Cross-posting from the Marketing Clinic blog.

For the past few months I have been curating an internal newsletter sharing external articles on digital marketing and digital business transformation, and we have decided to start sharing it with you, dear reader.  Previous issues have dealt with Google Glass, Facebook Home, Banner & Display advertising, customer reviews, Bitcoin & digital experiences.

Please find this week’s topics below:

• Lean Analytics co-authors on data-driven marketing:  Quotes from the article: “If you take former Coca-Cola CMO Sergio Zyman’s definition of marketing, which is “selling more things to more people for more money more often more efficiently,” then analytics is how you measure whether you’ve moved the needle on one of those five “mores.” Everything we do leaves a digital breadcrumb trail, and that trail is available for marketers to analyze.  But it’s not going to be that simple. For one thing, even with all of this data, it’s unlikely most businesses will act wisely upon it. There’s no such thing as Big Data as big companies can’t handle the cultural shifts required.”

• How companies find out your shopping habits, case Target: Not a new article, but a great overview of how retail chain Target has managed to deeply model customer behaviour to anticipate their needs (to the point of creepiness, sadly). Marketers need to learn to use this information, but also make sure they keep a cordial relationship with the consumer.

• Analysis: Sleeping giant Amazon finally stirs: Amazon is become a true Internet advertising network, with access to data that even Google & Facebook don’t have on actual purchases.  Two quotes from the article: ”In today’s marketing world, data is gold and Amazon is Fort Knox” / “Amazon is not a retailer anymore, it is the largest behavioral marketing company in the world”

• Coca-cola’s first digitally-led (and digital-only) campaign: Coke aims to reach teens where they are, and they are not watching TV.

• CNN is scared of Twitter: What happens when the cable news cycle is just too slow, and you do not own the platform news junkies turn to for breaking news?  Quote from the article: “Last week, key moments in the Boston saga played out on Twitter, not mainstream television.”

• Opposing views on the effectiveness of crowdsourced investigation efforts in last week’s Boston events (Wired for,BBC against): When even law enforcement organizations are looking at harnessing external innovation, what can businesses learn from their dramatic effects?  Do the benefits outweigh the risks?