Lessons From the Web Front Lines: an Aquent | Monster Survey of Web Professionals

This is a presentation of the results of a series of nationwide online surveys conducted by Aquent and Monster including Web professionals, employers and recruiters who hire Web professionals. This give a look into a lone growth area of the talent market that could be the difference between survival and prosperity in this economy and the recovery—when it happens. Uncover insights into how to attract, keep and develop Web talent in an uncertain economy.

2009 AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries

The AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries is the most comprehensive annual survey of compensation data for the communication design profession in the United States. It reports the actual salary ranges for design positions among AIGA members and related professionals in the United States. The survey is based on salaries in 2008, when many design firms reported that their businesses were relatively solid—in fact, the industry seemed even more robust than many other economic sectors—although the economy had already slipped into recession.

Aquent | AMA Compensation Survey of Marketing Professionals 2009

The Aquent | American Marketing Association salary salary survey of marketing professionals draws upon salary, demographic, psychographic, and job satisfaction data from thousands of respondents across a broad spectrum of job titles, markets, and business sectors and features an insight series on the data collected.

2008 AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries

The most unbiased‚ professionally researched tool of its kind‚ it draws upon data provided by more than 6‚000 design professionals throughout the United States.

Aquent Orange Book: Salary Survey and Industry Monitor for the Marketing, Communications and Creative Industries | 2006-2007 Asia Pacific Edition

The Aquent Orange Book (previously called The Asia Pacific Salary Monitor) is an indispensable management tool for any decision-maker operating in the Marketing, Communications and Creative sectors. It provides accurate salary information for hundreds of staff categories, detailed statistics on revenue growth, staff retention strategies, anticipated salary increases, and identifies employment and growth trends.

Aquent Orange Book: Salary Survey and Industry Monitor for the Marketing, Communications and Creative Industries | 2006-2007 European Edition

The Aquent Orange Book (previously called The Asia Pacific Salary Monitor) is an indispensable management tool for any decision-maker operating in the Marketing, Communications and Creative sectors. It provides accurate salary information for hundreds of staff categories, detailed statistics on revenue growth, staff retention strategies, anticipated salary increases, and identifies employment and growth trends.

Aquent | AMA Compensation Survey of Marketing Professionals 2006

The most comprehensive survey ever conducted in this field, it draws upon salary, demographic, psychographic, and job satisfaction data from thousands of respondents across a broad spectrum of job titles, markets, and business sectors.

Web Content Development

Aquent helped a creator of global online learning programs to significantly scale its website content team- providing 47 developers- and to win an important new piece of business.

Flash Development

Aquent delivered the Flash expertise that an IT provider needed to develop an application enabling countries to track key performance indicators and thereby help drive economic development.

Data Analytics - Automotive Giant

By assembling a customized team of 70 specialists, Aquent helped an automotive giant bring data analytics in-house, saving the company millions of dollars and increasing its control over data.

Data Analytics - Campaign targeting

Aquent helps an insurance leader develop better targeted campaigns by providing expert data analytics talent to consolidate, reconfigure, and analyze consumer data from diverse product lines.

Digital Asset Management

Specialized Creative Services Team

Customer retention materials

Aquent design talent helped a leading financial services company shift gears rapidly and defend business in a down market.

Building the Dream Design Team

Aquent provided the strategic design expertise a global consumer products company needed in order to reduce spending and increase utilization rates for its design group. Since Aquent was first engaged, the operations manager has established workflow processes that have reduced client spend levels and the entire design team has maintained an impressive average utilization rate of 86 percent.

Brand Ambassadors

A global paint manufacturer partnered with Aquent to help boost sales of its leading designer paint brand at the world’s largest home improvement retailer by designing and implementing a Brand Ambassador program.

Brand Launch

Aquent helped a leading consumer packaged goods company find the interim marketing talent it needed to develop a new brand strategy and successfully relaunch its premier cookie brand.

Brand Strategy

Aquent helped a top consumer-lending products company identify and hire the interim brand strategy talent it needed after a major acquisition.

Data Analytics and Database Specialists

Aquent helped one of the world’s largest banks manage the migration of several databases post acquisition by providing over 40 database and data analytics specialists.

Content Management System Implementation

Aquent helped a top U.S. secondary mortgage company streamline internal communications by converting 70,000 pages of intranet content to a more user-friendly version of its content management system.

Interactive Marketing Specialists

Aquent provided the specialized talent a top North America retailer needed to remain competitive and drive its busy online promotional calendar during the critical holiday season.

Market Research Analysis

Aquent quickly identified the hard-to-find talent that a leading provider of independent investment research data needed to replace its outgoing market research analyst.

Web Portal Development

Aquent helped a health care staffing agency develop a Web portal to drive industry professionals to its public site and increase the number of online registrants.

Cool Photoshop Event in San Francisco! April 1st @ 6:30 pm

Inbox Zero better than Coke Zero

The Box that Saved the World (or how Cisco will save $24M this year by reducing packaging)

Aquent Talent DISCOUNT for FITC Toronto: April 24-27

KEEPING YOUR BRAND COOL IN A CRISIS

Resumes: What's the 'GOS' about you?

