Seth Godin speaking in the UK – “The London session”

In a rare UK presentation Seth Godin will present on how marketers must go beyond attracting eyeballs to tightening the interconnection and deepening commitment with their clients and staff alike. You can read more about it here and buy tickets here.

In addition to his presentation, as usual Seth will lead a dynamic Q and A session giving audience members the opportunity to ask direct questions relevant to their own situations and receive answers from the leading marketing mind of today.

If you have not heard him speak before, here are a few tidbits.

Filed under: Business, Entrepreneur, Events, Ideas and Riffs, Strategy, ideas, marketing

Superb internet marketing community & FREE industry reports (no catch!)

I wanted to draw you attention to a FREE resource for those of you who want to benefit from a community of the world’s digital marketing and ecommerce professionals. Econsultancy exists to help its members “sharpen their strategy, source suppliers, get quick answers, compare notes, help each other out and discover how to do everything better online.” I have to say that it is a great source of independent advice and insight on digital marketing and ecommerce.

imho there’s no shortage of marketing opinion online, but being ten years and with 71,000 marketers Econsultancy is pretty special.  Bronze membership is FREE and there is more info here.

These are complimentary reports you get for free upon joining (there’s another 20+ too!).  Great, er, value!

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Online PR Industry Benchmarking Report

By Michelle Goodall and Aliya Zaidi, December 2008

Overview Authors: Michelle Goodall and Aliya Zaidi Pages: 35 Features: Survey-based research about the Online PR Industry, with expert input from respected industry commentators.

Digital Outsourcing Survey Report

By Econsultancy, December 2008

This report, produced in association with Lemon Digital Production, is aimed at agencies who are interested in the business case and challenges associated with outsourcing digital work.

SEO Supplier Showcase November 2008

November 2008

Online Customer Engagement Report 2009

By Econsultancy, November 2008

The third annual Online Customer Engagement Report has been produced in partnership with cScape. This research is based on a survey of 1,300 respondents carried out in September and October 2008.

Email Marketing Briefing – November 2008

By Econsultancy, November 2008

This free, 12-page briefing contains a write-up of an E-consultancy roundtable on Email Marketing held in autumn 2008.

Comparison Shopping Engines Survey Report 2008

By Econsultancy, October 2008

This DoubleClick-sponsored research is based on a survey of retailers and agencies carried out in August and September 2008, with the aim of understanding more about the use of comparison shopping.

Paid Search Marketing Supplier Showcase October 2008

October 2008

Paid Search Briefing – October 2008

By Econsultancy, October 2008

This free, 12-page briefing contains a write-up of an E-consultancy roundtable on Paid Search.

Affiliate Marketing Briefing – October 2008

By Econsultancy, October 2008

This free, 11-page briefing contains a write-up of an E-consultancy roundtable on Affiliate Marketing.

Measurement, Analytics and Optimisation Briefing – October 2008

By Econsultancy, September 2008

This free, 12-page briefing contains a write-up of an E-consultancy roundtable on Measurement, Analytics and Optimisation.

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The Services Econsultancy Provide:

Reports: Econsultancy is an award-winning online publisher of reports covering best practice, user experience benchmarking, market data, supplier selection, template files, trends and innovation aimed at internet professionals who want practical advice on all aspects of e-business.

Training, Learning & Development: Econsultancy operates a highly popular training division, used by the world’s leading brands for staff education, both in-house and via public courses. We provide training across all areas of digital marketing and ecommerce and at all levels from accredited one day courses to formal qualifications including diplomas and a Masters in Digital Marketing.

Events: Econsultancy hosts over 100 events a year, including conferences such as the Online Marketing Masterclasses, Future of Digital Marketing and Digital Cream as well as regular Supplier Showcases, Roundtables, the annual Innovation Awards and a range of social events.

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Free memberships of marketing clubs, and online resources are ten a penny.  You just have to surf, or browse LinkedIn groups to see that.  But Econsultancy is very different.  I’d highly recommend you join if you are an internet professional who wants practical advice on all aspects of e-business.

Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Analyst, Analytics, Blogging, Branding, Business, Buzz, CRM, Customer Experience, Design, Direct Mail, Email, Events, Media, Mobile, Online, Planning, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media, Strategy, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Web, Web2.0, digital, marketing, technology, web 2.0 , development, ecommerce, Econsultancy, Events, Free, learning, reports, Strategy, training

Please help

Sport Relief

(I should apologise for bringing you here by illicit categorisation and tagging, but I won’t. You might have wasted just 10 seconds. Hopefully you will make the choice to change someone’s world in less than a minute).

Filed under: 2.0, ACL, Adobe, Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Analyst, Analytics, Apple, Awards, BBC, Blog, Blogging, Blogroll, Books, Branding, Business, Buzz, CBS, CIM, CRM, Charity, Colour, Computer, Computing, Conversational marketing, Conversion, Cool, Corbis, Customer service, Data, Deloitte, Design, Direct Email, Direct Mail, EMI, Email, Entertainment, Entrepreneur, Events, Experiential, Facebook, Fairchild Semiconductor, Forrester, Fun, Gartner, Google, IBM, IODA, IT, IT Planning, Ideas and Riffs, Illusion, Imagery, Influence, Infrared, Job, Keywords, Knee, MIT, Mac, Measurement, Media, Microsoft, Mobile, Music, News, Online, Online Video, Open Social, PC, PR, Planning, Power 150, Printing, Public Relations, Punchstock, Quotes, RSS, Religion, Remarkable, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, SPARQL, SQL, Salmon, Scene7, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Second Chance Tuesday, Second Life, Semantic Web, Sinclair, Social Graphs, Social Media, Social Networking, Software, Sony BMG, Spam, Spectrum, Strategy, Surgery, Survival, TV, Tattoo, The Orchard, Tim Berners-Lee, Twitter, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Viral Coefficient, Virtual Worlds, WIFI, WIKI, WOM, Warner Music Group, Web, Web2.0, White Paper, Wired.com, Wordpress, Xerox, Xuuk, Yahoo!, YouTube, ZX, blogs, bob, copywriting, digital, dotcoms, garfield, iStock, ideas, illustration, last.fm, marketing, ogilvy, permission, photography, podcast, sport, startups, stock photography, technology, trust, venture capital, verge, web 2.0, webmasters, wi-fi, word of mouth , 2008, Advertising, Age 5-14, Animals, Anime, Announcements, Answered, Art, Articles, Barack, Basketball, Bible, Big, Big Questions, Blog, Blogging, blogs, Books, Business, Charity, Children, China, Christianity, Church, clinton, Club, Comedy, Commentary, Community, Crime, Culture, Current Events, Daily, Democrats, Design, Economics, Economy, Education, Election 2008, Elections, Eliot Spitzer, English, Entertainment, Environment, Events, Faith, Family, Fashion, Fiction, Film, Food, Friends, Fun, Funny, Games, God, Government, Health, Hillary, Hip-hop, History, Home, Humor, ideas, India, inspiration, internet, Iraq, Islam, Jesus, John McCain, Journal, Kids, Leadership, Life, Links, Love, marketing, Marriage, Me, Media, Misc, Miscellaneous, Money, Movies, Music, Musings, My Life, Nature, News, Obama, Opinion, Parenting, penguin, People, Personal, Philosophy, photography, photos, Physics, Pictures, Poems, Poetry, Political, Politics, Pop culture, Prayer, Projects, Psychology, Questions, Quotes, Race, Ramblings, Random, Rants, Recipes, Reflections, Relationships, Religion, Research, Review, Reviews, School, Science, Sewing, Sex, Shopping, Society, Software, Spiritual, Spirituality, Sports, Stories, Stuff, technology, television, The Page, Theology, Thoughts, Travel, trends, TV, Unanswered, United states, Update, USA, video, Videos, web 2.0, Welcome, Women, work, World, Writing, YouTube

When is your next Grand Opening?

