Google Instant: Will consumers hate it?

September 9th, 2010 by Duncan Parry | Posted in News | No Comments »

Today and last night were for me examples of the digital industry at both it’s best – and it’s worst.

Some bloggers and publications published their initial intelligent thoughts on what Google Instant actually means for brands and marketers; those posts are continuing as ideas crystallize and we all play with this new feature. Other blog posts and Twitter streams, sadly, were full of the sort of nonsense and noise that frustrates me with the industry – things like “SEO is dead” and “CPCs will sky rocket”.

No doubt it’s a busy day for our friends in Buckingham Palace Road and other Google offices.

There’s one group I’ve not seen widely discussed or asked their opinion. Those faceless, anonymous little devils called consumers whom, ultimately, generate the activity that keeps us all employed.

Change is bad?

Change is something that most of us struggle with at times. Whilst Instant Search isn’t a complete redesign of the Google interface, it is a shock the first time it jumps you from the Google homepage to search results changing-as-you-type (known forever more as “interstitial search results”). For some consumers, I’d imagine this could be an unwelcome change. I tweeted the reaction of a 30 something friend who doesn’t work in the marketing industry earlier today:

One reaction to Google Instant: "Turn it off, it's in the way"

One reaction to Google Instant: "Turn it off, it's in the way"

I also wonder if there won’t be some users calling their IT departments saying “A virus has taken over my PC, it’s hijacking Google and changing the results” or similar. After all, past Google changes have prompted calls like this. Perhaps that’s why Google made announcing this change an “event” and ensured major press coverage and therefore consumer education globally?

Bing to Gain?

Changing an interface – on software or a site – is always a risky. Just think of the changes Microsoft introduced moving from the Office menu system to the “ribbon” in Office 2007. Many hated it, complained they couldn’t find things and wanted to roll back to 2003; we experienced that here with some colleagues. A change Microsoft believed was “good” was in fact “bad” for many to begin with, because it got in the way of them completing their task.

So do I, as some have speculated elsewhere, think Bing will gain users as they abandon “annoying” Google that is now getting in the way of them searching and – vitally – finding?

No, is the simple answer. A minority may move – but I’d suggest they were going to, anyway; most consumers have strong loyalty to their chosen engine out of sheer habit and roll with any interface changes (if they even register them consciously). Some consumers will turn Google Instant off of course; but I think most will “roll with it”, as they did search suggestions, the new Google interface of earlier this year and other changes over the years.

According to numbers from StatsCounter.com, in the UK only just over 50% of browsers will work with Google Instant (data from Q1 to Sept 2010) so a lot of consumers will not use this feature until they upgrade – or will see it at home but not in corporate environments where older browsers are standard because internal systems don’t work with the latest versions of IE, FireFox et al. That’s interesting in itself – will they notice, or care enough to find out why (or complain to IT?)

Some Consumers Will Love It

Whilst writing this, I recieved an email from a colleague in a non-search role with their thoughts:

Imge of a positive reaction to Google Instant Search

Positive reaction to Google Instant Search

(Thanks to MM for this)

So, some consumers will love this feature – and, most interestingly, it may expose them to not only new search strings but completely different topics and the results related to them when searching.

That might be good for some sites and drive more traffic; but if consumers hover to read the suggested searches and results for more than 3 seconds, the adwords advertiser whose ads have been shown will record an ad impression, potentially reducing their CTR and quality score.

Right now, we’re on a watching brief – seeing how consumers react, and how this actually impacts campaigns.

I’ve asked friends and colleagues to send me their reaction to this – I’ll post them here as comments if I receive more.

Another gem from TED

September 1st, 2010 by phil_burgess | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

A great video presentation from David McCandless. We’ll all be familiar with the challenge of trying to explain the data that we generate for the our clients from campaigns that we run for them.  Perhaps we’re approaching this in entirely the wrong way… greater levels of visualisation could be a way for us to tell more compelling stories for our client about how successful the campaign has been (and by implication how great we are at our jobs).

