The following article has been taken from Marketing Magazine. Advertising has become too linear. That's not a general assertion, it's plain to see. Take TV advertising. Ever since the birth of the 'live pause' function with the launch of Sky+ in 2002, UK viewers have been systematically cutting TV adverts out of their lives.
Lots of TV services now offer the ability to pause live TV as standard, including the main competitors to Sky+, Freeview+ Virgin’s V+. Even Alan Sugar’s troubled YouView project has recognised that without the ability to pause live TV their offering simply won’t cut the mustard.
Alongside digital video recorders, on-demand and catch up services and a range of subscription and streaming services, TV viewers have the option to never watch another ad again.
The ‘skip generation’ of viewers are inadvertently fighting back against traditional advertising through the use of technology. Advertising funds the vast majority of TV content, and if that source of revenue is lost in unwatched ad breaks it could significantly impact the quality of the programming we all watch.
There’s been a seismic shift in viewing habits, and it’s crucial that advertisers ‘catch up’ with their audience. Research released earlier this year by the BBC revealed that a quarter of its viewers are now watching programmes using catch-up services rather than when they originally air. Indeed, the internationally popular Sherlock saw a staggering 3.5 million additional viewers watch the show via the iPlayer or through a recording.
Advertisers have also had to contend with the massive growth in popularity of streaming services like Netflix, Blinkbox and Lovefilm. Netflix has achieved significant critical and commercial success with its original programming, as shown by the triumphant return of flagship series House of Cards.
It’s absolutely crucial that advertisers listen to what the audience is increasingly making abundantly clear and find a way to reach their target audience on their own terms. Rather than regarding the growth of new technology and the change in the audiences’ viewing habits as the barrier, advertisers need to embrace the opportunity that new technology provides.
Advertising doesn’t have to be, and shouldn’t be, intrusive. Brands need to be able to reach their target audience in a contextually relevant, native way that doesn’t break the deal with the audience by intruding upon their viewing experience. While technology enabled viewers to skip ads in the first place, it can now also put brands back in the one place where people are still engaged – in the spotlight of content.
Using native in-video techniques, brands can target specific audiences with contextually, geographically and emotionally relevant products and services by digitally integrating them into appropriate content. However, ensuring that each placement meets all three of these criteria requires a balance of technology scale and human contextualisation – a balance that is now establishing a new cutting edge of native, in-video advertising.
One of the ways in which this sort of native in-video advertising is sometimes labelled is as a "post-production" form of product placement, because that’s the sort of description most people can easily understand and it’s been around for more than 100 years. But this sort of terminology and the methods used to execute it are now at least ten years out of date. The advances that have been made in integrating brands into videos in an entirely natural manner mean that any allusions to product placement are now rather archaic.
As consumers, we know that we must be advertised to, but historically product placement implementations can often lead to a poor compromise for the audience, the content and for the brand. Going forward the benefit for advertisers is that global television content is now available to native in-video advertising. Audience demographics, desired durations and target context can all be controlled in exactly the same way as any other measurable ad unit and at meaningful scale.
Boosting advertising revenue can and should work hand-in-hand with an enhanced and uninterrupted viewing experience and technology now affords the ability to do both. The current culture, with its abundance of time-saving technology, promotes a more efficient, faster consumption of content, which has given birth to a generation of consumers that are, for want of a better word, impatient. The MTV generation had vast attention spans compared to today’s connected audiences – people now go out of their way to consume things as quickly as they possibly can. It’s important that ads add value to the content, rather than just get in the way.
The following article has been taken from procurement.ie Brian Hayes, T.D., Minister of State with special responsibility for Public Service Reform and the Office of Public Works, (13th March 2014) announced the award, following an EU tendering process, of an €11m public service ICT Consumables contract to Datapac Ltd.
The new two year contract, with an option to extend a further 12 months, will allow Datapac to grow its business and create 15 new jobs. New contract prices are on average 35% lower than the last contract. Public sector buyers will also receive further discounts of 5% for ordering online and 3% for online and electronic payments.
This is the first contract put in place by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). The OGP, commencing operations this year, is tasked with delivering on an ambitious programme of procurement reform with savings target of up to €500m over 3 years.
At the launch, Minister Hayes noted, “the award of this contract to Datapac, a wholly Irish owned SME, is a perfect example of an Irish SME successfully competing for government business. We want to see more SMEs competing for larger State contracts – both at home and abroad. SMEs success at this level is key to securing a sustainable and durable recovery for Ireland.”
Patrick Kickham, Datapac director, said, “we are delighted to play our part in helping Government achieve sustainable cost savings and improved operational efficiency. This contract allows us to grow Datapac further, adding up to fifteen new people to the team over the next two years, and making further investments in our business and technology portfolio. Datapac have invested significant time, energy and capital to enhance our service delivery capabilities, including an online ordering system that is second-to-none in Ireland.”
