Archives par mot-clé : marketing

#SocialSkim: Meet Facebook ‘Creator’; Google’s Best Social Feature Yet: 8 Stories This Week

This week’s ‘Skim: Facebook courts video creators away from YouTube with a dedicated app; Google’s new social search feature could win over small business from Facebook; Facebook tests total VR experiences within News Feeds; a handy guide to social selling on LinkedIn; where social video’s going in 2018; the convincing reason podcast listeners could be your next influencers; seven ways to maximize social media this holiday season; and much more…

Skim to step confidently into the holiday rush!

1. Facebook courts video creators with new app

As part of Facebook’s continued push into video, it’s launched a new initiative to convert YouTube creators into Facebook fans. The social network launched a standalone mobile app on iOS (Android’s soon to come) called Facebook Creator to help creators stream live video, update their Stories, message across Facebook’s different platforms, and dive into their videos’ performance.

Why not just stick with the main Facebook app? Creator lets producers create custom intros and outros for their Facebook Live streams; it has a feature to take and edit photos before posting them to Stories; and it boasts a unified inbox for comments on Facebook and Instagram and messages from Messenger so you don’t have to jump around your phone’s home screen to respond to everyone.

2. ‘Posts’ could be Google’s best attempt at social yet

Google sells Posts simply as a new way to share relevant, fresh content with the people who are searching for you, but with 82% of people turning to search engines to get local information, the Internet giant’s new social capability could make it more important to small businesses than Facebook.

Posts surface within Google Search and Maps results themselves, and businesses can include images, GIFs, videos, text, titles, start and end dates for events, and call-to-action buttons to serve timely, relevant content to users who are already invested in their search.

Whether for your promotions, specials, events, or product showcases, Google just opened a whole new world of search for local businesses. Will you take advantage?

3. Facebook tests VR experiences within users News Feeds

Your branded Facebook content just got a lot more exciting, and virtual reality really might be the next big thing for 2018. Facebook this week used the release of the upcoming Jumanji film to showcase its new VR 360 experience directly in News Feeds. Users are able to take part in a Jumanji-themed scavenger hunt and roam around the jungle—either with a VR headset or via 360 degree video.

The social network has opened up developer tools so brands can partake in building virtual worlds, and some have already done so—from a USA Today walkthrough of a Kentucky distillery to a tour of the British Museum. Check out how brands have engaged so far.

4. A guide to social selling on LinkedIn

It might be the most important social platform for B2B marketers out there, but taking a clumsy approach to social selling on LinkedIn by treating it like all other social marketing can cause more harm than good. Social selling requires fostering one-on-one relationships, and your success at assisting quality leads down the purchase funnel can be measured with LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index performance metric.

From taking your connections off LinkedIn and into the real world, to fully optimizing your profiles, to identifying active LinkedIn users to pitch and using plugins to automate activity where possible, mastering social selling on the platform can create up to 45% more selling opportunities and makes you 51% more likely to hit your quota. Why not take the advice offeredby the Forbes Coaches Council?

5. Everything you need to know about where social video is going for 2018

Video now accounts for 69% of all Internet traffic. And with next-generation 5G wireless networks hitting the market in 2019 and 2020, important trends are shaping up that will undoubtedly affect how your brand approaches social video.

VentureBeat takes an in-depth look at just what you can expect: more six-second ads that tell your story; more advertising on Netflix; more midroll ads, more reliable analytics; more personalization of video ad content; and more mobile video consumption, mobile VR, and more of more.

6. Why podcast listeners could be the next big influencers your brand needs

A new report indicates that podcast super listeners could be the most influential group of tastemakers your brand needs. With over 67 million people tuning into podcasts each month, and super listeners among those rating podcasts just behind national newspapers in terms of trustworthiness (social media came in last), could the listening format be a valuable tool for your business?

Choosing the right message and reaching your super listeners several times is key to courting these influencers, but once that’s done, 75% of them do end up taking action. Magnify the endorsements of those ambassadors on social channels, and podcasts could play an integral part in your influencer marketing arsenal.

7. Seven ways to maximize social media this holiday season

November and December mark a rush to the finish line for many businesses as they kick off end-of-year holiday promotions, and social media can be a marketer’s and advertiser’s best friend in helping achieve their goals.

From defining your wish list, to knowing the people on your nice list, to giving the gift of relevance, and more, a MarketingProfs article offers seven ways to help your brand conquer the holiday rush.

8. We’ll wrap with Twitter’s new role of policing users’ behavior off the social network

Apparently, giving a white supremacist a verified checkmark on Twitter can lead to a lot of headaches. After a row for granting, and then taking away after user backlash, Twitter’s blue verified checkmark to the man responsible for organizing the Charlottesville rally, the social network revised its verification guidelines. In having done so, it may cause a lot more backlash in the future.

Twitter’s new policy includes the company’s right to take away, without notification and at any time, verification based on behaviors on or off Twitter. That’s right, Twitter now has to monitor not only what verified accounts of doing on their platform, but also play police for any activities those users partake in offline. That’s a huge burden, and we’re not sure it’s ready for it.

Public Payroll Profile: City of Amarillo Marketing Manager/Public Communications and Community Engagement Jesse …

The Basics: 28 years old. One son. Amarillo native. Randall High School/West Texas AM School of Music alum. Has been in current position for less than a month.

Basic Job Responsibilities: “I create marketing materials such as brochures, signage, apparel, social content, video and photography. I also assist with media communications, social media, press conferences and City Council meetings.”

Favorite/Least Favorite Parts of the Job: “My favorite part so far is the fellow staff – they are all great and friendly. Also, just the amount of things that are changing and growing within my home city. To be a part of it is very exciting. I have no least favorite parts so far, and I hope it stays that way.”

Hobbies/Spare Time: “I sing opera, love painting and making handmade items, participating in the Amarillo Community Market, working out and running, spending time with my dogs and hiking in Palo Duro Canyon.”

Guilty pleasure: “Tex-mex food. I can’t get enough queso, tacos or fajitas from Rosas … and re-watching “Game of Thrones” ​while waiting on the new season to start.”

Dave Henry

Quentin Tarantino Explains Why He Thinks The Video Store Experience Was More Beneficial Than Netflix

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]]>Tarantino Explains Why The Video Store Was Better Than Netflix


Quentin Tarantino believes in the power of a good recommendation. And back-of-box marketing materials. He also believes in one’s sense of ownership and pride when it comes to the long-gone days of renting videos at a store. Thanks to Netflix and the general streaming video boom that’s left consumers with an overwhelming amount of content to explore, it’s far too easy to move on from a piece of entertainment that doesn’t engage you in the first 20 minutes as you’re possibly staring at your phone/doing the dishes/chasing the dog. People these days simply aren’t invested in their temporary entertainment, and QT knows why.

