Ogilvy Interactive ranked as No. 1 Interactive Agency in 2008

RECMA First global ranking of the interactive agencies

Ogilvy Interactive and Isobar at the top

RECMA, the research company evaluating media agencies in 50 countries, has just released a global ranking of the interactive agencies 2008.

The Top3 consists of:

•No.1 Ogilvy Interactive (WPP) with 3,800 staff including OgilvyInteractive, OgilvyOne and Neo@Ogilvy

•No.2 Isobar (Aegis Media) with 3,663 staff including 55 specialist agencies and Carat / Vizeum interactive integrated teams.

•No.3 Sapient Interactive (Independent) with 2,500 staff.

Below you will find the top 25 interactive agencies extracted from the global ranking of 130 major interactive agencies.

The RECMA Interactive report (150 pages) includes rankings by country, by reporting status as well as an inventory of the interactive resources of the media agency networks in 28 countries.

TV, Internet help influence decisions of Asian youth

Reference to the Article in Times of India 25/03/2009: from Singapore

Want to get across to Asia’s youth? Do it through media or music, with a survey revealing that most spend on average 10 hours a day watching TV, on the internet, reading magazines or listening to the radio.

In findings bound to cheer advertisers, the annual Synovate Young Asians survey, which polled some 13,000 people aged between 8 and 24, also showed many of these youth have a say over a variety of purchases ranging from their own snacks and clothes to the family holiday and even the family car.

“It’s vital that smart marketers continue to engage with these young audiences to build a loyal consumer base,” Miranda Cheung, managing director of market research firm Synovate in Singapore, said in a statement.

"With so much time spent each day on media consumption, there is every reason to believe that brand communications have filtered through and influenced purchase decisions,” she said.

Nearly a third of young Asians said they plan their day around their favourite TV programs, hoping to catch every episode, the survey revealed.

Up to a quarter said they could not live without the Internet, and two-thirds said they must listen to music daily. “Asia’s young people have certainly embraced multi-tasking,” Cheung said.

“Kids are watching the TV, but also talking on the phone. They are on the Internet with the radio on in the background. Or they may be sending email, texting on their mobile phone and playing an online game all at the same time,” she added.

Koreans spent over 13 hours a day—the longest in the region—consuming some form of media, followed by Hong Kong youth and Singaporeans. Synovate found that 35% of youths had increased their Internet usage in the past year.

Close to a quarter had spent more time watching TV while 34% said that they had devoted more time to listening to music.

The survey covers 12 countries across Asia, including Vietnam and Japan, who have polled for the first time. REUTERS

How to create your business profile on Facebook?

The social networking site Facebook is used by more than 150,000,000 million people to share personal information with friends online. With those kinds of numbers, you knew it would be belong until businesses saw the potential. If you're looking to tap the marketing potential of Facebook, you can create free Facebook Business pages leveraging Facebook business options can provide a new channel for you to interact with your customers At the same time these pages, called Public Profiles, can also help you acquire new customers as your Facebook fans spread the word about your business to their friends.

In this Facebook how-to guide we will walk through the steps to create your own Facebook Public Profile (also called a Fan page).

Getting Started: Get your Business on Facebook To get started, you need to visit the Facebook Advertising page. Here you will find tabs to access the following business options:

• Advertising: Businesses use this tab to create advertisements that will run on Facebook pages.

• Pages: Businesses use Pages to create a presence on Facebook that will let others join your page as a fan.

• Connect: Facebook connect lets users seamlessly connect their Facebook account and information to your site.

• Facebook Share: Design a button for your site to make joining your Facebook Public profile easy for your customers.

How to Publish a Facebook Business Page

The best way to start is with creating a Page for your business. Those who have created a personal Facebook profile will find the process pretty simple, but the step-by-step form pages will also make creating a Business Page painless for those new to Facebook. You will need to have basic business information ready before creating the page —decide on a page name and find any images you want to upload.

Remember that your company logo is best for the profile picture. When you create the page you will need to include a description of your Web site, product, brand or company. With this information handy, simply choose one of three categories for your business: Local Business (and the industry), Brand or Product, or choose if this will be a Page for a public band, artist or other public figure. Once you select a category you are required to enter the business name. When you submit this information you will then see a Business Page that shares some resemblance to personal profile pages on Facebook.

