Having witnessed all this first hand, plus all of the expenditure that has obviously been made, it was extremely insightful to have a judge’s perspective on this – and this being (with all due respect) a relatively niche awards ceremony, I can now understand a little better the sheer scale of investment that must go into some of the big ones. I’m normally on the other side of the fence, and in fairness as a very poor sportsman I’m normally a disgruntled loser uttering insinuations of skulduggery or unprofessionalism.

Having seen the effort that goes into judging I feel a great deal more empathy now, but I also got some interesting insights into what makes a successful entry or not. Considering many of the entries were produced by agencies I was disappointed by the level of presentation of many of them (cobblers’ shoes springs to mind). The well written, clearly signposted entries that address the qualifying criteria practically selected themselves.

Where entries did not clearly answer these criteria, my tendency to subjectivity increased hugely, and being like a magpie I tended to gravitate towards more ‘shiny’, nice looking work rather than category adherence.

I was saddened though by the quality of the submissions in general, most particularly from a creative perspective. It’s a shame that some of the bigger players didn’t get involved and push the bar up a few notches – and as a company that entered only one category we share that criticism. I guess to an extent that the quality and quantity of entries has been driven to by the economic climate, in so far as there is less work in general being commissioned, the work is by default less brave, and agencies are saving budgets on “nice to do” award submissions.

Note to self: must try harder next year.

And for the record I didn’t get to judge our own entry for B2B Agency of the Year!

By
Danny Turnbull
Managing Director, European B-to-B practice leader
GyroHSR North

The mistake occurred as part of a stunt launched in May by which facebook members handed over control of their statuses to Dr Pepper for the chance to win a thousand pounds. The statuses would then be made as embarrassing as possible, capitalising on the company’s strap line, “What’s the worst that could happen?” The kerfuffle arose as a result of an unsuitable update being posted on a 14 year old girl’s page.  While this may well have caused irreparable damage to the brand’s image now, but without the benefit of hindsight the risk may have seemed worth taking.

What Dr Pepper and their agency, Lean Mean Fighting Machine, inadvertently stumbled upon was either a spectacular piece of bad luck or really a catastrophe waiting to happen, depending on which way you look at it. The failure to check the database of potential statuses for the kind of post that looks entirely innocent at first glance – but after a little research turns out to be incredibly explicit – is the ultimate cause of the episode, but perhaps the kind of joke necessary to properly catch the attention of your common or garden facebooker needs to be a little risqué, doesn’t it?

The problem for brands and marketers is that though social media is by far the most effective way of getting the attention of young people, there is a dangerously narrow line between humour and obscenity that has to be respectfully toed. In order to win over interest and grow your brand’s profile, visibility on sites like facebook is a good idea, but not one without its drawbacks. After all, online social networking is a relatively new phenomenon, and marketing on the platform an even newer one. Dr Pepper’s method of approaching the challenge was a clever and innovative one, but hopefully the irony of the tragic consequences that befell a drinks manufacturer whose ad campaigns highlighted the often dire results of risk-taking has not been lost on businesses and agencies looking to social media as a means of expression.

Carol O’Mara
Business Leader
GyroHSR London

The recent election brought home just how much power this network has and, quite rightly, the coalition government has recognised that it isn’t something only useful for the election but in the longer term.   It makes perfect sense to use the heightened engagement in politics from the election to retain involvement from a wider audience.  This view is also directly in line with the greater vision of Facebook – it was created as an entity in its own right, far more than just another site because it enables interaction in a more powerful way than any other.

This is because Facebook isn’t just another website or technology, it is a social utility and should be used as such.  No other channel or media offers this direct, real-time dialogue by which the public can be engaged and understood.  Facebook is more than a network of people, it is a tool to reach out to them, share information and gain understanding which can’t be replicated by other tools available but is invaluable to the political sphere.

Of course, it’s not infallible.  The very nature of Facebook means you can’t censor it and you have to take the rough with the smooth.  But that’s just what makes it such a valuable tool for politicians who need to work more transparently than ever to clean up their profile following the scandals of recent months.  The truth is, a political Facebook campaign isn’t a disingenuous attempt at being cool, it is something that any representative body can’t afford not to engage in in modern times.

