GET YOUR DATA AND MAILING LISTS CLEANED UP NOW

We have just carried out a data cleansing campaign by telephone for a client and we found that 36% - yes, over one third - was no good! It had wrong telephone numbers, wrong addresses or contact names, or the contact business didn't exist anymore! 

How current is your data? If you mailed it or carried out an e-shot tomorrow, how much would come back as 'gone away' or as a hard bounce?

Well there's only one way to find out! And it's not "fight"!

It's to clean your data properly and make sure not a penny of your postage is wasted. Yes, data cleansing is critical and a brief. example demonstrates this.

Let’s say you have 2,000 contacts on your database. Typically these would be made up of existing clients, prospects, acquaintances and friends/family.

You send out a direct mail piece wishing them a Happy Christmas or to alert them to a new sales offer.

Most active databases are 70% accurate, give or take. So 1,400 would receive your message and 600 wouldn’t.

Now let’s say 5% would be interested in your new offering or have been reminded that you’re still around by your festive “nudge.” That’s 70 interested parties.

Imagine if the other 600 had been verified. That would be another 30 prospective clients.

I’m sure to most businesses that would be of huge value and it would clearly improve the marketing exercise. There’s no substitute for quality data whether it’s for telemarketing or any other marketing purpose.

To make sure you don’t get left behind, we are offering a lower rate on our data cleansing offering (call it an early Christmas/New Year present) so come on and start your “in-house” cleaning now! And you'll be ready to hit the ground running in 2012!

Geoff Noake is a Fellow of the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing

Brands will soon have a new way of reaching consumers with the launch of Nokia’s Near Field Communication (NFC) Hubs.

NFC technology allows users to share information and pay for items with a simple swipe of their mobile devices. NFC posters offer a high level of interaction between consumer and advertising: users’ devices can be taken to the brand’s Facebook page, or send a pre-determined text message to a pre-determined number.

Brands using the technology will also benefit from access to Nokia’s statistics on overall usage for no cost, as well as allowing brands to alter their campaigns ‘live’, with no need to change posters.

Nokia’s NFC technology is currently going through a limited testing phase, but Rupert Englander, Head of Services Sales and Marketing at the company, reckons that such technology is only “a couple of years from being the norm”.

Source: Marketing / CBS Outdoor

The Government has ruled out plans for an outright ban on advertising to children, favouring a four-point plan to protect young people from inappropriate marketing.

The renewed responsibility comes as a result of a meeting between Prime Minister David Cameron and 30 organisations, including the Advertising Association (AA) and Advertising Standards Authority.

A pledge, drawn up by the AA, encourages advertisers to not use under-16s as brand ambassadors; agree to a voluntary ban on advertising near schools for adult services; follow stricter ASA guidelines on sexual images in outdoor ads and the creation of a one-stop website where concerned parents can air concerns about advertising issues.

Chief executive of the AA, Tim Lefroy, said: “Today, advertising and the brands it supports are recognised as playing an important and appropriate part in family life, but the PM made clear that we must remain in touch with our responsibilities.”

But Mike Baker, CEO of the Outdoor Media Centre (OMC), asks what constitutes sexualisation, and how far is too far? “The biggest challenge remains drawing the new line on what is allowable,” he says. “The OMC is doing further research as to which actual live ads really cause offence. My hunch is that the British public has a problem with very few outdoor ads. We are a long way from the days of FCUK and Benetton, after all.”

“Total complaints about all outdoor campaigns in 2010 numbered fewer than 2,000, and the majority of these complaints were not about indecency, but about inaccurate or misleading claims, such as broadband speeds.”

Mike points out that Wonderbra’s 17-year-old ‘Hello Boys' artwork has accompanied the story in recent press coverage. “I find it instructive that the journos can’t drum up more offensive and more recent material. Would 'Hello Boys' make it through the net at all these days? I really hope it still would as it was a brilliant piece of creative.”

Source: Brand Republic

Shoppers are still influenced by the advertising they see just before shopping, according to the latest research from the Outdoor Media Centre.

Outdoor advertising was noticed by over 80 per cent of the people interviewed, while 72 per cent said they can be swayed towards a product by recent Outdoor advertising.

The study, called ‘The Last Window of Influence’ aimed to investigate advertising ‘recency’, a term defined as “related to the most recent piece of information that shoppers will get before taking their wallets out”.