On a side note, Facebook completed implementing changes to the Facebook business pages that will make the page look exactly user profiles. In step 2, you'll want to upload your business logo, provide information about your business, contact information, hour of operation (if you have a retail or local office), and a general description that describes your business. As you add more details about your business you can view the changes live on the page you are creating. This is all you need to publish a basic Business Page on Facebook.

Customize Applications and Business Details On your Facebook Business Page you will see applications that you can include on the page you have just created. When viewing your Business Page, there is an Edit Page link on the top right. Here you can customize all options from a single admin screen. In the previous step we took care of the profile picture, basic and detailed information boxes. Now, you will need to customize the applications that you want to use. Each Application has a small edit option by the title, letting you remove any of the available applications or customize the application to your liking. Here are the basic Facebook Applications for Business pages:

• Discussion Boards: Enable your fans to get their ideas out into the open. Discussion boards let you know exactly what your fans and customers think and want.

• Events: Organize gatherings or let people know about your upcoming business events.

• Information: Manage settings for the Information application.

• Notes: Share your business news or engage your fans through written entries.

• Photos: Upload photos to your page and allow your fans to share photos on your page also.

• Reviews: Fans and customers can leave honest opinions about your business.

• Video: A high-quality video platform for pages on Facebook.

• Wall: The Wall is an open forum for your fans or friends to leave comments, thoughts, and ideas about you on your Page or Profile.

The last option you will need to use is the Settings area. This is where you edit country restrictions, place age restrictions and change the published status of your business page. When you are happy with the way your Business page looks, you click the Publish this page link.

Tracking and Gathering Business Page Fans Within 48 hours of publishing your page, you'll be able to access 'Insights', which is Facebook collected data about how your business page is being used. Here you can track pageviews, number of fans, removed fans, wall posts, discussion topics, reviews, photo views, and more.

After you have successfully created a Business Page you can link to it from your own Web site, e-mail campaigns, or encourage your own personal Facebook friends to become a fan of your page. Remember, when a personal friend becomes a new fan, that message is displayed as a notification to all of your friend's friends. Similar to word-of-mouth marketing, this is a great way to bring Facebook users to your new Business page.

DID YOU KNOW...
The Web research firm Hitwise reports that, overall, Facebook was the fifth-ranked Web site in terms of total market share of visits in January 2009. When compared to 2008, there has been a pronounced shift in the age of the Facebook audience. According to Hitwise, visitors aged 18 to 24 represented a 42 percent share of visits for the four weeks ending Jan. 26, 2008, but have now dropped to 24 percent for the four weeks ending Jan. 24, 2009. Now visitors aged 25 to 34 make up the largest share of visits with 27 percent, with 18 to 24 and 35 to 44 closely following with respective shares of 24 percent and 23 percent. (Source: EcommerceGuide.com)

Widget Strategy for Marketers

Widgets are small, lightweight applications that, by their very nature, demand simplicity. In addition, the lack of a significant, large base of adult users means that investments need to be scaled appropriately. To succeed, marketers should:

Focus widget design on providing value to users.

A widget with too many features will fail because it strives to serve all users but in the process serves no specific user need well. Widgets must first and foremost create user value, either because it serves a core utility or is highly entertaining.

Do neither and the widget will be quickly deleted to make room for a more useful widget. The aforementioned "RSS in a dress" widgets fall prey to the utility problem while also taking up too much room to justify their meager value.

Aim for only few days of widget development.

I recently spoke with a marketer who had a six-month widget deployment calendar involving an ecosystem of agencies and providers. This is a mistake — marketers shouldn't have to wait months or even weeks to launch their first widgets. Instead, aim to spend the equivalent of a long weekend creating the first widget. How? Copy a successful widget, which is what Sony Pictures did with its film 30 Days of Night, by taking the popular Facebook Vampires application and reskinning for the film. For more details click here.

After learning from a few trial widgets, focus development efforts in one of two areas that will have the biggest impact, namely, personalization (to encourage adoption of the widget) and virality (to encourage its spread to other people).

Market your widget.

Marketing widgets are a bit odd in that they require a marketing investment to make them pay off; it's not often that you have to market your own marketing channel. Make sure that your target audience can easily find the widget, either on your own site's home page or on your partner and affiliate sites. Add it to footers, mention it in email newsletters, and place it in widget galleries across multiple platforms.

