BtoB articles from July 2006

BtoB archives from July 2006

Beyond The Biz.(News)(Yahoo! Inc.)(Chase Commercial Bank)(paidcontent.org)
July 10, 2006... Yahoo!'s big brain display launches new Answers site YAHOO! LAST MONTH UNVEILED what it called "the world's biggest brain,'' a two-story, purple, brain-shaped terrarium complete with firing synapses and lobes atop the Hard Rock Cafe in...

Industry prognosticator Coen: Growth forecast down; Media channels posting growth include Internet and direct response advertising.(News)(Industry overview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: CAROL KROL Prominent ad industry forecaster Robert J. Coen has revised his growth prediction for this year downward to a 5.6% increase to $286.4 billion. In December, Coen had predicted 5.8% growth. Coen, senior VP-director of...

WSJ Office Network lobbies for customers at workplace; The `Journal' aims to reach readers with indexes, news.(News)(Wall Street Journal)
July 10, 2006... Byline: MATTHEW SCHWARTZ The Wall Street Journal Office Network that launches this week provides yet another media vehicle for advertisers to reach potential customers in an at-work setting. Developed by Office Media Network, the...

Integration key to lead generation; Study finds groups focused on leads produce results.(News)
July 10, 2006... Byline: KATE MADDOX Excelling at lead generation takes more than putting in a new CRM system. It takes integration throughout the organization, marketers at successful lead generation companies say. It starts at the top, with support...

Media strategists plan on a complicated future.(News)
July 10, 2006... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN Once upon a time, the job of b-to-b media buyer was among the easiest at an advertising agency. In those days-circa 1995 and before-setting a media schedule required little more than spreading a client's media budget...

Survey finds podcasting growing in popularity among b-to-b marketers.(News)
July 10, 2006... Byline: RICHARD KARPINSKI Podcasts seemingly appeared out of nowhere last year, and now, somewhat belatedly, some of the first research about their adoption-particularly in the b-to-b sector-is beginning to appear as well. Last year,...

GM generates heat with 'Times' blog rebuttal.(Opinion)(General Motors)(New York Times Co.)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Paul Gillin On May 31, New York Times columnist James Friedman lambasted General Motors on the Times' op-ed page. Likening GM to a "crack dealer'' feeding Americans' addictions to SUVs, he concluded that GM is "more dangerous to...

Problem Solved.(Net Marketing)
July 10, 2006... Problem: Quantifying your site's effectiveness if you don't sell online. Solution: Get an accurate picture of the role your site plays in your sales cycle, then craft your success metrics around that role. This problem has been a...

Who's Who in B-to-B.(Special Report: Who's Who In B-to-B)
July 10, 2006... The individuals selected for this year's Who's Who in B-to-B Special Report consistently perform at the top of their game, whether on the client side, the agency side or in supporting industries in between. For this year's report, BtoB chose...

What to watch in marketing to law.(Vertical Insight: Lawyers)(Beth Marie Cuzzone)(Goulston and Storrs)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: ROGER SLAVENS As director of business development for Boston-based international law firm Goulston & Storrs, Beth Marie Cuzzone has experience on both sides of the legal marketing equation. It's Cuzzone's role to market her firm's...

Dennis Dunlap, CEO, American Marketing Association, Chicago; Associations.(words with Chief Executive Officer)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: M.S. Ask CEO Dennis Dunlap how the American Marketing Association is responding to management upheaval in b-to-b marketing and step aside. Dunlap, a 40-year marketing and advertising veteran, has a number of initiatives planned...

DM2, Watt Publishing partner on database.(new database)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... DM2-DecisionMaker, a b-to-b list company owned by Reed Business Information, announced it has created the DecisionMaker Agricultural Marketplace Database. Watt Publishing's data-from publications such as Egg Industry, Meat Processing and Watt...

Arturo Aranda, Partner-senior creative director, Atmosphere BBDO, New York; Creative.(words with Arturo Aranda of Atmosphere BBDO )(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: K.M. Arturo Aranda has been with Atmosphere BBDO since its founding in 1999. During that time, he has overseen creative development of online campaigns for AOL, Cingular Wireless, General Electric Co., the New York Stock Exchange,...

