A few weeks ago I headed over to my local cinema and bought a ticket for the matinee showing of Moneyball, the story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane who challenged the status quo of baseball by applying a data driven approach to talent recruitment, player rotation and management. While not a follower of [...]
Point of View on the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011. If you would like to recieve a PDF copy of ”The future use of cookies in the UK: From informing to obtaining consent” please send an email to ukinfo at webliquidgroup.com ______________________________ Background What is the role of cookies? What is the [...]
[Part 2 of 5 / Table of Contents] What should you do? Unfortunately there is not a defined set of exact guidelines to ensure compliance. The main reason is that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport who are responsible for drafting the exact steps that businesses should follow have not finished these. However a [...]
[Part 3 of 5 / Table of Contents] The different forms for obtaining consent Various methods for obtaining consent are currently being discussed and evaluated by the ICO and industry bodies. Below is a description of the most significant. The use of browser settings. Unfortunately at the present time most browsers do not include advanced [...]
[Part 4 of 5 / Table of Contents] Recommended next steps Given the lack of specific guidelines on the implementation of the new legislation we recommend undertaking the following steps: 1. Undertake an initial audit of your site and the way cookies are being used. The audit should classify the individual cookies based on the [...]
[Part 5 of 5 / Table of Contents] References & Sources (1) Source: ICO “Advice on the New Cookies Regulation, 09/05/2011, Version 1 (2) Source: ICO “Advice on the New Cookies Regulation, 09/05/2011, Version 1 (3) Source: ICO “Enforcing the revised Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), 25/05/2011, Version 1 (4) Source: ICO “Advice on [...]
The on-going debate surrounding the disruptive noise created by the vuvuzela – the plastic horns adopted by locals and spectators during the South Africa 2010 World Cup, made me think of the disruptive “noise” created by data within Marketing departments. Digital marketing is blessed by a high degree of accountability; unfortunately accountability comes at the price. [...]
TV and internet convergence is finally a reality driven by video on demand services such as Hulu, iPlayer, BigPond TV and XBox. On demand services such as video on demand (VOD) presents a whole new set of challenges for broadcasters, who have never dealt with the costs of distribution. The dual costs of piping internet video into the home and licensing content from producers might – both paid out on a pay per view basis – will challenge long term profitability and even survival.
Participation is the starting point of the purchase decision; it initiates both the consumption of content and the researching of a brand’s offering. Marketers often broadcast messages to consumers without providing a mechanic for participation.
A study by the IAB/PWC indicates 57% of display advertising was purchased on a performance basis last year. What are the implications for publishers, agencies and clients? In my view it is not necessarily about the buying model; CPC, CPA or CPM – it is about how the inventory and communication is continually optimized and managed to deliver both revenue and brand growth.
Are clicks a relevant measure of the impact of online advertising? Consider this. If you know most users that are exposed to your media display and search will not click though – clicks provide a very limited view on the impact of your advertising. The problem is that if clicks are not the appropriate metric, what’s the alterative?
(PRLEAP.COM) SuperBreak, the market leader in the provision of UK and European short breaks has launched a new breed of customer targeting on its website www.superbreak.com. Dubbed ‘Natural Search Targeting’, the initiative is a UK first, targeting users based on their submitted specific interests either on SuperBreak.com or Google/Yahoo. When (potential) customers search for one [...]
The Microsoft and Yahoo search agreement makes a lot of sense. Yahoo will save USD $425 million in operating expenses from resources invested in infrastructure technology while keeping 88% of revenue generated from search advertising. On the other hand Microsoft not only gets a larger user base to further refine Bing, but Microsoft gets a [...]
On Monday 29th June, to coincide with the launch of the high speed preview service between Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International and St Pancras International, Southeastern ran a special content push down advert on the National Rail Enquiries homepage. This will be the first time this specially developed ad format has run on the National Rail [...]
There has been much speculation about Google’s next acquisition. Late last week rumors emerged Google was in conversations with Twitter’s Evan Williams about a possible acquisition. In my view Google is not interested in an all out acquisition of Twitter. Google recognizes five factors when considering its relationship with Twitter: 1. The overlap between Google [...]
Recessions can bring upon radical and disruptive changes in consumer behaviour. The OTO Research report confirms that during this recession 80% of consumers are going to change their spending habits. 89% of consumers are going to systematically check online what and where the best products are, and what their value for money is. Consumers are [...]
