Participatory Media Best Practices

Arguably one of our favourite agency resources, Contagious Magazine offers a best practice benchmark for strategy and marketing, with guest articles with notables like Martin Lindstrom and a wealth of innovative case studies.  Contagious have an uncanny knack of effectively articulating those things we're trying to get our head around. To that end,if you've not seen these they're excellent overviews on the state of the digital nation.


Branded Utility

Branded utility is part of a redefinition of advertising. It is about the move away from interruptive 'push' models towards more meaningful ways of connecting. As people become immune to ad clutter or tune out the noise, brands have to work harder than ever for their time and attention. Branded utility offers one way for advertisers to earn a place at the centre of people's lives. This exert looks at BU activity across the spectrum, including real world case studies, as well as the union of offline and online products and the phenomenal growth of widgets. It highlights the brands that are leading the way, alliances being forged and agencies that are making it their mantra. It guides you through the potential and the pitfalls of this new approach to marketing.   View Overview


Retail Trends - 2011

As social media proliferate and smartphones become mainstream, how are retailers staying relevant across all touchpoints? Which retail businesses are flourishing in this new landscape?  From high street brands and multi-channel retailers to small local boutiques and new tech start-ups, in-store technology, democratic consumerism, developments in social and mobile commerce, and the resurgence of retailing with a conscience are changing retail.  Retail Trends

Brand Communities

The relationship between brands and communities is becoming ever more complex. Both online and off, on social networks and elsewhere, marketers the world over are attempting to engage with existing communities, or encourage the development of new ones. But the path to community engagement is strewn with tough decisions - a presence on an existing social network or your own specialised hub? Organised offline activity or a global network of fans brought together through the power of a 'Like' button?  Brand Communities.

Entertainment Marketing 

The explosion of digital channels has left movie studios, TV networks and producers, publishing houses and games developers gasping to keep up with the pace of change. Now we have more platforms, more consoles, more hobbies, more means of communication, and much, much more content. The most successful entertainment marketing is that which embraces fluidity, in the content itself, in the way it is distributed, and in the way it is promoted. Entertainment Marketing.


Mobile

In recessionary times, having access to a new channel of highly targeted, interactive content that has the capacity to reside on the one device that no one leaves home without makes it easy to see why so many brands have rushed into the mobile apps space. But which ones have been the most successful? What are the opportunities? How can brands stand out amidst the din? Apps are changing mobile usage and consumer behaviour. Mobile Apps Overview.


Goodvertising 

People and organisations are reordering their priorities and causing global change across a range of interconnected spaces from honesty and fair employment to communal, social and environmental responsibility. The marketing community is helping drive this ethical movement and Goodvertising is an umbrella term that Contagious is using for the role advertisers are playing in the return of ethical marketing and business practice. Goodvertising overview.