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Europe In the News UK

‘Impatience Index’ shows digital consumers expect responses in 10 minutes

New research reveals that consumers’ patience has, in some cases, truncated from 10 days to 10 minutes in the space of a generation. It also showsBedPhone that men are generally more impatient than women.

Omnibus research commissioned by customer service specialists KANA Software reveals that the proliferation of digital devices and social networks has transformed British consumers’ tolerance of waiting times. What KANA calls the ‘expectation reflex’ has truncated, in a generation, responses measured in working days to a matter of minutes.

David Moody, head of worldwide product strategy at KANA, said: “Little more than a decade ago, 10 working days was the conventional commitment of businesses and organisations when responding to complaints; and also the span of consumer tolerance. This no longer applies.”

KANA asked a statistically representative sample of UK adults how frequently they checked for communication responses on their devices.

The key findings:  

  • Men are generally more impatient than women. Men will check a device for responses on average every 22 minutes, 30 seconds. Women will check every 26 minutes, 15 seconds.
  • The 65+ age group checks devices more frequently than the 45-64-year-old group, reflecting the time they have available and their newly developed digital capabilities. This suggests digitally enabled pensioners will become the prolific and demanding complainants within five years.
  • One-fifth of all social media users will check for a response at least once an hour, with one in 20 checking every 10 minutes or more.

The most frequently checked devices across all age groups:

  • Email on smartphone – every 36 minutes
  • Checking Twitter for replies – every 39 minutes
  • Checking phones for texts – every 48 minutes
  • Checking for missed calls – every 49.25 minutes
  • Checking PC or laptop for email – every 54 minutes
  • Checking Facebook for messages – every 57 minutes
  • Checking voicemail – every 1 hour, 5 minutes

The frequency by age with which consumers check for responses on any device:

  • 18-24: Every 9 minutes, 50 seconds
  • 25-34: Every 9 minutes, 55 seconds
  • 35-44: Every 21 minutes
  • 45-54: Every 36 minutes
  • 65-plus: Every 47 minutes
  • 55-64: Every 1 hour, 30 minutes

KANA’s David Moody said: “In the past 10 years, organisations have lost the ‘time shield’ previously offered by postal services. The sense that a letter was on a journey and could be anywhere between the sender and the recipient has been lost. Our impression today is that as soon as we press send, ‘Mr or Ms Cosgrove in Complaints’ should be reading our complaint and working out how to respond. If we don’t hear back quickly, our impatience rises.”

He added: “Public-facing organisations have to recognise the adoption of social channels is truncating customer service processes. With smartphones acting as digital umbilical cords, the modern consumer is always connected. Unfortunately for service desks, ‘working days’ are an outdated concept.”

“Running a customer service operation is as complex as running air traffic control. Reductions in consumer tolerance can and should be met with a level of service that meets revised expectation. The technology already exists to support organisations that wish to monitor all channels and deal with queries and complaints in a rapid and personal fashion. Companies that don’t adjust their processes in the age of the adept digital consumer will be the losers.”

Additional findings  

KANA’s polling also found that the average UK consumer has routinely used more than seven digital communication channels in the past year, challenging most customer-facing businesses. The explosion of social media platforms targeted at consumers in the past 10 years and ease of adoption are creating headaches for businesses as more consumers take to social platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, to seek help and air their grievances about poor service.

The average UK adult spends a ‘fraughtnight’ — or nearly two weeks — each year waiting for service, making complaints and using digital channels to direct their ire at companies that provide poor service.

The average UK consumer has used 7.4 channels of electronic communication in the past six months. Among18-to-24-year-olds, this figure rises to 8.4 channels. The figure is lowest in the 65+ age bracket, but even this age band uses 6.2 methods of electronic communication.

The poll found that an astonishing two weeks each year – equivalent to the amount of time typically taken for a summer holiday – are lost by every adult simply trying to get the service they need or expect from private and public sector organisations.

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In the News

2014: a year of digital maturity with a rise in adoption rather than innovation, says report

Key trends emerging: the rise of niche social networks and social media in schools and an increasing emphasis on privacy in a post-Snowden era. 33     

This year will see the death of anonymity, social media in schools, pre-emptive computing and more. So says UK-based global communications agency Hotwire and digital specialists 33 Digital, who have announced the launch of the fifth annual Digital Trends Report 2014.

