Saturday, July 12, 2014

Walmart's New System Will Buy Media for Retailer -- And Its Suppliers


Now that digital and social media are reaching what Walmart U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Quinn calls "critical mass," the retail giant is reshaping its marketing team and changing how it works with suppliers including buying media for them.

WMX is Walmart's play to apply "big data" to marketing, Ms. Young. So it involves using Walmart's own trove of data from Walmart.com to store sales to social-media platforms and third-party data. The retailer wants to fill in one of the gaps in that data with its Savings Catcher program designed to get shoppers to input their offline store receipts into their Walmart app, which will generate a database the retailer hopes will rival those of other retailers' loyalty programs.

"On top of that," Ms. Young said, "we will build all of the other data populations you can use to create customer segments. And then, yes, we will use that in partnership to go out and buy media on behalf of our suppliers."


Continue reading at AdAge.com


Walmart's New System Will Buy Media for Retailer -- And Its Suppliers

4 Ways to Prepare for the Future of the Inbox

With all the changes coming to the email channel, it's easy to lose sight of what you need to focus on to both optimize what you're doing today and strategically plan for continued optimization tomorrow.




4 Ways to Prepare for the Future of the Inbox

Video shows rumored 'iPhone 6' sapphire front panel destroyed by car

After multiple torture tests, a purported sapphire front cover rumored to be bound for Apple's 4.7-inch "iPhone 6" has finally been broken, but getting there took a car weighing 1.6 tons.







Video shows rumored 'iPhone 6' sapphire front panel destroyed by car

The Creativity Top 5: The Best Brand Ideas of the Week


Need some inspiration? Check out Creativity's latest roundup of the week's best brand ideas, including Donald Trump reincarnated as an owl, and Oreos imagined into fanciful snacks.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here to keep abreast of the top work, and for more of the best ideas in brand creativity, tune in to Creativity-online.com.


Continue reading at AdAge.com


The Creativity Top 5: The Best Brand Ideas of the Week

Cisco VP: We Need to Market More Like B2C Companies


Joseph Puthussery, Cisco's VP demand generation, believes his company's marketing should look more like Netflix's.

During last week's SiriusDecisions conference, Mr. Puthussery lauded the streaming giant's ability to personalize its website for millions of customers for a product selling for $8.99 a month. He said there was little reason for Cisco's website not to offer similar personalization, considering its software is much more expensive.

Here, Mr. Puthussery discusses how b-to-b marketers can incorporate elements of b-to-c strategy into their work:


Continue reading at AdAge.com


Cisco VP: We Need to Market More Like B2C Companies

B-to-B Needs More Humor: Cisco Marketing Manager


Business may not seem funny to most, but it ought to be, according to Tim Washer, a former actor and comedy writer who's now Cisco Systems' senior marketing manager for social media.

Creating brand value is as important as feeding the sales funnel, Mr. Washer said at the annual Business Marketing Association meeting in Chicago, and humor is a key ingredient.

Cisco, with Mr. Washer's help, has already embarked on some comedic videos, one of which came last year with the marketing of its ASR 9000 router.


Continue reading at AdAge.com


B-to-B Needs More Humor: Cisco Marketing Manager

Investors Revive Crumbs

Crumbs

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A handful of cupcake-hungry investors have picked up the pieces and will resurrect the shuttered Crumbs cupcake store chain.


The chain abruptly closed all 48 of its stores across 10 states on July 8th. Now, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune and a press release, Crumbs will be acquired in a Chapter 11 process by the newly formed Lemonis Fischer Acquisition Company, LLC, a joint venture created by Marcus Lemonis LLC and Fischer Enterprises, L.L.C.. Lemonis hosts CNBC’s The Profit.



“We remain saddened that we were forced to cease operations before this agreement was reached, but we strongly believe that pursuing this sale through the chapter 11 process is ultimately in the best interest of the Company and its stakeholders,” said Edward M. Slezak, Crumbs Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel. Read more…


More about Business and Small Business



What Your Grocery Store Might Look Like in 2025: Different at Night


Picture this: A grocery store with shifting walls that transforms into a restaurant at night and a farmers market on Saturday mornings.