By
Richard Perry
Chief Operating Officer
GyroHSR

Twitter: richjperry
Linkedin: uk.linkedin.com/in/richardjohnperry

The summit premise was simple (and long overdue): Bring together the top minds in B2B search for a day of focused discussion and networking. I was excited to attend and honored to be asked to speak on the case study panel.

After the show, and as I reflected on the day, it occurred to me just how practical and applicable much of the content was. That’s something many conferences can’t claim.

What follows are highlights of the most interesting and practical nuggets shared at this insightful event.

Technology Enables Change
Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro kicked off the event during his opening keynote by introducing some of the main discoveries from Enquiro Research’s “The BuyerSphere Project.” Seeing and hearing Hotchkiss walk through this material was fascinating.

Of everything that Hotchkiss discussed, the piece that stood out to me most was his conclusion that “technology doesn’t cause change; technology enables change …” As B2B marketers, we’d be wise to remember that chasing the shiny, new object isn’t necessarily the best approach. There is always a lag between technological change and audience adoption/behavioral change.

The use of technology to help shape and inform purchase decisions among a C-suite executive audience is one behavioral change that has been documented. The C-suite had previously been considered somewhat removed from the information-gathering process that precedes a transaction. Hotchkiss referenced that shift, a discovery that was introduced formally in a 2009 study, “The Rise of the Digital C-Suite.” Proof that accessibility of information has changed a key component to organizational buying patterns.

Expert Hot Seat
The Expert Hot Seat session was purely Q&A; there were no formal presentations, just dialogue between the audience and panelists. There were representatives from Google (Frederick Vallaeys), Microsoft (Valerie Bolduc), Business.com (Patricia Neuray) and Enquiro (Hotchkiss). Of note:

•    Microsoft: They’re set to release new tools within its adCenter platform that can better enable the B2B search marketer to reach its audiences.
•    Google: Better mobile device targeting is coming soon. Think ad formats for specific mobile platforms. Frederick also gave the somewhat ambiguous promise that Google is “committed to help advertisers make sense of the data available to them.” This statement followed a comment that, generally speaking, many advertisers are overwhelmed with the amount of data that is accessible via AdWords and Analytics.
•    Business.com: They offer advertisers campaign tracking that ties together display and search, and also shows the linear progression of touches that lead to conversion, enabling simple attribution modeling for better campaign optimization.
•    Enquiro: Hotchkiss commented that during later stages of purchase consideration, people begin searching for brand queries that revolve around understanding more about an organization: How do they treat employees? How do they treat customers? Favorably answering these questions across landing pages and websites could net more sales for the savvy B2B marketer.

Effective Landing Page Optimization for Lead Generation
Lance Loveday, Closed Loop Marketing, presented three client examples as exemplary of the type of conversion optimization work his firm does. Closed Loop’s landing page optimization methodology revolves around the “3 Cs of LPO”: Credibility, Clarity, Call to Action. Focus your testing and optimization efforts around the “3 Cs” in order to effectively communicate to and convert your website visitors.

Loveday also emphasized that conversion optimization isn’t a destination, and he shared a case study where total conversion improvement has increased by six times through ongoing refinement and refusing to be satisfied.

PR: The Oft-Forgotten Piece of B2B Online Strategy
Greg Jarboe, SEO-PR, presented an intriguing case study of a client whose small budget prevented it from advertising against the traditional industry keyword searches, where competition was fierce.

The solution? Create a new category of keyword phrases through online public relations and then “own” that new category.

His case involved online news release optimization and distribution, coupled with engaging web videos that were placed across YouTube. By effectively using free or cheap online promotional tools, he successfully created awareness and interest in a new set of keyword phrases, in which his client dominated the search results. It netted his client more than $1 million in sales before the product was even available.

When you can’t compete for queries, create your own.

