Asian e-Marketing September 2010 by MediaBUZZ Pte Ltd

September 2010

Online Marketing & Performance Strategies

“Free” Digital Content Not the Ultimate Future for Internet Media. Page 8

Singapore Emerges as AsiaPacific’s Cloud Computing Hub. Page 15

inSing.com: Singapore’s Favorite OneStop Destination. Page 49

EDITORIAL:

O N L I N E

V E R S I O N

Dear Reader, The 40th birthday of the Internet and 20 years of the World Wide Web gives us, one more time, a reason to get granular on life and survival in the digital world. Especially since the Internet is now an integral part of our lives with all its possibilities - from purely recreational activities to relevant daily routine as well as the daily struggles at work â&#x20AC;&#x201C; cyberspace consumes more and more of our time. At the same time faster development and continuous innovation pose fundamental challenges that companies and individuals have to overcome How will the on-going interactive value creation with the customer as an innovator turn out over time? What is important and should be kept in mind to survive in the ever changing digital environment? How should companies organize themselves in the future? This issue of Asian eMarketing on "Online Marketing and Performance Strategies" intends to present some interesting and worthwhile new insights while hopefully shedding light on some of your questions. Best regards,

Daniela La Marca Editor-in-Chief Asian eMarketing PS: Any feedback or in case you are interest in contributing an article to Asian e-Marketing or interested in advertising, please contact me directly at Daniela (at) mediabuzz.com.sg. If you couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t catch the previous issue of Asian e-Marketing here is another chance.

Exclusive Sponsor of this Issue

SEPTEMBER 2010

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

ONLINE MARKETING & PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES (Part 1) :

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Online Marketing’s Potential for Success

The Digital Content Economy: Implications for Monetization

Good Digital Brand Management Masters Information, Communications and Dialogues across All Channels

Online Media Consumption and Distribution Shifting in Southeast Asia

B2B Online Marketing Never Loses Its Appeal

“Free” Digital Content Not the Ultimate Future for Internet Media 8

TECHNOLOGIES & PRODUCTS

More Marketers in Singapore’s Infocomm & Technology Sector Use Social Media to Grow and Promote their Business

Acronym Asia’s Wealth of Keyword Intelligence

"Google Instant" Google Gives, Google Takes Away

Sybase 365 Processed One Trillion Mobile Messages By Now

Windows Internet Explorer 9: Will it Live Up to Expectations?

COMPANIES & CAMPAIGNS

inSing.com: Singapore’s Favorite One-Stop Destination

Peace One Day Global Education Resource: Window to a Better World

LEGISLATION

A Dozen Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy

Ovum: Regulation is a Necessary Evil to Protect from Having Sensitive Information Spread Around the Web

BUZZWORD

Singapore Internet Users Clock Ten Hours Each Month Watching Videos

10 12

Frost & Sullivan predicts Asia-Pacific Content Security to Double in 2010 14 Singapore Emerges as Asia-Pacific’s Cloud Computing Hub The Apple Store knocks HP Off the Top Spot as Most Visited Website

15 17

Samsung Galaxy Tab – the Real Bellwether for the Tablet Market 19 New ASA Regulations are a Boon to Victims of Google’s Change in Trademark Stance

Online Traffic to Property Related Websites in Hong Kong Fell by 40 Percent in August, According to Experian Hitwise

MMA Asia Pacific on the Role of Mobile Marketing in the Digital Age

Post Recession Global Retail Study by Microsoft Advertising and Aegis Media Reveals Emerging Shopping Trends

BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

Buzzword: Pay-Per-Performance (PPP) Advertising

Considerations for the Brave New World of Web 2.0 / 3.0

APPOINTMENTS

Social Media News: Online Marketing Future Trend?

IMPRINT

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

The Digital Content Economy: Implications for Monetization

The micro-economic landscape that surrounds the digital content market has a major impact on the monetization strategies and business models throughout the content value chain. Ovum identified some of the demand and supply-side factors that affect the digital content economy and suggests that a detailed understanding of such persistent but variable economic factors is an essential first stage for the development of monetization strategies in the digital content space. Supply-side factors Value chain disruption The digital content value chain is undergoing disruption caused by the convergence of publishers, broadcasters, telecoms operators, and content providers in the digital content space. Because of the resulting competition for digital content, operators must be sure to build strong relationships with content owners and make content deals while keeping an eye on rival services where content owners have equity. This is because content owners are more likely to make deals and offer advantageous terms to a service provider they can consider to be an asset in which they have greater control. Joint ventures are a popular way of locking in content providers. For example, Hulu is a joint venture between NBC Universal, NewsCorp, Disney, and Providence Equity that locks in key content providers as well as providing preferential licensing deals. Telcos could be squeezed out of the top slots for content in this new value chain unless they engage more deeply with content providers. In addition, operators can build strong and committed relationships with content providers by acquiring them. France Telecom, for example, is currently considering a bid for a controlling stake in French newspaper Le Monde.

Beware non-market production Large swathes of the Internet are populated by â&#x20AC;&#x153;nonmarketâ&#x20AC;? digital production, adding to the impression of abundant online content. Non-market refers to digital content over which producers have only some or no rights and expect no payment, or to content that plays no part in commercial markets. This includes casual user-generated content, the output of publicly or charitably funded bodies, and free content produced by individual enthusiasts in return only for reputation or personal satisfaction. The army of non-market producers has created a competitive force of free content that competes with the commercial market for content rights. The owners of digital content services need to take a close and serious look at non-market digital content and commercially free offerings as part of their business plans to ensure that the positioning of their service remains viable. Low marginal costs threaten pay models Marginal cost is the cost of producing one additional unit, and includes labor, materials, and any additional infrastructure or overhead. Online digital production and transmission ensures that low marginal costs are often systemic, enabling free ad-supported content models. This is a problem for operators that are struggling to compete against this OTT ad inventory with their own advertising networks, and tend not to have the global reach necessary to build scale. The problem does not stop there. Add the structurally low marginal costs of voice and video call services into the mix, and it might only be a matter of time before an over-IP player cuts deeply into mobile and fixed voice revenues by offering free ad-supported services. Free VoIP, video calls, and a complete unified communications (UC) play could compete favorably against the premium value bundles of network operators.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Playing game

the

rights

ownership

While the much-publicized overall picture of digital content on the Internet appears to be one of abundance, a closer look reveals its depth to be conditional on the type of content and the presence of copyright and patents. Digital content is in fact marbled with rich veins of “artificial scarcity” created by limiting the access and supply of digital content through the use of copyright and patents, content exclusivity, pay walls, and substandard user experiences. Although controlling artificial scarcity can be a source of competitive advantage, it is often attacked by players that strategically infringe IP assets, making them more available and less scarce (to themselves at least). In the cut-throat battle for market power playing out in the convergent communications and media industries, the most ambitious players will consider infringing rights if they appear weak and the strategic risk seems worthwhile. The legal war zone created by claims and counter claims make the rights-ownership game a key factor influencing the digital economy, and telcos should think hard before excluding themselves from a game whose winners can carve out significant competitive advantage. Demand-side factors Network effects are an opportunity and a threat Telecoms networks are perhaps one of the original examples of “network effects” in action. By network effects we mean the feeling of increased value every user experiences from each additional user in a network that makes being part of that network much more worthwhile. In the accelerated growth phase of a new network, this value is easily perceived and appreciated by users, as can be seen in a successful new social network. Once a telecoms network reaches maturity, however, the incremental benefits for users of additional users joining

a network are immaterial and lost in the sheer size of a globally linked system. Whether using close integration with Facebook to ride their network effects, or developing their own “sub-networks”, telcos need to rekindle the power of network effects to attract new users and reduce churn. To kick-start network effects, telcos need to renew the richness and value of their networks as perceived by their subscribers. Devices drive demand for content The installed base of devices drives both the supply and demand of digital content, making it a key factor impacting the monetization of content. New devices create or enable new use cases that drive demand for new types of apps and content as well as introducing new modes for consuming existing digital content. The nature of these devices mostly drives individual (instead of group) consumption, supporting the diversification of personal tastes and discovery. The increased choice of devices drives consumption opportunities, which in turn builds demand. Multi-screen strategies are developing rapidly with the launch of Apple’s marketmaking iPad, the announcement of Google TV, and tablet and e-reader offerings from a range of CE manufacturers. These adjacent players also have powerful device platforms that are extending across an increasing number of devices backed up by strong developer communities and powerful consumer brands. This is all bad news for telcos targeting the connected home through closed IPTV services in the hope of reversing the decline in their voice and broadband revenues. Consumer experience reliant on consumer behavior Don’t forget the less tech-savvy There is a significant difference between early adopters of technology and the “early majority” (the

mainstream market) that consists of users that take much longer to adopt new technology. The growth of digital content services can stall when faced with the challenge of selling services to the early majority, a group of prospective consumers considered less tech-savvy and risk-averse. This adoption gulf between techies and the mainstream is a permanent feature of the digital content economy that must be addressed. The lesson here is to significantly upgrade technology in terms of simplicity and ease of use, and to re-target the marketing effort to engage much larger and wider demographics. Telco subscribers are less likely to have the same demographic profile as leading digital content brands such as You Tube and Spotify, making it necessary for operators to shape their digital content services to target their own subscriber base. Local culture is increasingly important The local environment has a big impact on the digital content economy, not least through language. Significant regional differences also exist in consumer behaviour and taste as a result of local cultural, political, and religious factors, which can all affect demand for content. In addition, consumers in different markets have different preferences and habits in terms of the frequency of consumption, disposable income, content genres, price sensitivity, desired devices, and service features. These differences require the review and modification of value propositions, distribution channels, legal contracts, and other elements of the business model. By Mark Little and Eden Zoller, Senior Analysts at Ovum – part of the Datamonitor group A more complete list of economic factors is covered in the Digital Content Economy reports available from Ovum’s Knowledge Centre http://www.ovumkc.com/

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Online Media Consumption and Distribution Shifting in Southeast Asia Comprehensive Study Commissioned by Yahoo! Shows Online Entertainment and Gaming, Social Media and Mobile Access Fundamentally Changing User Behavior With more than 110 million Internet users across Southeast Asia, the Internet is undisputedly the region’s fastest growing medium. To help define this growing market for advertisers, Yahoo! partnered with leading research agencies, TNS, Nielsen and Synovate, to produce the second annual Net Index Study. Their report examines internet usage trends in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines and its rich research assists marketers in making informed decisions on online opportunities

• •

Second, social media engagement is on the rise with consumers discovering, contributing and distributing information via social networks. Lastly, consumers are hungry for entertainment content – whether it is news, gossip or gamesrelated.

The findings of the study were already presented during the press briefing by Ken Mandel, Regional VP, Advertising and Marketplace, APAC, Yahoo! at ad:tech Singapore in June 2010. Here are the key findings of the Net Index 2010 study:

The Net Index Study identifies three significant changes in online user behavior across Southeast Asia.

1. Mobile access is gaining momentum, with more new to Internet users jumping directly into this space.

•

First, regional users are increasingly consuming online media on the go. As mobile internet access has proliferated, users are more often connecting to the Web via their cell phones.

Attractive tariffs and 3G expansion – key factors driving the trend of Internet access though mobile devices.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

•

Cost-effective data plans with bundled offerings are also driving usage of specific features like instant messaging and email, particularly in Indonesia. Indonesia, the largest and fastest growing online market in Southeast Asia, has recorded a jump from 22% (2009) to 48% (2010). In Indonesia, Internet cafés are gradually losing ground to Mobile as the dominant access point. In Vietnam, mobile Internet access is picking up fast, nearly doubling year-to-year, from 10% (2008) to 19% (2009). Popular activities are searching for information and listening to music.

2. Online gaming is developing into a dominant activity within the entertainment category in markets like Vietnam.

• • •

Overall, the growth of online gaming is being led by young males. Recreation, socializing and competition are creating the push for online gaming. This audience segment prefers games focused on action, fighting and role playing.

3. Social media is changing the rules of online engagement and is ushering in a fundamental shift in the way people interact with each other and media.

•

This is a category that touches a massive audience that is growing exponentially and has huge media mindshare.

•

• •

•

User generated content and community building is driving this trend in some markets like Vietnam, where it occupies the largest share (47%) among social media activities. Social networking is also driving the trend in markets such as Indonesia and Philippines. Facebook is considered a catalyst for social networking. Usage is not solely restricted to it. Across the region, the key factor behind the rise in social networking is its ability to remove inhibition and facilitate linkage with like-minded people. Users typically feel less awkward when they interact with others online rather than in person. The use of social networking tools, while more widespread among the young, can also be seen in older age groups, particularly in Indonesia.

4. The popularity of online news has reached new heights for a number of reasons, especially in Vietnam.

•

News is available on the go due to frequent updates. • Entertainment and gossip related news strike a chord in Southeast Asia. The survey reveals a preference for this kind of content. • Availability of multiple online sources for cross reference of news. “At a time of explosive internet growth and adoption in Southeast Asia, Yahoo! is leading the industry in its commitment to equipping mar-

keters with the insights necessary to tap into the massive opportunities available in this region,” said Ken Mandel, Regional VP Advertising Marketplace, Yahoo! Asia Pacific. “The Net Index Report provides the science that will drive bigger ideas and better results in a rapidly expanding ad market.” The Net Index study not only provides findings on popular online activities such as email, search and instant messaging, but also sheds light on Internet usage trends and makes recommendations on how businesses can leverage the research to build their brand equity. “Each insight gathered from Net Index 2010 has a powerful implication for marketers in this region. Net Index helps separate myth from reality, providing a clear perspective and direction for businesses to craft meaningful online strategies. We are proud to associate with Yahoo! in developing a resource that will produce tangible benefits for the industry,” said Karthik Venkatakrishnan, Business Director & Group Head, TNS Indonesia, Yahoo!’s Net Index partner in Indonesia and Vietnam. Net Index incorporates well-established principles and techniques in the sample selection to ensure complete representation of the target population. Respondents were selected using a multi-stage probability sampling technique. Yahoo! will provide current and prospective clients relevant data to enable them to make informed decisions about advertising on its properties.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

“Free” Digital Content Not the Ultimate Future for Internet Media “Free” is being hailed as the Internet’s natural and ultimate future – as evidenced by a growing cohort of bloggers who insist “free” is the only solution to content providers’ Internet woes. Ovum, however, believes this economic logic is flawed, and that financing “free” through advertising alone requires a scale which is unlikely to be achieved in online entertainment unless the sector undergoes a radical revolution. The misconceptions of “freeconomics” The idea that the ultimate future for digital media on the Internet is free is a misconception based on the narrow argument that the marginal cost of distribution on the Internet is approaching zero. It is true that the costs of bandwidth and storage are falling, but they are certainly not yet zero. Moreover, looking at the marginal cost of distribution alone ignores rights and royalties, the significant capital required for developing a digital platform in the first place, marketing costs, and the cost of capital itself – not to mention management’s interest in making a profit. Any business model designed to offset the cost of digital media to the consumer must capture significantly more value than just the marginal cost of distribution.

