t buy online these days. However, one purchase that will remain bricks-and-mortar for the foreseeable future is the automobile (unless you’re Volvo or Tesla).
The process of buying a car is split, just like an online purchase, in two phases: initial research and the purchase.
The difference here is where it happens. The first, for most consumers, happens online. The second does not, and that’s where digital marketers begin to pull their hair out.
Marketing, as we know it, is obsolete.
So say Simonson & Rosen in their recent book ‘Absolute value’. Theirs is not a lone voice, similar sentiments date from as early as 1999, in the Cluetrain Manifesto.
As it came in the peak of the dot-com bubble, though, that message was largely ignored.
Why do they say we’ve no use for marketing? It’s because of the rising power of the voice of the customer. With the growing availability of consumer opinions, the importance of brand messaging is diminishing.
Consequently, things are changing in the world of advertising. Slowly, but surely.