It was a well-attended and extremely well-orchestrated event and the awards (of which there were seven, plus a special award for Dame Vivien Westwood whose, er, distinctive speech I really hope to be able to track down on YouTube and treasure forever!).
I was really pleased to see Bremont Watches get an award (I’m a fan of their ALTI-Z, cream face) and Net A Porter picked up a deserved award for best online luxury site.
In all, a fun evening and good to catch up with so many people.
The folk at Bazaarvoice have been more diligent and professional than me in their recording of the event. See below a rather nifty ‘showreel’ of the event:
Next up was the always entertaining and often controversial Ian Jindal, Editor-in-Chief of Internet Retailing, discussing the Art of Distraction. Ian painted a vivid picture of where consumer power is heading, a future in which customers own their own web experience and gravitate toward those brands who engage them while also making their lives easier.
Thanks for the kind words and again for a fun event. Still grappling with the ‘basic’ magic tricks though…
Just seen this on YouTube, uploaded by Hermione of NewsPepper.com
This is a quick, 3-question, interview with Mark, recorded on her mobile phone. Surprisingly engaging and useful, this is a near alternative to a standard press release.
I’ve long been a bit sceptical about ‘vcasts’ but I’m changing my mind as short, characterful and useful snippets like this become easier, quicker and better integrated.
We were so convinced that we asked NewsPepper to cover the Internet Retailing 2008 Conference. They’re currently editing the ‘tapes’ and I’ll post the show report as soon as their pixel-wizards have slimmed down my chubby cheeks…
I’ve been interested for a while in the tension between “retail” (encouraging customers to buy more) and sustainability or ‘green’ sentiments (encouraging people to buy less – “reduce, reuse and recycle” being the operating mantra).
There are many benefits and challenges for retailers in considering sustainability as a part of their strategy and this group on LinkedIn is a first step to exploring this topic.
Mired in conflicting claims, in questions of how far to trace and cost impacts and benefits, and struggling to reconcile customer expressed claims with their measured behaviour, we expect some lively debates!
Thanks to an article in Indy (Clare Beale’s “On Advertising”) I’ve seen and now downloaded the most excellent iPhone guerilla/game/viral advert. It’s the first ad I’ve seen that “works” on mobile: the Carling iPint.
The app appears on the iPhone desktop and upon launch you are given the task of sliding a ping of – er – Carling from one end of the bar to the other.
This uses the iPhone’s motion sensors to good effect, and so is a great example of device-specific planning.
Tipping too far and the pint falls and smashes…
Once delivered to your iMate’s hands you’re “rewarded” with a virtual pint of Carling.
There’s a neat animation as the whole screen ‘fills’ with Carling, and…
… the liquid ‘tips’ as you move the iphone as if to drink it.
Once you’ve drained your pint you can then play again or mail the app to a friend.
So, this combines device-specific savvy, humour appropriate to the laddish demographic (toys + kit + beer + joke + game = bingo) and a viral aspect.
All we need now for ad-based perfection is:
location-awareness – “you’re next to a pub that’s pouring Carling now!”
integration with ecommerce (send receive vouchers, iBeerPoints [tm] and such like.
I’ve not seen such a well formed ad approach since the Lynx/Axe “feather” campaign.
It’s good to see this level of innovation and fun in mobile marketing – augurs so much better than blatting gifs to passers-by via bluetooth!
Google UK have convenened an interesting and senior morning on etail and ecommerce. You can see the list of speakers at the website – quite a gathering.
I’m pleased to be moderating a session on “Scaling and Managing the $1bn Online Business”. I do this with some humility since the last ecommerce business I ran (while Group eCommerce Director at Littlewoods Shop Direct) was “only” £405million. The current £:$ rate is flattering of my efforts though – $800m sounds like a lot more – but failing a slump in the value of the dollar (!) I currently do not qualify for membership of the $1bn-club. Not yet, at least 😉
The panellist will include Bruce Fair (MD, Kelkoo), Matthew Hardcastle (MD, Shopping.com) and Peter Fitzgerald (Retail Industry Leader, Google UK).
Just uploaded the new wordpress iPhone app and it’s simple, impresive and quick. Posting ‘on the go’ will be less of an exercise in masochism I hope…
Between the excellent new apps for Facebook, Twitter and now blogging there’ll be a rash of on-the-road “presentism”, status updating and thoughtstreams. Ok, now I’ve scared myself.
It’s been a busy time on the speaking front, culminating in a ‘double decker’ for Adobe and then Sky.
Adobe’s Scene7 folk have initiated a series of retailer briefings and, having spoken at the first, it would have been rude not to speak again when invited 😉 The topic of this presentation was “Excellence in Online Retailing”. I opened proceedings, then Ijaz and Marty shared some of the Scene7 roadmap. Michael Ross of eCommera then gave a presentation on the “The 10Ps of eCommerce“. This was a great presentation. Michael’s dry and direct delivery was really engaging and certainly brought the 10 Ps to life. I’d read these (since we published an article on them in Internet Retailing Magazine last issue – you can see the PDF here), but seeing the presentation was certainly more fun.
Then on to Sky University for an afternoon opener on “Online Selling – a customer experience”. The day was organised by Sky for their top teir affiliates and my session was an opportunity to take a broader look at the customer landscape. It was also a good opportunity for me to ponder further the affiliate landscape – an area of increasing interest to me, to which I’ll return in later posts.
A real eye-opener for me though was a presentation from Joost de Valk, a search strategist at OnetoMarket in the Netherlands. Joost is engaged in “white hat” SEO (ie legal, well-behaved, effective SEO activities) for some major brands. Joost also knows a lot – from hearsay, no doubt – about “black hat” SEO: the sort of activities for which the word “naughty” was coined. I spend a bit of time working with client teams to improve their SEO, but I had no idea of the scale, complexity and cunning of the operations attempting to outfox Google, searches and credit-card owners. It’s an area I need to look at! Hopefully, with Joost’s help rather than a DIY remedial course in high-contact, combat SEO!
The inaugural meeting of the European eCommerce Forum (ECF) was held in Amsterdam in April – the culmination of four years of conversations with leading retailers. Ian Jindal and Joris Beckers, co-founders of the Forum, reflect upon the genesis of the ECF, the pressing issues in ecommerce and the next steps for the Forum as preparations start for the next meeting in London this October.
