DIGITAL MARKETING AND DIGITAL MEDIA INDUSTRY NEWS AND EVENTS

Make your plans now to attend Mobile World Congress 2012, where we are Redefining Mobile!
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Johns reaction: Another shadowy new anti-counterfeiting law about to be passed. Whats going on?

INDUSTRY TALK Last week, 3 million of us beat back America's attack on our Internet! --- but there is an even bigger threat out there, and our global movement for freedom online is perfectly poised to kill it for good. ACTA - a global treaty - could allow corporations to censor the Internet. Negotiated in secret by a small number of rich countries and corporate powers, it would set up a shadowy new anti-counterfeiting body to allow private interests to police everything that we do online and impose massive penalties -- even prison sentences -- against people they say have harmed their business. Europe is deciding right now whether to ratify ACTA -- and without them, this global attack on Internet freedom will collapse. We know they have opposed ACTA before, but some members of Parliament are wavering -- let's give them the push they need to reject the treaty. Sign the petition -- we'll do a spectacular delivery in Brussels when we reach 500,000 signatures!
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PEOPLE  Welcome to Digital People where we profile interesting people at the coal face of digital innovation and ask them what inspires them, whats hot now and future technology trends to watch out for. Today we have Howard Goldkrand, an all round interesting guy, digital nomad, artist that works across all media including digital and more. If you want a different perspective from the mundane, read on..
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START UPS  Welcome to the first entrepreneurs profile where we will look at those who have the gumption to get out there and create a digital marketing start-up. We will ask them what drives them as an entrepreneurs, how they keep motivated, handle stress and rejection and their plans for the future. First company is iPledge a crowd funding platform based in Oz started by Bryan Vadas & Andy Tompkins.
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Johns reaction: One of the most stunning results comes from its retail operation. No shrinking apparent in the face of the online alternative here. Should we all re-evaluate bricks?

ADVERTISING & MARKETING Looming recession? Not down at the Apple store. While just about everyone else in the telecoms industry is feeling the pinch, Apple has turned in some stunning financials and the two contrasting sets of results are not unrelated. By Ian Scales. The headline can't quite do it justice - Steve Jobs has left the world with a money-making machine extraordinaire, but in growing its own cake Apple has been nibbling away at the icing on many other players' slices. In its best ever quarter Apple earnings rose more than 117 per cent to $13.06 billion, on revenue of $46.33 billion. That must be compared to $26.74 billion revenue and the profit of $6 billion in the year-ago quarter.
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ADVERTISING & MARKETING  Its happening in quick succession, McDonalds took a beating after its poorly thought out #McDstories attracted a group of people who havent had as much fun since the Super Size Me Film debate. Yesterday it was LA Fitness turn to commit Brand Tweticide. Have a quick read on what NOT to do.
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ADVERTISING & MARKETING  So here we are; the start of another year. Having settled back in to the swing of things after a much needed festive break, we've looked back on the events of 2011 to make our (slightly belated!) predictions for the key digital marketing and retail trends of 2012. So here goes...
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INDUSTRY TALK  I remember, back in 2008, preparing a presentation on social media and how it was starting to have a huge effect on customer services. My advice was unreservedly to get involved in the conversation asap. In the 3 years that have passed consumers have taken to the social channels like ducks to water but has the pendulum swung too far with extreme service requests and even brand bullying starting?
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Johns reaction: The six basic tendencies of human behavior that come into play in generating a positive response: reciprocation, consistency, social validation, liking, authority and scarcity.