Yellow King Film Boy, aggregator of interesting filmmaker discussions, stumbled upon this fascinating little aside by Tarantino in which he breaks down Netflix killing off the video store and the knowledge that’s delivered in its hallowed aisles.

“It’s very sad to me. It’s very, very sad to me. And I’m a little surprised how quickly it happened, and I’m a little surprised at how the public has moved on, and no one’s looking back, and they don’t really care. And it’s not just out of the nostalgia. I’m not on Netflix so I can’t even tell you exactly how that works. Even if you just have all the movie channels in your [cable] package, and that’s something I do have, you hit the guide, and you go down the list and you…watch something or you tape something and maybe you never get around to watching it or you actually do watch it, and [you decide], ‘Nah, I’m not really into this. That’s kind of where we’ve fallen into.

However, there was a different quality to the video store. You looked around, you picked up boxes, you read the back of the boxes. You made a choice, and maybe you talked to the guy behind the counter, and maybe he pointed you toward something. And he didn’t just put something in your hand, he gave you a little bit of a sales pitch on it to some degree or another. And so the point being is, you were kind of invested, in a way that you’re not invested with electronic technology when it comes to the movies. Now, of course, we all rented three movies and didn’t get around to watching the third one, but there was more of a commitment to what you ended up getting. And maybe you went down to the store to get Top Gun, and that’s what you wanted, and you got “Top Gun,” but then you picked up something you never heard about before, just because you wanted something more than Top Gun. And maybe it’s something that caught your eye, you didn’t know anything about it, and you took a chance. But you rented it, so you actually wanted to try and watch it some degree or another. And that’s what’s really lost — in a weird way, what’s lost is commitment.”

Tarantino’s legendary knowledge of obscure films comes in part from his days working as a video store clerk before he made Reservoir Dogs. But, perhaps the future holds a reference-heavy filmmaker with a knack for dialogue and gore that will take the industry by storm and thank a streaming service’s “recommended for you” algorithm during an awards acceptance speech.

Until that day comes, there is a Blockbuster still operating in Alaska (and possibly Indiana), but it’s unknown if Tarantino has ever made the trip for further enlightenment.

(Via The Playlist/SlashFilm)


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    How can a guy who makes films with such a rich level of depth not get this?

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Gang Of Youths Is 2017’s Best Band That You Haven’t Heard Of Yet

Gang Of Youths Is 2017’s Best Band That You Haven’t Heard Of Yet


Big KRIT Rewrites His Legacy On A Comeback Double Album, ‘4eva Is A Mighty Long Time’

Big KRIT Rewrites His Legacy On A Comeback Double Album, ‘4eva Is A Mighty Long Time’


Lee Ann Womack’s ‘The Lonely, The Lonesome  The Gone’ Is A Country Legend At Her Finest

Lee Ann Womack’s ‘The Lonely, The Lonesome The Gone’ Is A Country Legend At Her Finest


St. Vincent’s ‘Masseduction’ Is A Trauma-Pop Triumph

St. Vincent’s ‘Masseduction’ Is A Trauma-Pop Triumph


DVSN Are Rekindling RB’s Love Affair With Melody With ‘The Morning After’

DVSN Are Rekindling RB’s Love Affair With Melody With ‘The Morning After’


Carly Pearce’s ‘Every Little Thing’ Is The Most Exciting Country Debut Of 2017

Carly Pearce’s ‘Every Little Thing’ Is The Most Exciting Country Debut Of 2017






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10 Promising Video Games That Totally Botched Their Launch

Everyone looks forward to the launch of a new game. After all the pre-release marketing and hype has swollen to bursting point, the launch of a game is supposed to be a celebration of a developer’s hard work and perseverance.

Unfortunately, some games just don’t quite get it right. Months of anticipation can come crashing down around a developer, or in more recent cases, a publisher. Whether it’s because the game arrives completely broken out the gate or its release is marred by an industry controversy, a bad launch can often derail what should’ve been an otherwise popular game.

In today’s world of day-one patches, a disastrous launch should, theoretically, be easier to avoid. However, the advent of always-online and multiplayer-heavy titles depending on often unreliable servers makes it considerably harder to predict how a launch will go. Not only that, but the internet’s intolerance for anti-consumer business practices is at such a high that it can smash a game’s reputation to pieces before it’s even on the shelves.

The following games learned all too well what happens when you underestimate your audience, in more ways than one.

MCV’s 30 Under 30 2017

MCV’s 30 Under 30 2017

For this year’s 30 Under 30 (sponsored by OPM Jobs) we were inundated with entries. It’s fantastic that there are so many brilliant young people working in the UK games industry, though that did make choosing the final list of 30 very tough, and so this really is the cream of the crop. Thanks for all your entries and, for those who aren’t turning 30 soon, there’s always next year’s list to contest.

We’re really pleased with the diverse nature of the list this year. It encompasses business development, community management, creative services, esports, event planning, journalism, marketing, streamer partnerships, publishing, PR, retail strategy, and many more aspects of our increasingly diverse industry. Congratulations to you all and if you’re not currently receiving MCV in print, then let us know.


Colm Ahern (29) – Deputy editor, VideoGamer

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Colm Ahern has been described to us as “one of the most dedicated, most creative, and hardest working people in the industry, a truly formidable talent of the sort our industry could do with more of.” 

After spending five years making video for God is a Geek in his spare time, he moved from Ireland to take a job as marketing assistant at Bossa Studios in 2015 – by then, God is a Geek had a GMA nomination for best video. 

He joined VideoGamer in October 2016 and was promoted to deputy editor a couple of months ago. 

He continues to produce both video and written work. While other sites often have different staff scripting, filming, performing and editing, Ahern does all of that himself for his videos.

Cloe Ashtari (25) – Content and creative manager, Multiplay

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Since joining Multiplay in 2015, Cloe Ashtari has risen from graphic designer to content and creative manager. She ran all of the content and creative pieces for Insomnia61 and Brick Live events across the summer and delivered some amazing features across the shows and in the build up and post event media. She’s also been bringing her vision to globally relevant events such as Runefest and Minecon. 