Achieving such a thing may require massive scale that accrues many small sums from ad impressions (e.g. Google’s search model) or perhaps a significant upsell – for example, retaining high-ARPU subscribers by offering them a free service. To date, such free adsupported digital content services (e.g. YouTube, Hulu) have not reached a profitable scale using advertising alone. Even Facebook’s enormous scale has not quite enabled it to move into profit. Financing “free” using market externalities Developing ecosystems where enough value is captured to profit from digital media through market externalities (a third party), instead of charging at the point of purchase, sounds like a neat way of financing “free” for the Internet. Suggested third-party sources of revenue include advertising, conversational marketing, sponsorship, lead generation, selling personal data, API/developer fees, and subscriber churn reduction. Financing “free” requires a highly scalable business model, and ideally one that can benefit from network effects and automation – in other words, Google and Facebook’s model, which is predominantly advertising. Google got big by positioning itself at the gateway to the Internet and monetizing a wide range of consumers who were searching for something.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Facebook has just pipped the mighty Google on visits in the US, and although still struggling to make a profit from advertising revenues, it is at least now cashpositive. Google and Facebook are successfully financing “free” using massive scale – scale built from considerable network effects (the more people that are on a social network, the more people want to be on that social network) achieved by skillfully riding the waves of other peoples’ content, at zero marginal cost to themselves. Financing “free” when you do not have to pay for content is one thing; however, financing it with a narrower range of digital content, like entertainment, that you also have to pay for, is a different matter. “Free” is challenged by powerful forces of competition and ownership

A successfully scaled free service would eat up market share and become too powerful, enabling it to dictate terms with rights owners, who would be unlikely to enable such a service unless they owned it. Powerful pay-TV operators, and the likes of Apple iTunes, would leverage their strong content relationships in the same way. Digital entertainment platforms will find it difficult to build the scale required to support free services because of the friction created by rights ownership. Globally fragmented release windows, and slow rights clearance of back catalogs due to multi-party negotiations and exclusivity agreements, will make it difficult to produce a massive range of content, essential for triggering network effects and building scale. Finally, at least a couple of generations’ desire to own entertainment content precludes the use of a “free” digital transaction under any

circumstances except the most draconian and unappealing DRM, because free, highly portable content risks driving illegal file-sharing. By Mark Little and Eden Zoller, Ovum – part of the Datamonitor group

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

More Marketers in Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Infocomm & Technology Sector Use Social Media to Grow and Promote their Business Although this first time survey was already launched three months ago during CommunicAsia 2010, Asian e-Marketing believes it is worth to refer to it again as it indicates a robust outlook for social media use in Singapore. GetIT Comms and the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) have released information from a jointly-conducted survey that examines how marketers in Singapore use social media. The survey report revealed the changing marketing landscape here and how companies are responding to it. The key highlight of the survey findings showed that almost half of the respondents saw their marketing budgets increase from the previous year, with the majority of this increase going towards interactive digital media and social media. Another interesting finding was that the three top social media marketing tools are Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs with most companies using these tools to raise awareness of their brand and products.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;As a leading provider of marketing and communications solutions using interactive digital media and social media, GetIT Comms embarked upon this survey to get a better understanding of how companies are using the social media now, as well as their plans for the future. We also wanted to see which tools companies prefer, and how much time they invest in their social marketing efforts,â&#x20AC;? said Anol Bhattacharya, CEO GetIT Comms. The key findings of the survey were: 1) Budgets - Companies had an overall positive outlook for the year, and were willing to commit sizeable funds for their marketing efforts. More than three quarters of the respondents indicated that their marketing budgets had increased (44%) or stayed the same (32%) compared to the previous year. More value is being placed on new marketing channels, with 45% of the respondents saying that their marketing budgets for social media, social networking and interactive digital media have increased.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

2) Web presence – The majority of companies (90%) continue to use their web presence primarily as a means to inform and provide information about the company. However, taking a more advanced approach, 71% of the respondents are now using their web presence to generate sales leads. 3) Use of social media – 94% of the respondents use social media marketing in order to generate exposure for their business, usually through brand and/or product awareness. Significant numbers report that they also use social media to generate new leads (35%), establish a thought leadership position (29%) and engage customers (28%). Interestingly, these numbers jumped, when the respondents were asked how they would use social media within the next 6-12 months - generate leads (58%), engage customers (54%) and establish a thought leadership position (34%). 4) Social media platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs form the cornerstones of companies’ social marketing efforts, with 43%, 35% and 35% of respondents respectively reporting that they are active on these platforms.

Nevertheless, this positive data is mitigated by the fact that 35% of respondents indicated that they are not in the social media space at all. 5) Social media management – 70% of respondents manage their social media activities in-house, either by their marketing team, IT support team or distributed within the company. Only 12% outsourced their social media marketing to an external agency, with the remaining 18% managing it on an ad hoc manner. This demonstrates that more companies prefer to have a personal and authentic tone of communication, direct from the people who run the business, rather than outsourcing it to a third party. 6) Time spent – More companies showed sustained commitment to maintaining their social presence, with 56% of the respondents spending two hours or more per week using social media, and 24% spending more than five hours per week. Invitations to participate in the survey were sent out by both parties GetIT Comms and SiTF - via emails to their respective members

and subscriber databases, as well as being posted on the companies’ websites and on numerous social media sites. 126 participants responded to the survey, which ran for nine days. 80% of the respondents were based in Singapore and 84% of the respondents held marketing roles in their companies, or led their company. This gave additional weight to the findings, and increased the accuracy of the company’s marketing and strategic outlook. "It is very encouraging to see such a robust and progressive outlook for the marketing sector in Singapore. An exuberant 70% of the respondents said they feel that social media was effective in marketing,” explained Anol. “GetIT Comms believes strongly that social media can be an important marketing channel and that companies can realize more value from their web presence. We plan to do this survey on an annual basis, and hopefully we should see more positive data in the years to come, as more companies see the benefits from social media marketing.” The complete survey report can be downloaded from www.b2bento.com

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Singapore Internet Users Clock Ten Hours Each Month Watching Videos

ComScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released in April its ranking of the top video properties in Singapore based on data from its comScore Video Metrix service. The report found that 87 percent of Singapore’s Internet population viewed video online, with an average viewer consuming 10.5 hours of video during the month. “Online video is an integral part of consumers’ digital lives, with more people in Singapore viewing online video each month than visiting social networking sites,” said Joe Nguyen, comScore vice president for Southeast Asia. “It’s important for brands to recognize the substantial reach and highly engaging quality of the online video platform as a way to target and interact with consumers in an increasingly fragmented Internet environment.” Users Age 15-24 Display Strongest Online Video Engagement The average Internet user in Singapore spent 10.5 hours viewing video in April, consuming 130 videos for a period of 4.9 minutes per video on average. The demographic composition of online video viewers revealed that users aged 15-24 were the most engaged demographic segment, averaging 192 videos per viewer during the month and consuming more than 15 hours of video content. People aged 55 and older also showed heavy engagement with online video, averaging 12 hours of consumption and 155 videos per viewer in April. Although users aged 25-44 represented the highest percentage of unique video viewers, they spent less time viewing video and watched fewer videos per viewer than the younger and older age segments.

Google, Facebook.com and Tudou Capture Largest Share of Videos Viewed In April, Internet users in Singapore watched nearly 320 million videos, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 204 million videos, representing 63.8 percent of all videos viewed online. YouTube.com accounted for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the Google property. Facebook.com ranked second with 10.2 million videos viewed (3.2 percent market share), followed closely by Tudou Sites with 4.5 million videos (1.4 percent market share).

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Average Viewer Watched 130 Videos in April In Singapore, 2.5 million unique viewers watched an average of 130 videos per viewer during the month. Google Sites attracted the largest video audience with 2.1 million viewers during the month (99 videos per viewer), followed by Facebook.com with more than 1 million viewers (9.7 videos per viewer) and Microsoft Sites with 403,000 viewers (6.7 videos per viewer).

By comScore, Inc. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Frost & Sullivan predicts Asia-Pacific Content Security to Double in 2010 The Asia-Pacific secure content management (SCM) market is forecasted to grow by 15.4 percent in 2010 from just 6.3 percent in 2009 - with revenues rising to US$522 million by the end of the year. Frost & Sullivan industry manager Edison Yu expects growth to be driven by the continued migration to a services platform in a bid by enterprises to control costs. “Businesses are rapidly seeing the upside in the services approach,” he says. “Content security, particularly e-mail filtering, has proven to be a suitable ‘postertechnology’ for security services since diverting e-mails to a third-party vendor for security scans is generally perceived as having no direct tangible effect on enduser experience.” “In truth, the ability for such [e-mail security] services to offer enterprises with ‘spam-free’ bandwidth is enticing from an operational, productivity and cost perspective,” Yu adds. Regarding the Asia-Pacific Secure Content Management Market, new analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http:// www.networksecurity.frost.com) finds that the market covering 14 Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan will grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 18.4 percent (2009-2016), to clock revenues of just under US$1.5 billion by end-2016. E-mail filtering services, which accounted for about 59 percent (US$265.1million) of the total content security market in 2009, are expected to see a compounded growth of 15.8 percent annually from now until 2016; while Web security services will record a CAGR of 21.5 percent in the same period.

According to Yu, the need for companies to secure their Web gateways has risen in prominence over the past two years with the growing adoption of Web technologies. “The rapid emergence of Web 2.0 technologies and the importance of the Web sphere in driving business processes saw companies placing greater emphasis on securing their Web fronts beyond just the traditional URL filtering,” he says. He expects Web security services to gain hugely in the coming years, with more converged services encompassing anti-malware, application control, data protection and such being added into the mix of solutions offered by security vendors. Yu also adds that technology convergence will drive the integration of content security provisioning across both e-mail and Web security, as well as integration with other compatible technologies such as data loss protection or network security. “The ability for content security vendors to offer extensive portfolios of solutions across both e-mail and Web security, along with options for converged platforms, will be key in enhancing their competitiveness in what is an increasingly crowded marketplace,” Yu says. “This is especially valuable as enterprises look for defense-in-depth, with simpler management and lower costs.” By Frost & Sullivan The company's Growth Partnership Service provides disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. To join their Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Singapore Emerges as Asia-Pacificâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cloud Computing Hub Global and regional service providers have invested in data centers to support new advanced services in the region, which include cloud services. This has created a domino effect for demand: in particular, operators and MNCs require facility design expertise, network and IT infrastructure, the right staff skill levels, and an understanding of the operational requirements of data centers. The latest example is the announcement that Tata Communications is opening another enterprise-class data center for providing outsourced IT services for its customers in Asia-Pacific. This is part of Tataâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $180 million investment to provide data center infrastructure and managed services in Asia-Pacific between 2009 and 2011. Other global telcos with data centers in Singapore include AT&T, BT, Verizon Business, SingTel, and Orange. Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong contain most of the data centers in the Asia-Pacific region. While the facilities in Japan are mainly to support its domestic market, Singapore and Hong Kong are competing to be the preferred location for hosting data centers for service providers that serve MNCs in the region.

As the major global financial hub of Southeast Asia, Singapore has several strategic advantages. It has a stable government that has attracted many MNCs, and 60% of MNCs with more than 7,000 employees have their Asia-Pacific regional headquarters in Singapore. It is also where most large software application developers such as Google and Microsoft chose to establish their regional presence. Singapore is also one of the major network hubs in the region, which is attractive to both carriers and MNCs. It still suffers, however, from high real-estate costs and serious energy supply challenges. Regionalization will play to Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strengths Since cloud service providers will need to offer demanding SLAs covering real-time and critical business applications in the cloud, the geographical location of the data center is more important than ever. Having a few large global data centers may allow providers to reach a large scale and take the greatest advantage of their concentrated resources. On the other hand, placing data centers closer to customers allows providers to enforce security policies, improve access to content, and reduce network latency. Finding the optimum balance between both approaches is a dilemma that telcos are starting to face.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Centralization on a regional level will be the answer, and Singapore is in an advantageous position as a result. Furthermore, the choice of network partners in Singapore increases its attractiveness. As cloud-based offerings become more complex, Singapore may tighten its grip Many of the early service offerings within data centers included basic co-location and network services, with very few complex managed services. Telcos are now starting to position themselves deeper in managed services, complex hosting, security, and IT services. In addition, the major global carriers are expanding this capability beyond their respective home regions to address global MNC requirements. We think these developments will create a virtuous circle in Singapore. Most telcos in the region have built strong partner relationships and capabilities in these areas. We believe these will support service providersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; product evolution towards converged, hosted ICT, unified communications and collabora-

tion (UC&C), application-based, and IT services. The data center has now become the same strategic hub for the global carrier as the wire center was for the legacy local telecoms carrier. Telcos have also invested in professional services teams in Singapore, thereby recognizing the importance of professional services, especially at the early stages of CaaS deployment, to support MNCs with their virtualization trans-

formation and early adoption of cloud computing services. Regional professional services capabilities or partnerships with local companies will be essential for coverage outside a carrierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home region â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and a critical mass of relevant expertise is on the verge of taking deep root in Singapore. By Claudio Castelli, Senior Analyst, Ovumpart of the Datamonitor Group

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

The Apple Store knocks HP Off the Top Spot as Most Visited Website Hitwise has pioneered a unique, network-based approach to Internet measurement since 1997.

Figure 1: Top Shopping Product categories visited in June 2010 vs. June 2009 by Hong Kong Internet users

Through relationships with Internet service providers around the world, Hitwise uses its patented methodology to anonymously capture the online usage, search and conversion behavior of 25 million Internet users. This unprecedented volume of Internet usage data is seamlessly integrated into an easy-to-use, Webbased service designed to support marketers in better planning, implementing and reporting on a range of online marketing programs. According to one of their recent studies, electronic products were the most popular retail category visited by Hong Kong Internet users in June 2010. Electronics websites accounted for 36.9 percent of visits to all product retail categories, with the Apple Store ranking as the most popular electronic website, with 14.8 percent share of visits. While electronics was the most popular retail category visited in June 2010, increasing its share of visits year over year from 34.5 percent to 36.9 percent (See Figure 1); the House and Garden category was the fastest growing, with its share of visits increasing by 103.6 percent in June 2010 when compared to June 2009. “Retailers can use online intelligence such as visits to popular retail categories to keep track of what products are top-of-mind amongst consumers when developing website content and forecasting product demand leading up to peak shopping periods,” said Graeme Beardsell, Vice President, Experian Asia Pacific.

Apple Store climbs to the top spot of most visited Electronic websites Hong Kong Internet traffic to the Apple Store website increased 15.2 percent year over year, to take the number one spot as the most popular website in the Shopping – Electronics category in June 2010. Apple Taiwan was the fastest-moving website year over year, increasing its share of visits by 424 percent in June 2010 when compared to June 2009.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

The recent launches of the iPad and iPhone 4 in overseas markets are likely to be key drivers of the increase in traffic to these websites, as Hong Kong consumers continue to be intrigued and want to find out more about these products prior to their launch in the Hong Kong market.

