There's still time to learn how to Put the Social Web to Work

 Davesbook We've had a great response to our webinar this Wednesday 2/25 at 12 noon eastern time, "Putting the Social Web to Work". But there is still time to sign up -- click here.

Author Dave Evans will take attendees through a straightforward and practical evolutionary process for how to incorporate the Social Web into your marketing plans. He'll begin with listening, then talk about developing a sensible response, and ultimately influencing the markets that are critical to success.

Please join us!

Posted by Jim Nail on February 23, 2009 at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 25 Webinar: Putting the Social Web to Work

I'm really excited to host a webinar next week with my friend and someone I consider a guru of all things digital: Dave Evans. Read on to learn more or click here to register -- and you may win a free copy of Dave's new book!

IMHO, the question nagging marketers today is not "Should I include social media in my marketing mix?" but "What should I do and how do I do it in a way that is efficient, effective, and manageable?"

Davesbook I asked Dave to do this webinar with me because he's one of the best guys I know to start to answer this question. In the early days of online advertising, when I was at Forrester and needed a smart, plugged-in guy to kick ideas around with, I called Dave. He has become equally expert in the world of the social web and his book Social Media Marketing In An Hour a Day answers the question posed above with richness, specific actions plans, and helpful tools. It is topping the charts at Amazon and has earned a well-deserved 5 stars.

Speaking of the book, 100 lucky registrants will get a free copy of the book, autographed by Dave! There's still time to get in on the action so register for the webinar today and put February 25 at 12 pm Eastern time on your calendar!

PS. As a kind of preview, here is a comment in Dave's Clickz column today: "Control gives way to influence on the social Web, and influence is built on the fundamental behaviors of participation." Join me and Dave next week to hear how to adapt to the Influence 2.0 world!

Posted by Cymfony on February 18, 2009 at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

More kudos for TNS Cymfony!

In November, TNS Cymfony received top honors from the Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications.

Now we have received top ranking from a certain analyst firm that modesty (and their citation policy) prevent me from telling you about. But you can read about it at Ad Age

Posted by Jim Nail on January 23, 2009 at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Holiday Story

I hope you find this little fable to be an amusing seasonal diversion....

Posted by Jim Nail on December 17, 2008 at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Cymfony's Super Bowl Analysis is a Double Award Winner!

AMEC_Awards_logo-[Converted]  Pardon me while I toot our horn and go blatantly hard sell for one post!

I'm pleased to announce that the Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications recognized our Super Bowl Advertising Audience Impact Report with 2 awards!

First, we took the Gold in the category "Best Use of Measurement for a Single Event". The award judges cited our combination of traditional and social media as a "benchmark for the future" and praised it as "an intellectual piece of work" that "had real value for advertisers".

In fact, they liked it so much the judges also awarded it Grand Prix -- Innovation Award. In explaining why we were selected for this award too, the judges said it was a "ground-breaking analysis" and we earned "Top marks for the idea and the execution"

Thanks, AMEC! We are honored!

PS. If you are with a brand that is advertising on the Super Bowl, or an agency for one of those brands, we are offering this service again this year! Come to the Super Bowl page of the Cymfony site to learn more.

Posted by Jim Nail on November 25, 2008 at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

We've Been Blended!!!

Forrester's Josh Bernoff has created a "Will it Blend?" video with tchotckes from social media vendors. Cymfony is honored to be among the elite company of Bazaarvoice, Facebook, MySpace, Mzinga, and several others.

Enjoy!

Posted by Jim Nail on August 12, 2008 at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The Road to Super Bowl XLII

With the Patriots steamrolling through the NFL this season, many people here in the Boston area are thinking a lot about the Super Bowl coming up this February.  But here at Cymfony, the Super Bowl has become a year-round obsession – but for a different reason:  It is the perfect example of Influence 2.0.

We tracked discussion of last year’s game and conducted several studies on the audience impact of the media coverage and consumer discussion of last year’s Super Bowl advertisers. Over the past month, these studies have been published in a variety of publications.

  • Visibility vs Surprise: Which Drives the Greatest Discussion of Super Bowl Ads?  To be published in the 12/07 issue of the “Journal of Advertising Research” from the ARF.
  • What This Year’s Super Bowl Advertisers Can Learn from Doritos. Published in the 11/07 issue of Media Magazine
  • Is There No Such Thing as Bad News? - How controversy drives word-of-mouth around Super Bowl advertising and how it can bite the brand. Published in 11/07 “Measuring Word of Mouth Vol. 3” from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association

I encourage you to buy the WOMMA and JAR publications for the full story (and other great research as well).  We've also compiled some of the insights from each of these studies in a brief informational abstract that is available for download on our site now.   