Each year, their specialist teams examine the concepts, applications, and mindsets that they predict will change communications for good. Last year they highlighted the rise of big data, digital health and social business. This year, the trends are focused on digital maturity rather than the emergence of new technology.

They predict that, for anyone in communications, 2014 will be a world where privacy will be built into services, artificial intelligence will take over from human advisors, digital artisans will take centre stage and companies will be able to serve each and every customer individually, thanks to the adoption of social business principles. They sum up: we are at the top of an exciting year!

Their ten trends for 2014 are:

  1. Niche social networks – networks such as Strava for cyclists, StyledOn for fashionistas, Jelly for knowledge-sharing and Current for businesspeople have emerged, meaning that social media management for clients will have to examine the relevant industry-specific networks as well as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn;
  2. Data for the moment – the infamous Oreo Superbowl tweet has gone down in social media history, but in 2014 reacting to audience and other data immediately will become commonplace; the trick will be in combining that data and creativity for flawless campaign execution;
  3. Digitisation of retail – shoppers are no longer limited to the digital versions of bricks and mortar stores or online ecommerce behemoths. Instead content providers will become virtual storefronts, where producers sell directly to interested consumers;
  4. Death of anonymity – in the wake of the NSA revelations, brands will strive to regain our trust in privacy. For communicators, this means ensuring transparency, accountability and instilling confidence in use of data;
  5. Pre-emptive computing – Google Now already predicts what information you need at any given time, and this level of pre-emptive computing will come into its own in 2014;
  6. Social media in school – instead of shunning social media, schools will start to use it to their advantage, with platforms like Edmodo and Skype in the Classroom specifically designed to improve education;
  7. The digital artisans – as the public have fallen in love with aged effects from Instagram, sketching on iPads and USB typewriters, this penchant for the vintage will have a knock on effect for companies as brands strive to create the same feel for homely authenticity revealing the story behind the brand;
  8. From customers to community – customer services and social media have been coming together for years, but 2014 will be the year that customer services loses its reputation for starched-collar-stuffiness and community managers gain the authority of the organisation;
  9. Big media is back – business models for the media are shifting, but the biggest opportunity is the change in expectations for the media consumer: we’re all big media now;
  10. Measurement – it will become essential to properly provide ROI on communications activities, and the breadth of digital tools available mean that measurement will become commonplace across communications strategies.

Peter Sigrist, editor of the report and MD, 33 Digital, said: “This year, we expect our clients to be impacted less by new service launches, and more by the opportunities presented by those that exist. This technology has now passed the fascination period of ‘how it works’, and instead brands and communicators will simply ask ‘what can we do with it?’”

Alex MacLaverty, UK Group MD at Hotwire, said: “Our annual report represents some of the most forward-thinking and specialist knowledge that our team has to offer. Over the last five years we have correctly identified many of the technologies and behaviours that have shaped the communications industry, and the shift to wide-scale adoption now is just as significant. What is most exciting is how we translate this knowledge into more effective ways of engaging with our clients’ customers and the wider influencer base.”

Visit the Digital Trends Report website to view excerpts from the report or download the full PDF.

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In the News

Mobile augmented reality revenues to exceed $1bn annually by 2015, says researcher

‘Smart glasses offer longer term monetisation opportunities’

A new report from Juniper Research has found that annual revenues from mobile augmented reality (AR) services and applications will reach $1.2 billionScreenshots Partners with background.Funda by 2015, up from just over $180 million last year.

The report, Mobile Augmented Reality: Smartphones, Tablets and Smart Glasses 2013-2018, found that games (which accounted for more than 40% of AR downloads in 2013) will continue to deliver the largest revenue stream for the foreseeable future. However, it observed that with AR increasingly deployed within mainstream lifestyle, enterprise and general entertainment applications, each of these sectors should achieve annual mobile AR revenues in excess of $1 billion within 5-6 years.

Brand engagement boosting consumer adoption

According to the report, consumer adoption of AR applications was being increasingly fuelled by the wider engagement of brands and retailers with mobile channels over the past 12-18 months. With mobile now recognised as a primary engagement channel, brands such as Unilever, Nestle and Heinz have identified AR as a key means of enhancing and increasing engagement within campaigns.

