• Home
  • Company
  • About Metropolis3 Worldwide
  • Working Together
  • Collaboration in Action
  • Global Teaming
  • Areas of Expertise
  • Business Process & Digital Strategy
  • Technology Planning & Implementation
  • Digital Experience & Interaction Design
  • Social & Business Networking Communities
  • Digital Innovation
  • Creative Services
  • Multi-Channel Integration
  • Engagement Marketing & Advertising
  • Governance & Vendor Management
  • Content & Website Management Services
  • Marketing, Sales, & Business Transformation
  • Metrics and Analytics
  • Client Successes
  • Contact Us
  • Careers

Metropolis3 Worldwide

What We Are Reading

What We Are Reading  |   What We Think   |   Subscribe to DigitalBeyond

We cut through the clutter of the web to highlight innovation and forward-thinking. The best stories from leading publications – hand selected and organized to provide you a single point of access.

Search Results

Results 1 - 50 of 148 for All Dates , All Industries , All Topics , Global , All Audiences

Sort results by:  Newest
Newest
Title (A-Z)
Title (Z-A)
  |      M3W Favorites
Results per page: 5 | 10 | 25 | 50
Latinos Make Up Huge Piece Of Mobile Marketing Pie (ClickZ)
Posted: 03/31/2011
Mobile phone use is on the upswing among the Latino population, rising 26 percent from 2006 to 2010 compared to 18 percent of the general population. Three key markers indicate that the Hispanic population will continue to drive mobile marketing: they care about social connectivity, they are actively seeking fun experiences and they are open to innovation. The proof is in the pudding: 82 percent of the market has been penetrated; mobile phones are outpacing landlines among this demographic as the primary source of communication; this group is more interested in mobile web browsing than the average population; 24 percent of mobile users have downloaded at least one app; and the group has demonstrated that enhancing their lives through social connectivity is a priority.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy,  Creative & Design,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Creating Intelligent Hyperlocal Campaigns (BrandWeek)
Posted: 03/31/2011
You’ve heard it before: to be an effective marketer you have to reach your audience with the right message at the right place at the right time. With this most basic of marketing principles in mind, more and more businesses are turning their attention to hyperlocal advertising and marketing. As technology continues to evolve, it is easier than ever to pinpoint a customer’s exact location. Pair that with the consumer’s growing interest in being tapped for local marketing and you have a powerful combination. The Mobile Marketing Association found that most mobile users are “interested in allowing their phone to automatically share their location in exchange for perks, such as free use of mobile applications and mobile coupons.” The key is to tap into your current customer base and make your move before your competitors to ensure the most success.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Email Remains Key Tactic To Boost Engagement In 2011 (BtoB Online)
Posted: 03/31/2011
According to StrongMail’s 2011 Marketing Trends Survey, which collected responses from 925 business leaders, 50 percent of those surveyed said their marketing budgets will increase this year, 43% of budgets will remain the same, and 65% said they plan to increase email spending. Ryan Deutsch, VP-strategic services at StrongMail, said “If someone receives 15 emails from you and doesn't open any of them, [the email server or ISP] might start blocking subsequent emails,” he said. Therefore, it’s just as important to design you emails according to who is opening them as it is to target those who aren’t. Often, all it takes is sending out an offer they can’t refuse. Designing a compelling welcome series can go a long way in communicating the value of your communications.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer
Karmaloop’s Online Roots Run Deeper Than Facebook And Twitter (DIRECT Marketing Online)
Posted: 03/17/2011
Long before Facebook became synonymous with social marketing, Karmaloop’s rep program was successfully hawking its line of streetwear to its audience of teens and young adults. Nearly a quarter of its $100 million in annual sales is generated by 6,500 reps across the globe. Assigned a customized code to track sales and earn points, reps essentially build their own customer base by promoting the brand via personal blogs, Websites, Facebook pages, and other social networks. “We have our built-in audience and the trust and loyalty of millions of 18- to 24-year-old kids, and they’re going to follow us, because peer-to-peer is how we do that,” director of lifestyle marketing Giovannah Chiu said. The same philosophy led to the creation of KarmaloopTV.com in 2008, which has since expanded to include channels devoted to specific brands and regularly scheduled programs.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Facebook Like Button Helps Solve Retailer’s Dilemma (Fast Company)
Posted: 03/17/2011
To help solve the problem of overstocked inventory, San Francisco-based children’s clothing retailer Tea Collection put Facebook’s “Like” button into action. Customers saved big when they voted for their favorite items that were set to be discontinued and then enjoyed a hefty discount from $59 to $10 on the winning dress. The dress was an immediate sell out. While the company took a loss on it, marketing director Jeff Reichelderfer explained that the campaign more than made up for the losses with purchases that customers made on other items. Tea Collection, which sells its line in boutiques and department stores across the country as well as online, has since hosted two more competitions to help move inventory and further engage its customers.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global,  North America
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Facebook Gears Up For Major eCommerce Drive (BusinessWeek)
Posted: 03/03/2011
In an effort to convert more of the social network’s 500 million users into regular online shoppers, Facebook is now wooing big business. Facebook has added e-commerce features designed to “attract users, keep them logged-on longer, and generate higher advertising sales,” thereby attracting major brands to sell their products and services through the social networking site. Helping with the effort are companies like Minneapolis-based Alvenda and San Francisco-based Payvment, whose technologies have allowed the company to integrate a retail component into Facebook pages and facilitate payment. David Fisch, who runs the newly formed commerce partnerships group at Facebook, hopes the effort may turn the company into an online shopping alternative. More than half of the top 25 retail sites, including retail competitors like eBay and Amazon, have linked their sites to the social network in the past year, Facebook says.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
The Social Factor For Online Retail (New Media Knowledge)