Figure 3: Top Five Industries Visited before Shopping – Electronics websites, June 2010 compared with June 2009

Other websites that made it into the top five most visited Electronic websites in June 2010 included HP, Price.com.hk, HKGolden.com and Lenovo, with 12.03 percent, 11.97 percent, 9.4 percent and 8.37 percent share of visits, respectively. Experian Hitwise also identified that overseas Electronics websites accounted for 39.8 percent of traffic to electronics websites, which represents an enormous opportunity for local Hong Kong retailers to grab further market share. “Hong Kong retailers should keep in mind both the local and overseas competitive pressures that the Internet magnifies. The findings clearly show that online is a great channel for businesses to increase sales and market themselves. Investing in a strong presence online is vital, including for bricks and mortar retailers,” advises Beardsell. Figure 2: Top 10 most popular Electronics websites ranked by Visits - Month of June 2010

“Despite the popularity of social networking sites, retailers online should not completely forget about search engines. As we can see from the findings search engines Facebook was the major Social Network referring traffic to Electronics websites, representing 8.7 percent of upstream clicks. Yahoo! Hong Kong portal closely followed, accounting for 7.5 percent of upstream clicks, while Yahoo! Hong Kong Search was the major search engine referring traffic representing 5.9% of upstream clicks ranking ahead of both Google Hong Kong and Google. Figure 4: Top Five Upstream Industries Visited before Shopping

– Electronics websites, June 2010 compared to

Social networking and forums top drivers of traffic to Electronic websites Social networking and forums were the predominant channels for Hong Kong Internet users to reach Electronics websites in June 2010, accounting for 22.8 percent of referral traffic. Search Engine traffic is growing strongly as a channel to retail websites, with upstream visits increasing 68.6 percent in June 2010, compared to June 2009. Portal frontpages are another significant source of traffic to Electronics websites, as the third most popular referring industry (See Figure 3). “The popularity of social networking as a channel to websites should be a key focus for retailers online, as word-of-mouth and peer recommendations are key for consumers researching products,” said Beardsell.

Hitwise, an Experian company, is a leading online competitive intelligence service, providing its 1,500 clients around the world with daily insights on how their customers interact with a broad range of competitive Web sites and how their competitors use different tactics to attract online customers. For more information on Experian Asia Pacific, visit http://www.experian.com.hk For up-to-date analysis of online trends, visit the Hitwise Intelligence Analyst Weblogs at http://weblogs.hitwise.com

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Samsung Galaxy Tab – the Real Bellwether for the Tablet Market Samsung’s much-heralded Android-powered Galaxy Tab tablet device offers the first real test of both Apple’s iPad and the wider prospects for the tablet market generally. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is a more-than-credible iPad alternative The new device is in essence a scaled-up version of Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphone (as the iPad is to the iPhone/iPod Touch), featuring a seven-inch TFT display. It is perhaps the most credible Android alternative to the iPad launched so far – although an honorable mention must go to the smaller Dell Streak. Samsung’s credentials as the creator of a true iPad alternative are strong. Along with HTC and Motorola, Samsung has in recent times been among the most successful vendors in taking on Apple in the smartphone desirability stakes, aping Apple both in leaning towards the quality end of the market in terms of hardware and materials and, quite obviously to those who’ve used a Galaxy S, in terms of the overall user experience. Applying this same thinking to the Galaxy Tab – including adding typical Samsung bells and whistles such as support for the geek-friendly DivX/XviD, Ogg, and FLAC media formats – should therefore provide the basis of a tablet that should be able to compete with the iPad on similar terms. With its little brother the Galaxy S smartphone already selling well (over one million units to date) and demand for the iPad running high (although Apple has not issued any further shipment data since the device passed the three million mark in June), it is not unreasonable to expect the scaled-up version to also ship in significant volume. But will it?

Market demand for tablets is still far from clear How well the Galaxy Tab sells will tell us a great deal about the likely future development of the still embryonic tablet market. Many questions remain. For instance, can Android tablets (or other OS tablets such as the heavily rumored “BlackPad” from RIM) help build a bigger market for tablets and/or take market share from Apple as they jointly begin to erode the market for PCs and netbooks as part of a revolution in personal computing? Will high-end versions compete effectively with the iPad or will the presumed mass market be content with low-cost Android tablets? Or has the iPad already corralled the market for a device category that is neither one thing nor the other and which lacks a clear purchasing motivation, except for a dedicated hardcore of Apple aficionados? Answers to these questions will only really start to be answered later in the year, by which time the Galaxy Tab, Dell Streak, and iPad will have been joined by an array of variations on the tablet theme, by multiple vendors, and right across the price spectrum. But reasonable forecast scenarios are now possible With design and manufacturing of these devices well progressed – and vendor commitment becoming clear – it is now possible to make some educated guesses as to the market shape ahead. For instance, in the initial phase we now expect considerable substitution of netbooks for tablets, but not much impact on the market for dedicated e-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle – at least not in the near term. These scenarios and insights will be formalized in a new forecast Ovum is developing around such devices for publication during 4Q10. In the meantime, devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab are providing the perfect litmus test for the tablet market’s prospects. By Tony Cripps, Principal Analyst, Ovum part of the Datamonitor Group

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

New ASA Regulations are a Boon to Victims of Google’s Change in Trademark Stance The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has announced that it is extending its powers to cover all online marketing and advertising from 1 March 2011. Under the new regulations, the UK’s independent watchdog, committed to maintaining high standards in advertising for the benefit of consumers, advertisers and society at large, will have the power to remove advertisements and statements from Facebook, Twitter and pay per click (PPC) ads on all search engines. Paul Byrne, Senior Account Manager – PPC, at independent search and social marketing agency Greenlight, looks at what this means for online advertisers. Depending on how it is implemented, Byrne points out that ASA’s involvement may be welcomed by advertisers given Google’s recent trademark stance change allowing many more advertisers to use brand and trademarked terms in ad copy.

The ASA has been an active player in dealing with misleading and controversial advertisements in the UK for many years. It will likely operate as it does offline and wait for a complaint to be raised before conducting an investigation and taking action. How then would it go about removing a misleading PPC ad? If you dig a little deeper, the extra funding for this new extended remit has come from Google. It has reportedly contributed £200,000 to the new scheme. With such support from the world’s biggest search engine, ASA would appear to have a ready made solution to have ads taken down when advertisers are not behaving. The new regulations also give ASA the ability to position ads in the place of those of a malicious advertiser. As such, come March 2011, advertisers will need to be careful how they describe their competitors and/or offers. They will also need to be wary when bidding on competitor keywords or trying risqué copy to catch a potential customer’s eye.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

How will this affect advertising on social media? Due to being relatively recent, social media is probably not as regulated as other advertising fields. Advertisers will, however, need to up their game and be more wary about what is communicated in their official tweets, Facebook ads or Facebook pages. With the new regulations, businesses will likely be held responsible for comments made on their Twitter and Facebook pages which viewers deem to be offensive. They will need to implement stringent and rigorous measures to ensure they are fully aware of exchanges so they can act appropriately. There have been several examples where employees have been known to send malicious or foul language tweets under their companiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; official listing. Under the new regulations, these firms would most likely face complaints and possibly fines from ASA. For Website owners who host ads from the Google Display Network or other ad networks, the regulations could mean their site can be liable for hosting ads that are considered misleading or malicious. Although the change in regulations does throw up a number of questions, it could possibly help popular brands who are victims of compa-

nies selling illegal copies of their products through PPC or other online channels. If ASA focuses more on products-based advertisers rather than content, they potentially could remove advertisers who drive up the cost of branding online, damage the perception of a client's brand through cheap copies and irrelevant content, and make PPC in particular a less competitive space on certain keywords. Time will tell but ASAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s step into the online world will require advertisers to be more watchful of how and what they communicate online, where they advertise and also the chance to work with a regulated advertising body to hopefully better protect their brands online.

In addition with online advertising spend forecast to grow, this can only raise the profile of the industry possibly encouraging other similar regulatory bodies globally to follow suit. By Paul Byrne, Senior Account Manager - PPC, Greenlight Greenlight is an independent specialist search and social marketing agency headquartered in London www.greenlightsearch.com

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Online Traffic to Property Related Websites in Hong Kong Fell by 40 Percent in August, According to Experian Hitwise According to Experian Hitwise, a leading online competitive intelligence service, visits by Hong Kong Internet users to property related websites fell dramatically in the month of August, decreasing by 40 percent (see figure 1). Despite the fall in August, the traffic to property related websites has increased overall by 31.8 percent since January this year (see figure 2).

Figure 1

The recent announcement by the Hong Kong Government on August 14, to implement new measures to curb rapid real estate price rises is the likely reason for the drop in traffic in the month of August, as consumers in Hong Kong monitor the impact these measures will have on the market. Prior to the announcement, Hong Kong Internet traffic to property websites was on the increase, up 15 percent from August 13 to 15, accounting for 0.39 percent of share of visits by Hong Kong Internet users. Following the announcement, the share of visits to property related websites decreased by 23 percent over a five day period (August 15 to 20), accounting for just 0.30 percent of share of visits (see Figure 3).

Source of Figure 1-4: Experian Hitwise Hong Kong (September 2010)

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Figure 2

Search engines and portals remained the predominant navigation channel for Hong Kong Internet users to reach property related websites, with Yahoo! Hong Kong and Yahoo! Hong Kong Search accounting for 31.29 percent of referral traffic in August. Facebook was identified as the major social network representing 11.72 percent of upstream visits (see Figure 4). “The fact that search engines and portals rank as the top navigation channel to property related websites for Hong Kong Internet users, highlights the need for businesses to closely monitor such online traffic trends. This will enable them to identify where they should target to engage their audience effectively. In addition, website owners should ensure their content is easily found through search engine optimization,” advises Beardsell. Figure 4 Upstream websites visited before Business and Finance – Property

“The insights that marketers can gain from these Internet statistics are extremely valuable to identify trends. You also get predictive insights to improve targeting and engage consumers with performanceoriented marketing initiatives to win over competitors,” said Graeme Beardsell, Managing Director for South Asia at Experian. “With our depth of experience helping businesses convert data into insights, Experian Hitwise can play a vital role in helping companies identify opportunities and conduct marketing campaigns in response to different market trends specifically in Hong Kong. This will enable marketers to successfully engage and influence target customers in a timely manner.” Figure 3

For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit the Hitwise Research Blog at www.ilovedata.com and Hitwise Data Centre at www.hitwise.com/hk/resources/ data-centre

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

MMA Asia Pacific on the Role of Mobile Marketing in the Digital Age

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has just announced their repositioning to create additional membership benefits and enhance effectiveness to meet the changing face of mobile marketing. “In its formative years, the MMA placed great emphasis on helping build a global industry, creating standards and guidelines to support the growth of a new industry,” said Federico Pisani Massamormile, MMA’s Global Board Chairman and Interim CEO.

•

Promote the channel, the industry and individual member companies to brands and agencies in order to create more commercial opportunities for its members, demonstrating that membership creates a competitive advantage for companies.

•

Educate brands, agencies and consumers about the full scale and scope of the mobile marketing channel, highlighting its advantages and benefits.

“In many ways, the need to act as evangelists for the mobile channel has evolved into a need to get brands and agencies to increase spend on a channel they’re now aware of, marketers understand the need to include mobile in their plans, but still need support to find the right role for mobile in the marketing mix. We aim to make mobile an indispensable part of everyone’s marketing mix.” The newly repositioned MMA will now concentrate its efforts on what it believes to be the five building blocks of the industry:

•

Measure by creating and developing authoritative measurements and metrics while providing insights into the size, growth, trends and effectiveness of mobile marketing.

•

Guide by continuing to create and develop guidelines, best practices and standards designed to ease the planning, purchasing and implementation of mobile marketing.

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

•

Protect our opportunities by representing the industry before regulators and legislators and by managing industry selfregulatory programs to maximize public and industry confidence in mobile marketing, lowering barriers to entry and minimizing non-economic costs of doing business.

Mobile devices are becoming more and more popular as an advertising channel with the number of advertisers and campaigns increasing significantly in the last year. According to Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director of Mobile Marketing Association Asia Pacific, the first quarter of 2010 showed a positive trend for mobile campaigns, as several new industries joined the mobile market. While the lifestyle industry was first, the automotive, telecommunications, and media service industries have now started to actively use the mobile channel - of course with good reasons - especially in Asia. Mobile marketing success in Asia: a sure thing With a population of more than 3.8 billion people, a mobile population of 2.27 billion and a mobile Internet population of 432.65 million, it is expected that by the end of 2010 the number of mobile Internet users across the whole of Asia will expand by 168.54 million, taking the total number in the region to 592.19 million users. For any company involved in advertising this represents an astonishing opportunity to deliver display-based campaigns for brands. While developed Western markets usually have high expectations regarding access, speed and reach, the majority of mobile users in developing countries are still accessing content over 2G networks that painfully restrict the potential of delivering a rich-media mobile experience to consumers. With 3G or alternative wireless broadband access technologies just around the corner, if not already implemented,

the future for mobile marketing looks rosy indeed. Regardless of the access, mobile Internet already has a massive audience across Asia, not to mention that it is the continent with the largest growth potential with only 16% of the population having mobile access! Rohit believes that the mobile marketing and advertising industry in Asia is close to about $2 billion dollars, whereas the majority of that money actually comes from Japan and Korea, which are the most advanced Asian markets. He explains: “In developing markets, messaging makes the majority of the advertising dollar, I would say close to about 50%. In developed markets, however, it is the mobile web that drives revenue.” He believes that the mobile industry will be worth around $14 to 15 billion dollars in about five years time, taking into consideration that the global advertising industry is expected to make about $415 billion dollars. Reaching consumers in through mobile channels

Asia

According to Rohit, MMA’s Asia Pacific expert, while mobile marketing enjoys no more than 10% of the advertising spent right now, he expects this to change soon. “The reason why it will change is because PC penetration is very low. In some markets it is less than one percent. In the same market the mobile penetration is 60 – 70%”, he states and emphasizes further “These are the consumers the brands and marketers have never been able to reach but wanted to and therefore mobile advertising dollars will very soon surpass PC internet advertising dollars in Asia.” As an example he added: “In 2008 India had spent about $500,000 dollars on mobile advertising, today they are close to about $25 million dollars - a 5,000% increase in just two years!” Rohit also believes that in another three to five years mobile will get a bigger part of the advertising budget, pointing out that

the Internet is almost 20 years old now, while mobile is just a three year old business. Considering that fact, the success of the mobile medium is quite impressive, as it is already enjoying a 20 to 25% revenue share with the further prospect of subscribers getting used to mobile advertising. MMA’s Asia Pacific MD Rohit expressed hope that the ecosystem - the brands, agencies and publishers – come together as an integrated business solution instead of a simple sale of technology. That’s the tipping point he claims and adds, “I personally believe, the tipping point is now”. “There is no other medium that can be used to reach such a huge amount of consumers. It is the most interactive and targetable medium, which can be measured on an individual basis. It’s a medium that can enable both CRM and a relationship with the brand. It’s innovative and most importantly it is not sitting in isolation. It truly represents 360 degrees of marketing. Whether you do your TV, print, or outdoor ads, you can use the mobile device as a medium to get an immediate response from consumers, as it is an interactive element that’s not separate from any other medium”, he says. New types of interactive marketing delivered by advanced technology and innovations As mobile devices provide continuously creative opportunities to keep on innovating, there will probably always be something new on the market. Just remember the recent launch of the iPad, which gives us a new dimension and new advertising form to play with. Now the limitation of having a small screen belongs to the past, it had improved already with the iPhones and Smartphones which have bigger screens than the traditional feature phones, but the iPad’s innovation and creativity will require associations like MMA to adapt their guidelines around the clock

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

“As an association we believe it’s an ongoing process. We are already publishing advertising guidelines which we update every three months. We will continue do these updates and I don’t see an end anywhere in the near future”, Rohit affirms, explaining further: “Three years ago, there was no iPhone so there were no applications - now we have guidelines on applications. Two years ago there was no gaming - now we have gaming and we have applications and guidelines and best practices all around that. A few weeks back we didn’t have the iPad - now we have it and therefore we will prepare advertising standards and guidelines on that platform too. Technology and solution providers will continue to offer creative support and come up with innovative solutions, providing marketers and their consumers with targeted advertisements.” Mobile location-based advertising: the future driver in mobile advertising The dream of all marketers is the ability to reach consumers when the offer is most appreciated and today many industry players are counting on location-based advertising (LBA), a new form of advertising that uses location-tracking technology in mobile networks, to target consumers with locationspecific advertising on their mobile devices. According to Rohit, “Mobile LBA is one of the key drivers of the industry, but what’s really required for its breakthrough is content. Today the one thing that’s missing on LBA is the relevant content, so that you can map that content to the location that you are providing the service. That is the investment that needs to happen from content providers and publishers to become more and more effective”, he says. The mobile phone provides completely new and engaging ways to reach consumers and location is certainly one of the best targeting mechanisms to find and recruit consumers.

