A tiny point with a big impact: the Vodafone dropdown menu for Media refers to ‘media and blogger contacts’ – very unusual.
We like this because it demonstrates that the company is open to bloggers communicating with them (some companies don’t see bloggers as part of the media pack – telecoms companies often do).
Sometimes the simplest things in life are so darned simple it’s like running full tilt into a brick wall.
Take data presentation for example.
In the brave new world of data journalism, I spend much of my life digging around in corporate websites trying to put together facts and figures. Usually I don’t care about the surrounding story: just nice articulated figures.
Like carbon emissions: how many plants does a manufacturer have and what are their respective emissions? Or, supposing I was into IR, what are the business’ product lines and their respective turnover and net profit?
It’s not that the figures are hidden or even deliberately obscured. It’s just that getting hold of them quickly and easily is like throwing yourself at the ground and expecting to miss: impossible.
Then I stumbled upon a site which made it all so wonderfully simple using one of the simplest of tools around: mindmaps.
In common with a very few other companies, ExxonMobil provide a way of contacting the independent directors via a dedicated page, which is clearly identifiable via the navigation.
Note that there are dropdowns for the visitor to select from, when completing the form: one for areas of interest, and the other is for the named person, or committee, that the visitor would like to contact.
We like this because it makes it easier to raise a concern, and easier to communicate with the board. While we’re sure that emails from the site to the generic Contact Us links would eventually find the appropriate destination, this makes the visitor feel that their concerns would be highlighted directly to the Board.
We are particularly impressed that this includes named individuals, though we do note that this is yet another page to be maintained when the Board constituents change.
Big data is the big thing these days, and companies are actively looking for ways to make sense of large scale information assets in order to affordably process that data, gain insights from it, and use it for effective decision-making. Considering that 5 exabytes of data is generated online every two days, harnessing the power of big data is a big task.
Taking a closer look, it’s clear that big data is growing at an increasingly fast rate:
Companies can view this astounding growth in one of two ways — as a big problem or as a big opportunity. IBM is just one of the companies that sees big data as a big opportunity. IBM offers enterprise technology and support to help companies use big data to optimize brand marketing performance and their bottom-lines.
According to IBM, there are four specific ways that big data can be used:
Big data can be used to identify high potential audiences and accurately target them. For example, Epsilon increased retention and revenues by 20% using the IBM Netezza data warehouse appliance to simplify advanced analytics on massive data volumes.
Big data can be used to enable the right message at the right time via the right content targeting. For example, Kelley Blue Book improved conversion rates and reduced model processing time from three days to one day (a reduction of 48 hours) using IBM’s Netezza data warehouse appliance to personalize content.
Big data can be used to maximize ad inventory by identifying high-value audiences across publisher properties. For example, MediaMath increased its delivery output by 10-times while cutting necessary manpower in half and displayed 13 million ad impressions per day using the IBM Netezza data warehouse appliance.
Big data can be used to optimize ad media purchase by understanding the value of channels higher up in the funnel. For example, Merkle reduced end-to-end run time for marketing campaign execution using IBM Netezza advanced analytics software.
IBM shares many these statistics about big data and more in its The Big Data Flood infographic, which you can see below. Click the image to view it at full size.
Is your company leveraging big data to improve brand marketing performance yet? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Patagonia, Inc. sells high-end outdoor clothes. That’s their bread and butter. But they don’t just do clothes like any normal company. No, Patagonia is a clothes retailer with an explorer’s impulse, an environmentalist’s conscience, a traveller’s spirit and a web designer’s digital nous.
That last trait is very important – Patagonia has a cutting edge website. It’s through Patagonia’s website that we have come to understand that it’s a trendy, up-to-date corporate that has a story, a personality, character, beliefs and fundamental convictions. Yes, through their website we get a company that has managed to humanise itself.
Their website has a load of standout qualities. The opening page is wonderful; first impressions are great and the feeling of open expanse that the interactive background gives you really draws the browser in. As you start to move around the site the ease of navigation and accessibility really boosts the online experience.
By having such a lively and interactive website – one that tells a story and projects a distinct personality – Patagonia connects on a personal level with browsers and customers. And by projecting personal values Patagonia can expect to draw out brand admiration, brand affinity, loyalty, a sense of rapport and therefore, fingers crossed, extended business relations.
On the dashboard Patagonia does all the usual stuff very well: it has a fantastic blog (it’s fresh, topical, very user friendly and customer-centric); they have a great interactive video section; a sports specific section; a tab for all the clothing and finally a tab dedicated to its social and environmental activism.
Patagonia’s environmental activism is something that really sets Patagonia apart from other businesses. Naturally Patagonia dedicates a lot of web time and space to explaining the work that it does to preserve and restore the natural environment for future generations. The company has been involved in a great number of initiatives since its inception and one of its central environmental efforts has been its commitment, since 1985, to donate 1% of all company sales to preserve the environment.
Then in 2002 Patagonia started a programme called “1% For The Planet” which encouraged other companies to do the same; to donate a percentage of sales towards the preservation of the earth for posterity. Since then Patagonia has been at the vanguard of an alliance of businesses that have been working actively to promote the earth’s natural habitat.
By doing this Patagonia has not only set out its stall as an admirable company among consumers and commentators but in a competitive business environment Patagonia has consistently pushed the envelope of corporate best practice. And by committing itself unreservedly to the betterment of the environment Patagonia has earmarked itself as a steward for the industry.
Vodafone show how to handle the switch from one Twitter handle to another. Converting (for whatever reason) from @Vodafone_Group to @vodafonegroup, they post one last tweet to point followers to the new account.
Note that they also redirect visitors in the bio, either to the new corporate Twitter account, or for customer service contacts on the corporate website. There are too many Vodafone Twitter accounts to list them all in the bio, so this is a good way of pointing visitors to a central point where they can find help.
We like this because it tidies up a loose end, and knits together the web estate.
