This week, six of the Coull team headed up to London to spend a busy, exciting and inspiring few days at the TFM&A exhibition in Earl’s Court. Right in the heart of the Online Advertising & Affiliate section of the expo, the Coull stand was extremely popular with enquiries from prospective partners. It was a great chance to explain Coull’s evolution of social video and show off our brand spanking new flyers, presentations and business cards!

Now that the event is over, we thought it would be a great opportunity to catch our breath and relive what we thought were the highlights of TFM&A 2012.

Keynotes – Performance and Mobile wins out

Without doubt, the highlight for us from the keynote programme was Matthew Wood (Vouchercloud) and Kevin Edwards (Affiliate Window and buy.at) discussing the changing landscape of performance marketing and how the future is pretty much centred around the development of mobile commerce. Mobile is bridging the gap between online and offline sales, and the keynote seminar inspired us to truly embrace the evolution of mobile as well as validating our concept of creating a performance video platform. Following on from our voucher code and video exclusive feature, we are now figuring out the best way to make our videos mobile ready.

Huge interest in video

One of the things we picked up on was that everyone who came and had chat with us on our stand realised the importance of video and the significant long-tail impact it has on a marketing strategy. Regardless of the size or sector, advertisers are producing quality content to promote their brand and demonstrate their products, and it’s great to see this rich media is becoming an integral part of online strategies. Publishers and affiliates are also beginning to understand the positive impact that video can have on a site in terms of engagement, SEO and design. The topic of video was featured in places across the expo, and it seemed that many people were visiting Coull’s stand as a result of this discussion.

‘Social’ and ‘data’ were the buzzwords

You could not take two steps without seeing or hearing these words at TFM&A. Social media as we all know by now is changing the face of online marketing. However, as Dave Chaffey discussed in his keynote “7 Steps for creating an integrated social media strategy” it is not as easy as simply tweeting regularly and having likes on your Facebook page, and it takes strategic planning to use social media effectively. The impact of data and analytics on campaign management was also a topic featured heavily across seminars, and it was interesting to see the number of exhibitors picking up on this theme too. The highlight for Coull was seeing the way that our videos fit into this everchanging model for online marketing.

Product feedback

TFM&A was the first chance for Sam, in his new role as Product Manager, to spend time talking face to face with publishers and end-users who are interacting with the Coull platform. It was a valuable exercise for him to understand what the people who use it day to day expect from the products, and also to discover new technologies that are out there. Coull have massive plans for adding fresh and exciting capabilities to our video offerings, and TFM&A definitely added value to the first stages of these plans.

Work hard, play hard…

The Coull cohort ventured out on Tuesday evening to relax after a hard day’s networking, and a final mention must go to Ain’t Nothin’ But… which is, in Coull’s opinion, the finest bar in London and is quickly becoming our regular spot for all trips to the capital. Once again it didn’t disappoint,  providing us with superb music and entertainment on our company outing.  Hailed as ‘the best Blues Bar this side of the Atlantic’, with free entry and (slightly too) quaffable ales, we would recommend this bar to anyone who wants to see fantastic musicians in a relaxed and authentic setting. Top stuff.