Posted: 03/03/2011
New Media Knowledge recently reported that social networks are responsible for directing 13 percent more traffic to online retailers than they did in 2009. “As more time is being spent on social networking sites, we are seeing retail brands tapping into the power of social media to drive online traffic and sales,” said Robin Goad, Research Director, Experian Hitwise. The competitive intelligence research company says that while Facebook, YouTube and Twitter dominate the social sphere, others sites such as Vimeo, Badoo and tumblr have increased their online traffic by 50% or more in the past year. “It is important that retailers understand which social networks their customers and potential customers are using,” Goad told NMK. What about mobile? “Successful retailers will be those that support their customers across multiple channels depending on the scenario – allowing customers to add items to wish on the go, integrating location based services to provide (opt in) special offers and discounts, mobile price comparison via photo or barcode recognition,” Goad said.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global,  Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Build Strong Opt-In Databases To Deliver Value For Customers (BtoB Online)
Posted: 02/17/2011
As business to business (B2B) customers increasingly demonstrate a willingness to share more information, the maxim “you get what you give” has never rung more true. By handing over mission critical information, customers expect to receive more targeted communications that reflect conspicuous value and benefit. Marketers, in turn, get the chance to drive up both response and revenue by directing their communications toward the rich databases they are accumulating. Here are the key steps to consider to encourage your customers to become part of any preference-profiling activities your company engages: First, build trust by using your customers’ information responsibly; next, confidentiality is a must – ‘responsible’ use means no sharing or renting information, ever; and finally, your value proposition must be clear and compelling.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business
Mobile Commerce Sales Grow Exponentially In 2010 (Internet Retailer)
Posted: 02/17/2011
Reports from research and consulting firm ABI Research indicate that total U.S. mobile commerce sales, excluding travel, exceeded $3.4 billion in 2010, up 143% over $1.4 billion in 2009. Previous skyrocketing growth also occurred between 2008 to 2009, up over 253% from $396.3 million to $1.4 billion. Mark Beccue, senior analyst, consumer mobility, at ABI Research said, “Mobile online shopping growth in the U.S. has been fueled this year by the massive migration of consumers to smartphones, the explosion of highly innovative use-cases deployed by retailers and third-party players, and a significant shift in consumer behavior as more consumers choose mobile shopping over traditional online shopping.” Rather than being driven by one or two product categories, mobile shopping crosses all retail boundaries (and product and service lines), helping brands connect directly to their customers in meaningful ways across all types of mobile marketing campaigns.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Trigger Happy: Ways To Create Successful E-Mail Campaigns (Practical eCommerce)
Posted: 02/03/2011
When it comes to e-mail campaigns, there are a handful of strategies to use that can help capitalize on the power of triggered mailings, which have a proven track record of phenomenal response and conversion rates. The best approach is to begin with the simplest e-mails proven to elicit conversion, and then scale up the campaign to include more nuanced and complex e-mails. Here are six proven examples that can help your company establish a personal connection with your customers: (1) Welcome e-mails; (2) Reorder or order reminder e-mails; (3) Birthday or special-occasion e-mails; (4) Transactional emails; (5) Abandoned cart e-mails and (6) Abandoned site browse or search emails. All these examples offer the marketer’s toolbox a number of ways to create and maintain long-term relationships with customers and stimulate repeat business at the same time.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Success In Numbers: Choice Hotels Increases Mobile Sales By 250% (Internet Retailer)
Posted: 02/03/2011
Since entering the mobile realm in 2008, Choice Hotels International Inc. says its mobile sales surpass seven figures each month. The sales represent more than 1% of all online sales. Furthermore, mobile revenue is up 250% year over year, reservations are up 205%, mobile page views 130%, mobile conversion 106% and mobile traffic has grown on average 190% each month since launching. “Mobile customers want things as quick and simple as possible,” said Christopher Brya, director of mobile and emerging channels. The company’s in-house usability lab helps further refine its mobile approach. It’s a strategy that seems to be working: the iPhone app the company developed in the lab last year was downloaded 500,000 times in 80 countries, some of which don’t even house a Choice Hotel. Future plans include developing an app for smartphones on Google’s Android platform.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy,  Creative & Design,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Building A Brand Story Greater Than The Sum Of Its Individual Parts (New Media Knowledge)
Posted: 01/20/2011
Rather than providing a plethora of tactical solutions, today’s abundance of marketing channels may simply overwhelm marketers. Standard targeted marketing used to be a relatively simple game of point-and-shoot at three main channels (TV, print and direct mail) to cover all bases. Now, with the addition of social media platforms, mobile marketing, web, and email to the traditional channels, adopting a successful strategy can get confusing. Aim the same message at all the channels and the results can be downright disastrous. Multi-channel marketing offers marketers a mechanism to “pull all these conversations together and build a brand story that is greater than the sum of the individual parts” so marketers can keep their eyes on the prize: customer engagement and action. The key is to understand and respect the characteristics of each channel and then execute each according to how it works uniquely for your brand.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Peer Groups & Communities
Social Globalization; Global Socialization (Practical eCommerce)
Posted: 01/20/2011
Social media has established a stronghold that reaches around the globe. Social networking, blogging, microblogging, social bookmarking and video sharing bring people closer together than ever. Companies like Dell attribute mass profit directly to campaigns using social media, including the $3 million the company earned through incentives offered via Twitter. Still, in light of the rapidly increasing internet population of non-English language speakers, one question that remains is how the foreign language internet pieces into the social media puzzle? With most Internet users living abroad, how can smaller companies incorporate international social media strategies into their bag of marketing tricks? According to Practical eCommerce, a company’s foreign language social media strategy should consider the most popular platforms within its target demographic, in addition to streamlining efforts to mesh with other global online marketing practices.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
