More Media Commentators articles

Do influencers really exist? Way back in 2000, when Facebook was but a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye, Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point introduced the concept of “mavens”, the so-called super-consumers brands hungrily pursue as the Holy Grail of engagement. We all knew then that word of mouth was a powerful tool – but really, how influential could an individual be? The Future Foundation’s Karen Canty investigates.

Starcom MediaVest’s Steve Smith takes a look at the union between out-of-home and mobile and explains why it’s so important that brands optimise their mobile platforms.

Broadchurch was a huge hit for ITV, says Richard Marks of Research the Media – but will it be able to replicate that success? Whatever happens, at least we’ve learned that rather than ‘the Internet’ proving to be a threat to TV, in many ways it is just what it has been waiting for: digital technology propagating a buzz around a show, and then giving people the means to join the party – a rolling stone gathering digital moss.

In his latest article, Aegis’ Jim Marshall talks about the five communication functions of advertising, what it is about Twitter that he finds underwhelming, and why the Pope couldn’t quite dismiss that finger lickin’ good ad proposal from KFC.

As today’s websites become more sophisticated and as more consumers interact with brands on web pages to an ever greater degree, the need for marketers and senior members of a business’s management team to understand consumer behaviour in the digital space has never been more pronounced, explains Turn’s managing director, Pierre Naggar.

There are unavoidable failings of execution when it comes to mobile advertising – from bad links to bad optimisation – and in this ‘year of the mobile’, brands must think beyond the desktop past of digital advertising if they’re going to be successful. Campaigns need to be relevant and responsive to devices while respecting the consumer, and this can pose a real challenge for brands and publishers, explains Vibrant Media’s Sam Pattison.

In his latest Mobile Fix, Simon Andrews, founder of Addictive! talks about the importance of advertising across multiple platforms, how brands and publishers are embracing social, and the challenges that face agencies when it comes to newsroom models.

The TV landscape is undergoing a tectonic shift as viewers transition from traditional devices to connected platforms, impacting the ways in which tech-savvy and social consumers perceive and interact with video content. As a result, there are huge implications for TV ad campaign strategies, as Jon Hewson, Advertising Director EMEA at Rovi explains…

Greg Grimmer this month reports back on one of those crucial pieces of client liaison that doesn’t fall foul of the Bribery Act. Yes, the Media Jolly has survived the recession and remains an essential part of ‘The Business’. So how did he end up getting whiplash?

Getting people to talk in depth about a particular subject or piece of content can be useful, but we should never expect that sixty minutes of talking with a bunch of random individuals will uncover anything significant, and in the majority of cases, focus groups hold the potential to do more harm than good, says The Media Native. So how else should we expect to gain valuable insight?