Search results matching tags 'digital' and 'howe'

The rainforest and the advertising industry

2460092 — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:13:00 GMT

I’ve had a week to digest the talking points of our Zeitgeist conference, where royals, bankers, business leaders, journalists and even an Amazonian tribal chief came together to discuss issues of the day. But one issue in particular stuck in my mind – sustainability. Sustainability was certainly the key theme as the Prince of Wales made a moving and humbling speech about the environment and technology, pleading that the Amazon be “treated like a human being.” But there were also lively debates about the future of the media industry, and indeed, the sustainability of the business models of traditional media. It was a chance for us all to think about the roles we play within the industry, how content producers manage and make money from content and how we sustain quality and valuable advertising output. It was also another chance for Google to understand the concerns of newspaper and TV owners, and ensure their thoughts are top of mind for us in helping them make money from their content on the web. From talking to agency leaders at the event, it’s clear media agencies will be fighting tooth and nail over any big accounts that come up for grabs over the coming weeks and months. The industry must be careful that the stiff competition doesn’t become a cut-throat exercise in cutting costs, inevitably leading to a downfall in the quality of advertising. Indeed quality and value for money is something all agencies and media owners need to ensure is sustainable when trying to encourage advertisers to invest in marketing in the downturn.

…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.

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.

Data is the new black

2460092 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:30:00 GMT

This week I was at an industry event chatting with a couple of old mates – one from a traditional media background who now works on the client side, and one from a media agency – about the use of data in our industry. While my agency friend, perhaps unsurprisingly, was up to speed with most of the huge amount of data now available to advertisers and agencies, this was in stark contrast to my other friend who was unaware of the wealth of information at the disposal of professionals in the industry today. I guess my point is that there are still plenty in media who don't yet utilise the huge amount of data-points available to all businesses. It almost feels like a failure on our part when we realise that the message has not yet permeated throughout the whole industry, especially when there are so many easy to use tools and analytics packages out there. The web analytics industry has come a long way in recent years. What used to be a techie subject for tracking server performance and website hits (which clearly went over my head) has evolved into a dream for webmasters, marketers and media planners. Conversions, geography, off and online media and a host of other areas can be measured and cross-referenced. This can be combined with powerful tools like Insights for Search, or Google's keyword tool, to give a snapshot of what people are searching for and interested in. As the digital industry has grown, there seemed to be two extremes in terms of the way marketers have been using data: those focused on direct response and e-commerce players who had data at the heart of their strategy on one side, and more traditional brand marketers who were yet to engage with the hard stats online (either through choice, or lack of understanding) on the other. But the good news is that more recently there's a new breed of media and marketing industry professional coming to the fore, predictably a mixture of the two extremes: the data-driven brand marketer and comms planner, with appreciation of traditional brand values, but with a mind hell-bent on data to prove success (or failure). It is these people who increasingly need to be at the centre of business and media decisions as clients and agencies alike become rightly obsessed with quality, value and ROI in these cash-tight times. It's up to search engines, media owners and the analytics industry to make sure all my mates are data-driven and better versed in the power of numbers in the months to come.

Online offers hope during tough times

2460092 — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:55:00 GMT

Welcome to my inaugural blog.

As I boxed up my Christmas decorations - shoving them back in the loft for another year - reintroduced myself to the gym, gave up drinking for January and failed to make the High Street sales, there seemed nothing left of the holiday season but the return to work, the cold financial climate and its true effects on the retail and media industries.

It all sounds a little depressing, doesn't it? But it got me wondering if the online successes in retail last year would be maintained through the tough Christmas period, or whether every channel is being hit equally hard?

As the UK's flagship stores begin to release their Christmas numbers, it's becoming clear that the High Street is having as tough a time as people expected, if not worse. While a few stores have defied gloomy expectations - with Sainsbury's, for example, posting results of its best ever Christmas - the trend for most is not a happy one.

None of us know how long or how deep this recession will be, but the Internet may well play a major role in rebuilding the economy after the first downturn in the truly digital age.

While Stuart Rose announced M&S's UK sales were down 3.4 per cent in the 13 weeks to December 27, online sales grew a massive 29 per cent, with record numbers of customers being driven to their website to shop - so much so, that I heard him say they sadly failed to meet some of their online demand. Subject matter for another day, perhaps.

Meanwhile Andy Street of John Lewis could be equally upbeat about online results. announcing that the company broke a number of records during the last month - including two record weeks online, two in Electricals and Home Technology and its biggest ever day (on December 27) for the start of their Clearance Sale. John Lewis also saw its busiest ever hour online on Christmas Eve as the clearance began on its website.

Pure-play retailers like Play.com, ASOS and Amazon continue to grow at pace, while Debenhams' online business, Debenhams Direct, continued to grow strongly - with year-to-date visitor numbers and sales up 39.2% and 37.4% respectively - and Amazon announced it enjoyed its best-ever holiday sales this year.

There are many success stories from the 'virtual' High Street as online sales continue to grow in the face of the economic slowdown. Despite, and perhaps a result of, the financial conditions, consumer use of the Web to hunt for value and find the best possible prices will continue to accelerate.

As Verdict Research has forecast another year of double-digit growth for online retail, we can make a pretty safe bet that the Internet, which dramatically cuts the cost of logistics, distribution and service, will be high up on every Financial Director and CEO's agenda in the coming weeks and months.

Happy New Year, all.