J.C. Penney Makes Mobile Holiday Move (Internet Retailer)
Posted: 01/04/2011
J.C. Penney Co. is initiating a major multichannel mobile push with holiday retail plans that include the launch of an m-commerce site, enhancements to its mobile applications, location-based app promotions and an iAd campaign. Along with the full suite of m-commerce functionality such as browsing, searching and buying—the mobile site also includes a Find Near Me button and updated applications for iPhone and Android users that lets shoppers browse the weekend sales circular; create portable shopping lists; find the nearest store to either their current GPS location or to a ZIP code or city name; and sign up for mobile coupons. Location-based services Foursquare, Brightkite and Facebook Deals also play a role, allowing shoppers to cash in for $10 off a $50 purchase when they check in at one of the retailer’s 1,100 stores. In addition to its ongoing mobile coupons program, the campaign will also include mobile display ads on Apple’s iAd network, featuring a treasure hunt through a variety of J.C. Penney gifts as shoppers search for a $10 off $50 coupon.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy,  Creative & Design,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Retailers Dial-In To Smart Phone Shopping Trend (CRM Daily)
Posted: 01/04/2011
With one-third of mobile phone usage to be “smart” this holiday season (Nielsen), retailers are getting dialed-in to e-commerce. The 21 percent increase over last year indicates that retailers can no longer rely on independent strategy for their retail outfits, whether they are bricks-and-mortar stores, Web sites or mobile shopping channels. Heather J. Brunner, chief operating officer of Austin, Texas-based Bazaarvoice, said a phone is "just a mini-computer, and our challenge now is to transfer the Internet experience to a much smaller screen." For instance, outdoor brand Patagonia recently launched a new application that suggests similar items and price ranges while customers browse. In-store, the app will recommend complementary items based on the tag’s bar code. Companies like Neustar are working on types of “second-generation” bar codes for smart phones that are square rather than rectangular while Pronto, a company owned by New York-based IAC, plans to launch a mobile app for product price alerts.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer
‘Tis The Season For Cultivating Brand Loyalty (Ecommerce Times)
Posted: 01/04/2011
Remarketing often proves to be the silver lining during the holiday retail season, driving both sales and profitability. In fact, dollar for dollar, remarketing delivers the highest returns compared to alternative marketing techniques, especially when used in tandem with display marketing campaigns. Successful marketing entails knowing how to reach the right people at the right time with the right offer. This makes remarketing ripe for the picking, especially considering the advances today’s technology allows for like analyzing consumer behaviors and reaching out directly to consumers. When it comes to marketing plans, remarketing demands foresight and planning to get it right. The keys to success include placing as much weight on page views as click thrus. Other success factors including figuring out exactly how much to budget for remarketing (based on hard data) and focusing on calendar events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as major holidays.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Shoutlet: One-Stop-Shop For Social Media Management (Ecommerce Times)
Posted: 12/16/2010
Shoutlet’s social media management application now features CRM functionality. The app is designed to let customers monitor and manage multiple accounts and brands with additional functionality that eases the process for companies to post and monitor responses to content. Given the number of users that use social media to complain about a service or product, or get help, one of the app’s most powerful features is its collaboration component. One such collaboration feature includes the ability to tag a prospect or commenter and then forwarded it internally for someone within the organization to take care of. "Let's say a company has several customers talking about or complaining about a certain issue," President and COO Aaron Everson said. "Shoutlet can tag all of those commenters and send them to someone for follow-up or assistance." The company intends to enhance functionality even further by increasing its reach to mass influencers and adding a mobile component.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Peer Groups & Communities
Google Goes Fashion Forward (CRM Daily)
Posted: 12/16/2010
Google is going fashion forward with the debut of Boutiques.com, which offers shoppers a personalized shopping experience. The launch is as much about technology as it is e-commerce. Using computer-vision and machine-learning technology, Boutiques.com visually analyzes consumers' fashion tastes in order to match them to other styles they might be drawn to. "These days, bloggers, stylists and everyday fashionistas are expressing their sense of style online. We invited them to create boutiques so people could shop their diverse styles," Google Product Management Director Munjal Shah said. "But you have a unique and independent style, too, so Boutiques also lets you build your own personalized boutique and get recommendations of products that match your taste." The site offers a variety of search options, allowing consumers to filter results by genre, silhouette, pattern, color families, and sizes, or even view matching outfits when they search for specific items.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Creative & Design,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Digital River Is Getting Social With Ecommerce (Electronic Commerce Guide)
Posted: 12/16/2010
Digital River, a global ecommerce service provider, recently launched SocialStream, a new social media tool. Using the tool, Digital River customers can rapidly set in motion new e-store promotions and then manage them over different Facebook and Twitter accounts. Ecommerce-Guide.com reported Jim Wehmann, senior vice president of global marketing for Digital River saying that “Social Stream lets marketers and e-store owners optimize social media campaigns with just a few clicks from within the standard Digital River interface they already know and use.” While SocialStream is certainly not the first ecommerce service offering of its kind, the package’s most significant advantage is that it provides e-store owners with access to social analytics. The ability to report critical commerce data relating to social media activities like unique clicks, conversions and revenue generated for each social campaign for each social account allows companies to validate the success of each campaign.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
