email us at mw.editorial@centaur.co.uk including your name and address t i l Q G D S t

bestof the blogs

Stuart Smith onInterpublic Group

Publicis Groupe chief executiveMaurice Levy (pictured) tooktime out from an Interview inAbu Dhabi the other day toquash the crescendo of marketrumours swirling around apossible takeover bid forInterpublic Group.

The logic behind such a moveis surprisingiy compelling, as Ipointed out recently. Indeed, noless a person than Levy's arch-rival, WPP chief Sir MartinSorten, has suggested that'sexactly what Levy is up to.

But Levy is having none of it.Acquisitions, yes; but small onesand solely in

-ntly..evertheless,.e couldn't-IS up the

unity3 a go

thisdversary

with the following observation:"My competitor likes to marryPublicis with Interpublic; maybeit's because he has plenty of timeand his business is not keepinghim too busy."

"Ouch", you might think. Untilyou realise that this is part of along and vituperative publicdialogue between the twoinvolving, among other things.Sorrell accusing Levy of creativearithmetic and Levy tellingSorrell to mind his margins. Evenso, the "little Englishman tryingto stir things up" clearly believeshe has scored a palpable hit inthis particular round of corporatechicken. We'll see.

Stay tuned, by the way, forsome imminent enlightenmenton the Levy succession plan.

Domino's takes riskYour coverage of Domino'sdecision to test an oniine

marketing tool that will let anyonewith online webspace earn revenueby hosting advertising from thebrand (MW last week) madeinteresting reading.

On the face of it, the sheernumber of consumers with socialnetwork domains means thatDomino's could soon have an armyof marketers at a fraction of theprice of traditional advertising andmarketing. But does this mean thatit is a good move for the brand?

I wonld suggest that Domino'sshould tread carefully. Despiteexcellent financial results, tliebrand still needs to focus on thequality of its product andreconnecting with customers. It'snot that long ago that we were alltalking about the YouTube video ofemployees with "questionable"

Domino's: Digital adventure

standards of hygiene. Is opening upthis new front, with all the potentialpitfalls o managing commercialrelationships with consumers, agood idea?

Exploiting digital should be partof every brand's strategy but Iwould argue that Domino's needs tokeep focused on its core activity fora little while yet.

Vanessa Cohen, partner, Prophet

Ecommerce sites do little toencourage online spending/7~y) It is excellent news thatx:i> according to the recent studyby Forrester (MarketingWeek.co.uK.8 March), the UK Is leading the waywith online spend in Europe, but Ibelieve this is despite retailers' bestefforts rather than because of them.

Consumers recognise in adifficult economic climate that theycan find better deais online and alsolike the anonymity of the internet.It's not that consumers haveactually quelled their spending butare just getting savvy as to howthey shop and take a bit more timeto find that internet bargain.

That said, the increase in spendonline appears to be despite thefrustrating experience that manyconsumers face when shopping,Ecommerce sites often haveusability barriers that customers areexpected to navigate around. Thisranges from poor navigation to lackof sufficient product information.

Considering the poor usability ofmost online retail sites, is it anywonder that average conversion

Ecommerce: Hard to navigate

rates hover around the 5% mark? Ifmore retail outlets invested indesign and usability of these sites,conversion rates would surely rise.For some retailers even an increaseof 1 % could lead to millions, if notbillions of increased sales.

So, while it is great news forecommerce retailers that UK spendis set to continue to grow, theyshould also remember that there isstill plenty of money being left onthe table.

Andy Budd, MD andfounder. Clearleft

Digital PR helps you reach wider audienceIt is a mistake to assume thatusing digital channels is

appropriate only for reaching digitalconsumers. The internet has madePR public again after many years ofjust focusing on the media. The keyto online PR is influencing tlie

influencer - blogs. online releasesand forums allow companies tocommunicate directly with theiraudience.

It is natural for old school PRprofessionals to resist the movetowards online PR and try to

dismiss it. But PR, whether it be byan agency or run in-house, is aboutreaching your audience and thiscan't be restricted to just the press.Paul Stallard, account director,Berkeley PR

Brands mustlearn the fineart of apology@A brand is more than thepublic face of an organisation;it's what we think about it andwhat we tell our friends. A brand,and its strength, is purely andsimply the sum-total of everycustomer experience that it servedup. And more importantly a brandis a phenomenally hard thing torestore if it's been destroyed.

If we think about a brand-nanieas a personal friend, then we canask ourselves whether we wouldlike that friend to say sorry whenthey let us down. Of course wewould, and so the brand shouldthink the same. Only in a brand'scase, it's potentially letting downtens of thousands of friends at thesame time.

The first step is aauallyacknowledging to tlie customerwhat has happened, and doing itquickly. Brands must not appear tobe burying their heads in the sandwhile they "strategise" the bestway to apologise.

Brands simply need to askthemselves: Are our customersgoing to be satisfied with the waywe have apologised? Or is it gouigto be viewed as purely a self-serving exercise?

With customers having noshortage of alternative brandswanting to make new friends, it'snot rocket science; three strikesand you're out - and that's takingan optimistic view.

But a sincere and timely apologyor explanation can go a long way tomanaging the experience as acustomer, which goes for anyvalued relationship. In many cases,it truly is the thought that counts.The right communication tools arethere, so there really is no excuse.

Think about your broadbandprovider and when the service isdown. You get angry andfrustrated, and when they donothing to explain or fix theproblem, you dump them.

But if they sent you a textmessage, an email or even anantomated phone call to say "we'resorry" and "we're fixing theproblem because we genuinelycare and want to look after you,and we'll keep you posted withonr progress as we get you backup and running", then you mayforgive them.

And they may retain your loyaltyas a customer. It's a no-brainer.

Marion Bowser, CEO, HTK

marketingweek.co.uk ! 18 March 2010 1 Marketing Week | 17

Copyright of Marketing Week (01419285) is the property of Centaur Communications and its content may notbe copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express writtenpermission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.