One of the things you have to love about digital marketing is its innovation: creative, chaotic and ceaseless. Digital content and communications are the freshest of media to work with, and in this short Digital Insight Report we showcase a few digital marketing innovations that caught our eye at the time of writing.

They're not only great examples of unlocking the potential of digital media; they include models and approaches that can be used by thousands of other firms from completely different sectors. Maybe they're right for your brands, or maybe they're worth exploring and reflecting on to see if they generate ideas about how to take your marketing further. The real innovation kicks off in the hands of practitioners and not technologists, and because all these tools are still in their early stages of development, you can be sure that there's plenty more innovation to come. If they are useful then explore more examples and more recent examples in our online case study library.

We hope you find the report useful and let us know if your team have some bright ideas you'd like to share.


Danny Meadows-Klue
Founder and Chief Executive
Digital Strategy Consulting

Speed read

• Search gets local and delivers powerful mapping with Google.
• Doing more with banners: Profero finds three innovative solutions for Frank.
• Corporate blogging starts to take off: Sun, GM and hints on best practice.
• In-game advertising: FMCG brands achieve impact with the tuned-out generation.
• Avis harnesses music CDs: integrating with the web to build customer loyalty.
• Personality remains key: LastMinute show you how to build engaging email marketing.
• Pay-per-text: the latest twist on search engine advertising from Miva.

Tips for brands
Marketers need to be given the freedom to explore and evaluate all these new models. They won't all be right for every brand, but a few of them will fit neatly into the marketing objectives of your business. Harness them well and they could change the face of the company. Look for innovative creative agencies and media agencies that are successfully exploring the new tools and models. Continue to review not only your competitor set brands, but look across Europe and North America for ideas about how online can help you do more.

Track your innovations
Always look for ways to track the effectiveness of the innovations you are exploring. Look for clear key performance indicators and find ways to measure any effects of online marketing that may have been reported in other sales channels. Some of these new digital marketing techniques may prove so radically more effective than the traditional routes you have known that they can force firms to review their entire marketing mix. Use constant 'split run tests' to measure the effectiveness of each new permutation or combination you try.

To stay on top, learning is key
The fast pace of innovation in digital marketing will not change in the next five years. Not only are the audiences expanding and demand for services rising, but the technology itself is allowing new types of integration between channels as well as the continued organic innovation we saw throughout the first digital decade. To stay on top, brands need to build a learning network of agency partners, along with specialist knowledge providers to help them master the latest techniques. Building learning into your organisation is critical.