Make it easy for other people to download a widget that they like by replacing embed codes with one-button "add to" features from companies like Gigya and ShareThis. Work with vendors such as RockYou, Widgetbox, SocialMedia, and Context Optional that can help spread your widgets among their own networks.

Which is a better sales tool?

Conversation Channels or Advertorials?

From the global trends in marketing over the past 12 months, digital marketing solutions (online and via cellphone) are coming into their own as marketers' channels of choice because of their growing stature as solutions that work well and save money.

According to the trends by so many market researches, enterprises will increase their focus on business impact in 2009 and build on the collective growth and adoption of social media sites and consumer interaction.

Social technology adoption increased tremendously in 2008, and by the end of 2009 more than 85 percent of online consumers, for example, will be reading or interacting with social content.

Ratings and reviews, "voting" for websites, and peer-generated video experienced the largest growth, while blogs and tagging closely followed.

Older adults are now also more likely to participate socially as spectators and critics, placing them in the active rungs of the researchers' social media ladder.

The research projects that more brands will begin to integrate social applications with traditional marketing campaigns and revise campaigns based on social feedback.

"Clients are now going to look at the digital medium more seriously and the guys who were thinking about it will now start acting on it,"

"Cost effectiveness is just one part of the story. It is also because the entry barriers are low - you don't have to invest huge amounts of money to get in.

"It also gives an opportunity for one-to-one interaction, and is far more accountable than other media. So it's a gamut of reasons, and I think now when everybody is looking to cut corners and think twice before they spend, a medium like this really helps."

Key elements that underpin the rise of digital marketing. For businesses and marketers looking to access digital marketing channels, there are a few central tenets.

Firstly, conversation, connection and interaction are the key. Most digital channels are two-way and immediate, and can lead to a higher return on investment.

Social media such as blogs and social networks such as Facebook, for example, are all about people connecting with other people. It is easier to shift attitudes and affect behaviour through a conversation than an advertisement.

Most marketing efforts in the past have been fragmented due to the high cost of communicating with consumers via traditional channels.

With the advent of online and social media, however, the gaps between adverts can be filled with richer interactions that involve consumers more in the brand narrative. Social media plays the deciding role in the actual purchase for many consumers.

Secondly, it is easier to track the results of digital marketing with simple analytics tools or pay-for-performance pricing on many channels such as Google (you pay only when your ad is clicked by a user).

Thirdly, well-executed digital campaigns gather momentum and can become marketing assets. An example is Procter & Gamble's BeingGirl.com site.

By investing in content, offline marketing of the site and strategic partnerships, it created a successful teen destination that drives not only visits but also sales.

Fourthly, digital campaigns can simultaneously inform consumers, while gathering insight about them. Social media is a market research opportunity the likes of which most companies would never be able to afford, particularly in a recession.

The online community is continually engaged, providing constant opinion that can lead to better products and services.

Finally, the digital marketing possibilities extend to cellphones, which to date globally has been underleveraged.

The numbers of cellphone users exceed users with fixed-line broadband in many countries

Many of these users are also accessing the internet using phones and social networking applications such as Mxit. The potential for marketers is staggering - and as yet untapped.

Despite its vast potential, marketing through the internet and cellphones is still at a nascent stage; marketers are still not up to speed on how to use these channels.

In this economy, however, firms should be switching on to these opportunities.

How Indian Musicians can engage digitally?

Lets first look into some of the online refrences of some of the famous Musicians and Artists who are present online:

http://www.arrahman.com/v2/



http://www.shankarehsaanloy.com




http://www.stringsonline.net



http://www.indianoceanmusic.com




http://www.dhoom.com



http://www.kailashkher.com



http://www.sonuniigaam.in



http://www.adnansamionline.com



There was a time when celebrity musicians were positioned as unreachable idols. Those days are long gone; in today's wired marketplace, musicians have to forge a personal relationship with their audience to keep their fans' interest. And for many, that means creating opportunities for fans to have an inside look into all aspects of an artist's life.