Her work has been instrumental in the growth and development of the UK’s biggest gaming festival – Insomnia – as it expanded beyond the RICOH to fill the halls of the Birmingham NEC. Ashtari is « consistently coming up with great ideas and bringing them to life, » MCV has been told.

Chris Bratt (27) – Video producer, Eurogamer

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Chris Bratt has joined Eurogamer’s video team after a stint at VideoGamer. Permanently working, he’s been described as « a delight to be with in both personal and professional settings » and « one of the best video guys in the industry. » 

   He’s behind Eurogamer’s ‘Here’s A Thing’ video series and is always pushing for how games, the companies that make them, and the scenarios they’re made in should be better. He’s also been described as « never afraid to go after a story despite pressures in the opposite direction. »

Zoe Brown (28) – Senior producer, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe

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Zoe Brown started off her career in games two and a half years ago, as a development producer for Guitar Hero Live at FreeStyleGames, working extensively with the gameplay, networking and user interface teams. 

From there, she took the leap into publishing, quickly taking on the role of the Square Enix producer for Life is Strange: Before the Storm. In her role at Square Enix, she worked hard to ensure the game was creatively ambitious, of high quality, adhered to fan expectations of the franchise, and delivered on time. 

As of November, Brown has made the move to Sony as a senior producer on an unannounced project.

 

Dave Burroughs (29) – Junior PR manager, Ubisoft

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As junior PR manager, Dave Burroughs has worked tirelessly behind the scenes on titles such as Mario Rabbids, Ghost Recon Wildlands, the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Just Dance, Trackmania Turbo and many more. He came into his own in mid-2015 after Ubisoft UK lost two of its senior PR managers, a difficult transition for any department, during which he stepped up to absorb many more front-line duties, providing no break in continuity during a loaded release period.  

Among the (many) praises MCV received about Burroughs, he’s been described as « a mainstay at Ubisoft UK », « hardworking », « enthusiastic », « passionate », « always honest about what is and isn’t realistic from a PR perspective » and simply « among the best to work with. »

Grace Carroll (26) – Social media manager, Creative Assembly

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Grace Carroll started her career in games at Jagex in 2014. She joined Creative Assembly in 2015 as social media manager. She worked tirelessly to promote Total War: Warhammer and then Total War: Warhammer II, managing the social media campaigns over several platforms in the run up to release, post-release and throughout the release of DLCs. 

She develops social media campaigns and strategies to optimise the promotion of the titles based on her interactions with the community and constantly feeds what she is learning back into the process to develop new ideas. Since she joined, the number of followers on the Total War Twitter account has more than doubled to over 89k. 

Awais Dar (23) – Trade analyst, Green Man Gaming

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Described as the ‘Trading Data Wizard’ at Green Man Gaming, Awais Dar has played an integral role in the company’s growth, providing key trade and commercial insights that have helped the trading team meet their targets and increase revenue.

At just 23 years old, his complex business reports and forecasting models have supported many of the critical business decisions made by the management team, including stock management and company strategy. Before joining the business intelligence team, he built up his knowledge of the business and the industry by working in the content and customer support departments. 

Lewis Denby (28) – Director, Game If You Are

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Starting as a journalist for Eurogamer, PC Gamer and PC Zone from the age of 18, Lewis Denby then joined BeefJack part-time as the editor of its online magazine at 21, and co-created successful indie game Richard Alice on the side. He then went on to lead BeefJack’s PR and marketing division. By 2016 he’d been promoted to head of operations and was in charge of building and developing company processes as well as contributing to new business development and company strategy.

He set up his own PR consultancy in October last year, Game If You Are, which specialises in publicising indie games and creative studios that otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford high-end PR services.

Pontus Eskilsson (26) – Senior partnership manager EMEA, Twitch

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Pontus Eskilsson entered the games industry at just 15, starting an esports website that became the third-largest in Sweden. This led him to Fragbite where he became the site’s director and grew it to become the largest esports news site in Sweden. He then created the premier tournament circuit for CS:GO, Dota, and StarCraft, Fragbite Masters, the pioneer of online tournament production as we know it today.

A milestone for Fragbite Masters was reached when Eskilsson sold brand activations to non-endemic companies, including McDonald’s and PokerStars. After Fragbite, he moved to Twitch in 2015 as the Nordic partnerships lead and was promoted to partnerships account manager for EMEA in less than six months. 

 

Ben Finch (30) – Marketing manager, nDreams

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Ben Finch squeezes into this year’s 30 Under 30 despite his age, as his birthday landed in between the end of nominations and us going to print. Finch’s first role in the industry was at Sega, working his way up from marketing assistant to senior brand manager on the Sonic the Hedgehog brand. His highlight was the huge success Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, creating everything from the global packaging through to TV ads for over 20 countries. He also delivered Sonic to iOS audiences with the 250m+ downloaded Sonic Dash.

He joined nDreams in 2014, heading up its brand marketing team. He helped rebrand the company, and headed up all marketing activity on The Assembly, Perfect, Danger Goat and the upcoming Shooty Fruity. 

Amy-Marie Graves (27) – Community manager, Square Enix Collective

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Before joining Square Enix in June 2017, Amy-Marie Graves has had stints in both the video game and film industries. 

She started her career at Universal Pictures in 2014, before joining the games industry as PR and community management trainee at Curve Digital in summer 2015.

At Square Enix, she primarily focuses on internal indie label Square Enix Collective, where she helps promoting and publishing the titles, as well as looking after the firm’s social channels and community.

« Amy’s confidence, experience, determination and motivation has grown as much as her passion for the games industry in just a few years, » MCV has been told. 

Alexandre Grimonpont (27) – Senior publishing producer, Hi-Rez Studios Europe

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Having started his career as a pro player at 14, Alexandre Grimonpont started to focus on content creation in 2013 and casted games on his spare time. He was noticed by Blizzard and was involved in the Starcraft 2 World Championship Series global final casting. He continued on this path for a little while and then started working on creating content in French for Blizzard’s main events.

He joined Hi-Rez in 2016, managing the community team as well as PR, events, esports and influencer marketing across EMEA. He attented multiple European events in 2017, strengthening Hi-Rez’s social media reach in several European languages and greatly increased interaction with players.

Josh Heaton (27) – Design manager and head of Gamer Creative, Gamer Network

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Josh Heaton has been with Gamer Network since 2010, when he joined Eurogamer as a junior designer. Since then, he’s continued to work on design for Gamer Network’s portfolio of sites (Eurogamer, VG247, Rock Paper Shotgun and more). 