Sound far-fetched? It could happen by as soon as 2025, according to a new exhibit that seeks to predict food retail trends for the next 10 years. The predictions come from the Food Marketing Institute, which represents food retailers operating nearly 40,000 U.S. stores. The organization debuted the exhibit on Wednesday in Chicago as part of a sprawling trade show that it is hosting this week.

The exhibit was overseen by Tesser, a San Francisco-based brand strategy and design firm. In the video above Tesser CEO Tre Musco talks about the project, whose sponsors include Hershey Co., Coca-Cola Refreshments and American Express.


Continue reading at AdAge.com


What Your Grocery Store Might Look Like in 2025: Different at Night

Now on Kickstarter: a Production of 'Hamlet' Starring Pugs

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Hamlet. With pugs.


By now, nothing that happens on Kickstarter should surprise you, but this emerging project just might. A brave man is trying to fund a five-hour production of Hamlet with a cast comprised entirely of pugs. Glorious, slobbering, royal robe-donning pugs


This project is only in its infancy; it launched July 7 and currently sits at just under $100 raised. But the man behind the project, Kevin Broccoli, has big plans



puglet



Broccoli told Mashable that his plan is to have pugs onstage moving around while actors (well-known ones like James Earl Jones, who is also a “pug lover”) read their parts offstage. He’d like to host the event at a large venue like the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence (where he is based), but is really aiming to bring the show to New York City for something even larger Read more…


More about Humor, Kickstarter, Watercooler, Conversations, and Pugs



A view from the top: The unexposed evolution of telecom in Silicon Valley

SPONSORED POST

A view from the top: The unexposed evolution of telecom in Silicon Valley

This sponsored post is produced by Telecom Council.


It’s understood that the view from the highest point has the best strategic value – a 360° view offers constant visibility of surrounding activities, engagements, and threats. As innovation facilitators working as much with telcos and vendors as we do with startups, the Telecom Council is the highest point in Silicon Valley. We lean into all the innovation conversations and share all the autonomized take-aways to help get more ideas to the market, faster.


Much has been written of the magic of Silicon Valley. Today, we’ll add our unique perspective to highlight this incredible industry’s history and share some measures of its growth.


Click here to download a high-resolution version of the infographic.


A Brief History:


1900s:


Telecommunication is a child of the Second Industrial Revolution – an era driven by scientific discovery that lasted from 1850 through the First World War. The era was characterized by a surge of innovation in all technological areas, including encoding and transmitting signals, and ultimately voice. Thanks to entrepreneurs like Edison, Tesla, and Bell, communications became the nervous system of commerce and fostered further economic development.


After this initial surge, through most of the 20th century, telecom innovation was notably slow. The only upside to the stifled pace of innovation was the rapid spread of the technologies that had been developed. Investments weren’t focused on new technology so much as new deployments and a land grab for customers.


1980s:


This “too comfortable” pace was prodded somewhat by government in the 1980s. The slight increase in competitive environments delivered payback. But outside of call waiting and voicemail, most innovation was taking place to score operational efficiencies in the core, with digitization of telephone exchanges and core trunk lines.


1990s:


Innovation sped up a little more in the 1990s. UNE-P started emerging around the world, driving more competition for telecom service – not just long distance, but even local lines. Complacency was no longer an option.


At the same time, a separate revolution was rocking the world. The Internet had been born, not by telcos but by university researchers. It was a new telecom service that disrupted the entire cozy ecosystem.


The telephone industry was set on a collision course with the high-tech industry.


2000s:


By the turn of the century, the merging Internet and telecommunications industries had brought the rapid pace of Internet evolution to bear on communications services. Instant Messenger, email, mobile WAP. Broadband was displacing dial-up after just a decade. Always-on consumers demanded more and more, and usually some startup popped up to give it to them.


Winners and losers came and went — existing services replaced by innovative new services that operated Over The Top of physical networks. Innovation was accelerating, but that innovation was not coming from the telcos anymore. What happened?