In the current music industry climate, many artists are realizing that they must go further than ever before to be seen as approachable -- they must run their organization with almost complete transparency. Save for major mainstream stars, the days of artists being put on an isolated pedestal are long gone; fans are far too savvy and options far too many for a musician to appear to be operating in a different universe. Fans demand access at unprecedented levels, so a band must either provide this access or be skilled at creating the illusion of it.
The Importance of Fan Engagement

What has caused this shift toward transparency? The simple answer is the Internet. The more complex answer is that the Internet has become so woven into the fabric of our culture as to create a sense of immediate fulfillment and enable complete access to almost anyone and anything.

Never before have consumers had more choices on how to entertain themselves. The avenues for information are exponentially greater than even 10 years ago. With this has come a massive sense of empowerment in music fans. No longer are they limited to what access or content an artist deems worthy to share out.
The physical technology and the conceptual structure of the Internet have given fans the ability to craft their own online experiences. If one artist is not providing the type of engagement a consumer seeks, the odds are very high that some other comparable artist is. This puts the fan in a position of greater power and influence than ever seen before in the music industry.

According to me here are the few things which all the musicians in the Bollywood / Artists / Bands should keep in mind as they look for ways to engage their fanbase online:

1) Add functionality that will connect to your fans.

In crafting your digital marketing plan, first ask, does this technology add functionality that will connect to your fans? Many musicians fall into the trap of using a digital asset simply because it does something interesting or innovative. When they first came online, a slew of musicians adopted video remix contests, but soon found that their fans were not willing to put in the time and effort to create a usable finished product.

As people learned the hard way in the late '90s, technology for technology's sake often results in amazing software with no users. If the product being implemented does not encourage repeat use and add something to a fan's experience, it is effectively useless. A great technology used once is barely better than nothing at all.

2) Technology is not a "one size fits all" solution.

Nine Inch Nails has a tight community online.

Different technology platforms are geared towards different users. Mobile music marketing rarely makes a dent for older-facing musicians, while many youth-facing pop and hip-hop artists have used phone technology with tremendous results.

Shareable widgets often have massive value, but only if the artist's fan base is naturally inclined to spread things they find interesting. Technology that engages them will not work for an artist whose fans are simply into their music and not the associated community.

3) Do not underestimate time commitments.

Next, musicians must consider how much time they are willing to commit to implementing the chosen technologies. Just as a fan only using something once has little value, there's little value when artists do not follow through in their marketing efforts.

In fact, depending on the scale and depth to which fans have been involved, abandoning efforts can have a negative impact on the artist's reputation. For example, if a musician begins using the micro-blogging platform Twitter, builds a large base of followers, gives them a glimpse behind the scenes, then abandons the effort, these fans may not just lose interest but take their disappointment public in the form of message board posts, social network comments, and other inter-fan communication.

This has happened recently in the political arena as a number of President Obama's Twitter followers publicly voiced their annoyance that his tweets had dried up since taking office. Often this only has a limited effect, but, given the viral nature of social media, this can damage an artist's brand in the long run. If a long-term digital marketing effort is not sustainable, a more realistic or shorter-term alternative needs to be substituted.

4) Create a plan for implementation and awareness.

Musicians must also develop a plan for creating awareness of these digital tools. Without fans' eyes and ears, the quality of the product and the plan are irrelevant. Musicians must find a balance between using forward-thinking technology and spending time on core fan-building techniques. The enormous benefit of music technology is that it enables artists to continually give their fans a reason to pay attention. However, if a band only has a weak fan base to begin with, their foundation must be strengthened before the value of these digital tools can be realized.

5) Use all available web properties.

A musician must use sites they control (official site, social networks) as well as online social media (music portals, blogs) to maximize the reach of these assets. Without a combined effort on these two avenues, fans miss the communication and the marketing message falls flat.

Fortunately, most of the issues outlined here are fully within control. Once a musician has an understanding of his fan base and the means to reach them, he can begin building a digital marketing strategy, one that will engage, inspire, and create long-term interest.

Case Study:

Dave Matthews Band became one of the most successful global touring acts, in part by allowing concertgoers to share live recordings of their performances. With their Facebook Page, they continue their leadership in building fan bases virally around the world.

Using a mix of Facebook-built and 3rd party applications, the band promotes their music with an audio player, video player, photo gallery, and discography--all of which host and stream unlimited amounts of media for free. Fans have flocked to DMB's rich and engaging content. Just three weeks after launch, the Page already had 60,000+ fans and 2,000+ Wall posts.