Additionally, he formed and heads up Gamer Creative, Gamer Network’s in-house creative agency, which has helped thousands of developers and publishers (from indie to triple-A) with creative and design work for their marketing, earning accolades from around the industry. There are very few video game publishers out there who haven’t worked with Heaton on design to help market their games at some point.

He’s been described as « working incredibly hard behind the scenes. »

Sofie Marien (25) – Social media and community manager, Good Catch Games

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Sofie Marien looks beyond her role to the wider industry and has helped make it a more inclusive place for all players. 

She founded the PlayStation LGBT group and helped bring PlayStation to London Pride in 2017. At PlayStation, she was the Dutch community manager, promoting all first party and some third-party titles. She led the promotion of Horizon Zero Dawn, helping promote its diverse world to make its own space in the open world market, leading to this new IP’s success. 

Marien has just started at new publisher and developer Good Catch Games, lending her skill and experience from working at PlayStation for two and-a-half years.

 

 

Jessie Meola (28) – Senior marketing manager, Frontier Developments

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Jessie Meola started her gaming career at Frontier Developments four years ago and has been with the publisher-developer from the very beginning of Frontier’s journey into self-publishing, starting out as marketing assistant and rapidly progressing through the ranks to oversee all Frontier’s marketing activities. 

Today, Meola manages a team overseeing product marketing, digital advertising and brand partnerships as the studio’s sole senior marketing manager, working on Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster, and working closely with Universal Pictures on Frontier’s newest game, Jurassic World Evolution.

Nathan Mills (23) – Senior PR executive, Koei Tecmo Europe

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Having started his career at Koei Tecmo just under two years ago, Nathan Mills has already reached the level of a senior member of staff. Before joining the publisher’s UK office,  he had short stints at PR firms Wildfire PR and Stature PR, and has been running a YouTube channel for eight years.

As senior PR and marketing executive at Koei Tecmo, he’s currently working on the marketing campaigns for titles such as Blue Reflection, Dynasty Warriors 9, Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon and Warriors All-Stars.

Described as « a vital member of the Koei Tecmo team » at only 23, Mills « has shown great growth, wisdom, insight and maturity in a role that requires a high degree of sensibility, levelheadedness and tenacity. »

 

 

Hollie Pattison (25) – Community manager, Ripstone

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Considered to be « a rising star in the industry, » Hollie Pattison is « more than a community manager. » As part of a small team, she gets involved in everything from media and influencer relations to writing store copy and aiding PR strategy. As well as the usual community management tasks of handling social media strategy and implementation, plus dealing with customer queries, she has grown Ripstone’s Twitch channel from barely non-existent to a now Partnered channel with regular front-page featured streams.

She is also a SpecialEffect charity ambassador, helping to raise awareness as well as funds for the charity.

Daniela Pietrosanu (27) – Senior publicist, Premier PR

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Having spent two years plying her trade at board game specialists Esdevium, Daniela Pietrosanu made the leap to Premier PR in October 2014 and quickly established herself as one of the sector’s finest. Having worked on numerous titles from smaller independent gems to triple-A leviathans, no project is too big for her hands. Most recently, she has become the current UK lead for Square Enix agency-side and helped deliver outstanding coverage for titles such as Hitman, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy XV. 

If that wasn’t enough, she is also part of the ‘Them Video Dames’ Twitch channel with former 30 Under 30 entrant, Lucy Pullinger.

Adam Raisborough (29) – Retail planning manager, Warner Bros

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Adam Raisborough started his career in January 2013 as an insight analyst with Warner Bros, working across film, games, TV and family entertainment. He was promoted to senior insight analyst in 2015, quickly followed by a promotion to retail planning manager in 2016. Raisborough has worked on the successful launches and catalogue strategies of Dying Light, Batman: Arkham Knight, Mortal Kombat X and XL and Injustice 2, along with several Lego titles.

He also, from an analytical perspective, led on the launch of Shadow Of War. More recently, Raisborough has also been leading the effort within the UK to better harness and harmonise the process of digital games and mobile games data collection.

 

Megan Rice (24) – Business development executive, Ukie

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At only 24, Megan Rice has already worked for the likes of Bossa Studios as marketing assistant, Curve Digital as studio manager and marketing assistant, and Playhubs as community manager. 

Joining Ukie in August last year, Rice has quickly risen to be at the forefront of expanding the work of the trade body, leading on key Ukie projects including the industry defining student membership and training courses. 

As the lead on the Ukie student programme, she’s been giving talks and organising conferences and activities to help bring the industry and the academia closer together. 

Maria Laura Scuri (28) – Executive operations manager, FaceIt

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Maria Laura Scuri started with FaceIt’s core team in 2014 as an intern assisting with everything from customer support through to event management. She soon became executive assistant to the CEO and worked her way up to her current position. Together with the CGO, she now works alongside major game publishers assisting during the integration phase by coordinating several teams, making sure integrations standards are met before the game goes live and providing a launch strategy including social media and PR.

She follows a team of people that ensures all competitions on the platform, from the big qualifiers to ongoing tournaments, run smoothly and the best mix of competitions is offered. 

 

Adam Simmons (26) – VP content and marketing, Level Up Media

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Prior to joining DingIt.TV, Adam Simmons combined competitive gaming and esports casting with his career as a Team GB Paralympian, competing in sprint kayaking.

In just under four years since joining a pre-launch DingIt he has overseen the platform’s launch, growth and shift from live streaming to premium highlights content. The site has subsequently exploded in popularity to more than 40m unique monthly visitors. In February 2017 he was central to the creation of Level Up Media, with DingIt as the company’s flagship site. This autumn Simmons led Level Up Media’s launch of TheGamer.TV platform for mainstream gaming fans.

Simmons was also featured in a Channel 4 series on pro gamers.

Jen Simpkins (24) – Deputy editor, Edge

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Jen Simpkins joined the industry at the end of 2015 as staff writer on Official PlayStation Magazine. The self-described ‘princess of print’ worked at the publication when it did the impossible: increasing its print circulation by nearly ten per cent. 

Simpkins was promoted to games editor in September 2016, before she left Official PlayStation Magazine in June 2017 to become deputy editor of Edge, less than two years into her career. 

