Salesforce buys DimDim and immediately upsets me

Sometimes it's not what you say but how you say it. This morning I got an e-mail telling me that Dimdim.com (a web conferencing system that we use a lot) was being taken over by Salesforce.com. Here's the e-mail:

Dear Customer:

Dimdim has been acquired by salesforce.com. Your free Dimdim account will remain active until March 15, 2011. After that date, you will no longer be able to access your free Dimdim account.

Please see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for additional information.

We appreciate your understanding, and we thank you!


The Dimdim Team
________________________________________
Pursuant to the Dimdim Terms of Use (the “Agreement”) governing the use of Dimdim Inc.’s (“Dimdim”) Site and Services (as defined under the Agreement) by you (“You”), Dimdim is hereby exercising its right to terminate Your Dimdim Account and the Agreement in its entirety. Dimdim will continue to provide Services to you until March 15, 2011. Following March 15, 2011, neither You nor Dimdim shall have any further rights or obligations of any kind under the Agreement, including the right to access the Site, or receive or use any Services. Dimdim thanks you for your business, and wishes you success in the future.

Hmm - not an especially great piece of communication which makes me think that they are closing down the whole show. They had a great opportunity to (re)introduce me to the Salesforce.com world - tell me what was better etc...

Even better is the legal stuff hidden at the bottom of the e-mail. All quite off putting.

Oh well - time to find another provider for these services - Dimdim was fantastic and I do hope that I will be able to use their services again. Maybe it's time to go back to Zoho meeting.

IPA Databank - what does it tell us?

The IPA have just added a (for now) free tool to their website to help marketers review the various case studies they have pulled together throughout the era of their IPA awards (see http://idol.ipa.co.uk/). Whilst the usefulness of the tool is limited, it does provide us with some insight into the nature of the various campaigns evaluated and entered for awards.

For example, there are 921 case studies available. By looking at the meta data (the data that describes these cases), we can see what's going on. For example, I did a visualisation of primary business objectives for campaigns vs the number of campaigns reporting "very large" effects:

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So overall I think this is a useful source of data although in truth, it's also a great way for the IPA to see you more case study downloads. A valuable resource no doubt.

UK MOT failure rate visualisation

Here's a quick visualisation I did on UK MOT failure rates for 2007 across various makes. It shows the power of Tableau - a solution that I'm a big fan of.

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Pop-up Genius

I'm still here (just). The blog will re materialise in the new year but for now, let me just highlight one piece of marketing that I'm sure will work wonders in the new world - the pop-up shop. A great example of this can be seen here with the new Marmite shop on London's regent street.

With this concept, brands can quickly get out and about - it feels partially like test marketing but really it's a reasonably opportunistic way to get attention on a budget.

The reality of the economic climate is that even the Unilevers of this world are watching the pennies. This is a trend that will either fizzle out as rental rates climb or may come into it's own. Either way, interesting times...

Recession - marketing still works doesn't it?

Long time since last post which shows that either I’ve:

1. Given up
   
2. Been very busy
   

The answer is (fortunately for me) 1 – been busy – in fact I still am. I’m one of the lucky ones. Given the current economic climate, being busy and gainfully employed is starting to feel almost like a luxury.

Assuming that we all now agree that there is a recession on, one question was put to me over the weekend – does marketing in a recession still work in the same way?

I have to admit that I’ve only seen a mild adjustment rather than a full recession in my working life but to be honest, I think we can all see from the high street that the rules are shifting a little bit. In the last week, lots of retailers have been having “extravaganza” events or similar – 20% off everything, Buy One Get One Free etc….

I think a quote from Time magazine best summed up the feeling of many consumers towards these offers – “Is that the best you’ve got to offer”. That’s a dangerous message but it’s what many people seem to be saying. The danger is that we all wait until tomorrow then the next day to spend. Here in the UK, we’re about to get a sales tax reduction (if you believe the papers) but retailers are warning that it’s going to cost them to pass on this reduction.

What then are the tactics that will work in the current climate? If conspicuous consumption is out of fashion, what’s the solution for marketers? Maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem here in the UK or maybe they are worse than many realise.

In terms of making sure that marketing is effective, many advertisers and retailers are turning to “tried and tested” direct tactics – Direct Mail, Vouchers, Online etc to try and buy short term sales. This undoubtedly makes sense for most and must be a real worry for the big media companies. Whether this type of activity damages brands in the long term doesn’t really matter right now when everyone is just trying to improve cash flow. The price of traditional brand building activities will certainly be reducing as competition for spots or sponsorship opportunities dries up. At some point the pendulum will swing back as brands stop fighting fires and look to rebuild. Those that are nimble will undoubtedly do well – others will fail.

What is clear is that unaccountable marketing is going to be one casualty of this whole economic event. If you’re marketing budget is delivering only unquantified benefits then you’re about to lose it. The good news for some is that there is no marketing activity out there that needs to be unaccountable.