It's been talked about for months, or rather the rumours and speculation were. It was rolled out on Google.com on the 7th December 2009 (most notiblly for 'Tiger Woods') among a few key search terms, and then a couple of weeks ago we finally saw it appear on Google.co.uk
What a year 2009 was. Google and Bing started to understand the intent of a search query and started to gain a better of idea of what formats of content were most engaging in relation to the search query. For the 1st time ever search engines measured organic positions against engagement time and bounce back rates etc, and all of a sudden (as if we were surprised), a better blend of real time, local and universal search results began to appear in the results pages. It’s a start in the right direction.
On Tuesday, Google announced an arrangement with TiVo whereby they will be gathering and sharing information on TiVo viewing behaviour as it relates to advertising. The upshot is that TiVo will be sharing information on which adverts people are watching and which ones they're fast forwarding through. According to TiVo, the information gathered will be "totally anonymous". In other words, they're interested in and passing on which adverts are capturing people's interest in terms of type, time, etc, but not who is actually watching them. Do we believe them?
The recently announced acquisition of Joost Assets by ad network Adconion, the largest independent global audience and content network, paints a clear picture of where the online market is heading. True, Adconion has been offering pre-roll video ad distribution for some time, but this move will broaden their reach and further cement their position as a video content and ad distributor.
The web is all a-quiver at the moment by the announcement that Microsoft could be teaming up with News Corp in the fight to knock Google off the top spot in the delivery of information on the web.
The as yet unconfirmed deal would see Mircosoft paying News Corps to "de-index" their news content from Google. The understanding at this stage is that the news content would still be indexed by Microsoft's search engine Bing.
In times of financial uncertainty, many companies are inclined to bury their heads in the sand and simply wait for the storm to pass. Other companies, however, may look at an economic downturn as an opportunity to get more advertising for less money, thereby keeping the brand in their customers' minds for when things do turn around.
Recent developments and the ongoing economic recovery have led to a real shift in the boardroom mindset. CEO's and MD's across all industries have realised that Digital Marketing is where the marketing industry as a whole and consumer reach in specific are heading. With budgets under careful scrutiny, being able to monitor results from advertising spend has become increasingly important. Long gone are the days of frivolous spending with little regard for ROI and measurable results.
One of the biggest criticisms of Facebook has been its inability to generate revenue and turn a profit. This is an ongoing challenge for the company as a whole, but that does not mean that marketers shouldn't use Facebook as an excellent tool to reach target markets, expand market potential and incorporate Facebook into overall marketing activities. It is fast, effective and relatively cheap. With the right direction and consistent content updates, this could be a useful weapon in your business marketing arsenal in the next year!
Elegant Resorts, part of the Thomas Cook group, has appointed Ambergreen to target the top percentile of the luxury holiday market, customers that expect to pay upwards of £10K for a holiday, and rapidly increase its online business.
Ambergreen are pleased to be supporting the Edinbooks project, being carried out by our own, Eliza Dashwood. The project will see volunteers carpet bomb the city with books on every subject, from fiction to self help, travel to history.
The idea behind the project is to share books that would otherwise be taking up space on bookcases, encouraging reading throughout the community. The project will also demonstrate how online social media can be used to promote a cause, either for charities, events or businesses.