How Big Is Big? The Rise Of The Mobile Advertising Market (Marketing Vox)
Posted: 12/01/2010
eMarketer recently revised its assessment of the mobile ad market, predicting it will grow 79% to over $743 million this year alone – growing to more than $1.1 billion in 2011 and more than $2.5 billion by 2014. Based on these numbers, it’s safe to say mobile has been elevated to mainstream status. The report indicates that SMS is still the largest format, with an estimated tally of $327 million for 2010. Companies like Phizzle and Skycore are further enhancing their service offerings to engage audiences and allow increased functionality to their users, including enabling mobile marketers to run applications such as movie trailers sent with tickets or sports videos sent with tickets. eMarketer predicts that display formats will increase. Apple’s iPhone remains the top choice with 82.7% of marketers, but Android’s 9% increase since last quarter indicates it is quickly gaining traction. Other services new to the market include Opera Software’s Ad Marvel, Sprint’s Sprint ID and Burstly.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer
The Wine Connection: iPhone Application Uses Image Recognition (Red Herring)
Posted: 12/01/2010
Intent on increasing consumer interaction Snooth, a social site for all things wine, recently unearthed an iPhone application that gives consumers the low down about bottles of wine. All the consumer needs is a picture of the wine label to find out everything from the nearest place to find a bottle to how much it costs. Other details include reviews, similar products, and food pairing suggestions. The high tech app uses software from Canadian startup TinEye, which allows for a coded image on the wine to be taken by a photograph, despite the curved glass of the wine bottle or the mood lighting of the restaurant or winery. With 820,000 searchable wines and links to 11,000 wine merchants around the globe, the gist behind Snooth's image recognition tool is akin to QR codes, which use matrix codes to effectively marry digital and print information, bringing consumers even closer to information about the goods they consume.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
The Ultimate Question: To Optimize For Mobile Or Build An Application? (Marketing Vox)
Posted: 11/11/2010
A report by Taptu, “The State of the Mobile Touch Web," compares mobile web and applications and reveals upcoming trends business should keep in mind. These days, with so many vendors offering touchscreen devices, it’s not just a matter of optimizing websites or mobile, but determining if the site should also be optimized for nimble navigation and rapid loading pages on mobile touchscreens. While retail and service oriented sites are the most likely to optimize for the mobile touchscreen (20% compared to 3.6%), many consumers are already demanding the technology from the sites they frequent. The report states, "With support for HTML 5 features already being rolled out in these browsers, it's getting easier and easier to create rich touch screen user experiences with the browser without having to create platform-specific apps." Google has integrated mobile browsing into its service offerings. For instance, consumers that conduct searches will now pull up relevant apps accompanying the typical search results that can be downloaded to an iPhone.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy,  Creative & Design,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Filtering The Noise: Discovery Personalizes The Online Experience (Tech News World)
Posted: 11/11/2010
The internet abounds with buzzwords. Now, there’s new buzz about “discovery,” the real-time aggregation and personalization of content as it is applied to an online experience. Take Amazon for example, an online retailer that makes purchasing recommendations based on your past buying behavior and others that match your browsing and purchasing habits. True discovery, however, elevates this concept to the next level: It will tie together what you have liked, purchased, viewed, discussed, and browsed, into a real-time aggregator that provides recommendations on any category of your choosing. For discovery to be completely revolutionary, it must have both an online and mobile interface. From websites like Yelp to smartphone applications like mobile GPS, several discovery platforms are in the works, including Ping, a music discovery engine launched by Steve Jobs in September.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
The Virtual Dressing Room (CNET News)
Posted: 10/27/2010
Finding the right fit is often one of the most frustrating elements of shopping online. Now, with the help of a new, headless “shape-shifting robot mannequin,” shoppers don’t have to simply leave their purchases to chance. Created by Estonian start-up Fits.me, the virtual fitting room service allows customers to enter their measurements and presto! The “me”-shaped mannequin previews the coveted item in whichever styles and sizes the customer specifies. The service is being tested by retailers across Europe, including Germany's Quelle and U.K.-based Hawes & Curtis. Apparel has potential for huge e-commerce gains. "Only 8 percent of clothing is currently sold online, and Fits.me Virtual Fitting Room is the disruptive technology that will enable online apparel retailers to successfully compete with traditional brick-and-mortar clothing shops," Heikki Haldre, CEO and co-founder of Fits.me said. Initial findings are very positive with a 28 percent reduction in online apparel returns, while sales increased threefold, said Haldre.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global,  Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer
Motricity Delivers User-Preferred Content On-the-Go (CIO Magazine)
Posted: 10/27/2010
Motricity recently launched mCore MobileCast, a service that allows wireless carriers and large companies to define content based on their smartphone users’ preferences. Requiring "zero touch" by the users, the cloud-based service takes a user’s location and prior usage into account before delivering audio, video, text and HTML5 content streamlined to the user’s preferences. For instance, a mobile user purchases tickets to a rock concert via a mobile device. Enter mCore MobileCast: The service ingests the concert data in combination with GPS data to disseminate auxillary information to the user, such as the concert's opening act, parking locations and even places to eat nearby. "All that information is in separate places today, but we aggregate it all up," said Jim Ryan, Motricity’s chief strategy and marketing officer. The company provides mobile infrastructure services to "hundreds of enterprises" and 10 major wireless carries, including the top four in the U.S., Ryan said.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Diaspora Code Released Publicly; May Improve Framework For Businesses (CIO Magazine)
