What is a TVR?

February 5, 2014By Simon FosterMedia Buying, Media Planning, TV Media Planning Training

This is a question that many marketers don’t want to ask, especially when they are halfway through the agency’s TV presentation. The trouble is, the agency team have been talking about TVRs for about 20 minutes, the coffee’s gone cold and you daren’t chip in to ask “exactly what is a TVR?” Put very simply … Read More

Would you give your agency this brief?

June 10, 2013By Simon FosterWays of Working

                      A few aspects of this brief make it both remarkable and very interesting reading: Mick sends Andy “2 boxes of material which you can use, and the record”. In other words some pictures and the product. Mick adds “I leave it in your capable … Read More

What is programmatic advertising?

March 23, 2013By Simon FosterDigital Media, Media Buying, Media Planning

If you are an advertiser you may have heard the expressions “programmatic buying”, “real time bidding” and “ad exchanges”. You may be wondering what all this is and what it means for advertisers, if you are then read on… “Programmatic” advertising, is effectively automated online media buying – often at large scale and at very … Read More

Advertising and Media Planning Books

March 13, 2013By Simon FosterMarketing Training, Media Planning, Media Planning Books

Here’s a selection of must-read selection of adverting media planning and buying books for those working in advertising and communications strategy. If you click the link you can find the book on Amazon. The Communications Challenge: A practical guide to media neutral planning A practical guide to communications planning. Becoming quite collectable. Even I’m in … Read More

Facebook ‘likes’ don’t increase brand preference or sales

May 9, 2012By Simon FosterAdvertising Evaluation, Digital Media, Media Planning, Social Media

Here’s an iron for the fire: “Facebook ‘likes’ do not cause increased brand preference or increased sales so marketing campaigns designed to increase the number of ‘likes’ are unlikely to increase brand preference or sales.” I was moved to develop and explore this hypothesis after reading an article on the real cost of brand building … Read More

How is multivariate data analysis used in marketing?

May 9, 2012By Simon FosterCustomer Analytics, Direct Marketing Training

‘Multivariate’ means ‘many variables’ and in the context of marketing it usually means analysing multiple variables from customer records to get a deeper understanding of the customer base. This increased understanding of customer behaviour permits the development of customised offers, relevant creative messaging and more accurate media targeting – particularly with techniques like email and … Read More

Social Media Metrics Made Simple: Focus on Sales and Customers

February 20, 2012By Simon FosterAdvertising Evaluation, Digital Media, Media Planning, Social Media

I am amazed that so many people spend so much time defining and discussing social media metrics. Why? Because the answers marketers (and shareholders) want are very, very simple. Marketers want only one thing from marketing budget investment. Marketers want sales – sales are key; almost everything else is a proxy for some point on … Read More

What is predictive modelling in marketing?

October 27, 2010By Simon FosterCRM Training, Customer Analytics, Direct Mail, Direct Marketing Training, Media Evaluation

Predictive modelling is a term with many applications in statistics but in database marketing it is a technique used to identify customers or prospects who, given their demographic characteristics or past purchase behaviour, are highly likely to purchase a given product. In this context, ‘predictive’ does not simply mean predicting the future; it means identifying the quantitative factors … Read More

What can a database record tell us about customers?

October 12, 2010By Simon FosterCRM Training, Customer Analytics, Direct Mail, Direct Marketing Training

Your customer database is a potential fountain of opportunities to improve campaign targeting, creative messaging and return on marketing investment. Good database analysis can have a huge positive effect on your business. Your database can tell you who your customers are, where they live, what kind of people they are, what they buy, how they … Read More

Marketing data analysis gets you closer to customers

June 28, 2010By Simon FosterCRM Training, Customer Analytics, Direct Marketing Training

Smart data analysis can be a major source of campaign insight and even competitive advantage for brands and advertisers. The customer data owned by a brand advertiser can reveal Exactly who buys a given product or service Detailed information about the characteristics of those buyers Which other products and services they buy Which product and … Read More

UK advertising predictions 2009

December 16, 2008By Simon FosterGeneral

I think 2009 is going to be a year of immense change in the UK media landscape. But it’s not going to be the same for everyone. I predict that it will be a bad year for the traditional offline players whilst newer digital players will find 2009 painful but manageable. For many traditional media … Read More