Ad Age

The May 20 conference in New York City will focus on the rise of marketing technology, how it’s changing organizations, and the impact on CMOs and CIOs.  The opening keynote is by Eduardo Conrado, who early this year became senior VP, Marketing and IT at Motorola Solutions.  Technology and marketing leaders from Nationwide and InterContinental Hotels Group along with executives from Razorfish and GE will discuss new relationships and a transformation underway.

Put “Marketing Technology: The Rise of CMO-CIO Alignment” on your Internet Week New York calendar. Register now for the afternoon conference sponsored by IDG.

Media Business

The technology to-do list for business media companies is lengthy, but many have made centralized audience databases and responsive design websites a priority in 2013. The goal behind these complex initiatives? To get a simplified view of customers and to reach them wherever they may be, whether at the office or on the go.

Faced with a multitude of technology options that promise to make their companies more profitable or efficient, business media executives must choose their priorities. This year, publishers with different sizes, business models and vertical markets are focusing their efforts on two technology-driven projects in particular: building out centralized audience databases and creating websites using responsive design.

Other technology initiatives remain on the to-do list, of course, including those that will unlock the potential of publishers’ content assets, help companies use powerful analytics or make magazines more exciting for readers and more targeted for advertisers.

But single customer-portrait databases and responsive design hold particular appeal for media companies because of their potential to help address some thorny issues.

Brent Pearson, CTO at UBM Tech, explained that his company has a private cloud solution that combines both a physical data warehouse and applications that can bring together data from different databases. Pearson has spent years consolidating and merging a succession of databases, he said, starting with the division formerly known as UBM Electronics, then adding the electronics business acquired from Canon Communications and now incorporating data from the formerly separate TechWeb division. “The end goal, to have all of UBM Tech in a single-user database, is still months away,” he said.

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Native@IDG Campaigns Bring Digital Marketing Closer to Technology Buyers

FRAMINGHAM, MA—March 28, 2013—Are Native@IDG services multimedia custom publishing, content, brand journalism, or social media marketing?  Yes.  Native advertising allows vendors to act as publishers in ways they have never done before.  Native@IDG products and services give tech marketers the ability to present information across media channels based on reader interests.  Native@IDG services are a portfolio of five marketing options across IDG media brands and the IDG TechNetwork  of more than 550 independent sites.

The Native@IDG Portfolio Available Today

            Native@IDG products and services deliver client messaging or specific information related to readers’ behaviors and content consumption.  The offerings include the following:

InFunnel acts as a “reader’s assistant” through the use of contextual and behavioral data.  Quality editorial and advertisers’ relevant content are key across digital channels and content formats to assist users as they plan to make purchases.

NewsCast is the first content recommendation module designed for a technology audience to generate awareness, credibility, and earned media views by aligning a brand with reviews and topics within existing IDG editorial. The module allows brands to recommend content to visitors and then retarget them with high-impact advertising as they travel across the IDG TechNetwork, including content that was originally served on IDG media brands.

Native Blogs live in the editorial blog section of IDG media sites.  Advertisers can host and lead blogs that are accessible and promoted within those sites. Multimedia content can be custom produced as product reviews or related brand information.

Based on IDG research that shows tech buyers seek product videos and often times take action based on them, Video Trigger is designed to stimulate action by serving marketing  messages and an advertiser’s call to action that are relevant to videos as they appear in an ad unit across IDG media and TechNetwork sites.

Flite is a creative partner for Native@IDG products and services.  Will Price, CEO, Flite said: “IDG consistently leads the market in ad product innovation and thought leadership.  Native@IDG is further evidence of how IDG is driving the future of advertising on behalf of its clients.”  IDG TechNetwork’s Ekapat Charleonlarp, vice president, IDG TechNetwork, who worked with Flite to create nanosites (an advertiser microsite within an ad unit) a few years ago, helped build the Native@IDG services.  Charleonlarp said: While most content may be free on the web, a reader’s attention is not. An effective native ad must be relevant and helpful whether it is informative, interesting, and/or entertaining.”

Bringing Marketers and Their Prospects Closer than Ever

“Native@IDG services are the culmination of what IDG Communications has been creating and delivering for tech marketers since the early days of the web,” said Matthew Yorke, CEO, IDG Global Solutions.  “As a category leader for tech media serving consumers to professionals and gamers, we have the trust of readers, journalistic expertise, and data collection systems to attract, influence, and sell products regardless of where prospects choose to look for what they want.”

