Loius Vuitton has been trying to outlaw Google’s ability to allow any advertiser to use copyrighted trademarks as part of their Adwords keyword campaigns. The latest interim legal opinion has come out against Loius Vuitton.

In 2005 LVHM (owners of Louis Vuitton) appealed against Google in a French court. Their argument was that many companies were using their branded keywords in order to sell replica goods and that this was undermining not only their reputation but also their sales. They won the case and took their argument to the European Commission.

On 22nd September 2008, in a long line of legal battles, the European Court of Justice admitted that although there was a link established when a company used a branded keyword that this was not enough to deem the action an infringement of copyright.

The European Commission advocate-general, Poiares Maduro said that:

‘Google has not committed a trademark infringement by allowing advertisers to select, in AdWords, keywords corresponding to trademarks.

‘Such a use cannot therefore be considered as being a use made in relation to goods or services identical or similar to those covered by the trademarks. Similarly, advertisers themselves do not commit a trademark infringement by selecting in Adwords keywords corresponding to trademarks.’

‘Internet users are aware that not only the site of the trademark owner will appear as a result of a search in Google’s search engine and sometimes they may not even be looking for that site.

‘These users will only make an assessment as to the origin of the goods or services advertised on the basis of the content of the ad and by visiting the advertised sites; no assessment will be based solely on the fact that the ads are displayed following the entry of keywords corresponding to trademarks.’

The use of keywords does not imply the purchase of counterfeit goods. On the other hand it could be argued that the public expect keyword searches to deliver accurate information. And over and above that should Google and the other search engines promote illegal activities by allowing sites that are committing crimes to appear in the searches? If you type fake Louis Vuitton into Google you get a whole host of sites offering to sell you counterfeit goods and this applies if you search just for Louis Vuitton too.

Ebay no longer allow sellers to use keywords that do not represent the true articles being sold. If you search for Vuitton bags today you will find no sellers at all for this item.

A final verdict is expected to be delivered early in 2010.

We’ve all done it. You go online, look for something that you need. Click on ‘buy’ and then decide to think about your purchase a bit more. A few days later you return to the shopping cart and make the purchase. New research from McAfee suggests that this common purchasing behaviour.

When looking at more than 150 million online transactions, McAfee found that 65% of all shoppers who abandon their shopping carts return after one or more days to complete their purchase. 30% return after just a day.

The reasons for online purchasing delay are closely linked to off line purchasing decisions:

Brand Recognition
Well known businesses have customers that buy within a shorter time scale. Consumer confidence is a large factor and the strength of your online branding is very important.

Competitors
Where there is a lot of competition within one sector people will take longer to commit to a purchase as they are more likely to shop around to get the best deals. This highlights the importance of gaining online confidence from your audience and using techniques that single you out from the crowd.

Demographic Experience
On the whole younger buyers are more confident with online purchases and are more likely to make speedy purchases compared to older buyers who are more reticent when it comes to online technology.

Novelty
Purchases of new products or services take longer.

Price
Transactions for more expensive items goods and services take longer to complete.

Security
According to McAfee security issues played a role in consumer confidence. 11% more people returned to their shopping carts if the McAfee “trustmark” was visible on the site. This figure was higher for those who delayed the longest before making their purchase and confirms a PayPal/conScore study conducted earlier this year which found that 21% of buyers chose not to purchase at given sites because of concerns over security.

What about the 35% who don’t return?
The good news for online business is that most people do return to their shopping carts. Nudging people to return is another option for the 35% who might go elsewhere. Email is a good option here providing your prospective customer has consented to receiving information from you.

It is well known that women engage more in social communications with larger numbers of people than men. It would seem to follow then that they would be more active on social networking sites. A recent survey shows that this is in fact the case with more women being active on social networking sites than men.

The study, ‘Women & Brands Online: The Digital Disconnect’ Emerges’ was conducted by Chicago and Q Interactive’s ‘WomenChannel’ but found that overall women did not seem to be influenced to purchase by the online marketing on these sites and in some cases were ‘turned off’ by brands. This would seem to be bad news for marketeers.

The study of 1000 women found that 54% of them visit a social networking site at least once a day although 75% of them said that their buying behaviour is ‘not really’ or ‘not at all’ influenced by the ads they see on the sites.

‘There lives a growing impetus for marketers – especially those working with Fortune 500 CPG brands who enjoy a majority female customer base, to build a better connection with women in the dynamic social media landscape,’ said Matt Wise, President, Q Interactive.

‘We know women are social creatures and highly active in mediums like Facebook, where they now outnumber men. Yet, we found, they are virtually uninfluenced – and sometimes put off – by brands in channels that are a routine part of their day.’

