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Posts Tagged ‘Australia’

The more things change… Monday, August 22nd, 2011

From Ray’s NETT blog:

Despite working with new technology every day (or maybe because of it!), I like to collect old wares, and my idea of a good weekend includes some time spent trawling through antique and vintage shops.

A recent acquisition was a set of books on ‘modern business’ produced by the Alexander Hamilton Institute back in the 1950s. I was, of course, drawn to the volume on marketing. On leafing through it, I was surprised by how relevant much of the information still was, after nearly 60 years and several seismic shifts in marketing and selling.

Here are a few snippets from the book (with my annotations):

“Marketing concerns itself with all those business activities which begin in the producer’s shipping room and continue until the goods finally come to rest in the hands of the ultimate user.” (This is a timeless reminder as many people equate marketing with just the advertising and promotional aspects of the process. This broad spectrum definition is today even broader as digital and social media marketing extend the process past the delivery of goods and into an ongoing lifetime relationship with customers.)

“The satisfying of human wants depends to no small degree upon the personal and subjective wants and desires of individual consumers.” (This is increasingly relevant as we have moved from the age of mass marketing, which was gearing up when that book was written, to today’s trend toward mass customisation.)

“The basic law of marketing is the ‘law of convention and revolt’. A new mode of life may be created or established, but it will last only until a new style is introduced, often by quick substitution.” (When that was written they were talking about seasonal changes in fashion; now a style can go in and out with days. It’s not strictly a business marketing example, but how long did the planking craze take over public consciousness – was it a couple of weeks, or even less?)

Read the full story


Beautiful one day, perfect job the next Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Tourism Queensland’s Island Reef Job campaign has struck a chord with economically battered people everywhere. Well-executed across a variety of social media, including Facebook, Twitter and the Web, the campaign, soliciting job applications for an Island Caretaker for the Great Barrier Reef, was expected to generate 400,000 website visits by the end of February. More than 200,000 people visited the first day of the campaign and as of last weekend more than 2.5 million visitors had checked out the site.

The campaign is one of the few Australian initiatives to garner extensive overseas media attention.

As the job description says, the six-month, A$150,000 gig is ”a live-in position with flexible working hours and key responsibilities include exploring the islands of the Great Barrier Reef to discover what the area has to offer. You’ll be required to report back on your adventures to Tourism Queensland headquarters in Brisbane (and the rest of the world) via weekly blogs, photo diary, video updates and ongoing media interviews. On offer is a unique opportunity to help promote the wondrous Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.”

You have until 22 February to apply, so start working on that application!


Search remains strong in a struggling Australian economy Thursday, February 5th, 2009

When Australians were trying to decide how to spend the Federal Government’s Christmas economic stimulus, it’s clear that their first stop was online.

Google search enquiries in Australia during the Christmas and new year period grew by more than 50% in some categories when compared to the same period in 2007/08, B&T has reported.

Searches for banks and financial institutions rose by a massive 74% from November 2007 to November 2008 and credit card searches achieved a 24% spike in December 2008 from the same period in 2007.

Google recorded growth of 36% in searches overall for shopping and Christmas-related categories in December compared to the same period in 2007 year, with food and drink searches growing by 48 per cent. Searches for apparel were also up by 46% on last year, followed by photo and video equipment searches (42%), mass merchants and department stores (41%) and computers and electronics (34%).

Real estate-related searches rose by 41% in December, while travel-related searches were up by more than 36% and automotive “deals” achieved 24% growth over 2007.

Google Australia general manager Karim Temsamani told B&T that brands need to be wary about not having an online presence. “The worst thing for a brand is to be talked about from a word of mouth perspective or to have an ad on TV or other media, and then for the consumer to go online to find that product and it’s not there.”

Google also revealed that search volumes for January are up 20% on last year.