Among the numerous praises MCV received about Simpkins, she has for instance been described as a « lovely, hardworking and strong woman who has done something unfounded by becoming the deputy editor of such a prolific magazine at such a young age and has a loyalty to print which is rare to see in this industry. »

Lai-Ling Soo (27) – Marketing executive, Xbox UK

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As marketing executive, Lai-Ling Soo is responsible for managing the Xbox presence at consumer gaming events in the UK. In the last year, these have included small events but also the biggest shows in the country such as EGX (80,000 attendees), EGX Rezzed (17,000 attendees) and Insomnia (50,000 attendees). 

Soo is also in charge of executing the firm’s marketing campaigns, as well as managing Xbox UK’s social channels which, combined, reach over 2.7m people. 

She’s been described as « highly diligent, efficient and attentive to detail and always gets the job done on time, on budget and with a massive smile on her face. »

 

Luke ‘LTZonda’ Taylor (23) – Content creator, founder of Streamers Connected

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Luke ‘LTZonda’ Taylor is one of the most prolific content creators in the UK with a following of nearly 650k combined. 

This year, he set up Streamers Connected, a community for streamers and content creators gathering over 5,000 members. It’s the UK’s biggest Discord community and it offers content creators of all sizes the chance to learn, collaborate, network and share. 

Through his professionalism he has earned sponsorship with some of the biggest brands in the UK including Nvidia, Green Man Gaming and Corsair and he recently became the official UK brand ambassador for XSplit and Player.me.

Robin Valentine (29) – Editor, GamesMaster

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Robin Valentine became editor of GamesMaster earlier this year, becoming one of the youngest editor of any of the UK games magazines. 

At this role, Valentine has been maintaining and strengthening GamesMaster’s « passionate, slightly anarchic, unashamedly geeky spirit of the cult titles of the past, » his colleagues told MCV. They continued: « His carefully-assembled team of writers delivers 100 pages packed with the joy of games, and some of the most excruciating jokes and puns you’ll ever read, month after month. And he runs RPGs so is, quite literally, a gamesmaster. »

Haley Uyrus (29) – PR and marketing manager, Failbetter Games

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After a career in graphic design at Hasbro and Staples, plus three degrees (BFA Communications Design, MA Game Design Theory, and MBA Creative Industries Management), Haley Uyrus started working in the games industry in 2014 at PR firm BeefJack, where she worked on over 25 indie games. In six months, she increased the company’s income through its business development initiative by 167 per cent. She joined Failbetter Games in May 2016, originally looking after browser title Fallen London, before moving on to look after and strategise for RPG Sunless Sea (500k units sold) and upcoming Kickstarted game Sunless Skies. 

She’s been labelled as « the woman with eight million degrees, » her peers told MCV, as well as « resilient », « reliable » and with a « broad skillset. »

Casey Vatcher (24) – Product manager, Nintendo UK

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Casey Vatcher first started at Nintendo UK as a marketing intern in 2013. After completing his degree, he returned to Nintendo UK as an assistant product manager. Once in the role, Vatcher helmed campaigns for some of Nintendo UK’s biggest releases – the largest being the multi-award winning launch of Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon in 2016. Using this as a platform, he was then promoted to product manager in 2017 and now looks after the full Nintendo 3DS hardware and software family for the UK. 

« His growth and rise through the business has all come as a result of his willingness to learn, hard work and dedication to doing his best, » MCV’s been told.

Anita Wong (26) – Account manager, Indigo Pearl

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In just under four years, Anita Wong has become one of the most recognisable faces in the UK video games industry, helping Indigo Pearl win three consecutive MCV PR Agency Awards. Never one to shy away from an event – or organise one herself – Wong has consistently been a frontline representative for Indigo Pearl, managing PR campaigns for the some of its biggest clients, including Activision Blizzard, Pokémon GO, Trion Worlds, Good Shepherd, and most recently Andy Serkis’ new studio The Imaginarium.

She’s been described as « a tireless workhorse and dance floor diva, » with her co-workers adding: « Anita’s presence is most notable when she’s not around – we simply wouldn’t be the same without her. »

Rik Wortman (28) – Live events manager RuneScape, Jagex

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The first words MCV received about Rik Wortman when the nomination period for 30 Under 30 began was that he’s a unicorn, but not « an actual sparkly, rainbow emitting-unicorn » (which left us a bit disappointed really) but « a multi-talented tour-de-force marketing expert with a unique blend of skills. »

At Jagex, Wortman works with RuneScape’s live events team on monetisation, virtual item sales, time-limited events and competitive gaming, all designed with game KPIs first and foremost. This has led Jagex to record breaking performance for three consecutive years. 

Wortman has worked his way up from a player support representative to one of the most challenging and specialist roles in the industry.

Honourable mentions

Laura Durrant – Jagex  /   Rob Dwiar – Freelance writer  /  Adam Jenkins – Edelman – Xbox UK  /  Edward Lewis – Frontier Developments  /    

Daniel Pitt – Nintendo UK  / Kiron Ramdewar – PlayStack /  Otisha Sealy – Warner Bros  /  Claire Sharkey – Level Up Media  /   

Paul Stone – PressXtra.net – Indigo Pearl  / Victoria Wallace – Warner Bros  /   Alison Woods – Frontier Developments  /   

 

MCV’s 30 Under 30 is sponsored by OPM Jobs

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Economics of influence

Laurie Shannon had no experience with filming, social media, or cake decorating when she started making YouTube videos from her parents’ basement.

She taped parchment paper over a lamp and used a camera she already owned to make her first videos, which she uploaded to her channel, The Icing Artist. “It was really hard because the quality of the content wasn’t good,” says Laurie. “We uploaded every week, but didn’t get any momentum.”

For the first two years, The Icing Artist earned about $5,000 per year. She kept her costs low by using gear she already owned, but she made a big investment in time. She worked at a bakery to pay the bills and spent every evening and weekend baking, filming and editing. “I thought if I keep pushing and pushing then maybe I can get there.”

Over time, the Icing Artist attracted 1 million subscribers, giving Laurie the opportunity to work from her home near Toronto alongside her fiance who also quit his job to work on the channel full time. Together, they earn between $10,000 and $40,000 per month.

Making cake videos from your home might sound like a dream job, but it’s no get-rich-quick scheme. “It was two and a half years of hard work before I could do this full time, and it’s still hard work,” says Laurie. “We work seven days a week and long hours every day.”

As more people try to become influencers, they are coming face-to-face with this harsh reality, says Robert Kyncl, Chief Business Officer at YouTube, in his new book.

YouTube alone saw 1,000 accounts “cross the 1,000-subscriber threshold every day in 2016,” says Kyncl’s book. “Breaking through the noise to capture a viewer’s precious attention has never been harder, even if the opportunity exists for nearly anyone to do so.”