Rohit reminds us: “Successful innovations depend on consumer preferences; therefore you need to abide by consumer privacy, permission-based marketing and security. If we don’t, we will sadly damage LBA as we did with SMS by creating a new form of spamming”. He states further: “Consumers don’t hate advertising. They love it as long as it is relevant and targeted.” Traditional marketers are looking at location-based services (LBS) from a mapping navigation perspective, Rohit believes that it will go beyond that, namely “to a service level, where the content is generated based on the use of preferences.” Augmented reality is now: virtual world meets reality Rohit expects augmented reality to converge with location on top of applications, into a messaging platform, with the key driver for that convergence being content. Content could be information, service, downloadable content, searchrelated content, or just a service on game application. All are new innovations using mobile as a device to help facilitate that innovation. “Now you can have that on a location based service, e.g. an augmented reality application running when you enter a Nike shop that shows an ad or a discount coupon. That’s merging augmented reality to location-based services” and Rohit believes that the convergence of all these services will be the key driver for the growth of the industry which has spent a lot of time, effort and energy over the past four to five years to achieve this goal. Mobile search: another key driver The way we know how search on the PC and the mobile web happens today will definitely evolve in future. Most probably you search for a restaurant or hotel when travelling, so location based relevance is the stimulus, which increases with the ease that smart phones and iPhones provide. Simply put, mobile search is not just a shift of PC based web search to mobile

devices, but more a transformation into treelike branches of specialized mobile broadband and mobile content segments which will enjoy a fast-paced evolution. In some mature markets the local relevance is already very high as there is a wealth of good content. In the emerging markets and Asia, a lot of search actually happens through messaging, not the traditional mobile web service that we know, or the traditional search that we know from Google, Yahoo!, or others. According to Rohit, messaging will continue to be the key element for people to find contacts and services and be another key driver of the industry’s future breakthroughs. Mobile metrics and measurements of ad campaigns Mobile metrics and measurements are the hottest topic right now as they still pose a challenge to the industry. “The lack of mobile metrics and standards respectively is the reason why the big money isn’t coming in and why big companies and brands are not spending their dollars”, Rohit claims. “The reason that holds the industry back is the fact that it is neither possible to quantify and measure campaigns on mobile nor compare mobile to the other traditional media that has built-up research metrics and analytics over the past 30 to 40 years.” “If I were a brand manager at Coca Cola today, it wouldn’t be possible to analyze the performance of my

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

mobile campaign versus my print campaign versus my TV campaign, as I don’t have the metrics identified yet”, Rohit elaborates. “However”, he says, “a lot of work is going on at MMA”, which is working on measurement metrics guidelines together with industry bodies like the IAB, GSMA, and research companies like Nielsen or comScore. “We have already identified the key metrics measures”, he declares proudly, knowing that it will keep evolving as it has been with advertising guidelines, especially when taking into consideration the metrics across the market ecosystem.

It’s about identifying what those measures are and putting them into practice on a self- regulated-basis. The numbers, however, have to be big enough to be interesting to the major players and to drive standardization of metrics”, Rohit elaborated.

MMA, as an industrial body, does not represent any particular verticals’ interests. “We are not a telco body, brand body, or agency, but telcos, brands, agencies, publishers, handset manufacturers, and technology providers are our members” Rohit explains, “but when you work on an ecosystem which spans so broadly, you need to make sure everybody understands each other’s metrics to be able to measure those metrics at the same level. A simple solution is needed rather than the very technology-orientated metrics, which brands don’t understand, agencies don’t understand, consumers don’t understand.

He mentioned immediately the “6 C’s” of mobile marketing which Mike Wehrs, President/CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association once came up with. All in all it states that brands and advertisers must be able to provide positive and valuable experiences. If consumers don’t truly buy into and understand the rules of engagement for the messages and marketing programs they’re receiving, chances are high that they press the delete button without even looking at the content.

The Six Cs of mobile marketing Mobile marketers must ensure relevance, engagement, interaction, and most importantly respect from the consumer to be truly successful, Rohit once said and I wanted to know from him, if he sees businesses in Asia Pacific really following his advice.

Brands using mobile as a marketing channel have to make sure that they deliver messages that consumers believe are positive, highly relevant, somewhat entertaining and of specific value to them individually.

The trick would be to know how to build and develop this level of trust, and to develop a true dialogue of interaction with customers. Not to mention that marketers have to make customers aware of all the policing mechanisms in place to ensure that the mobile marketing experience they receive is a positive one. Most of all, marketers need to move away from traditional push or interruption-based - advertising and adopt the six central tenets of a positive consumer experience: choice, control, customization, consideration, constraint and confidentiality, which form the basis of the Mobile Marketing Association’s global Code of Conduct and Consumer Best Practices. Rohit emphasizes again that “brands trying to reach consumers via mobile should make sure their communications are interesting, relevant, valuable and, above all, requested.” By Daniela La Marca

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Post Recession Global Retail Study by Microsoft Advertising and Aegis Media Reveals Emerging Shopping Trends The global recession has affected the way consumers are shopping.

from a variety of sources before they buy - and the main source for their research is the Internet.

More than ever they are looking for value and as a consequence, they are making further decisions and spending extra time shopping – with Asians leading the way. This was among the key findings in the Global Retail Index, a new study commissioned by Microsoft Advertising and Aegis Media, and undertaken independently by London-based Essential Research.

Consumers across the globe said they were influenced by various Internet platforms – online and mobile advertising, forums and blogs, expert reviews and ‘something I read’ online – when making purchase decisions.

The study, arguably the most comprehensive retail research of its kind since the global recession, zeroed in on four key retail sectors – groceries, apparel, home electronics, and fast food. It polled 19,000 shoppers across 17 countries in the USA, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additionally, ethnographic studies were conducted in six markets representing these regions. The Rise of the Value Seeker Most of the respondents (94 – 96%) across all four regions admitted that they were impacted by the recession. The study showed that this has consequently given rise to ‘value seeking’ shopping behaviour, with consumers going to great lengths to find better value buys. Rather than taking a traditional approach when purchasing, post-recession value seekers are now looking for additional information

For consumers in Asia, social networking scored high at the start of the purchase journey – for use in research in all product categories including home electronics (40%), groceries (43%), apparel (40%) and fast food (41%). “The use of social media including blogs, forums and Microsoft’s social media tools allows consumers in Asia to have discussions with each other about the particular products they are thinking of buying. There’s a level of connectivity and trust in social relationships that plays an important part in the purchase decision cycle. This is more prevalent in Asia than other parts of the world”, said Richard Dunmall, Vice President, Microsoft Advertising Greater Asia Pacific and Americas. Given the exponential rate of internet users in the Asia-Pacific region (621% growth between 2000 and 2010), and with eMarketer predicting that by 2012, four out of 10 people online will be from Asia compared to two out of 10 from North America, it comes

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

as no surprise that Asians are more reliant on digital media when researching what to buy, compared to their counterparts in other regions. “Currently there are nearly 800 million Internet users in the Asia Pacific region alone. These users spend more time researching than ever before, and it is apparent that the Internet is playing a pivotal role in their purchase decisions,” added Dunmall. Compared to the US, Asian consumers outranked their counterparts in using digital media when considering purchases:

•

59% of Asians used the Internet during the pre-purchase journey compared to 28% of consumers in the US; 45% of Asians used a mobile phone during purchase (instore) compared to 25% of consumers in the US; 19% of Asians used digital media following post-purchase compared to 12% of consumers in the US.

This also shows that consumers in Asia are more likely to change their mind on what to buy, when deciding to make a purchase compared to their American counterparts. In Asia, as many as 81% of respondents admitted to changing their mind about what they wanted to purchase after doing research, while 72% said they changed their mind about a purchase when they used a mobile phone in store. Digital media was also found to be an effective post-purchase influencer with 26% of respondents in Asia stating that they would make product recommendations online. “Technology is rapidly changing consumers’ relationships with brands,” said Nick Waters, CEO of Aegis Media Asia Pacific. “We are now in an inter-connected environment where consumers seek information from a variety of sources regardless of a brand’s involvement. This makes it tricky for marketers – we need to listen more carefully and more frequently, and be able to adjust our approach in real time.

This includes being mobile and social with consumers purchase intention being influenced by comments, experience and entertainment from multiple points on their path to purchase.” “Shoppers are accessing multiple screens for their purchase information anytime, anywhere on their PC, on the phone and on the web,” said Dunmall. “This opens up more opportunities for marketers to reach consumers at several points along the way to influence their purchase decisions. Understanding consumers’ online behaviour can help brands reevaluate how they reach consumers at the right time and in the right way. As an immediate and fluid source of information, digital media is best placed to reach high-value consumers on a personal level,” he added.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Currently

there

are

nearly 800 million Internet users in the Asia Pacific region alone. These users spend more time researching than ever before, and it is apparent that the Internet is playing a pivotal role in their

purchase

deci-

sions.â&#x20AC;? Richard Dunmall, Vice President, Microsoft Advertising Greater Asia Pacific and Americas

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Considerations for the Brave New World of Web 2.0 / 3.0 Are Web 2.0 products such as blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and other forums a gathering place for egocentrics, eternally dissatisfied persons, and knowit-alls - or is it a global stage for opinion leaders, trend -setters, peer groups, or in other words for crucial minorities, that dominate majorities, taking on a pioneer role in society that becomes serious and predictable? User generated content

The New World of Opportunities

Is the undisputed authenticity of the represented Web 2.0 sufficient to make a projection of unique target groups? And if not, what management role for the brand can be delegated to become "user generated"? Will it become the new source for motivation and market research that delivers faster consumer reactions to brand managers? Or the other way around: will it be more important for brand managers to encourage consumers systematically so as to get a reaction to the brand and offer in future? Will it still be key to first convince opinion leaders and those who see themselves as experts, as they will then encourage others to participate and give an opinion?

Asia jumped directly from letter writing to the Internet and mobile phones, which provides a completely new starting position for marketing. Consequently the launch and support of brands via new communication measures also has to be considered anew too. Do brands arise on the Internet from "talk of the town" only or by "word of mouth" without traditional advertising? Dell, Zara and Starbucks, for instance, have proved that it is possible to succeed this way. Marketers should remember that Asian audiences should be addressed in a more visual than verbal manner. An image culture with a strong aesthetic definitely prevails in Asia â&#x20AC;&#x201C; therefore brand productions, based on cultural archetypes as well as myths and rituals, are particularly effective.

Psychographics and Demography Quite obviously target groups in highly developed markets move from fringe "youth craze" to much broader and general population strata. Consumers are largely defined by demographic structures and combined into target groups. Today - and especially tomorrow - psychographics are the key. Sadly you still have to look far and wide for analysis models on the Internet that respond to it, even though traditional media have invested heavily in this field of research over the past few decades as it does offer a vital planning aid. The Internet is not reflecting this knowledge and acts upon the principle of "calculated vagueness". Maybe this is the reason why advertisers still do not invest with the same enthusiasm in new media?

The prognosis replaces the coincidence by random error New Media is generally an arena of inaccuracies, which also promises at the same time exciting new channels that reach out to courageous and intelligent persons. Those who do not have the heart to explore new ways in marketing will soon be left behind by those who show an entrepreneurial flair, courage and initiative. Experiment and put your hard earned expertise and know-how together to succeed. Tackle projects with a sporting frame of mind - skills and luck determine the game, just as in real life! By Daniela La Marca

BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

Social Media News: Online Marketing Future Trend? The marketing industry is facing new challenges, as social media, blogs and Twitter are changing the media landscape. As people are spending more and more time online searching for information, or maintaining social contacts, both their information and communication behaviours have fundamentally changed. This new culture of communication will push corporate communications towards more openness and transparency, forcing them into direct dialogue with their end customers. Instead of striking advertising, honest and matter-of-fact information is required. The new Web 2.0 media provide new opportunities for news presentations and dissemination. The Social Media News The Web has spawned many new media for direct communication with target groups. With a publication across many different communication channels on the Internet, businesses can increase the reach of their marketing message multiple times and improve their visibility in search engines.

The new Web 2.0 media provide a new way of presenting and distributing news. Compared to a traditional press release, the so-called Social Media News or Press Release 2.0 reaches not just media contacts, but also potential customers directly on the Internet. Online PR is thus an important marketing tool to attract new clients as it is freely available for everybody. Content of Social Media News In order to utilize the potential of online press releases for the acquisition of new customers, it is important to focus on content and structural realignment. Mature media users expect honest, direct and customized information that answers their questions and solves their problems. Social Media News should therefore contain valuable information and individual added value for readers that appeals not only to journalists and editors, but above all, potential customers and prospects. Search engine optimization of Social Media News It is crucial that the information is found by potential readers, so do make sure that you use the correct search terms.

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Search engines index web content by using keywords to present them as search results. It is important to be geared to the terms of the search habits of potential readers, as only what they search for is important. Keep in mind that people are usually looking for more generic terms of daily speech, instead of complex technical terms. A customer would most likely look for "fashion" instead of "clothing" or “magazine” instead of “periodical”. The best search engine optimization is only useful if the content of the text also offers a significant added value to the reader. Therefore, keywords should only be used in meaningful contexts and thematically relevant text. An excessive use of keywords in meaningless texts is counterproductive and falls flat by human and machine searches. Structure of Social Media News As in a traditional press release, a descriptive title and possibly a subtitle is needed in social media news - that is where important keywords should be placed, as online readers often only quickly scan text.

A suitable media design would include a clear structure and layout of the main facts with short paragraphs and subheadings or even random lists. In the contact information, companies can embed links to their site which can inform visitors of their activity profile. Placements of deep links, which connect to a special landing page, lead readers to further information or directly to the point of sale. In addition, images, graphics, audio or video material can be added to the press release. Channels for online press release distribution: press portals, Twitter, Facebook and Co. First of all, social media news should be placed in the press center and the social media newsroom respectively of the company's website. Social media news can also be linked to further information, multimedia elements, as well as social media links and related bookmarks.

Press portals are particularly attractive for search engines, as they include high-quality content and the latest data which is constantly scanned by search engine robots from Google and Co. Therefore, publishing on press portals should increase the chance of a good ranking of the information. More channels for communications and the linking of press releases are social networks like Facebook, micro blogging services like Twitter and social news portals, like Mister Wong. Any publication with contact data or a link to further information generates back links to your own Website influencing your search engine ranking positively. So, it is definitely worthwhile to place press releases on as many websites and portals as possible. By Daniela La Marca

In order to increase the reach of Social Media News, spreading PR text via press portals is the best solution.