Why Blogs and Social Media Should Be Part of Every B2B Marketer’s Toolkit
Lee Odden, TopRank Marketing, closed out the conference with an interesting take on B2B social media best practices. He advocated that B2B organizations consider positioning the corporate blog as the hub of their “social SEO” strategies. Then, through what he called the “Cycle of Social and SEO,” organizations would capture more social exposure, fans, friends and followers, as well as search links and referrals.

The entire concept is predicated on the belief that creating content to appease Google is the wrong strategy. Rather, create content that your customers would appreciate and that aligns with business objectives.

Practical lessons from a collection of industry veterans, and the first in hopefully a long string of B2B-focused search events.

Ryan DeShazer
Vice President
Global Practice Leader – Search

*Originally posted on Search Engine Watch:http://searchenginewatch.com/3640792

Having joyfully scrutinized the best print work in the world with my esteemed colleagues; elegantly lead by Mark Tutssel, I realised that the answer lies in the purity and art of print.

We should celebrate the power of well-crafted copy and exquisite art direction which combined with brave ideas is still one of the most powerful tools we have. Print is one of the only mediums you can create an intimate connection with the reader; as you read it in your hands or as it stops you in your tracks.

What we might take from this is to be less digital and more analogue, more real. Print can inspire, intrigue and fill you with goosebumps. It creates more intimacy between the brand and the audience.

Billboard, Almap BBDO Sao Paulo; Scrabble, Ogilvy Mexico; St. John Ambulance, BBH London; Volkswagen, DDB London and Dixons, M&C Saatchi London prove this. Press is alive and flying high.

Despite all this glorious work, press, a category famous for capturing most of the Lions was almost empty. The usual suspects, like cars, FMCG, clothing and home electronics clearly abandoned press. Budget migration to the sexy “alternative media world” was clearly felt.

When it came to choosing the Grand Prix (no point adding further to the massively covered final scandal), we had two clear winners, Billboard and Scrabble. Both celebrated the purity and unseen creative genius of press; pristine art direction, engaging copywriting and an ignitable concept. In the end victory was Billboard’s with its essence of music piece. A concept born for press; but truly expansive way beyond print. The campaign, a golden lion winner in Design and a strong Cyber entry is clear proof of how the new print can interconnect with other disciplines and celebrated without losing power or uniqueness. Like the sunshine, pure print excellence shone in Cannes too.

By
Christoph Becker
Chief Creative Officer

We spent a good deal of time and interactive conversation on ad disclosure, especially the new “AdChoices” icon  that has been implemented on all Yahoo ads. AdChoices offers a menu of additional information, enabling users served a particular ad to learn more about the ad. The additional information contains details such as who placed the ad, where to learn more about ad selection and what choices are available for Internet-based advertising.

We cited a study from the Ponemon Institute in January 2010 titled “Behavioral Notices Study, Future of Privacy Forum” that indicated that applying transparency and choice increased the percentage of those who were comfortable with behavioral advertising from 24% to 40%, a 37% change. The same study also found that approximately 30% are neutral about behavioral ads with or without transparency and choice. Related to campaign effectiveness, we cited another Ponemon Institute study from May 2010 called “Economic Impact of Privacy on Online Behavioral Advertising,” indicating that 98% of companies surveyed have restricted online behavioral advertising because of privacy concerns; however, 63% of companies surveyed rated online behavioral advertising as their most effective form of marketing, an untapped opportunity.

We concluded with a series of Q&A around online behavioral advertising as well as transparency in measurement, and we agreed that these topics are very much in their infancy stages. Thus, we are braced for the roller coaster that we will inevitably ride.

Frannie Jaye Danzinger
Senior Vice President  – Media

The implications are staggering to anyone who seeks to ignite ideas.

Most of the information on which we snack as we flit from link-to-link and text-to-text in the point-and-click world in which we live simply doesn’t stay with us. It finds a place in our short-term or working memory only long enough for it to be useful in the moment, and then it disappears. Unlike those things we savor, repeat and ruminate, such digital snippets just evaporate. They are not stored. They are never again available to us to throw a spark somewhere in our imaginations. (cf, “Cultivate Copiousness,” blogpost, October 1, 2009)

A mental life spent entirely on the fly is ultimately not equipped to be creative.

