By 2020 over £28 billion in UK online retail will come from international consumers, reveal paid search marketing agency, Net Media Planet.

This is the staggering figure predicted by recent research from OC&C Consultants and Google, says Marketing Manager, Carolyn Seaman

For UK businesses with strong brands and high export potential, expanding into new territories offers great potential for growth.  

However there are many obstacles - to the point where my Paid Search and Display marketing agency decided to publish our very own Whitepaper on the subject.

Brands using radio for advertising get almost eight times the ROI, according to new research.

But what does that actually mean, asks Sue Fernando of Media Buying Agency, The Media Shop.

As a Media Buying Agency our eyes are always glued to our calendars. That places us in good stead to tell you this month commercial radio celebrates its 40th birthday. (Those in the know will recall Capital Radio’s launch in London in October 1973.)

According to the first-ever analysis of cross-agency data by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), radio advertisers on average get their money back 7.7 times over, with automotive and retailer brands showing an even higher performance.

Jamie Mollart, Director of Advertising and Marketing Agency, Rock Kitchen Harris, is calling all creative folk to arms in a world of cold, hard stats.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently; how does an advertising or marketing agency maintain the focus on creativity in a world of monitoring?

Are you one of the advertising or marketing agencies whose Adwords dashboard has been cluttered with notifications of the impending Google update?

Perhaps some of the 6 million already upgraded legacy campaigns (equating to almost 75% of all active campaigns) belonged to your advertising or marketing agency.

Are you selecting an agency? Many regional corporates (large and small) choose large advertising network agencies, but are they the best choice?

How do you keep up with branding trends, stay new and stand out? 'New' may not be the answer for your developing brand strategy, argues Max Wright, Strategy Director at Kindred.

When it comes to brand identity development and creating a brand strategy, the concept of 'Newism' is hard to ignore. I suspect that this thrill of the new is driven by seeking standout at all costs or the ego-centric view that our audiences are just as obsessed with the new as we are.

The definition of decoupling in advertising and marketing is the splitting of the origination of the creative idea and the production of that idea.

Many marketers are tasked with doing more with static or shrinking budgets. The answer to this, is often ‘ to decouple’ production.

Despite the potential benefits, many marketers only have a limited understanding of what decoupling in advertising and marketing actually is, how to decouple and who it is suitable for.

This post, from Gutenberg CEO Simon Steel, the first in a series, looks at the history of decoupling in advertising and marketing and provides a clear explanation of what decoupling is.


The history of decoupling and advertising and marketing

The full service advertising agency had a privileged relationship with advertisers. They often acted as consultant, procurement department, media buying agency, promotional and direct marketing agency rolled into one. Production was craft and many specialists were employed to realise the creative idea, such as specialist typesetters. Production was expensive, time consuming and arms-length from the advertiser. Suppliers such as printers and re-pro houses were managed by the agency and prices marked up.

Gradually this model split and fragmented. Media buying went into specialists, as did direct marketing, promotional marketing and web, all splintering again into the fragmented market we see today, leaving creative agencies with the creative idea and the execution and production of that creative idea. At the same time technology made the execution, delivery and production of campaign material easier and clients, led by specialist procurers started to look at their agency invoices and wonder if things couldn’t be done a bit more efficiently.

This set the scene for decoupling.

Single integrated or specialist agencies tend to make significant margin on the production of marketing material. They are often high overhead businesses, with large fixed operating costs. By decoupling the production of marketing assets and centralising the procurement of printed material, clients tend to save upward of 20% from their overall marketing budget.