Social media - the Australian list Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Gotta love the power of social networks! After my post yesterday analysing a list of international social media marketing examples and wondering whether anyone had done something like this for Australian businesses, the compiler of the original list, Peter Kim, has worked his contacts to find one. Here it is: Steven Noble’s Australian Social Media Case Studies. Many thanks, Peter, and good on you, Steven, who is an analyst for Forrester. I will have a closer look and post more about this later, but wanted to get this link up ASAP.


Online search growing, but less effective Friday, November 28th, 2008

Australian search advertising should total $869.7 million in 2008, making it the fastest growing segment in the local digital media advertising industry, according to the Australia Search Advertising Market 2008-2012 report released today by Frost & Sullivan.

Keyword sponsorships continue to lead demand accounting for 51% of total revenue ($443 million), followed by online directories ($264 million) and contextual searches ($163 million).

The study identifies that 75% of advertisers are now spending more than 10% of their total media budget on search related activities. This compares with 65% 12 months ago.

However, the key benefits of search advertising, including increased leads, conversions/sales and high return on investment, were all down on last year’s results. A total of 59% of brands that used search ads said it resulted in increased leads, down from 66% last year, while 44% said it increased conversions/leads compared to 49% last year. Only 25% of the advertisers surveyed said search advertising achieved a high return on investment, down from 31% last year.

Frost and Sullivan suggests advertisers will turn to search ads in the economic downturn because of its cost effectiveness.


Online advertising stays strong in Australia Friday, November 7th, 2008

Online advertising growth in Australia continued to power along in the third quarter, although things are expected to slow down this quarter, according to the IAB’s latest Online Advertising Expenditure Report, released today.

The B&T newsletter reports that online advertising has experienced a 30% growth year-on-year, with advertisers spending a record $450 million in Q3, $100 million ahead of the same period last year.

While growth is expected to soften in Q4 in response to the global economic crisis, the IAB is still anticipating a 20% year-on-year growth.

While all three categories - general display, classifieds, and search and directories - reported strong growth, search and directories dominated, accounting for $212 million of total spend for the quarter, 33% ahead of the same period last year.

The finance, computer and communications, and motor vehicle sectors represented 52% of display ads. Recruitment dominated spend in classifieds, followed by real estate and automotive.


Get a clue - now in PowerPoint format Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Quotes from it are plastered all over our site - it’s The Cluetrain Manifesto, the revolutionary (this word is vastly over-used, but appropriate in this case) tome about how the new media have changed the way companies do business. Now, for those of you who are too busy to pick up a book and are chained to your computer, Australian blogger Michael Specht has summarised the books 95 theses in an online PowerPoint presentation. Go and save this in your favourites! Good on you, Michael.


Telstra claims tough times fuelling online growth Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

From today’s B&T newsletter:

Telstra’s online and mobile sites are stealing revenue from traditional print and TV sectors, the company has
claimed, with the tough economic conditions aiding its growth while traditional media suffers.

The telco has said its BigPond sites have recorded more than 50% growth in total advertising revenue since the beginning of the year, including strong growth in the September quarter.

While Telstra would not reveal a dollar value of the revenue increase, network advertising GM Chris Taylor
confirmed claims that its online and mobile ads are “bucking the trend reported by traditional print and television sectors, which are watching their revenues shrink”.

Justin Milne, managing director of Telstra Media Group said the growth reflects confidence among advertisers that online and mobile advertising offered advantages over traditional advertising formats.


Help a Writer Australia Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

Inspired by Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out service (http://helpareporter.com/), we’re starting a similar service aimed at Australian writers and reporters. The idea is that everybody is an expert in something, and that social media networks on the Internet can help connect writers with sources for their stories, books and other writing projects. If you’re a writer based in Australia, please join our Facebook group and forward your requests (see ‘Guidelines for reporters/writers’ on the Discussion Board for how to structure your requests) to ray.welling@gmail.com. Meanwhile, anyone who has an interest in being a source (you may be a PR representative or just an interesting person!) can sign up to receive periodic emails that will go out looking for people to help out with a writing project.