Carr cites volumes of empirical studies, including one by Jordan Grafman of the National Institute of Neurological disorders who, “explains that the constant shifting of our attention when we’re online may make our brains more nimble when it comes to multi-tasking, but improving our ability to multi-task actually hampers our ability to think deeply and creatively.”

He’s right. Even I who am known to you as the resident bookworm have of late found it much more difficult to maintain acuity of attention to a book, a long article or a lengthy white paper, and now I know why. Carr writes, “In the choices we have made, consciously or not, about how we use our computers, we have rejected the intellectual tradition of solitary, single-minded concentration, the ethic that the book bestowed on us. We have cast our lot with the juggler.”

Can you do it? Can you read this book, or still read any book? I challenge you to read The Shallows. In the meantime, I’m off to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, just to prove to myself that I still can.

Rick Segal
Worldwide President
Chief Practice Officer

World Cup 2010 spectators wave their vuvuzela horns while watching the opening game between South Africa and Mexico in Durban. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Now I live close to the Heathrow flight path in TW1 so I probably get used to background noise quicker than most BUT surely, surely, surely the noise and atmosphere created will be one of the key elements that will make this World Cup what it will become –special and unique. The alternative – to ban the vuvuzela – is to celebrate the generic. To long for a World Cup just like the last one and the one to come. Think about it. Ban the vuvuzela? Where would we go next? Or perhaps more pertinently, what would our memories be made of if we had previously thought like this? Let’s take to our time machines, go back to Buenos Aries in 1978 for example and outlaw ticker tape. We could then set a course for the Azteca stadium in 1986 and stop people from standing up and throwing their arms in the air. Yes it’s a simple point yet I’m amazed to see the volume of counter arguments running rampant on twitter and the wires. This World Cup will be great in spite of global brands that sponsor it and the global media owners that cover it. It will be great because of a 30-yard pile driver from someone we least expect, a dazzling piece of artistry from a Messi or Kaka, a crazed celebration from Maradona and inevitably a penalty shoot-out for England. But more than that it will be great because of what Africa and African culture brings to it. It will be great because of the vuvuzela!

By
Richard Mabbott
SVP, Planning
GyroHSR London

Product marketing teams would assemble sales and marketing material, and route it to partners via partner portals or directly to their offices, assuming that the partners had everything they needed to sell the company’s products or services. And that approach worked, especially with those partners who were former employees.

Business was good and predictable, but then things began to change. More channels became available and, as a result, it was harder to reach and influence key customers; the window of having a truly unique product shortened, and partners started gaining a greater choice of products to recommend, along with various incentive programs.

Gradually, the power of the transaction was shifting further down the value chain, leaving companies with less influence over the point of sale. Partners, now armed with options and leverage, became less willing to cooperate with the demands of the manufacturer.

In response, the manufacturers began exploring how to realign themselves as a key influencer and, along the way, they discovered the following revelations:

•    Inconsistencies in communication about marketing programs, incentives, service and who owned the customer left partners confused and frustrated.
•    Partners felt like they were getting little to no marketing support from manufacturers despite having piles of marketing material and funds.
•    A concerning trend was starting to develop in which partners were using fewer of the marketing development funds available to them.

The old “push” product and programs through partners and “pull” customers to a company’s products through mass marketing was no longer working. It was time to rethink the model.

To learn more about the future direction of partner marketing, request a copy by June 15 of the Channel Insight white paper by registering for the live webcast at www.gyrohsr.com/channelforum.

The webcast is scheduled for June 16 at noon Eastern time and will include a discussion of the new channel marketing model that is evolving in the technology industry. I will co-host the webcast with Bob Ray, president of the GyroHSR San Francisco office. High-technology clients managed out of the San Francisco office include VMware, Sybase, Adobe and others.

Scott Gillum
Senior Vice President
Practice Leader – Channel Marketing

*This was originally posted on Scott Gillum’s blog, http://b2bknowledgesharing.blogspot.com/