Amazon: misleading title

On CnnMoney I read this article’s title: Amazon expands free shipping in Europe. Great, I said, I won’t have to pay for shipping the tons of dvd and books I usually from Amazon.co.uk every couple of months! Well, it’s not exactly like that:

“Online retailer Amazon.com expanded its free shipping offer in the United Kingdom in a move to boost its overseas customer base and meet its international sales targets, the company said Wednesday.”

Well, the UK is just the UK, Europe is something different, don’t deceive me

File under: amazon

The ads that will affect your life

Google will provide target advertising and web search to Weather.com. The news is reported in a press release on Biz Yahoo!. I’m always astonished by reading the high-sounding declarations that usually come with these business deals, and Weather.com makes no exception by saying through Joe Fiveash, senior vice president of Product and Business Development:

“Weather.com wants to present our users with information that is the most relevant to them. By adding Google’s search services, we make finding information about any topic just as easy as finding out how the weather will affect your life.”

Wow, these guys are soooo nice to users, they really care about them and their life… Please, don’t forget business is… business, not charity!

File under: ads, deals, google, weather.com

Sony goes viral

In today’s Digital Bulletin you can learn more about Sony’s recent campaign aimed to raise awareness of portable devices such as MD and CD Walkman. The campaing with the brand message “You make it a Sony” will run online but also through music festivals and other music channels all across Europe. The viral buzz will be spread by Cake Group, which has a very original Web site I reccomend to visit (even though I’m not sure that I like it . Pay attention to the “hot cakes” part… it can make you sick…

File under: cake group, sony, viral campaign, viral marketing

America’s key influentials are online

America’s “Influentials” — a demographic of business networkers, news junkies and community movers and shakers — prefer the Internet to any other media for acquiring their daily information, according to a new study that you can read about on Adage.

File under: influentials, information gathering, online

Online marketing for real estate agents

Lawrence Schoeffler unveils the secrets of online marketing to Real estate agents. Some obvious advices, but also some nice tips in the article.

File under: online marketing tips, real estate agents

Goldenpalace.com unconventional marketing

Do you want to build brand awareness and drive traffic to your Web site? Ask streakers to “wear” your ad tattoos. This is the idea of Goldenpalace.com, online gaming provider, that has decided to use unconventional marketing tools like streakers hanging out at British Open and World Swimming Championships. Did someone say that online companies lack of creativity? You can read more on Yahoo! News.

File under: online gambling, online gaming, unconventional marketing

Everything you need to know about Webcasting…

… has been explained by Ken Yamada on Information Week. Webcast technology is being used to run meetings, to communicate with employees, train sales forces, make product announcements, brief investors and analysts, and run corporate seminars, among other uses. The article is very good and detailed and provides with a lot of useful information about web casting technology, costs and effectiveness.

File under: costs, effectiveness, web technology, webcasting

Connecting the Dots, Online Style

Yahoo! Consumer Direct Powered by ACNielsen that’s the (long) name of the new service targeting packaged-goods marketers that tries to answer a longstanding question of many advertisers: Do online ads spur offline sales? Well, this is actually the question asked by AdWeek in an article appearing on Yahoo! News Advertising.

File under: measure online effectiveness, online ads, sales

ING Direct new online campaign

ING Direct has launched its newest television commercial on CBS MarketWatch. The :30 second spot will be carried on the site’s story pages for the next two weeks, before beginning a run on network television. In the press release, it’s nice to read the (interested) opinion of Scot McLernon, EVP Sales & Marketing, MarketWatch.com:

“ING DIRECT is a terrific partner to be blazing new ground with us in the online advertising space. This campaign will give them the ability to reach our highly-valued audience with television creative during the middle of the business day. They are the first major advertiser that we’re aware of who has embraced an opportunity like this to create buzz with television creative online first, before launching on network television. It shows that they truly believe in the online medium.”

File under: buzz online, ing direct, online advertising, online campaign

Findwhat announces record second quarter results

Guess what? Findwhat a leading developer and provider of performance-based marketing services for the Internet, today reported record financial results for the three and six months ending June 30, 2003. Revenue in Q2 2003 increased 80% versus Q2 2002, and was more than $500,000 ahead of the Company’s most recent projections. FindWhat.com has increased revenue sequentially for 15 consecutive quarters. You can learn more about it reading through the press release on Business Wire.

File under: financials, findwhat, performance-based marketing services