I was recently invited to Apple’s store opening in Milton Keynes.

It got me thinking. 
If you are a technology business professional there is no reason why you can’t put on a “Grand Opening” the next time there is a new office, or an “Open Day” when a new Service is launched, or a “Country Tour” when a new product is launched.

Invite your prospects.  Invite your customers.  Get them to mix together and bring their curiosity, experiences, enthusiasm and orientation – it can be the best thing you can associate yourselves with.

If you are a software, hardware or IT Services marketing professional setting up a place to test-drive, experience or catch a free workshop is a golden opportunity.  And add a sprinkle of peer group – more’s the better.

All that said though – I would definitely advise laying on qualified ‘concierge’ staff (in easily spotted attire, a branded polo shirt will do), to provide hints and tips and a guide to everything.

In an era of web 2.0 (and 3.0), of new marketing techniques and new thinking generally – ‘old’ thinking and ‘traditional’ techniques still bear fruit for the lead oriented marketer.

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Apple, Business, Buzz, Events, Strategy, ideas, marketing, technology , Apple, Country Tour, Grand Opening, open day, traditional marketing, web 2.0, web 3.0

Tales from the Inside: Niklas Zennström, founder Skype, Joost & Atomico Investments

Here is an opportunity for all you technology marketers to rub shoulders and ask questions of two technology heavyweights.

Second Chance Tuesday are chatting to the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones and Niklas Zennström, the latter who was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the year in 2006 and is one of Europe’s most successful technology, media and telecoms entrepreneurs.

When: 19 February 2008, 6.30pm to 9.30pm
Where: The Royal College of Physicians, 11 St Andrews Place, London NW1 4LE
Cost: £45, with a discount to £25 for entrepreneurs and is payable in advance.

For those of you who have been asleep for 5 years, Niklas Zenntröm is an Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Atomico investments, Joost, Skype and Kazaa among other companies. Through Atomico, Niklas serves as a Board Member for several start-up companies, such as FON.

In his career to date, Niklas has won a series of industry awards including ‘Business Leader of the Year 2006’ (European Voice), ‘Innovation in Computing and Communications 2006’ (Economist Innovation Awards) and the ‘Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award for Technology Change Agent of the Year 2006. Niklas has also been named ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ (European Business Leaders Awards 2006).

Rory Cellan-Jones is a journalist for BBC News. Starting out as a presenter at BBC Wales, he transferred to London and became the business and economics correspondent. After the dot com crash of 2000, he wrote the book Dot.bomb. Since January 2007, Cellan-Jones has been the BBC’s Technology Correspondent with the job of expanding the BBC’s coverage of new media and telecoms, and the cultural impact of the Internet.

Update 20/02/08:   BBC take on Zennstrom and the TV revolution here

If you are a networking freek, previous guests have included have attended from organisations like: 7Digital, ASOS, B3ta, Babble.net, Bebo, Betfair, BT, Buildersite.co.uk, The Cloud, Cominded, Crowdstorm, eBay, DTi, Endemol Gaming, Figleaves, Firebox, Freshminds, The Friday Project, Friends Reunited, Friends Abroad, Gala Coral, Glasses Direct, GNR, Google, Gumtree, Hitwise, Houses of Parliament, Imagini, Joost, iSporty, Ladbrokes eGaming, Last.fm, Lulu.com, Play.com, Match.com, MoveMe.com, Million Dollar Homepage, Microsoft, Ministry of Sound, Mofo Games, MOO, Monumental Games, Moreover, MTV, Mydeo, Myspace, News International, Nexagent, Oracle, Orderwork, Oxygen Games, Quikker, Paypal, Play.com, Reuters, Shopping.com, Shop Qwik, Skinkers, Skype, Snipperoo, Sony, Technovate, The Universal Music Group, Toptable, Yahoo!, The Young Foundation, Weeworld, Zopa, Zoomf, Zubka.

