BtoB articles from August 2008

BtoB archives from August 2008

media notes.(Business Media)( sale of Entrepreneur Media to Austin Ventures )
August 11, 2008... Entrepreneur Media sale is called off The pending sale of Entrepreneur Media to Austin Ventures and Castanea Partners, reportedly for $160 million, has been scuttled, according to various media sources. In a memo to Entrepreneur employees,...

Optimizing for the new SEM; When search result pages include text, video and images, how can marketers make the most of their digital assets?(NetMarketing)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Carol Krol `Blended'' or "universal'' search was in the news a lot last year. Between May and November, the four biggest engines-Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com-all introduced versions of this kind of search, which delivers results...

cut to the chase.(Chasers)(Bridgestone)(Capterra)(Brief article)
August 11, 2008... Company: Bridgestone, Nashville, Tenn. Agency: N/A Market: Aircraft manufacturers, corporate executives Quick chase: A vertical series of photos of the hind end of a Boeing 777 landing on a runway could be dramatic, but the overall image here...

Pequea Machine chooses PR to plant brand message.(Vertical Insight: Agriculture)
August 11, 2008... Byline: MARY E. MORRISON Pequea Machine is a New Holland, Pa.-based manufacturer of agriculture equipment that sells through a national dealer network. The family-owned company, whose market includes end-user producers, dealer principals...

Don't worry about the numbers; New Channels.(Social media campaigns)(Column)
August 11, 2008... With recession-strapped ad budgets under increasing scrutiny, marketers are turning more attention to campaign measurement. Many will fall back on the channels they know, scrapping social media marketing experiments because the returns are...

IContact looks to ad exchange to extend reach, lower cost; Case study.(Tools & Metrics)
August 11, 2008... Byline: CHRISTOPHER HOSFORD IContact is a provider of e-mail marketing services to small businesses that send e-newsletters to their customers. Traditionally the company reaches out to prospective clients by advertising on a variety of...

Measuring your way through media maze; Marketers turn to analytics to effectively place ads in fragmented environment.(Tools & Metrics)
August 11, 2008... Byline: CHRISTOPHER HOSFORD Time was when b-to-b media buyers had it easy: Choose the top three or so trade magazines, select a 12-time schedule with each and sit back knowing that 90% of the advertiser's prospective customers had been...

GE's Olympian efforts pay off.(News)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Kate Maddox GE, a worldwide partner of the Olympic Games, has leveraged its sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics to create a new enterprise sales organization and integrated marketing efforts that have already generated more than...

new campaigns.(Advertising)
August 11, 2008... IBM Corp. "Voice of the Business Partner'' Agency: Ogilvy North America, New York Campaign objective: Help IBM Corp.'s channel partners effectively target small and midsize businesses Target audience: Independent software vendors and...

Make copy conversational.(Chasers)(Cognos Advertising Inc.)
August 11, 2008... In an age of social media and social networking, conversations are more valued than commanding corporate pronouncements. For b-to-b advertisers, it's vital to converse with communities rather than lecture a target audience. If advertisers...

NYTimes.compartners with LinkedIn; News site hopes deal enhances user experience, ad targeting.(News)(LinkedIn Corp.)(New York Times Electronic Media Co.)
August 11, 2008... Byline: CHRISTOPHER HOSFORD The New York Times has partnered with online professional network LinkedIn in a strategy designed to enhance and lengthen viewer experiences on the Times' Web site and to better target online advertisements. ...

Blended search: Start with inventory of all content types; Ask the expert.(NetMarketing)(Interview)(Brief article)
August 11, 2008... BtoB: Are marketers cognizant of blended search? Damon Abramson: Most marketers that stay on top of the market have been aware for the past 14 months or so, and a lot of them are aware of the ramifications. Some of us saw this coming two to...

Marketo finds search agency helps double leads at half the cost.(NetMarketing)
August 11, 2008... Byline: CAROL KROL Jon Miller had an all-too-common business challenge: generating qualified leads for his sales force. The irony here is that Miller is VP-marketing at Marketo, a year-old marketing automation software company with almost...

