Web Attack, Aquent, WebCards, Midnight.co.uk

*** MarketingToWebMarketers.com ***
Practical Marketing News & Tips for
Suppliers to the Web Ad Biz
June 15, 2000 - Vol. I, Issue 5

PLEASE FORWARD TO YOUR PALS -- THANKS!!!

*News: UK, Midnight.com, Webcards
*Case Study: Aquent Scores 3,400+ Resumes
*Special Report: The Underbelly of Web Attack

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* Marketing Yourself in the UK: Top 2 Discussion Groups

Our sibling newsletter, MarketingSherpa.co.uk, has
noticed British Internet advertisers and marketers
chatting up a storm on professional email discussion
groups about which, mainly US-based suppliers and
services, to use. Wanna be a voyeur? Check out what
they're saying about you at:
UK NetMarketing http://www.chinwag.com/uk-netmarketing/
First Tuesday Forum http://www.firsttuesday.com

* Forget Branding! We've Moved: WebCards

After postcard printer WebCards was offered, as President
Joe Haedrich told us, "Too much money to turn down" they
gave up their old killer domain name Printing.com and can
now be found at http://www.wbcards.com. Hey we
understand, there are times when it just makes sense to
be sluts for cash. Joe's using the cash to soon," offer
a wider range of services to our clients." Well, we're
looking forward to it.

* Yea/Nay: Midnight.co.uk

The interns here at MarketingtoWebMarketers.com have a
betting pool for worst site of the week. It's pretty sad
(and kinda shocking) how often a supplier or agency to
the Internet advertising industry wins. As our Polish
intern Izabela-with-the-unpronounceable-last-name says,
"Why do these people put leetle teeny letters in white
against a black screen?" We can't tell her why
professional grown-ups sometimes do such stupid things.

So it's kind of a relief to visit the site for
Midnight.com, a leading UK dot-com PR firm, who not only
have an eminently surfable and readable site, but also a
sense of humor. Check out their homepage for the cool
item, "10 reasons why people hate PR companies." We
defy you not to click on it. This puppy is a Yeah!
http://www.midnight.co.uk

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CASE STUDY: Aquent
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* How Aquent Scored 3,400+ Web Professional Resumes With
a New Email Campaign

GOAL: Aquent Partners wants to be more than just another
headhunter/job placement firm for Web designers and
developers. They’re modeling themselves on top Hollywood
talent agencies, offering the best-of-the-best Web pros a
chance to be personally represented throughout their
career by an experienced agent. Their marketing
campaign had two goals -- to position Aquent as a status
symbol and to collect resumes from top-tier Web pros.

CAMPAIGN
Aquent’s marketing agency Passaic Parc started
with heavy research. Passaic Parc’s Robert Rosenthal
explains, “We interviewed Web pros about their lives. We
learned these people are working their butts off now and
they feel they deserve compensation.” This insight
turned into highly compelling copy. The resulting email
campaign’s headline read, “Since you’ve decided to be a
chronically sleep deprived Web pro, make sure you’re a
well paid, highly fulfilled, chronically sleep deprived
Web pro.”

The email positioned Aquent Partners as “someone to get
you cool work inside hot companies. And make sure you’re
paid everything you’re worth.” All art was in super-
cool looking black and white, which increased its impact
to these design-sensitive pros.

OFFER: Recipients were offered a free Web Skill & Salary
Guide just for clicking through. The first 100
responders to give a resume to Aquent also got a free
Sharper Image Q Ball.

RESULTS
100,000 HTML and text emails were broadcast
resulting in more than 3,400 clickthrough responses (and
still counting) with about a 35% resume submission rate.
Rosenthal says, “HTML is consistently pulling much better
results than text. There can be more than a 100%
difference in results. This is massive stuff, a
phenomenon.”

NOTES: Aquent also dropped a direct mail campaign of
80,000 pieces and several banner ads mirroring the
creative in the email campaign. Vendors used included
IDG List Services, The Smith Print and Dickinson Direct.

http://www.aquent.com
http://www.passaicparc.com

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SPECIAL REPORT: The Underbelly of WebAttack
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* Ok So You've Already Seen Way Too Much Coverage of the
Web Attack Show’s Speakers ... Here's Our “Underbelly” Review

When all the other reporters covering last week's Web
Attack show were sending you breathless news on various
speeches, MarketingtoWebMarketers.com's reporters were
doing far more important stuff ... drinking with vendors,
getting mugged (honestly!) and generally gathering the
kind of news marketers-to-Web-marketers need to know.
Here's a quick run-down:

-- Session Oops!

Unlike other shows, very few supplier CEOs embarrassed
themselves by doing a sales-pitch vs. useful speech. The
only whomping exception: folks who participated in the
"InfoMediate" session -- you know who you are...

-- Chatchke Contest: Here’s the booth give-away items Web
marketers attending the show liked best…

#1 MyGeek.com besides offering personally autographed
pictures of Cindy Margolis, the personal shopping site
wins for giving away Geek lollipop holders. These
holders look like an 8"-tall geek doll (complete with
pocket protector), but with the press of a button, the
egghead opens up to reveal a brain-sized lollipop.

#2 Dialpad.com, a Web-based telephony service, gave away
high quality headsets imprinted with their logo. The
headsets, used for demos at the booth could also be used
for other purposes back at attendees’ offices!

#3 Engage wins for their cute little miniature pocket
knife. Marketers love those utilitarian giveaways!

#4 Solbright wins for providing the stuff of life itself
-- coffee, plus a high quality free Cobalt Blue mug.
(Did you know 80% of male marketers prefer blue to any
other color?)

#5 Iconocast themselves win for handing out condoms (they
REALLY wanted attendees to have a good time.)

-- Best Two “Lounges”

WebClients' restrooms were stocked with everything from
breath mints to sticky notes and envelope openers. We
particulary liked some of their on-stall posters: "When
it's time to go...Go with WebClients." DialPad
Communications Lounge was a terrific idea - it gave all
attendees a chance to "phone" home for free via
DialPad.com's free Internet calling service. (It also
provided a quiet space for old-fashioned mobile phone
calls.)

-- Party Reviews

Attendees definitely enjoyed Iconocast's China Club
event, but several were upset that they had wasted
valuable expense funds on a meal before the party...only
to find that there was food galore served at the club.

Rumour has it that certain representatives at certain
demo booths at the party (you know who you are!) were too
drunk to adequately peddle their wares.

Keep your spokesmodel entertained! RuPaul looked very
bored as WebEx.com's contest had revelers vying for the
most creative pose with the famous drag queen. Ru bolted
for the door as soon as her committed time was up!

-- Whoopsy at WiseAds’ Night Owl Tour

As we reported in anticipation last week, six double-
decker, open-roofed tour buses sponsored by WiseAds
roamed Manhattan in search of the ultimate party. Reports
of revelers mooning pedestrians from the bus tops came in
- let's just hope none of you had company logos tattooed
anywhere noticeable... The story of the evening was that
the bus was ticketed by the NYPD because no one on the
top level was wearing a seatbelt!

Most tour bus attendees had a fantastic time, so much so
that they were able to produce some very embarrassing
photos. But there were also a lot of complaints that it
was a little too much fun. Some had come along hoping to
score a deal, not a date, and found that the club scene
is in no way conducive to shop talk.

-- Fashion Review

If you were a man, you were in chinos or khakis. Period.
Women had two fun options, either khakis with strappy
black sandles or funky knee-length skirts with funkier,
strappy sandals. Marketers planning to attend the next
big event on the NY Circuit -- ClickZ’s upcoming show --
should probably pack accordingly.

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