November, 2007 Archive

Me, Kev & Jeremy Vine at The ABTA Travel Convention

Myself and Kevin May from Travolution have just done our slot at The ABTA Travel Convention – Riding The Wave – Out in Tenerife.

Over a 1000 people in the audience and they appeared to love it!

Jeremy Vine from the BBC is a nice guy – much taller in real life and a real pro at MCing the conference.

He did complain about his mobile phone not working properly though, but then acknowledged Windows Mobile 5 probably wasn’t in my remit, so we talked about Genesis and OMD instead:)

Full round up tomorrow – got to catch a flight!

ABTA Travel Convention

Kevin May – Jeremy Vine – Me!

ABATA Travel Convention

Very Impressive Staging

Riding The Wave in Tenerife

I’m up at “O Crack Sparrow”  tomorrow to catch a flight to Tenerife.

Simon Ferguson and Kevin May from Travolution very kindly asked me if I’d do a double act during The Travel Convention with Kevin, and speak at a session called Riding The Wave.

I’ll deliver the “here and now” of Web 2.0 and how consumers are interacting with the web, what their expectations are, and I’ll tell a few stories about what the internet holds for big brands and one-man-bands alike.

Kevin will then leap in and narrow down the opportunities to the travel sector.

It should be good fun, and I must say the setting couldn’t be more perfect.

Not sure I’ll want to come back…..oh no…..hold on… I’ve got to be in Las Vegas next week for PubCon!!

Bummer!

Wanna Star In The Next Harry Potter movie?

OK maybe not “star” but at least get a walk on part!

MSN UK are running a Harry Potter Competition in conjunction with the launch of the “Order of The Phoenix” DVD.

Josh Berger, President and Managing Director, Warner Bros. UK, said:

“Digital plays an important role in our marketing mix.  We’ve been investing in digital for many years and are constantly pushing the bar to break new boundaries and create campaigns that truly engage with the consumer. Digital enables us to achieve cut through in a very competitive market and allows us to engage with consumers in innovative ways.”

That’s what we like to hear!

Harry Potter

“Harry regrets putting his website up for scrutiny at a conference site clinic!”

SMX London – A Belated Homage

If SMX London was a residential property, a British Estate Agent would have described it thus:

“SMX London is a bijoux, four-roomed apartment, laid out over 3 floors. Packed with all the mod-cons a professional would desire, the kitchen needs a special mention for its capacity to create fine cuisine, rarely seen in properties of this ilk. Close to all the local amenities, direct access is provided to handymen from all disciplines from whom advice flows like fine wine.

The rooms have been decorated in various themes to suit your mood and professional persuasion, and the clear access between them is punctuated only by its own elevator, built in the style of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

The dynamic designer duo responsible for bringing this property to market, have assured us it is the perfect place to entertain friends both old and new so early viewings are recommended! Price on application…”

Given the success of the inaugural SMX in London, I’m sure the next one will be even better attended. Although much of the coverage has been about SEO, there was a whole track on Paid Search.

I counted 30 delegates in the What’s New With Search Advertising session in which I was speaking with Richard Firminger from Yahoo! Richard Gregory from Latitude and Alexis Sitaropoulos from Miva. Maybe it was because more people were interested in the organic tracks, maybe it was because Google didn’t trot along. If it was the latter I’ll have a chat with Mark Howe tomorrow, as I’m on another panel with him and Firminger at Mindshare.

The highlight for me, other than me having two other colleagues, Colm Bracken and Max Whiteford, speaking about ad copy and paid search tactics, was the What’s New With The Algorithm sesh.

Now ok…..so I knew all four guys up there pretty well – Kristjan, Dixon and Mikkel were on the now infamous Icelandic Jaunt last November, and I met DaveN at SEODays and nearly had him blown up by al Qaeda – but they didn’t have to mention Live Search and what Microsoft are doing in this space quite so much unless they thought we’d crossed over to the useful/viable side of Search Street.

Nathan Buggia leant across during the course of the talk and asked had we ever had quite so much airtime and I had to say no. I think we were taken a little by surprise, but maybe because we come so far and still feel we have a lot to do – but at least the seeds are germinating. The adCenter Community Team have done sterling work with the blog and being active on the forums and now with Paul Stoddart in the UK and Nathan in the US we’re trying to get in amongst the SEO community and show we’re innovating, listening and acting on their feedback.

I thought the whole event was a great success, the sessions our guys spoke at became nice little debates and discussions rather than: Present, Question, Answer – and it was great getting Gord Hotchkiss over – I could listen to him for hours!

We didn’t get over to the Case Study track and was wondering how that was attended and received? Some folks in the UK have recently said of SES and SMX that they’re “old boys clubs” and of little value any more. That’s a sentiment I feel is totally unfair, as they have introduced case studies and real world examples that are approachable and accessible for newcomers and green search marketers. It’s the key to keeping the balance between the more advanced types and helping people new to the channel have as much success as we have utilising it.

Looking forward to next year although I can’t see a date on the site!!!

