He believes magazines to be the first social media, in that they build communities and set the agenda. It is this inherent social heritage and understanding that will enable cross media content to succeed. Furthermore, the constant state of flux in the media industry is the power behind the content throne - this is what makes content exciting and the output engaging, no matter what the platform.
Moving from magazines to tablets, John Hill, design editor of The Times shared his experience of designing the newspaper's iPad edition. The first hurdle was the perception that it isn't possible to design for both print and digital. Quickly dismissing this, the journey began in a secret room in Wapping in March - the room was so secret that even the cleaners weren't allowed in. The aim of the iPad project was to take the spirit and essence of The Times and distil it in the tablet version. It was vital that the iPad edition felt familiar to its readers, yet gave something different. The ability to tell complicated stories through graphics is the iPad edition's USP. Readers can interact with complex data sets, adding another level to the customer experience.
Times competitor, Paul Roach, technical lead for SEO at guardian.co.uk then took to the stage to discuss how guardian.co.uk achieves 37 million unique users per month. Ninety per cent of traffic comes from Google. Google has become the most important newsstand in the modern age and he believes therefore that a comprehensive four pronged SEO strategy is crucial:
- Understand the audience - know when they search over a 24 period, this will inform you when to push content to Google
- Speed, get the content to Google quickly v - the speediest method is through the site map takes between 30 seconds and 2 minutes
- Define the conversion metrics
- Actively target consumers
He concluded with the fact that search is now over. With the exception of algorithm tweaks, brands can build their SEO activity make it successful and then concentrate on mobile and social.
This provided a neat link into James Pimentel-Pinto, CEO of Agency Mobile's appraisal of the mobile landscape. In the UK 47 per cent of mobile users still operate on symbian handsets, with only 20 per cent on the iphone and three per cent using the Android. Ruling out half of the market is a mistake, it is important for brands to think beyond the iphone and look to reach customers through other platforms such as Samsung's bada, Window's mobile, Nokia MeeGo and Samsung's Galaxy handset which has sold 600,000 in its first month.
With mobile content brands need to think wider than handset and more towards blurring the digital line so that content can be disseminated across the multitude of avenues available to the modern marketer.
Session 4: The Future of Advertising follows lunch and will see Luke Johnson, chairman of Risk Capital Partners LLP, William Owen, Strategy Director of Made by Many and Robert Tansey, Group Brand Marketing Director of BSkyB take to the stage.