            The Native@IDG portfolio follows a series of new service offerings for tech marketers delivering social, data, and mobile capabilities that have been introduced since late 2011.

About International Data Group
     International Data Group (IDG) is the world’s leading technology media, events and research company. Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, IDG products and services reach an audience of more than 280 million technology buyers in 97 countries.
IDG Communications’ global media brands include CFOworld, ChannelWorld®, CIO®, CSO®, Computerworld®, ITworld®, CITEworld, GamePro®, InfoWorld®, Macworld®, Network World®, PCWorld®, TechHive, and TechWorld®. IDG’s media network features 460 websites, 200 mobile sites and apps and 200 print titles spanning business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment, and video games worldwide. The IDG TechNetwork represents more than 500 independent websites in an ad network and exchange complementary to IDG’s media brands.
With expertise in branding, lead generation, and social media marketing, IDG marketing services programs are strategically designed and implemented to influence technology vendor prospects worldwide.
A recognized leader in conference and exhibition management, IDG produces more than 700 globally branded technology and entertainment conferences and events in 55 countries.
International Data Corporation (IDC), a subsidiary of IDG, has more than 1,000 analysts who provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in more than 110 countries.
Additional information about IDG, a privately held company, is available at http://www.idg.com
Contact:  Howard Sholkin, 508-766-5610, howard_sholkin@idg.com

Trademarks and registered trademarks are owned by International Data Group, Inc.  All product and company names are trademarks of their respective companies.

By Harry Henry
Outsell 3/7/13

VP & Practice Leader

Harwich Port, Massachusetts

Today’s marketing environment is fueled by new automation solutions, data analytics and digital tracking. Not all solutions work well for all marketers across the board. We intuitively know that selling and marketing to consumers is quite different to targeting the world of B2B firms where buying cycles and purchase decisions can be quite complex. Different strategies and tools work better for different audiences. At the end of the day, everyone wants to generate activity, traffic and leads, but approaches to that challenge vary widely.

Important Details:

In most things related to marketing, advertising and market research, consumer solutions come first. There is more money involved on the consumer side so companies tend to develop solutions for the B2C market first; they find their way to B2B later. Outsell’s research and market estimates show that B2C advertisers and marketers spend twice as much as their B2B counterparts in a market worth $400 billion in the US and nearly $1 trillion globally. Companies that primarily market to a B2B client base outnumber those that are mainly B2C oriented. A market where fewer companies spend more money and the larger market spends less makes for an interesting dynamic when the marketing services and marketing automation vendors start to look at where they can sell and where they will get their next set of clients. Another important factor is the size of the firm, since small, medium and large firms place value on various lead generation resources differently. Results from Outsell’s latest annual Advertising and Marketing survey (see report 1 March 2013, Annual Advertising and Marketing Study 2013: B2B Advertising Headlines) show that the B2C companies of all sizes rate their own company web sites as the most effective for building leads. On the B2B side, the smaller firms (under 100 employees) rated their company web site as the most effective, but the medium and larger firms place more value on in-person events, exhibitions and conferences where direct contact occurs.

Implications:

With this survey data we can now see the fruits of the marketers’ labors over the past few years. For the past two or three years, we have seen an increase in spending on company web sites and infrastructure. More was spent there than on other digital initiatives. These were primarily internal expenditures and money that was (in essence) taken out of the market. Now, by-and-large, those web sites are upgraded, in good shape and waiting for the visitors. The spending on web sites is down this year while spending on social media and other aspects of content marketing is increasing. This where we see a number of product announcements and new funding for companies in social media monitoring and tracking. Marketers are ramping up activity on social media and content marketing, all with the idea of getting consumers to the site. This is where the concept of the brand as a publisher comes into play. The marketer has to develop the content and publish it to social media and other outlets in order to drive the traffic.
 
Once the consumer gets to the site, all the technology behind identifying the persona, serving up the proper content from the likes of data platforms like Neustar, Epsilon, Acxiom and others comes into play. This part of marketing automation, including data feeds, cookies and machine IDs, has been part of the infrastructure build over the past few years.
 
