A review of the Academy of Marketing 2014 Conference

The 2014 Academy of Marketing Conference took place in July in sunny Bournemouth on the south coast of the UK. Over 370 marketing educators from across the world gathered to share and discover the latest academic marketing practices over 3 days, with between 12 to 16 sessions a day! In this post I have compiled what I found to be the most interesting research into digital marketing grouped into different research themes. You can see that research into social media marketing is strongly represented. I hope you find it useful if you're a researcher or a professional or full-time student focusing on online marketing. What was interesting was the convergence between the academic and practitioner standpoints. There is a push to identify ‘managerial implications’ of much of the work being undertaken and here are my highlights:

Online communities

Dr Jan Breitsohl from…

A recent court case could set a legal precedent to limit behavioural email marketing

Importance (to retail email marketers): [rating=5] Recommended link: Sky News: Spammer To Pay Damages After Court Victory There has recently been an interesting, useful and somewhat scary discussion on the Smart Insights LinkedIn discussion group about the risks of email marketers being seen as spammers and action take against them. Worth checking out if you’re involved in email marketing. It alerted me to this recent case where John Lewis has had to pay damages because of their email marketing and data privacy opt-in approach on their site. I’ve created an alert on it  since the finding seems to suggest the common practice of pre-ticking a box during purchase and following that up with an “Abandoned Shopping cart email” The case was brought against the retailer by Roddy Mansfield, a Sky news producer. It was a private action and the finding…

History Forgotten, History Erased: EU Ruling marks massive win for Right to Privacy Campaigners

Last Tuesday’s EU Court of Justice ruling in favour of an individual’s ‘right to be forgotten’ feels like a harsh blow to Google. The ruling, which establishes the search engine's role as a ‘data controller’ and as such does not extend to media institutions and other online publishers, has divided opinion amongst commentators. Many are worried that by shifting the onus on Google as a controller of data, the EU could be throwing the baby out with the bath water in its attempt to protect press freedoms with the right to be forgotten. Whilst Google is not responsible for the publication of content it has become a vital component of the online media melting pot and as such these distinctions matter.

Damaging attack or vital measure?

To…

New research shows how different types of content marketing supports brand engagement and purchase in different sectors

Value: [rating=4]

Recommended link: Download InPowered/Nielsen report

With the increasing focus on content marketing, it’s important for marketers to work out how effective different types of content are at different points in the buying process. This new research from Nielsen, commissioned by InPowered shows dramatic differences in the effectiveness of content types across sectors affecting these brand metrics:

Stage 1: Familiarity with a new productStage 2: Affinity toward a brand or productStage 3: Purchase consideration of a brand or product

The research reviews three types of content, credible experts, third-party articles and user-generated content reviews. The importance of this type of content is shown from the statistic that 85% of consumers regularly seek out expert content ­- credible, third-party articles and reviews -­ for products they consider purchasing. The impact of content through the buying…

89% of consumer media time in mobile apps, 11% in mobile web according to latest statistics by Nielsen

Interested in finding out how content consumption has change across media? Whether it's video, apps, text, across linear, digital or mobile? Or how many hours are spent on apps and across which device? Nielsen's research provides insights into US consumers changing media use which can help prompt changes in media investment. See our statistics page for sources for consumer media consumption insight elsewhere, including Ofcom and ONS in the UK and comScore. Nielsen have combined the survey this quarter to look at the integration of mobile and video usage from their mobile insights survey along with metered data through Electronic Mobile Measurement. According to Dounia Turrill, SVP Insights, 'as we create the tapestry of media consumption with its impact and opportunnity for Advertisers, it strikes me that we are in an era of tremendous growth and…

Itamar Simonson explains how digital reviews and recommendations mean that consumers are now better equipped than ever to determine the absolute value of any purchase

According to Simonson, Professor of Marketing at Stanford University, today's consumers have so many new sources of information it's much easier for them to assess the absolute value of things, in other words, to know their likely experience with a product or service. Absolute Value is the title of a new book by Simonson written with Emanuel Rosen, ABSOLUTE VALUE: What Really Influences Customers in the Age of (Nearly) Perfect Information.  In it they argue that consumers today take advantage of three trends: 1. the rise of reviews from other users 2. unprecedented access to expert opinions 3. easy access to friends on social media. In this interview we explore the new reality of the influence of digital media on purchase  and its far-reaching implications on everything from competitive strategy to communication…

...or How real people really buy things

When people are buying something that’s important, expensive, or risky, they don’t generally do it on a whim. They go through a few stages weighing up options and looking at alternatives. Every step on this journey is one where they could lose interest. By plugging gaps between stages, you will generate and retain more profitable customers.

How considered is their buying decision?

People don’t typically go from blissful ignorance to paying customer in one great leap. They go through a series of thought processes along the way. The more important or risky that decision, the more this seems to apply.

At one end of the spectrum there are buying decisions made in a heartbeat. These are either impulse buys driven entirely by emotion or by logic, but rarely both. Those ‘I just had to have it’ moments, like a bunch of flowers or a chocolate bar. Or,…

The one New Years Resolution you should be making right now

If I said that you could have access to 3,000 Wembley stadiums full of buyers that have the ability to purchase your product and the ability to pay immediately, you'd probably think I'm lying or a looney. But I'm not, this is the reach of the marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, right now, today. In this article I aim to quash a few misconceptions and open your eyes to the obscene power of the marketplaces. And at the end of this article I have one question for you, but for now let's dive in.

A Car boot sale and books?

If you think eBay is a great big car boot sale and Amazon is just for books, then you're wrong, so very wrong. The marketplaces have evolved, they're gaining pace every single day and it's not just…

IABs Digital Advertising Policy Guide simplifies 100 pieces of UK marketing legislation

Value/Importance of  new advice: [rating=4] (for UK readers)

Recommended link: IAB Digital Advertising Policy Guide

As a marketer, we know that advertising rules and compliance is constantly changing to keep up with the pace of new digital and social media channels.

How do we keep on top of it when there are so many rules and codes? Digital marketing in the UK is regulated by DPA 1998, Privacy and Electronic Communications and self-regulatory rules including CAP - in addition to T&Cs set by individual channels such as Facebook, Twitter etc.

Sometimes savvy customers know more about their rights than marketers or businesses. The number of laws and the frequency of updates raises a lot of questions... So how do we keep on top of it? How do we know the rules to follow as a business?  What happens…

Daniel Buchuk on the launch of SimilarWeb

As part of our occasional feature giving readers the low down on new tools for digital marketers to collect insight, in this post we ask Daniel Buchuk from SimilarWeb to introduce their service. SimilarWeb enables companies to benchmark performance against competitors. If you're interested in this process and other tools available, check out our post detailing competitor benchmarking services. 

During the interview, Daniel talks about the story behind SimilarWeb, why their tools are different to those in the marketplace such as Alexa or Compete and the availability of  free features.

1. What inspired you to create SimilarWeb, when there are already other competitor benchmarking tools?

There's an increasing demand for online competitive intelligence and existing high-end tools in the market are often too complex and unaffordable for the mid market. There are simply no solutions…