This time all I am armed with is a pen and paper (mainly because there was no free Wi-Fi to Twitter using my iTouch, a bit of a faux pas for a digital event) with the task of justifying my day out of the office!

Search vs Web 2.0

I love everything Web 2.0 because the entrepreneurs and their forward thinking and progressive mentality that enabled them to created these wonderful sites is the reason I am in the internet industry. Search on the other hand is the staple part of my working day so with my knowledge of both mediums and how they compliment each other I wanted to find out how the speakers in the Web 2.0 Experience and Keynote Theatres utilised search into their Web 2.0 agencies, websites and campaigns.

Now before I get into the depths of my findings I would like to say thank you to the organisers, speakers and exhibitors at Internet World for a truly exciting and intriguing day. There were some fantastic stands with some brilliant ideas to draw people in and network.

The only issue I have would be the timings and space of the Theatres. I understand there is a ridiculous amount to cover but there was definitely not enough time for group Q&A at the end of each session.

After our success with the Brylcreem and TFL campaigns I was very interested in how other people are using the digital environment to build brands and get their message to their target audience in a medium they want.

Brand Building in Digital environments with a CMS driven e-commerce website

Neil Cartwright said

you have to love something to send it on, it’s not enough just to like things anymore

which I whole heartedly agree with but why when giving his presentation did he not make me believe he loved what he was doing? The innovation Neil has demonstrated in his companies and the online presence of the Jamiroquai brand are impressive and interesting but his presentation lacked heart (IMO).

What the “kids” are doing?

This is a question that has baffled marketers for decades if not centuries but Phil Guest, Managing Director of Habbo UK he has the answer: they want the teenage virtual world of Habbo Hotel and the newly launched Habbo Mall.

With a competitive market of over 250 virtual worlds and an increasing demand from brands to have a presence in these worlds there is some serious money to be made. Or lost. Marketers looking to grow their brands in the “new” online market at low costs compared to “traditional” media would be wise to check out Habbo Mall. This new product from Habbo allows brands to create completely branded shops full of cool branded furniture (which is currency in Habbo) where a brand can communicate directly with their brand evangelists.

Now that sounds amazing; a direct “in” to the teenage market but it’s not all plain sailing for the virtual world market. Privacy, security and money laundering have plagued this space over the last few years so the message is to proceed but to do so with caution and make sure your brand is right for this space.

The holy grail of marketing to me is positive Word of Mouth: without this your brand can not be truly successful, no matter how innovative it is. So the presentation by Brett Hurt, founder of Bazaarvoice, was the next point of call. Bazaarvoice offers Social Commerce Applications for all kinds of websites including Geico, Walmart, Halfords and even shopNBC. With an increasing number of consumers using the internet to research products, previous customer reviews and ratings can have a huge impact on both online and offline sales.

For example you’re in a store looking at the latest HDTV but you’re put off by the pushy salesman. Using your iPhone, Blackberry or even normal mobile, you can read reviews and ratings from other customers helping you to make an important decision. Now having these applications on a site (showing reviews, comments, etc..) has been shown to allow consumers to make purchasing decisions quicker; as Hurt says, it reduces the number of “looks to books”. Previous customer’s Word of Mouth generates a positive reinforcement which a company employee or website will never give.

However it’s not all rosy in this field as many companies have tried to “game” this system by posing as customers writing fantastic reviews in order to improve consumer confidence and increase sales. Such attempts at gaming the system are potentially catastrophic from a brand perspective as detractors can call your bluff and potential distribute their disgust both online and in person. It is also now illegal in the UK!

Viral Marketing: Why Bother?

The new “buzz” word in the Managing Director’s vocabulary is “Viral” so fittingly Viral Marketing: Why Bother? was a hive of excitement and activity. Brand managers flocked to hear what gems the viral marketers would discuss that might help their brand be the next big hit on YouTube. Well sorry to disappoint you but they gave away absolutely nothing of any value.

First and foremost each member of the panel was asked to try an explain the term viral marketing which resulted in a pretty poor show as Chris Kempt said it didn’t exist. At least Scott Burton came up with “something to share and the means of facilitation in which to share experiences”.

This discussion group was a nightmare which in hindsight it was always going to be. Each member of the panel seemed to try and get “one up” on their fellow panellists; in many ways it resembled a footballers’ press conference, with a whiff of arrogance hanging over the entire room.