Posted: 10/27/2010
A new project, called Diaspora, was recently released to public developers in hopes of bringing the project to fruition as a new social network – defined by community – that promises “the benefits of Facebook without the privacy concerns.” The project’s creators are at a standstill, stating, "We began the summer a list of technologies, and a few bold claims and the goal to make an intrinsically more private social network. The overwhelming response that we elicited made us realize that technology wouldn't be enough." The Diaspora project could prove useful in providing businesses with a framework for implementing proprietary, internal social networks without running the risk of divulging trade secrets or sensitive materials. With the goal to integrate Diaspora into Facebook, businesses also won’t have to sacrifice giving up the social network’s huge audience.
Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Creative & Design,  Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
InterContinental Hotels Group Offers Hospitality With A Technical Twist (InformationWeek)
Posted: 10/14/2010
It’s easy to chalk IHG's, InterContinental Hotels Group, ubiquitous success up to one thing: customer loyalty. Tom Conophy, IHG's CIO, said the company’s core focus is on making customers "the center of our universe," and customer loyalty is vital to growth in the hospitality industry. The ever-growing hotel group, which owns seven hotel chains, including Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and InterContinental Hotels, keeps its guest doors swinging by making business intelligence one of their core competencies. 200 million guest profiles currently occupy the company’s 25 TB database, with detailed information on 43 million loyalty plan members. The company currently receives 30 million availability requests per day, supported by its own proprietary search technology, the Bottom-Up Optimum Search Strategy(BOSS). "Search is the killer app for us," Conophy says, and with IHG’s iPhone app as the industry’s most downloaded, adding mobility is another success factor with a concept the group has named “Virtually Me.”
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Creative & Design,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Building Best-Run Businesses With SAP’s Targeted Analytic Applications (InformationWeek)
Posted: 10/14/2010
The demand for domain-specific business insight led SAP to launch ten SAP BusinessObjects analytic applications. The customer-centric, problem solving apps include Sales Analysis for Retail; and Trade Promotion Effectiveness and On-Shelf Availability apps for consumer products firms, whose very names reveal how the development process was led by insight from key constituencies within SAP’s customer and industry bases. "These apps attach the knowledge workers to the action so they can make better decisions and help their company become a best-run business," said SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott. While designed with the SAP core customer segments in mind, the apps do not depend on pre-existing SAP deployments so that they will reach across to non-SAP customers, as well. Backed by Sybase mobile technologies, the apps promise benefits like reports and metrics; rapid deployment and actionable analytic insights. Plans to support the apps with mobile are expected to be fulfilled by the end of 2011.
Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer
Combining Brick With Clicks Proves Profitable Among Retailers (Internet Evolution)
Posted: 10/14/2010
Bricks-plus-clicks is an emergent marketing strategy that combines online sales with storefront initiatives to boost sales. National brands including Gap and Nordstrom are using the tactic with success. For instance, Gap recently launched a “Universality” initiative in both Canada and the UK for consumers to simultaneously shop Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic merchandise in a “three-in-one” online store. The universality platform brings brands together online with global navigation and a universal shopping cart while the “bricks” includes new fulfillment centers to save shoppers the expense and hassle of import duties and fees and delays at customs. Showing solid sales improvements, Nordstrom is 11 months in to a fluid inventory plan that uses the Internet to connect its traditional-store inventory to its online sales site to make sure that merchandise is never overlooked on store shelves. The company’s new website also incorporates popular social media features.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction
Region: Global,  North America,  Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer
Chatter Mobile: Saleforce.com’s Answer To Enterprise Collaboration (Intelligent Enterprise)
Posted: 10/14/2010
Salesforce.com recently announced Chatter Mobile, a smart-phone application designed to bring CRM-centric, social-networking-style collaboration to Smartphones by the end of 2010. The Web 2.0-styled consumer app lets Saleforce’s Chatter users collaborate with people at work while on-the-go and in real-time. Similar to following Facebook friends and interests, Chatter enables users to subscribe to and "follow" feeds related to their business, as well as keep tabs on what customers and prospects are saying on public networks like Facebook and Twitter. Partners and customers can also "Chatterize" vertical and custom applications through the Force.com development platform. The free service is featured within the company’s cloud-based sales and service applications, which could help a mobile salesperson stay on top of what matters most as they are heading to meet with their clients.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Like This: Google Acquires Like.com (InformationWeek)
Posted: 09/30/2010
In an effort to fortify Google’s search and e-commerce capabilities, the mega-search company recently purchased visual search company Like.com. Like.com’s computer vision and machine learning technology allows users to search and conduct visual comparisons for goods as they shop, making it particularly user friendly for mobile devices. Like.com CEO Munjal Shah confirmed the deal, stating, "We were the first to bring visual search to shopping, the first to build an automated cross-matching system for clothing, and more. We see joining Google as a way to supersize our vision and supercharge our passion." Google’s likely goal in the purchase is to beef up it core search products and image recognition services (Google Goggles), as well as intensify its social capabilities (Jambool and Slide.com) to make search more “social and more deeply integrated with e-commerce.”
Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Shazam! How One Company Plans To Change The Advertising Industry (.net)
Posted: 09/30/2010
Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher recently sat down with Oliver Lindberg to discuss why the company chose to charge for the popular mobile music discovery app and how the company plans to change the face of advertising as we know it. While Facebook may be the most downloaded iPhone app in the US, Shazam is Europe’s frontrunner. The app, which identifies a piece of recorded music via a mobile’s mic, tallied 50 million users across all platforms in October with the goal to double that number by the end of the year and reach 300 million users by 2015. Users are apparently willing to pay the price: the London-based start-up introduced a paid-for version of its iPhone app – Shazam Encore – with a limited free version offering five tags per month for new users. The service offers unlimited tagging, faster performance and a range of extra features such as music search and geo-location ticketing.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,  Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Top Tips To Evaluate Online Ad Value (Internet Evolution)
Posted: 09/30/2010
When it comes to online adverstising, what is the best way to sift through the massive amounts of quantitative information available (impressions, clicks, repeat visits, context, etc.) to determine if a campaign has made any qualitative progress? According to one author, the best way is to follow six simple steps to gain measurable success: (1) Return on Investment (ROI) which, in essence, measures what you get vs. what you give; (2) Branding/awareness, which focuses on cultivating loyalty from existing clients vs. attracting new ones; (3) Positioning/SOV (share of voice), which focuses on edging out the competition; (4) CTR (click-through rate), although this dominant metric is slightly giving way to Engagement, it remains the best way to measure a campaign’s success; (5) Engagement, which is evidence that “the user did something more meaningful than clicking,” such as leaving a comment or playing a game; and (6) “Learning,” which means paying attention to all the different variables that could eventually play a role in future campaigns.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer
Video Girl Barbie Goes Viral (Promo Magazine)
Posted: 09/30/2010
In true Barbie fashion, the social girl charged the virtual social world this July to build the buzz for her latest professional stint: videographer. Mattel tapped into social networks Foursquare and Twitter to launch a campaign that criss-crossed the boundaries of traditional marketing. The campaign celebrated the new Video Girl Barbie with a scavenger hunt that had fans scouring San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York to locate Barbie’s real whereabouts. The first follower to find the fashion-forward doll in each city won a Barbie Video Girl doll. “We really embraced social media as a marketing platform a year ago as part of a major campaign in support of Barbie’s 50th anniversary,” says Lauren Dougherty, director of Barbie marketing at Mattel. Barbie currently has 17,600 Twitter followers and about 440,000 likes on Facebook—more than 200,000 of those added since January. Future plans include a promotion that puts the camera in the consumers’ hands with user-generated video, as well as introducing other members of Barbie’s entourage, including Ken, onto the social platforms.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy,  Creative & Design,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global,  North America
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
New Tweet Button Simplifies Sharing (Digital Arts)
Posted: 09/16/2010
In an effort to simplify sharing and make retweeting one of its core functions, Twitter recently launched a new Tweet Button, which prompts a pop-up box allowing visitors to share a Twitter feed without leaving the site they are visiting. The feature also allows publishers to incorporate custom text into their Tweet Button box, as well as suggest other Twitter accounts to follow. "The Tweet Button will help publishers grow traffic and increase their Twitter following," reads Twitter's announcement. While TweetMeme will be phasing out its popular “retweet” service, the company plans to launch other Twitter-related services. "We have grown to more than 750 million daily retweet button impressions.... That said, the market requires an official solution that can accelerate this growth. So today Twitter is launching its own Tweet Button and we are very pleased to be partnering with them to continue to grow the overall Twitter ecosystem," reads a TweetMeme statement. CNN.com, YouTube, Time.com, Hulu and USA Today have already incorporated the function into their websites.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Social Media Becomes Key Tactic For Strategy Execution (Forbes)
Posted: 09/02/2010
Scores of consumers are using social media to connect, express and impact the world around them, and savvy marketers are tapping its power, too, with nearly 80% implementing the medium to bring their customers to the table rather than talk at them from the proverbial soapbox. While much of the literature highlights how companies can implement social media outside of their organizations, there is significant room to use social media as an inside strategy tool, too. Bad communication can freeze any organizational idea, especially if employees feel ostracized from the process. What better way to get the entire organization on board with a branding initiative or new program than using social media as a strategy to help organizations better talk with, rather than talk at their employees. The tool will not only help companies build and execute better strategies but build stronger employee cultures in the process.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business
Online Game Features Upscale Brands To Give Users A Virtual Retail Fix (BrandWeek)
Posted: 09/02/2010
Popsugar's new online game, "Retail Therapy", merges social gaming with e-commerce to give users an insanely addictive fashion fix. Available on Facebook and at Playretailtherapy.com, the game can be played for free or users can purchase virtual goods priced from $1 to $100. Here's how the fashion-forward game works: players fill empty store shelves with virtual goodies from premier labels like Banana Republic, Barneys New York, Gap and Juicy Couture. Sponsors like Diane von Furstenberg and Topshop have even opted to launch virtual stores in which users can purchase products. Players can also make the leap into any of the retailers' sites to fill their shopping carts with real merchandise. Friends can visit other friends' shops or create unique looks to share among their networks. By modeling aspects of the game after the wildly popular Farmville, CEO Brian Sugar "believes that Retail Therapy can entice users to open up their wallets . . . to purchase virtual goods by promising competitive advantages and overall better game play."
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Content Strategy,  E-Commerce,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Kitty Crowdsourcing? New Service Helps Businesses Collect And Rank Innovative Ideas (Fast Company)
Posted: 09/02/2010