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Online Marketingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Potential for Success When you walk around town, you run into hundreds of unfamiliar faces. Probably you find the one or the other attractive and some simply unpleasant, however, most of them would not strike you as noticeable. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s already well known in the offline world, the online market is just slowly taking note of the challenge for brands, products and services on the Internet that are often passed by unnoticed. Why this should bother you is simple: online users purchase only from those who have a solid image which is without exception a strong and compelling brand identity. Companies that do not know how to present their brand uniformly online will be punished by ignorance and competitive displacement. The corporate online presence is more than a digital business card it is rapidly becoming the key point of sale in our modern networked society. Offer and price are often not enough as products and services have become interchangeable in most industries and Internet users are being flooded with

offers that over or underbid each other in price and performance. Differentiation, independence, and uniqueness are often not applicable, although there are compelling arguments why a differentiated positioning in the Internet is worth pure money:

1. The Internet has an enormous range: you can reach in the online world, using relatively inexpensive methods, a great number and variety of selected target groups. Just as limitless as the medium is, are the number of competitors and offers, so without a well-defined differentiation you will simply be overlooked. 2. A product looks like any other: especially on the Internet, customers look very briefly at the product or service. If the customer does not realize within a few seconds, where your product stands out positively from the others, they will likely be, with the next click, on the site of a competing vendor. 3. A brand cannot be there for everyone: your company, your products and services need a distinctive profile to appeal to its target groups in the vast information overload that is the Internet. A clear target audience profile can help you enormously to reach your goal.

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4. Use the power of word of mouth on the net: ideally, your target audiences are looking specifically for your products/ services, rating them in social media forums help build up and sustain a positive reputation for you. Free of charge and tremendously confidence-building. Brands create focus, give a product or service an individual profile that provides buyers with a feeling of emotional added value. Building-up a brand online can happen quickly, as everything related to the Internet benefits from its biggest advantage, which is undoubtedly speed. Do still consider carefully the peculiarities of this vaunted millennium phenomenon "brand” to avoid the risk of failure. Keep in mind that the basic rules of marketing have not been overridden by the Internet and that qualified brand building is based on carefully and strategically planned activities: Positioning - The values of the brand must be firmly defined and, in the ideal case, be formulated.

Strategy - The positioning must be adapted in an appropriate strategy, depending on:

• • • • •

the product, the brand, the competition, the market, and the target group. Implementation - Any modalityspecific measures (verbal, visual, acoustic, etc.) must bear the fingerprint of the brand. Important for the trademark is "flexibility", as it is in general not enough to simply repeat a word over and over again:

•

Work with synonyms and semantically similar words. • Make sure that your offer signals "flexibility" - for example by its use or by the product-related services. • The visual, auditory online design of your brand must also convey these values. It requires creative and brandconforming expert know-how to convey worlds of meaning through modality specific impressions.

Control - Particularly relevant is the on-going successful control of your communication activities due to a targeted approach based on stringent positioning as well as less wastage and an efficient budget stake. So where else can spending be measured easier and more success-oriented than on the Internet? Performance marketing Despite or perhaps because of its fast pace and dynamics the Internet should not waive some of its established structures. The decline of target groups, the lack of customer segmentation, the interchangeability of products or services and ever increasing competitive pressures are not just phenomena of the Internet, but are issues the offline advertising world has been struggling with for years. Thus, for both worlds the following admonition applies: “Differentiate yourself or somebody else will be doing it for you”. By Daniela La Marca

BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

Good Digital Brand Management Masters Information, Communications and Dialogues across All Channels What kind of media is your target audience using? If you cannot answer this question with certainty and peace of mind, you might have a problem with your brand communications. Media usage is becoming more and more convergent, both technically and in content, with a tendency towards the use of different media on a single device. A good example is Appleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iPad which is perfect for reading, watching movies, playing games, writing and surfing the Internet. Think of your PC at home, it is likely not only used for work, but also for watching a movie or calling friends via Skype. Not only from a technical point of view is media usage changing, offers are merging on a content level as well because information, entertainment, interaction and transaction are getting closer together. The launch of a movie, for example, is no longer limited to

seeking attention in cinemas or through traditional advertising. Today, movie reviews are published in magazines and online portals, with the audience discussing what they have seen on blogs or social networks. Cinema tickets are booked via mobile tagging, and the tie-in computer game can also be purchased online. Media boundaries are blurring and users are facing the challenge of filtering out the right and relevant information for themselves, which pulls them more and more to the Internet as nowhere else information can be accessed and recycled so easily and quickly. Do not forget that online services are always and everywhere available at a usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; beck and call through the growing use of mobile devices. That is why digital brand management must focus on information, communication and dialogue across all channels.

BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

Keep in mind that the online consumer is a critical and well informed individual, who realizes very fast when he meets only empty words. Internet users are usually looking for added value; so a company that provides information online should keep it current, rich and consistent.

These three essential points have to remain tangible and understandable, as every entrepreneur who does not wish to neglect online media is planning to make a YouTube video, create a Facebook page, or set up a blog.

So if you want to create a YouTube video, ask yourself who should see this, with what benefit(s), and whether it is suited for viral distribution; if you want to launch a blog, then you should rely on specially prepared material, which follows an established editorial plan and reports on a daily basis; if you decide on a Facebook page, provide a variety of brand-related and target group relevant information. With such thought out approaches and All these ideas are good as long as offers, your audience will gladly be they fit into the overall brand com- informed by you. munication strategy, but those who do not have content for online comBy Daniela La Marca munications, should either create it quickly or completely rethink their venture.

BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

B2B Online Marketing Never Loses Its Appeal B2B marketers face two key challenges: reaching key decision-makers and demonstrating marketing results. Unfortunately, outdated marketing tactics, immature lead management processes, and metrics focused on pipeline inputs - not sales results - keep B2B marketers from rising above these tactical issues. If business marketers embrace interactive tactics and use technology selectively to integrate online communications into their marketing mix and align it with sales, they can move from being basic sales-centered supporters to customer-centric strategists as they evolve customers from buyers to advocates. B2B companies plan the amount and the share of their marketing budget very carefully - not only in economically difficult times. They always face the challenge of investing their budget well while achieving a high return on marketing investment (ROMI). The ultimate goal of marketing managers, in addition to getting customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; loyalty, is to increase brand awareness and generate new leads. That is why online marketing tools are in great demand as their success is directly measurable and their efficiency can be quickly optimized. Measurable and controllable response-oriented activities in direct and online marketing will most probably remain the major topic of interest in future.

B2B marketing plans are always laid out in the medium to long-term as the sales cycle can often last several months if not years. New and existing customers, both often search for manufacturers, suppliers and service providers long before their actual purchase decision. For B2B companies, it is particularly important to be present on the Internet, especially in the first phase of a customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purchase process. Depending on the company, industry and goal, business directories, online portals and search engines are the key information outlets that customers search. Information retrieval on the Internet and in search engines should be improved so the brand can be better remembered and recognized by decision makers, buyers and users. Each business year brings sales and marketing challenges with the familiar goal to reach the top with efficient and sustainable measures. Only those who face the exciting challenges with courage, efficiency and perseverance will master their way from the bottom to the pinnacle of success. Asian e-Marketing has energetically focused our attention and resources over these past few years on delivering success in targeting and marketing efficiency - we look forward to inviting you soon to become part of our new venture offering a turnkey solution for online marketing. By Daniela La Marca

TECHNOLOGIES & PRODUCTS

Acronym Asia’s Wealth of Keyword Intelligence Acronym Asia is the regional arm of Acronym Media, a leading global search and keyword-driven marketing agency. Based in Singapore, the company is committed to work with international clients throughout the entire Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region. Noted for its distinct approach to enterprise-wide keyword optimization, local teams and in-depth knowledge of the Asian marketplace, specifically its linguistic, cultural and technical challenges, Acronym Asia has helped numerous clients running localized and multinational campaigns, including SAP, HP, and Johnson & Johnson among others. The company’s name Acronym derives from the Greek words “akros” (highest) and “onoma” (name/ word), which actually describes their core business, namely “Keyword-Driven Marketing”, which calls for

the highest importance to be given to words that form the language customers use and understand. According to Anton E. Konikoff, Acronym’s CEO, their passion for search marketing and their belief in the power of keywords inspired them to develop their distinct approach. He believes that when it comes to marketing online, a keyword is truly the best proxy for a customer need, since most of web activity is indeed word or text driven. Based on their wealth of keyword intelligence and insights marketers can efficiently optimize cross-media campaigns using proven scientific methods grounded in psychology and linguistics. Acronym’s unique Keyword-Driven Marketing™ methodology places highest importance on the language and keywords customers use and understand in order to help clients discern user intent and build effective marketing programs.

TECHNOLOGIES & PRODUCTS

The keyword-driven approach gives marketers a roadmap to decode the intent behind keywords and create powerful marketing messages that will resonate with customers. Guided by keyword intelligence, Acronym’s experts drive crossmedia optimization and craft enterprise-level SEO, paid search, contextual and other digital marketing programs. Analytics serve to give actionable insights With its sister company, ROI Labs, Acronym Media helps their clients to choose the right technology as analytics enables them to find the story behind sheets of data. ROI Labs assists through the whole process of tool selection, setting KPI’s, implementation and then interpretation of the data. Acronym is relatively tool agnostic and does not really believe in a one -size fits all type solution. Instead the company prefers to look into clients’ needs and objectives before recommending a tool that would be most appropriate.

Free tools are often recommended by them first, before advising clients to use a tracking tool, like Google Analytics, and only then are paid tools such as Omniture, Webtrends, etc. taken into consideration. The integration of an ad-serving tool into the web analytics tool used for site tracking can generate invaluable data. Especially with the increasing use of video evaluation for video metrics that can help determine user engagement levels and even creative wear-out. The proprietary tool Enterprise Keyword Optimization System™, called EKOS™, is a scalable dashboard reporting platform developed by Acronym that simplifies and streamlines the wealth of data produced by online marketing efforts. EKOS provides actionable search and online marketing insights by integrating comprehensive web analytics data – including conversion funnels, bounce rates and visitor profiles – with each client’s organizational structure and business goals.

“Acronym can now firmly stake its claim to being a proven search leader in Asia with the capabilities to handle a market as unique and complex as China,” said Janice Tan, General Manager, Acronym Asia, as her fellow Acronym Asia Strategist Li Zhao has become the first Baidu-certified Search Marketing Specialist outside of China. “This certification is invaluable as we expand our global footprint and it will allow us to combine our domestic Chinese knowledge with global best practice for optimal results”, Janice added. Earned through rigorous examination and training, the certification recognizes selected marketers who are qualified to implement, execute and manage search campaigns and accounts in Baidu, the world’s leading Chinese language Internet search provider. As Baidu is an integral part of any digital marketing campaign in China, Acronym is excited to leverage its growing expertise to provide keyword-driven marketing solutions that improve customer response and ROI for clients throughout Asia. By Daniela La Marca

TECHNOLOGIES & PRODUCTS

"Google Instant": Google Gives, Google Takes Away Google has just announced its “streaming search” service, Google Instant, which is coming out of limited Beta testing and is going live for all users. According to Adam Bunn, Head of Search at leading independent search and social marketing agency Greenlight, when it comes to search engine optimisation campaigns (SEO), some websites may now suffer a drop in traffic. This service could also potentially result in complications for rank checking software and impact on search demand figures given by Google’s keyword tools. With regards to paid search, Matthew Whiteway, Director of Campaign Management (paid search) at Greenlight, says it could play havoc with an advertiser’s Google Quality Score. Whiteway also says Google’s motives for doing this must be questioned. Given that the “longtail ” is becoming increasingly important, with search queries, the cost-per-click (CPC) Google can charge for “longtail” keywords is significantly lower than that on one or two keyword search queries. Therefore the more people that search for “longtail” search queries, the less money Google can charge the advertiser.

Google’s development uses AJAX to dynamically serve search results as you type. Each time a new recognisable word or phrase is typed that changes the results set in a meaningful way, Google will fetch the search results for that word – without you having to hit “search”. So, if you’re intending on searching for ‘scary books suitable for children’, Google might first fetch results when you’ve finished typing ‘scary’, then ‘scary book’, then ‘scary books’, then finally ‘scary books suitable for children’. Bunn says this is a mightily impressive display of processing power on Google’s part. Now, for every search you do, Google may have to process anywhere from a couple to half a dozen different searches. It has got to do this fast enough to keep up with your average typing speed. This, on top of the fact that retrieving and sorting thousands of documents in a split second is already a modern marvel admittedly one that few people spend much time thinking about.

TECHNOLOGIES & PRODUCTS

What of the impact for SEO? According to Bunn, SEO campaigns including long multi-word keyword variants may see a drop in traffic for those keywords as a result of streaming search. Why? Users may now find something to click on before completely typing their originally intended search term (depending, of course, on Google being able to provide accurate enough results at an earlier stage in the search). Consequently, to be visible/show up in search results, it may become more important for websites to optimise for the shorter, constituent parts of longer keywords. “For example, if a website has optimised for and holds good rankings for ‘cheap car insurance UK’, that term may lose search traffic as UK users find that the shorter ‘cheap car insurance’ returns several relevant looking results, negating the need to finish their sentence.” Bunn points out that the constituent parts of longer keywords are often the types of generic keywords that are typically dominated by big brands and powerful sites with the cash to maintain rankings in an extremely competitive keyword space. “So for smaller websites, this could well be a case of first Google giveth (the “May Day update”) then it taketh away (streaming search results).” We’ll have to hold tight for the exact repercussions, which could also extend to complications for rank checking software (if AJAX is involved in retrieving search results) and impacts on the search demand figures given by Google’s keyword tools (if each stage in the streaming search counts as an impression). Ramifications for paid search In relation to paid search, the question is whether Google will count each refresh/change of the search

engine results pages (SERPS) as an impression for the advertiser. Whilst some advertisers will believe increasing the number of impressions/eyeballs that see their ad will help improve brand awareness and brand recall, from a pay per click (PPC) marketing perspective, this increase in unwanted impressions could play havoc with an advertiser’s Google Quality Score. “At Greenlight, we are constantly looking for ways of reducing wasted impressions for our clients with the objective being to improve click through rate (CTR) and therefore relevancy, one of the most important factors of Google’s Quality Score”, says Whiteway. “If Google is going to count these dynamic changes/refreshes to the SERP then should we also expect to see some fundamental changes to the Quality Score algorithm, the keyword Match Types, or do we simply need to increase the number of negative keywords in the account to several hundred thousand? Only time will tell.” Whiteway says Google’s motives for doing this must also be questioned. It has been suggested that as users become more and more internet savvy, the number of keywords used for each search query is increasing. For example, users looking for low annual percentage rate (APR) credit cards historically may have simply searched for

“credit cards” and then conducted the filtering process manually, whereas in recent years the “longtail” has become increasingly searched for and important, with search queries such as “credit cards with low APR” for example, growing in popularity. So why would the “Google financiers” not like this “longtail” trend? Money, says Whiteway. “The CPC that Google can charge for ‘longtail’ keywords is significantly lower than that on more generic (one or two keyword search queries) ones. Therefore the more people search for ‘longtail’ search queries, the less money Google can charge the advertiser. With ‘streaming search’ therefore, Google is potentially ‘helping’ users find relevant results with less search term queries, thus increasing the number of clicks on generic terms and therefore increasing the CPC for the advertiser.” Many would argue Google Instant is an example of Google flexing its technological processing power and helping users get results quicker. However there must also be some form of financial benefit for Google in making such a dramatic change to the way it finds and displays the results. Which explanation is true? We are unlikely to ever really know.”

