Kudos to my colleague Mark Pinsent who pointed this great report from the EIU
Download the marketing paper Engaging Global Executives: 10 Megatrends in B2B Marketing 2008
The 10 megatrends it predicts include:
1. Thought leadership becomes a top priority
2. B2B marketers go higher, deeper and wider
3. Integrated marketing becomes the norm
4. Emerging markets move to centre stage
5. Knowledge management comes of age
6. The second coming of the web
7. A new conference model
8. The growing influence of advertising agencies
9. B2B purchasing decisions become more complex
10. The ROI obsession
Regarding PR agencies (it lumps them together with ad agencies) this report claims that they lack the "intellectual firepower to help create sophisticated thought leadership campaigns". It goes on to say:
As a marketing executive from a large professional services company said: "it's up to us, to our regional teams and our core executive leadership to create the intellectual property and thought leadership necessary to create value for our clients." The role of the advertising agency, says the executive, "is to enhance, complement and promote those initiatives, not drive their formation."
I think this report is so far off the mark with this comment it makes the rest of it lack any credibility - nevertheless with this bias aside it does raise some good points and is recommended reading for all.
Technobabble 2.0 - a blog that rants and raves about social media, analyst relations and technology. Highlighting where people have got it right and wrong. Written by Jonny Bentwood - Head of AR and Strategy at Edelman in the UK. Link to original post