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How effective is M&S’s use of QR codes?

In digital marketing terms QR codes seem to have been around for ages, yet it’s still much easier to find examples of brands using the technology badly than it is to highlight instances that deliver a decent user experience. 

A few months ago I flagged up a Toyota print ad as a good example of how to use QR codes to deliver a fun and engaging mobile experience and I’ve since been on the look out for similar campaigns.

As with all new technologies it is quite easy to dismiss QR codes as a passing fad, particularly as user uptake has been quite slow.

However a survey published today by Nielsen shows that 18% of UK consumers regularly use a QR or barcode scanner, so there may be life in the old dog yet.

Marks & Spencer certainly seems to think so, as it has placed a large QR code in the centre of its Mother’s Day window display in Brixton (you can scan the same code above), and potentially in its other stores around the country.

Learn from the best: five must have newsroom features

If you were a king, how would you deck out your royal residence? Chances are you’d invest heavily to ensure your surroundings matched the importance of your status.

So (and forgive the far from subtle analogy), if content is king, then where you host your content surely needs a similar amount of thought, care and investment?

68% of people use their smartphone for email, 26% for shopping

The importance of optimising email campaigns for mobile has again been underlined by a new survey which shows that checking emails is among the most common activity for UK smartphone owners.

The Nielsen Mobile Consumer survey found that 68% of UK smartphone owners used their device to check email in the past 30 days. Only text messaging was more popular (92%), while using the mobile web (66%) and social networking (63%) achieved similar results.

US smartphone owners exhibit similar behaviours, with 86% using their devices for text, 82% for the mobile web, 75% for email and 63% for social networking.

We’ve previously blogged data which shows that 79% of smartphone owners use their device for email, while a separate report showed that up to a third of emails are opened on mobile devices.

However our Email Marketing Census reveals that 39% of businesses have no strategy in place for mobile optimisation and a further 37% said their strategy was ‘basic.’

As investors pour $200m more into Pinterest, is a business model in the offing?

The internet economy may be one of the brightest spots in today’s global economy, but the hits taken by shares of publicly-traded prominent internet brands like Facebook, Zynga and Groupon has definitely had an impact on venture backed companies, many of which have had and will have a more difficult time convincing investors that they’re worth as much as they might have been able to convince them they’re worth a couple of years ago.

You wouldn’t know that, however, looking at Pinterest’s latest funding round, which made headlines last week. The image-based social network is on the verge of becoming the second most popular social media site in the United States, and despite the fact that it hasn’t figured out how to make money, investors poured $200m into the young company at a $2.5bn valuation.

How Ford and Whole Foods manage social communities

I spent a number of years as a social media manager – first for PayPal, then giffgaff and, most recently, I was the corporate community manager for the BBC. I feel a strong affinity to those behind the brand handle after being through the wars myself. It’s not uncommon to spend sleepless nights at a keyboard, or take a night bus home so you can stay above ground to tweet during an issue ,or be attached to your phone on your only vacation in months. This is the current state of our community directors and their staff.

It was great to see Ogilvy feature three social community managers on their recent panel, The Rise of the New Community Manager, as part of Social Media Week. The panelists included Karen Untereker, U.S. Manager, Social Media at Ford Motor Company, Ariel Norwood, Online and Social Media Team Leader, Northeast Region, Whole Foods Market and Vanessa Wojtusiak, Head of Social Marketing, iHeartRadio and was moderated by Rachel Caggiano, Senior Vice President, Social@Ogilvy.

Pinterest proves to be a fruitful network for Topman

Despite its reputation for having a predominately female audience, Pinterest is proving to be a successful hunting ground for menswear brands.

New research shows that Topman has more than double the follower count of any other UK retailer and is also adding to its community faster than its competitors.

The eDigitalResearch Social Media Benchmark found that Topman has 87,959 followers, compared to 26,594 for Net-A-Porter and 24,847 for ASOS.

Pinterest has developed from a niche social network into an important marketing tool in little more than 12 months, with its focus on striking visuals and imagery making it the perfect platform for retailers and lifestyle brands.

To help brands take advantage of this opportunity, Econsultancy has published a new Pinterest for Business Guide aimed at companies and individuals who are thinking of joining Pinterest and want to find out more about the social platform, as well as people who are currently using Pinterest and want a deeper understanding of best practice.

Announcing our latest #TheDigitals SuperStar of the week!

https://assets.econsultancy.com/images/resized/0002/9394/the-digitals-superstar-badge-week-4-blog-third.pngWe’ve just finished updating #TheDigitals leaderboard and we’ve found that @Danbarker is STILL topping the charts!

Well done to Dan, who’s managed to keep up a steady flow of content all week, sharing and creating knowledge about the digital landscape, and staying on top of some very tough competition! 

There’s been some great action on the board this week – let’s look at some of the new faces and new changes…

Neuromarketing is dead. Long live neuromarketing

neuromarketing brain

Somewhere around 2009, neuromarketing arrived in the public conscious with a tidal wave of enthusiasm.

However, three years down the line, the waters have receded and people are gradually coming round to the realisation that neuromarketing is never going to deliver on its sensational promises of mind reading and unearthing the buy button.

Neuromarketing 1.0 failed because it promised too much…

Stats: Who uses Pinterest and why is it important for marketers?

Pinterest has gone from being the social network of choice for hipsters and mums to an essential marketing tool in little more than 12 months.

Its focus on striking visuals and imagery makes it the perfect platform for retailers and lifestyle brands that want to share their most eye-catching content with an engaged and active community.

To help brands take advantage of this opportunity, Econsultancy has published a new Pinterest for Business Guide aimed at companies and individuals who are thinking of joining Pinterest and want to find out more about the social platform, as well as people who are currently using Pinterest and want a deeper understanding of best practice.

The 63-page document covers best practice tactics, including statistics and case studies, as well as practical tips for getting started with Pinterest and how to engage with your followers.

And to give an idea of the potential Pinterest has for marketers and ecommerce businesses, check out these stats on the social network’s usage and referrals…

The Facebook mortgage. Could social data be used for credit scores?

I’m about to move house. Which, as is usual, has involved a painful bank transfer and a lot of paperwork.

One of the steps of self-imposed due diligence I did was to check my credit file. Everything was fine, I had a credit score in the region I expected / hoped and that was the end of it. Contracts done. Property secured.

It got me thinking, though. That one little number is very powerful but, given today’s focus on big data, actually very simplistic in its nature.

For something that can dictate major elements of your life (such as helping the bank decide whether or not you are ‘fit’ to buy a home), the process by which the three main credit reference agencies (Equifax, Experian and Callcredit in the UK) apply a sweeping judgement feels flawed.

I wondered if, instead, social data could provide a more accurate picture of people.

ROI key to future mobile marketing investments: report

With billions of mobile devices in use by consumers around the world, and with those devices getting more and more capable every year, it’s no surprise that many industry observers believe the future of mobile marketing is bright.

How bright? Some have gone on to suggest that mobile ad spend will eventually overtake that of television. A bold prediction given that brands spend well over $100bn globally on television ads ever year — magnitudes of order more than they spend on mobile ads.

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