B2B is about the personal contact. Smaller firms do not usually have the personal sales resources and will depend more on web traffic whereas medium and larger firms place more value on leads generated as a result of in-person activities.Lattice Engines is a data management platform company that provides profiling and scoring on the B2B side similar to what others provide for consumer profiles on the B2C side. Marketing services, such as events, are key for this market and a great opportunity for the B2B companies as Outsell identified in an earlier report (Market Analysis: The Marketing Services Opportunity, 2 August 2012).
 
As we see the marketing automation and solutions providers driving into the market and connecting with CMOs, understanding these differences, nuances and segments is key to getting in the door. There are differences between B2B and B2C players, they have their own preferences, and have built their infrastructures. Now, they’re ready to go.

Cisco Systems Wins Two awards; People’s Choice Online Voting Open Now

NEW YORK & FRAMINGHAM, MA – February 26, 2013–BtoB editors have selected 20 companies as winners or runners-up among 118 entries in BtoB’s fourth annual Social Media Marketing Awards program.

First-place honors go to the following 10 companies:

Integrated (technology): Adobe Systems; Integrated (non-technology): Aon;  Facebook: Emerson Climate Technologies; Twitter: GE Intelligent Platforms; LinkedIn: Dell Inc; Best Use of Pinterest: Constant Contact; Viral Video: Dun & Bradstreet; Mobile: Cisco Systems; Corporate Blog: Intel Corp.; and, Closed Community: Cisco Systems.

            Submissions were accepted last November into January 2013.  All the editors’ selections are online at http://bit.ly/13bx6vv, and will be reported on in the March 2013 BtoB print issue.  John Obrecht, editor of BtoB, said: “We’ve entered a new era of social marketing, The sophistication of programs has reached a new level as exemplified by our People’s Choice nominees.”

For the fourth consecutive year, IDG Communications is the Premier sponsor of the BtoB Social Media Marketing Awards.  “Marketers have come a long way since the first awards program where social might have been a small part of a campaign.  Now, marketers must include earned media exposure if they want to reach prospects who rely on social networks for information and purchase decisions,” said Matthew Yorke, president, IDG Global Solutions.  “We congratulate the winners and runners up who excelled in their use of social media marketing.”

 Online Voting for People’s Choice Awards Continues Through March 1
BtoB editors selected three entries from tech and non-tech categories for the People’s Choice awards.  Online voters can choose between tech entries: Adobe Systems:  “Metrics, Not Myths;” Deltek: “Connect More;” or, Dell: “LinkedIn Page.”  On the non-tech side the nominees are Aon: “Global Service Day;” New Cities Foundation: “DeusM Social Media Campaign;” or, Emerson Climate Technologies: “Painted Copeland Scroll Compressor Program.”

Online voting for the People’s Choice nominees is open until Friday, March 1 at 4 pm eastern.  Vote at http://bit.ly/URZPGs.

Awards Lunch at Digital Edge Live Conference
The People’s Choice awards, selected by online voters for tech and non-tech entries, will be announced on Wednesday, March 20 at the Nikko Hotel in San Francisco.  The category award honorees and runners-up will also be recognized at the lunch.

Speakers at the all day conference include executives from IBM, SAP, Intuit, Intel, Cisco Systems, USG, and IDC.

To register for the conference and awards lunch, please go to http://bit.ly/YU0Qe6

About BtoB
BtoB, a Crain Communications publication, is the magazine for marketing strategists. It is the only publication dedicated to all disciplines of business-to-business marketing. In print and electronically, BtoB delivers the latest trends, best practice case studies, research, and analysis that senior marketers need to develop a winning integrated marketing strategy.

About International Data Group
International Data Group (IDG) is the world’s leading technology media, events and research company. Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, IDG products and services reach an audience of more than 280 million technology buyers in 97 countries.

IDG Communications’ global media brands include ChannelWorld®, CIO®, CSO®, Computerworld®, GamePro®, InfoWorld®, Macworld®, Network World®, PCWorld®, TechHive, and TechWorld®. IDG’s media network features 460 websites, 200 mobile sites and apps and 200 print titles spanning business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment, and video games worldwide. The IDG TechNetwork represents more than 500 independent websites in an ad network and exchange complementary to IDG’s media brands.

With expertise in branding, lead generation, and social media marketing, IDG marketing services programs are strategically designed and implemented to influence technology vendor prospects worldwide.

A recognized leader in conference and exhibition management, IDG produces more than 700 globally branded technology and entertainment conferences and events in 55 countries.
International Data Corporation (IDC), a subsidiary of IDG, has more than 1,000 analysts who provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in more than 110 countries.

