BtoB articles from April 2009

BtoB archives from April 2009

Cygnus Business Media unable to find a buyer; Company, lenders negotiating debt-for-equity exchange.
April 6, 2009... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN Cygnus Business Media, which had appeared poised for a sale to a private equity fund before the economic meltdown last year, will not be sold. Instead, a debt-for-equity exchange with a group of its lenders, who...

Ogilvy North America; Winner.
April 6, 2009... Location: New York URL: www.ogilvy.com Key executives: John Seifert, chairman; Carla Hendra, CEO Employees: N/A 2008 revenue: N/A 2008 b-to-b revenue: N/A Key clients: Cisco Systems, DuPont, IBM Corp., SAP, Thomson...

Channels in bloom.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Ellis Booker Spring weather has been struggling to break the icy grip of winter in Chicago this year, frustrating the plans of gardeners across the city. But there has been plenty of new growth in communication channels....

B-to-b followers flock to Twitter.
April 6, 2009... Byline: RICH KARPINSKI As service explodes in popularity, business brands sign on to talk with customers Here's a quick quiz: What's the best proof that microblogging service Twitter has jumped from early adopter oddity to mainstream...

Online market research takes off; Internet surveys combined with traditional research methods are becoming the norm.
April 6, 2009... Byline: MICHAEL FITZGERALD Answer this question: Do you use online research to better understand your customers or your markets? If you answered no, you are in ranks that are thinning. According to Inside Research, 43% of survey...

HSR Business to Business; Winner.
April 6, 2009... Location: Cincinnati URL: www.hsr.com Key executive: Rick Segal, CEO 2008 revenue: $26.2 million 2008 b-to-b revenue: $26.2 million Employees: 150 Key clients: First Data Corp., Hobart Corp., John Deere & Co., Pitney...

"Heavy Duty Trucking' wins Grand Neal Award.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Marie Griffin Newport Communications' Heavy Duty Trucking took top honors last month at American Business Media's 55th Annual Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards. The magazine's 50-plus-page report, "Fuel Crisis...

Eric Mower & Associates; Runner-up.
April 6, 2009... Location: Syracuse, N.Y. URL: www.mower.com Key executive: John Favalo, managing partner-group B2B Employees: 250 2008 revenue: $33.3 million 2008 b-to-b revenue: $17.9 million Key clients: Eastman Kodak Co., FedEx,...

Traction; Winner.
April 6, 2009... Location: San Francisco URL: www.tractionco.com Key executive: Adam Kleinberg, CEO Employees: 30 2008 revenue: $4 million 2008 b-to-b revenue: $2.5 million Key clients: Adobe Systems, Bank of America, Egencia, SAP ...

BusinessOnLine; HONORABLE MENTION.
April 6, 2009... Location: San Diego URL: www.businessol.com Key executives: Thad Kahlow, CEO Employees: 40 2008 revenue: $4.3 million 2008 b-to-b revenue: $2.6 million Key clients: AutoDesk, Beacon Roofing, Caterpillar, Sybase,...

Digitas; Runner-up.
April 6, 2009... Location: Boston URL: www.digitas.com Key executive: Laura Lang, president Employees: 3,000 2008 revenue: N/A 2008 b-to-b revenue: N/A Key clients: Delta Air Lines, Ericsson, IBM Corp., Samsung, Shell Major 2008...

DDB; Runner-up.
April 6, 2009... Location: Chicago URL: www.ddb.com Key executives: Rick Carpenter, president-CEO; Dick Rogers, president North America Employees: N/A 2008 revenue: N/A 2008 b-to-b revenue: N/A Key clients: AT&T, Emerson, Legg-Mason,...

Doremus; Honorable Mention.(Brief article)
April 6, 2009... Location: New York URL: www.doremus.com Key executive: Carl Anderson, CEO Employees: N/A 2008 revenue: N/A 2008 b-to-b revenue: N/A Key clients: Brocade Communications, Cigna, Intel Corp., Knight Capital Group,...

