Winning In Today's Digital World

On Monday, for the first time, the Marketors held a joint event with another Livery Company : the Stationers and Newspaper Makers. Both Companies have a shared interest in the digital world. So the Stationers Digital Marketing Group and the Marketors' Think Tank got together to put on a seminar and discussion at Stationers Hall under the title 'How Do You Win In Today's Digital World'

We enjoyed a very high class Keynote speaker, Rory Sutherland the Executive Creative Director of OgilvyOne and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group UK. Rory is an acknowledged expert on Behavioural Economics or 'Nudge' theory as it is known. This is the theory underpinned by the belief that the decisions which people make are hugely influenced by unconscious and non-rational factors and nudging to influence behaviour can be more productive than instruction or overt coercion-sometimes simply by making decisions easier. Rory demonstrated the use of the theory in digital marketing, particularly in terms of responses to web sites.

Daniel Finklestein, the Executive Editor of The Times talked more directly about the issues of monetoising content-content on line being something that people have historically taken for granted as being free. The Times and The Sunday Times are pursuing a paywall approach to monetising their content. The industry looks on with great interest at what many see as an experiment.

Daniel was followed by Fergus Boyd the acting Head of E-business at Virgin Atlantic. The airline uses everythting from apps to social media as well as mobile and web as well as all the traditional media, cross promoting across them. As a sophisticated user of on and off line and integration the two Daniel demonstrated the width of possibilities available for the adventurous like Virgin.

The final speaker was Professor Merlin Stone, visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes, Portsmouth and DeMontfort Universities who is an expert on customer relationship management. Ex IBM he has been a leader in e-commerce since the mid 90s. Perfectly positioned therefore to explain how customer relationship management skills can profitably migrate on line.

Questions to the panel rapidly followed the speakers' presentations. With well over 100 people in the audience we were fortunate to have immediate Past Master Venetia Howes moderating the evening, not only opening proceedings with skill but controlling the questions and bringing them to a well timed conclusion. Hospitality, as it is quaintly called, followed rounding off a very informative and successful evening.