I particularly like the “timeline of global media panic”


http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.html

Enjoy,

Phil

Phil Burgess Head of Client Services

Who’s the DADI?

August 26th, 2010 by Jocelyn Bull | Tags: , , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

Hooray! We’ve been shortlisted for the 2010 DADI Awards!

Our work for Virgin Holidays is up for ‘Best Use of Organic Search’ and our “Summer’s Hottest Playlist” campaign is in the running for the ’Digital Media Strategy’ award.

Looking forward to November when we find out if we win…

Steak to speak at Figaro event

August 2nd, 2010 by Jocelyn Bull | Tags: , , ,
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Figaro

Group Account Director Alastair Boyle is looking forward to presenting at Figaro Digital’s SEO & PPC event at London’s The Hospital Club this Thursday, August 4th.

His session ‘All search and no marketing?’ will cover the following:

In a world dominated by technology and algorithms, search marketing can often be all search and no marketing. In this session, Steak goes beyond the buzzword ‘integration’ and draws on real world examples to show how best to use search as part of the marketing mix. We’ll look at how search can integrate with brand campaigns as well direct response, how it can inform and assess offline strategy, and how to maximise the potential of universal search.

 

 

Swiftcover.com first insurer to launch in-game campaign

July 29th, 2010 by Jocelyn Bull | Tags: , , ,
Posted in News, Press releases | 2 Comments »

Swiftcover.com is set to become the first insurer to use in-game advertising. The new brand campaign will feature virtual billboards in games such as Pro Evolution Soccer; Guitar Hero, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Blur (a racing game).  The ads will run through August and September on Xbox Live.

The in-game ads will tie into Swiftcover’s “Get a Life” advertising campaign theme featuring Iggy Pop and the “Little Iggy” puppet.

Tina Shortle, Marketing Director for AXA Insurance and swiftcover.com, commented on the initiative, “Swiftcover and Steak have worked closely together over the past five years to stay ahead of the competition. We were the first online only car insurer in 2005, we launched the first car insurance mobile site back in 2007 and have pioneered emerging media channels including Video on Demand and Spotify. Most importantly, we’ve capitalised on early-adopter advantage and have seen some fantastic results.”

Swiftcover.com in Blur

The idea was conceived by Steak, who brokered the deal with Massive, the leading video game network, on behalf of swiftcover.com. 

Alastair Boyle, Group Account Director at Steak added, “In-Game advertising is a perfect fit for the swiftcover.com brand and their target audience. This is the latest in our drive to use innovative ad formats for the right reasons, rather than jumping on every new media trend.”

Chris James, EMEA Manager at Massive concluded, “We’re very pleased to be working with Steak to select the right in-game placements for swiftcover.com. In-game ads have been shown to have some of the best recall rates around so it’s fantastic that more and more advertisers are now realising the potential of this medium.”

Studies have shown 72% of gamers recall seeing ads for brands in-game. In 2009 there was a 20% increase in average ad recall from the year before and the average brand recommendation lift scores were 29% ahead [MICROSOFT, 2009] 73% of gamers agreed that “ads enhanced the realism of the game” [INTERPRET, 2008]; and that across 600 gamers on Xbox 360 and PC showed that brand familiarity increased by 64%, brand rating increased by 37%, purchase consideration increased by 41% [NIELSEN, 2007].

We’ve been shortlisted!

July 23rd, 2010 by Jocelyn Bull | Tags: , , ,
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B2B Marketing Awards finalistVery pleased that the work we’ve done for British Gas Business has been shortlisted for ‘Best Use of Search’ in this year’s B2B Marketing Awards.