It also highlighted the fact that while revenues would primarily be driven via smartphones, there was considerable potential for AR app monetisation through smart wearables: Google Glass will be launched later this year, while Samsung is rumoured to be showcasing its own smart glasses before the end of 2014.

However, the report cautioned that AR stakeholders needed to continue to increase consumer awareness of the technology, while the prospect remained for the introduction of legislation constraining or even prohibiting certain applications of AR on safety, privacy and libel grounds.

Other findings from the report include:

  • AR app user numbers will approach 200 million by 2018.
  • Developers must be aware of device limitations when scoping out AR apps.

The complimentary Mobile Augmented Reality ~ The 8th Mass Medium whitepaper is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full report and the attendant Interactive Forecast Excel, which enables clients to interrogate the assumptions behind Juniper’s forecasts and create alternative future outputs.

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In the News USA

Safeguard consumer data – USA DMA re-issues rallying cry

Board approves new ethical guidelines; calls for new measures to enhance data security 

In response to the recent spate of data security breaches on retailers and others, the USA Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has issued a call to actionLinda Woolley DMA2012 (WEB)to all data-driven marketers to recommit to the organisation’s long-standing commitment to ensuring the security of consumer data.

The call to action derived from the approval of new Business Ethical Guidelines around data security by the association’s board of directors, and outlines several new steps that the DMA will take to guide industry best practices and advocate strong data security protections before policymakers at the federal and state levels.

DMA president/CEO Linda Woolley (pictured) said: “Earning consumer trust requires proactive, purposeful action.

“Recent headlines have been full of news about data breaches and, while such situations are a risk of modern business and difficult to prevent, DMA believes that the best defence is a strong offence. DMA standards help businesses ensure that they are protected and ready.”

DMA has championed the setting of guidelines and representing the business community before Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on issues of data security and breach notification. It is now calling on every data-driven marketer to take proactive measures to further enhance data security across the industry, and to:

  • Develop and implement a data integrity and governance programme;
  • Read and utilise in all marketing practices the principles and guidance outlined in the updated Ethical Guidelines for data security and other marketing practices issues by DMA as part of our public trust with consumers;
  • Continue to work as part of DMA with policymakers to enact a national standard for data breach notification. DMA has been supportive of a federal breach notification law; and
  • Work with internal and industry stakeholders to identify additional data security measures and practices to help reduce the risk of data breaches across the ecosystem.

The DMA board has approved revisions to DMA’s Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice, which have provided data-driven marketers with generally accepted principles of conduct and formed the basis for industry-wide self-regulatory enforcement for more than 40 years. The updates are in the areas of data security, mobile applications and retailer data.

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In the News

Cannes Lions community helps fight poverty

Eight projects selected to receive $100,000 for development and to attend workshop in March

The selection process of the third Cannes Chimera global communications challenge, set by the Cannes Chimera Initiative, has concluded with eightFP different projects from diverse countries around the world being chosen to each receive a prize of up to US$100,000.

The creative brief was launched during the 60th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June 2013, with a bid for new communication concepts that can incite the public to support an emerging international agenda to ensure that extreme poverty is virtually eliminated by 2030.

The Cannes Chimera initiative is a partnership and a competition focused on finding innovative communication approaches that can help address critical global development problems.

Nine hundred ideas from 79 countries were received answering to the ‘Help Lead the Fight Against Extreme Poverty’ brief. Facilitated by Cannes Lions, the entries have gone through a vigorous judging process by the Cannes Chimera, comprising the Cannes Lions 2013 Grand Prix winners.

Each winner will take part in a unique mentoring workshop next month with the Cannes Chimera, who will help take the ideas to a new level. Each winner is invited to go back to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a proposal for further funding of up to US$1 million to implement the idea.

The winning projects are:

The Share Exchange by Dentsu, Young & Rubicam, Singapore:

Facebook users become media owners by allowing brands to buy their personal Facebook space. Money paid by brands is then contributed to funds set up to eradicate extreme poverty. Additionally, each time an online activist opts to share a brand’s message, they will also share the latest facts on the fight against extreme poverty. Facebook users are therefore empowered to take action while their shares create awareness and generate funds.

