MarCom Professional

Consumers are no longer characterised by demographic thanks to search marketing. Instead they are defined by interest. Search allows motivated users to be matched with a brand.

This was the view of Colin Petrie-Norris, Managing Director, International Specific Media, speaking at the FT Digital Media & Broadcasting conference this morning.

Petrie-Norris shared a list of items that he’d searched for in the last few days with the audience. These included a number of innocent items intended as gifts that he said that he would rather not share with his wife to make the point that Google knows more about a user than their friends and family. More...

We have been members of BIMA for a while – it’s a trade body for digital agencies.  They ran an event called “New business generation – farming style” earlier this month.  It was a panel discussion with Chris Cowpe – The Caffeine Partnership, Paul Kirkley – JWT, David Hart – Codegent and Mark Clark – @JFDI.

Here is Jane’s take on the event with her own views expanded.

Changes in Business Development

A subtle yet important shift is starting to change the way we look at business development. The change can be best described as a move from hunting to farming. More...

Over 11 million hotel rooms and 1 million airline seats are potential new IPTV entertainment applications, according to the latest market study by MRG, Inc.

Hotels and Airlines alone will account for a $1.9 billion global market in 2012, indicating that for most hospitality applications, analog video use is likely to quickly become extinct.

MRG says that both In-Room Entertainment (IRE) and In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) markets show a sharp shift in user expectations.

"While respondents indicated that IPTV may be too expensive for the low-end market, the study finds that there is a substantial and growing need for IPTV to serve the mid- and high-end of the hospitality market. More...

In the few short years that social media marketing has been prevalent, it has already had an enormous effect on the way companies do business online and off-line.

In the coming years there will be even more changes, as social media marketing extends from the marketing department to nearly every aspect of a company's business operations.

eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson outlines several trends to watch in the coming years. "Advertising -- which some might say has already failed as a business model -- will not be the primary revenue driver for social media companies," said Ms. More...

How good are your planning skills? Would you be prepared to put your money where you mouse is and buy shares in a company that you identified as a good investment prospect?

I doubt that many people would. But this could be the outcome of a project driven by Google Insight. Wikinut founder Andy Walton posted a comment about his experiment after I blogged about the application of Google Insight to identify the likely success of a campaign.

Walton’s contention is that Google Insights can be used to link search volumes to product usage and revenue for brands that [are] unique enough to avoid cross over with unrelated searches. More...

Bad consultants focus on short-term agendas. Good consultants effect long-term change.

Bad consultants care about looking good. Good consultants care about being good.

Bad consultants push what’s comfortable. Good consultants push what’s important.

Bad consultants seek validation. Good consultants seek the truth.

Bad consultants treat people with disdain. Good consultants treat them with respect.

Bad consultants stand in the way of progress. Good consultants support it.

Bad consultants knock people down to build themselves up. Good consultants build people up. More...

Smooching couples were banned at Yo Sushi in St Pauls, London, on Valentine’s Day.