DISCOUNT thru Tomorrow! JARED SPOOL & the Web App Masters Tour in San Diego (3/24-25)

Don't Learn What You Need To Know

The Marketing's in the (Compostable) Bag

Online For More Time

Calling in Sick

Domino's went all Starbucks on me

Get a Haircut and Get a Real Job

How do you say konnichiwa in Chinese?

Down Time

A Veritable Bounty of Events

Aquent|AMA Webcast 2/18: Marketing Mix Models - maximizing marketing effectiveness in a changing environment

Linchpins

Donations Add Up, Despite Little Trust In Texting for Relief

Cover email 101: how to get noticed... in a good way

Good Marketing - Marketing for Social Good

Presented by: Nancy Goldstein, Chief Strategist, Compass(x) Strategy

Surveys consistently report that consumers would choose a brand that "makes the world a better place" over other brands and will pay more for such a brand – even in a recession. How should marketers capitalize on this? Web 2.0 has made it possible for companies to engage with specific communities about relevant causes like never before. However, having a clear strategy is critical to avoid missteps, which can inadvertently undo the good your company is purporting to do. This webcast will address some of the issues that companies face when trying to position themselves as "doing good," as well as provide some solutions and tools to improve your company's ability to market social good successfully.

Web Standards – Today and Tomorrow

Presented by: Faruk Ates from the Web Standards Project and Susie Hall, Interactive Design Practice Leader, Aquent

Interactive teams today are faced with rapidly changing technology and a world where online content must stay fresh and relevant to compete. In this climate of change, design and development dollars are wasted as companies struggle without implementing Web standards. Faruk Ates of the Web Standards Project talks about current Web standards and explains their importance to the success of any Web project.

In this talk you will learn more about:

• How using Web standards can save time and money
• How employing standards can enable access to more customers
• New and emerging technology and standards that may change the future of Web development

The insights you need to successfully market to Tweens and Teens

Understanding the youth market is crucial for any company attempting to capture the attention of today's tween and teen consumers. The lives and minds of this dynamic group are ever-changing, so it's essential to gain a better understanding of our youth today before launching your next youth-oriented product or marketing campaign.

During this webcast Brenda Hurley of C&R Research will tell you:

• What tweens and teens do with their free time
• What is important in their lives today
• Their relationship with technology and its role in their lives
• Their engagement with social issues
• Where they get their money and the power of their spending
• How today's economy is impacting them
• How they find out about new products
• Ways to reach this illusive audience

Design through the downturn and beyond: A look at the future of design

Graphic designers experience significant risk of commoditization now and will, even more so, in the future. The challenges of differentiation and articulating the value of design are growing. Josh Levine discusses the realities faced by designers today and offers visions of how to approach these challenges.

Strategy activation: The secret to successful execution

In this webcast, Scott Glatstein, President of Imperatives LLC and author of Strategy Activation: How to Turn Your Vision into Marketplace Success, will tell you:

• Why 90 percent of all business strategies fail in the marketplace
• How high-performing organizations leverage the four key implementation success factors
• How to design a customer experience that matches expectations
• How the right culture and reward structures can build a workforce committed to implementing your promises
• How to design the necessary processes and select the right tools that will enable marketplace success

Attributes of a Great Designer: a conversation with Debbie Millman

Presented by: Debbie Millman, president of the Design Division at Sterling Brands and author of the book "How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer," and Randy Ricker, Director of Aquent's Graphic Design Practice

In this Aquent-sponsored webcast, you can learn from Debbie Millman’s experience and perspective on:

• Non-design skills matter for designers
• Understanding strategy
• Creating client trust and salesmanship
• Ideas for lifelong learning for designers

Bringing Online Marketing In-House

Presenter: Eric Waldinger, Online Marketing Practice Leader, Aquent

This recording will:

• Provide an overview of Aquent and the AMA’s recent Hiring Trends Survey.
• Detail the benefits of bringing your digital marketing department in-house.
• Specify how this department should be structured and managed.
• And explain how all of this will save your company time and money.

Social Media is About Socializing!

Presenter: Harry Gold, online marketing expert and founder and CEO of Overdrive Interactive

Careers in Marketing: Flux, Flexibility & the Future

Presenter: Matthew T. Grant, corporate blogger and content director, Aquent

This recording will:

• Provide practical insights on emerging (or fading!) career opportunities
• Discuss innovative work arrangements
• Describe effective strategies for finding and keeping in-demand talent

Leveraging the Value of Email Marketing During a Recession

Presenter: Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave Marketing

This recording will help you:

• Define your program's purpose, goals, and benchmarks
• Position email as a service to your organization
• Track metrics and test concepts
• Cut costs and deliver exceptional value to your subscribers

Web Design for ROI: How Design Impacts the Bottom Line

Presenters: Lance Loveday, founder, CEO of Closed Loop Marketing Sandra Niehaus, VP user experience, creative director of Closed Loop Marketing

This live recording will help you to:

• Design different types of Web pages
• Increase Web sales/leads
• Increase overall site effectiveness
• Change your company's perceptions of Web design

7 Steps to a Stellar Online Reputation

Presenter: Andy Beal, co-author of Radically Transparent and founder of the award-winning Marketing Pilgrim blog.