Additional information about IDG, a privately held company, is available at http://www.idg.com.

Contacts: For IDG:  Howard Sholkin, 508-766-5610, howard_sholkin@idg.com
For BtoB: John Olbrecht, 312-649-5326, jobrecht@crain.com

Trademarks and registered trademarks are owned by International Data Group, Inc.  All product and company names are trademarks of their respective companies.

Adexchanger

In the two months since tech publisher IDG finished a major redesign of its PCWorld, Macworld and TechHivesites, the company is ready to expand the centerpiece of that effort: the “Homepage Hero” box.

The box is intended to serve as a front door for each site, displaying a large slot called the “Content Hero,” where editors display the biggest stories for each day, with one section saved for sponsorships sold by the IDG Consumer & SMB division, which operates the sites. The Hero units seems like yet another bid by a publisher to “go beyond” the 728×90 banner ad to attract lucrative brand awareness dollars. But IDG Consumer & SMB CRO Brian Gleason is quick to tell AdExchanger that while the redesign does reduce the number of ad units on a page in favor of the larger, higher priced Hero unit, the format is ultimately being used to complement regular ad spots, not replace them.

“There’s certainly a place for a banner, even today,” Gleason said. “There’s just not a place for nine units on a page. Otherwise, it starts to look like Nascar – a logo placed everywhere. That’s part of the reason we did this — there’s more breathing room for both consumers and advertisers.” Within the past few weeks Microsoft, Intel, Samsung, Brother and TrendMicro have tried out the Hero units, which IDG has claimed to have yielded average click rates of between 2 and 4%

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MediaPost

Editor’s Note: This week, Marketing Daily brings you exclusive coverage of the Brand Keys 2013 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index (CLEI). Each day, expect a full report on key product/services categories from among the 54 surveyed for this year’s study, including automotive, electronics, retail and technology. This second installment covers electronics, telecommunications and entertainment. 

Move over, Apple — there’s a new brand dominating loyalty in the world of consumer electronics.

Samsung, which has scored well in previous years, is now the leader in most of the categories in which it competes (as measured by Brand Keys’ 2013 Consumer Loyalty Engagement Index). The Korean electronics giant comes out on top of the laptop computer (tied with Apple), flat-screen TV and smartphone categories, and was number two among home printers and tablets.

“This is a big turnaround,” Robert Passikoff, Brand Keys founder and president, tells Marketing Daily. “Samsung was always strong, but this is a bit of a switchover. It was a surprise. I guess it shouldn’t have been. I’ve been watching their advertising, and I thought it was really good.”

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Market Wire

Five Awards Programs Cited Tech Companies for Their Digital Marketing Excellence

FRAMINGHAM, MA– Avaya, Dell, HP, and Research in Motion (RIM) have been singled out for superior digital marketing and information programs created with IDG Communications. The honors include a year-long multimedia content and social marketing program for the HP Enterprise CIO Forum, The New Fulcrum Point site sponsored by Dell, and The Avaya Thought Leadership Forum.

Web Marketing Association Honors The Web Marketing Association awarded Dell its B2B Standard of Excellence for the New Fulcrum Point produced through the collaboration of Dell, MediaCom, and IDG last year. The New Fulcrum Point tackled the challenge of information overload by putting the right content at the right time in the hands of IT decision-makers to give them “the power to do more.” IT decision-makers accessed a unique content navigation system that filtered and customized a wide range of technology content. Information produced by bloggers, IDG, Dell, and research/analyst firms could be customized based on a visitor’s company size, technology and business solutions of interest, and their vertical industry.

Social media interaction included a “Video Power Hour” built around questions from readers submitted via Twitter to a panel of experts, weekly Twitter chats, and social commentary related to a high-profile event for Dell at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, TX in 2012.

Interactive Media Awards The Interactive Media Awards (IMA) also recognized The New Fulcrum Point with two awards in 2012: Outstanding Achievement B2B and Outstanding Achievement in Social Networking.

In late 2011, IMA recognized Avaya/IDG Thought Leadership Forum for Outstanding Achievement in the Computer Hardware category. The Avaya Thought Leadership Forum site focused on brand awareness and thought leadership. The campaign objectives were to increase brand awareness, perception, and purchase consideration by IT buyers. Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems, software, and services covering unified communications, contact center, networking, and small business.