The study looked specifically at the 30-minute period immediately before shoppers begin shopping, the last window of influence for advertisers to place brand messages in front of customers.

Mike Baker, CEO of the Outdoor Media Centre, said the survey is “pretty definitive evidence that you can still influence shoppers as they head for the stores. We are not talking about point of sale advertising here, but the whole customer journey to the store itself, which begins the moment shoppers leave their homes or offices. That’s when they step into the Outdoor space.”

Source: Daily DOOHand CBS Outdoor

Had a really beneficial trip to MediaPro Expo last week. Lots of affordable new technology was on show, to help you create and drive integrated cross-media advertising campaigns.

Small promotional microsites that can be used for short term competitions, landing pages, data collection and even online shops can be built within hours and stay live for as long or little time as you need them to support campaigns. And they're available with high creative values - but at very low prices!

Of particular interest were developments in the production of online brochures. They enable superb web-savvy print/online integration that delivers high quality publications via websites, tablets and smartfones, adding greatly to potential for customer engagement.

There's also a new app device that allows you to photograph coded elements of printed magazines and save them to your phone! Plus, lots of ideas to integrate social network platforms, which give us much to talk about with our clients!

Tablets and smartphones are changing the way people consume media.

Advertisers increasingly need to look at how media is being consumed, particularly with regard to new technology. 80 new tablet devices were announced in the US earlier this year and it is estimated that this year, 28 million tablets will be sold worldwide!

Within three years 200 million tablets will be in the hands of consumers. Websites need to be compatible with mobile platforms as Flash does not work on mobiles and tablets.

90% of people who have a tablet use it everyday with 40% who have tablets are using their Notebooks and Netbooks less.

So think print - then think beyond print and how mobiles can help increase audience engagement and campaign impact.

Source: Campaign 21.10.11

The latest figures from Bellweather suggest that marketing trends reported in Q3 are up by 3.4% - the first increase for a year.

Specifically, the report shows the following increases across all media, which is the first time in over 4 years. Specifically, the figures show:

Media up 0.5%

Sales Promotion up 2.8%

Direct Marketing up 3.3%

Internet up 16.6%

Search Internet up 9.3%

Other up 1.5%

But whilst the figures are very encouraging, confidence continues to reflect the uncertain fincncial climate advertisers are operating in. Our own experience tallies with the data, in that while sectors of the engineering sectors are 'booming', there is concern about future conditions.

Source: Campaign 14 October 2011

Hot: Tube map of the future

Commuters in New York are being treated to a revolutionary experience with the ‘On the Go! Travel Station’, a 47-inch touchscreen allowing users to access all they need to know about the subway.

The system can be used to look up the subway map, find out about delays and service changes, and even discover if an escalator at your station is out of order.

The travel station also provides a new advertising space for anyone who wants to catch the eye of New York’s subway goers.

The travel station is extremely feature rich, but its makers say the development is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of potential. The only forseeable problem is ensuring that passengers don’t hog it.

Source: The Next Web

Not: Tweet me happy

A study of Twitter posts has found millions of people wake up happy and become more negative as the day continues. A study by scientists at Cornell University in the US, examined the tweets of 2.4 million Twitter users, dividing them into different hours of the day and days of the week.

The research found people became more negative as the day went on and the most positive times of the day were at the start and the end.

Mid-morning was found to be the worst time of day, with these rising again and peaking just before midnight. Users were also more cheerful at weekends. Researchers also found no evidence for ‘the winter blues’ and found the negative messages were as likely to be sent in summer as winter.

The public find outdoor advertising can be “clever, humorous and entertaining”, according to a YouGov poll.

Research on behalf of the Outdoor Media Centre shows 63 per cent of respondents agreed Outdoor mediums are entertainingly engaging, with this figure rising to 70 per cent among the 18-24 group.

The medium is supportive of brand awareness with 60 per cent of the poll agreeing it keeps brands and products in the public eye, rising to 66 per cent in the younger set.

Londoners are the largest geographic group to agree Outdoor keeps brands and products in the public eye, with 68 per cent agreeing.

The importance of Outdoor advertising to helping fund public amenities is also understood by a good portion of the poll at 41 per cent and 47 per cent of the younger group agreeing with the proposition.

The most recalled sector for specific outdoor advertising activity was entertainment (61 per cent) with telecoms next (52 per cent).

The YouGov survey was conducted online with a representative panel of 1,692 adults.

Source: Marketing Week and CBS Outdoor