Nuance mailer a clear call to action; Overwhelming response to highly targeted, customized direct piece worth the investment.(Direct & Database)(interactive voice response (IVR) systems)(Nuance Communications)
August 11, 2008... Byline: CAROL KROL Nuance Communications is a Burlington, Mass.-based speech recognition technology company that sells interactive voice response (IVR) systems, a technology that enables computers to be used to handle telephone calls and...

Corrections.(Correction notice)
August 11, 2008... In "Who's Who in B-to-B 2008'' (July 14, page 38), incorrect locations were given for OneUpWeb and Yesmail. OneUpWeb is based in Traverse City, Mich. Yesmail is based in Portland, Ore.

Olympi-ads; Aiming for a global audience, advertisers ready new campaigns to debut during the games.(News)
August 11, 2008... Byline: KATE MADDOX Several major b-to-b marketers are introducing new ad campaigns during the 2008 Beijing Olympics with an eye toward reaching a global broadcast audience expected to top 4 billion. Some of the ads, such as Visa's "Go...

Success Story No. 4: Monster Worldwide; Campaign: "Your Calling Is Calling''.(Special Report: Integrated Marketing Success Stori)(BBDO Worldwide Inc.)(Monster Worldwide Inc.)
August 11, 2008... Goal: Position Monster as a company that can help job seekers realize their life improvement goals Duration of campaign: January to present Integrated elements: TV, print, radio, online Results: The campaign won Best in Show for...

Marketers find innovation more crucial than inundation in tight economic conditions.(Special Report: Integrated Marketing Success Stori)(Monster Worldwide Inc.)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Kate Maddox In today's slow economy, b-to-b marketers need to be more creative, relevant and innovative than ever when developing integrated campaigns. From conducting intensive research with the target audience to creating...

Goat or gloat; A quick comparison of recent work by competing advertisers.(Chasers)(Brief article)
August 11, 2008... Company: Sharp, Mahwah, N.J. Agency: N/A Market: CIOs Quick chase: This ad for Sharp's multifunction printer lacks a dominant point of entry. The business meeting superimposed on the printer's flatbed must compete with the image of the man's...

Success Story No. 3: Eastman Kodak Graphic Communications Group; Campaign: "Print Is ...''.(Special Report: Integrated Marketing Success Stori)(Eastman Kodak Co.)(Eric Mower and Associates Inc.)
August 11, 2008... Goal: Demonstrate the power of print in transforming people's lives Duration of campaign: June 2007 to present Integrated elements: Print, online, direct, events, collateral Results: Won best in division at the BMA Pro-Comm Awards...

Tips on finding prospects in the thicket of online niche sites; Ask the expert.(Tools & Metrics)(Interview)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Nancy Harmel Nancy Harmel is media director at b-to-b agency Slack Barshinger. BtoB recently asked Harmel about media fragmentation and trends in b-to-b media buying. BtoB: What changes are you seeing in b-to-b media planning?...

Success Story No. 2: Brocade Communications Systems; Campaign: "DCX Man''.(Special Report: Integrated Marketing Success Stori)(Brocade Communications Systems Inc.)(Doremus and Co.)
August 11, 2008... Goal: Show how Brocade DCX Backbone architecture can help IT professionals handle the day-to-day challenges of running data centers Duration of campaign: January to present Integrated elements: Print, online, events, collateral,...

CMOs earn average of almost $1.5 million.(News)(Dell Inc.)
August 11, 2008... Byline: BRADLEY JOHNSON The average CMO-level executive last year took home $1.5 million, according to an exclusive analysis by Advertising Age, a BtoB sibling publication. Nice pay-but nothing next to the $15.5 million hauled in by Dell...

