Uncategorized Archives - Page 5 of 8

10 July 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup – the NLA and copyright

I have always admired the UK's Newspaper Licensing Agency for its self-assured composure in freshly applying last century's rules to this one.

That's a repeat of the opening sentence to a blog post of mine from 2007. And in the last couple of weeks the NLA appears to just get sillier and sillier and less and less in tune with how the world works today. They have announced their imminent intention to begin charging agencies and clients for sending URLs to each other.

Yes, you did read that right. I can assure you, that is the case, and no laughing please from those of you outside of the UK! Read more

3 July 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup – Freemium

I was given a book last night. Free.

Free, as in I didn't pay for it, and "Free" as in the book's title.

The author is Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine and author of the widely acclaimed 2006 book "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More" (ISBN 1-4013-0237-8).

"Free" (ISBN 9781905211470) takes a look at the rise and rise in recent years of business models pivoting around the provision of stuff for free. The book has some interesting chapters for anyone involved in marketing, particularly in relation to Web search and publishing (the widely held expectation of not having to pay for Web content and the rise of free papers during the decline of traditional media). Read more

26 June 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup – Michael Jackson tribute

When media training people, it's sometimes a challenge to convey exactly what might be considered quotable, or a soundbite in common parlance. You know... not too long, not too short. Punchy. Insightful. Possibly controversial. Maybe funny.

In fact, Wikipedia just informs me that Mark Twain described the concept as "a minimum of sound to a maximum of sense".

Well, Paul Gambaccini is obviously expert at it. Of all the tributes paid to Michael Jackson today, his in the one that has stuck with me. Not verbatim, it went something like this on Radio 4's Today programme:

There will only be one Michael Jackson. His life was in three parts. The Jackson Five years. The incredible Quincy Jones albums. And then the years as a freak.

RIP Michael.

Best regards, Philip and the MarCom Professional team. Read more

19 June 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup – quoting the social Web

There is a problem with social media. Conclusions should be drawn from the collective, from the aggregate of all social interaction, conversation, commentary, tagging, ratings etc. As the assertion goes, there's wisdom in them there crowds.

But that's not how we're all used to working.

We have evolved, I think you'll agree, to tune into one person at a time. Listen to one person. Watch one person. If I asked you to tell me what the population of London was thinking on a certain topic, unless that topic was their restricted choice of political expression and the question coincided with a local election, you'd be hard pressed to tell me.

We like our individual news readers, individual film stars, individual celebrities. And our individual journalists. You see, we can trust (most) journalists because they've had to subscribe to a code of conduct, a code of ethics. They have standards to maintain in executing their task at hand. Read more

12 June 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup – Facebook usernames

Well, we know what the big news is this week! The corresponding blog post has attracted over 68,000 comments at the time of writing... which is quite a lot.

Is it about the economy? No. Saving the planet? No. A remake of Barbarella? Not even.

No, the big news this week is Facebook usernames... get yours before someone else with the same name does. The feature goes live 12.01am tomorrow EDT.

And what better reading material to keep yourself alert this evening as you wait for the minute hand to tick round than today's Friday Roundup selection. Read more

5 June 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup 5th June 2009

Wow, couldn't stop picking great posts for this week's Roundup. What other marketing communications insight brings you all this in one nifty email?...

A look at what makes P!nk special and how your brand can learn from her
Straight forward advice for GM's marketing team at a time when they really need to listen
Debunking "viral"
A fantastic video poking fun at clients who try and get too much for nothing; and
A counter-balancing reminder to consultancy folk what it's like to be a client

All the best, Philip and the MarCom Professional team. Read more

29 May 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup – the Internet Psychologist

Crystal clear, unarguable insight. That's what I like. Sure, articulating complex stuff usefully can be most impressive, but stating the obvious when it's only obvious with hindsight or with the assistance of an able guide, that's cool in my book.

Graham Jones gets the complex stuff... he's known as the "Internet Psychologist" after all! But he's rather good at seeing the world for what it is, when the rest of us are running around with our costs-per-click, bounce rates and adword strategies.

Check out his post this week "How to ensure your web site makes money from offline marketing". Seems he's found some excellent examples of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing, and all in a quick scan of the daily press.

Have a super weekend.

Best regards, Philip and the MarCom Professional team. Read more

22 May 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup 22nd May 2009

A brief Roundup this week. Firstly, we had dozens more members join this week, so "welcome" to everyone who has joined since we last said "welcome"!

Secondly, good to see everyone at the Dog and Duck in Soho, London, on Wednesday, including Ted Shelton and Marissa Root of The Conversation Group over from San Francisco, courtesy of Mark Adams.

And lastly, a quick heads up re. another London event, this time hosted by Deloitte on the impact of convergence on advertising, 4th June, chaired by yours truly. See you there? And if you're running a meetup, let us know and we'll plug it here in the Friday Roundup.

Best regards, Philip and the MarCom Professional team. Read more

15 May 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup – Blyk

Well I don't know about you, but I'm totally confused. What is happening at Blyk?

For those beyond the UK's shores, Blyk came to market in 2007 as an MVNO (mobile virtual network operation) piggy-backing on the Orange network. Nothing revolutionary so far. But they set out to convince young adults that they could get free airtime in return for opting in to adverts with ad selection based on the customer's completion of a personal profile. It was being called permission marketing.

But on comparing this claim to Seth Godin's articulate definition of permission marketing, I posted at the time that this wasn't the game Blyk was playing. The ads may be targetted more closely than commercial TV, but most everyone I know still wants to skip those ads. The mobile and marketing industries have been watching Blyk closely ever since and then, this week, two articles from NMA's Alex Farber:

"Blyk scraps consumer offer to concentrate on operator partnerships" and "Blyk's MVNO shift causes industry stir".

Now if anyone has the inside track on this market and what the Blyk statement referred to in the second of Alex's articles means, it's Bena Roberts of GoMo News. Perhaps the title of her post betrays otherwise... "Is anyone else extremely confused about blyk or is it just me?" Read more

8 May 2009 / 0 Comments

Friday Roundup 8th May 2009

Time for a change. Having sold Fuse PR to Racepoint Group in 2006, and as much as I will miss everyone, it's time for me to leave the business in very fine hands and, well, do something else instead.

One thing I'm really looking forward to is developing and growing MarCom Professional. We've got some cool ideas, as you'd expect I hope, and we'd love to hear your feedback and ideas too. So, fancy a pint? If you are in London on the 20th May, I invite you to join us at the Dog and Duck in Soho. Read more