Survey: Many executives say on-the-job Web surfing is OK | The Business Journal
Why you should be interested:  One of the biggest challenges in corporations is to foster a digital culture. Obviously, web based tools and enterprise content access systems can generate considerable efficiencies. Web based tools encourage self service / pull information rather than companies having to hire people to manually push content out to users.

The line gets blurry when managers see staff appearing to waste time on Instant Messenger or in non-work related social community blogs. Flipping the coin, hypocritical corporations can’t ban at work social web use while they continue to invade employee personal time with intrusive devices like Smartphones / Blackberrys (always on / always connected to boss and client syndrome).

Similar to corporate policies regarding access to pornography, companies can establish rules of engagement without over-policing staff (or causing unnecessary tension between work and personal functions). Sure, employees need to respectful and have some limits on socializing during work hours, but a the same time, managerial styles need to change to reflect disrupted consumer expectations, especially regarding control, multitasking, content rights management, collaboration and networking.

Blocking access to information and tools that encourage digital culture is short-term corporate thinking. Maybe corporations need to cater to the growing expectation to balance / multitask personal and work based content consumption and integrated social and work based tools (like the way people use IM).

Yahoo Launches Fire Eagle To Manage Location-Based Information | Washington Post
Mobile phones will become main marketing tool: KV Kamath | The Economic Times

‘Sports Illustrated’ Sells Ads Via Online Auction | Advertising Age
Why you should be interested:  Location based targeting is the emerging frontier of segmented marketing. It is liberating small to medium sized businesses to use once mass media content forms and vehicles.

The pioneers in this area are the US cable companies e.g. Comcast. They have been able to isolate demographically (and behaviorally) down to specific households (based on Cable TV billing details and viewing habits)

Geographic or location based targeting, is complicated and limited via traditional internet alone. Most people connect to the internet via an ISP (Internet Service Provider). The problem is that ISP’s are not organized geographically (you could be using an ISP backbone based in India for all you know). Hence, to geographically isolate information via internet, the user either has to nominate where they are (e.g. a drop down menu on entry…resulting in extra clicks) or we have to ask consumers to register and provide their geographic location.

Mobile is opening up a whole new level of geographic targeting because it allows marketers to send messages to consumers within a specific location (Via Bluetooth or Infrared) or target people in a specific region relative to the internet base station that they are using to connect. This opens up efficient marketing opportunities to a whole new market of local businesses.

Another linked trend is the development of low cost / template based content generation / management tools e.g. SpotRunner. These tools facilitate good quality, extremely dynamic production, flexible for localized versioning, at a very low cost.

Lastly, internet based bidding systems are allowing vehicles to efficiently monetize once fragmented, unsellable or undervalued space.

When you link the three efficient elements (Space + Content + Targeting), you have a functioning version of the accountable and dynamic future of marketing.

Imagining a World of Interactive Movie Theaters | Advertising Age
Why you should be interested:  Without sounding like an advertisement, cinema inherently has many qualities that attend to the needs of the digital era, including: a) an  attentive, captive audience, with few distractions b) one of richest and most efficient content forms in video c) geographically and behaviorally segmented audiences.

Arguably, live performance / interaction is the most powerful content form because: a) it’s ability to engage all of the senses (including smell and temperature), b) ability to adjust messaging on the fly to the audience mood c) geographically and behaviorally segmented audiences d) facility to offer product samples and value added material e) ability to easily measure exit attitudes and opinions.

As many music performers have already discovered, when you combine the two, video with interactivity, you have a very powerful experience. Moving forward, when you incorporate automated feedback mechanisms e.g. using mobile devices / phones, the cinema environment becomes a very powerful marketing tool.

ZAP & BuscaPe Unite to Integrate Classified Ads and Online Shopping in Brazil | PR Newswire
Why you should be interested:  BuscaPe is a price comparison site. Zap is an online version of traditional newspaper classifieds. The combination of the two provides significant scale and a richer online shopping experience journey (both new and used products). As e-commerce business models mature, keep an eye out for these disruptive mergers / integration of tools and content to gain a competitive value added advantage.

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Why the Internet Enhances TV Advertising | Advertising Age
Why you should be interested: Cheap cost-per-thousand distribution combined with an extremely powerful content form in video, has helped sustain TV advertising as the default weapon of mass distribution. 

Many a client has been heard to scream in frustration at the relatively unaccountable nature of mass demand generation. What happens in the cloud of uncertainty between the mass demand building message and the moment the customer walks in the shop door to purchase??

Fragmentation of this mass distribution power combined with new tools that enable segmentation of messaging are setting mew marketing practice precedents and challenging the concentration of marketing efforts in mass messaging.

Along this complex path to consideration, purchase intent and ultimate purchase, marketers now are acknowledging that there is a delicate balance mass demand generation and segmented messaging.