Typical investors have included : 3i, Atlas Ventures, Accel Partners, Advent Ventures, Atomico Investments, Benchmark, Battery Ventures, Close Ventures, Creative Capital Fund, Deutsche Bank, DFJ Esprit, Doughty Hanson Technology Investors, Episode 1, Fleming Private Equity, Goldman Sachs, IBIS Media, Index Ventures, Ingenious Ventures, London Seed Capital, London Technology Fund, Liberty Global Investors, Morgan Stanley, Nesta, New Media Spark, Mathematical Capital, Oxford Capital Partners, Seraphim Capital Fund

And of course the press has included: Angelnews, BBC TV and Radio, Business Week, Channel 4, City am, The Daily Express, The Evening Standard, The Financial Times, Fortune, The Guardian, ITN, Netimperative, New Media Age, The Observer, Sharp Edge, Silicon.com, Techcrunch, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Spectator.

I can’t make it, so I would really like to hear from anyone who attends.

Filed under: 2.0, Business, Entertainment, Events, Fun, Influence, Planning, Research, Second Chance Tuesday, Strategy, dotcoms, ideas, marketing, startups, technology, venture capital , 0 most influencial, 10, Atomico investments, BBC, Dot.Bomb, FON, investment, Joost, Kazaa, marketing, Niklas Zennström, Rory Cellan-Jones, Second Chance Tuesday, Skype, technology, Time Magazine, venture capital, Zennstrom

Seth Godin Webinar

Being based in the UK, getting to hear Seth Godin live is pretty rare. Thank god for YouTube recordings and the web generally eh?

Although face-to-face is best, this webinar is going to be a great way to hear him speak ‘live’, hear some stories and anecdotes and learn from one of the very greatest marketing gurus alive today. You UK guys and gals…..get up early though…its at 6.00 a.m.

I am told in this brand new presentation, Seth Godin outlines 14 trends that are changing businesses forever. He will talk about how the new marketing landscape represents nothing short of an industrial revolution, and highlights the organisations and brands and products that are taking this new world by storm. (btw the webinar will be moderated by ClickZ Network’s editor-in-chief)

In the interim this is a good interview for those not too familiar with Seth Godin or his new book.

Edit: 04.01.08 And this one is good too

Filed under: Advertising, Branding, Business, Entrepreneur, Events, Ideas and Riffs, Media, Remarkable, Strategy, ideas, marketing, permission, trust , marketing, revolution, seth godin

Geek Night 4

I went to an interesting event yesterday evening in Oxford – Oxford Geek Night 4. Oxford Geeks (and the event series) aim to pull together information and people from in and around Oxford, UK. The community is mainly aimed at geeks of computer science and/or Web development, but to be fair they’re a pretty diverse bunch…….Just as well, ‘cos I’m neither, but having worked at a fair few IT companies in my time, ‘Geek’ is a slightly inaccurate descriptive anyway.

In essence, last night’s event aimed to share ideas, techniques and technologies in areas such as web 2.0, the semantic web, online TV, social networking, web development tools and the best practices thereof.

The presentations were very varied. “Saving the World, One Perl Module at a Time” by Tom Steinberg, founder of mySociety showcased a great way that technology + ideas can positively change things. Next up James Gardner, showcased the web framework Pylons.

However, the informal ‘microslots’ of 5 minutes each were the most interesting part for me. These slots took the attendees on a whistle stop tour of the ‘Social Web and the Semantic Web’, Google Sightseeing (Google Earth Blog), Searunner (a new type of web framework founded by Ben Werdmeller), Web Security, and Myth TV (a homebrew PVR project).

Additionally Salmon consultant Rozario Chivers presented his own concepts and ideas on ‘Nanoformats’.

Being a marketer (albeit with a focus on high technology products, services and companies) can give you an instant negative reputation in circles like this, but what I liked most about the style of the event & the community in particular, was how unpretentious they all were, and it all was. This is a sharp contrast to the VC style events I have been to, and the other more formal networking events.