Successful influencers like Laurie have built their careers on real relationships with their fans and developing quality content that speaks global audiences—showing that influence can’t be manufactured, it has to be earned.

Influence is money

Paying social media stars to promote products is becoming a popular way for brands to advertise online.

A decade ago, print advertising accounted for 53 percent of Google searches worldwide, according to Google Trends, which shows how often search terms are entered. Today, influencer marketing accounts for 51 percent of Google searches, while video advertising accounts for 32 percent and print advertising makes up the remaining 21 percent.

The millions of people who follow fitness, fashion, and pet accounts fit specific demographics. And their attention is worth a lot of money. This year, companies were expected to spend $50,000-$100,000 per influencer marketing program according to a survey by marketing agency Linqia.

Fitness influencer Lyzabeth Lopez, the creator of the Hourglass Workout, told Forbes she charges up to $5,000 per post and $100,000 per campaign. Famous yogi Rachel Brathen, who has more Instagram followers than the populations of most Canadian cities, charges a minimum of $25,000 per social media post, according to Forbes.

Even so-called “micro-influencers” can earn money from social media, says a recent blog post by the Influence Agency, a company that matches influencers with brands. Instagram accounts under 50,000 followers can earn between $250-$2,000 per post, while accounts with up to 100,000 followers can earn $1,000-$4,000 per post.

Max Chafkin, a writer at Bloomberg Businessweek, wanted to see just how hard it was to become an influencer, so he set out to turn his “schlubby” Instagram feed with 212 followers into a sleek men’s fashion account. His goal was “to persuade someone, somewhere, to pay me cash money for my influence.”

Chafkin dished out about $2,000 over six weeks on professional photography. He got a haircut, borrowed clothes from Lord Taylor and enlisted the help of an agency pro bono. He also paid $10 per month for bots that left thousands of comments and likes around Instagram, and eventually resorted to buying 500 fake followers for $15.

Chafkin ultimately completed his goal, but he doesn’t have an optimistic outlook on the industry. “I spent a couple thousand dollars and got one free t-shirt,” Chafkin told VICE Money. “I was so far away from breaking even it’s almost not even worth talking about.”

The experiment shows that it is possible to use tricks to jumpstart an influencer career, says Chafkin. “But in the end you’re going to need some sort of talent.”

The size of a creator’s audience is the basis for how much they get paid, but brands consider lots of other factors when they decide whether to work with an influencer, according to Parker.

Having high-quality content that looks authentic and fits a creative niche can get the attention of a brand. It’s also important that your followers are real people who engage genuinely with your content, he explained.

Being reliable and responsive is another big part of working with brands because they have strict deadlines, according to Parker. The creators who turn their brands into businesses are ultimately the ones that will thrive in the industry, he explained.

Jahtna Hernandez did all of the above last year when she switched up her approach to YouTube and turned it into a source of full-time income.

Last year, she was unemployed, in debt, fresh out of a relationship, and living with her parents. She decided to focus on her YouTube channel, xoJahtna, and spent the next three months immersed in creating videos. “I would go days without sleeping…my mom was very concerned,” says Hernandez.

She had failed at YouTube two years before — she was creating nail art videos and had built up a following of 70,000 subscribers. But she didn’t enjoy filming it and eventually quit.  

Hernandez decided to change the topic of her channel and make videos about do-it-yourself life hacks. Her first video demonstrated different ways to style your hair using household items like a fork. Something about the video resonated with her online audience. It went viral and her subscriptions started to snowball, giving her 77,000 followers and 2 million views in a single month. Her first cheque from YouTube paid off her entire debt, which had climbed to $8,000.

Hernandez was seeing success on YouTube, but it didn’t make her an influencer overnight. Her income was coming directly from YouTube ads, which is based on the number of views her videos had, rather than from brand deals.

It took another seven months and 320,000 subscribers for a brand to contact her about sponsorship.  “You have to have a good amount of traction to actually live off of [YouTube],” she says.

Hernandez is learning how to negotiate with brands to increase her revenue and create a more sustainable career. The added pressure of delivering branded content has increased the intensity of her work, sometimes creating multiple videos at the same time to meet her deadlines.

To be successful at YouTube, “you have to go all the way in,” says Hernandez. “The harder you go, the more results you’ll get.”

Build your 2018 marketing blueprint: Experts on three strategies for success next year

How will you portray your brand in the year ahead? Now is the time to develop that marketing blueprint for 2018, and no matter what your budget, our experts say results can be achieved if you simply plan for the year.

Will you pour resources in developing a content hub or throw out the line to find influencers who fit with your brand?

We’ve asked the experts for where they would put their focus in 2018 — here are their best bets.

Video trumps all

Social media platforms are fast becoming an endless stream of moving pictures, with even the previously text-heavy LinkedIn jumping in on the video action this year.

Director of Good Things Marketing Helen Ahrens says it will be impossible to ignore video as an option to get your brand noticed in the year ahead.

Video is the best performing content for social media with it outperforming the rest nine times over. Try out Facebook Live to launch your next campaign or integrate Snapchat into your marketing mix,” she suggests.

Social media expert Dionne Lew agrees businesses will be expected to use video to give an insight into their business operations over the next year, but warns that with dwindling marketing budgets, punters need to know what they want to get out of it before hitting record.

“If you know your strategic intent ahead of time then what you decide to say and share will be strategically aligned with your aims,” she says.

Crunch the numbers

Businesses have more data at their fingertips than ever before, and that doesn’t just mean you can track how many people are engaging with your brand — it should also mean you’re ruthless with what you spend time and money on.

We will see a focus on ROI [return on investment] campaigns in 2018 — no longer are big budgets thrown around but cut-through strategies that meet identified targets,” director of InsideOut PR, Nicole Reaney, says.

Brand communications expert Kirryn Zerna has written on this subject earlier in 2017, and says businesses looking to create their marketing blueprint for the next 12 months should also sit down and work out how each piece of their marketing plan fits together, rather than thinking of each Facebook post or customer event as separate items.

Crafting up an annual plan focused around key themes including integrated engagement that includes distribution ideas with a mix of emails to your database, social media posts, webinars and regular blogs or podcasts will go a long way for brand awareness in 2018,” she recommends.

Head of communications agency Antelope Media, Ralph Grayden, says at this point in time, small businesses should have a handle on data driven content marketing.

