New Thinking About Direct Marketing

Some companies will go right around a negative customer situation and turn it positive. Kuwait has no residential mail system, so marketing via direct channels poses a challenge. But one company saw this as an opportunity to connect with customers in unique ways. Gulf Bank knows that almost all its banking customers in Kuwait [...]

Google Brings Web-like Accountability To TV

Google is testing an ad system that works on the lines of its web based AdWords system. It plans to sell spots based not only on price but on how well an ad performs. Better-quality advertising — advertising the audience deems most relevant — will be rewarded, as marketers will pay less for the same [...]

P&G’s new brand. A record label.

More proof that how difficult it is becoming for brands to connect with customers, Procter & Gamble Co. has launched a music label. The Cincinnati based company has partnered with international record label company Island Def Jam Music Group to launch a music company tied to its TAG men’s deodorant and body spray. The label, [...]

New Ways To Learn: Children And Money

Math and Economics will probably take a backseat with new ways of teaching kids about budgets and finance taking the lead. The financial advice site Minyanville that claims to be providing financial infotainment, in conjunction with family-focused media company Kaboose, intends to teach children about earning, spending, saving and giving money – all with a [...]

The Rise & Rise Of Shopper Marketing

The hottest marketing medium around may be pasted to the floor of a mall or dangling from a shelf on aisle in a spanking new supermarket near you. Laugh if you want, but some people believe shopper marketing will reshape marketing for some very big spenders. Shopper marketing is hot and growing faster than internet [...]

A Guarantee From Time

There are simply too many options beyond traditional advertising for media owners to set the agenda any more. So in another sign on how the power is shifting away, publishing giant Time Inc. is breaking with long-held conventions of the magazine industry and has agreed to report circulation sales figures in nearly Real Time and [...]

Ads On The Fly

Yahoo’s freshly launched Smart Ads network rejigs online banner ads to display personalised messages and layouts on the fly. All based on the individual user’s demo info and past behaviors. Yahoo turns one ad into thousands by leveraging user demographics and interests instantly by uniquely generating offer driven advertising that carry personalised advertising messages from [...]

World Bank Monitors Buzz

One of the things that took analysts covering a recent World Bank presentation by surprise was the fact that the Bank now monitors buzz. One of the slides on show monitored the number of times the World Bank had been mentioned in blogs between November 2006 and February 2007. And if you were following the [...]

On the subject of eMail Marketing

Not the message, not the design, not the creative, not even the offer. It’s the subject line, dummy, that matters, when it comes to email marketing. Mass emailer Mail Chimp did a study on email open rates and discovered - and this will surprise most creative people - having a simple message with the company [...]

The Future of Television

It’s not the first time we have spoken along these lines. But here are some very good examples of how the idiot box will evolve in the coming months and years. Joost, from the guys who gave us Kazaa and Skype - Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. Joost has a chat box, rating screen, [...]