With Pages, DMB has built a socially rich, customized experience with viral distribution to grow their base by turning their fans into a digital street team. www.facebook.com/davematthewsband

Application for Musicians

Musicians can use Facebook Pages straight ‘off-the-shelf,’ taking advantage of a suite ofFacebook-built applications. In addition, Facebook’s 3rd party developer community has also built thousands of applications musicians can choose to add, ranging from blogging tools to rich media players.

For instance, DMB uses Musictoday’s MusicShop application to sell music, merchandise and tickets in a seamless purchasing experience that takes place entirely within Facebook. “We recognize Facebook as the perfect medium for fans and artists to make that connection,” Musictoday product manager John Spagnolo says.

apps.facebook.com/musicshop

Microblogging for Marketers

There is a lot being written about blogs and how to engage and market your blogs effectively. Over the past one year there is a new social media tool which is gaining a lot of popularity termed as microblogging. Microblogging allows users to communicate with their connections / networks in short content updates.

Sites like Twitter and Jaiku (there might be a few more) have become popular quickly over the past year, and users are early adopters of Social Computing technologies. However, marketers should ensure that this Social Computing tool fits into a larger communications strategy before getting involved. Before talking about the strategy we should first understand the basics.

What is Microblogging, how does it work?

Twitter is the most prominent social networking site and there’s little doubt that Twitter was one of the most talked about startups over the past year. But just how much did it grow in 2008? The final numbers are in, and according to Compete, they’re astounding: 752%, for a total of 4.43 million unique visitors in December. (Click here for more details).

Microblogs share structural elements with more widely used communication tools, which includes (Figure):

Concise entries in reverse chronological order. Similar to blogs, the most recently posted content appears at the top of a microblog. Twitter limits messages to 140 characters and truncates URLs that have more than 30 characters. These parameters help keep content user friendly for readability in compact formats, such as widgets and short message service (SMS).

Content portability. Microblogs encourage content to travel far beyond a user’s hosted page, via really simple syndication (RSS) feeds and mobile format updates. Twitter also provides a very open application programming interface (API), which has spawned an ecosystem of community-innovated tools. These include email updates, audio posting, desktop publishing utilities, community aggregators, and integration into other sites.

Self-expression. Entries are typically written by a single user with an associated profile. Microblog users offer individual commentary on subjects ranging from A to Z — many users describe what they are doing or thinking at any given moment, while others use the service to post links and draw attention to external content. Pownce allows users to post video and event links in addition to text.

Relationships with other users. Microblog users “friend,” “follow,” or “fan” other account owners to receive updates directly, similar to adding connections on a social networking site. Updates appear in aggregated form, similar to newsfeeds/status updates. Twitter users can also“nudge” one another to request a status update.

Control over message distribution. Microbloggers can specify how their updates are distributed and targeted. By default, users publish one-to-many public updates for the world to see. However, users can also publish one-to-one public updates by prefacing content with“@[username],” targeting a specific individual. Users can send direct private messages to each other as well.

So who Microblogs these days?

Early adopters of technology, especially Social Computing. Twitter users engage in Social Computing activities at much greater participation rates than both the general population and regular bloggers. Microbloggers sit at the leading edge of the Web 2.0 adoption curve, uploading, editing, and tagging more than other population segments.

Receptive to advertising and likely to chat about products. Twitter users are influenced by advertising much more than average; they are conscious about the brands they purchase as well. These consumers are also more receptive to purchase recommendations from others and are willing to pay more for products that support their self-image.

How Are Companies Using Microblogging Today?

Companies have been experimenting with Twitter, primarily those in the media industry. TV networks have extended their shows across platforms, like NBC’s “Chuck” and Fox’s “Drive.” News outlets like CNN, Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times use Twitter profiles to send news updates by leveraging existing RSS feeds.

Corporate marketers using Twitter include Dell, Carnival Cruise Lines, and JetBlue Airways. These companies keep their tweets (i.e., messages on Twitter) short and to the point, as compared with other channels like email. Carnival Cruise Lines communicates company news and updates, following a “must answer” policy — meaning that it responds to all direct messages from followers and @CarnivalCruise messages from other users. Dell Outlet offers promotions that can only be found through Twitter.