TECHNOLOGIES & PRODUCTS

Sybase 365 Processed One Trillion Mobile Messages By Now Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc., a global leader in mobile messaging and mobile commerce services, announced recently that it has processed more than one trillion inter-operator messages since the company launched the first SMS interoperability messaging hub in 2001. One trillion messages is equivalent to processing approximately 32,000 messages per second for every second in one year. With the phenomenal global growth of mobile messaging, Sybase 365 has reached a paramount milestone, and is rapidly accelerating beyond it by currently processing more than 1.5 billion messages per day and reaching 4.5 billion subscribers around the world. While it took eight years to get to one trillion messages, based on current and expected traffic growth, Sybase 365 should hit the next trillion messages in 2012. Consumer appetite and enterprise adoption of the mobile channel is fuelling this growth in volume, availability and sophistication of mobile services. According to the Sybase 365 Global Consumer Acceptance and Usage Report 2010, 70 percent of consumers were interested in additional mobile services.

“No other communication medium has the ability to reach more people than SMS - truly unprecedented in its scope,” said Marty Beard, President, Sybase 365. “What started primarily as a consumer phenomenon has now moved squarely into the enterprise. Financial institutions, retailers, consumer packaged goods companies and many other enterprises are increasingly leveraging mobile messaging for marketing, customer relationship management, payments and mobile commerce. This trend will only accelerate." As mobile messaging volumes grow, having a reliable, scalable messaging backbone to deliver mobile services is vital, and Sybase 365 continues to provide greater levels of service and functionality to its customers, helping them maximize and expand service offerings to their subscribers and consumers, and to increase revenue and margins. In addition to providing unrivalled messaging between 900 mobile operators on the industry’s most extensive, private, operator-grade network, Sybase 365 offers innovative value-added services including:

TECHNOLOGIES & PRODUCTS

•

Sybase 365® Intelligent Routeback solution – On behalf of operator customers, Sybase 365 selects the most cost effective and high quality SMS routes, via hub or bilateral delivery, to an SMS interworking roaming partner destination, anywhere in the world. Leveraging the best in class services of origin based routing and number resolution system (NRS) to optimize messaging traffic flows, the service decreases complexity, improves quality and increases revenues for mobile operators. Next generation Mobile IP services – Sybase®IPX 365™ is a comprehensive suite of IP services and connectivity options that provide global data roaming (GRX), voice transport (both on-net and off-net), SS7 signaling transport, MMS, and SMS. Sybase®Operator Analytics 365 - leverages the world leading Sybase IQ technology to offer a unique solution that allows operators to quickly and easily analyze information on their messaging traffic.

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Mobile Marketing and mCRM services help enterprises engage with their customers at every point in the customer life cycle. From creating awareness to enabling purchases, supporting the consumer postpurchase and driving customer retention.

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End-to-end Mobile Commerce solutions introduce a new channel in both developed and emerging markets, to interact with customers and introduce new service offerings such as micropayments, bill pay, mobile banking, payments for goods and services, mobile money transfer, and mobile airtime top-up.

TECHNOLOGIES & PRODUCTS

Windows Internet Explorer 9: Will it Live Up to Expectations? Microsoft Corp. released the new version of its Web browser just last week, aiming to stem market-share losses to Mozilla’s Firefox, Google Inc.’s Chrome and Apple Inc.’s Safari. Their new Web browser Windows Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) has been designed to deliver a fast, clean, trusted and interoperable online experience that takes full advantage of Windows 7 and puts the focus on the sites and applications people care about, but will it live up to expectations?

•

Key highlights of IE9 include:

•

An all new, clean site-centric design that integrates with Windows 7: Internet Explorer 9 puts the focus back on the Websites with a clean and minimalist user experience. Internet Explorer 9 uses the whole PC for improved performance: Internet Explorer 9 is the first browser with full hardware acceleration of HTML5, harnessing the power of the graphics processing unit (GPU), reallocating much of the

graphic processing to the GPU instead of the CPU. By using the GPU, Internet Explorer 9 unlocks the 90 percent of the PC’s power that went previously untapped by Web browsers. Security: Internet Explorer 9 is designed to be the most trusted browser because it has a robust set of built-in security, privacy, and reliability technologies that keep customers safer online. Interoperability, all in for HTML5: Internet Explorer 9 has support for industry standards including built-in extensive support for HTML5, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), CSS3 and other modern Web standards.

Collectively with partners, IE9 reaches more than 800 million visitors daily including:

• •

The top four social networking sites: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Netlog Twitter, the largest real time information sharing service

TECHNOLOGIES & PRODUCTS

•

The No.1 site for retail (Amazon.com), auction (eBay,) and entertainment information (IMDB) The leading European entertainment network (RTL) and the top brand and portal in China (Sohu) Leading sites in news (CNN, USA Today), search (Bing), travel (Orbitz), movies (Flixster), multimedia (Hulu), music (Gorillaz) and photos (Photobucket)

IE9 is the latest in a long line of web browsers from Microsoft, but for the vast majority of enterprise users and their IT departments, this imminent arrival is a complete irrelevancy, for three very good reasons.

•

Food for thought on IE9 Richard Edwards, Principal Analyst of the independent telecoms analyst Ovum, believes that: “Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) may have entered the public beta phase of its existence, but for the vast majority of corporate IT managers and their users this is a complete non-event. Corporate IT mangers have more fundamental upgrade issues to think about. They are still trying to decide if Windows 7 is worth the cost of upgrade, so thoughts of rolling-out IE9 are a long, long way off.”

•

Firstly, IE9 is not supported on Windows XP. Most large enterprises are still running Windows XP, and will continue to do so for the next two years at least. Microsoft’s decision to drop support for Windows XP with this release of Internet Explorer has therefore rendered it an irrelevancy. Secondly, most large enterprises have not yet deployed IE8. IE9 has yet to be officially released, and by the time it is deemed ‘ready for business’, many organizations will still be testing their websites and applications for compatibility with IE7 and IE8, let alone IE9. Lastly, the mobile web experience is today’s focus of attention. IE9 may well include a new JScript engine and offer

support for HTML5 audio and video, but it’s the capabilities offered by smartphone browsers that will determine the web’s next course of evolution. Looks like Microsoft's brand new web browser could still need some work and improvement. Haresh Khoobchandani, Chief Marketing Officer, Consumer & Online, Microsoft Asia Pacific said: “Browsing the Web is the most common task that Windows customers perform every day. Here in Asia-Pacific, users look to the Web as a source of entertainment, education, information and as a platform for self expression and communication. They want to do more online, in a safe and secure environment. Helping to making the Web faster, safer and more beautiful on Windows is what Internet Explorer 9 is all about”. I recommend you check out the new offer and get an idea of IE9 yourself by downloading the current beta version. By Daniela La Marca

Here in Asia-Pacific, users look to the Web as a source of entertainment, education, information and as a platform for self expression and communication. They want to do more online, in a safe and secure environment. Helping to making the Web faster, safer and more beautiful on Windows is what Internet Explorer 9 is all aboutâ&#x20AC;?. Haresh Khoobchandani, Chief Marketing Officer, Consumer & Online, Microsoft Asia Pacific

COMPANIES & CAMPAIGNS

inSing.com: Singapore’s Favourite One-Stop Destination inSing.com was launched in May 2009 by SingTel Digital Media, a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. This fast growing site attracts 1.2 million unique visitors a month with its day-to-day information on local, international and entertainment news, events listings, food reviews and shopping deals. Asian e-Marketing held an interview with Ms Varsha Rao, CEO of Singtel Digital Media, to find out more about the leading lady of Singapore’s popular local search and lifestyle portal. Varsha became interested in the Internet in the mid 1990’s while working as a consultant at McKinsey. “I liked it so much that I quit McKinsey and started a company in 1998 called Eve.com, right in the middle of the infamous dotcom boom. It was a beauty products and accessories ecommerce start-up, which we took from nothing to 125 employees and then sold only two years later. Since then, I’ve been involved in the net in one way or another, because I’ve found the growth and pace of change so exciting”, she said. The impressive speed of the Internet is reflected by inSing.com which finished its beta version just a year after its launch. “By working with content partners and our dedicated editorial team, inSing.com provides engaging and comprehensive content across a broad

range of topics – including food and drink, events, shopping, movies, news as well as entertainment – all with a distinctly Singaporean point of view”, Varsha explains and notes: “In July this year, we took into account feedback from our users and launched a fresh new look for the site, with an enhanced design and improved features. These include discounted movie tickets, not-to-be missed shopping deals, more local technology and beauty/fashion content as well as an improved business listings channel. Visitors also have access to invaluable reviews, ratings and in -the-know articles for 20,000 restaurants and hawker stalls as well as over 150,000 business services in Singapore. A community element has also been incorporated and users now have a chance to be an inSing.com Star Reviewer and read and rate what others have to say about a business, movie or event. What it takes to build, provide and operate inSing.com Due to her prior start-up experience, Varsha managed to implement inSing.com within a short timeframe, limited staff and budget. Her constant commitment to meet her customers’ needs has been the key to success, stating: “We gathered feedback and conducted focus groups and took this all into account when redesigning our site. We now offer a cleaner design, an improved search experience and we increased our emphasis on reviews, community and more such features as requested by users.

COMPANIES & CAMPAIGNS

We also built upon our editorial team and invited other prominent and influential bloggers to join our existing group of contributors such as Mr. Brown, Dr. Leslie Tay, Bagaholic Boy and Tracy Philips”. The redesign also served inSing.com’s advertising clients, with its more unique and customized advertising platform, more opportunity for high impact ad formats and channel sponsorships as well as customized solutions. The success of inSing.com, which is now ranked in the top ten most popular Singapore websites (based on Hitwise reports) is the result of her hardworking and dedicated internet savvy team. “For the first half of 2010, the whole team focused on improving the inSing.com user experience and on creating innovative advertising vehicles for companies as well as making sure value is being delivered”, she said, adding: “With our new look and the great positive feedback we’ve been receiving from users and advertisers, our big opportunity now is to have more users learn about inSing.com and become loyal fans. Even with 1.2 million unique visitors per month, we know that since we are only 1 ½ years old, we still need to grow awareness for the portal.” inSing.com’s propositions

unique

value

which helps users quickly find the right business or service provider they are looking for. Other unique features of inSing.com include an events calendar, a Food & Drink section that keeps users up to date on what new restaurants and hawker stalls have recently opened its presentation of great local recipes and a comprehensive search and reviews experience. inSing.com’s movies section, also, is said to be the only site in Singapore where you have show time listings for “all” Singapore cinema operators in one place, direct links to buy tickets and exclusive discounts on any Golden Village ticket you purchase through the site, as well as a Shopping/Hot deals section. “As a result of our unique content, our strong traffic, and our distinct ad platforms and customizations, advertisers have the opportunity to advertise and engage with audiences in new and different ways”, Varsha claims. “Advertisers also really like our rich media formats and our ability to do customizations, but most importantly, advertisers like the results and response rates that they see when they advertise with us”, she adds.

inSing.com is a highly local experience and one that combines engaging content with local reviews and search. The company’s CEO explains: “The user generated reviews we have, offer a uniquely Singaporean perspective. We currently have over 25,000 of these reviews which I strongly believe provide valuable insights for our users.”

Of course, good analytics are important for effective online marketing as it gives the advertiser and publisher insight into the effectiveness of messaging, ad formats, and creative in a way that offline media such as print, television and outdoor just cannot deliver on. Varsha knows best that online marketing has the ability to be optimized and continually improved upon resulting in better ROI, which is on top of the branding impact that online advertising delivers.

What also makes inSing.com stand out, according to her, is its relevant and comprehensive local search of over 150,000 business listings

inSing.com serves its ads in general through DoubleClick and shares the click through rates with their advertisers.

Varsha Rao

Internally, inSing.com uses analytics to constantly measure its site’s effectiveness and also provides a mobile app for instant access on the go. Without a doubt, the leading lady of inSing.com has her finger on the pulse of the digital marketing scene. Her vision of the industry’s future proves: “I see increased migration of advertising dollars to online over the next several years as users’ consumption of online and mobile media continues to grow. At present there is a disconnect, users in Singapore are spending upwards of 25% of their leisure hours online and yet only about 3 to 5% of advertising dollars are being spent online. Over the next few years, I predict that markets will become more confident and leave behind traditional media which is showing declining readership and engagement and go to where their users are and this increasingly means online. In addition, I predict that mobile and tablet devices will offer new and interesting advertising opportunities for advertisers as audiences grow on these platforms.” By Daniela La Marca

COMPANIES & CAMPAIGNS

Peace One Day Global Education Resource: Window to a Better World Asian eMarketing is impressed by Peace One Day’s global movement that annually calls for ceasefire and non-violence on 21 September, the UN International Day of Peace, and encourages you to get informed about their initiative. Peace One Day, supported by Skype, has launched its first interactive Global Education Resource. Developed for 12-18 year olds, and free to all, the Peace One Day Global Education Resource is designed to encourage students to appreciate their own individual capacity to make a positive difference to their local community and the world. The Resource is available in online magazine format, in the six official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian and Spanish. The global release of this resource will no-doubt strengthen Peace One Day’s efforts to reach another one of its inspiring goals:

to provide resource materials to every school on Earth, motivating a generation to become the driving force behind the vision of a united and sustainable world. Peace One Day has built on the strength of their UK and USA curriculum-specific resources, which have been such a success that there are now over 5,000 educators using Peace One Day Education Resources in these two countries alone. Containing 13 lesson plans, the new Peace One Day Global Education Resource allows young people to explore a variety of issues, such as intercultural co-operation, global citizenship, non-violence, ending bullying and the link between sustainability and peace. Designed to encourage positive conversations about making the world a better place, the Global Education Resource includes a new ‘Intercultural Co-operation’ lesson where students share their ideas and thoughts about peace with other pupils from around the world, face-to-face, via Skype video.

COMPANIES & CAMPAIGNS

The use of Skype video enables young people of all nationalities to exchange real life experiences and debate ideas, providing a window into other cultures and broadening the depth of their world knowledge and understanding. This is just one of 13 lessons in the resource; others include the ‘One Day One Goal’ lesson which allows students to explore the unifying influence of sports, ‘Uniting Nations’ where pupils learn about the role of the UN, and ‘Great Peacemakers Like You And Me’ which allows students to reflect on their personal peacemaking qualities and their own ability to make a difference. The resource includes a series of extended projects that are designed to culminate or commence on 21 September and are aimed at encouraging students to log their own Peace Day commitment. “We hope that the Global Education Resource will inspire and empower educators and students to join us and take on the challenge of helping to establish Peace Day 21 September as an annual day of global ceasefire and nonviolence,” said Jeremy Gilley, the British documentary filmmaker and founder of Peace One Day.

