Alterian acquires Intrepid – share price goes up
Around 36 hours ago, our client Alterian Plc announced to the market that it had acquired Intrepid Inc (by the way, if you look at there homepage, I love that fish). In the meantime, there’s been plenty of buzz about the news on social networks, including of course Twitter and Facebook, as the news spread.
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Engagement through participation
Looking through the footage we shot at Alterian’s Engaging Times summit in Chicago, one thing is clear. Leading companies have rethought engagement and they’re a long way ahead of the pack. Instead of thinking about “engagement” in terms of “exposure to the marketing message”, either on a webpage, not unsubscribing to an email or being
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Are we engaged?
If you’ve been following social media you’ll know that interruption is out. Engagement is in. The next question, obviously, is what is engagement? And that’s where the fun begins. At yBC we’re currently researching a new series looking at “engagement” as a marketing strategy. What is it? Are there different ways of achieving it? How
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People in glass houses…
Fresh from announcing our decision to guarantee positive ROI for all our client work, the godfather of direct marketing Stan Rapp’s comments on advertising had particular resonance when I interviewed him in Chicago recently. What did he say? “Advertising is the only business in the world that lives with 50% waste.” Perhaps Advertising Age might
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To me? With me? Or for me?
I have recently been in Chicago covering the Engaging Times event for Alterian. One of the highlights has been interviewing DM pioneer Stan Rapp. One thing about a guy who brings 60-odd years of direct marketing experience to social media, his ideas about engagement don’t lose track of the endgame – which is of course
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Corporates and risky content
This week, I’m likely to interview Tim Washer, the comedian behind IBM’s Art of the Sale viral videos. This was a story line that cut alarmingly close to the bone, but which has paid off handsomely for IBM. I’ll be asking him about the whole experience because as we all know companies don’t like risk.
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Helping PR stay current
Keeping on top of the “stakeholder communications” brief means most PR practitioners are quietly adapting their skill set and market offer to deal with the hard fact that their clients’ important stakeholders spend a significant amount of time online. One of the most high profile examples of course is Edelman, which now advocates engaging with
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Why social media marketing is the smart option
The internet is a game changer for many businesses, including yours. You know it, but do you believe it? Here are some stats to convince you digital media is a force you need to reckon with. Social media is now officially more popular than porn on the internet. Universal McCann study finds 33% of social
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Signs social media is serious business
If you’ve been thinking social media is “optional”, all that may be about to change. If you follow the marketing and PR industry, you’ll see big players like Edelman are repositioning themselves. Digital is now a core part of the communications mix. All companies need to become publishing companies because telling their story through traditional
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Marketing is changing
Recently we interviewed one of the world’s leading social media experts – he predicted there would be no social media experts in five years because it will be core business. Increasingly the marketing industry is waking up to this reality as well. In fact, it’s now over 12 months ago that Forrester began suggesting that
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