Marketing magazine recently asked me the question ‘Is Viral Marketing acceptable for all brands?’ I could see their point – viral marketing has a reputation for being cutting edge, left of centre, mischievous, irreverent, risky and any other phrase you might want to throw at it. But that’s a misperception. Yes, some viral campaigns are all of the above. But that’s a feature of the viral campaign’s creative execution, not viral marketing as a channel. Think about it. If every 48-sheet poster campaign was hard hitting, near-the-knuckle and hit you straight between the eyes, the medium would soon gain a reputation for being a slightly dangerous advertising channel. But that’s got nothing to do with the channel and everything to…

Financial services enjoys the largest online spend of any sector.  You’d have thought therefore that a cursory glance at a random selection of financial services websites would demonstrate the craft of website design and content in all its full glory.   But you’d be wrong.  The vast majority of financial services websites lag far behind other sectors in terms of design, navigation, and most crucially content. The reason for this is that financial services websites are primarily product driven.  This is the same for aggregator and comparison sites such as Moneysupermarket and Moneyweb as well as company specific sites such as new.egg.com.  Want a mortgage?  Check out the latest rates below.  Want a credit card?  Click here for 0% on all…