At one point or another Twitter will have to choose between either remaining the Peter Pan of social media or stepping into the world of social media adulthood. The decision is likely to end up killing Twitter.
Don’t advertise on social media sites. Lets be honest, advertising is about persuasion while social media is about empowerment ” service as opposed to solicitation. The difference boils down to consumer confidence – advertising and marketing messages are inherently persuasive and rightly perceived as biased whereas word of mouth messages naturally build (or diminish) confidence without perceived bias. Granted, the value of good advertising in social media or any other environment is in its ability to spark inspiration and need, emotion and thought; from those things that make up everyday life.
The nine most important factors to consider, to launch a Pay-per-Performance advertising program that drives revenue and return on investment (ROI).
A recession is here and belts are being tightened! There is no way of ignoring that fact, but that does not mean it is all doom and gloom for everyone. Yes the retail sector is taking a hit as consumers are just not willing to pay for items that are not considered necessities. Yet there [...]
Web Liquid, Hilton’s UK digital marketing agency since 2005, has launched a three month online campaign to promote Hilton Worldwide Resorts 30% Early Saver rate and Experience packages.
According to The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and the American Advertising Association of American Agencies (AAAA) my biggest worry during this recession should be clients reduced marketing budgets… While reduced marketing budgets are a symptom of a slow economy, I am more concerned by a disease that flourishes at times of slow economic [...]
There is a lot of noise in the social media space. Seventy-eight percent of marketing professionals polled in Coremetrics’ annual “Face of the New Marketer” survey saw that social media marketing was a way of getting an edge on their competitors. However, just 7.7 percent of their total online marketing spend was allocated to it [...]
Marketing Magazine, 15 July, 2008 Avis is boosting its online marketing strategy with the launch of a UK affiliate programme. The scheme, created by Web Liquid, will enable appropriate affiliates to carry display, text and image advertising, driving consumers to the Avis website. The car-rental firm hopes this will increase its online sales and boost [...]
Back in the dot-com days everybody spoke of convergence. It was nifty word that encapsulated the promise of the digital age; signaling the imminent migration of everything readable, auidble and viewable into digital format. What MTV was to the music industry in the late 80s, video on demand is to the idea of convergence today. About 16% [...]
Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a woman approached him. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art. When asked how much he was owed, Picasso asked for five thousand dollars. The woman [...]
To some media integration is a buzzword. To others media integration is the Holy Grail. To me media integration is a poor substitute for collaboration. Let me explain. Media companies and agency networks tell people the digital space is just another media channel – it isn’t. The digital space is about participation, ecommerce and community. It can’t be [...]
Award-winning, digital marketing agency Web Liquid is consolidating its growth with the appointment of James Hudson as Associate Media Director. James Hudson has been appointed Associate Media Director at Web Liquid. He leaves a position as Account Director at Omnicom’s PHD, where he worked primarily on the ING Direct account. With over eight years experience [...]
We define our clients’ success relative to the sustained return they obtain from their marketing investments. 2007 was a landmark year for our clients, in which their increased commitment to online marketing was rewarded by strong financial returns. In 2007 we generated GBP £125,422,639 (USD $251,655,481) in revenue for our clients, delivering a return on [...]
The result of Microsoft’s unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo! will come down to nothing more than maximizing short-term value for shareholders. Forget about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet or the vision of both companies. Like a newly appointed Prime Minister hoping to define a legacy for his administration, Jerry Yang, founder and [...]
Driven by a strategic goal to drive business through their own direct websites, Hilton Hotels approached Web Liquid to assist in the deployment of an in-house eCommerce function and team responsible for coordinating and managing central Digital Marketing initiatives across the EMEA region. The Solution: Web Liquid seconded two team members into Hilton, having one [...]
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Ring. Ring. Hello, who is calling? Google. Can I call you back? No, I don’t have a phone yet. Following months of speculation, Google formally announced it is entering the mobile phone market. While the announcement did not introduce a working operating system or phone, Google’s statement it would start shipping its mobile devices by the end [...]
Google has recently announced its controversial Best Practice Funding (BPF) scheme in Europe will be removed in 2009. Google’s Best Practice Funding Scheme was launched in 2006; replacing the traditional agency commission model Yahoo and MSN still adhere too. The Google Best Practice Funding program requires participating agencies to have at least five clients, generate [...]