In 2001, Peace One Day’s efforts were rewarded when the member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on 21 September – Peace Day. “Never before in our history has this sense of unity been more desperately needed, but never before we have had the technology at our disposal that can enable us to bring it about.” Skype is Peace One Day’s global communications platform of choice. By working together as partners, each organization hopes to achieve their goals. Peace One Day’s goal is to introduce three billion people across the world to Peace Day by 21 September 2012: people who want to stand up for peace regardless of age, race, nationality, religion or gender. Skype’s goal is to remove barriers to how people in the world can communicate so they can easily develop real connections with one another, again, irrespective of age, race, nationality, religion or gender. “We are pleased to be supporting Peace One Day in its mission to unite children from around the world and teach them about the

value of peace and tolerance between nations,” said Josh Silverman, Skype’s CEO. “We want to encourage more schools to connect via Skype video and to help Peace One Day achieve its goal of the Global Education Resource being used in all 192 member states of the United Nations.” Peace One Day is working to institutionalize Peace Day, making it a day that is self-sustaining, an annual day of global unity, a day of intercultural cooperation on a scale that humanity has never known. The next stepping stone on this journey is to reach three billion people with the message of Peace Day by September 2012; this will be achieved by working principally through Education, Sport, Music, Film and Digital Properties. The Global Education Resource can be accessed by registering via the Peace One Day Education page, which can be found at: http:// www.peaceoneday.org/en/ education Asian eMarketing is very pleased to support Peace One Day, so how about you? To find out how you can help, please visit www.peaceoneday.org

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Never before in our history has this sense of unity been more desperately needed, but never before we have had the technology at our disposal that can enable us to bring it about.â&#x20AC;? Jeremy Gilley, founder of Peace One Day

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A Dozen Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy From the moment it was founded in 1990, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights and listed their Top 12 ways to protect your online privacy which Asian e-Marketing is repeating in our current issue: 1. Do not reveal personal information inadvertently You may be leaving a trail of personal details, including email addresses and other contact information, without even knowing it unless you properly configure your Web browser. In your browser's "Setup", "Options" or "Preferences" menus, you may wish to use a pseudonym instead of your real name, and not enter an email address, nor provide other personally identifiable information that you do not wish to share. When visiting a site you trust you can choose to give them your information, in forms on their site; there is no need for your browser to potentially make this information available to all.

Be on the lookout for system-wide "Internet default" programs on your computer. While they are useful for various things, like keeping multiple Web browsers and other Internet tools consistent in how they treat downloaded files and such, they should probably also be anonymized just like your browser itself, if they contain any fields for personal information. 2. Turn on cookie notices in your Web browser, and/or use cookie management software or infomediaries "Cookies" are tidbits of information that Web sites store on your computer, temporarily or more-or-less permanently. In many cases, cookies are useful and innocuous. They may be passwords and user IDs, so that you do not have to keep retyping them every time you load a new page at the site that issued the cookie. Other cookies, however, can be used for "data mining" purposes, to track your motions through a Web site, the time you spend there, what links you

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click on and other details that the company wants to record, usually for marketing purposes. Most cookies can only be read by the party that created them, but some others that manage online banner advertising are in essence cookie sharing rings. They can track which pages you load, which ads you click on, etc., and share this information with all of their client Web sites (who may number in the hundreds, even thousands.) Some examples of these cookie sharing rings are DoubleClick, AdCast and LinkExchange. Thus, always be on the lookout for cookies whose function is not apparent, which go to sites other than the one you are trying to load, or which are not temporary. Browsers are starting to allow user control over cookies. Netscape, for example, allows you to see a notice when a site tries to write a cookie file to your hard drive, and gives you some information about it, allowing you to decide whether or not to accept it. It also allows you to automatically block all cookies that are being sent to third parties (or to block all cookies, entirely, but this will make some sites inoperable). Internet Explorer has a cookie management interface in addition to Netscape-like features, allowing you to selectively enable or disable cookies on a site-by-site basis, even to allow cookies for a site generally, but delete a specific cookie you are suspicious about. With Internet Explorer you can also turn on cookies for a site temporarily then disable them when you no longer need them (e.g., at an online bookstore that requires cookies to process an order, but whom you don't want to track what books you are looking at, what links you are following, etc., the rest of the time.) Turning on cookie warnings will cause alert boxes to pop up, but after some practice you may learn to hit "Decline" so fast that you hardly notice them anymore. The idea is to only enable cookies on sites that require them AND whom you trust.

You may also wish to try out "alternative" browsers like Firefox (Windows, Mac, Linux), Opera (Windows, Mac, Linux), Konqueror (Linux), or Safari (Mac), which may offer better cookie management. You can also use cookie management software and services or use an infomediary, which is a kind of personal agent that works on behalf of consumers to help them take control over information gathered about them for use by marketers and advertisers. But keep in mind not to confuse honest infomediaries with "identity management services" like Microsoft's Passport service. While you may gain some temporary convenience at sites that support them, you'll lose essential privacy, because these services are not there to serve you but to serve marketing purposes by collecting a vast array of information about you and then selling it. Unfortunately, there isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a perfect solution around yet, which means cookie management abilities built into the browsers themselves. Only increased user pressure on Microsoft and other browser makers can make this happen. Users should ultimately be able to reject cookies on a whole-domain basis, reject all third-party cookies by default, reject all cookies that are not essential for the transaction at hand, receive notice of exactly what a cookie is intended for, and be able to set default behaviors and permissions rather than have to interact with cookies on a page-by-page basis. This just isn't possible yet. 3. Keep a "clean" e-mail address When mailing to unknown parties; posting to newsgroups, mailing lists, chat rooms and other public spaces on the Net, or publishing a Web page that mentions your email address, it is best to do this from a "side" account, some pseudonymous or simply alternate address, and to use your main or preferred address only on small, members-only lists and with known, trusted individuals. Addresses that

are posted (even as part of message headers) in public spaces can be easily discovered by spammers (online junk mailers) and added to their list of targets. If your public "throw away" address gets spammed enough to become annoying, you can simply kill it off, and start a new one. Your friends, boss, etc., will still know your "real" address. You can use a free (advertising-supported) e-mail service provider like Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Hotmail for such "side" accounts. It is best to use a "real" Internet service provider for your main account, and to examine their privacy policies and terms of service, as some "freemail" services may have poor privacy track records. You may find it works best to use an e-mail package that allows multiple user IDs and addresses (a.k.a. "personalities", "aliases") so that you do not have to switch between multiple programs to manage and use more than one e-mail address (though you may have to use a Web browser rather than an e-mail program to read your mail in your "throw away" accounts - many free-mail providers do not allow POP or IMAP connections). If you are "required" to give an e-mail address to use a site (but will not be required to check your mail for some kind of access code they send you), you can use " someuser@example.com This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " (example.com is a non-existent site, set up by the Internet standards to be used as an example that will never accidentally coincide with anyone's real e-mail address, which is always a danger if you just make up one off the top of your head.) 4. Don't reveal personal details to strangers or just-met "friends" The speed of Internet communication is often mirrored in rapid online acquaintanceships and friendships,

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but it is important to realize that you don't really know who these people are or what they are like in real life. A thousand miles away, you don't have friends-of-friends or other references about this person. Be wary of face-to-face meetings. If you and your new e-friend wish to meet in person, do it in a public place. Bringing a friend along can also be a good idea. One needn't be paranoid, but one should not be an easy mark, either. Some personal information you might wish to withhold until you know someone much better would include your full name, place of employment, phone number, and street address (among more obvious things like credit card numbers, etc.) Needless to say, such information should not be put on personal home pages. For this and other reasons, many people maintain two personal home pages, a work-related one, and an "off duty" version. In the commercial sector, too, beware of "fast-met friends". A common "social engineering" form of industrial espionage is to befriend someone online just long enough to get them to reveal insider information. 5. Realize you may be monitored at work, avoid sending highly personal emails to mailing lists, and keep sensitive files on your home computer In most countries, employees have little if any privacy protection from monitoring by employers. When discussing sensitive matters in email or other online media, be certain with whom you are communicating. If you replied to a mailing list post, check the headers - is your reply going to the person you think it is, or to the whole list? Also be aware that an increasing number of employers are monitoring and recording employee Web usage, as well as email. This could compromise home banking passwords and other sensitive information. Keep private data and private Net usage private - at home.

6. Beware sites that offer some sort of reward or prize in exchange for your contact information or other personal details There's a very high probability that they are gathering this information for direct marketing purposes. In many cases your name and address are worth much more to them because they can sell it to other marketers than what you are (supposedly) getting from them. Be especially wary of sweepstakes and contests. You probably won't win, but the marketer sure will if you give them your information. 7. Do not reply to spammers, for any reason â&#x20AC;&#x153;Spam", or unsolicited bulk email, is something you are probably already familiar with and tired of. If you get a spam advertisement, certainly don't take the sender up on whatever offer they are making, but also don't bother replying with "REMOVE" in the subject line, or whatever unsubscribe instructions you've been given. This simply confirms that your address is being read by a real person, and you'll find yourself on dozens more spammers' lists in no time. If you open the message, watch your outgoing mail queue to make sure that a "return receipt" message was not generated to be sent back to the spammer automatically. If you have a good Internet service provider, you may be able to forward copies of spam e-mail to the system administrators who can route a complaint to the ISP of the spammer. Or if you know a lot about mail headers and DNS tools, you can probably contact these ISPs yourself to complain about the spammer. 8. Be conscious of Web security Never submit a credit card number or other highly sensitive personal

information without first making sure your connection is secure (encrypted). In Netscape, look for a closed lock (Windows) or unbroken key (Mac) icon at the bottom of the browser window. In Internet Explorer, look for a closed lock icon at the bottom (Windows) or near the top (Mac) of the browser window. In any browser, look at the URL (Web address) line - a secure connection will begin "https://" instead of "http://". If you are at page that asks for such information but shows "http://" try adding the "s" yourself and hitting enter to reload the page (for Netscape or IE; in another browser, use whatever method is required by your browser to reload the page at the new URL). If you get an error message that the page or site does not exist, this probably means that the company is so clueless and careless with your information and your money that they don't even have Web security. Better take your business elsewhere. Your browser itself gives away information about you, if your IP address can be tied to your identity (this is most commonly true of DSL and broadband users, rather than modem users, who are a dwindling minority). For a demo of how much detail is automatically given out about your system by your browser, see: http://privacy.net/analyze/ . Also be on the lookout for "spyware" - software that may be included with applications you install (games, utilities, whatever), the purpose of which is to silently spy on your online habits and other details and report it back to the company whose product you are using. One MS Windows solution for disabling spyware is the Adaware program (shareware, from http://www.lavasoft.de/ ), which can remove spyware from your computer; it is based on a large collaboratively maintained database of information about spyware. Linux and Mac products of this sort are likely to appear soon.

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9. Be conscious of home computer security

Java, Javascript and ActiveX can also be used for spyware purposes. Support for these scripting languages can be disabled in your browser's configuration options (a.k.a. preferences, settings, or properties). It is safest to surf with them turned off, and only turn them on when a site you trust and want to use requires them. If you don't know if your browser supports these languages or don't know if they are turned on you can use BrowserSpy to find out (along with a lot of other information about your Web browsing software): http:// gemal.dk/browserspy/ Another form of spyware consists of "webbugs", which typically manifest themselves as invisible or nearly invisible image files tied to cookies and javascripts that track your Web usage. And please be aware that HTML-capable e-mail programs and Usenet newsreaders make webbugs work in your e-mail and newsgroups. If your mailer or newsreader has an option to turn off cookie support, you should certainly do so. There is hardly any imaginable legitimate use for a cookie in an email or a newsgroup posting.

On the other side of the coin, your own computer may be a trouble spot for Internet security. If you have a DSL line, broadband cable modem or other connection to the Internet that is up and running 24 hours, be sure to turn your computer off when you are not using it. Most home PCs have pitifully poor security compared to the workstations that power most commercial Web sites. System crackers search for vulnerable, unattended DSLconnected home computers, and can invade them with surprising ease, going through files looking for credit card numbers or other sensitive data, or even "taking over" the computer and quietly using it for their own purposes, such as launching attacks on other computers elsewhere - attacks you could initially be blamed for. Firewall hardware and software is another option that can protect you from these kinds of attacks 10. Examine privacy policies and seals When you are considering whether or not to do business with a Web site, there are other factors than a secure connection you have to consider that are equally important to Web security. Does the site provide offline contact information, including a postal address? Does the site have a prominently-posted privacy policy? If so, what does it say? Just because they call it a "privacy policy" doesn't mean it will protect you - read it for yourself. Many are little more than disclaimers saying that you have no privacy! So read them carefully. If the policy sounds OK to you, do you have a reason to believe it? Have you ever heard of this company? What is their reputation?

11. Remember that YOU decide what information about yourself to reveal, when, why, and to whom Don't give out personallyidentifiable information too easily. Just as you might think twice about giving some clerk at the mall your home address and phone number, keep in mind that simply because a site asks for or demands personal information from you does NOT mean that you have to. 12. Use encryption! Last but certainly not least, there are other privacy threats besides abusive marketers, nosy bosses, spammers and scammers. Some of the threats include industrial espionage, government surveillance, identity theft, disgruntled former associates, and system crackers. Relatively easy-to-use e-mail and file encryption software is available for free, such as Pretty Good Privacy (http://www.pgpi.org/), which runs on almost all computers and even integrates seamlessly with most major e-mail software. Good encryption uses very robust secret codes that are difficult if not impossible to crack, to protect your data. You can also use specialized services (some free, some pay) that go beyond infomediary services, including running all connections through a securely encrypted "tunnel", anonymous dialup, even anonymous Web publishing. Hopefully sometime soon, good encryption and computer security will simply be included in all ISP services and operating systems, but for now you have to actively seek out good service providers and add-on products. By Stanton McCandlish, EFF Technology Director (shortened version)

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Ovum: Regulation is a Necessary Evil to Protect from Having Sensitive Information Spread Around the Web Ovum finds that the risk of sensitive information being divulged on the web by organizations makes regulation a necessary evil. The use of social media by organizations when dealing with the public needs regulation to protect sensitive information from being divulged by blundering staff, according to Ovum. More and more public and private sector organizations have begun to respond to customer queries and complaints via tools such as Twitter and Facebook. According to Ovum, the independent telecoms analyst, regulations need to be put in place to ensure that information is used appropriately. In addition, Ovum believes that peer to peer support conducted via social media should be monitored, to ensure that customers do not unintentionally pass on incorrect information.

Aphrodite Brinsmead, an Ovum analyst, said: “The financial services industry has already made it a requirement that communications through social media are recorded and retained. We think this needs to go a step further and that all organizations using social media to interact with customers should be regulated”. “While social media should still allow customers to interact and express themselves, we believe that they need to be protected from having sensitive information spread on the internet by staff who may not understand how to treat such enquiries. For these reasons, we believe regulations are a necessary evil.” In addition to regulation, Aphrodite believes that it is now time for organizations to stop experimenting with social media and start putting in place formal strategies. She added: “Customers enjoy the fast response rates and good service that social media allows and more and more enquiries will be made this way.