Two big takeaways for me were money might make the world go round, but (big) change is possible without money. And secondly (not that I needed reminding) that great marketing + great technology = the only way forward.

Presentations and Videos will be are available here soon I am sure.

If you are local to Oxford, with a good understanding of web development and web design, and a good level of understanding or interest in technology you might want to consider Geek Night 5, which one assumes will follow soon.

Filed under: 2.0, Events, Fun, Salmon, Social Graphs, Social Media, Web2.0, marketing, web 2.0 , Ben Werdmeller, Google Sightseeing, James Gardner, mySociety, Myth TV, Nanoformats, online TV, Oxford Geek Night 4, Oxford Geeks, Pylons, Rozario Chivers, Salmon, Semantic Web, Social Networking, Tom Steinberg, tools, web 2.0, web development, Web Security

Second Chance Tuesday – Learn from Last.fm

This afternoon I was invited to join Second Chance Tuesday for a rare opportunity to hear first hand, the inspiring story of how three swashbuckling entrepreneurs developed their ground-breaking social music experience, raised angel and venture capital from some of Europe’s most respected investors, guided their user growth to over 20 million active users in 240 countries, and sold to CBS as one of the biggest European Web 2.0 exits to date.

Sound interesting to you? Go register

The BBC’s technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, will be unearthing the secrets of their success, debating the future of online communities and digital content, and posing some more lighthearted questions including whether they still sleep in tents on the roof of their office, and what they plan to do with their share of the $280m. Spend it?

Who’s Who?

Felix Miller is CEO of Last.fm. He came to London from Germany to study in 1997. He met Martin Stiksel at a gig through a mutual friend. He was in a punk band at the time.

Martin Stikselis the co-founder and CCO of Last.fm. Martin came to London in 1995, where he created a sound design company (working on commissions for the likes of MTV and the BBC), before meeting Felix Miller at a gig in the late ’90s. The two of them set up an online record label, before launching Last.fm in 2002.

What is last.fm?

Founded in 2002 in London, Last.fm is the online, social music revolution that connects people with music and artists with listeners. By joining the Last.fm community, music fans can choose to share their music preferences by linking their media player to the Last.fm database. This database is populated continually with over 500 million monthly track submissions from Last.fm music fans. As a result, Last.fm can intelligently recommend songs, artists, local concerts and even other members based on their musical tastes.

Thanks to partnerships with EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, independent aggregators The Orchard and IODA, and more than 100,000 independent musicians and 20,000 labels that upload music directly to the site, Last.fm can draw recommendations from one of the most extensive online music catalogues.

Second Chance Tuesday is an event for anyone who believes in the power of the internet to change everything, from the way we communicate to the way we entertain ourselves.

Interested in mingling with London’s leading entrepreneurs and investors (as well as some older and wiser faces from the ‘99 dot.com boom) who are helping create the world-changing ideas of tomorrow?

Filed under: 2.0, BBC, Business, CBS, EMI, Entrepreneur, Events, IODA, Music, Online, Second Chance Tuesday, Social Media, Sony BMG, Strategy, The Orchard, User Generated Content, Warner Music Group, Web2.0, dotcoms, last.fm, marketing, startups, venture capital, web 2.0

Social Media for Business

It is about time the UK had a decent Social Media conference and now we do. The Social Media for Business conference programme is now online. See which experts will join Yahoo! to guide you through the pitfalls and opportunities of social media.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how you can leverage the key ideas from social networking to create buzz around your brand and successfully promote your products and services.

Click here to read the conference programme. This is the conference for you if your business is struggling with questions like these:

• How do I integrate social media into my business?
• How do I turn social media into a revenue generator for my business?
• How do I create purposeful social networks?
• How do I monitor our reputation on-line?

Have these questions answered and many more by spending just one day out of the office.

More details here

Filed under: 2.0, Branding, Business, Buzz, Conversational marketing, Events, Experiential, Online, Online Video, Social Media, Strategy, User Generated Content, Virtual Worlds, Web2.0, blogs, marketing, podcast, web 2.0, word of mouth

Three letter acronyms (TLAs)

I got an invite to a webinar today.  I get a lot of these.  Tech vendors LOVE their webinars.

