Tourism INTERNET Marketing Blog 1.0 - Trends

10 Future Web Trends

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:43:41 -0700

An excellent article about the FUTURE WEB TRENDS.

What then can we expect from the next 10 or so years on the Web? The biggest impact of the Web in 10 years time won’t necessarily be via a computer screen - our online activity will be mixed with our presence, travels, objects you buy or act with. We're well into the current era of the Web, commonly referred to as Web 2.0. Features of this phase of the Web include search, social networks, online media (music, video, etc), content aggregation and syndication (RSS), mashups (APIs), and much more. Currently the Web is still mostly accessed via a PC, but we're starting to see more Web excitement from mobile devices (e.g. iPhone) and television sets (e.g. XBox Live 360).

Our lifes are definately getting more digital. In a different survey by Datamonitor/Dimension Data, research reveals that 100% of the end-users surveyed use e-mail, followed by fixed-line telephones (80%), mobile telephones (76%) and instant messaging (66%).

The 10 referenced trends include:

1. Semantic Web
2. Artificial Intelligence
3. Virtual Worlds
4. Mobile
5. Attention Economy
6. Web sites as Web services
7. Online Video / Internet TV
8. Rich Internet Applications
9. Internation Web
10.Personalization

The E-Marketer of Today is the CMO of Tomorrow

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:02:00 -0700

The E-Marketer of Today is the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of Tomorrow...?

Well, I said it 10 years ago, and people thought I was crazy! In fact when I was experimenting with my first little Internet venture back in 1995, people told me: "Why are you doing this - nobody will ever use the Internet...". Three years later, when I started my MBA/MMH at Cornell University, and told people that I wanted to look at E-Commerce as my focus, I got a similar response: "Hmmm, I thought you were in marketing and not technology..." Luckily, when I had my first internship with Mike Pusateri at Marriott International (who launched Marriott.com, and was one of the pioneers in hospitality e-commerce and online distribution), I met a mentor, who showed me the possibilities of hotel marketing of the future and guided me in the right direction.

Anyhow, this post is about an article (published in Advertising Age) from the recognized executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles about exactly this topic. I am sure they know what they are talking about. Check it out. It talks about that the CMO of tomorrow will play the role of the Digital Catalyst, Customer Advocate, Global Translator, Legacy Builder, Business Driver, and Humble Luminary. What I always hear when talking to my colleagues at the HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Organization is that our jobs are not about building websites and executing search engine marketing programs, but about creating and executing strategies, building new businesses inside organizations, building and articulating brands, analyzing metrics and understanding consumer intelligence, and acting as collaborative change management agents and internal evangelists. This "e-commerce thing" has been an exciting ride, and I believe it will get even more exciting in the years to come.

The Future of the Media Revolution, Part 2

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 10:15:00 -0700

In follow-up to the Prometeus Media Revolution Video, here is part 2:

Thanks to Tom Wilson from Victoria County Tourism in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:30:00 -0700

Listen to this talk by Chris Anderson. Chris Anderson, the editor of WIRED and author of the "Long Tail" explores the four key stages of any viable technology: setting the right price, gaining market share, displacing an established technology and, finally, becoming ubiquitous. To demonstrate this trajectory, Anderson explores the evolution of the DVD player as it passes through each of these four tipping points, then offers specific examples of current trends in technology -- ranging from DNA sequencing to the hybrid -- to illustrate each stage of the game.

The Future of the Media Revolution

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:27:00 -0700

A great video...scary, intriguing, and entertaining at the same time.

Consumer Generated Content is a Major Influencer

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:16:00 -0700

A study released by Compete Inc in march revealed these key findings:

Consumer generated content (CGC) already influences $10 billion a year in online travel bookings.
Consumers are increasingly embracing their peers’ voices online: 20% rely on CGC when planning travel, and they consider this content more credible than reviews from professionals or information from the brands themselves.
In many situations, consumers will welcome brands to participate in the conversation
CGC can have a direct and positive impact on eCommerce performance
Brand advocates are hard to come by, but have a significant ability to shape the effectiveness of CGC campaigns
Compete’s research is based on its panel of two million consumers and behaviorally targeted surveys to precise consumer segments.
And eMarketer confirms this statement of Consumer-Generated Content being a major influencer in their recent study as well.

The next BIG thing? From Social Networks to the Internet’s first Economic Network

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:52:00 -0700

Could this be the next big thing? Well, Bill Gates says, advertisors, like Alexa, and Yahoo should be worried about Agloco. Currently, the most popular Internet businesses are built on the power of social networks, who have become worth billions because other businesses realize that these social networks are generating huge advertising and marketing opportunities.. Agloco is the internet's first economic network. Unlike social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, Agloco will share it's profits - and stocks - with the members. While I'm not sure how successful it will be, one thing is clear - this company is getting huge amounts of attention. It just might be the next big thing online!

AGLOCO (short for a global company) has asked a simple question: "The users created the community, where’s their share of the profit?" From that very question, AGLOCO set out to create the Internet’s first Economic Network by using the strength of social networks to directly benefit the Members who build the community. Becoming a member of AGLOCO is as simple as completing a simple sign-up page (name, age, location and email address.). Once you’re a Member, you will be asked to then download the Viewbar™ software.

The Ways AGLOCO Makes Money for Its Members Search: Each time you use the Viewbar™ to do an Internet search, AGLOCO earns money from the search engine providers. (Google pays as much as $0.10 on average for each search that is directed to its search engine.)