Sadly we have to wait until November to see if we win, so fingers crossed until then…

NetJets Europe launches online marketing campaign

June 18th, 2010 by Jocelyn Bull | Tags: , , ,
Posted in News, Press releases | Comments Off

UK web campaign in partnership with Steak highlights 10-minute boarding experience with NetJets Europe

June 18, London, UK – Europe’s leading business aviation company, NetJets Europe, today launches a new digital marketing campaign in partnership with Steak. The campaign, ‘The 10-minute Take-off’ highlights the hassle-free nature of flying with NetJets Europe, getting time-poor businesspeople from their car into the air within 10 minutes of arriving at an airport.

The campaign will see a series of display advertisements drive visitors to a dedicated microsite, including site ‘take-overs’ with the FT.com and the Wall Street Journal.

Following a year of travel disruption and commercial airline woes, NetJets Europe has enjoyed increasing interest in its services from first and business class fliers looking to maximize their productivity and escape travel headaches.

“Our research has found that our clients and prospects want nothing more than an easy and completely hassle-free experience of aviation, something that only NetJets has the scale to deliver consistently,” comments Claire Cronin, Director of Marketing at NetJets Europe. “Although we’re the world leader in private aviation, we’re still something of a ‘well-kept secret,’ and with this campaign we’re hoping to educate a wider audience about the benefits of using NetJets.”

When users click on a display ad, they will be taken to a search-optimized microsite at http://www.netjetsuk.com. The centrepiece of the site is the “10-minute take-off” – a dramatisation of the easy, hassle-free boarding experience that passengers will enjoy with NetJets. This message is contrasted with the experience of flying commercially: transfers, hassles, queues, crowds and delays.

The NetJets Experience

Steak was appointed following a competitive pitch to design and produce the micro-site and online advertising assets, support the media planning and buying strategy, and handle search engine optimisation for this latest campaign.

Oliver Bishop, CEO of Steak, says, “NetJets Europe is an exciting brand, with a well defined, demanding target audience. The ‘10-minute’ campaign seeks to reach this audience in an innovative and relevant way, and deliver compelling messages about why both individuals and corporations should consider NetJets.”

This campaign was created for the UK market as a pilot. If successful, NetJets Europe will look to develop new campaigns and online materials in its other target territories in Q3 and Q4.

Swiftcover.com and Absolute Radio launch “Summer’s Hottest Playlist” campaign

June 11th, 2010 by Jocelyn Bull | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in News, Press releases | Comments Off

List voted by music lovers through social media app

The campaign from swiftcover.com, the pioneer in online insurance, offered music lovers the chance to create this “Summer’s Hottest Playlist” in collaboration with Absolute Radio.  Building on their ‘Get a Life’ campaign, swiftcover.com extended the campaign theme to encourage users to ‘get a life’ this summer by voting for the summer’s hottest tracks. The campaign devised by Steak, used Facebook as the main hub, hosting an easy-to-use voting application.

A master playlist of 75 tracks was selected by popular Absolute Radio DJs: Christian O’Connell, Geoff Lloyd and Ben Jones.  Spotify and Absolute Radio listeners were prompted by the DJs to visit the Swiftcover Facebook page and voted daily for two weeks via the “sucks” or “rocks” buttons beside the track. This saw the music tracks physically rising and falling, depending on popularity, on the Facebook “chart”.

swiftcover

The final playlist hosted is hosted by Spotify on 22 June through the summer; with Facebook fans, Absolute Radio and Spotify listeners being notified that the winning list can be downloaded and played all summer long.

The idea was conceived by Steak, who is handling the social media and online display campaign.  Audio and display ads including billboards and takeover pages, will appear on Spotify, Absolute Radio and Facebook linking through to swiftcover.com’s Facebook page.  The Facebook app songs then link back to Spotify, which enables visitors to the site to listen to the tracks they’re voting for; and there is an opportunity to win a Spotify premium account for a year.
          
Tina Shortle, Marketing Director says, “This is a perfect campaign for the summer – sitting in the park in the sunshine listening to music that you’ve voted for – it epitomises our ‘Get a Life’ campaign.  We’re excited that social media was at the heart of this campaign. Absolute Radio, Facebook and Spotify are the perfect partners for music lovers to create this ‘Summer’s Hottest Playlist’”.