To top it off there was all of about 30 seconds of Q&A in which to help try to explain an important and exciting discipline, something they had failed to do in the previous 30 minutes. This is not however all the three panellists’ fault; a lot of the blame has to lie with the chair and Internet World for the time allocations.

There were some redeeming comments around the strategic planning of a campaign and that a viral campaign must be planned from the start; it can’t be an after thought (something that Ciaran’s pointed out in the past). Also the “widget” world is an increasingly diverse and attractive proposition for a brand manager but very few understand them and what they offer.

The one thing that every brand manager wants are figures to go to their CEO and show an ROI. Unfortunately just as it is hard to show exactly how many people buy a product after seeing a TV ad or a billboard, so it’s often hard to demonstrate ROI with viral marketing (although our campaign for Lenovo was shown to have had a PR/ad value of $10 million).

Shame they didn’t mention anything to do with SEO and its importance for viral campaigns because in this day and age “build it and they will come” doesn’t work and whether people like it or not Google is here to stay for a while until something better comes along!

The panel did leave us with the one piece of sensible advice: integrate viral at the initial planning stage and measure everything and anything you can.

To answer my initial question it seems that search is not something the web 2.0 world cares about, which I believe this is to do with the “traditional” thinking of art directors and entrepreneurs who see it as an after thought which is sad really as a fully integrated campaign needs search and without it a multi-million pound website may never be found! It’s not just me who thinks this either, Rand at SEOmoz wrote a very entertaining post on exactly this topic very recently.

All in all I enjoyed my day out and I feel as though talking to others in the industry gave me valuable insights into how agencies and brands are looking to and using the digital space. It’s just a shame that so many of these web based businesses seem to have no idea of what the most powerful website on the planet could do for them.

Header image: superfem by flickr

EDITOR’S NOTE: As we’re still having problems with the commenting system, I’m going to add an email we had from Neil at millionmedia, one of the presenters Martin mentioned. I’d just like to thank Neil for taking the time to respond, as everything we do here is about being constructive, so it’s great to get feedback from those we discuss.

Hello Martin

Many thanks for mentioning Million in your blog. Sorry to hear you thought it ‘lacked heart’ - I’d like to think that was down to the weather and a train journey from hell before I got started. I assure you we are very passionate about building fan relationships using Web 2.0 innovations and are happy to demonstrate further.

Great blog btw, and hopefully next year I can rouse my audience a little more

All the best

Neil.

As part of my prep for the conference I got hold of a really interesting report from the lovely people at e-consultancy, as well as some top-level research from ireach & the IAB, looking at the the state of the online marketing industry in Ireland and it made for surpising reading. You see, I had assumed that a country as similar to the UK as Ireland would have a similarly developed online marketing industry but in fact it seems a long way from the UK.

For example, whilst UK online marketing spend is 15% of total ad spend (having overtaken everything except for press classified, press display & TV) in Ireland it sits at just 3%. Yes, in a country where more than €3 billion is spent online by consumers, only €35 million is spent trying to attract them (compare this to the £2.8 billion spent on digital marketing in the UK in 2007). This is probably largely because of the slow uptake of broadband (in fact, the slow uptake of the net, full stop): just 45% of the adult irish population online, compared to 60% in the UK.

All of this made me realise that due to the global nature of the net, and the way in which the sites I like & engage in are often populated by a mix of Brits, Europeans, Americans, Australians and any other nation you care to think of, it is far to easy to assume that things are the same globally as they are here & in the US.

For example, the assumption that Google rules the roost everywhere. In fact in China, whilst Google is gaining ground fast, Baidu still has more than two-thirds of the search market. In South Korea Naver rules the roost, with Yahoo beating Google into last place.

The fact that I still make some of the assumptions I do (despite having warned others of the danger of doing just that in a recent Financial Times article) means that I’m really looking forward to a forthcoming conference called the International Search Summit. It’s being organised by Andy Atkins-Kruger and will feature a presentation by Tor Crockatt, formerly of MIVA, now of Microsoft.

I first saw Tor speak (when still a MIVA-ite) back at Search Engine Strategies New York in 2006, and then again at SES London earlier this year. Tor is without doubt one of the most intelligent and engaging speakers on the search conference circuit, and her talk alone is likely to be worth the admision price.

