General – Page 3 – Mike Berry Associates

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 […]

Mike Berry2021-09-23T17:28:20+00:00June 17th, 2009|General|8 Comments

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 […]

Mike Berry2021-09-23T17:37:18+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 […]

Mike Berry2011-07-06T09:35:06+00:00April 17th, 2009|General|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 […]

Mike Berry2021-08-17T11:46:25+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)

Mike Berry2011-07-06T09:35:23+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 […]

Mike Berry2011-07-06T09:35:29+00:00April 2nd, 2009|General|2 Comments

Virtual Arm feels real

Fascinating story in New Scientist.

For those of us interested in Virtual Worlds, the exciting question is: “What happens when people start to believe their virtual body (i.e. their avatar) is ‘real’?”

When one first enters Second Life (for instance) one of the interesting things is the freaky feeling of interacting with someone, one-on-one, in real time and yet of having no idea what their real name is, how old they are, whether they are male or female, what they actually look like or even where in the world they are (really) sitting as they type on […]

Mike Berry2011-07-06T09:35:36+00:00March 31st, 2009|General|4 Comments

Google: they know where we live!

These are unusually tough times for Google. The company, which is not accustomed to announcing bad news, is cutting 200 jobs in sales and marketing, (following the 100 recruitment jobs earlier this year) the biggest round of layoffs in the company’s history. Meanwhile a group of British MPs is up in arms about the new Google Latitude mobile tracking technology and various consumer groups have noticed Google’s share of the search market (79% globally and over 85% in the UK).

Now what’s all this fuss about Google Street View? And why is Google doing it?

Well […]

Mike Berry2011-07-06T09:35:41+00:00March 27th, 2009|General|4 Comments

These are a few of my favourite things (1)

– 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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My daughter still hasn’t forgiven me for sending her this link. I really like the shadows.

http://www.onemotion.com/flash/spider
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Great […]

Mike Berry2011-07-06T09:35:48+00:00March 23rd, 2009|General|1 Comment

TFM&A 2009 – a delegate’s tale

I recently attended the TFM&A show at Earl’s Court. (It stands for “Technology for Marketing and Advertising”, in case you’re wondering.)

I thoroughly enjoyed it; I caught up with some friends (both real life and Twittermates) ex-colleagues and clients and came away with sufficient ‘nuggets’ to justify the time invested. I only have one complaint and it’s a biggie…

As in previous years, the organisers chose to make admission both to the show and to the seminars completely free.

The predictable result was queues all round Earl’s Court 2 for the seminars and keynotes, even ½ an hour before they started. The keynotes […]

Mike Berry2021-09-23T17:07:52+00:00March 22nd, 2009|General|1 Comment