The Spot On Blog
The original Spot On blog (beware of imitations!) sharing insights, thoughts and best practices for marketing in the age of the consumer. You can also check out Carrington Malin’s recent articles here: www.carringtonmalin.com
Are you being genuine?
One of the great challenges for companies investing in digital communications is content. As we’ve said before on Spot On’s blog, we are all publishers now. However, if your company is not currently structured to create great online content there are good reasons to take care. Whilst there is room for both editorial and advertising […]
The buzz around Arab film
Those of us that are old enough to have known 1970s and 1980s television in the GCC, will remember, among other things, the broadcasting of old Arabic movies from the golden age of Egyptian cinema (or, indeed, turning the TV on to watch the English language movie of the week!). The video quality often left […]
A modern marketing manifesto
Many of us have held the opinion for some time that the arrival of the new wave of social media would force massive changes in communications and marketing and even change the structure of organisations themselves. And so it has. The role of digital marketers in organisations has grown up fast, as marketing’s influence over […]
Flipboard and the future of content
It’s no secret that the Internet has radically changed the way we create, consume and share content and continues to do so. Spot On often talks about concepts such as disintermediation, the atomisation of communications, the social consumer and the pressure on all organisations to become publishers of content. It’s easy to spot the big […]
Taking a bite out of the CITC
‘Biting the hand that feeds IT’ is UK-based The Register’s amusing theme line, a reference to the IT news website’s irreverent editorial style, which often has harsh criticism for IT company announcements, spokespeople and other IT news. This week, Saudi Arabia’s English language newspaper the Arab News seems to have decided to do some biting of its own, running a […]
Why retiring Google Reader is anti-social
The web is now full of reactions to this week’s announcement that Google will retire its RSS feed reader on 1 July 2013. Perhaps, as pointed out by Tech Crunch’s Matt Burns, the retirement of Google Reader will pave the way for more innovative feed management apps from competitors that have hitherto been too intimidated […]
Marketing after the click
In the old days, we used to place advertisements in trade magazines. These often carried ‘bingo cards’ for advertisers to circle numbers corresponding to advertisements. These ‘reader responses’ were collated by the publisher and the contacts of interested readers were sent to advertisers for them to follow up with a brochure and perhaps a follow […]
Ooredoo or just plain redo?
In the age of 24/7 online news and social media, what reaction should brands expect to receive from a major global announcement? Many marketers would expect the answer, and the preparation required to harness the benefit of such a reaction, to be second nature to most global brands. However, it seems that this is not […]
Has the Arab Spring turned into a torrent of cash?
Whilst debate continues, even now, on how pivotal the role social media was in the revolutions of the Arab Spring, there can be no doubt that Arab digital activism woke up businesses and governments across the world to the potential of new digital media. In the Middle East the change in attitudes towards digital media […]
Causing a stir: Twitter and the news media
The latest in a long line of Twitterpower case studies came last week with the news piece in The National highlighting Twitter outrage at the decision to send 25 Emirati women to Bahrain to watch the UAE play Bahrain in the Gulf Cup. The prevailing tide of expressed opinion was strongly against the activity, rallying […]