For instance, Facebook advertising lets you target people based on pretty much anything, including interests, demographics, life events, location and more.

The aim is to think about who would be interested in content you’re putting out about a business, and using social media settings to feed this directly to those demographics.

“You’re seeing many small businesses adopt very tight content targeting strategies using this.”

Elevate the conversation

From finding a community of influencers to endless calls to start a blog, small businesses and startups are constantly told to build a community around their products, rather than just a brand.

Over the next year, it will become more important for companies to frame marketing material in the broader social context, Grayden says.

Most small businesses start with their product as the selling point for content but the best content marketing always connects a product or service with something bigger,” he observes.

While tying your product to a broader idea isn’t a new concept, Grayden predicts early stage companies who will succeed next year will have found a winning formula to tell a broader story about what they offer, whether that’s through engaging with their industry or interests of their community.

“More small businesses are doing the same and becoming publishers in their own right, attaching what they do to a broader topic and even using a separate magazine-style website to do so.”

Lew agrees, advising businesses take the tact of being “useful, not boastful” and thinking about ways they can discuss what they offer while also genuinely sharing their expertise with an audience.

“Be helpful. Think about 100 questions they may have about your area – what you sell – and answer their questions through micro-content above,” she suggests.

Zerna observes when it comes to building a conversation, influencers still also have a role to play — but maybe not in way brands have previously approached this area.

She suggests startups and SMEs search for a pool of people who might be able to collaborate with the brand to engage with it, but suggests companies search the smaller end of the Instagram follower count in order to find voices that will count.

A micro influencer may not have the millions, but their tribe of 3,000 to 30,000 to 300,000 are very engaged and at times hold even more sway than the big name celebrities,” she suggests.

Reaney agrees, saying when it comes to brand awareness over the next year, the trend will be to find many faces to promote it, rather than one key ambassador.

Influencer engagement continues to grow and companies are investing in a diversity of up and coming social influencers rather than necessarily one major core celebrity,” she says.

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Reliving the glorious moments from Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore

Catch these video highlights of Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore 2017 and bask in the dynamic awards show that celebrated brilliance across the marketing communications industry on 10 November at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore.

With almost 500 marketers and agency professionals present in the gala show, UOB emerged top against strong competition from McDonald’s and Nestlé Singapore, bagging “Marketer of the Year” in addition to its haul of two Golds and five Silvers.

Check out the victorious moments of some of our winners here:

Find out more on the full list of winners here.

Marketing’s Marketing Excellence Awards gave out a total of 100 trophies in 33 different categories, recognising and rewarding marketers of their hard work and contributions to ingenious campaigns produced throughout the year.

Congratulations a job well done to all winners and finalists!  We hope to seeing you at Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore 2018!

2018 Aston Martin Vantage revealed: Exclusive video tourNext-generation super sports coupe revealed, $299950 price …

British luxury sports car manufacturer Aston Martin has unveiled its long-awaited new-generation Vantage in a simultaneous global reveal across six major cities.

Earlier, CarAdvice was afforded an exclusive look at the new Vantage – the same car revealed today in Tokyo – and one of only six pre-production presentation cars Aston Martin commissioned. This particular example was shown to clients and prospective buyers in Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast, even before the covers came off in the UK.

The first production-series car will be flown to New Zealand for a series of track days – due to homologation restrictions here in Australia – but the first driveable Vantage will arrive in March for a series of events around the Australian Grand Prix. Of course.

Production of the new Vantage for Australia will commence in late May or early June, with customer deliveries set to begin in July, according to Kevin Wall, Regional Manager Australia and New Zealand at Aston Martin.

Like its predecessor that launched in 2005 and became the marque’s best-selling model, with 25,000 sold over 12 years, the new Aston Martin Vantage is likely to sell even better – though Wall would not be drawn on actual projections.

“While we’re not talking volumes with this car – we do have planning volumes – but we do genuinely see this new model as significantly increasing our volume in this market. Though, based on our orders over the last few weeks, it probably won’t increase the volumes as much as we would like, because of restricted supply in 2018,” Wall said.

That $299,950 starting price puts it almost line-ball with Porsche’s 911 Carrera 4 GTS and the Mercedes-AMG GT S – priced at $298,600 and $298,711 respectively. However, options pricing for the Australian market will follow shortly.

Interestingly, the two rival models mentioned above are the same two cars that Aston benchmarked while developing the Vantage, and it’s also those owners they hope to conquest.

“With this car, we’re not only targeting existing Vantage owners – who are an extremely enthusiastic and loyal bunch – but this car has been a long time coming, so we also need to bring customers back into the brand, as well as those 911 customers.

“In fact, those 911 customers we have had through to see the vehicle have had a very positive view of it. But, at the same time, we’ve also had research teams poring over the car to provide feedback on the way we spec this car, the way we price it, and the way we position the car in market.

Under the bonnet lies an AMG 4.0-litre twin-turbo petrol engine with a class-leading 375kW at 6000rpm and 680Nm of torque between 2000–5000rpm going to the rear wheels.

“This is a properly fast car, able to accelerate from 0–100km/h in 3.7 seconds with a top speed of 314km/h. It’s also the first Aston Martin to be equipped with an electronic rear differential that’s capable of going from fully open to 100 per cent locked in milliseconds.

“It’s also the second new model, after the DB11, in Andy Palmer’s Second Century plan. When Palmer took up the top job at Aston’s HQ in Gaydon, he told the Director of Design, Marek Reichman, that he needs to design cars which are so clearly positioned, and so uniquely identifiable that even my grandmother could walk into an Aston Martin showroom and tell the difference,” Wall told CarAdvice.

The marketing film for the new Vantage says the design of the new car is inspired by nature. At the front, there’s a definitive shark profile to the nose, and that shark imagery progresses on from there to the so-called ‘shark gills’.

While that might be the case, there are also strong design cues from DB10, the Bond car from the Spectre movie, as well as the Vulcan – Aston’s track-only hypercar. So, the rear of the car is very James Bond, while the front is very Vulcan.

And while there appears to be a lot going on with the exterior, Wall is keen to explain there’s nothing on the latest Vantage that is superfluous.

“If there are no flutes flaring from the bonnet, it’s because it doesn’t need them. The famous side-strake has been redesigned and renamed side-gill, picking up on the shark theme – but again, it’s there for a purpose. Likewise, with the rear diffuser/splitter. The diffuser is active, in other words. It’s there to create genuine downforce,” he added.

