Search results matching tags 'digital' and 'blog'

…And access for all

2460092 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:00:00 GMT

As you may have read in a previous post, our house is currently a building site and we’re living in temporary accommodation. Although the flat is nice enough, the family and I are all starting to miss our creature comforts: my wife and I the garden and the Sky Plus HD box, the kids their trampoline. But we’re united in yearning for broadband which we’re all struggling to cope without.

My youngest daughter is a fan of the Bratz website (about dolls and accessories, for those of you without young girls), my son his Xbox live gaming & my eldest a constant stream of YouTube - let alone all their homework requirements which seem to demand internet access these days.

As well as for work, broadband access is vital for my late night binges on iTunes & paying the builders. We’ve experimented with 3G cards, but can’t seem to get a good enough reception out in the sticks, so the whole experience becomes frustrating.

We know that around 90 per cent of people who’ve just moved home would chose broadband over a microwave if they could only have one installed in the first month. How consumer behaviour has changed in the last few years. And I hope there are no doctors reading, but I read that 40 per cent of us would rather give up fresh fruit and veg than our broadband connection!

Whatever the industry’s thoughts on Digital Britain, we can applaud the decision to give as many people as possible access to broadband. Not only will it feed my families’ needs & obsessions but it’s great news for the UK’s agencies and advertisers as it expands the vibrant marketplace that the internet creates, as well as delivering consumers all the public service information they need.

It’s great up in the digital North

2460092 — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:56:00 GMT

I’ve recently come back from a couple of days in the north, where I had breakfast, lunch and dinner with most of our agency partners in that part of the world.

As ever, leaving the London smog and arriving in Manchester, I get a real buzz from the sense of community you get when talking to media agencies in the creative hubs of Leeds and Manchester - it offers something you don’t get in the capital. The industry really seems to pull together to present the north as a region of fantastic creativity and world-leading service in digital, while still retaining their competitive spirit. Perhaps it’s not fashionable to segment regions these days as the Internet has few geographical boundaries, but it’s something I’ve definitely observed.

Because of the heritage of direct response advertising, the North has adapted to the science of search marketing very well. Agencies there have taken ideas of best practice and shared goals and are often ahead of the game when it comes to their southern counterparts – a bit like their football team (and that’s coming from a Chelsea supporter). For example, many agencies in the north, such as Brilliant Media, Latitude and Mediavest, have set up teams to monitor user click paths and site usability, an area we see as integral to the success of search.

The challenge for the northern agencies, as I see it, is to take the great reputation they’ve built through search and apply that experience to the fast developing online video and interest based display market, keeping the London agencies on their toes. I’m looking forward to being invited back to the Manchester office this summer for a swift round of golf and to learn of more progress in this vibrant digital region so I can take the learnings back with me to London and spread the word.

Can digital ad revenues continue to grow?

2460092 — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:03:00 GMT

Albeit we’re in a major media recession it was interesting to see this week’s IAB numbers showing continued growth for digital. Online ad spend in 2008 rose 17.1% to £3.3bn, and online spend now makes up over 19% of the overall market in the UK. The UK is still leading the world in terms of digital advertising, but my question is how do we maintain this position?

Firstly, consumer insight. Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly as the web becomes more and more important to people’s lives. Advertisers can ensure they keep up with these consumers by being found where they are looking for information about their products or services – be it on social networks, blogs, video sites or on search engines.

Secondly, as regular readers will probably guess, data. Search advertising deals in cold, hard numbers. Advertisers can make the most of the wealth of insight afforded by the web, especially in an advanced market like the UK, where people spend 33 hours of their leisure time every month on the web.

Thirdly, integrating their media. Online advertising can make offline media more efficient and can turbocharge offline media campaigns. What is a consumer’s next step after seeing your press or TV ad? They’ll probably make a trip to the online high street to find out more – and it they can’t find you there, then you can be sure they’ll find a competitor.