Goat or Gloat.
April 6, 2009... Company: GovConnection, Merrimack, N.H. Agency: In-house Market: Govern-ment and education Quick chase: We like the customer-first sentiment as expressed in GovConnec- tion's "UR#1'' license plate. But doesn't GovConnection, long known for...

How to best reach pharma executives.(Editorial)(Brief article)
April 6, 2009... Christiane Truelove Editor in Chief, Med Ad News and R&D Directions, Canon Communications Christiane Truelove is editor in chief of Med Ad News and R&D Directions, two Canon Communications publications that cover the pharmaceutical...

A new market out of thin air; Airgas' campaign for Reklaim program creates fresh sales opportunities.
April 6, 2009... Byline: CHRISTOPHER HOSFORD Finding sales opportunities where none previously existed is an art, but not a magical oneit involves producing a product efficiently and economically, and marketing it compellingly. For Airgas Specialty...

indirect.(online marketing)
April 6, 2009... IBM: Direct, branding converge ROI direct marketing and traditional brand advertising are converging online, according to "Beyond Advertising: Choosing a Strategic Path to the Digital Consumer,'' a report by IBM Global Business Services....

Agenda.(Conference news)(Brief article)
April 6, 2009... April 16 BtoB's NetMarketing BreakfastAtlanta BtoB InterContinental Buckhead www.btobonline.com/breakfasts April 2123 ad:tech San Francisco dmg world media Moscone Center West www.ad-tech.com/sf/ ...

Corrections.(Correction notice)
April 6, 2009... In "Automation key to b-to-b marketing, sales success'' (March 9, page 13), SiriusDecisions VP-Research Director Joe Galvin's name was misspelled. In a chart of event vendors (March 9, page 26), an incorrect phone number was listed for MG...

Twitter nets interaction; Event marketers talk directly to attendees with microblog.(Twitter.com)
April 6, 2009... Byline: CHARLOTTE WOOLARD Tweet, tweets, tweeting, tweeted. The verb for posting 140-character microblog entries on the social media site Twitter.com has its challenges. Just ask comedy show host Stephen Colbert, who last month flubbed a...

Not all gloom and doom; What recession? Top b-to-b agencies find opportunities to grow business, add services.
April 6, 2009... Byline: KATE MADDOX What recession? Top b-to-b agencies find opportunities to grow business, add services B-to-b ad agencies faced a challenging 2008, as the economy started to slow in the early part of the year and plummeted in the...

Top interactive agencies benefit from shift online.
April 6, 2009... Byline: KATE MADDOX As the overall economy slumped in 2008, interactive agencies reaped the benefits of marketers' shift in spending to more affordable, trackable online media. Most interactive agencies reported double-digit growth...

CMO Council report: Many budgets up; But some companies fail to implement programs to achieve top-level priorities.(Chief Marketing Officer )
April 6, 2009... Byline: KATE MADDOX The good news is: Almost one-third of global marketers plan to increase their marketing budgets this year, despite the recession, according to a new report from the Chief Marketing Officer Council. The bad news is:...

Cut to the Chase.
April 6, 2009... Online: Juniper Networks Company: Juniper Networks, Sunnyvale, Calif. Agency: N/A Market: Network and data center administrators Quick chase: Juniper has the perfect message for IT managers operating in a recession-wracked economy:...

Just the facts for Web readers.
April 6, 2009... The Chasers have long admonished advertisers to resist bragging, to avoid dense-looking blocks of type and to eschew prose that's as loose as pocket change. It's good advice for printeven better for the Web, where readers are apt to spend about...

Industrial supplier Indium welds research to search.(Indium Corporation of America)(Brief article)
April 6, 2009... Byline: MICHAEL FITZGERALD The "head-in-pillow'' defect might not sound like a b-to-b problem. But it's a hot topic on Mario Scalzo's Tech Support, a blog about soldering process issues. Scalzo and his employer, Indium Corp., which makes...

