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New Marketing Fundamentals by Brian Fetherstonhaugh at SMX London 09

posted on May 27, 2009

Brian Fetherstonhaugh, Chairman and CEO—OgilvyOne Worldwide

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Once again SMX London was held at the rather grand New Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden. Unlike the typical chilly days of last November Spring was in the air and to begin the conference Brian Fetherstonhaugh of OgilvyOne took to the stage in front of a packed conference hall to deliver his keynote.

Brian began with addressing the concept that search was the holy grail of marketing. And even more so in a time of recession—the industry itself was still growing at a rate of 10-20% a year! He then told attendees that whilst OgilvyOne had worked with some top brands including American Express, Sears, Ford, Shell, Barbie, Pond’s, Dove and more. But as Brian pointed out, David Ogilvy was kind of crazy! “He was an “interesting and nutty guy”.

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74% of Employees Agree Their Social Media Antics Can Ruin Your Company’s Reputation

posted on May 27, 2009

Have you had the big talk with your kids? You know, the one where you explain the risks and how one night of craziness can result in them throwing their life away?

Good. How about with your employees?

No, I’m not talking about the importance of abstinence/protection, I’m talking about the importance of ruining your company’s reputation via social media!

New data suggests you should sit down with them right this minute!

Yep, you read that chart correctly. A whopping 74% of your employees agree that their social media antics could damage your company’s reputation. With that in mind, you absolutely need to have the talk with your employees and let them know what they can and cannot do in social media.

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Google Didn’t Kill the Analytics Industry; Expected to Reach Almost $1B by 2014

posted on May 27, 2009

The US web analytics market will grow to $953 million by 2014–a healthy 17% compound annual growth rate–according to a new Forrester Research five-year forecast being published today.

Wait, didn’t Google’s free Analytics offering sound the death knell for paid web analytics? Apparently not. While licensing fees will drop 15% over the next 5 years, support and service fees will increase by as much as 19%.

Want more trends data from Forrester? Forrester ForecastView clients have access to the more detailed data underlying the report.

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Ashton Kutcher Uses Twitter to Punk the Media

posted on May 27, 2009

Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) is threatening to quit Twitter over (not so true) rumors the micro-blogging service had signed a TV deal. His exact Tweet:

Now, I have to admit, this is either brilliant or naive.

Brilliant, if Kutcher is punking the media with such a claim. After all, the guy is known for messing with people’s heads. It’s quite possible that the guy–who can’t live without the spotlight–is simply acting upset, in order to get even more attention than he received from his Oprah appearance. Heck, CNN fell for it.

On the flip side, if Kutcher is sincere with his tweet, then it shows a staggering amount of naivety–and should be a wake-up call for all of us.

He follows-up his first Tweet with:

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From Russia with Cash – Facebook Gets $200 Million

posted on May 27, 2009

facebook2So all of the talk of valuations and all of the speculation regarding board seats and on and on and on has come to a close – for now. Facebook yesterday picked up a cool $200 million from a relatively unknown Russian investor, Digital Sky Technologies. All Things Digital reports

The social network is selling $200 million of preferred stock at a $10 billion valuation; DST will also buy up to $100 million of common stock at a lower valuation later this year.

While significantly less than the valuation of $15 billion established when Microsoft jumped into the Facebook frenzy many feel that the number that Microsoft invested on was inflated. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touched on the issue in a conference call. Peter Kafka covered it ‘live’ and commented

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Pass or Fail: Twitter’s Reality TV Plans

posted on May 26, 2009

UPDATE: Looks like there won’t be a Twitter TV show.

In an effort to capitalize on its increased attention, Twitter has agreed to a TV deal with Reveille Productions and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. And not just any TV series, friends, a REALITY TV series (cue the hallelujah chorus). I think we’ve all had this void in our life, and in our TV lineups in particular, that was missing something . . . something AMAZING. The Twitter reality TV show is just that.

Who wouldn’t want to see people stalk celebrities via Twitter? What’s that you say? You can already see people stalking celebrities on Twitter by simply visiting twitter.com? Blasphemy! This has number one TV rankings written all over it.

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Social Media Doesn’t Drive Purchases?

posted on May 26, 2009

Contravening prevailing wisdom, the results of a new survey from Knowledge Networks show that social media does not, in fact, drive purchases. Fewer than 5% of consumers age 18-34 “regularly turn to these sites for guidance on purchase decisions” on various product categories.

Or, rather, a new survey from Knowledge Networks shows that very, very few people think that social media influences their purchase decisions. And this is a story we’ve heard before—a year ago, Pew Internet Life conducted a similar survey and concluded the same thing, even though their stats really only indicated that the Internet doesn’t influence people who don’t use it. And once again, at first glance, these numbers aren’t very encouraging:

  • 16% of the social-media users surveyed said they’re more inclined to buy brands that advertise on social sites