Header image: meyshanworld on flickr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmiWHLx_v4c

Is this it? With Jamie Liddell and more notably Feist’s recent inclusion to the fame academy I’m just wondering if arguably the most talented and certainly the most entertaining of the same clan is finally to hit the big time. He’s doing a show at the ICA in London tonight. It’s sold out but if you can find out where the fire exits are, I strongly suggest breaking in…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Altogether Digital do not in any way support breaking into concerts in esteemed arts venues.

Header image: cvander on flickr

“An agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.”

How many times have you been to a presentation or gone round a friend’s house and looked at pictures of a holiday or some interesting architecture and yet been bored out of your mind? I’m not saying the pictures aren’t interesting or you aren’t interested in your friend’s holiday but when you’ve been there for hours and you’re only half way through, something’s got to give!

Here is where Mark and Astrid’s Pecha Kucha comes into its own. After architects Mark and Astrid became increasingly frustrated by having to listen to the endless ramblings of other architects’, with their tendency for precise and mind numbing detail, so they invented Pecha Kucha. It gives each speaker 6 minutes 40 seconds to go through 20 slides; 20 seconds per slide……GO! You can see an example of a Pecha Kucha presentation below:

Last night some of the guys from Altogether went to Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation). It was designed as a medium for young designers to express themselves, meet new friends and colleagues in a new and fun way. D&AD the educational charity representing global creative, design and advertising communities hosted last night’s Pecha Kucha at the Logan Hall which is part of The Institute of Education, University of London.

The line up was a who’s who of the digital creative industry in London comprising an eclectic mix of incredibly successful and interesting people who over the years have been responsible for some of the best, and worst, the creative digital industry has to offer.

Each speaker had their own presenting style and had very different meanings behind their 20 images (some used videos which I thought was cheating even if they were amazing), ranging from how the IT industry is impacting global warming to “some the things we like” to self promotion/embarrassment and even included one presenter spamming the audience for dates.

I went into the evening as someone who had lost his way in terms of creativity and I came out a completely changed person. All of the presentations inspired me to see the world as I had seen it when I had more time to sit back and let the world guide me in a more interesting and fundamentally better way.

Having rambled enough I would like to leave you with a question and an idea:

I see Pecha Kucha as something we do everyday in our hectic lives. We spend hours/day/months/years learning, working, creating and generally preparing for moments where we have to show everything in a short period of time whether it’s a pitch for work, a job interview, a first date or even a conversation down the pub with our mates.

Fundamentally we live our lives like Pecha Kucha and this is why I think it is, and is going to be, one of the most inspiring and interesting forms of creative presentation styles we will ever see.

Finally - Which 20 images would you choose to do a 6 minute 40 seconds presentation?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to the continuing issues with our comments, if you’d like to respond, please email us via the contact page.

Unfortunately it would seem like I was being slightly naive as Patrick Altoft has found what looks like some pretty obvious examples of stories from the BBC being spammed on social news sites such as digg and, ridiculously, Sphinn (which is a site for stories relating to online marketing - not stories about Top Gear).

I really hope that this turns out to be another case of an agency doing a bad job for a client, as it would really depress me to think that the BBC are so impatient that they can’t wait for their own users to submit their content. Or indeed that they know so little about social media that they don’t understand that it’s fine to submit your own content, so long as that’s not all you submit.

I realise that our comments are turned off at the moment, but if anyone from the BBC would like to respond then please feel free to email me and I’ll post any responses up here.

Header image: Steve Longus on flickr

Apart from the fact that the show benefited from what must be the most amazing setting for any conference I’ve ever been to, there was a real buzz about the place: the attendees were all very friendly and the speakers were obviously delighted to be there. I won’t bother doing a full write-up as several others have already done a great job of that (including Rand & Neerav). I would like to thank everyone involved for inviting me & making me, and all the other speakers, feel so welcome.

It really showed that in search & digital, just as much as in any other industry, there’s no replacement for meeting people in the flesh to build real relationships.

Here’s to next year!

PS: Due to a slight bug which we’re working on, we can’t accept comments at the moment - sorry!

Header image: lynn smith on Flickr

They spoke to 58,000 teens aged 11-18 over 31 countries, including Europe, US and Latin America.