Gary Slack, Chairman-chief experience officer, Slack Barshinger, Chicago; Agencies.(words with Gary Slack)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: K.M. Since starting Slack Barshinger in 1988, Chairman-Chief Experience Officer Gary Slack has seen the b-to-b agency grow from a modest shop serving clients in the Chicago area to a rapidly growing agency with clients around the...

Dan Henson, Chief marketing officer, General Electric Co., Fairfield, Conn. Marketing.(words of Dan Henson)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Kate Maddox It's been a busy six months for Dan Henson, who was named chief marketing officer of General Electric Co. in January. Henson, a 19-year veteran of GE, assumed the top marketing post at the $150 billion diversified...

Business publications' ad revenue up slightly.(revenue report)
July 10, 2006... Advertising revenue for business publications grew 1.18% though April compared with the same time period in 2005, according to figures released by American Business Media's Business Information Network (BIN). The strongest ad revenue categories...

Quick Hits; Study finds increased marketing integration.(Cygnus Publishing Inc. acquires Reed Business Information Ltd.)(United Business Media acquires Commonwealth Business Media Inc.)(Google Inc.)
July 10, 2006... E-mail is becoming increasingly intertwined with other marketing channels, according to a custom research study conducted by JupiterResearch on behalf of e-mail marketer CheetahMail. Seventy-one percent of e-mail marketers said they engage in...

AMA plans Mplanet for high-level strategy.(American Marketing Association's planning of Mplanet, a marketing industry event )(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Byline: KATE MADDOX The American Marketing Association last month announced plans for Mplanet, a marketing industry event that aims to differentiate itself from other conferences through high-level strategy, interactive formats and C-level...

Bill Godfrey, Chairman-CEO, Aprimo, Indianapolis; Services/Tech.(words of Chief Executive Officer)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: C.K. Chairman-CEO Bill Godfrey says the secret to Aprimo's success is its relentless focus on the CMO. "We provide a software application that becomes the backbone of marketing,'' Godfrey said. "We're not trying to be all...

Track results to make most of organic SEO.(usage of search engine optimization)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Question: Why, and how, should b-to-b marketers be using organic SEO? Answer: The demands that b-to-b marketers face in today's online marketing world are constantly changing. The fact that search engine marketing (SEM) can be tracked to a...

Brand preference monitoring debated; This brand metric for predicting behavior has both champions and critics among b-to-b marketing executives.(Tools & Metrics)
July 10, 2006... Byline: LYNDA RADOSEVICH Given the innumerable metrics a company can track, one of the most important roles for marketing executives is prioritizing the few that have the biggest impact on business decisions. But in the nuts-and-bolts...

Providing a rationale for why brand preference matters.(Moveo Integrated Branding)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: L. R. Kevin Randall is director of brand strategy and research at Moveo Integrated Branding (www.moveo.com), a brand consulting and marketing communications firm that counts Careerbuilder, Littelfuse, Molex, Motorola, Siemens and...

Publishers should get marketers to abandon their pay-for-play mentality.(Opinion)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Jim Alkon A friend who shifted his career from business reporting to writing corporate brochures was lamenting about how his current work has turned him into a puppet for the corporate message rather than a crusader for the...

Goat or Gloat.(Chasers)(Motion Computing Inc.)(Fujitsu America Inc.)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Company: Motion Computing, Austin, Texas Agency: JH&A, Austin Market: IT management Quick chase: The dominant image in this ad is a pair of businesspeople on the go. But the visual is about as sharp as a butter knife. Maybe it was fuzzed up to...

Cut to the Chase.(Chasers)(Dell Inc.)(3M Co.)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Company: Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas Agency: N/A Market: IT managers Quick chase: The banner is solid, workmanlike. There's no animation, no brilliant colors, The headline: "Introducing the next generation of Dell PowerEdge Servers'' alerts...

USG account win boosts HSR Chicago to next level.(News)(USG Corp.)(HSR Business to Business Inc.)
July 10, 2006... Byline: KATE MADDOX USG Corp.'s selection of HSR Business to Business, a Cincinnati-based agency that opened a Chicago office in 2004, will more than double the agency's Chicago business and create opportunities for further expansion in...