Good Cents by Joe Public, South Africa:

Devising a ‘Good Cents’ button at the bottom of all online bank statements would allow users to round their bank balance and donate their surplus of cents to a dedicated fund with just one click.

The GAP index by venturethree, United Kingdom:

Develop the Global Anti Poverty index (GAP), the first global measure of extreme poverty to be carried on all major media outlets around the world. Based on the total number of people living in extreme poverty, the frequently updated GAP number will decrease in response to development programmes, economic progress and other positive factors, or will increase in response to war, crop failure or other catastrophic events.

The Act Button by Naked Communications, Australia:

In partnership with a major online news provider, the Act Button can be activated after an extreme poverty news story, allowing the user to share positive solutions that could play a role in changing the outcome of a particular news story.

$1.25 cube experience by JWT, Israel:

Create a pay-to-enter multi-sensory experience cube to get people in the Western World involved in the life struggle of people living in extreme poverty.

Gamers VS Poverty by DFCB Digital, The Philippines:

The Gamers for Poverty will provide users with in-game content information based on extreme poverty – new storylines, item upgrades, information linked to game and poverty – so by changing their view of the world, gamers can be heroes inside and outside the game world. Additionally the project aims to change the perception of gamers from being negative to positive.

One Two Five by PHD International, United Kingdom:

Create an internationally recognisable code to signal extreme poverty, which has the ability to transcend language and borders. As the numbers 911 or 999 signal emergency, #125 will be recognised as representing extreme poverty around the world. This simple, powerful, global campaign will be used to springboard a number of global awareness initiatives.

We See Women by Vital Voices Global Partnership, USA:

70% of extreme poverty sufferers are women and girls and there is an underlying pervasive cultural bias that relegates women and girls to secondary status or worse. As such, deeply ingrained beliefs about women first need to change. By harnessing strategic information available through Big Data, this project aims to distribute perception changing stories about women into places where women are marginalised and where existing mass communication channels don’t reach.

Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals, said: “It’s fantastic to see how our industry has risen to the latest Cannes Chimera challenge. We have such talented people in the business and to see how they are applying their creative abilities to really help others less fortunate but on a very ambitious and global scale is truly inspiring.

“These eight ideas will now go on to benefit from the forthcoming workshop with the Cannes Chimera with everybody working to the common goal of helping eradicate extreme poverty.”

Tom Scott, director of Global Brand & Innovation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said: “Building greater public awareness and understanding of tough problems like extreme poverty is an important part of global progress—and ultimately, saving lives.

“We believe that tapping into the best creative minds can help us develop communications ideas that can change the world.”

The Cannes Chimera Initiative was launched by the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which brings together the global advertising and communications industry and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest philanthropic foundation, in an effort to generate communications ideas that motivate global audiences to support change and take actions that address critical development issues.

The initiative issues a competitive brief to the creative community each year, with the next brief being launched at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June. For more information about Cannes Chimera, click here. 

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In the News

New domain endings – risk of cybersquatting

General availability of generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) such as .bike, .clothing, .singles and .ventures means organisations need to be vigilant of new infringements.

Online businesses are being advised to be wary of cybersquatters and fraudsters as the first wave of new domain endings are made available to the general public for purchasing. Over the next few weeks, more than 30 new gTLDs will go on sale through registrars and online brand protection and domain name management specialist, NetNames, predicts there will be a spike in the volume of online threats that brands are facing.

As cyber-criminals take advantage of the trademark sunrise period coming to an end, major threats include:

  • Cybersquatting – with up to 20 new gTLDs being released in the coming months, there will be a vast increase in the number of web addresses that can be registered by ‘cybersquatters’ and infringe on well-known trademarks. Cybersquatters can then sell web addresses back to the trademark owners at an inflated price.
  • Fraud – the availability of domain endings, such as .clothing and .ventures, give cyber-criminals an opportunity to register reputable domains that trick consumers into thinking illegitimate websites are affiliated with a well-known brand. Fraudulent websites can then be used to distribute counterfeit goods and dilute the value of a brand online.
  • Phishing – with new web addresses effectively resetting the internet, there is a chance that brand owners will experience the return of phishing as new domains are launched. Fraudulent websites that look real can be infected by malware designed to steal personal information, such as passwords or credit card details, from unsuspecting customers. In addition, the availability of the first internationalised domain name (IDN), .shabaka which means .web in Arabic, will open up the internet and require businesses to monitor for fraudulent websites and domain name infringements across new international territories.