Speaking about the launch, Government Chief Procurement Officer Paul Quinn stressed that, “Our goal is to make it easier for business to engage with public procurement while at the same time driving improved value for money for the taxpayer. The Office of Government Procurement is committed to ensuring that SMEs are fully engaged in the new model. We will bring consistency to how the public service procures. There will be greater standardisation of tendering documentation and contractual terms. These improvements will reduce tendering costs and risks and reduce barriers to public procurement by SMEs.
The following extract has been taken from Environment & Energy Management. Work being undertaken at NUI Galway has great potential for clean-energy production, a leading expert in bioenergy and biorefining has told a bioenergy conference in Dublin.
The expert in question is Bart Bonsall, technology leader at Ireland’s Technology Centre for Biorefining and Bioenergy. He spoke at the 13th annual IrBEA National Bioenergy Conference in Dublin.
The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Biomethane for transport: a technical and regulatory framework’ and focuses on Ireland’s bioenergy strategy to meet its European 2020 targets.
Bonsall highlighted [pdf, 1.86MB ]work being undertaken at NUI Galway as one of the best examples of how increased study, experimentation and implantation of the scientific advances in biofuels can lead a revolution to power public transport across the entire continent.
“Using the advanced high-rate, low-temperature anaerobic digestion technology for dilute waste waters developed by Prof Vincent O’Flaherty and the enzyme-based technology patented by Dr Maria Tuohy and their NUI Galway research groups gives Ireland an advantage in producing biogas more quickly,” Bonsall said.
“On the vehicle side, biogas/compressed natural gas vehicles are widely used in German, Austrian, Italian and Swedish truck and bus fleets. The opportunity is there for Ireland to create real jobs in indigenous bioenergy enterprise in two to five years, if we build the right commercial and regulatory framework for biomethane for fleet transport,” he added.
The centre led by Bonsall is one of the leading clean-tech organisations in Ireland and is co-hosted by three Irish universities, NUI Galway, University of Limerick and University College Dublin.
As part of its remit, the centre develops key research programmes and innovative commercial applications for a sustainable and competitive bio-based economy in partnership with its industry members.
Source: envirocentre.ie
The following article has been taken from The Project Management Hunt and was written by Dave Gordon. My wife and I recently traveled to Seattle for a wedding. Our daughter-in-law was the matron of honor, and our granddaughter was one of the flower girls. Since Abbie is only two and a half years old, this was her first wedding. Fortunately, there was another flower girl, who went first and modeled the appropriate behavior. She walked the length of the aisle, scattering rose petals along the way. Abbie followed for a few steps, and then stopped to look at the rose petals on the floor. Being OCD (like her Dad), she started picking them up and putting them in her basket. Not quite what Mom had expected when she gave her the job, but the audience loved it.
Roles and Responsibilities
For many people, being assigned to work on a project is a novelty. They have regular jobs, where they have well-understood, routine practices and procedures. However, their additional project duties may not be clear to them. When in doubt, they may default to the behaviors that have made them successful in their regular job (like cleaning up the floor after play). This default may not be beneficial to the project, especially for tasks in the critical path. Consequently, it is important to make the responsibilities, procedures, and project relationships clear for the people assigned to each role, especially if they’ve never worked on a similar project. There are several tools available for clarifying roles and responsibilities: Project Organization Chart – A simple hierarchical diagram of the reporting relationships can usually answer most questions, especially on a cross-functional team. Role Description – Many project charters or project human resource management plans have a narrative description of the duties and responsibilities of each role. This can prevent confusion over who is responsible for what activities. RACI Chart – A table listing the work packages or deliverables, identifying who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each, usually adds enough structure for most teams to establish a well-understood workflow. Samples and Templates – Many “new” tasks are best understood by looking at the result of a previously completed task, or a fill-in-the-blanks form. This is especially true for work packages resulting in a document deliverable.
Minimizing Overlap of Responsibilities
A primary goal of planning for the human resources aspects of a project should be to ensure all tasks are covered, exactly once. If two people are responsible for the same task, there is a reasonable chance that neither of them will do it. Use the RACI chart to fine-tune who participates in the production of each project deliverable. Ensure that all work assignments are unambiguous, and all participants understand how the work in progress will be handed off. Work with the team to define cues, and follow up on transitions from one person or group to the next. And don’t forget to note completion – I like Kanban boards, because they make work in queue, in progress, and completed visible to the workers.
Coaching
Of course, nothing beats coaching. Whether it comes from the project manager or another experienced team member, a bit of guidance can go a long way. Any task performed for the first time naturally raises questions, before, during, and after. I regularly work on SaaS or software implementation projects with people who will only replace their enterprise software once or twice in their career, so the coaching is less about developing skills than it is about getting them through the assigned task.
Effectively communicating roles and responsibilities can make the project a positive experience for the entire team, while ensuring the timeliness and quality of the deliverables. It takes a bit more care in planning, but it makes execution go much more smoothly.
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