Going Local Down In London

Last week the Evening Standard reported that local retailers in London were getting visibility through a local review site called We Love Local – The report suggested that the site was inspired by The Standard’s “Save Our Small Shops” campaign…

Actually, welovelocal.com is one of a number of websites trying to capitalise on the trend for local search providers cropping up and being a resource of local services, recommended or reviewed by other users. A kind of Tripadvisor.com for you local area if you like.

Tipped and Qype are others trying to tap into this market – it’s a nice idea but needs some critical mass of reviewers and reviews before they really get going.

It’ll be just a matter of time before they get snapped up by a bigger search provider though.

It’s interesting that The Standard’s angle comes at the same time that Microsoft released research into SMB’s advertising online – or rather investing in websites that never get seen.

I remember in 2001 a high profile CEO of a European DotCom based in London, left to join a company whose business model was to knock on doors in the high street offering to set up and maintain websites for small shops, hairdressers and independent traders.

We laughed at the time….but it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea now…

SMX London post coming soon…but enjoy the below from the guys at Site Visibility – Cheeky beggars!

That Joe Cocker Pop Video – N’Oubliez Jamais!

Now I’ve got my own blog I thought I’d throw this up there as it’s caused much mirth over the years!

August 1997 I got a call from my agent asking if I knew who Joe Cocker was. I said I did and was a fan. An hour later I was in a studio in Soho auditioning for the part of “the young Joe Cocker” in this pop video for the song N’Oubliez Jamais from his Across From Midnight album.

I didn’t realise till I got to Paris with the lovely Claire from Wales, that Catherine Deneuve was going to be in the clip too.

When we arrived at Gare Du Nord, the director asked us to go to the cinema while they shot Joe and Catherine’s scenes because he didn’t think they want to be reminded of their youth! We declined and spent 2 days stopping traffic all over Paris shooting hours of footage.

It was a huge hit on the continent, I’ve never met anyone from France or Belgium who can’t sing the chorus, and it made MTV & VH1 as well.

On first viewing I guess it all looks kind of cool but watch when I step out of the garage and get tangled up with the exhaust pipe on the floor. The scene where I’m trying to kiss Claire in the moonlight is punctuated with her pulling away – she said she had a boyfriend and it wasn’t in her contract! Lastly watch me smack my head as I get into the VW Camper Van 🙂 The band scene was filmed in a pub in Camden and took an entire day!

10 years later, this past summer, I saw Joe Cocker perform a gig at The Tower of London.

He didn’t play the song because no one over here has heard it, and I was asked to keep quiet by an orginal Woodstocker, as me and a friend were apparantly talking too loudly!

Rock & Roll!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBpyuYgfCWA]

Is It Time at The Bar Already?

I read earlier this week with great joy, that a company called MyQBuster is set make stressful nights out in busy British hostelries a thing of the past.

The technology is mobile-based and very easy to use. You simply text your drinks order to the bar from where ever you’re sitting, a pin code authorises payment from you pre-registered mobile phone, and for a 10% tip, the drinks are swiftly delivered to your table.

Sound good? I’d like to take it a few steps further…

Getting off the tube at Piccadilly to meet some friends in Soho:

  • I want to search for a pub or a bar within a ½ mile distance using GPS so my device knows where I am.
  • Because the service I am using is connected to the EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) or cash registers of bars in the area, I can further refine my search to a bar that’s not too busy because the system can tell that at that moment there’s not much business going through the register. 
  • I’d like the place to be a little upmarket, taken from average price of drinks served at bars/pubs participating in the initiative.
  • I’d like there to be a 70/30 female/male split, again assessed from the types of drinks being served.
  • I want to be offered an incentive to go into any of the shortlisted bars or pubs. 1st round free!?
  • And I’d like to have a table ready for me and my friends, after our devices lead us there with directions spoken through stereo speakers, in the voice of Austin Powers.

We can then order drinks through our phones, leaving less time waiting at the bar, and more time to flip open our laptops and talk to each other via Facebook!

Some good ideas? Or are they totally legless?

Revealing Research About UK Small Businesses

Top line takeaways from the report on UK SMBs in the online space:

SMBs are saving Search Marketing for a “rainy day”:

 – 34% are planning to use it “in the future”
 – 20% have never “got round to it”

Many are resistant to trying out Search Marketing:

 – 92% of SMBs have not even tried to set up a campaign, even though 78% are aware of the online tools available to them

Of those who have investigated it:

 – 44% thought it was too time consuming
 – 33% though it was too complicated
 – 56% though it was too expensive

Nigel, Trade Marketing Manager for adCenter in the London says:

“UK SMBs are missing a trick by not investing in search marketing campaigns.  The misconceptions that exist in the industry, search marketing is holding back potential SMB revenue.  This is surprising, considering the majority of people questioned use search engines and yet they are not investing in search marketing to grow their own business. 

In today’s world, just having a website is not enough – you have to drive traffic to your site to ensure you are front of mind with your potential customers.  Search marketing is one of the most cost effective ways to achieve this.”

What an opportunity?!*£$

Check out the full report here: Search Marketing for Small Businesses

Check out the adCenter Blog for more on this SMB Research

Let's Talk

If this site has piqued your interest in hiring Mel, either as a speaker for your event or as a consultant for your business, contact him now to start a conversation about how he can help...

Get in touch with Mel