To get the complete list of some of the prominent and best brands on twitter click here.

So what should be the strategy for the marketers to leverage microblogging and build relationships with early adopters:

Integrate microblogging into the existing communications strategy. Marketers must determine how the conversation will complement existing interactive marketing and Social Computing strategy. By leveraging existing plans and content, microblogging can give brands a consistent voice within an emerging channel and across media. At the same time,microblogging enables dialogue with individuals, and marketers can use the platform to humanize their brands.

Create Accounts of your brands. At a minimum, a brand should create accounts on Twitter, Pownce, and Jaiku to claim brand and product names as a defensive procedure. Squatters and spoofers have already created accounts like http://twitter.com/ipod and http://twitter.com/myspace, hoping to cash in on microblog real estate.

Monitor relevant voices. Brands should search microblogs for content related to their industry, their competition, and themselves. Microblog sites can be searched using internal search functionality or through search engines, e.g., “site:twitter.com nike” on Google. When users display an affinity interest, marketers can “follow” them directly to receive updates of posts.

Build community. Companies can also build groups of followers that can be tapped for instantaneous insights. When a user elects to follow JetBlue’s posts, the company follows that person, creating a reciprocal “follow.” This allows JetBlue to see that user’s posts, positive or negative. This also allows JetBlue to develop relevant connections and a more valuable community.

Track success. Like other Social Computing tools, marketers should set goals for microblogging outcomes and track success based on quantitative metrics. Two metrics to track on the microblogging sites are number of followers and message volume, i.e., updates and direct messages. Microblog activity can also be tied into existing Web analytics solutions like Omniture or Google Analytics, tracking leads and conversions from posted URLs and ultimately helping monitor direct return on investment.

The unstoppable urge to Tweet

Check this out - Click on the image to view the full size.

When should you redesign your website?

At this point of time most of my clients whom I am working with have websites which they developed or got developed for their company few years back. Right now they are really not sure whether they should go for a redesign for the website or not.

There is also an old saying which says "Don't fix it, if it ain't broken". Let's take the example of Google.com - The site has looked pretty much the same since it was launched in late 90's. But, still not getting an impact for the old age design the revenue of Google has grown from $439 Million in 2002 to $ 10 billion in 2007. In January 2007, Google captured 53.7% of all US Searches while Yahoo and Microsoft MSN combined only grabbed 31.6%.

But, most of the sites are not in the same business model as Google. Many sites need redesign and rebranding because they have low business metrics like lead generation and sales.

Therefore, here are few of the indicators I am mentioning which one should consider to decide on the website redesign.

1. Flat or Falling Business Metrics

Web analytics can provide an understanding of how a site adds value to the business bottom line. Metrics to watch typically include number of visitors, home page abandonment rates and, for sitesthat sell or generate leads, conversion rates and average order size. If key performance indicators (KPIs) like these drop while comparable KPIs in other channels — such as retail locations and phone centers — rise, it likely means that there are fundamental problems with the site.

2. New / Changed Brand Identity or Brand Positioning

In case the company has rebranded itself or changed there brand identity/positioning it is important to change the layout, language and imagery to provide consistent support for the new brand attributes.

When IBM sold its PC division to Chinese manufacturer Lenovo, the ThinkPad brand changed hands and the ThinkPad site became a confusing mix of three different brand identities. Though the current site is much improved, Lenovo still hasn’t fully resolved the confusion. In contrast, whenVeriSign repositioned itself from a provider of domain names to a vendor that sells “intelligent infrastructure services,” the company redesigned the VeriSign Web site to make the new brand positioning clear.

3. Product Or Line-Of-Business Expansion

Launching a new product or going into a new line of business can change the way that customers,partners, and internal stakeholders think about a company. Depending on how extreme that change is, it might require a site overhaul, but it doesn’t always.

For example, when computer maker Dell moved into consumer electronics by offering productssuch as MP3 players and televisions, the company made just a few basic design changes to its homepage and menu structure. Dell hasn’t had to redesign its site because the stretch from computers to home electronics isn’t that great. In contrast, when Microsoft decided to challenge Google head on in the search market, it did so by launching Live.com, which features a streamlined design that looksmore like Google.com than MSN.com. That’s because Microsoft needed a look and feel that would help differentiate Live.com from the MSN site, which also offers search capabilities but with a different underlying technology.