I’ve read the title of the invite twice.  Twice.  Slooooooowly.

“TWO WORLDS COLLIDE:  Combining PPM and ALM, from the PMO Perspective” *

Now I’ve worked in technology marketing all my working life.  I get technology.

But the use of two, three, four letter acronyms is getting beyond a joke.  Either that or I am getting too old and need to be put out to pasture.

P.S.  The invite went into the deleted items before I could be bothered to read the title a third time.  And I am usually a patient lad. 

* Hint.  Drop the TLAs.  Prospective clients might actually be interested in what you do – if they can get through your complex messaging and hyperbole. 

Filed under: Advertising, B2B, Computing, Direct Email, Direct Mail, Events, IT, Ideas and Riffs, Strategy, copywriting, ideas, marketing

The Debate: “Has digital media usurped traditional B2B channels”

B2B Marketing, in partnership with Mardev, will be hosting its 6th event, as part of the B2B Marketing Great Debate series on September the 18th -  “Has Digital media usurped traditional B2B channels.”

Be part of the new media debate and get inspired insight into current thinking behind the new integrated mix; and then network with your peers, both client side and agency with champagne and canapés.

What’s to debate?

Direct mail has long been the mainstay of B2B communications, but is the combination of a plethora of digital media channels and recent upheavals in the postal system sounding the death knell for this medium?

Is post being marginalised by cheaper, quicker and more versatile forms of online marketing?

Or is mail about to enter a new golden age where it finds new forms of relevance for B2B marketers?

• Listen to the expert panel comprised of the Royal Mail, CommuniGator and Lyris and other industry experts, on the future of B2B marketing channels and then have your say!
• Will traditional marketing be replaced with pure digital, will they work with an improved integrated approach, or will Digital’s ROI diminish over time, with so many messages competing for the one desktop?
• Draw down from expert advice as well as gaining insightful options of the future of the B2B marketing media

The agenda:

16.00 Registration – Tea & coffee
16.30 Welcome: Joel Harrison, Editor, B2B Marketing [Chair]

For the motion:

17:40 Lee Chadwick, MD, CommuniGator
17.55 Andrew Robinson, MD, Lyris

Against the motion:

18:10 Antony Miller, Head of Media Development, Royal Mail
18:25 Nick Martin, MD, Mardev
17:40 Q&A – Debate opened up to the floor
18.15 Champagne & Networking
19.15 Event closes

Tuesday, 18 September 2007, 4pm to 7:15pm, English Speaking Union, Mayfair. £95 per delegate place. Call 020 8652 4569 to book your place

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, B2B, Blog, Blogging, Buzz, Direct Email, Direct Mail, Email, Events, Experiential, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Online, Planning, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media, Strategy, Viral, Web, Web2.0, ideas, marketing, web 2.0, webmasters, word of mouth

Big Seminar Live – the (Free) Internet Marketing Seminar Podcast

Big Seminar Live – the (Free) Internet Marketing Seminar Podcast

Joel Comm (of My Contact Station) chats with Armand Morin about the “opportunity raining down” in the Internet right now. The dialogue runs from Yahoo Games to the power of Blogs and Blogging, and the REAL value of attending live events. The is a great interview with two great minds in Internet Marketing well worth your time and listen.

Filed under: 2.0, Affiliate Marketing, Blog, Blogging, Branding, Buzz, Events, Experiential, Fun, Online, Social Media, Strategy, Web, Web2.0, blogs, marketing, podcast, web 2.0, word of mouth

What’s exciting Sir Tim Berners-Lee?

The Father of the web in talkative mood…

Silicon.com sister site ZDNet executive editor David Berlind interviews Tim Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium, at the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange Technology Awards in Boston. The inventor of the web, Berners-Lee was awarded the organisation’s 2007 lifetime achievement award at the ceremony.