CBD celebrates 20 years in b-to-b; Woman-owned agency attributes success to focus on strategy upfront.(Advertising)(Colman Brohan Davis)(Company overview)
August 11, 2008... Byline: KATE MADDOX Colman Brohan Davis, a woman-owned agency in Chicago, next month will celebrate 20 years in business. The agency was founded as Lighton Colman by then partners Brooke Lighton and Lori Colman. Colman is now co-CEO...

The secret of Toshiba's success; Surprise product introduction orchestrated for maximum impact.(Events)(Radiological Society of North America)(Toshiba America Medical Systems)(Aquilion ONE)
August 11, 2008... Byline: ERIN BIBA For years, the medical community had been buzzing about new, improved CT scanning technology. The new tools would significantly update the models of scanners that were available on the market and change the way doctors...

event briefs.(Events)(Reardon Smith Whittaker )(ON24)(LexisNexis )(Brief article)
August 11, 2008... Lead-gen agency to offer show services Lead generation company Reardon Smith Whittaker announced a new service, Trade Show Impact, which is designed to strategically position agencies and engage prospects before, during and after industry...

Problem solved.(NetMarketing)
August 11, 2008... Web site: Problem: Making Web site more credible to visitors. Solution: When potential customers are looking to establish a relationship on the Internet, credibility is a major factor in their decision. Big companies are very effective at...

Narrow ad focus increases yield.(Vertical Insight: Agriculture)
August 11, 2008... Byline: MARY E. MORRISON The challenges and opportunities facing the agriculture industry today are significant and, in many ways, unprecedented: Farmers and ranchers throughout the U.S. stand to gain from the surge in worldwide demand for...

Custom fits; As marketers pull spending out of traditional print media, their investment in custom publishing is staying strong.(Special Report: Custom Publishing)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Karen J. Bannan Ethanol producers aren't exactly feeling the love these days. Critics say they are reducing the amount of food on world markets-ethanol can be made from sugar cane and corn-and driving commodity prices up. POET...

Reading the tea leaves.(Opinion)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Tom Simons I guarantee only this: There is little certainty and are few safe bets for those marketers charting a course into the future. That said, here are a few of the wagers I've made. Change will continue to be the only...

Survey finds international budgets up.(News)
August 11, 2008... Byline: KATE MADDOX But marketers say overseas efforts remain difficult While more than half of b-to-b marketers are increasing their international marketing budgets this year, many report challenges when it comes to entering new...

Study finds campaign manager role growing.(News)(Report)
August 11, 2008... Byline: RICHARD KARPINSKI IDC reports marketers are handing off duties of guiding online programs Best-in-class marketers are increasingly relying on formal campaign managers to shepherd their interactive marketing programs to success,...

'The Deal' makes big changes in frequency, revenue model.(News)
August 11, 2008... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN The Deal LLC, which covers the "deal economy'' from mergers and acquisitions to bankruptcies, is revamping its Internet and print strategy to shift its revenue model from advertising to subscription dollars. Call...

'Office' games, geeks to blame, and YouTube fame.(Beyond the Biz)
August 11, 2008... Hundreds of fans gathered in Scranton, Pa., on July 19 as Mindy Kaling of NBC's "The Office'' hosted a daylong celebration for the release of "The Office'' DVD Board and Trivia games. Kaling, a writer, co-executive producer and actress on the...

INdirect.(Direct & Database)(Harte- Hanks reported second-quarter)(Belardi/Ostroy acquired Fasano and Associates)(Linda A. Woolley has been appointed at Direct Marketing Association)
August 11, 2008... B-to-b list prices hold steady B-to-b list prices have remained steady compared with last year, according to Worldata's Summer 2008 List Price Index. "The most significant findings are we are noticing that b-to-c lists are decreasing quite...

Custom calls marketers; ABM panel urges marketers not to `surround,' but become media.(Business Media)
August 11, 2008... Byline: CAROL KROL As content takes center stage in marketing efforts, marketers need to embrace custom publishing in order to survive. So said Joe Pulizzi, founder and chief content officer of Junta42, a custom publishing company, during...

