If you're involved in marketing your stud farm/business/the Industry generally then the following 6 trends should be of interest:

1. Yahoo! has launched contextual search that allows users to narrow searches based on the content they happen to be viewing at the time, providing a contextual targeting of sorts. Further details at the following URL.

2. The eternal search for customer loyalty often sees companies attempting to buy it. To some extent we saw it with Darley's 'deals' last year. Here's a (non thoroughbred) example of a business bidding for customer loyalty in an innovative way: MarketingVOX reports that e-commerce giant Amazon will offer an annual fee based arrangement allowing buyers to pay US$79 per year for unlimited free two-day shipping. Currently, Amazon.com offers free shipping for orders that reach a certain amount. CEO Jeff Bezos said the plan would cost Amazon.com money in the short-term, but that he anticipated it would increase customer loyalty and thereby the quantity of product sold. It's a measure that few other e-commerce firms could match, as Amazon.com provides one of the widest arrays of product categories, making households capable of relying on their $79 to extend across a wide swath of needs.

3. Google announced yesterday that following a recent expansion, its image index now contains more than 1 billion pictures. Speaking of Google they have also launched Google Maps, which offers maps, driving directions and the ability to search for local businesses. The service offers a few tweaks to standard mapping products including the ability to click and drag the maps, instead of having to click and reload as well as magnified views of specific spots pop up in bubbles.

4. Does your company use viral ('word of mouth') marketing? If so, it's worth being aware of recent developments in the US. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) released an ethics code earlier this month, pushing viral marketers and others to ensure that their efforts are above board. The code of conduct includes the provision that marketers should disclose relationships, ruling out fake endorsements, shilling, falsifying identities, blog spamming and other practices that could otherwise give the field a worse rap. It also indicates word of mouth marketing is inappropriate to audiences below the age of 13.

5. Wondering how the next generation of clients will interact with your website? It seems video will be far more pervasive than what we may have expected. A new Online Publishers Association study shows that more than a quarter of internet users say they watch an online video feed at least once a week. One in twenty said they watch one every day. Seven out of ten said that they'd seen a video ad. The OPA conducted the survey primarily to build up a demographic profile of online video consumers. Not surprisingly the results largely reflected the demographic differences seen among audiences with higher broadband penetration: a little more wealthy, a little more male and slightly younger.

6. How much radio advertising are you using? The medium which supposedly has the best audience recall of any advertising message is also said to be the worst for accountability. In a study sponsored by Arbitron and the Radio Advertising Bureau, media buyer planners and marketers rated radio the worst among TV, newspapers, magazines and even the internet in terms of accountability, schedule integrity and audience measurement. National radio spending has been losing market share in the past few years, while local radio grew three percent in 2004. Local now makes up four out of five radio dollars.