Advertising: The AGLOCO's Viewbar™ displays ads that are specialized to you. Through clicking on an ad and/or making a purchase, AGLOCO receives a referral fee, which we then pass on to our Members.
(Please note: Individual members do not receive any compensation for clicking on ads in the Viewbar™, and the Viewbar™ can detect if someone is clicking ads in a fraudulent manner.)

How much can you earn: If you become a member, and refer five more members, and these members refer three members respectively (and assuming that an Agloco hour is valued at $1), you can earn $761 per month (with five member referrals), $1,522 (with ten member referrals), and over $3,000 with 20 member referrals. Currently, there is a five hour surfing maximum that you will get paid for per month.

At this point nobody can say how much an hour of surfing will be valued. This will certainly be dependent on the number of people signing up with Agloco as it gives Agloco the power to negotiate with companies. Presently, Agloco is working on listing the company on the London Stock Exchange. You can have a look at the Simmon Analysis of the Agloco business.

It is also not clear if Agloco is scaling back how much it is being paid for later members, but according to blog posts over the past days, the time to sign-up and potentially get the biggest share of the opportunity is now.

Is this a spam? Well, this potentially could look a spam, but having done a bit of research, it looks pretty legit. From a business model standpoint, it makes sense. All Agloco is attempting to create is a permission-based advertising model for companies, build on the foundation of creating a social community that receives benefits via making money by doing what they already doing, networking with friends a la Facebook style (according to blog posts in development), and building strong content by aggregating content via feeds and having members share content.

Agloco was developed by Stanford University students and graduates, as well as some of the same people that create AllAdvantage. AllAdvantage was a similar idea back in 1999, and was a vicitm to the dot-com bubble - however was able to pay out over $120 mill to its members in a short time period. More info here.

Now finally what has all of this to do with travel and tourism marketing? Well, maybe nothing, and maybe everything. If this is one of the new way how advertising is being sold, and if social networks are the new influencencers of travel (I personally believe that networks such as Facebook, but also very exclusive and by-invite only networks such as A Small World, as well as the travel specific communities such as dominant Tripadvisor, or sites such as RealTravel and IgoUgo, or the new Vibe Agent are the way how consumers make their purchase decisions), an ecomic social network such as Aloco can be the way where travel and tourism companies have to ready shift their advertising dollars to. This is a very dramatic shift in marketing, and it is one that make a lot of traditional marketers feel very uncomfortable and at some point probably will have some even lose their jobs! So, I recommend, that you check it out, sign-up, and watch it to be ready before it is to late - and you even get paid for doing so.

By the way, when you do sign up, you would make me very happy if you used my referral code (BBFS9841), or used this link: www.agloco.com/r/BBFS9841 - Thank you!

Also have a look at this interesting interview by well-know Internet blogger Robert Scobble (author of "The Naked Conversation") with members of the Agloco founding management team. Scoble gets downright skeptical at times, and he asks the questions you’re probably thinking right now.

Read some more details about Agloco below, especially concerning Privacy, and how it all works.

Continue reading "The next BIG thing? From Social Networks to the Internet’s first Economic Network"

Future of the Internet?

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 09:05:00 -0800

Is there a concern that the Internet as we know it today could change dramatically? Have a look at this BBC article and the US Senate Committee hearing on Network Neutrality. A funny dialog by Virtual Karma posted in Feruary 2006 between a father and son in 2019 shows what the outcome could be if the phone companies and big ISPs are successful in deploying "guaranteed delivery" tiered network services where you have to pay extra to be sure that your site, email, or service will reach all the people who want to get it.

======

Son: Dad, today in the history class they taught us about Internet and all the amazing stuff you could do on it.

Dad: Those were good old days before the Verizon-net, Comcast, BellSouth.net...
Son: If internet was such a good thing, why don’t we have it today?

Dad: Because they decided to end it sometime around 2006.

Top 20 Countries in Internet Usage

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 10:53:00 -0800

Internet Statistics compiled and updated on 11th January 2007 by Internet World Stats shows the top 20 countries in terms of the number of Internet users:

But what is really interesting to take a look at is the Internet Penetration by Population. The most "wired" (or wireless) countries are Australia (70%) with the highest Internet Penetration, followed by the US (69%), Canada (68%), Japan (67%), Korea (66%), UK (62%), and Germany (61%).

Consumers create Ads

nospam@example.com (Jens Thraenhart) — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 21:20:00 -0800

2006 was the theme was user-generated content (blogs, MySpace) and viral video sharing (YouTube). 2007 will be the inaugural year of user-generated advertising with marketers starting to put viral video sharing to formal and extensive use. This is a fantastic trend, and, if executed properly, will forever change the nature of the marketer/consumer relationship in a very positive way. It's time to take the excitement and passion of user-generated content as evidenced by YouTube and combine it with the discipline of online marketing.

The New York Times recently reported that advertisers like Chipotle, Converse, General Motors and MasterCard have been gaining attention by inviting consumers to use video technologies to create commercials, sometimes teaming with television networks to offer the video technology.

A consumer-created short-film titled "The Diet Coke & Mentos Experiment" that displays the geyser-like effects of combining the two products. The film was not created or sanctioned by either product, but resulted in a 15 per cent spike in sales of the mints.
Mastercard's priceless.com, where consumers can upload images and videos of their favourite things.
Doritos' plan to run a consumer-created ad, selected by consumers, during the Super Bowl.

Continue reading "Consumers create Ads"