The EU-driven legislation designed to protect web-users from being tracked by cookies without their consent, comes into force in May. Companies with online services need to ensure compliance with the law as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has powers to penalise non-compliant companies after May.
Although he believes the legislation to be over-protective, Jonathan Erwin [...]

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This year’s UK Product Of The Year Awards winners have been announced and the votes have revealed that consumers, feeling the financial squeeze, are giving up luxuries such as beauty products and takeaway coffees, in favour of multi-tasking products.
More than 9,000 consumers voted to determine the results of the 2012 Product of the Year survey, [...]

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SDL – a major provider of Global Information Management (GIM) solutions – has today announced it has completed the acquisition of Alterian, an international leader in marketing analytics, social media monitoring and campaign management, for a net cash consideration of £69.7 million.  
The SDL board believes the addition of Alterian’s integrated marketing platform capability will [...]

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The GMA – the Global Marketing Alliance (parent of DMI publications) – is looking forward to meeting up with international marketers in February.
First of all, we are having a party! As usual, on the eve of a major marketing industry event, the GMA will be staging the London branch of its world-famous Direct Margarita International [...]

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Five big issues facing global companies
Dominique Turpin (pictured) discusses the business worries which he believes are currently keeping senior global executives awake at night.
Right now, of course, the health of the global economy and unpredictable exchange rates are top of the list of concerns keeping executives from sleeping soundly. But, in my conversations with business [...]

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Tony Foggett (pictured) shares agency insights into emerging trends.
Now is the time to reflect on key milestones from the past 12 months and examine the trends that will have the biggest effect on multi-channel strategies in the year ahead.
How quickly a year shifts in digital!
In 2010, it sometimes felt as if consumers and technology were [...]

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Luke Griffiths (pictured) forecasts the key digital marketing resolutions for 2012.
Integrate to communicate
Make way for convergence. This will be the overarching trend for 2012 – separate channels will converge into the sea of digital media, all working together to make up one digital hub of communications.
Where channels such as email and mobile have celebrated success [...]

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Businesses in the UK, Germany and Canada are lagging behind their peers in the emerging markets when it comes to adopting and using social media: China, India and Brazil are, on average, 20 to 30 percentage points more likely to use social media than their counterparts in developed countries, according to a global KPMG report.
Despite [...]

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Graham Kemp explores changes in the world of publishing and discusses how brands can improve communication with consumers via use of relevant content.
The previously genteel world of book publishing has been turned on its head in the last few years by the Internet and the rise of e-books. Music-buying patterns have also changed recently, with [...]

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Customer engagement can now be optimised through use of conversational marketing technology, enabling cross-channel, inbound/outbound and one-to-one personalised dialogues, including over Facebook and Twitter – explains François Laxalt (pictured).
Over the past few years, marketers have begun moving from multi-channel but siloed marketing techniques, towards integrated cross-channel approaches. In doing so, they have broken down [...]

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