Mediaboss Marketing

SIGMA Marketing today announced the launch of Fast Forward Social Media, an expert, streamlined assessment process to help marketers quickly gauge the effectiveness of their business-to-business social media efforts.

Rochester, NY (PRWEB) February 13, 2012

SIGMA Marketing Group, the customer intelligence-driven, direct and digital marketing services firm, today announced the launch of Fast Forward Social Media, an expert, streamlined assessment process to help marketers quickly gauge the effectiveness of their business-to-business social media efforts.

Fast Forward Social Media from SIGMA Marketing Group offers a rapid assessment of business-to-business social media effectiveness, then delivers recommendations on how to best reach target audiences.

“Studies show that over two-thirds of business-to-business companies use social networks in their marketing mix, while few calculate the ROI of their social marketing campaigns,” said Martha Bush, SIGMA senior vice president of strategy & marketing. “That leaves a huge gap in understanding and correcting the profitability of businesses’ social marketing. Fast Forward Social Media fills that gap.”

Fast Forward Social Media will review both online and offline marketing activities as they relate to social media, showing their critical connection. The assessment will also include a thorough analysis of customers’ social media usage, including social profiles, channels and campaigns – and how those efforts stack up against competitors.

The result will be an in-depth report that supplies business with the components of social marketing success:

Learn more about how Fast Forward Social Media can unlock the ROI in business-to-business social marketing, visit [http://sigmamarketing.com/Pages/Social-Media-Marketing-Maturity-Assessment.aspx .

About SIGMA Marketing Group

SIGMA Marketing helps clients like Xerox, Nationwide, AAA and Citizens Bank engage with their customers through Analytics + Strategy + Technology. We turn data into customer intelligence and innovative marketing solutions -- online and offline -- with direct and digital solutions that focus on multichannel marketing strategies, data and technology integration, web analytics and sales enablement. SIGMA builds long term customer relationships and drives Marketing ROI. Visit us at http://www.sigmamarketing.com and at our Fifth Gear Analytics blog: http://fifthgearanalytics.com.

###

Jim McNulty
StandPoint Public Relations
(508) 481-2024
Email Information

Go here to read the rest:
Sigma Marketing Launches Fast Forward Social Media Service Determines B2B Social Marketing Effectiveness, Boosts ROI

One of the biggest advertising agencies, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, is starting practice units that are devoted to helping clients navigate two areas that are rewarding but confusing: social media and youth marketing.

Ogilvy & Mather, which is part of WPP, the world’s largest ad-agency holding company, is to announce the formation of the social media unit, called Social@Ogilvy, on Monday morning.

The other unit, Ogilvy Youth, is in a nascent stage, or, in keeping with the vernacular of younger consumers, “in beta.”

The new units join others at Ogilvy & Mather that are devoted to areas like cross-cultural marketing (OgilvyCulture). The formation of the units is indicative of efforts by large ad agencies to adapt to the rapidly changing needs of marketer clients, who must grapple with the seemingly continuous changes in consumer behavior.

“Thinking across the disciplines is critical,” said Miles Young, global chief executive at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in New York. “You have to redesign your agency around content and domains.”

Social@Ogilvy will operate across all the specialty agencies of Ogilvy & Mather, including advertising, direct marketing, public relations and digital marketing. Clients include American Express, BP, Ford Motor and I.B.M.

The new unit, with more than 550 employees in 35 markets, is derived from what had been a specialty offering inside Ogilvy Public Relations.

“The headline here is that it’s a worldwide practice that connects all the agencies,” said John Bell, an Ogilvy executive who is being named global managing director of Social@Ogilvy.

Although “we’ve had a social media unit for seven years,” he added, “integrated social solutions matter a lot more,” particularly because, by some estimates, brands will spend 17 or 18 percent of their total marketing communications budget on social media in the next few years.

Brandon Berger, chief digital officer at Ogilvy & Mather, said: “Social has become such a huge priority. It’s core to the way consumers behave. They talk about you, and they talk about you online, and it’s measurable, and you can get involved in the conversation.”

Needless to say, social-media services like Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and YouTube are an integral part of marketing to young consumers. That is underlined by the fact that Ogilvy Youth, although a fledgling, already has a presence on Tumblr.

Ogilvy Youth will be focused on teenagers and millennials, also known as Generation Y. Initial clients include the United Way.

Ogilvy Youth will be overseen by Lauren Crampsie, who is 31; she recently became global chief marketing officer at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. The day-to-day operations will be led by Felicia Zhang, 28, who is at the agency as part of her stint as a WPP fellow.

There are two reasons to start Ogilvy Youth, Ms. Crampsie said. One is “thought leadership,” citing a global youth insight study that the unit is hoping to release next month, which will offer a look at, among other things, “a day in the life of teens in 12 global markets.”