A key element of the Avaya campaign was the CIO Debate series featured in the Forum web site. IDG’s CIO Executive Council recruited IT executives and produced videos each month that related to Avaya strategy and industry issues. The Forum program was built around four components: timely buyer research, a multimedia content experience, IT executive participation, and extended engagement across the social web.

The Avaya Thought Leadership Forum also earned an Honoree designation by judges for the prestigious Webby Awards. It was recognized in the IT Hardware/Software category. And, the Media Industry Newsletter (Min) gave the Forum honorable mention in Custom Publishing in Min’s Integrated Marketing Awards program.

Wharton Honor for HP Last fall in the first Social Media Leadership Awards program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the HP CIO Enterprise Forum was a finalist in the Advertising/Marketing category. The Forum is designed to raise the awareness of HP as a provider of IT enterprise solutions and services and as an industry thought leader. The program includes web sites in the US, UK, Germany, China, and Japan which provide a forum for “CIOs Driving Transformation.” The sites were designed for IT executives to help them read about, discuss, and implement ways to succeed in business and government.

This peer-based Forum has now attracted more than 23,000 members who represent more than 70% of HP’s major customers worldwide.

RIM Recognized The Enterprise Mobile Hub (EMH) sponsored by RIM has been cited as a top 10 source for enterprise mobility news and information by the Mobile Device Management Solution Review. EMH joined established media sites such as Computerworld and CITEworld as top sources for mobile content. The EMH encourages IT pros and business leaders to discuss mobility issues, exchange ideas and collaborate with peers, experts, and market leaders.

IDG Marketing Services and the Social Web The campaigns are built around IDG’s core expertise in content marketing and services including creation, platform and prospect engagement optimization, and amplification of a marketer’s messages on the social web. “IDG has been at the forefront of marketing services built around paid, owned, and earned media tactics in a cohesive way to accelerate the impact for our technology clients,” said Charles Lee, senior vice president, Strategic Marketing Services & Custom Solutions, IDG Enterprise. “Our programs stimulate brand awareness, develop thought leadership credentials, and drive interactions with prospects across the web and social channels to unify marketers’ messages regardless of the media.”

About International Data Group International Data Group (IDG) is the world’s leading technology media, events and research company. Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, IDG products and services reach an audience of more than 280 million technology buyers in 97 countries.

IDG Communications’ global media brands include ChannelWorld(R), CIO(R), CSO(R), Computerworld(R), GamePro(R), InfoWorld(R), Macworld(R), Network World(R), PCWorld(R), TechHive, and TechWorld(R). IDG’s media network features 460 websites, 200 mobile sites and apps and 200 print titles spanning business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment, and video games worldwide. The IDG TechNetwork represents more than 500 independent websites in an ad network and exchange complementary to IDG’s media brands.

With expertise in branding, lead generation, and social media marketing, IDG marketing services programs are strategically designed and implemented to influence technology vendor prospects worldwide.

A recognized leader in conference and exhibition management, IDG produces more than 700 globally branded technology and entertainment conferences and events in 55 countries.

International Data Corporation (IDC), a subsidiary of IDG, has more than 1,000 analysts who provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in more than 110 countries.

Additional information about IDG, a privately held company, is available at http://www.idg.com

Trademarks and registered trademarks are owned by International Data Group, Inc. All product and company names are trademarks of their respective companies.

Contact:
Howard Sholkin
508-766-5610
Email Contact

SOURCE: IDG Communications

Information Management/MediaPost

January 8, 2013 – Chief marketing officers are entering unknown territory with demands on their customer data and the makeup of their departments in 2013, according to a new market review by IDC. On Tuesday, a pair of analysts laid out their expectations for enterprise marketing in a presentation entitled “2013 Chief Marketing Officer Predictions: Today’s CMO Becomes Master of Data.”

Rich Vancil, group VP of IDC’s Executive Advisory Strategies division, said that during his decade at IDC and 30 years involved in enterprise marketing, “without exaggeration, I’ve seen more change in the CMO suite in the last year than perhaps the last 30 years combined.” Vancil expects more “rapid change” in the year ahead, particularly in the organizational dynamics surrounding the roles of marketing officers and departments.

With data comes expectations of capabilities to make business sense out of 1s and 0s, says Kathleen Schaub, a research VP at IDC and part of the CMO advisory team on the call Tuesday. In 2013, IDC anticipates that half of new marketing hires will come with a technical background.

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