Louis Halpern's View

The Internet is where good political intentions clash with harsh realities.

Dick Morris, the famous political strategist and former adviser to Bill Clinton, calls the internet “the fifth estate”. He believes the net will shape politics in the 21st century, end representative government and bring a return to “direct democracy”.

For Morris, this will end the corruption in political life: “If legislatures become beholden to big money and special interests, then democracy demands that citizens have the right to bypass the legislature.”

The British population feels politically disenfranchised. In 1910 86.8% of the voted. In 2001 only 59% turned out to elect the new government. The latest State of the Nation polls, 2001 and 2006, indicate that 2/3’s of the electorate feel they…

A huge chunk of my life revolves round the Internet and its myriad of websites. And what’s fascinating is how you keep on learning about this online world, even when you think you are well informed. I’m into SEO, or search engine optimization, at the moment. It’s the process by which traffic to, and through, a site is increased without using direct advertising. And all brands need to know how to use it well.

It’s obvious that companies simply won’t advertise on sites which have a low number of page views. But these sites need help, desperately. So, how can they be helped? What they need is to be pushed up the pages of the search engines, so more people will…

I’m convinced that Social Technographics is the future when it comes to online marketing strategies. Not enough people understand what this is yet, but utilising it properly is essential if companies are to drive sales upwards in the Internet age. The best way to describe Social Technographics is as a methodology which looks not only at what determines participation on social networking websites, but also viral activity.

Here at Halpern Cowan, we have taken the Forrester Research methodology and applied it in a practical sense. Our aim has always been to improve online marketing strategies – allowing people to sell more from their websites – and our experiences show that Social Technographics can provide much added value to a brand. Naturally,…

Giving £200,000 to save endangered Arctic seals is now no longer enough. If companies are going to integrate Corporate Social Responsibility into their objectives, they need to do so with utter conviction and a dedication to doing it properly. They need to do it in line with their own business models and brand strategies.

CSR only works when it is built into the very fabric of an organisation and is actually weaved into a company’s ethos. It involves paying much more than mere lip service and involves a company actually becoming one with its stated CSR objectives. These objectives then become key components of its marketing strategy because the two can’t be divorced from one another.

We all can name one or…

Did anyone see Ryan Air’s full page advertisement mocking Gordon Blair’s aviation fuel tax in this week’s Times (Feb 28th edition)? Moreover, did you see within the same paper the advertisement by Virgin Media publicly chastising Sky? Both advertisements reflect a sea change in UK advertising.

I put it to you to you that ads that merely promote products may no longer work. Aspirational creative copy and Œhigh-life¹ art direction that serve to showcase the latest products are not achieving cut-through and more importantly not engaging consumers in any meaningful way. Aspirational advertising that focuses on wealth as a measurement of human value is being subsumed and overtaken by a groundswell movement towards social responsibility, environment and community.

The trigger points for…