Daily Mail slates Starbucks loyalty marketing... and other reports of DM in the media

Daily Mail slates Starbucks marketing

Starbucks "slick marketing" gets a blast from the Daily Mail. The Starbucks card is "aimed at the generation of Brits who have been tempted to take out credit cards so they can spend the money they don't have. ....You put money on the card and ... go into a Starbucks, order a Cafe Mocha and then pay for it with your Starbucks card. With all the millions invested on Starbucks cards across the world, Mr [Howard] Schultz [Starbucks CEO] is making a pretty penny from the interest. It's a heavy price to pay for a small convenience." Daily Mail, 20 February 2009

iPhone and BlackBerry to slug it out for mobile-CRM supremacy

Players are vying for mobile CRM supremacy, but 2009 could be a showdown year between RIM's BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone, IT Business reports. Businesses are likely to roll out CRM apps on handsets such as the new BlackBerry Storm and the iPhone 3G, say industry insiders. In the past, RIM's BlackBerry devices may have been used mainly for e-mail. But an array of CRM software apps has extended their business functionality, notes one Forrester Research analyst. IT Business, 25 February 2009

Ryanair ignores subtleties of social media 

Web developer Jason Roe discovered a flaw in Ryanair's website while booking a flight, and blogged about how it seemed that users could book a flight for a charge of '0.00', the Guardian reports. Later that afternoon, someone calling themselves 'Ryanair Staff' posted a comment: "jason! you're an idiot and a liar!! fact is you've opened one session then another and requested a page meant for a different session, you are so stupid you dont even know how you did it!" Guardian.co.uk, 25 February 2009

President Obama's digital guru keen to help Labour

The Guardian interviewed Thomas Gensemer, the 31-year-old whose company Blue State Digital masterminded Barack Obama's internet-driven election campaign, now in London to open a UK office and try to entice the Labour party as a client. "We're very eager, and I think [the approach] would work equally well here," he tells the Guardian. "I don't think they're going to raise a half a billion dollars, but it certainly would raise far more money than it cost," he says. The Guardian, 18 February 2009

President Obama could be straining his personal brand

Ad Age questions whether President Obama's personal brand is being extended too much by taking such a dominant role in policy fronts such the mortgage and housing crisis and the Iraq War instead of delegating some responsibility to his cabinet and advisors. The risk is that any PR problems will lessen the brand's credibility and hurt the administration's effort to reinvent government. Ad Age, 25 February 2009

News International and News Corp go for behavioural targeting

Rupert Murdoch's News International is investigating working with News Corp sites such as Sky and MySpace, New Media Age reports, to create a behavioural targeting network across its properties. The creation of such a network would allow News International titles, such as The Times and The Sun,the Guardian reports to share data on reader behaviour and enable brands to target across both News Corp's and News International's sites. nma.co.uk, 10 February 2009

DRTV ads are the key uptakers of Google TV, but lack of local targeting is an issue

Google is not revealing the types of advertisers adopting its Google TV system, ClickZ reports, but indications are that DRTV media buying agencies comprise the bulk of those clients. But there is an issue: currently, Google has no way of targeting TV ads to specific localities. DRTV buyers that use Google for national campaigns often run regional and local campaigns on behalf of ad clients, too; yet, Google is missing out on those local budgets. A lack of geo-targeting capabilities is also a deterrent for local and regional search advertisers Google would like to try the TV product. ClickZ, 23 February 2009

Why Brits are no longer top in global creative awards

The Guardian investigates why British agencies did badly in global awards last year. In The Big Won report of worldwide shows and awards, Britain came third behind the US. In direct marketing British agencies were sixth, in TV, second and in digital, third. Is the British marketing communications industry losing its mojo? "Not at all," says Patrick Collister, the author of The Big Won. "A few years ago, the UK dominated the awards scene and now the rest of the world is catching up. They've learned how we do it and now they are copying us like crazy." The Guardian, 23 February 2009

Online not immune to recession, US conference hears

This reality hit the annual meeting of the US Interactive Advertising Bureau, which brings together the nation's biggest online publishers, Ad Age reports. The prevailing feeling at the event was that, like every other medium, online is fighting for its share of a shrinking pie. Total ad spending -- online and offline -- is expected to fall 7% in 2009. "There are companies that are going to go out of business this year," said David Moore, chairman of WPP's 24/7 Real Media. "As the fight for digital dollars intensifies, I worry that people will do irrational things to gain market share." Moore was referring to unethical ad-sales techniques as ad networks get desperate. Ad Age, 23 February 2009

Also at the US IAB annual conference in Florida, the Washington Post reported that Wenda Harris Millard, president of Media and Co-CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) as well as the chair of the IAB's board, saying the choice between the art and science of advertising is a false one. "It's the same question the industry asks, when it frets over whether interactive ads are direct marketing or for branding," Millard said. "The answer is, we have to do both.'  Washington Post, 23 February 2009

DM makes grocery giant a bright spot in recession

Bright spots in the recession include US grocery giant Kroger thanks to its use of data and direct marketing, Ad Age reports. Kroger managed a 6% increase in stores open at least a year during the third quarter, partly thanks to the use of direct marketing. "We understand and appreciate that no two customers are alike," said David Dillon, Kroger's chairman-CEO. "Some may live in the same city, some in the same neighborhood and even on the same street, but we know that they don't have the same shopping habits. [The use of couponging is] a level of personalization that is a direct link to our customers [that] no other U.S. grocery retailer can replicate." Ad Age, February 23, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This article was first published on Marketing Direct