About Mike Berry

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So far Mike Berry has created 55 blog entries.

Virals – Reach for the stars

 

We don’t think The Beatles will do anything in this market…”

Capitol Records internal memo, 1963.

What makes a film ‘go viral’?

A client asked me this the other day. I thought I would share the gist of what I told her…

Firstly I said: “I don’t know” which I thought was impressively honest of me. (Didn’t all those years working in agencies teach me anything?). I quickly went on to suggest that nobody else knows either. Indeed no-one, but no-one, can guarantee success in viral marketing. That’s part of the fun. You can pretty much guarantee failure if you […]

2021-09-23T17:28:20+00:00June 17th, 2009|General|8 Comments

SEO: "seek, and ye shall find." (Luke 11)

 

 

 

Anyone remember WebCrawler? Infoseek? HotBot? AltaVista? Lycos? As long as we’ve had search engines, we’ve had SEO (= search engine optimisation). And as Microsoft announces a UK roadshow to launch its new search platform, Bing, as a serious rival to Google, SEO is firmly established as part of the digital marketing landscape.

Indeed SEO or ‘natural search’ is a whole separate industry these days. It can be defined as: helping site owners to optimise their ranking in Google and other search engines when users search by certain relevant “keywords”.

The evolving role of the practice of SEO is currently a […]

2021-09-23T17:29:19+00:00June 4th, 2009|SEO|13 Comments

Mobile: marketing on the fourth screen

 

“Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you.” (A G Bell 1876)

My family and I just saw Coraline in 3D at our local cinema – it was absolutely fantastic. (Yes, it’s reached Europe at last!). The sound was great; no interruptions; totally immersive and escapist. It wouldn’t have been half the experience on TV. That got me thinking about screens: big and small.

Apart from our wrist-watch (maybe another blog post!) the smallest screen most of us regularly look at is our mobile phone (=cellphone). Apparently 7 out of 10 people now sleep next to their mobile phone […]

2021-09-23T17:30:31+00:00May 18th, 2009|Mobile|6 Comments

Video/ audio piracy: you hum it and I’ll share it

Do you download music? If so, do you pay for it? Amazon, iTunes Store and Napster, among others, sell music downloads; simple to use, fast and legal. However it is estimated that 95% of music downloads are illegal. (IFPI 2009)

Recently four directors of the Swedish file sharing website, The Pirate Bay, were arrested, found guilty of ‘aiding and promoting copyright theft’ and sentenced to jail. There are powerful interests opposed to file sharing of music, TV and Movies.

In a simpler age, Sir Paul McCartney sang “You never give me your money”. But in fact millions of people did, and […]

2021-09-23T17:36:08+00:00May 8th, 2009|Trends|1 Comment

Branding: ‘plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.’

(aka ‘there’s nothing new under the sun’)

Marketing Week has just been redesigned (for non-UK or non-marketing readers, it’s a magazine and of course a website). That got me thinking about how much things are changing in marketing right now.

A few years ago I wrote a book about marketing. Here is a short extract. (well it’s my blog after all).

“The marketing world is changing fundamentally…Direct Marketing, Sales Promotion and Advertising can never again be viewed as discrete, non-overlapping disciplines…marketing communications must, in addition to being creative, also be relevant…this requires targeting…individuals can supply information about themselves which assists the advertiser’s […]

2021-09-23T17:37:18+00:00April 24th, 2009|General|1 Comment

These are a few of my favourite things (2)

– Cool Digital Stuff (no credit or liability sought or accepted).

You know how it is. Sometimes, in fact often, one comes across something in the wonderful world of the web which is just too good to keep to yourself. Yes I am aware that many will have seen these before. But if one person discovers something here and gets joy or inspiration from it and shares it then… Well you get the idea. Enjoy.

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Serious stuff

Those in digital marketing need to be aware of what ‘normal’ people are thinking. Here are two points […]

2011-07-06T09:35:06+00:00April 17th, 2009|General|1 Comment

Microblogging: might as well face it, you’re addicted to Twitter

If we do something which we enjoy, it’s entirely rational and indeed human to seek to repeat the experience to achieve the same gratification again; especially if one feels able to afford the money and time required and it apparently does no-one any harm. To some extent we are all susceptible; but when and why does an acceptable habit/ hobby become an addiction?

Of course it’s a matter of degree and it comes down to this: some people just have addictive personalities. If you have a basic susceptibility, you can choose from alcohol, narcotics, the slots in Vegas, Grand Theft Auto, […]

2021-09-23T17:39:04+00:00April 13th, 2009|Social Media|1 Comment

Data privacy: ‘I am not a number; I am a FREE MAN!’

(No. 6 in The Prisoner, ITC 1967-1968)

In the UK, Internet service providers must now keep records of emails and online phone calls under controversial new government regulations which came into force this week.

In the internet age, does our right, as citizens of a ‘free’ society, to enjoy privacy inevitably conflict with the responsibility of governments to keep us secure and with the objectives of marketers to sell us products and services?

As internet marketers, we have an ever growing arsenal of analytics tools available to monitor and study visitors’ behaviour on our site, where they came from and […]

2021-08-17T11:46:25+00:00April 8th, 2009|General|1 Comment

My favourite Blogs

One of the best things about working in a lively office is the water cooler stuff; someone saying something that makes you laugh, cry, THINK. Today the office can be global and you can chose your water cooler mates. Pretty cool eh?

I read these because each of them gives me something different and each frequently transports me to another world (in a good way). I urge you to check them out and decide whether they speak to you; I hope so.

http://farisyakob.typepad.com/ (this guy really knows his stuff)

http://neilperkin.typepad.com (aka Only Dead Fish)

2011-07-06T09:35:23+00:00April 3rd, 2009|General|4 Comments

Awareness or response?

At the risk of stating the obvious, advertising is changing.

Today I saw an ad on the London Underground for Abbey Bank (part of Santander group). They currently probably wish they were still a Building Society like good old Nationwide (whose current advertising seems to be suggesting they are too boring to take any risks with your money). However this is by the by.

I don’t remember much about the ad but I did notice the call to action:

“Visit your local branch or abbey.com”

6 words.

Hurrah! At last we seem to be freed […]

2011-07-06T09:35:29+00:00April 2nd, 2009|General|2 Comments
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