This news comes shortly after Yahoo! CFO Ken Goldman told the audience at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom conference in Boston that his company is launching marketing campaigns directed at the 18 to 34 year old audience with a single goal — to up the Yahoo! brand’s cool factor. Interestingly, it also comes at the same time Mayer published an article on Yahoo! Yodel announcing a new partnership with Twitter that would bring relevant tweets directly into the Yahoo! news feed.

Tumblr is extremely popular among the younger demographic that Yahoo! wants to connect with. It’s also a content generation machine — a product that Yahoo! can fit seamlessly into its business model. Tumblr has yet to be fully monetized, and that is something Yahoo! surely finds attractive about a possible investment or acquisition.

The question is whether or not a Tumblr acquisition is the right move for Yahoo! Naysayers are quick to point out the company’s track record of acquiring and damaging brands (e.g., Flickr). However, people on the other side of the argument see a Tumblr acquisition as a natural fit for Yahoo! And yet another angle pundits are discussing is the large price tag for a product that gives Yahoo! more of the same — user-generated content — but doesn’t diversify the company into products that will carry it into the future. In other words, they wonder if Tumblr is too safe and suggest that Yahoo! needs to make a bolder move to thrive rather than simply survive in years to come.

What do you think of a Tumblr acquisition by Yahoo? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Josh James

 Yahoo Considering Tumblr for Acquisition

Goldman explained, “Part of it is going to be just visibility again in making ourselves cool, which we got away from for a couple of years.”

While Goldman didn’t share budgets or timing of the new marketing push, he did admit that there will be significant advertising spending across a variety of media and channels to spread the cool brand message. The question is whether or not Yahoo! can back up its claims of coolness among the 18-34 year old audience. It’s likely this audience doesn’t remember the early days of the Yahoo! brand when it was known as the main competitor to Google’s search engine. Instead, many members of this audience associate the Yahoo! brand with curated and syndicated content, low quality content provided by writers who are paid little or nothing at all, and a lot of clutter.

I want Yahoo! to succeed, but is it too soon to hype the “cool” message? Yes, the company has a young CEO in Marissa Mayer who is known for her digital product development prowess, but does her presence equate to instant coolness? Will the younger demographic make that leap?

In life and in branding, you need to earn a “cool” reputation. It doesn’t come easily, and actions speak louder than words. It’s the perfect time for Yahoo! to make some bold moves (and I don’t mean eliminating telecommuting). Many of the dominant online brands have been at the top of their respective markets for a while, and consumers are ready for the next big thing. Can Yahoo! bring it? One thing is for certain—the brand that delivers the bold new products and online experiences will be cool.

What do you think?

Image: Ilker

 Yahoo! Tries to Regain Cool Factor with Younger Audiences

New research from market research firm Arbitron Mobile found that 66.8% of U.K. smartphone owners used mobile commerce apps in March 2013. That number is higher than any other country included in the study (United States =55.9%, Germany = 57.6%, and France = 52.5%).

The report also shows that U.K. smartphone owners spend the most time using mobile commerce apps and shopping with their mobile devices. You can see the specific data below:

• United Kingdom: Minutes per month = 134.8, Sessions per month = 54.5
• United States: Minutes per month = 91.0, Sessions per month = 30.8
• Germany: Minutes per month = 74.3, Sessions per month = 32.1
• France: Minutes per month = 56.1, Sessions per month = 23.9

The most popular mobile commerce app used by smartphone owners in the U.K. during the month of March 2013 was the eBay app. Nearly one out of two (43.8%) panelists used the eBay app during March for a total of 144.1 minutes and 52.1 sessions for the month.

In fact, more than twice as many U.K. smartphone owners used the eBay mobile commerce app than the next most popular mobile commerce app, Amazon Mobile. Just 16.0% of U.K. smartphone owners reported using the Amazon Mobile app during March 2013 with usage time reported as 29.1 minutes and 9.5 sessions during that month. The Groupon, Nectar, and Maximiles app were each cited by 10% or fewer U.K. smartphone owners.

Interestingly, the study found that U.K. mobile commerce app users actually use those apps less frequently during the December holiday season. The data below shows you the usage pattern between October 2012 and March 2013, and it will probably surprise you:

• October 2012 = 61.6%
• November 2012 = 60.4%
• December 2012 = 59.6%
• January 2013 = 59.8%
• February 2013 = 58.9%
• March 2013 = 66.8%

The data shows that mCommerce is growing steadily in the U.K., and companies with useful mobile commerce apps are reaping the rewards. Think about your brand and how you can create a mobile commerce app that meets your target audience’s needs just as eBay has done. Don’t create an app simply to check it off of your list of 2013 projects. Make sure it delivers the experience your target audience wants and you’ll be able to attract that growing audience of smartphone users who are comfortable shopping through their mobile devices. After all, this audience certainly isn’t going to shrink, so ignoring the opportunity mCommerce represents could be a strategic disaster.

Image: Dan Taylor

 2 out of 3 U.K. Smarphone Users are Mobile Shoppers

A real effort was made by the organisers to keep the sessions interactive and to use technology to engage the audience. We voted via Twitter and SMS on the best presentations from companies on subjects such as “Frontline supply chain engagement to enable ethical sourcing”, “New models for investment using social innovation” and the final session, “Stakeholder Engagement X Factor”.