Stuart Fuller, director of commercial operations and communications at NetNames, tells of the highs and lows surrounding new domain endings: “The introduction of gTLDs offers brands a golden opportunity to exploit the online channels and strengthen their web presence. However, the availability of new web addresses that are open for anyone to register will change the online risk landscape and existing brand protection strategies.

“Online businesses need to develop a cost-effective trademark policing programme that balances registering trademarks in the Clearinghouse, identifying relevant domains and monitoring for any infringements.” He adds: “Determining the opportunities and threats that each gTLD represents to your business will provide a clearer picture of what domains to register and which trademarks need to be submitted to the Clearinghouse.

“Our advice is to focus on the gTLDs that are applicable to your business or sector and focus on developing an effective domain name policy that allows your organisation to register and operate the most relevant domains that will deliver benefits back to the business through increased online revenues or greater customer engagement.”

 

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Americas Europe In the News Latin America

Happiness at Work: research reveals disparities of productivity across countries and sectors

Marketing and PR professionals among the best for productivity with higher than average ‘time on task’

Research from the iOpener Institute for People and Performance, which analysed responses from some 30,000 professionals, reveals significant happiness-at-workdifferences between personal productivity levels in different countries and industry sectors. The findings also show a clear relationship between Happiness at Work and personal productivity.

The Institute measured components of Happiness at Work including energy levels, time engaged and feelings of happiness. Productivity was measured as ‘time on task’; the time that workers are actively producing outputs that make a tangible contribution to their organisation.

The international average for time on task is 58.8%, but there are significant differences between the various industry sectors. The Marketing and PR sector is one the best performing sectors with 60.9% time on task. At the bottom of the table is the Biotechnology sector with 53.2%.

Even greater differences are shown when comparing the different countries surveyed. Mexico is shown to have the highest productivity (73.2% of time on task), while Portugal has the lowest (43.3%).

Within both sets of data, the sectors and countries that show the highest levels of productivity also perform strongly in the measurements of Happiness at Work.

Jessica Pryce-Jones, founder director of the iOpener Institute and author of ‘Happiness at Work – Maximising Your Psychological Capital for Success’, notes: “While broad correlations between Happiness at Work and productivity have been recognised for some time, this detailed method of analyzing the components of Happiness at Work offers organisations actionable insights to formulate practical plans to improve their productivity.

“The sector and country results offer companies a contextual starting point; those in the Retail sector can ascertain how they measure up when compared to their sector and country averages and tailor their productivity initiatives accordingly. While the Marketing and PR sector can take encouragement from scoring highly, there is still potential for improvement in these industry sectors with businesses placing greater emphasis in 2014 on marketing’s contribution to business strategy. Meanwhile, the PR industry continues to undergo significant growth which places increased pressures on employee infrastructure.”

The report may be downloaded by visiting this link.

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In the News UK

Industry watchdog calls for reforms to marketing data sector

The UK direct marketing industry’s watchdog, the Direct Marketing Commission (DMC), has called for ‘root and branch’ reforms of the data sector to George Kiddtackle practices that are playing a role in causing consumer complaints about the direct marketing industry, particularly about nuisance calls and text messages.

Investigations made by the DMC over the past 12 months into consumer complaints about unwanted direct marketing contact, have identified common underlying problems regarding the source and use of data as being responsible for the majority of cases.

Some of the worst cases highlighted in the DMC’s annual report – published February 3, 2014 – reveal a lack of understanding or, more seriously, a lack of concern, by some about whether they had the necessary arrangements in place to ensure their activities complied with regulations and industry best practice. In particular, the cases reveal common failures in companies to be able to cite the provenance of consumer data, whether the data has been ‘cleansed’, or if it’s been tested for accuracy and the necessary permissions.

According to George Kidd (pictured), the DMC’s chief commissioner, the industry must move quickly to address the fundamental problems in the data sector. He said: “The volume and nature of complaints we investigate show that we need to take a root and branch look at how companies collect, source, sell and test consumer data.

