Here are the highlights from some of the sessions on day two of the AIMIA Digital Summit which I attended last week.
FMCG Opportunities
Paul Fisher, CEO of IAB Australia, started the day with some facts and commentary about local online advertising. He commented that marketers are learning to leverage the multiplier effects of using online display advertising with search, email, video and social media by understanding how each tool reaches and influences consumers.
He felt there are big opportunities for FMCG brands in the next four years. His opinion was that now reach and frequency are being delivered online in Australia, it will demonstrate to the major supermarkets that digital marketing can have a real impact on unit sales. This should lead to shelf space in stores being allocated to brands that implement compelling and effective interactive campaigns which should encourage more FMCG brands to embrace the medium.
Facebook, Facebook, Facebook
Regional Vice President of Facebook, Paul Borrud, told the audience that we have entered the marketing era of interactive – one that is built upon creating powerful networks and maintaining relationships with consumers. He gave some astonishing statistics into Australian Facebook usage, indicated that users interact with ‘Engagement Ads’ the same way they interact with other content on Facebook and how conversations with users lead to organic impressions on the social network. Paul’s talk reinforced to me how Facebook gives companies the perfect platform to make their brand more open and connected to its fans.
Analytics Driven Interactive Success
Stuart Tucker from Aussie Home Loans and Ian McDonald from Amnesia delivered the best case study of the conference when taking us through the digital life of Aussie from the year 2000. The web is such a driving force for Aussie now that they no longer put their phone number on television ads, just their URL. It is a long way from when the company had to purchase the aussie.com.au domain name using “cash in brown paper bags” to ensure that they didn’t continue to lose visitor traffic to the most intuitive web address for their brand name which they did not own.
The company now generates 75% of its business from the web. Aussie has been able to achieve this by making their interactive focus all about the customer journey and experience. Results are driven using live monitoring of web analytics and conducting weekly analysis of business data against online activity. Search campaigns, the web site and online application forms all undergo multivariate testing and optimisation so that every opportunity to improve the user experience and ultimately conversion rates is achieved.
Video Killed the Television Stations
Ian Gardiner, CEO of online video streaming company Viocorp, gave the digital summit attendees some interesting information about online video. He stated that over three billion videos are watched online each day and that because broadcasters in Australia haven’t provided suitable video content platforms which consumers have embraced, we are now the highest users per head of BitTorrent in the world.
When asked if a single platform would win the battle of online video, it was Gardiner’s position that while TiVo, Apple TV, Hulu, Boxee and Foxtel IQ were good services, he did not think one single platform would dominate the market. He followed that by saying if the iPhone could dramatically improve its processing power it may possibly be the single device that could “win” video content delivery by linking together consumers’ three screens (television, computer and mobile).
Australia’s Slow Internet
Tony Marlow, Research Director at Nielsen Online, showed some interesting statistics from Nielsen’s studies about cross media consumption. Nearly 60% of people use the internet while watching TV. These fragmented spans of attention mean that as marketers we have to work very hard for the time and attention of consumers.
Tony mentioned that dial up internet has almost been completely phased out as broadband has now reached near saturation in metropolitan Australia. Though, our access speeds are slow by International standards. Out best is 30MBS compared to the 100MBS available in the likes of Singapore, Hong Kong, Sweden and Japan.
Selling Handbags Online
Iain Nairn, CEO of the Witchery Group who own the fashion accessory retailer Mimco and Karson Stimson from WeAreDigital presented an excellent online retail case study about Mimco’s online store.
From the outset the company placed an emphasis on web analytics and business intelligence and unlike many retailers, they were not fearful of it cannibalising sales from their 60 offline stores so resourced it as if it was an additional store to ensure its success. Since launching in August 2008, the online store has already grown to be their 10th largest and turns over $90,000 per month. Mimco recovered their initial outlay for setting the site up in the first two months.
It’s also interesting to see how Mimco make use of social media. Nairn indicated that people are loyal to a brand and want to connect but not just to a handbag. Social media allows Mimco to talk to their consumers in a richer way than advertising ever could.
Thanks!
I’d like to thank AIMIA and the organisers for allowing me to present and attend the Digital Summit. There were a terrific range of speakers and topics discussing the latest trends and future opportunities in the digital marketing sector. I hope this and my day one wrap up gave people who didn’t attend some insights into what was an excellent event.
Anthony Dever is BCM’s Interactive Strategist
