A new generation of tweeting “celebrities” (indeed, a begrudging use of the term) is having their pockets filled at the rate of $10,000 (£6,256) per tweet by awkwardly endorsing brands and, often, their ill-fitting products.

If the absurdity of Snopp Dogg hawking Toyota’s new line of minivans, or swagger waggons (sic) as he puts it, is lost on his 4.7m followers, is certainly isn’t on the likes of Ad.ly, the social marketers setting up these celebrity endorsement deals. Read More »

Despite some recent success enjoyed by big brand advertisers—like Ford’s spokespuppet ‘Doug’ campaign—Facebook is forecast to capture only 6.4% of total online ad spending this year.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ford spent more than $95m promoting its ‘Doug’ campaign on TV and print, but less than 5% of that was spent on Facebook, which garnered 43,000 “likes”. Of ‘Doug’s’ Facebook fans, 61% said they were more likely to consider buying a Ford Focus, the car it was advertising. Read More »

I was chatting with our Innovation Director, Rob Meldrum, the other day about what might happen if Google decides to officially make a play for developing a brain implant. As I tore an almond croissant into miniature chunks to enjoy with my yummington hot beverage, I began to wonder what the implications would be for digital advertising and permission-based marketing.

The Google brain implant is something that Eric Schmidt has spoken about before (or, at least, been asked about, to which he replied: ‘there’s what I call the creepy line. And the Google policy about a lot of these things is to get right up to the creepy line, but not cross it. I would argue that implanting things in your brain is beyond the creepy line…at least for the moment, until the technology gets better’.  He has to say that, doesn’t he, especially with things around such as H+, a new web series on a similar theme, produced by Brian Singer). Have a gander at the trailer here.
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Chatting to my good friend Jo recently, who is a primary school teacher, about methods of learning, it struck me that there are some clear parallels between classroom teaching methods and digital marketing.

As I took another gazzolop of sweet tea, I considered the fact that as education continues to gravitate towards increasingly stimulatory learning techniques, so digital advertising – whether it be online ads, social media campaigns or mobile marketing – also calls for similar measures to cut through and resonate. After all, success in both professions is essentially determined by how well you have inspired your audience to engage with the points you are trying to get across. Read More »

Seven months ago I reported Google was taking aim and Adobe and IBM with the launch a paid-for enterprise analytics tool, which would compete directly with Omniture and CoreMetrics.

Indications from the web are that this tool will be rolled out later today. Read More »

Brands should be careful not to fall off the balcony of cool – broadening the debate surrounding memes and whether brands should engage with consumers whilst being on-trend.

This is an ambitious blog post. I am aim to identify some things brands and marketers should be aware of when placing a brand at the very apex of cool, I aim to tell you a little bit about memes and I aim to inform you of why my theory of the balcony of being on-trend should be constantly at the forefront of all of our minds(!). Read More »

The updated Linked in iPhone app

For obvious reasons Google has long-trumpeted the notion that brands should create a mobile optimised site first before developing a costly iPhone app.

While Google now offers a free way of doing so with its recently launched Mobilize tool, brands are looking to create more sophisticated mobile sites as they start to realise that the only way isn’t necessarily Apple. Read More »

‘Why are your ears pointed, Mr Spock?’
‘To heat up butter popcorn, Captain.’

People will always be a bit interested when someone takes the very familiar, gives it a tweak, and makes you see it in a different way.

The appeal is probably due to the child-like excitement that comes when ‘What if…’ and ‘Why not!?’ prevail over sound reasons not to. It’s fun. It’s unexpected. It pushes the boundaries. It’s precarious, and there’s a bit of jeopardy involved. Throw some innovative technology into the mix and the result is an interesting trend for reinventing the familiar, using digital means. Read More »

Resonate: research questions value of 'heavy' social media users

People who use social media the most are less involved in the outside world and might not be as worthwhile targeting as marketers believe, new research indicates.

Resonate, which specializes in online audience targeting, has found that heavy social media users are less likely to be involved in politics; less likely to donate to charity; and less likely to do online shopping, not spending as much as other groups when they do.

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Digital Shoreditch Festival

It isn’t often you get to wander about the streets of London, popping into offices to see what the workspace is like, and to gather and mix with many of London’s digital superstars, until the first Digital Shoreditch Festival held last week.

The festival week (3-7 May 2011) was packed with activities that showcased the digital talent found in the thriving area of East London’s Shoreditch, with 200 companies being involved. With the mission of bringing the area together, so that cross-pollination of ideas and business collaboration can happen more, the organizer’s PlayGen have met their goal. Read More »