Our Thoughts

Digital Marketer Interviews: Esther Goh of Idealog

January 25, 2012 by Marian Schembari

Welcome to Digital Interviews – where we talk to people we admire about what’s hot in the world of digital marketing.

Esther Goh is the web editor at Idealog, the magazine and website for New Zealand creative business, ideas and innovation and is one of the largest circulating business titles in the country. Esther was previously a news editor at nzherald.co.nz, and has contributed to a range of print and online publications, including the Western Leader, Whakatane Beacon, Verve, Cafe Philosophy, slynkey.com, varsity.co.nz, and nzgirl.co.nz, basically mean she’s seen and written about it all and has some incredible insights into the world of digital media.

What digital changes this year have you really loved?

Tools to help navigate the overwhelming amount of content on social networks. Think the likes of Summify and Flipboard – curation upon curation. You can’t read everything that’s shared (nor would you want to) but that FOMO (fear of missing out) can be soothed with some technical help.

What new tools do you think won’t catch on?

Anything overly complex. Don’t try to do everything; keep it simple and do one thing well. If you can’t sum up your core proposition in one or two sentences, don’t expect us to pore over it trying to understand it. We want to know what you do and why it’s going to make our lives exponentially better. And if it doesn’t make my life easier… well, I don’t need any more distractions.

What’s the biggest challenge for people (both consumers and agencies) to embrace digital marketing?

Creating a cohesive strategy across platforms. Not jumping on every new thing – yes, keeping up with new tools and constant change, but not deviating from the overarching goal.

For consumers, it’s about compelling, genuine and relevant campaigns. There’s so much noise that it’s easy to ignore marketing messages in an age of increasing personalisation.

What’s your favorite digital campaign at the moment and why do you think it’s a success?

The Stay the Night, Steal the Art campaign is great, in which Australia’s Art Series Hotels challenged people to find and steal a Banksy painting doing the rounds of its branches. @stealbanksy tweeted hints, updates and failed attempts, and the full story/videos of the first successful heist are showcased on the hotel’s website. It’s fresh and dynamic and really plays into that subversive Banksy philosophy.

I also enjoyed Air NZ’s recent take on Cluedo – it was sticky, well-executed and a nice example of gamification. Everyone knows the classic whodunnit board game, and turns out it translated well into the digital realm.

Like what you read? Follow Esther on Twitter.

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Tags: Air Nz, Art Series, Board Game, Business Titles, Campaigns, Cluedo, Cohesive Strategy, Creative Business Ideas, Curation, Digital Interviews, Digital Marketer, digital marketing, Distractions, Doing The Rounds, Esther Goh, Heist, Idealog, New Tools, News Editor, Nzgirl, Nzherald Co Nz, Pore, Sentences, Social Networks, Stay The Night, Technical Help, Varsity, Verve Cafe, Web Editor

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