A lot of the interview relates to ‘data’ and the sharing of data per sé. But it also considers the semantic web in general, semantic web products, and the way in which firms will be adding semantic web capability to their product portfolios (Oracle seem to be doing this already btw).

The interview also considers semantic web standards, and the ambition of the WWWC to ensure a truly royalty free way of implementing the semantic web vision.

Moreover, very interestingly the interview juxtaposes the semantic web with the concept of the mash-up – the media and stock market darling – which remains .api reliant / hamstrung.

The semantic web is surely going to shake up the IT sector. ‘Disruptive’ solution is an overused term among investors, innovators and entrepreneurs BUT I have no doubt much of the ‘disruption’ in the coming years will come from those IT vendors and service providers that truly ‘get’ the power of the semantic web’s promise and start doing something about it NOW.

Filed under: 2.0, Events, SPARQL, SQL, Semantic Web, Web, Web2.0, ideas, web 2.0, webmasters

Join a private business network for Viral and Buzz pros

The Viral & Buzz Marketing Association have just launched a private business network.

It already boasts representatives from Addictive TV, Advergamer, Ammo Marketing, Anomally, B&O, Bauer-Berens-Belocassi, Boldmouth, Brewtopia, Buzz Paradise, Campfire, Comment UK, CP+B, DMC, Favela Fabric, FogHound, Frank PR, HotHouse, HP, Ice Media, Idiro Technologies, Inbox Digital, i-to-i research, Launch Group, Market Sentinel, Naked, Pod Digital, Poke, RMM, Spheeris, Sneeze, Strawberry Frog, Team Rubber, ViralMonitor, Yooster and many more.

If you’d like to be invited to connect with other viral, buzz, word-of-mouth and social media marketing professionals, AND help shape the VBMA Network at its onset, email ‘update’ <at> vbma dot co dot uk.  And don’t forget to tell them who sent you :-)

Filed under: 2.0, Buzz, Events, Experiential, Planning, Viral, ideas, marketing, trust, word of mouth

“…guys working in a loft in London can out-innovate Google any day”

“…guys working in a loft in London can out-innovate Google any day”

According to Bob Young, CEO of Lulu.com and founder of Red Hat, speaking at the recent Library House conference, Mediatech 2006. But in a sea of promising web startups, how can you distinguish those that will collaborate with your business, from those that will challenge it in the future?

Immerse yourself in the world of web innovation at Essential Web 2007.  A series of short, sharp presentations from a mix of 20+ upcoming and hot web companies will bring you up to speed on current developments in the fast paced web sector, and designated networking sessions will
connect you with the innovators that are instigating them.

Confirmed company presenters include:

Alertme.com, cebase, Comeks, ConnectMeAnywhere, Extate, G.ho.st, Garlik, Huddle, Jaiku, Louder Voice, ParkAtMyHouse, Shozu, Spotify, The Todeka Project, Trampoline Systems, WAYN, we7, Yuuguu and Zubka.

There will also be comment, question and debate from an expert panel comprising a selection of the most influential web visionaries, entrepreneurs, acquirers and investors, such as:

Tim O’Reilly – CEO and founder of O’Reilly Media and technology visionary who actively evangelises for open source, open standards, and sensible IP laws

Saul Klein – formerly VP of Marketing at Skype and founder of Video Island, now at Index Ventures

Paul Walsh – CEO & Co-founder, Segala and member of the BIMA Executive

Jonathan Wolf – Director of Corporate Development, Yahoo!

David Soskin – CEO of Cheapflights and founder of HOWZAT Media

The panel will also offer practical advice on how your corporation can harness new breakthroughs in web technology to provide business solutions to your anticipated future development.

In addition to the entrepreneurial companies and investors, registered attendees include representatives of leading corporations such as BT, google, IBM, Microsoft, News Corporation, Oracle, Vodafone, and Yahoo.

This is the last of the must attend events before the summer break.

Filed under: 2.0, Events, Quotes, Strategy, Web, Web2.0, ideas, marketing, web 2.0