“At the front of the car, you’ll notice quite a few design cues from the DB10, as well as the Vulcan. It’s a more assertive, more pronounced grille. It’s inherently taken off a shark’s nose and is the lowest grille in the Aston range.

“We’ve moved away from traditional louvres, and replaced them with a bigger mesh grille, which allows a lot more air to feed the radiator and the two turbochargers.”

The bonnet uses a single clamshell, with no vent lines. It gives you a single cut line, along with a wider, cleaner look. It works well with the new 20-inch wheels in two designs and three colourway choices for each.

On the sides, Aston has done away with the chrome side-strake and instead used the gills mentioned above. There are air vents where the wheel arches are, which Aston claims will reduce drag. The mesh itself can be had in regular black, colour-coded, and eventually carbon.

The wheelbase is around 103mm longer than the previous model, and there’s a hidden waist seal – a first for Aston Martin and indeed a production car, which gives you a clean line.

At the rear, the tailgate produces real downforce and a very prominent active rear diffuser. Underneath the car, a series of fences channels the air through to the rear of the car, which adds more downforce, is the claim.

Under the hatch there’s 350 litres of boot space, and – officially – you can get two golf bags in there. And, as with the DB11, there’s no model-designated badge, just Aston Martin in chrome at the rear of the car.

Inside, it’s a completely different cockpit to the outgoing car, and indeed the DB11 – sportier and more ergonomically integrated. The sports seats in the show vehicle are optional, but the standard seats are still very sporty by design.

Some of the technology on board includes three-stage active damping suspension, as well as three-stage sports transmission – but independent of each other. There’s also electronic steering, keyless entry and start, electronic parking brake, and a touchpad-activated infotainment system from Daimler-Benz.

We also like the standard door pulls – orange on the show car – they demonstrate the rather serious intentions of the new Vantage.

New Vantage employs some new technology apart from the electronic differential. It also uses a torque-vectoring system carried over from the DB11. The chassis is an evolution of Aston’s latest-generation bonded aluminium architecture, also from the DB11.

The transmission is an eight-speed ZF automatic, with a front-rear weight balance of 49:51, or nigh-on perfect. And this is only supplemented by the positioning of the wheels, which are at the extreme corners of the vehicle. It’s going to handle.

According to Wall, and no surprise, there’s already serious interest in this car.

“Clearly, initial response from prospective Vantage customers has been good, but we are still negotiating with Gaydon on the allocation for Australia and New Zealand. I can tell you, we have a request in, but based on the response we had in Melbourne and genuine interest in the car, we have already asked that be increased by 25 per cent.

“And, for good reason, too. When you combine Australia and New Zealand together, we’ve got 25 per cent market share within our segment, which is one of the highest in the world. In fact, New Zealand, alone, is getting 38 per cent, which is line-ball with the UK.

“But we also need a strong dealer network, because at the end of the day, we’re taking on the likes of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz with the new Vantage, and we’re very serious about this – because we think the car is up to that task.

“The success of the brand is not only measured by what VFACTS says, but also by the amount of money the dealer network invests in the brand,” concluded Wall.

To that end, there’s a new $40 million facility in Melbourne, and a new $38 million facility in Auckland, as well as a $6 million facility in Perth – all of which has been rolled out in the last 12 months.

“The network is very, very committed to the Aston Martin brand. Why? Principally, because Marek Reichman has already shown them the product plan for the next five years”.

Will we see a Vantage V12?

Aston Martin isn’t saying anything, officially, but you can bet it’s well and truly on the cards, because you can bet there will be those buyers craving for that V12 bark that’s so intoxicating.

2018 Aston Martin Vantage: What you need to know
Vantage news, reviews, comparisons and videos

Everything Aston Martin

The Digital Age: impacting thinking, buying and creating interactive content


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Context rich and relevant information when and where your customer wants it: that is the new battleground. Google calls this the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT). The construct is not a new one; it is now just one which has become aggressively relevant.

Think about the last time you wanted to know something. The last time you wanted to get some guidance or advice. I am willing to bet that you reached for your phone and did a search. The search would either have led you to a Google SERP or to a friend’s social feed. Either way you were looking for context rich and relevant information that would answer your need.

While the social revolution has driven this trend pretty hard already; it is the trend of mobile, accessible information that is making sure that every marketer is trying to win their audiences ZMOT.

From the outside, this looks incredibly simple to get right, but there are a number of underlying factors to consider and factors that influence how complicated it is to get this right…

IT / marketing dynamic

While marketing may own the message and the client engagement; it can be argued that IT own the technology platforms and integration needed to make it work.

This is critical.

IT and marketing need to own this agenda together. With issues like cyber security and POPI becoming more and more real; marketing cannot discount the role that IT needs to play in order to maintain a business safe environment for customer and company data.

Changes in Content

As we move from a desktop centric environment to a mobile one, we need to be cogniscent of the message type and length. In a “traditional” desktop environment slightly longer form copy and video still work a charm. In a mobile first world however, the attention span of your audience is far shorter.

Our new attention economy demands that we get the point across quickly in as few words as possible. Video and images are the new hero’s that we need to embrace.

In judging the 2017 MMA SMARTIES awards it was very clear that traditional thinking about content will no longer work.

Looking through the submitted work this year, there was a clear trend towards interactive content that engaged with the user. The campaign mechanics were easy to understand and interact with; there were no complicated barriers to entry and the video and sound bites were quick and easy to digest.

Understand your client

All of the above points to the fact that these campaigns understood their customers at a very deep level. If you don’t have a firm grasp on understanding your clients wants and needs, then you are going to have a lot of difficulty in placing context rich and relevant information in front of them when and where they want it.

Take your time up front in understanding your clients’ needs and in testing your campaign to make sure that you get it right before you over invest in something that is not going to yield results.

Measure what matters

Arguably the most important aspect of all: measurement.

A lot of companies get lost in the sea of measurement and literally throw metrics at their client all day long. In the real world, what does a view of a video in isolation mean? Well, basically nothing — almost as much as a like!

To make sure your client is getting value from your work, you need to measure what is important to them. Are you driving sales? Then report on how your campaign has influenced sales. Are you pushing people to a store location? Then report about the number of feet that passed through the store as a result of your campaign.

Reporting on likes; retweets and follower growth are difficult metrics for your client to convert into a language that the rest of their peers (arguably the C-Suite) are familiar with.

As important as it is to understand how to position your client in the market place; it is equally important to remember to position ourselves with their client and their internal customers!

Jonathan Houston