Knexus

Observations from Adtech Paris 2009

Here are three observations from Adtech Paris, which I’m just back from. This is not intended as a critique of Adtech Paris, because I wasn’t there for enough time or able to see all of it. The first thing is it wasn’t that busy. ‘That’s obvious’ you might say, given the state of the economy. But my experience is that digital marketing remains highly topical, even in a tough market. Knexus held a networking lunch a few weeks ago and we filled to capacity in record time. Observation number two … the UK market seems quite a lot more advanced than France. Makes me wonder how American’s turning up in Paris for Adtech must feel. Final observation … many of the people attending Adtech that I came across (not the presenters) were what I would describe as ‘traditional marketers coming into digital’. That’s quite a vague categorization, but what I mean is they’ve got involved in the last 1-2 years most probably. Anyway, the point is that the mindset and understanding of the traditional marketers seems markedly different to longer term digital marketers. The newcomers seem excited by the scale of audiences on the internet and the ‘cool’ aspects of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, but maybe don’t yet appreciate the fundamentally different marketing challenges in this environment.

Adtech Paris 2009 – Best Practices in Brand Engagement on the web

I’ve been at Adtech Paris this week. I was invited by Cadbury, who were presenting on ‘Advertainment’ and their Gorilla campaign and follow-ups. They asked me to talk about best practices in brand engagement on the web. Big subject and not a lot of time, but I came up with five points as follows: 1. Successful brands understand the new mindset required on the web in terms of pull rather than push marketing, and how to marry this with the new tools; 2. Focus on building trust and engagement, not just reach and frequency; 3. Don’t try to boil the ocean with reaching all your target audience on the net – aim for the influencers; 4. Beware of only creating buzz and making noise – conversations create much greater value; 5. People talk through brands not about brands.

The content raised a lot of interest in the audience, who I would guess were predominantly traditional marketers getting into digital. If you want a copy of the content, get in-touch!

Leading companies save millions moving marketing learning & intelligence online

Companies that shift from traditional to online reduce their operating costs by 65%!

Knexus' new research shows that global 2000 companies would save an average $800k (£555k) by switching from traditional marketing expenditure on conferences and training to more flexible online solutions. When travel costs are taken into account, the saving mushrooms to an eye popping $10.5m pa (£7.3m) per company*.

Knexus was able to compare this level of spend with its own Knexus Digital solution, which provides extensive online, in-depth content from leading experts, addressing latest digital marketing topics, plus online networking and collaboration tools to help marketing teams operate more effectively.Comparing the current costs with an average spend per user on Knexus Digital of $933 (£648), Knexus has found that a company that shifts from traditional methods of accessing new learning, market intelligence and ideas to an online solution can reduce their operating costs by as much as 65% or $1,845 (£1,279) per marketer.

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*Knexus research indicates that global 2000 companies spend an average $6.15m pa. (£4.27m) on training and conferences for their marketing teams (equivalent to $1,075 (£746) per person). However, this excludes associated travel and accommodation costs of $9.73m pa. (£6.75m) per company, bringing the total annual spend to $15.88m (£11.03m).

What's New In Social Media: Digital Marketing Conversations

You seem to be using the 'latest' marketing techniques but still can't connect with your customers. Just when you thought you are getting used to blogging, 'microblogging' comes up! These are common issues faced by marketers today!

Tune in to find out what's going on in social media, how to make use of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook in an engaging way, B2B models for social media platforms, microblogging and more! This podcast has two additional features: a mobile deep-dive with Dusan and a look at the key objectives of brands online with  Jonathan Newman (Director, Enterprise Web & EMEA eSolutions Ingram Micro).

Please feel free to comment.

Download Podcast2603mp371705

Digitalconnect- A success!

We launched  ‘Digitalconnect’ last week- a networking lunch for senior marketers.What brought more than  35 senior-level marketers from leading brands( including AOL, B&Q, Dell, Cineworld, Diageo, Harvey Nichols, Lloyds,Nokia, Syngenta and Shell) together was 'The Economics of Digital Marketing', truly a burning topic in the current economic climate!

 Knexus Digital experts Eliza Dashwood (Ambergreen), Justin Rees (Leadpoint), Andrew Hood (Lynchpin) and Dusan Hamlin (Inside Mobile)  delved into the  economics of search, lead generation, mobile and analytics-in rapid, 15 minute sessions! The feedback we've received has been overwhelming.

We look forward to organising many more 'Digitalconnects' and paving the way for some quality digital marketing conversations!

Find out more here:http://www.knexusgroup.com/view/809/Digitalconnect-The-Economics-of-Digital-Marketing!