Companies spend millions building and promoting their brands online. Yet, all it takes is a single negative review to destroy your company's reputation. Who's managing yours?

Managing Global Marketing Execution: A Core Competency

As products, market segments, and marketing messages proliferate globally, marketers face the
challenge of how to execute strategies that consistently communicate core product benefits in a
manner that reflects local needs, competitive environments, and cultural preferences. What we have
found in working with companies on global execution of marketing materials is that the key success
factors are:

• Driving execution with a clear communication strategy and brand standards
• Controlling your own brand assets
• Managing a set of internal and external execution resources
• Measuring and auditing the results

The Business Case for Marketing Resource Management (MRM): Increasing ROI Through More Efficient Use of Marketing Resources

The marketing landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and marketers are taking full advantage of new media channels, segmentation strategies, and capabilities to produce an everexpanding volume of work. To keep pace with escalating demands on their time, people, and budgets, marketing executives are investigating marketing resource management (MRM) solutions. An MRM solution that includes best-in-class software, process changes, and measurement tools can have a profound impact on such critical areas as planning, production management, workflow, and reporting. By automating and streamlining day-to-day operations, an MRM solution helps marketing departments work smarter and more efficiently.

Successful Creative Briefs: Linking Business Objectives and Creative Strategies

Call them what you will—“creative briefs,” “design briefs,” “marketing briefs,” “communications briefs,”
or even “objectives and strategies statements”—the actual name is less important than helping
creative and marketing professionals to fully understand and appreciate their potential value to any
design initiative within your organization. Many designers and their clients have yet to completely embrace the creative brief as a vital part of the design process to share valuable information, build consensus, align expectations, and set clear objectives. This paper details how to create successful briefs and provides samples.

Ensuring Product Launch Success: The Often-Overlooked Role of Marketing Execution

Each year, companies launch more than 30,000 new products and services. Of these, marketing experts estimate that 70 percent fail within two years. When new product launches fail, they sometimes do so for a variety of strategic reasons, from flawed market research to poor product development to a bad distribution strategy.  Often, the failure of the launch is in the marketing execution: inconsistent product messaging, delayed sales-force collateral, and embarrassing flops at promotional events.  Execution problems can be attributed to the lack of an effective product launch marketing infrastructure. Few companies have a flexible and scalable infrastructure specifically for the management of marketing initiatives tied to product launches.

Lessons From the Web Front Lines: an Aquent | Monster Survey of Web Professionals

This is a presentation of the results of a series of nationwide online surveys conducted by Aquent and Monster including Web professionals, employers and recruiters who hire Web professionals. This give a look into a lone growth area of the talent market that could be the difference between survival and prosperity in this economy and the recovery—when it happens. Uncover insights into how to attract, keep and develop Web talent in an uncertain economy.

The Pragmatic Recession: what’s different this time around?

In light of the economy and the mounting challenges at hand to marketers, The Dihedral Group (TDG) conducted a survey on behalf of Aquent and the American Marketing Association (AMA) pertaining to marketers’ thoughts on the economy, strategic initiatives, and their hiring concentrations for the coming year.

Among those marketers interviewed for this research who have previously been through down cycles, the overwhelming point of differentiation from the other recessions came down to the pragmatic use of the Internet and supporting technologies to refine (among strong organizations) or jump-start (among ailing companies) their front-line demand-generation activities.

Where You Stand Depends on Where You Sit:A Contextual Assessment of Marketing Challenges, Compensation, and Job Satisfaction

It’s not easy being in marketing management today. A dramatic shift in the marketing landscape—increased globalization, multiple media platforms, an explosion of market segments—has coincided with an uncertain economy and shifting organizational dynamics. Marketers at all levels of the organization are faced with enormous strategic and tactical challenges, but their views of these challenges are colored by where they are within the marketing profession hierarchy. Not surprisingly, marketing professionals’ sense of personal satisfaction with their jobs and their ensuing compensation align directly with their level of achievement and tenure in the profession.

Powerful Content Resources: A Short E-book Full of Links and Information About the Digital Media Content Business

This collection of tips and best practices will help you make your content a powerful asset for your organization. The resources, links, and recommendations in this document will be helpful to creative and technical professionals who work with digital media content assets such as text, videos, illustrations, photos, and sound.

Managing Co-employment Risk When Using a Staffing Agency

Co-employment is an important issue for any company using long-term contractors.1 In 2000, Microsoft’s $97 million settlement for benefits liability to the contract workers who provided services from 1987 to 2000 raised co-employment awareness nationally. To limit exposure to co-employment benefits risk, companies have enacted various policies for using contractors such as placing time limits on their use, rotating staffing firms, etc.

However, these policies don’t get to the crux of the co-employment issue, but rather, underserve the companies that need long term contractors. A solid understanding of both co-employment and how to work with a staffing firm to best handle this issue is an important step in managing risk.

This paper will address these points by defining co-employment and co-employment liability as they relate to benefits, discussing the implications of the Microsoft case, and suggesting ways to lessen co- employment risk when using a staffing agency.