Ask yourself this question. If your brand was a person, what type of person would it be? How would it act, what it would look like? More importantly would its value be solely determined by how many people knew of it? These questions are at the heart of branding and the value of branding. Branding [...]
Digital Marketing has introduced a profusion of new channels to reach prospects with the aim to persuade, drive engagement and relationship; including PPC advertising, affiliate marketing, pay-per performance network buys, display advertising and email marketing. The proliferation and inherent advantages of multi-channel advertising have existed well before the advent of Digital Marketing. As early as [...]
A single site that aggregates content from a variety of social network sites would be a blessing for consumers; who signed up for a variety of social-networking sites”from MySpace and Facebook to LinkedIn and Flickr” cannot keep track of them all. This development parallels the Instant Messaging space, which saw the launch of Trillian, a proprietary [...]
If participation is at the heart of the London 2012 brand, why was the brand conceived in such an exclusive way? Why not harness the power of social media to inspire, challenge and share the conception of the London 2012 emblem with the people? Was Wolff Olins, the London branding agency responsible for the design, the only entity capable of providing input into the London 2012 brand?
As part of a major acquisition campaign for one of our travel clients, Web Liquid undertook an in-depth analysis aimed at identifying the relationship between 1) search and display advertising and 2) tactics to increase the value of each conversion. While the campaign generated strong return on investment across display advertising and PPC search, we [...]
We measure Return on Investment (ROI) based on 5 digital marketing metrics: Influence, Exposure, Efficiency, Volume and Profitability (see diagram).
At the Travolution Summit in London last month, Lastminute.com chief executive Ian McCaig issued a warning that as the online travel industry matures, product and price differentiation will “tend towards zero.” If Ian McCaig is correct in his assessment, it is important to understand what factors, in addition to price and product, should be the [...]
While advertisers are allocating close to a third of their online advertising budgets to search (commercial and organic) very few have a clear and unified measurement methodology for the channel. Before examining the optimal measurement methodology for search, lets review how search works through the use of the “people in the room” metaphor. Imagine search engines [...]
While online media planners boast loudly about the flexibility, measurability and accountability of online advertising, their planning and buying approach does the medium little justice. The average online media planner and buyer is satisified following the traditional broadcast media approach ” allocating a lion’s share of media spend to a handful of properties. The McKinsey [...]
Google recently filed a patent application for ranking blog search, ushering a new set of considerations for the optimal ranking of blog content across Google. The patent application for “ranking blog documents” filed the 13th of September 2005 listed high ranking members of Google including Vinod Marur. Google’s patent application describes two distinct sets of data [...]
If Google’s $3.1 billion purchase of Doubleclick is approved, it could have significant implications for the online industry. Following a review of past trends and taking a view on the immediate future, the combined Google/Doubleclick group will put in motion three major events. 1. Google’s Ad Sense and Ad Words will become the world’s largest advertising [...]
Background & Objectives: In an effort to deliver higher operating margins, Avis commission Web Liquid with the development of a campaign that would generate incremental direct international business from the UK market. Following a series of commercial planning meetings, the campaign was focused on demand generation for rentals in Spain and Italy. Web Liquid’s insight planning revealed the [...]
With commercial search budgets increasing, advertisers and their respective search agencies are facing pressure over the performance of the channel. On one end, search agencies are challenged to maintain operating margins given the increased resource required to manage increasingly complex PPC campaigns. On the other hand, advertisers are demanding higher return on investment from their PPC investments. If [...]
The amount of investment on internet advertising in the UK has overtaken the total advertising expenditure of national newspapers for the first time. The milestone has been tracked by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Biannual Study today. According to its findings, internet ad spend in the UK broke the £2 billion mark last year, after [...]
Taking full advantage of April Fools day, Google yesterday announced the launch of Gmail Paper, a new feature through which users can request a paper copy of any email delivered for free within 24 days. Taking the environmental high ground Google’s Gmail Paper promotional page claimed the Gmail paper was “printed on 96% post-consumer organic soybean [...]
A review of the latest ComScore data for the UK market indicates Advertising.com is now the UK’s largest ad network, reaching 89.8% of the UK online population (26.9 million unique users) . Advertising.com is followed by Media Brokers reaching 73.5% of the active online population (22 million unique users), VC Media 68.4% reach, Blue Lithium [...]