Agenda.(News)(Calendar)
July 10, 2006... July 24-25 Ad:Tech Chicago Sheraton, Chicago www.ad-tech.com July 25-27 TS2 2006 Trade Show Exhibitors Association McCormick Lakeside Center, Chicago www.ts2show.com Aug. 7-10 Search Engine...

Ad ratios and budgets grow; Shonfeld & Associates' annual report is bullish on prospects for this year and next.(Advertising)(Statistical data)
July 10, 2006... Byline: KATE MADDOX Ad spending is growing at a healthy rate this year and is expected to continue its strong growth in 2007, according to Schonfeld & Associates' Advertising Ratios & Budgets report, issued last month. The report is...

'Shattered' seeks to break through; Magazine makes debut as marketers increasingly target their messages to female executives.(Business Media)
July 10, 2006... Byline: MATTHEW SCHWARTZ Julie Ros, publisher and editor in chief of the recently launched Shattered, was doing some research when she came upon a piece of information that convinced her that her idea for a new magazine had potential in...

Read this: It's all in the headline.(Chasers)
July 10, 2006... Unless a headline all but says "Hey, this is for you,'' the ad has missed an opportunity-perhaps its only opportunity-to arrest the reader. An ad is often the first meeting place of two parties looking for each other. But if the signal the...

Richard Zannino, CEO, Dow Jones & Co., New York; Media.(words with Cheif Executive Officer)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: M.S. Richard Zannino, who was appointed CEO of Dow Jones & Co. in February, says that working in the rough-and-tumble world of retail helped to prepare him for setting the publishing company's agenda amid dramatic changes in media...

WPP's OgilvyOne acquires Leopard; Marketing services agency and b-to-b boutique join forces to provide full suite of tools to clients.(Direct & Database)(Leopard Communications Inc.)
July 10, 2006... Byline: CAROL KROL WPP Group's OgilvyOne North America announced last month that it has acquired Leopard, a b-to-b marketing agency located in Broomfield, Colo. The acquisition gives OgilvyOne access to Leopard's b-to-b sales and demand...

Is it bye-bye time for big branding?(Opinion)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Ellis Booker Consider the venerable industrial brands that were dominant 50 years ago. Now look around. OK, there are a few giants imaginatively reinventing their brands. Take General Electric Co.'s "Ecomagination'' initiative...

New at btobonline.com.(Opinion)
July 10, 2006... BtoB's Straight Line, a biweekly e-newsletter covering both business-to-business and business-to-consumer direct marketing. Straight Line features industry news and analysis, case studies, interviews with leading direct marketers and industry...

Studies show events' importance; Trade shows affect purchases, but measurement still an issue.(Events)
July 10, 2006... Byline: ELLIS BOOKER A number of research reports point to the health of the event industry and its relevance for b-to-b marketers. Nevertheless, some surveys and industry experts point to ongoing challenges, including issues of...

Average CMO tenure drops to 23.2 months; CMOs find they have less time to build brands and more pressure for measurable results.(News)
July 10, 2006... Byline: KATE MACARTHUR If you're a new chief marketing officer, you probably don't have time to read this. The alarmingly brief average tenure of a CMO has shrunk even further, according to a new survey from executive search firm...

Mobile marketing not moving; Marketers intrigued with, but not yet pursuing, niche applications of mobile messaging.(News)
July 10, 2006... Byline: CAROL KROL Cell phones may be a pervasive piece of business equipment, used daily by tens of millions of workers, but they have yet to emerge as a platform for business advertising. "I have not seen too many examples yet,''...

Bill Nussey, CEO, Silverpop, Atlanta; E-mail.(words with Chief Executive Officer)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: C.K. Bill Nussey, CEO of Silverpop, is a big believer in e-mail marketing. In a world where most of Silverpop's competitors have been snatched up by bigger players, he remains committed to forging partnerships to strengthen his...

Lauren Rich Fine, Managing director-corporate strategy and research, Merrill Lynch, New York; Analyst.(Special Report: Who's Who In B-to-B)
July 10, 2006... Byline: M.S. When Lauren Rich Fine discusses her predictions in Merrill Lynch's annual advertising forecast, marketing executives ignore her insights at their own peril. Fine, one of the most quoted analysts on Wall Street regarding...