4. Merger, Acquisition, Or Restructuring

A merger, acquisition, or major restructuring can bring massive change to a company that calls for a dramatic change to its site. When Hewlett-Packard acquired Compaq in 2002, both enterprises had huge sites that sold and serviced multiple, often competing, product lines. Offering a complete view of the combined giants meant, at a minimum, revising the HP site’s information architecture to include many thousands of new pages. The company wisely made the best of the required overhaul and also updated its design across the board to improve usability and introduce a new look for thenew Hewlett-Packard (see Figure). When an acquired company has a superior site design, overhauling the new parent’s site becomesa win-win opportunity.

The overwhelmingly successful September 2003 launch of Macromedia’s redesigned site set the stage for what would happen when Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005. Within about a year, the sites had been merged and the Adobe site took on much of the look and feel of the Macromedia site.

Here is HP's pre-merger figure:

HP's Post-Merger Design Figure:

5. Technology Platform Upgrade

When underlying technology changes, site owners must often modify their designs to accommodatea new enterprise software package or approach to page coding (see Figure). Ironically, this unwelcome gift of extra work can be a blessing in disguise because it creates an opportunity to improve the customer experience. For example, when pages must get recoded to accommodate a switch from static HTML to CSS, there’s no reason to again reconstruct page layouts designed five years ago.

6. Navigation System Breakdown

This generally happens when you are updating the content on your website continously and the navigation items have become too long to accomodate your content. The content becomes difficult to locate and sometimes most of the links get broken due to the content structure not consistent as it was conceptualized while creating the site.

India Online Comparative Study

When I go for the client meetings most of the times the clients asks me certain questions which are very difficult but important for his decision making on choosing the online media.

The question is generally about how many people are online in India as compared to other markets like Europe and North America and also how much is the spend in the digital medium. I therefore have tried to come up with a comparative chart which I am sure should help you and also your clients to refer to.

The first table talks about the Internet Penetration figures currently and if we keep on growing on the numbers the way we have been growing in the last seven years then what would be the figures in 2012. (The figures in the table are taken from http://www.internetworldstats.com)

The second table talks about the ad spends happening in various mediums and where the market in India will go in terms of Ad Spends by 2012. This is keeping in mind again according to the increased penetration in increased spend in the Digital Medium. (The figures of 2008 spend have been taken from Group M media report)

Hope this will help you in answering the client questions.

Where is Web 2.0 headed in next few years?

The market for Web 2.0 and social media marketing tools has been growing at a rapid clip over the past few years. As the technologies broadened and the deployments deepened, prices rose substantially. However, that average deal growth will diminish in the next few years as competition heats up and vendors increasingly rely on price competition to stand out. It won't quite be a race to the bottom, but the market will get tougher, and discerning buyers will increasingly focus on analytics, integration, and customer service when evaluating providers.

Marketing for social media and Web 2.0 was arguably the hottest trend in 2008. Through the course of the year, a growing number of consumers plugged into social media like blogs, user-generated video, and community rating and reviews. Increasingly, the demographics of social media users began to resemble the population as a whole, not just the young, hyperconnected early adopters who frequented these media just two or three years ago. Accordingly, marketers followed consumers and major brands like Marvel Comics, Procter & Gamble, and Starbucks launching or extending Web 2.0 and social media marketing in 2008. Even business-to-business (B2B) marketers have gotten into the act; although, so far, high-tech firms like Hewlett-Packard (HP) have been leading the charge, while other B2B companies have mostly sat on the sidelines.

I think these are few things which will really play a major role in the coming years on the Web 2.0 getting evolved and being used more by the marketers.

1. Social networks will continue to command the largest average market size on Web 2.0. The primary reason is that the social networking paradigm of communities, profiles, and interactions is very well received by consumers, making it an ideal paradigm for marketing as well. Second, social networks are becoming the lenses through which other social media is viewed, giving social networking marketers the inside track to evolve into the providers of tomorrow's integrated social media suites.

2. Blogging will reach its peak in 2010. Marketers first tuned into the power of blogging several years ago. Since that time, many corporate blogs have been launched from companies like Boeing, General Motors, and Kodak, and blogging has become the most recognizable and common form of Web 2.0 marketing. Blogging will continue to be a valuable tool for marketers looking to drive transparency, industry and thought leadership, and customer dialogue; however, it will increasingly become just one tool among many instead of the major focal point it is today.