Well, while telecom was having its midlife doldrums, Silicon Valley was furiously inventing, testing, investing, failing, and trying again. So much so, that it became the global center of high-tech innovation. It seemed everything high-tech started from, or ended in, Silicon Valley — from database companies to server makers, from networking companies to portals, from dot-coms to search.


Because of the high profile of such (ahem) “sure-thing” startups as pets.com, the growing role of Silicon Valley companies in telecom went largely unnoticed for years. While startup companies were doing interesting things that would have a long-term impact on the telecom industry, their significant progress was just noise compared to the high profile booms and busts of dot-com companies.


Silicon Valley’s break into telecom took place mostly under the radar.


When did the world finally take notice that Silicon Valley had taken an interest in telecom?


In 2007, Apple lit a fuse that exploded the industry-standard business model, and people finally stopped to look. What they saw was a Silicon Valley that had become a global capital of mobile and telecom innovation.


2014:


Today, the region is home to the two dominant smartphone operating systems, portal and search empires, powerful social networking companies, and leading hardware, VoIP, and IP networking companies. The mobile app and the content industries are also prevalent, and significant new companies emerge every year.


There has been much said about why Silicon Valley is a hotbed of innovation, but let’s cut to the most important factor: The Valley is as ruthless to itself as it is to any roadblock in the way of progress. New companies are started here daily. Continuous disruptive innovation kills faltering companies as fast as new ones are born.


And that’s the world with which Telecom has now merged — fast-moving, ruthless, and willing to go Over Top of you if you don’t provide a better path.


Luckily for operators, there is a better path. No telecom operator wants to become a dumb pipe. But how does a telecom operator catch up, or even keep up with the pace of innovation?


Well, what we’ve seen at the Telecom Council of Silicon Valley is that, since 2007, there has also been a surge of progressive telcos setting up shop in Silicon Valley to capture and harness the region’s innovation.


Carriers are shedding the Not Invested Here credo and are aggressively seeking partnership with entrepreneurs. They use a combination of tools, such as scouting programs, incubators, VC relationships, venture funds, sponsorships, prizes, and PR.


Today, there are over 25 fixed, wireless, and satellite operators from around the world with offices in the Silicon Valley. All have common goals but slightly different execution. The most successful Silicon Valley-based innovation programs have the same characteristics:


  1. Ability to openly discuss ideas

  2. A top-down commitment to innovation

  3. A systematic approach to innovation integration

  4. An empowered local staff

The operators also join membership in the Telecom Council of Silicon Valley, because we offer the tools to accelerate engagement between the operators and innovators.


Telecom is in a new era of insanely fast innovation and creative destruction. There are two choices: partner to move forward, or fall woefully behind.



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A view from the top: The unexposed evolution of telecom in Silicon Valley

Lyft blocked at city gates by New York Attorney General, Taxi Commission


Two New York agencies took their battle with the Lyft ridesharing service to the next leve todayl.


The New York attorney general and the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) jointly filed a temporary restraining order against Lyft today. Lyft had planned on launching its service in two New York City boroughs Friday night.


From the (colorfully worded) restraining order:


“As it has done in every other city in which it operates, defendant has simply waltzed into New York and set up shop while defying every law passed whose very purpose is to protect the People of the State of New York.


“Despite being warned and told to cease and desist by three separate regulatory and environment agencies, defendant has thumbed its nose at the law and continued with its plans to launch in what could become its largest market.”


The city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission issued a statement Thursday saying Lyft is not authorized to have its drivers picking up passengers in the city.


Lyft announced its plans to launch in New York on Wednesday, as TLC and the New York attorney general were trying to decide whether Lyft posed some safety threat to New Yorkers.


Also, earlier this week the TLC warned Lyft drivers that, if caught picking up passengers, they could be issued a $2,000 fine.


Like Uber, Lyft lets people order up a ride from a registered driver using their smartphones.




Use a free or cheap marketing automation system? Tell us what's great about it (and not so great), and we'll share survey data from everyone else with you.



