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Vol 1, #11, May 26, 2009 |
Agency charter program debuts in Canada Hitwise will launch an advertising and marketing agency charter program that will provide some Canadian agencies with the chance to evaluate and directly influence the forthcoming Hitwise agency product release. “In a time when every marketing investment is scrutinized, it is important for agencies to have the tools to improve their clients’ returns,” says Chris Maher, president of Hitwise. “We are looking forward to providing this service to the agency community in Canada.” In Canada, Hitwise reports on 85,000 Web sites across more than 160 industry categories based on the Internet activity of 100,000 Canadian Internet users from all provinces and territories. The Hitwise Canadian data sample comes from partnerships with opt-in panels and Internet service providers. The Canadian service provides clients with data on Web sites’ traffic rankings, Clickstream, search terms and demographic segmentation. Clients also will have access to additional tools to create custom categories, search term portfolios and customized dashboards. Top of Page With the launch of eConcierge™ WestJet Vacations will become the first Canadian vacation provider to create automatically-generated customized travel websites and booklets for guests who book vacation packages. In partnership with Vancouver-based Contac, the eConcierge™ platform offers guests added convenience, connectivity and information about every aspect of their vacation packages. The program creates a personalized website and booklet containing tailored information on flights, transfers, hotels, tours, destination and attraction information, discount coupons and more. These sites can then be forwarded to friends and family and will soon offer users the ability to upload photos and share vacation details on social networks. “This represents a new and unprecedented level of service in the Canadian vacation industry,” says Laird Munro, Director of Operations for WestJet Vacations. “We strive to give our guests a world-class experience from the moment they book their vacation to the moment they return home. This program offers us with new opportunities to connect with them in an innovative and much more personalized way.” eConcierge™ offers a new way for travel suppliers to interact with customers, increase referrals and diversify revenues. Contac’s role is to support these suppliers with a complete marketing and customer retention solution that centralizes travel information so that they can spend more time growing their business. Top of Page Hitwise top ten overall search terms The following list shows the top ten most search terms for the industry ‘ All Categories’ ranked by percentage of clicksfor the four weeks ending May 16, 2009.
Quizative creates site to motivate sales channel Quizative Inc., a Toronto-based, privately held digital innovation agency, has created a business solution to target Sony Ericsson’s key vendor audience. The agency developed a digital strategy consisting of a personalized branded experience for sales representatives at Rogers and Fido dealer locations and retailers, to motivate them to sell phones within the highly competitive segment. Launched May 22, the secure website www.sonyericssonrewards.com allows the sales force to track and compare their sales and performance in order to win prizes. The site allows for modular, changeable incentive programs over time. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications can update promotions with new product launches and campaigns quickly and cost effectively, customizing features that are relevant to their business. Sales rankings can be customized to showcase competition nationally, regionally or within a store, and the site includes a training section where the force is educated about products and can earn extra incentives for receiving ‘A’ grades on product knowledge. In addition, an administration feature allows Sony Ericsson to track, monitor and download sales force sales, standings and rankings. “Quizative developed a scaleable solution that enables us to respond quickly and cost effectively in a way that engages our channels to help them sell more effectively. It also ensures that we are able to track sales at a granular level to measure our return on investment and evolve our programs,” said Peter Farmer, director of marketing, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. “We collaborated with Sony Ericsson to understand their plans for the year and developed the site to meet current as well as upcoming business needs. The program is a great way to challenge, engage and motivate the extended sales force,” explained Adrian Capobianco, partner and president, Quizative Inc. Adam Oliveira, partner and executive creative director at Quizative added, “The brand is energetic, colourful and fun, and so is the site. We are able to align with the global branding and create an energizing experience for the B-2-B target while leveraging the competitive spirit.” “Personal reward and the competitive drive to win are emotional motivators for reps,” said Allison Laux, partner and vice president, strategy and insights at Quizative. “So we created a personalized site where the reps instantly see their sales updates and where they stack up against the competition. It’s a win-win situation for all.” Top of Page Keep 'contact us' page live with .tel tool A new tool from .tel will allow webmasters, web designers and and web hosts to integrate .tel technology directly into the “contact us” page of their existing websites, making them “live”. “The ability to incorporate .tel information easily into your main website now means that you get all of the power of ‘live’ contact information in a traditional website,” says Henri Asseily, Chief Strategist and CTO at Telnic. “Easily maintaining ‘live’ .tel information will also mean getting good SEO through the easy refreshing of contact information without the need for continuous coding. Benefits of a .tel domain integrated with a website include:
Independent research firm Forrester research Inc has named McAfee a leader in two April 2009 reports due to the company’s strong functionality and focused strategy. The authors of the reports, “The Forrester Wave: Web Filtering, Q2 2009” and “The Forrester Wave: Email Filtering, Q2 2009”, evaluated and positioned ten vendors that offer enterprise web filtering and email filtering appliances and software. As part of the assessment, Forrester evaluated McAfee against past research, user need assessments, vendor and expert interviews, and a comprehensive set of over 50 evaluation criteria. “We believe McAfee’s placement as a leader in both of these reports is a testament to the sound architecture of our products,” says Tim Roddy, Senior Director, Web and Mail for the Network Security Business Unit at McAfee. “We are proud to be named a leader in both Forrester Waves. We look forward to McAfee’s continued focus on developing innovative technologies to meet customer demand. Top of Page Advanced monitoring solutions from PEER 1 SmartMonitoring from PEER 1 is a full suite of advanced monitoring solutions now available for the company’s managed hosting customers. Utilizing the platform of partner Absolute Performance Inc. SmartMonitoring provides in-depth data and analysis to better anticipate IT needs for business success. “With the launch of SmartMonitoring we are offering the best monitoring services available, while continuing to provide the advanced hosting services that are in greatest demand by our customers,” says Tim Varma, director of product management for PEER 1. “SmartMonitoring will help our customers increase efficiency and maximize IT resources, which is especially vital in today’s economy.” With SmartMonitoring, customers can choose the services and features, from basic to highly complex, that are most vital to their business success. These services are available through the on-demand platform interface, which provides anyone in the organization with understandable information on how application and system components are working together. The real-time data gives insight into potential issues so they can be proactively addressed in an efficient and timely way. Top of Page Calgary Life Insurance site helps customers Google Suggest upgrades make searching faster Last week Google introduced new features to their Google Suggest application that will make searching faster and easier. The first feature involves suggestions on the results page. Previously, Google only showed suggestions based on a user’s original search input. Now, when users make a search from a results page, Google provides suggestions that relate to the current results page which helps users refine their search queries to quickly find what they want. The new personalized suggestions feature helps users to remember which past queries gave them the best results. If users are signed in with their Google account and have Web History enabled, Google may show some relevant past searches as you type. If a user’s first keystrokes indicate that they are looking to navigate directly to a specific site, Google’s new navigational suggestions will list it and send you straight there if you click on it. And finally, Google can now detect that the most relevant completion for what a user is typing is sometimes an ad. When an ad is shown, Google marks it with the text “sponsored link” and a coloured background on the results page. Top of Page New look for comScore's corporate website Last week comScore released their newly updated corporate website at comscore.com. According to comScore CMO Linda Abraham, the new site reflects the evolution of the company which includes their expansion into new geographic markets, their ability to embrace emerging media and new platforms, and their commitment to customer satisfaction. A new feature of comScore.com is the Data Passport on the homepage. This tool allows users a glimpse into the array of insights offered by comScore. And for those that are Twitter aficionados, the site now gives you the option of following comScore on Twitter through an icon on the homepage. Top of Page Direct Marketing Online to launch upgraded site On June 2, 2009 Canada Post Direct Marketing Online will re-launch their website with a whole new look and a wealth of upgrades. In addition to the existing direct mail tools, the site will now offer new marketing campaign options such as the ability to deliver email campaigns and improved functionality that makes the site easier to use. Today is the last day to place orders before the site upgrades and tomorrow the site will be unavailable as Canada Post completes the upgrades. Top of Page |
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