• Instant Messenger was used by 76% of respondents to communicate.
• Email has seen a dip in usage, being favoured for more ‘official’ communications with parents and employers.
• 71% of teens now listen to music via their mobile, compared to only 38% in 2006.
• 70% use their mobiles to take photos and video, up 11% from 2006
• 64% play games via the mobile, up 14% from the previous survey.
• In the UK, Nokia has slipped to 3rd most popular below its rivals, Sony Eriksson and Samsung
• Social networking’s proliferation has been hampered, particularly in Latin American countries, due to the dominance of English-langauge social networking sites, suggesting that localised social network sites will be the opportunity of the future.
• 40% of the teens did not view social networks as an important part of their communication experience.
• Nike and Converse top the list of teens’ favoured shoe brands, while newcomers such as Bench and Primark are breaking into the top five clothing brands.

Habbo then broke down typical teen web users into five typical personality types, which were evenly split around the globe, although there were variations from country to country. None are that surprising!

Achievers
Rebels
Traditionals
Creatives
Loners

Read the whole research project information here.

The change will make it necessary for advertisers to bid on their own brand terms to avoid losing brand term traffic to competitors. In the past it has been possible for an advertiser to avoid using paid search for brand terms, relying instead on a top organic listing and on Google to prevent competing advertisers from displaying ads for their brand terms. The increased competition on brand keywords from other advertisers will make it more expensive for an advertiser to bid on its own brand terms.

Trademark owners should benefit from a better quality score than competitors, meaning that they can achieve a lower cost per click and a higher ad position than competing advertisers. This is because the keyword will appear in their ad text and landing pages, while clickthrough rates will be much higher than for competitors.

The impact of the change will be mitigated by the fact that no one was completely trademark protected in the first place, and many advertisers had already factored this into their campaigns by bidding on extensive spelling variations and misspellings of their own brand terms. While previously companies could protect registered trademark terms, they couldn’t protect misspellings and many individual product names. Additionally, the broad match feature triggers related terms and this means there is no guarantee that an advertiser is fully protected under the current policy.

Who stands to benefit?

Google stands to gain most here, with advertising revenues set for a boost due to a higher cost per click and potentially more clicks on trademark terms as more ads compete for space on the search engine results page.

Others standing to benefit will be new market entrants or smaller, less established brands. The policy change will allow smaller brands to associate themselves with the established names in their sector.

The other advertisers most likely to benefit from the new policy rules will be those selling goods or offering services that are considered to be a commodity, where the price or convenience of the good or service matters more than who is offering it. Trustworthiness will remain a differentiating factor here, and internet users will still continue to prefer websites that they have transacted on in the past, as long as the experience was positive.

Altogether Digital’s response to the change

Some of the actions we are taking in light of the change are to:

• Revise brand based campaigns to ensure that advertisers are achieving full coverage for their own brand terms
• Create competitor brand keyword campaigns where appropriate
• Monitor who is bidding on our brand terms to asses any risks (and possibly to return the favour)
• Closely monitor impressions and clickthrough rates as a measure of lost traffic

If you don’t know what Diggnation is, you can find a summary from when I wrote about the London Diggnation. So why am I writing about this one? Well last time Diggnation did a live show Kevin and Alex planned to stream the event live using Yahoo! Live which would have been a fantastic idea but Yahoo! Live wasn’t up to the task and crashed with no more than 200 people watching. Even before it crashed there was massive time-lags which meant that “chats” never got sent.

So this time after testing various live streaming software, such as Qik (which is basically a mobile application), over the last couple of weeks, Kevin Rose and the Diggnation team are going to stream the event using an infrastructure more akin to the sort of thing used for the Champions League Final. According to Patrick de Laive, one of the organisers of The Next Web:

We’ve teamed up with NOS, Cross Media Ventures, Team.tv, and TechCrunch (media partner), to make this stream available for thousands and thousands of people, no matter where you live.

Amsterdam is going to be fantastic, especially for those of us in Europe as it will mean that we can watch the show at a reasonable time instead of silly O’Clock in the morning. Americans will also be able to watch it at a reasonable time; well at least in their lunch break or something.

So how do you watch it I hear you say? Well get yourself onto revision 3 at 6pm tomorrow (that’s 5pm UK time) CET and if you don’t already have an account register and have a chat with the guys online.

For those of you wanting to watch the real thing, get yourself on a flight to Amsterdam and go to the show. I’ve been fortunate enough to make it to two and I had a ball at both.

Header image (of a Diggnation audience): psd on flickr