Connecting the Dots / An Agency Blog

The fight for domination over location-based marketing is on, with Foursquare, Google, Gowalla, Yelp, and now Facebook pushing aggressively into the space. And if they buy in (and they most definitely should), the real winners are sure to be small-to-medium sized business owners.

This is essentially big business creating opportunity for small business – or – tech companies looking to generate revenue from the incredibly long-tail of businesses that need to market themselves, but typically do very little of it. It’s a win/win all around.

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Youtube users freaking out over the new iPhone 4G

Think about it. The story that’s still unfolding, even as I write this, has it all. Espionage (iPhone’s crazy security measures), romance (brand love on the part of the maniacs eating this stuff up), danger (dude might lose his job), disguises (3g disguised as 4g), and now, EXOTIC DESTINATIONS.

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Stimulant recently asked Engine Digital to submit 5 examples of random things that inspire us on a daily basis. The only caveat was that we couldn’t choose anything related to advertising in any way, shape or form. You wouldn’t think it would be that difficult but since almost everyone here at Engine lives and breathes advertising and nothing else the job ultimately fell on me. I’m a well-rounded guy and frequently have conversations that have absolutely nothing to do with advertising of any kind so I thought it would be a fun little project. But you know the old adage about assumptions right?
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Wow! We’re so busy with 2010 that we’re having trouble keeping track of the accolades that are still rolling in from 2009. Which, in all honesty, is just fine with us.

The SWISS WATER® Process, along with Engine Digital, was featured in the December 2009 issue of Direct Marketing Magazine for our “Relax. Enjoy. Awaken.” campaign as being one of the best of the year. Our relationship with the fine folks at Swiss Water started back in 2008, and the campaigns that we’ve launched since then have far exceeded expectation from both a marketing perspective and as a heavy hitter on the awards circuit.

Unfortunately, Direct Marketing is a print only magazine, but you can still download a copy of the issue that features The Swiss Water campaign via PDF with this link.

SoDA 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook – released today!

The Society of Digital Agencies released their 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook today and it’s packed full of great survey data from hundreds of executives from major global brands, traditional and digital agencies, and vendor / service providers. Some key stats and points of view that have caught my eye so far:

• 81% of brand execs expect an increase in digital projects for 2010
• “The most effective digital platforms have shifted from ‘disruptive’ to ‘productive’ by providing a service or utility…[they] fundamentally change the approach from “how we reach our customers” to ‘how we make their lives better.’” K. Blitz
• 59% of respondants say that cost-per-click, conversion, and ROI are the digital marketing metric they’re least interested in
• Most important technical skill sets to hire / contract in 2010 (in order): Flash, ActionScript, CSS, PHP, iPhone SDK – showing that the microsite is indeed still alive and kicking

Get the report after the jump…

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