TV will still remain a powerful mass demand generator, but the world of segmented content distribution, led by the internet is where the exciting stuff is happening.

Consumers find ads in long-form online video ‘reasonable’ | BizReport
Are Short Videos Best for the Web? | eMarketer
Why you should be interested: Moving from a world of standardized content lengths to a more free-form environment, we need to test the elasticity / expectation of users. Of course the answer is ..the form and duration of content depends on the idea / message objective. This study shows that users will tolerate longer form video content on the relatively smaller computer screen, although I believe that the motive is more convenience of on-demand than preferred viewing experience.

Digital ad agency reaches out to old media | Washington Post
Why you should be interested: For many years, digital agencies have been building credibility / equity with clients by getting closer to their business, building segmented messaging strategies and providing measurable results. So, it is no surprise that digital agencies are trying to leverage this equity by expanding services into the relatively vacant strategic space left by the once dominant big mass messaging agencies. Big agency culture provides many barriers to change, and arguably, in the short to medium-term, digital agencies are in a very good position to find fertile revenue growth in the integrated strategic planning space.

Recognizing Transformation Triggers…Before It’s Too Late | Accenture

Why you should be interested: One of the greatest challenges for any organization is to gauge how aggressive they need to be in building capabilities in a dynamic marketplace.

Change in the communication space is manifesting itself in two forms 1) The need for communication innovation (driven by content distribution fragmentation and consumers resistance to irrelevant messages) 2) The need for always-on content (to facilitate brand related conversation and answer specific questions to influence purchase decisions). The iterative steps to achieve competitiveness are logical, but the eternal question remains as to how fast do marketers need to change.

This very good article argues that for significantly disruptive change `It is crucial to spot the impending danger early on and make fundamental rather than incremental change`

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The Internet’s Hierarchy of Needs | vortexdna

Why you should be interested: An interesting set rationale and a good read. As a cautionary observation, I fundamentally disagree that the internet is changing people’s needs. Digital experiences are changing habits & expectations of how the needs are fulfilled, but the basic needs as defined by Maslow remain true. i.e. people have the same needs, but are just using different tools to fulfill them. On a similar note, we need to be careful not to create unnecessary jargon that potentially complicates issues and alienates stakeholders in the marketing approval process. In general, jargon increases perceived risk. Hence, creates counter-productive barriers to digital adoption and integration. 

Web 2.0 Control Moves From Marketing to IT | eWEEK
Why you should be interested: There has always been confusion and an internal political battle over who controls company web sites. Although, I think the loose reference to web 2.0 here confuses the issue. People naturally resist a change that appears to reduce their perceived domain of responsibility (particularly when it comes to such a high profile topic such as `digital`). A move of web site control simply reflects the need for increasingly sophisticated technology infrastructure e.g. information / database management. In my mind, the function of a web site needs to be divided into two areas: Strategic and executional. Marketing departments should be less worried about executional control and more worried about messaging / experience strategies, analyzing the data supplied by the technology, and fine tuning the content. Sure, any innovation agenda and interface R&D should be a shared responsibility, but leave the executional technology part to core competency specialists who do it best.

5 Immutable Laws Of Marketing Measurement | Mediapost

Why you should be interested: Measurement is one of our greatest mid-term challenges in marketing. Defining relevant and measurable KPI’s and setting a measurement infrastructure to measure cause and effect is an iterative transitional process.

Generally, metrics can be divided into three broad groups: Transactional, Experiential & Executional. Each of these three should evolve in sophistication as your marketing structure evolves. We must remember that metrics and KPI’s are all about establishing relative performance expectations. It’s nice to be leading change, but we don’t get rewarded for setting goals too high / too sophisticated and not achieving them.

The biggest trap is to get seduced by metrics that provide no clear conclusion / implication (because we can now measure them). Granular metrics are a distraction unless they clearly cascade to contribute to overall Personal / Brand / Product KPI’s.

Emarketing pure-plays are the metric trailblazer because they have a lot more control over their ecosystem.  Hence, they can confidently draw correlations between cause and effect. Measurement is much more difficult when the purchase decision is affected by less measurable offline factors.

The secret is to know your infrastructure limitations. Sure, set stretch goals, but keep metrics focused and simple until you build a more sophisticated infrastructure / capabilities.

Employee Brands Must Be Part Of Your Search Marketing Strategy | Mediapost

Why you should be interested: Employees can be the strongest brand advocates and in consumers minds often represent brand / corporation values.

Will Brick-and-Mortar retailers ban the iPhone (and other mobile phones)? | Customer Experience Labs

Why you should be interested: The dynamic and empowering nature of online price comparison is a powerful disruptive tool and poses a threat to traditional retail pricing practices.

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