The other reason Ms. Crampsie gave is for “recruitment and retention,” in that the employees working at Ogilvy Youth are all to be young themselves.

“I see so many missed opportunities” for the ad agency industry, she said, “with kids right out of school going to work at Google or Facebook.”

“We need to make sure we don’t lose this generation to technology companies and social-media companies,” she added, and demonstrate that Generation Y “can be excited and inspired about agency life.”

Stuart Elliott has been the advertising columnist at The New York Times since 1991. Follow @stuartenyt on Twitter.

See the article here:
Media Decoder: Ogilvy & Mather Staffs Up in Social Media and Youth Marketing

Vanessa Gera WARSAW, Poland— The Associated Press Published Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 12:37PM EST Last updated Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 8:26AM EST

Protesters took to the freezing cold streets of several European cities Saturday to voice anger at an international copyright treaty they fear will lead to a blocking of content on the Internet.

Poland, France, and Italy are among European nations that recently signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, but ratification remains in question in many countries as contempt builds against it, mostly from young people.

More related to this story

ACTA has been under negotiation for years and it still in the process of being signed. The United States, Japan, South Korea and others say it is needed to harmonize international standards to protect the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion, and a range of other products that often fall victim to piracy and intellectual property theft.

Strong opposition to the treaty suddenly emerged in Poland last month and is now spreading across Europe, where protests are taking place in many cities. Critics say they fear it will lead to online censorship and overly harsh punishments for those who use copyrighted material.

Some of the first to gather Saturday were in the bitter cold of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. In Germany, a few thousand people protested in downtown Berlin, some with sticking tape over their mouths or wearing Guy Fawkes masks. They carried placards such as “Stop ACTA,” ”Right to Remix“ and ”ACTA: the rule of law was yesterday.“

A protest organizer, Tillmann Mueller-Kuckelberg, said the movement against the agreement was “a broad civil rights alliance that has come together out of spontaneous outrage at this project.”

“We have the protests in Poland to thank above all for what is happening in Europe and worldwide at the moment,” he said.

“A lot of people in other European countries woke up then, and we hope worldwide that the protests will lead to the ACTA agreement being stopped.”

Germany's Foreign Ministry said Friday that the country had held off on signing ACTA after the Justice Ministry voiced concerns. An official signature is needed before the deal can go to Parliament for approval.

In Vilnius, hundreds rallied in front of a government building, some carrying signs that said “Stop ACTA.”

“We are deeply concerned about this controversial deal, which most of our society does not know anything about,” said Mantas Kondratavicius, leader of the Vilnius Liberal Youth organization, a rights group.

“There was no public presentation or debates on the principles and possible threats of this act,” Kondratavicius added, voicing another common complaint. Many critics are angry that ACTA was negotiated at high political levels and in secret, without involving civic society.

In the Czech capital Prague, hundreds rallied at the medieval Old Town Square while a similar crowd gathered in the second largest city, Brno. They waved banners that read: “ACTA stinks,” ”ACTA harms you“ and ACTA equals cyber fascism.

Czech organizers said protests were planned in 18 other towns and cities. The government has suspended the ratification of the treaty and the protesters welcomed the move but say it is not enough.

Marches also took place in the Polish cities of Warsaw, Szczecin, Poznan and Gdansk.

“Down with the censorship of Big Brother,” said one of the banners in Warsaw, where about 150 people gathered in front of the presidential palace.

See the rest here:
European protesters fear online censorship from copyright treaty ACTA

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empire Post Media Inc. (OTCQB:EMPM.PK - News) is pleased to announce that its common stock has been upgraded to the OTCQB tier of the over-the-counter market. OTCQB was created in 2010 to help investors identify small and emerging companies that are current in their regulatory reporting obligations and to facilitate electronic trading through a broad spectrum of broker-dealers.

"We believe that this is a significant improvement for our company and represents where we are in our growth cycle," Empire CEO Peter Dunn stated. "We expect to announce several new projects and relationships in the coming weeks," he added.

Further information about Empire can be obtained from the company's website, http://www.empirepostmedia.com. Information about the company's common stock can also be found at http://www.otcmarkets.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Read the original here:
Empire Post Media Now Trading on the OTCQB Tier of the Over-the-Counter Market

The Vatican's timing was ironic. While Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S. were trying to revive their moral and political clout last week by battling President Obama over contraception coverage and religious liberty, a papally endorsed symposium was underway in Rome on how the Church has to change if it wants to prevent sexual abuse crises, the very tragedy that has shriveled the stature of Catholic prelates worldwide over the past decade, especially in the U.S. One monsignor at the Vatican gathering even suggested the hierarchy had been guilty of "omertà," the Mafia code of silence, by protecting abusive priests.