The gist of our findings: Last year's success of advertisers like Doritos and Nationwide changes Super Bowl advertising -- it's no longer about great buzz after the game, pre-game media coverage is just as important, maybe more so.

(Disclosure: shameless plug coming) In response to this change, we are stepping up our analysis and launching a new product: the Super Bowl Advertising Audience Impact Report. Check it out at www.cymfony.com/superbowl.asp Clients will get a timely, in-depth analysis of the media coverage and consumer discussion of Super Bowl advertisers each week leading up to and immediately following the game on February 3.

This report will address:

  • How much coverage is each advertiser generating? 
  • Which ads are consumers discussing online? What are they saying?
  • What is the quality and tone of the coverage?
  • How is the event impacting consumer engagement with the brand?
  • How are pre-game promotional strategies influencing coverage?

After the post-game coverage peaks on Monday after the game, our Super Bowl analysts will lead a detailed online briefing Tuesday afternoon to discuss the ad winners and losers as reported by consumers and the media. This will all get wrapped up in a comprehensive report a couple weeks later when the coverage is complete.

Some of us around here are as excited about this new report as we are about the steamrolling Patriots.  (OK, we admit it, we're social media geeks!)

Posted by Jim Nail on November 30, 2007 at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Yes, I'm still here

Sorry for the long silence -- I didn't realize how long it had been until a friend of mine emailed me to see if I was still here!

As you can imagine, we are really busy since the acquisition by TNS Media Intelligence. You'll see some new elements to our web site soon -- and more really exciting developments in the near future. Stay tuned!

And I'll soon plug back in and resume commenting on the continuing evolution of social  media.

Posted by Jim Nail on March 29, 2007 at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The New TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony Generates Media Buzz

It has been an exciting week here. We don’t normally use the blog to toot our own horn, so I hope you’ll indulge us this once as we share some of the coverage.

TNS Media Intelligence’s acquisition of us generated a generous amount of buzz in both traditional media as well as in the blogosphere.  In fact, showing the influence of the blogosphere, news of our acquisition broke on PaidContent.org and had multiple blogs (Micro Persuasion, KD Paine’s PR Measuring Blog, and Customer Listening Blog to name a few) link to the post before we even announced.  And, that didn’t stop other media from writing about it following our announcement – here is a taste of the coverage:

  • AdAge TNS Eyes the Next Frontier: How to Track Viral, Chatter (subscription required)
  • AdWeek "TNS Media Intelligence is branching into the growing field of online buzz tracking with the purchase of Cymfony." (subscription required)
  • Adotas TNS Acquires Cymfony
  • PR Week  "TNS Media Intelligence (TNS MI), a provider of strategic advertising information, has acquired Cymfony, a market influence analytics company."
  • ClickZ’s Blog TNS Acquired Listening, Tracking Service
  • Marketing Vox TNS Acquires Social-Media Researcher, Cymfony
  • Forrester’s Marketing Blog "The news is out - TNS has acquired Cymfony.  The new operating unit will be called TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony"

For more media coverage of the acquisition, visit the In the News section on our website. 

Posted by Jeri Weaver on March 2, 2007 at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Cymfony Acquired by TNS Media Intelligence

Many of you may have seen the buzz that broke over the weekend in the blogosphere. Well, the rumors are true. Cymfony has been acquired by TNS-Media Intelligence. Not only is this a validation of Cymfony but it is another strong confirmation of the growth and importance of social media as a critical place for intelligence, corporate reputation monitoring and understanding word of mouth discussions.

This is the beginning of a great new chapter in the Cymfony story. This will accelerate our growth but more important allow us to expand our offering with the leading market research company in the world. My vision has always been to broaden our analysis and correlation of media and research that drives marketing influence and hence impact.   We started with traditional media when we offered Brand Dashboard in 2002, then added social media with Digital Consumer Insight and then put them together with other sources such as customer service email in one platform 2 years ago, called Orchestra. My vision has always been to analyze the many different influences that drive public relations effectiveness, consumer brand preference, corporate reputation, and brand image. 

We will operate as wholly owned subsidiary of TNS Media Intelligence providing public relations and marketing professionals the most sophisticated system for monitoring and measuring their effectiveness with our award winning customer service and technology.

Yet, this deal will allow us to add the third and, arguably, the largest, influence: advertising. TNS MI’s enormous store of ad occurrence and expenditure data is essential to every company.

As we bring that data together with Cymfony’s ability to capture and analyze traditional media coverage and social media conversations, CMOs will at last have a truly holistic view of how all their communications are working to shape their brands’ and company’s place in the market.

Stay tuned over the coming months as we build the products and services that will help marketers harness all these influences.  And thanks for everyone’s support.

Posted by Andrew Bernstein on February 26, 2007 at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack