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 Customer Relationships

Q&A: John Dawes, Tealeaf's VP of products and strategy

December 21, 2011

John Dawes, VP of products and strategy at Tealeaf, a customer experience management (CEM) company, discusses the ways your website might actually be limiting transactions.
 

Alternate spin on digital interaction 
steers auto brands' campaigns

December 01, 2011

Some marketers may balk at the expense of Volkswagen's videogame for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox to support the launch of the 2012 Beetle. However, Volkswagen of America EVP and chief product and marketing officer Tim Mahoney says the game — which mirrors the campaign's 
TV spots, showing consumers driving around in a Beetle and giving passersby high-fives — "seemed ideally suited to reinforce 
the TV spot."
 

Alterian to shutter Chicago office

November 16, 2011

Alterian will close its Chicago office as part of a restructuring plan that began in September, said Adrian Duffield, partner at College Hill, Alterian's financial PR agency. Alterian employees were notified on Nov. 6 that the shuttering process would begin immediately, he said.
 

Oracle to acquire RightNow for $1.5 billion

October 24, 2011

Database company Oracle announced it has agreed to acquire CRM company RightNow Technologies, for $1.5 billion, both companies said in a statement. The transaction is expected to close by late 2011 or early 2012.
 

Xerox CMO at DMA 2011: Marketing must be relevant, personalized

October 02, 2011

Brands must offer engaging, personalized and relevant marketing experiences to compete in today's marketplace, said Christa Carone, CMO of Xerox Corp.
 

Q&A: Ragini Bhalla, director of marketing and communications at Fantasy Interactive

September 28, 2011

Ragini Bhalla, director of marketing and communications at digital agency Fantasy Interactive, discusses her new role and how building loyalty online differs from offline channels.
 

Q&A: Riley Gibson, CEO and cofounder, Napkin Labs

September 12, 2011

Riley Gibson, CEO and cofounder of Napkin Labs, discusses how brands are using the "crowd-sourcing platform" to conduct loose-format focus groups.
 

Steve Jobs' resignation: Will it change the way consumers see Apple?

August 25, 2011

Steve Jobs is a marketing genius. This is a fact. Some would say his greatest success is illustrated by consumer behavior leading up to and following launches of new Apple products.
 

IHG launches an integrated shopping rewards program

August 03, 2011

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) launched an integrated shopping rewards program, Priority Club Shopping, on August 3 that will enable IHG Priority Club members to earn loyalty points for shopping with more than 600 retailers, said Mark Shepherd, director of partnership programs at IHG.
 

Tailor marketing strategies to customer preferences

Dan Smith, SVP of marketing, ClickSquared August 01, 2011

To make communications relevant, marketers need information about each customer's preferences and interests. But where do you get this information? How do you coax customers to give it to you? A well thought-out preference center can make all the difference across all channels.
 

Dear Netflix: I'm divorcing you. You can keep the DVDs.

July 26, 2011

Netflix knows I'm upset but it isn't really worried. The online movie rental company posted a second-quarter revenue increase of 52% to $789 million compared with Q2 2010. The earnings fell short of Wall Street predictions, but the number of global subscribers increased 70% to 25 million, and nearly 75% of those new customers signed up for streaming-only plans, which is exactly what Netflix would like customers to do.
 

Q&A: Jason Mittelstaedt, CMO of RightNow

July 20, 2011

Jason Mittelstaedt, CMO of RightNow, a customer experience management (CEM) technology company, explains the distinction between CRM and CEM and why social media may never be a platform for direct marketing.
 

Q&A: Liz Deutch, EVP and global director of customer engagement, Draftfcb

June 08, 2011

Liz Deutch, EVP and global director of customer engagement at Draftfcb, discusses her new position at the agency and the difference between customer engagement and CRM with Direct Marketing News. Deutch's career has spanned more than two decades, including roles with Ogilvy & Mather Direct, Ammirati and Puris, Enfatico and Young & Rubicam Brands (Y&R Brands).
 

Gilt Groupe turns to SAS to enhance customer analytics

May 18, 2011

Tamara Gruzbarg, senior director of customer analytics and research at private sale site Gilt Groupe, classifies the company's data analytics environment as "disparate" prior to February 2010. She says the company's various data sources were located in "different places and formats" and that "no single tool could access all of them."
 

'We will never be Middle America,' says Ideeli's director of loyalty

May 17, 2011

I had the opportunity to tour Ideeli's SoHo office today to get a sense of the company's culture and how it plans to compete with competitors like Gilt Groupe, RueLaLa and HauteLook. Like the high-end products Ideeli sells to its 4 million members, the company's center of operations is chic and impressive.
 

Listen to customer communities to build loyalty

May 11, 2011

The key to building customer loyalty is listening to your customers. There's no point trying to manage customer relationships if you don't know what it is your customers need. One way to build customer relationships is by creating a brand community atmosphere that fosters customer interactions with peers as well as your business.
 

Slow recovery doesn't hurt analytics growth: Gartner

April 20, 2011

Technology service providers earned $1.65 billion in revenue from analytics applications last year, a 17.7% increase compared with 2009, according to a Gartner report. Analytics revenue will increase 10.5% in the next five years, according to the research firm.
 

Q&A: David Brown, Meredith Integrated Marketing EVP and GM of content and CRM

April 20, 2011

Meredith Integrated Marketing promoted David Brown to EVP and GM on April 18. In his new role he'll oversee Meredith Integrated Marketing's content and CRM business, including supervision of Directive, Meredith's database analytics agency.
 

American Airlines, British Airways promote loyalty contest through social media

April 13, 2011

American Airlines and British Airways began promoting the "Miles Millionaire" loyalty contest on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on April 12 to acquire new program members. The contest, developed by OgilvyOne, is targeting existing American Airlines AAdvantage and British Airways Executive Club members, as well as prospective members.
 

Don't neglect the R in CRM

Neil Rosen, founder and CEO, eWayDirect April 13, 2011

The advent of group discount sites, search engines, auction sites and product review sites have eroded brand loyalty and made it more difficult for marketers to maintain strong customer relationships.
 

Dunkin' Donuts takes loyalty program nationwide

April 06, 2011

Dunkin' Donuts unveiled its first national customer loyalty program, "DD Perks Rewards," on April 5. The initiative allows members to redeem unlimited rewards for purchases made with a Dunkin' Donuts Card. Dunkin' Donuts will also ask customers who register for the loyalty program to opt in to its database to receive future email and SMS marketing messages about new offers, products and store openings.
 

Merkle buys search marketing firm Impaqt

March 29, 2011

Merkle, a customer relationship marketing agency, has acquired search marketing firm Impaqt. The acquisition, completed March 25, will allow Merkle to incorporate Impaqt's search marketing capabilities into its database and digital offerings.
 

Integrate marketing automation, sales force automation and e-mail marketing

Kristin Hambelton, VP of marketing, Neolane March 23, 2011

In a world inundated with communication, everything we do creates a data point. But, the reality is, your company probably doesn't use information as effectively as it could.
 

The Henry Ford taps Sigma for database marketing

February 28, 2011

The Henry Ford, a Dearborn, MI-based historical destination, has hired digital and database firm Sigma Marketing Group after an RFP process that included nine firms, the companies said February 28. Sigma is the nonprofit's first database marketing firm.
 

Salesforce.com CEO predicts $2B year after Q4, full-year revenue growth

February 25, 2011

Salesforce.com reported $1.7 billion in revenue for its 2011 fiscal year, a 27% increase compared with fiscal 2010. Marc Benioff, CEO of the San Francisco-based CRM company, predicted on a February 25 earnings call that Salesforce.com will be "the first enterprise cloud-computing company to generate more than $2 billion in revenue by the end of this year."
 

Let data, not price, dictate campaign targeting

James Burrows, EVP of global sales, e-Miles February 02, 2011

As marketers we know that deeper knowledge of the consumer allows for broader engagement through the offering of more targeted and relevant content.
 

Earning and keeping the Generation Y customer

Craig Fitzgerald, editorial director, IMN January 12, 2011

With $500 billion in buying power and an estimated $3.4 trillion by 2018, marketers are increasingly turning their attention to Generation Y - consumers born between 1977 and 1995.
 

The magic of NRF's Big Show 2011

January 12, 2011

If I take one lesson away from the National Retail Federation's 100th Annual Big Show it isn't that finding wi-fi at technology-driven trade shows is impossible (we already knew that) or that case studies that don't produce ROI numbers are pointless (we already knew that too).
 

Salesforce.com buys Dimdim for $31M

January 06, 2011

CRM company Salesforce.com said January 6 that it has acquired enterprise application development firm Dimdim for approximately $31 million in cash.
 

Digital coupon campaign drives loyalty, new acquisitions at Newk's

December 20, 2010

Chris Newcomb, owner of Newk's Express Cafe, a 30-store Southern restaurant chain that focuses on upscale quick-serve dining, knows that in the food business "people can throw a lot of marketing dollars at a lot of places."