Wednesday, October 12, 2005

It Really Shouldn’t Come As A Surprise

A report released Tuesday, October 11, clearly demonstrates that “marketing-ready” organizations achieve more than a 15 percent higher return on marketing investment (ROMI) than companies that are less prepared . The report was researched and developed as a collaborative effort between the Aberdeen Group, American Marketing Association (AMA) and SAS. The results were drawn from over 600 AMA members who participated.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that companies doing a better job of managing customer and stakeholder relationships enjoy improved results. What did surprise some of the researchers was the magnitude and clarity of the correlation between these marketing best practices and improved marketing success.

The report defined “marketing-ready” enterprises as companies that 1) possess and utilize data-driven enabling technologies to facilitate better customer relationships and, 2) refine that data to create a unified view of customers across functional areas within their companies i.e., services, sales, marketing, support, etc. I think marketing-ready also implies companies that have the people, products and systems in place to fulfill and exceed their customers’ expectations.

Read More

Monday, October 10, 2005

Robot Cars Great…Where’s Our Hover Car?

Only one year after Grand Challenge 2004, where the robot cars barely left the starting line, Grand Challenge 2005 saw five teams cross the finish line. Last year was an embarrassing assembly of bad robot drivers, but this year’s field clearly passed chauffeur school.

Stanford’s “Stanley,” a diesel-powered, Volkswagen Touareg R5, took six hours, fifty-three minuutes and fifty-eight seconds, to navigate the 131.6 mile course in the Mojave desert. Stanford will receive the $2 million prize from contest organizers, DARPA. And can expect lucrative U.S. Defense Department contracts, to build robot vehicles for the armed services.

I think the other four teams should now get on with more important things, like finally building those hover cars we’ve been expecting since 2001. 

Read More

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Online Advertising in The U.K. Rises 62 Percent

In a study I highlighted a few days ago, I discussed a PricewaterhouseCoopers report that demonstrates the tremendous 26-percent growth online advertising enjoyed this year in the U.S over the same period a year ago.

PricewaterhouseCoopers just completed the same report in the U.K. and, to almost everyone’s surprise, online advertising was up over a whopping 62 percent in the first half of 2005 compared with the first half of 2004. The story broke Tuesday (October 4th) on BBC. The story also reports that the Internet’s share of advertising grew 51 percent in the first quarter of 2005. How about those Brits!

Read More

AOL Purchases Weblogs, Inc

America Online (AOL) has purchased Weblogs, Inc., the blog publishing empire created by Jason Calacanis. The official announcement is expected tomorrow. I think the move will help blogs achieve more respect in the world of journalism and news.

Right now, the most popular blog on Weblogs Inc., is Engadget, which covers the world of technology and gadgets. Weblogs Inc., currently employs about 130 bloggers producing roughly 100 blogs covering everything from video games to open source software to television.

AOL plans to leave the company as a standalone entity, rather than roll it underneath the AOL banner. Yahoo, MSN and NewsCorp also expressed interest in buying it. 

So what’s next? Gawker Media is the next likely purchase being eyed by the content hungry big shooters. I say we start a blog empire. Who’s with me?

Read More

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Rumors of the Video iPod

Apple is planning another one of it’s mysterious events for October 12. This time, people seem to think it’s the long sought after video iPod. Personally, I can’t fathom why you’d want to watch Spiderman 2 on a 2 inch screen, or how I would legally get Spiderman2 on my video iPod.

I would be impressed if it had: 

• A big hard drive
• Video out capabilities
• The ability to link to iTunes to buy and sell movies and/or television shows

Let’s just hope it’s not another phone.

Links: AppleInsider MacRumors Reuters

Read More