CardMarketing 2.0

Many people cringe at the thought of a bank being on Facebook or some other social networking site — it's not for them and they just shouldn't be there. In many cases, they're right, generally because the financial institution in hand somehow manages to make a complete hash of it.

It's always tough when someone asks you to describe Web 2.0. I tend to rattle off sentences containing words like 'engagement', 'two-way web', 'social internet', 'user-generated content' and 'consumer empowerment'. But God only knows what I would blurt out if I was asked in front of a camera.

Neat little post by Paul Dunay of Buzz Marketing for Technology. It's not revolutionary but reiterates well the need for companies to create pull content, not push content — to be what interests people rather than to interrupt what interests people.

It's hard enough getting your heads around the endlessly changing, massively fragmented world of Web 2.0 marketing and what it takes to meet the needs of the 'connected consumer' without having to manage and streamline what you're doing, co-ordinate and budget your activities, monitor the seemingly infinite number of new websites, blogs and social networks, and track performance — this really can be the last straw. There's just too much to do and it feels like the goalposts are always moving.

Specialist pet retailer, PetSmart, is offering its customers a fun new way to earn rewards for themselves and their pets: it's allowing them to put an edge-to-edge picture of their little bundle of fluff, six foot snake (or whatever their pet may be!) on their PetPerks Visa card. Alternatively, they can choose from a library of predesigned 'pet-themed' card designs. In the words of PetSmart, people never have to leave home without their pet again.

Discover Financial Services has launched two online financial tools that will help cardholders better manage their credit (and most of us, let's face it, need some help in that area): the Paydown Planner and Purchase Planner.

The way that companies market their products and services will need to change radically if they are to remain relevant in the digital era, according to recent research published by Gartner. In an online world, says Gartner, traditional ways of selling to customers, based on demographic information, will become irrelevant.

Last month, we covered research from Pew Internet & American Life Project showing how video sharing sites were becoming more and more popular. Well, the significant growth of online video usage — particularly in the youth market — has been confirmed by yet more research, this time from Leichtman Research.