INDUSTRY TALK Hello smart entrepreneur. I know you re a busy person, so I ll be brief. Read this post NOW, if your startup involves convincing someone to do something. Your friends and competitors are reading it already. Years of research into human behavior and influence went into these insights by Prof Robert Cialdini, so read actively, and try to apply these lessons on your business. In the process of acquiring new customers, startups need to persuade, convince or enchant the potential customer to sacrifice a resource, let it be time, money, access to their stream of information, in order to use the startup s product. The persuasion process is very subtle, and most likely takes place in a matter of seconds: the user gets to the landing page, the user sees your icon in the app store, the user thinks about registering for a free trial these seconds are going to determine the future of your business.
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Johns reaction: just another thing to worry about

ADVERTISING & MARKETING Do you shove lots of ads at the top of your web pages? Think again. Tired of doing a Google search and landing on these types of pages? Rejoice. Google has announced that it will penalize sites with pages that are top-heavy with ads. Top Heavy With Ads? Look Out! The change called the page layout algorithm takes direct aim at any site with pages where content is buried under tons of ads.
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SOCIAL MEDIA  As youngster I grew up idolising Shane Warne. To this two-bit spin bowler who batted at eleven and fielded at a very deep deep long on, Warne was sporting deity. The beer drinking, bake bean eating, smoking blonde could do things with a little red ball that would not be out of place in a Harry Potter movie.
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Johns reaction: Smartphones killed the SMS star

ADVERTISING & MARKETING Christmas (a prime texting time) brought further confirmation that SMS volumes are on the decline in many markets as users switch at least some of their SMS activity over to Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other applications. It's often written up as another punch in the kidneys for telcos, but in fact the switch actually adds more value to the pipe. By Ian Scales.
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TECHNOLOGY  This was a concept that caught my eye at the CES 2012 in Las Vegas. It was a first look at the Transparent Samsung LCD smart window. This is a product looking for ideas especially from a media point of view so well worth a look.
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ADVERTISING & MARKETING  The merging of Digital and TV will mean that media planning will change. As part of the on-going series of articles on how Digital TV is will, and is already changing online media here are seven pointers for 2012 and onwards.
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Digitals reaction: this one is a bit obvious, ROI Is Still Huge, but interesting points.

ADVERTISING & MARKETING n 2011, social media had its share of growing pains. Large brands and corporations took to social media in force to try to find footing in this expanding medium. Some brands found success, while others found peril and new PR nightmares. One person who has helped brands navigate the proverbial social media minefield is Amy Jo Martin. She is the founder of Digital Royalty, a social media firm that has set itself apart by helping A-listers find their social media voice. Amy works with people like Dana White of the UFC, Dwayne The Rock Johnson of acting/WWE fame and brands like Nike and Fox Sports (and now Joel Stein). Her specialty is working with organizations or individuals and making them look good online. Since the online world is in perpetual flux, I wanted to get Amy s take on the social media landscape for 2012. Here were a few key trends Amy said we should look out for in 2012:
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TECHNOLOGY  Happy New Year. As 2012 starts to get into the swing on things and CES is upon us once again, I am looking forward to what will hopefully be a definitive year for IP and TV. First however, a quick review on how I did with my 2011 predications;
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ADVERTISING & MARKETING  Digital predictions for 2012 are a dime a dozen so I have taken a slightly different approach by detailing what I believe is most important for marketers to think about and focus on in the year ahead.
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Johns reaction: Facebook in a nutshell. cant help but feel its a frenzie

ADVERTISING & MARKETING Rumors are flying about Facebook Inc. going public this year. So, just how much money is the world s largest social network worth? Reports project that Facebook will go public some time between April and June. The company itself has remained hush-hush about the initial public offering. The infographic below shows how the company s projected valuation of $100 billion breaks down and which Facebook Friends will be getting a piece of the pie. Facebook s IPO will be the biggest of any tech company in history six times that of Google s, according to Accounting Degree Online.
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Johns reaction: Keep up

ADVERTISING & MARKETING Google s search results are undergoing their most radical transformation ever, as a new Search Plus Your World format begins rolling out today. It finds both content that s been shared with you privately along with matches from the public web, all mixed into a single set of listings. The change is live now, though not everyone will see it until it fully launches over the next few days. It s only for those signed-in to Google.com and searching in English. You ll know when it happens, because Google will alert you with a message like this above your search results:
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The internationally acclaimed think-tank and creative industries workshop comes to Bath. Hear from 17 of the world's leading digital media gurus and update yourself in a day!
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