“Some business make fantastic creative use of data, delivering offers and services that are tuned to our personal needs and preferences. But there are times when other preferences and rights – not to be sent messages and calls which we have not agreed to or have said we do not want – are being ignored as companies pursue short-term gain, most obviously in the personal injury and Payment Protection Insurance fields, but in case something happen getting help from a Brooklyn NY Injury Attorney is always useful for this.

“It’s not acceptable for businesses in the data business not to be able to explain where their data and the permissions on its use came from or for firms to dupe those they mail and call with mock surveys and ‘research’ that open the door to sales and marketing calls, texts and emails from total strangers.

“There is no magic solution to these problems of privacy and the misuse of data, and it will require a concerted effort in the industry to find solutions to the problems.

“It’s essential that this is guided by the principle of ‘putting the customer first’. Failure to do so will ensure that complaints about our industry will continue to rise and consumer confidence in direct marketing will decline.”

Last September, George Kidd gave evidence at the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s inquiry into nuisance telephone calls and text messages, where he argued for the need for creating a co-regulatory body to tackle the issue of unwanted contact. Currently, responsibility for telemarketing and mobile marketing is spread between Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office. The DMC supports these regulators but worries that neither body arguably has the resources, singular focus or the organisational build for dealing with thousands of complaints and engaging with industry to make sure these problems do not recur.

In the annual report, Rosaleen Hubbard, an independent commissioner of the DMC, said: “Unacceptable practices, such as nuisance calls, should not be allowed simply because the plethora of regulators and complaints bodies across the sectors results in consumer confusion.

“Given the multitude of regulatory frameworks within which direct marketing companies work, formal co-operation with statutory and regulatory bodies from other bodies should be further developed to enable the DMC to most effectively handle consumer complaints.”

The UK DMC’s annual report can be downloaded here.

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In the News USA

Digital marketer? Get set for a golden era: veteran recruiter’s view from the top of the year

US-based digital and direct marketing recruiter Jerry Bernhart (pictured) makes some predictions for 2014.Jerry Bernhart _028retCropped (WEB)

 

 

I believe that because of enduring economic and social forces, we are in the very early stages of a golden era of employment for those who sell and market products and services over the web, and the battle is on to lure the best talent available.

What does this mean for job-seekers in the year to come? It means more and better offers and abundant opportunities like we’ve never seen before.Here’s my top five forecast for 2014:

5. More multiple offers.

Back in the days of the Great Recession of 2008-2009, receiving just one job offer was something to brag about. How things have changed. Among actively looking candidates, those who are the most sought after are now routinely getting multiple offers. You know the ones I mean, the ones with proven track records who’ve moved the business forward everywhere they’ve been.

There’s a message here for employers: Snooze and you’ll lose. When it comes to attracting and hiring top achievers in online marketing, time is your enemy. Drag your feet, and I can practically guarantee you’ll lose them. A bird in the hand beats two in the bush any day, particularly when it comes to the best and brightest digital marketers. If you have a bird in the hand and it’s a bird you really want to hire, move quickly and make sure you make a highly competitive offer, which leads me to number 4.

4. More competitive offers.

I negotiated some amazing compensation packages last year. In one situation, one of my clients extended an offer which included a 33% bump in salary, an increase that was almost unheard of just a few years ago. While this definitely represents the exception rather than the norm, there’s no question that top candidates in recent years have benefitted from what I call ‘salary creep’ as the war for marketing talent has heated up. I look for more of the same in 2014 and, in fact, I look for those incremental increases to creep even higher. This trend is inexorable.

Many companies have come to realise that the differential value created by the most talented digital and direct marketers, the ones who can re-conceive the business and inspire people, can be enormous. Better talent makes a huge difference. Power is shifting from companies to the individual and that’s giving talented candidates more negotiating leverage than ever before.

3. Lengthy hiring process.

One of the biggest frustrations I hear from candidates is how they get strung along for weeks or months before companies finally make a hiring decision. One candidate I recently worked with, interviewing for a manager level position, met with 11 different department heads during a one-day visit and that was on top of a separate meeting with an industrial psychologist.