The Roman forum was a reminder -- and the birth control clash is turning out to be one as well -- of just how much influence the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has lost in the 10 years since the abuse crisis erupted in America. It hopes that its protest of a new federal rule requiring religiously affiliated institutions like Catholic hospitals and universities to provide no-cost contraception in their health insurance coverage, even if church doctrine forbids birth control, will help restore the bishops' relevance. They did win a partial victory last Friday when Obama, acknowledging the uproar, said those institutions would no longer have to pay for the contraception coverage themselves. But the President did not fully genuflect: The compromise will still oblige religious-based employers to offer the coverage, while their insurance providers foot the bill. (MORE: Mired in the Sticky Politics of Health and Faith, Obama Shifts on Contraception)

Although major Catholic groups like Catholic Charities and Catholic Health Services accepted that revision, the bishops are holding out for more. But their crusade to be exempted from the mandate is likely to fall short of its grail. If so, it's because Obama read the Catholic flock better than its shepherds did.

Granted, the bishops, led by New York Archbishop and Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan, did get the White House to acknowledge how high-handedly and ham-handedly it had managed the contraception debate -- confirming along the way the public's wariness of the so-called liberal elite -- and convinced it to craft a deal that should have been policy in the first place. Yet in his refusal to cave completely to the religious liberty campaign, Obama has illustrated the reality that the bishops no longer speak for most U.S. Catholics -- the nation's largest religious denomination and a critical swing-voter group -- on a host of moral issues, according to polls.

Not on abortion or the death penalty (a majority of Catholics believe those should remain legal); on divorce or homosexuality (most say those are acceptable); on women being ordained as priests and priests getting married (ditto); or on masturbation and pre-marital sex (ditto again, Your Excellencies). (MORE: Conflict Over Obama's Contraception Rule Intensifies)

And especially not on contraception. Ever since Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Church's senseless ban on birth control in 1968, few doctrines have been as vilified, ridiculed and outright ignored by Catholics – evidenced by a recent study showing that 98% of American Catholic women have used some form of contraception. It's hard to believe, as the bishops would have it, that those women simply succumbed to society's pressure to do the secular thing. They've decided, in keeping with their faith's precept of exercising personal conscience, that family planning is the moral and societally responsible thing to do -- for example, preventing unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions. And it explains why a recent Public Religion Research Institute poll found most Catholics support the contraception coverage mandate even for Catholic-affiliated organizations. Presumably most endorse Friday's compromise.

Far more Evangelical Protestants, according to the PRRI survey, back the bishops than Catholics do. But that hardly makes the bishops, when it comes to the more independent Catholic vote, the same force to be reckoned with that they were in the 20th century. That is, before 2002 and the horror stories of how prelates like Cardinal Bernard Law, then Boston's archbishop, had serially shielded alleged pedophile priests. It's true that some bishops, like Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl, confronted rather than coddled accused priests. But when it became clear that so many of the men in miters cared more about safeguarding the clerical corporation than about protecting kids, episcopal "authority" vanished like so much incense smoke -- and Catholics increasingly abandoned the 2,000-year-old notion that their church and their religion are the same thing. (MORE: Obama vs. the Church)

That's essentially what Catholics like me are asking for, especially from my colleagues in the media, during episodes like the contraception and religious liberty fracas: Stop equating what the bishops say with what we think, because we're not the obedient, monolithic bloc that newspapers and cable news networks so tiresomely insist is in "jeopardy" for this or that party whenever they smell church-state friction. When a hardline U.S. bishop calls for withholding communion from a Catholic politician who supports legalized abortion, stop assuming all Catholics have the prelate's back rather than the pol's. When Catholic politicians draft legislation like the religious liberty bills popping up on Capitol Hill right now, stop accepting their assertion that the birth-control ban is "a major tenet" of Catholic faith, as Florida Senator Marco Rubio called it this month. For the vast majority of Catholics, it isn't.

And for that matter, stop forgetting that in the 2008 election, 54% of Catholic voters ignored their bishops and backed a pro-choice presidential candidate like Obama. I certainly don't point that out as some kind of endorsement of Obama in 2012. I'm simply noting that pundits and politicians need smarter criteria for gauging the Catholic vote -- just as advisers in Obama's White House shouldn't have been so clueless about religious issues when they first decreed the contraception mandate. If the tragedy of the 2002 abuse crisis reminds us of anything, it's that religion does matter in politics. Just ask the church leaders who are still paying a political price for their religious code of silence.

MORE: Obama Administration's Contraception Ruling Fits with Re-Election Needs

MORE: Is the Obama Administration 'At War' with Catholics?

View this article on Time.com

Most Popular on Time.com:

Read the rest here:
Birth Control Debate: Why Catholic Bishops Have Lost Their Grip on U.S. Politics -- and Their Flock