Hope for marketers
There are two points that are important to take into account about the results of the survey:

Firstly perception of influence is only one factor to take into account. Psychology experiments show that what we think is influencing us is not always accurate. Images that are presented to us have an influence of which we may not be aware. Sales statistics for social networking advertising are the only measure by which to judge effectiveness. If your sales figures rise then your campaign is working. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.

Secondly, the researchers found that although women reported not to be influenced by the online brand advertising they found that over half of them had ‘befriended’ or ‘become a fan of’ at least one brand.

Drew Ianni, Chairman, Programming for ad:tech Expositions said:

‘This tells us there is a willingness among women to partner with brands in social media – but the current dialogue is not where it needs to be. The challenge becomes finding a meaningful, appreciated and successful presence and partnership.’

Just over two weeks ago Microsoft launched a major rebrand of their online search engine. Live Search has been transformed into Bing with great success so far.

Figures published by Hitwise, the internet research company, show that in the UK Bing has overtaken Yahoo! Search as the second most popular search engine. However, Google, are still all-powerful with 85.6% of the market share. Bing hold 3.11% and Yahoo! Search UK and Ireland are trailing with 2.24%

The new figures are likely to be unnaturally inflated as people will have been drawn to have a look the new site. Bing looks appealing, more modern, clean and fresh and promises to give you ‘better UK results than ever before and will evolve in the coming months to give you a richer search experience through a range of innovative features.’

Currently Bing is in its beta version, it seems slow to download the home page although there is no problem with the speed of the search results. It’s home page image changes everyday which is a great and simple idea and mirrors Google’s occasional change of logo to reflect events and important dates. Bing allows you to have a quick look at sites to give you an overall impression before you commit to clicking through. The name is fabulous: short, fun and very memorable.

In theory businesses and products rise to the top because they are good and better than the competition. Google is so successful that it has become a household name and to ‘google’ something is an expression that is now in the dictionary. Google is prone to continually launching new products in beta version and inviting users to give feedback. This creates a great ‘buzz’ around its brand which Microsoft are now capitalising on too.

However, other search engines trail far behind Google and it will be interesting to see if Microsoft’s Bing will have the impact it expects.  If it does, developers will be tracking how best to ‘work with Bing’ in the same way that they closely scrutinise how to optimise a site in accordance to the Google guidelines.

More and more companies have an online presence and consequently consumers are becoming more sophisticated. A recent survey by bimouthmedia has found that European users are abandoning brand name searches in favour of longer more targeted searches.

bigmouthmedia looked at search behaviour in Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Denmark and found that most Europeans now use two or three words in a search.

Andrew Girdwood, Head of Search at bigmouthmedia said, ‘Over the past few years consumers have become far more savvy about search, and as the recession drives people to hunt for the very best available deals, we’re seeing them adopt a sophisticated approach with the majority now employing more complicated phrases to find their way around the web.’

The Italians, British and Germans were more likely to use four words (16%, 15%, 15% respectively) whereas only 10% of Spanish people were likely to do this and still favoured the use of mainly one word searches.

Research published earlier this year by Hitwise reported that word searches of over 8 words were up by 22% in the US and overall the number of words had increase by 10% over a one year period. bigmouthmedia found that overall brand name searches were down. This may be related to the recession where perhaps cost has become more important than well known brands.

Girdwood added: ‘Clearly, the way that users approach the search landscape is changing. As consumers continue to become more comfortable with the technology and the sheer volume of online information proliferates it will be interesting to see how this trend develops over the next few years and how it may force many big brand companies to reassess their digital marketing strategies.’

Sophisticated Consumers
Consumers are becoming more sophisticated but there are increasing numbers of businesses vying for their attention. More and more companies are becoming aware that to stay on top of the search engines listings they need to be more specific and hone in on the ‘right’ keywords that consumers are using. Consumers are becoming aware that the more specific they are the more likely they are to get good results from their searches. They are also impatient and want results quickly. And ultimately business wants as much useable traffic for as little effort as possible.

Business needs to keep up with consumer demand
To stay ahead of the search engine game business needs several things:

-A ‘feel’ for what is generally going on the web
-Access to the latest search engine trends
-A detailed knowledge of what search engines need
-Detailed technical knowledge about search engine optimisation that will enable them to link their products with consumer search engine techniques

The web feels like an organism that is growing and adapting quickly to its environment and visa versa and we have a symbiotic relationship with it. For business to rise to the top in this environment it needs to be aware on a micro as well as macro level. So getting a ‘feel’ for what is going on is just as important as analysing search data.