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August 28, 2006: New Marketing Metric: Return on Granite

Will $850-per-linear-foot granite-paved sidewalks provide the kind of return on investment to keep Rodeo Drive as the premiere shopping district? Beverly Hills city manager Roderick Wood thinks that’s exactly what the city needs to do to help protect, market and defend the posh shopping area.

August 18, 2006: CMOs weigh in about the Web

How will Marketing Departments use the Web to create growth and profitability? A 2006 WebTrends CMO Report (free download with registration) suggests that while CMOs “get it” that the Web is the hub (or will be the hub) of their marketing strategies, those surveyed admit that they don’t fully know the latest in interactive marketing trends, strategies and technologies—this at a time when a majority of the CMOs plan to increase Web marketing budgets.

August 07, 2006: Let’s make a deal

In a recent post on this site, we reviewed how newspapers are teaming up with other newspaper sites to offer related content, as a way to keep readers from defecting to Google or Yahoo.

In yet another virtual twist sure to stir up this debate, Google and Yahoo have inked deals to compensate top news organizations for their content – this according to a recent article, “New media making deals with ‘old’ news providers” (free registration), published in the San Jose Mercury News.

July 31, 2006: Read the competing newspaper, please!

Why would a newspaper editor agree to link its online viewers to a competitor’s site? For one, to keep them from going to Google or Yahoo. Additionally, it’s a way to generate more revenue. This is the latest twist in virtual newsroom management, according to an article in the July 31 New York Times, “Newspapers to use links to rivals on Web sites” (registration required).

July 28, 2006: Big TiVo is Watching What You’re Not

Do TiVo users watch commercials or skip them? TiVo is forming a research division to study that very question, and by doing so, is weighing in on the debate between advertisers and the TV industry on how to measure viewership of those using digital video recorders. Find out more about how TiVo is getting granular.

July 24, 2006: Online supply and demand

Think gas prices are getting expensive? Online advertising prices could be rising too, thanks to increasing demand for online ad vehicles, which could surpass supply in the short term. This prediction comes from research conducted by McKinsey & Company and profiled in The McKinsey Quarterly (2006 Number 3) article, “A reality check for online advertising” (free registration). Find out more about what the researchers discovered.

July 07, 2006: CMOs on the endangered list?

A job as a CMO can be hazardous to your career. As reported by Advertising Age (registration required) and related sources, a new survey by Spencer Stuart indicates that the brief tenure of Chief Marketing Officers has shrunk even further, to an average of 23.2 months, down from 23.6 months in 2004.  Find out what’s going on and if this is the right job for you.

June 29, 2006: Curiosity versus network security: and the winner is?

Think your workforce is buttoned-down when it comes to network security? After all, your employees probably have signed an “end-user computing agreement.” Upon threat of job loss, they’d never open a .exe file from an unknown source, or insert a CD or plug in an external drive to a networked company computer, right? Wrong! Find out what happened during a network security test when employees were tempted with cheap flash drives.

June 21, 2006: Just Me and My Excel

Need to make a really big marketing decision?  Fire up an Excel spreadsheet (and grab some antacid tablets).  That’s what a majority of executives do, according to a study profiled in a June 20th ClickZ article, “Marketing Execs Excel – to a Fault.” Find out more about what marketing executives are up to.

June 20, 2006: Blimp My Ad

How can marketers rise above the clutter? Try advertising your commercials, sports highlights or movie trailers from 1,000 feet up, on an enormous blimp with a 70-by-30 foot LED screen “baked in” to its side.

June 16, 2006: Wanted: Faster “fast food”

Lunch hour? Bah hamburger! Two studies show that more American workers are squeezing more work into their day and shortening up their lunch “hour.” So why do we work 270 more hours per year than the French? Read on…

June 15, 2006: Agencies calling the shots for clients?

If you’re an agency working for one of the nation’s largest marketers like General Mills, can you have your Cheerios and eat them, too? Based on the news this week, it appears totally possible.  Read on to find out about a shift in the agency-client relationship.