Study examines global executives' media consumption.(Survey)
April 6, 2009... Byline: KATE MADDOX While global executives are shifting more of their media consumption toward electronic sources, the majority still use such traditional media as TV, national newspapers and industry trade journals on a regular basis,...

Some question payoff of social media efforts.
April 6, 2009... Byline: KATE MADDOX As companies look for more cost-effective ways to market in a down economy, many are turning to social media campaigns, employing a host of tools, from YouTube videos to applications on Facebook and Twitter. But the...

Will the banner fly again?
April 6, 2009... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN Despite the decline in online display advertisingdown 6.4% in 2008, according to Nielsen Media Researchsome industry observers are predicting that banner ads are the next big thing in Internet marketing. "A...

Twitter talk, 3D media craze, bagging billboards.
April 6, 2009... Have you noticed in the past month that, suddenly, everyone is talking about Twitter? According to Nielsen figures, Twitter broke 7 million monthly unique visitors in February. Google News reported on March 13 that 40,820 news stories citing...

The leaner drug company; Non-personal promotion, streamlined operations lead to new opportunities.
April 6, 2009... Byline: CHARLOTTE WOOLARD Pharmaceutical executives are trimming the excess. The industry once known for the sheer size of its sales force is downsizing its face-to-face presence, a medium that information provider IMS Health reported...

BBDO New York; Honorable Mention.(Brief article)
April 6, 2009... Location: New York URL: www.bbdo.com Key executive: John Osborn, president-CEO Employees: N/A 2008 revenue: N/A 2008 b-to-b revenue: N/A Key clients: Bank of America, FedEx, GE, Monster Worldwide, Motorola ...

Thinking global may help U.S. marketers; China, in particular, still offers rich opportunities.
April 6, 2009... Byline: CHRISTOPHER HOSFORD As they deal with the effects of the economic meltdown, domestic marketers may want to look to emerging international markets ripe for aggressive marketing techniques to uncover new opportunities. "Advances...

QUICKHITS.(Internet advertising)
April 6, 2009... Internet ad revenue up 10.6% in 2008 Internet ad revenue totaled $23.4 billion in 2008, up 10.6% over 2007, according to the "Internet Ad Revenue Report,'' released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In the...

Tips for small businesses that want to start an e-mail marketing program.(Brief article)
April 6, 2009... Question: Do you have any tips for small businesses wanting to start an e-mail marketing program? Answer: E-mail marketing is one of the most valuable and economical tools a small-business owner can use. The most important thing to do when...

Stein Rogan + Partners; WINNER.
April 6, 2009... Location: New York URL: www.steinrogan.com Key executive: Tom Stein, president-CEO Employees: 40 2008 revenue: $10.9 million 2008 b-to-b revenue: $9.8 million Key clients: Citrix Online, IPC Systems, McGraw-Hill,...

Sullivan; HONORABLE MENTION.(Brief article)
April 6, 2009... Location: New York URL: www.sullivannyc.com Key executive: Barbara Sullivan, managing director Employees: 42 2008 revenue: $9.2 million 2008 b-to-b revenue: $8.8 million Key clients: Ameriprise, Charles Schwab,...

Koroberi; Runner- Up.
April 6, 2009... Location: Chapel Hill, N.C. URL: www.koroberi.com Key executive: Kathryn Olive, president Employees: 30 2008 revenue: $5 million 2008 b-to-b revenue: $5 million Key clients: Alimak Hek, FKI Logistex, Hickory Hardware,...

Success Stories.(Doremus and Co.)(Eric Mower and Associates Inc.)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... Sage gets digital media advice from Doremus "Sage North America provides business management software for small and medium businesses. The `Sage Experience' campaign is designed to convince small and medium businesses that Sage is...

