Louis Halpern's View

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 do…

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…

The recent headline in the Independent was enough to make any station exec throw up their TV dinner.  It seemed straightforward enough, “Google’s UK advertising revenues to surpass Channel 4’s”, but what seems a simple statement carries enormous implications for the broadcast industry. 

Traditional free-to-air TV is now undergoing a systematic attack that has had more than a few commentators ask a priest to carry out the last rites.  Nick Waters, European Chief of media agency Mindshare, added his own not-insignificant tuppence worth to Channel 4’s disclosure and said that ‘there is a danger free-to-air broadcasters will get caught in a death spiral”. 

Whilst it’s too early for a funeral march, it’s clear that Joe Public is spending more leisure time on…

As everyone grapples with Web 2.0, mobile marketing/J2ME, blogging and user-generated content along with a host of other new digital applications, sneaking up almost unnoticed is the next new phenomenon, virtual worlds.

Virtual worlds are websites where people, in the form of avatars, live much like they do in the real world. They socialise, build homes, buy clothes and possessions but without the restrictions of a physical body or gravity. Many digital consumers are now spending hours upon hours in what is a ring fenced synthetic world.

Figures for the phenomenon are breathtaking. Second Life, which along with There.com and Warcraft is one of the leading virtual worlds, boasts one million signed up members with thousands online at any one time. This…

During the summer of 2006 every person in Malmaison’s database received an email. It was a simple, uncluttered message dominated by an eye-catching image. At first glance, the sight of beautiful dandelion seeds drifting sedately into a deep blue sky no doubt soothed a few minds and brightened the day for many. Then something happened. The ‘delete’ button didn’t get pressed. Instead, heads leaned closer to monitors, eyes widened and eyebrows were raised

Those weren’t ordinary dandelion seeds. They were transforming. They were subtly turning into something else: the Malmaison logo.

Bold design, an unusual visual element and Malmaison’s strong brand identity were combined to deliver exactly the kind of twist their target audience has come to expect from this innovative company.…