Lyft is a friendly, safe, and affordable transportation option. Just tap a button and in minutes you’ll be riding in the front seat with a new friend. Our Lyft community drivers have been background checked and personality screened t... read more »



Lyft blocked at city gates by New York Attorney General, Taxi Commission

You won’t believe how much these Silicon Valley interns are earning (in 2 charts)

You won’t believe how much these Silicon Valley interns are earning (in 2 charts)

Silicon Valley’s greenhorn high school interns are raking in a lot more dough than the average American, Businessweek reported yesterday.


The average intern salary of big data monolith, Palantir, is $7,012/month, or almost double San Francisco’s per capita income ($3,939, measured in 2012 dollars). Starved for top talent, tech giants are recruiting the nation’s top young minds — not just with dollars but also with personal meetings with their celebrity CEOs.


“When I got the e-mail saying — oh my God — Mark Zuckerberg wants to meet you, I had to make sure nobody was playing a prank on me,” one young coder told Businessweek.


The chart below shows how Silicon Valley’s top monthly intern salaries compare to each other, to the average San Francisco internship payout, and to a traditional retail internship.


(Note: the numbers are based on GlassDoor data and retailer Nordstrom’s hourly wage is an estimation, converted to a monthly salary based on a 40-hour work week.)



Interestingly enough, Silicon Valley isn’t a treasure trove for everyone. The industry’s meritocratic tendencies also extend to intern pay: The highest Facebook intern makes seven times as much as the lowest. That’s nearly twice the inequality of the average San Francisco internship, and four times the inequality of retail internships.



So, Bay Area parents, get those kids coding early — it may be the only path that doesn’t land them back in your basement after college.




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You won’t believe how much these Silicon Valley interns are earning (in 2 charts)

Content Marketing

* If you are unable to request your attendance here due to overwhelming response, kindly email to apac@econsultancy.com.


 


Content Marketing


Note: This event is exclusive to senior client-side marketers.


The Content Marketing Roundtable is your chance to share knowledge, experience and best practice on the issues, trends and developments around Content Marketing.


Attendance is limited to 14 - 20 attendees, with discussion chaired and facilitated by Econsultancy to ensure all participants get the most from the session. 


Agenda


The agenda for the day is very much driven by those attending - your priority areas and pain points. Potential topics for discussion on Content Marketing to be added shortly.


Content Marketing

ECRM

ECRM


Note: This event is exclusive to Econsultancy Enterprise subscribers.


The ECRM Roundtable is your chance to share knowledge, experience and best practice on the issues, trends and developments around ECRM.


Attendance is limited to 12 - 18 attendees, with discussion chaired and facilitated by Econsultancy to ensure all participants get the most from the session. 


Agenda


The agenda for the day is very much driven by those attending - your prority areas and pain points. Potential topics for discussion on ECRM to be added shortly.


ECRM

Marketing Attribution

Marketing Attribution Roundtable


The Marketing Attribution Roundtable is your chance to share knowledge, experience and best practice on the issues, trends and developments around this topic. 


Attendance is limited to 12 - 18 attendees, with discussion chaired and facilitated by Econsultancy to ensure all participants get the most from the session. 


Agenda


The agenda for the day is very much driven by those attending - your priority areas and pain points.



Marketing Attribution

Why responsive landing pages are a lot like Santa

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When I was a little kid I always wondered how Santa managed to make his way down all those chimneys. Everyone knows that on that one special night of the year this jolly and rather round man manages to fit down every chimney so that he can leave gifts for all of those who are on his “nice” list. Even at such a young age I was able to recognize that this didn’t seem feasible. Looking at him in all pictures and movies, and even having sat on his lap myself at the mall, I was able to recognize that Santa was not a little man and chimneys are not very spacious…so how does he do it?

Well, now that I’m much older and much wiser the answer is rather clear. Santa is very good at reproportioning himself. In an instant he’s able to thin out and elongate himself so that he can easily fit into all of those narrow chimneys. It’s really quite impressive.