QuickHits.(News)(Carat lowered its ad spending forecast)(Publicis Groupe acquires Performics)(Wired has partnered with Brother International Corp.)
August 11, 2008... Carat again lowers ad spending forecast Media agency Carat lowered its ad spending forecast for this year to 2% to 3% growth over last year, its second downward revision. In December, Carat projected that U.S. ad spending this year would...

Agenda.(online marketing)(Calendar)
August 11, 2008... July 15-Aug. 20 Online Marketing Summit-2008 Regional Tour BusinessOnLine Various Locations www.onlinemarketingsummit.com Aug. 18-22 Search Engine Strategies Incisive Media San Jose (Calif.) Convention...

Success Story No. 1: Aflac; Campaign: "Aflac for Business''.(Special Report: Integrated Marketing Success Stories)
August 11, 2008... Goal: Communicate to business decision-makers that Aflac offers insurance plans to help them attract and retain employees, add benefits and save money Duration of campaign: March to present Integrated elements: TV, radio, print, online...

Providing valuable content best way to make custom pay; Ask the expert.(Special Report: Custom Publishing)(Interview)
August 11, 2008... BtoB recently spoke with Mike Winkleman, chairman of the Custom Publishing Council and president of custom publishing firm Leverage Media based in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. about the latest trends in custom publishing. BtoB: Why are we seeing such...

Online access, savvy growing in farm country; industry outlook.(Vertical Insight: Agriculture)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Mary E. Morrison Last month, Penton Media announced the promotion of Greg Frey to VP of its agriculture group. Frey will be responsible for the company's crop publications, which include the Farm Press titles Corn and Soybean...

Thought leadership online can be tricky, but essential for gaining respect and mind share; executive blogging.(Opinion)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Brian Muys A true thought leader has to have thoughts. In their haste to embrace the new media vogue, many companies have made the fundamental mistake of initiating a blog merely for the sake of doing so or, worse, as a thinly...

Does business walk too thin a line?(Opinion)(Editorial)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Ellis Booker For many years now, American companies have touted their cost-cutting initiatives and new processes to monitor both productivity and waste. The goal, even for massive, multinational corporations, has been to be...

Btobonline.com.(Opinion)
August 11, 2008... Survey says! Recent BtoB webcast audience poll results: What Web 2.0 technologies are you using in your marketing mix? Blogs: 32.5% Podcasts/video: 29.2 RSS feeds: 17.5 Social networks: 14.2 4.2: Threaded discussions...

LETTERS.(Opinion)
August 11, 2008... Remember CAN-SPAM is opt-out, not opt-in law Once more, I find myself in the role of ombudsman for readers of BtoB. As in the past, the subject is e-mail and the problem is a statement that is misleading at best, and could cause unnecessary...

Xerox keeps brand top of mind with 'e-zine'.(Special Report: Custom Publishing)
August 11, 2008... Byline: KARIN J. BANNAN This past January, Xerox Corp. completed an extensive rebranding effort, introducing a new corporate logo as well as a revamped look and feel for all its marketing communication materials. The effort was a bid to...

Forrester's acquisition of Jupiter gets positive reviews.(News)(Forrester Research Inc.)(Jupitermedia Corp. JupiterResearch Div.)
August 11, 2008... Byline: KATE MADDOX Marketing professionals and industry watchers applauded Forrester Research's acquisition of JupiterResearch last month-a deal that brings together two powerhouses in marketing and IT research. The deal, valued at...

AT&T boosts Networking Exchange portal with new content.(Special Report: Custom Publishing)
August 11, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN Sometimes the best way to serve customers is to provide them with unbiased information and let them make their own buying decisions. AT&T Business had this strategy in mind when it launched a portal called...

Marketing performance effectiveness.(News)(IDC)(Brief article)
August 11, 2008... Byline: RICHARD KARPINSKI Each summer, IDC delivers its Marketing Performance Matrix, which places the marketers it covers on a two-by-two matrix that essentially rates how effective organizations are in meeting their marketing goals. ...