3. Widgets will post the strongest growth during the next four years. Most Web 2.0 and social media marketing efforts have focused on creating conversations. Over the next four years, many marketers will shift focus to using widgets to target content delivery and enhance user experience, seeking to create a seamless experience across the Web, the desktop, mobile devices like Apple's iPhone, and mainstream social networks like Facebook and MySpace.com. Most social media marketing efforts will continue to include an anchor component like a social network or microsite, but widgets will become an increasingly critical tool for success. Widget providers, like Clearspring Technologies and Widgetbox, will be the main beneficiaries of this shift.

4. Podcasting platforms will begin a slow, steady decline. Podcasting came on the radar for marketers shortly after blogging, catching mainstream attention starting in 2005. At the time, there was a great deal of promise in podcasting; like blogging, it appeared to be a great new way to drive customer engagement. Reality, however, has yet to match that promise. For example, last year Dell, a leader in most social media marketing efforts, let its podcasting effort go dormant for seven months (Dell Podcasting). There are a few podcasting success stories here and here, but, on balance, the results have been a disappointment.

5. RSS innovation will remain stable as there is not much to add in the technology.Today, most of that revenue is attributed to tracking and analytics, and, over the next five years, one should not expect much change. The innovation in RSS marketing has mostly petered out, and most RSS feeds today are created at no cost through blog, wiki, podcast, and other Web 2.0 technologies. Thus far, marketers have had much more valuable initiatives to focus on, and therefore do not expect this to change anytime soon.

6. Wikis will become a true technology product for marketers. For marketers, wikis have always been a marginal tool, and today the average price marketers pay for wiki technology reflects that fact. While marketers at Marvel Characters — the company that creates and licenses Marvel Comics — have created an enviable user experience with its Marvel Universe wiki, few other companies see such an impact. Simply put, few marketers have use for a customer-facing wiki, as most marketing efforts do not lend themselves to wiki-style interaction.

7. Mashups will become more relevant — and dearer — for marketers. Marketers have not been big adopters of mashup technology. For 2008, less than 1% of marketers made use of mashup technology in their marketing efforts. This is not to say that marketers are not providing mashups to their customers; however, most are doing so through custom-developed rich Internet applications, not with paid mashup technology. Over the next five years, mashup technology penetration will grow, but only to little more than 3% of the potential opportunity.

How and What to Measure?

Last week I was working for one of the client's pitch and planning the complete strategy on the digital campaign. After most of the groundwork on setting up the process and also making sure on the deliverables the key issue which needed to be set was measuring and optimizing the campaign in the optimal manner.

The measurement and optimization should grow from business process and then should have the objectives of what you count. Here is a small funnel which will explain you the process from advertising to sales.

The campaign will be ongoing for the whole year and it was very important to set up the complete measurement and optimization parameters right in the beginning. I am now mentioning few of the parameters which I think should be setup at the time of planning.

Apply the funnel - Boost your media planning results by:

• Modelling brand attentiveness
• Planning your expectations of brand uplift
• Making reasonable estimates of brand activation
• Using existing conversion data to model the sales response

An exercise you should consider:

• When the calculations are complete, consider whether brand campaigns should involve bringing customers to the brand website, or simply deliver the messageand the exposure within the media owner website, using the model of conventional advertising?
• Some marketers prefer to ‘fish where the fish are’ rather than drawing traffic totheir own sites.

Over-the-page advertising

Media metrics

• Audience reach
• Technical interaction
• Duration
• Engagement
• Email registration

Marketing metrics

• Brand favourability
• Purchase intent

So here's the summary once there is all the data in place these are the five key steps you should consider for the optimization:

1. Get the Frameworks:

• Analytics Engine
• Adserver Technology
• Optimizers and Analysts

2. Build the models for optimising media value

• Frequency Capping
• IP/GEO
• Dayparting
• Creative rotations

3. Develop models for key advertiser variables

• Sales
• Direct Response
• Brand Effectiveness

4. Develop contextual and behavioural models

• Evaluate
• Test
• Deploy

5. Then apply to the formats it matters most

• Banners
• Videos
• Animations