Intuit unit revamps search strategy, sees click-through rates soar.(Net Marketing)
July 10, 2006... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN MyCorporation Business Services is an online document filing service targeted at small businesses. When Intuit Corp. acquired the company last winter, it needed to increase traffic from paid search leads and...

Honing your SEM strategy; 13 best practices that will maximize your organic and paid search efforts.(Net Marketing)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Karen J. Bannan Muzak, a provider of music programs, custom music and on-hold messaging, has been around for more than 70 years. Before last September, however, business owners searching for the company online likely had a hard...

Are you measuring the right metrics?(Opinion)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Brian Davies Business-to-business marketing has thrived for years in the absence of accountability. This is partially due to a basic misunderstanding of what its chief tool, marketing communications, can and cannot do. Most...

New Campaigns.(Advertising)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Knight Capital Group "The Science of Trading. The Standard of Trust.'' Agency: Doremus, New York Target audience: Hedge fund managers and buy-side traders Campaign objective: Build awareness of Knight Capital and position it as a...

ABM research finds trade shows attract buyers; Despite success of Internet, traditional advertising still pushing sales needle.(American Business Media)
July 10, 2006... Byline: MATTHEW SCHWARTZ A new study released by American Business Media shows the importance of trade shows when it comes to reaching buyers and influencers. ABM commissioned Harris Interactive to research how media "end-users''...

Steve Cody and Ed Moed, Managing partners, Peppercom, New York; Public Relations.(Special Report: Who's Who In B-to-B)(Company overview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: M.S. One of the first decisions Steve Cody and Ed Moed made when they launched Peppercom in 1995 was to put the term "public relations'' out to pasture. "We lost the term `PR' early on because from the beginning we wanted to...

LexisNexis makes case for its product at annual legal marketing conference.(Vertical Insight: Lawyers)
July 10, 2006... Byline: ROGER SLAVENS Historically, trade shows have only been a small piece of the puzzle in marketing products and services to law firms. However, LexisNexis saw the 2005 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference as a crucial part of...

James Speer, VP-marketing and products, IAC Search & Media, Oakland, Calif. Search.(words of James Speer)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: C.K. Ask.com plays David to search industry Goliaths Google and Yahoo!, but the scrappy search engine is making strides in paid search. Ask.com, formerly known as Ask Jeeves, got into auction-based search with its sponsored...

How to market to attorneys; Consider firm's size, identify decision-makers when reaching out to law firms.(Vertical Insight: Lawyers)
July 10, 2006... Byline: ROGER SLAVENS For the more than 1.1 million practicing lawyers in the U.S., ramping up their business savvy is the No. 1 priority in 2006 and beyond, according to leading legal publisher ALM. "Increasingly, law...

Denise Hopkins, Senior director-marketing, Business Marketing Solutions, Experian, Costa Mesa, Calif. Direct & Database.(words of Denise Hopkins)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Carol Krol Small businesses have always been a rich source of customer prospects for b-to-b companies, but they continue to be difficult to reach. Denise Hopkins, senior director of marketing for Business Marketing Solutions,...

Natural, organic product shows grow healthy niche.(Events)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Carol Hildebrand Already well established in Europe through shows such as Germany's BioFach and the Organic and Natural Expo in the U.K., events showcasing natural and organic products are also taking off in the U.S. Although...

Case Study: How Intuit increased click-throughs with Organic SEO.(Net Marketing)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Objective: Intuit Corp. in November acquired MyCorporation Business Services, an online provider of incorporation and incorporation-related services. While the company was already a known entity, Intuit wanted to increase its visibility and...

Case Study: How LexisNexis found the right fit at the 2005 LMA.(Vertical Insight: Lawyers)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Objective: LexisNexis wanted to generate awareness for its Client Development platform of products, designed to help law firms build their brands and win new business. Solution: The company opted to make last year's Legal Marketing...

Who's Who In B-to-B: List.(Special Report: Who's Who In B-to-B)
July 10, 2006... MARKETERS Who: Stephanie Acker-Moy What: VP-Internet and marketing services Where: Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif. Why: Acker-Moy leads Internet and Web marketing activities at HP and is responsible for overseeing HP.com, which had...