This scenario reminds me a lot of responsive landing pages. Rather than delivering inflexible landing page to all visitors, regardless of which kind of device they’re using, and relying on them to resize, pan, and scroll so that they can easily see and engage with the page, a responsive landing page provides an optimal viewing experience for everyone. You see, a responsive landing page resizes and reconfigures itself to fit easily onto every screen screen – whether that is a computer, tablet, or mobile phone. It’s one page that satisfies everyone!

With the massive growth of mobile and tablet usage it is becoming increasingly important to reach these users in the most efficient and usable way possible. And that, my friend, is through responsive landing pages.

The Takeaway?

Santa is not the only one who can impress us with his magical re-proportioning skills; you too can impress all your visitors with your magical, but completely achievable, responsive landing pages!

Want to learn more about responsive design? Check out our Responsive Design for Landing Pages white paper.




Why responsive landing pages are a lot like Santa

User segmentation: the gift that keeps on giving

All I want for Christmas is a gift just for me. Not one that I have to share, or one that was made for someone else. I want it to be in exactly my size, flattering to my shape, and in a shade that makes my eyes sparkle. I believe that this is a perfectly reasonable Christmas wish. I also happen to believe that this desire for something made “just for me” in all aspects of life is not entirely unreasonable.

But alas, I too believe that giving is indeed better than receiving and because of this I also want to make sure that what I give to others is wholly just for them. So this brings me to my point, re-gifting is not acceptable. Not for holiday’s and not for landing pages. You have to make it just for them, in just their size, and if it makes their eyes sparkle, that’s even better.

The easiest, and also the most effective way in many cases to do this is through segmentation experiences. This is especially true if you don’t know the visitor very well. It’s kind of like picking the name of the guy at the office that you only see when getting coffee for your secret Santa exchange. You want to get him something great, but who the heck is he?







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The joy of a segmentation experience is that you don’t really have to know the person at all; you just have to know a few basic ways that he may identify himself. You might, for instance, drop by the water cooler and talk about your golf game one day, the latest box office hit the next, or a concert you’re going to on Friday. Eventually, he’s going to show some interest and presto! You’ve got the perfect gift idea.

The same is true of landing pages, if you show a visitor options that they can relate to, one of these choices is going to resonate with them enough to make them want more of what you’re offering. These options can be a million different things, depending on what you’re pitching, but they should always be supported by specific content.

The worst thing you can do at this point is segment your audience and then send them to the same interior page as any other segment.  That’s not giving them what they want at all, but rather using that information just to meet your own marketing needs. That’s like getting your best friend tickets to your favorite band’s concert because you know she’ll take you. Not ok.

So this year, be a good gift giver. Give them what they want, and make it just for them; even if you have to ask them what their perfect gift is. 




User segmentation: the gift that keeps on giving

Deck the Halls with App-Like Games

‘Tis the season to be online shopping. Gadgets, winter boots or ugly Christmas sweaters, whatever it is you fancy, it’s sure to be found somewhere on the web. For some, the task of online shopping can be an irritating and tiresome feat. But if you’re anything like me, you get a thrill out of finding the best deals and getting the biggest bang for your buck! However, the process of online deal hunting is not always an enjoyable one. That is why whenever I come across a page that finds a way to make my online shopping fun and entertaining, I take notice!

While waiting for valet to bring my car around after work (this process has been known to take up to 20 minutes sometimes!), my mind wanders to my holiday to-do list. My younger cousin, Samantha, is next on my gift list. Unsure what to get her; I start checking out different mobile shopping apps such as Victoria Secret’s junior apparel line, PINK Nation. Next thing I know, I had spent several minutes playing games, such as PINK-O, all while racking up points to put towards different items and prizes!

PINK takes their visitors on a short, but effective, conversion-focused journey. They engage their mobile visitors at a higher level, which as a result, gains them more online leads.

Games are an entertaining way to engage and convert prospects. From the look and feel to the overall messaging, PINK’s mobile app and landing experiences are perfectly tailored to appeal to their target audience.

Thanks to my stellar gaming skills and my exquisite fashion sense, my cousin’s gift was all squared away with time to spare — all before my car arrived. Now, that’s what I like to call savvy shopping!




Deck the Halls with App-Like Games