These marathon interview sessions used to be commonplace only for top retained searches at the C-level. While this example is extreme, I can tell you from my own experience that the average duration of the interviewing process in digital and direct marketing has easily doubled over the past ten years. The reluctance to pull the trigger and make candidates jump through so many hoops is understandable. Hiring managers face a wall of worry including fears that the fragile economic recovery will sputter and hurt their business. But perhaps more importantly, there’s the fear of hiring the wrong person, a fear that has become much more pervasive since the Great Recession.

Studies have shown that a bad hiring decision can cost a company up to five times the annual salary of the person hired and that carries with it some potentially hefty implications for the manager who did the hiring. The decision to hire is the biggest decision a business leader makes. Unless the need is urgent and the company is losing big money while a desk remains vacant, expect hiring delays to continue to be the norm in 2014.

2 More counter-offers.

I am not a fan of counter-offers, but like them or not they’re a fixture of the recruitment landscape and they’re driven by this inviolate law: as the supply of sought-after talent diminishes, the frequency of counter-offers goes up.

Talent shortages are already appearing in small to medium-sized markets, particularly in the red hot field of digital analytics. Your need for an ace digital marketer is exceeded only by the pain another company will experience if they lose one, so it’s no wonder that counter-offers have been on the rise and, for better or worse, we’ll see more of them in 2014.

1. More opportunities!

It may be hard to imagine for those of us who work in this space, but there are still tens thousands of companies out there that have little more than a rudimentary web presence. I regularly receive calls and emails from companies that are still very rooted in traditional marketing. Their online marketing strategy starts and stops with an ecommerce shopping cart and an occasional email blast.

For many of those businesses, digital marketing is becoming their need of the hour. In 2014, traditional media will continue shrinking, digital media will continue growing and career opportunities for digital marketers will only become brighter.

Jerry Bernhart is the owner of Bernhart Associates Executive Search, established in 1991.

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Americas Canada In the News

Cirque du Soleil joins hands with DHL

In the photo, DHL Express CEO Ken Allen and Cirque du Soleil CMO Mario D’Amico sign the partnership agreement, with the cast of Quidam looking on.dhl-cirquedusoleil (WEB)

DHL has announced that it will support Cirque du Soleil, a major live entertainment company, as Official Logistics Partner.

DHL will be integrated into Cirque du Soleil’s supply chain activities, with its DHL Global Trade Fairs & Events team, a subsidiary of DHL Global Forwarding, Freight, supporting the event logistics of Cirque du Soleil Big Top and Arena tours worldwide.

DHL will also provide global logistics support for the corporate headquarters of Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, Canada. The partnership will see the two global brands engage in joint marketing activities for their worldwide customer bases, partners and employees.

Ken Allen, CEO, DHL Express, said: “Cirque du Soleil and DHL are a perfect fit.

“We have both grown from entrepreneurial beginnings into global brands through a commitment to conquering new frontiers and amazing and delighting our customer bases. As we pool our respective strengths through this partnership, both brands’ proven ability to innovate and deliver excellence will contribute to even more exciting customer experiences in the future.

“We look forward to replicating the breathtaking performances under the Cirque du Soleil Big Top in our own operations behind the scenes.”

Finn Taylor, senior vice-president, Touring Shows, Cirque du Soleil, said: “Cirque du Soleil is delighted to be partnering with industry leader, DHL, as our official global logistics partner.

“This is a fantastic alliance for us, marrying two beloved brands known for their commitment to excellence in their respective fields. With a global touring operation spanning over 150 locations across more than six continents, logistics is critical to the success of Cirque du Soleil.

“In announcing DHL as our worldwide Official Logistics Partner, we are delighted to have this opportunity to work with another global brand that shares our commitment to excellent quality. We look forward to integrating DHL’s services into our supply chain and to introducing the Cirque du Soleil experience to new audiences and markets together.”

The main logistics requirements of Cirque du Soleil consist of the set-up and ‘tear down’ of shows and transfers between tour venues, including the use of air, sea and land transport and customs clearance services. A single Big Top show can involve the movement of up to 80 freight containers. The Canadian-based entertainment company also has a range of standard supply chain requirements within its day-to-day business operations, including small package shipping, warehouse management and merchandise distribution.

A total audience of 15 million people is expected to attend any of the 19 Cirque du Soleil shows around the world in 2014.