I attended eight sessions over the two days and met a number of people from large plc’s to small suppliers from the UK and much further afield. The most memorable moments were when those presenting spoke with genuine passion for their subject, of particular note was when the President of the Norwegian Red Cross spoke about the importance of trust for their organisation during his recent visit to Damascus. Only with complete trust from both the rebels and the regime could they have full access to treat those who needed it the most.

The Chief Executives of both BUPA and O2 spoke about trust and what it meant to their companies. The general theme was a focus on transparency, using technology for more open communication, and employee empowerment. In addition, it was accepted that mistakes will always happen and whilst efforts will always be made to minimise those, it was actually a zero tolerance towards not learning from failure rather than failure itself.

This is a very interesting concept and something that we have been speaking about for the last few months internally. Being open about your challenges as a business is absolutely the right approach, and as Sven Mollekleiv of the DNV Group said, “no customer has complained about telling the truth, this creates trust”.

So, what did I learn that you might find useful? In no particular order of importance, here are fifteen quotes/ideas (as accurate as my note-taking would allow) and tit-bits of feedback that you might find interesting:

1. The roles of NGO’s and big business in effecting change from an environmental and societal position is paramount, but collaborations between them needs to be carefully considered to ensure transparency and clarity around objectives.
2. Corporations need to work hard with their supply chain, especially in emerging markets to ensure that proper standards are being followed, and that they should make long term commitments to their suppliers so that where change is necessary, that price increases can be accommodated (the Bangladesh factory collapse was referenced here).
3. Businesses that have moved from the “Command and Control” model to the “Participate and Persuade” world have enjoyed far greater financial success.
4. Societal contribution is potentially of greater importance to businesses than charitable, supply chain or energy reduction policies.
5. For businesses to rebuild trust they must identify stakeholders, create adequate listening posts and create strategies for engagement based on the data available
6. Shareholder activism and proxy voting is putting new issues on the table as investors start to drive agendas.
7. Analysts are starting to ask questions about resource scarcity, water usage, production processes etc. as they start to understand the importance of strategies to adequately deal with these challenges.
8. Investment firm Calvert are releasing an app for individuals to track their water usage in order to raise awareness so that they force companies to disclose the same
9. You can monitor which companies are best at innovation with responsible business practices as it is integral to their strategy, reporting, results announcements, independent reporting etc…
10. Companies cannot break off manufacturing from the brand, and so their reputation is dependent upon their process
11. The focus on the supply chain by corporations will become more important as the impact that can be made both financially and from a societal and environmental point of view by making improvements through responsible practice and collaboration is fully understood.
12. Supply chain audits and reporting will become commonplace and incorporated into reporting cycles in the next two to three years.
13. There is no silver bullet when it comes to crisis communications, but effective scenario planning is absolutely critical in understanding roles and responsibilities during such events.
14. Large multinationals have to be careful to align their loyalty to national interests rather than political interests in order to retain neutrality and customer loyalty during government changes.
15. That many companies will start to publish their CR Report online—and only online. The digital revolution is not quite as transformational as responsible business practice, but it can certainly save a tree or two.

 Responsible Business Summit: 15 Thoughts

Tel Aviv, Israel-based Beyond Verbal has launched a patented voice recognition technology that can extract, decode, and measure an individual’s full set of emotions and character traits from that person’s raw voice in real-time (i.e., as they speak). Using this data, the technology can detect moods, attitudes, and decision-making characteristics, which the company refers to as emotions analytics.

A team of physicists and neuropsychologists spent 18 years researching voice data and studied more than 60,000 test subjects in 26 languages to develop the technology behind emotions analytics. The company leaders believe that the technology will change the way people communicate and interact with each other as well as how they interact with computers. Taking it a step further, you can imagine how useful this voice data could be to brand marketers.

Already, Beyond Verbal licenses its technology to companies for use in their consumer applications, products, devices, software, appliances, and more. The company is also building a web-based tool for individuals to use, and a third-party mobile app using the Beyond Verbal API is expected to be released within a few weeks.

In a press release, Beyond Verbal CEO and 25-year technology veteran Yuval Mor explains the far-reaching implications that his company’s emotional analytics technology could have:

Nearly two decades of research tells us that it’s not what someone says, but how they say it, that tells the full story. Beyond Verbal has the potential to impact numerous multi-billion dollar verticals and leverage a new market of emotionally-enhanced applications installed in any voice-enabled, voice-activated, or voice-controlled device. This opens up a new dimension of emotional understanding, called Emotions Analytics, giving humans and machines the ability to react in ways that were never before possible.

For brand marketers, tapping into consumer emotions is critical, and this type of technology, which extracts emotional data and interprets it, could be a gold mine. I’m excited to stay tuned to this story.

What do you think? Is this type of technology, which delivers emotions analytics, a brand marketing game-changer? Share your opinions on emotional analytics in the comments below.

Image: Artur Bieniek

 Leveraging Emotions Analytics in Brand Marketing