I had to go an see the Shamu believe show which was fantastic. (However I could have lived with out the overly emotional sugary soundtrack and the “I had a dream” stories…)

I decided to sit in the Soak Zone to see what would happen….

The Top 5 users of Facebook have stayed the same since Dec 08: US, UK, Canada, Turkey and France.

Spanish Facebook users have grown at 147% over the last 6 months, to be the 8th largest country of Facebook users in the world. Spain has grown the fastest, almost increasing their user base 1.5 times that of 6 months ago, from 2.2m to 5.5m users. Australia’s growth rate is low, 37%, compared to the Top 10 countries, and less than half that of the Italy – 88%, US – 85% and France 80%.

Sources:

1 – Facebook | Advertising, Estimates taken on 17th of July 2009 of Facebook users, identified as 18+

Highlights

Dinner at Bofinger in the Bastille.  My parents have been dining here since the started their annual trips to France.

Bread from the bakery near Saint Paul Metro.

The fabulous decorations and the Vanilla Layer cake from Restaurant Le Train Bleu.

The RER train from the airport.  35min to Les Halles, you don’t need to worry about the traffic and much cheaper than a taxi.  (Buying a ticket, however, was an absolute nightmare at CDG Terminal 2!)

The fabulous weather – sunshine throughout my stay.

Photos

On the Pont Saint-Louis

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Joining me on the panel was  Christina Thurn, Senior Producer at Disney interactive and Ross Mcdonald, Industry Marketing Manager at Google.

The session was chaired by Academic Director and Professor of Marketing Murali Chandrashakaran and Marketing Club president Geoff Baker.

Some of the key questions asked included:
How do you stand out from the competition on the internet?;
This was a very easy one for both Google and Disney to answer, as they are both clear leaders in their field.  I spoke about how in many industries in Australia, companies still hadn’t embraced the internet as a serious marketing channel, and just by getting the basics right, they could gain a serious competitive advantage.

With the internet getting increasingly mobile, how are you adapting your strategy?;
It was declared that 2009 is “almost” the year of the mobile! The iPhone has done a fantastic job in putting mobile data services in the hands of the average consumer. Google’s new Android phone, with its open sourced operating system promises to bring a mobile revolution as new apps are constantly developed. Disney has alway been a leader in mobile content, often teaming up with telcos to help distribute their content, e.g. Bigpond and High School Musical 3.

How powerful is user-generated content in your business, and how do you use it?;
Disney has embraced user generated content by developing many online activities for kids, some paid and some free, for example Club Penguin (an online community for children).

I also spoke about the seemingly decentralisation of user generated content. Sites like TripAdvisor now appear to be the exception, rather than the rule. People are not restricted to just sharing their views on one designated site, consumers are now empowered to discuss companies using various means; on twitter, their own blogs, facebook, forums etc. etc.

What will the future of digital marketing look like in 5 years time?
Wow what a question, I don’t think any of us had a stand out answer for this one!

There was also a Q&A session with the class where some greate questions were asked.  Content rights, lack of true globalisation in the internet and social media were discussed in the context of business opportunity and competitive advantage.

It was  great to be back at the AGSM, this time not as a student but as a professional.  Howevber, it reminded me how much fun I had during my MBA and how I miss being a student!

I am very keen to test both services, Worldmate and TripIt on my upcoming holiday to Europe and compare the two. My biggest concern is offline functionality, as no one wants to pay roaming charges in another country just to check what time their flight leaves! TripIt’s offline capability was buggy when it first came out, but seems to be stable now. There is no mention on the Worldmate site about the offline capability of their app.

Check out the Worldmate iPhone app here

However the research used to come up with this statement is based on a Forrester research study where they asked around 1,600 people the following question:

“Please indicate to what extent each statement describes your attitudes: I pay more attention to online ads directly related to my online activity (contextual); I pay more attention to online ads that fit my specific interests (behavioral).”

I struggled to understand what was being asked and I work in marketing! I can’t imagine every respondent fully understood what this question was asking.  According to the survey

“65 % responding that they are more receptive to BT, and only 35% saying they paid more attention to contextual ads”

I look forward to a more robust study using real data based on customers actions following exposure to behavioural vs contextual advertising.  This will be much more valuable that simply asking consumers what they like!

Read the press release – Independent Study Finds that Online Shoppers are More Receptive to Behaviorally Targeted Ads than Contextual Ads

The audience was varied including ecommerce retailers, search companies, publishers and agencies. Most of the audience asked questions around whether big corporates were actually listening or even cared about their presence in Social Media, how the Buzznumbers technology worked and ways companies could get a head start on seeding influencers.  It’s clear that everyone is now jumping on the social media bandwagon (and rightly so) but many companies have not developed robust tools to measure their success or failure in this space.

Xpand Xpresso is to be a continuing gathering Digital Media types every so often to discuss various topics in the industry attended by leading people in the Online space across a range of sectors including Finance, Retail, Broadcasting, Agency and Publisher. I am looking forward to the next one!

You can see the Buzz numbers presentation below, and check out their blog at Buzznumbers.

Buzz Numbers Actionable Business Intelligence From Online Conversations

For $900AUD you can get:

280 Packs of Arnotts Tim Tam Biscuits.

Tim Tam Biscuits

For $900 you can get 280 packs @ $3.15 a piece of Arnotts Timtams 200g delivered straight to your door.

Buy them online here at Coles Online

(NB Since the order is over $350 you have to call them to confirm, so you will need to partake in a certain level of human interaction)

Although $75 doesn’t go very far, it’s not a bad deal for businesses new to Adwords to try the tool risk free.

The offer is only available to new accounts and you must register by the end of June 2009.

Read all about it at the Google Australia Blog

Sign up to the Google Business Stimulus Offer here

I need to travel up to Seattle for a friends wedding in October, so I thought I would compare some of the different airlines now that we finally have some competition across the pacific.  In addition to Qantas and United, we now have V Australia who started flying this year and Delta who begins services in July.  On the weekend, I  checked to see the prices on my  www.expedia.com.au (Yes, I did use to work there) and it seemed that Delta had by far the best deal to Seattle.  Probably due to their interline arrangements for the domestic leg of the flight (LAX-SEA).

Today I tried to visit the site directly as I was curious at what my options were for joining a frequent flyer program.

Locating Delta Airlines Australia site

Firstly I tried delta.com.au – oops splash page for a webdesign company

Then I tried deltaairlines.com.au – this is when it got very interesting!

What just happened?

Look at the error message closely. I guess I must have absentmindedly typed in two www’s.  So I tried again with deltaairlines.com.au – same problem!  This is very weird.

Let’s check the server headers

I thought I would have a look at the headers to try and find out what was going on.

That seems reasonable – so what is happening with www.deltaairlines.com.au – I think you have probably guessed!

oops

Can anyone think of a reason as to why they would do this?  They are still relatively unknown in the Australian market so I can’t see this being a big issue for them, but if they are not ready to launch a site, perhaps a simple splash page is a better option?