There’s another digital shift coming, says guest author Mal Fletcher (pictured): social networks are moving from collaboration to connection. It’s time to harness the trend and turn ‘targets’ into friends.
It takes a long time to grow an old friend, says American cultural critic, John Leonard.
In the wake of the digital revolution, ours is the age of We-Think, the ‘hive mentality’, or what online gamers [...]

[Read more →]

The Indian economy will grow at 9.5 per cent by 2013 – up from this year’s 7.2 per cent and outpacing China’s projected 9.2 per cent rise, according to a recent report from Ernst & Young.
However, the predictions have some riders – the figures depend on whether’s India’s inflation will fall by the end of [...]

[Read more →]

Older people may recall being in their 20s as ‘the best days of my life’, but that’s not a sentiment echoed by those in their mid-20s today. Despite being twice as rich in real terms, they are no happier than their parents were at the same age. And they would rather have a nice cup [...]

[Read more →]

 Sales driven by social media and mobile retail are both set to play a bigger role in this year’s festive shopping season, according to a new report.
The study from IBM predicts that mobile traffic as a percentage of all retail site visits will hit double figures by Christmas 2011, having grown from just over four [...]

[Read more →]

If you want to find out how to mix SEO, Adwords and global PR to best effect when selling products worldwide, but have had your pocket pinched by the recession – a new service is offering a free guide, using maths-assisted analysis.
The 2012 Online Marketing and Offline Marketing Mix Plans from Global B2B Communications uses [...]

[Read more →]

Adspend in New Zealand is yet to return to pre-recession levels, but did see a rise of 3.4 per cent in 2010, boosted by increased spending online.
The  report, ‘Outlook: Australian Entertainment and Media’, from PricewaterhouseCoopers, showed the performance in New Zealand reflected the overall flatness in the economy, where revenues fell almost 12 per cent [...]

[Read more →]

Despite recent data indicating that US employers added 757,000 staff to their payrolls in the first half of 2011, a return to  the pre-recession unemployment level of five per cent is unlikely before 2021, according to a survey of US households by the country’s labour department.
Underlying the apparently healthy number of new jobs created in [...]

[Read more →]

An event focusing on the future of customer experience and the positive impact that engaging directly with consumers can have on business profitability is to be held at the Institute of Directors (IoD) in central London on October 18, hosted by Rapide – the Moments of Truth Company.
‘The Future of Customer Experience’ event is designed [...]

[Read more →]

The USA Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has released its Quarterly Business Review for the second quarter of 2011. On this report, it partnered with management consulting firm, the Winterberry Group.  
In Q2 2011, marketers reported moderate growth in spending, sales, profits and staffing, compared with the previous quarter (Q1 2011) and same quarter last year [...]

[Read more →]

New research indicates that global advertising spend will increase +4.4 per cent in 2011, well below the +5.1 per cent growth predicted as recently as April.
The reduced consensus growth figure revealed by the latest Consensus Ad Forecast from Warc, the marketing intelligence service, reverses industry forecasters’ steadily improving adspend growth projections of the last 15 months. Recent [...]

[Read more →]