Nilewide Marketing Review articles from April 2006

Nilewide Marketing Review archives from April 2006

Where to for social networking?
April 2, 2006... Many marketers are excited by the potential of social networking sites, where large numbers of people are linked through common interests. News Corp recently bought 2-year-old MySpace.com, the leading social networking site after it had grown...

What to do with social interactions.
April 2, 2006... Everything we do is influenced, to some degree, by the actions of others, whether it is something someone says (word-of-mouth), the way they dress, or the reactions they get from others. Rather than simply focus on word-of-mouth, a more general...

Funny things people do.
April 2, 2006... Our views on decision-making and human behaviour are moving a long way from the rational perspectives we once held. It might even appear that we are entirely irrational, most of the time, given that emotion is claimed by neuroscientists to...

Why is product placement legal?
April 2, 2006... The popularity of product placement is understandable, given that it is relatively cheap and unregulated. But one commentator claims that product placement is no different from payola, payola is illegal and product placement is not. Payola is...

Spot the brand.
April 2, 2006... The appeal of product placements is obvious, given the cost of mass advertising and our voracious appetite for entertainment. It is no wonder that product placements are becoming so popular that there is even a website set up to spot them. It...

Forget the MBA!(Survey)
April 2, 2006... Back in 1996, Henry Mintzberg listed ten fallacies of modern management, and claimed that the CEOs who are doing exceptional things today are not MBA graduates. Nearly ten years later, he might have a point. An American survey of marketing...

Open source or mob rule?
April 2, 2006... The success of Linux, Firefox and Wikipedia is widely quoted to attest to the power and future of open source operations in many industries. As open source becomes more widely used as a development philosophy, not just in software but in fields...

A mental image of…?(Brief article)
April 2, 2006... Mental images seem a normal part of life and are integral to marketing, from research to brand memories. Yet, we know very little about mental imagery, how it exists and whether its existence actually tells us what thoughts are made of and how...

One version every now and then?(mass media)
April 2, 2006... It is widely accepted that multiple exposures to an ad improve memory about a brand and that multiple executions avoid boredom and present different aspects of a brand. However, this view can be challenged by findings suggesting that a viewer...

It just doesn't click.
April 2, 2006... Google's recent settlement of a click fraud case means the extent of fraud may be hidden behind the conditions of the settlement and it may be part of a strategy to overcome further legal challenges. Estimates of Google click fraud levels vary...

Don't give away the store.
April 9, 2006... Green Stamps was the original, although now failed, frequent buyer reward program. Since its demise our current approaches to rewarding people via loyalty programs have become much more sophisticated, but they are still just as likely to fail...

Google in adland.(asset management)
April 9, 2006... The ubiquitous Google is known for having big and ambitious plans, but its latest plan may shake up the entire advertising industry. Google now plans to apply the ideas of search to the way that advertising is transacted and, in doing so, turn...

Be careful of what is typical.(advertising effects on brand perceptions)
April 9, 2006... Advertising often aims to either reinforce or change the image of a brand and its success is often measured in these terms. Any changes are thought to be because of the campaign. The danger with this thinking is that it fails to consider two...

Back in the box!(business strategies)
April 9, 2006... The expression, "think outside the box" has been around rather too long, especially as there are times when it may be better to get back in the box! As the CEO of Procter & Gamble said, even in a complex business, the core business is the one...

Improve your predictions.
April 9, 2006... Every company seeks new customers and hope that they will buy again, and again. CRM systems continue to offer the promise of predicting not only who will buy, but what they buy, and when. However, the experience has been rather different and...

Errors of their ways.(surveys of customer behaviour)
April 9, 2006... Surveys are widely used to understand and interpret customer behaviour and are sometimes described as "structured conversations between strangers". Like conversations, they are also full of red herrings, misunderstandings and biases....

The importance of standards.(technology manufacturers )
April 9, 2006... One of the most frustrating aspects of modern technology is the lack of standards, from mobile phone chargers to laptop accessories. Yet we are encouraged to believe that obsolescence or incompatibility is simply the price of progress. Looking...

The old and the new.(point of sale )(Brief article)
April 9, 2006... The similarities between point of sale and online search seem to have been missed by many people, even though both having the benefits of offering consumer relevance and control. Just as in search a potential customer is looking for something...

How couples make decisions.(gender differences)
April 9, 2006... It is tempting to think that individuals always make decisions, but very often decisions are made by a couple not an individual. This changes the way decisions are made, depending on whether they take a competitive or a co-operative focus....

You put ads in the game.
April 9, 2006... The trend for consumers to create their own ads has been taken a step further into the virtual world. Project Entropia, a science fiction game by MindArk, gives users a Powerpoint-type tool to help them create animated ads and buy time on...

Politics and purchasing.(of automotive industry)
April 23, 2006... The rise of talk radio and the internet has given a larger voice to those who seek to link their political passions to purchasing. The most obvious in the US are the conservative religious groups, such as the American Family Association, and...

Reputation is not all.
April 23, 2006... Corporate reputation is frequently reported to be the third most important factor in a purchase decision, after quality and price so much of the discussion on corporate reputation assumes it has a big impact. But being the third most important...

To converge or not?(marketers content distribution)
April 23, 2006... Convergence has been on the agenda for some years now, although some people suggest that it sits uncomfortably with many consumers. The question is what can marketers do to maximise its effectiveness as a marketing tool without jeopardising...

How older people think.
April 23, 2006... While the marketing industry is still intent on understanding how young people think, there are indications that it is beginning to look ahead to when the average consumer is considerably older than she is today. This includes looking at the...

Home retailing is the new skill.
April 23, 2006... Home shopping has been a channel for many years, beginning with catalogues, and shoppers have become accustomed to waiting several weeks for delivery. Online shopping is an extension of that idea, but linking it to the catalogues of the past...

A dead end for call centres?
April 23, 2006... Use of outsourced call centres, particularly to India and Philippines, may have reduced costs for companies but annoys customers and damages brands. US data, from Opinion Research, suggests 62% of Americans claim their recent experience with an...

Are we really engaged?(advertising rules)(Brief article)
April 23, 2006... Engagement may be the latest buzzword in advertising and other marketing disciplines but Erwin Ephron suggests we need to be careful in how we use it. First, what do we really mean by engagement, as it will undoubtedly vary from user to user....

Major moments on the internet.
April 23, 2006... Since 2002 more people go online for help with their "major moments". It appears that, in America at least, internet users trust they will find help online, whether it is training, a new job, buying a new car, or choosing a school. The data...

Budgets favour current customers.(survey of direct marketers)(Brief article)
April 23, 2006... A recent survey of UK direct marketers shows an increase in the proportion of budgets spent on communicating with customers versus prospecting for new customers. In this 1,000 company sample, there had been a 10% increase in the proportion of...

Blogs are well read.
April 23, 2006... It may be tempting to dismiss the impassioned ravings of bloggers on the internet. But JupiterResearch believes that they are the vocal minority who have a disproportionate influence on society. As in the old days, it was always the most...

Screen presence.(use of display screens by marketers)
April 30, 2006... Analysis "Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas on which women paint their dreams." Rudolph Valentino, actor. From the moment we wake most of us are surrounded by screens and...