Mobile metrics a challenge.(Interview)
April 20, 2009... BtoB: What is the state of Web analytics these days? Byrne: There are a lot of different agendas out there. It's a surprisingly fragmented marketplace. You've got Google and the open source players on the one hand and the large, traditional...

An end-to-end view of e-mail.
April 20, 2009... Byline: CHRISTOPHER HOSFORD New capabilities enable commercial e-mail clients to talk to other marketing channels Today's technology is increasingly enabling commercial e-mail solutions to get "smarter,'' integrating the formerly...

Agencies ramp up social, video; Expanded services help interactive shops offer clients new ways to reach customers.
April 20, 2009... Byline: KATE MADDOX As marketers shift more of their spending to online media in a down economy, interactive and full-service agencies are ramping up their offerings in social media, online video and viral marketing, as well as...

Social media must be grounded in strategy.(Interview)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... BtoB: Which interactive areas are growing the most at your agency? Mike Tittel: We have seen increased client interest in search and analytics, followed by social media and rich media content. Search and analytics lead the pack. Marketers...

Success Stories.(e-mail marketing )(BoardWalk Consulting)(HyperDrive Interactive)
April 20, 2009... How Hyperdrive increased qualified leads "As an interactive digital agency, we do much of our marketing through referrals, so one of the things we do is present at various conferences. I presented a session on e-mail marketing and...

Watch for these e-mail marketing trends on the horizon.
April 20, 2009... Crystal Uppercue is marketing manager at EU Services, a 400-employee direct marketing production facility in Rockville, Md. BtoB asked her about key tips for e-mail marketers. BtoB: What trends do you see in commercial e-mail? ...

One of the few bright spots; Despite the recession, online advertising continues to grow at a double-digit pace.
April 20, 2009... Byline: KATE MADDOX Online may be the only medium that continues to see advertising growth in the recession, although the phenomenal expansion of the past decade is slowing as the overall economy slumps. Total Internet ad revenue last...

Downturn reinforces direct response role.
April 20, 2009... BtoB: How are advertisers focusing their online advertising in the recession? Hallerman: Reactions to the recession reinforce the Internet's place as mainly a direct response medium. Tight budgets push marketing decision-makers toward...

Success Stories.(Visa Inc.)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... Visa uses Facebook to reach small firms "Our overall objective with the Visa Business Network on Facebook was very much around helping small-business owners to succeed. Understanding the power of networking for small-business owners, we...

Marketers key in on lead-gen.
April 20, 2009... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN Media companies beef up programs as downturn cuts into advertising revenue Patrick Esposito is the kind of marketing director b-to-b media companies have seen too frequently since the economic slump hit hard last...

Registration common denominator in lead-gen.(Interview)
April 20, 2009... BtoB: What lead-generation techniques are being offered by online publishers? Chuck Richard: When it comes to online, we tend to talk about sponsored content or sponsored white papers and webinars. The common denominator for online lead...

Success Stories.(Thwing-Albert Instrument Co.)
April 20, 2009... How Thwing-Albert increased search results by 90% "Thwing-Albert, which provides products to test the properties of materials like the seal on a bag of potato chips, needed to react to a growing trend: The engineers who buy our products...

Success Stories.(EverythingCU.com)(Eastman Kodak Co.)(PJA Advertising & Marketing)
April 20, 2009... How EverythingCU.com uses online tools to grow EverythingCU.com began as an online informational resource for credit union marketing professionals in 2001. Word-of-mouth marketing has since grown membership to more than 6,000 credit union...

Define the return you seek from social media.(Interview)
April 20, 2009... BtoB: How much time does a social media campaign take to pay off? Maggie Fox: If you want your programs to have dramatic results, you either need to give them time to build an audience or you need to support them with traditional mass...

Success Stories.(Novell Inc.)(Clickspeed Marketing)
April 20, 2009... Novell uses online event to conduct successful sales conference "We did our internal sales conference [virtually] in November, and it was a huge success. A lot of work went into the presentations and keynote address. It was done in an...