Finally, conversions. As an industry, online stores are increasingly getting better at setting themselves up for converting clicks into business. But sites can always do more and continuing to test the user journey extensively and in real time is the only way we’re going to crack this nut.

A downturn may well be a time when people expect more for less, but it’s not right to do so if accuracy and effectiveness is compromised. We mustn’t allow advertiser procurement departments to drive out creativity, insight and brand strategy from the digital industry, just as it’s crept in to other media sectors. The UK has led the way in digital by following consumers online and letting the numbers speak for themselves.

We all have to encourage marketing and planning departments to better use the rich vein of information and results driven by digital media and the value of ensuring this is integrated with preexisting media thinking to continue to demonstrate real time value.

This will keep digital media ahead of the curve and help us all through the recession.

Customer service and brand reputation. Ah-haa!

2460092 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:04:00 GMT

Apologies for not blogging over the last couple of weeks, but we’ve got builders tearing my house apart - and finding a temporary home for the family has been taking up a lot of time (outside of work of course)!

I’m writing this from my 'Travel Tavern,' where we’re currently living Alan Partridge-style until the builders complete their business - or we find another house - wondering what all these other sad people are doing in a Surbiton hotel without access to Champions League football on a Wednesday night. My kids are screeching and screaming - rather than sleeping - next door, which leads me to believe that perhaps they too are becoming increasingly irritated by the broken air-conditioner noisily blasting chilly air around the place. I’ve complained several times about this to the manager, but to no avail. Of course, each time he has quoted from the customer services handbook, assuring me that they’re "looking into it," that it'll be fixed "as soon as possible," but it's been four days now... Yes, he can placate me this way in the knowledge that I’m probably not going to go through the hassle of moving the whole family to another hotel mid-week, but it doesn’t really solve my problem.

Which of course got me thinking... brand reputation and customer service are even more important now that the world is digital. Opinions, views, reviews, comments – both positive and negative – can spread like wildfire across blogs, networks and websites (see Mel Carson’s post about Ryan Air for a topical example of this). As most of the web is open, this kind of information is no longer locked inside 'walled gardens'; these points-of-view can be searched for, linked to, and replicated very easily.

Taking that concept a step further, even if experiences happen offline, they are quickly written about online. In other words, even offline brands have nowhere to hide from a modern consumer. If the air-con issue isn’t sorted tonight, perhaps I’ll add my name to the list of disgruntled bloggers seeking redress for bad customer service... and if anyone has a couple of spare rooms they want to rent out, do give me a shout.

First Peeks at bTWEEN08

2292853 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT

I'm in Manchester this week to attend bTWEEN08, where I'll be sharing ideas with other digital entrepreneurs from thoughout the UK.

My agency Hai Media Group is a finalist in the Branding Talent competition at bTWEEN08, and from what I can tell, this may be a bit like The Apprentice, Dragon's Den and X-Factor all rolled into one for entrepreneur's in digital media. Along with my media partner Isabella Hu, who's design portfolio can be seen at Ecolocate.org, we'll be offering our seed idea for our Rare Fruits campaign concept for Littlewoods. We've worked hard together to come up what we think is a client winning proposal to build excitement and customers for littlewoodsdirect.com.

Facing the Judge's Panel Who's our Sir Alan Sugar, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Sharon Osbourne, den of talent scouting dragons for this experience? The mentors are:

Steve Taylor, Director of Innovation, Aegis
James Estill, Senior Producer, 4Talent
Nicole Yershon, Director, Innovative Solutions, Ogilvy
Paul Bennun, Creative Director, Somethin' else
Neil Richards, Script writer
Katz Kiely, Managing Director, Just-b. Productions

Shivers & Shakes Yes! We are nervous, but looking forward to the learning experience, and to gaining a lot of valuable creative confidence throughout the week.

Take a Peek I'll be peeking around bTWEEN08 and popping in here with updates about what's happening.

Follow Me You can also keep track of some of my updates by following lisadevaney on Twitter.

-Lisa