When Princeton sociology professor Matthew Salganik came across KittenWars.com, he knew he found a valuable model for his own crowdsourcing website, All Our Ideas, which merges sociology and computer science techniques to enable organizations to collect ideas and rank them more effectively. A virtual idea factory, the service allows users to launch their own question and answer websites. If neither answer presented is acceptable to visitors, they can simply add their new ideas to the mix. Those new ideas then get filtered into the voting pool. Salganik explains, “If you ask for suggestions, especially online, you may get thousands of ideas that can take weeks to sort through. On the other hand, if you use a survey with preset questions and answers, you can get lots of data but few new ideas." The service is already gaining traction with organizations like Princeton’s class of 2008 student government, which used the tool to pinpoint the most pressing issues on undergrads minds.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Social Sampling: The Campbell Brand Joins Facebook (BrandWeek)
Posted: 08/19/2010
In an effort to grow sales of its healthy beverages and baked snacks, Campbell Soup Co. has launched a Facebook campaign to promote its new V8 V-Fusion + Tea line via social sampling. Each week through September 30, the Camden, N.J.-based maker of Chunky and Select Harvest soups will give away 1,000 free samples. Another Campbell brand, Pepperidge Farm, also launched a page to promote its new strawberry flavored Milano cookies, gaining nearly 9,000 fans in the month since its launch. Taking a cue from other big name brands – like Ford and P&G's Gillette – Campbell is incorporating more social media marketing into its overall marketing plan to drive consumption. The strategy to connect with consumers online seems to be working: In the first 24 hours, all 1,000 samples of V8 V-Fusion + Tea were gone, Campbell rep Juli Mandel Sloves said.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
New Old Spice Campaign Aims To Go Viral With A Little Mystery (Fast Company)
Posted: 08/19/2010
Ad firm Wieden+Kennedy has taken a successful “Old” television ad concept viral. Old Spice, owned by Procter and Gamble, is leveraging the appeal of its TV spot star, Isaiah Mustafa, by taping 30-second YouTube videos in response to Twitter feeds. The team behind the campaign works in conjunction with technology to scan responses and identify the social influence of those responders to choose messages that will create a wow factor and perpetuate themselves throughout “virally-relevant” communities. Wieden's global interactive creative director Iain Tait asserts that rather than using a dedicated proprietary site, the campaign gets maximum exposure on YouTube, especially since the current spots are being watched and re-tweeted extensively. The ability of embedded material on YouTube to be liked, shared, favored and dispersed quickly factored into the decision for which social medium to use. Heeding the nature of the ‘want it new, want it now” internet culture, the company strives to produce the video responses in real time to the keep the content fresh, relevant to the brand and newsworthy. The content goes successfully beyond pure entertainment value to make “the connection between the content, the product and the experience of the product.”
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy,  Creative & Design,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Pulling Klout: Website Helps Users Measure Their Social Influence (CNN Money)
Posted: 08/19/2010
Users can now discover their social “Klout” by numerical rank by inputting their Twitter name into Klout.com. The San Francisco-based social media start-up is shoring up its position to become the online standard for measuring social impact by partnering with Virgin America to offer a hand-picked group of “influencers” a free flight from San Francisco or Los Angeles to Virgin America's newest destination, Toronto. Here’s how the new type of marketing campaigns (implemented by brands like Starbucks and Cover Girl) work: (1) Users accept product offers; (2) In return, Klout requests for disclosure of the freebie; (3) Klout measures some two dozen variables, including the number of times their comments are retweeted, the size of their Twitter audience, and the influence of those followers, to come up with a numerical value and ranking on a 0-to-100 scale.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Marketing Communications,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
What's In A Name? The Term Cloud Computing Breathes New Life Into An Existing Technology (Forbes)
Posted: 08/05/2010
In an industry where fancy buzzwords abound, "cloud computing" really signifies more of a generational evolution than a new technology. While there may be some hype related to doing business "in the cloud," on-demand, internet-based computing leverages the same technology companies like Google and Amazon pioneered and perfected through trial and error. Now, companies can access even more highly evolved programs like Google App Engine and Apache Hadoop - as well as a steadily increasing list of other options - to write their own data center infrastructure applications. In a virtual world where complete computer security is always somewhat questionable, the flexible and economical strengths of cloud computing remains very attractive to corporate computing operations. The end-goal is to partner with trustworthy, security-focused services that respond to and eliminate threats as they are exposed.
Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business
Creating One-To-One Conversations: Customer Data Required (BtoB Online)
Posted: 08/05/2010
E-mail marketers are keeping costs low and continuing to invest in e-mail, according to interactive agency Razorfish’s “2010 Outlook Report”, released on May 24. E-mail marketing use is changing; said Joe Mele, Razorfish’s managing director of media and marketing, “We’re definitely seeing a move to one-to-one marketing. Marketers are using the channel as a personalization space to do quite a bit of targeted advertising.” To accomplish such personalization and expand e-mail marketing, Mele suggests texting and reaching out to salespeople for specific data to customize ads down to the offers, messaging, images and design. “Texting is as addressable as e-mail but able to take on a more intimate feel,” Mele said.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business
Following The Trends: Internet Levels Playing Field For Small Businesses (BtoB Online)
Posted: 08/05/2010
Thanks to the Internet, small companies having difficulty competing with large companies for customers are in luck. Despite the fact that search query results are crowded, small business owners can take steps to maximize their online presence via search and social media by following a few simple tips. For instance, by updating business listings or creating new ones for companies and choosing social media networks wisely, marketers can integrate the increasingly important localization of their product or company. Becoming “vertical” is also key, since doing so means companies participate in many social sites, as is getting one-to-one with customers by paying specific attention to exactly what products they prefer.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Peer Groups & Communities
