October 6th, 2009

The search engine company announced on its official blog that it would launch a new feature for AdSense mobile publishers allowing them to take advantage of the high-end mobile phone browsing experience.
Advertisers will now be able to run bigger, more dynamic Google ads to users of high-end smartphones equipped with HTML-capable browsers.

September 14th, 2009

Looking up?

Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist is claiming that the latest searches on their site point to a rosier future. Brand Republic reports that searches for “negative” information, such as unemployment benefits, started to fall in March.

Meanwhile, they say, the results show an increase in searches for homes and estate agents, pointing to a potential upswing in the housing market.

We were interested to see that these new metrics, alongside the more traditional economic indicators are all hinting at less cause for despair, if not better times ahead.

google, indicators, search, upswing

September 4th, 2009

New car sales in the UK enjoyed a second consecutive increase, up 6% during August, according to the latest Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) figures.

The rise has again been attributed to the Government’s successful car scrappage scheme, with the SMMT reporting that 67,006 cars were sold during the month.

The upturn follows a 2.4% rise recorded in July – the first monthly increase since April last year.

August 28th, 2009

More likely to spend?

Retail Week reports that UK Families are, on average, £9 a week better off in July this year than they were at the same time last year.

The Asda monthly income tracker identified this promising sign, and commented that it was a “positive trend” and that “a small movement in discretionary spend” could “make a big difference to household budget[s]“.

They pointed out that, of course, consumer spending is driven largely by confidence but here at greenshootsblog.com, we think that this has got to be another good sign.

July 30th, 2009

Orange has just unveiled its Monkey programme, directly aiming to add value for younger consumers on pay as you go.  The idea is to provide a free music service, that is provided via a tie-in with 4music.  Along with a planned tie-up with Blyk later in the year, the mobile service that bases its free usage on compulsory advertising, Orange is making positive, bold moves to take advantage of the free culture that is becoming increasingly prevalent especially among younger markets.

Source: Marketing Week, Orange

July 23rd, 2009

Sales in UK shops shot up 1.2% in June following a sharp fall in May as hot summer weather boosted clothing purchases, official figures show.

The jump was much more than the 0.3% rise expected by economists. Retail sales had fallen 0.9% in May.

The Office for National Statistics said that sales rose 2.9% from June 2008.

Shops have also brought forward their summer sales, which along with the effects of last month’s heatwave, enticed consumers to spend.

The much better-than-expected figures lend support to the view that the UK is now over the worst of the recession.

Economic growth figures due on Friday are expected to show that the economy shrank around 0.4% between April and June, compared with 2.4% in the first three months of the year.

June 23rd, 2009

Now even those of you who are as interested in politics as the contents under your sink can’t have failed to notice the drama around British politics.  Firstly the action in inaction of people not turning up to vote due to complete disgust over the expenses and the worrying tendencies of those who did – two seats to the BNP says it all (although my personal favourite was a UKIP voter who voted BNP as he couldn’t unfold the ballot paper properly).  Then terminator Gordon Brown, is there nothing this man can’t survive?!  However I am standing firmly on the side of the positive on this one.  James Purnell fantastic resignation, and the recent vote into the Commons for the new speaker with all candidates giving speeches and a blind vote are great indications of an about face to the actual electorate.  Whilst the more cyncial would point to Speaker Bercow’s appointment as a spite from Labour, there can be no denying the strong possibility of change he offers.  Right now is a exciting time for change in British politcs and I’d urge even the uber apathetic to get involved and get informed.

Source: Newsnight, The Times

May 14th, 2009

The Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index is on the rise, according to its latest findings, released this month.

Although it’s not boom time, and (of course) some concerns remain, there are some decidedly cheery signs: Consumer Confidence rose by 8 points – the largest single monthly rise for two years – whilst the Spending Index continued its slow climb.

Commenting on these figures Nationwide’s Senior Economist, Martin Gahabauer observed “a strong rebound in global equity markets”, “signs of improvement in housing market indicators” and “a number of the world’s largest banks [announcing] a return to profits…[which] may signal the start of a thaw in the money markets”.

He also remarked that some 26% of those questioned “now believe that the economic situation will be better in six months time – a figure not seen since the bank bail-out scheme was announced in October last year”.

Things could indeed be looking up.

May 11th, 2009

It’s easier to be cynic than an optimist. It’s all to easy nowadays to accuse optimists of being naive and whilst there are warnings of being naive over the ability of our economy to spring back from the forces of recession, there does seem to be an expression of a desire for hope seeping through into popular culture. Look at the popularity of the new Star Trek film – shooting straight to the top of the North American charts and taking more than double of Wolverine at second post. Yes Sci -Fi is any easy guarantee at the box office, but could there be a bit more? Star Trek was originally an idea seeded in JFK times, when hope and an excitement at what lay before pervaded daily US culture and soon swept the rest of the world along with it. There are obvious parallels with a president who represents not just national but international hope. Debate if you will if that’s getting carried away, but here’s hoping that we’re moving towards a time when it’s possible to say we hope, we dream and not be embarrassed to do so.

Author: Guilliana Castle
Source: The Times

April 24th, 2009

The last decade has been dominated with talk of how to convince people to dedicate their time towards being interested in whatever you’re trying to get them to consume. However as countless articles have begun to state we may be shifting towards a paradigm of attention as the commodity of choice that we ask consumers to exchange. Countless facts may be fired off about how many marketing messages the average person is exposed to but how many actually take root and hold away? An excellent example of understanding motivational marketing and talking to people when and how they want is the recent increase in popularity of Swedish music platform, Spotify. This has taken advantage of the business model in the culture of free in order to look at new ways to help brands get a hold of consumer’s attention. The free model of subscription to a vast library of music at the expense of being forced to listen to adverts has proven particularly popular with unofficial figures having sign up at 1.5 million with 40,000 average new users a day. With large distributors and brands already on board the next move is rumoured to be mood advertising with adverts matched to the music the user is listening to – see opportunities open up such as films to soundtracks, events to “feel good” music ad infinitum.

Source: Brand Republic , The Telegraph, Click Through