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However, every organization should have a strategy and guidelines in place so staff can understand how to treat them.â&#x20AC;? In theory, it sounds like a nobrainer. While the Internet is an awesome free-for-all of services and content it is also a terrifying space, one where bits of information about who you are and what you're doing continually float around like cyber flotsam and jetsam, only to be picked apart by outside parties for their own devices. As a result, privacy is an issue, but would the Internet be a better place if a national registry existed to shield users from prying advertisers? Late last month, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz announced to a Senate panel that the commission would explore the idea of a Do Not Track list for online marketers. In theory, it would work similarly to the Do Not Call registry pushed through in 2004: users register for a list governed by the FTC or a private entity that prevents web marketers from collecting user information like say, user ISPs providers, screen size, browser version, and so on. That's where the similarities end. For effective Do Not Track legislation to pass, the FTC will have to address unprecedented complexities and deal with far-reaching implications, beyond say, the multimillion-dollar fines the commission has charged Do Not Call violators. Here are the thorniest issues the FTC is facing, at a minimum, in making such a plan work: 1) It will be hard to implement. "For lack of a better way of saying it, [Do Not Call] operates in two dimensions," where as Do Not Track would have to be far more complex, says Ed Goodman, Chief Privacy Officer of Identify Theft 911. With Do Not Call, you register a phone number, and telemarketers are forbidden from calling. In theory, Do Not Track would work the same way: register your name, and third party marketers would not be allowed to access your online data. Several questions then arise: Is all of your information off-limits?

Some of it? If so, which aspects? How would users be uniquely identified? Could marketers use that information for some purposes and not others? Though Goodman is a proponent of the concept, he admits he's not sure how such a registry would work in practice simply because there are more Internetrelated issues for the FTC to contend with. 2) It could become outdated. Fast. Technology advances rapidly, oftentimes with unpredictable new features, and online marketing will undoubtedly keep up. Already, we have targeted, behavioral ads on sites that can pinpoint our interests and even our general location. While Do Not Track legislation would regulate today's online marketing, would it still apply to marketing two, three, even five years from now? According to Goodman, the FTC will always be playing a game of catch-up they simply can't win. Drafting legislation that effectively polices today's technologies while remaining general enough to apply to new emerging technologies will be an almost impossible balancing act. 3) Businesses could lose money. Let's face it: Internet users like you and I enjoy the wide variety of free content and services out there, but in reality, nothing is free. If you don't pay for it, someone else does. Many times your online payment is a dump of your demographic data, whether actively through a form, or passively through web traffic tracking code, like Google Analytics (GOOG). That demographic data is what enables websites to market themselves to online advertisers and stay in business. According to a study conducted by Interactive Advertising Bureau, 80% of online advertising campaigns were targeted or dependent upon some sort of targeted technology. With a Do Not Track list in effect, there will be less people to advertise to. Less people to advertise to equates to less revenue for advertisers and potentially less revenue for web sites as a whole.

4) Users may have to pony up. When all is said and done, registered users may feel safer, but the unintended - and undesired - consequence is that they find themselves slapped with more frequent online service fees. Because if Web sites can't generate sufficient profit via advertising, they'll have to explore other avenues: monthly membership fees for Facebook, premium content on their favorite sites, and so on. This is already a trend online. Fencing off user data could hasten it. Ultimately, if the Do Not Track list becomes reality, there would be many hurdles to setting it up to be effective, to avoid being just another federal boondoggle. Even then, with the amount of data users already share online, any plan would almost seem to be designed to be irrelevant out of the box. Indeed the very same users who have lobbied the FTC to create such a list may find themselves wishing they'd simply educated themselves on the finer points of keeping their data safe by being smarter about how they choose to share it online. As commenters on The Hill's story on the list have noted, the plug-in to prevent this sort of tracking already exists for the Firefox and Chrome browsers, meaning the FTC would likely be deploying large amounts of taxpayer money simply to reinvent an already rolling wheel. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;do-not-trackâ&#x20AC;? legislation, could soon become a legislative priority, that allow consumers to hide their browsing activity from advertisers, giving people more control over how their personal information is collected and distributed online. The fact is that this whole discussion is a moving target, as online marketing becomes more and more sophisticated. When you regulate one area, another opportunity opens, so the issue will never be fully resolved. Self-regulation is the way to go.

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BUZZWORDS

Buzzword: Pay-Per-Performance (PPP) Advertising Pay-Per-Performance Advertising, or PPP, is a term used in Internet marketing to define a popular pricing model whereby a marketing agency receives a payment from an advertiser for each new lead or new customer obtained for the advertiser through the agency's online marketing efforts.

The disadvantage however to Pay-Per-Performance search engines such as GoTo.com or FindWhat.com, is the fact that many keywords get very little response due to high competition for the same keywords, so the price can go up to several dollars per click. Banners

The agency creates advertising campaigns and promotions to successfully convert the maximum number of new leads or customers and gets paid for its work only when a new lead or a new customer is passed on to the advertiser. PPP advertising became popular with the advent of the World Wide Web that allows real time measurement of an advertising campaign's ROI. It has reversed the traditional value proposition of advertising whereby an advertiser is required to pay for the advertising agency creative work and media first regardless of the ROI of the campaign. In the PPP model, the onus is on the agency to create a performing ad campaign that converts into good leads or customers if the agency wants to receive payments from its client. In contrast with traditional advertising pricing models, the advertiser pays the agency only after having collected the revenues from its customers' purchase orders and not before. In a nutshell: You do not pay if there is no result or profit. Instead of paying to place your ad, you pay for each lead your ad successfully produces. Search engines While being listed prominently in search engines is the fastest way to pull lots of prospects to your web site, your URL, unfortunately, can get lost in the crowd of millions of Websites. Pay-Per-Performance search engines give you a way around this problem by listing your site higher for a fee. You can pay as little as a penny a click for each prospect the engine sends to your site. If no one clicks on your link, you don't pay. So you can adjust your listing until it works for you without high costs.

Pay-Per-Performance banner advertising is quite popular as well, as companies are trying to go around the pricey CPM banner purchases and opt for services like ValueClick.com and PennyWeb.com who ask for payment only when someone clicks on the banner or visits the site. Just make sure to keep your banner's file size low for rapid loading. E-mail It seems that the newest innovation in Pay-PerPerformance advertising, using innovative banner ads to collect the email addresses of your target customers is probably the best idea, so far. You only pay for confirmed email sign-ups of prospects that enter their email address to receive information on your business. In that way you build up your own opt-in email list which you can use for sending out new offers or news whenever you want. Most Important: All three Pay-Per-Performance advertising formats allow you to focus on getting results rather than just increasing awareness â&#x20AC;&#x201C; be it search engines, banners or email. Attention: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get confused with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, which is a pricing model on the Web in which the advertiser pays when an Internet user clicks on its advertisement and visits its site. PPP is generally risk-free to an advertiser whereas in a PPC campaign the advertiser takes the risk of the conversion rate between a click, a visit and an actual lead or sale.

APPOINTMENTS

Global creative agency iris has recruited one of Asia’s leading creative talents Barry Low to be Creative Director of its China operation. Low, who joined in August, will leave his present role as senior creative director at DDB China to join iris’ Beijing office, where he reports in to iris’ creative director for the Asia Pacific region, Grant Hunter. He brings 25 years’ experience in a range of directorial creative roles gained at a range of the industry’s leading agencies including DDB, Ogilvy & Mather, Grey, Wunderman and Leo Burnett. Low will be charged with overseeing all of the agency’s creative output for its China operation, which has offices in Beijing and Shanghai. He will be responsible for building iris’ creative profile in the region through the execution of integrated campaigns spanning above and below the line for iris’ clients, which include Sony Ericsson. During his career, Low has created many of the region’s biggest brand campaigns including those for McDonald’s, Ericsson, Ford, Philips, Shanghai Volkswagen, Lipton Tea, Pepsi Tropicana, IBM and American Express. He has won a host of Asia’s most coveted awards such as DMAM Gold awards, a HK Kam Fan, a FAB International London award, a Certificate for Media Asia award and several Kancils

Red Hat appoints Dirk Peter van Leeuwe as Vice President, Red Hat Asia Pacific (APAC). Van Leeuwen will lead the company’s sales, marketing and services efforts in the region. Van Leeuwen joined Red Hat in 2004 and was responsible for establishing Red Hat’s operations in Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg (Benelux). In 2006 he assumed responsibility for Central Europe and in 2008 added Eastern Europe. In Europe, Van Leeuwen was responsible for the general management of 47 countries with a primary focus on Sales Management. Under the sales leadership of Van Leeuwen, Red Hat saw its European customer base grow. He has most recently held the position of Vice President of Sales in APAC and Japan and has been instrumental in new business development and growing the business in this region over the last year. Prior to working for Red Hat, Van Leeuwen was European Director for PlanetWeb Inc. and Director Northern Europe for SCO where he built up the sales arm of the business in Benelux and the Nordic region. He has worked in the IT industry for over 20 years and will report to Alex Pinchev, Executive Vice President and President, Global Sales, Services and Field Marketing.

BT appointed Stephen Yeo as CEO of BT’s Southeast Asian (SEA) operations to be based in Singapore. In his role at BT SEA, Yeo will oversee BT’s business operations across Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia, leading strategy development and execution as BT expands in the region. Before joining BT, Yeo was managing his own consultancy, S2S Consulting which assisted companies in growing their business in Asia. Yeo is a veteran in the technology industry with more than 25 years of experience and has been credited for being a pioneering member in building Singapore’s vibrant IT industry and promoting initiatives such as IT literacy for the masses to reduce the country’s digital divide. He has held several operational and management positions in the Singapore Government and the corporate sector and has held several board appointments over the last decade. Presently he sits on the board of NTUCLink and NTU Graduate Business School.

APPOINTMENTS

Richard Dunmall has been appointed Vice President, Microsoft Advertising Greater Asia Pacific and Americas. The expanded role, covering Asia Pacific, Latin America and Canada, will see Mr. Dunmall become responsible for all advertising revenues generated across Microsoft Advertising’s entire portfolio of products, destinations and experiences across the geographies. Before relocating to Hong Kong in October 2008, he was the Senior Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA for Atlas and DRIVEpm, the then aQuantive-owned ad serving and media network business, which was acquired globally by Microsoft in August 2007. Other roles include CEO for MindShare Interaction UK, CEO of mOne UK, Sales Director UK for AdLINK Internet Media Ltd, Europe’s largest Third Party Sales House.

Kerry McCabe has been appointed General Manager, Specialist Sales Lead for Microsoft Advertising’s Greater Asia Pacific and America’s team reporting to Richard Dunmall. Mr. Paris will be responsible for developing and executing Microsoft Advertising’s incubation, brand, audience and performance strategies, leading and building the existing sales specialist team and growing the functional community across multiple geographies from Asia to the Americas. Prior to joining the team, Mr. Paris was responsible for Microsoft Advertising’s technology innovation and drove improved Platform and Ad Product offerings for both Brand and Audience businesses. He will be relocating to Hong Kong imminently.

Heidi Lau joins as the Head of Research for Microsoft Advertising, Asia Pacific. Ms. Lau will be responsible for providing leading-edge research tools, assets and content based on data driven evidence, and delivering market intelligence to the sales teams across the region. She will promote online as a mainstream ad medium, reaching out to the broader advertising community on the effectiveness, cost efficiency and ROI of online advertising. Ms. Lau has more than 15 years of experience in TV Audience Measurement (TAM), starting her career at AC Nielsen before moving to CSM Media Research (part of the TNS Group).

Jaclyn Yap has also been appointed as the Trade Marketing Lead for Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, Ms. Yap will lead trade marketing strategies and activities including partner engagement, marketing communications, and branding in Southeast Asia, Korea and Australia. Her responsibilities include supporting the Southeast Asia sales force with marketing services based on robust research and deep market insights, helping them maximize revenues and grow market share, providing strategic marketing consultancy and support to advertising agencies and strategic accounts.

Microsoft Advertising has recently strengthened its Asia Pacific Team with expanded roles and new appointments. Haresh Khoobchandani has become Chief Marketing Officer for the Consumer & Online (C&O) group in Asia Pacific. In this role, his key responsibilities will be to drive the business and marketing strategy for a portfolio of Microsoft consumer brands including Windows, Windows Live, MSN, Bing and Windows Phones brands across Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Korea. Mr. Khoobchandani brings with him a rich experience of consumer business and marketing leadership as well as a deep understanding of Microsoft. He has been with the organization since 1997, most recently as head of the Singapore Business and Marketing Organization. In this capacity, Mr. Khoobchandani managed all of Microsoft’s product marketing, public relations, branding, as well as corporate and social responsibility programs in Singapore.

APPOINTMENTS

BT announced the appointment of Tom Regent as president of Global Sales & Marketing, in charge of worldwide sales operations, bid management, indirect channels and marketing in BT Global Services. Tom will join BT on November 1, 2010 and reports to CEO Jeff Kelly. He comes from AT&T where he has led the company’s business in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa since 2007, based out of London. Prior to that role, Tom was Global Marketing VP for AT&T’s international operations after having worked in several senior staff positions in the company’s headquarters in the United States. He joined AT&T from IBM in 1999 to lead sales operations in the Benelux region and became VP of global accounts in 2004. The 40-year old Belgian citizen graduated from the University of Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) with a Bachelor of Applied Economics and a Master of Business Administration with a major in International Management

EXEDRA Events has appointed Cyril Pereira as its Managing Director effective 1st August, 2010, who joins as an equal equity partner in moving EXEDRA forward. Initially Cyril will lead the Asian Publisher Convention (APC) and its offshoot, the Publishers Resource Centre (PRC). As a truly regional business, EXEDRA's chairman, operational manpower and servers are based in Manila, while its holding company and managing director are Hong Kong based. EXEDRA events (Hospital Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, Publishing Convention, International Storytelling Festival) are regional in scope and cycle through different Asian capitals annually.

Nokia hired the Canadian Stephen Elop as its new President and CEO. Elop’s history with Microsoft and Macromedia/Adobe – in particular - should prepare him well for this challenge, although it will also be incumbent on him to keep growing Nokia’s core handset business, a market he is as yet largely unfamiliar with. Balancing this requirement with the need to move Nokia forward in new areas may prove a difficult challenge to manage effectively.

Independent technology analyst, Ovum, has reinforced its position as a top-tier industry analyst organization with the appointment of Carter Lusher as research fellow and chief analyst for enterprise applications ecosystems. Carter, an internationally renowned industry name, brings a wealth of experience to the role. He was director of corporate analyst relations at Hewlett-Packard, where he worked to enhance analyst understanding of the company and its leadership role in the IT industry; he also founded SageCircle, providing technology vendors with insights and applications for working closely with IT and telecommunications industry analysts. Prior to this he was a research fellow at Gartner, which twice named him Analyst of the Year. Carter will be based at Ovum’s new Silicon Valley office in Redwood City.

T-Systems appoints Michael Hering Vice President of ICT Operations in Singapore and India. Michael, who joined T-Systems as Vice President for ICT Service Delivery Management in 2008 was responsible for the quality of service and gross profitability of T-Systems’ top 60 customers. He brings with him over 28 years of broad-based experience in the information technology industry across account management, service management, service delivery and implementation functions. Prior to T-Systems, Michael worked with various multinational companies including Fujitsu Services, BAYER AG, Munich Re, and Deutsche Bank AG, taking on a wide spectrum of management roles within these organizations. His appointment was effective April 2010.

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Circulation & IT Manager: Mike Khoo Sales & Marketing: Carla Bertuzzi Articles contributed by: Eden Zoller Mark Little Claudio Castelli Tony Cripps Paul Byrne Stanton McCandlish Published monthly by MediaBUZZ Pte Ltd 26 Saunders Road Emerald Hill Singapore 228268 Tel: +65 6836 1607 Tax: +65 6235 1706