Virtual events deliver control; Online shows give b-to-b marketers message discipline, flexibility and reach.
April 20, 2009... Byline: CHARLOTTE WOOLARD Intel Corp. tracked the articles that reporters who attended the debut of its corporate desktop last year generated after the launch event and found that the percentage of stories containing its key message rose...

5 simple rules for working with interactive agencies.(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... * Define the business objective upfront, even when using new media such as social networks and viral video. * Bring other disciplines into the planning for interactive campaigns, including PR and traditional media, to make sure the brand...

Success Stories.(Internet marketing)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... Marketers want targeted solutions "I think some people still believe that you can put up a Web site with banner ads and be an online publisher. That is online publishing 10 years ago. The game has changed tremendously. You need...

Interactive agencies benefit from shift online.(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... Byline: KATE MADDOX As the overall economy slumped in 2008, interactive agencies reaped the benefits of marketers' shift in spending to more affordable, trackable online media. Most interactive agencies reported double-digit growth...

Virtual events no longer a novelty in b-to-b world.(InXpo)(Interview)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... Malcolm Lotzof, CEO of virtual platform provider InXpo, has seen static webcasts evolve into trade shows and privately branded events that incorporate Web 2.0 communication tools. "There's been a transition over the last two years from [the...

Offer users a richer online experience.(Interview)
April 20, 2009... BtoB: Why is video becoming more pervasive in b-to-b marketing? Gunning: The interactive overlay that people are using with online video is starting to get very sophisticated. Plus, video is being shot just for the Web. Combining the two,...

Metrics, ROI still unclear; Social media campaigns a gut call, but marketers starting to realize potential.(Return on investment)
April 20, 2009... Byline: PAUL GILLIN Tough times demand new tactics. Some years ago, the collapse of the dot-com bubble stirred an industrywide move toward online lead generation. Now a deepening recession has thrust social media into the b-to-b...

Vertical search ready to rise.
April 20, 2009... Byline: CHRISTOPHER HOSFORD Niche-oriented search engines remain under the radar, but may be poised for larger role Search marketing remains the sharpest knife in the marketing drawer these days. In the midst of a global advertising...

Success Stories.(National Instruments )(Factset)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... Measurement helps National Instruments nurture relationships "All of our marketing activity is structured to capture interest and raise awareness and, ultimately, drive prospects to our Web site. The role of the Web site is to support all...

Success Stories.(Kelly Services Inc.)(Overland Storage Inc.)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... How Kelly Services used local search to cut costs "We started in the latter part of 2006 to research how our paid search advertising, Internet Yellow Pages and local listings are all accurate everywhere. A ton of people look us up, but it's...

Coordinate search engine crawl cycles with site.(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... BtoB: Finding things on a company Web site is important but often frustrating. What are the major pitfalls? Bill Hunt: You would think that if a company is making an announcement about something, it would reference it on its Web site. But...

5 simple rules for an effective b-to-b video ad.(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... * Be relevant. Yes, you're selling something, but videos must educate or entertain. * Forge a long-term plan. Decide on distribution strategybanner, landing page or Web sitebefore you shoot. * Go high-quality. Banner ads are small;...

B-to-b sites should learn lessons from b-to-c.(Business to business )(Interview)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... BtoB: What lessons can b-to-b Web sites learn from their b-to-c counterparts? Loranger: B-to-b Web sites are lagging behind their b-to-c counterparts. Our studies show that the success rates of b-to-b and b-to-c Web sites are 58% and 66%,...

Success Stories.(Speakeasy Inc. (Seattle, Wasington))(Kaiser Permanente )
April 20, 2009... How Speakeasy got the word out about its products and services "Speakeasy sells managed services, voice-over-IP telephony and broadband services, among other offerings, to businesses. While we have a history around interviewing customers...