Professional And Personal Identities: Building Brands Into Your Blog (BusinessWeek)
Posted: 08/05/2010
Who knew that blogging and business go hand in hand? According to eMarketer, a New York based-research firm, “71 percent of bloggers who post for business [create] greater visibility for their companies.” Blogging gives companies a chance to act more like people and connect with their customers by giving posts a personal touch. Employees looking to promote the companies they work for should formulate branding strategies based on personal missions and values. With permission from company managers to get personal with posts, employees can promote new products, mention awards they’ve won at work, and keep followers updated on projects they’re working on. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved; companies and employees will be recognized and remembered.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
Fuel Your Facebook Fan Page In 4 Easy Steps (Ecommerce Times)
Posted: 07/22/2010
Marketers may successfully be racking up the fan numbers on their Facebook Fan Pages, but they are ultimately failing to establish long-term relationships with customers in the process. Companies shouldn’t lose hope, however, because the code to successfully reaping rewards on Facebook lies in four critical steps. According to an E-Commerce News article, in order to retain customers, marketers need to “1) develop a strategy; 2) create a solid presence; 3) motivate [their] fans to take action; and 4) use Facebook to amplify other campaigns, promotions and marketing activities.” Committing to the management of their Facebook walls after business hours, considering brand contribution cadence, and asking if they are doing what their fans want will also aide companies in amping up their fan totals.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer,  Peer Groups & Communities
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly: Crowdsourcing Provides Answers For Online Marketers (Marketing Vox)
Posted: 07/22/2010
For marketers looking for solutions to a plethora of problems, crowdsourcing could be the answer. Marketers gain key insight while spending minimal dollars to survey the expertise of entire online communities. Still, crowdsourcing is not without limitations. Primarily, crowdsourcing is dogged by knowing how to separate the great ideas from the bad ones. To illustrate, Jez Frampton, CEO of Interbrand, tells of a creative director who tried crowdsourcing for a campaign and within 48 hours received hundreds of ideas, leaving him with the even bigger problem of how to sift through the crowd’s offerings. (via Forbes). Marketers should not be deterred, as crowdsourcing has a number of advantages, including web usability testing sites like UserTesting.com and Feedback Army, where companies post questions about their websites and testers choose which questions to answer.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Get The Most Out Of User Experience On Your Website (New Media Knowledge)
Posted: 07/22/2010
Are you aware of what users really experience on your website? Monitoring your website performance has hit a new level of complexity since Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are more frequently being incorporated into Web pages. Knowing how your browser interacts with RIAs is crucial to discovering how fast your Web page renders. To get an accurate result, use a real browser. Why is this important? Browser emulators are far less sophisticated at interacting with Web pages than real browsers and only real browsers can accurately track information in various situations. Real browsers also accurately capture client time – when actual page element execution is taking place. Ultimately, using a real browser with RIAs lets you know that your end-user is getting the best experience possible on your Web page.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products,  Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Experience & Interaction,  Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business,  Business to Consumer
Bug Your Friends With Facebook And See Toy Story 3 (Fast Company)
Posted: 07/22/2010
Going to the movies is great, right? Disney thinks so and encourages you to bring a friend along. In an attempt to help boost ticket sales, a promotion called Disney’s Tickets Together, is pairing up with Facebook to sell tickets for the much anticipated Toy Story 3. Visiting Toy Story 3’s Facebook page will allow you to purchase tickets early, but there’s a twist. Buying tickets early will trigger Facebook to bug you to, in turn, bug your friends to buy tickets. You can also invite friends to join Facebook with this message, “Toy Story 3 arrives in theaters on June 18! Who are you bringing with you?” Will this tactic work? Disney is reporting successful pre-sales.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,  Retail & Products
Topic: Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer
Uplift Modeling: The Upside to Marketing (Ecommerce Times)
Posted: 07/08/2010
The key to spending a lot less on marketing while receiving better sales results may be uplift modeling. Specific customers have specific wants and needs; uplift modeling uses intelligent predictive analysis to target relevant needs specific to certain customers. Uplift divides customers into segments, allowing companies to focus solely on the “Persuadables”- customers likely to respond to being contacted through marketing outreach tactics and begin or renew their purchasing as a result. Time and money isn’t wasted on “Sure Thing”, “Lost Cause”, and “Sleeping Dog” customers- those who always buy, never buy or just don’t want to be bothered. Uplift modeling saves valuable company time and money, while avoiding the negativity associated with uninterested customers.
Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Business Intelligence,  Content Strategy,  Experience & Interaction,  Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business
Previous 1 2 3 Next

Browse By:

Refine Results
You have selected:
Global
Remove All
 
Date Range
Last 7 days
Past 90 days
Past 1 year
Past 2 years
 
Industry
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Retail & Products
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Telecommunications
 
Topic
Business Intelligence
Content Strategy
Creative & Design
E-Commerce
Experience & Interaction
Marketing Communications
Technology Implementation
 
Audience
Business to Business
Business to Consumer
Peer Groups & Communities
 


Receive simple, straightforward access to publications and commentary — delivered in your inbox. We keep you up-to-date so you can stay ahead.

Subscribe Now »

© 2012 Internet, Interactive, Digital Media Consulting and Management Firm – Metropolis3 Worldwide, LLC
Metropolis3 Worldwide associates please log in to access your resources.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use