Recently we posted our thoughts on the importance of understanding and differentiating between UGM, CGM, UGC, CGC ” key terms of the Web 2.0 space. The discussion made us ponder on the impact social media and social search engines are having on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) practices. It is important to note we define Search Engine [...]
It is official, video advertising is the new darling of the online industry. The growth of video has been spectacular. In 2005 video advertising accounted for a scant $121 million in spending. In 2006 that figure grew by 82%, to a respectable $410 million. In 2007, that figure is expected to reach $775 million; accounting [...]
Following months of legal battle, Google has lost a copyright lawsuit in Belgium brought on by Copiepresse, a publishing group composed of 17 mostly French-language newspapers. The newspapers complained that Google breached copyrights by publishing headlines and links to news stories without permission. Copiepresse also claimed Google’s cached links allowed searchers to find and read [...]
The UK commercial search accounts today for a staggering 90% of the search marketing spend or £1.26 billion whilst, natural search accounted for £147 million in the UK in 2006 (Travelution, November 2006). Research from Nielsen/Net Ratings indicates that in 2006, 265m people used a search engine (81% of the internet population) creating 27bn search [...]
Hilton Leisure Awareness Campaign developed by Web Liquid.
The advent of Web 2.0 in which consumers are empowered to promote and shape the persona of a brand will challenge the role of advertising agencies. The same way in which media congolomartes, owners of the airwaves and print press used to be the custodians of public information, advertising agencies used to be archites of [...]
When YouTube, the darling of the social media revolution was acquired by Google, many hailed it as valuable advertising partnership, which would see Google AdWords and Ad Sense programs propagated across the site. This approach was further cemented by the agreement signed between Google and News Corporation which will see the search giant deliver at [...]
In late 2003 XL Airways appointed Web Liquid as its Digital Marketing Agency of Record. Before engaging into communications and media planning we defined a series of commercial imperatives to achieve. These commercial imperatives helped us identify and guide our media and creative approach. Furthermore, this approach helped us identify and make recommendations on optimising [...]
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Avis UK challenged Web Liquid to concept, design and produce an online creative communication for its latest domestic offers. The offer was based on a simple proposition – “7 days for the price of 5″ and “3 days for the price of 2″. While the offer was incredibly competitive, the challenge laid in bringing the [...]
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Excel gains online boost with XL.com. 1 February, 2005. Philip Buxton Revolution Excel Airways has launched into the wider world of online travel after buying the URL XL.com. The airline, known for its low-cost flights, has expanded its online offer to include flights from other airlines, car rental, hotels and package deals. The push sees [...]
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Background & Objectives: Initial planning insight revelead that while 25% of Australians seek holiday information from travel agents, 80% book through travel agents. To generate direct incremental demand from Australians traveling to the United Kingdom, Web Liquid devised an online campaign leveraging humour to establish standout, initial interest and interaction. The light hearted but effective [...]
Background & Objectives Campaign aimed to drive discounted leisure business into specific Hilton properties in the United States from key source markets including the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. Furthermore, the campaign was aimed at establishing awareness and consideration for Hilton properties across key audience segments. Creative Approach Support price driven offer [...]
Background & Objectives The campaign aimed to stimulate leisure business into Hilton’s seventy-eight properties across the United Kingdom and Ireland, supporting offline activity concentrated across press and direct mail. Creative Approach Leverage seasonal icons to bring to life the “What a difference a word can make” proposition; aimed at positioning Hilton’s value proposition and brand [...]
MediaBrokers is bringing a new behavioural targeting tool to the UK next week in a bid to provide an alternative to search marketing. The solution, called MediaBroker’s Selector, lets advertisers divide users into cookie-based segments by tracking action tags on the Atlas Publisher ad network. It has been tested by Web Liquid across its client [...]
Background & Objectives The campaign aimed to drive awareness, consideration and test drives of the SSangyong Rexton through a tactical lease offer of £249 a month. Creative Approach Leverage the positive reviews and consumer sentiment about the Rexton relative to more establish automotive brands in the SUV category. The creative approach centered on the [...]
2 August, 2004 Guardian Unlimited by Guy Clapperton. The great e-scape. More people are visiting holiday websites than ever before, according to new research. So is it just because of the wet summer, or is the net now the only way to book travel, asks Guy Clapperton. It’s so tempting to start a piece on [...]