John Barton, Head of Planning and Social Media at Steak says “We wanted to demonstrate how we can effectively integrate social media into our existing through the line digital strategy. This campaign is ultimately about building and fostering relationships between swiftcover.com and their audience in social channels that they’re comfortable with by adding value rather than selling. Music and summer festivals are effective passion point or the swiftcover.com
demographic and form the basis of our content strategy. We are excited and fortunate to work with brands like swiftcover.com who continue to lead the way in digital marketing within the insurance vertical sector”.

Kate Hussey, Head of Display at Steak says “We are excited about enhancing the current Absolute Radio partnership for swiftcover.com along with introducing another key strategic partner, Spotify, as a main driver of our audience. We believe that this campaign has the ability to kick off a summer full of ‘Getting a Life’”.

DSGi appoints Steak

May 25th, 2010 by Jocelyn Bull | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in News, Press releases | 1 Comment »

Steak has been appointed by DSG international plc (‘DSGi’), one of Europe’s leading specialist electrical retailing groups and UK market leaders, to work on behalf of its UK brands Currys, Dixons.co.uk and PC World. The account, won in a four-way agency pitch, will see Steak provide search engine optimisation services to DSGi, creating defined natural search strategies for each of the three brands to achieve online revenue targets and effective integration with other digital and offline marketing activities.

Gareth Owen, Head of Natural Search at Steak said, “This is an exciting opportunity to enhance the digital face of three major retail names and reinforce the strength of their offline brands in the digital space.”

David Walmsley, eCommerce Director at DSGi added, “As part of our strategy to win on the internet and take DSGi’s multichannel business to the next level, it is vital for us to build a stronger search presence. We were impressed with Steak’s energy, insight, expertise, and proven track record in delivering results for major retailers. I’m pleased to be working with Steak on this next phase of business growth, and am confident they will help drive our online brands forward.”

Steak appointed as official Start supporter

May 19th, 2010 by Jocelyn Bull | Tags: ,
Posted in News, Press releases | 1 Comment »

Steak has been appointed to provide digital marketing services to support Start, a new initiative by The Prince’s Charities, a group of not-for-profit organisations of which The Prince of Wales is President. The aim of Start is to promote and celebrate sustainable living and help people across the UK take positive and practical steps towards a more energy efficient, cleaner and healthier future.

Steak will provide paid search management and online media planning services to promote the Start website, on a pro bono basis from the beginning of May. The website, http://www.startuk.org/, which will re-launch later this year, will highlight the best examples of sustainable practice, explain the issues around sustainability simply and without jargon, and provide a platform for like-minded individuals and communicates to share their experience, goals and idea. The site will form part of a vibrant and diverse programme of activities planned for 2010 to engage people across the UK.

Commenting on the appointment, Ollie Bishop, Steak’s CEO said, “We’re very proud to be supporting such a forward thinking and inspiring initiative. Start has a realistic and constructive approach that we really admire and we’re looking forward to helping them achieve their goals.” 

Will Watt, Content Director, Start, added, “Our website will be one of the main ways in which we reach and engage with people as part of this project. Steak’s help will be invaluable and we’re delighted to welcome them on board as a supporter.”

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About Start:

  • Start was launched by the Prince of Wales on 4 February 2010, at the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester.  www.princescharities.org/start
  • The aim of Start is to use the tools of the modern age – the internet and television – to demonstrate to people how it is possible to adopt more sustainable behaviour.

Start is a new initiative to help people across the UK lead more sustainable lives and to show what a more energy efficient, cleaner and healthier future could look like.

Its aim is to celebrate the very best examples of sustainable living in the UK and help us all to take part in simple, positive steps; and is an initiative of The Prince’s Charities Foundation.
http://www.start.org/