Tracking consumer touchpoints with MESH

I recently attended MediaTel's seminar 'The Future of Research in Media'. There was a huge amount of great information.

One speaker really captured my attention. MESH Planning, run by Fiona Blades (ex Claydon Heeley), talked about the groundbreaking work they are doing around touchpoints, where they task people with texting in certain codes when they see any adverts for a group of products. For instance, they tell the person to look for Ford, Peugeot and Mini ads. Then, as the person goes through their day, they text in when they get a piece of DM, see an ad on a bus shelter, see a banner ad online, etc. They can also text in pictures and video.

This creates a map of touchpoints over time. The person does not know which brand MESH are actually looking for (ie they may just be after the Ford data), so it does not bias them. They've done a lot of work around Lynx, on an international level. They've done work for GSK, Unilever and Sony.

Worth a look! http://www.meshplanning.com/

Internet Advertising Bureau - IAB

The IAB are the trade association for the internet marketing industry. On the surface this sounds really rather dull. However, membership grants you access to all sorts of great stuff from research on how mums use the internet and the behaviours of the luxury online consumer, to case studies on a great variety of industries.

Additionally, they offer online guides on social media, online strategy, email marketing and more:

Membership does cost money, however it is offered on a sort of pro-rata basis, ie the more your business makes, the more you pay. For instance if your business has a turnover of under £500k, and you want to be an associate member, your membership is just £550 - that's quite a deal!

There's even a creative showcase to show off your good work.